tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12214338082855801122024-03-13T07:08:53.590-04:00Attic Salt: A Literary BlogAmy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-55682781483445484562010-12-16T14:42:00.000-05:002010-12-16T14:42:20.088-05:00Moving OnWhen I began <i>Attic Salt</i> in August 2009, I was living in DC, working for a newspaper, and blogging about my adventures at a personal blog, <i>Ms. Cavanaugh Goes to Washington</i>. I began that blog since I had things to say about the arts, restaurants, and events going on in DC that I wasn't writing about for other outlets, and I began <i>Attic Salt</i> because I had things to say about books, authors, and reading that I wasn't writing about for other outlets. <br />
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And then I moved to Chicago this summer, so I shut down <i>Ms. Cavanaugh Goes to Washington</i>, and kept <i>Attic Salt </i>around to use as a space to write about my project of reading all of Jane Austen's novels, and a space where I could reprint author interviews that had run in other places. But there was a problem with <i>Attic Salt</i> — I have too many interests to devote significant time and energy to just one of them. When I had my other blog, I could write there about an art show I saw or my new favorite food discovery. With just a book blog, I felt limited and began to distance myself from it.<br />
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Writing for publications in two cities means I'm already feeling like I'm here, there, and everywhere, so I want my Internet presence to be centralized. I want it to be a place where I can link to my articles, print outtakes from interviews, wax about restaurants I loved, and share thoughts on books, visual arts, culture, and any topic that strikes my fancy. And with that, I am unveiling a new eponymous blog, hosted on tumblr: <a href="http://amycavanaughblog.tumblr.com/"><i>Amy Cavanaugh</i></a>. I am still going to keep up my personal Twitter feed, but I'll be shutting down the <i>Attic Salt </i>one. Anyone interested in keeping up on my thoughts on books should bookmark my new blog and follow me on Twitter here, <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/AmyCavanaugh">@AmyCavanaugh</a>.<br />
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Thank you for reading <i>Attic Salt</i> — it's been fun to write about books and get moral support during my Jane Austen project. I loved doing the <i>Catching Up With An Old Friend</i> series and sharing author interviews and beautiful book covers. Happy Reading!Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-10738011468065421562010-11-19T12:22:00.000-05:002010-11-19T12:22:05.394-05:00Cover Candy: King Lear vintage re-covered book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqXwH9aplVsOwKTx74mPePJs8MApxntz7y4oVBobQ-4hV9YnGFrGPA9kbMgcvLbHy5R5RJ8XuqvKEIjrI6nT1InAcTClKxU7eoP8F23yT5ZmfLlXnIXqGJgNPlZ5NmElvAUXLETwlcuY/s1600/il_570xN.189410068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqXwH9aplVsOwKTx74mPePJs8MApxntz7y4oVBobQ-4hV9YnGFrGPA9kbMgcvLbHy5R5RJ8XuqvKEIjrI6nT1InAcTClKxU7eoP8F23yT5ZmfLlXnIXqGJgNPlZ5NmElvAUXLETwlcuY/s320/il_570xN.189410068.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/60786928/king-lear-vintage-re-covered-book">Via</a>.<span id="goog_207940938"></span><span id="goog_207940939"></span>Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-83155161861768287772010-11-18T23:37:00.002-05:002010-11-18T23:37:47.454-05:00Cover Candy: Penguin Classics for ChildrenI spotted these at <a href="http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?navAction=jump&id=073685&cm_mmc=Facebook-_-2010_Anthropologie-_-Penguin%20Children%27s%20Classics-_-Clothbound%20Penguin%20Classics%20for%20Children">Anthropologie</a>. How beautiful!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ldptELNhYybIkVBRL28sV6Mm9-MofEQQ2fya3x8dU8nqEa2prbS3-OaomdEnZiln15jLuz5LFBsGLB_tvatBKIDrs81ch6lUpsZIWfw4R75xS6amg7PEBDwUr3-WP9fn4ptbDxXakTA/s1600/073683_040_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ldptELNhYybIkVBRL28sV6Mm9-MofEQQ2fya3x8dU8nqEa2prbS3-OaomdEnZiln15jLuz5LFBsGLB_tvatBKIDrs81ch6lUpsZIWfw4R75xS6amg7PEBDwUr3-WP9fn4ptbDxXakTA/s320/073683_040_b.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVgcWTPBksU5HSEAxzA-0VbubKVYXUuMmQeHdBtoLEWmD7qX02SuhwIn3Z7E8tkcmADzorHyGUc5Oc85Heh1Vv0905NWla4j6vyTkhM0osmYIBquQc3WIPR2ZhwSPzYqUz56fVz7GAIY/s1600/073684_066_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVgcWTPBksU5HSEAxzA-0VbubKVYXUuMmQeHdBtoLEWmD7qX02SuhwIn3Z7E8tkcmADzorHyGUc5Oc85Heh1Vv0905NWla4j6vyTkhM0osmYIBquQc3WIPR2ZhwSPzYqUz56fVz7GAIY/s320/073684_066_b.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSf-gpitw6uGgM5x7-_3VBHPKi063ypWpfp55GoModbAfGzhXmXu6A3AY5uY012rNJYhfc2ut0kit8xm_i6laF47Xnf3xBImg2uaijdAjxGdR_Kz-Vt-uXQLdOYBvRThmlorCXTFU_Fc/s1600/073681_046_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSf-gpitw6uGgM5x7-_3VBHPKi063ypWpfp55GoModbAfGzhXmXu6A3AY5uY012rNJYhfc2ut0kit8xm_i6laF47Xnf3xBImg2uaijdAjxGdR_Kz-Vt-uXQLdOYBvRThmlorCXTFU_Fc/s320/073681_046_b.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-27659907064467652572010-10-31T07:00:00.005-04:002010-10-31T07:00:03.222-04:00Favorite Halloween BooksI love a good scary story now and then, and today's the perfect time to pick one up. Here are my four favorite spooky/scary/Halloween stories:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4Bs8UZd-6xKCFW1WQqJrM4gw_EK5EJSZ9c_JIVoSQcKyLIhBX5NPk6QkQlcdZpQVWNY3h044STL83O44VexwZlxWzG3kEymjqBWqvlAJEbomDHExjIH66JhTYojeYIUvpm7ee7TVPVA/s1600/Frankenstein_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4Bs8UZd-6xKCFW1WQqJrM4gw_EK5EJSZ9c_JIVoSQcKyLIhBX5NPk6QkQlcdZpQVWNY3h044STL83O44VexwZlxWzG3kEymjqBWqvlAJEbomDHExjIH66JhTYojeYIUvpm7ee7TVPVA/s320/Frankenstein_Cover.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SqiiPyqMyG16ucVLWZlvG5s7flkLxMAUeNh3I5CdAePwZQJ_KYzWBzvh6RDbzfigf_ug-lOCtkHiA8YCYqDx1TCrUHk2LXCaxCYqFhb0ALLreDYC5ujkv4ORT1t4wJ9WJKypewNB4GE/s1600/turn+of+the+screw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SqiiPyqMyG16ucVLWZlvG5s7flkLxMAUeNh3I5CdAePwZQJ_KYzWBzvh6RDbzfigf_ug-lOCtkHiA8YCYqDx1TCrUHk2LXCaxCYqFhb0ALLreDYC5ujkv4ORT1t4wJ9WJKypewNB4GE/s320/turn+of+the+screw.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb67_WhGJnOSjUWe3WHo3ZlL2AAtKHGVpG-DxFcyjbgp2WFKkO9yJ1ObDvP81QlnnMDrhyphenhyphenUxzBMAEmem6oVnewxSxeAb0BfSTbzO8rh3Y1ZPReTP293GyDJFQjpqgcrl4ZhBJ0PPTymc0/s1600/pumpkin+moonshine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb67_WhGJnOSjUWe3WHo3ZlL2AAtKHGVpG-DxFcyjbgp2WFKkO9yJ1ObDvP81QlnnMDrhyphenhyphenUxzBMAEmem6oVnewxSxeAb0BfSTbzO8rh3Y1ZPReTP293GyDJFQjpqgcrl4ZhBJ0PPTymc0/s320/pumpkin+moonshine.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-5527111277777109572010-10-29T17:09:00.000-04:002010-10-29T17:09:04.861-04:00In the Attic with Myla Goldberg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5qsgog1z_T4fcr6Ph2ap4bHsh8cGkwTcXDzALsMbsksjjvghxNClMY-QjPUrRbCClEm2XitvlEbLV05TU5wCj2ruMm5k5XAZUtt9_4ld19K2cwTT9HnB2nu6lWFO7F258NxfyvGPvFUY/s1600/20101025-mylagoldberg-250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5qsgog1z_T4fcr6Ph2ap4bHsh8cGkwTcXDzALsMbsksjjvghxNClMY-QjPUrRbCClEm2XitvlEbLV05TU5wCj2ruMm5k5XAZUtt9_4ld19K2cwTT9HnB2nu6lWFO7F258NxfyvGPvFUY/s200/20101025-mylagoldberg-250.jpg" width="166" /></a></div>Originally printed in the <a href="http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/10/myla-goldberg-false-friend-politics-prose.php"><i>Washington Post Express</i></a><br />
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If there's one thing Facebook stalking old middle-school classmates can teach us, it's that people change. Reconnecting with those ghosts of friendships past can provide some insight into our former selves, which is what Celia Durst learns in Myla Goldberg's third novel, <i>The False Friend</i>.<br />
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"Part of what inspired me was that I remembered something very mean I had done in elementary school," Goldberg recalls. "I remember being the kid who was picked on all the time, but one time I threw a pair of scissors at my best friend at the time and scratched her on the leg. She didn't tell anyone and I blocked it out, but as an adult I remembered having done that."<br />
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Kids don't always turn into the adults you'd expect. "You have people you knew in high school, like the guy you're sure is going to be a Hollywood star but 10 years later he's a podiatrist," she says. "You never know what course we're going to take."<br />
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Goldberg's third novel follows Celia as she pieces together the disappearance of her best friend, Djuna, who vanished when they were 11. At the time, Celia told everyone that Djuna got into a stranger's car. Decades later, Celia remembers that Djuna fell into a hole — and she told no one. When she returns home to confess, no one — family, old friends who were there that day — believes her. Celia has a difficult time realizing that her memory may be fallible, something Goldberg says we all have to accept.<br />
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"I think, ultimately, we can never know ourselves and people we love can never know us," she says. "Memory is not this sacrosanct, golden thing, and if you talk to other people about your past you can figure out what memory's failure can teach you. Memory's failure is as good a way to learn about ourselves."<br />
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Goldberg's husband grew up in upstate New York, where she set the novel.<br />
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"The area fascinates me," she said. "It's a place of fallen empire, which ascended when the U.S. was making stuff and factories — cites and cultures sprang up around that. Now the U.S. doesn't make as much stuff, and the area is dead, depopulated and boarded up. It tied with my thinking about the people we are now versus what we were."<br />
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She also drew on her own childhood neighborhood in Laurel, Md.<br />
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"I attended high school in Greenbelt and I used it in the book," Goldberg says. "The great thing about fiction is that you can make a patchwork and draw from wherever you want."Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-67925418495856902232010-10-22T00:13:00.000-04:002010-10-22T00:13:44.947-04:00In the Attic with Edwidge Danticat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgrOsxYIuA3Ab9INyrbs1lA1vFzpK95UFsfWe_GuQ0h70zISiwn6i5SMK0hQmmSAXd7IO1TY7F7GbGPIP51oZ-I5AtfG4jDsd_HjoZKB_8kp9I1Vpm0V-ErDKhgLub9UwdfWBwichzDQ/s1600/Danticat_Edwidge+C+2010+Nancy+Crampton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgrOsxYIuA3Ab9INyrbs1lA1vFzpK95UFsfWe_GuQ0h70zISiwn6i5SMK0hQmmSAXd7IO1TY7F7GbGPIP51oZ-I5AtfG4jDsd_HjoZKB_8kp9I1Vpm0V-ErDKhgLub9UwdfWBwichzDQ/s200/Danticat_Edwidge+C+2010+Nancy+Crampton.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>In my journalism, I never have the luxury of including every quote or topic that comes up in the course of an interview. I recently interviewed Edwidge Danticat for a piece in <i>Express</i> (which you can <a href="http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/10/edwidge-danticat-create-dangerously-at-politics-prose.php">read here</a>) about her brilliant cultural criticism/memoir <i>Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work</i> and I had to cut out this question:<br />
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<i>In </i>Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work<i>, you write that “the immigrant artist, like all other artists, is a leech and I needed to latch on.” You also mention in the introduction that the executions of Marcel Numa and Louis Drouin are one of your “creation myths.” How much of being an immigrant artist is telling other people’s stories, and how much is telling your own?</i><br />
