I spent a year in college reading classic Gothic lit from the late 18th and early 19th century and just published a story that my college mentor calls Gothic: https://syncopationliteraryjournal.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/l.-raphael-cadenza-proof.pdf That's 1 thing. #2 is finishing all 1300 pages of Shogun in hardcover (the book weighs almost 5 lbs!). #3 is re-watching the Danish political thriller series Borgen again.
Gosh, 1300 pages is an ACCOMPLISHMENT. That's about the size of War & Peace, which I'm spending a full year reading (in company with @Footnotes and Tangents).
Last month (May), I led a library book club discussion of Moby Dick; however, I only had an hour's notice and I hadn't read the book since my freshman American Lit class (nearly 40 years ago), but I hit up a few summaries and analyses and I was able to lead the group well. I really want to read "Benito Cereno" now, so I'll add it to my Kindle as soon as I finish here.
My favorite American Gothic work can't decide whether it's a lengthy short story or a novella: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman which I first encountered in a 1950 compendium called Ghostly Tales to be Told which belonged to my great-great uncle. In the brief intro to this tale, the book's editor Basil Davenport wrote this memorable paragraph that I will never forget: "To me, The Yellow Wallpaper is the most terrifying story ever written. At ten in the morning, you are not seriously afraid that you will be eaten by a werewolf or called away by a wendigo, but you might lose your mind, you know. People do."
I adored this book of ghostly tales as an early teen and still return to re-read the stories even now. In fact, I taught "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a topic for literary analysis in my freshman composition courses at Point Loma Nazarene University, and the students LOVED it!! I so enjoy British Gothic works such as Jane Eyre, but American Gothic stories have such a frightening freshness to them due to their "New World" settings.
Enjoy your foray into our literary Gothic heritage!!
I was just discussing The Yellow Wallpaper with my 16 year old yesterday. We were reading The Cask of Amantillado and she reminded me of the time I read them The Yellow Wallpaper just before bedtime (what was I thinking?) when we were visiting my parents. Poor daughter was very freaked out. And later that night was woken by some computer equipment of my mom’s in the room she was sleeping in emitting a loud noise at 2am.
Those are two scary stories -- I have often taught "The Cask of Amontillado" in our homeschool co-op along with "The Most Dangerous Game." But my favorite remains "The Yellow Wallpaper" -- and it's so intriguing that it was the only piece of fiction that Charlotte Perkins Gilman published. She wrote nonfiction focused mostly on feminism and psychology (often both!).
So scary!!! Something similar happened to me when I was 11 or 12—I found a volume of Poe in my aunt's house & stayed up late reading it. The Tell-tale Heart after bedtime in the dark in a strange bed....*do not recommend*. It made a Poe fan of me, though. ;)
Rilla read The Yellow Wallpaper recently and said it's the best short story she's ever read. We'll be doing a close reading with Huck soon. I remember how floored I was by it in college.
I started it because I was always wanting my notebook-span to line up neatly with the seasons, and that never quite happens. So a different main marginalia color each month gives me a quick visual sense of the passage of time.
I spent a year in college reading classic Gothic lit from the late 18th and early 19th century and just published a story that my college mentor calls Gothic: https://syncopationliteraryjournal.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/l.-raphael-cadenza-proof.pdf That's 1 thing. #2 is finishing all 1300 pages of Shogun in hardcover (the book weighs almost 5 lbs!). #3 is re-watching the Danish political thriller series Borgen again.
Gosh, 1300 pages is an ACCOMPLISHMENT. That's about the size of War & Peace, which I'm spending a full year reading (in company with @Footnotes and Tangents).
Hi Melissa!
Last month (May), I led a library book club discussion of Moby Dick; however, I only had an hour's notice and I hadn't read the book since my freshman American Lit class (nearly 40 years ago), but I hit up a few summaries and analyses and I was able to lead the group well. I really want to read "Benito Cereno" now, so I'll add it to my Kindle as soon as I finish here.
My favorite American Gothic work can't decide whether it's a lengthy short story or a novella: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman which I first encountered in a 1950 compendium called Ghostly Tales to be Told which belonged to my great-great uncle. In the brief intro to this tale, the book's editor Basil Davenport wrote this memorable paragraph that I will never forget: "To me, The Yellow Wallpaper is the most terrifying story ever written. At ten in the morning, you are not seriously afraid that you will be eaten by a werewolf or called away by a wendigo, but you might lose your mind, you know. People do."
I adored this book of ghostly tales as an early teen and still return to re-read the stories even now. In fact, I taught "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a topic for literary analysis in my freshman composition courses at Point Loma Nazarene University, and the students LOVED it!! I so enjoy British Gothic works such as Jane Eyre, but American Gothic stories have such a frightening freshness to them due to their "New World" settings.
Enjoy your foray into our literary Gothic heritage!!
Warmly, Susanne :)
I was just discussing The Yellow Wallpaper with my 16 year old yesterday. We were reading The Cask of Amantillado and she reminded me of the time I read them The Yellow Wallpaper just before bedtime (what was I thinking?) when we were visiting my parents. Poor daughter was very freaked out. And later that night was woken by some computer equipment of my mom’s in the room she was sleeping in emitting a loud noise at 2am.
YIKES!!! I would have been scared silly!!
Those are two scary stories -- I have often taught "The Cask of Amontillado" in our homeschool co-op along with "The Most Dangerous Game." But my favorite remains "The Yellow Wallpaper" -- and it's so intriguing that it was the only piece of fiction that Charlotte Perkins Gilman published. She wrote nonfiction focused mostly on feminism and psychology (often both!).
I loooove teaching The Most Dangerous Game. We've got Cask of Amontillado on deck for today!
So scary!!! Something similar happened to me when I was 11 or 12—I found a volume of Poe in my aunt's house & stayed up late reading it. The Tell-tale Heart after bedtime in the dark in a strange bed....*do not recommend*. It made a Poe fan of me, though. ;)
Rilla read The Yellow Wallpaper recently and said it's the best short story she's ever read. We'll be doing a close reading with Huck soon. I remember how floored I was by it in college.
It still floors me every time I read it, especially when I was a young mother!! Yikes!
1. Simultaneously raising 12 black swallowtail caterpillars to chrysalises. (July will be butterfly month.)
2. THE LIGHT EATERS by Zoe Schlanger
3. Learning more about/practicing reverse applique in the style of molas at Tatter in Brooklyn.
Oooh how wonderful to take a class at Tatter! I'm envious! Hope you'll share pics!
I can't get over the seasonal ink changes! What a beautiful idea!
I started it because I was always wanting my notebook-span to line up neatly with the seasons, and that never quite happens. So a different main marginalia color each month gives me a quick visual sense of the passage of time.