What are you reading?

[bart]

I think Graves actually chose a very relaxed style for the original books – Claudius often digresses in a oh-I-forgot-to-mention-this-earlier manner, and the books still seem very fresh, not at all in the Hail and Farewell manner.

I should have explained myself better. I was not thinking of the hail-and-farewell kind of stylization, but actually more of something like P.G. Wodehouse. The Claudius books were published in the mid-1930s. Their effectiveness depends in part, on the way in which they make use of -- and then subvert -- conventions in historical novels that went back at least as far as the Victorians.

The wit in Graves's treatment of the Claudius character lies the discordance between Claudius' way of seeing things (often confused, alternately scared, scattered, clueless, and shrewd) and of speaking (chattering on in a "Dear Dairy" manner at times)) and the reader's expectations of how a member of the Roman Imperial family ought to act. With Claudius as narrator , the story of the Imperial family takes on qualities of a comedy of manners, even when its members are dropping right and left. The depiction of the marriage of Augustus and Livia (surely a play on the old cliche of Darby and Joan), or the scenes between Livia and the woman who procures her poisons, are genuinely witty. Caligula -- depicted here as a petulent child-man of the kind who pulls wings off flies -- is appalling but hilarious, especially when John Hurt plays him. He's a killer, but a spoiled and naughty boy as well.

An approach like this can disorient you, as I assume it was meant to do. It makes truly brutal scenes -- the abrupt arrest and murder of Sejanus's wife and children for instance, or the hysteria with which Julia faces the realization that she has been abandoned by her father and will spend the rest of her life alone on a tiny desert island -- doubly shocking.

Graves employs a similar kind of witty irony in Homer's Daughter. While I can't imagine anyone making a Claudius film today that was true to Graves's style and intent, I can imagine someone doing so with Homer's Daughter, if only for the feminist theme. (A woman uses her own family experience to write the Odyssey.) I'm surprised that Reese Witherspoon or someone like that hasn't optioned it.

King Jesus, a rewriting of the Gospels, is similarly subversive though more didactic. I can't imagine an American company doing it considering the current political-religious climate. As for the interminable Count Belesarius,, it's a story that only an Byzantine history addict could love, despite the scene in which the great general Belesarius, betgrayed and blinded by those in power, is is forced to become a beggar, led about by a child. Possibly a role for Charlton Heston in the 70s, but not today.

Thanks for bringing up Graves, dirac. I've just rescued a much used copy of the Vintage I, Claudius and the Dell Claudius the God from where they've been languishing on a top shelf and plan to reread them soon. One of the treats of this excellent and long-running thread is the chance to encounter new reading experiences -- and revisit cherished old ones. Thanks to all who post here!

[ngitanjali]

Umrao Jaan Ada and Devdas

Both are works of Indian (the former is Urdu, and I'm not sure about the latter) Literature about the 1880s or so...just societal commentary. The stories are so sad, but if you want a beautiful representation, I suggest you watch the movies as well, "Devdas (1955)" and then "Umrao Jaan--NOT THE NEW ONE".

Great books though, see if your libraries have them!

[ami1436]

Devdas is a Bengali novel - a lot of Indian literature and artistic films are Bengali. I believe the date, however, would probably be closer to 1920. The 1955 movie, directed by Roy, is a treasure (not the first movie of the book, but fabulous). Roy also directed one of the first Parineeta's, which has recently be redone as well. And I must say, Parineeta was redone much better than Devdas. Both absolutely beautiful stories. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to re-read Parineeta.

I've just been gifted The Agony and the Ecstasy, in advance of a trip to Florence.......... So, I guess that's what I'll be starting soon.

[vagansmom]

I've just been gifted The Agony and the Ecstasy, in advance of a trip to Florence.......... So, I guess that's what I'll be starting soon.

