Isak Dinesen: “The Blank Page”

Isak Dinesen short story “The Blank Page” has many stories within it. We have the old story-teller woman and her story of how she came to learn her art from her grandmother. There is the story of the convent and the Carmelite sisters with their work and the production of the finest linen of Portugal. We also hear the story of the flax they use, which goes back to the Bible and the Crusades. But the most intriguing story is the last one, of the sheets produced by the sisters of the convent for the royal family of Portugal and that were given back to them with the stain that proved that a princess had been a virgin on her wedding night. The convent collects the pieces of the sheets in a gallery with the name of each princess, but in the midst of the row of stained white linen sheets there is one which is completely blank and without the name of the princess that owned it. The story teller does not clarify if the princess was not a virgin or if she did not marry at all. The old woman tells only that it was this framed piece of sheet that most held the attention of those old princesses of Portugal that visited the gallery as well as the nuns and we are left to wonder at the meaning behind it. Were them wondering at the disobedience of one of their ancestors? Were they wishing they were as bold as that one princess? The story finishes in a way that gives the reader leave to drawn their own conclusions and see this story as it may better fit them.

Virginia Woolf: “Women and Fiction” and “Professions for Women”

Virginia Woolf’s essay “Women and Fiction” discuss how fiction written by women is influenced by their circumstances in life. This text helps to understand better how the structure of society and the position held by women in it has a large influence in the literature written by them.

The ideas discussed by Woolf bring to mind the few women writers that we know about that were writing before the 18^th century. Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, for example, were only allowed to write because they were involved with the church and writing religious texts. The position of women in the society of the fourteenth century did not give them access to education through any other means but the church. This has limited the possibilities of women’s writings and their themes.

The essay points out how the limitations imposed to women of the eighteenth century narrowed their breadth of subjects and the form of their writing that was restricted to novels (Woolf 46-47). The novels written by women then show how little of the world they were able to see and it reflected directly in their writing. Woolf argues that the changes that have occurred into women’s writing were a result of a change of their attitude (48). From what we know from history and from our experience in today’s society it is possible to relate this alteration of attitude to the transformation of the world and the way it is organized.

“Women and Fiction” is, in my impression, an essay that points plainly to how women’s writings were shaped by the society of the times in which each woman lived and how the past still influences women’s writing even though they are changing their attitudes and starting to overcome the limits imposed to them throughout the years.

CQ - Paradise Lost Book 9

Degradation in Paradise Lost – Book 9

One of the points that calls attention in Books 1 and 2 of Paradise Lost is the fact that Satan is represented like a hero, so much so that it is difficult for the reader not to sympathize with him and feel the injustices he has been victim of. In Book 9 this image of Satan as a hero is deconstructed.

In Book 9 of Paradise Lost Satan “involved in rising mist” (75) infiltrates in Paradise one more. He observes God’s newest creations and realizes that he could have been happy if he could have walked around and enjoyed “hill and valley, rivers, woods and plains” (116) and he suffers from this realization and turns all this good into poison. Here Satan is no longer represented as the strong character that we sympathized with previously. He is set on seeking his revenge, but his arguments are not organized, he is confusing and seems to be deceiving himself with lies, contrary to what happens in the begging of the Paradise Lost, when he uses his cunning to deceive his fellow Fallen Angels.

This contrast between the first impression that the reader gets of Satan as a heroic figure and the degraded single-minded bitter being that he turns into in Book 9, seems to emphasize Milton’s ideas that sin is destructive and nothing good can come from disobeying God and distancing yourself from Him. Satan is lost in his own lies and desire of revenge, he cannot think properly anymore and this is a direct result of his fall.

Similarly, Adam and Eve show their different behavior from when they are yet innocent and pure in the beginning of Book 9 and when they have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge. Their first discussion about whether or not to work separately is more sensible, their discussion after disobeying God is bitter and irrational. Their change in behavior is also clear in the different from the pure lovemaking of before to the lust they surrender to after eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

The falls of Satan and Adam and Eve are similar in the sense that their behaviors are changed the moment they disregard God to follow their own ideas, passions and desires. All of them suffer changes that cannot be undone as a direct consequence of the sin they committed.

  

Milton, John. The Annotated Milton. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008. E-book.

CQ - Paradise Lost Book 3

Free will  in Paradise Lost – Book 3

In Paradise Lost – Book 3, one of the central ideas that Milton presents is that of Man’s free will and the consequences of his choices, an idea that can be found in the New Testament: “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6.12)

In the third book of Paradise Lost there is a shift from Hell and the Fallen Angels to Heaven and God, The Son and the Faithful Angels. Here God watches the events in Hell, see Satan flying to Earth to approach Man and try to corrupt them as his revenge on God. The Father sees what is happening and foresees what will yet happen. The Father explains to His Son that Man will bend to temptation and be responsible for their fall. God’s discourse in Book 3 and his arguments are essential for Milton’s goal of justifying God and his actions towards mankind.

Knowing that Man will fall, the Father says that they have to be punished or they can be redeemed if someone would die in their place. The Son offers himself to die for mankind. This sacrifice is the opposite of the one undertaken by Satan. When in Hell, Satan offers to sacrifice himself to look for God’s new creation, Man, and corrupt them, causing their fall. The Son offers himself to die in order to restore Man to their original place.

As the message in Corinthians 6.12 points out, God argues that he has given Man free will, but when Man chooses badly they shall face the consequences. Therefore God defends Himself and for He cannot be blamed by Man’s decision based on the free will that was granted them.

