My staycation in Rome

By Andreas Tille (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons


By Aaron Logan (http://www.aaronlogan.com/ and http://www.lightmatter.net/gallery/albums.php) [CC-BY-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons


By AngMoKio (selfmade photo) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons


Kleuske at nl.wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

I went to Rome this summer; Hawthorne was my tour guide.  I saw catacombs, cathedrals, gardens, tombs, fountains, picture galleries, countryside--he described it all, with great detail.  And we met some interesting people, too.

There was Kenyon, the American sculptor, studying the statuary and working on a portrayal of Cleopatra.  He's a "well-informed" gentleman, with an unfortunate tendency to go off onto long, philosophical discourses whenever he has an opportunity to do so.  It is very like him not to choose a Roman legend as his subject...wherever he is, his truest thoughts seem elsewhere.

They revert often back to Hilda.  She is a New England girl; and she has a gift for copying the classic paintings.  That is how she makes her living in Rome.  Ironically, while capturing perfectly the masters' art and dedicating her life to its study, her own artistic originality is neglected.  In her personal life, she is upright, optimistic, and rather naive.  I find her easy to understand.

Hilda's friend is a mysterious painter, known only by the name of 'Miriam'.  Nobody knows where she comes from.  She's beautiful and independent, but her life is haunted by a strange acquaintance of hers, who follows her wherever she goes.

And finally, there's Donatello--a cheerful young count, with apparently not a care in the world.  They say he resembles the Faun of Praxiteles, and that, under his curly hair, he has pointed ears.  He fell in love with Miriam and would do anything for her, but he also has a capricious streak in him that is very dangerous. 



By photo: Ad Meskens, sculpture Charles Hodge Mackie (Own work) [Attribution, GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Marble Faun is very similar to Moby-Dick.  Two-thirds of it is history, sightseeing, and in-depth descriptions.  I felt some pictures would have been helpful in the description department--I've never actually been to Rome, and so I could only picture it vaguely.  In the end, you feel as if you know Rome, inside and out, and simultaneously don't know it at all.

The other 1/3 of the book is one intense story.  You can think of it as a tragedy of star-crossed lovers, or you can think of it as a biblical allegory...it's both.  Hawthorne's Gothic tone shows up as well, in some very poignant scenes, such as Donatello in the forest, or Kenyon at the carnival.  Altogether, Hawthorne took an epic theme--the Fall of Man--and studied it through the lives of four characters.  The garden of Eden, the temptation, sin, guilt, and punishment are all there. The Marble Faun is often described as fantasy, but I'd hardly call it that--the truth in the book far outweighs the fantasy elements.

Overall, I give it a solid 5 out of 5 stars.  It takes patience.  Sometimes the descriptions were as wearisome as taking a city tour in Converse shoes (just speaking from experience, here).  But the story itself holds so much truth, and moments of genius, that I think it was well-worth reading.  :)

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the

" thē before a vowel; thə before a consonant "

I can live happily ever after now, in thə knowledge of thə correct pronunciation of the.  

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First photo of THORIN!

...at TheOneRing.net

All I can say is...wow!!! 

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Book Review: Under Western Eyes

Under Western Eyes (1911)
by Joseph Conrad
Overall rating:  5 out of 5 stars

By his comrades at the St. Petersburg University, Kirylo Sidorovitch Razumov, third year's student in philosophy, was looked upon as a strong nature—an altogether trustworthy man. This, in a country where an opinion may be a legal crime visited by death or sometimes by a fate worse than mere death, meant that he was worthy of being trusted with forbidden opinions.

Forbidden opinions...those are precisely what Razumov wishes to avoid.  An illegitimate son of a Russian nobleman, Razumov lives alone and has no expectations in the world, nothing except what he can earn through persevering work.  Content with his life, he tries to ignore the revolutionists on campus and instead turns his energy towards earning "the silver medal", by which he can better his academic standing.  But one day, he comes home to find an assassin hiding in his rooms, expecting aid in escape.  Razumov's reaction ruins his life as he knows it, and drives him to insanity with his own hatred, fear, and conscience.

At a glance, one would say that Under Western Eyes is about secret agents and the Russian revolution, but taken as a whole, that's not quite the focus of the book.  It is much more a ghost story than a story about revolution.  And the actual, intended point of the book seems to be to portray how Russians and Westerners perceived things--namely life and politics--during the times this was written.  As such, and with the characters' abstract style of speaking, it's not really written for 21st-century readers.  You'd at least have to know the Russian history concerning that time to fully appreciate this illustration; and as of now, I don't know enough about the subject to say whether it's an authentic portrayal or not. 

