1. You find a dead rat on your front door: what do you do? a) Ignore it, there are no rats in your clean house. b) Remark to y The Plague - A brief quiz:
1. You find a dead rat on your front door: what do you do? a) Ignore it, there are no rats in your clean house. b) Remark to yourself 'how odd' but carry on as if nothing has happened. c) Actively seek to work out why such a thing has happened to your house. d) Note that many such cases of dead rats are happening in your neighbour's home and note that this is no coincidence.
2. A small handful of separate people across town start coming down with a strange disease. What do you do now? a) Ignore this, it's likely just a flu that will pass shortly. b) Consider it a funny coincidence but nothing more. c) Try to avoid the sick people, but like most others view it as a momentary phase. d) View it as the beginning of a major epidemic - but do not dare to use the p-word yet!
3. Your lover is outside the town as these events unfold. What do you do? a) Try to flee town, you may be shot or imprisoned for such an attempt but it's all for love! b) Consider trying to flee town, but back down out of cowardice. c) Try to convince the officials that you have no signs of possessing any disease and should be allowed to leave. d) Do the selfless thing and see what you can do to fix the problems you have in town so you can see your lover afterwards.
4. It is all starting to seem like a hopeless pandemic. What do you do? a) It's all so hopeless, death seems like the best option. b) It's all so hopeless - why not waste what is left of your life partying with other doomed individuals? c) It all seems so hopeless, but suicide is not the solution - just wait it out in faith! d) Do your best to try to help those who are sick and ease their discomfort and hope that vaccines can work some miracles.
If you answered mostly: a) then I'm sorry to say that you are likely one of the first to die in this plague ravaged town, thank you for playing the game of life. b) well, you have a small chance of not getting sick, but it's more than likely you might get sick and die c) you have a larger chance of not getting sick and dying, but you might just get sick and die anyway - it is a plague after all d) congratulations, you're the most observant of them all - you might get sick and survive or you might die anyway - but hey you recognised what was going on first and you gave everything to help the town!
A full, more comprehensive review of the themes and ideas of The Plague can be read at my Booklikes profile. However, it should suffice to mention that I found The Plague to be a very tightly written and fascinating read.
If, possibly, one could describe what Nox is as a work of abstract poetry it could possibly be considered a kind of meta-elegy. Because, in many diffe If, possibly, one could describe what Nox is as a work of abstract poetry it could possibly be considered a kind of meta-elegy. Because, in many different ways Nox is a haunting work that talks about the elegiac mode while existing as an elegy in and of itself. The title itself appears to be from the Latin for different variations of 'night' or 'nightfall' therefore reflecting the age-old idea of death being like sleeping or passing into shadow.
The book itself is structured like a journal with the interesting gimmick of accordion folded pages set inside a box, rather than a true hardcover. There are scraps and fragments of Latin dictionary definitions alongside handwritten and typed notes. At the same time a poetic commentary from Anne Carson herself exists intermittently and in many regards this fragmented, fractured prose poetry seems to show a sense of grief and loss to a far greater extent than any structured eloquent piece of work could. That is not to say that Carson lacks eloquence, indeed, she is very well versed in how to utilise language, it is simply that her work possesses a raw emotionally jaggedness that comes across to the reader.
The fact that Nox does not even appear like a true book is the most obvious statement made by Anne Carson to the reader. Though there is a sense of the gimmick as noted above there is also the sense that Carson attempts to school the reader that grief destroys all sense of form and the known. That, when night falls upon a soul, there is a sense of total destruction of normality or formality, at least initially.
Anne Carson herself describes the book as being "'based on a poem of Catullus...whose brother died in Troy when Catullus was living in Italy...In my book I printed out the text of the poem, and then took it apart...I dismantled the Catullus poem, one word per page, and I put the Latin word and its lexical definition on the left-hand side, and then on the right-hand side a fragment of a memory of my brother's life that related to the left-hand side of the page. Where the lexical entry didn't relate, 1 changed it. So I smuggled in stuff that is somewhat inauthentic. But it makes the left and the right cohere, so that the whole thing tells the story of the translation of the poem, and also dismantles my memory of my brother's life'(sourced here)." In retrospect it is apparent as to how Carson has used form and her sensibility to convey this other poem in respect to her own experience. Isn't that how all readers must take literature? In connection to their own experience?
