Category: Books

I love books and literature, so I decided to open a blog which is all about books. A literary blog is like a personal virtual library. It allows me to express my point of view about my favourite books.

During my childhood, I always enjoyed reading books; hence I’ve become interested in literature. Being an avid reader, I love to write book reviews. At an early age, I started to read books in three languages: Italian, English, and French. And of course, I preferred to read fairy tales by The Brothers Grimm, C. Perrault, H. C. Andersen, and J. Jacobs. Among my favourite fables which I was reading several times, I can list The Frog Prince, The Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Goldilocks, and the Three Bears.

During my teenage years, my focus moved to novels by Jane Austen, the Brontë Sisters, W. Shakespeare, C. Dickens, A. Pushkin, T. Mann, and other European writers. In general, I’ve always been very interested in English literature. I’ve read books by British authors such as G.Chaucer, W.Shakespeare, J.Austen, Brontë sisters, C.Dickens, and V.Woolf ( to cite some of them ).

One of my purposes is to express my perspective on the book I read. Although I do read in French, and my native language is Italian, I will mainly write reviews about English and American novels, because I’m more acquainted with the English language. I want to show a different side of classic books, which can have a connection with our daily life.

Nineteen Eighty-Four – A Novel

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1949 novel by the English author Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote under George Orwell’s pseudonym. It is a dystopian and satirical book about totalitarianism. This novel takes place in Airstrip One (previously Great Britain) in the provinces of Oceania. It is the second novel in my second list of books.

The Social Structure

The Nineteen Eighty-Four book starts with a bright cold day in 1984 to anticipate this story’s harsh and ruthless dynamic. The cult of the Big Brother and the Ingsoc ideology are the bases of this society. There is a pyramidal social structure where the majority consists of proles, the lower working class; the Outer Party composes the middle-class, and the Inner Party represents the upper class. The dictator is the mysterious Big Brother, whose identity is secret. He is a phantasmatic leader who represents the Party. His face appears all over Oceania, in posters and telescreens with the “Big Brother Is Watching You” caption. Microphones and telescreens upholster every bit of the indoors and outdoors. Everyone and everything is under the control of the elitist Inner Party. The role of the Thought Police is to control everybody all the time.

The Ministries

In this lunatic and foolish social structure, there are three different government ministries: the Ministry of Truth, Minitrue, the Ministry of Peace, Minipax, the Ministry of Love, Miniluv and the Ministry of Plenty, Miniplenty. The Minitrue deals with news, entertainment and education; the Minipax is responsible for the war; the Miniluv is in charge of law and order; the Miniplenty manages the economic affairs. The worst among them is the Miniluv. The main character of this catastrophic scenario is Winston Smith, who works for the Minitrue. In Oceania, the official language is the Newspeak which consists of a minimal amount of words. Furthermore, the third most populous region of Oceania is Airstrip One, whose chief city is London. And it is in London that all the episodes occur.

A Ridiculous Propaganda

The three slogans of the Party are: War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery and Ignorance Is Strength. It sums up the concept of the ideal citizen who must be an ignorant slave and fanatic supporter of the Big Brother. Hence, instincts, free-thinking, love, and individualism are illegal. And every thought and emotion is meticulously scrutinised as much as actions. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the people’s enemy is Emmanuel Goldstein, one of the Party leaders; after he engaged in revolutionary activities, he escaped and disappeared. Everyone hated and despised Goldstein. Winston hates the Big Brother, the Party and the Thought Police. These three heinous entities fight the thoughtcrime, which consists of unorthodox thoughts and rejection of the Party’s doctrine.

The Thoughtcrime

Winston keeps remembering ancient times when he was a child, and there were privacy, love and friendship. Therefore, he firmly believes that thoughtcrime involves death, recognising himself as a dead man. Indeed, the deprivation of feelings and freedom gave birth to a society made of fear, hatred and pain; and the old England was now Airstrip one. Another slogan of the Party is: “Who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present, controls the past”. A mist surrounds every memory of Winston because he remembers only sporadic events. Briefly, he realises that whoever displeases the Party, disappears mysteriously. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, marriages were happening among Party members with the approval of a committee, with the condition that the two parts were not feeling any mutual attraction. The only purpose of marriages was the procreation of children for the service of the Party.

An Unbearable Existence

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, love is an unthinkable act because of the denial of feelings and affection. The Party considered the proles as natural inferiors such as animals. Hence there is no need to indoctrinate them with the ideology. And to exploit the proles, the only requirement is a mere patriotism. They are free from telescreens, daily inspections, and puritanism. Indeed, another Party slogan is: “Proles and animals are free”.

On the contrary, Winston’s life is a blend of a nebulous past and lies, which become truth. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Big Brother’s hypnotic eye is everywhere, even on the children’s books. And it is a coercive and frightening way to manipulate the minds. Literature is banned, and the only legal books are the ones about the doctrine of the Party. Therefore the history and the past are erased. Nobody escapes torture and detection.

Thoughts And Dreams

Not only thoughts and speeches are under examination but also dreams, which are the unconsciousness’s expression. Even during the sleep, the mind must control itself and love the Big Brother. On this purpose, the children are often spies, who denounce their parents, and their loyalty to the Party replaces their love for their parents. Moreover, no emotion is pure because the fear and hate contaminate everything. Nevertheless, Winston has a love affair with a girl, Julia, who hates the Party. They both try to survive, even though they break the rules, know that their death can come in a moment. Among all the social classes, the proles remain human, keeping their primitive emotions. In the end, Winston will go through several years of tortures, which will reshape his mind as brand new, inducing him to love and venerate only the Big Brother.

