evelina

I have just finished reading Fanny Burney's Evelina for the first time, and I found it highly enjoyable.  One of my new year's resolutions this year was only to read really good or really fun books, and this was not a bad place to start.

I struggled a little bit with Evelina's extreme delicacy and tendency to confusion, swooning, inability to act like a normal person in public, etc.  I was more than a little frustrated at her constant sense of duty to everyone else's opinion, and then the fact that she would blame herself when what they said turned out to be a bad idea.  The setting was one where every woman is an angel or a harlot, where intelligence in a woman is viewed with extreme suspicion, where the good characters all seem to be a little bit dull and the bad characters are roundly condemned but much more interesting, although the author doesn't appear to realise this.  I struggled with it, but I enjoyed it as an interesting historical experience.  It was a lesson in appreciating the feminist movement and the changes of the last couple of centuries, and I enjoyed it as a novel, a rollicking read.  This blogger puts it well:

Somehow, it did not bother me as I would have expected. Yes, I wanted to thoroughly shake Evelina every once in a while, tell her to open her eyes and not be so gullible. And oh yes, I even considered slapping her. But all in all, I could not help but be entertained.

As the blogger points out, quoting an introduction written by Edward Bloom, this novel is at least an improvement on a familiar theme:

“In this kind of feminocentric novel, the transition from innocence to experience is conceived not as a fall, but as a narrative of progress and understanding.”

So at least it allows Evelina her (slight) growth as a character without lamenting a loss of womanhood.

It was also a really excellent experience to read something that was in Jane Austen's school of novel-writing, and to really see how wonderfully different Austen's female characters are.  I've always liked them for their independent, clever streak, but I don't think I'd realised how unusual that was for her day and age.

Which leads me to another point - I suppose I have learned satire from Jane Austen, because I struggle with the label of 'satire' being placed on this book.  Yes, it is apparently satirical.  Maybe I am misunderstanding the word somewhat?

Yes, there are a number of characters that appear rather ridiculous, but we see them all from Evelina's rather insipid (though very nice) point of view and so the book seemed to me more Moralistic than Satirical.

But then again I seem to be in disagreement with a number of people - according to this blogger, Evelina is a 'ruthless' character:

Evelina is described throughout the novel by many characters as being innocent, but in fact she is anything but. She is, indeed, quite coldblooded in using her both her femininity and her youth to her advantage to achieve her aims. Evelina is a manipulative young lady who routinely censors what others say when relaying the meaning she wishes to convey.

I really don't see it.  Another blogger doesn't see it:

Evelina the character is boring. She’s passive, she’s perfect, she’s dutiful, she’s self-effacing. She doesn’t seem to have a mind of her own. Her story at the end of the novel is entirely predictable.

This other blogger writes, on a slightly different tack, with a slightly more complex impression:

The story of Evelina is the story of a young girl learning her place in society and grappling with keeping her identity while attempting to fit into the culture of the time.  ... Evelina attempts to con-temporize her self-image while attempting to belong in society. The forces of social convention weigh so heavily upon her, Evelina thinks “…there ought to be a book, of all the laws and customs a-la-mode, presented to all young people, upon their first introduction into public company” (Burney XX: 84). This statement shows the character’s desire to conform to social convention and alter her self-image so as to belong in the crowd. The willingness of the main character to change herself, rather than have people accept her for her faults, shows that the author thinks the force of social convention is stronger than that of free will.

It was really interesting to me to see how different an impression different people have taken from this novel.  If that's possible, maybe my first reading was not so discriminating.  Maybe it is possible to read it in a whole myriad of ways.  I'm sceptical... but I will read it again one day, and maybe I will see something more.

becoming jane

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I read the fragment of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons again, about a month ago. I knew I shouldn't have done it. It was devastating to get to the end of the few chapters and have to stop - it wasn't perfected, but it was so promising, and I am so sad that she decided not to finish it!

It was bugging me all day, and I ended up googling. I know it's silly, but I thought there was the slightest chance that SOMEONE, somewhere, might have written an ending to the novel that wasn't terrible, and if they had, I was going to read it. Austen had told someone - I think her sister - a few things about what would have happened in the novel, had she finished it, and so I hoped that this might mean that the story wouldn't be ruined completely.

I found a reference to this book pictured above on a blog somewhere - it's out of print and rather hard to get hold of - a continuation of The Watsons, written by a John Coates in 1958. I was lucky enough to find a very cheap copy on a website somewhere, and thought 'what have I got to lose?'