I've never read The Agony and the Ecstasy but might be spending a few weeks in Italy this summer, so thanks for mentioning it. I love pairing a trip to a foreign land with a historical or biographical novel set there. In 1996(?), I spent a summer in Ireland, and brought Trinity with me. It happened to be the worst summer for violence in Ireland and Northern Ireland since the 1960's, with all kinds of riots as the result of the Orangemen marching through Catholic neighborhoods, and IRA activity near Limerick (far from the north) that resulted in someone's death. So, there I was with my spine tingling as I read about the 1800's riots while the Orangemen were marching, and I turned on the news each day to hear stories of the very same thing happening.

Bart, thank you for your description of P.D. James's writing. I am going to seek out a book of hers; what do you recommend as a first read?

As I've mentioned, this year I tutor a wide age range of students, so my reading has been dedicated to keeping up with their required reading. I am currently knee-deep in Shakespeare and loving it very much. Next week, I begin his "Henry V". I've never read it, so I am delighted it was on a high school senior's list. Ever since I read Denise Giardina's biographical novel Good King Harry, I've been fascinated by his life. The king who never wanted to be king: I am looking forward to the read. We've finished the usual high school Shakespeare fare, and I have been so delighted to get the chance to read all these plays again. I read them with such different eyes now.

I've also, as you probably can tell from my signature, been rereading the poems of Emily Dickinson. I have an anthology of her poetry, and, in the few short minutes dotted throughout my day, have been reading them. Her poems and Flannery O'Connor's short stories have always been quite dear to me, although O'Connor's prose can be quite wicked. Two women whose writing was, I believe, shaped by their illnesses. I'd even venture that neither would have risen to such peaks had they not been damned with an illness that limited their ability to interact regularly with the outside world. Some day, if I ever find the time, I'd like to write a paper comparing their responses.

[dirac]

The king who never wanted to be king: I am looking forward to the read.

I had the impression Number Five did everything short of yank the ring off his expiring father’s hand.

I'd even venture that neither would have risen to such peaks had they not been damned with an illness that limited their ability to interact regularly with the outside world.

I’m not sure that I would go that far, but I do think that many female writers may have their hands at it initially because in the not so distant past women, even perfectly healthy ones, tended to lead constricted lives, and writing was something you could do without necessarily leaving the house much.

I've just been gifted The Agony and the Ecstasy, in advance of a trip to Florence.......... So, I guess that's what I'll be starting soon.

I haven’t read Irving Stone in years, but I used to love his biographical novels back when. I remember The Agony and the Ecstasy as being a rung above the others in quality.

Thank you, ngitanjali and ami1436. I know nothing of Indian literature, I’m sorry to say, and it’s good to hear about it.

[dirac]

King Jesus, a rewriting of the Gospels, is similarly subversive though more didactic.

I wouldn’t call it a rewriting of the Gospels, exactly, although it covers the same territory for obvious reasons. Anyone coming to it from the Claudius books should be prepared – it’s a much denser piece of work, and whereas in the earlier books Graves sticks pretty close to the sources, here he speculates much more freely. Of course, it's a historical novel, not history, and as Gore Vidal says, the whole point of writing an historical novel is to be able to indulge in speculation that wouldn't be appropriate in non-fiction.

[bart]

I wouldn’t call it a rewriting of the Gospels, exactly, although it covers the same territory for obvious reasons.

Not literally a rewriting of the Gospels in their entirety, of course. However, the book presents a vision of Jesus's ancestry, his ideas and sense of ministry, many of of the important events in his life, and his most important human relationships that is seriously at odds with the Gospels as written and as interpreted by orthodox Christians.

Graves, whether you agree or disagree with him, has an agenda here -- as did Kanzantzakis in The Last Temptation of Christ. The novel stands on its own, of course. But it's hard not to read it, also, as Graves's personal contribution to on-going debates about the nature and authority of New Testament revelation as well as the ultimate meaning of the Christ story..

(I enjoyed the Kanzantzakis book more and also was fascinated by Martin Scorsese's film version, with Willem Dafoe as Jesus. I wonder whether anyone has every tried to make a film or tv version of the talkier King Jesus. )

[vagansmom]

Umm....I had the impression Number Five did everything short of yank the ring off his expiring father’s hand.