Other reviews have also noted the form of Nox transforms the book into more than a book. It becomes a document or an artefact, a work of memory and a monument to a lost life. All of which is in general the aim of the elegy. Yet the fact that Carson can talk about other elegies and about mourning as an act makes this work a kind of meta-elegy as already noted. So this book becomes more than merely a work of non-fiction where Carson describes her reactions to hearing that her almost unknown brother (who hurt her mother) has died. It becomes a work of non-fiction for all those who have lost someone in their lives. And therefore it becomes a work for all those who read literature because it is concerned with both life and death.
"The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual - when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions - it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance." - Isaac Bashevis Singer ...more
"I suppose...that if you wished somehow to incorporate all I am telling you into your own Justine manuscript now, that you would find yourself with a "I suppose...that if you wished somehow to incorporate all I am telling you into your own Justine manuscript now, that you would find yourself with a curious sort of book - the story would be told, so to speak, in layers...a series of novels with 'sliding panels'" Balthazar, p. 338
Justine
A rhythmic, rolling book, without too much plot to speak of. However as a novel it works brilliantly as a sort of literary expose` about human relationships and love. If there is one thing you can take away from reading this it is the sensuous, evocative and delectable language. It is a treat for the literary senses.
One of the criticisms of modern books like A Game of Thrones, Kraken and Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West is that collectively they try too hard to be gritty, atmospheric or 'sexy'. Justine, in contrast, is a prime example of how to write an atmospheric novel with an underlying exploration of sexuality without appearing to physically strain words through a blender. The language is organic, not relying upon cursing or vivid description of sexual organs. Rather, skilful use of adjectives creates the right sense and connotation for the reader to understand what Durrell aims to say about love and sensuality.
The main criticism of this novel is the apparent lack of plot. That said, there appears to be no plot merely because the plot is buried within woven language of such elaboration and complexity that any linear plot as readers normally understand them can be hard to observe.
Justine was still a beautiful start to this quartet and easily a 4 and a half star book.
Balthazar
This novel is far more difficult to understand than its predecessor, Justine due to what appeared to be shifts in the narrative chronology and also narrator. Durrell changes his narrators in subtle ways, meaning that you have to be focusing intently to grasp the inner complexities of the story, making it in many ways similar to Titus Groan (albeit less bizarre, yet the 'thickness' of the text is very similar). In many ways this makes Balthazar a stronger novel than Justine and a weaker novel.
This appears a weaker novel simply because those who found the first book lacking in plotting may find this second novel a tedious venture. As mentioned the changes in narrator (and possibly timeframe for the viewpoint) create a challenge for the reader. Yet it feels as if Durrell purposefully makes his work complex in order to allow the reader to observe that love and relationships are complex and often very messy, particularly the 'modern' way love is approached by individuals as a free-for-all.
It also appears that Durrell's intentions are more clear in this novel as to what he is attempting to achieve, hence making it a stronger work entirely. His skills as a wordsmith and stylist (which leads one to compare him to Mervyn Peake) are fully on display in phrases like "the cloying grunting intercourse of saxophones and drums" and "The dark tides of Eros, which demand full secrecy if they are to overflow the human soul...". The first phrase particularly fascinated me because it indicated a subtle sense of humour in the writing, which I assume, given by Durrell's intelligent nature, is intentional. This humour stems from the fact that the word for Jazz, which Durrell powerfully describes, originally came from a word meaning the act of intercourse. The second phrase in conjunction with the first, also reveals that though Durrell is a classy poetic writer (the evocation of Eros is sublime) he has a hint of earthiness to his quality. In other words he is both a man of the gentry or bourgeoisie as well as the peasantry.
On the whole easily a five star novel. Very highly recommended for anyone who appreciates literary novels, classics or fine prose over traditional plotting.
