Eeldrop and Appleplex – A Short Story by T S Eliot March 28, 2011

I first studied T S Eliot when I was in primary school, namely his poetry on cats from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Much much later, while in university, came the study of The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, The Wasteland, and the Four Quartet. Personally, I never really took to Eliot (save for his cat poems – they’re a joy to read!), but this was mostly because I didn’t care for the dried-up philosophy that was prominant among the moderns. As indiviual pieces these poems were fun to pick apart in order to discover the layers of meaning that the poet intended. However, it wasn’t until fairly recently, when looking for something new to read for THE LOST GENERATION tour held by the Classic Circuit, that I came across the only short story ever written by T S Eliot – Eeldrop and Appleplex.

When first I read this title I thought of something fantastical, but then it struck me that that would be quite unlike Eliot. A brief reading of another person’s review had me approaching the short story rather warily when it claimed to know why it was the only short story Eliot ever wrote – simply because he didn’t know how to write one! Did I think so too? In short, yes. In long, here goes…

The story is this; two men from different fields of academics, though from the same social background, take up an apartment together in a rather seedy yet quiet section of London. An incident of a man being taken to a nearby police station triggers off a conversation that dwells on social classes and stereotypes. End of story. You can see why it doesn’t do well as a short story! I kept wondering why Eliot simply didn’t write and essay of his thoughts and ideas on social class. All he did was use the short story as a platform and he didn’t do it at all well.

The ideas are not uncommon to the times. While I have to admit that my mind was half asleep while I read this story, it did impress upon me the decadent coversations that must have thrived in drawing rooms such as Eeldrop and Appleplex’s, in the early twentieth century, with each one trying to up the other with their intellectually charged statements on anything and everthing considered a good topic for a learned gentleman to converse in.

I cannot recommend or not recommend this short story. If you love Eliot you mind find this something look into. If you’re not particularly a fan, you’re not really missing much. However, if you have never tried Eliot before I would suggest you read his poems on cats, and then, of course, Alfred Prufrock and The Wasteland.

An online text on Eeldrop and Appleplex can be found here.

As part of THE LOST GENERATION Classic Circuit, allow me to point you in the direction of today’s fellow-posters – Nonsuch Book (on The Beautiful and Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald) and bibliographing (on Lucy Church Amiably by Gertrude Steine) and the main event itself.

Thank you for stopping by!

Literary Blog Hop: One Book I Must Read Before I Die: That’s a Really Hard Question! March 17, 2011

The Literary Blog Hop is a bi-weekly meme hosted by the folk  at The Blue Bookcase.

This fortnight’s question comes from Debbie Nance of Reader Buzz and she asks:

What one literary work must you read before you die?

Hmmm…interesting question, this. And it has me a bit stumped. I guess I would have Gone with the Wind down as a must-read. Then there’s The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis and the autobiographical trilogy by Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis and Teacher Man). There are a few more that come to mind, but as the list is already long enough for a question that requires only one title, I’ll just stick to those mentioned.

*UPDATE*

After reading a few responses by some other bloggers I realised that many were suggesting books others could read as well. It was Falaise’s (at 2606 Books and Counting) recommending Macbeth as a must-read that reminded me of one of my absolute favourite plays – Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. It’s a powerful, passionate play with a nail-biting climax.

Patrick: Son of Ireland March 17, 2011

It’s been a month or two since folk have been preparing for today -  St Patrick’s Day. But it was only this morning that I recalled having read a fantastic book on the person whom this day is held in honour of. Beautifully written, with all the skill I admire in his works, Stephen R Lawhead brings to life the man who brought Christianity into Ireland. As the cover jacket of my copy of Patrick gives an excellent overview of the novel, I shall quote it here:

Born of a noble Welsh family, he is violently torn from his home by the Irish raiders at age sixteen and sold as a slave to a brutal wilderness king. Rescued by the king’s druids from almost certain death, he learns the arts of healing and song, and the mystical ways of a secretive order whose teachings tantalize with hints at a deeper wisdom. Yet young Succat Morgannwg cannot rest until he sheds the strangling yoke of slavery and returns to his homeland across the sea. He pursues his dream of freedom through horrific war and shatteruing tragedy — through great love and greater loss — from a dying, decimated Wales to the bloddy battlefields of Gaul to the fading majesty of Rome. And in the twilight of a once-supreme empire, he is transformed yet again by divine hand and a passionate vision of “truth against the world,” accepting the name that will one day become legend…Patricius!

I recall this novel having a rather mystical quality to its history, and while I read somewhere that not much is known about this son of Ireland, this narrative takes us through an awesome journey. It has been a long time since I’ve read this book, but I also recall finding Succat (Patrick) rather annoying – full of self-pity with everything around him understood only in relation to himself. But, as the story progresses we see Succat grow into a man and a spiritual leader. It was a breath-taking read, as I remember it, and on this day – St Patrick’s Day – I would like to recommend Lawhead’s Patrick as a really good historical read.