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I think any artist is sort of a sponge and a lot of the re-creation of experience is a re-telling of your own experience where it encounters other people’s experiences. Being from an immigrant family, and with the past my family has, there’s always a person who tells it. As a result, people are often cautious around you. Even when I was a kid, I was the kid who told everything. I was shy, but I was a big observer and people were cautious around me when I started writing. My parents and my aunt spent much of their adult lives under the dictatorship, and even at the dinner table, where it was private, they would say, “is it safe to say this?” Having a writer in the family is counter-intuitive to that. Often when my relatives in Haiti read things of mine, they say, “how do you know that?” I always say, “I was listening when you didn’t realize it.”Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-28916721787951750902010-09-05T19:13:00.016-04:002010-09-05T19:22:28.928-04:00Persuasion, Chapters 13-24<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfjt43G8KvZyuM4ImB7kZW1ZF5YTfxF7jqxnL_DAbs0gu-cq3schkRLOUeB4I4ZiECxehDKfUtZrrviBPfCycuQehMWG9gho0DZ-5FzlAcKk19L7GKJMtRQ3HD2-qHJy-31RfII2ASZ0/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfjt43G8KvZyuM4ImB7kZW1ZF5YTfxF7jqxnL_DAbs0gu-cq3schkRLOUeB4I4ZiECxehDKfUtZrrviBPfCycuQehMWG9gho0DZ-5FzlAcKk19L7GKJMtRQ3HD2-qHJy-31RfII2ASZ0/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Whew, it's high time I finish up <i>Persuasion</i>, isn't it? I've been really busy these past couple weeks, taking the second road trip of the summer as <a href="http://myfavoritegumcommercial.blogspot.com/">Todd</a> and I moved my things (including hundreds of books) to Chicago. Now we're getting settled in an apartment that has an office/library — it's kind of an amazing room.<br />
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What's also amazing is that the <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Jane%20Austen%20challenge">Jane Austen Challenge</a> is over! It took six months, but I haven't read this many books by a single author since I took a Henry James class in college. Reading all of Austen's books so close to each other helps illuminate themes and aspects of her writing style, so I'm really glad I did this. And thanks to everyone who played along! If you finished all six, please send me an e-mail with your mailing address.<br />
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I'll be revisiting themes that recur throughout Austen's oeuvre in the coming weeks, and after that I'm going to be starting a new reading project — Chicago writers. I hope it'll be a way to get to know something about the city I just moved to, plus a chance to discover new authors. I'll issue a more formal call for ideas later, but I'd love to hear any ideas for books by Chicago writers past or present, or those that are set in Chicago.<br />
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And now onto final thoughts on <i>Persuasion:</i><br />
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Louisa is still at Lyme recovering from her accident, the Musgroves go there to be with her, and Anne decides to go visit Lady Russell. Anne is distracted while she’s with her friend because of the situation with Louisa, but Lady Russell tells her how she looks physically better. Anne tells her that Captain Wentworth is smitten with Louisa.<br />
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The ladies go visit Mrs. Croft, and it hurts Anne that someone else lives in her old house. Admiral Croft tells her to look around, which Anne declines, but he tells her that he made some improvements to the house, including removing mirrors from Sir Walter’s room. The Crofts tell Anne that Captain Wentworth praised her to his sister and brother-in-law for his help with the Musgroves. They also tell her that they’re planning to go to Bath for a few weeks.<br />
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Charles and Mary come back from Lyme and report that Louisa is improved, thought still week. Anne asks about Captain Benwick, and Charles implies that he has feelings for Anne. Anne hears from her sister Elizabeth that their cousin, Mr. Elliot, is in Bath and he has come to visit Sir Walter. Anne and Lady Russell set off for Bath. Anne is depressed to be there, but her family welcomes her by showing off their new things. Mr. Elliot has been visiting them often, and they have forgiven him for marrying his first wife who was rich but ill-bred. She died six months previously, and contrary to appearances, Mr. Elliot is in mourning. Anne surmises that he wants to marry Elizabeth, but when he visits, he recognizes Anne from their meeting in Lyme. They hit it off.<br />
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Mrs. Clay proposes that she leave Bath, now that Anne is there, but Elizabeth and Sir Walter decline her offer, which makes Anne worry that her father is interested in Mrs. Clay. Elizabeth isn’t worried, but Lady Russell is.<br />
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Lady Russell likes Mr. Elliot, and isn’t suspicious about why he’s made amends with his relatives. Anne, realizing that she and Lady Russell often see things differently, still believes that Mr. Elliot wants to marry Elizabeth.<br />
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Word arrives that Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret, cousins of the Elliots, are in town. Their relationship has lapsed, but since Lady Dalrymple is noble, Sir Walter decides they should rekindle it and improve their social standing in Bath. Anne can’t believe it, but Mr. Elliot tells her that it’s a good idea. He also shares her concerns about Mrs. Clay.<br />
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Anne learns that Mrs. Smith, an old school friend of hers, is in Bath as well. Mrs. Smith had married a wealthy man, who burned through his money. He died two years previously, leaving his widow in serious debt. Shortly thereafter, she got a fever and was crippled. Anne goes to visit her, finding her friend’s situation terrible but her spirit unchanged.<br />
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Anne turns town a visit to the Dalrymples’ in favor of visiting Mrs. Smith, which bothers her father. At the party, Mr. Elliot tells Lady Russell how highly he thinks of Anne, which makes Lady Russell think that he plans to marry Anne, not Elizabeth. Lady Russell approves, since it would make Anne Lady Elliot of Kellynch Hall, which was her mother’s place.<br />
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Next the Elliots learn that the Crofts are in Bath and that Louisa is engaged to Captain Benwick. The odd couple fell in love while Louisa was recovering in Lyme, which surprises everyone. Anne is thrilled though, since it means that Captain Wentworth won’t be marrying Louisa like she imagined.<br />
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In Bath, Anne runs into Admiral Croft, who tells her that he and his wife also expected the Captain to marry Louisa. He adds that his brother-in-law doesn’t seem upset about the news. Anne bumps into Captain Wentworth the next day when she is walking with Mr. Elliot. His friends assume that there’s something going on between Anne and Mr. Elliot.<br />
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The Elliots attend a concert and Captain Wentworth is there. He tells Anne that he doesn't think Louisa is smart enough for Captain Benwick, and that he’s amazed his friend was able to get over his first love so quickly. Anne sits with Mr. Elliot, and he’s very complimentary of her. During intermission, Anne goes to find Captain Wentworth, but Mr. Elliot interrupts their conversation. Anne, always polite, goes with him, but realizes that Captain Wentworth is jealous is Mr. Elliot.<br />
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Anne goes to visit Mrs. Smith the next morning. Her friend thinks Anne is in love with Mr. Elliot, and Anne tells her that it isn’t true. Mrs. Smith then tells Anne that Mr. Elliot is “without a heart of conscience” — he was a friend to her late husband, and the Smiths would help him out financially. He refused to marry Elizabeth in order to marry a wealthy woman, and he often spoke slightingly of his Kellynch baronetcy. He also encouraged Mr. Smith to run up a huge debt. He was the executor of Mr. Smith’s will, but refused to help out. The reason he’s upset about the possibility of Sir Walter remarrying is if he and Mrs. Clay were to have a son, he would no longer be heir to Kellynch. He came to Bath to break them up, but soon decides he wants to marry Anne. This obviously upsets Anne, but she’s glad she found out before it was too late. When she sees Mr. Elliot that evening, he tries to talk to her, but she brushes him away. He says that he’s planning to leave Bath for a couple of days.<br />
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Charles and Mary come to Bath with the other Musgroves, since Henrietta needs a wedding dress for her marriage to Charles Hayter. While Anne is visiting them, she sees Mr. Elliot and Mrs. Clay speaking on the street. Mary wants to go to her father’s party the next night to meet the Dalrymples and Mr. Elliot. Anne stresses how little interest she has in Mr. Elliot, which Captain Wentworth picks up on.<br />
Anne goes to visit the Musgroves, Captains Harville and Wentworth, and Mrs. Croft the next morning, and Anne and Captain Harville get into a discussion about love. Anne says that women are more faithful and that women continue to love even when hope is gone. Captain Harville counters that men never forget women, even when women have moved on. Captain Wentworth passes Anne a note, then heads outside to mail a letter. In the note, Captain Wentworth declares his love for her, which makes Anne leave at once. One the walk home she runs into Captain Wentworth and she tells him how she’s loved him all along. They’re both elated.<br />
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No one objects to their engagement, although Mr. Elliot leaves Bath. Mrs. Clay leaves as well, and there’s a rumor that they’re together — he had been flirting with her in the hopes that she would not marry Sir Walter. Captain Wentworth helps Mrs. Smith get some of her husband’s money back, and only Elizabeth remains unmarried. Anne and Captain Wentworth live happily in their marriage.<br />
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Moreso than in her other novels, Austen punishes characters who strive for social improvement and mobility. Mrs. Clay and Mr. Elliot are driven out of town for their attempts to social climb through marriage. It's one thing to pursue acquaintances from a higher social standing, like Sir Walter does with his cousins, but it's another entirely to use marriage as a means of doing so. <br />
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And that’s the end of Austen’s most mature love story and final novel. I think it’s a fitting end to this project, since we’ve seen Austen become a more assured writer who presents more assured characters. Though <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> is my favorite of Austen’s books, <i>Persuasion</i> is great for an older reader (Anne is the closest heroine to me in age) who isn’t clueless about the way love works. But there's something in every Austen novel that's worth getting at, which is why this has been such a rewarding project. <br />