This idea defended by Milton goes against what was believed by the Calvinists during his time, that every man’s fate was decided before his birth and he could do nothing to alter this. The God believed in by the Calvinists would be, according to the ideas expressed by Milton in Paradise Lost – Book 3, extremely difficult to defend and justify, therefore the need of the extended argument given by God in defense of himself and in negation of a predestination in the fall of Man.

  

Milton, John. The Annotated Milton. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008. E-book.

CQ - Paradise Lost Book 2

Corrupted nature of the Fallen Angels in Paradise Lost – Book 2

The second book of John Milton’s Paradise Lost presents us with the consultation of the Fallen Angels regarding what would be the best thing for them to do now that they are stranded in Hell. Satan requests that those who have any ideas speak up and Moloch, Belial, Mammon and Beelzebub present what they think to be the best alternative.

Satan invokes the congregation of Fallen Angels saying that they are still the “Powers and Dominions, deities of Heaven” because they are immortal and even a place like Hell would not be enough to weaken them and that he has not given up on Heaven. He asks that those who have ideas on how better to regain their place in Heaven speak to them. The debate that thus ensues is reminiscent of political debates and could be a parody of these events which Milton used to take part in.

Moloch is the first to speak and he suggests open war. In truth, he knows that they cannot hope to win and his suggestion is only an attempt to end things, for he has difficult accepting defeat and suffering. Moloch would rather die, if they can be killed at all. Belial is the next one to speak and he suggests that they accept defeat and remain calm. He is soft-spoken but his words actually reveal his character as a lazy being. What he tries to induce his companions to is a total lack of action; he argues that it is better for them to do nothing than to risk more punishment.

Mammon has a different suggestion, and probably the one that would have been better for the Fallen Angels. He proposes that they transform Hell in their own kingdom, mimicking Heaven. His idea is well received by his companions, but Beelzebub noticing this interferes. The idea presented by Beelzebub is that they seek their revenge on God by corrupting his beloved new creation: men. This plan is actually what Satan has wanted from the beginning and is present by Beelzebub eloquently and, once the others accept that this is the better course of action, Satan can offer himself as their hero who will face the perils of leaving Hell to seek this new world where men will live.

The corrupted nature of the Fallen Angels is very clear in their speeches, in how they try to deceive the others to accept their ideas. Worst of all is Satan who, not only claimed for himself the command of Hell, but also manipulated the others into following his idea of revenge while passing by the hero who will sacrifice himself for the benefit of them all. So far in the poem, Satan is very clearly a political figure and his speeches are sophisticated, which works well to his purposes but exposes his true deceptive nature.

Milton, John. The Annotated Milton. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008. E-book.

CQ - Paradise Lost Book 1

Paradise Lost as a combination of the classical and the Christian traditions

The Book 1 of John Milton’s Paradise Lost establishes the subject matter of the epic poem which is the first disobedience of man and its consequences. The beginning of the poem is an invocation of the Muses and a declaration of the poet’s belief in the superiority of his work.

In the first two sentences of the poem, Milton explains that he will talk of the loss of Paradise when man first disobeyed God by eating a fruit from the forbidden tree and of its restoration to man by Christ. The poet then invokes a “Heav’nly Muse” to inspire him in his work. It is interesting to notice that Milton Christianizes a figure of the classical world by saying that the muse he is invoking is heavenly and that she inspired Moses to write the Ten Commandments and teach it to the Jews, as we can read on lines 6-8.

Milton declares his intention of writing an epic poem that will be above those of the classical authors that inspired him, Homer and Virgil. He wants to try in his poem “Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.” (16) The fact that he invokes a Christianized Muse to help him achieve this seems to indicated that Milton believe his work to be more important than those who came before, because his inspiration comes from the true God, even if the figure represented is a classical one.

Milton draws together two traditions, the classical and the Christian, to compose his epic poem. He expects to explain the disobedience of man, not only Adam, but all mankind, and “justify the ways of God to men” (26). The juxtaposition of the two traditions shows that Milton acknowledges the greatness of the classical epic poems and is paying attention to the lessons learned with them by writing in the appropriate format, including by evoking the muses in the begining. But he also believes his poem to have a more important subject because he is inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it will make Paradise Lost the greatest epic poem written so far.

Milton, John. The Annotated Milton. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008. E-book.

Death in John Milton’s poem “Lycidas”

John Milton’s poem “Lycidas” is a pastoral elegy that not only laments the death of a dear friend drowned in the sea, but also discusses death and the promise of eternal life after the material existence on earth.

            The lyrical voice begins the poem by mentioning many plants that are each sacred to a different god and he says “I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude / And with forced fingers rude” (122), which sets out the tone of his lamentation throughout the poem. Like the berries that he is plucking before their time he thinks that his friend is “dead ere his prime” (123). The lyrical voice also seems to be worried about his own death in the face of his friend’s early demise, this can be seen when he invokes the Muses and say “So may some gentle muse / With lucky words favor my destined urn” (123).

The poem follows to tell us how the lyrical voice and Lycidas were friends and happy shepherds and that now all of nature is morning the young man’s death as much as his friend: “Whom universal nature did lament”. (125) The lyrical voice questions where the muses where when his friend died, but reckons that they would not have been able to do anything.