Mountolive
Perhaps the weakest of all the four novels in this tetralogy, Mountolive again takes the reader back through the narrative arc of the first two novels. Yet even through its weakness this novel reveals the strength of the overall work, the ability to weave a portrayal of a city and its people into a complex analysis of politics and modern love.
Often, when a writer travels back over narratives already familiar to the reader, what events will occur next is rather obvious. Yet Durrell is able to convince the reader that they understand very little of the events of the previous books, unearthing new layers and new details for the reader. In particular the hidden elements connected to espionage and war profiteering.
Yet, as mentioned, Mountolive, for whatever reason, is weaker than the other four tales in the entire Alexandria Quartet. Perhaps it is the fact of how the narrative shifts to other characters than in previous novels and in the final novel. The main character of this novel, the titular David Mountolive, is a less fascinating and enigmatic character and the encounters he has are, from his perspective, less engaging to the reader. That said, the scenes with Pursewarden in this novel are some of its greatest aspects and not to be missed by any reader.
Four stars.
Clea
It is in Clea that the full experimental and unique nature of this entire work is revealed. Lawrence Durrell, in the previous books, had experimented with chronology and nesting narratives into the tale, yet in Clea this experimentation reaches a glorious crescendo.
Where the previous three novels had followed the same plotline from different perspectives, Clea takes the reader into the future to observe what happens to the characters after . For the most part the conclusions are not happy or beautiful, rather they reveal a sense of the corrupting influence of the city. Yet this novel is the most beautifully written of all of them in how it merges poetry and prose into an exploration of the impact of modern love.
Ultimately the conclusion that can be drawn from this novel is that in acting selfish one can expect ill gains in the future. Where the idea of 'free love' had entered the public awareness Durrell seems to suggest that love is never free. Indeed, he seems to challenge the reader as to the nature of real, healthy love and ask them to observe that sexual love is a defining knowledgeable act. That love in its entirety is also deep and complex, much like the narration's flow is also an aspect of this final conclusion's didactic tale.
Five stars.
The Entire Work
As a work of fiction The Alexandria Quartet in its entirety is profound, serenely beautiful and complex. It reminds the reader of Ulysses in how it experiments with the reader's understanding of plot lines and it reminds one of The Great Gatsby in its poetic prose style. Yet this is a unique work, one of those which shall be remembered for years as a truly classic novel. ...more
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges not only possessed one mouthful of a name but a great literary talent. There is much that could be criticised in h Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges not only possessed one mouthful of a name but a great literary talent. There is much that could be criticised in his manner and style, in many of his pieces his 'fictions' come across as formulaic, mathematical and structured, which at times fails to allow emotion to be properly conveyed. Yet Borges was a conscious and thinking author, despite appearing to err on the logical side of the writing spectrum, addressing his fictional work as a means to explore deep philosophical or metaphysical ideas and concepts. What is further fascinating is that Borges also created some fictional book titles, referenced in an academic way to add to
There are some who have said that Borges mainly wrote such very short and compact fictions (I consciously refer to these as 'fictions' because they lack the same narrative structure as a typical short story) because he possessed a degree of 'laziness' as a writer. Not that Borges did not possess a work ethic, after all he wrote many deeply thought out stories, but more that Borges did not have the patience and desire to write longer and to go through the paces of working out
If one looks at the period in which Borges was alive - 1899 to 1986 - one can notice pretty quickly the significance. Borges was alive through both World Wars and the Cold War. In that sense, Borges is the quintessential 20th Century author. He, more than anyone, shows in his writing how the events of his era defined his ideologies and shows off aspects of modernity and pre-post-modernity.
Borges is an author who not only thinks deeply but experiments. Each of his fictions play on different genres, crafting parodies of detective fiction, theological debate, fantasy (or magical realism), horror and so on. Borges sometimes moves into creating a pastiche, but more commonly his parody is actively pushing against genre boundaries. He will start the reader on a particular path, only to pause at a set point and reveal to the reader how and what he is doing in regards to genre.
