Tag: Read the classics

Categories
audiobooks Dystopian Science Fiction

1984 by George Orwell (Revisiting the Classics)

With a book this popular that has been beaten to death in every literary way possible, how does one talk about it in a simple book blog post?

I tend to just focus on my own reading experience. I used to live for these satirical, dystopian, cautionary authors, and have found a lot of the classic titles for free on Audible. It’s been a great way to refresh my memory on these amazing books that I read so long ago.

Especially today with everything and it’s mother being referred to as “Orwellian”, I think it’s a relevant time to re read 1984.  I probably hear that phrase at least twice a week on the news and laughed recently when the last indie dystopian book that I read used it.

Anyway ~ the other reason I picked 1984 up now is that I’m trying to read as many books as possible set in London before I go in March!  With how Russian-esque this book is, I completely forgot it took place in London.

So, about 1984 itself.  One of the things that I liked most reading it as an adult was the linguistic portion, especially the appendix at the end where he explains the principles of Ingsoc (English Socialism).  To me language is the most essential part of anything, and I strive to expand my knowledge daily.  In reverse, stripping language away so that people don’t even have the words to express dissent, could accomplish the means of The Party moreso than anything else.  Duckspeak, UnGood, Double Plus UnGood … Yeah, I definitely like that aspect the most and think the new language is most unique thing Orwell wrote.

I’ve also never thought of war as a way to blow excess resource and manpower so that no one else can have it.  One of the many things that made me go “hmmm”

I almost feel like Doublethink is real these days too.  Everything in America has two polarities right now and often times it gives me a headache.  Ex: I’m a nurse, I know my science, but then people scream opposing ideas at me for years and I know it’s plain stupidity but it’s almost enough to dissociate at times.  There are tons of examples of this & I can see where Winston’s mind just fractured under torture.

Some other places where I’ve seen 1984 in modern action besides the daily news are …. Star Trek! The Next Generation, I had to look up the episode but remember when Picard was captured and tortured but refused to say that 2+2 didn’t equal 4? Season 6, Episodes 10 and 11, highly recommend.  I also think (vaguely) and I can’t prove this but when I first heard Team America’s Dicks, Pussies, and Assholes speech, that it was based on 1984′s ‘three classes of people’ concept.

Back to the book… I do definitely think it’s a relevant cautionary tale and that it should continue to be read in schools.  Governments are trying to tell us everything like what cars to drive and how to cook, and certain factions of society are trying to force the rest of us to think a certain way and accept certain lifestyles… Everything is just so polarized. It’s relevant.

Broadly speaking, it’s also just a well written book.  Slightly predictable but an enjoyable read, chilling at times, and makes me think.  I remember tuning out in high school when we got to the super long chapter about reading the book, and I did it again as a 30 something.  Otherwise I really do think it’s a fine overall read.

Tl:DR: overall, this is one of the more readable classics and I absolutely think it stays relevant today. I used to live for this group of satirical & cautionary authors and 100% still enjoy reading it today. Going back via audio was a great choice to refresh my memory and experience it slightly differently than the first time around.

Bookish Quick Facts:

  • Title: 1984
  • Series: N/A
  • Author: George Orwell
  • Released: 1949
  • Length: 339 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for everyone!

Here’s the (I believe original) synopsis:

The new novel by George Orwell is the major work towards which all his previous writing has pointed. Critics have hailed it as his “most solid, most brilliant” work. Though the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place thirty-five years hence, it is in every sense timely. The scene is London, where there has been no new housing since 1950 and where the city-wide slums are called Victory Mansions. Science has abandoned Man for the State. As every citizen knows only too well, war is peace.

To Winston Smith, a young man who works in the Ministry of Truth (Minitru for short), come two people who transform this life completely. One is Julia, whom he meets after she hands him a slip reading, “I love you.” The other is O’Brien, who tells him, “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” The way in which Winston is betrayed by the one and, against his own desires and instincts, ultimately betrays the other, makes a story of mounting drama and suspense.

A Quick Note on the audio: the version I listened to was by 11h22m by Blackstone Audio, narrated by Simon Prebble. I think he’s a great narrator for the story and gave a wonderful performance of equal parts hope & horror. 

Categories
Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Book Thoughts)

In an effort to broaden my reading horizons and shore up some of my literary gaps, I started reading a few classics every year.

