literary classics e blog

Saturday, October 2, 2010

War and Peace - A Concise Review and Summary

By Luke Bodell
An infamously thick book, War and Peace is described by Tolstoy himself as being too big to be considered a novel. It describes, with great accuracy and detail both historically and descriptively, Napoleon's charge towards Moscow, and the effect it has upon a number of families back in Russia. There are a vast amount of characters in this novel, ranging from the historical figures Napoleon and Tsar Alexander to a fictional character that Tolstoy modeled on himself. This is one of the most famous books ever written; you will not meet an adult book enthusiast who hasn't read it.

"Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own freewill, is in the historical sense not free at all but is bound up with the whole course of history and preordained from all eternity."

The actual Napoleonic invasion serves as a metaphor for the more intangible cultural invasion experienced by Russia during Tolstoy's time: Russia was becoming increasingly Westernized, making gradual cultural concessions which Tolstoy felt was destroying the special uniqueness of Russian culture. The book also criticizes the superficial upper class of Russia by exhibiting the virtues of the common, lowly foot soldiers of the brave Russian infantry contrasting with the opulent aristocratic families, indulging in worldly pleasures despite their countrymen dying in battle; this also embodies the title of the novel, showing that both War and Peace can exist at the same time. Coupled with this is the illustration of people being significant as a whole, not as individuals; the primary forces of the novel are not the individuals Napoleon and Kutuzov, but rather the aggregated effect of human beings as a whole.

"If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war."

It is extremely difficult to describe why this book is so brilliant. Ask all of your friends and family about this book, and they too will probably lack the necessary superlatives. All I can say is that it combines great storytelling with great philosophical depth; this novel is not to be read casually, as it contains the philosophy of one of the greatest minds of the 19th century. Tolstoy here expounds his thoughts on everything from love, morality and leadership, to death, faith and reason. If you are willing to take on the task of reading 1400 pages or so, then you will be deeply rewarded.

"Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself."

Luke Bodell is a university student and freelance author living in Bath, England. He runs a book review website that provides brief, concise reviews on books in Top 10 Lists, to help people decide new books to read.

The Idiot - A Book Review and Summary of the Great Dostoevsky Novel

By Luke Bodell
Another of Dostoevsky's great novels, The Idiot concerns one, good-natured young man caught up in the midst of an immoral, unscrupulous society in 19th century Russia. It contains Dostoevsky's signature dialogue discussing a whole range of issues and philosophies, and all in the backdrop of a highly interesting story; there are highly entertaining sub-stories, dinner-party tales and all sorts of other anecdotes that will have you chuckling; there are also discussions of such issues as capital punishment, suicide and war, which gives the book a darker edge to it. It is also, like all of Dostoevsky's other novels, a highly informative discourse into the realities of Russian life in the 19th century.

    Lack of originality, everywhere, all over the world, from time immemorial, has always been considered the foremost quality and the recommendation of the active, efficient and practical man

The protagonist - Prince Myshkin - has just arrived back in Russia after 4 years abroad. He is a very trusting, benevolent character, who is unwilling to act immorally for social and financial advancement, something that all those around him do habitually, and thus gain wealth or increased social repute. The book serves to show that Myshkin is an 'Idiot' for being so upright, as the only consequence of this will be his exploitation by others and his exclusion from the material and reputable advantages of acting so crooked and predatory. So what follows is a story illustrating whether we should faithfully remain as good, honest people, or give in to temptation and vice and become self-interested people; this cognitive dissonance is something the majority of people face, so to see how it plays out through the imagination of someone so great as Dostoevsky is extremely interesting.

    But I'll add though that there is something at the bottom of every new human thought, every thought of genius, or even every earnest thought that springs up in any brain, which can never be communicated to others, even if one were to write volumes about it and were explaining one's idea for thirty-five years; there's something left which cannot be induced to emerge from your brain, and remains with you for ever; and with it you will die, without communicating to anyone perhaps, the most important of your ideas.

It is essentially a fictional (but none less veritable) account of light against darkness, embodied in the angelic Myshkin and the knavish Rogozhin respectively. And I doubt the reader will be prepared for the ending that is in store for them. All in all, The Idiot is classic Dostoevsky; anyone that has read his other works should definitely be interested in this; anyone who has never encountered him before is hugely recommended to pick up one of his works, and The Idiot is a great book to start you off.

    Don't let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them

Luke Bodell is a university student and freelance author living in Bath, England. He runs a book review website that provides brief, concise reviews on books in Top 10 Lists, to help people decide new books to read.

Fantastic Literatures in English - Where Facts Meet Fiction

By Dharmendar Kumar
Fantastic literature encompasses three different literary streams namely science fiction, fantasy fiction, and weird fiction, each of which has a unique rhetoric and narration style. Fantasy literature is thought to have evolved in Victorian times during the times of writers including William Morris, Lord Dunsany, and George MacDonald.

Science fiction draws themes from scientific discoveries and technological inventions and it is often set in the future where as Fantasy fiction is more of fable than fact. The fanciful and fantastic elements became hugely popular not only among the kids but also fun loving adults. For instance, the literary history of France was enriched with references to the werewolf of loup garou, the sorcerer of Jean-Pierre Lavallée and the infamous witch of La Corriveau. Fantasy fiction is more related to folklores than reality and is typically set in the distant past or in an imaginative fantasy world that is not related to the universe.

Weird fiction also known as 'horror fiction' or 'dark fantasy' set in realistic world. However the presence of some supernatural elements would make them weird and fearful. An example of this type of writing would be Cold heaven that deals with a dead man who refuses to die

Stories involving magic or terrible monsters have been in existence ever since the evolution of printed literature. Homer's Odyssey satisfies the definition of the fantasy genre with its magic, gods, heroes, adventures and monsters.. R. R. Tolkien had played a key role in the popularization of the fantasy fiction through his highly successful publications The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was particularly influenced by an ancient body of Anglo-Saxon myths, including Beowulf apart from many modern works such as The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison.

