God dammit, Toni Morrison. The last part was horribly nasty.
This is not the first book I am reading from her, but this is her first book, the debut n
God dammit, Toni Morrison. The last part was horribly nasty.
This is not the first book I am reading from her, but this is her first book, the debut novel. I would not have picked this one, out of all her books to read, if not for one of my classes` assignments. I mean, I still have Beloved on my “Currently Reading” shelf. I did not need this one.
What I am trying to get at is that I was acquainted with her writing style and the subjects she approaches—and I knew that I would not be prepared for it, no matter how much I would brace for it. The subjects that she tackles are…powerful.
And it hit me straight in the guts.
The book is disturbing. It shows Morrison`s skill in writing and it foreshadows the powerful voice that she would unleash upon the American literary field through the decades that followed (this book was published in `70). But, god dammit.
It is a book written in the third person, following two or more perspectives, but the one perspective that predominates the narration is that of a black girl.
“A little black girl who wanted to rise out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes.”
Her story can be summed up in the following line: she lives in a violent world. And I am not saying it lightly. The causality in which that violence is displayed makes it threefold worse.
I mean, it was 1970 in the US. You did not have to create Star Wars-like scenarios to put in scene the struggle of black girls. The bad guys were as Darth Vader-ish as possible. Believe me (and if you don`t, read the book, but don`t say you weren`t warned)
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Jesus, I cannot shake off the feeling of wrongness that still clings to my arms.
You know what? It was impressively well written for its time! (1928) [image] This makes me ask: Why did it take me more than two months to read the finaYou know what? It was impressively well written for its time! (1928) [image] This makes me ask: Why did it take me more than two months to read the final two chapters?
I read almost the entire book in two days, back to back, but when I was almost reaching the shore, then—bam! [image]
Two months of putting this book on hold because I couldn`t bring myself to finish it.
To be honest, I do act badly when it comes to endings. Many times I catch myself “forgetting” to read the final chapters from books, perhaps in a concealed attempt to keep them forever open. I am bad with endings so it was not that surprising that I couldn`t end this book. After all, I do delay the endings if I can.
>b>But, I feel that in this particular case it was something else.
I think that even somewhere deep in my subconscious something clawed at me. I saw Helga Crane, the protagonist, advancing through her unsatisfied life. She was brave enough to recognize that she did not want to teach anymore. She made her bags and left for a bigger city, a larger world. She faced the hurdles put before her as a mixed-race person in the 20s, New York City. She left even that place because she wanted more and something seemed to drive her towards not giving up on herself. She left for Denmark. Until things got sour there, too. She returned to America.
But this time, out of all her journey, this move felt wrong. The defeat could be tasted on the page. She seemed so beaten down by her journey. By her attempts to rise above a society that would rather see her “not-alive” than victorious in her pursuits. The straps on her, the constraints, the bounds were suddenly unbearable many and their grip too tightening.
I felt sick to my stomach. It was like watching strangled hope.
I got angry while reading this. I shouldn`t have and I shouldn`t tell you why. My reasons aren`t good.
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I was already a quarter through the book I got angry while reading this. I shouldn`t have and I shouldn`t tell you why. My reasons aren`t good.
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I was already a quarter through the book. I was made privy to the contemptuous monologue of one soldier in the trenches, showing off his bully knife, that had a blade with a triangular shape and an indecent picture with a girl and a pony and Doric columns
That it dawned on me, that here I am reading metafiction for school, And how this gloomy fiction should be read as comedic at the edges, that this is a soldier who travels through time, and yes, how, if only I would let myself, I could read his experience as a dislocation of the self in time and space due to the severe trauma suffered in WWII.
There were many angles I couldn`t have taken for this book, but something in me dug deeper and touched marrow. For this book, I woke up and chose violence.
