historical novel, set in the Piedmont in the second half of the eighteenth century. This is Wharton's first full-length novel, but after reading her ehistorical novel, set in the Piedmont in the second half of the eighteenth century. This is Wharton's first full-length novel, but after reading her earlier stories I was surprised at how poorly written it is. Not the actual writing -- her use of words is very sophisticated, of course -- but the larger aspects. The first half is reasonably interesting, although there is too much description which is not well integrated into the action, but then the novel turns into a travelogue for over a hundred pages, with the plot (and for the most part, even the protagonist) vanishing under long descriptions of almost every important city in Italy. When the plot finally resumes, it is driven entirely by improbable coincidences, like an early romantic novel by Dickens or Hugo, or even a parody of their style; we get speeches in the author's language rather than natural dialogue appropriate to the characters; in the end, the protagonist undergoes an inadequately motivated reversal of character, and the novel ends as a political pamphlet with a diatribe against the French Revolution. It was indicative that my (1902) copy, bought from a library book sale, which from its condition had obviously been taken out many times, still had uncut pages near the end, showing that none of the borrowers had ever finished it....more
Edith Wharton's first collection of short stories from 1899, contains some of her most famous stories such as The Muse's Tragedy, A Journey, The PelicEdith Wharton's first collection of short stories from 1899, contains some of her most famous stories such as The Muse's Tragedy, A Journey, The Pelican, Belated Souls, and The Portrait. These stories were very well written. They were all concerned with the question of social conventions, and the practical and psychological difficulties of breaking away from them, especially for women....more
This novel is in a way a parody of her own The House of Mirth; the theme of the beautiful but not quite rich enough girl hunting a rich and socially hThis novel is in a way a parody of her own The House of Mirth; the theme of the beautiful but not quite rich enough girl hunting a rich and socially highly placed husband is the same, but rather than the protagonist being above the other characters in sensibility and intelligence, she is well below them, and rather than failing to make the matches through her occasional fastidiousness, she succeeds in ascending socially husband by husband. Undine is the most unlikeable "heroine" imaginable; a greedy, spoiled, self-centered person with absolutely no redeeming qualities, who destroys the lives of everyone who cares for her, from her parents, to her husbands, to her own son, and always manages to consider herself the aggrieved party. Rather than being presented with irony, she is treated as pure comedy; but while there are examples in literature of tragedies with comic subplots, this is the first book I have read where a comedy is accompanied by tragedies in all the secondary characters. It is probably the best technically of the early novels of Wharton, but also the hardest to like....more
This is Vargas Llosa's longest and most ambitious novel, about life and politics in Peru. The premise is that Santiago Zavala, a middle aged newspaperThis is Vargas Llosa's longest and most ambitious novel, about life and politics in Peru. The premise is that Santiago Zavala, a middle aged newspaperman, and his father's former chauffeur Ambrosio meet by accident after many years and go to La Catedral (a bar, not a church) to reminisce about their past lives. The book is ostensibly a record of their conversation, and the stream-of-consciousness of their recollections while discussing. However, there are at least two other major characters, Amalia and don Cayo Bermudez, who seem to "participate" in the conversation although not there, with facts and memories that the two in the bar could not know.
The novel has frequently been compared to Ulysses, and the style is somewhat similar -- certainly, this is a novel that could not have been written without Joyce, but that can be said about most modernist fiction. Actually, Ulysses is fairly straightforward and simple compared to this book; the events recounted take place over a decade or more rather than one day, with the chronology very much mixed, there are more major characters, and very much unlike Joyce the book is concerned with politics.
This novel builds up from his previous books; they all have the switching from one time and place to another, and in each one the episodes become shorter and more mixed in time. Conversacion takes this as far as possible; while some episodes last a few pages, some chapters are made up entirely of alternating sentences from three or more different episodes months or years apart The challenge is putting them all together and figuring out the order of the events. As in the other novels, characters are often referred to by more than one name so it sometimes comes as a revelation that two characters in two episodes are actually the same person. The book makes heavy demands on memory, as much of the interest comes in connecting something with a name that was mentioned casually in passing dialogue a hundred pages earlier. the difficulty of this was compounded for me because, given its length and the fact that I was reading it in Spanish (not my first or even my best second language), I alternated it with other books. Altogether, I worked on this over about two months.
