Edmund de Waal - The Hare with Amber Eyes

Reading Journal – Session 12 – 24/01/2017

Edmund de Waal – The Hare with Amber Eyes

In some ways, this book was completely different than what I expected. I have a version with an actual rabbit on the cover, so I expected something from the perspective of a rabbit, to be honest. I’m also not an art person so I didn’t really care for de Waal’s extensive descriptions of Charles’s art collection in the first part of the book. But it was a really interesting topic, to trace his family history via the ownership of this Japanese figurine collection and it addresses a lot of historical events that I had no idea about, especially not from the perspective of a rich Austrian Jew and by taking into account the value of the object during those times.

At points I missed the addressing of the netsuke, once more than fifty pages go by without mention, mostly because that’s what I expected the book to be about as a red threat, but I can certainly understand even de Waal’s confusion about what this book is supposed to be about because it brings together so many different things in an interesting way. And it led me to remember some of my own family history and what they told me about those times.

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Marjane Satrapi – Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood

Reading Journal – Session 10 – 10/1/2017

Marjane Satrapi – Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood 

I don’t usually read comics, so this is not a genre I am very familiar with. I’m also not very familiar with the history of the Islamic Revolution, so my background knowledge consists of basically nothing. In a way, I feel like I missed a lot of details about what happened in the bigger picture, but I also feel that maybe it is better that I know so little, so I more or less have the same perspective of the somewhat naïve little girl who tells her story.

In fiction, it is more powerful to have a personal perspective when dealing with historical events. Gone With the Wind employs the love story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler when describing the Civil War, Titanic follows Rose and Jack, making it a more powerful movie than the ones that came before, The Normal Heart is presented from the activist’s perspective fighting during the AIDS crisis to have a greater and more personal impact. Persepolis does that same and it is even more powerful because it is the true personal story of a little girl growing up during the war. The desire to fight for the country, fight for what is right by protesting, telling the truth, but also the desire to listen to music and hang up posters on the wall, go to parties and have a better story to tell about a hero in the family to best someone else.

The comic format never uses unnecessary words, metaphors or countless transitions of prose. But it can say so much with just a few drawn lines and it has a really powerful effect. I was glad that this format was chosen to tell the story of the childhood. It was impactful but it also never lingered too long, it switched between destruction, death, happiness and humor and it felt like a very good representation of what life was like during this time. I enjoyed reading it very much.

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Written by Himself

Reading Journal – Session 9 - 20/12/2016

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

I remember I had to read an extract of the Narrative of Frederick Douglass a few years ago for a Proseminar about the Puritans. It is the most famous narrative of slavery written by a slave that became a free man and it is a really striking text. Douglass’s rhetoric is really impressive, the way in which he can describe the most cruel and gruesome scenes so matter of fact, depicting just how these actions were considered by both the slave owners and the slaves, often only adding the really strong adjectives when describing the people themselves, but not the actions with which they treated the slaves.

The beginning itself already hits many emotional notes on a very basic level, with Douglass stating that he does not even know how old he is because it is not an information deemed necessary for the slaves to know. It goes on to depict his early separation from his mother, a woman he has never seen in the light, and the cruel treatment black children have to suffer at the hands of their white fathers and brothers. Especially because of this matter of fact tone does the treatment seem as horrible as it is, because the readers have to judge for themselves. At least nowadays it is generally received that way, during the time of slavery, it was probably received as entirely normal and Douglass was probably heavily criticized for even daring to voice this treatment.

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Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Reading Journal - Session 6 - 29/11/2016

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre

As I already stated, I haven’t read the text before, but I already knew quite a bit due to different sources, so I was prepared for Mr. Rochester and the mad woman in the attic who sets everything on fire, as well as the proposal from a missionary who wants Jane to go to the West Indies with her.

Therefore, I expected the story to start with Mr. Rochester, not with her early childhood and the systematic abuse she had to suffer because of her inferior standing. I did not expect to like the part of Jane being in school to like the most and find more interesting than anything that followed. While it was also not a completely happy part of her life, it was nice to see people treat Jane kindly, giving her the benefit of the doubt. While servant Bessie was also nice to Jane most of the time, she also helped restrain her and took an active part in her abuse. But Miss Temple was really the first completely positive role model she had. Helen Burns was another character that was really interesting to get to know, with her unyielding trust in any of the adults, admitting to “terrible character traits” that she deserved to be punished for. While it was not easy to read about the treatment of the teachers, it was at least a good contrast to see a character so at peace with her situation and her suffering, even though Jane is much more relatable in her desire for fairness and a right to fight against mistreatment, no matter her social standing.