I could not help myself see the way they talked about women even when it was supposed to compliment them. That actress that was kidnapped by aliens, too, she did not get to exchange some lines she just screamed like a banshee and when she finally stopped she did it to ask the main man to sleep with her. Or what was with the wife that had to knock down furniture to get the men`s attention? Why did it come so easily, almost understood as `logically` that a fat girl would beg to be made a bride, by anybody? What about the only mention that I saw of a persona of color was when one black man knocked on the car`s window and the main character drove off.
I know very well that this book was written in the `60s, that social justice wasn`t the theme for it, that this is supposed to be about war or better about the lack-of-it. I was not cherry picking examples to be angry about. They just stuck with me. I was like a band of glue and they were the naïve flies that splattered themselves head first into my sticky.
One year ago I think I would have liked this book. If not for the plot, at least for the wittiness. I am generally a fan of humor born out of the realization of the reality`s bleakness. I eat that as my morning breakfast. Maybe I have become too desensitized. Maybe, being routinely exposed to the 21c bleak humor has immunized me against the benign forms of the 60s`.
I thought that the Seagull would be about someone's death. In retrospective, I think, I could have gotten a lot deeper with the symbolism by saying: I thought that the Seagull would be about someone's death. In retrospective, I think, I could have gotten a lot deeper with the symbolism by saying: it represents the "social" death of many star eyed people who dehumanize themselves on the altar of true "art".
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It is an incredible well written play (all considering--it was written at the dusk of 19th C).
I liked that the female characters had some spine, and they did not willow so easily.
I liked the mother that refused to bow before his son`s pretense greatness.
She did not yield to his tantrums (i.e. he abruptly put a stop to an entire play because he had a fit). I even liked the young actress that had run from home. It reminded me of Sibyl from The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Supposedly, it is marketed as containing a love triangle, but I can`t say that I saw one in here. Or maybe, it was veiled to the eyes of a casual readSupposedly, it is marketed as containing a love triangle, but I can`t say that I saw one in here. Or maybe, it was veiled to the eyes of a casual reader of 21st century.
This reader for sure was paying more attention to the landscape descriptions than the love affairs. Not that I have an unrequited love for long descriptions of hills covered in grass, but that was what was presented in the book for at least a quarter of its entirety. I did not mind them as much as I would have though to. They were spooky and infused with emotions. Sort of like, the landscape mirrored the untold emotions of the character. It was kinda neat. “On the edge of the little green, that spread before the cottage, were cattle and a few sheep reposing under tree.” P.90 [image]
Imagine my glee when I reached the end of the book and the heroine wasn`t killed in some horrific way to explain the heroism and sufferance of a boy with a sword! I don’t know how much that is owned to the author being a woman, but I think that that isn`t a negligible factor. [image]
Do I recommend this book? It depends on who you are and why are you reading reviews about a 18c book.
If I were to give a certain purpose to this book I would say that it offers a glimpse into a woman writer`s way to portray strong emotions as forbidden lose, love pangs, terror, intense fear. It reverberates in way that appear to be finer than it was in the case of The Monk or The Castle of Ontranto where the game of emotions was played on directness and bold discourses that often ended up being comically in their serious demeanor.
It is a long book, not gonna lie, I mean, this work is not better than any of Jane Austen`s books, but it helps to note that the latter had taken inspiration from this one. “In the hall, confusion and tumult still reigned. Emily, as she listened anxiously to the murmur, that sounded along the gallery, sometimes fancied she hear the clashing of swords […].” P.315 [image]
The mightiest monk in the land is caught in the throes of passion.
I did not give it five stars because the amount of 18 C misogynism, unfortunate but The mightiest monk in the land is caught in the throes of passion.
I did not give it five stars because the amount of 18 C misogynism, unfortunate but time appropriate, made me squint a bit too much. But I cannot hold this book to the today`s standards, and maybe that is the point.
Still, I wonder:
What did the women readers of that time make of the fiendish myrtle that put the virginal girl to sleep so a certain man can have his way? Maybe I am being too upfront. Let`s take another example, what would those readers say about all the main female characters dying at the end of the book? But that question may be a bit tricky as they were for certain used with heroines` death. Their survival at the end of a novel/play was almost unheard of!
