tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51883635661748842392024-03-14T00:10:16.254-07:00Frigate to UtopiaLit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-78109276466271436132016-05-07T19:52:00.001-07:002016-05-07T19:52:30.575-07:00Only Hints and Guesses Inspired by T.S. Eliot and the Bhagavad Gita<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->The following post is my penultimate "blog" from this semester's honours class on Paths of Faith and explores how several texts--especially the Bhagavad Gita--combined with T.S. Eliot's <i>Four Quartets</i> to create a powerful experience intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. <br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">We only live<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">In the Midst</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">Only Suspire</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">Of Life we are</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">Consumed by either fire</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">In death</span></i></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%;">Or fire<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 1.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-effects-shadow-align: bottomleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 20.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 1500000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 800400; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.725pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: -30.0%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
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“My words echo / Thus, in your
mind,” says the narrator of T.S. Eliot’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Four
Quartets</i> to me as I read the Bhagavad Gita<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a>.
My mind is an echoing chamber. I discuss the Bhagavad Gita in class for an hour
and walk out a little unsure if my feet touch the ground or some winged thing
will fly out of my mouth. I can feel the echoes flying and bouncing under my
skin, in my mouth. Outside it is spring, the world hoping to be again a garden,
just for this moment in time.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“[E]echoes inhabit the garden… shall we
follow?”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
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One does not necessarily love
something because they understand it. I want to be a scholar (often considered
to be unattached, approaching the text in objective ways) but the reasons that
I have enjoyed the Bhagavad Gita (and the Tao) so much are not precisely
measured planks with which to build an argument or even a theory. I become high
reading these texts because of a tangle of affects and feelings—echoes. Eliot’s
words in my mind spin and scatter everywhere and I love the Bhagavad Gita because
T.S. Eliot first loved it.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
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I wonder: Can I think in a
scholarly manner if I am so… well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">attached</i>
to a text? Perhaps to be fascinated and possessed by a text is itself a form of
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">detachment </i>because the reader opens themselves
to what the text offers, not regarding whether the activity of engagement
brings recognition or visible results. I would like to think I would be writing
this blogpost even if a grade did not depend on it, but I know myself enough to
know that I probably would not be writing a sustained scholarly paper in about
a week if it were not for the grade. However, reading the Bhagavad I think I
could not take on a better motto for the end of term than “You have a right to
your actions, but never to your actions’ fruits. Act for the action’s sake. And
do not be attached to inaction.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> Or
as Eliot says, “For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
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Is this nihilism? Does the idea
found in the Bhagavad Gita of Brahman without attributes or qualities--Unmanifest, “beyond both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is not</i><i>"--</i>mean that life and death are
unimportant?<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a> Krishna’s instruction,
“Therefore you must fight, Arjuna” might seem to disregard the lives of those
slain in battle. Eliot’s exploration of the line (perhaps translated “Fare
forward” in whatever translation he was influenced by) certainly emphasizes
“the time of death [which] is every moment.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a>
Why should the cycle of life and death be nihilistic? This is an issue we in
Scholars began to wrestle with as we contemplated the ‘birth’ and ‘decay’ of
countless species in an evolutionary universe, but perhaps the intensely
Christian Middle Ages also had an understanding of this in the phrase “In the
midst of life we are in death.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a>
The Bhagavad teaches that those only who are not “watching for results” can
“act for the well-being of the whole world.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a>
Perhaps only in utterly giving up claim to one’s own actions can a person act
completely devoid of selfish ambition. Perhaps only in feeling death and life
circulating as a system together can the miracle of life begin to be
apprehended.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But these
are only “hints and guesses, / Hints followed by guesses.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a> I
set out to write this blog on why the overlapping echoes of these texts beating
in my mind feel like joy and love. Instead, I have travelled into darkness and
find words inadequate, cracking, “decay[ing] with imprecision”—incapable of
letting you, reader, into the echoing chamber of my mind.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a>
However, as Eliot says, in the time of waiting—being detached from hope, love,
perhaps even thought—“the darkness shall be the light.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a>
The Bhagavad Gita, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Four Quartets</i> (and
the Tao) are texts alive with paradox, but perhaps that is why they are so
healing. Life is paradoxical and perhaps the only peace is to enter more deeply
into the paradox. Krishna tells Arjuna that, like firewood in flames, “all
actions are turned to ashes in wisdom’s refining flames.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a>
Perhaps the paradox cannot be grasped. Eliot (also quoting Julian of Norwich) concludes:
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
All manner of thing
shall be well</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
When the tongues of
flames are in-folded</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Into the crowned knot
of fire</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
And the fire and the
rose are one.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps the
beauty of that metaphor is enough, both to rest and rejoice in as an
individual, and to act in and explore as a Scholar. <br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
Works
Cited</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
Eliot, T.S. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Four Quartets. Collected Poems 1909-1962. </i>London: Faber and Faber,
1963. Print. 189-223. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
Mitchell, Stephen. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation</i>. New
York: Harmony, 2000. Kindle. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>Here I interface “Little Gidding” IV 212-13 with the phrase “In the midst of
life we are in death.” </div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a>
Note on citations: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Four Quartets</i> is,
obviously, divided into four sections: “Burnt Norton”, “East Coker,” “The Dry
Salvages,” and “Little Gidding.” Ironically, however, each “quartet” in fact
contains 5 sections. Consequently, I will be citing the name of the “quartet”,
number of the section, and then the line number within it, similar to MLA
conventions for a play. The quote in the first line is from “Burnt Norton”
I.14-15. </div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a>
For Eliot, of course, Eden—the lost garden. </div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a>
Line 18.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>
Some of the echoes of the Bhagavad Gita in Four Quartets are explicit
(especially in the opening and closing lines of “The Dry Salvages” III) while
others would require more teasing out. However, the influence of the Bhagavad
Gita on Eliot’s poem is so pervasive that any close reading that fails to take
it into account can hardly be considered comprehensive. Since this is not a
formal essay, I will not be providing a review of the literature. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a>
Kindle locations 433-434</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“East Coker” V. 18</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2.18 or Kindle location 387. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Dry Salvages” III.159</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a>
“Media vita in morte sumus.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wikipedia. </i>12
March 2016. Web. 8 April 2016. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3.25 or Kindle location 515. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The Dry Salvages” IV.
212-213. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Burnt Norton” V. 152.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“East Coker” III 128</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4.37 or Kindle 604.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Little Gidding” V. 256-259. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-76855226564096176922016-03-11T15:59:00.000-08:002016-03-14T00:36:26.955-07:00Reading and Rereading Some of my Former 'Faves'<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Your
‘Fave’ Is Problematic”: Victorians I [Have] [Re]Love[d]<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">That
otherwise ordinary August day almost eight years ago when I first opened <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jane Eyre</i> was my portal into intertextuality,
feminism, and the classics of the Victorian period. True, in contrast to
much of the Western Literary Canon itself, I was little lopsided in favor of
women writers. Yes, I read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vanity Fair</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bleak House</i>, but it was the
Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot whom I most devoured. (But
please don’t ask me about Anne Bronte’s novels now. It’s been a looooooong time
since I’ve read those.) However, I did balance things out a little with my love
for a variety of Victorian poets, especially Robert Browning. I may be the
worst kind of “fan” because I have yet to read “The Ring and the Book,” but
reading “Rabbi Ben Ezra” when I am depressed or repeating “My Last Duchess” on
my walk home from school are things I have done so frequently that they are a
part of my being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Already
as I write I find myself revising, rolling back the tapestry I have constructed
of my story to see that my love affair with the Victorians is actually of
longer duration than eight years. When I was seven or eight I read my first
book about Florence Nightingale and thereafter read probably every book about
her in the Junior/Young Adult section of the Red Deer Library. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/714FEK76WKL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/714FEK76WKL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><u>The cover of <span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><u>one bio<span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><u>graphy of Nightingale I <span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><u>would sometimes read during long baths</u></span></span></u></span></span></u></span></span></u></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">
Looking back, it
amuses me that my fascination with her never led to a desire to be a nurse, but
perhaps that was actually fitting, since in Victorian Literature class this
semester I have been discovering that Nightingale’s talents and passion really
were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> for nursing; rather, her
genius lay in administration and mathematics. Even as a child what fascinated
me about Nightingale was her fraught family dynamics, feelings of frustration
and even monstrousness, and the <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">intensity</span> revealed in her diaries and personal
relationships. Watching a documentary about Nightingale which took a rather revisionist
stance, I learned that she did not actually succeed in lowering the death rate
at Scutari, due to a fatal blind spot about sanitation.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> The BBC documentary is
controversial because of its portrayal of Nightingale as scheming for power
rather than the maternal “Lady with the Lamp” of popular iconography; it is
ironic that a woman who so vociferously fought against the “angel of the house”
stereotype throughout much of her life—perhaps even being a difficult, ornery
killjoy—has been treated to such hagiography.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> However, Nightingale’s troubled
personality and imperfect professional legacy have actually renewed my fascination with her. In “Cassandra”,
her self-identification with the doomed prophetess of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Iliad</i>, her complaint that women are considered to be “by birth a
Tory”—staid and devoted to maintaining an oppressive status quo—and her call
for woman to be able make “a study of what she does,” are at once political and
personal, intellectual and emotional. A closer look at Nightingale’s life and
writings serves as an indictment of Victorian culture’s narrow opportunities
for women. (This feminist strain in her writings, however, did not <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">cause </span>Nightingale <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">to openly align with </span>women's suffrage in its ascendancy during her later <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">years.) </span>Yes, my ‘fave’ <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">may be</span> problematic and it is a shame for Nightingale to
be exalted while women of lower class or women of colour, like Mary Seacole,
were so long largely unknown, but my ‘fave’ still remains a woman who exercised
extraordinary strength in going against her family and culture and asserting herself
as an independent,<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> individual.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Now
I pass to a ‘fave’ who is perhaps less problematic of p<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">ersonality</span> despite being a white male,
but who seemed to delight in writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about</i>
problematic characters. The problematic male narrators of “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">are <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">so chilling <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">only a fellow-sociopath would <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">admire or defend them</span></span></span></span></span>. However, I think
part of the real interest in some of Browning’s other works is his choice to
put inspiring, quasi-religious statements in the mouths of less-than-perfect
characters. For years I’ve loved Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue “Andrea
del Sarto” about the painter who, persuaded by his mercenary wife, defrauds the
king of France and speaks the dramatic monologue mostly in a state of
discouragement, looking back on the “strange” life “God made us lead” (50).<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> His musing that “a man’s reach
should exceed his grasp, / Or what’s a heaven for?” <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">is</span> a stirring, yet
comforting <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">response to balked ambition</span>. In addition, the intense subjectivity of the dramatic
monologue lends itself to sympathy with del Sarto whose wife is so easily
distracted by “the cousin’s whistle”--<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">c</span>ousin</i> here<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> probably <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">meaning <i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">lover</span></i></span></span></span> (267). However, as I was reading an essay
entitled “Blues and Punishment: ‘Fra Lippo Lippi,’ ‘Andrea del Sarto,’ ‘The Heart
Knoweth its own Bitterness,’ and ‘Reflection’,” I was reminded that like so
many other men in Browning’s oeuvre, ‘the flawless painter’ also desires to
control women. The essay’s author notes that del Sarto’s “voice holds Lucrezia
hostage, and in appropriating her as his other half, he subverts her actual
existence as a physical person.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a> She is his muse and he can
only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">suppose</i> “that Lucrezia might
possibly be of the capacity to look back on others.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">As
we begin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Middlemarch</i> I find myself
making comparisons between it and other works we have been reading in class.
