Thursday, January 18, 2007

Graphic and disturbing? Sounds like a good read

Yesterday was Anne Bronte's birthday. I only discovered this because today, Fits told me about listening to the daily trivia and poem on Writer's Almanac.

From yesterday's Writer's Almanac:

"It's the birthday of Anne Brontë, (books by this author) born in Yorkshire (1820). Anne Brontë has been remembered primarily as the third Brontë sister. She was meek and more religious-minded than Charlotte or Emily, and little is known about her life compared to the lives of her sisters. But she was a writer, just as they were. Her first novel was Agnes Grey (1847), based on her experience as a governess. It didn't get much attention, but her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), was an immediate success. The heroine, Helen Huntingdon, leaves her husband to protect their young son from his influence. She supports herself and her son by painting while living in hiding. In doing so, she violates social conventions and English law. At the time, a married woman had no independent legal existence apart from her husband.

In the second printing of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë responded to critics who said her portrayal of the husband was graphic and disturbing. She wrote, "Is it better to reveal the snares and pitfalls of life to the young and thoughtless traveller, or to cover them with branches and flowers? O Reader! if there were less of this delicate concealment of facts — this whispering "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, there would be less of sin and misery to the young of both sexes who are left to wring their bitter knowledge from experience."


Why haven't I read this book yet?


I am working on my synopsis and mustering the courage to boldly go where E insists we go ice climbing this weekend: Mount Washington. Hopefully between his ability and my ineptness we will make it to the top. O Reader! wish me luck.

me: "when I called the equipment rental guy for my viper axes and avalanche kit (!) he asked where we were going, and when I told him he said 'WHOA!'"
E: "he's just jealous"

5 comments:

Dodi said...

Good luck! What exactly is in an avalanche kit? Hope there's a GPS beacon to help rescuers locate those forced to utilize the kits. I'm guessing a shovel and some of those shiny mylar heat blanket.

What else?

Karen said...

E says the avalanche kit is just for practice. He claims they usually test it by hiding something with a beacon in the snow at a McDonalds parking lot and then looking for it. The kit includes a shovel and a probe. I guess the probe is to see how much snow you're under--? I'll let you know after this weekend.
If it were up to me, I'd be curled up in front of a fire with that Bronte book....

Anonymous said...

jane eyre on pbs

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/janeeyre/index.html

Trackrick said...

Does the avalanche kit include a St. Bernard with a barrel of rum on his collar?

I imagine such a kit would be unwieldy.

Karen said...

Ha - I like the image of the St Bernard : )