For my summer session of classic torture, I was surprised to find that The Scarlet Letter was not really that challenging to read. It is fairly short and the language isn’t terribly insufferable either (My last classic was Notre Dame de Paris ((The Hunchback of Notre Dame)) and … Whew, no thanks).

So let’s talk about my reaction to the book, if I think it has relevance today, and I’ll treat you to my teen-speak synopsis of the book.

Originally published in 1850, here’s the Signet Classics synopsis:

This tragic novel of sin and redemption is Hawthorne’s masterpiece of American fiction.

An ardent young woman, her cowardly lover, and her aging vengeful husband—these are the central characters in this stark drama of the conflict between passion and convention in the harsh world of seventeenth-century Boston. Tremendously moving and rich in psychological insight, this dramatic depiction of the struggle between mind and heart illuminates Hawthorne’s concern with our Puritan past and its influence on American life.

Broadly – I enjoyed the read.  It’s not hard to know what’s happening, and minus a bit of minute descriptive language mostly in the first novella about the Custom House, it was pretty readable.

His author intro is everything: Oh you’re offended by my sketch? I think it’s fine, it’s not like I burned the place down!! I bet Hawthorne had a big personality.

Relevance: I think it has relevance as a cautionary tale today in a world where teen moms get “famous” on TV and you can’t even scroll Bookstagram without seeing books with x rated content advertised. I would definitely put this in a home school curriculum to talk about Puritanism, early settlements, guilt, adultery, having children out of wedlock, stigmas and identity, I mean there’s a lot of discussion content here that I imagine parents would rather handle.

Here’s my teen speak synopsis:

Part 1: So Mr. Hawthorne was in the hot seat for blasting his employer after being fired, and said HaHaHaHA I’m gonna publish this anyway because it’s not offensive so enjoy! Sticks and stones!

Part 2: The Scarlet Letter. Ok so this lady living in Puritan Salem/Boston finds this brown eyed pastor waxing poetic, and even though she’s married, they get their shenanigans on. What the heck did she think would happen when she had a baby? This wasn’t 2020 where Jerry Springer lets your baby daddy and your husband fight it out on live TV, your @$$ is going to be hung by the neck!

That didn’t happen because Hawthorne had to write a book longer than 5 pages, so the two men have to kill each other with psychological warfare instead. A good lesson about carrying around a guilty conscience.

Long story short – actions have consequenes

A few random thoughts:

  • I thought it was funny that even the beggars were shunning charity from Hester. These days everyone grabs all the free stuff regardless of who is handing it out
  • A character mentioned transmuting alchemy to gold, which is something I usually see in fantasy books or nonfiction moreso than historical fiction
  • The book takes place 50 years before the Salem Witch Trials and Hawthorne brought in some real historical figures as characters.  Bellingham was the real governor, as was Hibbins who mentioned witchcraft throughout the book and was hanged in real life shortly after it took place. I didn’t know how many women were hung before the actual frenzy took place

Overall thoughts: I didn’t feel bad for Hester at all. She wasn’t forced into marriage and knew the laws of the time. Dimmesdale probably took advantage of his authority position and that isn’t an excuse for either of them since she clearly knows how to say NO to men in power based off the rest of the book.  I know 2020 is whack but choices, actions, they all have consequences and I’ll never support adultery.  That’s why I think this is a good cautionary tale to lay against idiocracy like “Teen Mom”

This is a quicker, easier to pick apart classic and I definitely think it held up over the years.

Soooo what classic should I read in the fall?

Categories
Fiction Literary Fiction

Struggling Through the Classics: Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

Welcome to another edition of struggling through the classics!  My dad (RIP) thinks I’m a terrible Greek but I am flabbergasted that Zorba the Greek retained any popularity. I did some extensive research on what I was supposed to be getting out of the book because hey, maybe I missed something.

The main ideas that I originally took away were 1) Crete is pretty 2) N.K. probably hated women or at least was writing a little, uh, traditionally 3) the narrator learns how to live a little 4) EXISTENTIALISM, yay, and 5) I did pick up on the Apollo vs Dionysus ideology because that’s not an entirely uncommon theme in Greek writing.

So – my gut reaction though is that I just did not care for this at all. I can’t figure out how a 65 year old survived for so long with absolutely zero impulse control 😂and he was a dick to everyone!