Although Dorothea’s “ardent [and] theoretical nature” might elicit comparisons
to Florence Nightingale, Pamela Erens notes that Nightingale herself finished Eliot’s
magnum opus and “was annoyed that Dorothea didn’t devote her post-Casaubon life
to social work.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a>
The novel’s idealistic young doctor, Tertius Lydgate, is another fictional white
guy whom I consider a ‘fave’. However, as with Andrea del Sarto, it is easy to
valorize him and become implicated in objectifying or paternalistic sexism toward
the “spoiled” wife whom he accuses of having “flourished wonderfully on a murdered
man's brains.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a>
Again, the problematic element is not so much in my love for this Victorian
epic, but in the culture of that time <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and
of our own</i> that objectifies women while simultaneously blaming them for
men’s failures. My ‘faves’ are problematic, but exploring these problems and
one’s own problematic assumptions and biases is what makes the discipline of
English worthwhile and relevant. </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>
Your Fave Is Problematic is a tumblr site that documents celebrities’ racist,
sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and ableist words and behavior: <a href="http://yourfaveisproblematic.tumblr.com/">http://yourfaveisproblematic.tumblr.com/</a>
This site and its aims connect to Victorian literature firstly because in the
literature we have read in this class we have seen many of these very issues
displayed, sometimes in more subtle ways like Roseanna Spearman’s “deformity”
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Moonstone </i>seeming
to invite ostracization
and suspicion, but also all too often in the utterly revolting racism of
works like the Mutiny
Ballads. Secondly, although the term “celebrity” may now carry the negative
connotations of prurient tabloid culture, authors and public
intellectual types
may achieve a kind of celebrity status in certain more literary circles,
just
as the two ‘eminent Victorians’ I discuss here both did later in life.
Such an example, of course, might be J.K. Rowling whose stereotypical
view of Native Americans goes beyond "problematic" precisely because she
is so well-respected and influential, as the blogger at Righting Red <a href="https://walkerwrackspurt.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/magic-marginalization-et-tu-jk/" target="_blank">here</a>
explains. I may have to write a follow-up post discussing this issue in
relation to J.K. Rowling and hopefully deconstructing my own biases as I
go. Thank you to Honorat Selonnet for highlighting the above blogger in
class. </div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> I
watched this documentary on Youtube and the details of producer, etc, are not
given: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBVX5s43_Ks">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBVX5s43_Ks</a>
However, I think it is likely this one: Robinson, Jancis, and Clare Beavan.
Florence Nightingale: Iron Maiden. Great Britain: BBC, 2001.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> See,
for example, this article in which one of the documentary’s critics is
consulted: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/8792420/BBC-accused-of-belittling-Florence-Nightingale.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/8792420/BBC-accused-of-belittling-Florence-Nightingale.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/42/675.html">http://www.bartleby.com/42/675.html</a>
</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a> <a href="http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/lippi/freely14.html">http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/lippi/freely14.html</a>
</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/08/08/it-can-be-embarrassing-to-love-dorothea/" target="_blank">http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/08/08/it-can-be-embarrassing-to-love-dorothea/ </a></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5188363566174884239#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a> <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/george_eliot/middlemarch/86/">http://www.online-literature.com/george_eliot/middlemarch/86/</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-57086249184053190302015-08-12T23:22:00.001-07:002015-08-12T23:35:16.546-07:00Review: Tables in the Wilderness: A Memoir of God Found, Lost, and Found Again<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22056398" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Tables in the Wilderness: A Memoir of God Found, Lost, and Found Again" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1399604818m/22056398.jpg" /></a>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22056398">Tables in the Wilderness: A Memoir of God Found, Lost, and Found Again</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4181100">Preston Yancey</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1342853642">4 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
"I have pounded on the door of heaven, screaming shrilly. As if the silence were not the gift; as if I would exchange the restlessness and questions for any soporific peace... I have been selfish and I know it when my mother comes into my room, asking, "Are you blue?" (Depression, displacement, desire deferred--all cram within this colour.) I have thought I could not endure another day at a church where everything rolls on the same. Sitting at my grandma's round table--hedged by parents, grandma, Uncle B, Aunt L, and Aunt R--I have been silent, but I have not touched The Silence. I have been afraid to speak as a cynic and afraid to speak as a hypocrite, so I have been absent. I have tucked in my frayed edges so there is no solitude for others to greet or touch."<br />
<br />
The words above are my own from a diary entry of a couple months ago, but they could well be Preston Yancey's. <i>Tables in the Wilderness</i> dwells mostly in the liminal word of its subtitle; it's the story of how a talented young college student, raised in the happy-clappy assurance of evangelical (Southern Baptist at that) youth culture, lost the voice of God, but later found Him in liturgical churches, scholarship, and more silence. <br />
<br />
Other reviewers have complained about the vagueness of this book. Well, if one expects memoirs to be strong on "plot" or to provide striking characters, then this book is a failure. A brief sketch of Preston's early life as a devote Baptist pastor's son and "youth group" leader is given. The rest of the book meanders through his years as an undergrad at Baylor University and includes its share of young adult friendships and romances gone wrong. Preston and his friends start a church group and its failure precipitates much of his angst. It's nothing impressive or dramatic, coming, as other reviewers have pointed out, from a veeeeeeery young man. The narrative could come across as self-absorbed. However, I'm a very young and self-absorbed woman, so I didn't mind Preston's lack of experience and honesty about his angst. Instead, I read the book almost as a devotional. Indeed, Preston writes, "For anyone feeling like God is silent, this book is for you." <br />
<br />
This book didn't rescue me from all my personal silence--although while I was reading it, I think God did speak. I read it as a kindle, but filled it with highlighting, smiley face notes, questions, exclamations of "oh!", and even prayers. Preston's professors--especially in the honours college and Great Texts major--were the most iridescent "characters", reminding me of the invaluable role professors play in Christian institutions--how much they challenge us when we don't want to be challenged, and then the most sincere of them are often demonized for it, yet maintain patience and humour. The book also made me insanely jealous of the Great Texts major. One conclusion it led me to is that I desperately need to read Marie de France and Plato's Timeaus as soon as possible. Of his university experience Preston writes: "Somewhere between the frenzy of discovery and the patient work of
searching I became a scholar. Being a scholar meant I could ask big
questions and then go searching for the answers. That’s all I had ever
really wanted to do." I also; I also. I appreciate a perspective that can value mystery, aesthetics, and a liturgy of embodiment, but also the work of scholarship, which involves the discipline to "own the perspective of the work... and critique only so far as the text allow[s]...". <br />
<br />
I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and now as I scroll through my notes I am more impressed and challenged by it than ever. Despite the vagueness of narrative and a few minor editing challenges, it will likely reach my top ten list for this year. This review, which I'm writing at 12:15 am, is not sufficient to contain all my responses to this book, so I hope to soon make a blogpost or two utilizing the reading questions provided in the book and continuing to examine how it can continue to challenge me and hopefully others. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1342853642">View all my reviews</a>
Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-56878392344340636002015-07-29T11:38:00.001-07:002015-07-29T11:38:12.214-07:00Review: Surprised by Oxford
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9923943" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388184922m/9923943.jpg" border="0" alt="Surprised by Oxford" /></a>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9923943">Surprised by Oxford</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1246660">Carolyn Weber</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/534324311">4 of 5 stars</a>
<br /><br />
I added this memoir to my TBR list several years ago, writing in my diary that I had come across a book with such promise that I was afraid to read it. The epigraph to chapter one is from John Donne's "Satire III", with the injunction to "doubt wisely". The chapter continues to brilliantly incorporate Donne, as Carolyn tells of her experience as an unbelieving Canadian undergraduate, asking an evangelical professor for his opinion on her paper on Holy Sonnet XIV. With salty language, he challenges her to truly understand the "subtle knot... [of] Donne's spiritual pilgrimage". "The truth is in the paradox," he tells the young agnostic. (Read the first chapter here: <a href="http://www.pressingsave.com/surprised-by-oxford-prologue.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.pressingsave.com/surprised...</a> )<br /><br />It's no secret that I love John Donne almost unreasonably. Add to this the "dreaming spires of Oxford" for setting, and the promise of romance, and this memoir seemed crafted perfectly to inspire and delight me.<br /><br />And it did. Caro, as she is called by her friends, overcomes a broken home and poverty to earn a full scholarship to Oxford. Her poetic memoir is a treasure-trove of literary allusions, quotations, and insights, many of them from my own most beloved writers, such as T.S. Eliot and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Caro tells her experience of coming to Christian faith with honesty, vulnerability, and joy. (One expects the latter, of course, because of the title's allusion to C.S. Lewis' memoir, "Surprised by Joy".)<br /><br />However, something was missing for me. Perhaps it was simply because I read the memoir in a time of spiritual darkness and uncertainty that made Weber's experience seem a little too easy, a little too connected to the suave and sophisticated Christianity of her group of friends. Perhaps I needed a less impressionistic approach to struggling with questions of feminism and a God portrayed as male. Perhaps I needed to own the book rather than borrow it from the library, so I could read more slowly, marking each epiphany and question. In short, I think it's a book I'll return to someday, perhaps before or after visiting Oxford myself.<br /><br />Maybe Karen Armstrong's memoir, which apparently uses T.S. Eliot's "Ash Wednesday" as a "spine", is the book I'm really looking for. For that I'm going to rest in hope. (Yes, the irony of the word "hope" in relation to that poem is intended.)
