The Clip Show: Part II

After last week’s (in my opinion) excellent “Clip Show,” LT proudly presents another week of internet clip goodness. And by “clip” we mean those paper things your grandmother saved especially for you.

First up, check out this amazing article about the fascinating man, Terry Belanger, who founded Rare Book School up at Columbia. This is a man who cares more about books as a form of technology than he does about them as pieces of nostalgia and if the first paragraph doesn’t leave you literally agape, I despair of you and your purported love of books.

Secondly, don’t forget the Barnes & Noble nook came out this past week (and, apparently, immediately sold out)! So if you’re still considering getting one of these gizmos, the New York Times is here to help with A Holiday Guide to E-Readers. I’ll just be over here muttering about typography and the beauty of the book as a form while you browse.

Thirdly and briefly, an interesting review of Sarah Palin’s latest book from the Opinionator also over at the Times. Worth reading for the first paragraph’s dead-on summary of Strand employees alone.

Lastly, a theme: Twilight! Yeah, I know, enough already with our feminism and our snobbery and our desire for good writing.

 

Discussion Questions: The Mill on the Floss

Hey, everyone! This will be the last set of discussion questions for this month’s Classics Challenge. Remember, you must participate in at least one discussion post in order to qualify for the Penguin Clothbound classics giveaway….and as no one has commented so far, if you do, there’s a good possibility you’ve got yourself a free book. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here. If you know exactly what I’m talking about, let’s continue on to the questions!

George Eliot is one of those rare authors who is widely known to be female, but who is still referred to by her male pseudonym. Do you believe knowing (or not knowing) her true gender affects your reading of this novel? How so? Should it have?

The Mill on the Floss is generally recognized as Eliot’s most autobiographical novel, as she and Maggie Tulliver share similarities in character, appearance, and life events. Does reading this work as autobiographical take away from the story at all, or merely enhance it? Would you prefer to read this book as just a novel, or as a reflection of the author’s own life?

The ending has been described by some critics as a deus ex machina, or a contrived plot point the author used to work her way out of an impossible corner. Other critics, however, believe Eliot intended to end the novel that way all along. Did the ending feel contrived to you?

That’s it! Thanks to those of you who have been following, and I’ll see you Thursday for our last full discussion post.

 

“We band of brothers”

I just love these two crazy kids! Courtesy of Wonders in the Dark.

Those of you who know me know that I have in the past been a bit of a Shakespeare fanatic. I lived for Shakespeare in high school and deeply enjoyed him throughout my first year or so of college. Then something just stopped. Perhaps I got too busy with school or became increasingly enamoured with history as a discipline, as opposed to literature, but I stopped reading Shakespeare and, despite harboring a serious love of Much Ado About Nothing and continuing to patronize Shakespeare in the Park (in two cities!), I didn’t really seek any further plays out. That all changed when I fell in love with King Henry V. When I discovered the historic Henry V, I felt compelled to return immediately to my old stomping ground and give Shakespeare’s Harry a go.

 

Fairy Tale Friday: Disney’s The Princess and the Frog

Okay, so by now you’ve heard that Disney is making a movie with its first black heroine/princess ever. If you haven’t, you heard it here first — The Princess and the Frog, featuring the voice talents of Jennifer Hudson, Oprah Winfrey, and Anika Noni Rose, hits theaters on December 11th. Naturally, the New York Times has already reviewed it, and while I normally agree with Manohla Dargis, I have to take issue with one part of her review, found here.

Dargis argues that the movie doesn’t engage with the issue of race, and that Princess Tiana is an underdog due to social class, not color. Another article in the Times, this time by Brooks Barnes, chronicles the arguments of those who say that this movie will only deepen stereotypes.

I’m sorry….what? This may be easy for a white middle-class woman to say, but since when have fairy tales ever been about race? They didn’t have to be, as they were folk tales specific to certain homogenous cultures. The Brothers Grimm were German, which is why you have about 400 boys named Hansel running around in the collected stories. Fairy tales are about a lot of cultural issues (coming of age, finding one’s parents, marriage), but race is not one of them.

 

Discussion Post: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Welcome to the Uncle Tom’s Cabin discussion post! Remember, those interested in entering the drawing for the beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classic must participate in at least one discussion before December 11th. Your last chance to do so will be next week, when we’ll be discussing The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (aka Marian Evans).

Ann Douglas argues in her introduction to the Penguin edition that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is ‘profoundly feminist.’ In what ways do women display their power in this novel? How much power do they have in comparison to the men?