That image exists in most people's minds because of Shakespeare's play. I've always read that he exaggerated Henry's recklessness and turned him into a rabid war monger. Other careful reading shows that he was a fairly timid boy who wasn't thrilled at the prospect of eventually becoming King. However - and this is why he so fascinates me - once he assumed his reign, his war strategies were ruthless, effectively disregarding chivalry. He believed that chivalry ultimately caused more deaths and prolonged wars. As a young man, it's true that he was reckless in his pursuits, but once grown, he was actually a leader who believed in diplomacy and cared for the less fortunate. I like it that he was a complicated man, often with seemingly opposite ideals pulling at him.

[vagansmom]

QUOTE

"I'd even venture that neither would have risen to such peaks had they not been damned with an illness that limited their ability to interact regularly with the outside world."

I’m not sure that I would go that far, but I do think that many female writers may have their hands at it initially because in the not so distant past women, even perfectly healthy ones, tended to lead constricted lives, and writing was something you could do without necessarily leaving the house much.

Ah, precisely why I want to write my paper! Both O'Connor and Dickinson suffered from an autoimmune disease; O'Connor, whose dad died of lupus, had advanced stage lupus (with lupus nephritis) when she was doing her best writing, and Dickinson had kidney nephritis, believed back then to have been Bright's disease, which is now a term not used. Instead, it's usually considered as part and parcel of another condition, most often autoimmune. Could Dickinson have had lupus? Perhaps. She was described as "in fragile health" from her teen years on. Both authors died from complications related to their nephritis. Both were physically limited by their disease, and turned more to their inner lives.

I agree with you, dirac, that even many healthy women of the past, and sadly all too often in present times, lead constricted lives. But I do believe that their diseases actually gave both O'Connor and Dickinson a chance to nurture their talents. I do remember, way back in high school, reading an interview with O'Connor where she said that when she was given a 5 year prognosis to live (lupus back then was only diagnosed at advanced stages within a few years of death so treatment for the nephritis was by then useless), she decided to give up on everything except her writing.

[vipa]

I'm reading Joan Accotella's "23 Artists and 2 Saints." A book of very interesting profiles. I started with the dance related essays on, Suzanne, Nijinsky, Graham, Ashton, Robbins, Tharp, Bob Fosse and Baryshnikov. Now I'm branching out to the others in the book. It is fascinating stuff.

[dirac]

(I enjoyed the Kanzantzakis book more and also was fascinated by Martin Scorsese's film version, with Willem Dafoe as Jesus. I wonder whether anyone has every tried to make a film or tv version of the talkier King Jesus.

I’m pretty sure no one has. I don’t think it will happen, for the political reasons you mentioned and also because, as with Claudius the God, the historical details and digressions make up too much of what’s interesting about the book. On the other hand, this story has had strong appeal over the centuries no matter who tells it.

Now I'm branching out to the others in the book.

I like reading Acocella on other subjects too, although I thought she was a bit out of her depth on the Crusades. I just wish she (or someone, anyone) would write more about dance in The New Yorker – the coverage is a shadow of what it used to be. I realize that not everything out there these days is so inspiring, but still.

I do remember, way back in high school, reading an interview with O'Connor where she said that when she was given a 5 year prognosis to live (lupus back then was only diagnosed at advanced stages within a few years of death so treatment for the nephritis was by then useless), she decided to give up on everything except her writing.

I think it's very likely that artists who know (or sense) that they don't have much time feel a special sense of urgency. It's fortunate for the rest of us that they don't give in to despair, which I would certainly be tempted to do in such circumstances.

[Petra]

QUOTE

(I enjoyed the Kanzantzakis book more and also was fascinated by Martin Scorsese's film version, with Willem Dafoe as Jesus. I wonder whether anyone has every tried to make a film or tv version of the talkier King Jesus.