Why ‘Persuasion’ is Going to be a Different Experience This Time Round March 15, 2011

Anthony Head as the vain Sir Walter Elliot.

‘The profession [that of being in the Navy] has its utility, but I should be sorry to see any friend of mine belonging to it.’

‘Indeed!’ was the reply, and with a look of surprise.

‘Yes; it is in two points offensive to me; I have two strong grounds of objection to it. First, as being the means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinction, and raising men to honours which their fathers and grand fathers never dreamt of; and secondly, as it cuts up a man’s youth and vigour most horribly; a sailor grows old sooner than any other man; I have observed it all my life. A man is in greater danger in the navy of being insulted by the rise of one whose father, his father might have disdained to speak to, and of becoming prematurely an object of disgust himself, than in any other line. …’ (p 23)

I’m reading Jane Austen after a really long time. The last time I read anything by her, it was during my post-graduation. In fact, Persuasion was the last book, and I’m reading it again. I’d forgotten why I like Austen so much and it is such a pleasure to get back to her!

Some of you might’ve noticed that I’ve been reading Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester, and it’s proving to be quite an informative book – even while reading Austen. I’m aware that there is much that one might indirectly learn from reading a novel, but to read a history and get back to the novel, there is much difference in the experience itself! I’ll admit, now I’m not just reading a love story, I’m reading a book that contains plenty of minute details regarding the period it is set in – unconscious details, the kind of details that a person from this era writing about that era could easily miss simply because they never lived it. I especially notice this right now due to the plathora of Heyer Regency novels I’d been re-reading last year.

The above quote by Sir Walter Elliot, the vain father of our heroine, Anne, says so much that I never really learnt from reading Heyer. (It did strike me when reading Kloester’s social history of the Regency period.) I’m realising more and more, that Austen, though a reminder of all the Heyer Regency romance I’ve been reading, is different in its author’s personal experience and intimate knowledge of the times simply because she lived it. For this alone I am so excited to be re-reading Persuasion and I’m looking forwards to the hours of pleasant reading!

Feasting on Dracula for the Irish Short Story Week March 15, 2011

It’s been a week since my last post, I know. But I have been on a big reading spree after such a long time! I managed to complete three books last week – The Children of Hurin by Tolkien, The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan and Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan. I’ve not started re-reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I’ve quite a bit of stuff I want to say about the books I’ve just read, especially the one by Amy Tan. I hope to get them all down by the end of this week…

Host at http://rereadinglives.blogspot.com/  14 March – 20 March

In the meantime, the Irish Short Story Week, hosted by Mel U at The Reading Life, had begun in full swing. We’re reading shortstories by Irish writers this week to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Or is it that we’re using St Patrick’s Day as an excuse to finally get down to reading the works of Irish authors? Either way, this is a lovely opportunity, plus reading a short story might take a maximum of twenty minutes! While reading Mel U’s posts on Irish writers I realised that many were familiar that I didn’t know were Irish since they’re usually labelled under the broad term ‘British’, and there are many that I’ve never come across before. It’s amazing how many writers Ireland has spawned!! …and brilliant ones at that.

So, in preparation for this week Mel had been reading up on a few writers and throwing out suggestions for those of us who might be interested. One of them was Dracula’s Guest, a short story by Bram Stoker. Having read Dracula only a few months ago, I was intrigued. From Mel’s review of the piece I realised that it started out very much like the novel.

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula: Drawn by Euan Mactavish at paper-pencils-pixels.blogspot.com

I’ve just finished reading it, and it I must say, it has all the spine-tingling horror of the first chapter in Dracula. I intended to read Dracula’s Guest during the day ’cause I figured I’d be less freaked out and wouldn’t keep looking over my shoulder to see if someone was going to get me! However, it was a good read. As I might have said had I written a commentary on the novel, Bram Stoker has a love writing style; it’s so succinct, and the imagery is powerful. He is indeed a very subtle writer. Everything is implied. Nothing is stated out in the open.

The narrator of the short story is your typical Englishman, said to be all reason and highly unlikely to believe in anything that even remotely sounds like a superstition. He is on his way someplace on the day of a night that the dead are supposed to awaken. His coachman is all jittery and the horses seem to echo the coachman’s nervousness. The Englishman, however, believe they’re all over-reacting. They pass a pathway that the coachman is determined not to go into, and naturally our narrator is curious. He lets the coachman go home – and then he has an adventure that is all superstition come to life.

As I read this story, I first though it read somewhat like a prequel to Dracula the novel. However, there are something that don’t fit into the pattern of how the novel starts. Yet, there are plenty of similarities between the two.