<br/><br/>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/534324311">View all my reviews</a>
Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-91350810069250246792015-02-01T21:51:00.001-08:002016-03-05T22:33:45.189-08:00Review: Laying Down the Sword<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11254204" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Laying Down the Sword" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347397808m/11254204.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11254204">Laying Down the Sword</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3252981">Philip Jenkins</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/916915181">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
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I've just finished watching a production of The Merchant of Venice performed at a Christian university. What will I tell my mom about it when I phone her tonight? Not much, because reading King Lear was one of the most rebellious things she ever discovered me doing as a young teen. Although Shakespeare's raunchiness is doubtless part of the problem, a significant issue that conservative members of my denomination have with Shakespeare is the explicit violence of many of the plays. One minister whom I was quite influenced by during my pre-teen years linked a staging of Macbeth to the 1849 Astor Place riots, implying that Shakespeare should never be read because the plays inspire violence. While I agree that enactments of violence should be subject to critical thought and careful semiotics, the simple equation of textual violence with physical is highly flawed. Ironically, however, many atheists who would not object to the staging of Shakespeare, would object to the Bible or the Qur’an on similar grounds, citing the crusades and genocides that have fed upon biblical “texts of terror”. Unfortunately, the Christian has less deniability than the English professor. It is utterly dishonest for Christians to condemn the Qur'an as a work inspiring terrorism when their own sacred volume has an abundance of texts commanding religious warfare. Jenkins’ scrupulously researched book shows the pervasive influence of such stories as Saul and Amalek, or Phineas and the Moabite woman in instances of religious and ethnic "cleansing". Even could such violence be relegated to the distant past of “an antique volume, written by faded men”, for those seeking to find the character of God in the biblical record, these stories present an almost insurmountable road block. <br />
When one begins to experience profound discomfort with the morality advocated in these texts, it’s tempting to jump to easy answers, such as that the Canaanites were so wicked that their destruction was a mercy. Jenkins, however, takes the text and its historical, cultural and archaeological framework seriously. Respecting a text can be a painful process, and the recital of the atrocities patterned after biblical harem warfare is torturous. <br />
Most of the time, Jenkins’ is unflinching in his psychological and cultural instinct, such as when he declares that “If Hitler’s Holocaust had succeeded, presumably Christians in some future era would have recalled the prowling Jew as a menacing symbol of depravity. The idea could scarcely be considered offensive as it was not linked to any existing human reality. No one would survive to be offended” (197). His honesty struck at a theory I wanted to believe: The genocidal texts of books like Joshua, and Judges are an example of the divine working with an Iron Age people, while the universal visions of prophets like Isaiah (or, that is, the authors of the Isaiah manuscript[s]) and Jeremiah present a move away from such xenophobia and harshness due to progressive revelation. Unfortunately, the dating of the texts simply does not support this conclusion – Jenkins reads the violent, quasi-historical texts as part of the same national moral ethos the Axial Age prophets were attempting to instill. <br />
In frequently comparing texts supposed to inspire jihadists with even more egregiously unmerciful Judeo-Christian texts, Jenkins makes clear that violence does not spring from the text itself, but that as “political and social circumstances change, interpretations of fundamental scriptures… change likewise” (249). In other words, readers are fundamental to meaning, and the political is fundamental to the personal.<br />
While Jenkins’ honesty has earned my admiration, this book is not all I wanted. Despite a generally neutral voice, the book appears to be written with the assumption that the whole of scripture is inspired and to question its unity is suspect. A few assertions I would have liked to have seen more thoroughly explored or defended include the easy dismissal of Marcionism, the statement “A bloodless Bible offers cheap Grace” (208), and “Without the Old Testament… the New Testament becomes a tree without a trunk” (225). While I was raised to credit such views, intellectual and ethical honesty compel me to explore why I believe this. Had Jenkins more explicitly explored these issues he might have written an interminably long book, but a more rich and rewarding text. Like The Merchant of Venice, the texts of scripture must be respected by readings that combine "uncompromising scholarly standards" with unmitigated human compassion for the victims of the texts and their historical-cultural contexts. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/916915181">View all my reviews</a>Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-49480532774017188492015-01-06T13:18:00.000-08:002015-01-06T13:18:16.674-08:00A Few Favourite Books of 2014 and Blogging PlansAs ever, I am late in posting my favourite books of 2014. I won't be settling on an exact Top Ten list, but mentioning a few of the works that have challenged and delighted me this year.<br />
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It appears there were 12 books I gave 5 stars to on Goodreads this year, but some of those read last winter seem so far away that I'm going to focus on books I read more recently, even if they had rough edges that merited only 4 star reviews. <br />
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Among the most exciting and challenging works was Robert Alter's translation of 1st and 2nd Samuel, titled <em>The David Story. </em>The intrigue and betrayal that characterize the story had fascinated me since childhood, while David's Machiavellianism disturbed me in my most recent reading of the KJV narrative. Alter's comments (or is it sometimes editorial bias?) provoked some great discussions in the class in which I read this. Although I did not read it in full, the Festschrift <em>The Fate of King David: The Past and Present of a Biblical Icon </em>deserves an honourable mention. It contains invaluable essays (and a fascinating play of sorts) that helped me explore and articulate the narrative's ambiguities, especially in relation to Michal and Bathsheba. Its insights showed me again how literary criticism can be an emotional and even spiritual discipline. <br />
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<strong><em>Should I Fight? Essays on Conscientious Objection and the Seventh-day Adventist Church (edited by Barry Bussey) </em></strong>occupied my time on numerous Saturday afternoons. The strength and basis of the arguments varied, but overall it helped confirm me in my conviction that radical and socially pro-active non-violence is a position that should be emphasized much more in my own denomination and Christianity at large.<br />
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<strong>Homer's <em>Odyssey</em> and Margaret Atwood's <em>Penelopiad</em></strong> taught me much about ambiguity, power and voicelessness, western constructions of justice and violence, etc. <br />
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<strong>Euripide's <em>Medea </em></strong>might just have been the most impressive text, with sections that amount to feminist theory in a work of 431 BCE! Of course, it's also incredibly disturbing, but every character (except maybe the chorus?) has enough ambiguity to invite reflection on perceptions of gender, madness, and power in our own times.<br />
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My favourite memoir was Sarah Thebarge's <strong><em>The Invisible Girls</em></strong>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/950507250" target="_blank">reviewed here</a>; my favourite classic novel was probably <strong><em>Jude the Obscure</em></strong>.<br />
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During the first part of the year I diligently counted and recorded how many pages I read a day, but school and work eventually distracted me from my pedantry. (With quite a number of unfinished books, and works that I read sections of for school, my page count is bound to be more than Goodreads acknowledges.) I don't have really specific reading goals this year, except to read several hours a day and stay ahead (or at least caught up) in my reading for school, while still taking as much time as possible to drink deeply of the beauty of words and narratives. When I have a little extra time I hope to explore texts that relate to the ones I'll be reading closely in my academic life, such as (perhaps) Rebecca Goldstein's <em>Plato at the Googleplex</em> after reading <em>The Republic</em>. (Which is what I <em>ought</em> to be doing now. Right now.)<br />
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Especially with intimidating texts like <em>The Republic --</em> but even with the ones I may have a tendency to glide over because they appear easy -- I hope to explore ambiguities and difficulties in short weekly write-ups, as suggested in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2048570.The_Elements_and_Pleasures_of_Difficulty" target="_blank">this interesting book.</a> I may post a few of my "Difficulty Papers" here, but as sometimes my readings and reflections in my honours class lead to existential and spiritual crises, I'll probably keep most of them on a private blog. However, I will try to cross-post a short review of every book read here and at Goodreads so that my reflections don't become a "quick succession of busy nothings". <br />
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What I do intend to share on this blog is my Season of Jane Austen. I get the extravagant pleasure of a whole course on The Sovereign Lady this semester, and to consolidate my own research, notes, and ideas I intend to make a weekly Perspectives on Austen or Journal of a Mad Janeite post. Although my time will have constraints, hopefully discussion with my blog followers will also help spark some ideas. I'm making these "promises" here -- my promises are always like ropes of sand -- so you, dear readers, can hold me to the arduous task of blogging more. Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-87360956457912863122014-12-25T11:46:00.001-08:002014-12-25T11:46:01.637-08:00Review: The Penelopiad<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17645'><img alt='The Penelopiad' border='0' src='http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404057228m/17645.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17645'>The Penelopiad</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3472'>Margaret Atwood</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1134534002'>4 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> In my honours class students were urged to explore various readings of The Odyssey and especially Penelope's place: Does Penelope know Odysseus when he returns in the disguise of a beggar? Both readings are possible, but perhaps the professor's leaning toward the affirmative was influenced by Atwood's Penelopiad. For a first-person telling, Penelope actually gets less on-stage speech than she does in the Odyssey. She's still notable for frequently dissolving into tears, and constantly lives in the insecure shade cast by her cousin Helen's beauty and allure. However, the novel certainly presents alternate readings to the patriarchal narrative of the Odyssey, such as the less supernatural possibilities of Odysseus' legend -- the Cyclops as one-eyed tavern keeper, the palace of Circe as an expensive whorehouse, or Odysseus' "underworld" as an "old cave full of bats". It's the variety of readings Atwood allows for that gives the work power: Penelope as narrator, and the twelve hanged maids as chorus, dance between making this a story of love or lust, female betrayal or solidarity. <br /><br />Atwood's choice to have Penelope tell this story into modern times makes for some memorable moments, such as when she declares that spirits have "been able to infiltrate the new ethereal-wave system that now encircles the globe, and to travel around that way, looking out at the world through the flat, illuminated surfaces that serve as domestic shrines". Equally disturbing is "The Chorus Line: An Anthropology Lecture, Presented by: The Maids". The argument for the slaughter of the maids as the displacement of the Great Mother cult by a patriarchal figure is interesting, but finishes off suggesting (as does the end of Atwood's Handmaid's Tale) that academia may be a way to not "have to think of us as real girls, real flesh and blood, real pain, real injustice. That might be too upsetting. Just discard the sordid part. Consider us pure symbol." <br /><br />Altogether, this is a disturbingly ambiguous and hence brilliant work of strongly crafted intertextuality. It's not plot-based, and the chorus sections are more about artistry and construction of meanings than about formation of new story. Despite some ambivalence about intellectualism and the distancing power of readings, it's a highly intellectual work that will prove most satisfactory to those who have closely read The Odyssey. Because I give so many works four stars I was going to give this three, but I am forced to give it four and acknowledge that I hope to someday gain much by another and closer reading of this text in conjunction with The Odyssey. <br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1134534002'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-83663676683745901052014-09-02T14:47:00.001-07:002014-09-02T14:47:14.385-07:00Review: Rilla of Ingleside<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/433533'><img alt='Rilla of Ingleside' border='0' src='http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1285712722m/433533.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/433533'>Rilla of Ingleside</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5350'>L.M. Montgomery</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1033308952'>4 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> I've always remembered Rilla as my least favorite of the "Anne books". Probably because I've learned to love Anne (and even more Emily Byrd Starr) for her literary ambition and talent. The youngest daughter of the determined-student and published author is vain, and unrepentantly unintellectual. She is boy-crazy and frivolous, but somehow reading the novel in my younger years I missed the wonderful transition that makes this a true bildungsroman. Montgomery wrote that it was the only novel she wrote with a purpose, and in some respects it rivals "Anne of Green Gables". As Margaret Atwood has pointed out, Anne Shirley becomes a better cook, learns to talk less, and relinquishes her hatred of Gilbert Blythe, yet overall is the same girl from beginning to end in the narrative. Rilla Blythe, on the other hand, slowly (as in real life) emerges as an unselfish and brave woman through her experiences of the Great War. My one complaint about her story-line is that the Rilla at the end of the novel deserves a more fully developed romantic interest than Ken Ford, whose emotional (and in the final chapter, geographic) distance are never satisfactorily explained. <br /><br />Quite rightly this novel has received more critical attention in recent years, as it gives a close (although utterly biased) view of female Canadian experiences during The Great War. I've recently been reading about the experiences of Conscientious Objectors in Canada, so it was interesting to experience with the Blythe family the distrust and disdain for pacifists that must have characterized the attitudes even of educated and liberal-minded Canadians (including Montgomery herself). <br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1033308952'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-4757958055235049852014-06-15T16:26:00.001-07:002014-06-15T16:26:52.310-07:00Review: Americanah<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15796700'><img alt='Americanah' border='0' src='http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356654499m/15796700.