The contemporary authors like Terry Pratchett, J.K.Rowling, Brandon Sanderson and Scott Lynch have played a great role in enhancing the popularity of fantasy fiction. Some of the novels in this genre have also made it to the prestigious New York Times Best Seller list. The only fantasy novelists whose works have debuted at number include Robert Jordan, R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman.

The earliest fantastic tales dating back to the Aboriginal populations were told in thirteen different languages which in itself is a proof of their popularity. These folklores that talk about witches, shamans and oracular shaking tents have become popular though the adult story tellers.

"Up at the Villa" by W Somerset Maugham

By Irina Ponomareva
Mary is very fond of Sir Edgar Swift. When she was a girl of nineteen and he a man of forty-three, he seemed an old man, but now when she is thirty and he is fifty-four, the difference doesn't look so great. So, when he proposes to her, she doesn't say no at once.

A widow disappointed in love and marriage, an orphan without a soul in the whole world to take care of her, she longs for support, for stability. Sir Edgar is about to be made a Governor of Bengal. He is rich, and Mary has only the remnants of her late husband's fortune to live on, and since her husband was a drunkard and a gambler, there wasn't much to inherit when he died. But Sir Edgar has to go away for two or three days to settle some matters related to his new appointment, so they arrange that Mary gives him her final answer upon his return. She is almost sure she'll say yes.

While Sir Edgar is away, young and rich, but thorougly disreputable Rowley Flint proposes to her too. She rejects him indignantly: this young man has already divorced several wives, and wherever he goes, scandal follows him. Marrying him would be madness; she is now more determined than ever to marry Sir Edgar and as soon as possible. But on her way back home she meets a desperately poor Austrian refugee...

She decides to do this poor guy a kindness. It starts with taking him to her home and giving him food to eat; then they walk in the garden... and then, in a moment of the utmost excitement, unable to control herself, Mary decides to make poor Karl even happier. She gives him the most precious gift - herself.

At first all is well, and Karl is indeed very happy, but as the morning approaches, the fairy tale has to end, and she blurts out the truth to him: it's not love but pity that made her do what she did. Hurt and humiliated, Karl at first tries to murder her, and when that fails, shoots himself with the revolver Mary takes out of her bag. Sir Edgar's revolver.

The scandal that is now awaiting Mary is horrible to imagine. And she has no-one but Rowley to call for help.

That night she rediscovers Rowley. Cynical and disreputable as he is, he shares the risks with her, though he doesn't have to, and helps her dispose of the body. He keeps his head when she can't and pulls her out of the most unpleasant situation. Of course, in taking Karl's body away and hiding it in the woods they commit an offence, but the scandal is averted. Mary can carry on further with her plans. If only she had taken Rowley's advice not to tell anything to Sir Edgar!

But being naturally honest she tells him everything. Sir Edgar is a noble person; he forgives her - or says so - but now marrying her would mean he will have to ruin his career: becoming a Governor now would mean living in a constant fear that the scandal will surface. Mary, who has ruined one life already, can't ruin another. She refuses to marry Sir Edgar. He goes away, outwardly indignant - but deep in his heart, she knows it, very much relieved. And she has nothing to do now but to marry Rowley, which no longer seems as bad an idea as it seemed a day ago.

After all, who is she to judge him? Not a woman of an impeccable reputation as she thought, but a huge sinner and, in her own words, a fool. She looks differently at herself now - and at Rowley also. Even though she doubts very much that he will ever be able to be faithful to her, she is prepared to take that risk.

Once again, Somerset Maugham proves his immensely deep knowledge of human psychology, instinctively knowing how all his characters will act in these very uncommon circumstances. Of course, if Mary hadn't given Karl a lift that night, she would have married Sir Edgar, and her life would have been very common; there would have been no excuse to write a book about her, though. Would she have been happier? Hard to say, but I don't think so. With Rowley she will never be bored, and if there's ever any danger, he is going to be pretty capable of pulling himself and Mary out of it; he has proven it. He will probably even settle finally, though such men seldom settle until they get really old. It's up to the reader to decide what is going to happen to all these people now.

It's not Mary I feel sorry for - it's Karl. And Sir Edgar, too, but mainly Karl. A young life cut short for nothing - but, after all, there were so many of them, victims of the Nazis. In the years to come there would be millions (judging by the known historical dates, the events in the book must have happened between the end of 1938 and the beginning of 1939, though the book itself was first published in 1953). Karl had little hope anyway - he might have died from starvation, or in the war. At least, Mary made him happy for a few short hours. And Rowley was right about this boy - he was unstable.

The book is quite short - just 94 pages - but it makes me think about so many things! I've read 400+-page novels that don't come even close to this book in depth and literary value. I recommend it to everyone. You'll find the language beautiful too - it's easy to read, but it sings.

It was a library book, and I was be sorry to part with it when the time came to return it.

The Wisdom of the Story of Sleeping Beauty

By Jeanine Byers Hoag
Have you ever felt like you were knocked flat by the negative energy coming your way? That is what happens as this story begins.

Some say that the stories we loved in childhood become the template for our lives as adults. If Sleeping Beauty was one of your favorites, take a few minutes to see if there are any parallels in the life you experience today.

Are you asleep in your own life?

Are you waiting for rescue?

Are you waiting for true love?

Have you been knocked flat by negativity in your past?

Eventually, the prince comes to rescue the young princess. But it happens almost accidentally. If you are to be your own rescuer, do you have a plan? Let's consider a few more questions based on this struggle.

Does There Have to Be Struggle?

"He made his way through slowly and with a struggle, for the trees and bushes grew in a thick tangle. A few hours later, now losing heart, he was about to turn his horse and go back when he thought he could see something through the trees... He pushed back the branches... Wonder of wonders! There in front of him stood a castle with high towers."-Sleeping Beauty

If this has been your path, you may have two limiting beliefs that you learned or concluded somewhere along the way...