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What's your favorite Austen work, and why?Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-86220243442412830232010-08-21T15:52:00.000-04:002010-08-21T15:52:21.584-04:00Persuasion Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYmoFhHDoE_FYKfV9l17glAi1JQasraOZo_GX_2ZL7dxaWpJruM9x998UOHiIinP3zEHyaamOR1Cb8YaUeTBq7pI66dSoiKTr13AffOWA-0J2thjqHiUyAqOJ0WPNHeekp6VLO8t6M38/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYmoFhHDoE_FYKfV9l17glAi1JQasraOZo_GX_2ZL7dxaWpJruM9x998UOHiIinP3zEHyaamOR1Cb8YaUeTBq7pI66dSoiKTr13AffOWA-0J2thjqHiUyAqOJ0WPNHeekp6VLO8t6M38/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>Since I've gone ahead and just finished <i>Persuasion</i> like I did with <i>Northanger Abbey</i> (this is what happens with shorter books!) I'm going to save my thoughts for a final post on the novel at the end of the month. I'm also brainstorming ideas for a couple of posts for September that will address themes and topics in all six of Austen's books. If you can think of something you think would be fun to discuss here, please <a href="mailto:atticsaltblog@gmail.com">let me know</a> or leave a comment! Good luck finishing up your Austen reading!Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-34709801272907789972010-08-20T14:33:00.014-04:002010-08-20T14:40:30.646-04:00Review: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj300wTGwYjbla6w0mTr8Gq6YAeUq-cOn3bpcaXUXcpgLpBy9JuIFEbyWAdMY6cm-cJeuaQmUpyfnNWwNQHPGgB4al2-MlpTIxSxjG8auFYyByaMq-CBeaf9cogLXSl3vLHWhQiCnzHyxU/s1600/particular-sadness-of-lemon-cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj300wTGwYjbla6w0mTr8Gq6YAeUq-cOn3bpcaXUXcpgLpBy9JuIFEbyWAdMY6cm-cJeuaQmUpyfnNWwNQHPGgB4al2-MlpTIxSxjG8auFYyByaMq-CBeaf9cogLXSl3vLHWhQiCnzHyxU/s320/particular-sadness-of-lemon-cake.jpg" /></a>In Aimee Bender's <i>The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake</i>, food emits the feelings of the person who made it to 9-year-old Rose Edelstein. Distraught when she realizes that her mother is unhappy by tasting the emotion in a lemon birthday cake with chocolate frosting, Rose's happy-go-lucky nature begins to dissolve as she starts to question what's going on around her. Food, for Rose, lays bare the dark secrets of everyone she knows years before she should know them.<br />
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It's a strange family. Besides Rose, there's her oddball mother, who tries to follow various passions, her loving but distant father, and her unusual brother, Joseph. Joseph is older by a few years, and to Rose he's a genius who somehow can't get into the handful of colleges he applies to. Secretive and always irritated, he spurs the novel's tension with his disappearance shortly after he moves out.<br />
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Bender tracks Rose through those years when food tells her particularly startling things -- her mother's affair, her brother's strange disappearance -- ultimately until she's in her early twenties and trying to find a way to use her "gift" for good. It's been a barrier between Rose and a normal life, as she forgoes college and other things in order to save herself trouble, but she ultimately learns to accept both her taste buds and her brother's situation. His "gift" is one that divides the family and can't be hidden, as Rose's can. If the symbolism seems heavy handed, it can be at times, though Bender balances it with the mystery that each "gift" produces.<br />
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Food is a terrific character in its own right. Its personification is sometimes twee and at other times seems to mock food criticism and obnoxious food blogs, but its main role is the conduit for change and self-discovery as Rose grows up. There's nothing gimmicky about this, just a novel way of getting to the heart of family issues. As strange as Rose's abilities are, Joseph's are even stranger, but the family is unwilling or unable to talk about them. The one person who will listen, Joseph's friend George, is Rose's crush and the only character who provides some balance to the family's troubles. As a food writer reading this book, I wanted Rose to embrace her strange ability and launch a new type of food writing, one that explores the passion in restaurant's kitchens and whether they use locally sourced ingredients like they promise. <br />
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<i>The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake</i> is engaging and Bender creates a world that's easy for readers to inhabit. I've always been drawn to magical realism, and this book is no exception.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-91019584425432392682010-08-19T08:00:00.000-04:002010-08-19T08:00:04.971-04:00Cover Candy: F. Scott Fitzgerald EditionsYou've probably noticed that <i>Attic Salt</i> has become pretty much just a Jane Austen/<a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/catching-up-with-old-friend-coralie.html">Coralie Bickford-Smith</a> appreciation blog. Well, the Austen project may be winding down, but at least we've always got great Coralie content to post. Herewith, some <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662143/wanted-f-scott-fitzgerald-editions-that-arent-gauzy-watercolors-of-flappers">gorgeous new covers</a> she designed for F. Scott Fitzgerald's books. I would like them all.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZk7VnEXOnEV5uEmPCML3ghz2OuvBy5d9m4bBcHEieKPNo13IEzGsXjZRrchcPKX7i27eKCinNp7bot1umWE_ZyeT-y9_wz-ObmXhM6eStbZa0lpxs1WPJ9Qz4ccqhc7y4xIyDvre9FhE/s1600/08_16_10+penguin+books+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZk7VnEXOnEV5uEmPCML3ghz2OuvBy5d9m4bBcHEieKPNo13IEzGsXjZRrchcPKX7i27eKCinNp7bot1umWE_ZyeT-y9_wz-ObmXhM6eStbZa0lpxs1WPJ9Qz4ccqhc7y4xIyDvre9FhE/s320/08_16_10+penguin+books+4.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEbrQWU6gjw54Wwv47pKCG6bLdsQd2e7qni9yxiGAucOp95BtcQfntmKKabGPS0pJEcRHAWoC0i3IVoxyPfFwGeQm2DQLkupuddpwknP_NYtwQbqFGFnsywR7Kqop9oHxk9BiUp_mOOXQ/s1600/Books+3+second+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEbrQWU6gjw54Wwv47pKCG6bLdsQd2e7qni9yxiGAucOp95BtcQfntmKKabGPS0pJEcRHAWoC0i3IVoxyPfFwGeQm2DQLkupuddpwknP_NYtwQbqFGFnsywR7Kqop9oHxk9BiUp_mOOXQ/s320/Books+3+second+pic.jpg" /></a></div>Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-61955551552103987712010-08-17T13:54:00.000-04:002010-08-17T13:54:46.511-04:00Persuasion, Chapters 7-12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnoeIWU85T6A51rnuE1Wafg6IyATasRPewirLoC_ojOxIY9KzLu9iB9sN9h56f_s_sUmjrRxAZckLugCWjtKppm4bs0kL0dUfzGzhEOoJLwRk-BGsYh7c22xuiDHun2hghrpctlXBYmE/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnoeIWU85T6A51rnuE1Wafg6IyATasRPewirLoC_ojOxIY9KzLu9iB9sN9h56f_s_sUmjrRxAZckLugCWjtKppm4bs0kL0dUfzGzhEOoJLwRk-BGsYh7c22xuiDHun2hghrpctlXBYmE/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>This section begins with Captain Wentworth’s arrival in the neighborhood. Anne and Mary are invited to meet him at Uppercross, but Mary’s son falls and dislocates his collarbone, prompting them to cancel their visit. Henrietta and Louisa, Mary’s sisters-in-law, are smitten with the Captain, who will be dining with them the next day. Mary and Charles attend too, with Anne staying home to care for her nephew and conveniently avoiding Captain Wentworth.<br />
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He comes to call on Mary the next morning and he and Anne meet briefly. Mary tells Anne that the Captain found his old love “so altered he should not have known her again” -- yikes. Anne’s hurt by it, understandably, but we learn that he hasn’t forgiven Anne, although he’s now ready to move on and get married.<br />
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Even though Anne and the Captain are frequently thrown together in social situations now, they avoid each other, speaking only when necessary. Anne still finds him charming -- she thinks they’re well suited for each other, and he’s kind to Mrs. Musgrove. Anne thinks the Crofts have a perfect relationship, as she travels with him on his ship, something the Captain says he wouldn't let his future wife do. Everyone is smitten with him.<br />
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Next we meet Charles Hayter, a cousin of the Musgroves (Mrs. Hayter and Mrs. Musgrove are sisters) and Henrietta’s suitor. The Hayters are an inferior, uneducated family, in contrast to the Musgroves, who are educated, but they get along well and encourage Henrietta and Charles. While everyone is wondering whether the Captain will choose Louisa or Henrietta Musgrove, Charles feels left out and upset. Anne doesn’t believe that he loves either of them, but is just reveling in their attentions.<br />
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The party heads out for a walk the next morning -- the Musgrove sisters make it clear they don’t want Mary along, but she goes, along with Anne, Charles Musgrove, and Captain Wentworth. Louisa flirts with the Captain and Charles and Henrietta visit the Hayters. She tells him that Charles wanted to marry Anne, but that she refused him and he married Mary, which interests the Captain. Charles Hayter now joins the party with the others, so it’s clear that Henrietta has decided he’s the one for her, leaving Louisa for the Captain. On the way home, the Crofts pass by in a carriage, and the Captain tells them to drive Anne home, since he guessed she might be tired. Anne sees that the Crofts drive the carriage together, and notes that it is representative of how their relationship works.<br />
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Anne heads to visit Lady Russell while the Captain goes to visit his friends, the Harvilles in Lyme. That makes everyone want to visit Lyme, so they set out for there. In Lyme, we meet the Harvilles -- he’s a captain too -- and Captain Benwick, whose fiancée, Captain Harville’s sister, died the previous year. Benwick is depressed and interested in poetry, which means Anne has a lot to discuss with him and makes reading suggestions, including reading more prose.<br />
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The next day, the group heads out for a walk, and they run into a man who stares at Anne He’s very attractive and happens to be Mr. Elliot, Anne’s cousin and heir to Kellynch. On a second walk, disaster strikes -- Louisa jumps down from a wall, hits her head, and is rendered unconscious. She’s brought to the Harville’s home, where a doctor sees her and says that while her injury is severe, she’ll be okay. Anne and the Captain head back home, while the others remain to help. That’s where we leave our friends.<br />
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There are some parallels between <i>Persuasion</i> and <i>Mansfield Park </i>-- vapid girls encroaching on the heroine's man, our heroine set adrift from her family and taken in by those who can care better for her/understand her, and a heroine who isn't in the spunky Elizabeth/Emma/Catherine school. What Austen does best between her third novel and her sixth is creating a more balanced heroine:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tTXcYXsHj4ctpiCI6ORbZ0hiFuWnKRCikFOwzy72UgBAtbgdlPGIiYMbCE2V81q-J26W515xqH3L94Pp1E6druyysDzjjqNkcIkMuHjM9kNMQb7o3eEcBuLeIYioWLyl5aliK84eSjI/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-08-17+at+1.24.04+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tTXcYXsHj4ctpiCI6ORbZ0hiFuWnKRCikFOwzy72UgBAtbgdlPGIiYMbCE2V81q-J26W515xqH3L94Pp1E6druyysDzjjqNkcIkMuHjM9kNMQb7o3eEcBuLeIYioWLyl5aliK84eSjI/s320/Screen+shot+2010-08-17+at+1.24.04+PM.png" /></a></div><br />
Where Fanny was timid and meek, Anne's quiet only because she knows when to get involved and speak her mind and when to let things slide. She recognizes the inanity that surrounds her, and unlike Fanny, whose youth made her unable to navigate the social world successfully, Anne knows what she has to do to be successful socially without comprising the best parts of her.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-56398705081465436572010-08-09T12:00:00.005-04:002010-08-09T12:06:34.303-04:00Persuasion, Chapters 1-6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasptGEehsyyQijUF47OsosbKrdXvWrT1vMkoMw32Dhm9uWT8JRRTUe_hmlWrJeNrFGAaRK45taZIpPFV0w8Otiye2qmIr54BxDIWEg6ChruY9HA87Oo1z4OIP_xKogiH3vhh8gzBMlts/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasptGEehsyyQijUF47OsosbKrdXvWrT1vMkoMw32Dhm9uWT8JRRTUe_hmlWrJeNrFGAaRK45taZIpPFV0w8Otiye2qmIr54BxDIWEg6ChruY9HA87Oo1z4OIP_xKogiH3vhh8gzBMlts/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>Jane Austen's final novel, <i>Persuasion</i>, is the only one of her books that I couldn't have told you a darn thing about going into it. I may not have known anything about <i>Mansfield Park</i> or <i>Northanger Abbey</i>, but I at least knew Fanny Price's name, and that <i>Northanger</i> was a take on the contemporary Gothic genre. But <i>Persuasion</i>? Zip. Then I posted the schedule of readings for this month and got this:<br />
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So while I know nothing about this novel, it happens to be two people's favorite Austen book. My curiosity was piqued. <br />