I’m pretty sure no one has. I don’t think it will happen, for the political reasons you mentioned and also because, as with Claudius the God, the historical details and digressions make up too much of what’s interesting about the book. On the other hand, this story has had strong appeal over the centuries no matter who tells it.

That's quite the understatement, dirac, given that a good portion of humanity celebrated the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ last week.

[dirac]

I actually meant it as humor, GWTW, but as I read over my post I see it looks quite solemn.

[canbelto]

I'm reading Julie Andrews' wonderful autobiography, "Home," that focuses heavily on her unhappy childhood. A wonderful book.

[vipa]

I like reading Acocella on other subjects too, although I thought she was a bit out of her depth on the Crusades. I just wish she (or someone, anyone) would write more about dance in The New Yorker – the coverage is a shadow of what it used to be. I realize that not everything out there these days is so inspiring, but still

I really agree with you about New Yorker. I wish there was more coverage on dance. Perhaps you are right in that not everything out there is inspiring but there are dancers, companies, choreographers to write about.

Sorry - this is going off topic.

[cubanmiamiboy]

As per tonight... "Cardiac teratogenicity of trichloroethylene metabolites" by Paula D. Johnson, DVM, MSa, Brenda V. Dawson, MD and Stanley J. Goldberg, MD, FACCa. It's a very interesting clinical study on how metabolites of trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloroethylene (DCE) and other related compounds are responsible for fetal cardiac teratogenic effects seen when TCE or DCE is consumed by pregnant rats during organogenesis.

[dirac]

I hear the trick ending is great, cubanmiamiboy. Seriously, I'm impressed....

Thank you, canbelto, for mentioning Julie Andrews' book. I didn't realize she had written an autobiography, and I'd like very much to read it. Does she have anything to say about her early years performing in the music halls? She was, I think, the last major star to have experience in them.

[papeetepatrick]

She was, I think, the last major star to have experience in them.

Which reminds me of one of my favourite of all novels, 'Lost Empires', by J.B. Priestley, which was made into a wonderful 7-part Masterpiece Theater in 1986. This is de rigueur for anyone who wants to get a wonderful re-entry into the world of music hall in England and the Empire Theaters. And it inspired me to go to the Empire Theater in Liverpool, one of the remaining ones, and become a cinema in 1987, when I went. I don't know if it's still there now though. The Masterpiece Theater version made a couple of ingenious improvements on the novel, so that the ending was less sentimental, making Julie Blane seem less predatory and the young wife less important in her self-righteous condemnation of Julie, the West End actress who'd had drinking problems and had to go into Music Hall for awhile. The Masterpiece Theater version is nearly impossible to get, as it was not one of their big hits, and I'm even surprised they made it--you'd never see something like that now, just 20 years later. But the book also has things you wouldn't have found in the miniseries, things like doing special daytime presentations in the department stores of the cities in which they'd be performing at night.

Do you know this book, dirac? Priestley is one of the best on England, IMO.

I'm not reading anything except new drafts of my own work right now, otherwise have stopped reading books altogether for the first time in years. It's a nice break. Last read was Spillane's 'I, the Jury', which thoroughly enjoyed.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I hear the trick ending is great, cubanmiamiboy.

...well, it involves some dead rats for sure...

[dirac]

Which reminds me of one of my favourite of all novels, 'Lost Empires', by J.B. Priestley, which was made into a wonderful 7-part Masterpiece Theater in 1986. This is de rigueur for anyone who wants to get a wonderful re-entry into the world of music hall in England and the Empire Theaters. And it inspired me to go to the Empire Theater in Liverpool, one of the remaining ones, and become a cinema in 1987, when I went.

I don’t know the book or the series. I didn’t really become aware of music hall until I saw “The Entertainer” for the first time years ago and reading about it in Osborne’s memoirs – he loved the halls and wrote about them very well.

[canbelto]

I hear the trick ending is great, cubanmiamiboy. Seriously, I'm impressed....

Thank you, canbelto, for mentioning Julie Andrews' book. I didn't realize she had written an autobiography, and I'd like very much to read it. Does she have anything to say about her early years performing in the music halls? She was, I think, the last major star to have experience in them.