There are a selection of different themes that Borges regularly repeats. The word 'labyrinth' or some variation often makes its way into his lexicon along with mirrors, libraries, novels, theology, tigers (or jaguars) and knives. Each of these words helps provide a particular intertextual and metalinguistic function, linking Borges entire oeuvre together. Indeed, it is fascinating that the title of his work here is 'Labyrinths' considering the regularity in which the phrase appears.
It is also interesting that considering the title, the piece I found most appealing in this work was 'The House of Asterion'. In this, Borges takes a look at the tale of Asterion (view spoiler)[The Minotaur (hide spoiler)] from a new, modern perspective. Many know the story of the labyrinth and Daedalus (interestingly Borges himself becomes a kind of Daedalus of fiction) but Borges takes that story and breathes new life into it, though the story itself is only two and a half pages long.
Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one set path with no choices and one exit that serves to be the same as the entrance. Borges himself constructs labyrinths out of text, questioning as Plato did, whether there is one real version of everything that is corporeal. A real version existing elsewhere, beyond reality. This does not mean that Borges finishes where he began, necessarily, however his work does lead the reader on a set path before causing them to look back and recognise that the way back is the very same way they have come.
The work of Jorge Luis Borges is a must read for any individual with a deep love for important literature classics. His work, for its sheer influence on modernist authors and postmodern authors and on to the current era, should be recognised as tremendously influential and remains important today. Though Borges, I have come to see, is more of an acquired taste, his work sparkles from time to time with truly appealing thought and wisdom....more
The Iliad, a daunting work of fiction so genius that it has survived for thousands of years. To this day there is no modern epic which stands anywhere The Iliad, a daunting work of fiction so genius that it has survived for thousands of years. To this day there is no modern epic which stands anywhere near it except perhaps Les Misérables or Paradise Lost. Perhaps those who are informed could add The Divine Comedy to this list, however I have not read Dante's work as of yet.
Before I continue I'd like to point out that the translation I read was Robert Fitzgerald's translation. Which seemed solid if nothing particularly special. I do think that the fact that I hardly noticed that it had been translated from another language (particularly Homeric Greek) is something in this version's favour. However I'm currently trying a different translation for the Odyssey with Fagles.
So what is the hyped up Iliad all about? We've had the story built into our Western Literature in various forms. There have been countless versions of the mythology surrounding the battle that destroyed Troy. But what is the real Iliad story about? The Iliad as it stands is an epic poem, among the first fantasy stories, which describes a brief moment in the Trojan War which decided the fate of that period. During this time Achilles, the greatest demigod warrior of them all, and Hector, a mortal man greater than any other, fight in a series of battles. (view spoiler)[All of which leads to one final stand for Hector himself. (hide spoiler)] But the Iliad is more than just lots of warfare strung together, albeit beautifully and poetically. It is a story about the fall of men, a story about the interference of the gods. It is a colossal tragedy, a mythology based in history and one which tells us much about the duel heroic and villainous nature of human hearts.
Read The Iliad for its tragedy, its beauty, its elegance. Read it to be a pretentious academic who understands literary references to it. Read it because you love mythology. Read it because you care about humanity. Read it because you love poetry and incredible writing. Read it for its timeless nature. I merely encourage that you take the time to read this 'book' at least once in your entire life. However if, like myself, you cannot read Homeric Greek I also encourage you to look at the various available translations and decide which sounds like it would suit your personal taste.
Also as a sort of balance I must add that as for the flaws of this work you may note, regardless of translation, the repetition of ideas and names. This is a common element of Homer's work apparently and one which can bother some people. Others may be bothered by the amount of carnage, the difficult rhythm of the poetry or the sheer size of such a poem. However I find that the repetition has a nice symmetry throughout the story and there is so much value within this work. It's easy to see why copies of this poem were saved through time....more
"I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when "I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move." Ulysses - by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Tennyson's words may not have been the inspiration behind James Joyce's work, however, as all powerful poems do, they highlight an important theme of Joyce's novel. This theme being the idea that an individual is the sum of all his experiences - and yet those experiences are the way in which the individual can observe the 'untravell'd world'. In the same way Joyce reveals in his Ulysses the tale of a man travelling the streets of Dublin across a single day, observing, as he travels, the various experiences of everyday normality. This man, Leopold Bloom, is the Everyman, the ordinary man, and therefore Joyce subverts the idea of the 'Hero', inserting Bloom into the role given to the Heroic 'super-man' Ulysses.
