RA FRIDAY - RICHARD & HARRY

(Oh, hello!)

When I try to figure out what Richard Armitage might be like in real life, I think of Harry Jasper Kennedy. Don’t giggle and think . First, his real name : Richard Crispin Armitage. I mean, if Jasper is unusual, what about Crispin? Then, keep in mind his interviews, especially the oldest ones. Or more, have you ever seen one of the photos he has kindly taken with the lucky fans who met him? He has that kind look and that kind smile which reminds me so much of Harry courting Geraldine.

So, I guess Richard  might be much more like Harry than John Mulligan, Lucas North, Guy of Gisborne or John Thornton. I know there are several others but I can’t mention them all. To be clear and direct, I can’t find Richard – the humble man of the interviews for instance – in any of his characters. Apart from Harry J . Kennedy. Of course, I’m talking about deductions or expectations. But I bet I’m not far from reality.

(No, God's watching and He's bigger than me!)

This is why I love watching and re- watching the final two episodes of THE VICAR OF DIBLEY (2007) in which Richard is Harry, the Vicar’s handsome husband-to-be first and , finally, happy bridegroom. I like to think that that is Richard, not one of his characters. Or, at least, the closest to his real self.

What is special in this character?

They cast Richard Armitage for the final two episodes because Dawn French, starring as the Vicar, if they wanted to end the series giving her a husband, wanted him to be gorgeous. This was the only condition she set. But Richard/Harry is not simply the gorgeous towny bastard (quoting  Geraldine who doesn't know him yet) coming to Dibley to spoil its inhabitants and their peace, he manages to conquer its Vicar’s heart with his sweetness, kindness, smiling patient attitude. He is an accountant in search for some quiet escape from the city and he falls in love with the volcanic Geraldine Granger as soon as he lays his eyes on her. Incredible? Impossible? Just have a look at Harry’s eyes while he looks at her or listen carefully to his kind, soft words. He would make any woman believe it was true, that he was madly in love with her. He does make her feel special and beautiful in his eyes.

Do you need more or is it enough for me to explain why I like Richard’s Harry so much?

("G: When do your want this account to be settled?

 H: Now? G: This moment? H: This second! )

Richard admitted he had huge fun in the three weeks he was rehearsing and shooting VoD and it is easy to believe him. He hardly managed not to laugh in the scenes they shot live. And it's really enjoyable to watch his own amusement while performing with such a brilliant comedienne as Dawn French. Those scenes are hilarious and tender at the same time. The Handsome Stranger and The Vicar in White are the TV works in which Richards has left us a great deal of incredible  smiles, tender looks, sweet kisses to dream about.  After John Thornton's charming brooding over his love, Margaret, and Guy of Gisborne's fascinating frowning after  Marian, we have this sunbeam of a man to enlighten our days.

I’m not good at remembering lines. No,  worse, I’m just crap at it but..  I do remember many from VoD. I’ve seen the first date (the dinner), the door scene, the first-kiss scene and the funny proposal scene so many times that it would be strange if it weren’t so. Then,  you know I love Jane Austen and her works. And even the adaptation of her works. Since I saw the VoD scene in which Geraldine cries re-watching Sense and Sensibility finale, then comments Emma Thompson/ Elinor's  reaction with her exhilarating "Bleugh!" sound with  Harry who has arrived, meanwhile,  to ask her to pay her debt to him of  ... "one kiss...with tongues!" ...  I can't watch that part of S&S without smiling, at least. If I don't start laughing out loud !

(quoting from "Far from the Madding Crowd":
 "At home whenever I look up there will be you ...
and whenever you look up, there shall I be")

 

( Harry with glasses, added  especially for Luciana e time4t)

What about you? Do you like VoD and Harry?

Which is Richard’s work you like re-watching the most?

P.S. The latest news say that Richard Armitage's new character, John Porter, will be on SKY1 next May 5th in the first two episodes of the TV series STRIKE BACK. Have you seen the official trailer? HERE

THROWBACK THURSDAY - BRAVE NEW WORLD by ALDOUS HUXLEY (1932)

This is an event hosted by Jenny at TakeMeAway . It is a weekly (though I've not been that regular lately) corner to write about good reads from the past. Those books we so much loved and we don't want to forget.

Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD is part of an unforgettable trilogy of masterpieces to me which are strictly connected each other. The other two novels are 1984 by George Orwell and Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451. They are all science fiction dystopian novels, not my favourite genre,  but the three of them left an indelible mark inside me. There is science fiction and science fiction. These three novels are amazingly interesting and frighteningly premonitory.