Cogito Ergo Sum

The Party’s logic finds its explanation in the concept of perception of reality, where truth and lie are consequences of the thoughts. A principle recalls René Descartes’s philosophy, who stated that “I think; therefore I am”. In this sense, reality exists because we think about it. As he explained: “We cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt”. Moreover, the self-evident truth of “two plus two equals four” exists only in the human mind. The English writer Samuel Johnson used to affirm that you may have a reason to assert that two plus two equals five. In the Nineteen Eighty-Four novel, what is essential to the Party is that every mind subordinates to the Party doctrine. As a consequence, the power of thinking must overcome reality; nothing exists outside the human mind.

The Zombies Of Nineteen Eighty-Four

The Big Brother Party’s ultimate ambition is to create a crowd of brainless zombies, who obey the Party’s doctrine unconditionally. The real interest of the Party and every type of dictatorship is to seek power for its own sake. And of course, they don’t care about the wellness of the multitude. As O’Brien, the torturer of Winston claims: “One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power”. No individuality is allowed since each individual is a mere cell of a social organism. Thence, individuals achieve power as soon as they lose their identity. And they cease to exist, living a grey life of zombies without emotions nor freedom.

Considerations

It is essential to read this book because it reminds that dictatorship and totalitarianism are very dangerous and terrible. Nevertheless, even nowadays, many people are nostalgic for authoritarian regimes, perpetuating many tortures, murders and heinous crimes. I find unbearable and unbelievable that even nowadays there are groups of fanatics, who organise marches, which recall horrible atrocities both in Europe and in the USA, where this happens with the local authorities’ consent. I really cannot understand how it is legit to justify racism and people’s murders in the name of lunatic ideologies. Indeed the past should show how to avoid such horrific injustices and massacres. It seems humans did not learn from history and keep perpetuating the same depravities.

August 30, 2020
The 84 Charing Cross Road Book

84, Charing Cross Road is the first book on my second list, and it is an epistolary 1970 book by Helene Hanff. It is about her twenty-year correspondence with the English bookseller Frank Doel.

The Beginning of a Long Correspondence

84, Charing Cross Road is an epistolary short book, which is not only about books and literature. It starts on the 5th of October 1949, when Helene writes her first letter to the Marks & Co. antiquarian library in London. She discovers this library because of an advertisement about “antiquarian booksellers”. In her first letter, Miss Hanff describes herself as a “poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books”. Indeed, her tastes did not encounter any match in New York libraries, where the rare editions were expensive, and she found “grimy” the editions at Barnes & Noble. Helene prefers clean secondhand copies of the books she specifies in her letters. Hence, it starts a correspondence between Helene and some employees of the bookshop. In the beginning, the tone of the letters is formal, but things change with the time.

Informal Letters

After some time, Helene starts to write about herself and her life. She describes herself as a Jew with a Catholic sister-in-law, a Methodist sister-in-law, different Presbyterian cousins and a Christian Science healer aunt. Helene starts sending to the bookshop other gifts, which consist mainly of food. On December 20, 1949, Frank Doel starts a long-distance epistolary conversation with Helene. Miss Hanff portrays herself as a script-reader and writer working in her small and cold ground-floor apartment in New York. Although she lives in moth-eaten sweaters and wool slacks, she spends her savings in antique books, and she is very fond of British literature.

The correspondence continues

In one letter Cecily, one of the bookshop employees, writes the Yorkshire Pudding recipe for Helene, who immensely appreciates it. In another letter, Helene complains about how America helps Japan and Germany financially, letting England starve. Helene adds to her wishlist also vocal scores such as the Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah ( I personally love Bach! ). She keeps sending food parcels to the bookshop because of the food shortage in Britain after the Second World War. The bookshop sends gifts to Helene as well, such as a hand-embroidered Irish linen tablecloth. Another time Frank Doel invites Helene to his and his wife house in her future trip to England. Miss Hanff keeps writing scripts for the television, and her screenplays have artistic backgrounds as she describes in one of her letters. Although Helene doesn’t like fictional novels, she is fond of Jane Austen and her Pride & Prejudice book.

The last part of the book

Helene keeps postponing her trip to Britain due to her precarious financial status. After some time, she gets a new job as a writer of American History dramatisations, and after that, she starts writing a book about the story of his life. Helene expresses herself so informally with the expression “You and your Olde English books! You see how it is, Frankie, you’re the only soul alive who understands me”. The correspondences between Helene and Frank continues until his death, which happened on December 22, 1968. Despite Helene and Frank never met, they were close friends mostly due to their bibliophilia and some affinity. The bookshop Marks & Co. ceased every business on December 1970, and a commemorative round brass plaque was placed on the left of the bookshop entrance.

Just a few words

This lovely book is about the passion for books, literature, music and culture in general. Unfortunately, when Helene visited England, she did not have any chance to see the bookshop, which had been an anchor in her life for twenty years. At that moment she realised the importance to write a book about this story. The book had immediate success, and it became a cult book, which Miss Hanff would define as “my little nothing book”. In 1971, Helene visited Charing Cross Road and the empty shop, besides visiting London and Southern England. She met Nora, Frank Doel’s widow, and the daughter Sheila. Helene never married preferring her own company and not needing a life partner. Since I’ve never been to the UK, I plan a trip in the future as well. Since the age of six, I started learning English, and I have a tremendous English literature passion.