Limiting Beliefs

(1) That anything good that you want will take a long time and require struggle

(2) That only if you persevere through the long battle, when nothing seems good, will you eventually stumble upon your reward

The Law of Attraction

But are either of these really true? Certainly, it is what people sometimes experience! But must they?

According to the Law of Attraction, you can have whatever you want and it can come to you easily. If that doesn't happen, then there are probably limiting beliefs and painful feelings (like the prince's melancholy mood) in the way.

Getting back to the story, the prince finds the princess as if he had been led to her by an unseen hand.

Unseen Guidance

When I look back on my own life, I often feel as if I am seeing the work of an unseen hand leading me where I needed to go. Does that happen for you?

When the princess awakens, she tells him that she was waiting for him in her dreams. Are you waiting to be rescued so that your dream can come true?

Happily Ever After

"They lived happily ever after, as they always do in fairy tales, not quite so often, however, in real life."-Sleeping Beauty

What would happily ever after look like for you? This fairy tale reminds us that not everyone lives happily ever after in real life. But if you could, what would that be like?

When people give it some thought, they often realize that they can be happy with a lot less perfection than they originally imagined.

Try Casting a Spell

Consider setting an intention to create the life you want most. Say it out loud and write it in your journal. Make a ceremony of it if you'd like!

The happiness you have dreamed of might just be possible if you are willing to be your own prince and willing to awaken.

What new story will you create?

"Every person is born into life as a blank page -- and every person leaves life as a full book. Our lives are our story, and our story is our life. Story is the narrative thread of our experience--not what literally happens, but what we make of what happens, what we tell each other and what we remember." --Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher

Title - Field of Blackbirds - Author - ES Hoover - Book Review

By Gary R. Sorkin
In "Field of Blackbirds," E. S. Hoover begins with the discovery of a historical Roman document laying claim to the sovereignty of Serbia by a French professor Dr. Jean-Pierre Fournier. Immediately thereafter Hoover started a chapter introducing the character Sebastian Bishop, a clean-cut teenager days away from graduating high school in South Carolina. In a meticulous literary volley of alternating snippets of character development, Hoover cleverly sews the storyline of what is an awesome work of pseudo-historical international espionage.

As the chapters flew by, I was taken down the book's separate structural underpinnings and plot machinations so diverse I honestly could not conceive how the culmination of events would occur. It is hard to say what impressed me the most about Hoover's writing skills; the excellent suspense techniques, its subliminal foreshadowing, or the expert level detail of content. On one side in the novel, the history and culture of eastern Europe from the 12th and 13th century through current times was so enjoyable, being described with such acumen of detail, location and individuals. Then were interleaved chapters of the events building Sebastian's character with such detail to clandestine military training, special ops and human endurance that I became absorbed in that aspect of this story. How E.S. Hoover would ultimately tie these diametrically opposing subplots together was so perplexing I found myself incapable of putting this book down. Hoover's skill became self evident as Field of Blackbirds took on an absolute personification of credibility, a life of its own.

In a style reminiscent of a Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton novel, with a mix of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code elements of historical importance, topped off with a bit of Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne character, E.S. Hoover takes rank among the finest contemporary authors. Ideally suited for a screenplay adaption, Field of Blackbirds is the perfect formula for a block-buster movie. Sebastian Bishop is a character we will be "seeing" more of in future work. The appeal of Hoover's novel penetrates a wide variety of sophisticated story connoisseurs, travel enthusiasts, history buffs, military thinkers, and certainly appeals to the Walter Mitty within all of us.

As primeval endorphins and adrenaline of combat stirs Sebastian Bishop to say to the victims of his deathly blows, "Hell awaits," I say to Hoover, "Fame awaits." This caliber of work is destined for boundless accolades of praise. I can envision meeting Hoover at some future book signing or movie opening, having the author turn to me and say, "Hello, my name is Hoover --- E.S. Hoover."

The Old Man and the Sea - The Cuban Inspiration Behind the Novel

By Pollux Parker
The novel "Old Man and the Sea" was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1951. It is considered as one of Hemingway's famous works and his last work of fiction during his lifetime. The story centers on the epic battle between an aging Cuban fisherman named Santiago and the largest catch of his life - a giant marlin, that he caught in Gulf Stream.

Hemingway wrote the novel in 1951 when he was in Cuba. The inspiration for the character of Santiago was believed to be a Cuban national named Gregorio Fuentes who worked as a nautical captain. Fuentes was the captain of the ship Pilar, which he sailed together with Hemingway throughout Cuba.

Born on July 11, 1897, Fuentes was also a fisherman. He worked as the first mate of Pilar which was owned by Hemingway. He was born in the Canary Islands and moved to Cuba at the age of 10. It was Jane Mason, Hemingway's mistress, who hired him after Mason became envious of Hemingway's relationship with another woman named Martha Gelhorn.

However, some people believed that the real inspiration for the character of Santiago was Carlos Gutierrez, the original first mate of Pilar whom Fuentes replaced. According to some experts, Gutierrez has 40 years of fishing experience in the Gulf Stream and was a very old man when Hemingway met him for the first time. The Hemingway himself credited Gutierrez as his mentor where he learned everything about how to catch a marlin. However, the author himself stated that the character of Santiago was "based on no one in particular."

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte - The Popular Victorian Writers Who Were Sisters

By Inez Calender
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte originally published their novels under the pen names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. They felt that book publishers and the reading public would take them more seriously if they used the names of men. The year 1847 saw the publication of Charlotte's masterpiece, Jane Eyre; Emily's singular contribution to literature, Wuthering Heights; and Anne's Agnes Grey.

Both Charlotte and Anne's novel concerned the lives of governesses. Both sisters pointed out the plight of single, educated women in a time when women were dependent on male relatives for financial security. Employment opportunities were few and far between for an unmarried woman of those days. Without a husband or relative to depend on, Victorian women faced a life of poverty and peril. Governess jobs, or employment in a girls' school was the only avenue for success. And those jobs did not allow for Independence. A governess lived in the home of her charges while a teacher at a girls' school generally lived on the school campus.

