Back to the Classics Challenge 2019, Wrap-Up Post

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019, Wrap-Up Post 

I completed all 12 Categories in the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019, which is hosted by Books and Chocolate

The titles are hyperlinked to my full review – cuz why wouldn’t you want to read those?

Bleak House by Charles Dickens – a 19^thCentury Classic

Loved it: Some say this is Dickens’ best. I rank it third behind A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. It has the distinction as the only Dickens novel with a female narrator

The Ox Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark – A 20^thCentury Classic

Liked it a lot:  Must be defined as a Western, but it is much more. Tragically beautiful.

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor – A Classic by a Woman Author

Indifferent: I like her short stories much better. 

Papillon by Henri Charriére – A Classic in Translation

Indifferent: I found the narrator unreliable. That could work if this was pure fiction, but it is supposed to be an autobiographical novel. For me, if the autobiographer is unreliable, then it’s a manifesto, not a story.

Candide by Voltaire – A Classic Comedy

Indifferent: A sharp satire to serve as Candide’s rebuttal of Optimism. I was unimpressed, and didn’t find it funny.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote – A Classic Tragedy

Liked it a lot: A non-fiction novel that hauntingly tells the tale of…four shotgun blasts, that all told, ended six human lives.

Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais – A Very Long Classic (over 1000 pages)

Didn’t like it. Codpiece jokes – lots of codpiece jokes. Probably pretty bold and edgy in the 16^thCentury, but now? Meh.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft – A Classic Novella (under 250 pages)

Liked it. Very creepy – creepy in a good way. Part of the Cthulu Mythos and the only Lovecraft story published as a single book.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain – A Classic of the Americas

Liked it a lot: Most consider Huckleberry Finn to be Twain’s greatest work, but for me it's Tom Sawyer.

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay - A Classic from Africa, Asia, or Oceania

Liked it: An Australian classic, unsolved mystery, and a great argument for rereads. I nearly hated this the first time I read it, but with the reread I noticed some very subtle things that made it quite enjoyable.

The Oak Openings (alternate title: The Bee Hunter) by James Fennimore Cooper – A Classic Set in a Place Where I Lived (Set along the banks of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan)

Loved it: The last of Cooper’s Wilderness Tales. For me, this easily Cooper’s best.

The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe – A Classic Play

Liked it a lot: Perhaps the best-know rendering of Faustian legend – a man who sells his soul for power and prestige.

.

King John by William Shakespeare

King John by William Shakespeare

This England never did, nor never shall,

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror ~ the Bastard

(repost of an accidentally deleted review from may 2019)

The Life and Death of King John is a historical play, written in the late 16^th Century, but not published until the early 17^th Century.

I am slowly working my way through the entire works of Shakespeare and have finally gotten to his historical plays. I’ve read all the Sonnets and other poetry, quite a few comedies, and several tragedies. This is the first of the historical plays that I’ve read. I decided to read the historical plays in chronological order, so King John is first. The historical King John of England reigned from 1199 until his death in 1216. He was the son of King Henry II and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, succeeded his older brother Richard I to the throne, and was succeeded by his own son Henry who necessarily became King Henry III.

The play centers around the legitimacy of King John’s right to the throne. John is the oldest surviving son of King Henry II, but his older brother, Geffrey had a son, Arthur (no, not THAT Arthur). I am uncertain of 13^th Century British rules of succession, but I think Arthur had a strong case. Other advocates for Arthur included King Philip of France, Cardinal Pandolf legate of the Holy See, and of course Arthur’s mother, Lady Constance. John’s advocates include Queen Eleanor, and the Bastard, the illegitimate son of John’s brother King Richard I.

The play is about confusing genealogies, shifting loyalties, and family feuds. I am tempted to call them petty feuds, but they do decide the King of England, so petty is probably unfair.

At one point, the matter is settled by the marriage of John’s niece Blanch, to King Philip’s son Louis (no, not THAT Louis). But moments after the marriage, older, more sacred alliances are recalled and the debate is renewed. Poor Blanch, caught in the middle of the muddled affair, faces war between her new husband and her uncle. She expresses her dismay – which is I think fairly representative of the entire matter:

          The sun’s o’ercast with blood. Fair day, adieu!