But intriguing, fascinating?  I'd say so.  As I've mentioned before, nobody writes about psychology/human nature like Conrad; and it's through human nature--something that makes us all related--that he did a great job depicting different viewpoints.

Personally, I could hardly put the book down.  Conrad has the power all writers wish for--of pulling you along breathlessly through the story, even if it's during an excruciatingly long dialogue between two rather boring characters.  His use of phrases, remarks, and word choice to achieve subtle but powerful effects is, I think, at its height here as well.

But to me, the very climax of Conrad's style is all condensed in his protagonist, Razumov.  Razumov has the heart of a hero and the head of a villain; he is, in a sense, the worst and best character of the book.  More importantly, he's human.  And not like the self-deceived characters of many novels, whose human-ness is usually unrepentant vice, self-justified and glorified by society.  But rather, Razumov is an honest human; whatever he does, good or bad, he is inwardly honest about it...there's even an ironic sense of honesty in him when he's up to his neck in lies.  His last journal entry (or confession, if you will) has got to contain some of the most brilliant and heartbreaking paragraphs in literature.  Spoiler:  As wretched as he is, I think he's ultimately a hero.  There's that verse about "the wicked shall prosper"; and, sure enough, Razumov had a chance at earthly happiness after all his deceit, hatred, and evil intentions.  But in the end, he chooses to repent.  Again he loses everything; but he accepts his punishment and miserable future.  While other fictional characters would give up, for even lesser reasons, Razumov did the right thing, and that takes real bravery.           

The plot is secondary to everything else in the book, but it's still interesting and rather complex.  The first part follows Razumov, the second and third a young lady named Nathalie Haldin, and the last part ties everything together.  As for the minor characters, half of them are boring and the other half are the ghosts in the ghost story, resulting in some very chilling scenes.  Nobody thinks of Conrad as famous for his characters; but certainly, each one has their own voice and makes an impression on you.

The ending isn't exactly what I'd call a happy one--"pure misery" was my mental note.  Yet it was also strangely excellent.  There was the very good and the very bad, all wound up together in a sort of poetic justice; and it left me convinced that, however depressing it seemed, there couldn't have been a better ending written for it.

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Tatyana costume

Latest entry in my literary heroines sewing project.  Inspiration: this costume from an opera production, as well as this one, and, of course, the book.  :)




 It's similar to the Young Victoria costume, being from the same era and all.  I basically used the same pattern pieces, based on view D from Simplicity #9521 and a sleeve pattern from another set. 




The hardest part was the sleeves, which were a colossal pain and turned out way too tight.  It looks ok, but I've learned my lesson this time--for Barbie-sized sleeves, never ever again try to make lace fluffy and extra-gathered (unless the lace is super thin).  All I got was added thickness.  *fail*








Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...  The blue & white color scheme was new to me, and it was fun to work with.  ^_^

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30 Favorite Characters

From Thoughts of a Shieldmaiden.
Rules:  Without thinking about it too much, list 30  fictional characters that

• you really liked, or
• identified with, or
• who you think influenced you, or
• who you simply will not forget!

Well, you know me--I always over-think and over-analyze stuff.  So this should be fun!  *turns off analyzing-mode*

EDIT:  Silly me, I forgot to tag someone!  Well, I tag anybody who wants it.  ^_^

