So this is a piece I wrote for my 18th Century Character and Culture class. Dr. Givan asked us to write a satirical piece about the class, or something we read in the class.

We read Jane Austen's Emma, and, as much as I love Austen, there is an element in the novel that I feel is often overlooked by critics, and so I chose to illustrate it in my piece. Mr. Woodhouse's controlling nature has always grated on my nerves, and also demonstrated Austen's skill with creating ironic situations. It is always Emma's controlling nature that is focused on and I find that to be unjust.

So, below is the story that was inspired by my irritation with Mr. Woodhouse and the heavy criticism of Emma's character. Enjoy.

Everything for His Pleasure

Emma Woodhouse[1], try as she might, could not suppress the sigh that escaped her lips as she recalled the words that had set her heart pounding and the blood to her cheeks those ten years ago. Mr. Knightley had caused her so much joy, so much excitement, when he revealed his love to her. His fervor and sincerity had promised a life of great passion.

Yet now, as she sat by the fire, the picture was bleak. Out of love for her father, she had remained at Hartfield, rather than relocate to Donwell Abbey. Mr. Knightley, being the kind man that he was, had been more than amenable to taking up residence with Mr. Woodhouse so that the old gentleman could maintain possession of his beloved daughter, and so resign himself more to the concept of another marriage in the family. The situation had seemed ideal: not only would Emma be first in affection to her dear father, but now Mr. Knightley would be there as well to brighten the long and lonely days at Hartfield.

Or so Emma had imagined.

She sighed again. If there was nothing else she should have learned by the time she reached her twenty-first year when Mr. Knightley first expressed his feelings for her, it was that her fancies were often misconceived and rarely fulfilled.

Her life had continued on much as before. She cared for her father, assuring that his worries were allayed, his nerves soothed, and any thought of rich foods or pleasure on the part of others thoroughly concealed from him. She had the addition of Mr. Knightley to provide variation in the conversation, and he was such a dear and always showed the greatest concern for her father. Too much concern, at times.

Emma forced the frown from her face, composing and smoothing her expression to one of pleasant and bland contentment. No one must guess she was anything other than happy.

In ten years of marriage, Mr. Woodhouse, her dear, dear, father, was in the same condition as upon her wedding day. His discontent at her marriage had been soothed by her decision to remain at Hartfield, but his interference in her life had not paused there.

Emma was now thirty-one years of age. She had been married for ten years and remained as slender and nearly as innocent as her wedding day. Yes, she still had her beauty, but the bloom had faded. She may as well be the spinster Miss Woodhouse that Harriet had feared she would become when her resolution had been never to marry.

Mr. Woodhouse had been positively and firmly against Emma sleeping anywhere other than her own bedroom, where she had always resided. Mr. Woodhouse had also been positively and firmly against Mr. Knightley sleeping anywhere other than the room that was made over especially for him.

Emma and Mr. Knightley, out of their mutual respect for Mr. Woodhouse, remained in their respective bedrooms. Every night of their married life, they parted ways with a chaste kiss at the top of the stairs before retiring to sleep. Every night. Even the wedding night. Sleep. Alone. Nothing but sleep, at night, and alone.

Emma rose from her chair and paced to the window. Mr. Knightley was returning from a lengthy walk; she could see him coming through the park. Her heart quickened slightly. Her father was sleeping.

Over the years, Emma and Mr. Knightley had realized that their sleeping arrangement, though inconvenient, did not have to deprive them of all of the joys of the conjugal state. There were snatched moments when her father was sleeping, brief seconds when he took his walks if he chanced not to ask for company.

She rushed to meet Mr. Knightley in the hallway.

The smile froze on her lips when she realized he was not alone.

With him were Harriet Smith and Jane Fairfax.

Mr. Knightley was smiling in a way she had never quite seen.

Emma greeted them, her mind not quite knowing which way to think. She quickly shut down her fancies, reminding herself firmly that her imagination often led her astray.

They all sat together for tea, had polite conversation about the weather. Emma's eyes darted from face to face, noticing bright eyes and clandestine smiles that were quickly hidden when Emma's eyes fell on Harriet or Jane or Mr. Knightley.

