Monthly Archives: November 2011

“Dover Bitch”

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Anthony Hecht at the Iowa Writer's Workshop in...

Anthony Hecht (Image via Wikipedia)

For Masterpiece Monday, I discussed Matthew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach.” Today I want to post a witty modern response to that poem called “The Dover Bitch” (1967), written by Anthony Hecht:

So there stood Matthew Arnold and this girl
With the cliffs of England crumbling away behind them,
And he said to her, “Try to be true to me,
And I’ll do the same for you, for things are bad
All over, etc., etc.”
Well now, I knew this girl. It’s true she had read
Sophocles in a fairly good translation
And caught that bitter allusion to the sea,
But all the time he was talking she had in mind
the notion of what his whiskers would feel like
On the back of her neck. She told me later on
That after a while she got to looking out
At the lights across the channel, and really felt sad,
Thinking of all the wine and enormous beds
And blandishments in French and the perfumes.
And then she got really angry. To have been brought
All the way down from London, and then be addressed
As sort of a mournful cosmic last resort
Is really tough on a girl, and she was pretty.
Anyway, she watched him pace the room
and finger his watch-chain and seem to sweat a bit,
And then she said one or two unprintable things.
But you mustn’t judge her by that. What I mean to say is,
She’s really all right. I still see her once in a while
And she always treats me right. We have a drink
And I give her a good time, and perhaps it’s a year
Before I see her again, but there she is,
Running to fat, but dependable as they come,
And sometimes I bring her a bottle of Nuit d’Amour. 

This poem pokes fun at “Dover Beach,” by painting Arnold as a boring date. His lover is actually not interested in staring at the sea and lamenting society’s loss of faith with ancient Greek references; she just wants to have sex. The speaker in this poem also has a romantic relationship with this unnamed woman, but it’s strictly casual since they only see other about once a year, and their meetings always result in “a good time.”

Although the speaker uses sexist diction by referring to the woman as just a pretty girl who’s easily bought by wine and perfume, at least he considers her opinion, unlike the man in “Dover Beach,” who’s more interested in mourning the end of the world.

So if you’ve ever read poetry and thought, ‘What a pile of pompous whining,’ then you’ll enjoy “The Dover Bitch.”

Masterpiece Monday: “Dover Beach”

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British poet and critic Matthew Arnold viewed ...

Matthew Arnold (Image via Wikipedia)

Last week I reviewed Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, in which the protagonist Montag reads a poem by Matthew Arnold called “Dover Beach.” Arnold was a 19th century British poet and considered one of the greatest Victorian poets who ever lived, among Tennyson and Browning. I first read “Dover Beach” in high school, and again in my senior seminar at UCSC:

“Dover Beach” (1867)

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

This is an exquisite poem that flows much like the sea which Arnold vividly describes. The speaker tells his love, possibly his bride given that Arnold himself honeymooned there, that they should love one another loyally because faith has abandoned modern society. With classical references to Sophocles and Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War “where ignorant armies clash by night,” Arnold reminds the reader that war is never-ending–it comes and goes just like the tide.

If you’ve read Fahrenheit 451, you can see why Montag reads this poem in frustration to his wife and her naive friends. He also laments how society has degraded and lost all sense of faith, both religious and interpersonal. Of course, by reading the illicit poem, his wife will betray Montag by reporting him to the authorities and thus prove her lack of loyalty.

In my next blog post, I want to share a modern response to “Dover Beach.” It’s Anthony Hecht’s poem “Dover Bitch,” and if you haven’t already heard it, you’re in for a treat! So stay tuned!

Vote for my 20th (and possibly last) book of the year!

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Ok readers, I have a favor to ask of you! I’ve set a goal for myself that I will read 20 books this year. Actually, this goal wasn’t intended, but looking at my reading pace a few months ago, I figured 20 would be a nice, achievable number (I’m not including any non-fiction I’ve read this year). Many of you probably read 20 books in a month, but alas I have sacrificed most of my potential reading time to grad school.