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The novel begins with Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall making a record of his family. His wife died 14 years ago, and of his grown daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary, only Mary is married, to Charles Musgrove. Elliot’s fortune will be passed to his nephew, William Elliot. Sir Walter has become self-absorbed in the years since his wife’s death, so Lady Russell, a friend of Lady Elliot, has stepped in to offer the Elliot girls some guidance. She takes a special liking to Anne. Elizabeth Elliot is beautiful but vapid and her father’s favorite, Anne is a lovely person but her family doesn’t pay much attention to her, and Mary is self-important, thanks to being the youngest sister and the only one who is married.<br />
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A few years back, everyone had hoped that William would marry Elizabeth, but he chose to marry another woman. Compounding the family problems is that Sir Walter is low on funds, having lived beyond his means for years. He calls in Lady Russell and Mr. Shepard, a lawyer, to come fix his situation.<br />
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They tell him that he has to “retrench” -- save money and get out of debt -- in order to save his reputation. He refuses to cut back on expenses, instead opting to leave Kellynch Hall and rent it out. They decide to go to Bath, despite Anne’s dislike for the city. Lady Russell supports this plan, since it’ll save money, but also because it’ll break up Elizabeth’s friendship with Mrs. Clay, Mr. Shepard’s widowed daughter and bad egg.<br />
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Mr. Shepard says that the Navy will be returning home, since England is at peace, and suggests that a sailor would make a great tenant for Kellynch. The family discusses the Navy, and after Anne says that everyone should be indebted to their service, but Sir Walter says the Navy brings “persons of obscure birth into undue distinction" and weathers their appearance beyond their years.<br />
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Admiral Croft is interested in renting Kellynch, and they learn that his wife’s brother, Mr. Wentworth, is a curate nearby. This sets Anne aflutter when she realizes that her old love may soon be standing where she is. Her old love is Captain Frederick Wentworth, Mrs. Croft’s other brother. Years ago, they fell in love and wished to marry, but Anne’s family and Lady Russell told her it was a bad idea, since he didn’t have a fortune or high birth. Anne, believing that her elders had her best interests at heart, ended the relationship. He left the country and Anne has regretted it for seven years. She hasn’t fallen for anyone else in this time, though Charles Musgrove, who later married Mary, proposed to her. <br />
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The Crofts and Elliots hit it off, and the Crofts decide to take the place. Sir Walter and Elizabeth take Mrs. Clay with them to Bath, which angers Anne and Lady Russell. They worry that she’ll form an improper attachment to Sir Walter.<br />
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Mary writes to say that she’s unwell, and asks Anne to come stay with her at Uppercross Cottage. Anne’s glad to avoid Bath for a while, and heads to her hypochondriac sister. Mary’s in-laws live nearby and while they aren’t educated or elegant, they’re friendly -- Anne finds them a welcome change from her family.<br />
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Anne and Mary go to visit the Crofts, and they find them to be lovely people. Anne learns that Captain Wentworth will soon be visiting them. This upsets Mrs. Musgrove, who is reminded of her troubled son Dick, who served under Captain Wentworth until his death.<br />
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Once again, unsuitable parents are the cause of much turmoil for their daughters. Sir Walter’s inability to manage his money has broken up his family, for the time being, and diminished his and his daughter’s reputation. He’s the complete opposite of Anne, his practical daughter, and has passed his undesirable qualities onto his other daughters.<br />
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As a heroine, Anne is a little different from the others we’ve seen. For starters, she’s older (27), and she’s loved and lost, unlike the other heroines, who realize/meet the man they love during the course of the novel. The passage in which she’s mulling over her failed relationship is devastating and so true, that you have to believe that Austen has also loved and lost:<br />
<blockquote>She was persuaded to believe the engagement a wrong thing -- indiscreet, improper, hardly capable of success, and not deserving it… More than seven years were gone since this little history of sorrowful interest had reached its close; and time had softened down much, perhaps nearly all of peculiar attachment to him, but she had been too dependant on time alone: no aid had been given in change of place, (except in one visit to Bath soon after the rupture), or in any novelty or enlargement of society. No one had ever come within the Kellynch circle, who could bear a comparison with Frederick Wentworth, as he stood in her memory.</blockquote>It’s easy to imagine a contemporary Anne Elliot sitting at her computer, following Frederick’s actions on Facebook and stewing over her giant mistake. Austen has given us something timeless and great.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-51474922430783520342010-07-31T21:52:00.001-04:002010-07-31T21:57:19.822-04:00Northanger Abbey, Chapters 21-31<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxufXvrfF2KP8__MoGWwBNWBturoM9R1aomcC6c6c8SBqJRFmq1GLQHtEaBu18BcMlb4NuTHkia5yLfwrzV5k3sFE_CQWyRl_plFBMBbYLpT5bp2OClHOv5qZz9pzS5mGpSo8nuSU_mMc/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxufXvrfF2KP8__MoGWwBNWBturoM9R1aomcC6c6c8SBqJRFmq1GLQHtEaBu18BcMlb4NuTHkia5yLfwrzV5k3sFE_CQWyRl_plFBMBbYLpT5bp2OClHOv5qZz9pzS5mGpSo8nuSU_mMc/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>This section begins shortly after Catherine’s arrival at Northanger Abbey. Eleanor takes her to her room in the thoroughly modern edifice, which disappoints Catherine -- at first. There’s a storm that night and she discovers some old papers in a chest of drawers. Before she can read them, the candle goes out and she hears footsteps. She immediately goes to bed, but discovers the next morning that they’re merely a washing list -- so far Northanger does not meet her expectations.<br />
<br />
The General and Eleanor show her around Northanger, and Catherine begins to sense that the General is hiding something --- he won’t go down a path that was his late wife’s favorite, he tells Eleanor not to show Catherine more of the house until he can be there. Catherine jumps to the conclusion that his killed his wife and starts to question Eleanor about how she died. Suddenly, it turns out, and of an illness -- it's somehow a confirmation of Catherine’s suspicions. She develops an alternate hypothesis as well: that Mrs. Tilney is alive and hidden in the cellar. When she finally sneaks away from the others to see Mrs. Tilney’s room, there’s nothing of note.<br />
<br />
Henry catches her at it, and he tells her what she suspects. He tells her he was present for his mother’s death and he scolds her for thinking that. Catherine is beside herself thinking that she blew it with Henry, but he acts no differently toward her. She does, however, chastise herself for getting too caught up in her books.<br />
<br />
James writes to tell Catherine that he and Isabella broke off their engagement and says she’s now engaged to Frederick Tilney. Henry tells her that he doesn’t think it’ll really happen and that Isabella is probably doing it for money. He and Eleanor don’t think the General will let the engagement go through since she doesn’t have much money, which makes Catherine upset as she doesn't have a lot of money either.<br />
<br />
The gang goes to visit Henry’s house at Woodston, and the General hints about Catherine marrying Henry -- she loves the house, but isn’t sure of Henry’s feelings. Isabella writes to say that Frederick left her and asks for help in getting James back. Catherine’s outraged, but Henry tells her she should be happy her brother's engagement didn’t go through.<br />
<br />
When Catherine has been visiting for a month, she asks Eleanor if she should get ready to leave, but Eleanor tells her she can stay indefinitely. Suddenly, the General tells Eleanor that they have to go make good on a previous engagement and that Catherine has to leave immediately. There’s no explanation, and Catherine is forced to undergo a strenuous journey home.<br />
<br />
She can’t imagine what possibly caused the General to do a 180 in his feelings for her, and her family is upset to see how she returned. Catherine has a tough time readjusting to life with her family, but after a few days Henry comes. He tells her that the General believed that the Morlands were wealthy, but learned lately from John Thorpe that they were not. Henry apologizes and proposes to Catherine. But the general won’t consent to the marriage so the Morlands won’t either. Luckily, Eleanor quickly gets engaged to a nobleman, which makes the General happy -- everyone consents and Henry and Catherine marry.<br />
<br />
That’s the end of <i>Northanger Abbey.</i> Austen’s gently mocking riff on the Gothic novel doesn’t have the same depth as <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>, but it is an entertaining read. Catherine is a younger heroine than in some of the other novels, and she spends a lot of time dealing with peer pressure and trying to figure out what makes a good friend -- things the other Austen heroines have already figured out for themselves. <br />
<br />
A good chunk of the dramatic tension in this novel takes place in Catherine’s head, which is, in a way, what causes the dramatic tension of all of Austen's novels. Marianne imagines that Willoughby is more in love with her than he is, Elizabeth and Darcy each imagine things about the other that isn't true, Emma imagines that Mr. Elton loves Harriet, and so on. It's a more obvious example of Austen's point about how people imagine things and project desires onto situations rather than discussing them. There's so much gossip in all her books, but so little serious talks that need to be had -- Catherine's situation is the same.<br />
<br />
<i>Attic Salt</i>'s Jane Austen Challenge draws to a close with <i>Persuasion</i>, Austen's final novel. It's another short one, which means it'll give you some extra reading time to catch up on any books you may not have completed. Here's the schedule:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">August 7: Chapters 1-6</div><div style="text-align: center;">August 14: Chapters 7-12</div><div style="text-align: center;">August 21: Chapters 13-18</div><div style="text-align: center;">August 31: Chapters 19-24</div>Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-9360924332814227382010-07-22T21:56:00.000-04:002010-07-22T21:56:14.717-04:00Northanger Abbey, Chapters 15-20<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV4gQk9hFqxjnsStEAvGydQ51IaDhcjWOhDTH_VOk7DXwvWIvC-MJKGWhLbFsXffzuokBumMHO6owZ-AbbM2mJY4UG1XXU3lkuYogUecWG41AK8zysLvuZNYJxfUFUtypwa_gY1I9_QqE/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV4gQk9hFqxjnsStEAvGydQ51IaDhcjWOhDTH_VOk7DXwvWIvC-MJKGWhLbFsXffzuokBumMHO6owZ-AbbM2mJY4UG1XXU3lkuYogUecWG41AK8zysLvuZNYJxfUFUtypwa_gY1I9_QqE/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>Confession: I've already finished this book. That makes it hard to remember specific things from each section I wanted to remember, so after today, I'll write just one final post on the last day of July. Here's a recap:<br />
<br />
Catherine learns that Isabella and James are engaged, and the Morlands consent to the marriage. John Thorpe tries to hint to Catherine that maybe they can be engaged too, but she blows him off and he takes it as a good sign. At the beginning of volume two, Catherine dines with the Tilney family, and is pleased by how nice General Tilney is to her. The other Tilney son, Captain Frederick, comes to Bath as well.<br />
