Ethan Frome is the ultimate landscape tragedy.
So few people realize the fault is often in the landscape, not the character, or even the situation. Take Edith Wharton's story of failed relationships in the snow.
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Well, Bailey, that's an awfully short comment you made.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think about the importance of landscape in a lot of work I've read in translation, particularly by European authors.
For instance, take Dostoevsky's story "White Nights."
Here are some of the key passages from "White Nights":
ReplyDelete"the anniversary of my own sensations"
"the anniversary of that which was once so sweet, which never existed in reality"
"she took a pin and pinned my dress to hers, and said we should list like that for the rest of our lives"
"a moment of happiness"
And, come to think of it, what about some of the key passages in Death in Venice?
ReplyDelete1. Someone said Aschenbach always "lived like this" (illustrated with a fist) and "never like this" (illustrated with a relaxed hand)
2. He was "the poet-spokesman of all those who labor at the edge of exhaustion"
3. He "rejects the rejected, casts out the outcast" and in addition, "He renounced sympathy with the abyss."
4. Venice is described thusly: "When one wanted to arrive overnight at the incomparable, the fabulous, the like-nothing-else-in-the-world, where was it one went?"
You can even see some of these ideas expressed through magical realism, as in Of Love and Other Demons. Consider these passages:
ReplyDelete1."So that the bats would not drain her blood as she slept"
2. "The madwomen sang until two"
3. "Ideas do not belong to anyone. They fly around up there like the angels."
Come to think of it, the landscape is crucial in Milan Kundera's Ignorance, as well. As Kundera writes, differentiating the stranger from the kinsman,
ReplyDelete"A stranger gets asked 'Who are you? Where do you come from?'"
And what about the landscape of language? Much is made of Irena and Gustaf's relationship as governed by a landscape of language...when they are in Paris, her French is better, so she is conversationally (and otherwise) dominant, but when they are in Prague, his English is better, and so Irena becomes submissive.
Finally, the landscape of time is entertained as this idea is introduced: you bring your second boyfriend to the spot your first boyfriend kissed you. When they behave similarly, you think it is fate, and miraculous! But when all boyfriends behave the same way, you realize that love, ultimately, is dull and lifeless.
"Objects of Desire" group:
ReplyDeleteTask: Find things that people want in Persepolis
p. 87: rice and gas
rice is high; hard to get it
gas is high; hard to get it
p. 91: children want toys
p. 106: people want alcohol and music
not just scarcity/some are forbidden
p. 117: cigarettes
forbidden + age-relate
p. 127: desire for posters
In Persepolis, these are all things we don't think about...we have so many of the everyday objects we desire.
ReplyDeleteMoney is something we want but don't have.
driver's license -- out of reach for now. Age-related compromise.
Will Ferrell's autograph.
parental forbidding of fridge in room
lost ipods lost phones had to replace them two days without phone are hard
college acceptance letter
physical constraints from injury or illness
diamond earrings gone
how is value determined?
travel restrictions
ICONS OF WESTERN CULTURE:
ReplyDeleteBeeGees (p.37) -- wanting to see each other and the BeeGees shirt illustrates irony --
if someone is not of your class, in this country, will you lose interest?
In other countries, the kids who are well-off/hip are the ones who know about the US.
In another culture, "American" stuff can be very popular.
American Rap Music in Africa -- Kanye West can be popular but policies -- foreign and domestic -- are questioned/criticized.
In India, people listen to American music and wear American clothes. In music stores, people buy American/Western stuff.
Generational difference?
Band enjoyed, not necessarily country.
Ability to separate culture/politics from its icons.
p. 63: Bruce Lee -- already dead.
p. 72: James Bond -- spy
p. 64: taxi -- "so I can become a taxi driver and you can become a cleaning lady"
p. 111: hot dogs
127: Stones/ACDC
132: Stevie Wonder
133: Malcolm X/Michael Jackson reference
p.66: Greek Mythology: sheep sneaking -- Odyssey/Wallace & Gromit
p. 91: FLAG reference in visuals
p. 102: party dressed as a punk rocker
p. 112: Kansas: what it is
p. 133: Michael Jackson/Stevie Wonder
p. 89: cars in fire image
ReplyDeletestart of fire was at Border
Going to get away...
Crossing the border is awkward. Leaving the place you are from. When you cross a line, you start a new life. There is a switch when you go to the life you had before, and a switch w/the life you know
crossing a border is interesting -- you are leaving/parents crying p. 151
praying
ReplyDeletetalking to God every night (25)
covers/wears veil
demonstrations p. 76
make wine p. 106
cover windows 105
radio 80
punishment 51
37 social class