The Bronte sisters understood these problems first hand. The knew that if their preacher father would die, they would be left penniless and homeless. All three sisters attempted employment in the above mentioned fields. Emily had the most difficult time. She became homesick and pined for her 'liberty,' as she called her time spent alone on the moors. Indeed, Emily was a recluse and spent little time away from home. Charlotte Bronte bemoaned the drudgery of her employment and felt that the dull routine stifled her mind.

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte decided to open a girls school, hoping for the intellectual challenge of being in charge, as well as creating a place for themselves to work and prosper after the death of their father. The school project failed. Charlotte urged her sisters to write novels and the three of them produced their books in secret, in the dining room of the Parsonage at Haworth.

It was not until after the death of Emily that Charlotte and Anne revealed their true identifies to their publisher. Anne died shortly after, leaving Charlotte alone, to deal with the legacy of the Bronte Sisters.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann - A Book Review - Profound and Poetic

By Joanne P
Profound. Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin should take a bow. One of my favourite authors, Frank McCourt, has described this work 'a symphony of a novel'. I agree with this description whole-heartedly. I felt like applauding when I reached the final page.

McCann presents New York City in 1974, at the time of the Vietnam War as a single living breathing organism and then deconstructs that into disparate parts through the intertwining stories of its inhabitants. At the epicentre is a single man, a tightrope walker, between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

The character development achieved by McCann in less than 400 pages is impressive to say the least. These characters are gritty and real - McCann shows us this through their flaws. The characters individual stories are each in themselves compelling, and the way their stories intertwine poetic.

But McCann's skill as an author does more than tell a story, he takes the reader on a journey. A journey that genuinely moved me. Why was I moved? McCann shows great sensitivity for his characters and for humanity.

'Everything falls into the hands of music eventually. The only thing that ever rescued me was listening to a big voice. There are years accumulated in a sound.'

The symbolism used in this novel is brilliant. Each individual, the city, the country, the world - all on a metaphorical tight-rope. This novel epitomizes why I enjoy literary fiction. At its worst literary fiction can provide a stage for an author's self-indulgence; at its best, it is a form of artistic expression that has the power to influence thinking. In my opinion, Let the Great World Spin is the latter.

You do not need to have lived through the Vietnam War to be able to connect with this novel. If you appreciated the movie Crash, this novel is for you. I cannot recommend this work more highly. I look forward to reading more from this author.

About the Author

Colum McCann was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1965. He now lives in New York with his wife and three children. In 2009 McCann was awarded the National Book Award for Let the Great World Spin (2009).

Other titles by McCann include Zoli (2006), Dancer (2003), Everything in This Country Must (2001), This Side of Brightness (1998), Songdogs (1998), Fishing the Sloe-Black River (1998). His fiction has been published in 30 languages and received numerous literary awards.

Book Review - The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

By Elizabeth Joseph
Nick Carraway makes a living in New York in bond business. He happens to be living in a quite affluent area though his house is a modest place. There is a mansion next door to him which belong to Mr Gatsby. Mr Gatsby is a very popular figure who gives big parties almost every weekend and most people in town attend it. During one of these parties, Nick meets Mr Gatsby in person and gets a special liking to him. The rest of the story is about Mr Gatsby and his life as Nick narrates it.

Mr Gatsby and Nick's cousin Daisy Buchanan was in love 5 years back, when Mr Gatsby was a poor officer. Poverty claimed Daisy from him and now he has come back to claim her after making millions of money. Daisy is married to the rich Tom Buchanan, who doesn't care much about her. The whole aim of Mr Gatsby's life is to get Daisy back and entice her with all the wealth that he has accumulated in the past years.

Thoughts

This book disappointed me a lot as my expectations was very much high due to the popularity of this book. That was the reason for getting this book. This book is supposed to an epic romance novel, but I found it more or less the story of an infatuated person. Otherwise, how could I explain the absence of Daisy towards the climax of the story. There is nothing much in the story other than what the narrator tells about Jay Gatsby. Some how the "great" part of the title doesn't look convincing from the story. The mistress of Tom Buchanan and her husband adds to some of this confusion. Probably the only thing that stands out is how Tom steer things to work out the way he wanted by his crude thinking.

As an young reader, I was not able to appreciate much the prose for which this book by Scott Fitzgerald is famous for. This particular edition (as you see in the picture above) is supposed to be the exact version as Fitzgerald wanted it to be published.

America As Seen Through the Eyes of to Kill a Mockingbird and the Crucible

By Paul Thomson
To Kill a Mockingbird and "The Crucible" are two classic American works that, though set centuries apart, have a remarkable amount in common: both use children as a means of exploring the social mechanisms behind wrongful persecution in small-town America. Admittedly, there are significant cultural differences between the two stories (the whole racism-vs.-witchcraft thing jumps to mind), but what really stands out is how different the take-home message of each story is. Let's take a look.

Set in 1930's Alabama, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated from the point of view of Scout Finch, who is a mere six years old when the story begins. Her and her brother's formative years involve a trial in which Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of raping a white nineteen-year old. Although Tom is clearly innocent of the crime, the local attitude toward race makes it all too easy for his accuser - whose advances he rejects, by the way - to cast blame on him in order to save her own hide.

Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" takes us back to Colonial New England in the late 1600's. Giving its own version of the Salem Witch Trials, the play follows a group of young girls spearheaded by one Abigail Williams, whose favorite pastime is ruining the lives of people she doesn't like. At the center of Abigail's storm is John Proctor, who ends up being sentenced to death after breaking off their illicit love affair. As in Mockingbird, the townspeople's small-mindedness is easily bent to the will of one misguided accuser with her finger on the right button.