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After James tells Isabella that they will have a long engagement while he waits to inherit a living, she’s pretty upset, which makes Catherine angry. Things get better for Catherine though, since the Tilneys invite her along to their abbey for a visit. Not only is she excited to spend time with Henry, she’s thrilled about the idea of staying in an abbey like the ones found in her novels.<br />
<br />
Catherine tells Isabella that she isn’t interested in her brother, after he writes to say that he wants to propose. Isabella’s flirtation with Frederick also bothers Catherine, but Catherine chalks it up to Isabella being polite. She starts to get worried for James, and talks to Henry, who tells her to leave the situation alone.<br />
<br />
The ride to Northanger Abbey is pleasant -- Henry and Catherine ride together, and he tells her stories about the mysteries she’ll encounter there, complete with a hidden passage and violent storms. They arrive in time for dinner.<br />
<br />
Catherine consistently misreads social situations -- she misreads the situation between Isabella and Frederick, even though Isabella seems to make it clear, telling Catherine that there’s more than one way for the two of them to be sisters. She also misreads her relationship with John Thorpe, not understanding that he wants to marry her. And, as we’ll soon see, she misreads the situation at the Abbey, where she allows her imagination to run rampant. <br />
<br />
The lessons she’s applying to her life in Bath and at the Abbey come straight from the pages of novels and from the Allens, who can’t offer much guidance. Like the other Austen heroines we’ve seen, Catherine is missing a strong, positive influence in her life who is able to teach her the ways of the world. Each heroine, whether by death or poverty, is deprived of at least one parent who could alert her to the fact that she’s choosing friends unwisely or misreading social cues. But then, how would anyone ever figure out anything for herself?Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-71030212502480493982010-07-15T08:00:00.001-04:002010-07-25T18:57:42.092-04:00Northanger Abbey, Chapters 9-14<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPFhGbs-0XUvbtn83JDrPbpTDMVGHPdgORvsmdKPcDnc1K3dKDv5scY3z8CZxuYNw-O5-4b_H43b4xh-fCooS-Cp0DWxQpsi8MwAVKXl-gmjwnCvVzxWJhlGwFCrcmI-6imBtIygT4sE/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPFhGbs-0XUvbtn83JDrPbpTDMVGHPdgORvsmdKPcDnc1K3dKDv5scY3z8CZxuYNw-O5-4b_H43b4xh-fCooS-Cp0DWxQpsi8MwAVKXl-gmjwnCvVzxWJhlGwFCrcmI-6imBtIygT4sE/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>For the first time in this project, I’ve read ahead of schedule — I’m a few chapters beyond 14, so I’ll try to refrain talking about anything after that. Here’s a quick recap.<br />
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The social world of Bath is still a marvel for Catherine, who decides to befriend Eleanor Tilney. Before she can pay her a visit, Isabella, James Morland and John Thorpe arrive to take Catherine for a ride. Catherine gets stuck riding with John, who is manipulative and exaggerates. Despite James and Isabella’s fondness for John, Catherine looks on him with disdain. She learns that her guardian, Mrs. Allen, ran into the Tilneys while she was out, and Catherine kicks herself for missing them.<br />
Catherine remains oblivious to the new romance between Isabella and James, because she’s caught up in her interest in the Tilneys. She meets Eleanor at the Pump-Room, they hit it off, and she awkwardly asks Eleanor about Henry. Eleanor figures out that Catherine likes Henry, but Catherine doesn’t realize that she shared this information.<br />
<br />
At a ball, Catherine dodges John and dances with Henry. He tells her that dancing is like a brief marriage, and each side has responsibilities. The Tilneys set up a walk with Catherine for the next day. The Thorpes arrive to take Catherine to Bristol, and John lies and tells her that he saw Henry driving in the opposite direction. Since it's raining, Catherine believes him and goes along. When they set off, she sees the Tilneys walking toward her house, but John refuses to turn around.<br />
<br />
Catherine goes to apologize to the Tilneys the next morning, but they won’t see her. She then confronts Henry at the theater and explains everything. She learns that General Tilney, their father, thinks that she’s the finest girl in town.<br />
<br />
The Thorpes plan yet another ride, and when they try to get Catherine, she turns them down. She goes to the Tilneys’ house, and meets the General, who invites Catherine to dinner. At the Allens, Mr. Allen tells Catherine not to see John Thorpe anymore. The Tilneys take Catherine on a walk the next day, and Catherine and Henry discuss books again, as well as drawing. When she goes back home, Catherine learns that one of the Thorpe sisters took her place on that day’s drive.<br />
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In these chapters, Catherine is beginning to stand up for herself and make her own decisions, instead of having Isabella help navigate for her. She recognizes that some social acquaintances can be hurtful, and that others are much better matches in terms of friendship. It’s actually kind of interesting how the intelligent, funny, down-to-earth Tilneys seek the companionship of Catherine, a girl who is only beginning to develop social graces and desires that her life resemble a Gothic novel.<br />
<br />
Henry Tilney is shaping up to be a great Austen hero — he’s funny, charming, smart, and has no problem teasing Catherine. He seems more well-rounded than recent heroes we’ve encountered — Mr. Knightley, Edmund Bertram — and doesn’t seem to have any flaws to overcome.<br />
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For next week, read Chapters 15-20.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-81491093005528262952010-07-13T14:01:00.000-04:002010-07-13T14:01:30.578-04:00Who do you write like?<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(247, 247, 247); border: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: #555555; font: 20px/1.2 Arial,sans-serif; overflow: auto; padding: 5px; width: 380px;"><img src="http://s.iwl.me/w.png" style="float: right;" width="120" /><br />
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 20px; text-shadow: 0pt 1px rgb(255, 255, 255);">I write like<br />
<span style="color: #698b22; font-size: 30px;">Margaret Atwood</span></div><div style="color: #888888; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;"><i>I Write Like</i> by Mémoires, <a href="http://www.codingrobots.com/memoires/" style="color: #888888;">Mac journal software</a>. <a href="http://iwl.me/" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 224); color: #333333;"><b>Analyze your writing!</b></a></div></div><br />
Here's a fun Internet thing circulating around -- this <a href="http://iwl.me/">web site</a> will analyze your writing style and compare to an famous author's. My last post on this site deemed my prose Margaret Atwood-like, while a post on <i>Emma </i>earned a comparison to, yes, Jane Austen. And my short stories? Chuck Palahniuk.<br />
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Who do you write like?Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-50001344497884689672010-07-12T08:00:00.000-04:002010-07-12T08:00:13.763-04:00Review: The Imperfectionists<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1EHFm0Y3SoTDBE7oW7vZaIf3Maxg3t0ayj0x8CSG1i9pDZ0Ra_eL2enH2OZdkQHPgUCq6FiCX3fJ8BWgqsacJYFasEgdhJNN2Mj5dqHbMt6rEWmT3IUN77LpEBlOMGaXuzCrD-i8YalE/s1600/9780385343664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1EHFm0Y3SoTDBE7oW7vZaIf3Maxg3t0ayj0x8CSG1i9pDZ0Ra_eL2enH2OZdkQHPgUCq6FiCX3fJ8BWgqsacJYFasEgdhJNN2Mj5dqHbMt6rEWmT3IUN77LpEBlOMGaXuzCrD-i8YalE/s200/9780385343664.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>In Tom Rachman's debut novel, <i>The Imperfectionists</i>, the newspaper staff of a dying international English language newspaper in Rome struggle to keep their professional — and personal — lives afloat. This isn't a new idea, since changing ideas about information render print publications obsolete every day, but what's intriguing is the motley staff (though speaking from experience, <i>all </i>newspaper staffs are rather eclectic). We meet them one by one, though many appear in other chapters before their own. Each gets a chapter, and each provides insight into how their purview of the newspaper works. <br />
<br />
Rachman reveals the paper's back story with a few pages slipped between chapters. Founded by an art-collecting millionaire, the first editors are a married couple from America. They're replaced by editors and publishers who alternately help the paper thrive or sink. These pages add yet another melancholy note to the whole proceedings — today's staff doesn't care about saving something that was vitally important to prior generations. Rachman is preaching to the choir.<br />
<br />
About a third of the way through <i>The Imperfectionists</i>, I realized that each character's story is <i>devastating</i>. Everyone, from Lloyd, the kooky Paris correspondent, to Herman, the lovable corrections editor, faces cheating spouses, failed love affairs, or deaths in the family. Or, if they're truly unlucky, they're dealt more than one blow. This, of course, helps put the failing newspaper into perspective. The reasons why it's failing are clearly laid out: no web presence, a young publisher who simply doesn't care, a need to cut staff but the recognition that cutting staff cheapens the product and therefore loses readers. (There are hints that <i>The Imperfectionists</i> was written in the mid-2000s, before the worldwide recession but after the Internet had begun to destroy newspaper advertising and steal away younger readers.) But the reasons why personal lives are failing are more ambiguous in some cases; why family members lie to each other or why people carry on affairs are more complex, and Rachman often leaves them that way.<br />
<br />
You'll pick up echoes of Joshua Ferris' debut <i>Then We Came to the End</i> in the workplace drama built around a business going through tough times, but the similarities end there. Perhaps it's just because I've worked in newspaper and magazine offices, have always wanted to live abroad, and seriously lament the destruction of print media, but the emotional resonance in <i>The Imperfectionists</i> is stronger. It's less innovative, but I don't need innovation every time I pick up a novel.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-65046601922332132422010-07-08T22:07:00.000-04:002010-07-08T22:07:29.951-04:00Northanger Abbey, Chapters 1-8<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaQTuE2sFlMgCF3R-_PEHy6inXsihuX6qLkHj9rnNnVC3-RmTdcNMptPB9aUH6tb4euR1jwx9eDe7t61Nl1GOTVEt9nCBtk4z7PCBkoGcGT0Kv0d7vpqLnuPY_F_1Ulbxg16Bf_29fRw/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaQTuE2sFlMgCF3R-_PEHy6inXsihuX6qLkHj9rnNnVC3-RmTdcNMptPB9aUH6tb4euR1jwx9eDe7t61Nl1GOTVEt9nCBtk4z7PCBkoGcGT0Kv0d7vpqLnuPY_F_1Ulbxg16Bf_29fRw/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I’ve been looking forward to reading <i>Northanger Abbey</i>, Jane Austen’s parody of 18th century gothic novels, for some time. And since cracking open the spine this week, I’ve been surprised by the amount of fun Austen is clearly having. Though all her novels are parodies, <i>Northanger Abbey</i> parodies not just contemporary society but also the literature of the time -- I think I’m going really like it.<br />
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Austen gets things going by introducing Catherine Morland as an unlikely heroine. Her family is kind of wealthy, but not overly, and she’s neither pretty nor very good at anything. She gets prettier as she gets older, which is when we really meet her. She’s also abandoned her childhood activities of sports in favor of reading. The Allens, a rich couple without any children, decide to invite her to go along with them to Bath.<br />
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Catherine’s mother isn’t concerned about her daughter leaving, and her father gives her a little money to take along. Though they don’t seem the best of parents, neither are the Allens -- Mrs. Allen is neither smart nor well-mannered, and she’s certainly not beautiful. As we learn when the trio arrives in Bath, she isn’t well acquainted either -- at balls and other events, Mrs. Allen tells Catherine how sorry she is she can’t find a dancing partner for her. Luckily for Catherine, at an event she’s introduced to Henry Tilney, who she immediately has a spark with. He’s handsome and witty, and happens to also be a clergyman (the profession Austen heroines seem to lust after a lot).<br />
