Category Archives: LITERATURE

LITERATURE: The Haunting of Hill House

Figured that something like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House would put me in the right frame of mind for facing the monsters of Silent Hill again.  It’s been a while since I dealt with anything scary–aside from the … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Finale

As I said, I wasn’t nuts about Offred, the main character in this novel, and while I’m open-minded enough to accept what an author is laying down as setting, environment, language, etc., I did also have a small problem suspending … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Character Empathy

So as I mentioned, I’m not enthralled with Atwood’s main character and my general feeling was one of her first being a wimp (even her best friend Moira felt this way) for going along with everything so placidly–even while Atwood … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Atwood at Her Best

Finally getting the time-consuming computer problem solved (with a fax machine, second hard drive, and scanner to hook up still plus a camcorder to fiddle with), I’ve gotten back into sitting around eating bon-bons and reading some of the days … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Metaphor

Atwood is fairly open with her metaphors, and pretty versatile about the way she uses them. It’d be hard to say that the whole novel is a metaphor, and yet in certain ways it is: Feminism, religious extremism, government control, … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Style

Ah, here is where Atwood comes up with language use that lures the reader back into a literary frame of mind, straight into the dangers of her world: I can’t think of myself, my body, sometimes, without seeing the skeleton: … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Pace And Theme

A third of the way through, I find that we’ve only covered about three days in the present.  The backstory is in layers:  Offred’s past, just prior to this when she was "in training"; her life with her husband and … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Handmaid’s Tale – Style

First of all, the sci-fi element surprised me–being an Atwood novel.  But she (who I can’t help but say reminds me of Rhea Perlman [Carla on Cheers] ) has always played a bit with time and the lives of her … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Up Next – The Handmaid’s Tale

Tough decision–what to read next.  But with about 150 books on the shelf, all now nice and neatly alphabetized by author, it’s quite a delight to be able to browse and pull out what strikes me. There are quite a … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: On The Road – Finale

Reading paced along with Dean’s rush cross country, and we end up in Mexico, and with a clearer view of Dean although I still don’t feel my perception of Sal Paradise is complete. Sal does find love back in the … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: On The Road – Theme

Obviously the theme here is the road unraveling before them, offering directions, paths, choices, blah, blah, blah. And here is one of the damned few references to Sal Paradise’s purpose of taking this physical road trip: I took up a … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: On The Road – Writing Style

A couple things I’m noticing with Kerouac:  If I go to copy and type out an excerpt I cannot remember the short grouping of words accurately, and find myself "rewriting" what he’s written.  Odd, because in all the posts of … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Pleasure of the Text – Mind Blowing Text

Does anyone understand Barthes? You know, for a guy who is adamant that the reader writes the text, he uses an awful lot of words that I doubt many beyond him ever even heard before.  It’s sort of disassociating to … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: On The Road – Story

I’m still slogging my way through this, wondering why in hell these guys are doing such dumb things, then I remember. I do of course remember this prelude to my own youth, but these yearnings for a better world in … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Prairie Schooner – Is the Short Story a Dead Issue?

While I’m still a bit backed up on my lit journal reading, I always thumb through the new issues as they come in.  Today’s mail brought the winter 2006 issue of Prairie Schooner: 6   Reviews  4   Essays  96  Poems 3  … Continue reading Continue reading

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