I can feel it coming in the air tonight...

What? What can I feel coming?
Another Lit Corner...

So, I finished reading To the Lighthouse. Which, yeah, made me feel pretty great.
But how did I actually feel about the book? Well - I don't know. Before I started reading To the Lighthouse, I started reading Mrs Dalloway. I didn't get very far because - well, it's hard. Uninterrupted stream of conscious is not easy on the brain.
Well, what does this have to do with To the Lighthouse? Apart from the fact that they're written by the same author? The point I'm going to make here is one of readability. While I never got very far into Mrs Dalloway, and while I found it difficult, it felt natural. It was beautiful - the expression of feelings and emotions was exactly what it needed to be. The sentences were long, and difficult to get your teeth into, but I could empathise with them. To the Lighthouse? Not so much.
There were times when I just felt like shouting: 'You're doing it on purpose!'
There were times when I actually shouted: 'You're doing it on purpose!'
That is not, of course, to say, that it was bad. On the contrary, it was very good and clever, and my appreciation of it raised as I continued onwards with the book - reaching a peak when what Woolf had written helped me get through my own, sticky authorial situation. And yes, there were times when the turn of phrase that is so particular to her style had my heart expanding in my chest because really she can distil beauty into words. But I still can't quite look past that horrible feeling I had at the start, or when the narrative would drag - purposefully, but confusing nonetheless. And so for that, To the Lighthouse loses points. But I guess I shouldn't make any final judgements until I at least finish Mrs Dalloway.

I also mentioned in the last post that I was reading Ulysses. I still am. In fact, that little peek I took at Ulysses helped me get through To the Lighthouse. Because if ever an author was doing it on purpose, than James Joyce was. Ulysses is not as impenetrable as it first seems - although I'm only nine or so pages in, so there's plenty of space for it to get worse. However it is a finely knit cloth of classical references - as the title would suggest. It's a good thing I managed to by both The Odyssey and The Iliad in the same trip as I bought this, then! So far the text is mostly English, with a little bit of Latin and the tiniest amount of Greek thrown in to shake off the paupers. Of course, these days Google is there to solve any problems we might have. Sorry, Joyce, looks like there will be comprehensibility for anyone who is brave enough to take you on!
There are also obvious Wildean under- and over-tones, which I am enjoying greatly. I'm getting the feeling that, all in all, Ulysses will be quite a rewarding read, if not always an enjoyable one.

Of course, I could go into the theory behind these two books. I can tell you why Woolf and Joyce have 'done it on purpose'*, and what they have achieved. I can probably throw up a few of the more overt references, as well as some of the more covert ones. But that's not really what Lit Corner is about, is it? Lit Corner is my own response to the books: informed, but not constrained, by my understanding of literature and my life as a Lit student.

So, what else am I reading?
Well, I'm rereading L'étranger, by Allbert Camus, for my lit and philosophy class; L'Immoraliste, by Andre Gide and Monsieur Vénus, by Rachilde for my class on 20th century French sex and sexuality, and The Iliad to supplement my reading of Ulysses.

In Web Lit, I'm currently reading and enjoying Kudzu, by Bernie Mojzes with illustrations by Linda Saboe. This, I think, is pretty amazing. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, and the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.

Well, I think that's about all worth mentioning for now.
This has been a Lit Corner with Little Newman.

Thank You for reading!

Happy reading and
Happier Blogging,
Lots of Love,
Little Newman
xxx

*for those who want to know, to explain and demonstrate philosophical beliefs (Woolf) and because of the Modernist aesthetic and understanding of art (Joyce). In a nutshell. There are probably a few other nutshells, to, but the end result is the same.