Anyways, I’m currently reading my 19th novel, A Desirable Residence by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophie Kinsella), which is a pleasant piece of chick-lit after my run of dsytopian classics. And now I’d like YOU to vote for my 20th book of the year! (Considering how busy I am writing my final paper and preparing for the holidays, it’s quite possible that it might even be my last book of 2011! *cue ominous music* DUN DUN DUN!!!

Here’s your choices:

  1. The Trial by Franz Kafka
  2. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  3. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
  4. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  5. Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell

So let me know which one I should read and why…My fate is now in your hands!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break, and–of course–thanks for reading!

Love, Book Club Babe

In Memoriam: Anne McCaffrey

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Anne McCaffrey.

Today one of the most renowned fantasy fiction authors passed away at the age of 85. Anne McCaffrey was famous for her series The Dragonriders of Pern, a 22-novel saga which spanned over 2,000 years in the magical world of Pern.

I read the original trilogy (Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon) so many years ago, but I respected McCaffrey like I respect J.R.R. Tolkien, because their skills in world creation are unbeatable. There are so many characters in McCaffrey’s books, that a character list is required. And when your series covers over two millennia, you must have an insanely extensive knowledge of its history.

In the novels, dragonriders form telepathic bonds with their dragons when they hatch in their lodgings known as Weyrs. Dragonriders must protect Pern from a deadly spore called Thread, which rains periodically due to the orbit of the Red Star. The dragons’ fire burns Thread before it can hit the earth and destroy all organic life.

I won’t bog you guys down with too many details, as this series can get awfully confusing with its large cast and various science fiction elements like time travel. And like Tolkien, McCaffrey often suffers from sacrificing easy-to-follow entertainment for seriously factual-sounding fantasy–which is why I discontinued reading the series a long time ago.

The Dragonriders of Pern is no Harry Potter in regards to appealing to practically everybody, but if you enjoy high fantasy clearly meant for adults, then definitely pick up a Pern novel sometime.

Masterpiece Monday: Fahrenheit 451

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Cover of "Fahrenheit 451: A Novel"

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Rating: 4 out of 5

So after reading Orwell’s 1984, I continued with the dystopian theme with Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Published in 1953 and named after the degree at which book-paper burns, this short novel has become synonymous with the fight against censorship.

Set in a futuristic America in which our vehicles travel over 100 miles an hour and our home’s walls convert into televisions playing 5-minute shows in rapid succession, Guy Montag is a fireman who burns down houses that harbor any books. At first he enjoys his occupation, but after a woman chooses to die with her books instead of face her impending arrest, Montag questions the world around him.

Montag meets mysterious comrades Clarisse, a inquisitive high-schooler, and Faber, an ex-English professor, but his life is forever changed after he is caught stealing books.  The rest of the novel follows his life on the run as a fugitive trying to make sense of everything.

Although not nearly as chillingly timeless as 1984, Fahrenheit 451 is still an exquisite warning against society’s dwindling attention span. As the internet dominates our lives and offers endless entertainment in minutes-long YouTube videos, people are devoting less and less time to absorbing the wisdom we can gain from literature. In the age of the Kindle, sadly even paper books are becoming obsolete.

Yes, the novel disapproves of how extreme political correctness can limit free expression in books, but more importantly it points out how if nobody’s reading books in the first place, they won’t be missed. It is up to future generations to keep reading and reciting these literary tales so as to preserve their messages. Montag learns that you never know when you’ll need those stories to shape the world for the better.

For fans of 1984, this novel will be harder to comprehend at first, since Bradbury does not spell everything out like Orwell. Characterizations of various beast-like creatures, such as the Hound, the salamander, and the beetles, are often symbolic. The ambiguity between the residents and the people they watch in their parlors blurs the line between fact and fiction.

So even though Bradbury himself wrote the novel in a mere nine days, don’t blaze through it like a bonfire. Instead enjoy the words slowly and without distractions; take comfort in reading for pleasure, because when the world is obsessed with faster speeds and instant gratification, it’s good to live in the moment of a masterpiece.