When the ladies made their excuses and went on their way, Emma regarded her husband for several minutes until he lifted his eyes from the fire to meet her gaze.

Before he could speak, she said, shortly, "I should have run away with Frank Churchill."

Mr. Knightley's smile faded from his face, but he said nothing. They looked at the fire together in silence until Mr. Woodhouse woke from his sleep and they were occupied, as usual, with his entertainment and pleasure.

---

[1] Characters loosely based on Jane Austen's Emma

I really love Philip Sidney. Astrophil and Stella is one of the most beautiful sonnet sequences written. It rivals my love for Shakespeare's sonnet sequence, which is saying quite a bit considering that I reread Shakespeare's sonnets every other month, and have a line from one of the sonnets tattooed on my forearm.

I'm rereading Astrophil and Stella for my thesis work, and was struck anew by the beauty of it and so I am sharing the second sonnet in the sequence below. Enjoy.

Not at the first sight, nor with a dribbed shot,

Love gave the wound, which while I breathe will bleed;

But known worth did in mine of time proceed,

Till by degrees it had full conquest got.

I saw and liked; I liked but loved not;

I loved, but straight did not what love decreed;

At length to love's decrees I, forced, agreed,

Yet with repining at so partial lot.

Now even that footstep of lost liberty

Is gone, and now, like slave-born Muscovite,

I call it praise to suffer tyranny;

And now employ the remnant of my wit

To make myself believe that all is well,

While with a feeling skill I paint my hell. (1-14).

A Modest Proposal

In my 18th Century Character and Culture class this semester, we have been reading Jonathan Swift. We read, of course, his essay, "A Modest Proposal" which offers up a solution (completely satirical, of course) to the poverty problem in England in the 18th Century. Swift proposes that the children of the poor be served up as food for the rich. The skins of the babies could be used to make fine gloves and boots, and freeing up the amount of children that the poor have to care for would enable the mothers to find work.

It is, of course, satire, but many readers thought Swift was serious. A piece that was written in the darkest of humors that was meant to express the rage Swift felt at the plight of the poor was grossly misinterpreted.

Dr. Givan required that we write a modest proposal of our own, addressing a social issue. Mine follows below. In order to avert the mistaken interpretation that I am serious, let me just remind my readers that I am planning to enter a the hallowed halls of Academia myself. I would also like to say I harbor the utmost respect for my professors, many of whom are past the retirement age suggested in the following text. I would not have them retire for many years to come.

Yet, I wouldn't mind having their jobs when I finish my PhD program in the next five years or so.

A Modest Proposal Regarding the State of Academia

It has come to pass over the course of the past several years, that, with the increase in attendance at the institutions of higher learning, and the increased interest in the study of the literature of the English language (and other literatures and languages besides) that there are more individuals possessing the title of "Doctor" entering the field than are retiring each year. The sad result of this major success in the recruitment departments of liberal arts programs everywhere, is that there are more doctors of English being produced than all the universities and junior colleges in the country could house.

There is a surplus, a plethora, of ambitious individuals hoping to better the world by receiving a tenure track position at one of the hallowed halls of education. These well-informed individuals are desperate for a place that will allow them to theorize over and interpret not only texts that have been analyzed beyond recognition, but also to criticize and debate the theories and interpretations of said texts. Yet because of the plethora of eager individuals who are filled with the knowledge of their own self-importance, it is difficult to find a place for them to carry out this work of theorization and dissection of texts.

This very important work must be allowed to continue yet these new Doctors of English have nowhere to go. There is simply no room for them in the hallowed halls of education. Why is this? Because the very same professors that educated our new Doctors are so enrapt in the profession of analyzing texts and teaching texts that they do not realize they have reached their expiration date and they continue to teach long after it is decent or polite to do so.

As a result, the new, young, vibrant Doctors of English are forced instead into adjunct positions, teaching endless sections of Freshman Composition, becoming embittered as they grade draft after draft and finally coming to loathe the near perfect world of Academia in their resentment at not being granted an office with (for the lucky ones) a window and a placard bearing their name and titles, and wall space on which to hang the documentation demonstrating their erudite state.