Despite both Tom Robinson and John Proctor's unhappy end, To Kill a Mockingbird ends on a decidedly happier note than "The Crucible." Interestingly, this has a lot to do with each story's portrayal of children. In Mockingbird, children largely reflect their parents' thinking when it comes to prejudices. Scout's classmates tease her at school after their parents tell them that Scout's dad is defending a black man in court. A young Dill Harris cries during Tom Robinson's trial because social convention hasn't "caught up with [his] instinct yet." When Scout's life is unexpectedly saved by the creepy local shut-in, Scout remarks that "he was real nice." "Most people are," her father replies, "when you finally see them." Social conditioning may be ugly, but at least the ugliness isn't inborn.

Not so in The Crucible. Although witchcraft is obviously an idea that the girls picked up from their community, the phenomenon behind the Salem witch trials does not have the feel of a longstanding social institution like racism. Instead, the girls go along with the accusations spontaneously, meaning that it's impossible to predict who will fall on what side of all that finger-pointing. Whereas the bottom line in To Kill a Mockingbird is that people start off good and become corrupted along the way, "The Crucible" leaves you with the distinct impression that mass hysteria only survives by playing on the dark side inherent in everyone.

Huckleberry Finn's Shout-Outs to Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet

By Paul Thomson
While it's nearly impossible to find a literary work that doesn't reference another literary work, it isn't always easy to tell why such references are included. Sometimes they foreshadow important plot points, sometimes they help characterize a person in the narrative, and sometimes, we're convinced, they're just included to make the author sound smart. The really good ones, however, work on multiple levels - the most important of which being to further the story's overarching message. Oh yeah, and to make us laugh. Observe.

Two of the most memorable allusions in literature have got to be the Shakespeare shout-outs in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. After taking up with two swindlers who claim to be a king and a duke, Huck and the escaped slave, Jim, help put on a production of select scenes from "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet" as a money-making scheme in rural Missouri. As you can imagine, the result ain't pretty.

In Romeo and Juliet, the old, bearded Duke dons a stolen nightgown and is wooed by the King in the play's immortal balcony scene; in Hamlet, the Duke performs a magnificently botched version of Hamlet's soliloquy that includes the phrases, "To be or not to be; that is the bare bodkin" and "But soft you, the fair Ophelia: ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws." As an uneducated thirteen-year old, Huck doesn't appreciate the hilarity of the situation, but unlike the Duke and King, he at least has the excuse of inexperience.

Although these scenes are typical of Twain in that they're hugely entertaining, they also work on several deeper levels. For one thing, it's only fitting that Huckleberry Finn - often considered the seminal American novel - tips its hat to its European predecessors while simultaneously announcing its departure from literary tradition. Not to mention, including a theater production within the novel is a big acknowledgment to Shakespeare's whole play-within-a-play thing.

In fact, the play within Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is particularly important because it confirms what Hamlet already suspects: that King Claudius is guilty of his Hamlet's father's murder. Similarly, even though the reader already knows that the King and Duke are frauds, the shamelessness of their theater scam alerts us to the fact that things are only going to get worse.

When push comes to shove, however, Twain's Shakespearean allusions have a much more important function in promoting the theme of high-meets-low art; after all, it's not often that a country's most important work of literature is told from the perspective of an ignorant teenager talking in rural slang. What's really cool about this is that it abandons the notion that high art should only be accessible to the upper echelons of society. Some artwork is only on display in museums and palaces; some literature is only intelligible to the multi-lingual with a background in the classics; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is accessible to anyone who wants a good laugh and an outsider's perspective on society.

Twain's juxtaposition of high and low art remind us that literature in its purest form is meant to be democratic. And what screams "seminal American novel" more loudly than a democratizing adventure story about moving past institutionalized racism?

Descriptive Language in Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son

By Ben H Wright
Dombey and Son is a novel rich in descriptive detail, with both the exteriors and interiors in which its many characters feature being vividly realized. However it is arguable that such detail isn't intended to be merely decorative but instead perform a range of elaborate functions within the vast and intricately plotted story.

The Dombey residence is situated "on the shady side of a tall, dark, dreadfully genteel street" (p.23). It is a large corner house whose interiors are depicted with an overriding sense of bleakness - the words "dark", "dismal" and "grim" abound - creating an atmosphere that borders on the funereal. The fact that Mr. Dombey appears unable to separate familial matters from his business affairs is evinced in the title of the third chapter, where the father is described as being "at the head of the home-department", and "the various members of Mr. Dombey's household subsided into their several places in the domestic system" (p.23). This particular detail subtly highlights another aspect of the Dombey abode, in that it vaguely resembles a prison, with his son's nurse Polly Toodle (or 'Richards' as Mr. Dombey has arbitrarily renamed her) being "established upstairs in a state of honourable captivity" (p.23).

It is clear from the outset that Mr. Dombey only views people as commodities, a facet of his personality which ultimately proves to be his downfall. The small selection of rooms that Polly's employer has allocated for his own private purposes is significant to the story, particularly the glass conservatory or 'chamber', where he summons the nurse to "walk to and fro with her young charge" (p.24). Glass performs an important metaphorical function within the narrative. It has been noted that a particularly common use for the large expanses of glass whose manufacture only became possible towards the middle of the nineteenth century was the display of goods in shop windows. Mr. Dombey would appear to be regarding his son in such a manner, his interests in the boy solely motivated by his plans for him in his firm.

Dickens makes use of the 'pathetic fallacy' by depicting inanimate objects as distinctly anthropomorphized. This can be compared with the portrayal of certain characters in a dehumanized form. For example, when Polly glimpses Mr. Dombey watching her with his son through the glass, the narrative is focalized through her, and seen from this perspective her employer is described in relation to "the dark heavy furniture" (p.25) he occupies as opposed to any physical description of him. Such an approach also occurs in Mr. Dombey's daughter Florence's conception of him - to her he appears merely a collection of parts: "The child glanced keenly at the blue coat and stiff white cravat, which, with a pair of creaking boots and a very loud ticking watch, embodied her idea of a father" (p.3). By way of contrast, the descriptions of the Dombey house delineate its facade as if it were a human face always "lowering on the street" (p.337), containing cellars which are "frowned upon by barred windows, and leered at by crooked-eyed doors" (p.23). Such details are not limited to the building's exterior either as each of the covered chandeliers is said to look like a "monstrous tear depending from the ceiling's eye" (p.24) - it is as if the house itself were visibly weeping on account of Mr. Dombey's lack of grief at his recently deceased wife. This particular technique serves to enhance the portrayal of Mr. Dombey becoming a commodity himself through the ceaseless reification of his own surroundings.