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15796700'>Americanah</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11291'>Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/963767910'>4 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> Adichie's vitally important TED talks first brought her on my radar. I decided to read this novel sooner rather than later as I flipped through it in the library and saw that the protagonist was a blogger of the type who taught me about white privilege and the ubiquitous racism in American culture. The blog posts scattered through the novel are a strong scaffolding -- irreverent enough to be entertaining, smart enough to be educational. It is a novel that teaches -- about race, Nigeria, hair, immigration, America, love -- but that's just the skin over a vitally alive body of characters. Flashes of unique characterization show this to be the work of a tremendous talent, yet I finished it dissatisfied. (SPOILERS FOLLOW) While the love between Ifemelu and Obinze often feels beautiful and real, the treatment of infidelity disturbed me. It's not that I don't believe novels should portray it, but that here I sensed an inevitability in the story's swift closure. Obinze's wife, Kosi, is presented as a woman trapping her more intelligent husband by her conventionality, and I couldn't help but co.mpare her to a similar character in Middlemarch. Maybe it's a flaw for me to expect all novelists to treat the inner lives of all characters, and the moral implications of all actions, with the same attention as George Eliot, dead 100 years, did. Nevertheless, the quick wrap-up of a beautifully messy story left me discomfited. I don't want to impose my own morality on a story rooted in a culture that I have no connection to, but Adichie's obvious skill and acuity makes me believe I should be able to expect a little more moral angst and awareness in the end. Not so much despite, but because of these questions, I hope to revisit this novel someday. Rewatching Adichie's TED talk on feminism I'm reminded of her brilliance, and would encourage everyone to run to youtube and listen to her.<br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/963767910'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-88997858333837104832014-05-29T16:38:00.001-07:002014-05-29T16:38:36.497-07:00Review: Mere Christianity<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11138'><img alt='Mere Christianity' border='0' src='http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327957263m/11138.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11138'>Mere Christianity</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006'>C.S. Lewis</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/936032517'>5 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> Loving "Mere Christianity" is almost a cliche among Christians, isn't it? Well, I guess I love it. Almost two years ago I read the chapter on charity during a drive with a cousin who loves it, and I was delighted by the similarity between Austen's conception of charity. Last spring I started MC, and got side-tracked, eventually reading several Narnia novels and "Till We Have Faces". The apologetics of the book are still what I consider its weakest element.* While my big questions about life do tend to be similar to Lewis'(the foundation and origin of morality), I realize today that atheism and secularism have broadened their objections and questions. Even as a Christian, I find Lewis' jump from the idea of an innate universal morality to the inspiration of the Bible jarring.<br /><br />However, the sections dealing with Christian conduct and theology were so profound that I think every Christian (or person interested in Christianity) should read them. My copy is underlined and marked with comments: "Amen!", "Perfect explanation" and "Incredibly insightful, beautifully written, and yet painfully convicting." As a conditionalist, pacifist, and egalitarian, I certainly found areas of disagreement with Lewis' references to hell/death, his strong belief in just wars, and his reading of Paul's admonitions to husbands and wives. However, my disagreement simply made me read more closely and highlighted the beauty of the truths presented. Ultimately, the book presented almost no truths with which I was not already familiar, yet my experience of their convicting power was new. To paraphrase John Greenleaf Whittier, that which shares the life of God, with Him is always new. <br /><br /><br /><br />*Honestly, I'm not sure if I fully believe in apologetics. Right now I tend to believe the most important argument for Christianity is its radical irrationality -- "Christ crucified", "foolishness" to those who rely solely on reason.<br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/936032517'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-36178626357809986602014-05-29T16:08:00.001-07:002014-05-29T16:08:44.388-07:00Review: The Invisible Girls: A Memoir<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15791159'><img alt='The Invisible Girls: A Memoir' border='0' src='http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358758317m/15791159.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15791159'>The Invisible Girls: A Memoir</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6457380'>Sarah Thebarge</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/950507250'>5 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> While reading this book I became afraid to finish it, feeling that other books would feel narrow and unimportant following it. It is a book that contains such a sea of deep feeling and broad experience that it seems to contain everything a book and heart can hold. All this abundance of life is disproportionate with the age of its author. Sarah Thebarge was in her twenties, working on her second graduate degree at Columbia, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her feelings of abandonment by God, family, church, and boyfriend made me realize how quickly one may be cut off from comfort, to disappear in a horizon of pain. Like my favorite play W;t (which also deals with cancer and abandonment) grace comes through kindness, when Sarah meets a Somali family who are just as adrift in an American city as she was in her battle with death. Five rambunctious, foul-mouthed girls who don't know their own birthdays become her sisters. At first the indigent family couldn't seem more different from their Ivy League-educated 'benefactress', but Sarah soon discovers that their shared invisibility as girls in fundamentalist cultures can become a shared story of grace. My only complaint is that the book could have been more detailed. However, this seems to be due to the recent rawness of Thebarge's pain, as well as the fact that she published this book to start a college fund for her new little sisters. Thebarge's exploration of a Christianity freed from the fundamentalism that makes girls and women invisible is a subject dear to my heart, so it was truly serendipitous when my mom chanced upon this exquisite memoir. <br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/950507250'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-4429962204218711542014-05-29T15:51:00.001-07:002014-05-29T15:51:10.341-07:00Review: Jane Austen<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/428598'><img alt='Jane Austen' border='0' src='http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331390659m/428598.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/428598'>Jane Austen</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/216929'>Ian P. Watt</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/932008987'>4 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> Although an old publication, many of the essays contained in this collection are invaluable and seminal. The collection begins with two Must Reads for every student of Austen: C.S. Lewis' "A Note of Jane Austen" and Virginia Woolf's "Jane Austen" (excerpted from The Common Room and an essay in the Nation). They are both simple essays, easily accessible and free from jargon, but getting to the root of Jane Austen's ethics and genius. Ian Watt's "On Sense and Sensibility" is also an insightful work that modifies the simplistic judgments sometimes formed during a first reading of the novel's seeming dualities. Several essays (Alan D. McKillop's "Critical Realism in Northanger Abbey"; Reuben A. Brower's "Light and Bright and Sparkling: Irony and Fiction in Pride and Prejudice"; Marvin Mudrick's "Irony as Discrimination"; and D. W. Harding's "Regulated Hatred: An Aspect of the Work of Jane Austen") explore Austen's unique and complex use of irony in narration, structure, and dialogue. I'd wanted to read "Regulated Hatred" for sometime, but it wasn't actually as subversive as I expected (this is an old collection; a modern critical collection might include more politics and feminism). I think Harding's argument has some merit, as it relates to Austen's attachment to individuals to whom she is morally or intellectually superior, but it's liable to a reading that ignores both Austen's moral foundations and sense of fun. "The Humiliation of Emma Woodhouse" by Mark Schorer was another essay I had wanted to read. Overall, it was one of the most fascinating of the essays that were new to me. It gave me several new ways of looking at my favorite Austen novel, although I'll need to reread it again to have a decisive opinion. I particularly enjoyed Arnold Kettle's essay on Emma, reminding us that "We do not 'lose ourselves' in Emma unless we are the kind of people who lose ourselves in life". As someone who considers Austen almost faultless, but occasionally feels a slight twinge about the class hierarchy ensconced at the end of that novel, I found the analysis unshrinking and relevant. Donald J. Greene's "Jane Austen and the Peerage" was a little hard to concentrate on late at night, but presented Austen's verisimilitude convincingly. I've saved the worst for last: As before, Kingsley Amis' "What Became of Jane Austen?" made me want to throw things out of windows. <br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/932008987'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-65480340694656603342014-05-08T08:37:00.001-07:002014-05-08T08:40:07.558-07:00Review: Wolf Hall<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6101138" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Wolf Hall" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336576165m/6101138.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6101138">Wolf Hall</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58851">Hilary Mantel</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/911465914">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Is there any greater pleasure than when a book one has harbored high expectations for, actually exceeds those expectations? I expected to like Wolf Hall: Having first learned Tudor history as a child through accounts of the English reformers, I first met Cromwell as a friend to the reformation; I was quite shocked by the caricaturization of him as evil in A Man for All Seasons. Secondly, after reading Mantel's controversial speech on Royal Bodies, I conceived a tremendous respect for her insight, intelligence, and compassion. To be honest, I put off reading Wolf Hall until now because I was reserving it as a special treat. <br />
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It didn't disappoint, but it did surprise me. My first surprise was that Cardinal Wolsey (or Cardinal Wolfsey, the Wiley Wolf, as the Tyndale in the first “Tudor-era” book I obsessively read as a child called him) actually had his good points. Yes, Mantel's speech had led me to expect in her this ability to see the depth of even the most hypocritical or shallow characters. I expected a sympathetic Cromwell, yet her portrayal was more than sympathetic, it was broad-ranging, personal, and touching.<br />
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At first I found the unclear antecedents before pronouns disconcerting, but after realizing that most instances of the word <i>he</i> referred to Cromwell, I found it added to the claustrophobic sense of his thoughts as the nucleus. One sees Cromwell in varied situations, always changing, yet still somehow the same. After 650 pages of intimacy, one feels that they should know him, but do not. His own acknowledgement that “my workings are hidden from myself” illustrates how he can be simultaneously vulnerable and intimidating, possess the milk of human kindness and still be the consummate politician. <br />
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A blurb on the back cover compares the novel to Middlemarch. Last year reading Mantel's wonderful blend of compassion and intelligence about the royals, I'd wondered if she was familiar with Middlemarch. ( http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/43605436451/middlemarch-and-princesses ) While I still would rank the latter novel more highly, I recall that it took me a second reading to realize just how fearful and wonderful it is. I'm already hungry for a second reading of Wolf Hall. First, though, must come Bring Up the Bodies (delicious titular reference!). Again, I'm so excited I'm almost frightened to start.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/911465914">View all my reviews</a>Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-74037862294349052502014-03-27T15:25:00.001-07:002014-03-27T15:25:50.111-07:00Review: The Violent Friendship Of Esther Johnson<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1033437'><img alt='The Violent Friendship Of Esther Johnson' border='0' src='http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1180384916m/1033437.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1033437'>The Violent Friendship Of Esther Johnson</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/221326'>Trudy J. Morgan-Cole</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/844953465'>5 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> I've been reading Trudy J. Morgan-Cole's blog for several years. I appreciate both her thoughts on our shared Seventh-day Adventist faith and her eclectic book reviews. Strangely, I have learned about several historical novels that are now favorites from Morgan-Cole's blog before reading any of her novels. She's an acute judge of what makes historical novels work and <i> The Violent Friendship of Esther Johnson</i> demonstrates this.<br /><br />The novel is the story of Jonathan Swift's muse, correspondent, close friend, and possible wife -- the eponymous Esther Johnson. Morgan-Cole has chosen an ideal subject through which to analyze women's lives in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Growing up in a great house as the housekeeper's daughter, Esther associates daily with servants, and occasionally with laborers. Yet under Jonathan Swift's tutelage, she is more educated than most women of her day. Morgan-Cole manages to portray an intelligent and intellectual woman, without making her anachronistic or prodigious. Ultimately she portrays a fully-realized woman; one both proud and needy, timid and courageous, sexual and repressed, guilty and spiritual. Without being strongly plot driven, the book was hard to put down. <br /><br />The portrait of Jonathan Swift, especially toward the end, is somewhat repulsive. Reading about Swift's Christian Humanist views in the introduction to my volume of his Selected Works, I gained some respect for him that I didn't from this novel. However, the mixture of disgust, disdain and pity that this novel evokes for a great man is consistent with Swift's own dark view of mankind's depravity. Having just read <i>Gulliver's Travels</i> I am tempted to simply reread <i>Esther Johnson</i> which would be the richer for the contrast and comparison. It's a book drafty with the illness, worry, and misogyny endured by the woman Swift transmuted into the Stella of his poetry. Yet it's also a book bright with the loyalty, love and determination of women. <br /><br />I am eager to read another of Morgan Cole's novels soon. Maybe it will be her one about Jesus' brother James, or perhaps one of her Maritime novels. <br /><br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/844953465'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-73915778566587598752014-01-08T18:40:00.003-08:002014-01-08T18:40:50.708-08:00My Top Ten (New) Books of 2013Choosing a Top Ten list is hard for any bibliophile. Fellow-blogger <a href="http://amusicalfeast.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Samantha</a> inspired me to post mine, albeit eight days into the new year. (How she <a href="http://amusicalfeast.blogspot.ca/2013/12/top-ten-favorite-new-reads-of-2013.html" target="_blank">winnowed hers</a> out of the 200 books she read is still a marvel to me.)<br />