In order to prevent the embitterment of these noble young Doctors of Language and Literature, it would be prudent to ensure that the old and failing members of this group are appropriately cared for once they reach the age of fifty. If the average person finishes her PhD between the ages of twenty-five and thirty, the retirement age of fifty would allow a solid twenty to twenty-five years of teaching and study. At this point, the possessors of the title "doctor" will be relocated to a new home, a facility where, under the supervision of others, they will be allowed to continue their academic studies and debates and remain completely engrossed in their field specializations. The majority of the retired professors will not even note the difference in their location, as they very rarely look up from their books long enough to notice what is going on in the world around them.

It would be prudent to ensure that the facilities that will be built for these aged intellectuals has a sufficient distribution of rooms that possess windows, and rooms that don't. The faculty that spent the majority of their years in windowless offices and archives may experience agoraphobia if they suddenly have an outside view. Likewise, those who became accustomed to the slight distractions of viewing the outside world could become melancholy should they be deprived their only experience of Nature. The relocated Academy will be allowed to possess its books, with the majority of the personal collections to be allocated for the facility library. It is highly important that the Academians be allowed the experience of the amenities they were used to at the Universities, otherwise the relocation will be more obvious to them. Ensure that a poorly functioning microfilm and microfiche reader is available, and that, on various days, the equipment malfunctions. It is imperative for their mental abilities that they be challenged with practical problems from time to time, not just those dealing with the issues of dissecting texts.

In this fashion, the aged doctors can still maintain the feelings of importance that they acquired during their years of carving texts to be served up for the edification of students, and only of interest to other scholars, while not interfering with the ability of the young to carve the same texts to be served up for further edification of new students and other scholars.

I feel that it is imperative that this relocation program be put into practice immediately, beginning gradually at first to ensure a balance between experienced and new faculty members in the universities. It is important, however, that it be in place in full force in the next five to six years, to ensure that students beginning their doctoral programs in the near future will have the benefit of immediate employment upon completion of their dissertations.

Swiftly Going Mad

I have been reading, this past week, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. I thoroughly enjoy a good satire, and Swift certainly writes some of the best.

It becomes increasingly difficult, however, to tell what it is that Swift satirizes as the reader

progresses through the pages.

There are moments when he ridicules the other peoples he visits so thoroughly, that it is entirely too easy to forget that he is using humor, and so must not be taken in an over serious fashion.

For example, many of his descriptions of women, which some of my classmates choose to see as proof positive of Swift's misogyny (at worst) or his dismissal of women (at best) are, in my reading of the text, representative of the cultural concepts and ideologies regarding women. Swift merely portrays the flaws of vanity and silliness that exist in some women, and that are assumed by 18th Century society as a whole to be inherent truths, and exaggerates these ideas.

I find it amusing when the mistake of equating the voice of the narrator with the voice of the author is consistently made by "experienced" English majors and wonder if they even remember that the narrator is not named Swift, but Gulliver.

The Travels become even more complicated to sort through with Part 4, the section that recounts Gulliver's stay with the Houyhnhnms, and his unpleasant experiences with the grotesque and entirely too human Yahoos.

Dr. Givan asked us to note what is not perfect about the Houyhnhnms, particularly because this is the book that is often interpreted as possessing Swift's idea of the Ideal culture. The main mistake, again, is forgetting that the text is a satire, and Swift is not likely to present an Ideal when he has spent the entire text creating imaginary worlds for the purpose of pointing out flaws.

It is my perception, and also a conclusion that the class reached together, that the Houyhnhnms represent the cold reason of the 18th century. Peace and prosperity resulted in the complete reliance on reason, but empathy and basic compassion were severely lacking. In essence, the Houyhnhnms represented loss of humanity in favor of reason. The 18th century's obsessions with reason and science are portrayed at their most extreme in the Houyhnhnms. The lack of war and barbarism is appealing, but at what cost? Feeling no love for spouses or children, feeling no real emotion whatsoever.