<br />
Catherine doesn’t see Henry the next day, but she and Mrs. Allen meet some people they know. Mrs. Thorpe went to school with Mrs. Allen, and they meet her three daughters. Catherine hits it off with her eldest daughter, Isabella, and the pair run into their brothers (James Morland and John Thorpe) one day, drawing more people into their social circle. James and Isabella immediately get along, and John seems interested in Catherine as well, asking her to dance in advance of the night’s ball.<br />
But John is late, and Catherine runs into Henry. She has to turn down his request for a dance, as she is previously engaged to John, and she’s annoyed. She doesn’t get another chance to talk to Henry.<br />
<br />
Unlike Austen’s other books, so far <i>Northanger Abbey</i> has been set primarily in the social world, with a flurry of balls and events. There’s a larger world to work with here, so it’ll be interesting to see how many people Austen has Catherine and the Allens meet.<br />
<br />
A large section of these chapters discuss novels and reading. Austen submits a page-long defense of the novel as a genre (they were associated with lower classes), but of course, she’s riffing on the lowest of the “low” -- the horror novel. The girls are big fans of Gothic horror novels, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysteries_of_Udolpho"><i>The Mysteries of Udolpho</i></a>, and Catherine is distracted from her daily activities when she’s reading it. She’s even put off when John tells her he doesn’t read novels. Is it a suggestion for contemporary readers to pick better material? Or more than that?<br />
<br />
Next week, read Chapters 9-14.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-14517835838906468912010-07-05T10:55:00.001-04:002010-07-05T10:55:45.416-04:00In the Attic With Ben H. Winters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEGK9N6L7wier7ygz-kTzWNrtG-KaoMdFXLwW2lDB23qtweLGnvl_q_6yyIrbHGFhLSuJQ4rkXU1bxbhYTjNyaH_EO6-fXNJoJ0WPyW1NiS-qnd5wvdGK1ZlvbFIS2EU-cz8UMdHbkgA/s1600/Ben.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEGK9N6L7wier7ygz-kTzWNrtG-KaoMdFXLwW2lDB23qtweLGnvl_q_6yyIrbHGFhLSuJQ4rkXU1bxbhYTjNyaH_EO6-fXNJoJ0WPyW1NiS-qnd5wvdGK1ZlvbFIS2EU-cz8UMdHbkgA/s200/Ben.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I conducted this interview to coincide with the publication of Winters' book <i>Android Karenina</i> — and then it never ran where it was supposed to. Much belatedly, here we are:<br />
<br />
<b>How did you make the jump from Austen to Tolstoy?</b><br />
<br />
Quirk Books and I knew by the time we were done with <i>Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monster</i>s that it was time to expand the franchise beyond Austen. Austen was great as the first “victim” of this idea, since her style is so prim and proper. We hit on Tolstoy next since he wrote great books, very important and serious literature, but he’s not like Dickens -- Tolstoy isn’t in any way silly on his own. You can give him many positive adjectives but “laugh out loud” is not one of them. His work calls out for this type of parody, whereas with other authors, trying to add levity gets in the way of the silliness already there.<br />
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<b>Had you read <i>Anna Karenina</i> before sitting down to write the mash-up? What were your feelings on it?</b><br />
<br />
I had read <i>Anna Karenina</i> several times and loved it. Before taking on the parody I needed to refresh myself with the plots and characters but I did know it and love it before.<br />
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<b>How did you decide what to change in the world to incorporate robots?</b><br />
<br />
It was tricky because the original is so long. It was pretty clear from the outset that the final version could not be as long as the original version — <i>Anna Karenina</i> is 800 or 900 pages. So the first step was abridgment, which was not as hard as it might have been — Tolstoy writes a lot into his books beyond the main plot. In his life when he became interested in agriculture or science or philosophy, suddenly a character would discuss it. I winnowed out what wasn’t central to the love story or the action story, and I had a shorter book.<br />
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<b>Where did you go from there?</b><br />
<br />
It was time to start reinventing, making big decisions and seeing how they play out in small ways. The first big decision was deciding where the technology was going to come from, so I created a miracle metal, discovered in the Russian soil around the time of Ivan the Terrible, and the metal enables the technology in the book. Once I figured this out, it allowed me to start reshaping characters. Levin is one of the Tolstoy protagonists, and in the original, he’s a landowner who owns huge estates, but in my version, he’s a miner who owns a huge mine that mined by robots.<br />
<br />
<b>Since <i>Anna Karenina</i> is written in Russian, you couldn’t use the original. What translation did you use?</b><br />
<br />
The one by Constance Garnett. <i>Anna Karenina</i> is in the public domain, but the translation is not necessarily in the public domain. I couldn’t use the one from six or seven years ago by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky that was part of Oprah’s book club, but the Garnett is a staple translation. Because this is a mash-up, I also had more freedom to play around with the text — if I found a sentence that wasn’t fluidly translated, I could recast the original sentence even if not adding to it.<br />
<br />
<b>What were some of the differences between working with Austen and Tolstoy?</b><br />
<br />
Austen is a much more contained writer, while Tolstoy… writes on a huge scope. His books are epic, vast things that cover years and years and dozens of characters. Austen uses a more limited range of characters and situations. The vastness of Tolstoy’s world meshed nicely with the grand vision of science fiction. Classic science fiction works take place on a grand scale, and they feel really Tolstoyan in breadth and depth.<br />
<br />
<b>In what way do you think the addition of robots and such adds to thinking about Tolstoy’s novel?</b><br />
<br />
One thing it does is give the feeling of more forward motion. <i>Anna Karenina</i> is a beautifully plotted story, but it gets baggy in parts… making it a challenge to stay with the story. By adding some very plot heavy stuff, I made it, an action adventure with lots of plot, foreshadowing and tensions — the things contemporary readers look to to stay hooked in. This version has wizard aliens, and talking robots, and lasers — all the stuff Tolstoy forgot to put in.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-3161290516902905902010-07-02T08:00:00.007-04:002010-07-02T08:00:02.890-04:00Catching Up With An Old Friend: Lorcan Roche on Crime and Punishment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIkE40H7o7c3UBrnhifI1hJJ0enMQzk3Okz7rKh3asBMYHSQnG6wiZfe5uWAHRSTDW0sVOMpVbvKXPttOKsFLsjS8FWvdfCHAmLV2lAODodifC08jfA3zsnrYAJviZrkPC4ic_Rl-spM/s1600/favorite+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIkE40H7o7c3UBrnhifI1hJJ0enMQzk3Okz7rKh3asBMYHSQnG6wiZfe5uWAHRSTDW0sVOMpVbvKXPttOKsFLsjS8FWvdfCHAmLV2lAODodifC08jfA3zsnrYAJviZrkPC4ic_Rl-spM/s320/favorite+books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i>Catching Up With An Old Friend</i> is a series in which readers, authors, and other bookish people share their favorite books. <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/p/about-catching-up-with-old-friend.html">Read more</a> about the project or see all the <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/search/label/old%20friend">past entries</a>. To participate, e-mail <a href="mailto:atticsaltblog@gmail.com">atticsaltblog@gmail.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">•••••<br />
</div>Lorcan Roche, born in Dublin in 1963, is journalist, playwright, travel-writer, magazine editor and one-time male nurse. His novel, <a href="http://www.europaeditions.com/book.php?Id=90"><i>The Companion</i></a>, was published by Europa Editions on Tuesday. His other works include award-winning plays for radio (<i>Angel of Suburbia</i>) and stage (<i>Him and Her, Whatever Happened to Joe Magill</i>, and <i>The Old Fella</i>). He lives in Dublin with his wife and daughter.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">•••••</div><br />
My father was a writer, historian, and one of those deadly earnest bibliophiles who handed his son a book for every stage of his development. He was also Books Editor for a national newspaper, and though our house was lined with books, and though I had already reviewed some "teenage" fiction for him and begun writing poetry and short stories, it was in New York City that my abiding love of certain books and writers was developed. This had much to do with being properly alone for the first time, being an exile, and being exposed to cultures more exotic and possibilities more frightening than any I had thus far experienced. It also had to do with being seriously ill — I contracted amoebic dysentery on a trip to Peru, and being young and stupid, failed to do anything about it for too long. As a result, I spent about five months lying on my bed, retching. And reading.<br />
<br />
This list is made up of the books recommended to me by my father and books I discovered when I was in New York. All these "patient-books" have stayed with me — they still sit on the shelves of my house in Dublin.<br />
<br />
If you were to torture me and make me pick just one book, I would confess to being a life-long admirer of <i>Crime and Punishment</i>. I have always been passionately interested in moral fables (blame my father for asking me to read too many mythologies, and my Greek and Latin teachers for setting my imagination alight) and felt, ever since I put pen to paper, that the art of the fable was in decline, that the exigencies of cinema and TV had diluted, if not desecrated, the form. Ambiguity, particularly the kind of ambiguity one finds in <i>Crime and Punishment</i> was made to seem very old-fashioned, very Russian, very arch.<br />
<br />
Ambiguity fascinates me. I find people who live in black and white, us and them, right and wrong worlds to be terrifying. I have never been sure of anything. My wife says it is like living with Laurence Olivier — she never knows who is coming down the stairs in the morning. This is a writer's curse. I can empathize with the coward, the cur, the cheat, and especially the murderer. I found Raskolnikov fascinating, compelling, intelligent and very persuasive. I read the book every Christmas, and fantasize as I read it about doing in my mother-in-law with a hatchet — just kidding. I read it and I am transported inside the mind of a man who decides to step outside convention, and then bumps into fate, destiny, or maybe just some really shitty brand of luck.<br />
<br />
I am also attracted to madmen. I like books that blur boundaries. I like protagonists who transgress, take risks, and stick two fingers up to authority. Raskolnikov's claim to be “extraordinary” was like an invitation to me. I was fascinated by the way the author turned the interior journey into a moral maze, how he managed to create tension and drama from mere thought. I admired, greatly, the balance he set up inside the head of his character, of how he knocked that balance out of kilter, then re-established it only to do the same over and over again, thereby creating a rolling movement, an irresistible internal rhythm.<br />
<br />
I am also obsessed with that beat, that meter. For me, it is impossible to read a book by a writer who does not have this gift for stepping inside the head of a character and showing us not just how he thinks, but at what speed, and with what doubts, misgivings, etc.<br />
<br />