August 17, 2020
My Second List Of Books
My second list of books includes twelve novels that I sorted by title. These novels belong to American, British, and German literature.
1. 1. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff 84, Charing Cross Road is a 1970 epistolary book and is the first in my second list of books. This novel is about books and English literature and about twenty years of correspondence between the writer Helene, who lived in New York, and her friend Frank Doel from London. Their shared love for books and literature connected them in a long time close friendship.
  2. 1984 by George Orwell 1984 is a satirical, futuristic, dystopian novel about totalitarianism depriving individuality and freedom. It is the second novel in my second list of books. The year of publication is 1949, and it takes place in a province of the superstate Oceania in the year 1984. The main character is Winston Smith, who dreams about a revolution against the totalitarian Party.
  3. The Aeronauts: Travels in the Air By James Glaisher
    The third novel in my second list of books is The Aeronauts book about extraordinary flights and discoveries. The main character is the scientist James Glaisher, who explored the skies like no one before and the book’s author. A meteorologist and photographer with a passion for hot balloons and sky exploration. A book of discoveries during incredible travels in the air.
  4. Animal Farm by George Orwell
    The fourth book on my list is Animal Farm, which is an allegorical story. It is a dystopian novel by the English author George Orwell, who published it in 1945. The plot is about a group of farm animals, which organises a revolution against irresponsible human farmers. The animals dream about equality, freedom and happiness.
  5. The Blue Castle by L.M. MontgomeryThe Blue Castle is the fifth novel in my second list of books, and it is a 1926 novel by the Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. This romance takes place in Canada before the First World War, and the protagonist is Valancy Stirling. She is a single woman who lives unhappily with her distressful family. She escapes from reality, dreaming about a blue castle.
  6. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
    The sixth novel in my second list of books is Cranford, which is a well-known novel. Elizabeth Gaskell published it between 1851 and 1853. The background of this novel is a small English town in the mid-nineteenth century. The protagonists are the two spinster sisters Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, and it is a portrait of a small society of women.
  7. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton The seventh book on my list is The Custom of the Country, a 1913 novel and a literary masterwork by the American author Edith Wharton. It is the story of Undine Spragg, a beautiful and ambitious girl. She is a fortune seeker who uses her beauty and charm only to marry a rich man.
  8. The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
    The Diary of a Nobody is an 1892 English comic novel, which describes Charles Pooter’s chronicles daily in a narrow-minded society. It is the eighth novel in my second list of books, and it is a daily diary, which collects the memories of his ordinary middle-class life.
  9. Effie: The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais by Suzanne Fagence Cooper The ninth book is Effie, which is about the beautiful and intelligent Effie Gray’s adventures a young Scottish socialite living in the Victorian era. She was an extraordinary woman who supported her husband’s career, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais.
  10. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim The Enchanted April is the tenth book in my second list of books. It is a 1922 novel about four women living in England and going to Portofino to spend a holiday in an Italian castle. In Italy, they enjoy an unforgettable period in an enchanting and beautiful place.
  11. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
    
    In my second list of books, the eleventh novel is Far from the Madding Crowd, an 1874 book, the fourth novel of Thomas Hardy and his first success. It takes place in rural Wessex in the 1860s, and the protagonist is Bathsheba Everdene, a farmer. She has an independent and fearless personality. This novel is full of turmoils, tragedies and heartbreak.
  12. Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    
    Faust is a classic German legend about the successful historian Johann Georg Faust, who finds discontent in his life. He makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for indefinite knowledge and enjoyment. In the end, Faust will find destruction and redemption. It is the twelfth novel on my list.
August 9, 2020
The Novel Of Orlando

Orlando is the last novel in my first list of books. This novel dates back to 1928, and it is the most famous fantasy novel by Virginia Woolf. It is a revolutionary romance because of the unusual subject in that historical period.

The Novel of Orlando

At the beginning of the novel, the main character is an English nobleman, Orlando, a page of Queen Elizabeth I and a poet. Orlando isolates themself in their countryside house after a heartbreak and the queen’s death. During this period, they dedicate their time writing and contemplating nature, life, and death. Subsequently, they become an ambassador in Constantinople before King Charles. In this mysterious period, Orlando becomes a woman, and they go back to England as Lady Orlando. They will live as a woman for the following two centuries. In this period, they marry, and they continue to be a writer. The tale ends up in the year 1928, which is the year of publication of this novel.

Time and Death

Time and death appear to be an obsession for Orlando. Indeed, they enjoy passing years in solitude, writing poetry and reflecting about time and death starting from their isolation period. In this period, their obsession for death and decay is dominant, and time to time, they disconnect from reality and society. At the beginning of the novel, Orlando is a boy who loves nature and solitude. Their favourite place is under an oak tree and after a period of distress in the Elizabethan society, they fall into a mood of melancholy, thinking about death. They meditate about the thin line that separates happiness from melancholy. Orlando is obsessed with death since nothing is everlasting.

Solitude and Poetry

At the beginning of the second chapter, something mysterious happens to Orlando. After seven days of a deep sleep, they wake up with few memories of their past, and they meditate about the link between nature and death and life. Solitude was their choice, secluding themself in the big house of their fathers. Indeed, they pass their time into the crypt of their ancestors, where they think that even if people are merry and celebrate, one day they will die. Everything turns to dust, and nothing remains of all the illustrious persons. Death and decay are their constant thoughts. Life is not worth living anymore; hence Orlando sinks into a deep sadness. Since they were a child, they developed a passion for books and literature. Mostly now, the young Orlando spends several hours reading books and writing poetry. Before they were twenty-five years old, Orlando wrote forty-seven romantic plays, novels and poems, in English, French and Italian.

Orlando and Nature

In this novel, nature appears quite often as background and constant companion of Orlando. Although they are thirty years old, they learned that love, ambition, women and poets are delusory. Dogs and nature are the only trustable things. They always refer to their elkhound and a rose bush. So they seclude themself to avoid the external world, spending all their time reading and writing. Their favourite place is under an oak tree. Years passed, and although time passed, nothing happened. The time of the clock and the time in the mind seem to be different for them. Indeed, the time appeared long as they were thinking for a person of their age, but actions seemed to become short. Their timeline was very long, and it was surprisingly similar to a journey in a desert of vast eternity. The oak tree hideout was their place, where they contemplated about love, friendship and literature.

