4. The Wasteland 5.Female Chauvanist Pigs 6.Howl's Moving Castle 7.The Alchymist's Cat 8.Jekyl/Hyde
The Waste Land- TS. Eliot
My favourite set text of this term, most definately. Of course, I'd only read it after hearing it hailed as the cornerstone of Modernism literature in lectures. And, it was towards an essay, so I'm afraid my focus fell mostly on the second part of the poem. Nonetheless, this was hugely overwhelming for me, the kind of literature which I feared reading at university: where it's best to have read at least 10 other books in order to understand it properly. Reading it through six times hasn't got me much further to understanding it completely, but what I do understand, I think is so important, and beautiful.
I find it hard to know what to write about Eliot: he's infamous and so thoroughly discussed, but I've tried nonetheless. I actually adore the density and the allusion, and I'm at a loss to pick my favourite, perhaps the section with Tiresias watching the receptionist and her lover. Things I thought I would dislike (the manic repition, the lack of formal structure in some sections, the borrowings and pastiches, the bleak world view) I actually found myself noting and appreciating, and grinning if I actually did get a reference.
I think the difference, for me, between Eliot and Joyce, is that Eliot is less dense, less overwhelming. I still cannot get to grips with Joyce's way of writing, despite writing an essay on The Sirens chapter of Ulysess. Still, as a first year undergraduate, I refuse to beat myself up over it.
Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy
I think it's in 1984 that [presumably] Winston says something like the best books are the ones which tell you what you know already.
How true of this book: I've intended to read it for a while, having started flicking through it in a Media lesson two years ago, and getting endless amounts of flack for being a "dyke". It depresses me that this was a school intended for the bright students, and yet feminism and lesbianism in one form go hand in hand. At any rate, this book is subtitled: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture and looks at what has prompted a lot of women to consider that objectifying themselves is a form of empowerment, and it's a concept I've often stuggled with myself.
The concept it interesting, and Levy does so through quotation, through interview and observation of girls in Florida during spring break, or lesbian woman who term themselves 'bois', emulating men as far as they can. However, Levy does have a tendency to change registers quite suddenly, which is a little jarring, and sometimes dashes off into not-very-effective rhetoric. Nonetheless, finding an articulation for ideas I've had for a while was useful, as well as the chapter on feminist history. I think I want to tackle The Female Eunich next.
Howl's Moving Castle - Diane Wynne Jones
Yes, yes, at last. I've owned the film since the first day it came out on DVD and adored it probably more than is healthy for someone my age. I think that's the only thing I can hold against the book, because it's a fantastically written children's book. I just got very uncomfortable when I finally found out exactly where Howl's black door leads. Being objective, the characters are more well-rounded, in particular Cacifer and Sophie, and the relationship between Sophie and Howl is more complex. The only thing lacking, I think is the ending, which feels quite rushed, as though tying up too many loose ends at once.
The Alchymists Cat - Robert Jarvis
This was bought on a recent day trip to Hay-on-Wye, because I have such a strong memory of reading it when I was about 12 or so. (Yes, it's true: all this reading of dense, difficult prose, while rewarding, makes part of me long for the sugar-filled hit that is children's literature. I suck.) Verdict? This one was probably best left in the past: set in the 1660's, the time period is well written, as much as it can be without going into huge historical detail, and the onset of the Black Death is still grisly. But the main problem comes in the dialogue: Jarvis tries so hard to write in early modern english, but is entirely hit or miss. In particular, his attempts to write aristocratic characters are slightly painful to read now. The character development is minimal and pretty predictable, and the ending too neat for my liking.
It's like the literary equivalent of the feeling at the end of Halloween night when your tummy starts to hurt and you wish you hadn't had that last Twix.
The Stange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
This book, for me, is interesting more on a theoretical basis than for what is actually written. I feel that way about most Gothic Literature, but it doesn't mean I like it any less. It may partly be because quite a few texts are so engrained in our consciousness and have wandered so far from what they originally were that the more temperate original is never entirely expected. Despite this, the structure of the short story, as well as the idea of degeneration, darwinism and class standing is something I think I'd actually pick up and read again if I had a short journey ahead of me.
