Ataraxia

  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Famous gothic story     I have been meeting with Jane Eyre a few times. Last time I remember it was so much fun. It is not the book, but the reader, since this afternoon I have enjoyed Jane Eyre. I have listened to yet another adaptation for the Romanian National Radio, with Victor Rebengiuc, the greatest actor alive in the lead male role. For much of the novel, Jane Eyre is poor and has to take orders in the position of a servant, but she is also a kind of Cinderella- noble, modest and valiant. The presence of a “phantom” may add spice or work as a turn off. A few years ago, I hated this dark side and the fact that Mrs. Rochester kept showing up, intent on burning or biting someone. The soap opera writers of today may have read Jane Eyre and other good novels, where the unexpected keeps happening. At the altar, the groom turns out to be already married and keen on becoming bigamous. Sounds like it comes from Mariachi mixed with The Young a...

  Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert The Magnificent Doctor   This is one of the greatest books and best known masterpieces. Flaubert is one of the three real giant writers, my Literature teacher used to tell his students. I am learning more about this huge writer as I have started reading Flaubert’s Parrot…and by the way, I have Puccini on my shoulder right now, and he is shouting in my ear so loud that I can’t hear myself think. This screaming will stop when the water pistol is out, for this is the punishment when enough is enough- Flaubert was rather disappointed with the public’s reaction to the publication of Madame Bovary, which has caused a public uproar. The novel scandalized most of the readers of that age, only to be vindicated later on, when it became not only a best seller, but an acclaimed book, placed in the pinnacle of world literature. Madame Bovary is about life in the countryside first and then in a small town, with little to offer to a dreamer and dissatisfie...

  The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton  http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-age-of-innocence-based-on-classic.html  winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Literature and adapted by Martin Scorsese… 10 out of 10     This novel is included on The 100 Best Novels list compiled by The Modern Library  https://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/2  and it was recently recommended in an unusual context – I have been a reader of The Economist for about thirty two years and for some years now I also listen to their podcasts; I think it was on The Intelligence where they have three journalists, one being Idriss Khaloun or something like that, that they discussed about the reading they recommend and the latter chose William Faulkner and the woman reporter said she would suggest The Age of Innocence, which I had been reading already…   This is the second time I try to enter The Age of Innocence, and coincidentally, there is a series now on HBO, The Gilded Age, whi...

  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce One of the best books ever!!   This novel has been listed at number three on the Modern Library Top 100 best novels list, after Ulysses and The Great Gatsby. It is one of the best books that I had the chance to read and it opens almost all the important subjects: religion, politics, beauty, works of art. This fabulous novel reveals the Truth about art, beauty, young men, philosophy and more. Much more And like in many of the other works of James Joyce that I have read, A Portrait of the Artist for instance, there is a strong element of nationalism: The problem I have reading through some of Joyce’s prose, also encountered in A Portrait of the Artist, is that I often have no idea what the characters are talking about. They mention some heroes of the Irish fight (I sometimes presume) against the British, but I can only guess and be wrong at times. Michael Collins is familiar from the film of the same name, some others have...