READING LOG #2
reading log for 17/11/08 - 30/11/08
01. The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
I always find Tennessee Williams' characters hit a little too close to home. They're all so horribly damaged and sometimes almost hard to watch. There's a quote on the back of the anthology of his plays that I've snatched from my mother's bookshelf which says that Williams' plays are all concerned mainly with self-pity. That's probably true but, from my perspective, I see the characters as cautionary tales - people I might easily slip and become. In The Glass Menagerie, Laura is a girl who stays in all day and cares for her glass ornaments because she's been driven to an incredibly fragile state by the fact that she is crippled. It is suggested that this isn't a particularly major impairment physically but that she has allowed it to become so internally. She is more crippled by her own lack of self-esteem and neuroticism than by any physical impairment. And I sort of feel that anyone could easily fall into that trap but, perhaps, that I am particularly suceptible to lapses in self-esteem and waves of heightened neuroticism.
Personal discomfort at relatability to character's aside though, I quite enjoyed it. Like all plays, I feel as though I would have enjoyed it more had I read it all in one or two sittings as opposed to the four or five I probably completed it in. However, when I let it draw me in, I did get absorbed by it. The one thing I found a little difficult to swallow (and often do with plays) was the stage directions. Like Arthur Miller and many others, Williams falls prey to something akin to purple prose in his stage directions. Example: As the curtain rises LAURA is still huddled upon the sofa ... her head resting on a pale blue pillow, her eyes wide and mysteriously watchful. The new floor lamp with its shade of rose-coloured silk gives a soft, becoming light to her face, bringing out the fragile, unearthly prettiness which usually escapes attention ... Pray tell how you would portray her "fragile, unearthly prettiness" and her "mysteriously watchful" eyes. It's a pretty tall order. That said, I don't entirely dislike them because they give you something different (in reading the play script) than you would likely perceive on stage. A little extra.
Overall, I felt that it was nice though unlikely in places and I was unsure whether or not I was satisfied by the ending. I found that it didn't wrap everything up but, at the same time, the very fact that it didn't gave it a little added intrigue when the curtain fell.
good bits
- realistic characters (though with a more than a touch of caraciture)
- generally enjoyable
bad bits
- stage directions which seem close to impossible to portray acurrately
- hit a little too close to home at times
02. A Modest Proposal
by Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay which proposes that the children of poor families could be sold to the rich and eaten and that this would solve many of Ireland's hardships. I really don't have very much to say about it as I am not very practiced at analysing satirical arguments and proposals. It is amusing and, at points, culturally informative. I seem to be on a bit of an Ireland kick at the moment as I'm currently reading Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and sort of feel compelled to look more into Irish history if only because my knowledge of it is supremely patchy.
Anyway, in general, Swift's essay is interesting and engaging and nice as a little something different. I found parts of it a little unusual (such as Swift's use of figures to back up his proposal) but I thinik that was mostly due to its genre and my lack of familiarity with economic proposals/satirical takes thereon.
good bits
- amusing
- culturally interesting
- very quick read (say 15 minutes?)
bad bits
- kind of difficult to place/use/define
- nom nom nom baebies (lolwhut?!)
Sorry this is a day late and ohdeargod I barely read anything. In my defence I'm always reading poetry I just don't really think to write down what.
Also, my writing style this week? Weeeird.
01. The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
I always find Tennessee Williams' characters hit a little too close to home. They're all so horribly damaged and sometimes almost hard to watch. There's a quote on the back of the anthology of his plays that I've snatched from my mother's bookshelf which says that Williams' plays are all concerned mainly with self-pity. That's probably true but, from my perspective, I see the characters as cautionary tales - people I might easily slip and become. In The Glass Menagerie, Laura is a girl who stays in all day and cares for her glass ornaments because she's been driven to an incredibly fragile state by the fact that she is crippled. It is suggested that this isn't a particularly major impairment physically but that she has allowed it to become so internally. She is more crippled by her own lack of self-esteem and neuroticism than by any physical impairment. And I sort of feel that anyone could easily fall into that trap but, perhaps, that I am particularly suceptible to lapses in self-esteem and waves of heightened neuroticism.
Personal discomfort at relatability to character's aside though, I quite enjoyed it. Like all plays, I feel as though I would have enjoyed it more had I read it all in one or two sittings as opposed to the four or five I probably completed it in. However, when I let it draw me in, I did get absorbed by it. The one thing I found a little difficult to swallow (and often do with plays) was the stage directions. Like Arthur Miller and many others, Williams falls prey to something akin to purple prose in his stage directions. Example: As the curtain rises LAURA is still huddled upon the sofa ... her head resting on a pale blue pillow, her eyes wide and mysteriously watchful. The new floor lamp with its shade of rose-coloured silk gives a soft, becoming light to her face, bringing out the fragile, unearthly prettiness which usually escapes attention ... Pray tell how you would portray her "fragile, unearthly prettiness" and her "mysteriously watchful" eyes. It's a pretty tall order. That said, I don't entirely dislike them because they give you something different (in reading the play script) than you would likely perceive on stage. A little extra.
Overall, I felt that it was nice though unlikely in places and I was unsure whether or not I was satisfied by the ending. I found that it didn't wrap everything up but, at the same time, the very fact that it didn't gave it a little added intrigue when the curtain fell.
good bits
- realistic characters (though with a more than a touch of caraciture)
- generally enjoyable
bad bits
- stage directions which seem close to impossible to portray acurrately
- hit a little too close to home at times
02. A Modest Proposal
by Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay which proposes that the children of poor families could be sold to the rich and eaten and that this would solve many of Ireland's hardships. I really don't have very much to say about it as I am not very practiced at analysing satirical arguments and proposals. It is amusing and, at points, culturally informative. I seem to be on a bit of an Ireland kick at the moment as I'm currently reading Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and sort of feel compelled to look more into Irish history if only because my knowledge of it is supremely patchy.
Anyway, in general, Swift's essay is interesting and engaging and nice as a little something different. I found parts of it a little unusual (such as Swift's use of figures to back up his proposal) but I thinik that was mostly due to its genre and my lack of familiarity with economic proposals/satirical takes thereon.
good bits
- amusing
- culturally interesting
- very quick read (say 15 minutes?)
bad bits
- kind of difficult to place/use/define
- nom nom nom baebies (lolwhut?!)
Sorry this is a day late and ohdeargod I barely read anything. In my defence I'm always reading poetry I just don't really think to write down what.
Also, my writing style this week? Weeeird.