Constantinople Journey

Orlando wrote the long poem “The Oak Tree, A Poem”, spending nights and days writing during this indefinitely long isolation. Once they encountered the mysterious Archduchess Harriet Griselda of Finster-Aarhorn and Scandop-Boom from Roumania, a cousin of the queen visiting England. The attentions of Harriet became too obsessive, and her chasing caused the departure of Orlando from England. And so Orlando moves to Constantinople with the title of Ambassador Extraordinary at the service of King Charles. The fantastic novel of Orlando is a biographical novel, and Virginia Woolf plays the role of narrator. Virginia portrays the life of Orlando as a vague mystery. During their Constantinople journey, the Ambassador keeps themself very busy among wax, seals, ribbons, documents and letters. Orlando never loses their charm, beauty and romantic glamour. Although many women and men were adoring and admiring them, Orlando lived a solitary life without friends.

The Mysterious Transition

During their journey in Constantinople, Orlando’s life takes a radical turn. After a long sleep, they wake up as a woman. Even though they become a woman, their nature and personality remained the same. They leave Constantinople, with a gipsy and a donkey; their adventures seem to be more intricate from now. The group of gipsies, who accepted them, noticed the vast cultural discrepancies. Their adoration of the beauty of nature was absurd for the gipsies. Orlando describes fiercely their big house with several rooms, a sign of their wealth and nobility. Virginia Woolf expresses an essential concept in the following lines “No passion is stronger in the breast of man than the desire to make others believe as he believes. Nothing so cuts at the root of his happiness and fills him with rage as the sense that another rate lows the prizes high. It is not love of truth but desire to prevail that sets quarter against quarter and makes parish desire parish’s downfall. Each seeks peace of mind and subserviency rather than the triumph of truth and exaltation of virtue”. Hence Lady Orlando decides to go back to England, where they embrace a new life as a noblewoman.

The New Life of Lady Orlando

The second part of the Orlando novel is about their life as a woman. They go back to their house although now they are a lady in the Victorian period, dividing their time in writing, reading and mundane events. These social events were accessible only to the aristocracy and Orlando when felt a disappointment due to that society’s frivolity and emptiness. Occasionally in their house, they meet the ghosts of notable poets. With the time they lose some illusions to acquire others, and their joy consists in writing. In this period, Orlando meets Archduchess Harriet again, who reveals herself as a man, but they reject the Archduchy proposal for the second time. Finally, Orlando is delighted to be alone and enjoy their solitude. They realise the difference between the two sexes after they start wearing modest and feminine clothes. They believe that clothes become important ornaments, conditioning the mood of the person wearing them.

The Two Sides of Orlando

Since their transition happened, Orlando coexisted different sides of their personality, which were sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine. They were tender-hearted mostly forward animals, and they detested the household activities. They were riding very well and driving several horses at the same time. Sometimes they were crying emotionally for a slight provocation, and they were not fond of mathematics and geography. So their personality was a blend of masculine and feminine impulses. In this novel, Virginia Woolf expresses her perspective about the period during Queen Anne’s reign, considering it splendid and exquisite, even though the society was superficial and worthless. Orlando frequently joined parties of aristocracy and nobility as a proper socialite. In the beginning, they felt great enjoyment, but afterwards, they became disgusted. Society can be pleasing and evil, but it owns a potent essence, which can be intoxicating and addictive. Suddenly the elite becomes tedious and repulsive. Hence Orlando avoids social encounters.

Illusions and Truth

Orlando believes that illusions are precious and necessary among all the things in life. Dreams are essential for the soul as much as the atmosphere is vital to the Earth. Lady Orlando lives in a delusional confusion. Sometimes it occurs that they wear their old nobleman clothes embracing their masculine nature from the past. Every night they enjoy wandering outdoor when there are not so many people around. Orlando likes to entertain themself with both the sexes. Their dual nature offers them all kind of experiences and amusements, having relationships with both the genders. Nonetheless, books, literature and poetry remain a big passion in their life.

The Nineteenth Century

The last two chapters take place in the nineteenth century, the period contemporary with the author. A turbulent welter of cloud covers all the city of London. Darkness and confusion are spreading all over. The eighteenth-century ends up, and the nineteenth century begins. The weather changes, and it is rainier. There is a rise of muffins, coffee, artificial flowers, pianofortes and china ornaments. Women’s life target is marriage, and having as many children as possible. Orlando carries their manuscript “The Oak Tree” with them wherever they go. The date on the first page of the script was 1586, and they worked on it for three hundred years. After all these centuries, they realised that they remained the same person. Their personality was unaltered despite their transition. Their meditative side, their love for animals and nature remain immutable, although now there was Queen Victoria instead of Queen Elizabeth.

The Last Part of Orlando Novel

Orlando kept their Elizabethan spirit during the nineteenth century, which is too much antipathetic to their personality. Now they are in complete solitude, and they feel very lonely. They define themself as single, mateless and alone. Although they met several men and women in their life, Orlando concludes that they don’t understand human nature deeply. They realised that it was better to lie in peace, surrounded by nature. And it is in this right moment that they meet their last husband. Indeed, Orlando was previously married to a Spanish dancer and had three sons. Even though they belong to the nobility and they still own their estate, they become poor. Finally, Orlando succeeds to publish their precious manuscript, and they become a famous writer. They win a prize for The Oak Tree poem, which they kept writing years after years with devotion and love. They are a beautiful person, kind to dogs, faithful to friends and very fond of poetry. After all those years of writing, the world seemed the same, considering that also after their death, the course of the events would be immutable.

Orlando: A Biography

This novel is a dedication to Vita Sackville-West, who is represented by Orlando. It is a phantasmagoria of Vita’s life during three centuries. Nigel Nicolson, son of Vita, defined Orlando as “the longest and most charming love letter in literature“. And Vita was delighted with the book. This book is a fictional biography of Orlando, who embodies a non-binary person. Indeed, Their spirituality and intellect define Orlando, not their gender; in fact, what matters is their soul and mind. Solitude, poetry and literature remain the loyal companions of Orlando years after years and century after century. Moreover, the last day in the novel is the first day of 1928, the women’s suffrage in Britain.

