Afternoon chapter

Okay, I still don't feel entirely awake, but I'm reading again.  Like a soldier:
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4:34 p.m.  Chapter XXII is five pages long.  This, too, should be quick, then  :)

4:36 p.m.  Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins in this chapter?  I'll look at my daughter's Math homework and then read again---

4:41 p.m.  Okay, done with her homework.  I'll start reading again---

4:42 p.m.  Yes, this is that chapter  :)

4:46 p.m.  It's the penultimate chapter of the first volume, Austen intends to end the volume on a light note  :)

4:50 p.m.  Done.  Austen handles comedy, too, with a light touch---by the end of the chapter, even the match of Miss Lucas and Mr. Collins has more levels to it than a mere joke!

Morning chapter

1:48 p.m.  May be I should have slept a little longer.  Chapter XXI is six pages long.  I'll make coffee, smoke, then start reading.

2:03 p.m.  Starting now.

2:03 p.m.  Oh.  I forgot the coffee---

2:05 p.m.  Okay, starting now.

2:06 p.m.  Is this the chapter where Miss Lucas accepts Mr. Collins' proposal?  :)

2:08 p.m.  Actually, Mr. Wickham's back  :(  Is Austen going to leave Elizabeth hanging over that cliff now?

2:12 p.m.  Actually, the narrative's moving faster than I anticipated---Mr. Bingley, his sisters, and Mr. Darcy left for the winter  :(

2:17 p.m.  Elizabeth thinks like a chessplayer  :)  Unfortunately, she only does that when she's kibitzing (and Jane's playing), she is quite blind in her own game  :(

2:21 p.m.  Done.  Austen, too, uses seasons for symbolism (it will be *winter* when Darcy and Bingley are away), but she is much less obvious about it (than, say, F. Scott Fitzgerald in "Gatsby"), and I like Austen's strategy of working subliminally, I even think it more effective.

Afternoon edition

Will this be the chapter where Mr. Bennet speaks up about Mr. Collins?  Let's see  :)
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7:16 p.m.  Chapter XX is five pages long.

7:20 p.m.  Mrs. Bennet is actually the headlining comedian again  :)  and, just in case we miss the point, Austen tells us in plain terms what's happening, but she does it in dialog, with Lydia saying to Charlotte Lucas:  "... there is such fun here!"

7:26 p.m.  Done.  With Charlotte Lucas right there in the room, Austen will lose no time  :)  More tomorrow

After the ball

This morning's chapter:
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10:19 a.m.  Chapter XIX is six pages long.

10:20 a.m.  High comedy:  Mr. Collins makes "his declaration in form" the very next day  :)

10:29 a.m.  Almost done, and I had to read without a pause, Austen's mastery of comedy is impressive  :)  What I'm taking from this chapter:  Write in deadpan prose, and let Mr. Collins speak in lists  :)

10:33 a.m.  Done.  Now I'm looking forward to a scene between Mr. Collins and Mr. Bennet  :)

Blogging again anyway

We got back earlier than usual, so I'm reading a second chapter.  I still have trouble believing I'm actually reading something with 61 chapters!
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9:58 p.m.  Chapter XVIII is 14 pages long!!  Of course---this is the ball.  I'll go out to smoke, and I'll start reading when I get back.

10:07 p.m.  Okay, I'm starting now.

10:09 p.m.  "... she was soon able to make a voluntary transition to the oddities of her cousin ..."---textbook example of comic relief  :)

10:15 p.m.  At last!  "Prejudice" is in the house now  :)

10:21 p.m.  Collins again, like dessert after dinner  :)

10:27 p.m.  Mrs. Bennet, too, can play comic relief, though not as well as Mr. Collins  :)  Another cigarette break before the last few pages (long chapter).

10:36 p.m.  Back.  Let's get this done now---

10:38 p.m.  I don't really see Mary as a figure of comic relief---tragic relief may be a more apt description.  But now Collins is on again  :)

10:41 p.m.  Fast-forward mode again.  This, too, Austen does amazingly well.

10:45 p.m.  Done.  More tomorrow!