Some have contended that the kernel of Dombey and Son is Florence's quest for her father's love. As a character, Mr. Dombey's daughter is essentially non-realist, possessing qualities typical of heroines from eighteenth century sentimental writing, such as innocence and kindness. However melodrama isn't the only convention the narrative invokes when chronicling Florence's attempts to affiliate herself into her father's affections, as the Gothic is also evident in these scenes: "the dreary midnight tolled out from the steeples", as well as the "dropping of the rain", "moaning of the wind", "shuddering of the trees" (p.270). However any feelings of 'terror' on Florence's part are quashed by one overriding emotion: love, and it is this that drives her down to "making her nightly pilgrimage to his door" (p.270). The glass that had appeared to separate Mr. Dombey from his son's nurse is apparent here also, "The rain dripped heavily on the glass panes in the outer room" (p.271). The repetition of the phrase "Let him remember it in that room, years to come" (p.272) much later on when the adult Florence returns to her father when his second wife has left him and his business faces bankruptcy, is effective in linking these two scenes. Florence finally succeeds in gaining her father's love and saving him from the house which appears to be consuming him: "The great house, dumb as to all that had suffered in it... stood frowning like a dark mute on the street" (p.892).

Descriptive language in Dombey and Son forms a vital function within the story. We are able to see that through the implementation of several techniques, such as 'symbolism', 'metaphor' and 'comparison', and the invoking of other literary conventions - such as Melodrama and the Gothic - into its essentially realist construction, as well as the adoption of literary strategies, such as the 'pathetic fallacy', Dickens's descriptions serve many functions within his narrative, making considerable enhancements to his portrayal of characters and development of plot, ultimately enriching the overall effect of his novel.

Ben H. Wright is an independent scholar and researcher.

His website, The Literary Index, features a vast array of links to academic writings on novels and poetry, available to view online for free. The site covers a wide range of literature on over 300 authors and is of interest to anyone studying novels or poetry at advanced or degree level, as well as readers interested in exploring a certain work in greater depth.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

By Cara Lane
I finished this amazing novel admittedly a few days before deciding I would start this 100 books, 1 year thing. But because I finished it so close to when I came up with my ingenious plan, I see no reason not to include it.

I don't think that many people have really heard of it, but it's a novel by Betty Smith about a girl growing up poor in Brooklyn in the early 1900s. A friend had bought it for me for Christmas this year and I didn't pick it up until recently. And when I did, I wasn't encouraged at first. The first 20-30 pages seemed to drag on and on and on about Francie (main character's) descriptions of the food her mother made, the clothes her father wore, the street they lived on, the way other kids acted around her. This is what we're dealing with-

"There was a special Nolan idea about the coffee. It was their one great luxury. Mama made a big potful each morning and reheated it for dinner and supper and it got stronger as the day wore on. It was an awful lot of water and very little coffee but Mama put a lump of chicory in it which made it taste strong and bitter. Each one was allowed three cups a day with milk. Other times you could help yourself to a cup of black coffee anytime you felt like it."

I was completely dulled out. But I kept going because I had nothing else to do. Even though in my head I would read these early parts of the book thinking, "Please let something interesting happen. Now. Now. Now. I'm going to put it down right now if I read another line about mushy bread, I swear..." I kept going. So there's a personal victory.

Reading those seemingly droning descriptions seemed to defy all writing logic to me. I just finished a book a week or two before about writing that specifically warned against dull descriptions of things that don't relate to the story. So naturally that was all I could think about. But what I came to realize was that all those things actually were central to the story, and I was a bit too quick to judge. I'm not going to get into a whole plot analysis here but the gist is that Francie comes of age and whatnot- all that typical bildungsroman stuff- but somehow there was more to it. Even though the family is poor and the father is a depressed alcoholic and the mother loves her son more than her daughter, you feel for each of them in a certain way. The way that Francie's father can be so parasitical to the family in monetary terms but yet so nourishing emotionally was really interesting to me. You just don't read stuff like that. I actually found myself crying when he died. (Sorry if that spoiled anything!)

I'm very glad that I read it. Plus it's a very quotable book and I often found myself penciling little parentheses around certain passages that could be taken out of the book and used in real life situations. That means 99 to go. Next up is Homecoming by Bernard Schlink.

Vampires and Twentieth Century Literature

By Kathy Mercado
The idea for using vampires as characters in the literary works of the twentieth century was taken from the famous Dracula by Bram Stoker. The novel was then adapted into cinema which was an emerging medium during that time period. Stoker's work, however, was not restricted to the horror and Gothic novels with the description of ghastly deaths and incidents dealing with the dark.

The twin works of Gustave Le Rogue, published in 1908 and 1909 gave an introduction to science fiction and idea of life on other planets. He depicted creatures with wings and blood sucking fangs living on Mars. This was the first time that the trait of wings was given to vampires and from this trait came the connection of vampires and bats.

The first movie that featured vampires was the one that adapted Dracula into cinema. After that, vampires got more spotlight in horror movies that had gothic themes. Science fiction that included vampires was fairly used in cinema. In 2207, Richard Matheson's movie, I am Legend was released and it showed nocturnal creatures surviving on the blood of live human beings. This movie also depicted that Vampirism is a result of the wrong doings of human beings and it also shows that developing a cure for it is possible.