Yes the book focuses heavily on her childhood, and her performing as a child star in music halls, with her mother playing the piano. She goes into some detail about her musical training too. Andrews' childhood is straight out of Dickens -- an alcoholic mother, an abusive, alcoholic stepfather, finding out she was an illegitimate child, etc. etc. But it ends up being a rather warm-hearted memoir despite the gloom, simply because it's so wonderfully written. it doesn't have the typical ghostwritten gloss but it's not a self-indulgent ramble-fest. Julie Andrews had a sense of humor? I never knew it.

[dirac]

Julie Andrews had a sense of humor? I never knew it.

Thanks for the additional details, canbelto. Did you happen to see the recent PBS American Masters special on Carol Burnett? Burnett and Andrews did a Carnegie Hall show together and hit it off very well personally --they had a lot in common, including a difficult family background with both parents drinking.

I think Andrews always showed a sense of humor, but then I'm a fan.

[ami1436]

I've never read The Agony and the Ecstasy but might be spending a few weeks in Italy this summer, so thanks for mentioning it. I love pairing a trip to a foreign land with a historical or biographical novel set there.

Yes, I love doing the same! Unfortunately, I've been reading way too much for work these days, and not enough for my own enjoyment. I haven't gotten that far in The Agony and the Ecstasy, but far enough to really enhance my trip - I wish I didn't have to come back! I'm hoping to finish it this week.

I work in India and Nigeria, so I often preface a research trip with a novel regarding the localities I work in. I started this with Wole Soyinka's Ibadan: The Penklemas Years which is a remarkable account of Soyinka's life in post-Independence Nigeria, particularly around the time of the Action Group crisis. Esther David's The Walled City is not necessarily brilliant, but nonetheless insightful to the cultural-religious mish-mash of life as an Indian Jew in Ahmedabad.

Two of my favourites: Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh. Some find this tedious; I loved it. His description of old Fort Cochin in India is astounding in its details and accuracy - when I finally was in Cochin, I remember thinking to myself: 'I have seen this before'.... I also find the global connections fuelled through the spice trade interesting, so this book spoke to that interest as well. As the story moves to Bombay, it perhaps relies more on knowledge of Bombay/Indian history/culture for the bits of satire to really hit home. (And speaking of satire, if one knows histories around Indian independence, as well as bits of The Mahabharata, Shashi Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel can be down right hilarious at times).

The second one of my favourites is Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land. Part fiction, part autobiography, and part history, based on Ghosh's research in completing his PhD in Anthropology. It is mainly set in Cairo, and again deals in part with early international trade.

Thank you, ngitanjali and ami1436. I know nothing of Indian literature, I’m sorry to say, and it’s good to hear about it.

Well, most of my knowledge/reading of 'Indian' literature is literature from the diaspora!... but still, there are some true classics that really deserve reading!

[carbro]

Thanks for the additional details, canbelto. Did you happen to see the recent PBS American Masters special on Carol Burnett? Burnett and Andrews did a Carnegie Hall show together and hit it off very well personally --they had a lot in common, including a difficult family background with both parents drinking.

I think Andrews always showed a sense of humor, but then I'm a fan.

Actually, they did two specials. The second (was it a "Ten Years Later" kind of thing?) was taped at Avery Fisher Hall, and I attended it with a friend at his suggestion. Andrews' sense of humor is more than just healthy, it is often (as is Burnett's) self-deprecating. She's no prim nanny, that's for sure!

I've just been gifted The Agony and the Ecstasy, in advance of a trip to Florence.......... So, I guess that's what I'll be starting soon.

I've never read The Agony and the Ecstasy but might be spending a few weeks in Italy this summer, so thanks for mentioning it. I love pairing a trip to a foreign land with a historical or biographical novel set there.

Not a novel, but if you plan to visit Florence, you might want to pick up Mary McCarthy's The Stones of Florence.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I could- (finally)- start on Patrick Mullins "Day of Cine-Musique"...