If you have never read Stoker’s Dracula before, and are not sure if you would like to give the novel a try, I would suggest you read Dracula’s Guest the short story. If you want to experience more of this well-written horror, then go ahead and try the novel. Personally, I’m not a horror fan, but I loved this! Here’s an online e-text for you to peruse if you’re feeling adventurous!

A reminder – if you would like to know more of Irish stories and Irish writers I would suggest you visit Mel U’s The Reading Life. There’s so much he’s covering this week!

Feature: Cybercolonisation – Is The Way We Think Directed by Another Power? March 8, 2011

It’s amazing how one small thing can set of a chain of events. It all began with Jillian’s literary reading list that does not have many postcolonial works. Elena noticed it and brought it to her attention. This, in turn, sparked of an interesting and informative series on Postcolonialism and Literature by Elena at her lovely book blog, Books and Reviews. She began her series with a breif yet succinct Introduction to Postcolonialism followed by a post on Doubts and Orientalism based on Edward Said’s theory on ‘writing back to the Empire’. Then she spoke about slavery and the scars it left behind, followed by a discussion post, a review of a postcolonial work called Small Island, and an interview with yours truly.

For a quick look at what Elena loves to read and what she blogs on just check out this interview with her by Emily at The Book Eater.

Illustraion by Thierry Le Taken from this site: Kyoto Journal

So, as I was answering the questions Elena put to me I realised something (I’m sure there are million other’s who have realised it before!) – colonisation is a phenomena that is bound to happen all the time. Even in this era we are victims of colonisation. I’m not talking about ‘postcolonialism’ at all! While physically and geographically we are our own nations without being under the rule of another, we are subtly under the ruling aegis of technology; more specifically the internet and the world wide web. As I quickly searched for links, once this idea popped into my head, I came across this paper by Mary Leigh Morbey. Though it mainly deals with National Museum Websites, her initial few paragraphs talk of how the Internet is a technology full of ideologies that we believe are vast, but are mostly dictated by the minds of the power behind this cyber world – namely the United States. She says:

The design and programs that comprise particular computing applications (such as the Internet and the World Wide Web) are dominated by an arguably narrow range of ideological viewpoints, often emanating from the United States. This paper takes the position that no ideology or influence is neutral, and therefore ideologies are value-laden and direction shaping.

Basically, colonialism is working along a much more subtle and far-reaching scale than it has ever done before! It touches every place that has even a hint of a computer, and therefore touches far more minds than it has ever done.

So then, is this a good thing? A bad thing? Something that really doesn’t affect us at all? Or is cybercolonisation merely bunkam after all?

Be sure to check out Elena’s blog regarding her Postcolonial series!

ReferenceFrom Cybercolonialism to Cyberglocalization: A Virtual Shifting of Cultural Identity on National Museum Websites by Mary Leigh Morbey

The Princes and the P—?: A Modern Fairy Tale March 4, 2011

Manybooks.net is a site I frequent quite often for domain free texts. Recently (a week ago actually), I was browsing through the ‘recommends’ section when I found a particular fairy tale that went by the dubious title of The Princess and the Penis garnering itself a lot of attention (quite naturally) and scoring a constant five-star rating. Reviewers claimed it to be extremely funny and a sort of parody of the conventional fairy tale. So I decided to give this story ago, and judge for myself.

The story is very much your typical fairy tale with a beautiful and kind princess who has been sheltered all her life. Her father, the king, has worked very hard at keeping his daughter chaste, pure, innocent and ignorant. But when she turns eighteen (interesting, this…the original princesses of fairy tales do their growing-up when they’re just sixteen!) the king decides she has to get married. She is to be bartered off to the richest suitor to her hand. But just two weeks before the rich prince is to arrive the princess starts having a hard time in bed, causing her sleepless nights. As she proclaims to her mother and father at the breakfast table, “There is a lump in my rump.” A few nights go by with the king trying everything in his power to make his daughter comfortable in the night, when the unthinkable and unimaginable happens.

That’s it. I’ll stop there. You really need to read this for yourselves! It’s a fairy tale written by RL Silver.

Does this story work as a parody, though?

The whole lump-in-the-mattress scenario plus the title itself is very reminiscent of The Princess and the Pea. Not to mention the ‘purity’ of the princess that the king takes a great deal to ensure:

Amalia’s father, King Norwood, was so proud and protective of his daughter, he sought to do what no father had ever successfully done: to protect her from Cupid’s poisonous arrows.

I found this, and many other sentences like it, rather tongue-in-cheek. Needless to say, the whole story revolves around said princesses’ chasteness and innocence, poking fun at the very Victorian sense of prudishness that exists in the fairytale canon.

On the whole, I quite enjoyed this fairytale. It kept me wondering right through to the end! I don’t know I’d have given it five stars, though. I think four, perhaps. But it’s worth the read!:D

Attention! – look out for the aunts! They’re a riot!!

Attention 2! – this is a fairytale solely for adults.