Victorians! discussion
Conversations in the Parlor
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BBC List: How many have you read?
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DJ wrote: "Will it still be open after Christmas?I am unsure how long threads stay open as I am still relatively new to the Group...Thanks Paula..."
It only closes when a moderator closes it. Boof was pretty encouraging when I posted comments to discussions from 6 months ago, so I don't see any reason why we'd close the discussions once they are opened. You never know who will read what book and when!
That is brilliant news,I now have a big silly Grin!!
Re: Ulysses - Can't recall where I saw/ read this, but it was within the last year. Apparently a professor who has devoted his entire career to analyzing Ulysses finally decided that it was a literary "up-yours" from Joyce, and was never meant to make sense or be meaningful. Wow! What a depressing way to end your career!I couldn't get far into it, much as I enjoyed Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man.
Gabriele wrote: "Re: Ulysses - Can't recall where I saw/ read this, but it was within the last year. Apparently a professor who has devoted his entire career to analyzing Ulysses finally decided that it was a liter..."You know, Gabriele, I oft wondered if that was what Joyce was really doing with that book. LOL, it doesn't surprise me a bit. ;-) Chris
Gabriele wrote: "Re: Ulysses - Can't recall where I saw/ read this, but it was within the last year. Apparently a professor who has devoted his entire career to analyzing Ulysses finally decided that it was a iterary "up-yours" from Joyce, and was never meant to make sense or be meaningful.."I've sometimes felt the same way about Melville and Moby Dick. :))
Everyman wrote: "Gabriele wrote: "Re: Ulysses - Can't recall where I saw/ read this, but it was within the last year. Apparently a professor who has devoted his entire career to analyzing Ulysses finally decided th..."Everyman, I can't say that I disagree with that observation one jot! ;-) Chris
awww, poor Moby Dick! That would be a fun one for one of our non-Victorian Victorian read . . right? Anyone?
Darcy wrote: "awww, poor Moby Dick! That would be a fun one for one of our non-Victorian Victorian read . . right? Anyone?"I think this maybe the first time I have ever heard to the words "Moby Dick" and "fun" in the same sentence.
:)
Darcy wrote: "awww, poor Moby Dick! That would be a fun one for one of our non-Victorian Victorian read . . right? Anyone?"I've never read it, but I have a pretty leather-bound version that has patiently sat on my TBR shelf for ... 10 years? I'd really like to read it someday.
Paula wrote: "Darcy wrote: "awww, poor Moby Dick! That would be a fun one for one of our non-Victorian Victorian read . . right? Anyone?"I've never read it, but I have a pretty leather-bound version that has..."
Paula, just make sure you have Wikipedia up and running on your PC to help with all of the inane whaling jargon. While I thoroughly enjoyed my visit of Melville's house (Arrowhead) in Pittsfield, MA, where he wrote Moby Dick; I'll be taking a pass on a group read of Moby Dick (thank you very much!). ;-) Cheers! Chris
Isn't Melville something of an American literary hero? I wonder why that is? - if anyone can shed any light on why he is considered a genius I'd love to hear it. - I may even read Mobey Dick on the back of any enlightening comments!Ally
Ally wrote: "Isn't Melville something of an American literary hero? I wonder why that is? - if anyone can shed any light on why he is considered a genius I'd love to hear it. - I may even read Mobey Dick on the..."I love Moby-Dick more each time I read it. I made a few false starts and then I realized that it is an anthology of literature rather than a novel to be read straight through in a week or three. Just put it on your nightstand or coffee table and read from it a little at a time. Just about every form of literature is between those leather bindings--sonnet, song, sermon, scripture, short story, novel, research paper, cook book, adventure yarn, sociological treatise, travel tale supreme, natural history, anatomy primer, encyclopedia, diary. And under all, the sea, the murmuring, roaring sea.