I must admit that when the book arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago I started to worry. What if it was terrible, and it ruined the fragment for me? The blurb on the back cover certainly didn't allay any fears. However, I used this weekend to read the book, and fortunately it wasn't a bad way to spend the weekend!

Now - Mr Coates is certainly no Miss Austen. Reading this book was actually an interesting exercise for me because it brought out Austen's skills that cannot be copied. The tightness of her plots is never something I've paid particular attention to before, but this plot was far too circuitous and made me recognise how skilfully she winds up and unravels her stories. The characterisations, needless to say, were lacking. It wasn't as funny, although it tried to be.

To be fair, however, this is all in comparison. The book I read over the weekend was enjoyable. There was something of a spark about it. And it somewhat satisfied the hunger I had to find out what would become of the Miss Emma Watson of Jane Austen's fragment. I was glad to have read it, and I may even read it again someday. It was like reading a really good piece of fanfiction. I commend Mr Coates for the attempt - he is a brave man - and I think I would recommend his continuation to someone who is suffering from the same sorrow as I after reading the fragment.

My advice, therefore: Lower your expectations if you decide to read this book, and then you'll be pleasantly surprised. If your expectations are too high you may find it difficult.

Three stars from me.

Margaret Mahy

I am very sad to see the passing of Margaret Mahy.

She was one of those authors who stands alone, who doesn't need comparison to anyone else and who is so unique and charming and imaginative that she is memorable to every one who reads her work.

Margaret Mahy was one of the first authors who taught me that children's literature can set the bar enormously high for all the literature you read from then on and into your adulthood. She taught the world that children are to be respected and are worthy of the prolific life work of a genius.

Margaret Mahy was one of the first authors I ever read who presented my own country and my own people to me.

Margaret Mahy was not afraid to be colourful and unique and eccentric. I could still learn a lot from the way she lived life.

Her YA novel The Tricksters is one of the few novels that is placed firmly on my list of Books That I Think Are Written Perfectly.

She really was a giant to me, as a New Zealander, an aspiring author and a woman.

literature's biggest fan

I came across this epitaph to literature in an article in one of my favourite magazines, composed by my nation's Prime Minister for a 'literature heritage trail':

I have always believed we should enhance the literary skills of our young people and while our literary heroes may never challenge the glory and respect given to our All Blacks, we still need role models to inspire us.

This Literary Heritage Trail celebrates writers, poets and playwrights who have contributed to this young country’s cultural and historical life.

I hope you will take the opportunity to be part of this journey.

- Hon. John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand.

What an overture to literature! What a resounding tribute! You'll never quite make it to the heady heights of kicking a ball around a field, writers - but cheer yourself on the hope that maybe you can be ... a role model?

Honestly?

I don't think I've ever thought of the great authors as role models - have you? Actually, I'm not sure I'd want any of my kids to view them in that light. "Maybe someday I can be a great writer, Mummy, and smoke too much, notice everything that's wrong with society, behave unsociably, feel overwhelmed by my failures and probably fail to gain recognition until I'm dead!"

Sometimes, people should just not try very hard to talk up something they're obviously not very interested in. Let that be a lesson to you, John Key.

the big sleep

I am going to fall far short of reviewing Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep appropriately. I simply can't bring myself to even attempt to describe it in its own terms. It's probably better that I don't try. Here is your review, written by a middle-class New Zealand ex-English literature student who has finished everything Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh ever wrote and so needed some new crime fiction addiction - and got something worlds apart from Miss Marple.

I saw the Bogart film a few years ago - liked it but can hardly remember what happened, which was good in terms of reading the novel with an open mind.

As far as the novel goes, I wondered as I started if I would be able to keep going. It's written very simply and in a matter of fact manner which is difficult to get accustomed to:

I went over to the mail slot and picked up six envelopes, two letters and four pieces of advertising matter. I hung my hat on the telephone and sat down.

But then there are all the crazy similes and personification and turns of phrase, the proliferation of guns and gutter-dwellers, the underbelly of society presented on the page, and it gets interesting:

She approached me with enough sex appeal to stampede a businessman's lunch.

The air was thick, wet, steamy and larded with the cloying smell of tropical orchids in bloom. ... They smelled as overpowering as boiling alcohol under a blanket.

The calves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem.

She gave me one of those smiles the lips have forgotten before they reach the eyes.

Brody's dark brown stare moved up and down my face. His Colt went on hungering for my vital organs.