There was a great amount of literary work on Vampires in the later half of the twentieth century. Between 1966 and 1971, Barnabas Collins Series, a work by Marilyn Ross was released which became the first to use vampires in literary works in the forms of sequels and series rather than singular novels. Another series called Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice followed it. Literary works in the form of series that had become common in this period continue to be written even to this date as mega series.

"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte

By Irina Ponomareva
"Jane Eyre" was the joy of my childhood - the book that supported me when I was sad and inspired my imagination when I was feeling creative. Needless to say, in those days I read it in Russian - the original came later, much later. But the translation was good.

Despite all the differences in time, environment and nationality, I've always felt a weird similarity between my personality and Jane's. It can't even be undone by the fact that Jane was deeply religious and I have always been a hardcore atheist. I saw myself in Jane at once - especially when she rebelled against abuse. Then I proceeded to find the prototypes for other characters: Mrs Reed, her son John, Helen Burns and others. I just couldn't find anyone to represent Mr Rochester when I was a child. Well, that, perhaps, is a good thing, otherwise I would have got stuck and, probably, never found my sweetheart. He has something in common with Mr Rochester in appearance, to be honest, but not in character, of which I'm glad.

Granted, my life has so far been much happier than Jane's (except the part in which she inherits a fortune and marries her love, of course). But it doesn't reduce our likeness.

I've heard the opinion that Charlotte Bronte's English is harder to understand than Shakespeare's. I don't know - I didn't notice that with "Jane Eyre", probably, because I still remembered the Russian version of the book quite well at the time I was re-reading it in English. I thought it very beautifully written, but I could be biased, given my love for the book.

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century it's not easy to believe that in its time the novel was considered rebellious. Today it all looks and sounds rather quaint. I should also note that the author has taken care not to hurt the reader unnecessarily, despite the horrors of having to encounter the first Mrs Rochester or, even before that, the abuse little Jane was subjected to by Mrs Reed or Mr Brocklehurst. I'm extremely sensitive, and often put aside the books that make a point of hurting the reader - but I've never felt the slightest urge to put "Jane Eyre" aside.

The book sings to me - I can re-read it over and over again as I grow older, and the charm I felt as a girl never goes away. Nor does the strange similarity between me and an imaginary character of the book, a character belonging a different century and a different place. I still firmly associate myself with Jane.

In a nutshell, the novel has everything to be a great read: a lot of passionate love, a bit of fun, a bit of mysticism and many social problems raised - the impossibility of divorce, the position of the woman in society, the poverty and many more. No wonder it's been filmed so many times - not as many times as The Hound of the Baskervilles, of course, but not far behind. Still, I'm a book person rather than a movie person, so it's the book my heart is given to. All the adaptations of all books I've seen so far - Jane Eyre included - pay too much attention to the plot and visual effects at the cost of losing much of the underlying meaning of things.

Review - 'A Day's Wait' by Ernest Hemingway

By Mico Jonathan Ellison
A day's wait is an excellent story written by 'Ernest Hemingway'. This simple story revolves round a nine year old child named "Schatz", his father and his doctor. The story excellently portrays the emotions of fears in the mind of an innocent nine year old child. The timeline of the entire story is of one hour during which Schatz comes to know about his high temperature, gets terrified and believes he is going to die because of the wrong impression in his mind.

The story starts with Schatz entering his father's room at 9:00 am looking very ill. There is frozen ice all around the ground. Schatz has fear all over his face which worries his father. His father calls in the doctor for a complete check up of his son. The whole trauma starts when the doctor declares that Schatz is suffering from high fever, above 102 degrees.

Schatz is confused and scared upon hearing this. He immediately remembers what he heard from boys in France that temperature about 40 is certain death. Although he is just nine year old and has little understanding of the thermometer readings is scared of this. As his father explains to him the readings on a thermometer and convinces him that high temperature does not cause death, his worries faint and he feels relieved and relaxed.

The doctor also plays a vital role in the story. He is the one who deduces symptoms of high fever in Schatz and diagnoses symptoms of influenza. Afterwards he prescribes appropriate medication to the child.

At one point Schatz fear of his certain death causes him to lock himself in his room while his father is gone for hunting. He refuses to let anyone in his room. People in the neighborhood try to make him understand the truth about thermometer readings but he was so much devastated and convinced of his death that he rejects any interference.

The story is beautifully written in a manner giving Schatz both a positive and a negative role. He is a determined child with strong will power. Schatz sends out an important message this story, 'Don't believe everything what you hear'. One should not blindly believe everything he is told and must probe the situation himself.

The story finally concludes when the little innocent mind understands that his fever will not kill him if he takes proper medication and takes care of himself.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

By Irina Ponomareva
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is a beautiful and cozy fairy tale that has been making generations of children and adults alike smile and feel happier. Very unusual for the genre, it's not really a fairy tale, but a child's dream - too logical and clear for a dream, but way too muddled and crazy for our boring real world.

In writing "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" Lewis Carroll has done something that few writers manage to do: he has created a new genre, something that hadn't been heard of. Lucky are those writers who manage it: they are bound to wake up famous one day.

I remember how I first found this book in a local library when I was just starting to read in English. "Alice" was so easy to read - so much easier than most of the books I could find. And yet - who was it who said that it would be easier to move London than to translate "Alice"? I have to agree with it, because the book is full of puns built around English words that are spelled differently, but pronounced the same or very similar ("tale" - "tail", "tortoise" - "taught us", "porpoise" - "purpose", etc...) and funny verses slightly similar to well-known English verses, but in fact mocking them. These would have to be rewritten in every language "Alice" is translated to, still keeping the same mocking similarity to their originals translated into the same language.

But the book is so famous and so loved that it was translated into many languages - there are, for example, several Russian translations available to this day, and my daughter has some of them. Still, they could never compete with the original.

While re-reading the book for the purpose of reviewing it, I still laughed hard at the fussy White Rabbit, touchy Mouse, ferocious Queen fond of beheading and the ridiculous trial, which, I'm told, parodies the real proceedings of the author's time (and I'm not sure that modern ones are much better than that). I can imagine that the deep philosophical question of whether it's possible to behead someone or something that has a head but no body could cause a serious and heated debate in certain circles. There's definitely more in Cheshire Cat than meets the eye - and I must admit that he is my favourite character in this book.