August 7, 2020
Mrs Dalloway By Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is her fourth novel and the publication year is 1925. It is a parallel portrayal of this book’s two main characters: Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith.

Virginia Woolf and Mrs Dalloway

Clarissa Dalloway is a rich woman in her fifties, and Septimus Warren Smith is a war veteran. While Septimus struggles to recover from his post-traumatic stress disorder, Clarissa is organising a party, recalling old memories. The happening of the party of Clarissa is simultaneous with the decline of Septimus’s mental conditions. Virginia Woolf expresses a subtle critic of the medical profession and society classism. There is a correlation between the personal experience of the author and the characters of this fictional book. Indeed, Woolf had bipolar disorder, and the suicide theme appears in the novel as anticipation of Virginia’s life end. And of course, the thematic of feminism is present with the contrast between rich and working women. Clarissa is a rich and gracious woman in her fifties who is married. And she recalls memories of herself falling in love with her girlfriend, Sally Seton. Sally is a girl of French descent and with a peculiar personality. Miss Seton is unconventional with a bit of egotism, and she doesn’t follow society’s rules. Clarissa and Sally have a platonic relationship even though both of them married later on. The personality of the writer is split into the characters of Clarissa and Septimus. Indeed, they embody two different aspects of Mrs Woolf’s personality.

The torments of Virginia

Unquestionably this book reflects some personal aspects of Virginia’s life with all the emotional implications. Virginia Woolf was in a long relationship with the writer Vita Sackville-West starting from 1922. Virginia found generous support in Vita during her struggles with depression. Mrs Woolf had nervous breakdowns during her life, and her depression was getting worse as she was ageing. Depression that culminated in her suicide when she was 59 years old. In the last letter to her husband Leonard, Virginia, was describing her mental issues. She started to hear voices, and she was feeling powerless in front of her terrible disease (as she describes it). And so she decided to stop spoiling her husband life, with this extreme and improper decision. She wrote to her husband that even though he tried to make her happy, her illness prevented her from enjoying her marital life with him. In the character of Septimus, Virginia describes her mental conditions, such as his hallucinations and hearing voices, in particular, the one of Evans, who died during the war.

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

A hypocrite society

In this novel, the society is hypocrite, superficial and insensitive. It is clear when Septimus is under the “cares” of doctor Holmes, who underestimates the gravity of his mental conditions. On the contrary, the doctor puts under pressure the poor Mr Smith, with his daily intrusions in the patient’s house against Mrs Reza Smith’s will, the wife of Septimus. The disillusion in human nature, the feelings of loneliness, desertion, and condemnation from a society that only judge and isolate without helping, fuel the despair of Septimus Smith. He gives up since he cannot bear the judgement of people who, in his believes, wants him dead for social wellbeing. The specialist doctor Bradshaw, well known for mental breakdown cases, prescribes merely a period of rest in a nursing home. The anguish of Septimus was the same as Virginia’s one when she decided that she couldn’t bear living her life anymore. This novel is a subtle accusation against the medical circle described as arrogant, superficial and inhumane. The same superficiality allows Clarissa Dalloway to live in her fake world made of parties and unnamed friends. Indeed, she got to know the suicide of a young man while enjoying her party. In her opinion death were defiance and an attempt to communicate, not feeling any compassion for him.

Image by F. Muhammad from Pixabay

Impressions

The unusual features of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf are a reflection of the writer’s polyhedric personality. She was a feminist and a bisexual when bisexuality was unusual and considered a transgression. After the year 1970, her books were an inspiration for the group of feminists. The main themes of this fictional-and-not novel are life, death, love, and mental health. The contrast between the lightness and frivolity of the rich Clarissa and the dramatic struggle of Septimus is the metaphor of Virginia’s two sides. Unusual book but also very tragic, it is a masterwork of English literature.

July 7, 2020
The Vanity Fair Novel

Vanity Fair is a satirical novel by the British author William Makepeace Thackeray. In this fictional novel, there is not a hero, and the author uses a first-person narrative. The inspiration came from the opera “The Pilgrim’s Progress” of John Bunyan. Indeed, Thackeray expresses his points of view, philosophical visions, and critics about society.

A Novel Without A Hero

In this novel, there are different main characters. Economic and social statuses are critical in the Vanity Fair society. The society of the British Regency period is under the conscientious analysis of the writer, who adopts a tone, which is satirical, ironic and cynic. In that historical period, merchant companies and banks were growing as well as the East India Company. I have to confess that I found this book very unusual, and I noticed that the reader is never passive. On the contrary, I felt involved with the adventures involving the characters. I had the impression to be in a theatre, suffering and enjoying passionately with most of the characters.

The Vanity Fair Society

The vicious and misogynist society of the Regency period in England was very insensitive to women ( I would also add cynic! ). Undoubtedly, a woman was supposed to marry a man who could ensure her financial stability. In this way, she could belong to a high social rank. In Vanity Fair, the unmarried women or “spinsters” can only find despite, pity and solitude. Indeed, this is a society of ageists, conformists and hypocrites. It is a human jungle where people have to fight for their survival. Usually, the winners belong to the wealthy and élitaire class, leaving the poor and pleb in their despair. The most important value is the economic condition of a person and their social status.

The Adventurer Becky

In this novel, there is no hero; nevertheless, the naive and honest Amelia could be the heroine of this unusual romance. Amelia embodies all the good traits of the traditional woman of those times. She is so humble, submissive, feminine, good-natured, loyal and naive. Nevertheless, she is not so well-educated and independent, differently from Becky. Vanity Fair is the best place to find the adventurers, who live day by day, improvising like actors without a script. Rebecca or Becky is the queen of an audacious and adventurous life. She is the antithesis of Amelia. Indeed she is amoral, selfish and greedy. Nevertheless, Rebecca is brilliant, beautiful, cultured and very smart. She doesn’t run after moral values. Becky uses people as tools to improve her social status. Moreover, she is nonconformist and shameless.