          Which is the side that I must go withal?

          I am with both:  each army hath a hand;

          And in their rage, I having hold of both,

          They whirl asunder and dismember me.

          Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayest win;

          Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayest lose;

          Father, I may not wish the fortune thine;

          Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive.  

          Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose:

          Assured loss before the match be play’d

SPOILER ALERT: In the end, it is all settled rather neatly, though tragically. Arthur dead, John dead, leaving Henry the undisputed heir to the throne. (Shakespeare did not write a play for Henry III. In fact, he skipped the next three monarchs: Henry III, Edward I, and Edward II. Next up is Edward III.)

It is easy to get caught up in the dozen or so august personalities named in the play, their divine mandates, and noble destinies, and forget the thousands of unnamed lives that were spent in settling such disputes. I am not criticizing the play – it is quite worthy of its author. I am simply reasserting something that may have been a subtle point of the Bard’s: the political, economic, familial, ecclesiastical, and egotistical plays for power in this period of Western Europe were indeed often – petty feuds with dreadful consequence.

Excerpts:

And thou, to be endeared to a king,

Made it no conscience to destroy a prince. ~ King John to Hubert

Heaven keep my soul, and England keep my bones! ~ dying Arthur

And as usual, a couple phrases original to Shakespeare that have become part of English vernacular:

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily (which is clearer than the vernacular to gild the lily – to praise something that does not need further praise)

Play fast and loose

I read this for the 2019 Year of Shakespeare Challenge.

.

Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare

Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare 

Timon of Athens is a tragedy by Shakespeare, probably co-written with Thomas Middleton, very early 17^thCentury. It is about a fictional Athenian during Hellenistic Greece. The title character may have been influenced by, though not entirely based on, Greek philosopher Timon of Phlius.

Timon is a generous and gregarious fellow – generous to a fault. He has many friends and flatterers who receive benefit from his generosity. Timon’s faithful steward, Flavius, tries to warn him of his wastefulness, but Timon is too deluded by flatterers to listen.

Of course, there is a limit to Timon’s resources and his generosity leads to ruin. He rebuffs Flavius for not warning him, but is not overly worried. He is confident his many friends will assist HIM, now that HE is in need. He chides Flavius for doubting.

     And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown’d

     That I account them blessings for by these

     Shall I try friends: you shall perceive how you

     Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends

But of course, none are so faithful. 

Timon’s lands are sold, he renounces society (pictured) and flees to live in a cave and dine on roots. He discovers a hidden treasure of gold, which he uses to hire mercenaries to destroy Athens. I’ll spare the rest.

This is rightly called a tragedy, not because Timon is ruined financially, but because his soul is ruined. He becomes a complete and hopeless misanthrope. He offers this prayer…

     And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow

     To the whole race of mankind, high and low!

Throughout the play all the characters, but especially Timon’s false friends, are ridiculed by cynical Apemantus, who sees through their duplicity. And although Apemantus is somewhat sympathetic to Timon’s disillusionment and need, Timon offers even him contempt, which is then returned in a sad, and yet amusing exchange of insults

     T: I had rather be a beggar’s dog than Apemantus

     A: Thou art the cap of all the fools alive

     T: Would thou wert clean enough to spit on

     A: A plague on thee, thou art too bad to curse

     T: All villains that do stand by thee are pure

     A: There is no leprosy but what thou speak’st

     T: If I name thee – I’ll beat thee, but I should infect my hands

     A: I would my tongue could rot them off

     T: Away, thou issue of a mangy dog!

          Choler does kill me that thou art alive;

          I swoon to see thee

     A: Would thou wouldst burst

     T: Away, thou tedious rogue! I am sorry I shall lose a stone

          [throws a stone at Apemantus]

     A: Beast!

     T: Slave!

     A: Toad!

     T: Rogue, rogue, rogue!

The play is a sobering indictment on humanity. And while I am certain that not all friends are false, there is a danger in wealth that makes it hard to distinguish between the true and false. I’m certain there are many instant millionaires (lottery winners, professional athletes, etc.) who could relate to this interesting play. I can’t say I loved it. I’m not surprised it is not one of Shakespeare’s more popular plays.