Humanity may be flawed and stupid and make mistakes as a result of our emotions, but the human capacity for love is what makes us human. The cold reason of the Houyhnhnms was not Swift's ideal, but perhaps his version of hell instead.

Gaiman + Christmas = Deliciously Dark Humor

I had my students read this story today for an exercise in suspending judgment and analyzing.

They were disturbed when I said I find the story to be delightful and hilarious. They would probably be even more disturbed to know how much I enjoyed the looks of horror forming on their own faces as they read.

Nicholas Was...

older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die.

The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories.

Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time.

He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher.

Ho.

Ho.

Ho.

Marxist Literary Theory

So, over-achiever that I am, I am joining two other graduate students this fall for an independent study in Marxist Literary Theory.

I am a bit behind on the background reading that I was supposed to study before the semester started, and am currently reading Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. My mind is too filled with the ideas in the text to write much, but I just want to quote this:

"If the product of labour does not belong to the worker, if it confronts him as an alien power, this can only be because it belongs to some other man than the worker. If the worker's activity is a torment to him, to another it must be delight and his life's joy. Not the gods, not nature, but only man himself can be this alien power over man" (78).

There is something wrong when one person works in misery and exists in a state of alienation in order to produce joy and delight for others.

Source:

Marx, Karl. "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844." The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. New York: Norton, 1978. 66-175.

Love at First Bite II

Okay, a friend's comment, and discussion with another friend about this book, led me to the realization that I overlooked a key character in Bloodsucking Fiends. The Emperor of San Francisco. In the novel, this character is a homeless man that keeps watch over the city, and often cautions people with the phrase, "Safety first!" He travels with two dogs, Bummer and Lazarus, and desires to rid the city of vampires.

I loved this character while reading the novel, but found out when I was discussing it with my friend, that the Emperor was actually a real person. He dubbed himself the Emperor of San Francisco, the United States, and the Protector of Mexico. His name was Joshua A. Norton. The residents of San Francisco treated him with respect, and when he died, they buried him in the rich cemetery, rather than let him have a pauper's grave.

Google him. It's really fascinating.

Love at First Bite

I finished reading Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore today. As always with Moore's books, it was wickedly and delightfully inappropriate, not quite up to the level of impropriety in Fool, or even in Lamb but I credit that to the fact that he seems to rise to greater levels of lewdness when he is dealing with topics that people typically revere, such as rewrites of Shakespeare's King Lear and recounting Christ's childhood and adolescence.

Moore is not for the faint of heart, just to warn you, regardless of which books you read. He thinks nothing of inventing foul language if that already in existence doesn't suffice. Yet, in spite of what some may call "lowbrow" comedy, Moore writes with class and eloquence, and, amid the comedy, delves into topics that get right at the center of the human question.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story addresses the topics of alienation, loneliness, individuality, and death. There are probably more, but that's what I can think of right now. The plot, briefly, and without giving away anything you won't find on the back cover, begins when Jody, a woman dissatisfied with her job, and her penchant for going from one jerk to another, is attacked and wakes to find that she is a vampire. Quickly realizing that she can't manage her predicament alone, she looks for a man to help her and finds Tommy Flood, a Beat-obsessed wanna-be writer who calls himself C. Thomas Flood and dreams of being Fitzgerald and finding his Zelda in the City.

Jody's predicament first makes her lonely, then empowers her as she learns how to be a vampire.

Of course, the vampire that changed her did it for a reason, and adds complication to the plot.

I won't say more; I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who might read it.

Soon, I'll start blogging about my reading for school, which will consist of 18th Century British lit, such as Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding; Marxist Literary Theory, material relating to medieval women, and, last but not least, my students' papers. :)

So, I guess what I'm saying is, the blog for the next few months may not be interesting to anyone other than myself. Hang in there. I'll get back to Christopher Moore again, with the sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends, eloquently entitled, You Suck.