Blogging only once today

Later today, I'm driving to Ann Arbor to get my daughter for the whole week  :)  Here's today's one chapter:
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1:09 p.m.  Chapter XVII.  Four pages.

1:10 p.m.  The problem of veracity and amiable appearance.  In the second sentence already  :)

1:12 p.m.  "(W)e shall," indeed, "be obliged to think ill of somebody."  :)

1:13 p.m.  "... truth in his looks."  Austen works almost subliminally, hiding stuff like this inside dialog  :)

1:17 p.m.  "Society has claims on us all"  :(

1:20 p.m.  *Now* Elizabeth sees the joke  :)

1:21 p.m.  The weather obliges where the text needs a fast-forward  :)  Done.  More tomorrow---

Long evening

The good news is that, after this chapter, I will be done with over a quarter of the book  :)

The bad news is that:
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9:08 p.m.  Chapter XVI is ten whole pages long  :((  I'll go smoke, then start reading when I return.

9:31 p.m.  Back now.  This chapter must be the dinner with Collins and Wickham, that would explain the length.  I am intimidated by length  :(

9:33 p.m.  Mr. Collins is in form  on the first page already  :)

9:35 p.m.  Huh?  What's wrong with "breathing ... wine"  :(  although port isn't my cup of wine either

9:37 p.m.  Meanwhile, Mr. Collins is "... most abundantly supplied with coffee and muffin."  Muffin!  Austen can be quite ruthless where she wants  :)

9:40 p.m.  I, too, am "... extremely fond of lottery tickets"  :)

9:43 p.m.  And Wickham is a gadzillion times worse than Collins!  Where I, as a Math teacher, know exactly how much a gadzillion is  :)

9:44 p.m.  And Wickham's endowed with certain skills of the fiction writer---he knows how to place a hook when telling a story  :)

9:52 p.m.  Wickham rests his case (I hope).  Meanwhile at whist, Collins has "... lost every point"  :)  It's a masterful touch that Austen brought us these two characters at the same time, I think either of them would have been difficult to tolerate without the other.

9:57 p.m.  But the bottomline is, Wickham'll keep Collins at bay.  Mustn't forget that  :)

9:59 p.m.  Done  :)  More tomorrow---

Morning

Okay, I have to go teach in 35 minutes, but let me still try to get this done before class:
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10:16 a.m.  Chapter XV is five pages long.

10:16 a.m.  That gives me hope I can actually do it.

10:17 a.m.  "Mr. Collins was not a sensible man ..."  as though that wasn't abundantly clear already  :)

10:19 a.m.  And the "not a sensible man" seeks a wife.  Comic relief!  :)

10:23 a.m.  Wickham  :(  A fool and a scoundrel meet on the street---

10:25 a.m.  "... and Darcy and Bingley were seen riding down the street."  Talk about a nut graf---in the middle of chapter 15  :)

10:27 a.m.  Colour!  "...(O)ne looked white, the other red."  :)

10:29 a.m.  Wickham's been walking "up and down the street", the way Elizabeth and Miss Bingley had walked up an down indoors earlier  :)

10:32 a.m.  Parting shot:  Collins has "... never met with so much attention in the whole course of his life."  I wonder why  :)  I'm done in time---more later today!

Evening chapter

I'm done with 13 of 61 chapters, so with more than 20 percent of this novel  :)  Here's the next chapter:
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5:55 p.m.  Chapter XIV is four pages.

5:57 p.m.  More indirect speech  :)  and this time it's the job description of a parson.  And of what his patroness would like him to change in his "closet up stairs," but without a discussion of her reasons  ;)

6:01 p.m.  "That is all very proper and civil, I'm sure."  Where "that" means Lady Catherine's interest in Mr. Collins' "closet up stairs," I'm sure  ;)

6:07 p.m.  He is "... happy on every occasion to offer those little delicate compliments which are always acceptable to ladies"  ;)

6:09 p.m.  I'm beginning to like this device!  :)  Austen's brilliant---she writes that Mr. Collins "never read(s) novels!"  Her readers are, obviously, reading a novel  :)  and this is a sure way of showing them his character.  Inside three words  :)

6:13 p.m.  Done!  Or in other words:  Thank you, Ms. Austen, the case is submitted  :)  More tomorrow morning---

Morning chapter

So here's this morning's reading log, and I'm starting it after noon.  Not that I normally pay attention to time, but there's a lot of other stuff to get done today, so I need to get this done fast:
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12:24 p.m.  Chapter XIII is 5 pages.