They all imagine life in a dystopian society, under totalitarian regimes, in which human beings are dehumanized and totally deprived of their freedom.

In Brave New World , set in the future year A. F . 632 ( 632 years after the advent of the American magnate Henry Ford), the stability of the World State is maintained through a combination of biological engineering and exhaustive conditioning. The citizens have not been born but "hatched" to fill their predestined social roles. In infancy the virtues of passive obedience, material consumption and mindless promiscuity are inculcated upon them by means of hypnopedia or sleep - teaching. In later life the citizens of the World State are given free handouts of soma , the Government  - approved dope. The World State's motto is: "Community, Identity, Stability". The World State is divided into ten zones, each run by a Resident World Controller. "His fordshisp", Mustapha Mond, the controller of the Western European Zone centred in London, heads a hierarchical, factory-like concern with a mass of Epsilon- Minus Semi - Moron bred for menial labour at the base and with castes of increasing ability ranked above them. Immediately below Mond there are a caste of Alpha- Plus intellectuals. Bernard Marx and Helmhotz Watson are members of this elite, but both have developed subversive tendencies, taking delight in such deviant pleasures as being alone and abstaining from sex.

The only other human beings permitted to exist beyond the pale of the World State are the inhabitants of the various Savage Reservations. Segregated by electrified fences from the Fordian hell which surrounds them, the savages still get married, make love, give birth and die as of old. It is while visiting the Reservation in New Mexico that Bernard Marx meets a savage named John, whom he brings to London. John's disruptive presence in London will give the reader the possibility to share his perspective of that full totalitarian horror of AF. 632.

My favourite pages in this novel are in chapter 16. Mustapha Mond, the Controller of the Western European Zone, and John the Savage talk about books and the main values in the World State : Order and Stability. Bernard Marx and Helmhotz Watson are there too. According to Mond the freedom of knowledge is the first they have to deny their citizens. Freedom must be sacrificed to maintain order and stability...

READ CHAPTER 16 - CLICK HERE

WEDNESDAY MISCELLANEOUS POSTING

1. IT'S NEVER TOO LATE

I was tagged by Avalon from Avalon's blog . It was some time ago and I promised her I'd post about it as soon as I could. I know about a month has passed but I so much wanted to keep my promise that I hope  ... it's not too late !

The rules are to grab a book (the nearest book to you), turn to page 123, go to the fifth sentence and post the next five sentences.

I 'm reading When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson and it is always with me these days: in my bag, at achool, on my bedside table, near my laptop ... Here is what it says at p. 123

"And now the two of them, soft southerners to the core, were living in his homeland, his heartland, while everyday he walked a step further away. And Julia living a country wife beggared belief. He could believe in a billion angels dancing on a pinhead more readily than he could believe in Julia cooking on Aga. Yes, OK, the Dales weren't part of his heritage of dirt and industrial decay, but they were within the boundaries of God's own country, which was also Jackson's own country, flowing in the stream of his blood, laid down in the limestone of his bones even though neither of his parents was born here".

As in the best crime fiction, this book is full of dramatic events and unexpected twists. But it is out of ordinary crime fiction. You'll read a proper review soon on FLY HIGH!

Now its my turn to tag  people and I think it would be interesting to see what the following bloggers are reading: ?????
I'd love to know about you all!!! Let's say, any of you who liked the idea of this tagging as much as I did, please feel tagged and do the same on your blog. Let us know what you are reading on page 123 of your current book!
 Leave us a comment and a url to your post.

2. THERE ARE SECOND CHANCES,  AT TIMES!

Now , something I have to do since Prue Batten and I didn't get any answer to the e- mails we sent to the winner of the giveaway last week. No address, no postage! I'm sorry. But this means another of the kind commenters will get Prue's second book, THE LAST STITCH. Second chance for...

THERESA N. !!!

YOU ARE THE LUCKY WINNER! BUT , PLEASE, ANSWER MY MAIL NOW AND SEND YOUR ADDRESS!!! 

CARAVAGGIO - A LIGHT IN THE SHADOW

An hour and a half standing and queueing but it was utterly worth it. I've finally seen the several paintings by Caravaggio, coming from museums and private collections all over the world,  in this amazing exhibition organized at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. My friend and I didn't realize we had been standing that long, actually. We had so much to talk about!I can't tell you exactly why,  but my favourite painting was this "modest" St. John the Baptist (a recurrent figure in Caravaggio's works) on the left . This brooding young man caught my attention and touched my heart more than other huge impressive paintings.