Starting A New Life

In the first part of Vanity Fair, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp are the main female characters. They just finished the school at the Miss Pinkerton’s academy for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall. They start a new life, which I would define the real-life once they became two adults. The taste of this novel is bitter and sweet. There is a tragicomedy where nobody wins. Every victory and glorious moment will end up like lifeless creatures at the end of their days. Amelia’s father is a merchant in London, so she belongs to a wealthy family. On the contrary, Becky is the daughter of a late English painter and a French opera-girl. Rebecca is a good singer and dancer. Additionally, she also speaks French fluently, and she embroiders splendidly.

Rebecca’s Childhood

Becky had an unfortunate and sad childhood with a father beating the wife and the daughter under the alcohol effects. When he was sober, he was spending his time with other artists in Soho. Hence, Rebecca was meeting different artists in taverns. She used to speak French with her mother, who was from Paris. Rebecca was not a rich girl differently to the other girls of the Pinkerton Academy. The author describes her as a small, pale, sandy-haired girl with bright green eyes. Indeed an attractive, beautiful and clever girl started to be a “woman” when she was eight years old, after her mother’s death. The society “blames” her because she doesn’t belong to a wealthy nor aristocratic family, so she is not entitled to a good match.

Sedley’s House

The beginning of a new life for both Amelia and Becky takes place at Sedley’s house. Here Becky starts to practice her alluring arts of a charming actress. Rebecca wants to captivate the attention of Joseph Sedley. Jos is Amelia’s brother and, he is a vain and a selfish boy, who is a real dandy. In Becky’s eyes, he is perfect because he is rich and belongs to a prosperous family. She tries every effort to get involved in a relationship with Jos. Nevertheless, in the end, the boy refuses her, and she leaves Sendley family to embrace a new life. In this period, Amelia, or Emmy, meets again her childhood friend George Osborne, a very handsome, aristocratic and selfish lad. George belongs to a merchant family, which is richer than the Sedley family, and Emmy is genuinely in love with him. Another character is Captain William Dobbin, who is the best friend of George Osborne, and he falls in love with Amelia.

At Queen’s Crawley

After a period at the Sedley’s, Rebecca Sharp moves to her next destination, Crawley’s house, as Sir Pitt Crawley’s two daughters’ governess. Sir Pitt Crawley, is baronet and owner of Queen’s Crawley; and he has two sons, Pitt and Rawdon, from the first marriage, and two daughters, from the second marriage. Becky gets married to Rawdon, who is an officer passing most of his time gambling. In the same period, Amelia gets married to George. Lord Osborne is very stunned and upset because he doesn’t like Amelia with her family.

Flow Of Events In Vanity Fair

During the Battle of Waterloo, all the main characters go to Brussels. Jos Sedley escapes, and George dies in the campaign. Becky neglects and hates her child, little Rawdon. Oppositely to Becky, Emmy loves her child, Georgy. The Seidler’s misery forces Amelia to entrust her child to Lord Osborne, who adopts little Georgy. Emmy and Becky’s friendship ends up with many tensions before George’s death, who was in love with Rebecca. Once a widow, Emmy lives in miserable conditions with her parents due to his father’s businesses’ bankruptcy. After her parents’ death, Emmy moves to a better house with her child Georgy and her brother Jos. She makes new acquaintances of the sophisticated world, and she enjoys her new life. Time to time, William Dobbin visits her after he confessed to Amelia that he loved her for twelve years.

The End Of Vanity Fair

Once Rawdon repudiates Becky, he will end his days in Coventry Island as governor. The exaggeration of Rebecca’s improper behaviour, flirting with different men, is why her lousy reputation in all aristocrats. Her ambition to be part of the aristocracy ruined her. And it is at this very moment that she experiences rejection and solitude. So Becky travels a lot, moving from one place to another, living in different countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Belgium. She enjoys her adventurous life meeting several people up to the day she meets Jos Sedley, her first “love”. She convinces him to rescue her from her misery and poverty, and Amelia invites Rebecca to live in her house. The naive Emmy will know once for all that her late husband did not love her, and he was cheating Amelia. And so, for Amelia, this is the turning point in her life, and she abandons her past grief.

Some Curiosities

Some character has a family name related to their nature. For example, sharp can refer to a razor’s sharpness since the men involved romantically with Becky died. Furthermore, sharp in archaic English was a synonym of cheating. Indeed, she cheated different times her husband Rawdon with very wealthy and aristocratic men. In Vanity Fair novel, there is an obsession with lavishness and luxuriance. Indeed, it is crucial belonging to a wealthy and influential family. The primary purpose of women life is to find a rich and respectable husband. Women could work only as governesses and servants. Only a few educated women were embracing the career of the writer. Rebecca is a very erudite woman, but her main goal is to marry a rich and aristocratic man. In her house, she welcomes pleasantly different men, entertaining them like a “showgirl”. Besides singing wonderfully, she knows how to be engaging and charming.

Notes

The Vanity Fair novel is a metaphor of the human vanities, and it’s perfectly suitable in modern times. Happiness and misery can coexist in this picturesque tragicomedy where there is no shortage of twists and turns. An example is when Rawdon finds his wife, Becky, in the company of the wealthy aristocrat Lord Steyne in the middle of the night. The author defines this book as a comic story. Comic as the charade which is staged in one of the several parties organised by Lord Steyne. In this pantomime, the excellent actress Becky (actress in real life and on stage), plays Clytemnestra. Of course, nothing happens by mistake in this vanity parade! Like Clytemnestra, who killed her husband, Becky Sharp is in a certain way related to the death of the beloved Rawdon and Jos. Becky bewitches with her enchanting voice and beauty. Her charisma, self-confidence, culture and intelligence attract men of all ages and social ranks. Nevertheless, she is cold minded, and she knows how to get what she wants.