I read this for the 2019 Year of Shakespeare Challenge.

.

Christmas Tales - 2019

The Magi honored the Christ child with three gifts.

and in honor of the magi, I read three Christmas tales each December. My Christmas reads are also part of A Literary Christmas – sponsored by In the Bookcase.

At Christmas Time by Anton Chekhov is an extremely short short story – six pages. It is divided neatly into two parts – two separate settings. In the first, an illiterate peasant woman hires someone to write a letter to her only child, a daughter who married and moved away four years earlier. The woman is heartbroken that she hasn’t heard from her daughter. The second setting is the daughter overjoyed to receive her mother’s letter, but then plunged into despair at her plight – married, three small children, in a small apartment, very nearly trapped by her husband, a heartless brute who carelessly forgets to post the letters his wife writes to her parents. 

It’s a pretty depressing tale, but quite poignant. Mother and daughter each feel forsaken by the other, but the foibles of human communication hide the truth – that they are loved, remembered, and missed, which would surely be of some comfort in the midst of their dismal lives. 

And although I liked At Christmas Time, it left me longing for something a bit cheerier.

Fortunately, next up was Dickens’ The Trial of Life, the fourth of Dickens’ five Christmas tales: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. It is the least popular, least known, and barely qualifies as a Christmas Tale – there is only one scene at Christmas that could have just as affectively been at any time of the year. It is the only one of Dickens’ Christmas tales with no element of supernatural.

It is about Doctor Jeddler who was a great philosopher, 

...and the heart and mystery of his philosophy was. To look upon the world as a gigantic practical joke;

But the good Doctor’s philosophy is challenged by the fates and fortunes of his two daughters – beautiful and virtuous as you would expect from Dickens heroines. 

And after all, Doctor Jeddler is compelled to change his philosophy…

“It is a world full of hearts,” said the Doctor, hugging his youngest daughter, and bending across her to hug Grace – for he couldn’t separate the sisters; “and a serious world, with all its folly – even with mine, which was enough to have swamped the whole globe; and it is a world on which the sun never rises, but it looks upon a thousand bloodless battles that are some setoff against the miseries and wickedness of Battle-Fields; and it is a world we need be careful how we libel, Heaven forgive us, for it is a world of sacred mysteries, and its Creator only knows what lies beneath the surface of His lightest image!”

I found it to be a marvelous little tale about love and sacrifice, and in true Dickensian fashion, sublimely happy in the end, but yet…

There was an unexpected development. I’ve read quite a bit of Dickens, and thought I knew where he was going, but in the end, he “Wowed” me. Everything was NOT as it seemed. It’s a bit like David Copperfield meets A Tale of Two Cities, much shorter of course, which is high praise since those are two of my favorites by Dickens.

And finally, the best known of the three, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. Hoffman.

You probably know something of the story, of a marvelous nutcracker who comes to life to battle the evil mouse king. It is a fairy tale in the truest sense – there is a mysterious portal between our world and another, that opens at infrequent times and to select few, usually it seems, the innocent and unspoiled.

In this tale, young Marie is the privileged traveler, whom no one believes, except perhaps with a wink and a whisper her eccentric Godfather Drosselmeyer, the clockmaker, toymaker, and almost it seems the director of this drama.

It’s an excellent tale. If you’ve only experienced the ballet based upon this fairy tale, I’d recommend reading the story. There is much more going on than the ballet can reveal.

Merry Christmas

          ~ The Wanderer

May you be blessed with

the spirit of the season, which is Peace,

the gladness of the season, which is Hope, 

and the heart of the season, which is Love

.

Classics Club Spin #22

Classics Club Spin #22

It is time for the 22^nd edition of the Classics Club Spin – List 20 books from my CC TBR, by December 22; the mods then pick a random number, and I have until January 31, 2020 to read the corresponding book.

But I’ve only got 13 books left on my Classics Club list so I will list some of them twice. I used a random number generator to rank them, and determine which appear twice. My list:

1. Fahrenheit 451

2. Riders of the Purple Sage

3. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

4. Nicholas Nickleby

5. Fahrenheit 451

6. The Tale of Genji

7. Riders of the Purple Sage

8. The Tale of Genji

9. Cry the Beloved Country

10. At Swim Two-Birds

11. Jude the Obscure

12. Cry the Beloved Country

13. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

14. At Swim Two-Birds

15. Where the Red Fern Grows

16. The Sea, the Sea

17. Nicholas Nickleby

18. The Castle of Otranto

19. The Sea, the Sea

20. Greenmantle

.

