I am about to finish Brighton Rock. This might be my favorite novel to date for Contemporary British Novel. I love the element of good and evil in the story and the setting of Brighton makes me remember visiting Atlantic City and the boardwalk and the casinos and the all the amusements there to attract people and their money. Greene seems to be analyzing human nature in Brighton Rock. His portrayal of Pinkie and Ida and Rose provide us with characters that could be real life people who are not complex, but who simply hold profoundly different views on life and on religion and on goodness and evil. There is no time for Flann O'Brien's novel; we have run out of weeks in this all to short eight week literature class. I suspect that I will try to provide some insight into O'Brien's work in my final project due next week (perhaps a webpage centered around his life and works). Well, this may be the last time to post on my Blog for quite awhile, as I have no other classes scheduled with Dr. Hochenauer. If I don't write in again, then I wish myself God's speed in finishing this Masters degree, for I am tired and burning out fast. It has all been a great ride!
shamilton

Well we are about to begin the seventh week of Modern British Novel and Graham Greene's Brighton Rock is next on the agenda. I enjoyed Waugh's novel last week; it was full of humor and yet very dark, I thought. I love that the book made extensive reference to Dickens, since my focus in Bibs and Methods was on David Copperfield. I guess if one had to read Dickens for the rest of his or her days, that this wouldn't be so very bad. Living in the world of Dickens is colorful and interesting and insance all at the same time. Sort of like living in the 1930s with Waugh! lol.
I'll be back next Sunday to talk a bit about Greene. See my webpage on Greene. It isn't my best, but good just the same. http://shamilton90.tripod.com/grahamgreeneprolificandsignificant/index.html
Til next week...
shamilton

I am about to begin reading Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. Should be an interesting read since I have never explored any work by this author. I am enjoying the modernist novelists, since their writings are an example of protest and provide a vivid picture of post World War I despair and hopelessness. There are only three more weeks in this class; they goe by so very fast--life goes by now so very fast. Scary. I am watching an old Roman Polanski movie entitled The Tenant as I write this post. Polanski is a great director and he stars in this movie too. Well of to post more books to sell. Until next week....

shamilton

I enjoyed Forster's A Passage to India. I am always fascinated by stories that center around class or gender oppression; Forster's tale goes so far as to address issues of empire with regards to the British "invasion" of India and the subsequent subjugation of an entire race of people. It is the story of the ruler and the ruled. Power is, of course, an all-consuming force that takes on a life of its own; historically speaking, anything or anyone that gets in the way of a powerful and wealthy group (such as the Brtish) ends up being oppressed or annihilated. One can't help being fascinated by the historical complexity of the phenomenon. I think I would have been a very good sociologist or historian...but I do love the world of literature. Until next time, have a lucky (and nonstressful) week.

shamilton

Another novel read in British Literature (Mrs. Dalloway). I especially love Virginia Woolf; she has this great sort of face with so much depth and character. I enjoy feminist writers and feminist criticism, and this could be another good reason why I find Woolf to be a fascinating literary personality. I wrote a paper on Helene Cixous over the summer, which turned out to be much more in depth than it needed to be (this was for Rhetoric), but I learned so much more about the French feminist writers--they are always so fanatical and their perspective is illuminating--reminds me of French/European History 1815-1877 where Dr. Plax was always coming into class and talking about some incident or problem at school that sort of bothered him, and then he'd say 'Let's put up a barricade!" just like the French (in the French Revolution, of course). Funny guy, I loved that class.
I am taking 16th Century Literature along with Dr. H's class on British literature, and to be honest I don't enjoy all the flowery, lovelorn, woees-me poetry, such as those poems written by Skelton, Wyatt, etc. I enjoy the cultural/historical elements, but not the poetry. Dr. Lewis would be disappointed in me I am afraid--I won't tell her though.
Well I am not finding time to post any pictures this go around with my blog, and this makes me sad cause I like to look back and see what I was interested in a few semesters ago. Perhaps I'll find the time before this class ends on October 10. ANYWAY, I'll be back next Sunday with another report on another great British novel (1900-1940 that is). bye for now,
shamilton

P.S. Went ahead and posted a mural painting of Woolf. It's a start on a picture gallery.

We just finished Ford's The Good Soldier. For some reason, the book kept reminding me of a Fitgerald novel where the characters go through just so much angst and tragedy and have terrible things happen to them. You know--where the protagonist is still with us at the end of the story, but is living in a sort of hellish existence with everyone he cares about either dead or gone from their lives. A Modern tale, of course, where the characters have sort of given up on society and on ever making any sense out of anything--no faith, no hope, no future.
I liked Ford's novel, although not as much as Joyce's Portrait of the Artist. On to Mrs. Dalloway, and Woolf...

I am constantly thinking about writing this thesis paper. It is driving me a little nuts. I think I finally have a clear idea, however, and my essay seems to be evolving into something that will be both interesting and, as yet, unwritten by other graduate students. Time will tell...
shamilton

Well I am back to posting on my Blog for one more Literature class: British Novel 1900-1940. We just finished a James Joyce novel, which I had read back in a Humanities class about four years ago. I always enjoy reading Joyce; he is complex and frustrating to read at times, but so worth the effort. I love the ending to Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, "Amen. So be it. Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. . . . Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead." How can anyone not love these poignant and soulful lines?
We begin reading Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier this coming week, and I have never read any of this author's works. Should be a new and enlightening experience. I think I'll look for other works written by Ford just to acquaint myself with his style. This should be yet another great class; I look forward to the different reading material. I always love the Moderns.

shamilton