When I finished <i>Crime and Punishment</i>, I determined that I too would write a moral fable. It took a long time — it turns out ambiguity is hard to achieve on the page. It turns out that it takes years to get to know a character, fully. Fyodor rocks. He is a god of detail and devil. He is a man who knows the blackness in all our hearts. He is honest, cruel, and crafty. He is sly. He is, for a writer, heroic.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>My Father's List:</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><i>The Collected Poems of Martin O'Direain</i> (a Gaelic language poet)<br />
<i>Shane</i> by Jack Schaefer<br />
<i>Ivanhoe</i> by Sir Walter Scott<br />
<i>Moby Dick </i>by Herman Melville<br />
<i>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i> by Mark Twain<br />
<i>Tales of Cu Chulainn</i> (from The Ulster Cycle)<br />
<i>Beowulf </i>translated by Rosemary Sutcliff<br />
<i>The Norman Invasion of Ireland </i>by Richard Roche (my father)<br />
<i>Langrishe, Go Down</i> by Aidan Higgins<br />
<i>Frankenstein</i> by Mary Shelley<br />
<i>The Secret Agent</i> by Joseph Conrad<br />
<i>Heart of Darkness</i> by Joseph Conrad<br />
<i>Cider with Rosie </i>by Laurie Lee<br />
<i>Catcher in the Rye</i> by J.D. Salinger<br />
<i>Lolita</i> by Vladimir Nabokov<br />
<i>Crime and Punishment </i>by Fyodor Dostoevsky<br />
<i>A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich </i>by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.<br />
<i>The Tin Drum </i>by Günther Grass<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Books I Discovered for Myself:</i></div><br />
<i>A Good Man is Hard to Find</i> by Flannery O' Connor<br />
<i>The Dangling Man</i> by Saul Bellow<br />
<i>Factotum </i>by Charles Bukowski<br />
<i>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest </i>by Ken Kesey<br />
<i>Day of the Locust</i> by Nathanael West <br />
<i>Where I'm Calling From</i> by Raymond Carver<br />
<i>The Art of Living</i> by John Gardner<br />
<i>American Psycho </i>by Bret Easton Ellis<br />
<i>Confessions of a Mask</i> by Yukio Mishima<br />
<i>Catch-22</i> by Joseph Heller <br />
<i>The Naked Lunch </i>by William S. Burroughs<br />
<i>The Naked and the Dead</i> by Norman Mailer<br />
<i>In Cold Blood</i> by Truman Capote<br />
<i>Revolutionary Road</i> by Richard Yates<br />
<i>Another Bullshit Night in Suck City </i>by Nick Flynn<br />
<i>Confederacy of Dunces</i> by John Kennedy Toole<br />
<i>The Sound and the Fury</i> by William Faulkner<br />
<i>Sophie's Choice </i>by William Styron<br />
<i>The Talented Mr. Ripley </i>by Patricia Highsmith<br />
<i>You Must Remember This</i> by Joyce Carol OatesAmy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-75573751414002051242010-07-01T08:48:00.000-04:002010-07-01T08:48:00.585-04:00Emma, Chapters 41-55<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-I-n20Eu38uRZCslWQlR1i5szGyJR3JbPRMHV52ExXH31clvghkqkcd9ZhshSuhA9YI82uyOXWp8RCOCvgg-Lt2USkQhHFkeX_UQBjJ6lCS4GTXW0C8sCtx5yKZmtV6r3Msr-_hbzj4/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-I-n20Eu38uRZCslWQlR1i5szGyJR3JbPRMHV52ExXH31clvghkqkcd9ZhshSuhA9YI82uyOXWp8RCOCvgg-Lt2USkQhHFkeX_UQBjJ6lCS4GTXW0C8sCtx5yKZmtV6r3Msr-_hbzj4/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
We bid farewell to the Highbury world and head to <i>Northanger Abbey </i>today. Here’s a summary of the last chapters of <i>Emma, </i>along with some comments, and the reading schedule for <i>Northanger Abbey</i>.<br />
<br />
Mr. Knightley figures out that there’s something brewing between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill — Frank announces something that he says is common knowledge, but was really only discussed at the Bates household — but when he brings it up to Emma, she tells him it can’t possibly be true.<br />
<br />
The gang decides to plan a picnic to Box Hill, which gets pushed back thanks to a sick horse. Mr. Knightley invites them all to his house for a gathering, which comes together, and, the horse having healed, Box Hill is planned for the next day. At Mr. Knightley’s, Jane tries to tell Mrs. Elton that she doesn’t want the governess job Mrs. Elton wants her to take, and Jane leaves the party early. Shortly after she leaves, Frank arrives and seems upset.<br />
<br />
The Box Hill picnic isn’t much fun either — everyone breaks into groups (the Eltons; Knightley, Miss Bates, and Jane; and Emma, Harriet and Frank). Frank flirts shamelessly with Emma, and Emma makes a rude comment to Miss Bates. Knightley later chastises her for it.<br />
<br />
After the picnic, Emma visits Miss Bates to apologize and Jane decides to take the governess job. She’ll have to leave in two weeks, but the job will pay well. When she returns home, Emma runs into Harriet and Knightley, who’s happy that she went to see Miss Bates. Word arrives that Mrs. Churchill died, which Emma thinks might bode well for setting Harriet up with Frank. Jane seems to be ignoring Emma, who has been trying to do good deeds for her.<br />
<br />
Things finally get set in motion with the death of Mrs. Churchill. Mrs. Weston calls Emma to come visit her, so that she can tell her that Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged. Everyone was worried that Emma had feelings for Frank, which Emma tells them she does not. Frank’s uncle agreed to the engagement, but asked that it stay secret for a while longer. Emma is only worried about how Harriet will take the news, but Mr. Weston has already relayed the news himself. Harriet tells her that she never liked Frank, but actually has feelings for Mr. Knightley and thinks that he reciprocates them. Emma is appalled, as she has just realized that <i>she</i> is in love with Knightley. <br />
<br />
Looking back, she realizes that she has always loved him, but decides that she can’t marry him while her father is alive, since he won’t be able to live on his own. Emma heads out for a walk and runs into Knightley, who has something to tell her. He starts to say something, but Emma worries that it is about his feelings for Harriet, so she stops him. He goes ahead with it anyway, and declares his love.<br />
<br />
Emma decides that Harriet should visit Isabella in London for a time. Meanwhile, Mrs. Weston shows Emma a letter from Frank, in which he apologizes but says that he never thought Emma was attached to him and that she thought their flirtation was all in good fun. Jane had broken off their engagement after Frank flirted with Emma at Box Hill, and after his aunt died and he heard about how Jane was going to be a governess, he secured his uncle’s permission for marriage and won Jane back.<br />
<br />
Emma and Knightley decides that he should move into Hartfield after they marry, but Emma has decided to wait to tell her father until after Mrs. Weston has her baby. When she does tell him, he’s surprised but comes around. <br />
<br />
There’s one more engagement to come — Harriet and Robert Martin. Knightley arranged it, but sending Martin to London to see his brother and to spend time with the family. Emma is relieved. They marry first, followed by Emma and Knightley, and Frank and Jane a few months from the novel’s end. <br />
<br />
<i>Emma </i>is the fourth Austen novel with absent/lapsed parents, and Emma grew up with guidance from Mrs. Weston and Mr. Knightley — making it somewhat odd that she marries him in the end. Knightley isn’t a friend who Emma suddenly realized she was in love with, but rather someone who held authority over her, and interceded when Mrs. Weston and Mr. Woodhouse spoiled her too much. It makes sense that Emma can’t call him by his Christian name, but insists on continuing to call him “Mr. Knightley.” What’s Austen doing with this — does a spirited, innocently meddlesome girl need to be paired with a father figure to balance their relationship? I do like Knightley, but still it seems kind of strange.<br />
<br />
<i>Emma</i> is — like all of Austen’s works — about social status, and how marriage can elevate someone’s rank. The failed marriage from the beginning of the novel (Mr. Weston and Miss Churchill), fails because Mr. Weston is of a lower rank. He fares better with the working class Miss Taylor. The same is true with Harriet and Mr. Elton — she’s ranked much lower than him — but things work out for her with Robert Martin. Frank Churchill can’t tell his family about his engagement to Jane, since she’s both an orphan and headed for a working life, but once his aunt has died, he’s more willing to take a social risk when his family doesn’t have to hear about it. Since <i>Sense and Sensibility</i>, this is the most overt discussion of social rank through marriage. In that novel, Elinor and Marianne each married up socially, but here, social ranks seem more evenly matched in each pairing. Is Austen offering other ideas about what makes a good marriage? Or just acknowledging that there are all types of marriages in the world?<br />
<br />
I didn’t even get into the wordplay aspects of <i>Emma</i>, but did anyone find that especially fun?<br />
<br />
Here’s the posting schedule for <i>Northanger Abbey</i>, which you can look for on <b>Thursdays</b> this month. It’s a much shorter book this time — perfect for summer reading!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Thursday, July 8 - Chapters 1-8</div><div style="text-align: center;">Thursday, July 15 - Chapters 9-14</div><div style="text-align: center;">Thursday, July 22 - Chapters 15-20</div><div style="text-align: center;">Thursday, July 29 - Chapters 21-27</div><div style="text-align: center;">Saturday, July 31 - Chapters 28-31</div>Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-59248631473067601342010-06-23T21:00:00.000-04:002010-06-23T21:00:55.146-04:00Emma, Chapters 29-40<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaQTuE2sFlMgCF3R-_PEHy6inXsihuX6qLkHj9rnNnVC3-RmTdcNMptPB9aUH6tb4euR1jwx9eDe7t61Nl1GOTVEt9nCBtk4z7PCBkoGcGT0Kv0d7vpqLnuPY_F_1Ulbxg16Bf_29fRw/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaQTuE2sFlMgCF3R-_PEHy6inXsihuX6qLkHj9rnNnVC3-RmTdcNMptPB9aUH6tb4euR1jwx9eDe7t61Nl1GOTVEt9nCBtk4z7PCBkoGcGT0Kv0d7vpqLnuPY_F_1Ulbxg16Bf_29fRw/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>I am so sorry, readers and Jane Austen Challenge participants. Things are quite crazy around these parts lately, but I promise that once I move out of my apartment to Chicago and then go to Massachusetts, where I'm spending the summer, things will get back to normal. I even have an exciting box from Powell's waiting for me when I get there, so there will be lots of reading and writing to share.<br />
<br />
Here's a quick summary of what you missed in <i>Emma</i>.<br />
<br />
Frank and Emma have decided that they want to throw a ball. Since Randalls is too small, they opt for the Crown Inn. Frank makes Emma promise to dance the first two numbers with him. Emma worries that Mrs. Churchill won’t let Frank stay in Highbury long enough for the ball, but she does. But two days later, she calls him home since she’s ill. Frank leaves and the ball is cancelled. Emma is upset, and recognizes that she has some feelings for him after all.<br />
<br />
Before Emma can dwell too much on Frank, word comes that Mr. Elton and his wife will be arriving soon in Highbury. Emma tries to convince Harriet to get over him, and the girls go to visit the couple. Emma realizes on their second visit that Mrs. Elton is incredibly gauche and superficial.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Elton turns cold towards Emma, and decides to take Jane Fairfax under her wing. Jane also refuses another trip to Ireland to stay on in Highbury. Emma asks Mr. Knightley about this, and also hints to him that she things he has feelings for Jane. He’s flustered, and tells Emma that he isn’t interested in Jane.<br />
<br />
Emma throws a dinner party for Mrs. Elton, and her brother in law shows up to bring his sons to visit Emma and Mr. Woodhouse. While there, he chides Jane for going to the post office in the rain. There’s also an awkward discussion of who in the party has good handwriting, with Emma praising Frank’s and Knightley telling her she’s wrong. Do these two ever do anything besides disagree?<br />
<br />
A letter arrives from Frank, saying that he and the Churchills are heading to London, so they’ll be close by, and that Frank will be coming to stay in Highbury. Emma worries about this, but because he has feelings for her and she barely returns them. When Frank arrives, the ball is back on. There’s an uncomfortable moment when the Westons realize that Mrs. Elton will be expected to lead the first dance and that Emma can’t do it as planned. <br />
