Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Monday, September 29, 2025
Better late than never …
… Raymond Chandler's Unseen Story Has Been Published At Last (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Saturday, September 27, 2025
Charlotte Bronte
Well, it took me a few weeks, but I've now finished Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's mid-century classic. No doubt, this is a big book: not only in terms of its length, but in terms of its emotional depth. That said, it's not a novel that stretches with time -- nor, for that matter, with place: this is a book that captures a period of about twenty years. And of those, at least half are not described in detail. And more: the novel takes as it location a specific set of shires in northern England.
None of which is to critique Jane Eyre -- because, by almost all measures, the novel is a triumph. But I was surprised, upon reflection, how limited the novel is in terms of its historical and geographical range. That said, what the book lacks in terms of time and space, it more than makes up by way of character and journey. Jane Eyre comes of age at brutal time in English history: one of disease, emotional repression, and industrial awakening. There are moments early in the novel when Jane confronts unspeakable sorrow and violence. That violence, mercifully, retreats: but it's never forgotten; it lurks just below the surface of Jane's story.
Jane Eyre is a novel that focuses almost entirely on a single character: Jane Eyre. It's a memoir of sorts, with a handful of other figures introduced in order to advance Jane's evolution. The most significant among them are men: two men, actually -- Jane's suitors. True, there are other women in this novel -- and for that matter, there are other men, too. And those tertiary characters do exert their influence: but this seems a book, in the end, guided by the influence of men, by their power to dictate: whether through financial means or religious conviction. Again, upon reflection, this is a novel that seems, at least in part, to be focused on women, and yet cast as a sequence of events largely constructed by men.
I don't want to overstate the case: I know that Jane exercises her own agency and that she's by a profound courage. But -- in my reading, at least -- it is men who dictate the terms, and who drive the novel toward its various crescendos.
Jane Eyre is a lyrical, thorough, difficult novel: one about a young woman in her time, and about the limitations imposed on women by that era. Charlotte Bronte is a tremendous writer, and there is never any doubt about how her characters feel, how they experience triumph and regret. One of my favorite lines from Jane Eyre comes toward the end as Jane reflects on her suitors and their love; it's at this moment that she recognizes that there is a difference between an error of judgement and a violation of principle.
In many ways, that subtle distinction -- that reflection of personal awakening -- defines the entire novel.
Friday, September 26, 2025
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Monday, September 22, 2025
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Friday, September 19, 2025
We were warned …
… Classic novels that predicted today’s world (& what they got right
(Hat tip, Jon Caroulis)
Another poem for this morning …
… For the Finders of Bodies in Murder Mysteries (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
Adventures in punctuation …
… With the Em Dash, A.I. Embraces a Fading Tradition (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Monday, September 15, 2025
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Hmm …
… Science and Meaning: Parallel Tracks? (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
i don't see any conflict between faith and evolution.
Saturday, September 13, 2025
Friday, September 12, 2025
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Just so you know…
... something is werong with my ipad' whoch prevents melinking to anthong just now.
Tuesday, September 09, 2025
Sunday, September 07, 2025
Bravo …
… Our Jesuit high school banned smartphones. Here’s why it needed to happen.
As the product of a Jesuit education I think it's a good idea to have students experience as I and my fellow students did.
In case you wondered …
… An aesthete of controversy. Who was William F. Buckley? (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
Saturday, September 06, 2025
Friday, September 05, 2025
Thursday, September 04, 2025
Andre Breton
I was familiar, of course, with the work of Andre Breton as it relates to the world of visual art: but I'd not associated him with literature -- until now. Over a few days, I've read his most recognized book of prose, Nadja.
Let me say at the start: this is not a perfect book -- and it's certainly not a perfect novel. What it is, exactly, is unclear: but perhaps that's part of its allure. For me, Nadja read mostly as an homage to Paris. Breton casts his enigmatic, tragic love -- that is, Nadja -- as a foil for the city, populating the book with images of its many districts and personalities. That visual quality endows Nadja with a sense of reality: and the book does present a certain historical rendering of the city. But more often, the novel is surreal, with self-conscious reflections on the nature of writing, on love, and on narration. Breton never seems to fully believe in what he's doing: namely endowing certain dialogue with more meaning than others -- simply by including it as part of the book. He critiques this power: acknowledging its selective nature, its artificial qualities. The result is a novel about infatuation and regret, but which reads less as a love story and more, to borrow from Breton, as the "sketch of a mental landscape." Indeed, that is exactly what Nadja is: and while it's not for everyone, it is a work occupying that unique juncture between history, geography, and individualism. For the reflections on Paris alone, Nadja is a satisfying read.
Wednesday, September 03, 2025
Tuesday, September 02, 2025
Monday, September 01, 2025
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