Quote:
Originally Posted by
Quark
Yeah, I don't want to do too much at the moment. I'm writing up a syllabus, doing Christmas shopping, and trying to be festive at the same time. I fear my Christmas cheer is running a little thin at the moment. I don't think I'll try anything ambitious on LitNet until after New Year's.
I am hearing you...I almost got into an fight with a lady at a grocery store tonight; she couldn't control her bratty kids in my opinion and she was quite defensive, when I said something to one of them for bumping my cart continually. I had major anxiety at that moment and could not take it; not to mention I was late to my son's house and knew standing in a long line to pick up rotisere chicken was cutting into my precious time with my granddaughter. We both have to take a deep breath and get through this next week...now snow is added to the mix here.....suppose to be pretty bad, so they say. At least tonight I got to see my darling granddaughter.
Quote:
If we do one of those, it might be interesting to compare it with the text. I'm sure there's plenty to talk about. Adaptions seem like they're either really excellent or laughably bad--entertaining in any case. I'd love to see a movie try to condense an entire Hardy novel into 120 minutes. Of course, they did a Bleak House movie, so anything is possible.
I happen to think the adaptations I own are pretty decent ones. Only thing is "Woodlanders" I found out is an abreviated form for the US release; hate it when they do that. "The Mayor of Casterbridge" to me is A1...all the actors are excellent and it's a miniseries; so they could pretty much include everything that was in the book, plot-wise. I love the production! Yes, it would be great to compare them with the actual text and book.
Quote:
Well, I talked with Niamf a while back--a year ago probably--and said something about starting a subforum for reading groups like these. She seemed up for it, but I wasn't sure which to put into it so the idea never went anywhere. I'll bring it back up with the mods and just put this thread in there. Then, if it looks like a good setup, I'll ask to get more included. That might get these threads more visibility.
You mean Niamh? haha..slip typing (?) I would like to see a better organisation of these discussion threads; not sure what the answer to that would be. They definitely need to be more visable and easier to find.
Quote:
I thought "White Peacock" and that other infidelity one (the name escapes me) we read were quite good. They were stories I had never heard of, but I thought they stacked up with the major stories like "The Horse Dealer's Daughter." Sometimes the big, canonical works get an undue amount of attention for some very technical innovation they make, and they overshadow other very enjoyable works within an author's career. I think that's definitely the case with Lawrence's short stories. His famous novels and the couple of short stories that make it into anthologies have devalued his other contributions. I'm glad we've taken a look at some of the underrated stories.
It was 'Wintry Peacock'; "White Peacock" was Lawrence's first published novel. I read it and liked it very much, although it is not as developed and polished as his other works; the seeds of his later works are in that novel; there are a lot of beautifully poetic and lovely passages. I think the infidelity one you are thinking of is 'Witch A La Mode'...that one was great I thought...we did such an indept discussion on it and on the other; that made it really special, too. Some of L's less known books have actually left an deep impression on me. The last one I read was "Boy in the Bush" and I really loved it. It has a surprising ending but still I liked it a lot. I now own an early miniseries of the book which follows pretty closely but not entirely. I enjoy that as well. The book was originally not considered a major work by L because he collaborated on the storyline. Now scholars agree that the book is entirely Lawrence and I would agree with that. For some reason I can't stop thinking about that novel. It's set in Western Australia during the 1800's.
Quote:
Yeah, Hardy thought his long bloated epic poem on the Napoleonic Wars was his great work. I rolled my eyes so far back I hurt myself when I heard that.
Oh wow; now see, I don't really like long epic poems like that. I don't have the attention span for them at all. I just can't get into his poems; I can't seem to find the flow or rhythm; do you know what I mean? Yet he is considered a major poet.
Quote:
I don't think it would be the end of the world if the discussion ended. We've already posted over one-thousand times in here. There is such a thing as beating a dead horse. Maybe something new would be a good change. If we switched over to talking about Hardy, I don't think it would too much of a shock to you since you've already read his entire body of work.
:lol: Really, you don't think it would be the end of the world...well people in NJ think it is now that snow is predicted a week before Christmas! My son went to a supermarket tonight and he asked the manager if a boom had fallen - the shelves were whiped out! Ok, back to literature - sure, something new might be overdue here. I know a lot of people have listed Hardy in their favorite authors in their profile information - perhaps they will respond.
Quote:
I think she's more interested in Poe and lyric poetry. That's fine, of course. In fact, I wish I could have given her more help in getting her Poe discussion group off the ground.
I feel badly I never joined in one of the discussions; I would have liked to sample some Poe myself.
Good idea.
Quote:
I was actually thinking of the Well-Beloved. Jude is the last of his Novels of Character and Environment--or, his "serious" novels. The Well-Beloved he just considered a long prose work. He started it in 1892 before Jude (1895), but he published the complete work after Jude in 1897. Jude was the last straw with him, though.
Yep, right...I read that book ages ago...but was it "Well-Beloved" or just "Beloved" ? It somehow doesn't sound right but I know I read that book because my Japanese friend suggested it and he knows about the real life connections to the characters in that story. Personally, I didn't like the work as well as Hardy's other novels. Maybe I didn't get it. My Japanese friend apparently did get it and he liked it very much.
Quote:
It was an odd choice considering that Dickens' Christmas Carol was also up for vote.
I still think so, too. To me it's stretching it a bit to have picked that novel, even if they mention Christmastime in the beginning.