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan

Let all Men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly ~ personal maxim of Benjamin Franklin

Much has been written of Franklin to let us know him, but there seems to be much yet that is unknowable. 

I would rather have it said, he lived usefully, than He died rich. ~ Benjamin Franklin to his mother of his desired legacy

He certainly lived usefully. (though he also earned a small fortune is his lifetime by various endeavors.)

Benjamin Franklin was a writer, printer, scientist, inventor, politician, statesman, diplomat, philosopher, humorist, activist, and one of the most intriguing of America’s founding fathers.

There are dozens of biographies on Franklin, including his own unfinished autobiography. There is a vast record, public and private, written about him, perhaps more than any other founding father, which would take a lifetime to study. Morgan has done the study for the reader, though his biography is brief, it offers a mere sketch of this fascinating public figure. 

But even this brief sketch reveals much. Franklin…

     …never made a memorable speech

     … had a personal aversion to controversy

     …had a knack for meeting kings and beggars…

     …valued Public service above scientific discovery

     Even though he

     …possessed an extraordinary intellectual curiosity

     …was more interested in right than in rights

     …directed his barbs against policy rather than persons

     …wanted people to like him because he liked them.

     …deeply valued self-control

     Usefulness and right were almost synonymous for him

The most surprising thing I learned was how diligently Franklin worked to preserve the union between the American colonies and England. 

What he most wanted was the Anglo-American empire 

He saw the coming greatness of America and dreamt of a great and powerful union that would benefit America, England, and the world. His belief that the colonists should be treated as equal British subjects was constantly frustrated by short-sighted Parliamentarians who sought to subjugate Americans – not to England, but to Parliament.

He told the British more than once that they could gain more from Americans by not taxing them and would lose heavily by fighting them.

Of course, he made enemies in Parliament, but even there were great minds who respected Franklin – one of them being William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. When one blustery member of Parliament referred to Franklin (who was present), as 

one of the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had ever known

Pitt defended Franklin for the official record…

…he made no scruple to declare, that if he were the first Minister of this Country, and had the care of settling this momentous business, he should not be ashamed of calling to his assistance a person so perfectly acquainted with the whole of American affairs, as the Gentleman alluded to and injuriously reflected on, one, he was pleased to say, whom all Europe held in high estimation for his knowledge and wisdom, and ranked with our Boyles and Newtons; who was an honour not to the English nation only but to Human Nature.

Franklin was not an early advocate for independence. He worked to strengthen the union, then to preserve the union, then to reconcile the union – but once the break was made – his course was irreversible. He became the First American – the first to work for a united American nation, not a loose confederation of independent states.

I was surprised to learn John Adams and Benjamin Franklin did not exactly get along. Franklin felt that Adams confounded his efforts with the French, and Adams felt Franklin was entirely too much a Francophile. Franklin wrote of John Adams…

I am persuaded, however, that he means well for his Country, is always an honest Man, often a Wise One, but sometimes and in some things, absolutely out of his Senses.

But for the most part…

Wherever Franklin went people loved him.

A small sampling of what noteworthy persons had to say of Franklin:

     …the greatest Statesman of the present, or perhaps any century. ~ Erasmus Darwin

     …the Solon, the Socrates, and the Seneca of that day. ~ Francois Steinsky

  

     …the first man of the universe ~ general French opinion

I’ll wrap it up with this profound thought, by this complex man…

Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it is forbidden because it’s hurtful ~ Benjamin Franklin

.

A Literary Christmas 2019

A Literary Christmas 2019

brought to you by In the Bookcase

The Rules are simple – pick your Christmas reads for 2019, write a blog post about them, and link back to In the Bookcase.

I honor of the Magi, who brought the Christ child three gifts, I read three Christmas tales each December. This year I will be reading:

The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens 

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann

At Christmas Time by Anton Chekhov

Literary Christmas selections from 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018

Have a Blessed Christmas

The Wanderer