<br />
The ball is fun otherwise, and after Mr. Elton won’t dance with Harriet, Mr. Knightley saves the day. Emma thanks him afterwards, and tells him that he was right about Mr. Elton. Knightley tells her that she was more right about Harriet than he had realized. They’re finally getting along, and they dance.<br />
<br />
Things take a weird turn when Harriet is accosted by gypsies while out walking. Frank runs into her and saves the day, bringing her to Hartfield. Harriet later tells Emma that she is no longer interested in Mr. Elton, and that she is ready to get rid of trinkets he used that she saved. Harriet tells Emma that she plans to never marry, but Emma suspects that Harriet is interested in someone out of her league (she means Frank). Harriet confirms these feelings. And that's where we leave things. More summary/analysis next week!Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-85452074600796615362010-06-14T08:00:00.001-04:002010-06-14T08:00:10.617-04:00Emma, Chapters 14-28<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2l6lYeslj_h31QYFbfu9W-5JUTi9u95t989ty4FEGrL7nOEzaRmsf4dAZPiePw9xe9PdlViO00yU1crfeYCOCrEyLb9Bqd28BYW4cwQ7KfHrFkmt8RZhtCCRu9PjDSG4D22tMDcu8CI/s1600/austen+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2l6lYeslj_h31QYFbfu9W-5JUTi9u95t989ty4FEGrL7nOEzaRmsf4dAZPiePw9xe9PdlViO00yU1crfeYCOCrEyLb9Bqd28BYW4cwQ7KfHrFkmt8RZhtCCRu9PjDSG4D22tMDcu8CI/s320/austen+challenge.jpg" /></a></div>Whew, is anyone else finding the characters difficult to keep track of? <i>Mansfield Park</i> and <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> have smaller sets of characters, but <i>Emma</i>, like <i>Sense and Sensibility, </i>seems to have a much more populated neighborhood. I feel like I’m constantly flipping back and forth to check who someone is. Despite this, <i>Emma</i> has a lot in common with the other three Austen novels we’ve read — there’s the heroine who can’t seem to figure out that someone is in love with her, the visiting girl who everyone loves despite her being boring/odd, the rambling/busybody/annoying old maid, and the man who leads all the ladies on. Here’s a quick recap of these chapters.<br />
<br />
While Emma is worrying that Mr. Knightley may be right about Mr. Elton’s feelings for her, she learns that Frank Churchill is coming to visit in January. It turns out that Emma, despite her declarations that she’ll never marry, seems to think she will get along swimmingly with Mr. Churchill and maybe marry him. But probably not.<br />
<br />
It starts to snow, and the visitors set off for home. Emma ends up in a carriage with just Mr. Elton and he seizes the moment and declares his love for her. Emma can’t understand how he transferred his feelings from Harriet to her, and he tells her that he’s never had feelings for Harriet, and that it has always been Emma. Emma turns him down and decides to stop matchmaking.<br />
<br />
Frank Churchill postpones his visit, and Emma and Mr. Knightley debate his character -- they wonder how an adult male can be so influenced by his aunt not to come. Emma believes he will be delightful when she does meet him, while Knightley expects him to be insufferable. Emma can’t understand why Knightley isn’t open-minded about him.<br />
<br />
Emma and Harriet go to visit Mrs. and Miss Bates, and they hear about Mr. Elton’s trip to Bath and learn that Jane Fairfax, Mrs. Bates’ granddaughter will be visiting. Jane lives with the Campbells, who are leaving to visit their daughter Mrs. Dixon, in Ireland. The ladies aren’t sure why Jane isn’t going with them, and Emma assumes that Jane and Mr. Dixon had a flirtation at some point.<br />
<br />
Austen gives up Jane’s back-story: she was orphaned when her father died in battle and her mother died of grief. Mrs. and Miss Bates initially raised Jane, but then the Campbells, friends of her father’s, offered to take her in and educate her. They planned to make her a teacher, which she will have to do after visiting her family. Emma has never been a big fan of Jane, but on this visit she feels pity for her. She learns that Jane has known Frank Churchill for quite some time.<br />
<br />
Mr. Elton gets engaged to Miss Hawkins, a wealthy and beautiful lady, and news makes its way back to Highbury. Emma is relieved by the news, and thinks it will make things less awkward when he returns to town. Harriet has a run-in with the Martins, and though the encounter is awkward, they’re nice to her. Miss Martin later visit her at Mrs. Goddard’s when Harriet is out, and Emma tells her repay the visit, but only stay a short time. This is precisely what happens, and the Martins are hurt by the brief visit.<br />
<br />
Frank finally arrives and Emma finds him attractive and charming, but he leaves her company to go visit Jane Fairfax. Frank later tells Emma that he doesn’t find Jane attractive but that they were regular acquaintances previously. Emma tells him that she thinks Jane and Mr. Dixon had something going on, and Frank doesn't quite believe it. Frank leaves town to go get his hair cut in London, which rubs Emma the wrong way, but she’s starting to be smitten with him.<br />
<br />
More social acquaintances surface — the Coles — who invite everyone to a dinner party, but Emma’s invite is delayed, prompting her to be put out by an imagined snub from a <i>nouveau-riche</i> family, but she accepts the invite when it arrives. At the Coles, everyone learns that Jane has recently received a piano as a gift, from a mysterious benefactor. Everyone thinks it is from the Campbells, but Emma thinks it’s from Mr. Dixon. Mrs. Weston tells Emma that she thinks Mr. Knightley likes Jane, that he may have given her the piano, and that he brought his carriage so he could take her home. Emma is stunned by this suggestion, since her nephew won’t inherit Mr. Knightley’s estate if he marries. Mr. Knightley denies to Emma that he sent Jane the piano, and Emma feels better about the whole thing when he doesn’t ask Jane to dance. Emma dances with Frank, and he tells her that he’s glad he doesn’t have to dance with Jane.<br />
<br />
After the dinner, visiting takes place, and Emma and Harriet visit Mrs. and Miss Bates. Miss Bates tells them that Mr. Knightley sent Jane some apples. When they enter the house, Frank is there fixing Mrs. Bates’ glasses. Mr. Knightley pops by, but won’t come in since Frank is there.<br />
<br />
So that’s where we leave things. I’m not really sure how I feel about Emma as a heroine — sure, she feels pretty darn bad for leading Harriet on, but she starts and spreads rumors about Jane’s past without worrying that it might affect her reputation. Though Emma doesn’t do anything with malice, she doesn’t understand how meddling in others’ affairs could cause problems for them and for herself.<br />
<br />
<i>Emma</i>, so far, seems most like <i>Sense and Sensibility.</i> There are incessant visits and parties taking place in the country, but there’s also this undercurrent of assumption — but one more dangerous than in Austen’s first novel. While everyone assumes that Marianne is engaged to Willoughby, they do create that impression, probably in part since Marianne believes it herself. But here, Emma assumes certain things and shares these assumptions, but only because she has made herself believe them. She tries to set up Harriet and Elton, then imagines an attraction between them and convinces herself that it’s real. She’s imagined a relationship between Jane and Mr. Dixon, and while we don’t yet know what the truth is, Austen is laying the groundwork for it to be false.<br />
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But I think what’s really interesting here is that Emma is the first wealthy Austen heroine. She says she doesn’t want to marry, and whether or not she means that, she is the first one who doesn’t have to. Because Emma can do whatever she pleases with her life, she assumes the roles filled by Mary Crawford, the Palmers/Mrs. Jennings, and the Bingley sisters — she can play around with the romantic lives of the less-well-off girls with little consequence to herself. I’m interested to see where Austen takes this.<br />
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Next up, chapters 29-40.Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-55681320853092606372010-06-11T09:00:00.000-04:002010-06-11T09:00:08.477-04:00Summer Reading List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0gnt2zJJaLogjdtxNxt_ZbzzHu-dWEPLkTyKuwkuZisVL9zDooGEJJMgoIGJNv-ml1MEBWR8C-E3tVPLf_jookelHMQRoi725TxuQBsv-tyN075q_wgJNTK_-VsgWoQt0U-Ng39g_rU/s1600/lemon+cake" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0gnt2zJJaLogjdtxNxt_ZbzzHu-dWEPLkTyKuwkuZisVL9zDooGEJJMgoIGJNv-ml1MEBWR8C-E3tVPLf_jookelHMQRoi725TxuQBsv-tyN075q_wgJNTK_-VsgWoQt0U-Ng39g_rU/s320/lemon+cake" width="212" /></a></div>Ahh, the summer reading list. Though we're not in high school anymore, it seems like every newspaper book section I read has recently come out with a list of top summer reads.<br />
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Below is my list of 10 books that I'm planning to read between now and the end of August, though I reserve the right to change my mind at any time — after all, summer reading shouldn't be too much like school.<br />
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• <i>The Imperfectionists</i>, Tom Rachman<br />
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• <i>The Thieves of Manhattan</i>, Adam Langer<br />
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• <i>The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake</i>, Aimee Bender<br />
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• <i>The Anthologist</i>, Nicholson Baker<br />
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• <i>Last Night in Montreal</i>, Emily St. John Mandel<br />
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• <i>Northanger Abbey</i>, Jane Austen<br />
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• <i>Persuasion</i>, Jane Austen<br />
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•<i> The Woman in White</i>, Wilkie Collins<br />
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• <i>The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest</i>, Stieg Larsson <br />
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• <i>The White Tiger</i>, Aravind Adiga<br />
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What's on your summer reading list?Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-9818389847494487132010-06-09T09:00:00.001-04:002010-06-09T09:06:26.098-04:00What's Your Favorite Book?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIkE40H7o7c3UBrnhifI1hJJ0enMQzk3Okz7rKh3asBMYHSQnG6wiZfe5uWAHRSTDW0sVOMpVbvKXPttOKsFLsjS8FWvdfCHAmLV2lAODodifC08jfA3zsnrYAJviZrkPC4ic_Rl-spM/s1600/favorite+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIkE40H7o7c3UBrnhifI1hJJ0enMQzk3Okz7rKh3asBMYHSQnG6wiZfe5uWAHRSTDW0sVOMpVbvKXPttOKsFLsjS8FWvdfCHAmLV2lAODodifC08jfA3zsnrYAJviZrkPC4ic_Rl-spM/s320/favorite+books.jpg" /></a></div>If you've enjoyed reading about people talking about their favorite books in their own words — like Emily St. John Mandel on <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/catching-up-with-old-friend-emily-st.html"><i>Hopscotch</i></a>, Marjorie Kehe on <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/catching-up-with-old-friend-marjorie.html"><i>Jane Eyre</i></a>, or Coralie Bickford-Smith on <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/catching-up-with-old-friend-coralie.html"><i>1984</i> and <i>Songs of Innocence and of Experience</i></a> and — then now's your chance to join in. <br />
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Write to <a href="mailto:atticsaltblog@gmail.com">atticsaltblog@gmail.com</a> and share your favorite book. As you can see from <a href="http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/search/label/old%20friend">all the other submissions</a>, you can focus on any aspect you like. It doesn't even have to be your single favorite, it just has to be a book you're passionate about. Also, if you have suggestions for writers you think would be good for this project, drop a line too. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com0