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Cultural Jottings
1. Ailz is getting into her new Open University course. Last year we lay in bed and talked about Shakespeare. Now we lie in bed and talk about Marcel Duchamp.
2. Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch have made up their quarrel- and Virgin cable are carrying Sky again. The two Sky Arts channels are a real find. There was that rare, Godard movie for starters. Since then we've watched Simon Schama on Rembrandt and Bernini and a short on the photographer Nan Goldin.
3. I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't. I'm reading Wise Children. The characters are stereotypes and the writing is packed with cliches- eyes are "sky-blue", accents are "cut-glass. The one good quality I can't deny her is energy.
4. I got three Carters out of the library- more fool me- because I thought she was going to be my next "project". The only other thing I got was a big, heavy book on the Romanesque- with gorgeous colour plates and a text translated from the German. My man Rolf Toman characterises the early medieval period as being in the grip of a "death cult"- all crusades and last judgements and saints being torn apart for their relics. And, yes, I see what he means- but I think he's missing the youthful energy, the urge- suddenly- to build up and up, the playfulness of the carving, the simplicity and directness of the lyrics. When I go into a Romanesque building or listen to a troubador song my heart lifts. I find I'm smiling. It's as if I can feel the April sunshine on my back.
2. Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch have made up their quarrel- and Virgin cable are carrying Sky again. The two Sky Arts channels are a real find. There was that rare, Godard movie for starters. Since then we've watched Simon Schama on Rembrandt and Bernini and a short on the photographer Nan Goldin.
3. I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't. I'm reading Wise Children. The characters are stereotypes and the writing is packed with cliches- eyes are "sky-blue", accents are "cut-glass. The one good quality I can't deny her is energy.
4. I got three Carters out of the library- more fool me- because I thought she was going to be my next "project". The only other thing I got was a big, heavy book on the Romanesque- with gorgeous colour plates and a text translated from the German. My man Rolf Toman characterises the early medieval period as being in the grip of a "death cult"- all crusades and last judgements and saints being torn apart for their relics. And, yes, I see what he means- but I think he's missing the youthful energy, the urge- suddenly- to build up and up, the playfulness of the carving, the simplicity and directness of the lyrics. When I go into a Romanesque building or listen to a troubador song my heart lifts. I find I'm smiling. It's as if I can feel the April sunshine on my back.
I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
Re: I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
I'm still expecting flak.
Re: I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
Re: I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
Re: I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
Re: I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
That book...
And I wish Aliz the best with her new course. *big big smile*
Hope that you and yours are doing all right, that things are going okay, and that the rest of the day goes all right for you all.
God bless and take care. :).
Olga/Maddie
Re: That book...
I love art books with big, glossy illustrations.
You're both...
God bless and take care. :).
Olga/Maddie
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I've never even felt the urge to read Angela Carter. Thanks for confirming my feelings haven't been off.
:)
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One of my LJ friends was praising Carter and I thought what's not to like about a wild, feminist, magical realist? As it turns out, quite a lot.
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Re: I thought I'd like Angela Carter- and I don't
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Before you hurl the books back at the library, maybe you could leaf through the others? With your interests in Jacobean drama and film you could at least try her "John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's A Whore"?
By the way, "sky-blue" and "cut-glass" are Dora Chance's voice, not Carter's.
Nine
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(Why don't I ever read comments before I add my own?)
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I was dismayed too. I was sure this was an author I was going to like. I'll try again....:)
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If Wise Children does nothing for you by the end of the book, I would give something else of hers a try—her short fiction is what I like best. The author's voice does have to be differentiated from the voices of her narrators, and Dora Chance is the kind of narrator to use "cut-glass" and "sky-blue."
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