Dickens Readalong!

Since my best friend decided she really wanted to read some Dickens, but just never found the time to do it I suggested we do a readalong - which I was totally inspired to do by the fabulous Bex at An Armchair by the Sea. (I seem to be recommending other book blogs daily now!) She's organising a readalong of The Pickwick Papers from mid-November till Christmas, which I would have loved to take part in if uni wasn't killing me right now. Literally. (Glaring misuse of the word literally right there ...)

ANYWAY, even though I think I can't manage five chapters a week (pathetic, I know!) I think I should be able to do about two, which is what we've agreed on. So we're going to read at least two chapters of Oliver Twist every week! Wooohooo - expect some Dickens blogging in the future!

In other news, I've read a fair bit of The American over the last few days (because uni sucks and I never seem to be doing stuff I'm actually going to get marks on) - so hopefully there'll be an update on that soon too! I think I'm going to do a post on some of the characters - especially Newman!

And finally, there's a really interesting article in the guardian that I've read today - Princeton University Press seems to have published the Grimm fairy tales in their original, first edition version ... i.e. the bloody, violent, sexy version. It's quite jarring to know how brutal these stories really were - but also fascinating. For example, Rapunzel actually got pregnant by her prince and that's how Mother Gothel found out about her man visitor. And there seems to be a story in which a mother actually killed her daughters and ate them because she was so hungry ... 

You can have a look at it here: Grimm brothers' fairytales have blood and horror restored in new translation. 

See you soon!

Meme - The Book Blogger Memory Challenge

A meme today! I got this from the fabulous blog What Red Read, which I positively devoured over the last few days ... whenever I took a study break that is! If you're into books like me and enjoy reading reviews you should definitely check out her blog - it's fantastic! But let's get started with the meme!

"The Book Blogger Memory Challenge"

The rules are as follows: answer the ten questions without using any sort of reference material (that includes the internet and your bookshelves). And then of course you're supposed to tag a couple of people if you feel like it! (At least that's the way I tend to interpret it!)

Okay, so ready, steady, GO!

1) The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

I won't lie, it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to think of this book!

2) How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Preeeeetty sure there's a dragon on the cover ... and I only recently read this, so if there isn't, my memory really is worryingly bad.

3) Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

Admittedly, I haven't read this book, so I can't know for absolutely certain that it really is about a character named George ... but I'm going to go out on a limb here ;).

4) ???

It's said that Smith is the most common English surname ... and yet I really can't think of a single author whose surname is Smith. FAIL D:!

5) ???

The sad thing is, I actually have read a book about travelling through Australia ... but I really can't remember the title! As soon as I've posted this I'm going to check this out, because it's really bugging me ...

6) October Quickenings

Strictly speaking this isn't a book but a Merlin fanfiction that I read ages ago ... but I tend to take the view of a very wide defintion of literature. (Fingers crossed I got the month right though!)

7) Das Silberne Schwert by Ralf Isau

Do swords count as knives? Because I'm a 100% sure there's a sword on the book cover of this novel!

8) One Day by David Nicholls

Who else could not help but think of a hundred Friends episodes for this one? Dear tv obsession, NOT HELPING!

9) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling

That was an easy one :P!

10) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Also easy ;)!

And done! Now I'm off to check on all the mistakes I made - if anyone else would like to do this, consider yourself tagged!

Henry James - The American (1/?)

A couple of days ago I started reading The American by Henry James. Here's a quick plot summary for all of you who haven't read the novel, but are still interested in this post:

"[The American] is an uneasy combination of social comedy and melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th-century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted. The core of the novel concerns Newman's courtship of a young widow from an aristocratic Parisian family." (Wikipedia)

I'm about seven chapters into the novel now and so far I'm really enjoying it. There were a couple of slow places, admittedly, like when the main character goes travelling through Europe in the fifth chapter (I really can't deal with page long descriptions of people travelling - it tends to bore me senseless, unless there's some dialogue to break up the descriptive bits). Overall, however, I can honestly say that I've enjoyed reading this novel so far, and here's why:

1) The representation of the French language

With regard to the language, I'm fascinated by how James manages to give an impression of the French language through the French characters, even while translating what they're saying into English for the benefit of the reader. He does this really cleverly by not writing perfect translations of their parts of the dialogue - rather, he seems to be choosing words which are near equivalents in English and French, while simultaneously trying to mimic the French syntax wherever possible.

I remember Charles Dickens did this really well in A Tale of Two Cities too, and as someone who speaks a little bit of French I find it hugely entertaining to read these lines in English and yet feel like I know exactly what the characters are saying in French, too. It's like the written equivalent of a French accent (if that makes any sense). Here's a taste of it:

"Monsieur is constant; I understand perfectly. It's a rare virtue. To recompense you, you shall have your picture on the first possible day; next week--as soon as it is dry. I will take the card of monsieur." And she took it and read his name: "Christopher Newman." Then she tried to repeat it aloud, and laughed at her bad accent. "Your English names are so droll!" (The American, Chapter I)

Now, "droll" means funny or comical in both English and French (although it's spelled as "drôle" in French), but I'd argue that in this context it would not be the natural choice for native English speakers (I'm not a native speaker myself, so please correct me on this if I'm wrong!). If I had to translate what the French lady is saying in this paragraph, I'd go for "funny" instead - mostly because in French "drôle" is the word commonly used for all things funny, so it has a much less specific usage than the English "droll". Deciding to go for the English word "droll" in spite of this has two effects: 1) It immediately draws attention to the "foreign-ness" of the speaker, 2) It gives the reader an idea of the language that's really being spoken here. Honestly, I just love it! I find it so clever!

2) The interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds

As anyone who's gone travelling or read travelogues before will know, encountering cultures that are different from your own can lead to many (and often quite funny) misunderstandings - and the book does not shy away from telling the reader about some of these. For example, there is this one great moment in the first chapter which features an elderly French gentleman, Monsieur Nioche, telling the main character, Christopher Newman (an American), about his recent misfortunes, which have left him quite desolate:

"'Do I understand you to say that you have had reverses?' asked Newman.
'Reverses? Oh, sir, misfortunes - terrible.'
'Unsuccessful in business, eh?'
'Very unsuccessful sir.'
'Oh, never fear, you'll get on your legs again,' said Newman cheerily.
The old man drooped his head on one side and looked at him with an expression of pain, as if this were an unfeeling jest." (The American, Chapter I)

This is such a classic moment of American optimism clashing with European pessimism, I really can't help but smile when reading this. It's perfect - there's the European gentleman, really just looking for someone to agree with him about his awful lot in life, but then he meets the optimistic American, brought up to view the world as his oyster. Of course there's bound to be some confusion here, and I'm really laughing in equal measure at the Frenchman's hurt expression and at the American's bewilderment. It's fantastic.

I hope I'll be able to say more about this novel as I read on, as there's lots more to say about it - it all just depends on my work load for uni, which these days really seems to be getting a bit ridiculous. See you soon though I hope!

Quotes

James, Henry. 1877. The American. http://fiction.eserver.org/novels/the_american.html. Accessed: 03.11.2014.

Wikipedia. The American (novel). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_(novel). Accessed: 03.11.2014.

Ford Madox Ford - Parade's End (Article)

Since I'm obsessed with Parade's End again right now (I just can't help myself - it's such a good story!) I thought I would share an article in the guardian with you that Julian Barnes wrote about it in 2012 - it's really good. He delves deeply into the minds of Christopher, Valentine and Slyvia and he's fantastic at describing the psycholgical element to the story. So if you've got the time, it really is well worth a read!

Article (guardian): Julian Barnes: a tribute to Parade's End