At The End

I would say that the behaviour of Rebecca Sharp reminds me of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. In Machiavelli’s opera, we find the sentence “il fine giustifica I mezzi”, which means that the goal justifies the actions. And so it does not matter the way we reach our goals rather the plan itself. Rebecca embodies this “virtue”, which is described by Machiavelli. Indeed, she always achieved her dreams no matter if she used people as puppets. Undeniably, there are so many Rebeccas, both women and men, who don’t care so much about others’ welfare and exploit people viciously, being aware of their selfishness and narcissism.

Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied? – Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out. William Makepeace Thackeray.

June 4, 2020
The Queen Of Spades By Pushkin

The Queen Of Spades by Pushkin is a masterpiece of international literature and one of my favourite books. It is one of the most well-known and famous novels by the Russian writer.

The Queen Of Spade

The Queen of Spade is a short novel, which Alexander Pushkin published in 1834. This mysterious and minimal story takes place in Petersburg city. It is a tale where gambling and the supernatural find space in a bizarre and disillusioned ambience. The protagonist is Hermann, an army engineer, who loses his mind and becomes mad. The Queen of Spade’s style is detached, and there is a minimal description of the events involving Hermann, the old countess, and her godchild Lisaveta. I’ve read this short novel so many times that I barely remember how many!

A Very Bizarre Tale

Undoubtedly, The Queen Of Spades is one of the most unusual novels, which I’ve ever read in my life. It is a bizarre novel where reality and transcendent meet together. I would define it as a surrealistic book because of the oniric atmosphere. Hermann is obsessed with the three cards secret, which involves the Countess Anna Fedorovna. He is very captived by gambling and money. When the countess dies in front of him, he is indifferent and only bothered he couldn’t discover the three-card secret. After her death, the countess appears to Hermann in the guise of a ghost. She confesses to him the mystery of the three cards. He uses the affection and sensibility of Lisaveta, who is a virtuous and naive girl taking care of the countess. Hermann becomes crazy because of the countess’s visions and obsession with the three cards (a three, a seven and an ace). He ends up in a psychiatric hospital, where he keeps repeating “A three, a seven and an ace”.

The Metaphor Of The Queen Of Spades

The Queen Of Spades by Pushkin is a metaphor of the human obsessions with money and success. Hermann behaves like a predator, following his prey, Lisaveta. He is a fool, and he believes his focus will conduce him to victory. In the last card game, he makes a mistake, and instead of an ace, he will find the queen of spades with the resemblance of the countess winking one eye at him sarcastically. This novel is a supernatural tale, where the ambiguous Hermann is a man with a strong resemblance of Napoleon and the soul of Mephistopheles. In this book, the recurrent numbers are the one, three and seven, and the cell where Hermann ends up imprisoned is the number 17. These numbers could be a reference to the masonic symbolism. In this novel, it is evident that Pushkin describes the characters sarcastically. Hermann is a fool and stupid man, Lisa is too much naive, and victim of the countess and Hermann. The countess is a kind of ancient ornament, and Pushkin described her undressing scene with sarcasm. The famous composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky produced a homonym opera in three acts, with a slightly different plot.

April 24, 2020
Good Wives By Louisa May Alcott

Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott is the second book of Little Women. As they grow, the March sisters follow different life paths. The publication year of this novel was 1869; a year later of the publication of Little Women.

Little Women And Good Wives

In Good Wives, the four March sisters are in their adulthood. I’ve found this book interesting and engaging. In this novel, which is a continuation of Little Women, the March sisters grew up, and they have different purposes in life. For example, Amy becomes a very educated and classy girl. She improves her knowledge of art during her visit to Europe. Meg is a wife and mother, and Jo becomes more feminine and sweet. This book is not just a “continuation” of Little Women. It is a new world, which discloses at your eyes once you have read Little Women. It worths your attention. This time the tomboy Jo finds an additional way to express her womanhood. Indeed, Jo March can balance career and marriage; in fact, she is a writer and teacher. Differently to Jo March, Louisa never got married.

A Sour-Sweet Book

Good Wives has a sour-sweet flavour because it is not a real happy ending novel. I felt sad about Beth, and each character goes through life events, which sometimes are challenging. Each of them has a fragile and robust nature. Moreover, Meg, Jo and Amy get married even though their personalities are pretty different. It’s like Louisa wanted that the girls settle for marriage to fulfil the nineteenth century’s social conventions. I think that the purpose of Louisa was to make the readers happy since the majority of her readers were women. Indeed, even though Louisa was not sure to write Little Women’s continuation, her reader affection and attention induced her to write Good Wives. But this time she got inspired by her fantasy rather than by her family. It is a sweet-sour book, which makes cry and smile, involving the readers in the characters’ several adventures.

April 21, 2020
The Little Women Novel

Little Women is an 1868 novel, which is a literary treasure by Louisa May Alcott. The main characters are four young sisters, and the mise en scène is in New England. For many years this book has been considered a book for children, especially for girls.

The March Sisters in Little Women

The March sisters are four girls with different personalities. Margaret, Meg, is the oldest one, she is 16, pretty and responsible for the household; she is a bit vain about her white hands, and she represents the ideal and typical woman of that period. Josephine, Jo, is the boyish girl of the family and, even if she is only 15, she is a writer. Elizabeth, Beth, is a 13 years girl who is adorable, kind and compassionate about the others. Amy is the youngest one, being 12 years old, she likes to paint, she is vain and loves to wear beautiful dresses. I appreciate Amy because I do love figurative arts, and to dress feminine and fancy. Besides Amy, Jo March is one of my favourite characters because she is not the typical girl who only takes care of the house; besides, she doesn’t aim to marry. The four sisters live with their mother, Mrs March, Marmee, and, Hannah, the house’s maid. Mr Robert March, the father of the girls, serves in the Civil War.