“We should not now combine a Norse saga with an excerpt from a novel by George Meredith. Que voulez-vous? Moore would say. He puts Bohemia on the seacoast and makes Ulysses quote Aristotle.”
It is this quote from Joyce, buried within the text, which stands as a form of self commentary on the novel itself, making Ulysses a metafictional, metalinguistic and metaphysical novel in various regards. For, as mentioned earlier, Bloom is inserted into the role of Ulysses (Odysseus) from The Odyssey. At the same time there is plenty of other examples within the text of this self criticism and metalinguistic enterprise. What is most fascinating is how this metalanguage permeates into linguistic jokes, particularly puns, which give the novel a sense of ridiculousness and humour which is far reaching.
The techniques Joyce uses are the work of a genius. Not only does he manipulate various tenses and styles (including a mastery of free indirect style) but he also utilises monologues, hallucination, plays, stream of consciousness and multiple points of view. Ulysses is therefore a fascinating balancing act of technique where individual touches like: using newspaper headlines in a newsroom setting; making multiple jokes and references to Shakespearean lines and plays during a conversation about Shakespeare ; and also moving to a procedural style or interrogatory piece, prove highly appealing reading.
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
The final words of Tennyson's Ulysses also, fascinatingly, finds parallels in Joyce's work. For by the end of the novel, which reaches a conclusion in a long and notable monologue, the sense exists that as the reader and the characters of the novel have turned to home that they are not the same characters of the past. That though they may reflect on the past it is an unobtainable idea and now instead the characters exist to fight against the inevitability of time.
Joyce has written a complicated work with a simple idea at the core, an idea buried beneath the trappings of language and technique. The idea of a single day being an Odyssey, or a journey from when a man sets out from his home until he returns. Yet it is the complicated use of language which makes Joyce's novel one that scholars and ordinary readers dare not approach easily. Therefore it seems as if Joyce purposefully, and in a mocking way, has designed his work to be one which confuses the scholar and the typical reader equally, leaving them to puzzle whether everything within the novel has a hidden meaning. Yet, perhaps Joyce should not be approached in this manner. Perhaps at the core he is as much like Shakespeare as he is a unique voice. For like Shakespeare, Joyce is bawdy and rude, aiming to insult readers in his depictions of the taboo and of life. Yet, regardless of how one reads Joyce's work one fact stands, that it is a masterpiece and doubtless a classic....more
There's no denying that The Master and Margarita is a classic and one of the several Russian (and particularly Soviet) novels that must be read. Howev There's no denying that The Master and Margarita is a classic and one of the several Russian (and particularly Soviet) novels that must be read. However, it is difficult to become enamoured with a novel that throws so many different and conflicting ideas into one plot line.
The Master and Margarita is widely considered Mikhail Bulgakov's Magnum Opus and since few have heard of his other books it seems a fair statement for the literary critic to make. As a lasting legacy of Bulgakov's work it is a fascinating and highly readable novel, in fact a page-turner despite the complexity of its ideas.
Many consider this the novel that began the magical-realism genre or subgenre. However to say as such is to ignore that in the years before this novel many novels of 'magical realism' did exist. They simply were not ascribed a genre and existed purely as high literary art. It appears that the high profile of this particular novel is what grants it that particular status as a progenitor of a new area of fiction.
The plot of Bulgakov's masterpiece is hard to properly describe due to the comic and bizarre nature of it. Not to mention that the novel routinely slips into phases of surrealism. To describe it most aptly would be to state that it is a novel about the divide between good and evil marked by the arrival of the devil incarnate in Russia. He, along with several minor demons cause chaos to be unleashed before leaving and granting several individuals the wishes of their selfish desires.