... against a scribbled wall a pouch of ringed rubber had fallen and not been disturbed.

"Eddie Mars had Regan bumped off," he said calmly, and leaned back as if he had just been made a vice-president.

The purring voice had an edge, like sand in the bearings.

"You'll tell me, little man. Here, or in the back room where the boys pitch dimes against the wall."

Then there's the private detective/street talk which much of the time was incomprehensible to me but worked all the same:

"Agnes is a nice girl. You can't hold that stuff on her. It's not so easy for a dame to get by these days."
"She's too big for you," I said. "She'll roll on you and smother you."
"That's kind of a dirty crack, brother," he said with something that was near enough to dignity to make me stare at him.
I said: "You're right. I've been meeting the wrong kind of people lately. Let's cut out the gabble and get down to cases. What have you got for the money?"

Did people ever actually talk like this? I almost hope so.

What bugged me about this novel, however, was Chandler's treatment both of homosexuals and women. I'm sure this is not an original complaint to make, because it's so pronounced a quality of this book. It kind of reminded me of Ian Fleming's treatment of women.

You can have a hangover from other things than alcohol. I had one from women. Women made me sick.

Well, excuse me, Mr Chandler, none of the men in your novel are glittering testimonies to mankind either. And don't even get me started on your repulsive characterisation of the homosexual kid.

It doesn't really have a strong plot, either, and was a little confusing to follow. Especially as it's difficult to understand what the heck the characters are talking about.

I can't deny this, though: the book is fun. I'm not sorry to have read it. There was something deliciously sordid about it. It deserves at least three stars.

EEC

I've linked to Jen Campbell (otherwise known as aeroplanegirl on twitter) and her blog many times now. Among other things, she brought us the hilarious "Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops" series, which is soon to be published as a book.

Jen has a condition called EEC Syndrome, which causes gradual blindness in those affected by it. You can read about her experience of it here. She is fundraising for research into degenerative eye conditions in a very cool way - writing 100 poems over the course of one weekend in November - and you can sponsor her at this link.

This is a cause that could radically change the lives of many many people, but it's hardly well-known, or sexy, as charitable causes go. Why not support research in a new and interesting way and support Jen's poetry with as small or large a donation as you can muster?

quotable

What I learned from authors, part I


I've been thinking about what I've learned from other authors when it comes to lessons for my own writing.

To start off, and inspired by my friend and former flatmate, Jessica, who has written and illustrated her own children's book, I bring you a blog post with some actual quotable quotes about writing, by writers, which have been thought-provoking for me.

A writer is someone on whom nothing is lost. - Henry James

This is one of the few quotes about writing in which I first saw myself. It was an encouraging moment, to realise why I write and to understand that it's not necessarily normal to notice as much as I notice.

Often, I think writing is a sheer paring away of oneself, leaving always something thinner, barer, more meagre. - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Well, I certainly felt this way after my finishing my thesis, although I suspect that I would invest even more of myself in a novel.

Human language is like the cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when all the time we are longing to move the stars to pity. - Gustave Flaubert
There's something ironic about this quote, in that it's written so beautifully even as it mourns for the absence of a completely satisfying language. I like that. One has to remember that although perfection is so far from one's grasp, it is still possible to write magically.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. - Red Smith
Reading this was one of the first times I realised that my vision of becoming an author was not a very romantic vision.

I... do not think the worse of him for having a brain so very different from mine. ... And he deserves better treatment than to be obliged to read any more of my works. - Jane Austen
At first when reading this I thought of V. S. Naipaul and his comments about women writers, and I thought about how comparatively gracious Jane Austen was in this sense. Then I also learned an important lesson - not everybody needs to like your writing.

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again. - Oscar Wilde
OK, so I haven't quite got this far yet, but I certainly empathise and can see this in my future!

A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book. - Ernest Hemingway
Verification from one of the "great writers" that the literature that is not usually seen as "high" can be the most difficult to write.

And now for a quote I disagree with:
Writing is a cop-out. An excuse to live perpetually in fantasy land, where you can create, direct, and watch the products of your own head. Very selfish. - Monica Dickens
Now, I don't like this quote so much, because I think that writers are perpetually bound to reality, even the writers that produce fantasy or science fiction or the like. Writing is hard work and then on top of that the "real world" is constantly standing over you, hammering you with its reality cudgel until you bleed, trying to make your writing work.

What have you learned from the advice that other authors have given?