So many books, so little time… So many books, so little time… So many books, so little time… So many books, so little time… So many books, so little time… So many books, so little time… So many books, so little time…
Hedda Gabler and/or A Doll’s House
(Henrik Ibsen)
In
these dramas, Ibsen rebelled against the perpetuation of empty traditions, so
treasured by conventional society, and explored the nature of the woman of the
19th century, whose emerging self-awareness was so often in conflict with the
role assigned her by that same society.
(http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/parade/abj76/PG/pieces/ibsen.shtml)
The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
The narrator's friend Douglas reads a memoir entrusted to him by his young sister's governess when he was in college: to oblige a handsome bachelor, she agrees to care for his orphaned niece and nephew in a lonely country house. She becomes convinced that Flora and Miles (ages 8 and 10) are haunted by the evil spirits of their former governess, Miss Jessel, and a former valet, Quint. (http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/james11835-des-.html)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Emma, published in 1815, has been described as a “mystery story without a murder.” The eponymous heroine is the charming (but perhaps too clever for her own good) Emma Woodhouse, who manages to deceive herself in a number of ways (including as to who is really the object of her own affections), even though she (and the reader) are often in possession of evidence pointing toward the truth. (http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janewrit.html#emma)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice has consistently been Jane Austen's most popular novel. It portrays the initial misunderstandings and later mutual enlightenment between Elizabeth Bennet (whose liveliness and quick wit have often attracted readers) and the haughty Mr. Darcy. Jane Austen wrote in a letter about Elizabeth, "I must confess that I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know". (http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janewrit.html#pridpreji)
(It’s my favorite novel, too.) ;-)
A Room With a View (EM Forster)
This Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters assembled in an Italian pensione and in a corner of Surrey, England. A charming young English woman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Britisher when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza. Attracted to this man, George Emerson--who is entirely unsuitable and whose father just may be a Socialist--Lucy is soon at war with the snobbery of her class and her own conflicting desires. Back in England she is courted by a more acceptable, if stifling, suitor, and soon realizes she must make a startling decision that will decide the course of her future: she is forced to choose between convention and passion. The enduring delight of this tale of romantic intrigue is rooted in Forster's colorful characters, including outrageous spinsters, pompous clergymen and outspoken patriots. (http://www.online-literature.com/forster/room_with_view/)
The Collector (John Fowles)
‘The Collector’ was John Fowles’s brilliant first novel. It tells the story of Frederick, the strange and withdrawn ‘collector’ who, no longer content with butterflies, ‘collects’ art student Miranda - he is fixated on her - and keeps her captive in his Sussex house. Fowles’s compelling psychological study charts a battle of minds and wills which, in addition to its fascinating and terrifying account of a psychopath, lays open to display the powerful condition of attachment. ‘The Collector’ is a short, spare, direct and intelligently written thriller. (http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/library/services/book-promos/obsess/fowles.htm)
Candide (Voltaire)
Political satire doesn't age well, but occasionally a diatribe contains enough art and universal mirth to survive long after its timeliness has passed. Candide is such a book. Penned by that Renaissance man of the Enlightenment, Voltaire, Candide is steeped in the political and philosophical controversies of the 1750s. But for the general reader, the novel's driving principle is clear enough: the idea (endemic in Voltaire's day) that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and apparent folly, misery and strife are actually harbingers of a greater good we cannot perceive, is hogwash. (http://www.online-literature.com/voltaire/candide/)
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Great Expectations is a coming of
age story that revolves around the life of one man Pip. From the time he was
seven years old until he was in his mid-thirties, Pip shows us the important
events in his life that shaped who he became. Along the way, he acquires a
menagerie of different acquaintances and friends that influence him in his
decisions and goals for his life.
Pip’s story has one main point: no matter what happens to a person in their
life, a person cannot change who they are inside. Pip does not realize this at
first however. From the time he met Estella and Miss Havisham, Pip tried to
change himself to fit a mold that he thought they desired. He began simply,
learning to read and write. As time went on, and his circumstances changed, Pip
pulled farther and farther away from where he came from and in doing that, who
he was. Through his story, people see that this type of change brings him no
joy, and in Pip's case, exactly the opposite. (http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/greatexpectations/)
William Shakespeare plays
The Tempest
My summary: This comedy, the last play Shakespeare ever wrote, was sort of his “Greatest Hits”; it includes bits and pieces of many of his earlier works in a new and original story (the only original story he ever wrote). It concerns a sorcerer shipwrecked on an island with his daughter, a weird half-man/half-fish who lives there, a magical fairy, and an opportunity for revenge.
As You Like It
My summary: A typical Shakespeare comedy full of cross-dressing, hidden identities, petty villains and, of course, love. A duke is deposed by his brother and exiled into the forest of Arden with those who are loyal to him. His daughter, at first allowed to stay in the palace, eventually heads into the woods to find him, dressed as a man and accompanied by her cousin, the new Duke’s daughter. This one ends with a quadruple marriage! It includes the famous “seven ages of man” speech.
The Taming of the Shrew
My summary: Extremely politically incorrect, this comedy deals with a woman who is extremely unlikable and her much sweeter sister. Their father has decreed that the younger one cannot marry until her older sister does, and a man comes to town to try to “tame” her and marry into her fortune. It’s interesting to read this play in the post-feminist era, and there is much to enjoy in it, as last year’s class discovered.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
My summary: Probably Shakespeare’s most well-known comedy, this story of two pairs of exiled lovers in (yet another) forest inhabited by mischievous fairies would be hilarious enough even without its goofiest invention: a bunch of lower class non-actors who are determined to put on what turns out to be an unintentionally hilarious version of “Pyramus and Thisbe” for the Duke’s wedding.
Twelfth Night
My summary: Hmm…shipwrecked on an island, separated from her twin brother, a young woman disguises herself as a man and joins the court of the local duke. Of course, she falls in love with him… (This is the “lighter” play that Queen Elizabeth alludes to at the end of the movie “Shakespeare in Love” when she asks Shakespeare for something fun next time.)
Othello
My summary: One of Shakespeare’s classic tragedies, this play concerns a Moor (an African) named Othello who serves the duke of Venice. He and the daughter of a local official fall in love and secretly marry, starting quite an uproar because, while Othello is respected, he is, after all, not white. Sent off to Cyprus to stem an uprising, Othello falls victim to the evil plots of his deputy, Iago, who seeks to destroy the Moor because Iago had been passed over for a promotion. Very heavy play.