jane eyre = finally January 17, 2006
Okay, check that off of my list of books I’m embarassed that I haven’t read yet (Moby Dick’s still on there, though). In high school, I couldn’t get through Pride and Prejudice. I just thought it was improbably romantic and silly, and I told this to a favorite professor my first year at UofC. Instead of telling me that I was uncultured or excessively cynical, she just told me to reread Austen in my twenties, when I would probalby enjoy it more.
Well, its interesting. I reread Crime and Punishment this year, and still loved it, but was less forgiving of Raskolnikov’s emotional and intellectual excesses than I was in high school, when I wanted to have his children. And, conversely, or in contrast, or contrapositively, I feel more forgiving of the romantic excesses given to these Romantic female protagonists than I was in my youth. I think I’d still prefer Dostoevsky to the Brontes overall, but I’m learning to “think outside the box” of my pretentious intellectualism, so it’s a start.
Wuthering Heights, here I come.
booo
so long as our kids have read the brontes, how could society go wrong?
Classic English Literature is a touchy subject for me… Please allow me to express myself.
Rochel, have you read any Thomas Hardy?
What “Crime & Punishment” is for you - “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” / “Far From the Madding Crowd” is for me. It describes in vivid detail the emotional burden of being created female. Curious how you’d like it…
DeeKay: You never have to ask permission to express yourself. I’ll check out the book. We could talk all day about books that explore the emotional burden of being created female. Although I’m not so sure it’s the healthiest thing for a “currently hormonally irregular” person to be delving into, if you know what I mean. It can get you pretty worked up.
And, BTW, I didn’t know you read my blog. Oh, what you must think of me!