Favorite Quote: “Let you alone! That’s all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”

More Movie News!

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Now I’ve said before that I hate Charles Dickins’ Great Expectations. Because of a horrible high school teacher I had, it’s one of my least favorite novels. But two weeks ago, Deadline shared some pics that sparked my interest: the outrageously cool Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham. Directed by Mike Newell (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”), not Tim Burton, the adaptation will be released sometime next year. Maybe it’s time to give this story a second chance!

Of course, what I’m looking forward to more is the latest version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, starring Carey Mulligan as Daisy, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, and Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby himself. The Daily Mail posted photos from the set today, and I must say that this cast looks excellent!

2012 may be the year for some awesome movie adaptations–let’s not forget the much-anticipated fantasy tales “The Hobbit” and “The Hunger Games!” Are there any other films based on novels that you can’t wait for?

PS: Happy birthday Margaret Atwood! Ever since I read The Handmaid’s Tale my freshman year of college, I have adored this woman. She’s an exquisite writer, a feminist and environmental advocate, and an amazing role model. Thanks for your wise words, Ms. Atwood: “If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending.” We should all strive to make each other’s endings happy!

Book Review: 1984

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Cover of "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

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Rating: 5 out of 5

BEWARE: SPOILER ALERT!

Published in 1949, 1984 was George Orwell’s final novel–a masterful foreboding of what could come should the world continue its thirst for power and hegemony. While many critics might write off the book as merely an allegory for the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin, it is so much more than that because it warns that it only takes enough torture and brainwashing to turn a man into an empty shell devoid of emotion and independent thought.

Winston Smith lives in London, which has been absolved into the great superpower of Oceania. Given that he’s not even sure if it’s really the year 1984, his memory of the past is sparse: after the nuclear war of 1950, science and prosperity have been abandoned in exchange for militarized mass production.

As an employee of the ironically-titled Ministry of Truth, he must change the facts of historical documents so that the past always matches the present. Oceania is, has always been, and will always be at war with Eurasia (unless it decides to fight Eastasia instead).

And Big Brother, the ubiquitous face of the Party, exists, has always existed, and will always exist. Anyone who denies this or disapproves of the Party will simply disappear, vaporized by the Thought Police.

It’s not the ever-watchful telescreens or the mob mentality behind the Two Minutes Hate that’s most terrifying about 1984. It’s the concept of “doublethink:” the psychological contradiction that can make you believe that war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and two plus two equals five. Not only can the Party control your every movement, they can also re-program your mind.

You go in knowing that Winston and his lover Julia can never break free of the Party’s despotism, that all their secret rendezvouses will only lead to capture, but you still remain foolishly optimistic just like them.

So when the inevitable happens, and they are broken down into submission in Room 101, you feel just as broken. Their hope is your hope, their pain your pain, and their nothingness your nothingness. I find it hard to think of a more cathartic reading experience.

This is the dystopian masterpiece. Everyone owes it to themselves to read 1984. Absorb it, love it, and–most importantly–learn from it. Because if we don’t wake up and band together to preserve individuality, encourage critical thinking, and further scientific progress, we will succumb to the same inhuman fate.

Favorite Quotes:

“To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one’s lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available.” (Part II, Chapter 5)

“The best books, he perceived, are those that tell you what you know already.” (Part II, Chapter 9)

Masterpiece Monday (Delayed)

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Sorry everybody, I have failed to blog this week’s Masterpiece Monday, because I spent my day finishing 1984! I know, finally! I absolutely loved it, and it definitely qualifies as a masterpiece, so keep an eye out for my book review this week! I’m continuing the dystopian trend, because next up on my list is Fahrenheit 451. It’s a classic that I can’t believe I’ve put off this long to read, so I’m looking forward to it.

Speaking of dystopias, I’ll make up for my lack of blogging today by sharing “The Hunger Games” trailer (for the few who haven’t already seen it):

I know that I shared my livid review of Mockingjay this summer, and while I don’t agree with the way the trilogy ends at all, I’m still so excited to see this film! I like the overall vibe of the setting, and hopefully all the actors will live up to their characters. Let me know what you think!