From Michael Kimmelman's essay published in The New York Times on March 22nd : "Caravaggio exemplifies the modern anti-hero, a hyperrealist whose art is instantly accessible. His doe-eyed, tousle-haired boys with puffy lips and bubble buttocksh look as if they've just tumbled out of bed, not descended from heaven". 

The essay also states:

"By at least one amusing new metric, Michelangelo's unofficial 500-year run at the top of the Italian art charts has ended. Caravaggio, who somehow found time to paint when he wasn't brawling, chasing women (and men) murdering a tennis opponent with a dagger to the groin, fleeing police assassins or getting his face mutilated by one of his many enemies, has bumped him from his perch".

Do you agree with that  statement? Is Caravaggio making tourists in Rome forget about Michelangelo? What I can say is that the exhibition of his two dozen of paintings at Quirinale is mobbed and endless scrums of tourists have been lining-up to see the Caravaggios in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi and the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in these Easter holidays.

The exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale is set to offer the public a new and stimulating opportunity to penetrate the very essence of the "terribly naturla" painter, his revolutionary adn astonishing naturalistic criterion and his stubborn questioning deference to the depiction of reality which was solitary in its poetic greatness. The project has been designed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the great artist's death.

What can I say about our great artists? It's difficult to choose one for all. Let's say that I agree with something I read in another essay about Caravaggio:

"We respect Leonardo for his genius, we admire Michelangelo for his grandeur but we love Caravaggio".

No need to choose only one, no need to explain why.

I now  want to leave you with one of my favourite Caravaggios which was not exhibited at the Scuderie. I love this painting: Santa Caterina.

If you plan to come to Italy and to Rome, you can't miss this unique exhibition that will be open until June 13th.

Visit the official site of the exhibition

P.S. Caravaggio self portrayed himself in more than one of the paintings above. Can you recognize him?

WHAT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING

1. I think I've told you ( HERE ) about my E.M. Forster period, dating back to my university years and soon after. I read all his novels and saw several of  the beautiful films based on them. I hadn't seen this one yet, MAURICE (1987),  starring James Wilby, Hugh Grant and Rupert Graves and directed by James Ivory.

Since I first studied Oscar Wilde and read about the tragic descent from his huge success to the  hypocritical public assassination of his character due to his homosexuality, I've been always attracted by the English people's controversial relationship with that reality, especially during the Victorian and Edwardian Ages.Homosexuality a crime persecuted by law? Punished with hard labour sentences? Absurd but true. His homosexuality was a mark which made E.M . Forsters's life frighteningly complicated, especially as a young man living in England in those years. And his personal, suffered attempt to hide or even correct his nature, his fight  against his own natural instincts considered unnatural by the rest of society,  became Maurice's story.

This novel was published in 1971, only after the death of its successful author, who struggled all his life through to hide his homosexuality to his audience who  loved his HOWARD'S END, A PASSAGE TO INDIA, A ROOM WITH A VIEW deeply. The novel is remarkable for its time in describing same-sex love in a non-condemnatory way. Forster resisted publication because of public and legal attitudes to homosexuality — a note found on the manuscript read: "Publishable, but worth it?". Forster was particularly keen that his novel should have a happy ending, but knew that this would make the book too controversial. However, by the time he died, British attitudes and law had changed. Fortunately. I really loved this lyrical adaptation by James Ivory. Tender, soft, touching, never vulgar with a brilliant cast (already mentioned at the beginning) including Ben Kingsley.

2. I also saw a  2-part series from Italian State TV RAI Uno , CARAVAGGIO. I wanted to get a more human picture of this artist I've always admired , since I was at school and studied his impressive paintings on my Art books as a teenager. Guess what? When I first saw his huge paintings in front of me at S. Luigi Dei Francesi ( a baroque church in Rome), I shivered and was moved to tears: his "Vocazione di San Matteo" and "Martirio di San Matteo" were there in front of me and I just couldn't avoid being that moved.

Caravaggio's real name was Michelangelo Merisi, he was born in 1571 and his life his a tragic adventure novel well told in this Italian TV production.