The lyrical voice then expound how unfair he thinks it is that his friends that had lived laborious days and was a pure spirit was taken from life before he could receive his reward for leading such a life, before his fame. The god Phoebus interrupts the poet to correct him saying that fame is not for the mortal life and that Lycidas may expect his reward in Heaven. It is interesting that we have a Greek god, Phoebus Apollus, promising the existence of a Heaven that is clearly Christian: “And perfect witness of all-judging Jove, / As he pronounces lastly on each deed. / Of so much fame in Heav’n expected thy meed”. (126)

“Lycidas” is a poem that discusses death and the possible existence of a Heaven and a Hell. The lyrical voice questions the unfairness of death at a young age, before you had the chance to live your life to its fullest, but the interference of a god correcting him and reminding him of the fair judgment of Jove and a Haven for eternal life, seems to express the poet’s belief in this eternal existence in bliss after the fleeting period of life on earth.

Milton, John. “Lycidas” The Annotated Milton. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008. 122-132. E-book.

CQ - As You Like It (Acts IV and V)

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It various themes can be noticed as the play is developed, one of these is the opposition of life among nature and life in the court.

In the beginning of the second act, Duke Senior asks his fellow exiles if it isn’t true that “Hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court?” (II. i. 1-4). In his speech it is clear that he now prefers his new life in the Forest of Arden than the life he had in the court from which he was exiled by his brother. Duke Senior points out that life in the court offers more dangers than life in a forest because envy moves the human beings in there and the results are such as the betrayal he himself was victim in the hands of his brother.

Throughout the play the characters leave the court and go to the Forest of Arden as Duke Senior and the other exiles did. We can notice that these characters usually have some sort of transformation when they get there, be it physical or psychological. Rosalind and Celia go to the forest and continue with their disguises as Ganymede and Aliena. Oliver arrives in the Forest with the intention of killing his brother Orlando, but ends up promising to give him their father’s fortune and title in order to stay in the forest as a shepherd married to Aliena. Duke Frederick, who had usurped his brother’s dukedom, goes to the forest to end the congregation of great men in the place. But as he get there he talks to an old man and is also transformed, regretting his errors and restoring his brother to his rightful place. Not only these characters are transformed, but they find happiness in the forest, as the many weddings that occurred there show.

All these examples indicate that the Forest of Arden, the representation of nature in the play, seem a place of transformation and healing. The character abandon the life at court, which is dangerous and full of envy and disputes that disrupt even the family peace, to go to the forest where they find a better version of themselves and make better choices than previously. If it was Shakespeare intention to propose that nature has a powerful effect in the transformation and healing of human beings we cannot be sure, but the elements in the play indicated to this idea.

Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Ed. Michael Hattaway. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 2000.

CQ - As You Like It (Acts I to III)

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

In the first three acts of William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It the themes of the play are presented and developed, one of them call attention: that of love, especially love at first sight.

It is common in Shakespeare’s plays to find character that fall in love with each other at first sight. In As You Like It, the first couple to fall in love as soon as they meet is Rosalind and Orlando. They first see each other when Orlando goes to a wrestling match in the new Duke’s court, who is Rosalind’s uncle and usurped her father’s dukedom. Later Rosalind is disguised as Ganymede when she encounters Orland at the Forest of Arden after finding the poems he has written about her and his love and left on the trees. She proceeds to tell him that “Love is merely a madness” (III. iii. 331) and persuades him to pretend that he, Ganymede, is her beloved and court him in order to get cured from his love.

Another instance of the so called loved at first sight is that of Phoebe, a shepherdess, who believes to have fallen in love with Ganymede, who is actually Rosalind dressed up as a man. Phoebe asks of Silvius, the man who is in love with her: “Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?” (III. Vi. 81).

These two examples seem to call the reader’s attention to the feebleness of such instances of love. Rosalind professes to have fallen in love with Orlando at first sight and yet, talking to him under the disguise of Ganymede she dismisses the notion of love itself declaring it a malady that can be cured. It could be that her intention was to test the strength of his feeling for her, but it can also be her honest opinion on the business of love that she cannot reveal as Rosalind, but feels free to speak under the protection of her disguised self.

 The Duke Senior’s daughter also classifies love as an emotion that cannot be trusted when talking to Phoebe: “I pray you do not fall in love with me for I am falser than vows made in wine.” (III. Vi. 71-72) In this passages it seems that she is implying that love is so blind that Phoebe believes herself to be falling for one that is actually another woman, which could be accepted nowadays but could not at the time.

Based on these examples we can wonder at Shakespeare’s mentions of love at first sight and whether he meant to criticized this belief more than to endorse it.

Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Ed. Michael Hattaway. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 2000.

CQ - The Tempest (Acts III to V)

The Tempest by William Shakespeare as a representation of the theater

The play The Tempest by William Shakespeare discusses ideas of forgiveness, especially of Prospero to his traitors, but we could question how honest these feelings are, based on the actions of this character throughout the play.

The Tempest begins with a raging storm that seems at first to be a real natural event but we soon ascertain that it was caused by Prospero with his magic. We learn his reasons for this when he tells his daughter, Miranda, who he really is, the rightful Duke of Milan, and how he was betrayed by some of those who are in the ship wrecked by the storm.

During the entire play, Prospero manipulates the events on the island to obtain the results he wishes for. He provides the encounter between Miranda and Ferdinand, prevents Antonio and Sebastian from killing the King Alonso, interferes in Caliban’s plot to assassin him and brings everyone together in the end and offers his forgiveness: “But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded I here could pluck his highness’ frown upon you and justify you traitors. As this time I will tell no tales.” (V. I. 126-130).

