tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post4916444227025910312..comments2024-03-16T06:23:29.917-07:00Comments on The Reverberate Hills; or The Apotheosis of the Narwhal: Poem of the Week 2013/48Patrick J. Vazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-64306663143120131552013-12-14T16:54:15.206-08:002013-12-14T16:54:15.206-08:00Mike: OK, you don't have to read more Dickens,...Mike: OK, you don't have to read more Dickens, but you do have to sit through one more lecture: you seem to be implying that Dickens was calculating and manipulative -- he knew what would affect the public, but I think his effects were honestly come by, and very deliberately chosen for their political implications: he was giving a voice and a narrative to the "welfare queens" and "at-risk youth" of his time, forcing people to not only see but feel their humanity. Tiny Tim can strike us as bunk, because we've heard about him over and over, and seen him parodied over and over, and he's in a style that is going to strike us as maybe quaint and charming, but I'm sure you know, as do I, struggling office workers whose children have chronic conditions and who have to deal with an American society that would rather see them die, and "decrease the surplus population" -- and that's what Dickens was forcing people to pay attention to.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-27140948420192104802013-12-01T21:33:26.467-08:002013-12-01T21:33:26.467-08:00Do I really have to read more Dickens? I respect h...Do I really have to read more Dickens? I respect him but do not love...<br /><br />As for constantly repeating the Wilde Little Nell quip, I am guilty, you cruel witch, but it's a line that so perfectly distills how I feel about the way we are constantly supposed to be feeling about current sentimental tropes. Think Batkid and the godawful Make-a-Wish Foundation as a for instance. Public bathos has not changed all that much since 19th century England, and Dickens was one of its most skillful disseminators, so I'm not implying any historical superiority. Still, bunk is bunk, and I can't think of Tiny Tim without feeling ruthlessly manipulated.<br /><br />Speaking of being ruthlessly manipulated, how was the War Requiem from inside the orchestra, so to speak? Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-15320758098280358172013-12-01T20:20:54.684-08:002013-12-01T20:20:54.684-08:00You two are a tough crowd. Tom does, to some exten...You two are a tough crowd. Tom does, to some extent, choose his own fate (guided by youth, foolishness, and bad companions), and he is a bit weak-spined, but . . . those are the reasons I cry for him. Anyway, choosing your own fate is an occupational hazard for tragic heroes; Macbeth considers the possibility that if Fate will have him King then Fate can take care of crowning him, but then he goes ahead and murders Duncan . . . no one told Lear that dividing his kingdom was a good idea . . . you get the picture.<br /><br />Mike, You love to repeat Oscar's naughty quip so I have to ask if you've ever read The Old Curiosity Shop. In the context of its time, and in the context of that wild, strange, extravagant prose-poem of a book, Nell's death is shocking -- Dickens had left the possibility open of a happy ending, but he chose reality instead: the suffering of an unprotected, poor child finally did her in. It is also (let me emphasize this is in the context of its time and novel) comparatively understated, a quiet moment in a tumultuous book. There are those (I'm not necessarily disagreeing) who find an erotic element in the intensity of Dickens' emotion in such scenes, but when I recently re-read the book I was surprised at the eroticism in and surrounding her portrayal -- the Victorians had a different standard from ours about adolescent sexuality. The association of sex and death is nothing new anyway.<br /><br />All this is why her death was so powerful, and became a byword for heart-breaking fiction for the Victorians. But tastes change, and it's why sophisticates of a later generation could play off the honest emotions of the earlier age. I can't fault Wilde for going for a good line, but it would have been more gracious in the author of The Happy Prince to remember that he too was writing in a style that would someday seem dated, at least in parts. These things happen. A few years ago I picked up Anne Sexton's The Death Notebooks and had to put it down after a few pages because I started laughing -- it just all seemed so narcissistic and overheated and humorless. But then more time goes by and we can get past what's dated and find it interesting and moving for different reasons -- I think that time has come for Little Nell.<br /><br />(Speaking of laughing: V, loved the remark about the eighth-grade girls. LOLAHSI!)Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-65263384948343858762013-11-26T16:10:01.324-08:002013-11-26T16:10:01.324-08:00I agree with V, and never felt sorry for Tom Rakew...I agree with V, and never felt sorry for Tom Rakewell either, not because he's in charge but because he's such a weak-spined twit from beginning to end. Billy Budd can get my waterworks going, along with Jenufa and her happy ending after two hours of sadness. Mimi's and Violetta's deaths always remind me of Oscar Wilde's famous quote about Dicken's Old Curiosity Shop, "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.” Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-76443607378847096682013-11-26T07:37:08.434-08:002013-11-26T07:37:08.434-08:00I really should watch a performance because Tom ha...I really should watch a performance because Tom has always seemed too in charge of his own fate to make me feel too sorry for him. Contrast this with Sweeney Todd, someone I think I could say I continue to weep for.<br />I appreciate being able to look so deeply at this piece and, especially your analysis of "shade." My first thought was about Nick Shadow, but that's because I couldn't think of any other possibility. So, thanks for some other possibilities.<br />My first thought when I read the first three lines of the "Chorus of Whores" was that they were just like the women who write to crazy convicted murderers. My second thought is that they are like 8th grade girls.<br />Looking forward to Thanksgiving.<br />V Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10438895567795968644noreply@blogger.com