Alessio Boni is a credible and compelling "Prince of the Rebels", as Caravaggio has been nicknamed for his reckless, rebellious , aggressive temper. This period drama, set in Milan and Rome between the end of the 16th and the beginning of 17th century, is a real picaresque tale: Caravaggio travels through Italy in search of fame living among the homeless at first, begging for food at times, meeting both prostitutes and noble ladies, fighting to duels and getting drunk, living in promiscuity with men and women, hated and loved by noble men and men of the Roman Church, always struggling for his own liberty and independence in a time when he had to witness Beatrice Cenci's unfair tragic trial and execution or Giordano Bruno's burning for his heresy. He was imprisoned several times, dreamt of being one of the Chevaliers of Malta and succeeded in becoming one for a short period, he even killed a man and was a runaway in the final part  of his life. But what is most important, he has left to all of us his incredible human portraits of saints and his biblical scenes, his masterpieces, that were often misunderstood and criticized during his life because they were too forward , too modern for those dark times.

My love for Art and my fondness for period drama found contemporary satisfaction while watching this beatiful miniseries.

Now I'm ready to go and visit Caravaggio Exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome tomorrow. I'll tell you about it, promised.  I'm so excited!

MY BLOGGER BUDDIES WITH GIVEAWAY - ALEXA ADAMS AND HER "FIRST IMPRESSIONS"

I'm very happy to introduce  Alexa Adams to all of you.

Alexa lives a rather quiet life in Wilmington, Delaware with her amazing husband (her very best friend in the world) and her two cats . She says: "Wilmington might seem rather dull - and in all honesty, it is - but I have lived in my share of exciting places and enjoy the calm. Besides, the Brandywine Valley (in which Wilmington is located) is magnificently gorgeous and an easy train ride from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.. Right now two subjects rule my mind: the move to our first home (that we own) in May and the book that I just self-published, FIRST IMPRESSIONS, A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice.

After having decided to publish my scribblings last year, I started a blog with the intention of finding some readers and as an outlet for my rather all-consuming Austen obsession. My blog  is also called FIRST IMPRESSIONS, just like my book. That is how I met  Maria Grazia, on one of the Austen blogs, as well as a host of other wonderful people I now call friends. My husband is terribly grateful for you all, as having others with whom I can debate Austen has relieved him from bearing the brunt of my fascination. Really though, he is incredible. We have watched all the movies, read all her books aloud (as well as my favorite fan fiction), and now we are tackling Georgette Heyer together. Actually, that was kind of how I wrote the book: as an entertainment for my husband and myself. I'd write a few chapters a week and read them to him in the evenings".

GIVEAWAY !!!

Here's my interview with Alexa Adams. Read it through and leave your comment and your e-mail address to get the chance to win a brand new copy of Alexa's First Impressions, which she has kindly offered for a giveaway open worldwide. Good luck every one! Meanwhile, my copy is in the mail, travelling from the USA to Italy. I can't wait to read it. THANKS, ALEXA!

So, Alexa. Since this is a friendly chat between mates, let’s start saying where or how we met on line. Do you remember?

Not specifically, though I know it was either on one of the Austen blogs, or perhaps was it at Enchanted Serenity of Period Films? Either way, I believe we both were engaged in commenting on a series of similar topics and one of us found our way to the other’ s blog. I think I do remember both of us exclaiming, “I didn’t know you have a blog!” in each others’ comments, but I can’t recall who found who first.

I wanted to become a writer as a child after reading Little Women. Jo was my favourite character. But then I became a teacher (like her) and never a writer (as she did, instead). When and why did you start writing?

The first piece of creative writing I ever wrote was when I was six. It was an assignment for school – we were to read a book and either write a report or a play on it. I chose Heidi, which I had already read twice, and adapted it into a short farce. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I am pretty sure Clara fell off a cliff. Though I continued to write, frequently turning assignments into creative outlets, I never really considered publishing anything until recently. I studied literature in school, thereby convincing myself of the inadequacy of my own prose. It was much more comfortable to analyze the work of others than to put myself in the spotlight. It wasn’t until I discovered fan fiction – a genre which I have come to consider ideal for creative literary critique – that I felt I wrote something good enough to see in print.

Where does instead your fondness for Jane Austen come from?