Bulgakov's devil, however, is not the typical idea as understood by Western society. His devil is suave, charming and a granter of the wishes of human pride or selfishness. Many commentators have pointed out that he is not the Satan of the Bible yet one could make the claim that there is plenty of similarities nonetheless. Perhaps he appears more powerful than the Satan in the Bible yet there is a level of similarity into how he charms his way into being accepted by the people, distorting the truth with stories that reminds one of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
The demons accompanying this version of Satan are comic or brutal characters, their actions the actions of forces of chaos. Indeed, one could argue that perhaps Bulgakov truly understands evil when compared to the Western ideas that have clouded the Christian understanding of spirituality and evil as a demonic presence. Bulgakov appears to understand evil in its most sinister and insidious form, the form where it creeps upon the individual and worms its way into being accepted. The form of evil which spreads anarchy and leads to men like Mao, Hitler or Stalin being accepted by the general populace.
Bulgakov's most quoted line is "Manuscripts don't burn." Within this story are hints of metafiction with a nested narrative inside the tale of the devil and the two illicit lovers. This narrative is a fictionalised version of the 'real' Jesus. Yet since this narrative is conveyed through the devil one gets the sense that it is a lie concocted upon the truth. It appears that Bulgakov's devil understands that truth does not ever truly die out and therefore in order to spread a falsehood one must instead alter pre-existing narratives. In other words creating a plausible story to overlie and existing narrative truth. Or in the case of Jesus creating another tale to inform the reader that Jesus was a simple man (what better thing would any devil want to convince the reader of?).
Yet, for all its literary brilliance and readability, The Master and Margarita appears to be a case of too many ideas mixed together. This creates a cluttered narrative at times and prevents the reader from truly grasping the key ideas of the tale about good versus evil and the nature of fiction. Yet it must be understood as a must read novel and a fine and challenging work of art....more
Wide Sargasso Sea is one of those works of fiction, like Ulysses, which require background knowledge to fully appreciate. In that sense it is more a w Wide Sargasso Sea is one of those works of fiction, like Ulysses, which require background knowledge to fully appreciate. In that sense it is more a work of literature to enjoy from a distance rather than emotionally. Intellectual love is perhaps the best way I can phrase how I appreciated this novel.
Having read Jane Eyre makes one able to properly understand the intricacies of the story unfolded in this novel. Jean Rhys uses the 'mad woman' of Jane's story to look at events in a previous history of the despicable Mr Rochester. The result is that a story is created in which one comes to dislike Rochester more than in the initial novel (view spoiler)[ and also wonder at the transformation of the man by the end of Jane Eyre (hide spoiler)]. Yet this is also a novel that makes one think about how interpretations are shaped by our own reactions, how one novel is made great by the people who read it and see greatness in it.
There is meant to be a message in this about the danger of colonialism. However I personally did not see this message in a new light and saw the novel as more a re-evaluation of another work of fiction. Much of what modernism and postmodernism is all about. Therefore I would recommend this work to those who have read Jane Eyre but not as much as I would recommend the initial work.
Additionally
As a final reflection on modernist re-interpretations of classic works, it has come to my attention that many such works are about a re-writing of identity. In this novel Jean Rhys could be said to be writing about herself, or an aspect of herself spied in the 'mad woman' of Jane Eyre, as much as Charlotte Bronte wrote herself into the position of Jane. According to my studies, Jean Rhys lived an adventurous life. Getting herself involved in activities that would be scandalous to many even now such as posing nude and engaging in prostitution for money. She was also proclaimed dead while still alive and her work was 'rediscovered' at that time.
So, it makes sense that she would see the 'mad woman' of Jane Eyre as a kind of misrepresentation. Indeed to classify someone as mad involves a little bit of madness itself. In the process of writing this novel, Jean Rhys therefore throws light on the madness of madness as it were. There is the sense that the woman she draws out of Jane Eyre is meant to be afflicted by the ugly word hysteria - which means wondering womb and was used to link madness to women's sexuality for decades. It's a clear sign of why many aspects of patriarchy are bad in how they could use such words to label individuals as sick and depraved when really what they were struggling from was the repressive nature of society.