12:26 p.m.  New character  :)

12:29 p.m.  A "mixture of servility and self-importance" always makes for good comedy  :)  Done.  More in the afternoon!

The after blog

While the book is definitely beautiful, I'm still unhappy about having to blog twice a day in order to finish it on time.

Here's this chapter:
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7:02 p.m.  Chapter XII.

7:03 p.m.  Pleasant surprise:  This is just two pages  :)

7:03 p.m.  But that just means the later chapters will be even longer  :(

7:04 p.m.  Starting to read now:

7:05 p.m.  Indirect speech.  Whither the grand old Konjunktiv eins?

7:08 p.m.  So "... they were at one time left by themselves for half an hour," and nothing happened?!  Is this a reliable narrator?

7:11 p.m.  Done  :)  More tomorrow!

Morning again

Less than an hour to teaching.  Let's get this chapter done fast:
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8:39 a.m.  Chapter XI.  Five pages, and I counted carefully  :)

8:40 a.m.  The first *half hour* was spent in piling up the fire!  :)

8:44 p.m.  That thing about books continues  :)

8:46 a.m.  I had no idea that simply walking up and down a room could mean all of that  :)

8:48 a.m.  It's amazing---if I may say so again---how many fortune cookie sentences are used in this book, and yet the book doesn't appear ridiculous, just because the fortune cookie sentences are spoken by the characters, as opposed to related to the reader by the third-person narrator.

8:53 a.m.  Done.  But there will be more after classes  :(

Evening blog

On Mondays and Thursdays, I have classes back-to-back all the way to 5:45 p.m.

After classes, I reading-log.  For the second time in the day.  Every day.

I'll stop complaining for now and get to work:
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6:47 p.m.  Chapter X:  seven pages.

6:50 p.m.  Back to discussing abstractions.  It's amazing how often the book does this, and yet it doesn't hurt, because it happens often in dialog, where it's held up by undercurrents  :)

6:57 p.m.  Here comes the dance?  :)

7:01 p.m.  Done.  More tomorrow---

The Math of it all

Because the last few chapters were longer, I looked at the number of pages in the whole novel:  367.  There are 61 chapters, so that's just over six pages per chapter on an average.  The last few chapters were actually the average length, and the initial chapters were shorter, which means some later chapters will be longer than average  :(  Reading now:
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9:52 a.m.  Chapter IX.

9:53 a.m.  A scene with even more characters.  This much is still true about the structure:  Each chapter restricts itself to one scene.

9:56 a.m.  Interesting debate on characters, also on city mice and country mice  :)

9:58 a.m.  Change of topic, labeled explicitly as such  :)

10:01 a.m.  At last the talk's of love again  :)  and here, too, an interesting point!  And all of this is being said by the characters, none of it is narrated exposition.

10:05 a.m.  The chapter closes with promises of not one, but two future balls.  That serves to move forward the story, because it appears to happen mostly during balls.

10:07 a.m.  Done.  And this chapter was five pages, which means some chapter in the future will have to be even longer  :(

We're on again

Sunday morning.

And I may or may not blog again tonight, depending upon when I return from Ann Arbor (after dropping off my daughter at her mom's house).

But I'm blogging here and now:
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1:38 p.m.  Chapter VIII is four pages long.

1:40 p.m.  Beautiful demonstration of how to "show, not tell" how Elizabeth feels at dinner.

1:41 p.m.  The other side of "pride"  :)

1:42 p.m.  And description of Elizabeth in dialog of other characters  :)

1:45 p.m.  And, for the benefit of the readers---who are, obviously, reading a novel---the characters all state which of them like reading and which of them look down upon it  :)  This one does seem to be a cheap trick, though.

