Gothic Literature

When most would think of Gothic, they pictured the people who wear all black and have more of a sullen mood.  At one point in time I was one of those people who followed that preconception, but after reading many Gothic inspired literature, I have learned the difference.

I was actually quite surprised by the Gothic presentation, and learning that some of the books that we read did have some intertwining of Gothic.  I never really noticed any of those aspects until the presenters pointed them out.  I never noticed before that I do enjoy certain Gothic inspired movies, like the Corpse Bride.

Add a comment December 10, 2007

The Man of Feeling

I must say it was refreshing in a sense to stray away from the main characters of women, and finally have a primary male in the picture.  After constantly reading about women, and the continuous problems they face, the male protagonist has come forward.  Yet in a sense the male is questioning some of the same things that the females protagonists were contemplating in previous novels, for example virtue.

I wanted to look information up about the sentimental movement, and the Encyclopedia Britannica cites that it “exhibit[s] a passionate attachment between the sexes that rises above the merely physical. The vogue of the sentimental love novel was one of the features of the Romantic movement, and the form maintained a certain moving dignity despite a tendency to excessive emotional posturing.” It also mentions that the novel that we also read in class Richardson’s Pamela is considered to be sentimental as well.

The major refreshing part of this novel was that we have finally entered the time of chapters, as I have noticed in a few blogs that others are quite happy with this discovery!  It makes it much easier to pins down a place that you are able to stop and in some ways have some loose ends tied up.  I found with not having chapters I would not know where to stop, and by time I got back to the book I would have to read over the few previous pages to remember.

Add a comment November 25, 2007

Millenium Hall

I must say that I was disappointed by Sarah Scott’s Millenium Hall, I was expecting a bit more than what the title had put forward.  It was most definitely just a description of the Millenium Hall that the main character had visited.  There should have been a bit more of a plot,  there wasn’t much there to really get into the story.  The story itself was very descriptive, I was facinated by the animals that the ladies had kept captive in their own private room.

After the discussions in class, it never occured to me the lesbian reference there could be with all these women living together. It is interesting how such topics arise from something that is more than likely very honest.

At some point I think it would be interesting to be a bluestocking lady, taking the time to sit around with fellow female and discuss everything from literature, politics, to every day events.  It ressembles the book clubs that we have today, it is not like the women just merely go there to discuss the book, they partake in some form of gossip.

Add a comment November 7, 2007

Shamela

I absolutely loved the Shamela text.  I liked how Fielding took the story of Pamela, kept the same story line, but changed her true feelings and motives.  Shamela in this version did desire her master, but tried to play the coy servant and deny his sexual advances.

Shamela‘s parents were more than welcoming the sexual advances of the master, pursuing their daughter to accept any marriage proposal from her master.

Even though the story line of Pamela was interesting at times, and it did follow the protocol of what a lady of any rank was suppose to behave, I would change the story. I believe we should rewrite the story of Pamela, keep all the scenarios, but replace her with character of Shamela. 

Add a comment November 2, 2007

Pamela

For once I did enjoy one of the novels we have read in class, even though at times the letters that Pamela did write were lengthy and filled with useless information.  The overall plot of the book was interesting.  Since I did do my presentation on Pamela, and I found useful information about 18th century servants, I was able to understand some of the situations that Pamela was placed.

The only thing that bothered me in the book, was that Pamela was so desperate to be released from her master, and returned to her parents.  Her master did eventually give her the option to leave, and half way through the drive home she decides that she wants to return to him and be his wife!!!!!  The only thing I could think was what an idiot she was, why would you want to return to someone who has treated you horribly and who has attempted numerous time to steal your virtue.  Honestly, there must be some other respectable suitor in the area other than this thing you call a man.

Add a comment October 26, 2007

The Many Faces of Fantomina

My first initial thought of Fantomina was that how could someone not realize that they had slept with the same woman numerous times.  There has to be some distinguishing factors that would have been noticable to the person.  Although, taking into account that during this period lighting was more than less agreeable, likely very dark.  Also it was more probable that it was protocol for the woman to de-robe in the dark.  Thus leaving no visible appearance for the male to see of the woman naked. 

I did find it odd that the woman did not want to lose her honor, but was  more than willing to put herself up as a prositute.  Why would someone go about pretending to be a prositute if they did not intend to do the job that was expected of the prositute?  Then all of a sudden she goes from not wanting to give up her virtue, to completely giving it up and contining the act she very much did not want to do.

Overall, I did really enjoy the story.  It was interesting to think that a women could fool a man so many times without him even knowing.  Today it would more likely impossible to trick a man this way, for there are so many different ways of distinghuishing between woman (ie: tattoos, piercings, etc…)

Add a comment October 9, 2007

Moll Flanders

I did enjoy reading Moll Flanders, but I found the book to be a bit long and always repeating the same actions over and over again. The reader was always able to expect the same action from here constantly, for she never seemed to think of different ways of breaking the law. One other thing that bothered me about the outlay of the book was that there were no chapters, I found it harder to read the book with no pauses in the stories. The constant action that was taking place was hard to stop reading, for when you turned the page the sentence was still continuing.

I found it easier in some way to understand the story because of the crime literature that we read in the last class. The crimes that she committed in the book were easily compared to the Newgate Calendar stories, the similar crimes and punishments.

I do remember in the first class Prof. Jones saying it was hard to know how many children Moll Flanders had in her time. I did try and attempt to count the number of children while reading the book, I came to a number of 1o. More than likely that number might not be accurate since it was hard at times to follow the characters and her actions. I could not believe how many children that she had, and how easily she abandons them without it seems any remorse. The remorse is really isn’t seen till she meets up with ones of her sons in Virginia.

The one things that did perplex me in the novel was the use of the word “viz” and how when she identified a person she would say “Mr. B______”. We never had the chance to really meet other characters, since she chooses not to introduce them. It is possible why she didn’t introduce the characters this way because she didn’t want to discredit the person. I’m not sure what the “viz” would mean, can anyone explain?

1 comment September 24, 2007

Crime Literature

 (http://www.cindyvallar.com/newgate.jpg)

I did enjoy the readings from the Newgate Calendar, it was interesting to learn how the judicial system worked in that era. Some of the acts are not very far from past times, I don’t believe it was that long ago that public executions did take place. Even today when you hear of a prisoners on death row, there are a certain amount of public attendance, and even in certain high profile cases the media is involved.

While reading the stories I found that the judicial system did not follow the same protocol when the same crime was committed. For instance, a person would be a charged for stealing and was given a slap on the wrist; while the next person that came along who committed an equal amount of theft was being executed.

I did find while reading these stories that they could easily be the storyline for one of the numerous crime shows on television, like Law & Order. The television shows are always basing their storylines on off centre crimes, and ones that you would not typically see. Although depending on what state the crime took place, the execution that takes place in these stories might not be able to be included. I would find it to be interesting if one of the shows actually made one of their storylines based on such crime literature.

1 comment September 17, 2007