sons and lovers
after seeing a beautiful mind and vaguely hearing about dh lawrence from russell crowe’s imaginary friend paul bettany… i was compelled to try to read some of lawrence. funny how i still link the author with the movie though they have nothing in common.
a quote in To the Lighthouse struck me as a good summary of that book: “a family of unrelated passions”
if that is a capsule description of TTL, then “family of connected and intertwined passions” could describe sons and lovers. people seemed to have felt more, to reacted with more force, breathed with more intensity 100 years ago than they do today. there are only several main characters: Mrs. Morel, Paul, Clara and Miriam. There is really only one plot: Paul’s struggle to realize his role as a son and as a lover (hence the title).
the best parts of the book are when lawrence turns each character inside out and dissects, traces and maps their passions. i wish i had another word for passion– a mixture of desire, force, intention and want– a craving. people in this book are human and flesh. but they seem maybe more human than we are– their every days are filled wiht color and movement, not an aritficial heightening of emotion, but a very real possession with the everyday. Its a celebration of the primitive emotions and tasks of life. but very very beautiful.
Shakespeare, in general
so i went into highschool thinking english was a used for clarity and to express ideas from point A to point B
then i came out of highschool realizing that language was a texture and had as many bumps and holes as anythign else out there– just another thing to be manipulated .
shakespereare was just the master manipulator in some ways - and i dindt like it because i didnt realize
so much of plot and device and shape of english comes from him
and then i went into college not enjoying the picking apart and the.. general… obvious-ness? of shakespeare (Tho i did like that his plays were very fast. none of this tension building and on and on climax climbing.
foreshadowing in 2 lines yes, 500 page monologues? no)
then i am in shakespeare classand… yknow? things like… “virtue is a fig!” and “who cannot be crushed by a plot” and “simply the thing i am shall make me live” (othello/alls well that ends well, respectively) make me that shakespeare felt highs and lows in acute manner… in 1600.
so reading hamlet again was good; though in all of shakespeare, it seems as if there is a theme of doubleness/straightforwardness. what DOESN’T have to do with appearance and dissembling the interior??
or maybe its my prof who loves to dwell on such things