1:47 p.m.  Oh.  I miscounted the pages again---this chapter is actually six pages, not four  :(

1:51 p.m.  "... and the modern languages"---yes!  :)

1:51 p.m.  And now, Darcy on the importance of reading  :)  so it wasn't merely a cheap trick to quickly divide the characters into two groups, after all  :)

1:54 p.m.  Done.

Moving on

Second reading blog for today:
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5:19 p.m.  Chapter VII is six pages long.

5:21 p.m.  The Bennets' back story.

5:24 p.m.  A different piece of the story (of course:  It's not short fiction).  But who's Miss Watson?  Now I'm curious  :)

5:28 p.m.  "... with weary ancles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise."---Amazing how well she sets up Elizabeth and Darcy  :)

5:33 p.m.  Done.  A supply of clothes?  Why does she need clothes?!  ;)

First instalment

Saturday morning.  Here's the log of the first chapter I'm reading today:
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1:59 p.m.  Chapter VI is seven pages  :(

1:59 p.m.  She's going to write 61 chapters, and she still needs seven-page chapters?!

2  p.m.  Whatever happened to "In der Kuerze liegt die Wuerze"?

2:01 p.m.  At any rate, I'll start reading now.  But I do wish there was a way to protest verbose texts  :(

2:04 p.m.  So "... she considered with pleasure that it was not likely to be discovered by the world in general ...," and therefore "... (s)he mentioned this to her friend Miss Lucas."  Evil younger sister, trying her best to make sure that that which is otherwise "not likely to be discovered by the world in general" does not fail to become public knowledge.  There is a mathematical model of how rapidly rumour spreads  :)

2:09 p.m.  Beautiful clause:  "... there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement."

2:14 p.m.  The game is afoot, "(w)ith great energy---"  :)

2:19 p.m.  Done.  But there will (have to) be more before the day is out, of course.

Early morning :(

So I set the alarm an hour earlier than normal so I'd have time to blog before teaching, and then I got up six minutes earlier than normal.  So far, I'm not liking blogging in the mornings.

But today I won't blog in the afternoon---I'm driving to Ann Arbor right after classes to get my daughter for the weekend---so here goes:
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8:49 a.m.  Chapter V is three pages long.

8:49 a.m.  At least the chapters are short  :)

8:51 a.m.  "Lucas Lodge," like "Carraway house" in Gatsby.

8:52 a.m.  Back to the play structure of chapters I and II?

8:56 a.m.  So here begins a platonic dialog on pride  :)

8:57 a.m.  And a great explication of the distinction between pride and vanity!

8:59 a.m.  Done.  The chapter ended in indirect speech, which made me reflect nostalgically (again) upon Konjunktiv eins  :)

Blog at night

So it's come to this---so now I'm blogging like a Dr. Seuss book:  Feet in the morning, feet at night, left foot, left foot, left foot, right  :(

But let's get this done:
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9:38 p.m.  Okay, chapter IV is three pages.

9:39 p.m.  Seriously now!  I too am sensible, good humoured, lively, etc.

9:41 p.m.  Okay, exposition of Jane's character, partial exposition of that of Elizabeth, exposition of that of Miss Bingley---and all of that in dialog  :)

9:45 p.m.  Und Darcy - das ist die Revolution!!  :)

9:48 p.m.  Done  :)  It's actually a pleasure to read this book.  If only the number of chapters had been smaller!

Blog in the morning

Because I have to do two chapters a day now  :(  Let the record show that I am, against my will, blogging before Calculus.

Be that as it may, here is chapter III:
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10:06 a.m.  Oh.  This, too, is just three pages  :)

10:07 a.m.  "To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love ..."  I had no idea!

10:09 a.m.  Actually, this is five pages  :(  but I'll live ...

10:11 a.m.  Different from Gatsby, in that this book actually skips a dinner (and the accompanying description of food) after an invitation to dinner.

10:14 a.m.  The infamous Darcy  :)  Compare:  We didn't actually see Gatsby before the anticipation was allowed to build for about 20 percent of his book.

10:17 a.m.  Varies from the playlike structure of the first two chapters, in that it alternates exposition and dialog.

10:21 a.m.  Done.  Austen makes a character say the sour grapes line, and it doesn't even sound like a cliche!