How could one woman that dared summon Lucifer himself live? How could a pregnant nun see the light of another day? But most of all, how could an old woman not die? Her purpose in life has already expired, be it that she could not have children anymore and all she wanted to do was to be a18C cougar.
I often times wondered if it weren`t for me being a female: would I have taken more joy out of reading books written before the #metoo movement? After all, this is "literature", this is art, this is not supposed to be real life.
Or maybe, exactly because this is not supposed to be real life, I have the expectation of my reading process to be an exercise into forgetting that the real world festers such expressions.
I had to read it twice because the first time it lost me halfway. I had blinked severely times because I did not know if I had just drowsed off in theI had to read it twice because the first time it lost me halfway. I had blinked severely times because I did not know if I had just drowsed off in the middle of the poem and dreamt the rest of it or if I had really read it. [image] Whitman does some crafty magic with his language. It is the kind of spell for which one would have to go to a Hogwarts. Instagram\\my Blog\\
Scriu acestă recenzie pentru că am obținut cartea destul de greu și cred că merită măcar o remarcă pusă pe vastul internet. Este o carte impresionant Scriu acestă recenzie pentru că am obținut cartea destul de greu și cred că merită măcar o remarcă pusă pe vastul internet. Este o carte impresionant de scurtă. Dacă nu aș răni niște inimi aș spune că pare prototipul de carte de critică sub forma unei cărți de copii. Numai de aceea că sunt atât e multe pagini cu POZE! Dacă suntenți entuziaști ai cărților cu foarte multe poze atunci cartea asta este pentru tine. Sunt unele argumente care merg pentru a explica existent fenomenului de fantastic, dar ele pălesc în comparație cu reprezentarea tablourilor de la 1500 în sus. Multe dintre ele sunt mult peste orice așteptare ai fi putut avea despre ce putea să facă brațul cuiva din 1500.
I had it for a school assignment. This is far from something I would personally choose to read on a foggy Monday on Nov. Basically, it all comes down tI had it for a school assignment. This is far from something I would personally choose to read on a foggy Monday on Nov. Basically, it all comes down to the "man" and how he can change whatever if he puts his mind too it. (while other themes were sprinkled over the frosting, that were related to nature as a system and man as projection of a god like being). Instagram\\my Blog\\ ...more
He spent one day in jail and made an entire essay about it. Kudos to him, but boy would he have had a difficult time living our times. Instagram\\my BloHe spent one day in jail and made an entire essay about it. Kudos to him, but boy would he have had a difficult time living our times. Instagram\\my Blog\\...more
This seems such a hymn for a right friendly party (not the extremists). It hoovers over the idea of independence and (obviously, self-reliance) with sThis seems such a hymn for a right friendly party (not the extremists). It hoovers over the idea of independence and (obviously, self-reliance) with such a strong conviction that I can almost hear the hounds in the background yelping at those trespassing on his large property. Look at some quotes: “My life is for itself and not for a spectacle” He has the tone of one that is deadly serious. I would have worried that mockery could have shattered him, if I had been his contemporary. Instagram\\my Blog\\...more
I had to try this book as I have a paper to write, but more than that, I kept hearing about its "revelatory" powers when it came to this dubious genreI had to try this book as I have a paper to write, but more than that, I kept hearing about its "revelatory" powers when it came to this dubious genre called FANTASY.
It is a surprisingly short book. It barely fills 200 pages. It is readable. It is not that great as it is too much theory and too little "practicality". There are some critics that are mentioned at times and they are analyzed, but the examples of Fantasy novels are scarce or old or so vague that they get lost in the general fogginess.
There is no analyze on The Lord of the Rings, for example, even if the book (this book) was finished in September 1968.
Here a quote: “This is one of the constants of the literature of the fantastic: the existence of beings more powerful than men.”