Going from the style to the content, this is largely, though not entirely, a book about politics. It takes place mainly under the dictatorship of General Odriia (from 1948 to 1956) and immediately after; unlike La Fiesta del Chivo, to which there are some resemblances, in which Trujillo is a major character, Odriia himself never appears in the book directly; it could be subtitled the rise and fall of Cayo Bermudez (the Minister of Government, i.e. the head of the security forces).
The political context of the book has definite limitations; as in the previous novels, the peasantry (the overwhelming majority of the Peruvian population) is nowhere in sight, without a single peasant character. The action is virtually all urban, and the entire story is told from the perspective of the ruling class, their domestic servants and hangers-on. There is nothing about the economic or social problems of the country; the emphasis is on corruption and absence of formal democracy. In short, what one would expect from a neo-liberal such as Vargas Llosa. All the characters (with the possible exception of the Communist students near the beginning) are either corrupt or cynical, or in the case of the female characters passive victims who play no active role in events. However, despite its limitations it probably gives a good idea of the life and thought of the upper middle class in Peru at the time, and the ideas of the various bourgeois factions that ultimately brought down the regime.
Finally though, this is a book that is better read for its literary style than for content....more
Vargas Llosa's previous novels were all very serious, realistic with much brutality, and deliberately difficult to understand, with shifting viewpointVargas Llosa's previous novels were all very serious, realistic with much brutality, and deliberately difficult to understand, with shifting viewpoints and confused chronology. This book, on the contrary, is written as a fairly straightforward narrative and in a humorous, satirical vein, somewhat reminiscent of Catch 22 in its sense of military absurdity. It is based on an actual plan of the Peruvian army to secretly provide prostitutes to remote bases (the US armed forces did something similar a few years later in Vietnam -- Khe Sanh?). I'm not sure how closely the novel follows the real events.
In the novel at least, the army chooses the most unlikely person to set this up -- a straight-laced captain named Pantale�_n Pantoja who was notable in that he didn't smoke, drink, or look at other women besides his wife, and had no bad marks of any sort in his record; we learn that he is someone who in high school avoided parties to spend more time with his love of math homework; and who is obsessed with order and discipline.
Much of the story is told in the form of documents, whose bureaucratic, military style is completely incongruous with their content. There is also a subplot about a bizarre religious cult; I'm not sure if this is also based on fact or not.
Although the subject matter may offend some readers, this is probably, while not Vargas Llosa's best novel, at least his most accessible, and despite the humor it makes some serious points....more
This unfinished novel was a major influence on the Romantic movement in literature. I really can't understand why. Novalis was apparently planning to This unfinished novel was a major influence on the Romantic movement in literature. I really can't understand why. Novalis was apparently planning to rewrite the whole thing when he died. As it stands, it is hardly well-written; the various episodes are not connected into a whole, and the allegories are not clear without additional information from his journals and letters. It reads more like a thesis about poetry than a work of literature; apart from the fable, there is no conflict, internal or external, and the many conversations are just monologues where the characters never disagree with one another. I admit I'm not the most objective judge, because I disagree with his entire outlook and have never been a fan of Romantic literature, but I at least expected a better presentation than this from such a famous and influential work....more
One of the major classics of French literature; this is one of the first examples of psychological realism in the novel, although written during the ROne of the major classics of French literature; this is one of the first examples of psychological realism in the novel, although written during the Romantic era and with some Romantic features.
The protagonist, Julien Sorel, is an intelligent and sensitive young man who idealizes the Napoleonic era during the Restoration; forced to become a conscious hypocrite to get along with the hypocrites he has to deal with, his own genuine character occasionally bursts out at inconvenient times. The characters are Romantic in the sense of being unusual individuals rather than representative types, but they are intertwined with and influenced by social and political forces in a way foreign to the Romantics.
The novel is written in a relatively direct style that keeps the reader interested, without much extraneous description or poetic affectation; while not exactly sympathetic, the characters keep the reader's involvement. This is a much easier book to enjoy than say a novel by Flaubert; it never struck me as just a "famous" novel to be read for historical reasons, but as one which still has something to say about life and society....more
Loading...