1. Sherlock Holmes.  Yeah, I'm a broken record.  Yeah, he tops every list, in my opinion.
2. Starbuck.  The one man who had the guts to stand up to Captain Ahab. 
3. Gollum.  Memorable, yesss he is.  I'll never be able to say the word "precious" again...
4. Boromir.  Gondorian knight from Lord of the Rings.  I realise he's an unpopular guy, but he may also be the most realistic, and one of the most epic, characters in the whole trilogy.  Underneath all the anti-heroism, he has a noble heart.
5. Fanshawe.  The enigmatic "suffering student", from Hawthorne's novel of the same name.  I didn't much like him at first, but I understand him better now; and he makes a very striking, Gothic type of character.
6. Eustace Bright.  Another college-student character by Hawthorne.  A cheerful, slightly eccentric young man, who enjoys telling stories to his army of younger cousins.
7. Marian Halcombe.  Strong, persevering heroine from The Woman in White, who will even go up against the evil Count Fosco, in order to save her sister.  Not a fan of the '98 movie, but the scene where she's eavesdropping on the balcony (or roof?) in the pouring rain is unforgettable!  One of the best heroine-moments in literature.
8. Count Fosco.  Speaking of.  The unique Fosco, with his mice and cigars and Rossini overtures and horrible conniving.  *shudders*
9. Digory Kirk.  Apart from his cool name, I'll always admire Digory.  I love the fact that he stands up to his nasty Uncle Andrew...someone had to do it.
10. Athelstane.  Am I the only one who likes this minor character from Ivanhoe?  He's dreadfully lazy, not very clever, and "dies" only to wake up at his own funeral.  Oddly likeable, compared to the boring title character.  *ducks tomatoes* 
11. Nancy Drew.  As portrayed by Emma Roberts.  Starts out as a Mary Sue, but her naivete and eccentricities make her very likeable.  I love how she tries to get along with everyone, unashamedly "likes old-fashioned things", is a neat-freak, and talks to herself.  I'll admit I don't have a sunshiny personality (alas), but I sure can relate to the old-fashioned and mystery-loving side of her.
12. Lt. William Bush.  As portrayed by Paul McGann.  How did I not think of him SOONER?!  The ultimate, austere naval officer with a strong sense of duty and justice.  The guy you'd want by your side in battle.  The guy who never smiles; but when he does, it's 100% more special.  (I'll shut up now, I promise...)
13. Alexander Taylor.  The charming tutor from the sadly out-of-print Williamsburg Years, by Nancy Rue (any other fans?).  One of my all-time favorite characters from childhood.  I literally can't explain how wonderful Alexander is...charisma is just part of it. 
14. Scarecrow.  "It's no use screaming at a time like this--nobody will hear you!  HELP!" <3
15. Cpt. Edward Pellew.  Classic Pellew:  "You behaved rashly--you had no right to open fire on that French ship--you ought to be ashamed for feasting on fresh beef when there were wormy biscuits on board--and by the way, I'm glad you made it back alive, son."  Gotta love Pellew...he's always there to give Hornblower a rant and a "Good job".
16. Eugene Onegin.  Personally, I call him an anti-romantic-hero.  Very flawed, memorable, and from another era entirely. 
17. Amy Dorrit.  Dickens's Cinderella character.  It would be interesting to read another author's take on Amy's story...I think Bronte or someone could have really highlighted the emotional/psychological struggles that Amy went through, in unfailing patience. We do get glimpses of it.
18. Dr. Livesey.  The good, sensible doctor from Treasure Island.  There's nothing like a sensible character.
19. Legolas.  The only guy who can wear long, pristine blond hair and get away with it. Legolas is unbeatable in this department.  And he has some mean archery skills.  <3
20. Alan Breck Stewart.  I'm horrified that I didn't remember him until just now...DUH, Marian!  Alan Breck, with the silver buttons, brilliant swordfighting, childish vanity, and persevering patriotism.  After Sherlock Holmes, he's my favoritest fictional hero in the world, and that's saying a lot.  
21. Prince Rilian.  The enchanted prince from The Silver Chair.  A very haunting, tragic character at first; the whole enchantment scene gets me choked up.  I like how (perhaps unintentionally) C. S. Lewis took the traditional fairytale-prince stereotype and turned him into someone the reader actually cares about.
22. Mr Guppy.  One of those (many) Dickens characters that you just can't un-remember.  He's funny, shrewd, and endearingly annoying.
23. Gandalf.  What can I say?  Gandalf is epicness in fictional character form.  In fact, he probably ties with Alan as my second-favoritest character.  He's got a sense of humor too--"And just bring out the cold chicken and pickles!"
24. Hastings.  As portrayed by Hugh Fraser.  Great character; he has such patience to put up with Poirot and his little grey cells.  Scary driver when it comes to the car chases, though!
25. Sir Guy Morville.  The unhappy hero of The Heir of Redclyffe.  Has a terrible temper but always, always tries to do the right thing (people today would call him OCD in this respect).  Frankly, I admire him all the more for it; and it's too bad he's been eclipsed by Darcy, Heathcliff, and other heroes that are popular with modern readers.
26. Philip Morville.  Well, you can't talk about Sir Guy without mentioning his devious cousin, Philip, who drives the story.  You don't like him, but you can't really hate him, either.  Well-written character.
27. Lord John Roxton.  Big-game hunter and protagonist in Doyle's The Lost World.  His confident and cheerful attitude is a much-needed relief in the story, plus he's wonderfully British.
28. Michel Dufrénoy.  Main character in Verne's Paris in the 20th Century. Michel feels like a misfit--he is a student of literature, but the world he lives in is all about technology, and it's the only way by which a person can succeed.  Michel isn't the most inspiring of characters, but there's certainly a lot of truth in him.
29. Alice.  Only Alice would run headlong into a rabbit-hole.  She's funny, clever, compassionate, talks to herself, and is a little too confident in her stock of knowledge. Wonderful character.
30. Mr Venus.  Another hilarious Dickens character.  And a taxidermist.  It doesn't get more Dickensian than Mr Venus.  :)

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Alkan's genius

On one of my ramblings through the classical music on YouTube, I randomly came across a composer named Alkan (1813 – 1888).  I don't think I'd ever heard of him before, but I wish I had.