Prospero’s actions during the play are inconsistent with his forgiveness in the end. Can it really be called forgiveness when you put your enemies through torments such as a ship wreck, the idea that one of them died, all the terrors and pain of being stranded in an unknown place with no hopes for rescue? At first Prospero seems to have found the goodness in himself by the prompting words of Ariel; “[…] if you now beheld them, your affections would become tender.” (V. I. 19-20). But the words he directs at his brother are incompatible with this idea: “For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother would even infect my mouth, I do forgive” (V. I. 131-131). Prospero is giving forgiveness at the same time that he refuses to acknowledge his brother as such.

Prospero’s forgiveness seems to be superficial, just a way to ensure peace and avoid causing problems for his daughter’s future life with Ferdinand, the King’s son. He offers forgiveness but assures his traitors that for now he will not accuse them for what they are, implying that he could come to do that if they were to displease him. The Duke of Milan’s act of forgiveness could be viewed as another instance of his manipulation of those around him in order to obtain what he wants and, although he seemly gives up his revenge, he ultimately gets it through Miranda and Ferdinand. What could be a better revenge than having his daughter as the future queen of Naples and heiress to the dukedom of Milan, getting back to his own blood what had been taking from him and more?

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Ed. David Lindley. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 2002.

CQ - The Tempest (Acts I to II)

The Tempest by William Shakespeare as a representation of the theater

            William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest is often described as his most elusive work. It has been read as “a romance of reconciliation, a Christian allegory of forgiveness, a meditation on the powers of the imagination and the limits of art” (Lindley 1) among other readings. These different interpretations can be supported by elements in the text, which makes all of them valid and does not allow one reading to be pointed out as the right one. Although the play can be read in many different ways, the similarity the story being told has to theater itself is a relevant reading of the playwright’s work. The Tempest is a reflection on theater and art and constantly reminds us of the made-up quality of what we are reading while highlighting its reformative power in the real world. From the beginning of the play when Prospero uses his art to cause the shipwreck to the epilogue, in which the character, and not the actor, is the one closing the play, we are presented with many metatheatrical elements that emphasize this reading of the play. (Egan, Johnston)

            In the first scene of the first act of The Tempest we watch a terrible storm in the sea and the fight of mariners to avoid the wreck of their ship. The King of Naples, Alonso, and his companions are not happy with the tempest and the threat it represents to their lives and want to talk to the master of the ship. The boatswain tells them to go back below deck because they are not helping them by standing in the way. Even when Gonzalo remembers him that he is talking to a king he is still adamant that they should leave. On the next scene we learn that the storm was actually caused by Prospero, it was not a natural occurrence: “MIRANDA: If by your art, my dearest father, you have / Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them” (1.2 – 1-2). Prospero orchestrates the storm, being careful not to cause harm to those in the ship, as a director or a playwright orchestrates a dramatic scene in a play. Here we can already recognize Prospero as the one who will direct all the other characters, through his art, into following the necessary steps for them to better themselves.

            Prospero proceeds to tell his daughter, Miranda, the story of how they came to live in the island. He tells her of how he was betrayed and lost his dukedom, but assumes that he was not a good ruler because he was more interested in his books. According to Johnston, Prospero’s admission of his own fault in losing his position reminds us that “whatever the powers and wonders of the illusion, one has to maintain a firm sense of what it is for, what it can and cannot do, and where it is most appropriate” for art cannot substitute life. He then puts Miranda to sleep by use of his magic so that he can talk to Ariel, the spirit that serves him. The dramatic, metatheatrical aspect of Prospero’s magic is again evidenced when he asks the “PROSPERO: Hast thou, spirit, performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?” (1.2, 193-194), the tempest was no more than a performance by Ariel that gives a report of the wreck and the ship passengers and is then requested to continue to help Prospero, which is actually an order since Ariel is not free but bound to the exiled duke by his magic.

           

As the play progresses, until the end of the second act, we learn that Prospero uses his powers to control the islander Caliban; to contrive the meeting between Miranda and Ferdinand, the king’s son; and to prevent the murder of Alonso and Gonzalo by the hands of Sebastian and Antonio. The way that Prospero conducts the events in the island is reminiscent of the way the writer or the director controls a play. We are constantly faced with Prospero’s art as Mirands calls his magical powers: “If by your art, my dearest father” (I. II. 1). The betrayed duke guides the events and the people on the island to fit his own proposes of revenge, although he changes his mind and chooses forgiveness later, with the same skill that a playwright would guide the characters in a play.

            The Tempest seems to imply that art has power and that real life is much like the life shown in the plays in the theater, which is an idea recurrent in Shakespeare plays. Prospero constantly asks Miranda if she is paying attention to what he is saying, “Dost thou attend me?” (I. II. 78), which could be also a way to ask the audience if they are paying attention, not only to the play The Tempest, but also to the play of real life in which they are the main characters.

           

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Ed. David Lindley. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 2002.

“Desiree’s Baby” Comment and Query

            The short story “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin is one that keeps the reader in constant expectation for explanations that never come. At the end of the short story, the reader anticipates a final resolution and is presented instead with a new opening that gives rise to a handful of new questions that remain unanswered. The ending is surprising and unexpected because the obvious conclusion that the reader imagines will come is the complete opposite of what really happens. The reader feels the need to go back to the beginning of the short story to try to understand how she/he could have been so wrong.

