The story starts off with childish curiosity about an abandoned house; the childish fear of a creepy building is substantiated with some detailed reseThe story starts off with childish curiosity about an abandoned house; the childish fear of a creepy building is substantiated with some detailed research into the history of the location. A good old fashioned ghost story which is well written and with vivid descriptions; the later sections inside the shunned house would transfer easily to film. Enjoyed the reference to Poe passing the same house but never realizing the history of unusual deaths that in harbored. ...more
A short dystopian tale set on a lifeless earth covered in ash, where technology has run amok. It fits in with the sci-fi genre of the 1950s (with theA short dystopian tale set on a lifeless earth covered in ash, where technology has run amok. It fits in with the sci-fi genre of the 1950s (with the Russian's as the bad guys). While predicable, it does give Dick a canvas to showcase his well-known paranoia. Trust no one... we are our own worst enemy. ...more
“[The politician] was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that“[The politician] was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store.” You would be forgiven if you thought this referred to the 45th American president. However, the quote is taken from Lewis’ prescient It Can’t Happen Here, which documented the rise of fascism across Europe in the mid-1930’s in a fictionalized U.S. setting.
The story is told at the local level through voice of a liberal New England journalist, Doremus Jessup, who goes from dismay to determination to despair—much like the proverbial frog being slowly boiled—as the government is hijacked by “Buzz” Windrip. Buzz rises to power on the shoulders of rabid patriotic nationalism with empty promises of economic windfalls for (almost) everyone. The new president is surrounded by white nationals and their first order of business is to stage a coup to take over all branches of government, jailing any objectors “for their protection”, in order to legislate discrimination against African Americans and Jews. They also revoke the rights of women to return to core American family values (aka The Handmaid's Tale). This legalized racism and sexism ensures the support of his base, who have not recovered financially from the Great Depression, and empowers them over subjugated groups of people. He further empowers these increasingly hostile men by forming them into a well-paid militia, who are instructed to enforce the government’s position by any means necessary. What follows is a discrediting of the media, a takeover of the educational system, and a rise of corruption and self-dealing among those freshly in positions of power.
As documented in the work of Primo Levi, a concentration camp survivor, objectors are thrown into an alternative reality from which they are too numb—or legitimately scared for their lives—to fight back; instead they fight for food and to make sense of their new reality in order to save themselves. What makes this novel such an important read is Lewis’ noting the flags of a rise of a military dictatorship to warn us of their reappearance; many would argue too many of these points have already been breached as of 2018. Recommend this book for any intentionally blind conservative who is “just following orders.”...more
This novel about love (whom you can love, and how much) and loss (fated and husband-inflicted), is communicated in such an intimate way that Roy seemsThis novel about love (whom you can love, and how much) and loss (fated and husband-inflicted), is communicated in such an intimate way that Roy seems to be in the room with you, sharing a bit of well-crafted gossip. Small secrets season the lives of this self-isolated family on a hill in a small South Indian town, but it is the big secrets that roil beneath the surface—never to be spoken of—that drive immobilizing consequences depicted in this novel. Roy weaves a tapestry of simultaneous timelines spanning some decades, stitching the edges with the events that innocently conspire to form a central tragedy, and the aftermath of those events, circling down to the meat of the tragedy in the closing pages of the novel. The first two thirds of the novel are a joy to read, with the author showcasing her playful love of language, communicating the story through the creative eyes of joined-at-the-hips fraternal twins; the last third grows somber in tone, moving from a vibrant world to a monochromatic one that has been bled of color and shaped by tragedy. Roy reminds us throughout that we are shaped by stories—we are the stories themselves—and our stories bleed into the lives of others....more
Irving is well known for his riveting prose and was one of the first American authors to gain respect in Europe. He has written and documented numerouIrving is well known for his riveting prose and was one of the first American authors to gain respect in Europe. He has written and documented numerous myths, including Tales of the Alhambra and a "biography", The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which are both so convincing that many people continue to take them as truth (e.g. Columbus did not prove the world wasn’t flat, nor did he discover America). No less memorable is this short story, which makes the rounds every Halloween, especially where I live in Westchester, New York, the setting of his tale. While the characters are deeply rooted in popular culture there are some points worth discussing outside of the frightening nighttime ride.
