tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post6724568802150074938..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: the lines have the value of color - a Wharton short story rummageAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-56142227568059035122016-03-03T08:35:49.122-06:002016-03-03T08:35:49.122-06:00What? You sense wrong. I'm agreeing with you!...What? You sense wrong. I'm agreeing with you! The history of American short story writing is incredible.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77015098221210734462016-03-03T08:24:22.547-06:002016-03-03T08:24:22.547-06:00Why do I sense that I've just been patronized ...Why do I sense that I've just been patronized and/or insulted? Hmmm. But it could be simply my inability to accurately "read" tone and intent in Blogger comments.RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39256744769919806882016-03-02T21:40:13.443-06:002016-03-02T21:40:13.443-06:00Yes, the run of great American story writers, from...Yes, the run of great American story writers, from oh let's say Washington Irving through John Keene, who I will bet wrote the best American book of short stories published in 2015, is absolutely amazing.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3001730926315032622016-03-02T17:04:44.055-06:002016-03-02T17:04:44.055-06:00Aside: I think short stories from the golden age o...Aside: I think short stories from the golden age of short story publication offer readers some of the best reading pleasures, especially for "short attention span" old goats like me; for example, I would rather skip the novels and read the short stories of such diverse writers as Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Crane, James, Cather, Wharton, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and others. RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-71033278019571756612016-03-02T08:17:24.964-06:002016-03-02T08:17:24.964-06:00I have been needing a goad to read Wildfell Hall. ...I have been needing a goad to read <i>Wildfell Hall</i>. I will see what I can do. There will be no brooding, though. No brooding at Wuthering Expectations, just jolly laughter.<br /><br />Good luck with the event, regardless.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-27185671026614123462016-03-02T07:45:53.031-06:002016-03-02T07:45:53.031-06:00Haven't read this book but wanted to say hello...Haven't read this book but wanted to say hello! I just wondered if you'd seen my <a href="http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2016/03/announcement-brooding-about-the-brontes.html" rel="nofollow">Brooding about the Brontes event</a> which is happening in April, it would be great if you could participate! Girl with her Head in a Bookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09315711619539841792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-42190311014052588392016-03-01T11:28:28.312-06:002016-03-01T11:28:28.312-06:00Yes, there is a Europe-absorption phase in America...Yes, there is a Europe-absorption phase in American literature at that time, more obvious - much more obvious and fast-moving - in poetry but present in fiction, too.<br /><br />Stephen Crane was an exception, more original. Charles Chesnutt's "Uncle Julius" stories - published as a book in this same year, 1899 - were exceptions. Not that I am complaining. Kate Chopin's <i>The Awakening</i> (1899!) is Americanized Flaubert, and my only criticism is to ask what took American writers so long.<br /><br />The end of "The Rembrandt" is ridiculous, but it has plenty of good bits along the way. "The Muse's Tragedy" is better. I read it long ago in a <i>Norton Anthology of the Short Story</i>, without enough knowledge of James to see what she was doing with him.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74213181623869445002016-03-01T10:59:49.770-06:002016-03-01T10:59:49.770-06:00"The Rembrandt" is pretty good, though i..."The Rembrandt" is pretty good, though it has almost an O. Henry ending. A lot of Wharton's stories seem to have a twist ending, which I guess as a modern reader I see coming from too far away. I'm being awfully hard on Wharton, but there is plenty of good stuff in her stories (at least the ones I've read). Her beginnings are--as you point out--very propulsive and direct, and her middles are often just great. I'll have to find "The Muse’s Tragedy." That one looks pretty fine.<br /><br />I think American fiction was going through an awkward stage around the turn of the century. Growing up fast but not really knowing what to do with itself. Lagging behind European fiction, maybe. Certainly not as good as Russian fiction of the time.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.com