Lu Xun: A Madman's Diary

Another short one! I'm dying to get on with a longer work though, and I have several waiting for me to get around to them, so hang in there. This, of course, is as interesting as the title suggests. The narrator is experiencing extreme paranoia, seeing things and imagining things and above all convinced that everyone wants to eat him, even his own brother. It isn't very long, so you'll forgive me for having very little to report! (Lu Xun/ aka. Zhou Shuren: 1881-1936)

Horst Schroeder: "Some Historical and Literary References in Oscar Wilde's 'The Birthday of the Infanta'"

A quick, interesting piece of research, "Some Historical..." proposes that the Infanta's father is actually meant to be Charles II of Spain. Schroeder builds his argument on some convincing circumstantial evidence- people of the times, similar names or traits, coinciding events. He does have several articles of evidence along these lines, which makes an overall believable argument. I don't know how useful this will be for my purposes, but I'm glad I read it.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper

I've read this before, and it's very short, so it hardly counts for the purposes of this blog, but if you haven't read "The Yellow Wallpaper," you definitely should. Gilman is one of the few American writers (Connecticut) that I'm interested in. She deals with the social conditions of middle class and upper class women at the turn of the 19th century (1899 to 1900s). In this story, a woman is slowly driven insane by her husband/ physician, who has prescribed a strict regimen of rest and solitude to "cure" the narrator of post-partum depression. Her objective correlative, in this case, is the horrible yellow wallpaper that lines the room to which she is "confined" day and night. A quick read, and one I really recommend.

Austen: Mansfield Park

Possibly one of my favorite novels, up until the last chapter, where Austen winds everything up with a direct speech from the narrator. It is all rather hurriedly wrapped up and I don't like it. But the rest of the book is excellent. The main character, Fanny Price, is a very sweet, quiet main character with a great deal of sense ( as always). The intended love is Edmund Bertram, who has been her constant companion since the Mertrams adopted her at age nine. She is, at eighteen, in love with him, but he is smitten with Mary Crawford. Fanny's two cousins Maria and Julia Bertram are not the typical sort of horrible step-sister characters, but the effect of their slight snobbery is intensified in the narrator's depictions of Fanny because she is so sensitive. These girls get some recompence when Mr. Henry Crawford, Mary's sister, is suddenly mad for Fanny after flirting with them for months. And she rejects him, of course, because his manners are unseemly, so he runs of with Mrs. Rushworth (Maria) and ruins both of them. Because of Mary's callous attitude towards his sister, Edmund decides he cannot love her (for a trait that Fanny has pointed out since day one!) and decides to marry Fanny. Yay! Other important characters are Sir Thomas, William, and Mrs. Norris, the evil aunt who always reminds Fanny how low her position is.

Austen: Sense and Sensibility

Not much to say on this one, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are the main characters, and the novel is very similar to Austen's other novels, in telling the story of women getting married despite numerous ups and downs. The main players are Willoughby, who doesn't marry either because he's a selfish stinker, and Edward Ferrar and Colonel Brandon. There is also that screwy Mrs. Jennings and Lucy Steele, who can't make up her mind to marry Edward or his brother.

National Dreams: The Remaking of Fairy Tales in Nineteenth Century England

National Dreams traces the introduction of the fairy tale tradition into England. England, evidently choosing to believe that it had Industrialized itself out of folklore, was eager to embrace the traditions of Germany, Ireland, India and from the Norse. The writer uses a narratological approach to determine the relationship between the writer and the peasant or middle class authors of early fairy tale collections. I really like that Schacker makes ample use of pictures. The illustrations used in the early editions reveal the prejudices of the English. Obviously there are some really interesting interactions between the different societies involved, keeping in mind that England had colonized Ireland and India at this time, and these are evident in the fairy tale collections. There are also interesting interactions between social classes, as the tellers are peasantry dying out and the partakers are usually bourgeois or wealthier.
Overall, a really fun book that I was really interested in, but the writing was a little dry and occasionally hard to follow. I got a lot of great ideas about format from it too, so I’m getting more excited about my own project.

Henry James: The Aspern Papers

A story about an old poet's old mistress and a cunning publisher who will stop at nothing to catch hold or their private correspondence. Main characters: Juliana Bordereau, Tita Bordereau, nameless narrator. Henry James may paint Tita as the heroine because, after her proposal to the narrator is rejected, she takes the moral high road and burns her aunt's letters.
I rate this a 5 out of 10. I didn't like it, but it was short.

Welcome to my blog

I have four different categories for reading:
1. Thesis: These are articles, books and stories I'm reading for my M.A. thesis.
2. GRE: A big, scary literature test I have to take in November.
3. Work: I teach literature classes.
4. Pleasure: HA HA HA HA! But if I happen to, I'll list it.

I intend to list the time of completion and give a brief summary and recommendation.

As for the coffee: I try new drinks whenever I have time and I like to visit new cafes. I also travel a lot. So if I have something great, I'll list it. For those who love Starbucks, despite their burnt beans, I frequently enjoy the tall soy white mocha, with three shots of espresso and two pumps of raspberry. If you're lucky enough to have a coffee bean and tea leaf near you, a large iced Americano, black, is my favorite.