Maybe the best point to start from, if you are in love with The Raven or you are to make an essay on that poem. Poe says that is essay is about the waMaybe the best point to start from, if you are in love with The Raven or you are to make an essay on that poem. Poe says that is essay is about the way he crafts his writings, but it seems to be more of a own analysis on his notorious work. Instagram\\my Blog\\...more
I mean, I bet that I would have had a totally different experienced if it was read to me, near a fireplace while the night settledThis was not great.
I mean, I bet that I would have had a totally different experienced if it was read to me, near a fireplace while the night settled in over the quite plains of a 19 century village. But for these times? Huh. It is hard to stay through this read.
[image] Now, this was a nice doppelganger story. It reminded me of all the Vampire Diaries ( Origins) saga mixed with some pepper sprayed touches of Sc[image] Now, this was a nice doppelganger story. It reminded me of all the Vampire Diaries ( Origins) saga mixed with some pepper sprayed touches of Schiller's The Ghost-seer. But this was more entertaining, somehow. Maybe because it was short? It also reminded me of Joyce` A Potrait of the Artist As A Young Man in that he had that otherworldly depiction of the school. Well, the first school, because this character gets to row through three different schools. Talk about efforts in trying to escape a destiny. Instagram\\my Blog\\...more
I gave it five stars because HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RATE A CANON BOOK? [image] This is a poetically rendering of an horror trope. Using rendering as a teI gave it five stars because HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RATE A CANON BOOK? [image] This is a poetically rendering of an horror trope. Using rendering as a term, in the case of the novella from which an entire century of horror making story was inspired it is more than an understatement.
This is barely a novella, maybe a long short story if we are to be generous.
It is a first person Pov. The I in question tells how he is on horseback watching the house of his friend Usher. He called him (via a letter, let`s not get our hopes upp-technology wise).
The house seems a bit creepy, but otherwise he arrives to the conclusion that he will not have that much of a problem with it. He even plays with the prospect of spending more than one day inside its crackly rooms (which he does, and not the days are the problem, by the way)
So, he meets Usher. He seems so close to having his skin dropping off his bones that the I almost leans forward into touching that liquefying eyeball.
All is fun and creepy games until the friend appears with a lamp in the dead of the night screaming gibberish. The main character does not have the good sense, that the modern character would have of running from an old house with a madman as its master.
However, the I will arrive to do just that when he will get over his morbid, borderline insane fascination with haunted places and run fast and far away in the night while the blood moon shines above his head.
It would take just a woman in a nightgown and a bit of blood sprinkled in strategic places. Classic. [image] Instagram\\my Blog\\
My edition`s cover is ugly. Maybe it is a test, to see the meaning I would extract out of it. After all, this is a book about perception. Well. A book My edition`s cover is ugly. Maybe it is a test, to see the meaning I would extract out of it. After all, this is a book about perception. Well. A book about myths, but after reading it I found out that ”the myth is speech justified in excess.” (p.154).
The voice of the author was the playful version of one that wrote in the middle of the XX century. Meaning that it was a bit too full of itself (maybe that was due to the lack of “reply” version to an essay. I think he might have acquired quite a different tonality if he would have written this book over twitter.)
Because that is a book that was not intended to be a book. Is a gathering of articles/essays that he had written at some point in his life. Or, at least, that`s how they appear to be. Look at the CONTENTS:
The World of Wrestling –I quite liked this part, not that I am a vicariously consumer of wrestling, but for the perspective of the good and evil play that is similar to what an Everyman play used to accomplish in the Middle Ev.
The Roman in Film—here it is the French on American movies The Writer on Holiday—he is a writer, he had to take on the trope of the writer …… Novels and Children Toys—it appears the word "Homunculus” …..
And so on. The author has some spunk, I would admit. But this would not be my first choice of read if the subject of myth was of an acutely importance to me.