Second part

Chapter II:
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4:56 p.m.  Okay, this too is just three pages long  :)

4:57 p.m.  Is this basically written like a play?  With expository paragraphs at the beginnings and the ends of the chapters providing transitions?

5:02 p.m.  Done.  Short and sweet, even if straightforward.  The effect of something being a twist to characters (Mrs. Bennet and her daughters) but not to the reader is pleasing (more than I should have expected).

Glad I'm starting (bright and?) early

Did you know Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" has---wait for it---61 chapters?  Sixty-one!  I kid you not!

To put things into perspective:  If these were to be published---as Conan Doyle's "Baskervilles" was---one chapter at a time in a monthly magazine, this book would have run longer than five years.

Even if  Austen published one chapter in each issue of a weekly magazine, it would run well over a year.

If I were to read the book the way I have been reading other books---one chapter a day--- and had I started on March 1, I would have finished it on April 30.

But today is March 20, the reading log is due on April 25, so I have only 37 days left to read the 61 chapters---that is, 37 days including today and the day it's due.  I do want to continue reading only one chapter at a time, so I will be reading (and blogging) twice a day on most days during the next few weeks (exceptions will be the days when I have to drive to Ann Arbor, write a response statement, etc.).

Let's get started already:
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11:48 a.m.  I can't believe I'm doing this before noon  :(

11:49 a.m.  At least the first chapter's only three pages long.

11:49 a.m.  I agree that it is a truth  :)

11:50 a.m.  Beautiful way to start!

11:55 a.m.  Done.  This may not be a Herculean task after all, if the other 60 chapters are as short---and read as well---as this one did  :)  Summary paragraph at the end of the chapter---following the model we learnt for informative speeches in Comm 101 last semester---and I didn't mind the exposition in that last paragraph.

Finishing Gatsby today

I came up with a plan:  I'll use the readingless days to read ahead with the next text (Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"), so that I won't have to do multiple chapters a day (or worse, reading and writing on the same day) when the class gets to that text.

So I'm reading (and logging) the last chapter of Gatsby today:
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5:18 p.m.  Chapter IX is 18 pages long.

5:19 p.m.  I'm having difficulty accepting that this will soon be over.  This is a beautiful book.

5:20 p.m.  The best thing I've read since Kurt Tucholsky's "Schloss Gripsholm" last summer ... but that was different, it wasn't for a class, but for ... another reason.

5:23 p.m.  I'm rambling.  But what's Catherine's "corrected brow"?

5:24 p.m.  Oh.  Her eyebrows, as described back in chapter II (on p. 30).

5:30 p.m.  Who's James J. Hill?

5:32 p.m.  Okay, found him in Wikipedia.

5:33 p.m.  So I also looked for Dan Cody on Wikipedia, but it turns out that he is actually a fiction of this text  :)

5:36 p.m.  Ha!  "The Swastika Holding Company"  :)  You have to keep in mind when this book was written.

5:38 p.m.  Wolfsheim on Gatsby:  "I made him."  Matches what I wrote about Wolfsheim in my paper for yesterday's class  :)

5:45 p.m.  "And last the murky yellow cars of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad looking cheerful as Christmas itself on the tracks beside the gate."  Note the oxymoron of colors  :)

5:48 p.m.  What "lost Swede towns"?  I'd like to go to some lost Swede towns!  :)

5:51 p.m.  Wow that was an amazing "night scene by El Greco"!

5:53 p.m.  Now we're in the "Whatever happened to ..." pages.

5:59 p.m.  Done.  I'm the man with the owl-eyed glasses  :)

Up next: long dry stretch

So all we got assigned for the whole week is to read the last two chapters of Gatsby and write one paper.  There will probably be some days this week on which I'll skip the blog; other than that, I'll post poetry on some days, etc.  But today, chapter VIII:
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7:12 p.m.  Chapter VIII is 16 pages.

7:13 p.m.  Fog-horn in the first sentence.  Symbols from old German expressionist cinema  :)  But those films were actually current when this book was written.