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I'm tempted to include rereads, since rereading a beloved book is the best kind of reading. I <i>did</i> have some wonderful rereads this year: Hamlet, Richard II, Pride and Prejudice for its bicentennial, Austen's unfinished works, the first four Anne Shirley novels, and (of course) Jane Eyre. However, those works would crowd out most others, so, with one exception, these are all books read for the first time in 2013. The list is evenly split between fiction and non-fiction, but women authors, unsurprisingly, predominate.<br />
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<i><b>Busman's Honeymoon</b></i><b> by Dorothy Sayers</b><br />
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Sayers is the author whom I read the most this year. I looked forward to <i>Gaudy Night,</i> of which I'd heard many things, as the pinnacle of Sayers' work. It was wonderful, but it was <i>Busman's Honeymoon</i> that shook and affected me. The setting is simple: Lord Peter Wimsey and his new bride, mystery writer Harriet Vane, arrive at a country cottage for their honeymoon. Bodies, however, seem to follow the hobbyist detective and he's soon caught up in an investigation, with the aid of a superintendent almost as interested in identifying Peter's literary quotations as in identifying the murderer.</div>
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The novel's real power comes from its portrayal of the pain, vulnerability, and joy of creating a marriage of genuine equality and respect. The epistolary introduction featuring Peter's inimitable mother is hilarious, the many John Donne references are both intelligent and evocative, and the mystery is sufficiently mysterious. </div>
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<i><b>The Sunne in Splendour</b></i> <b>by Sharon Kay Penman</b></div>
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<b> </b> Finding <i>Sunne</i> for a dollar in a thrift store --only a month or two after the discover of Richard III's bones had me especially interested, and at a time I needed an absorbing novel to distract me -- was serendipitous. The quintessential Ricardian novel, at almost 1000 pages, reading it is truly an experience. Penman's attempt to create an old speech style has some annoying idiosyncrasies and if you want an unbiased look at England's most controversial king, this is not it. However, if you want to be immersed in a period, fall in love, and cry over dead kings -- this is the historical novel for you. I end up crying whenever I read a page of the last section. <br />
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<i><b>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</b></i><b> by Sarah Emsley</b><br />
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After reading several of Emsley's articles in <i>Persuasions</i> journal, I desperately wanted to read her book-length dissertation on Austen. My blogging friend Esther lent me the book and it did not disappoint. I converted my numerous pages of notes into <a href="http://frigatetoutopia.blogspot.ca/search/label/Sarah%20Emsley" target="_blank">posts on each chapter</a>, which led to some wonderful discussions of Austen's faith and philosophy. <br />
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<i><b>The Green Gables Letters: From L.M. Montgomery to Ephraim Weber 1905-1909</b></i><br />
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<i><b> </b></i>This is probably my favourite nonfiction book of the year, so naturally I don't know where to begin. I reread four of Mongtomery's novels and a book of literary criticism of <i>Anne of Green Gables</i> over the fall, but this surpassed them all. Montgomery's letters to her Alberta pen-pal, Ephraim Weber, are intimate, yet elegant and profound. She easily switches from writing advice to contemplations of immortality. Jokes and anecdotes abound, but do not obscure the daguerreotype of a woman living in the minutiae of her responsibilities. Her frank disavowal of orthodox Protestant doctrines -- from eternal torment to the virgin birth -- does not lessen her joy in the poetry and wisdom of the Bible. In short, Weber and Montgomery were clearly such kindred spirits that she was not, as in some of her novels, constrained by public expectation or judgement. She truly found her sentence and it is lucid and strong. Now I just have to find out if the library will sell me this casket of gems.<br />
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<i><b>Adam Bede</b></i><b> by George Eliot</b><br />
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This was the only George Eliot novel I read this year and I admit it shows a few rough edges, easily excused in a firstborn. As in <i>Middlemarch</i>, each character is a part of an intricate web of moral influence. From the Methodist woman field-preaching, to scenes among workmen, Eliot's attention to the lives of "common people" is Wordsworthian. Indeed, the plot as well the descriptions is likely derived from Wordsworth's "The Thorn". Excruciatingly vain and naive Hetty Sorrel is seduced by the young squire of the county. They, and those who care for them, soon learn that "our deeds determine us as much as we dertermine our deeds" and consequences of unthinking moments may plunge us into hellish torments. Eliot's insight, wisdom, humour, and power of creating living characters stayed with me long after I layed the book aside.<br />
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<i><b>The Handmaid's Tale</b></i><b> by Margaret Atwood</b><br />
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One day I felt a sudden urge to read a dystopian novel and pulled this out of my stacks. It was a painful and draining read, almost without a glimmer of hope. However, it gave me the language to express my horror and fear when I soon after read about the extremes of the Christian Patriarchy movement. <br />
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<i><b>The Magician's Nephew</b></i><b> by C. S. Lewis</b><br />
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Coming to C.S. Lewis as an adult, I'm perhaps hampered by analysis. Last week's reading of <i>The Horse and His Boy</i> was made slightly uncomfortable by Lewis' emphasis on skin color and other seemingly-racial characteristics in dividing up the good and bad factions . It could be argued that the allegory of<i> The Magician's Nephew</i> is a bit obvious, but the thrills of joy I experienced watching the creation of a new world, and "meeting" Aslan justify the novel's inclusion on this list.<br />
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<i><b>Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America</b></i><b> by David S Reynolds</b><br />
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<i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> is quite a flawed novel, yet it had a tremendous influence on public opinion, and some claim helped to launch the Civil War. Reynolds' exploration of the stories behind the novel, and of the novel's subsequent reincarnation in stage and film teaches much about the process of creating literature and its power once made public. I appreciated the book most as a cultural history of race relations, religion, theatre, literature, and story in America over several decades.<br />
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<b><i>The Seventh-day Ox and Other Miracle Stories from Russia</i></b> <b>by Bradley Booth</b><br />
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Since age eight, it seems I've read a score of books about faithful believers in prison camps. This book stood out for the incredible suffering endured by the pastor in the titular story. For several years he spent ten day stretches confined in a small crate for his refusal to work on the seventh day; when finally allowed to prove to the prison warden that he could accomplish seven days' work in six, a recalcitrant ox made it seem that his trials had just begun. It's a story full of the lows of man's inhumanity to man, the incalculable highs of God's sustaining power, and the lighter highs of the humor animals bring to our lives. <br />
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<i><b>A Room of One's Own</b></i><b> by Virginia Woolf</b><br />
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My last book is a cheat, since it is a reread. However, I first read it four or five years ago, and maybe I wasn't mature enough for it. This time reading it was pure delight, and I was in constant awe of Woolf's creative and strong thought process. I'm still trying to reconcile her insistence that women should write in their own distinctly female "sentence" with her appropriation of Coleridge's idea that writing of true genius is androgynous. Maybe to fully understand and absorb such a unique work I'll have to do as I once heard Emma Thompson did -- keep it in my purse and pull it out to reread repeatedly. <br />
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Some of you are being negligent bloggers, and with less excuse than laptop-less me. :D What were your favourite books of the past year? What are your reading plans for 2014? One of mine is to count by pages read, rather than books completed. This is partially so I'll grant myself the freedom to give up on a badly written or boring book without guilt. I'll also count when I read a magazine straight through, as I often do with one on religious Liberty. Here's to a copious reading year!<br />
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<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-7187582563116834952013-09-16T15:55:00.002-07:002013-09-16T15:55:57.886-07:00Summer Reading Roundup (Part 2)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(Containing the more literary books read this summer, lest anyone is disappointed in the odd content of my first roundup.)<br />
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One of my big summer reads, of course, was <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i> by <a href="http://sarahemsley.com/" target="_blank">Sarah Emsley</a>. <a href="http://frigatetoutopia.blogspot.ca/2013/07/jane-austens-philosophy-of-virtues.html" target="_blank">Here's the first</a> post in my series on it. Those who enjoy this series may also enjoy my friend <a href="http://thebowerofbelle.blogspot.ca/2010/12/how-should-i-live-my-life.html" target="_blank">Esther's series</a> on the same book. I also recently enjoyed reading Emsley's series for the bicentennial of <i>Pride and Prejudice,</i> especially her post: <a href="http://sarahemsley.com/2013/03/04/does-mr-collins-read-novels/" target="_blank">Does Mr Collins Read Novels?</a><br />
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<i><b>The Red Tent</b></i><b> by Anita Diamant</b><br />
<b>(Completed partly as audiobook)</b><br />
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As a feminist Christian, I think that Patriarchy in the Bible created many problems. This is well demonstrated in the story of Jacob and his wives and concubines, and his daughter Dinah. Diamant's feminist reimagining of the story of Dinah has been much lauded, and I <i>did </i>enjoy her thoughts on feminism and authorship in her introduction to the reissued novel. However, acknowledgment of the problems of Patriarchy doesn't have to mean that we paint all men as boors or villains, especially influential ones in Jewish and Christian spirituality, such as Jacob and Joseph. I almost prefer a Patriarchy in which these men "command their households" after the one God, than this version of female power through persistent polytheism. Despite beautiful prose, it was quite a depressing book, and <a href="http://glintglimmergleam.tumblr.com/post/57725867042" target="_blank">I agree with my friend 3gee </a>on Tumblr that it adds little to my understanding of Genesis.<b> </b>I found <a href="http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/01_2/s.htm" target="_blank">this hermeneutical examination</a> of Dinah's story both more relevent to feminist concerns, and more respectful of the biblical record. It examines the systems of oppression and violence that led and resulted from Dinah's rape, while maintaining her agency in her own story. <br />
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<i><b>Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon</b></i><b> by Jane Austen (reread, actually listened to LS as librivox recording)</b><br />
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I decided to reread this because of the Youtube series Welcome to Sanditon, by the creators of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. <i>Lady Susan</i> has some great lines, but the epistolatory form prevents Austen from developing each member of her cast so distinctly as in novels with more dialogue. Rereading <i>The Watsons</i> made me grieve that it's unfinished. I know some critics have felt that written during a time Austen was likely in low spirits, it lacks the sparkle and promise of her other works. I think it has tremendous potential. There's the fact that Mr Watson was to die during the course of the novel -- while in most of Austen's works death is only mentioned in the opening narration. Then there is poor Emma Watson having to be "dependent for a home" on that buffoon Robert and her equally egregious sister-in-law. Lord Osborne is also a buffoon, but his interest in Emma may be more extreme (in class distinction) than Darcy's in Elizabeth. Poor Mr Howard is to pursued by Lady Osborne, creating a love triangle of sorts. And my suspicion is that Margaret may have been readying to run away with Tom Musgrave.<br />
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As for Sanditon, it's also funny and fresh, exploring themes new for Austen. Unfortunately, the webseries was awful. I <a href="http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant" target="_blank">ranted about it on Tumblr</a>.<br />
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<i><b>Mrs Dalloway</b> </i><b>by Virginia Woolf (reread, to be embarrassingly honest)</b> <br />
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Yes, I'd read this novel before, but I guess three years ago I was too young and impatient for its aching, slow b<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextContainerreview693375928"></span></span>eauty. This time I determined to simply appreciate it, and I found it a perfect read for summer -- teaching me to focus on the sensations, and rest in the moment. Of course, the novel is not just beautiful prose. It contains the "heavy, and the weary weight" of everyday tragedy. Woolf makes us instinctively feel a part of every life, no matter how trivial, degraded, jealous, impotent, or damaged. To paraphrase Emily Dickinson, this novel is "just the weight" of life.<br />
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<b><i>Adam Bede</i> by George Eliot</b><br />
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When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
</blockquote>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
When
I first started watching the web-series I would read the comments, and
chuckle at all the people shipping Edward and Clara. spoiler for the
real work follows — In the text, Sir Edward Denham aspires to be the
kind of rake in Samuel Richardson’s novels. His intention is to seduce
(and if “necessary” kidnap!) the poor dependent Clara Brereton. His
deliberately misreads popular novels (pop culture, as the webseries
chose to transliterate it) to further his attempts to manipulate women.