Alkan, to me, is kind of like a combination of Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Chopin; yet the incredible complexity of Alkan's music sets it in its own world.  It's not that it's terribly melodic, in that the melodic lines aren't quite as "focused" as those in Chopin or Schumann.  But Alkan's use of chord progression is magnificent; and the overall effect is somewhat abstract, without the horrors of Expressionism or the tedium of Minimalism. 

If you have fifteen minutes to spare, check out the Overture for solo piano as well--it's pretty epic.

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Perspective

You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?  You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!

{Gandalf - The Hobbit - Tolkien}

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Summertime Ramblings, v1

I hope you had a great Independence Day!  I did, though sadly I have no pictures to prove it.  In "typical me" fashion, I forgot my camera on the day when the weather was sunny, the food splendid, and the fireworks extra stupendous.  We always go to my aunt and uncle's house, for a cookout and fireworks; and in their neighborhood, there's a de facto fireworks show coming from all directions, from around nine o'clock and onwards.  Absolutely gorgeous!  Even in our own neighborhood, you can hear them 'til you fall asleep; and when I woke up, everything was unexpectedly silent.


Much nicer than last night.  I dreamed school had just started again, and I was three days behind in homework, with a paper due in second-year Spanish class.  Ugh.  Then I woke up to find that I had fallen asleep while reading.  Hawthorne might have something to do with it; his vivid descriptions of Italian parks and flowers in The Marble Faun are enough to make any sleepy person even more sleepy.  But that wouldn't account for dreaming about school.  And failing in a class I'm not even going to take.  Or perhaps the juxtaposition of two contrasting scenes makes them directly related somehow.  O_o 

Today I'm going to pull weeds, which is fine with me.  There aren't a whole lot.  And I've been terribly lazy this summer...oh, I do my chores and stuff.  But lately I've been feeling kind of useless.  I've read some books, I've done a little writing, and I've been working on sewing projects.  It just starts to seem trivial, that's all.  Except for writing.

Last month, I finally finished that gargantuan poem, the one I started in November of last year.  It's 200 lines, in AABA rhyming scheme.  Without giving it away, I can say that the topic is pretty deep, and it's probably one of the better things I've ever written, in either poetry or prose.  They say to write what you know--the chief problem with that is whether your audience gives a jot about what you do know.  But this topic ought to appeal to a fairly large audience.  And, no, it's not a romantic ballad.   >_>

I do think poetry is the most subjective of all art forms, even more than visual or musical.  You can show me something by Picasso, or make me listen to Schoenberg; I can't stand either of them, but I'll admit that, in all their grotesque and disturbing dissonance, there is something slightly interesting in them.  On the other hand, read me a free-verse poem by a contemporary poet; and it probably won't make the least impression on me, except that "I don't like it".  Most poetry--especially free verse--is too sparse, and too dependent upon the author's individual thought processes, to be universally understood in any extent.  So whenever I am inclined to despise my own poetry, this aspect makes me think again, and keeps me believing that somebody somewhere will like it, whether I do or not.  



 Jörg Hempel [CC-BY-SA-2.0-de], via Wikimedia Commons

Speaking of poetry, I had to look up celandines, which seem to have been Wordsworth's favorite flower. They remind me of buttercups; actually, they're related, according to Wikipedia.  As you can see in my profile pic, my favorite flower--or one of them--is probably forget-me-nots...I don't think any poem I could write would do them justice.  But back to celandines...Wordsworth wrote some great lines about them (emphasis added):

Eyes of some men travel far
For the finding of a star;
Up and down the heavens they go
Men that keep a mighty rout!
I'm as great as they, I trow,
Since the day I found thee out,
Little flower!--I'll make a stir
Like a great Astronomer.

And about daisies:

Proud be the Rose, with rains and dews
Her head impearling;
Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim,
Yet hast not gone without thy fame;

On that sunshiny note, I think I'll go do the weeding now...

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Happy 4th of July!

Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations...You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. - Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

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