7:21 p.m.  Back story chapter.  Even this is beautifully written ...  but here I find myself wishing this were written in German, imagining the extra level of depth this would have gained, had it been related in Konjunktiv eins  :)

7:26 p.m.  "The night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavor in the air."  The weather forecasts everything in this book  :)

7:35 p.m.  It's beyond masterful, what this text does with its cover art  :)

7:40 p.m.  Done.  Including the crucifix symbol of Gatsby carrying on his back the mattress on which he was going to get shot dead.

Chapter VII

We again got assigned 3 chapters to read and a paper to write, but this time there were 4 evenings between classes, so we actually get to do one thing at a time  :)  I'm reading the last of the assigned chapters today, and I'll write the paper tomorrow.
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5:16 p.m.  But chapter VII is 33 pages long  :(  I need a cigarette break before I start this.

5:28 p.m.  Back, and starting to read now.

5:30 p.m.  "The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer."  Again the meteorology obligingly follows the plot  :)

5:36 p.m.  It's beautiful how the narration's shifted to a different key.

5:40 p.m.  Okay, showdown  :)

5:44 p.m.  Now the text itself used the word "parallel":  "I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before---and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between sick and well."  Well?  :)

6:09 p.m.  Okay, there must be a color symbolism here.  On top of everything else  :)

6:13 p.m.  Done  :)

What next, Gatsby?

Kurt Tucholsky wrote:  "Es wird nach einem happy end/im Film jewoehnlich abjeblendt."  Gatsby reached what appeared to be a happy end at the conclusion of chapter V, but that's only just over the half the book, so I'm curious to see how the text proceeds from here  :)
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6:19 p.m.  Chapter VI is 15 pages.

6:30 p.m.  Yes, it started a new story all over again  :)  Like building a bridge starting separately at either end, planning to meet in the middle.

6:41 p.m.  Done.  The reason there's not much in the reading log is that I read the chapter without pausing, etc.

Double shot of Gatsby

So I did write the paper for today's class this morning, and then I'm reading the next chapter on the same day.

At least I didn't write immediately after reading ...  Here goes:
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11:45 p.m.  Chapter V is 16 pages.

11:46 p.m.  Gatsby's house on the first page reminded me of the fire in Hitchcock's "Rebecca"  :)

11:49 p.m.  "I think I walked into a deep sleep as I entered my front door."  I think that myself, every single day during the semester  :)

12:10 a.m.  Done.  Last point:  Yesterday, I saw that the text was emphatic about belonging to a particular period.  In today's chapter, however:  "Outside the wind was loud and there was a faint flow of thunder along the Sound"---it's no personal narrative, but a cosmic narrative.

Chapter IV

Okay, it's actually slightly inconvenient that we got only 3 evenings to read the 3 chapters *and* write a paper about them (if you are reading one chapter a evening like me, then you will either have to write the paper immediately after reading chapter IV or have to write the paper between classes tomorrow morning).  But I won't complain, because the book is so beautifully written  :)
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6:06 p.m.  Chapter IV:  20 pages.

6:07 p.m.  A specific date.  So he does want to emphasize that this narrative is not of all time, but of an age.

6:13 p.m.  Two page list, and even that read like a poem!

6:36 p.m.  Done.  Finally the text doesn't need a hook any longer, because a dangerous game is about to begin  :)

Seeing things

Reflecting upon chapters I and II, I think I might be beginning to discern some patterns in the book  :)  but today I'm planning to get the reading (and the log) done fast, so here goes:
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5:08 p.m.  Chapter III is 21 pages.

5:16 p.m.  Okay, he's serious about similes.  He's also getting seriously close to finally showing us Gatsby.  I'm curious to see whether he introduces a new hook when he does that.

5:40 p.m.  Also does metonymy and anticlimax, and does them well  :)

5:43 p.m.  Plus he's telling his own story, too!  It's unbelievable how well-written this is.

5:50 p.m.  Done  :)  Last point:  No loose threads in this book, not even casual ones!  One the other hand, he feels free to pick up a deceptively minor-looking thread fifty pages later.  And he makes a virtue of it!   And yes, he did introduce a new hook.

