2012: Year of Sin

I posted this in my blog originally, but figure I'll share here for anyone who would like to join me.

My reading challenge this year is the "Seven Deadly Sins". So... sloth, gluttony, lust, wrath, envy, greed, and pride. One novel or play each as long as it is from a renowned author. The work should epitomize one of these as a major theme or driving force of the story. I have my first two picked, I think. For wrath I'm going to start easy and tackle Shakespeare's Titus, and I think that for pride I'm going to read Dorian Gray.

Dorian Gray could work for a few of them. I'd use it for gluttony, just because it might be difficult for you to find another novel that fits with that one whereas with pride you could likely think of quite a few. Plus I think that Dorian Gray's bigger problem was with gluttony rather than pride.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Dorian Gray could work for a few of them. I'd use it for gluttony, just because it might be difficult for you to find another novel that fits with that one whereas with pride you could likely think of quite a few. Plus I think that Dorian Gray's bigger problem was with gluttony rather than pride.

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That one is just on my list for the year anyway. I love the general story, have watched multiple movie adaptations, but am ashamed to admit that I have never read the book. I figured I would remedy that this year, and it is coincidence that it will fit right in. I'll make final judgement after reading since I plan to write little mini essays on how each fit the challenge. I'll add them here and in my blog as I go along.

A Confederacy of Dunces might cover couple of them as well... And a wonderful novel :D

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

A Confederacy of Dunces might cover couple of them as well... And a wonderful novel :D

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I had thought of that as a possibilty for Gluttony

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo would be good for envy methinks.

Ivan Goncharov's "Oblomov" would be good for sloth.

Lolita!

Envy = Phantom of the Opera

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Originally Posted by Charles Darnay

Lolita!

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Ahh, beat me to it, Charles! Lolita would definitely be perfect for lust, and maybe a little apt for greed and wrath.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

Ahh, beat me to it, Charles! Lolita would definitely be perfect for lust, and maybe a little apt for greed and wrath.

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And envy for the guy he capped!

Hmm, looks like the seven deadly sins come in bunches.

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Originally Posted by Dark Muse

I had thought of that as a possibilty for Gluttony

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And Sloth and Pride, maybe?

Lolita also has elements of Pride too, I would say...

How about A View from the Bridge and The Crucible?


Is the movie "Se7en" based on a book?

Just read Dante and skip the rest.

Gide's The Immoralist offers a modernist take on the idea of sin which works as a good counterpoint to the didactic moralism of other texts which accept that "sin" is inherently bad.

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Originally Posted by JBI

Just read Dante and skip the rest.

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What's the fun in that?

I loved the Immoralist and agree that that would be a good book to read. This is a really interesting idea in general so I think I might follow along with your blogs and try to read some literature with these aspects. I'm thinking maybe Doystoyevsky (forgive me if I spelled his name wrong), perhaps the Gambler or Crime and Punishment at least in terms of sin. I've never read Dorian Gray but I have a copy and have been meaning to get to it for several years so I think you've inspired me to do so. If memory serves me correctly it's quite short so that makes it even more appealing in my eyes. Some other suggestions I might put out there are Silas Marner-George Eliot, An American Tragedy-Theodore Dreiser and Frankenstein-Mary Shelley. These mostly would have sin as their main theme I suppose. As I stated above this is a really interesting idea. Kudos.