Another novel I'd never heard of, this time by Aphra Behn (who apparently is a pin-up girl for modern lesbians). First published in 1688, it's set in West Africa (where Oroonoko is a noble warrior prince who loves Imoinda), and a colony in South America called Surinam (ah, I've just googled, it's a real country) where Oroonoko and Imoinda are slaves. Aphra Behn is supposed to have visited there, and certainly her descriptions sound authentic.
It ends tragically: Oroonoko is respected by Europeans but also betrayed by them, leads a slave rebellion, and ends up killing Imoinda rather than let her fall into the hands of their enemies. He is captured and horribly put to death.
Aphra's sympathies as narrator are all with Oroonoko, but she's helpless to intervene. I wonder what happened when Aphra visited Surinam herself.
Monday, November 22, 2010
12. The Princess of Cleves
This romantic novel is by Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette. It was first published in 1678. The Princess of Cleves is married to the Prince of Cleves, who loves her but whom she doesn't love. She loves the Duc de Nemours and he loves her, but honour prevents her doing anything about it. Her husband believes she's betrayed him and dies of grief. The novel then ends quite abruptly - the Duc de Nemours gets over it, and she retires to a nunnery. I think.
I wish I knew more about French history. It was fascinating to read about the events of the time from this perspective, as the story spends quite a lot of time describing French politics. Some of the characters I recognised from other historical novels (Georgette Heyer, Dorothy Dunnett).
I wish I knew more about French history. It was fascinating to read about the events of the time from this perspective, as the story spends quite a lot of time describing French politics. Some of the characters I recognised from other historical novels (Georgette Heyer, Dorothy Dunnett).
Monday, November 15, 2010
11. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Well, I have read Pilgrim's Progress before, but didn't remember much about it. The Slough of Despond stuck in my memory, possibly because I didn't know how to pronounce "slough" (like dough? like tough?)
Christian travels to the Celestial City, meeting various characters along the way. Some, like Evangelist and Faithful, help him; others hinder him and tempt him to stray from the straight and narrow way. I was a little shocked that Christian was willing to leave his wife and children behind, and am glad to know that in the second part (which I haven't read yet) they make the same journey.
Although the spiritual allegory is clear, Bunyan's ability to tell a story in simple, descriptive language makes Pilgrim's Progress worth reading even for an atheist like me.
The book was first published around 1678 to 1684, and possibly written while Bunyan was in prison for religious dissent.
Christian travels to the Celestial City, meeting various characters along the way. Some, like Evangelist and Faithful, help him; others hinder him and tempt him to stray from the straight and narrow way. I was a little shocked that Christian was willing to leave his wife and children behind, and am glad to know that in the second part (which I haven't read yet) they make the same journey.
Although the spiritual allegory is clear, Bunyan's ability to tell a story in simple, descriptive language makes Pilgrim's Progress worth reading even for an atheist like me.
The book was first published around 1678 to 1684, and possibly written while Bunyan was in prison for religious dissent.
10. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
I'd never read Don Quixote, and had only a vague idea of what it was about, probably based on the musical (which I'd also never seen). This book was published around 1605 to 1615.
Don Quixote has read too many books of chivalry, and sets out to be a knight-errant, much to his friends' concern. His imagination turns inns into castles and peasant girls into high-born ladies, a herd of pigs into an army and a copper basin into a helmet. The people he meets on his adventures are amused or angry by turns. Sancho Panza is his squire, and Sancho's down-to-earth sayings contrast with Don Quixote's romanticism. Finally he is defeated in a duel and the mysterious knight who conquers him tells him to give up knight errantry for a year. Heart broken, he dies shortly after coming home.
I was intrigued by how many phrases used in Don Quixote are still in use today, and wondered whether that was in the original, or a choice by the translator, or had come into use just because they were in the book.
Don Quixote has read too many books of chivalry, and sets out to be a knight-errant, much to his friends' concern. His imagination turns inns into castles and peasant girls into high-born ladies, a herd of pigs into an army and a copper basin into a helmet. The people he meets on his adventures are amused or angry by turns. Sancho Panza is his squire, and Sancho's down-to-earth sayings contrast with Don Quixote's romanticism. Finally he is defeated in a duel and the mysterious knight who conquers him tells him to give up knight errantry for a year. Heart broken, he dies shortly after coming home.
I was intrigued by how many phrases used in Don Quixote are still in use today, and wondered whether that was in the original, or a choice by the translator, or had come into use just because they were in the book.
9. The Unfortunate Traveller by Thomas Nashe
Book 9 was The Unfortunate Traveller by Thomas Nashe. Nashe was born in 1567 and received his B.A. from St John's College, Cambridge in 1586. He was strongly anti-Puritan.
On Kindle I found The Unfortunate Traveller in a collection of Nashe's works. It's very different from Rosalynd, being a tale of the adventures of Jack Wilton, an amoral young man in Henry VIII's army who makes his living by lying and cheating and is proud of his wit. Here's his graphic description of a battlefield:
"here unwieldy Switzers wallowing in their gore like an oxe in his dung; there the sprightly French sprawling and turning on the stained grass like a roach new taken out of the stream".
I wonder whether he's making fun of euphuism when he uses these "pastoral" similes?
On Kindle I found The Unfortunate Traveller in a collection of Nashe's works. It's very different from Rosalynd, being a tale of the adventures of Jack Wilton, an amoral young man in Henry VIII's army who makes his living by lying and cheating and is proud of his wit. Here's his graphic description of a battlefield:
"here unwieldy Switzers wallowing in their gore like an oxe in his dung; there the sprightly French sprawling and turning on the stained grass like a roach new taken out of the stream".
I wonder whether he's making fun of euphuism when he uses these "pastoral" similes?
8. Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit
Amazon couldn't find book 8, Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit by John Lyly (from which we get 'euphemism'). Based on the review in 1001 Books, I think I'm glad - it's described as "relentless in its display of verbal affectation". However, I did download Rosalynd, or Euphues' Golden Legacy, by Thomas Lodge, who was a contemporary of John Lyly. Here's a summary of the introduction.
Thomas Lodge was born around 1557, graduated from Trinity College, Oxford in 1577, and took up the law. He seems to have had an adventurous life, travelling to the Azores and the Canaries on a free booting expedition and later raiding the Spanish colonies of South America. He studied medicine, and died (supposedly of the plague) in 1625.
The plot of Rosalynd is based on a ballad written in the 14th century which can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn". Thomas Lodge turned it into a pastoral romance, describing a romantic view of the primitive simplicity of a shepherd's life. The style is "euphuistic", characterised by balanced phrases, alliteration, and similes taken from natural history.
Interestingly, Shakespeare used Rosalynd as one of his sources for the plot of "As You Like It", changing the plot only enough to make it suitable for the stage, but developing the characters and adding new ones.
Thomas Lodge was born around 1557, graduated from Trinity College, Oxford in 1577, and took up the law. He seems to have had an adventurous life, travelling to the Azores and the Canaries on a free booting expedition and later raiding the Spanish colonies of South America. He studied medicine, and died (supposedly of the plague) in 1625.
The plot of Rosalynd is based on a ballad written in the 14th century which can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn". Thomas Lodge turned it into a pastoral romance, describing a romantic view of the primitive simplicity of a shepherd's life. The style is "euphuistic", characterised by balanced phrases, alliteration, and similes taken from natural history.
Interestingly, Shakespeare used Rosalynd as one of his sources for the plot of "As You Like It", changing the plot only enough to make it suitable for the stage, but developing the characters and adding new ones.
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