In Honor of Literary Veterans

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And supporting the troops doesn't mean that you support war. It means that you support your fellow human beings.

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’m only 200 pages into Orwell’s 1984, (I’ve forgotten when I even started the novel!), but I guess my excuse is my 20-page paper which is due at the end of the month. Nothing ruins pleasure-reading like grad school!

Right now I’ve just reached the part where after all the planning and toiling over Hate Week, Winston learns that his country of Oceania has just switched their enemy of Eurasia to Eastasia–and no one bats an eye over this turn of events, as if if had always been and will always be that way.

1984 is such a perfect read given that Veteran’s Day is tomorrow, because it demonstrates just how incomprehensible and useless war really is. Granted, I haven’t finished the book, but I hope that Winston and his comrades will be able to escape the iron grip of Big Brother some way–even if it has to be in death. But no spoilers!!!

I wanted to honor literary veterans by discussing my favorite war story: “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger. This short story was published in 1948, right after World War II. It features Seymour Glass, of Salinger’s famous fictional Glass family. Seymour and his wife Muriel are on vacation on a Florida beach, but Seymour exhibits rather odd behavior.

He tells a young girl named Sybil about creatures called “bananafish.” He explains:

“Well, they swim into a hole where there’s a lot of bananas. They’re very ordinary-looking fish when they swim in. But once they get in, they behave like pigs. Why, I’ve known some bananafish to swim into a banana hole and eat as many as 78 bananas…Naturally, after that they’re so fat they can’t get out of the hole again.”

Naturally, Sybil asks what happens to bananafish, and Seymour replies that they die. It’s at this point where you realize that this story has a much deeper meaning than a simple family vacation, and that Seymour is not okay. I won’t give away the ending, but I can’t think of a better story which addresses war and the PTSD from which many veterans suffer, often unnoticed by the people around them.

Salinger is an exquisite writer, and I loved this short story so much. Feel free to share your favorite war stories in honor of our literary (and real) veterans!

PS: Speaking of war, “The Hunger Games” trailer will be shown on Good Morning America this Monday! May the odds be ever in your favor!

Masterpiece Monday: Ethan Frome

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Cover of "Ethan Frome"

Image via Amazon

Rating: 3 out of 5

Winter is definitely upon us, as the temperatures drop drastically and night falls earlier each day. Anyone who’s gotten to know me a bit knows that I loathe cold weather. I love the food and family gatherings during the holidays, and reading a book while drinking hot cocoa in front of the fireplace is so relaxing, but those are only the Kodak moments of winter. The rest consists of rain, fog, dry skin, and ugly, bulky clothes.

Seasonal depression is very real, and the first book I think of when winter arrives is Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. Published in 1911, it narrates the story of Ethan Frome, man who lives in the New England town of Starkfield with his wife Zeena. 20 years prior to the start of the story, Ethan falls in love with his wife’s cousin, Mattie, as he walks her home after a night out dancing. Zeena suffers from a chronic illness, and Ethan meets in Mattie in secret while she’s sick.

Eventually, Zeena discovers their affair, and it’s up to Ethan and Mattie to decide what to do. I won’t spoil it, of course, but the cold, snowy setting is pivotal in their decision.

This book is definitely not my favorite, as the plot was relatively sparse. It’s also not nearly as good as Wharton’s Age of Innocence, which quickly became one of my favorites after reading it this summer. However, what was enjoyable about Ethan Frome was Wharton’s extensive use of symbolism. I read the novel senior year of high school, and I still remember my essay in which I analyzed the deeper meanings of cats and coasting.

Unless you love everything by Wharton, I would suggest you skip this novel and pick up Age of Innocence. It’s also about adultery, but the tragic passion is not just symbolic, it’s tangible. Ethan Frome, on the other hand, won’t keep you warm on a blustery day–and it certainly won’t make you want to go sledding any time soon.