The United States has been underpaying their teachers for more than 200 years. Ichabod Crane lives as a pauper and aspires to the lush table and creature comforts offered by the heiress Van Tassel. I found it odd for a writer to cast a school teacher as a bumbling, gangly, clueless, greedy, fussy clown who tries to win the heiress' hand from an accomplished and traditionally manly-man, Brom Bones. The school teacher with effeminate mannerisms and education is punished and his departure from town confirms to the locals that no good comes from reading and writing, an anti-intellectual bias that continues through to today. That final note stands in contrast to Irving's tale that highlights the importance of stories and the imagination, which can be powerful enough to alter the course of the main character’s life and outlive the author to entertain and frighten generations of readers. The story offers several alternative endings, but we may surmise that Mr. Crane survived his experience from the post script, when the “one tall, dry-looking old gentleman” demands the moral of the story....more
I have been carting this book around from apartment to apartment since college, where it had been assigned as an optional text in a post-modern literaI have been carting this book around from apartment to apartment since college, where it had been assigned as an optional text in a post-modern literature class. Nadja is described as the first (perhaps only?) surrealist romance, but I would counter that it is neither. This short work is technically a journal in which Breton opines on his approach to art, his relationship to other artists, his take on theater, and specifically outlines his intense relationship with a mentally unbalanced and economically challenged but beautiful young woman. While they are together, Breton is frequently bored, yet spends hours talking and drawing, acting as muses to one another. It is only when she is gone, or more accurately, when he wallows in the idea of never seeing her again, that he has room to sketch out his relationship with her and women in general. The “character” of Nadja appears to have been based on a real woman, Léona Camile Ghislaine Delacourt, and Breton sheds a sliver of light onto surrealist movement, but like a journal, it is mainly self-rumination and opinion; the reader can only do research to fill in the gaps. One takeaway from Breton is that art can be found in anything around us, even other people, and like his contemporary, Duchamp, these elements can become or can be blended into artwork. It is this shift in perception, along with symbols pulled from other artwork and dreams, that is at the core of his work....more
Imagine if Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne was a self-proclaimed witch, who, in cahoots with a fool of a devil (literally referencing Geothe’s Faust), plaImagine if Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne was a self-proclaimed witch, who, in cahoots with a fool of a devil (literally referencing Geothe’s Faust), planned to get a reverse Miss Havisham-like revenge on her lover. The witch, blacksmith Goody Ricky, engages Dickon, a Yankee devil, to recreate her dead son using a Cinderella assortment of things from the garden. This manufactured gentleman attempts to woo the blacksmith’s lover’s engaged niece, Rachel, and dual to the death with her betrothed and win her hand. The play culminates in a stage crowded with incidental characters, a bizarre conclusion and one great sound bite “What’s a man? Man’s but a mirror,” spoken by the mirror which plays a pivotal role. The play was drafted in 1907 to represent 1690’s America, but in the #metoo movement I chose to read it through a gender lens. Women are depicted in two polar opposites, Goody Ricky, a “fallen woman” who’s reputation was ruined by the man who is now an “upstanding” judge, and the unworldly innocent (not to mention an aspiring witch saved from the brink by marriage), Rachel. These were the only two options available, reminding me of John Irving’s The World According to Garp. Quoting Jenny Field’s feminist manifesto, “In this dirty minded world, you are either someone's wife or someone's whore. And if you're not either people think there is something wrong with you....but there is nothing wrong with me.” ...more
It is no wonder that these conjoined plays—faithfully transferred into operatic comedy by Mozart—caused such a stir at the time of their staging. WhenIt is no wonder that these conjoined plays—faithfully transferred into operatic comedy by Mozart—caused such a stir at the time of their staging. When the servants move to center stage and are not only smarter but wittier than their masters, they threaten to usurp the illusions of the wealthy. Beaumarchais depicts his moneyed men as bumbling, jealous, fools—even be duped by their own wives—while the men narrow-mindedly pursue their whims. Barber is a more straightforward comedy with Figaro guiding the hapless Count Almavida in artful seduction of an “unobtainable” woman, and easy to enjoy. The Marriage of Figaro bursts with comedic situations, disguises, subterfuge, and one-upmanship that gives the servants a platform to show who is really in control of the household (though the story can become convoluted and the banter over syntax lost in translation). Figaro has found an equal in his betrothed, Suzanne, who is as smart and sassy as he is. Beaumarchais’ work shows that we have long needed to keep the powerful in check and uses comedy as his foil. The pen, as they say…....more
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