Reading every day again :)

We got assigned the next three chapters of "Gatsby" to read by Thursday, so I'm reading (and reading-logging) chapter II today, chapter III tomorrow, and chapter IV on Wednesday  :)
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8:23 p.m.  Chapter II is 15 pages long.

8:25 p.m.  The first page beautifully describes the quite striking cover art.

8:28 p.m.  "Though I was curious to see her, I had no desire to meet her ..."---this author is the God of verbs  :)

8:38 p.m.  So the room is shrinking around Mrs. Wilson as she revolves on a pivot.  The wild associations are somewhat reminiscent of European poetry of that era (more Garcia Lorca than Andre Breton, though, I think).

8:54 p.m.  Done.  And:  a-mazing!!  :)

Great

Okay, enough fun and poems, the reading log is back in town.  I'm reading-logging the first chapter of "The Great Gatsby" today:
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4:55 p.m.  Found my copy of the book.

5:12 p.m.  Read the back cover.  The sentence "The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s," because of its genitive prepositional phrases, reminded me of an old poem of Lord De Tabley, which I then sought out and read:

A Song of the Rolling Wind

A song of the fields and a song of the woods,

And a song of the rolling gale ;

A song for my love, and my false, false love,

To the tune of the crackling hail

In the teeth of the roaring wind.

A song of the clouds and the fallow face,

Where the wrestling leaves come down,

Of the heart that is changed, and the voice that is gone,

And the woodland withered brown

In the drift of the raving wind.

A song for me, and a song for thee,

And never a love between,

And the cold clay-couch of the patient dead

By the yew tree's inky green,

In the teeth of the rolling wind.

My point is this:  If I'm reminded of some poem or another by every turn of phrase I read, I'm never going to finish this.  I need to get my mind off poetry.

5:38 p.m.  Read F. Scott Fitzgerald's biography on the back cover.  Didn't know who John Dos Passos was, so looked him up; in his biography, saw the name Jose Robles and didn't know who that was, so looked him up; in his biography, saw the name Andres Nin, and---you guessed it---didn't know who that was, so looked him up;  in his biography, saw the word "flaying" and didn't know what that was, so looked it up; saw there the name Peter Stumpp and didn't know who that was, so looked him up; in his biography, saw the word "succubus" and didn't know what that was ... okay, I'm having fun, but I'm not getting anything done ...  On the other hand, I don't want to start reading the text without first reading the paratext.  I'll go smoke, then continue when I'm back.

5:51 p.m.  Back.  Let's get this done.

5:53 p.m.  The book starts with a quotation from Thomas Park d'Invilliers, and I don't know who that should be.  I'll look up this one last thing, then read.

6:10 p.m.  And now I know stuff about:  John Peale Bishop; Charles Town, West Virginia; Edmund Wilson; Theodore Dreiser; Thelma Cudlipp; Kyra Markham.  The first chapter, 21 pages long, is up now.

6:14 p.m.  2-page preamble, the first page introducing the narrator, the second the title character.

6:20 p.m.  The next 3 pages were setting.  I also notice it's taking me 2 min /pg  :((

6:26 p.m.  The next 3 pages are more characters and more setting.

6:44 p.m.  Done  :)  Amazingly well-written!  And very neatly structured, he didn't need to experiment with form in order to tell a story.

The one that started it all

I don't mean "the one that started villanelle in English", but rather "the one that got us into the discussion of villanelle in English (last summer at the Workshop)".  It's this one:
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The Freaks at Spurgin Road Field

By Richard Hugo

The dim boy claps because the others clap.

The polite word, handicapped, is muttered in the stands.

Isn't it wrong, the way the mind moves back.

One whole day I sit, contrite, dirt, L.A.

Union Station, '46, sweating through last night.

The dim boy claps because the others clap.

Score, 5 to 3. Pitcher fading badly in the heat.

Isn't it wrong to be or not be spastic?

Isn't it wrong, the way the mind moves back.

I'm laughing at a neighbor girl beaten to scream

by a savage father and I'm ashamed to look.

The dim boy claps because the others clap.

The score is always close, the rally always short.

I've left more wreckage than a quake.

Isn't it wrong, the way the mind moves back.

The afflicted never cheer in unison.