But what I love best about the book on the whole is the air of joyful, unspoiled purity that only a child's dream can possess. Lewis Carroll - definitely not a child at the time of writing - has done a great job of it. His book effectively pulls me out of my winter blues any day and within a few minutes - just as soon as I visualise a cake with "Eat me" written upon it.

I believe this particular fairy tale is not meant for very little kids: not under nine at any rate. But it's very good for adults of any age, for as long as they have their inner child, however deep it might be hiding.

Women and the Law in the Crucible, the Scarlet Letter, and to Kill a Mockingbird

By Paul Thomson
Elena Kagan's recent confirmation to the US Supreme Court is a powerful reminder of just how far women have come in the American legal system; from being disenfranchised until 1920 to being unable to serve as jurors nationwide until 1975, women have a long history of being either unfairly sentenced or largely ignored by the law.

In an interesting twist, however, underprivileged women have managed to manipulate the legal system throughout history to their own, often desperate ends. Here to demonstrate the mutually-abusive relationship between women and the law are three classic literary tales of American injustice.

Story One: Arthur Miller's The Crucible. What do you get when you mix young girls, dancing, and the woods at night? About two dozen executions, Puritan-style. It may not sound all that risqué to our modern ears, but for seventeenth-century Massachusetts, all that hop scotching in the forest may as well have been a rave. And we all know how colonial New Englanders felt about those.

Since the only thing worse than dancing in the woods at night in the 1600's is doing so while being female, the guilty parties bite the bullet in court and confess to being involved in witchcraft. For good measure, they then pay the accusation forward to whoever happens to spring to mind. After all, admitting to the crime means automatic immunity, denying it means an untimely death, and incriminating others means mega bonus points. Knowing that the law fully expects their sex to be susceptible to heathenism, the girls play the system for all its worth in order to escape a much crueler fate.

Story Two: Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Just down the road of Salem is Boston harbor, which isn't a much friendlier stopping place if you're a woman with a secret in the 1600's. Take Hester Prynne, for example: a Puritan woman who gets pregnant while her husband is MIA, Hester is jailed, publicly humiliated, and forced to wear a huge scarlet "A" (for "adulterer") on her dress by order of the court. She must then raise her bastard daughter while being a socially outcast single mother in seventeenth-century Boston.

So how does Hester cope? By wearing the hell out of that dress. She embroiders the A to look beautiful, holds her head high, and absolutely refuses to betray the identity of the deadbeat dad. Over time, people forget that the A is intended to be shameful and come to venerate Hester. Like so many marginalized people, Hester transcends her predicament by owning it. That's right: she totally reclaims the A-word. Of course, bearing the yoke of injustice with a smile isn't our preferred method of getting ahead in life, but then again, this is the 1600's; when beating them is out of the question, joining them suddenly has certain perks.Story Three: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Imagine you're the 19-year-old daughter of an abusive, white-trash drunk in 1930's Alabama. Now, imagine you've fallen for a married man. Oh yeah, and he happens to be black. If you then have the great misfortune of getting caught while making advances on him, it might just be the end of the world as you know it. Unless you play it right.

Such is the case with 19-year-old Mayella Ewell, who attempts to salvage her reputation by accusing her crush of rape. Because her jury will be all-male, Mayella can count on the Southern ideal of male chivalry to guarantee her a conviction against her so-called attacker. Moreover, although she is legally underrepresented as a woman, the fact that she is white makes her the default winner over any African-American she might bring to court. By taking advantage of the social prejudices tainting the local justice system, Mayella uses that whole vulnerable-Southern-belle myth to clear her name - if not her conscience.

"Through the Looking-Glass" By Lewis Carroll

By Irina Ponomareva
"Through the Looking-Glass" is the second book dedicated to Alice and her wonderful adventures in her dreams. This time Alice finds herself inside a weird chess game and meets a lot of funny characters who do and say strange things and recite a lot of poems. At last she becomes a Queen, though it doesn't make her life in the looking-glass world much easier.

One would think the world on the other side of the looking-glass is an exact reflection of our own world. How boring and unimaginative we adults must be to think so! As Alice soon finds out, it's as different from our world as could be.

Once again Lewis Carroll plays with words - he can't help himself. "There is nothing like it" might sound like a figure of speech at first - but then we find out he means it literally: a nice bit of fun for the natives, I daresay, and a good exercise for a foreign reader. Yet, once again, I feel sorry for the translators.

I couldn't say why, but I feel a little sad as I follow Alice through the looking-glass world - something I never felt when reading the "Wonderland" book. There is something melancholy in the air, like saying good-bye to one's childhood, which is weird, because Alice is just seven and a half, and the best part of her childhood is still waiting for her. Is it Lewis Carroll's emotion that makes its way into the imaginary world on the other side of the mirror - or is it just me? I don't know. It's probably coming from the Russian cartoon based on the book, which I used to watch often together with my daughter when she was very little.

It's a beautiful book all the same, and I enjoy every line of it, especially the dialogues. It says a lot about the author's writing skills, I should think, because the dialogues have to be the hardest part of the art of writing. In Lewis Carroll's hands they become as sweet as music and as captivating as unsolved mysteries. Lewis Carroll's books are a great mystery as they are.

Talking flowers, invented words, goods in a store which move away when the customer looks at them, a Knight who can't ride his horse and even the ill-tempered Red Queen - why is it so hard to let them go, as if they were the best friends I'd ever had? Why does a fairy tale meant for children tell so much to someone who has already a child of her own? How do those simple words weave such a strong spell over a reader? And the book isn't even very long...

Do I just miss my own childhood? My conscious mind says no, but there must be a reason for the nostalgic feeling that Lewis Carroll's books awaken in my heart.