<p>The Sound and the Fury is truly a classic...you should definetly read it!</p>
<p>I've always meant to read Faulkner....</p>
<p>Sorry to address an issue that's many posts past now, but I just don't "feel" Portrait of the Artist like I guess I'm supposed to. I really, really hated reading it because I was yelling at Dedalus the whole time "You're not an artist! Don't you get it?! Get over yourself!" and Joyce didn't expose the irony until the very end. I looked long and hard for a transition between self-absorbed Bube and enlightened first-person-speaker (now that bit was cool, with the reference to the old author and everything), but I just found a progressively dark condemnation of a young, confused boy. All the philosophy Joyce states is contrary to what he really means to say, all that about 'kinetic aesthetics' etc.; it seemed to me he's really proving the opposite through Dedalus' insipid poetry.</p>
<p>In totality, it's a wonderful piece of art with plenty to pick through. But I won't read it again for enjoyment. I just don't want to get dragged down by the bludgeoning, rambling imagery again.</p>
<p>Phil Jackson-Sacred Hoops</p>
<p>(i hope some of you have seen I Heart Huckabees)</p>
<p>Have I mentioned that I completely love this thread and it's discussions like this that represent exactly why I can't wait to go to college (particularly yale)?</p>
<p>Faulkner is a must. Sound, Absalom, Light, and Dying are incredible experiences.</p>
<p>" Potrait of a lady " rings a bell to me ! I definitely have heard about it somewhere and its author , but my memory sucks. Ok, I will go straight to my school library to buy some books ( including this one ). But would anyone mind telling me a little bit about its content ? </p>
<p>Added to my list of favourite books is " Call of the wild and White Fang ". Enchanting content and a nice piece of writing . But guys we appear to talk too much about classics , how 'bout contemporary authors and stories ? :) . Does anyone here like one of the highest-rated books in 2005 : " Memoirs of a geisha " ? Dunno why but many friends of mine say they are quite gripped and touched by this book. ;)</p>
<p>"Memoirs of a Geishia" <em>IS</em> a classic: ) </p>
<p>Dunno why but I love it intensely. It's the oriental version of Gone with the Wind?</p>
<p>I tend to think that contemporary work are more emotional, whereas classics are more philosophical.</p>
<p>Rhett, Portrait is by Henry James. Not so great as many claim. Actually, I take that back. Some people enjoy James's work. I, however, do not. Portrait is about an American girl who marries a man, basically for status and money, and finds out what a mistake it was. The man is absolute evil.</p>
<p>Portrait of A Lady by Henry James bored me... The Turn of the Screw is better, although very strange and sometimes incomprehensible. I'm not a big fan for Henry James. </p>
<p>few posts back... Faulkner is one of the greatest American writers (if not THE greatest). Absalom!Absalom! is one of the most depressing books I ever read (Thomas Hardy is another depressing author); it is shocking, very heavy, overwhelming, and it makes you feel completely crushed after reading it. The innovations in The Sound and the Fury are a little bit too much for me, but I still love that book (not as good as Absalom though). </p>
<p>more posts back... The Scarlet Letter is simply a masterpiece; its psychological probe into the human mind is utterly unbeatable. But I have been disappointed by other works by Hawthorne (like the House of the Seven Gables). I feel bad about the disappointment.</p>
<p>Ick, House of Seven Gables...the whole chapter on the dead dude got to me.</p>
<p>Portrait of a Lady has some golden nuggets of character, I think, but it was tough going to get through. The parts with Pansy liven it up, and the end is very nicely executed...but I heard a quote that sums up the book in general: "Henry James chews more than he bites off." Touche.</p>
<p>Hey, anyone who has read Jane Eyre:</p>
<p>Do you know what "----shire" means? Obviously it's a location, but I don't understand why they don't put something before shire. I also witnessed this in Vanity Fair, so maybe it's just an English thing. </p>
<p>I know this is kind of random, but I thought Yale people would know;)</p>
<p>We talked about this in English. </p>
<p>It doesn't mean anything. It only means that the author doesn't want to disclose the real name of the location, in fear of any resemblance to someone else's story in real life. Just like today, at the end of a movie or book, writers tend to write "any resemblance is coincidental..."</p>
<p>Yeah, hideANDseek pretty much explained the dashes. And to clarify, this is not just an English thing - everybody does it. For example, the novel I'm reading now, Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma, frequently uses something like the Count D*** or the Duchess A***. </p>
<p>It also may be that the author wants to use some contemporary people in his novel and wants the mention of it be clear to someone but not clear to someone else. I'm personally convinced that Proust's mention of a certain writer "G---" in his novel (volume 2? not sure) is Andre Gide, but I might be wrong.</p>
<p>Why don't the writers just "pull a Shakespeare" and move everything to Denmark? Sorry, just a little Hamlet humor ;)</p>
<p>oh, Hamlet.</p>
<p>"there is something rotten in the state of Denmark..."</p>
<p>Well, right now there is. Lesson: never ever publish humor involving volatile groups if you're a smallish country with an accessible embassy.</p>