            The beginning of the story is reminiscent of a fairy tale because it presents the reader with a foundling girl that is adopted by rich parents that could not have children of their own and grows up to be “beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere”, and inspires the love of a handsome man. It is understandable that the reader should expect the happily ever after ending of fairy tales after such a beginning, but the realistic conclusion of the story shatters this illusion and leaves the reader curious to know what happens next with the characters. Once the reader gets to the end of the story she/he can finally see the clues that were giving throughout the text that had gone unnoticed before. The warning of Desiree’s adoptive father to Armand about the uncertain origins of the girl is one of the clues that lead the reader to the wrong conclusion of believing Desiree to be the one with black ancestry. However, the description of L’Abri as a dark, gloomy place that could not be the scenario of a happy ending and the account of Armand’s face as being “dark, handsome” would be clues leading to the real ending of the story. It is clear that appearances are not reliable sources to make judgments. The reader is deceived into the wrong conclusions by the appearance of the characters and their situations; it is difficult to imagine a reader that would see past Armand’s position in society and the pride of his family name to believe him to be the origin of the black features of the baby.

            In addition to the clues that are not noticed, “Desiree’s Baby” also gives out hints that the reader can identify on the first reading, but cannot conclude what they mean. The most obvious of these hints in my opinion is the scene when Desiree’s adoptive mother visits her and the baby. When Madame Valmonde sees the baby her immediate reaction is to exclaim “This is not the baby!” Here the reader knows that something is wrong with the baby, but she/he cannot imagine what it could be. Chopin certainly manages to create suspense and build tension in the short story with moments like this because, although the reader knows something is amiss, the author does not give enough information to make the situation clear.

            The unexpected ending is very ironic and finally makes the reader see the irony in other aspects of the story. For example, Desiree’s name, which means “desired” is ironic because in the end, she is rejected by her husband that goes as far as burning every reminder of her existence; she is no longer desired. It is also ironic that Armand who has “one of the oldest and proudest [name] in Louisiana” turns out to be the one whose mother “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery”. Even though we cannot be sure that Desiree does not have black antecedents, the feeling that we have at the ending of the story is that she is a blameless victim of her circumstance.

            One of the intriguing questions that the ending of the short story brings up is whether or not Armand has known the truth all along. The narrator does not tell the reader what are Armand’s feelings and thoughts upon reading the old letter that contains the truth. However, the reader could question Armand’s eagerness to marry Desiree despite her obscure origin. Considering that he was the heir to an old and proud name, it seems a bit weird that he would disregard the possible consequences of this marriage so easily. It is also strange that he should think God unjust and take revenge by hurting his wife. Could these two facts be hidden hints meaning that Armand knew the truth and chose Desiree exactly because he could blame her in case his children were born with black features and keep the pride of his family intact?

Thalita Carvalho

The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble

Lately, I have not had the chance to read many books simply because I wanted to read them. The reason for that is simple: I have too many books to read for my classes at college. That does not mean that I do not want to read the required books for my classes, actually, they are usually books that are on my list of books to read. One of these books that I read last semester was The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble.

Margaret Drabble was born June 5, 1939 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, to John F. Drabble and Kathleen Marie. Her older sister is the author A.S. Byatt. Drabble was educated at the Mount School, York, and Newnham College, Cambridge. She is known mostly as a novelist, but she is also a critic and biographer. Her novel The Millstone won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1966.Jerusalem the Golden won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) in 1967 and The Needle’s Eye won the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Finest Fiction) in 1972. The author has also received the E. M. Forster Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973.

The Middle Ground is a novel that could make you give up the reading in the beginning, but if you give it a chance you will probably enjoy it. The narrative structure employed by Drabble is nothing you would expect and seems a bit pointless and boring until you get really involved in it. The main character, Kate Armstrong, is going through what her friend, Hugo Mainwaring, termed her “mid-life crisis” and we follow her in her quest to find herself again and understand how her life has got to the way it is right now.

The narrator of The Middle Ground is intrusive and often talks directly to the reader and expresses his/her opinion on the characters and their lives. The narrative is fragmented, just like real life, and that is what makes this novel very interesting. For my final paper about the novel I wrote about how the narrative strategy used by Drabble reflects the inner turmoil of its characters. The narrative that disturbs the reader in the beginning turns out to be a reflection of the novel’s content, of the feelings faced by the main characters as they try to understand the hows and whys of life.

We get to known Kate at a point when she does not know herself very well anymore. What Kate wants is to find some sense in life, to understand how her past brought about her present and how it will create her future. Through the fragmented narration of her life and the lives of those around her we learn along with Kate that life has no predictable patterns, everything has multiple perspectives and anything is possible. The novel does not have a closing ending; the narrator leaves us with a cliffhanger that allows to any possible ending, just like life has many possibilities, many directions it could go at any moment.

I know I failed to write a proper blurb for this novel, but that is because nothing really happens in The Middle Ground, at least, not in the way we are used to read in novels. The truth is that the transformation that occurs during the story is more of perspective than any big change in plot.

The only way to truly understand this novel is to read it. If you keep in mind that the narrative strategy is more than it seems, that it is a reflection of what is going on with the characters, I am sure that you will enjoy it immensely.

For further information about Margaret Drabble visit:

United Agents

Fantastic Fiction

Red Mood

British Council Literature

For more information about The Middle Ground I recommend the following articles:

Bromberg, Pamela S. “Margaret Drabble’s ‘The Radiant Way’: Feminist Metafiction”. NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 24.1 (1990): 5-25.

Bromberg, Pamela S. “Narrative in Drabble’s ‘The Middle Ground’: Relativity versus Teleology”. Contemporary Literature 24.4 (1983): 463-479.

Greene, Gayle. “Feminist Fiction and the Uses of Memory”. Signs 16.2 (1991): 290-321.

Pickering, Jean. “Margaret Drabble’s Sense of the Middle Problem”. Twentieth Century Literature 30.4 (1984): 475-483.

Rose, Ellen Cronan. “Drabble’s The Middle Ground: ‘Mid-Life’ Narrative Strategies”. Critique 23.3 (1982): 69-82.