If the webseries had chosen to take this angle, they could have
initiated real dialogue about dude-bros* patriarchy, gender relations,
and even rape culture. Instead they went with a syrupy romance, with no
real tension or interest - See more at:
http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant#sthash.N63o58l3.dpuf</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was Eliot's first full-length novel and it does contain a few literary tropes that disappear in her later masterpieces. However, this novel has gained a special place in my heart. Reading it had the effect that all great things -- music, poetry, novels, art, even theology -- have: it made me see everything through its prism. It transformed the very air around me. I felt that those who have not read it could not have the same consciousness I had attained. Drawing to the end, I felt all other books and experiences would be flat and stale after my immersion in Dinah, Adam and Hetty's world. (My feet did return to earth quite quickly, but I would not exchange the brief experience of floating above common things.)<br />
<br />
Yet all this is strange, because <i>Adam Bede</i> is (except for those small tropes) a supremely realistic work. Set in the rural world of early 19th century England, the land may be sometimes idealized, but its inhabitants are not. It's also a work replete with homely humor. Smiley faces decorate most of Mrs Poyser's speeches in my copy.<br />
<br />
Like Eliot's other works, it's a complex study in psychology, especially drawing on Wordsworth. Like all Eliot's works, it called me to self-examination of how my "personal" faults affect others, but also called me to be less black and white in my condemnations of others' seemingly-heinous sins. I return to my absorption in the fortunes of its characters when I quote Dickens' words as true for me: "<i>Adam Bede </i>has taken its place among the actual experiences and endurances of my life."<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>An Abundance of Katherines </i>by John Green (Young Adult novel)</b><br />
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Dear An Abundance of Katherines ~<br />
<br />
I like you; I just don't love you. You're really funny, and you have the breathless, unique voice of your creator Mr Green. You're smart: I didn't much care for the math problems, but I learned a cool new word and a Latin phrase. I identified with protagonist Colin Singleton's desire to matter through accomplishments. I tend to resent prodigies like him because I want to be one, but your point that in the end it is the stories we live and create that "make us matter to each other" had some resonance. <br />
<br />
It's not you, it's me. (I think.) I'm not used to reading YA novels, and frankly, the attitude toward sex, and the references to bodily functions aren't my thing. I picked you up with low expectations, as a fun read on a road trip. So don't take it really personally when I say you didn't measure up (or down, actually) with the depth of, say, <i>Anne of Green Gables</i>. <br />
<br />
Hey, it was fun. I just don't think we're totally compatible. I'm holding out a bit of hope for <i>Looking for Alaska</i><br />
<br />
(not really) Yours,<br />
Sarah<br />
<br />
Reader, that's pretty much all that I read during anything that looked remotely like summer here, other than my annual August <i>Jane Eyre</i> reread/re-listen (which, as ever, was filled with "light for the mind" and pure delight). What have you all been reading? <br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://litlass.tumblr.com/post/59056207383/welcome-to-sanditon-rant" target="_blank"> </a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-24287593849830693112013-08-27T15:49:00.002-07:002013-08-27T15:49:34.086-07:00Summer Reading Roundup (Part 1) <b>Currently Reading: <i>Adam Bede</i> by George Eliot (absolutely absorbing!); <i>William Wordsworth: A Biography with Selected Poems</i> by Rosanna Negrotti; <i>The World of Ellen G White</i> edited by Gary Land; and listening to a librivox recording of <i>Jane Eyre.</i></b><br />
<br />
Summer has been busy and -- as some of you have probably gotten sick of being reminded -- my laptop gave up the ghost. Hence, my failure to provide monthly reading updates. However, my review compulsion, and love of discussing books with my friends here, won't let me go without giving a few lines on what I've been reading in the past months.<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Nine Tailors</i> by Dorothy L Sayers</b><br />
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It's not my favorite Sayers work, but that's probably my own fault for rushing through it without making an effort to understand the change ringing. Nevertheless, it has some gorgeous prose and a just-surprising-enough-but-not-too-much mystery solution.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Doctor Adrian: A Story of Old Holland </b></i><b>by Deborah Alcock (reread)</b><br />
<br />
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(image from scrollpublishing.com)<br />
<br />
This poster of Dutch Anabaptist Dirk Willems rescuing his Catholic pursuer hangs in my room. The novel <i>Doctor Adrian</i> takes place in the Dutch provinces, ravaged by Philip II's inquisition. I probably should mock its sentimental Victorian prose and penchant for treacherous Jesuits in disguise... but I rather like both. I like still more the title character -- a fictional protege of Andreas Vesalius -- with his fictional friend, Dirk Willems' son. Still more I like the heroic portrayal of the Prince of Orange, who is the primary focus of the next book I read...<br />
<br />
<i><b>Stories of the Reformation in the Netherlands</b></i><b> by Ruth Gordon Short (reread)</b><br />
<br />
(Praise for the Prince of Orange and other Protestants, mostly opprobrium for Philip II and his minions, though with some occasional sympathy for Charles V. That's probably all most of you care to know. Since I was having all my Orange feelings several months ago when I wasn't posting, you're all spared the recital.)<br />
<br />
<h1 class="bookTitle" id="bookTitle" itemprop="name">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage</i> <span class="by smallText">by</span>
</span><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span style="font-size: small;">
<span itemprop="name">Mary-Ann Kirkby</span></span></span></h1>
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</span></span>
</span>
</h1>
<br />
Listening to this as an audiobook helped humanize the communal Anabaptist group every prairie Canadian knows on sight. Mary-Ann's life growing up in the colony was in many ways warm, loving, and idyllic. Her description of her family showed real Christianity in their lives, but as with most exclusive groups, corrupt power dynamics rose in the colony, and eventually drove her family to the difficult choice of starting a new life in the "English" world.<br />
<br />
<b><i>To Drink of His Love</i> by Mary Wuestefeld </b><br />
A young woman's experiences escaping the clutches of legalistic religion that had made her question how the gospel could really be good news. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-57274766061996347402013-08-01T18:11:00.001-07:002013-08-08T16:35:35.004-07:00Conclusion: After Austen Jane Austen's popularity has ensured that every generation sees some writer heralded as "the new Jane Austen". Most, of course, sink back into relative obscurity, although the various genres Austen is credited as influencing continue. Having placed Austen in a tradition of ethical writers stretching from Aristotle to Shakespeare, Sarah Emsley looks at the inheritors of Austen's moral seriousness and ethical deliberation. For Emsley, three authors stand out: George Eliot, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.<br />
<br />
Anyone familiar George Eliot knows about her emphasis on empathy, or sympathy. Emsley states that for Eliot, "Sympathy is the alternative to faith as the grounding of all virtue..." (161) Humility is a necessary part of sympathy, as Maggie rages at Tom, "You boast of your own virtues... [and] have no sense of your own imperfection" (<i>The Mill on the Floss</i>) However, Emsley agrees with Will's criticism of Dorothea's "fanaticism of sympathy" as unable to bring about ultimate virtue and happiness (see <i>Middlemarch</i>). Eliot's novels contrast with Austen's in that "faith is discussed explicitly and frequently, but the reason why it is addressed directly is that it is often either lost or endangered" (Emsley, 162). This, of course, is because Eliot had lost her once-strong faith. I admit, I love Eliot and her idea of sympathy. However, as a Christian, I think I agree with Emsley that it cannot be the sole foundation of virtue. (<a href="http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/novelreadings/" target="_blank">Rohan Maitzen</a> has written some interesting pieces on Eliot's view of sympathy, rather than religion, as moral framework.) <br />
<br />
In "The Janeites" Kipling declares that Jane Austen left "lawful issue" in Henry James. However, according to Emsley, in "James's later novels, virtue seems not just a mysterious desert, but an unfathomable sea" (162). In one work "Aesthetics replace ethics" (163) for the hero. In another, two characters decide on a system of "care" that entails "never consciously" wounding others. Their "care", however, involves keeping their affair a secret from their respective spouses. Their ethical deliberation "works toward what makes life.. more comfortable" (163). While in Austen's novels "it generally becomes clear where the moral center of the novel is..." this is not so for James. Emsley tells us, "Increasingly for James's main characters, the virtues are replaced by the values of modern life, values that are negotiable rather than flexible" (163). James is more interested in knowledge and analysis of ethics than ethical action. He too seems hardly a worthy heir for Austen.<br />
<br />
Emsley argues that Edith Wharton's novels lack hope born of "faith in something positive". "The ruling value is authenticity" (165) Wharton, therefore, also fails to live up to Austen's vision of virtue that produces happiness.<br />
<br />
Emsley concludes: "Just as Austen's contemporaries often saw virtue as sexual purity,
writers after Austen tend to focus on a particular kind of virtue that
informs the ethics of a given situation" (165). Throughout the book Emsley effectively argues that "Even among writers of her time, Jane Austen's exploration of the unity of the virtues is original and exceptional" (166). Austen, therefore, is unrivaled in her exploration of the virtuous life. Austen's popularity also implies that she is unrivaled in showing that "An education in virtue can be dramatically interesting" (167).<br />
<br />
As I stated at the beginning of this series, the best books "show us to ourselves". Despite being an academic work, Emsley's engagement with the principles of ethics helped me think more deeply about my ethical foundations. Her emphasis on Austen's Christian moorings made me think more closely about love, hope, and faith as ways of seeing and reacting to life. (And, yes, by extension I even thought more closely about some statements of Paul's.) I'll continue to look back on this book as a pivotal experience as I navigate the worlds of Austen criticism and virtuous life. <br />
<br />
<br />
This series of posts would not have been possible without <a href="http://thebowerofbelle.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Esther</a>, who graciously sent her copy of <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i> all the way to Canada for me to read. (Esther has herself written a <a href="http://thebowerofbelle.blogspot.ca/search/label/Sarah%20Emsley" target="_blank">series of posts</a> on this book, which summarize it beautifully, doubtless covering points I missed.) I also want to thank all my perspicacious friends who commented (keep it up! the discussions don't have to end!) and shared thoughts. I especially appreciated the thoughts that the <a href="http://frigatetoutopia.blogspot.ca/2013/07/fanny-price-and-contemplative-life.html" target="_blank"><i>Mansfield Park</i> post</a> generated. And lastly, thanks to Sarah Emsley for writing such a great work and even mentioning this series on her <a href="http://sarahemsley.com/" target="_blank">excellent blog</a>. Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-76179619138232335672013-08-01T16:54:00.000-07:002013-08-01T16:54:30.833-07:00Balancing the Virtues in "Persuasion"I have a theory that Austen made the heroines of her successive novels studies in contrast. Quiet Fanny follows sparkling Elizabeth, persuadable Anne follows confident Emma. According to Sarah Emsley, Anne is also a foil to Emma in truly possessing the "resources of mind and spirit... that Emma Woodhouse thinks she herself possesses" (Emsley, 145). Emsley also sees <i>Persuasion</i> as the most explicit of the six novels in balancing the virtues. She states, "Anne's argument at the end of the novel that she was right to take Lady Russel's advice, even if the advice was wrong, demonstrates that for Austen, ethics has to do with character rather than rules" (146).<br />
<br />
Austen makes deliberate reference to the need for balance -- in this case between firmness and persuadability -- after Louisa's disastrous fall. This "recalls Aristotle's doctrine of the mean, in which virtuous qualities have proportions and limits. Though Wentworth himself does not realize it, he does think that to be sometimes persuadable is a good thing, as he has recommended that Louisa persuade Henrietta to be firm" (148). <br />
<br />
Emsley also agrees with my theory that "It is Wentworth, not Anne, who must change in this novel" (149). Once again, critics who claim Austen does not deal with the minds of men are proven wrong, through Wentworth's succinct account of how he came to recognize his own pride.<br />
<br />
In <i>Persuasion</i>, Anne must exercise her judgment in her treatment of her varied acquaintances -- from the prideful Lady Dalrymple, and the seemingly-charming Mr Eliot, to the humble Mrs Smith. Emsley demonstrates that in this novel right treatment of others requires consideration, not of "birth or fortune", but of "understanding and value" (153). Sir Walter and Elizabeth are notably without such judgment in their treatment of "only Anne" whose "elegance of mind and sweetness of character" should distinguish her.<br />
<br />
Emsley presents Anne's pang of conscience while reading Mr Eliot's private letters as an example of the virtues in tension. In this situation "the code of honor that protects a man's private life and letters conflicts with the attempt of two women to establish the truth. In this case, truth must win in order for Anne to preserve her own character, and to separate herself and her family from the designs of Mr Eliot.. [T]he real virtue of truth triumphs over mere rules..." (154)<br />
<br />
When Anne argues that women love longest "when hope is gone" she is uses no literary examples, and it is clear she is thinking of her own situation. However, her behavior throughout the novel demonstrates that she <i>does</i> possess hope, if not in a renewal of Wentworth's love (though this is a primary theme of the last section of the novel), then in something greater than herself. "[It] is through constancy and faith in <i>Persuasion</i> that [Austen] demonstrates the unity of the virtues... Constancy is the natural consequence of the uniting of the classical virtue of fortitude with the Christian virtue of hope" (156). While some critics have argued that Anne is depressed at the beginning of the novel, her consistent actions of kindness and care for others are examples of fortitude born of hope. This is hope as Paul conceives of it in Romans 5:4, "Experience [worketh] hope." Like love, it is not merely an emotion, but a way of viewing the world that motivates action toward others. In short, Anne possess Paul's trivium: faith, hope, and love. Emsley concludes that "<i>Persuasion</i> contains the closest thing to an explicit theory of the unity of classical and Christian virtues" (158). <br />
<br />
These thoughts are drawn from <a href="http://sarahemsley.com/" target="_blank">Sarah Emsley</a>'s book <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i>. Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-25625455281034363942013-07-23T15:34:00.002-07:002013-08-01T17:17:51.027-07:00Learning the Art of Charity in Emma<i>Emma </i>has been my favorite Jane Austen novel since the first time I read it, because I immediately identified with the undisciplined, imaginative heroine. Thus, it's hardly surprising that I enjoyed Emsley's chapter on this novel most, but I was also surprised by how much this chapter of literary criticism "showed me to myself'. Although Emsely considers <i>Emma</i> less well-developed that P&P, I found the most striking insights in this chapter. Perhaps it is because it focuses on "the greatest of these" -- love. <br />
<br />
Emma Woodhouse, who possess some of the "best blessings of existence" is yet in the position described by Paul in 1Corinthians 13 -- all her gifts profit her nothing, because she has a false understanding of love. This is partly do to her lack of self-knowledge. Emma is, of course, quite confident that she does know herself, telling Harriet, "If I know myself... mine is an active mind". However, Emsley posits that Emma's pursual of company, even inferior company like Harriet's, proves that she fears
lonliness or "the reality of being left with her own mind" (131). This was a moment of revelation for me. Although not as sociable as Emma, I too fear the solitude of my own mind, refusing to lie awake and think about my own faults and failures when I can distract myself with various forms of entertainment.<br />
<br />
"Emma does, however see some things clearly, early on..." (132) Emsley declares. When she defends Frank for not visiting Mrs Weston she is "taking the other side of the question from her real opinion". She also cannot long pretend to be in love with Frank. More importantly, Emsley acknowledges something I've thought, but not articulated well: "In contrast to Elizabeth Bennet and Catherine Morland, whose revelations of self-knowledge come quite late in their respective novels, Emma has her first encounter with the pain of enlightenment relatively early in Chapter 16" (133). After Elton makes "violent love to her" she is very penitent and miserable. Does this mean <i>Emma</i> is the most complex of Austen's ouvre through making "conversion" (repentance/self-knowledge, whatever word suits) a repeated process? Perhaps this is yet another reason I love this novel best, because I too have never had one moment of change or even spiritual conversion, but learn slowly. The fact that Emma experiences not one but three epiphanies is also an argument against the idea that she does not change, since throughout the story, self-knowledge is a continuing process. (Can anyone tell me who the critic was who thought she doesn't change at the end? I may have read it in "A Truth Universally Acknowledged".)<br />
<br />
Another vital point that Emsley makes is about the difference between "charity as love and charity as image" (138). As much as Emma despises Mrs Elton, she has been guilty of having a disturbingly similar conception of charity. Emsley says that "In [Mrs Elton's] estimation, charity is what those in power offer to those without power" (135). Emma too "has thought that it woud be charitable to be useful to Harriet (when
in fact she uses Harriet as a pawn in her own matchmaking game), that
it woud be charitable to Mr Elton to find him a pretty wife (when she
has used him as the object of that game), and also, that it would be
charitable to Frank Churchill for her to bestow her affections on him.