___________________________________
I'm not going to count Dorian Gray since it's a re-read, or the 4 criticism books I've read, because I dipped in and out of them.
My favourite set text of this term, most definately. Of course, I'd only read it after hearing it hailed as the cornerstone of Modernism literature in lectures. And, it was towards an essay, so I'm afraid my focus fell mostly on the second part of the poem. Nonetheless, this was hugely overwhelming for me, the kind of literature which I feared reading at university: where it's best to have read at least 10 other books in order to understand it properly. Reading it through six times hasn't got me much further to understanding it completely, but what I do understand, I think is so important, and beautiful.
I find it hard to know what to write about Eliot: he's infamous and so thoroughly discussed, but I've tried nonetheless. I actually adore the density and the allusion, and I'm at a loss to pick my favourite, perhaps the section with Tiresias watching the receptionist and her lover. Things I thought I would dislike (the manic repition, the lack of formal structure in some sections, the borrowings and pastiches, the bleak world view) I actually found myself noting and appreciating, and grinning if I actually did get a reference.
I think the difference, for me, between Eliot and Joyce, is that Eliot is less dense, less overwhelming. I still cannot get to grips with Joyce's way of writing, despite writing an essay on The Sirens chapter of Ulysess. Still, as a first year undergraduate, I refuse to beat myself up over it.
Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy
I think it's in 1984 that [presumably] Winston says something like the best books are the ones which tell you what you know already.
How true of this book: I've intended to read it for a while, having started flicking through it in a Media lesson two years ago, and getting endless amounts of flack for being a "dyke". It depresses me that this was a school intended for the bright students, and yet feminism and lesbianism in one form go hand in hand. At any rate, this book is subtitled: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture and looks at what has prompted a lot of women to consider that objectifying themselves is a form of empowerment, and it's a concept I've often stuggled with myself.
The concept it interesting, and Levy does so through quotation, through interview and observation of girls in Florida during spring break, or lesbian woman who term themselves 'bois', emulating men as far as they can. However, Levy does have a tendency to change registers quite suddenly, which is a little jarring, and sometimes dashes off into not-very-effective rhetoric. Nonetheless, finding an articulation for ideas I've had for a while was useful, as well as the chapter on feminist history. I think I want to tackle The Female Eunich next.
Howl's Moving Castle - Diane Wynne Jones
Yes, yes, at last. I've owned the film since the first day it came out on DVD and adored it probably more than is healthy for someone my age. I think that's the only thing I can hold against the book, because it's a fantastically written children's book. I just got very uncomfortable when I finally found out exactly where Howl's black door leads. Being objective, the characters are more well-rounded, in particular Cacifer and Sophie, and the relationship between Sophie and Howl is more complex. The only thing lacking, I think is the ending, which feels quite rushed, as though tying up too many loose ends at once.
The Alchymists Cat - Robert Jarvis
This was bought on a recent day trip to Hay-on-Wye, because I have such a strong memory of reading it when I was about 12 or so. (Yes, it's true: all this reading of dense, difficult prose, while rewarding, makes part of me long for the sugar-filled hit that is children's literature. I suck.) Verdict? This one was probably best left in the past: set in the 1660's, the time period is well written, as much as it can be without going into huge historical detail, and the onset of the Black Death is still grisly. But the main problem comes in the dialogue: Jarvis tries so hard to write in early modern english, but is entirely hit or miss. In particular, his attempts to write aristocratic characters are slightly painful to read now. The character development is minimal and pretty predictable, and the ending too neat for my liking.
It's like the literary equivalent of the feeling at the end of Halloween night when your tummy starts to hurt and you wish you hadn't had that last Twix.
The Stange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
This book, for me, is interesting more on a theoretical basis than for what is actually written. I feel that way about most Gothic Literature, but it doesn't mean I like it any less. It may partly be because quite a few texts are so engrained in our consciousness and have wandered so far from what they originally were that the more temperate original is never entirely expected. Despite this, the structure of the short story, as well as the idea of degeneration, darwinism and class standing is something I think I'd actually pick up and read again if I had a short journey ahead of me.
___________________________________
I'm not going to count Dorian Gray since it's a re-read, or the 4 criticism books I've read, because I dipped in and out of them.