Rubenstein, Roberta. “Fragmented Bodies/Selves/Narratives: Margaret Drabble’s Postmodern Turn” Contemporary Literature 35.1 (1994): 136-155.

Stovel, Bruce. “Subjective to Objective: A Career Pattern in Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Contemporary Women Novelists”. Ariel: A Review of International English Literature 18.1 (1987): 53-61.

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat

Separation and memory. These are the two things that, for me, define the lives of Edwidge Danticat’s characters in Krik? Krak!. The nine interconnected stories present us with the struggles of different women that have to deal with the political tension and the poverty in their country, Haiti, and how they affect their lives. Each story tells us about the pain and suffering that are the common trait of characters that have different backgrounds and varying expectations of life.

The opening short story, “Children of the Sea”, grabs the reader’s attention in such a way that it is impossible to put the book down. Two narrators, a young man and woman who love each other are writing letters that they will never exchange. Through their letters you learn of their haste and forced separation and the promise to write daily to one another so when they meet again they can read the letters and know what each of them went through. But the separation will not be temporary, as they hoped, and only the memory of that love will remain in the unread letters.

In these stories memory is the way that women find to stay alive forever. They keep in mind what the generations past lived, and they want to make sure to let their stories for posterity. Some of them are away from home, like Grace’s mother in “Caroline’s Wedding”, and try desperately to keep their culture alive by passing everything on to their daughters who live in a different world and cannot truly understand the traditions of their Haitian antecedents.

Danticat’s language is compelling; it urges us to feel the pain of those characters and to understand their nature and sympathise with them. All those characters have lost something or someone due to the political and economical instability of Haiti. By the end of the book you feel like you can really understand the narrator of the epilogue when she says:

“You have never been able to escape the pounding of a thousand other hearts that have outlived yours by thousands of years. And over the years when you have needed us, you have always cried ‘Krik?’ and we have answered ‘Krak!’ and it has shown us that you have not forgotten us.” (224)

This is the weigh of the memory of women’s lives. In this case it is that of Haitian women, but what it brought to my mind was the memory of all the women in the world that have suffered so much and fought for a better life for us. And it reminded me that we still have a long way to go.

The edition I read was:

Danticat, Edwidge. Krik? Krak!. Vintage Contemporaries: New York. 1996. Print.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries kickstarter success

How can you explain 4.620 people giving $320.637 in only 5 days to fund the release of a DVD and the future productions from The Lizzie Bennet Diariescreators? Maybe I should start trying to answer that question by explain why I gave a lot of my money to this Kickstarter project (especially considering that each dollar I gave is worth 2 reais, the currency in Brazil where I live).

For me it much more than getting the DVD, button packs, journal signed by Hank Green and Bernie Su, LBD edition of Pride and Prejudice and a copy of the script of the first 8 episodes of LBD signed by cast members. For me this is about saying: “You people did a great work and you deserve all the praise for this and this money is just a small way to say thank you and, at the same time, help you make more wonderful things for us.” For me, being a backer of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries DVD… and More! is all about believing in the power of art.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is an absolute phenomenon of the internet (check it onYouTube now if you haven’t yet), and this is because, using the contemporary William Darcy’s words, the story “resonates with people”. Frank McConnel wrote inStorytelling and Mythmaking: Images from Film and Literature, that “stories matter, and matter deeply, because they are the best way to save our lives.” (3) There is no questioning the value of Jane Austen’s most beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice. This story is not alive after 200 years of being first published by chance. Pride and Prejudice has reached a new height in popularity after so many years because people feel connected to it. It is not just the story of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet falling in love, this is about the human nature, how we are inclined to judge and to be misled in our opinions when we feel offended or that we are better than other people.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries brought it all up to our days, to the crazy life of technology and fast communication and lack of privacy. No wonder it has been such a huge success. How could we not feel empathy for these characters? It is impossible because they have so much of who we are, just like they had in Austen’s books, but now they have been updated to fit into our world.

I think this explains why so many people are willingly giving their money to guarantee that the DVD will be released and that new productions will be made. Storytelling is an art that has been present in human lives for a very long time and its power only increases. For that reason, when such a great story as Pride and Prejudice is told in such a brilliant way as The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, people will give their money to see it happen, because art is so much more than money will ever be.

Oh, by the way, if you are not a The Lizzie Bennet Diaries DVD… and More!backer yet, there is still time to become one here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pemberleydigital/the-lizzie-bennet-diaries-dvdand-more

Alligators All Around: An Alphabet

Alligators All Around: An Alphabet is a cute little book by Maurice Sendak. Published in 1962 as part of the Nutshell Library book set, Alligators All Aroundexplores the alphabet page by page with drawings also by Sendak. Each page tells something about a family of alligators using words that begin with one of the letters of the alphabet and a drawing representing the scene. One of my favourites is the letter F: “Forever fooling”. This is a great book for kids that are learning the alphabet because it’s charming, funny, and very easy to read and they’ll learn the alphabet and new vocabulary without even noticing it! But I don’t think it’s a book just for kids. It doesn’t matter your age, you’ll enjoy this book if you give it a chance. Really, it takes less than five minutes to read and it’ll bring a smile to your face. Sendak was a very creative and talented artist, his legacy to us is incredible and should be remembered and passed on to the kids of the next generation.

