NEW TERM, NEW TOPIC: WOMEN OF POWER

A LIST COMPILING SOME OF THE GREATEST WOMEN IN LITERATURE (AS WELL AS SOME OF THE GREATEST WRITERS, WHO HAPPEN TO BE WOMEN!)

MEDEA (43 BC), by Euripides

KING LEAR (1606), by Shakespeare

VANITY FAIR (1848), by William Thackery (*)

THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1859), by Wilkie Collins

MIDDLEMARCH (1874), by George Eliot (*)

ANNA KARENINA (1877), by Leo Tolstoy (*)

THE AWAKENING (1899), by Kate Chopin

JENNIE GERHARDT (1911), by Theodore Dreiser

MADAME BOVARY (1856), by Gustave Flaubert

ETHAN FROME (1911), by Edith Wharton

OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1915), by Somerset Maugham

AGE OF INNOCENCE (1920), by Edith Wharton

ORLANDO (1928), by Virginia Woolf

THE GOOD EARTH (1931), by Pearl S. Buck

FARMER BOY (1933), by Laura Ingalls Wilder

MARY POPPINS (1934), by PL Travers

REBECCA (1938), by Daphne Du Maurier

THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1943), by Ayn Rand

MEMBER OF THE WEDDING (1946), by Carson Mc Cullers

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1925), by Anita Loos

BELL JAR (1963), by Sylvia Plath

NEMESIS (1971), by Agatha Christie

DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT (1982), by Anne Tyler

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (1985), by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

THE AGE OF GRIEF (1987), by Jane Smiley

A VIRTUOUS WOMAN (1989), by Kaye Gibbons

THE TREE BRIDE (2005), by Bharati Mukherjee

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING (2005), by Joan Didion

ONE HUNDRED NAMES FOR LOVE (2012). by Diane Ackerman

THE GOLDFINCH (2013), by Donna Tartt

THE COLLECTED STORIES (1890-1980) by Katherine Anne Porter

THE COMPLETE STORIES (1925-1964) by Flannery O’Connor

(*) represents books that are 500 pages or more

1) Please consult the internet for some of these books. If you write the name of the book and follow it with PDF (like this: O PIONEERS PDF) you will usually find an available online site that will allow you to read the book. Here’s what happened when I did that:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%22o+pioneers%22+pdf&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

www.gutenberg.org and www.archive.org are two good sites for that.

2) It’s best if you read a few pages or a chapter and then see if it holds your interest - if so, most of them should be available in the Chapel Hill Library (try “Title Search” here: http://catalog.chapelhillpubliclibrary.org/) or at Amazon (example for O Pioneers: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=o+pioneers - search then under “used” on this page - they often make copies available for 1¢ plus $3.99 postage.)

3) This list is a compilation of many other lists, compiling both great literary characters and authors, throughout the ages (although I am staying primarily with 18th century to the modern age, although I do go back to 43 BC!) Many themes, many countries - including China, France, England, Russia, India and of course America - represented. 

Almost all are fiction, with a few non-fiction and excellent short story collections thrown in for good measure (ONE HUNDRED NAMES FOR LOVE / THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING.)

It is a wide range of subjects and styles: romance novels, tragedies, westerns, murder mysteries, Shakespearean dramas, English pastorals, Greek tragedies, coming of age tales, roaring twenties, New York society, descents into madness, lusty affairs, Southern Gothic. Some of these books are very challenging, some are a walk on the beach. 

Most critics and readers feel that these are some of the best works out there - please feel free to read one (or more) and share with the class your impressions - either in writing or in informal discussion.

1. Again, if you would like, I would be happy to post your review on both Amazon as well as our class blog: http://covplace.blogspot.com/

5) TRY TO MAKE YOUR SELECTION WITHOUT TELLING ANY OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CLASS (it would be interesting to see if there are any overlaps, or how opinions might vary about the different books. We can discuss this during class in June.)