Many other words we also currently use for madness have similarly different connotations to those suspected. For example lunacy coming from the idea of being driven mad by the moon. So the real warning of Jean Rhys' novel in retrospective analysis is that one should never ultimately condemn the other as insane merely because one does not understand them. That is the true insanity of those who would consider themselves sane....more
""The critique of culture is confronted with the last stage in the dialectic of culture and barbarism: to write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric, an ""The critique of culture is confronted with the last stage in the dialectic of culture and barbarism: to write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric, and that corrodes also the knowledge which expresses why it has become impossible to write poetry today. Theodore W. Adorno
Encapsulated in quotes such as the above is the pure devastating influence across history of the Jewish Holocaust during World War 2. As an event of magnitude it becomes hard for one to detach themselves from the large picture of upwards of 6 million slaughtered Jews and look at the individuals who survived. It is, as such, a failing of many historians, and history as it is taught, that the Jewish Holocaust is utilised as an easily accessible lesson in morality. In other words it becomes easy for one to use the Nazi Germans as the great modern symbol for overwhelming evil and ignore the many other forms 'evil' has taken in Communist Russia or China. Yet, what Thomas Keneally does in his work, with sympathy and with respect, is to chronicle the tale of one individual, lost within the dark seas of The Jewish Holocaust. Rather than observe the overall event and decry it as humanity at its basest he chooses to go beyond the surface and look at the individuals shaped and changed by the circumstances within which they found themselves.
In essence this novel is a curious amalgamation of history text and fictional story. Though the underlying elements are factually based, Keneally must adopt some licence in order to tell the story of Oskar Schindler as a narrative without the basis of solid quotes to lean upon. As such, the narrative technique adopted is a form of omnipotent narration whereby Keneally sets out upon a linear progression, routinely leaving this linear chronology to impose his own historical viewpoints or to insert further facts into the narrative.
Many will have seen the famed movie by Steven Spielberg which was based upon this novel. Though the movie is a stronger visual and emotional work it lacks some of the finer details of the novel, helping to create another strong novel and movie combination. For instance one watching the movie may not necessarily note that Schindler had three key women who he related to, and that on top of that he was liberal with several other women. One would not be able to understand that there were some individual Jews who despised Schindler for not including them on his list (though he could only save approximately 1200). One would not also be able to note little facts that add a touch of definition to the character of Schindler such as that he hated Amon Goethe while appearing friendly towards him and that he never suffered hangovers from intoxication.
A further mention on the characters within this novel is fascinating as what Keneally deals with is fact rather than fiction, though it may be fact tempered with fiction. Yet one can still observe that Schindler was no typical hero. He was a man who drunk heavily (and did not suffer ill effects), a man who loved women and as such had a wife, girlfriend and mistress. In other words Oskar Schindler was a rogue with a good and honest heart, a man who recognised that the Jews were still people regardless of any propaganda the German Nazis spread. Though he may have initially set out to use the Jewish workers as cheap labour, in the end Schindler ended up saving thousands through his factory and it is this that truly matters.
Amon Goethe, as the other main character in the novel is revealed as a truly debased individual. He was a man who clearly lacked his full sanity, a man who expected respect from his peers and equals and who believed that all who served him and worked with him were friends and allies. He was, like Schindler, a heavy drinker and Keneally suggests that he was also a womaniser, yet, where Schindler was a saviour of Jews, Goethe was a destroyer. There are many accounts within this text of Goethe routinely lining up Jewish workers and individuals and shooting them for sport or simply because he disliked the manner of their appearance. In many ways Keneally through his representations lines up Schindler and Goethe as counterparts, two sides of the one coin. One man a saviour and one man a villainous murderer. In many ways history is full of such counterparts and it is fascinating to reflect upon this idea.