Pride and Prejudice: Adaptations

There are countless adaptations and works based on Pride and Prejudice. From comics to vlogs, Jane Austen’s novel is probably one of the most retold stories ever written. The 1995 BBC mini-series adaptation of the story has certainly brought Austen’s work back to attention and set off a movement of adaptations that has yet to stop (not that I think it ever will). I will list only some of these because, as I said before, they are countless and I’m sure I am not aware of everything that was done based on Pride and Prejudice.

The 1940 film adaptation is a must see for every Pride and Prejudice fan. The plot differs from the original in many points, but the focus on the comic make up for it! The BBC productions are excellent and you should watch in case you have not done so yet. Of course, the 1995 adaptation is the most beloved (might have something to do with Colin Firth).

The Marvel adaptation of the novel to comics is fabulous; everyone should give it a try! There are five magazines that tell the whole story!

The 2003 film adaptation is not so good, but if you want to watch something just to relax and not have to think about it, that’s your film. The Bollywood adaptation is one that I have not watched yet so I cannot express an opinion about it. If you have watched, please comment the post and tell us what you think of it!

The 2005 adaptation is a favourite of mine, of course! Besides the fact that I think that Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen made a great couple on screen, there is the fact that the score for this film is absolutely beautiful, one of my all-time favourites and my 2nd most listened album, according to myLastFM. Dario Marianelli got the feeling of the novel and made it into sound, there is no way you’ll not love it. Try reading the book listening to this score, I promise it will be amazing.

Amanda Grange’s novel Mr. Darcy’s Diary is a very interesting work telling Mr. Darcy side of the story. It follows the original plot from beginning to end, but from the hero’s point of view. Definitely worth reading!

“Lost In Austen” may scare off some of the most traditional fans, you know, those who do not like plot twists. But if you are comfortable with some, maybe not so small, changes in the plot, you are going to like this a lot! There are four episodes that will make you laugh a lot.

The adaptation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is another one that I have not checked yet, so I will abstain from judging it for now!

And here it comes: “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”. If you are not watching this yet, then you have 89 videos to watch and you better do it soon because another one is on the way! This adaptation in a vlog format is simply amazing. I confess that when I heard of it I tended to think that it was probably not such a cool think, but then I started watching and was very pleasantly surprised by the amazing quality of this work. Besides the videos, all the characters have Twitters, Tumblrs, the companies have pages on the internet. It is all very interactive. “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” is definitely going to be remembered was the production that changed the way we interact with literature. I’m sure that after this many other classics will appear adapted in a similar way on the internet. Way to go “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” cast and crew!

Watch the first video below. But I warn you, do it when you have a lot of time to kill because you’ll want to watch all the videos once you get started!

To know more about each adaptation just click on the images!

Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen began writing First Impressions in October 1796; she was then only twenty years old. The draft was finished in August 1797 and her father, the clergyman George Austen, tried to have it published, but the manuscript was rejected without being read. In late 1811, Austen begun revising First Impressions, after abandoning it for years, and it became the novel we all know today as Pride and Prejudice, which was first published in 28 January 1813.

The manuscript of the final version of Pride and Prejudice was sold to the publisher Thomas Egerton in November 1812 by £110 (about £ 6.418,74 today). The day after the book came out Austen wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra in which she called Pride and Prejudice her “own darling child” and tells the story of how she had read some of the book to an acquaintance:


“Miss Benn dined with us on the very day of the book’s coming, and in the eveng. we sat fairly at it and read half the 1st vol. to her – prefacing that having intelligence from Henry that such a work wd. soon appear we had desired him to send it whenever it came out – and I believe it passed with her unsuspected. She was amused, poor soul! That she cd. not help – you know, with two such people to lead the way; but she really does seem to admire Elizabeth. I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know.”

It is clear from this passage that, although proud of her work, Jane Austen truly wished to remain anonymous. That plan was thwarted by the very book she was so proud of. Pride and Prejudice was Austen’s most popular novel and it meant that her name was soon well known as its author. She wrote to her brother Frank in September 25 1813: “the truth is that the secret has spread so far as to be scarcely the shadow of a secret now and that I believe whenever the 3d appears, I shall not even attempt to tell lies about it”. She was clearly not happy with her fame, but seemed resigned enough to say she would not even try to hide the authorship of her next book although she did publish Mansfield Park in May 9 1814 without her name, the book was identified only as being by the same author of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.

Austen’s choice to sell the manuscript of Pride and Prejudice to Egerton instead of publishing it on commission (read about the publishing methods here) as she had done with Sense and Sensibility was probably related to her uneasy in depending on her brother’s money to do it. She wrote to Martha Lloyd, her friend, soon after the manuscript was sold: “Its’ being sold will I hope be a great saving of trouble to Henry, & therefore must be welcome to me. […] I would rather have had £150, but we could not both be pleased, & I am not at all surprised that she should not chuse to hazard so much.” This was a rather unfortunate decision since the book sold better than Sense and Sensibility had, to the point of increasing the demand for the first novel. Austen learned her lesson and when Egerton offered to by the manuscript of her next novel in 1814, Mansfield Park, she refused him publishing it on commission using the money she had made with the previous novels.

Tomorrow there will be more! Don’t miss it!

This post was based on:

Jan Fergus’ “The professional woman writer” from The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster; Published by the Cambridge University Press in Cambridge, 1997.

Rebecca Dickson’s “Pride and Prejudice” of Jane Austen: An Illustrated Treasure; Published by Metro Books in New York, 2008.

The 29 January 1813 letter to Cassandra was taken from The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen, edited by Penelope Hughes-Hallett; Published by Clarkson Potter Publishers in New York, 1990.

The value of the pound today was calculated with the Bank of England Inflation Calculator.