Jane Austen has been a continuously increasing passion for me, ever since I was twelve and picked up my first copy of Northanger Abbey in an airport bookstore. I soon had read all her books, considered them thoroughly enjoyable, and then reread them again as a teenager. In college Persuasion was on the syllabus of my Romantic literature class, and it was then that I was first stunned by the full force of Austen’s genius. Of course, I had to reread all her books once more. Then I read her other works. Then the novels once more, get the idea? As a child her books were glimpses into a far off world, filled with beautiful dresses, dashing heroes, and grand houses. As an adult they are exquisite pieces of art, to be ogled, learned from, and cherished. Her books not only delight me but make me a better person. Life would be so shallow had Jane not shown me my way.

Your First Impressions is a "what if" revision of Pride and Prejudice. Which is your favourite P&P character?

It’s really hard to say. Darcy is my default answer, as he is my favorite hero in Austen, but all the characters are so vivid that there isn’t one I don’t love – including Lady Catherine, Mr. Collins, and Lydia.

What about your Favourite P&P adaptation?

Andrew Davies 1995 masterpiece starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, of course.

Out of P&P who is favourite Austen hero? And what about heroines? Choose just one, please.

Henry Tilney. I have always adored him. One should never underestimate the value of a man who can make one laugh. Anne Elliot is my favorite Austen heroine.

  

Do you watch period drama in general? You know I love watching adaptations of classics and costume movies. What about you?

I do. My entire life I have been a sucker for a pretty dress, the allure of which has shaped my taste in film. The more lavish, the better. I am particularly fond of musicals. My very favorites – My Fair Lady and Gigi – have the most incredible costumes. I have something of a love/hate relationship with adaptations of the classics, as I tend to find them frustrating rather than fulfilling, but generally I adore historically set films.

My favourite period drama is BBC North and South (2004). Apart from being the beginning of my interest in Mr Armitage’s work and career, it is indeed my favourite adaptation of a classic. Have you seen it?

This is going to be difficult to admit but ... no, I have never seen North and South, though I did read the book many years ago. The truth is, until I found your blog, I didn’t know who Mr. Armitage was. I hope that confession does not irrevocably destroy your opinion of me. I do have very good intentions of correcting this fault, as several months of RA Fridays have thoroughly proven what I am missing, and will let you know as soon as I have seen the film.

You’ve just lost 10 points on my buddy scoreboard. I’ll forgive you only because you promised to correct this fault of yours, Alexa! Jokes apart, waiting for your opinion on North and South soon. Meanwhile, let’s go on with our questions.Do you read other genres/ authors apart from Austen?

Well, I do love Russian literature, particularly Dostoevsky and Gogol, as well as classical Greek theater. My tastes tend towards things written before 1900, but my favorite author, apart from Austen, is Salman Rushdie, another mind boggling genius. His last book, The Enchantress of Florence, was magnificent. I have read everything he has ever written. Other living writers I particularly enjoy include Roddy Doyle, Philip Roth, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but mostly I stick to the Victorians.

I’ve discovered blogging in November 2008 and I started  to motivate and help my English Literature students, with LEARN ON LINE. Then I started blogging for my pleasure on FLY HIGH. It has been such an enriching discovery and it is still such a wonderful experience that really has brought so much to me! What has it brought to you?

Blogging is a revelation. It gives me a channel for all my many musing about Austen, as well as a place for me to keep track of all the fan fiction I’ve read. The best thing about blogging, however, is meeting all the other people who share my interests. It has been a far more rewarding experience than I ever anticipated.

Just a curiosity. What is your most frequent daydream? Mine is top secret!

I like to pretend my singing voice is better than it is.

I love singing and music in general. It's such fun.  Now, what can we ask our readers at the end of this nice chat to make their comments more interesting?

I would be curious to learn if other people have an author who has inspired them the way Austen has me. Or maybe we should inquire into more daydreams?

Ok. We’ll leave our readers free to comment and say about their daydreams or the author who inspires/d them. Or both if they want! They are going to win a copy of your book just leaving their comments here. Are you ready to sign and dedicate the copy of your book for the giveaway? What strong emotion might that be!!!

It’s very gratifying just to hold the book in my hands, let alone sign it. I just hope that it brings as much joy to its readers as it did to its writer.

Thank you very much indeed, Alexa. It's been a pleasure to have you here as my guest. I wish you a great success with your book and a very happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you all of course!

And don't forget to leave your comment. Winner will be announced on Monday 12 April.

You can buy Alexa Adam's First Impressions HERE

Read the first 3 chapters HERE

Visit her blog HERE

RA FRIDAY - RUN, RICHARD, RUN!!!

