Bibliography
May. 17th, 2009 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyLeave it to Psmith - P G Wodehouse
I suspect there may be quite a bit of Wodehouse in the near future, mainly because I am feeling in need of light and fluffy things to read, and I can't think of things much lighter and fluffier than this. There is, however, a certain thematic repetition to the plots of this and Something Fresh, namely couples who work together on a theft and find true love by doing so, mistaken identity, men posing as valets who really are not... that kind of thing. The thing is, even though the plot is so obviously formulaic, the writing isn't. The characters still have depth - Lord Emsworth gets deepened, and while we don't get really much more of the Efficient Baxter (expelled at the end of this episode for throwing flowerpots through his Lordship's bedroom window, don't ask), the character of Psmith, his replacement, is beautifully developed. I rather look forward to reading more of his adventures.
I believe what I am attempting to say is that while I am starting to suspect that Wodehouse's plots may have a certain gist to them (although we shall see how long he can keep the fake-theft motif successfully in play), the writing and humour is inevitably wonderful. I suspect that I shall be working my way through the Blandings books before setting to the Jeeves and Wooster saga, so those of you champing at the bit for me to get to that shall just have to be patient. Thankfully, Wodehouse seems to be eminently digestible in between more weighty tomes, so I suspect he will be fairly easy to program in. I have to say that there is something rather pleasing about the concept of reading Wodehouse on a beach in Aruba. Just saying.
Beginning with O - Olga Broumas
This is the belated final volume from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taimatsu's thesis reading, which I managed to totally neglect until the end of last week, and then sped through with delight. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, she uses language absolutely beautifully - it feels like poetry ought to feel, if that makes sense. She builds beautiful cascades of words and images that grab you, and that stay with you. There is a sensuality to her use of language, not only in the often erotic themes that she explores, but also in the enjoyment in words that she communicates. It makes her a lilting, flowing pleasure to read.
The second thing that really caught me was her use of classical imagery; the start of the collection is made up of twelve poems inspired by various mythological figures, apparently written in collaboration with a painter who produced twelve paintings on the same subjects. They're not the 'traditional' canon either - for instance, you have Io and Thetis as well as Aphrodite. I very much like the use of the classical imagery, and it's obviously something Broumas (originally from Greece) decided to follow through in her later poetry to some extent; Wikipedia informs me that two later collections are entitled Perpetua and Sappho's Gymnasium. Part of me wonders, as usual, about the reception possibilities; nothing turns up in the L'Annee search, of course, and most of the JSTOR stuff seems to be interested in lesbian reception rather than classics. I wonder.
I suspect there may be quite a bit of Wodehouse in the near future, mainly because I am feeling in need of light and fluffy things to read, and I can't think of things much lighter and fluffier than this. There is, however, a certain thematic repetition to the plots of this and Something Fresh, namely couples who work together on a theft and find true love by doing so, mistaken identity, men posing as valets who really are not... that kind of thing. The thing is, even though the plot is so obviously formulaic, the writing isn't. The characters still have depth - Lord Emsworth gets deepened, and while we don't get really much more of the Efficient Baxter (expelled at the end of this episode for throwing flowerpots through his Lordship's bedroom window, don't ask), the character of Psmith, his replacement, is beautifully developed. I rather look forward to reading more of his adventures.
I believe what I am attempting to say is that while I am starting to suspect that Wodehouse's plots may have a certain gist to them (although we shall see how long he can keep the fake-theft motif successfully in play), the writing and humour is inevitably wonderful. I suspect that I shall be working my way through the Blandings books before setting to the Jeeves and Wooster saga, so those of you champing at the bit for me to get to that shall just have to be patient. Thankfully, Wodehouse seems to be eminently digestible in between more weighty tomes, so I suspect he will be fairly easy to program in. I have to say that there is something rather pleasing about the concept of reading Wodehouse on a beach in Aruba. Just saying.
Beginning with O - Olga Broumas
This is the belated final volume from
taimatsu's thesis reading, which I managed to totally neglect until the end of last week, and then sped through with delight. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, she uses language absolutely beautifully - it feels like poetry ought to feel, if that makes sense. She builds beautiful cascades of words and images that grab you, and that stay with you. There is a sensuality to her use of language, not only in the often erotic themes that she explores, but also in the enjoyment in words that she communicates. It makes her a lilting, flowing pleasure to read.The second thing that really caught me was her use of classical imagery; the start of the collection is made up of twelve poems inspired by various mythological figures, apparently written in collaboration with a painter who produced twelve paintings on the same subjects. They're not the 'traditional' canon either - for instance, you have Io and Thetis as well as Aphrodite. I very much like the use of the classical imagery, and it's obviously something Broumas (originally from Greece) decided to follow through in her later poetry to some extent; Wikipedia informs me that two later collections are entitled Perpetua and Sappho's Gymnasium. Part of me wonders, as usual, about the reception possibilities; nothing turns up in the L'Annee search, of course, and most of the JSTOR stuff seems to be interested in lesbian reception rather than classics. I wonder.