Publishing in Austen’s time

Jane Austen wrote at a time when women authors were not seen with good eyes by society. A woman’s reputation could be seriously damaged by assuming the authorship of published works, especially novels, and profiting from its selling. Being published exposed a woman to the public eye, and the consequence was her loss of femininity, which was defined by her modest behaviour, domesticity, submission to the male authorities in her life and so on. This led many women writers of the time to publish their first novels anonymously, among them were Sarah Field, Frances Burney, and Ann Radcliffe. Some of these women would start publishing under their own names after they achieved a certain reputation as novelists, but Jane Austen never changed her preference for keeping herself away from the public eye, choosing to have all her books publish only as “by a Lady”.

At her time, Austen and any writer, known or unknown, had four options for publishing their novels: by subscription, by profit-sharing, by selling copyright, and on commission, also known as publishing for oneself. In the subscription method, the author offered subscriptions on a projected book and would keep records and collect money of the subscribers, who would have their names printed in the book when it came out (you can relate it to the Pledge Music method many artists have been using to record their albums nowadays). By Austen’s time this method of publication was declining due to its demanding nature that did not always turn lucrative.

In the profit-sharing method, the publisher would assume the expanses of printing and advertising and, after the selling of the book paid their expanses, they would share the profit with the author. This method was usually offered to new authors whose success or failure could not be predicted; it was safer for both publisher and author.

The sale of the copyright guaranteed the author that they would receive the agreed fee for the rights of publication of their works, but it also excluded them from any future claim to their work and its profit in the market. This method was risky for both author and publisher. On the one hand, if the book did not sell well the publisher would still have to pay for the copyright fee and the printing and advertising costs which would be lost money for him, but would be good for the author that would be paid something anyway. On the other hand, if the book was a success, chances are that the author would have been able to earn more if they had not sold the copyright for the work and the publisher would be the only one to profit of their work. Jane Austen sold the copyright of Pride and Prejudice in November 1812 by £110 (about £ 6.418,74 today) to the publisher Thomas Egerton; This choice would prove to have been unwise when the novel became a success and gave Egerton a profit of more than £450 (about £25.614,11) considering only the first two editions.

When publishing on commission the author paid for all the expanses of printing and advertising and the publisher distributed the books charging a commission of 10 per cent for each sold copy. This was a very risk method for the author; if the book did not sell enough to pay the expenses, the author would still have to pay the publisher for printing and advertising besides the commission for any copy sold. Austen mostly used this last method to publish her works.

That’s all for today people! Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more about Pride and Prejudice.

This post was based on Jan Fergus chapter “The professional woman writer” of The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. Published by the Cambridge University Press in Cambridge, 1997.

The value of the pound today was calculated with the Bank of England Inflation Calculator.

Jane Austen

My Jane Austen books collection

Jane Austen has become increasingly popular after the 1995 Pride & Prejudice BBC adaptation with Colin Firth as Fitzwilliam Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet. The six-episode adaptation started a fever of productions based in Austen’s books, from TV series that follow the plot of the books to adaptations of the stories to modern days, like the now popular The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and twists like the TV series Lost in Austen. Jane Austen probably (we could even say for sure) never imagined that her works would become so popular and that her name would be known and admired all over the world.Born on December 16th, 1775, in the Steventon parsonage, Hampshire, England, Jane Austen was the seventh child of eight children. The Austen family was not rich, but they lived comfortably enough on the clergyman’s salary of Reverend George Austen and the supplementary earnings with the farm and a boys’ school run by Austen’s father and mother.

Jane Austen had six brothers and just one sister, Cassandra, who would be her best friend throughout her life. The two sisters went to boarding school together to receive what was, at the time, the education deemed appropriate for girls (music, languages, drawing, painting, etc.) After returning from school Austen began writing and was supported in this by her family who enjoyed listening to her stories.

After her father’s death in 1805, Jane Austen found herself in precarious financial situation with her mother and sister, both named Cassandra. They were forced to move many times until they finally settle in a cottage in Chawton that was owned by her brother Edward. At this time, Austen began working on her writings again and 1811 Sense and Sensibility was published with the authorship identified only as By a Lady.

The book was very successful and was followed by Pride and Prejudice in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, Emma in 1815 and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion that were published posthumously in 1818.

Jane Austen never married. She received a marriage proposal which she accepted, but changed her mind on the next day and refuse the young man. This is something for which we should be grateful, as a married woman Austen would probably not have published so many books and we would be missing out in these great works of the English literature.

The author died on July 17th, 1817, supposedly from Addison’s disease, leaving behind an unfinished novel, Sandition, with only eleven chapters.

Although her works are seen as merely romantic novels by many people, it is indisputable that her books are full of irony and witty criticism of the 19th century English society. The world of marriage and the rules involved in the process are explored and criticized in her novels. The mistaken assumptions of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice show that social standings are not enough to make a person less susceptible to character faults. In Northanger Abbey, Austen wittily criticizes the reaction of the public to the popular gothic novels of the time. These are just two examples of the words between the lines of her works, we can find much more if we look closely enough.

This year we celebrate the the bicentenary of the first publication of Pride and Prejudice. The novel was first published in 28 January 1813. I will write more about the novel soon.

I’ll eventually write a bit more about each of her novels. This was just a brief biography so that we can know a little more about such an important name on the English literature canon.




Based on my readings of:

Hannon, Patrice. 101 Things You Didn’t Know about Jane Austen. Adams Media: Avon. 2007. Print.

Dickson, Rebecca. Jane Austen: An Illustrated Treasury. Metro Books: New York. 2008.