 

More than running from someone, Lucas North (Richard Armitage)  seems being chasing someone. Look at his arms and hands. They are ready to attack,  catch and hold tight. This is a still of an  action scene from SPOOKS 9 (crew and cast are shooting in London),  from  a snippet published in THE SUN last 31st March with a cryptic comment which has already stirred hypothesis, claims, perplexities, anxiety, fears, tremors, restlessness in various RA dedicated forums. The comment to the picture says: "SPOOKS star Richard Armitage returns for the drama's ninth series and becomes embroiled in what bosses say is a "dark secret that leads to the ultimate betrayal".

Who is Rich (as The Sun and friends of mine call him) running after , then? My answer is... Spooks scriptwriters!

 After what other scriptwriters did to his character and a whole successful BBC show (namely, Guy of Gisborne and Robin Hood 3), he can't bear running the same risk with Spooks! So, run, Lucas/Richard, run! Catch and strangle them! Guy of Gisborne and John Porter are with you!

While Richard runs and gives their comeuppance to crazy scriptwriters, we can get ready to listen to him in BBC 4 Clarissa next Sunday. The epilogue of the unfortunate never-born (or one-sided?) love story between the heroine and the rake, Robert Lovelace, can  be but a tragic one. Let's get ready to face the inevitable and be brave. It is said that  the 18th century readers of Richardson's novel cried a lot on Clarissa's sad ending. What about us next Sunday? I'm curious to read the different reactions all over the blogosphere.

signature by kiteflier

You can see her wonderful graphic works at 

 http://community.livejournal.com/dreams_of_fancy/

For all the admirers of the winning combination Georgette Heyer's Regency novels/Richard Armitage's voice, there's another precious audiobook coming out for Naxos : THE CONVENIENT MARRIAGE. It will be released on 2nd August and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.UK. I haven't read the book yet. So, first step, get a copy of The Convenient Marriage. Second step, pre-order the audiobook. Third step, start hoping to receive it before the publication date, as it happened for Sylvester and Venetia.

Finally,  if I had been a fond admirer of talented Mr Armitage - which I definitely AM,  I know, but wait for the rest of it! - living in London (so, you see, that can't be me),  I wouldn't have missed the chance to see the preview of the first two episodes of Strike Back at  BAFTA premises in Piccadilly on Monday 19th April at 6.15pm. . But I live in Italy and I'll be working on that Monday. Sigh! I'll have to wait till... when? Sky 1 starts airing Strike Back in the week between 1st/7th May . And -  again -  since I live in Italy -   but even worse - my Sky 1 channel speaks Italian and broadcasts different programmes!

 BTW, even if you live in London, it's too late for the preview. Tickets are sold out for that event. Let's hope we can read the enthusiastic comments of the lucky ones, at least.

(Once again thanks to Annette for keeping us well informed and updated with her site  http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/)

THROWBACK THURSDAY - MARTIN EDEN by JACK LONDON (1909)

This is an event hosted by Jenny at TakeMeAway . It is a weekly (though I've not been that regular lately) corner to write about good reads from the past. Those books we so much loved and we don't want to forget.

 MARTIN EDEN by JACK LONDON , whose real name was John Griffith London,  is another of those stories that hooked me when I read them first time and it has become part of my literary roots. It’s another of those stories about an extraordinary young person I like reading with / to my students. It’s the story of a young sailor and labourer who has a great dream, to become a part of the wealthy bourgeoisie, to belong to those people who led a high-thinking life.

Inspired by the college-educated society girl Ruth Morse he starts self – educating himself. Knowledge and writing become his obsessions. Martin becomes a writer at last and expresses in his works the views upon life he has learnt from his reading of Spencer. However, only Russ Brissenden - a leftist poet based upon George Sterling - sees the value of his work. When he seems to grasp the fulfillment of his dream, he loses Ruth, now his fiancée , who does not value anything that is not "established" and sees him as a failure because magazines will not publish his writing and because he has become notorious for being a socialist although those accusations are untrue.

The story sees Martin achieve fame at last but not happiness and gratification: he doesn’t belong to the world he aspired to nor he belongs any longer to his own class either . Some elements of the novel hint at autobiography on the part of London who was also a sailor.

First published as a book in 1909, Martin Eden was too early for its audience. The myth of individual success through hard work still dominated American culture. The revolutionary idea that hard work and success were self – defeating in an unlovely mechanical society was unpalatable, both to radicals and to Republicans. This meant that it was a failure at the time because it was before its time.