This is charity conceived of as condescension. Emma Woodhouse, proud,
elegant, and benevolent, might condescend to treat 'a Harriet Smith' as a
friend, to arrange the local clergyman's love life for him, and to fall
in love with a long-lost neighbor. But, as Emma needs to learn, charity
is not about power" (133).<br />
<br />
This conception of charity as power is a common failing, perhaps especially among we Westerners who consider ourselves educationally and culturally advanced; and among we Christians, eager to spread our "good news" in condescending ways. A right conception of charity, Austen and Emsley imply, is based on respect for others' personhood and autonomy. Whenever we begin to use others -- to advance our positions, our reputations, or even our self-esteem -- we have abandoned real charity.<br />
<br />
Emsley concludes her comments on charity with the statement: "In E, charity is not defined simply as either good works performed for
other people, or as love offered to one's intimates; romantic love, the
love of friendship, and the love of benevolent good works are all part
of Austen's understanding of charity. The process of learning to be
charitable, therefore, is more than an education in good works or social
justice, as it can help characters work toward happiness as well as
goodness" (140).<br />
<br />
Emsley then turns to a discussion of happiness, concluding that through practicing the virtues "Austen suggests, one may achieve something like perfect happiness, not happiness as an end result, but as a process open to revision" (141). She asks, "Is it the aim of virtue to be in charity with one's self?" (141) While she does not explicitly answer the question, through examining the process by which Emma comes to understand the cruelty of her remark to Miss Bates, she suggests that a time of great self-reproach may be the first step to later self-charity. She shows that while Emma is not a reader like Lizzie Bennet (who is changed through her close reading of a letter), once Emma has had her error pointed out by Mr Knightley she is harder on herself than he has been, recalling all her "scornful, ungracious" private thoughts and remarks that led up to the open barb. Ultimately, "Emma has to learn to love her neighbor as herself, and to be in love and charity with her neighbors rather than simply with herself" (144). She has claimed it is not her "way" to fall in love, but has it been because her own self-love has blinded her to what it is to be "in love" as a way of life?<br />
<br />
(I'm doing a remarkably reprehensible [think Mr Woodhouse's voice in Emma 2006] thing and posting this in a great rush unedited. Will edit later, so for now I beg you all to show charity and forgive ;)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-62453805016551086652013-07-19T14:33:00.001-07:002013-07-19T14:33:46.020-07:00Fanny Price and the Contemplative LifeIt's ironic that Fanny Price, one of Austen's most quiet and (seemingly) timid heroines, is the subject of so much contention among critics and readers. Here's where I make the dreadful confession that despite wanting to kick Kinsley Amis* out of windows** I have not always appreciated Fanny as much as the other heroines. As I began reading the chapter I jotted down these words: "I think my own need is for her to be a little more tempted in all points, perhaps as a reaction to Edmund's characterization of her as a creature of habit. He claims novelty has almost no power over her, but it has so much power for people like myself, and for other literary heroines, such as Emma Woodhouse, Jane Eyre, or Maggie Tulliver." Well, it turns out that a significant portion of Emsley's argument takes on Edmund's characterization and makes me ashamed to have questioned the sovereign lady's judgment.<br />
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Emsley's main thesis in this chapter is that Fanny is Austen's heroine who most achieves philosophic wisdom. She has been criticized as a weak character for her submissiveness and deference to others. In urging her to act gratefully and accept Henry Crawford, the Bertrams expect of her what Wollsonecraft called "spaniel-like virtues". However, it is the fact Fanny has been "long used to submission" yet still resists these urgings that proves her real strength. And while much is made of Edmund having formed her mind, in fact, we see her independent judgments growing more confident and more distinct from Edmund's as the novel progresses. This view is reinforced by her words to Henry describing a "better guide in ourselves" that all possess.<br />
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Emsley also brings out the fascinating metaphor, introduced in the chapel scene, of Mansfield Park as a nation. Edmund's moral failing, in not giving the example he has stated the clergy should, augurs ill for his model of a clergy-directed nation. Fanny, however, is an individual who departs from the stus quo in refusing to participate in the play. Austen's belief in the prerequisite of moral individuals is reinforced by Emsley's epigraph from "Catherine", which states that "the welfare of every nation depends on the virtue of it's [sic] individuals". <br />
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Here I return to Fanny's attitude toward novelty. Emsley proves -- especially through surveying Fanny's expressions about plants and the changing seasons -- that she is not without appreciation for novelty and change. In fact, it is those around her who stifle her rapturous expressions, through their indifference to "intellectual subjects" (121). For instance, Fanny attempts to engage Mary Crawford on the "wonderful ... changes of the human mind" but is met with silence. Nor does Fanny advocate habit merely for its own sake. In the scene in which Henry reads Shakespeare and discusses the art of sermons, Fanny approves of recent changes in the manner of their delivery. <br />
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Emsley has rendered the claim that Fanny is static invalid. Another character frequently criticized is Sir Thomas. Emsley sheds light on how we are to view Sir Thomas through comparing him with Mr Bennet. The former is "the longest to suffer" his family's disgrace due to "errors in his own conduct as a parent", while Mr Bennet acknowledges <i>his</i> family's disgrace as his "own doing", but is "not afraid of being overpowered by the impression". Sir Thomas and his son Tom are characters who have been morally indictable, but change. Fanny is a character whose consistent habit of contemplation -- both privately and in "community" when consulting her uncle -- has led to moral comfort (peace), and also to growth of personality and intellect. <br />
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*I've frequently expressed my hatred of Amis' essay "What Became of Jane Austen?" Emsley provided an excellent clue to where Amis went wrong. In her S&S chapter she points to Aristotle who "says that there is an important distinction between vice and moral weakness, the difference being that while vice is an imbalance of emotion that makes us unable to see that what we do is wrong, moral weakness is the state of knowing what is right, behaving wrongly, and being conscious of regret at falling short of practicing the virtues" (Emsley, 71) Isn't this an exact description of the difference between the Crawfords and Edmund?<br />
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**See "Frederic and Elfrida" (Seriously, what awful names, Miss Austen!)Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-31778315022617625092013-07-17T16:03:00.001-07:002013-07-22T14:43:07.810-07:00Pride and Prejudice and the Beauty of Justice Growing up, I heard the word "judging" used frequently -- often pejoratively by those telling others in the church to stop worrying about other people's dress, adornment, and behavior. My mother would earnestly rejoin that while we cannot judge the heart, we must judge between right and wrong. What often got left out of these discussions was the necessity of careful judgment in pursuing justice. In <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i> Sarah Emsley explores the role of judgment in treating others with justice.<br />
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Like <i>Sense and Sensibility</i>, Emsley views P&P as exploring the vital question of "how to be truthful and civil simultaneously" (83). However, the latter novel's dramatic plot combines Elizabeth's livelier personality to heighten the tensions of the virtues, and to present what Emsley considers the best of Austen's "living arguments". <br />
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As "light, bright, and sparkling" as P&P is, it is a controversial novel. Feminist critics have devalued Austen's marriage plots as humiliations to the heroines and "complicit in bourgeois ideology" (85), while a host of male critics have been more appreciative. Nevertheless, every Janeite has at some point encountered the complaint that a novel set around the Napeolonic wars contains no politics. Emsley points to Aristotle's teaching that the question "How shall our life together be ordered?" is the "central issue of politics" (84). In this light, Austen is highly political in a way that trascends her time and touches the politics of our own. Ultimately, Emsley believes critics are a little too ready to take Austen's word on the "light, bright and sparkling" question, and fail to realize that this is actually "the most serious of Austen's novels..." (84). This view is reinforced by Plato's theory that the genius of tragedy is the same genius as that of comedy.<br />
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Emsley's explores righteous anger that seeks to "set things right"(89) and both enables, and springs from, the Christian love and joy displayed in the novels. Again, danger lies on both sides of the mean of good temper. Emsley contrasts Lady Catherine and Mr Collins as opposites -- he overreaches the mean with his obsequiousness, she with her cantankerous impertinence. Personally, I would argue that both are manifestations of their extreme selfishness, directed into seemingly opposite channels by their widely different social positions. An example of those who keep to the mean -- exercising judgment in their anger and civility -- are the Gardeners. They are willing to believe good of Mr Darcy quite readily, but are justly angry with Lydia when she arrives at their home, unrepentant and still-thoughtless.<br />
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Especially perspicacious is Emsley's explication of beneficial prejudice (perhaps comparable to proper pride) which leads Elizabeth to reject Mr Collins, while Jane, "apt to like people", might conceivably have accepted him. Elizabeth does not, after all, become so changed by her "just humiliation" as to become unjudgmental like Jane. Rather, Elizabeth and Darcy's early judgments are condemned because both both "judge others before they judge themselves" (95). Correct judgment involves looking closely at situations, judging one's self before judging others, and judging one's self more strictly. This process of correct judgment is an art, and therefore "harder to achieve than the correct execution of technical skill" (97). Emsley effectively demonstrates that "good judgment does not by any means come easily to Elizabeth" following her moment of discovery, but she does become less hasty in her pronouncements as the novel progresses (101).<br />
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We few, we happy few, we Janeites are especially fortunate in being able to enjoy Austen's balanced perspective on judgment. Characters in her novels who judge hastily and without humility are educated through their mistakes, but judgment remains vital to the heroines who navigate deceptions and pitfalls to achieve happy endings. Judgment is also the prerequisite to appreciating Austen's finely tuned sense of irony, which relies on the difference between what ought to be and what is. Lastly, judgment is vital to Austen's equally subtle sense of morality. Emsley concludes that critics Maskell and Robinson "are right that Jane Austen goes further than Socrates does in his suggestion that 'The unreasoned life.. is not worth living'; for Austen, 'a life without judgment... would not be a human life at all'" (105). Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-14793915600901471632013-07-10T18:23:00.000-07:002013-07-10T18:23:08.087-07:00Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues (3) Sense and Sensibility<br />
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<i>Sense and Sensibility</i>, Sarah Emsley posits, is about social virtues in tension with the virtue of honesty. Who among us can't think of some uncomfortable situation when we have been forced to speak, knowing honesty might wound? Emsley describes this problem thus: "In loving one's neighbor there is an inherent tension between respect and affirmation; that is, it is difficult to draw the line between being polite and sympathetic to someone, and being complicit with that person's behavior" (59). This is certainly true in S&S, in which it seems as if the Dashwood sisters are surrounded by the most vulgar, villainous, or cloying people imaginable. A balance must be struck through sympathy tempered by judgment.<br />