One of the reasons for why I even read it, was one of my posts on my Blog
No spoilers ahead, even if I will show you how the book ends: “Every word we say of it, every phrase I have used about a novel in these pages, is looseNo spoilers ahead, even if I will show you how the book ends: “Every word we say of it, every phrase I have used about a novel in these pages, is loose, approximate, a little more or a little less than the truth. We cannot exactly hit the mark; or if we do, we cannot be sure of it. […] The author of the book was a craftsman, the critic must overtake him at his work and see how the book was made.”
This is a short book that concerns itself with four notions found in the theory of literature. If they are paired they would look like this: 1. showing and telling --notions that are connected to the narratorial voice. It speaks on the relationship that is built between the reader and the narrator, how the last one chooses to presents the events to the reader.
2. dramatic and picturesc--the second level of representation, once the reader is immersed in the act, those notions describe the level of intimacy that one have with the events. To simplify, the dramatic representation is the knight with the sword in hand. It is the middle of the battle. His horse took off. He is surrounded by cadavers. He turns around ready to slash at another one that comes on wobbly legs to kill him.
Whereas, the picturesc is the reader contemplating the battle hill where a knight is fighting for his life while the valley wails in pain for the blood that soaked its dales.
The voice that presents all this techniques is a kind and friendly one. You can read it just for the joy it brings to have a friendly monologue about some well known book. On that note, I should mention that you have to have some titles in your “read” shelf to be able to understand what is going on. For example, you should be aware of Tolstoy Lev, ThackerayThackeray, William Makepeace, Charles Dickens, just to name a few. The introduction on the books is quite abrupt and not sufficiently explained if you have no idea of the books presented. When he starts talking about Ana Karenina good luck at trying to understand the scenes he refers to whiteout having even watched the movie.
But, I have to say that for a book that was written in 1921 is quite capable to speak to the present of the 2020. Nearly one hundred years ago. Talk about actualized reading material.
I did not love this play, I do not feel like being too wordy about it. The concept seemed more appealing than the overall execution. I will present soI did not love this play, I do not feel like being too wordy about it. The concept seemed more appealing than the overall execution. I will present some quotes and I will leave it at that:
GUIL: You've only got their word for it. ROS: But that's what we depend on. GUIL: Well, yes, and then again no. (Airily.) Let us keep things in proportion. Assume, if you like, that they're going to kill him. Well, he is a man, he is mortal, death comes to us all, etcetera, and consequently he would have died anyway, sooner or later.
In the next quote, Guil saw necessarily for a demonstration to be in need. To show to the actor how the real death feels like. He would have made a greater point if he shoved that knife into himself, instead of an innocent bystander:
GUIL (fear, vengeance, scorn): Your experience?-Actors! (He snatches a dagger from the PLAYER's belt and holds the point at the PLAYER's throat: the PLAYER backs and GUIL advances, speaking more quietly.) I'm talking about death-and you've never experienced that. And you cannot act it. You die a thousand casual deaths-with none of that intensity which squeezes out life... and no blood runs cold anywhere. Because even as you die you know that you will come back in a different hat. But no one gets up after death-there is no applausethere is only silence and some second-hand clothes, and that's - death - (And he pushes the blade in up to the hilt. The PLAYER stands with huge, terrible eyes, clutches at the wound as the blade withdraws: he makes small weeping sounds and falls to his knees, and then right down:)
This was a handsome read. The first three parts were outstandingly executed. I recognized some of the canonical works that are taught, until these dayThis was a handsome read. The first three parts were outstandingly executed. I recognized some of the canonical works that are taught, until these days, in our language colleges (the books that you would encounter in a Romanian college of letters when on the topic of “Decadence”; ”Avant-Garde” and “Modernism”). Of course, this is a book cited a lot, too.
The last two parts (those on Kitsch and Postmodernism) did not seem as bright (I am not saying “not intelligent”). There was too much theory without examples, some sense of applicability was in need there.
Otherwise, you will get what is in the title. (not definitions of the concepts! But an idea of the environments in which they developed)....more
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