Laurel, you may have done the very best job of summing up the character of Moby Dick, the novel. Perhaps that is why I've never ever appreciated it particularly; because it is the amalgamation that you have described; and that I have looked for the novel that flows from fore to aft (so to speak). I have read it half-a-dozen times over my life, and I can see precisely what you are alluding to. Well done! [Still can't say that I'd participate in a group read of it though:]
Cheers! Chris
Laurele wrote: "And under all, the sea, the murmuring, roaring sea. ..."
Ok, now I have to read it! I need to see what Chris and E-man dislike, and I have now been consumed with a need to read about "the sea, the murmuring, roaring sea." Laurele, you're a very convincing writer!
I agree! I love it when people get passionate about a book they have enjoyed. So many reviews have convinced me to try books I may never have got round to. I love that not all books are everyones cup of tea and that we all have different tastes, but there is something really infectious about someones passion for a book.
Laurele, that's a really lovely description of it! And you've put your finger on precisely what I love about MD--every chapter is like a little surprise. Or, more accurately, fairly lengthy surprises with quite a lot of whale sperm thrown in.
Darcy wrote: "Laurele, that's a really lovely description of it! And you've put your finger on precisely what I love about MD--every chapter is like a little surprise. Or, more accurately, fairly lengthy surpris..."Isn't that the truth, Darcy? And thank you, Boof, Paula, and Chris. Just remember, you can't swallow a whale in one bite. Or as Melville said, no one has ever written a great book about a flea.
Darcy wrote: "A heard a paper at a conference a while back, in which the author argued that the point of Ulysses is to put the reader to sleep. It was a pretty persuasive essay! ;)"Haha! That doesn't bode well for me, then. I personally found Tristam Shandy to be the most sleep-inducing book and couldn't get into it. My professor challenged me to read it *at some point* in my life (which was kind, because he was essentially excusing me from reading it at that precise point in time).
Laurele wrote: "Or as Melville said, no one has ever written a great book about a flea. "No, but they've written a great poem about a flea!
THE FLEA.
by John Donne
MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.
O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.
Everyman wrote: "Laurele wrote: "Or as Melville said, no one has ever written a great book about a flea. "No, but they've written a great poem about a flea!
THE FLEA.
by John Donne
MARK but this flea, and m..."
Well donne.
Everyman wrote: "Laurele wrote: "Or as Melville said, no one has ever written a great book about a flea. "No, but they've written a great poem about a flea!
THE FLEA.
by John Donne
MARK but this flea, and m..."
I remember snickering when I first read that poem. : )
Maybe we should have a never ending thread on MOBY DICK so that we could all just read bits here and there, as Laurele was saying?
DJ wrote: "Maybe we should have a never ending thread on MOBY DICK so that we could all just read bits here and there, as Laurele was saying?"Done :)
Since it was written in 1851 I put it under the "General Book Discussions" folder since it technically does fall under our Victorian time period. I hope to join you in the discussion soon!
I plan too,though probably not until after DROOD.My Copy arrived today!
Little embarassing, but just realized I don't have a #26 in the list. I can't get back to the original list that I found on-line, so think we should add our own one here instead. Any suggestions? What great work is missing? (Not to say these are all great works, but I'm working on this list currently and like even numbers :)
I was a little frustrated with the list, too, because I wasn't sure if it was considered popular reads, great reads, must-reads, etc. I became ok with it when I just realized it was a list, simple as that, just for fun, of a somewhat diverse group of books. Most people tend to focus in on a specific genre, so reading more than 10 could be a challenge (unless you read all of the Dickens and Hardy, as that is 9 right there!).
Paula, you can find a bunch of other discussions of this same list (including the missing one) here: http://bit.ly/3CJrljI think we should invent our own #26 anyway! My suggestion is If On A Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.
Add one? Gibbons Decline and Fall (unabridged). I've only read parts of it, but it's an amazing work,with lots to offer us. Too bad it predates Victoria, so we can't read it here.
Thanks Paula...