This is a novel to be read now and well into the future. It is a novel to remind us as readers that even in the blackest pits of history there is always some form of hope, that there is always some individual who recognises what is true and honourable. It is a novel of history and a novel of the human condition and as such deserves to be read and recognised by all readers....more
Having just finished re-reading the first ever stand alone Brandon Sanderson novel I ever read it struck me how my view of the book hasReview number 2
Having just finished re-reading the first ever stand alone Brandon Sanderson novel I ever read it struck me how my view of the book has changed. Of course I always knew it was likely to happen. The flaws and pacing of the text were far more noticeable. That does not mean I did not enjoy the book all over again, I simply analysed it to a far greater extent.
The flaws of Elantris are to put it simply a slow and uneven pacing, the occasion lapse of characterisation, the fact that some characters are thinly sketched out and the use of unexplained deus ex machinas right at the end. That said I fully recommend this book as your first venture into Brandon Sanderson's work if you are at all interested in fantasy or just want an entertaining read without the 'literary baggage'.
The strengths of this book are in the plot (discussed more deeply in my first review) and the depth of the novel. Brandon Sanderson manages to combat a lot of criticisms of modern fantasy in this work by concluding an entire story in one volume and while a lot of his later books have been called shallow fun with readable, yet not brilliant writing, this book is probably his deepest, philosophically. I would love to read a feminist review of the book (and one that did not simply question things like 'are the characters Mary Sues - because frankly I hate the term and fine most characters in some ways have unique qualities that make them interesting regardless) or a review looking at the religious system built into the novel. What I myself find most interesting however is how it looks at pain and despair.
Elantris is a modern version of Atlantis in many ways with Sanderson referencing that myth nicely. Although his version is nowhere near as good as that by J.R.R Tolkien. In his version however, rather than showing a race of people drowned, he uses the idea of a sickness. Another idea it appears to reference is the fall of man as seen theologically in Genesis. This sickness is a curse that brings with it pain, despair and alienation. It is how this 'sickness' is treated that I find fascinating in this book. It reminds me of how the X-Men are treated by humans in the comics and how humans have treated each other in slavery. And yet, the main idea running through this book is that we do not have to be defined by our conditions, that we are only defeated if we let our conditions get to us mentally. This is the idea of contrasting sickness and health, freedom and slavery and alienation and acceptance as only defeating you if you accept them with your mind.
A fine, entertaining book and one with some interesting and relevant themes. There are better books like Les Misérables however not everyone will read those books. I hope instead that people can find the themes in those great books in good books like this one.
Review number 1
The premise: a blessing that turned men into gods became a curse that turns men into the undead without a heartbeat and with skin that shrivels in place of the silver skin and hair they possessed before. What follows is one man's quest to discover how and why the curse happened and hence why he has been thrown into Elantris. Where before the curse he would have been immortal and free of all pain he remains immortal but with a body which no longer heals itself. The pain builds up and up until eventually those cursed snap.
In the midst of this plot a religious conflict exists as one man tries to convert an entire city to his religion and prevent war. A princes also strives to work out what happened to her promised husband while trying to fix politics within the city bordering Elantris.
Sound confusing? Well Brandon Sanderson manages to pull together all these conflicting elements, spinning a web of intrigue and magic so dense it's hard not to be drawn into the world formed by his words. Its very easy reading this to see why he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series because he is a superbly brilliant writer of fantasy.
The story explores incredible themes like rejection, political intrigue, religious extremity, bigotry, xenophobia and a load more. And the story is easy to pick up and read from beginning to end. Trust me this is a book that must be read in order to appreciate the wonders of the fantasy genre.
Not all will enjoy this as much as I did. As a debut novel it does exhibit several typical aspects of other debuts. For instance a tendency to over-word is prevalent. Still it is a finely told story despite any flaws and that is why I loved it as much as I did. If you want to read a city based fantasy that focuses on political intrigue, religion and the idea of what pain will do to people then read this book.
Appendices:
1.I was going to read this but I had to return it for the second time before I got the chance. I guess one day I'll get the chance to re-read and I'll see if my thoughts are still the same. 2.Anyone interested in this book and the theory of fantasy should read this article: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/......more
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