tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post6679714443468327431..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Max Beerbohm's Zuleika Dobson - I collect ferns.Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-14173901278497363612018-12-17T10:12:44.471-06:002018-12-17T10:12:44.471-06:00The appearance of the sculptures in my Beerbohm qu...The appearance of the sculptures in my Beerbohm quote is just a coincidence, I guess, but it fits perfectly with the caryatid motif of <i>Petersburg</i>. In Beerbohm, it is less of a motif than a running joke.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39256377114613796172018-12-17T08:38:24.095-06:002018-12-17T08:38:24.095-06:00I suppose the in Russian the Symbolist novelists h...<i>I suppose the in Russian the Symbolist novelists have some resemblance to Beerbohm.</i><br /><br />When I read that first passage you quoted my immediate reaction was that it could have come straight out of Bely's <i>Petersburg</i> (with appropriate nouns substituted for "don" and "Blackwell’s").<br /><br />And if you get to England you must of course visit Blackwell’s; it was one of the highlights of my own trip (almost a half century ago, yikes).Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-88247596626894380912018-12-16T22:49:36.876-06:002018-12-16T22:49:36.876-06:00Man, I gotta get to England sometime.Man, I gotta get to England sometime.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-16000002576948911752018-12-16T13:58:19.574-06:002018-12-16T13:58:19.574-06:00Sorry, consulting my imperfect memory, I find that...Sorry, consulting my imperfect memory, I find that's not that right picture. it's the heads on the pillars on this. It was I was thinking but my confused by the lack of good photographs on google.<br /><br />https://d2v9y0dukr6mq2.cloudfront.net/video/thumbnail/GP7zpyx/sheldonian-theatre-oxford-england_nyuan_t2__F0000.png<br /><br />Last time i was there i went to the new Bodleian library next to blackwells. It has a first folio of Shakespeare, original king James Bible, earliest copy of anything by Plato, and Kafka's exercise book in which he wrote Metamorphosis (was in loan). Exercise book not greatly impressive.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-34269136431072043162018-12-15T09:33:39.557-06:002018-12-15T09:33:39.557-06:00I see that they may not be Emperors. That is an i...I see that they may not be Emperors. That is an interpretation. In the novel, of course, they are the <i>actual</i> Roman Emperors, doing penance for their crimes against humanity; for them, Oxford is Purgatory, if not Hell.<br /><br />Oxford sounds awfully nice to me. I hope to see it someday.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-29791285214624760222018-12-15T05:12:32.785-06:002018-12-15T05:12:32.785-06:00This is the view coming out of blackwells. I suppo...This is the view coming out of blackwells. I suppose growing up round there I take it all for granted, never noticed the emperors. Many years since I read the book.<br /><br />https//goo.gl/images/vC1jUdobookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-22745064978563289192018-12-14T11:08:37.803-06:002018-12-14T11:08:37.803-06:00It is a fine fantasy life. Just to have Zuleika D...It is a fine fantasy life. Just to have Zuleika Dobson's French maid:<br /><br />"Alert, unerring, like a swallow she dipped and darted. Nothing escaped her, and she never rested. She had the air of the born unpacker--swift and firm, yet withal tender... She was one of those who are born to make chaos cosmic." (Ch. 2)<br /><br />Although making chaos cosmic also describes, for this novel, Max Beerbohm.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3033678602235508352018-12-14T10:57:38.818-06:002018-12-14T10:57:38.818-06:00"A femme fatale at Oxford" is pretty muc..."A femme fatale at Oxford" is pretty much my fantasy life (OK, not exactly, but...) so I guess I should put this on on my to-read list.Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-63798035234969713672018-12-14T09:32:03.196-06:002018-12-14T09:32:03.196-06:00It is a book where How It Ends is an essential, al...It is a book where How It Ends is an essential, almost the defining, part of What It Is.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-56155475334046499212018-12-14T09:29:08.094-06:002018-12-14T09:29:08.094-06:00No, I don't know how it ends! (And please don&...No, I don't know how it ends! (And please don't tell me!) I have no idea why <i>Zuleika</i> didn't hit me back then but these things do happen. Your post makes me want to try it again. Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85990011603341177952018-12-14T09:13:00.067-06:002018-12-14T09:13:00.067-06:00"most" - I hope you know how it ends. T..."most" - I hope you know how it ends. That is worth knowing.<br /><br />I have an ambitious plan to mix <i>Zuleika</i> in with some of its contemporaries and write about the intellectual context. There is some sense here, however well hidden. Or if not sense at least some clear positioning.<br /><br />I suppose the in Russian the Symbolist novelists have some resemblance to Beerbohm. There is a description of Zuleika's traveling mirror that I was tempted to include, along with her library, which consists of two books, both jewel-encrusted railway timetables.<br /><br />Visual, decorative, baroque writers.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-62142394963740561202018-12-14T08:04:19.543-06:002018-12-14T08:04:19.543-06:00Thank you for the anchovy escape, Amateur Reader (...Thank you for the anchovy escape, Amateur Reader (Tom)! I'm not sure why, but <i>Zuleika Dobson</i> and I didn't hit it off when I read most of the book some years ago. I notice its sad spine on the shelf every now and then, and think I should try giving the book another go. Hmm. Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.com