tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post2257072579532908189..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: A semi-barbarian in a civilized community - Thomas Love Peacock mocks what he lovesAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-78122752872759350562011-05-19T09:43:07.775-05:002011-05-19T09:43:07.775-05:00The poem or book as arrow or axe metaphor is somet...The poem or book as arrow or axe metaphor is something I wrote about in <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2008/10/poems-as-arrows-and-axes-it-fell-to.html" rel="nofollow">this antique post</a>.<br /><br />"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."<br /><br />That's Kafka. Kinda grisly.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-64141062349648902052011-05-19T00:04:34.297-05:002011-05-19T00:04:34.297-05:00Longfellow would skewer you with an arrow in a New...Longfellow would skewer you with an arrow in a New York minute (Hiawatha!) but isn't it Dostoevsky who would hit you with an axe?<br /><br />The mixture of folksy regionalism and elevated dang discourse has its own long tradition, natch.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87452601592660082011-05-18T22:26:38.336-05:002011-05-18T22:26:38.336-05:00Oh, you're doing your part. That's a good...Oh, you're doing your part. That's a good, violent tag, like Kafka hitting me with an axe or Longfellow skewering me with an arrow.<br /><br />The hope, by the way, is that the authentic folksy regionalism undercuts the pretentious twaddle.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-413062869263519072011-05-18T21:43:13.976-05:002011-05-18T21:43:13.976-05:00I'm tired of "live mines and duds" a...I'm tired of "live mines and duds" as a tag line for my blog. (Comes from Annie Dillard, by the way.) I think I'll change it to "elevating the dang discourse since 2008."<br /><br />Or, you know, maybe I'll wait until I do.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61777509909160856672011-05-18T16:07:51.864-05:002011-05-18T16:07:51.864-05:00Bound to Please, let me inspect that one. Hmm hmm ...<i>Bound to Please</i>, let me inspect that one. Hmm hmm hmm. I'm skeptical about the value of reading all of those big biographies, but Dirda's reviews of the bios presumably lead the attentive reader to the right places.<br /><br />Yes, more people should follow him, many more people. Elevate the dang discourse in book blog land.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-18484000979662134082011-05-18T14:36:40.552-05:002011-05-18T14:36:40.552-05:00Well, I am, though I started with Bound to Please ...Well, I am, though I started with Bound to Please (equally good, and where I found John Crowley, among many others.) More people should, though. I find Dirda's recommendations pretty reliable for my own taste. Hence my anticipation of enjoying Peacock.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58396434561141804072011-05-17T14:57:30.350-05:002011-05-17T14:57:30.350-05:00Ah, Dirda champions Peacock. Good.
I'm using...Ah, Dirda champions Peacock. Good.<br /><br />I'm using Amazon to look at the table of contents of <i>Classics for Pleasure</i>. Apparently almost no one with a book blog is following Dirda's advice. I see name after wonderful name, writers I almost never see on book blogs.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74853456099996859512011-05-17T12:05:38.258-05:002011-05-17T12:05:38.258-05:00That's the proposal story of someone who *real...That's the proposal story of someone who *really* likes to think things over.<br /><br />I am reading Peacock on Michael Dirda's recommendation. (He calls himself a pavonine connoisseur; nice formulation.) Much-read and well-remembered, I dunno, but I'll get in line, at least.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91978449460625178222011-05-17T09:58:43.678-05:002011-05-17T09:58:43.678-05:00mel - That is definitely not a list I would look o...mel - That is definitely <i>not</i> a list I would look over for reading ideas, unless I were planning to follow Anna's path. There are some <i>bad</i> books on that list.<br /><br />I have come across two book bloggers lately, young people, talking about going on to graduate school, and they do not appear to know about reading lists like this. If someone could somehow gently pass it on to them without crushing their fragile spirits, it would be a kindness.<br /><br />Peacock's proposal story is almost sadder than the story of his death, which is in the Robert Adams introduction.<br /><br />But, yes, small doses. <i>Gryll Grange</i> was a perfect book for a daily ramble. Not a page-turner. Not a "good read," whatever that means. Except that it was a real pleasure <i>to</i> read.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32277860726939605192011-05-17T03:44:03.788-05:002011-05-17T03:44:03.788-05:00Yes, I've read a lot of Thomas Love Peacock to...Yes, I've read a lot of Thomas Love Peacock too - possibly because I like pseudo-philosophical dialogues about nothing much in particular. But all long ago: the last one I read, I think, was Maid Marian - though I don't remember anything about it now. He always seemed an author best read in small doses.<br /><br />I always liked the story of him proposing to his wife: he did it out of the blue, by letter, seven years after he'd last spoken to her.obookihttp://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11363778741897511282011-05-17T03:38:34.605-05:002011-05-17T03:38:34.605-05:00I really liked these lines-
