Posted on 02/17/2006 8:31:22 AM PST by Borges
TPP is there for historical value more then anything else. The first quarter is a bit dry but it gets much better as it goes along.
"THE WOMAN IN WHITE"? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh..."THE MOONSTONE" is a far better book. TWIW, is nothing more than one of the last "Gothic" novels, which had been done to death already. La Fanu's "THE WYVERN MYSTERY" has a similar theme and is far superior to "THE WOMAN IN WHITE".
"THE WOMAN IN WHITE"? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh..."THE MOONSTONE" is a far better book. TWIW, is nothing more than one of the last "Gothic" novels, which had been done to death already. Le Fanu's "THE WYVERN MYSTERY" has a similar theme and is far superior to "THE WOMAN IN WHITE".
But The Moonstone has never prompted an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical so how good can it really be?? :-) /sarc
Then you should start with Chekov's short stories.
They make better movies than books, for just that reason; far too much "junk" to read through or have to skip over. That's why I don't like them.
The actions of Uncle Matthew at Alconleigh, his total lack of political correctness was hysterical.
"BLEAK HOUSE" is good, but so are "HARD TIMES", "OLIVER TWIST", "THE OLD CURIOSTY SHOP", "NICHOLAS NICKLEBY" and on and on and on. Just because TPP was his first, it doesn't belong on the list; JMO.
LOL...LOL...LOL
No film version can ever find the cinematic equivalent of Tolstoy's prose which is like Life itself is writing. In War and EPace the philosphical chapters are very clearly seperated and are easily skipped. Anna Karnin has nothing at all to skip.
I was forced to read that, looooooooooooooooooong ago. I just don't like Russian author's at all. :-)
Okay, I'll grant you the former, but the latter? Maybe I should reread it, now, as an adult.
Chekhov invented the modern short story (and modern drama)! Not Katherine Mansfield, not Hemmingway...but the man from Russia.
When you take up Faulkner's work as a corpus, then you have to put the Hamlet trilogy up near the top. I have to admit, I am a sucker for people that write interconnected stories like Faulkner did, and the history of Yoknapatawpha county that comes out as you digest it all is a neat structure and frame. And he does it so well.
And they're so good. And they are so readable. I used to have my remedial English students read at least one Chekov story a semester.
Yep. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the right book at the right moment...but it's not great literature. Just significant.
And that's another thing. If I were to make two lists, starting with a list of novels important for their historical impact, it would be quite a different list in some respects than a list of novels selected for their literary quality. I don't think anyone can deny the historical import of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but as literature, Uncle Tom's Cabin has almost as much style and depth as my son's "Incredible Hulk" comics.
One could say the same thing about Les Miserables for that matter.
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