NICE LITTLE ANALYSIS OF "DEATH OF A PIG" by EB WHITE

http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2013/02/26/whys-this-so-good-no-72-e-b-white-and-the-sick-pig/

Another note on the story, and its tie-in to CHARLOTTE'S WEB (or not):

Since E. B. White published Death of a Pig in 1948,^[5] an account of how he failed to save a sick pig (which had been bought in order to be fattened up and butchered), Charlotte’s Web can be seen as White attempting "to save his pig in retrospect."^[6] However, White's overall motivation for the book has not been revealed and he has written, "I haven't told why I wrote the book, but I haven't told you why I sneeze, either. A book is a sneeze."^[7]

I SEE NOTHING IN SPACE AS PROMISING AS THE VIEW FROM A FERRIS WHEEL...

Very excited to announce our Spring reading selection: THE ESSAYS OF E.B.WHITE.

I will also have his letters and biography in tow, to enhance things a bit. And may I recommend that you purchase STUART LITTLE for dessert?

http://www.amazon.com/Stuart-Little-E-B-White/dp/0064400565/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393707119&sr=8-1&keywords=stuart+little

Much more on all of this later. 

FROM JOHN STEINBECK'S NOBEL PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.

"First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone"

A nifty and meaningful selection from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters. I strongly urge you to read the really good and great (GRAPES OF WRATH, OF MICE AND MEN, CANNERY ROW, etc.) but this won't hurt (your life) either!

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/12/john-steinbeck-on-love-1958/

On my way to TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY, I have been reading the John Steinbeck library. Right now I am diving into (and loving into) OF MICE AND MEN. It is partially enhanced–or troubled–by the fact that I have seen the 1939 Lewis Milestone film version with Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr. Can't decide which. This much I know: it's nearly impossible to read the book without hearing the distinctive voices of Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney in your brain-noggin. And this, too: Lon Chaney is one underrated actor. Forget the Wolf Man: this is where this man shines.

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/248944/Of-Mice-and-Men-Movie-Clip-A-Place-Like-That-.html

OUR FINAL BOOK IN MEMOIRS

Will be, yes, TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY. It's wonderful and available in the wonderful 50th Anniversary Edition from Amazon for about $8.99 (including shipping.) Here, under new/used:

http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Charley-Search-America-Classics/dp/0143107003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389806865&sr=8-1&keywords=travels+with+charley

At age 58 John Steinbeck and his venerable standard poodle, Charley, set out on a journey across America in a camper. For three months these companions traveled the nation, meeting friends, strangers, relatives and immersing themselves in the fabric of the country as it was at that time.

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962.

from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: 

"Pure delight, a pungent potpourri of places and people interspersed with bittersweet essays on everything from the emotional difficulties of growing old to the reasons why giant sequoias arouse such awe."

“I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found.”

--Travels with Charley, 1960

A Detail from THE RED LEATHER DIARY

During Florence's studies at Columbia, She mentions that her friend Gertrude would someday marry poet/writer Delmore Schwartz. It is spoken of off-handedly enough to be easily forgotten, but the description of his most famous story, "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities", is harder to forget or ignore. Here's the essential outline of this short masterpiece:

The story tells of an unnamed young man who has a dream that he is in an old-fashioned movie theater in 1909. As he sits down to watch the film, he starts to realize that it is a motion picture documenting his parents' courtship...

Care to continue? Here is a PDF link to this wonderful story, written by Delmore when he was only twenty-one years old ...

http://myteacherpages.com/webpages/klopez/files/In%20Dreams%20Begin%20Responsibilities.pdf

Interesting fun fact: Delmore Schwartz was the man who inspired Lou Reed as a writer, before he founded the proto-punk band, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. One of his most famous songs, EUROPEAN SON, was dedicated to Delmore. Many critics posited reasons why, until Lou Reed finally admitted that Delmore Schwartz once told him that the worst thing about rock 'n roll was the lyrics: EUROPEAN SON, a seven minutes song had, in deference to Schwartz's, only one short verse:

http://grooveshark.com/s/European+Son/2fXLdn?src=5

"ACE DADDY, GYM RAT, BALZOLAN REPORTER, PH.D"

As we consider the memoir, why don't we consider the brevity?

Recently, a group of well-known authors, artists, musicians and others were asked to write their own 7 word memoir and here is the result.

Naturally, when you ask rebels of art to do something, they often find a twist or break a rule. See here how many refused to adhere to the '7 word limit' (many over, at least one under, and one–John Irving–who dared to try on memoirs of others, such as Dickens and Melville.)

Enjoy!

LINK: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/07/11/nypl-live-holdengraber-7-word-bios/