The class system was also a prevailing theme in the novel. One scene that stuck with me after reading was during a chapter in which Mr. Rochester entertained some higher class guests who talked dismissively about Jane, her occupation, her looks and her being present in general and went on to fondly reminiscent about how much they mistreated their own governesses, how they enjoyed it and how much their employees deserved it, wither their biggest crimes being that they actually obey the parent’s wishes to teach their children. And the parents join in at the party and even praise their children for the thoughtless actions. It really drives home the careless regard from the upper classes to the lower classes who deserve being looked down upon even though they are actually the ones who work hard so the lives of the upper classes are easier. While it becomes very obvious in this novel, especially because it is presented from Jane’s point of view, it is still a common issue that people still naturally take part in without being aware of it.

Generally, it was an interesting and enjoyable book and I wonder how much more of an impact it had when people still perceived it to be an autobiography. Did it change the view of the upper classes on the lower classes? Did it validate their existence because Jane joined their ranks after her inheritance? I haven’t read many other Victorian novels, but I remember Oliver Twist turning out to be upper class as well, after the character suffered throughout the novel from being poor. Was it perceived in a similar manner?

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Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre - before reading

Reading Journal - Session 5 - 22/11/2016

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre

“Until Jane Eyre was kidnapped I don’t think anyone—least of all Hades—realised quite how popular she was. It was as if a living national embodiment of England’s literary heritage had been torn from the masses. It was the best piece of news we could have hoped for.” - Bowden Cable. Journal of a LiteraTec

Jasper Fforde. The Eyre Affair

While I have read literature in connection to Jane Eyre – the postcolonial prequel Wide Sargasso Sea dealing with the backstory of Rochester’s insane wife Bertha (of which I sadly remember very little) and the postcolonial novel The Eyre Affair about which I wrote my last term paper (which I can recommend and in which Jane Eyre gets kidnapped, thus forcing the heroine of the book, Thursday Next, to rescue her, whereby she accidentally alters the story to reflect the actual story of Jane Eyre) – I have not read the book itself. Through writing my term paper about The Eyre Affair (as well as the following three novels in the series) I feel like I know the gist and importance of the story already, but I am curious about the actual book and how the Victorian novel will actually be, after already being influences by feminist, postcolonial and postmodern influences, that criticized some aspects of the books, but also treated the source material with consideration and worthy of basing their own stories on. It is certainly well known and considered a classic and I am curious how it is going to fit into the “Life Narratives” seminar, as I would not have thought of it belonging to this category (but I also don’t know the details of the story or the way in which it is written).

      “It is well known, even 150 years after publication. For The Eyre Affair to have any resonance the featured novel had to be familiar and respected. If potential readers of my book haven't read Jane Eyre they might have seen the film, and if they haven't done either, they might still know that Jane is a heroine of Victorian romantic fiction. I don't know of many other books that can do this.“

     Jasper Fforde

Richard Houlbrooke – English Family Life, 1576-1716

Reading Journal - Session 3 - 8/11/2016

Richard Houlbrooke – English Family Life, 1576-1716 – An Anthology from Diaries
 

·         offers a view into English family life through diaries

·         excludes the poor (majority of the population), however, because they did not write diaries

·         collection includes Elizabeth’s reign, the Stuart period and the dawn of the Hanoverian era

Extract: Married life and widowhood, Lady Hoby’s references to her husband and domestic activities (1599-1600)

·         itemization

·         calls her husband Mr. Hoby

·         mostly concerned with religious activities, but also cooking, paying bills, treating injured workers, visiting acquaintances

·         only listing activities one after the other, never reflecting on what is happening or going into any detail, no real narrative flow

Eextract: marital disharmony, Lady Anne Clifford’s description of her relations with her husband (1617)

·         more narrative flow following a certain kind of “plot” (her legal troubles), serialization, less of a list (after, then...), eliminating many activities to focus on her husband, still chronological

·         calls her husband “my Lord”

·         strong belief in God to grant her right, even though all men in her life persuade her to give in to their demands, she remains stubborn and trusts in God

Interesting opposition of the writing style of two women who kept a diary twenty years apart. Both seem utterly respectful in their way of addressing their husbands (“Mr. Hoby” and “my Lord”), but it is easier to get a feeling for Anne Clifford who also writes down some of her thought and beliefs, stubbornly opposing the men who have all the power over her. Lady Hoby mostly lists her activities of the day, often shaped by religious prayers and sermons, while the other activities fit in between. It is easier to get a sense of her duties and routine, but since she only notes down activities, her personality is largely a secret.