This is SUCH a feminist novel! First of all, from the very beginning the reader is told that Mrs. Shelby is the true force behind the running of the plantation Tom and Eliza are from, and the powerful women, both black and white, continue to come out from the woodwork at every opportunity.

Stowe is, in several ways, markedly Victorian in her feminism. By that, I mean that her women tend to show their power in two ways: through religion and through food. Eliza is said to be a perfect Christian, even bringing her rather bitter and anti-theistic husband into the fold (he credits her solely for his Christianity, with the possible suggestion that her worships her above Christ). Eva too is able to convert almost all of the slaves in her father’s keeping to Christianity — of course, keep in mind this is 19th century England and Christianity is synonymous with morality and the Right Way to Do Things.

Additionally, the women are the ones in charge of food, suggesting that they are the physical and spiritual nourishers of the characters in the novel. Notedly, Quakeresses Ruth and Rachel put out an enormous amount of food for George and Eliza, and one’s goodness seems to be defined by one’s readiness to feed others. As the women have the power, then, to bring the men closer to God, as well as to provide physical well-being through food, it seems as though women have more de facto power, even if the men are legally superior.

Harriet Beecher Stowe has been accused of being racist, portraying her African-American in exaggeratedly passive and stereotypical ways. Is this true, in your opinion? Is it fair to call her racist considering this work’s historical context?

 

The Clip Show

On most 90’s sitcoms, there’s at least one episode that is mostly just parts of other episodes all mashed together: aka, the clip show. This post is LT’s version of that episode, only instead of having bits of our own posts, it’s a combination of random things on the Internet that I found interesting and wanted to share.

First, check out this article on Dickens editing his own manuscript of A Christmas Carol, just in time for Christmas! The manuscript offers a rare glimpse into Dickens’ writing process, and is on display at the Morgan Library in New York City. In case you can’t get to New York to see it yourself, the article has a link to facsimiles of a few of the manuscript pages.

Second, what with this swiftly turning into LT Race Week (Uncle Tom’s Cabin for the Classics Challenge and a discussion of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog on Friday), I wanted to point out this post and this one, both about the complexities of race, culture, and literature.

Third, Cormac McCarthy’s typewriter is up for sale — and would make the perfect gift for that special book-loving someone on your list! (HINT. HINT.)

Fourth, I have recommended Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth before, but with the current New Moon craze, I feel like it’s my duty to point it out to you again. If you’re going to read about werewolves (and hey, who doesn’t love a good werewolf story from time to time?), please at least turn to the book Mother Jones called “a future cult classic.”

Fifth, if you insist on reading something about Twilight, read this. I laughed out loud through the entire thing, despite my father shooting me weird looks from across the room. It actually made me like Twilight and almost want to see the movie, I kid you not — that takes some serious skill.

 

Discussion Questions: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Here’s the third LT Classics Challenge Discussion Questions post! If you have no idea what I am talking about, please wander on over to the LT Classics Challenge Page. Remember, those who participate in at least one discussion during the Challenge are entered in December’s drawing.

Ann Douglas argues in her introduction to the Penguin edition that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is ‘profoundly feminist.’ In what ways do women display their power in this novel? How much power do they have in comparison to the men?

Harriet Beecher Stowe has been accused of being racist, portraying her African-American in exaggeratedly passive and stereotypical ways. Is this true, in your opinion? Is it fair to call her racist considering this work’s historical context?

Stowe was the daughter of a minister and surrounded by religious leaders her whole life. However, she struggled with the question of whether slaves and former slaves could accept a Christianity which justified slavery by quoting Scripture, and this tension comes out in her work. Does she resolve this issue within her novel, and if so, how?

I’m really enjoying this book, and I hope anyone who’s following is too! Discussion will be Thursday.

 

Book trailers?

Has anyone else noticed the odd trend in books sales of making up trailers (like for movies) for upcoming books? I only recently became aware of this oftentimes bizarre form of marketing and thought it would be only fair to share some of my new-found favorites with you. After watching, sound off about what you think of them, as a form, as an idea, and as a way to sell books.

 

Fairy Tale Friday: Imaginary Places

One of my favorite books (and one which I am thankful for, on an incidental but timely sidenote), is Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi’s The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. If you are ever bored, just randomly delve into this book and discover such places that are “just around the corner of your mind” and where “reality is an intruder.” It is a literally fantastic book.

 

Discussion Post: Beowulf

Welcome to the Beowulf discussion post! Remember, those interested in entering the drawing for the beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classic must participate in at least one discussion before December 11th. Next week, we’ll be discussing Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Beowulf is a poem written by a Christian monk who sings the praises of a pagan hero. How is this tension between the two religions shown? Is the ideology of Beowulf finally Christian, pagan, or both?