Louisa May Alcott And Josephine March

In the novel Little Women, the four sisters deal with different daily activities. Meg is responsible for the other girls, and sometimes she is tutoring them. Jo is a writer, and she passes her free time with her best friend, Laurie; Beth is a musician, and she adores to play the piano; Amy is a student at school, loves art, and paints in her spare time. In Little Women, the March sisters love to read, and they are very attentive to their mother. Although they have some quarrel, they are very connected. The most peculiar character is Jo March because, in that period, it was unusual for a woman to be a writer, and she doesn’t have the intention to marry. Oppositely to Meg, who is very feminine and obedient, Jo is a rebel, self-confident and erudite girl. Louisa May Alcott identified herself with the character of Josephine. Indeed, Louisa was the second oldest girl among four sisters, and she did not intend to marry. Joe is unconventional, brave and a dreamer. Her joyful moments are mainly at her aunt’s attic, where she finds delight in reading and writing. Joe has a particular temper, although she is devoted to her family. Similarly, Louisa was an impulsive, dynamic and productive woman. She wrote novels and poetry quickly; in fact, she had to support her low-income family.

About Louisa

Louisa started working when she was eighteen because of her poverty-stricken family. She became a playground teacher, a seamstress, a servant, a writer and a nurse. After working at a Union hospital, Louisa got pneumonia, and since then her health conditions remained weak. She started writing under the pen name of Flora Fairfield, and later she wrote gothic thrillers under the pen name of A.M. Bernard. One day, her publisher proposed her to write a book for girls in a change to publish one of her father’s books. Hence Louisa wrote Little Women in only ten weeks. Her inspiration came from her family because she had other three sisters, and like in the case of the March family, her family was living in poverty. Differently from Jo March, Louisa never married. After Abigail May, one of her sisters, died, Louisa cared for her niece Lulu for some year. Moreover, Louisa Alcott was the first woman to vote in Concord, in Massachusetts. Indeed, she was working as Suffragette like her mother.

My Thoughts

The way the March sisters try to cope with their poverty, difficulties and absence of their father because of the war is noteworthy. Despite their young age, they are mature and responsible women. They work, study and employ their free time in activities, which nowadays are uncommon. Indeed, today’s technology and social media are a threat to creativity, using less time in reading books. Indeed, this book illustrates the conditions of women in the 19th-century. In that period, in Europe and the United States, women could not have careers besides servants or governess. Hence, their life achievement was marriage, preferring wealth or rich men. It was inconvenient and discouraging to be a spinster. Women were not supposed to be independent nor to enter into the profession of the writer. I firmly think that society is not entitled to label a woman for her job and life’s choices. The concept of femininity mustn’t mislead to misconceptions about women. It is a mistake to define a feminine woman as a submissive, docile, delicate and obedient human being. Indeed, the concept of submission is a terrible blunder of many women, who think it as a way to express their femininity. A woman doesn’t need to be docile, fragile, dependent and passive to show her womanhood. On the contrary, lack of independence and charisma shows off only a lack of intelligence and character.

April 21, 2020
The Track Of A Storm – A Tale Of Two Cities Book 3

The Track Of A Storm is the third book of A Tale Of Two Cities. It is full of suspense and surprises. It is not a dull and ordinary book at all. Indeed, I found it to be a very alluring and breathtaking novel.

The Track Of A Storm

The Track Of A Storm is the third book of the historical novel A Tale of Two Cities. It contains fifteen chapters, and most events occur in Paris. Charles Darnay goes to Paris to rescue one of his noble uncle’s servants, the Marquis St. Evremonde. Unfortunately, he is imprisoned in La Force Prison because he is an aristocrat. Dr Manette and Lucie, with her child and governess, Miss Pross, go to Paris to rescue Darnay.

In Paris, we find the vengeful couple Defarge; they will use an old letter from Dr Manette, dating back to his imprisonment, exposing the aristocratic family Evremonde. Since this noble family is guilty of several crimes, the tribunal sends Darnay to the Conciergerie, waiting for his death sentence with the guillotine.

The end of the book A Tale of Two Cities is surprising, even though there are sad aspects. Furthermore, I will not reveal what happens at the end. I can only say that I have read the last part twice. Moreover, I have been impressed by the fantasy and the narration of Charles Dickens in this historical novel. Indeed, he is well known for his Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. Nevertheless, Dickens wrote several novels, stories, and nonfiction books.

The Bitter-Sweet Taste of This Novel

I must admit that at the end of A Tale of Two Cities, I had two simultaneous feelings of bitter discontent and sweet satisfaction. None of them won, but for the very first time, I felt well pleased to have read a book. The happiness of the Darnay family implies the sacrifice of the life of another innocent man. The tribunal’s justice system instituted by people experiencing poverty and plebe shows how much it was unjust this cruel revolution. They did not execute only the aristocrats and nobles but also other poor people who had the misfortune of being weak and vulnerable.

The unceasing knitting of the vengeful women corresponds to an unceasing procedure of executions of guilty and innocent people, all together, with a steady and rapid rhythm. The knitting women count each victim of their system with nonchalance. They never interrupt their knitting nor look at the guillotine. Although most of them lost some family members because of an aristocrat or nobleman, their purpose was social justice, where all men should be equal. The problem is that they behave like imperturbable tyrants, similar to that privileged society. At this point, you cannot see where social justice is because it is just a utopia.

It is also hard to sympathize with the peasants and the aristocrats. There are several waves of abuse of the aristocracy against people with low incomes. The peasants are so unfortunate that they must beg the aristocrats for food. However, they receive only humiliation and exploitation. This situation leads to an ideal revolution. Once well-organized, the indigent and weak peasants became the most potent force in France, and they did not hesitate to gain social power. They repay torture with torture and oppression with oppression.

My previous blog posts are about the first two books of Two Cities of Charles Dickens – First Part and A Tale of Two Cities Book 2 – The Golden Thread.

March 27, 2020