Tuesday, November 15, 2005
I'm sorry
I really didn't realize that someone had ever looked at this blog, so I would like to publicly apologize to louisjones33341917 for never responding to his very kind comment. I feel like a bad person.
booklist
I've been working my way through a mound of things that have been on my mind lately. The first stop was Virginia Woolf's novel 'Orlando'.
I first read this in high school and was astonished by it. It felt so fresh, it was magical realism before magical realism was anything, it was science fiction and feminism and history. I recently read 'Melymbrosia', an early version of Woolf's first novel 'The Voyage Out', and I wanted to make sure that 'Orlando' wasn't just a dream. There could not have been more difference in the two books. 'Melymbrosia' felt long. It took time to relax into it, it felt like it was so close to saying some things but it just couldn't manage it. 'Orlando' is more immediately engaging and, I think, says just about everything it needs to say with a carrying voice.
My boyfriend says he doesn't like Virginia Woolf's fiction. He says James Joyce used all of her techniques first and better. But he hasn't read 'Orlando', so there. Also in Woolf's defense, I have to add that she is actually readable, unlike Joyce, who seemed to take vicious pride in writing important books that are so annoying I have thrown them across the room many, many times and uttered curses upon them. 'Orlando' is awesome, and sadly ignored. (At least I think it is, but I have to admit that I'm a Virginia Woolf naif, and so can't tell you whether one or ten books has been written about it already. I would say probably yes.)
In conclusion, people should read 'Orlando', and know that my boyfriend is a fiction snob.
I first read this in high school and was astonished by it. It felt so fresh, it was magical realism before magical realism was anything, it was science fiction and feminism and history. I recently read 'Melymbrosia', an early version of Woolf's first novel 'The Voyage Out', and I wanted to make sure that 'Orlando' wasn't just a dream. There could not have been more difference in the two books. 'Melymbrosia' felt long. It took time to relax into it, it felt like it was so close to saying some things but it just couldn't manage it. 'Orlando' is more immediately engaging and, I think, says just about everything it needs to say with a carrying voice.
My boyfriend says he doesn't like Virginia Woolf's fiction. He says James Joyce used all of her techniques first and better. But he hasn't read 'Orlando', so there. Also in Woolf's defense, I have to add that she is actually readable, unlike Joyce, who seemed to take vicious pride in writing important books that are so annoying I have thrown them across the room many, many times and uttered curses upon them. 'Orlando' is awesome, and sadly ignored. (At least I think it is, but I have to admit that I'm a Virginia Woolf naif, and so can't tell you whether one or ten books has been written about it already. I would say probably yes.)
In conclusion, people should read 'Orlando', and know that my boyfriend is a fiction snob.