Bitter Chocolate

I just finished reading The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, this was a sequel to Chocolat. The book was good, as Harris' books always are, but I was a little disconcerted by the different flavor of this. One review said that it was a much darker chocolate, but I also found it to be somewhat bitter.

In other novels by Harris, such as Chocolat, Blackberry Wine, and Coastliners, for example, the magic that exists in the text is subtle. The seduction of the chocolate, the vivacity of the wine, and the power of the tides and shifting sands, are all built to create a motif throughout each novel. In this way, she weaves magic into her novels without making the suspension of disbelief very necessary.

In The Girl With No Shadow the magic is more blatant, clearly practiced by witches, and taking a somewhat odd turn more suited to a fantasy novel than Harris' usual type. As I said, it is still a good novel, but I miss the subtlety of the others I listed above, and the power present in, say, Five Quarters of the Orange.

As always, though, the novel was worth the read, and Harris' prose sometimes makes me wonder why I bother to write at all, because I could never produce something so artfully crafted. But, then again, it just gives me something to aspire to.

The Critics

I've been reading quite a bit of criticism regarding Aemilia Lanyer lately, as I'm writing a paper for my 17th Century Pious British Literature class concerning her. She also happens to be the main focus of my thesis, though the scope has broadened considerably now to include medieval devotional literature and drama, as well as the medieval mystics (particularly the women).

I find it amusing to trace the development of the criticism, and a little bemusing at times as well.

Lanyer was brought to attention first when A.L. Rowse (and others, he is just the main name here) drew a connection between Lanyer and the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. For several years, she was studied not on the merits of her product, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum but because of her connection to Shakespeare.

Then the focus switched to the remarkably feminist bent in the literature, and critics such as Barbara K. Lewalski determined that Lanyer was creating a community of good women, and placing women above men on the spiritual and moral level. They also focused extensively on the fact that Lanyer is the first woman to publish her own work, and, seemingly, the first woman to seek patronage of other women. Lanyer has even been criticized for seeking patronage and some critics would dismiss her work as mercenary because of this. That, of course, has been put aside because artists, male and female alike, relied on patrons for support at this time in history. To regard Lanyer as mercenary would also place all the male authors of the age in the same category.

What I find most interesting is that many critics, among them Lewalski, dismiss Lanyer's religious subject as a facade, considering it to be undermined by the feminist tack that was taken. Devotional literature was considered acceptable for women, and the assumption is that Lanyer wrote it simply because she could.

It is possible that Lanyer was simply meeting with convention, and did not feel any of the devotion or religiosity that she expressed. Yet, it does not necessarily follow that a feminist and a religious topic cannot go hand in hand. Feminism doesn't necessitate the obliteration of faith, nor does faith deny the existence of feminism.

I have taken a different tack in my research, of course, but more on that as I work on my paper, and develop my thesis.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

My friend told me about this today at coffee, and I had to share.

I particularly enjoyed the third segment.

Back to Blogging

Now that my summer classes are done, I'll have more time for my fun reading and also for blogging.

I enjoyed the reading for my coursework immensely. Chaucer is always a favorite, and, believe it or not, religious writings of the Renaissance and Reformation have always been favorites of mine, too, so I was revisiting writers and concepts that I enjoy this past month.

I'm currently working on writing my papers for my independent study. My text for one is Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici. We read an excerpt for our class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Browne was possibly one of the earliest theologians to preach tolerance, though he does it in a way that could seem to be offering intolerant tolerance.

One concept that I receive from his writing, however, is that it doesn't matter what the religion is dressed it, but what the body of knowledge underneath the trappings of ritual is actually teaching. I smile when I think of this, because it has been my own personal feeling for quite some time that religions are all basically the same, just dressed in different clothes.

Of course Browne does not go so far as to say that. He instead says that Christians would do better to direct their energy toward proper worship, rather than toward the ridicule and persecution of those that are mistaken in worship.

I enjoy the text and find my paper to be leaning in the direction of analyzing the relationship between the individual and the group. In the American ideology, it is standard for the individual to break away from the group, to flout tradition and convention and stand out as some type of hero for doing so. The English ideology, however, is highly concerned with maintaining the group. The standard tends towards the individual breaking away, and then finding some sort of compromise with the group in order to be accepted back into the fold.

