Happy Father’s Day Sancho, Christian, Gulliver, Mr. Bennett, Fagin, Mr. Brockelhurst, Arthur Dimmesdale, Ahab, Arthur Shelby, Charles Bovary, Marmeladov, Vronsky, Damon Wildeve, Gilbert Osmund, Pap Finn, and Tom Buchanan.
Thanks for not being my dad.
You see, he’s pretty awesome. And you guys, well, let’s just say that you’re best left where you are: inside the covers of a book.
Sancho and the donkey. Christian. Yahoos and Houyhnhnms. Elizabeth and Darcy. Oliver. Bertha-in-the-attic. Hester and Pearl. Moby Dick. Uncles and Madams. Rascal. Anna-Kitty-Levin-Vronsky-oviches. The Heath. Isabel. Huckleberry. The Journeys of Henry and Marlowe. And now Lily, whose outcome, at least for me, is still uncertain.
While paging through the Well-Educated Mind list of fiction books, I realized that Don Quixote was published in 1605 and House of Mirth in 1905. 300 years! I congratulate myself and you, fellow readers, on plowing through 300 years of literature. May the crop be plentiful! I suggest a glass of red wine and some good chocolate to celebrate.
I love to find connections to other literature in our classics. But this one from the beginning of Chapter 9 surprised me.
Because of the tattered soldier’s question he now felt that his shame could be viewed. He was continually casting sidelong glances to see if the men were contemplating the letters of quilt he felt burned into his brow.
Did you see them there? Arthur and Hester? What do you think Henry’s letters were? D for deserter? R for run? Or perhaps like the original duo, an A, but this time for abandoner?
Based on Crane’s use of color, I’m guessing it was definitely scarlet.
there’s not a lot of romance going on here. Last February 14th we were reading The Scarlet Letter and this one finds us with a pretty unhappily married Isabel in The Portrait of a Lady.
Two Hearts in a Forest by Jim Dine
Rumor has it Adriana’s starting a syncho-read of Pride and Prejudice. We don’t mind sharing the love. (Plus, you can read everything we ever said about P&P here.)
Readers are easy to shop for because they’re always happy to get a book. But what if you want to validate their love of literature without adding to the addiction? Here’s a list of some unique classic gifts that might appeal to us WEMers. Feel free print it out and leave it in a conspicuous spot for the shoppers in your life. Or not.
(If all went well, clicking on the picture should open a new window to the site where the item is available.)
The question I want answered is do these earrings belong the beautiful Dulcinea of Don Quixote’s dreams, or the brawny girl of Sancho’s acquaintance? Decide before wearing.
Because a Bunyan vest is better than Bunyan Shoes.
The site says that the pages are still readable. Never mind. Do not buy this for me.
This is obviously a doll version of Darcy from the beginning of the novel. You know, when he was really crochety, um I mean crotchety.
You could make up a batch of homemade gruel mix, put it in a mason jar, and add a festive bow, or you could give a Dickinsonian this lovely print of a giant gruel pot.
These hues of the moors are named “To the Stars,” “A Strange and Unearthly Thing,” and “Independent Will!” (Exclamation point the artists, not mine.) Aside from the fact that I can’t imagine Jane Eyre for a moment considering her own appearance long enough to put on a coat of nail polish, they are kind of pretty, in a moody, murky way, of course.
These days bearing a shirt with a scarlet A on it doesn’t denote you as an adulteress, although I think that meaning might be preferable. So instead of clothing, the Scarlet Letter lover might appreciate this ignominious bracelet.
The Herman Melville gift options seem endless, from “Call me Ishmael, maybe?” t-shirts to Captain Ahab Baby Swaddlers but this print is the item that really made my jaw drop. It’s as striking and surprising as the novel itself.
Personally, I would much rather have a piece of Aunt Chloe’s pie.
What could be more fitting for Emma than a vanity mirror?
There are hollow book safes available for nearly all of these classics, but this one for C&P has a certain, well, charm? Although it doesn’t seem big enough to hide an axe.
If you can’t buy the gift you can always buy the pattern and knit it yourself this “adorable” and “cute” Anna Tea Cozy. Also, shouldn’t it really be a samovar cozy?
And when in doubt, sending flowers is always a good idea. Especially heather from the heath. It’s much more beautiful than a furze faggot, and easier to carry.
Happy shopping and a Merry Christmas! Oh, and don’t blame me if you get any of these things.
Pyotr Petrovich perused Pride and Prejudice perhaps perturbing Porfiry who preferred Pilgrim’s Progress.
Dostoevsky, Vronsky, Oblonsky, and Shcherbatsky went for a brewski.
Inimical monomaniacal ignominy.
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Friends, feel free to form fun phrases for a folio of fictional phonetic frolicking.
Why am I only on chapter 3 of Crime and Punishment?
I blame this book:
Hester: The Missing Years of The Scarlet Letter
A Novel by Paula Reed
Last week when I should have been reading Dostoyevsky (That’s the spelling I’ve decided to use. If it’s good enough for SWB, it’s good enough for me), I was speeding through this book.
Here’s a paragraph from the book’s flyleaf:
Upon the death of her demonic husband, Hester Prynne is left a widow, and her daughter Pearl, a wealthy heiress. Hester takes her daughter to live a quiet life in England, only to find herself drawn into the circle of the most powerful Puritan of all time, Oliver Cromwell.
In this story, Hester’s “A” has given her the ability to see sin and hypocrisy in others. I enjoyed how the author took Hawthorne’s characters and tucked them into the history of England. Having read The Scarlet Letter, I knew things about Hester’s past that other characters did not.
Admit it. You’ve wondered what happened to Hester and Pearl during those years in England. What brought Hester Prynne back to Puritan New England? What about those letters she receives with the royal crest? Author Paula Reed answers all those questions.
Hester: The Missing Years of The Scarlet Letter… it’s what’s on my nightstand.
Sometimes I am reading our current novel and have a flashback to a previous book. Like when I read this quote from chapter 44 of Moby-Dick:
What trances of torments does that man endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms.
Obviously, Ahab is the character described in the quote, but in the margin of my copy I wrote, “sounds like Roger Chillingworth.”
I love it when a character comes back to visit, even a creepy one like Hester’s husband.
Sperm Whaling. The Chase
Unless I get a new grego for traipsing through the heath, a wrapall for my cetological field work, and a dreadnaught with an eschutcheon to wear for family reunions I will wind up eating a nugatory candy bar to dull the hypos.
Use the following words from the week to make up your own sentence:
nugatory
eschutcheon
cetology
hypos
heath
grego*
wrapall*
dreadnaught *
Using all three words might get you imaginary bonus points.
Christine
Christina Joy
Jeannette
A Classic Case of Madness 