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Kind and friendly behavior is referred to in Austen's novels as amiability. Like the other virtues, it is a mean, with faults lying at both extremes. "The excess of amiability is obsequiousness... and the defect is cantankerousness" (62); S&S certainly has its share of characters - from Lucy Steele to Mrs Ferrars - falling on either side. In discussing the qualities of friendship and social life, Emsley brought my attention to a description of the Middletons that will now make me momentarily abandon my essay tone: "Continual engagements at home and abroad... supplied all the deficiencies of nature and education." Sorry if this is mean, but to me that's an exact representation of the Middleton family who feature so much in gossip columns today. ;)<br />
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Emsley goes on to discuss whether virtue is best formed in contact with the world, or in isolation from it. In exploring this question she returns to the theologians à Kempis and Augustine who advocated separation from the world, but acknowledged that the monastic life is not for all. She then turns to "Areopagitica", concluding that Austen agrees with Milton that "knowledge and survey of vice... [are] necessary to the constituing of virtue." Austen demonstrates this belief in a number of ways. Elinor speaks to Colonel Brandon of Marianne's need for a "better acquaintance with the world". Edward states that his foolish engagement to Lucy was the "consequence of ignorance of the world". This need for knowledge is, however, balanced by the conclusion "the world [has] made [Willoughby] extravagant and vain". Knowledge, therefore, is necessary to the formation of good judgment in the young, but utter license is destructive to their character.<br />
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One of my favorite insights in this chapter involves how Austen signals out Willoughby's seduction of Eliza Williams as the "origin" of all his other crimes. Emsley points out how "this is in contrast to [David] Hume's theory that a man's virtue can be more easily redeemed. Thus Austen's fiction might be seen as opposing Hume's double standard of virtue" (60).<br />
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Another striking, though simple, insight was the presentation of the virtues as a chain. "Self-knowledge may bring us to understand our faults, knowledge of how we have injured others may bring us to exert ourselves...[,] and the constant discipline... requires courage" (74). This idea of virtues that "cause and affect each other" (74) reminded me of 2 Peter 1. Perhaps that text is especially significant in the light of the foundation of religion in Austen's worldview: "Add to your faith virtue."<br />
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One thing I question is Emsley's conclusion that, unlike Marianne, Elinor is not "prepared to ask for divine grace" (81). Although it is true she does not do so as explicitly as Marianne, could it be because Marianne has "sinned" more publicly? To what degree must confession be public? (Emsley uses the term penance in referring to Marianne's behavior. Could this be a Catholic element in Austen, or is this merely part of Marianne's tendency to extremes?) These questions are very interesting, when we consider the fact that three heroines (Marianne, Elizabeth, and Elinor) experience identifiable times of repentance, while the less hasty heroines (Elinor, Fanny, and Anne) seem to have little for which to repent. Emsley explores these differences further in the following chapters, especially relating to Fanny, but perhaps part of the answer lies in a quote she cites from Alastair Duckworth suggesting that Elinor "does not so much evince a moral growth as a constant internal moral struggle" ("The Improvement of the Estates" 114).<br />
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This moral struggle remains in evidence as Emsley ends her discussion of the tension between honesty and amiability. She concludes that "by behaving civilly to other people, Elinor is closer to practicing the virtues than Marianne, because a virtue is no longer a virtue when the practice of it is unjustly harmful to others" (71). <br />
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(A note on quotes: I'm providing page numbers for <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i> because I may wish to use these in future essays. I'm not providing page numbers for Austen's works, as they may all be easily searched on the internet.)<br />
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<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-15889237343199013062013-07-08T16:11:00.001-07:002013-07-10T16:56:46.487-07:00Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues (2): Propriety's Claims on PrudenceIn the second chapter of <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i>, Emsley discusses virtue in Austen's early works - <i>Northanger Abbey </i>and <i>Lady Susan</i>. Of course, any good Janeite will be quick to point out that the eponymous heroine of <i>Lady Susan</i> is entirely without virtue - possessed of the kind of shocking amorality that in later novels Austen is hesitant to assign even to the rakes. However, Lady Susan makes a great show of propriety -- leaving the Manwarings' house, or being a model of feminine reserve to Reginald DeCourcy - to cover her selfishness and immorality. Emsley points out the ghastly degree of Lady Susan's immorality when she encourages her friend Alicia to bring on the death of the feeble Mrs Manwearing "through irritating her feelings".<br />
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Feminist critics have sometimes viewed LS as Austen's exploration of female power, a theme patriarchal influences forced her to discontinue pursuing in her later works. Emsey agrees "that <i>Lady Susan</i> criticizes female power," but posits "the heroine's pursuit of virtue in [the] later novels as a quest for a different kind of power. Given that older definitions of <i>virtue </i>(or <i>vertu</i>) had to do with strength and power, it is important to emphasize that the virtues are moral excellences, and therefore may be seen as more powerful than aggression or manipulation" (48). <br />
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Lady Susan is an inherently amoral character who uses propriety to cover her villainy. In contrast, Emsley views Catherine Morland of NA as an innately virtuous heroine, who must learn the proprieties of society. For example, Catherine would consider it a sacrifice to ride with the Thorpes rather than walk with the Tilneys. In contrast to George Eliot who once stated that "All self-sacrifice is good", in this instance Austen upholds the propriety of following through with the first engagement. For Austen "the morality of sacrifice depends on what the sacrifice is for... In <i>Northanger Abbey</i>... Austen tests sacrifice against loyalty, honesty against propriety, and authority against natural inclination" (54). <br />
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While I agree with the analysis of Catherine's innate sense of honesty as vital to her actions and character, I think there may be room for a little more exploration of her terrible surmises and consequent moment of shame. This chapter is Emsley's weakest (though I'd still give it an A), probably because it deals with works Austen wrote at a young age. Among Austen's ouvre, NA seems most influenced by contemporary sentimental novels and Emsley acknowledges that "later Austen heroines will have to think more, struggle more, and suffer for more than ten minutes or one dark night in a scary room" (55). Emsley's analysis focuses primarily on a couple of Catherine's interactions with the Thorpes and Tilneys in Bath, without exploring the gothic elements introduced at the Abbey. Although something of an off-shoot from discussing specific virtues, the exploration might be expanded by a look into the moral implications of imagination and sentimentality.<br />
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Despite its slimness, this chapter also provides some fabulous incites into Austen's originality. For example, "That villains can be ordinary people is radical, just as the idea that heroines can be ordinary people is radical" (55). That's why NA is another wonderful examplar of Austen's lessons for us today. Today in my ordinariness, I can be a heroine. Like Catherine I can acknowledge my mistakes and then take comfort in Austen's declaration, "She had nothing to do but to forgive herself and be happier than ever." <br />
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<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5188363566174884239.post-85669130875111755272013-07-04T16:42:00.002-07:002013-07-04T16:43:04.732-07:00Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues (Introduction and Chapter 1)As every true bookworm knows, there are two kinds of books: the ones we read, and the ones that read us. Bronson Alcott described the latter kind when he wrote of <i>The Pilgrim's Progress</i>, "This is one of the few books that showed me to myself." Such a book is Sarah Emsley's <i>Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues</i>. It's a work of literary criticism that I've long been eager to read. I owe my lovely friend<span style="color: blue;"> </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><a href="http://thebowerofbelle.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Esther </a></span></span>an immense debt of gratitude for lending her copy to me (and for not bugging me about why I haven't finished and posted sooner.) <br />
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Emsley's theses is that Austen participates in the tradition of "virtue ethics" developed by philosophers and theologians over the centuries. Especially prominent in the development of this tradition is Aristotle, for whom the <i>telos</i> [end or goal] of virtue is "human flourishing". This view is reinforced by the cardinal virtues of the early philosophers: justice, temperance, prudence, and fortitude. Combined with the Christian (or Theological) virtues - faith, hope, and love - these present flexible guide to living the good life. Emsley presents the primary concern of Austen's heroines not as "Who shall I marry? but as "How shall I live my life?" Contemplation and practice of the virtues will produce a flourishing life. However, such a life requires practice and effort, since "for Austen, as for Aristotle, virtue is a disposition and is chosen, acquired, and practiced through habit..." (Emsley 18)<br />
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Through presenting Austen as concerned with happiness attained through virtue, Emsley immediately confronts popular criticism that emphasizes the humiliation of the heroines as harmful, and strong Christian mores as antithetical to happiness. Gilbert and Gubar were among the feminist critics who spearheaded this view of Austen's universe, leading many subsequent feminist critics to maintain a strong interest in Austen, while disparaging the endings of her novels. However, I'm glad to say Emsley also shows herself sympathetic to true forms of women's equality, through her references to Wollstonecraft's criticism of the "spaniel-like virtues" expected of women in the 18th century. <br />
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While Emsley acknowledges the lack of much explicit Christianity in Austen's works, she points out that the tradition of virtues was expanded by Aquinas and Augustine. She suggests that since Protestants tended to "downplay Catholic catalogues of specific vices and virtues" (31), Austen's Catholic sympathies in "The History of England" might extend to her philosophical emphasis on the virtues. Despite her interest in the specific virtues, Austen does not see them as items on a list to be checked off. (An example of this type of thinking is Benjamin Franklin's list of 13 virtues - one to work on each week - which has been described as "secular Calvanism".) Nor does Austen view virtue in the narrow form it was equated with in her day - as female sexual purity, or a "state of being that could be acted on by others" (35). Rather, for Austen, individual deliberation and judgment are vital in all circumstances, for vice may lie on either side of the mean of virtue. "It is the right kind of actions, at the right time, and in the right way, that constitute virtuous behavior..." (40). <br />
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Reading the Introduction and first chapter of this book helped to acquaint me more intimately with several philosophers, but it also "showed me to myself" through making me think more deeply about my own judgments of virtues and morals, and about how I walk the mean of virtue. <br />
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<br />Lit~Lasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05371293247684677108noreply@blogger.com10