Anyway, in the general revaluation of London’s work, Martin Eden has taken a significant place. Its force and appeal have survived the passage of time.

What are the features of this story or of its protagonist which give the book such force and appeal?

I think in this novel Jack London conveys himself, his superhuman effort not to be sucked back into the deep well of society, his extreme tension toward a life of the spirit, his solitary choice - stubborn and misunderstood – to become a writer, his illusion to be able to challenge - he alone - the whole of society and his final unavoidable failure. He didn't fail, his hero does. But who knows? Not always being successful  corresponds to being happy.

All that  makes Martin Eden a very contemporary hero to me, beyond space and time. Despite his failure, or just because of it.

The Jack London online Collection

GOTHIC BRONTES

Though they lived in the Victorian Age and published their novels in those years, the three Bronte sisters share a great deal with the Romantic Age in their works: themes, literary devices and features, wild nature and tormented souls. For example, Charlotte’s Mr Rochester or Emily’s Heathcliff embody the typical Byronic hero: moody, restless, wild in manners, tormented but so attractive. The heroes and the heroines in their novels tend to be atypical, anti-conformist, unable to simply accept their duties. They are often led by feelings and passions. And all of that is not typically Victorian. The reading audience was shocked by Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847). (I still am sometimes re-reading it: she was so brave at writing and publishing such a novel at that time)

A literary taste the three writers share is that for Gothic elements. And this is what I want to point out in this post I prepared for The All About the Brontes Challenge.

Gothic novels were very popular at the end of the 18th century (the first one was published 1764 by Horace Walpole and was titled The Castle of Otranto) and their popularity went on through the Romantic Age. Lord Byron and his friends, among whom P.B. and Mary Shelley , spent their nights together reading and discussing gothic tales and they even proved themselves at writing one , but only Mary Shelley wrote something as worthy to be remembered as her Frankenstein (1818).

Gothic novels were based on frightening characters and events and had risen thanks to Edmund Burke ’s new conception of the sublime as “horrible beauty” whose main source was fear. What is Gothic then in our beloved novels by Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte?

1. In Charlotte’s JANE EYRE (1847) we can recognize many  Gothic features

 Jane’s childhood terrors in Lowood school

 Thornfield mysterious nocturnal incidents

 A sense of supernatural

 The gloomy atmosphere

 Bertha’s madness

 Jane’s (apparently) unrequited love

2. The same can be said for Emily’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1847): Gothic features are prevailing respect to Victorian themes

 the atmosphere of the setting ( that is sinister and sublime because of the stormy, windy weather on the moors )

 Catherine’s ghost

 the dreams

 the superstitions

 the graves

 the macabre details

 the themes of death and revenge

 Heathcliff as the villain who persecutes the naive heroine (Isabella Linton, Cathy Jr)

3. To recognize Gothic features in Anne’s THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL (1848) is less immediate.

I read this novel quite recently, not yet a year ago. Last summer in fact. I was impressed by young Anne courage at dealing with the theme of women’s equality. Her Helen is not a silent victim, what the society of the time would have expected from her since conventions dictated submissiveness. This is why this novel is often considered the first feminist novel.

But we have to focus on Gothic details . In The Tenant there are not so many.

Certainly its wonderfully Gothic title owes a debt to the Gothic tradition. Wildfell Hall is a desolate residence in an isolated place. And this is already a typical Gothic setting. Then, Helen is surrounded by mystery in the first part. Nodoby knows much about her and her past and her being self-possessedrather secluded and surrounded by secrecy makes her the victim of local slander.

In the second part, while we read Helen’s diary with Gilbert Markham, the mystery of her past is revealed and we are plunged in a different atmosphere which is still Gothic: Helen and her son become the victims of dissolute Arthur Huntington, respectively her husband and his father. Their lives were spoilt and exposed to many risks: Arthur lost control and became a brute, especially when drunk.

This character is said to be inspired to Branwell Bronte, the Bronte family’s spoilt son, but can well recall – in some moments and only in the central part , not in his sad end - the villain in the Gothic novels who abducted, threatened, raped naive girls.

So, we can conclude saying that The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is Gothic particularly in its sense of mystery and in its portrayals of an aristocratic life of decadence and emotional brutality

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Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall  by Anne Bronte

Gothic Austen

My students' lessons on

Jane Eyre 1

Jane Eyre 2

Wuthering Heights 1
Wuthering Heitghts 2