Monday, August 3, 2009

Wuthering Expectations is kicking back

Wuthering Expectations will be on vacation until, oh, I don't know, August 18th. Or 19th. It's summer, and I've thrown caution to the very winds. We will be wandering about the United States, visiting babies, and perhaps other people.

I suppose a computer will be available now and then, I can still respond to comments, correct errors, suggest recipes, and so on.

If a Chinese poem or two suddenly shows up, that means I scheduled something in advance.

My great regret about going on vacation now is that it curtails my participation in the Villette discussion at The Valve. I regret this because I will be unable to propound my new crackpot theory, that the novel has not one but two imaginary authors, that it's collaborative. Lucy Snowe puts pen to paper, but parts of the novel are dictated to her by someone else.

Now I need to reread the book and decide which author is responsible for which part. See Chapter 33; search for "dictation." This theory requires a certain spin on the novel's ending. And its beginning. Also, the parts in the middle. But it is consistent with the crackpot theory that the main characters are secretly Jewish, so that's a plus.

Villette lends itself to this nonsense. Here's how Lucy describes her own approach to art, in Chapter 19: "Meantime, I was happy; happy, not always in admiring, but in examining, questioning, and forming conclusions."

Have a nice summer. Read some good books.

11 comments:

  1. Enjoy your holiday and travels and any books you drag along with you!

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  2. Have an excellent vacation! I'll look forward to your post-return posts.

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  3. Enjoy your vacation! And maybe when you get back I'll have made some real progress.

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  4. Have a great holiday! I will obey your instructions and read.

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  5. I just completed Villette (and linked to your post in my post)-I think for sure parts of it-especially part one in the sections devoted to Mrs Beck's School are a total master work (better than Jane Eyre)-I am not yet at peace with the Gothic elements of the novel, the mysterious Nun etc-it seems a bit contrived-the ending is strange enough to make me wonder about the two narrators issue you brought up-will read with great interest your expansion of this notion-I think Villette really requires at least two readings to begin to see the structure of the work-1st time for plot language second time to see the structure-just my opinion-

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  6. The nun seemed a bit contrived! No, sorry - completely contrived! The question is, contrived by whom, and for what purpose?

    I'm not serious about that two narrator business. Not too serious. I have a better idea, though. Ah, but it would be so much work.

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  7. To really dig into this novel would be a lot of work but it might be a lot of fun but for the fore see able future my reading dance card is to full to undertake it-in a few months I would be interested in a group read of the work-I do think there are for sure secrets below the surface

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  8. The work is in the secondary reading. And the two novels I would have to read and would rather skip . I assume that The Professor is terrible and Shirley dull. They're probably better than I expect. But there's still the spade-work.

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  9. I was reading your posts on Villette earlier this week, and then stumbled on this paragraph today from a review of a new Charlotte Brontë biography. It seems to support your theory (which I selfishly hope you revisit some day:

    "At fourteen, Brontë imagined one of her characters panicking that he might not be real, that someone had dreamed him up. She thrilled, Harman reveals, at ‘having this adult man in her mind muse on her when he senses the distant power or influence that has brought him into being, but that he can’t imagine is simply a fourteen-year-old girl bending over a tiny scrap of paper in a cold room in Yorkshire’. "

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  10. I hope to revisit the idea, too. I will drag in Jane Eyre. Thanks for the reminder. And thanks for that great quotation, wow.

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