tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post1391322992991977038..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: You have learnt to talk nonsense seriously - deconstructing The MoonstoneAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60536837291957907042014-09-10T16:00:21.675-05:002014-09-10T16:00:21.675-05:00The doth-protest-too-much mode!The doth-protest-too-much mode!Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28636404991601973472014-09-10T07:59:49.961-05:002014-09-10T07:59:49.961-05:00"Declare," "attempt" - those a..."Declare," "attempt" - those are the right words. Betteredge makes Blake into something different. It is very promising. And then when Blake takes over the narration himself, he falls back into the usual hero business, with the exception of a couple of passages which he uses to argue with Betteredge about how different he is! No, Blake insists, not me, I'm a regular fellow, all English.<br /><br />Thus, more clues that he is hiding something. Betteredge's perceptions are right.<br /><br />Ha ha ha ha!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-14552255932320834262014-09-10T07:36:35.866-05:002014-09-10T07:36:35.866-05:00Actually, Collins goes to some trouble--maybe you&...Actually, Collins goes to some trouble--maybe you've already talked about this (shall look!)--to declare how different Franklin Blake is from others of his usual-Victorian-hero kind because of his mixed-up education. So he attempted to make an acceptably-different (proper class and so forth, but colored by his many non-English residences) character of him. It does make him appear whimsical and unsteady to Betteredge. So I think the creation of Franklin Blake is an attempt to break free from the conventional.<br /><br />I love that reading of the book with Blake as successful purloiner (super-successful, as he redeems himself in the eyes of all), but it seems a reading that we could not find until fairly recently. On the other hand, think of Wilkie Collins and the juggling act of having two partners and families--the strangeness of keeping a great, sinful secret and fooling everyone by being two things! There's a parallel. I can see Collins enjoying his little book-secret as well...<br /><br />I adore Gabriel Betteredge. Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-36290285521302790062014-08-31T22:02:00.128-05:002014-08-31T22:02:00.128-05:00Your explanation is a good one. Lack of inspirati...Your explanation is a good one. Lack of inspiration is possible. Or a failure to imagine an alternative to the kinds of heroes and heroines so common in Victorian novels. A genius on the level of Dickens had trouble with this.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-89625884543566668832014-08-31T17:27:32.202-05:002014-08-31T17:27:32.202-05:00"That is such a good question!"
It real..."That is such a good question!"<br /><br />It really is. Perhaps he felt the need to balance the quirkiness with normalcy. Too much weirdness and it becomes insipid; the calmer bits heighten the stranger ones?LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.com