That said – let’s break it down and I’ll share what I really didn’t understand, what I learned, and what my ultimate takeaways were

Bookish Quick Facts: 
  • Title: Zorba the Greek
  • Translator: Peter Bien
  • Published: 2014 translation through Simon & Schuster, originally 1946
  • Length: 368 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: I am coming in neutral but honestly. *throws hands up* I’m a terrible Greek apparently
Here’s the synopsis via Am*zon:

A stunning new translation of the classic book—and basis for the beloved Oscar-winning film—brings the clarity and beauty of Kazantzakis’s language and story alive.

First published in 1946, Zorba the Greek, is, on one hand, the story of a Greek working man named Zorba, a passionate lover of life, the unnamed narrator who he accompanies to Crete to work in a lignite mine, and the men and women of the town where they settle. On the other hand it is the story of God and man, The Devil and the Saints; the struggle of men to find their souls and purpose in life and it is about love, courage and faith.

Zorba has been acclaimed as one of the truly memorable creations of literature—a character created on a huge scale in the tradition of Falstaff and Sancho Panza. His years have not dimmed the gusto and amazement with which he responds to all life offers him, whether he is working in the mine, confronting mad monks in a mountain monastery, embellishing the tales of his life or making love to avoid sin. Zorba’s life is rich with all the joys and sorrows that living brings and his example awakens in the narrator an understanding of the true meaning of humanity. This is one of the greatest life-affirming novels of our time.

Part of the modern literary canon, Zorba the Greek, has achieved widespread international acclaim and recognition. This new edition translated, directly from Kazantzakis’s Greek original, is a more faithful rendition of his original language, ideas, and story, and presents Zorba as the author meant him to be

My thoughts;

I think the most informative part was Peter Bien’s forward.  I’ve never thought about what Greece was doing during the world wars, but apparently Kazantzakis was living on a beach starving and then his wife showed up? Ok. I can’t imagine that setting except that he was envisioning a better time with plentiful food and livelier company, and this book was the product of that.

Zorba confused me from the get go. A bad start. I wasn’t ready for it and couldn’t figure out that the friend at the start was Stavrandakis, not Zorba, and eventually I Googled and was like “ooohhh”.  It’s hard because the author never named the friend at first, or the narrator ever, so names got lost on me throughout the book 

Zorba was the YES GO LIVE AND DO THINGS person, while the narrator was intellectual, stuck on books, and trying to write one.  I never understood his Buddhist fascination but I think he was trying to write a book or dissertation on it, and was mentally freed afterwards.  Zorba was a more visceral person and brought the narrator out of that intellectual/mental prison he was in.

The book took on the theme of extremes, and the end was to try to find a happy medium between living EVERY moment and self limiting.

The scenery and descriptions were my favorite part – I was too young in Greece to really remember it but the descriptions put me right back on a beach in Crete.  The setting and also atmosphere of hospitality just felt so real it made me truly want to go back.

Zorba loved food, women, music, dance, except he was like the ultimate example of objectifying women, and they killed that poor widow for what, rejecting a man? Holy cow, mixed feelings.  The aging process was so different between Zorba and “Bouboulina” that I picked graceful aging out as a theme.

I had to research what else because my intuitions stopped there.  The Buddhism part – the narrator was removing himself from material things but trying to find a deeper meaning … and Zorba was all about material things.  Again, finding balance

Freedom was another big theme that I missed.  Zorba just wanted to be free to live the way he wanted – finding new experiences and seeing where the wind, his nose, and his d!ck led him – I saw that part but didn’t connect it to the larger ideology.  The narrator wanted to find his freedom and Zorba was definitely instrumental in bringing that out

Nietzsche – I am not even going here.  I’m not a philosopher and have little to zero knowledge in this area so I’ll rephrase what I said above – EXISTENTIALISM, yay

…… That’s the summary of the academics that I remember.  There is a lot of joy throughout the book and my main takeaway was to find the beauty and awe in small things.  Don’t rush things, enjoy, and be open to new people and experiences. I definitely remember the Greek hospitality too which shows up constantly.

All in all – I would read it if you want to read the classics, but be ready for all the philosophical elements and (even for me who is bothered by like absolutely nothing) infuriating treatment of women.  The movie is quite good though.

If you liked this, I have struggled through other classics too….

Jekyll & Hyde

The Scarlet Letter

The Hunchback of Notre Dame 

And if you’d rather take a more sensible approach to literature than me, and suffer a lot less: check out a great reading list from a renown translator ♥️