Browne, it seems, is advocating tolerance for the sake of maintaining the group. His discussion of heresy leans towards this, as he says it is only a heresy if you persist in believing an erroneous philosophy, and if you try to convince others or your erring thoughts. So, if people in possession of religious beliefs that differ from that of the True religion (in Browne's view, Anglicanism) would just keep it to themselves, there would be no issue.

That is what I'll be exploring as I write my paper. Dr. Rice is only asking for 3-4 pages, so I'll have to reign myself in. My problem tends to be biting off a rather large thesis. I could write 20 pages on most topics, but bite off too much for the shorter papers.

Mean while, I've also been reading The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris. It's a sequel to Chocolat and so far is very different from its predecessor, a little darker, a little bit more like a mystery, but still Harris so I'm enjoying it.

More later.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds   

Admit impediments. Love is not love  

Which alters when it alteration finds,   

Or bends with the remover to remove:  

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark   

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;  

It is the star to every wandering bark,  

 Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.  

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks   

Within his bending sickle's compass come:  

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,  

 But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 

 If this be error and upon me proved,  

 I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

If Shakespeare was right, and this is love, does it exist? Or is it yet another 

ideal that literature has created for us, and that we will never find?

I love Middle English

Today was my first day of Chaucer. The largest complaint I hear about that class is that reading Middle English is a pain. Dr. Rice assigns a text that contains the Middle English. There are great footnotes, but it does take a little longer than reading in Modern English.

I have to say, though, that I love Middle English! As soon as I start trying to pronounce it, I know I get it wrong, but once you get into the rhythm of it, it's not that difficult to follow. Of course, I have had some prior experience reading it, so that give me an advantage.

Reading Middle English has reawakened my desire to learn Old English as well. It's so much fun! 

If you've never had your arm stolen as part of a fraternity initiation, you probably wouldn't understand

Breathers by S.G. Browne is my first foray into romantic zombie comedy. While I am not typically a fan of anything zombie, this book is brilliantly written. The humor is ironic and dry, and dark enough to satisfy even the colonial Americans.

Browne researches thoroughly to provide all the gory details of human decomposition, taking some liberties, putting the reader in the position to be sympathetic with the narrator, Andy, as he relates the plights of a reanimated corpse who has been forced to live with his parents. You see, zombies aren't allowed to live alone; they have to have a relative or willing foster parent to keep track of them.

Andy becomes dissatisfied with his life (or un-life, whatever you want to call it) and begins protesting. This results in his arrest, and his confinement at the SPCA where he is kenneled with the dogs or cats, and fed kibble until his parents reluctantly come to get him.

But, as he keeps reminding us, if we haven't been in his shoes, we can't understand.

The book provides an interesting study of how the class of undead is oppressed by all, managing, through all the dark humor and somewhat disturbing scenes, to reveal that it is human nature to discriminate, but it is also human nature to survive, even after death has occurred.

15 Books

Following is a question survey my friend posted on Facebook that I think nicely complements my blog. 

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag however many friends you want, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose.

If anyone I haven't tagged does this, tag me so I can see your books!

And the list, in no particular order:

1. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

2. Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (yes, technically a trilogy, but I count it as one)

4. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

5. The Sun Also Rises by by Ernest Hemingway

6. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

7. Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris

8. Holy Fools by Joanne Harris

9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

10. Walden by Henry David Thoreau 

11. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the 20's by Marion Meade

12. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

13. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

14. Sunshine by Robin McKinley

15. The Winds Twelve Quarters by Ursula Le Guin

Fairytale, or schizophrenic hallucinations?

Last night I finished reading Carolyn Turgeon's Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story.

Depending on your taste in books, this is a great read. I personally love fairy tale retellings, no matter what form they appear in. Turgeon weaves the fairy tale of Cinderella with a modern-day story, placed in New York, featuring Cinderella's fallen fairy godmother as the first person narrator. 

