#literary classics

[lycorogue]

From Mina's May 9th letter:

I am told that, with a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears said during a day.

Bram Stoker really was trying to build in a Watsonian reason Jonathan and Mina can transcribe 30-minute monologues hours later...

[cryptonature]

I just came across an article I wrote about Paradise Lost published in 2010. Fifteen years ago seems both very recent and an unthinkably long time ago. I don’t feel terribly connected to that version of me, yet when I read the article I thought, “ah, yes, I recognize this as part of my life.”

Some of the ideas and preoccupations were also familiar.

It’s comforting to meet an older version of myself, perceive him as a stranger, and then tease out the threads of continuity that link us independent of memory. It reminds me that many kinds of interconnectedness do not require my intentional effort or participation.

[rebeccasreveries]

classic genre aesthetic

literary genres

“among your hounds of love i feel your arms surround me. i've always been a coward and never know what's good for me. oh, here i go, don't let me go, hold me down” kate bush, hounds of love

[catihere]

Moby Dick is one of the most brilliant pieces of literature out there and not for the reasons you think. Sure, it’s a great analysis on the state of the human ego in relationship with nature, but it’s also an absolutely hilarious piece from top to bottom. I mean:

•The kickstarter of the story is that, one day, Ishmael, a relatively ordinary man, gets frustrated with his life and the best solution he finds is to give up on everything and go whale hunting on a ship in the middle of nowhere. 100/100, what a fucking mood

•Ishmael is not even his name. If I remember correctly (I haven’t opened this book in three years), he picked his name himself and it means outcast, reject. Really now, why are no transmascs out there naming themselves Ishmael??

•He’s not even the main character but he’s the only one I care about

•This book probably INVENTED the “there was only one bed” trope. It introduced Queequeg by literally making him lie in the same hotel bed as Ishmael. Peak strangers to lovers if you ask me

•That’s not even it. Ishmael, uncomfortable at first, wakes up surprised by how well he slept. And in a later chapter, they are described to lie together as compared to a husband and wife.

•Also, Queequeg is an enormous Polinesian man with Māori tattoos on his face, who BY THE WAY collects human heads. Yeah, that gave Ishmael a very fun first impression of him

•The author breaks the narrative every few chapters to info dump us about whales (sometimes inaccurately, there was no Google in 1850 so I don’t blame him). Oh, yeah, because Herman Melville accidentally embarked on a whale hunting expedition for few years, so Moby Dick is inspired from his experience. But that’s a story for another time.

•My favorite info dump/conspiracy theory that he has is presented right at the start of the book. It’s about how different heroes of mythology and history, including Hercules and Saint George, might have been actually whale hunters. Ishmael is such a dork I can’t-

And these are only the things that I can say off the top of head, with a faint memory of the book from three years ago, when I binge read it in two days, so please feel free to add on. I fucking love Moby Dick go read it right now

[randomtheidiot]

Thought of a slightly entertaining idea where the main characters from all those timeless literary classics that your teachers forced you to read in 7th grade find out they’re in tragedies and desperately try to change the way their stories end.

[opheliarae]

I'm rereading Frankenstein and wanted to note some excerpts that I like. I love this description Robert Walton gives of Victor.

I never saw a more interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of wildness, and even madness; but there are moments when, if anyone performs an act of kindness towards him, or does him any the most trifling service, his whole countenance is lightened up, as it were, with a beam of benevolence and sweetness that I never saw equaled. But he is generally melancholy and despairing; and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppress him.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Letter IV

Master list here. Semi-related gif for funsies.

*Edited from original because I'm a perfectionist and can't make up my mind on formatting (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠)⁠・⁠・⁠・

[zakunni]

Viktor Frankenstein ?¿