Isn't it wrong, the way the mind moves back

to stammering pastures where the picnic should have worked.

The dim boy claps because the others clap.

The compulsory one

And here's the villanelle by Dylan Thomas, which you're required by law to recite every time you utter the word "villanelle" in an anglophone county:
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Do not go gentle into that good night

By Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The one I personally like best

I once read somewhere that the villanelle was originally supposed to be a light flirtatious poem, but barely any English villanelle even appear to try that.  Today's poem at least has a light tone, which I absolutely love:
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One Art

By Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident

the art of losing's not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

Where I have to go

The second good English villanelle on this week's list is this famous one:
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The Waking

By Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,

And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?

The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do

To you and me, so take the lively air,

And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.

What falls away is always. And is near.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow

Jim told us last year that only 5 good villanelle have been written in English so far.  I'm posting all five this week  :)  Here's one:
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Villanelle

By W.H. Auden

Time can say nothing but I told you so,

Time only knows the price we have to pay;

If I could tell you, I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,

If we should stumble when musicians play,

Time can say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although

Because I love you more than I can say,

If I could tell you, I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,

There must be reasons why the leaves decay;

Time can say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,

The vision seriously intends to stay;

If I could tell you, I would let you know.

Suppose the lions all get up and go,

And all the brooks and soldiers run away?

Time can say nothing but I told you so.

If I could tell you, I would let you know. 

Ein noch aelteres Brunnensonett

Language and form change coming up tomorrow.

But before that, here's another sonnet---again about a fountain---and this one's so old, it's by Martin Opitz (early 17th century):
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Vom Wolffesbrunnen bei Heidelberg

Von Martin Opitz

DV edler Brunnen du / mit Rhu vnd Lust vmbgeben

Mit Bergen hier vnd da als einer Burg vmbringt /

Printz aller schönen Quell' / aus welchem Wasser dringt

Anmutiger dann Milch / vnnd köstlicher dann Reben /

Da vnsres Landes Kron' vnd Häupt mit seinem Leben /

Der werthen Nymph' / offt selbst die lange Zeit verbringt /

Da das Geflügel jhr zu Ehren lieblich singt /

Da nur Ergetzlichkeit vnd keusche Wollust schweben /

Vergeblich bist du nicht in dieses grüne Thal

Beschlossen von Gebirg' vnd Klippen vberall:

Die künstliche Natur hat darumb dich vmbfangen

Mit Felsen vnd Gepüsch' / auff daß man wissen soll

Daß alle Fröligkeit sey Müh' vnd Arbeit voll /

Vnd daß auch nichts so schön / es sey schwer zu erlangen.

More water

Yesterday's poem is actually part of an older tradition (in German poetry, at least) of poems about things (Dinggedichte), even of a more specific tradition of poems about fountains (Brunnengedichte).  Here's a very famous one from the 19th century:
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Der römische Brunnen

Von Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

Aufsteigt der Strahl und fallend gießt

Er voll der Marmorschale Rund,

Die, sich verschleiernd, überfließt

In einer zweiten Schaale Grund;

Die zweite giebt, sie wird zu reich,

Der dritten wallend ihre Flut,

Und jede nimmt und giebt zugleich

     Und strömt und ruht.

Ein weiteres Dinggedicht

Friday afternoon.  Leaving now  :)  One more famous poem where Rilke starts with describing an object and ends up exploring its Symbolik:
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Römische Fontäne

Villa Borghese

Von Rainer Maria Rilke

Zwei Becken, eins das andere übersteigend

aus einem alten runden Marmorrand,

und aus dem oberen Wasser leis sich neigend

zum Wasser, welches unten wartend stand,

dem leise redenden entgegenschweigend

und heimlich, gleichsam in der hohlen Hand,

ihm Himmel hinter Grün und Dunkel zeigend

wie einen unbekannten Gegenstand;

sich selber ruhig in der schönen Schale

verbreitend ohne Heimweh, Kreis aus Kreis,

nur manchmal träumerisch und tropfenweis

sich niederlassend an den Moosbehängen

zum letzten Spiegel, der sein Becken leis

von unten lächeln macht mit Übergängen.