As the story progresses, Lillian, the godmother, finds it increasingly difficult to separate present day reality from her memories as a fairy godmother, and the ways in which she failed Cinderella.

I won't spoil the story for those of you that might read it; all I will say is that the novel begins with the certainty that it is a fairy tale retelling, and continues that way, but leaves the reader wondering if the fairy tale is the reality in the novel, or if it is living true to its name. 

Now, it's on to Breathers, my first foray into romantic zombie comedy, fondly abbreviated as rom zom com. 

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

I just finished reading Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. It is part of the Fairy Tale Series, in which different authors are selected to write retellings of fairy tales, in whatever format they choose.

Pamela Dean selected Tam Lin, which is actually a ballad with fairy tale elements. You can find the various versions of Tam Lin  at this website: http://tam-lin.org/

Dean's retelling of the story is quite genius. For the majority of the novel, you will wonder where the fairy tale elements come in. At the start, there is a glimpse of the supernatural, and throughout the main character, Janet, tries to solve the mystery of a girl ghost that haunts her dormitory room in her first year at Blackstock, a fictitious university in Minnesota. 

Janet is an English major, and the characters regularly quote Shakespeare, Keats, and others, and make allusions to mythology and the Classics, creating a rich tapestry that portrays quite accurately the conspiracies and politics, the quirks and anxieties of being part of a Liberal Arts department. 

Elements of the fairy tale appear periodically throughout this novel, but it isn't until the end that the pieces come together. As I read, I kept wondering where the retelling came in, but the series doesn't dictate in what form the fairy tale appears, allowing the authors free reign.

I don't want to say more for anyone who might read it, but Tam Lin is a lovely book and worth the read. 

Sin in the Second City, continued

I finished reading Sin in the Second City and was saddened by the ending.

The Everleigh Sisters, the main focus of the book, were ultimately forced out of business. A little irony, however: they moved to the Upper West Side in New York and posed as the Lester Sisters and formed a literary circle among their high class neighbors.

The Levee District in Chicago was shut down eventually, putting an end to segregated vice districts. The reformers that were so set against white slavery changed their tune and started to regard prostitutes of all types as moral stains on society, rather than victims of circumstances.

The most positive result of all the hullaballoo surrounding red-light districts in cities, namely Chicago, is that wages in department stores, etc., were investigated and several states passed a minimum wage requirement, since many girls who turned to prostitution did so to stave off poverty.

An amusing snatch from the book:

After the Levee was closed, the prostitutes had no where to go and were encouraged by madams and pimps to flood the rest of the city. Here's a quote from one of these episodes: 

"At 35th and Michigan, six prostitutes coordinated the lighting of cigarettes with theatrical aplomb, moving one terrified passerby to call the police" (282).

And, later, Abbott discusses the flood of films and plays that dealt with the topic of white slavery and debauchery, and quotes a journal from 1913, "A wave of sex hysteria and sex discussion seems to have invaded this country. Our former reticence on matters of sex is giving way to a frankness that would even startle Paris" (290).

Considering that my last few months have been spent researching 20th Century American literature, reading Edna St. Vincent Millay, and studying up on the New Woman and female sexuality, all I can say to this 1913 reporter is that he better hang onto his hat because much more frankness is headed his way.

As I consider the place we inhabit now, in regards to openness concerning sexuality, I find it unfortunate that the frankness that began in the early 1900's and continued through the '20's and '30's reverted to the tight-lipped closed-mouthed attitudes that developed after World War II. A return to the reticence that the Victorians practiced resulted from the desire of establishing some kind of stability after yet another major war, yet we are still unable to get away from it. For proof, just say the word "penis" or "vagina" or even "sex" and see how many people are embarrassed or blush out of reflex. 

I'm on a tangent now. I strongly recommend Sin in the Second City. For more on female sexuality and the New Woman Marion Meade's Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties offers a look at the lives of Millay, Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, and Zelda Fitzgerald. I've read the first couple chapters, and plan to finish reading it this summer, so I'll write on it later.

For now, on to the next book.

Wild-Eyed Bibliomaniac

So, I'm still working my way through Sin in the Second City, but I have to take a moment to sing the praises of Halfprice Books.