"We therefore de...I really liked these lines-<br /><br />"We therefore deemed it meeter<br />To carry off the latter."<br /><br />I admit it brought a happy smile to me-<br /><br />I looked over the reading list-thanks to Anne and you for sharing it-I have read just a few of the works on there-I read most of the Yale Walpole correspondence (but for the French) about ten years ago-I found the list very interestingMel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28775741812156817802011-05-16T21:28:24.945-05:002011-05-16T21:28:24.945-05:00Anna - I took your list as a data point, a snapsho...Anna - I took your list as a data point, a snapshot of the state of the field. If "The Four Ages of Poetry" is more important than <i>Nightmare Abbey</i>, well, such is academic life.<br /><br />I assume - I don't see how this cannot be true - that <i>Nightmare Abbey</i> is massively better than Bulwer-Lytton and <i>Varney</i>. Better meaning, you know, better written.<br /><br />Best wishes and good luck, by the way. Knock 'em dead!<br /><br />Jenny - <i>Crotchet Castle</i> is fine. That is a strange coincidence, though. Defeats my whole dang premise - Peacock is perhaps much read and well remembered.<br /><br />raych - your school has a little quality control problem there. Did the poor sap ever admit that he had not known that <i>Nightmare Abbey</i> is not really in any way a Gothic novel? Or did he pretend he knew it all along?<br /><br />As for the eleven texts - good for him! No, he should have made you read twelve, or twenty! Get to work, young'uns! Get some reading done. It only gets harder.<br /><br />You've given me something to defend, so thanks. Not funny! Mocking emo kids is a timeless source of humor.<br /><br />Suze - <i>some</i> poetry! Peacock is more of an analytical writer.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-9638867064041823052011-05-16T18:21:32.346-05:002011-05-16T18:21:32.346-05:00This may be because I read Nightmare Abbey immedia...This may be because I read <i>Nightmare Abbey</i> immediately after <i>Northanger Abbey</i> in my ill-advised and poorly-syllabused Gothic Novels Class (it was actually a 16th century British Lit class, which the MA student who taught decided to reformulate as a gothic novels class because that was what he was writing his thesis on and therefore the only thing he knew. Both <i>Nightmare Abbey</i> and <i>Northanger Abbey</i> [and <i>Frankenstein</i> and <i>The Vampyre</i>] were therefore outside the scope of the course. I'm only still bitter because he made us read ELEVEN TEXTS, and gothic novels are mostly quite long and very boring) and it seemed to me that <i>Northanger Abbey</i> was amusing across the board, provided you had a rudimentary knowledge of basic gothic tropes and enjoyed 17th century lit, whereas <i>Nightmare Abbey</i> required an in-depth understanding of the Romantic poets and their foibles (and would therefore have better been placed in a class on said poets) or a wealth of footnotes, and even then wasn't funny.<br /><br />- Still Angry About That Class<br /><br />(I forgot to close a bracket in that first comment and tried to leave it alone and COULDN'T so I had to delete it and try again.)raychhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08321213376462899047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80489054781325056272011-05-16T18:16:34.388-05:002011-05-16T18:16:34.388-05:00Oh snap! Called out for not reading widely enough ...Oh snap! Called out for not reading widely enough in my period! I have Kindle editions of Nightmare Abbey, Gryll Grande and Headlong Hall ready to go. Primary reason for not reading more Peacock? Secondary literature. Comps should be over after this week and I look forward to reading Nightmare Abbey along with other forgotten gems such as Varney the Vampire and Last Days of Pompeii.<br /><br />Keep up the great commentary!Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961332983813359209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6406506985877344282011-05-16T17:46:57.710-05:002011-05-16T17:46:57.710-05:00In a startling coincidence, I'm about to start...In a startling coincidence, I'm about to start Crotchet Castle. Would you recommend starting elsewhere, though?Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48813919980528844822011-05-16T17:24:56.913-05:002011-05-16T17:24:56.913-05:00In a book I recently read about consciousness, the...In a book I recently read about consciousness, the author posits a theory that poetry is the language of the right hemisphere of the brain dominated by the same forces which give us muses, prophets, madness and music.<br /><br />An interesting thing to ponder.Suzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07908805179119217608noreply@blogger.com