tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4553418270101292828..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: One good book, at least, in the literature of the year 1865!Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32248279481730679922015-12-21T09:59:54.154-06:002015-12-21T09:59:54.154-06:00Thanks for the recommendation - let's see if I...Thanks for the recommendation - let's see if I remember to get something by Chattapadhyay on my next university library run.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-44879409323054297902015-12-21T03:50:16.551-06:002015-12-21T03:50:16.551-06:00As for Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay - Chattapadhya...As for Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay - Chattapadhyay is an alternative form of Chatterjee (you can see why we chose Chatterjee: even that is hard to spell out over the phone!) but, as far as I know, he is no relation.<br /><br />As a novelist, he was heavily influenced, as were many European authors, by Scott, and mostly wrote historical romances. Far more interesting (for me, at any rate) are his satires, which display a very eccentric, almost Gogolian kind of humour. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74748953727777719632015-12-20T21:07:21.969-06:002015-12-20T21:07:21.969-06:00Nothing quite like them - I sure agree with that. ...Nothing quite like them - I sure agree with that. They really are quite old books now.<br /><br />Oh right, serialized <i>War and Peace</i>. Yes, that's another big one.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-82119967518515720282015-12-20T13:28:01.909-06:002015-12-20T13:28:01.909-06:00Another biggie: in 1865, Tolstoy began publishing ...Another biggie: in 1865, Tolstoy began publishing <i>War and Peace</i>, under the title "1805" (Part 1 was published in the Jan.-Feb. issue of <i>Russkii vestnik</i>).Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61923735267581033652015-12-20T11:28:03.510-06:002015-12-20T11:28:03.510-06:00It always brings me up a bit short to find both Al...It always brings me up a bit short to find both Alice and Dickens appear so early in the 19th century. The Alice books, like the works of Dickens, really stand alone. There's nothing quite like them, though many have tried.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-37714673561256055102015-12-19T23:35:37.065-06:002015-12-19T23:35:37.065-06:00And a subscription to Wuthering Expectations, too!...And a subscription to Wuthering Expectations, too!Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-79942625262971602682015-12-19T22:12:07.795-06:002015-12-19T22:12:07.795-06:00Prudhomme's "lofty idealism" was in ...Prudhomme's "<a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1901/prudhomme-facts.html" rel="nofollow">lofty idealism</a>" was in fact noted in his Nobel citation.<br /><br />I think something similar every fall, as people speculate on the prize as if it were a recognition of the "greatest living writer," when it clearly is not, even if once in a while it is by coincidence.<br />Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-22960113583814411192015-12-19T21:55:56.643-06:002015-12-19T21:55:56.643-06:00Cleanthess's alternative candidates - Ibsen, T...Cleanthess's alternative candidates - Ibsen, Tolstoi, Henry James - aren't noteworthy poets, I'd agree, but Nobel's requirements mean that the prize should have nothing to do with the quality of their writings as writings. In fact, if we take what he said literally, it was William James, not Henry, who should have won the prize.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39386651810848300272015-12-19T17:08:45.385-06:002015-12-19T17:08:45.385-06:00Every child should have a nice edition of Alice.Every child should have a nice edition of <i>Alice</i>.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57486546539157526612015-12-19T17:08:18.292-06:002015-12-19T17:08:18.292-06:00I took "greatest poet" as tongue in chee...I took "greatest poet" as tongue in cheek. But I could be wrong.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-45147865508620989702015-12-19T15:22:16.943-06:002015-12-19T15:22:16.943-06:00But the Nobel Prize isn't awarded to "the...But the Nobel Prize isn't awarded to "the greatest poet in the world" or the greatest writer of any kind but to "den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning", which Mr Google translates as "that which in literature has produced the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". It's perfectly possible Sully Prudhomme fulfilled those requirements, though I can't see how Kipling qualified a few years later.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28516258302348606412015-12-19T01:54:59.538-06:002015-12-19T01:54:59.538-06:00I just yesterday picked out a nice edition of Alic...I just yesterday picked out a nice edition of <i>Alice</i> for my twelve year old goddaughter. Naturally, the present comes with a free subscription to Wuthering Expectations.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-84113438646853082992015-12-18T22:37:25.436-06:002015-12-18T22:37:25.436-06:00All right, that Prudhomme poem is very pretty in F...All right, that Prudhomme poem is very pretty in French. I'd never read him.<br /><br />I rarely find Trollope to be in the first rank artistically, as much as I enjoy him, but I am happy to grant the point. A big year.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75017118316740253642015-12-18T21:28:17.535-06:002015-12-18T21:28:17.535-06:00When the very first Nobel Prize for literature was...When the very first Nobel Prize for literature was about to be awarded, the Academy decided to ignore writers like Ibsen, Tolstoi, Henry James, etc. They knew full well who the greatest poet in the world was: Sully Prudhomme, and one of his most famous poems was published on his 1865 collection, Stances et Poemes: The Eyes/Les Jeux.<br /><br />Blue or black, all beloved, all fair, <br />open to some immense dawn,<br />on the other side of the grave<br />the eyes that we close still see. <br /><br />(Full translation can be found here: http://www.consolatio.com/2005/11/eyes.htm)<br /><br />Bleus ou noirs, tous aimés, tous beaux, <br />Des yeux sans nombre ont vu l’aurore ; <br />Ils dorment au fond des tombeaux, <br />Et le soleil se lève encore. <br /><br />Les nuits, plus douces que les jours, <br />Ont enchanté des yeux sans nombre ;<br /> Les étoiles brillent toujours, <br />Et les yeux se sont remplis d’ombre. <br /><br />Oh ! qu’ils aient perdu le regard, <br />Non, non, cela n’est pas possible ! <br />Ils se sont tournés quelque part <br />Vers ce qu’on nomme l’invisible ;<br /> <br />Et comme les astres penchants <br />Nous quittent, mais au ciel demeurent, <br />Les prunelles ont leurs couchants, <br />Mais il n’est pas vrai qu’elles meurent. <br /><br />Bleus ou noirs, tous aimés, tous beaux, <br />Ouverts à quelque immense aurore,<br /> De l’autre côté des tombeaux <br />Les yeux qu’on ferme voient encore.Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86644251514305494462015-12-18T17:53:34.365-06:002015-12-18T17:53:34.365-06:00It would be a great year for literature if only fo...It would be a great year for literature if only for Trollope! Can You Forgive Her? is really good. Love the Alice quotes and illustrations!Karen K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13483190930383406559noreply@blogger.com