A store opened today in Oklahoma City, and I went, twice, today to check it out. Earlier in the week, I went there to sell my leather bound books, and saw a couple titles I wanted to buy. So, I went there this morning with the intent to buy a couple titles and instead came out with nearly a couple dozen. 

The authors range from Christopher Moore to Dorothy Parker, Terry Pratchett to Sharon Shinn, Tom Robbins to Robin McKinley. As you may have guessed, I will have quite a few books to blog about as the summer progresses, and beyond. 

Considering that I'm supposed to be reading for my independent study in the fall, and working on my thesis, I don't exactly know when I will read all of these books. I don't really know what I was thinking while I was plucking books from the shelf. All I know is that I walked out of there with a tote bag that says "Wild-Eyed Bibliomaniac" on the side, thinking that the description fits me perfectly.

Sin in the Second City

So, a few months ago, I started reading Karen Abbott's Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. 

It's a history of the brothels and the battle against vice in Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century. It's pretty fantastic and contains little gems such as the following.

Minna and Ada Everleigh, two of Chicago's most notorious madams, discouraged excessive gambling in their house because men became more interested in gambling than the harlots. Karen Abbot provides this quote from Minna:

"I have watched men, embraced in the arms of the most bewitching sirens in our Club, dump their feminine flesh from their laps for a roll of the dice. If it wasn't unmanly to admit it, they'd rather most of the time gamble than screw." 

And, Abbott later details a lecture series that spoke out against vice, with lecture titles such as:

"The Relation Between Modern Social Vice and Ancient Sex Worship"

"How to Elevate the Home Life"

"The Influence of Diet Upon Character"

 And, a quote from Dr. Mary Wood-Allen of Ann Arbor condemning the press for "lowering the tone of the human race by ridiculing the sacred process of wooing."

It is also in the Everleigh Club that the trend of drinking champagne from a slipper started, and where the term, "Getting laid" came from. Men used to say they were "getting Everleighed" that night. 

Abbott presents the factual events regarding Chicago's salacious history in an engaging way. 

More on the book as I continue to read it. 

Terry Pratchett

Some of you know that I read and love Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. 

I have just finished reading the third and final (so far) book in the Tiffany Aching Adventures, which is entitled Wintersmith.  I can't praise this novel, or the other Tiffany Aching Adventures, Wee Free Men, and Hat Full of Sky enough. They are fantastic! 

This trilogy is presented as juvenile fiction, and, while there is nothing wrong with reading juvie fiction (I find novels that I enjoy all the time in juvie section) presenting books as such can often give the impression that they aren't worth the time of adults. While the main character, Tiffany, is a child when the first book starts, and a teenager by the end, the books are great reads for adults and the humor could possibly be lost on younger readers, especially those that aren't familiar with British humor.

All of Pratchett's work is satire at its best; he is British, so if you don't like British humor, these may not be the books for you. 

Also, when foraying into Discworld for the first time, you need to be careful about what you read first. Starting with the wrong book could turn you off of the entire series, and that would be a shame. Don't try to read the books in order. I recommend Hogfather for a first experience, or Reaper Man, as it focuses on Death, one of Pratchett's best characters. 

I don't want to give too much away regarding Tiffany's adventures. However, I think that it suffices to tell you that, accompanying her on her adventures, are the Nac Mac Feegles, also known as the Wee Free Men. They are small blue men, pictsies, to be exact. And no, that isn't a spelling error. They aren't pixies, but pictsies, little blue men in kilts that would rather be fighting or drinking than anything else. 

Happy reading!

First Entry

For quite some time, several of my friends have been teasing me about creating a reading list of books I recommend. These suggestions usually come about when we're walking through bookstores and I stop every two feet, pick up a book and say, "You should read this, it's so great!" Whether these suggestions were made in earnest, or just as a way to get me out of the bookstore, I can't be sure. Nevertheless, I am taking the suggestion seriously. I'm going to blog about the things I have read and am currently reading. 

Comments and feedback will be welcome!