i didn't know The Great Gatsby had a plot. at least the plot was NOT the emphasis in my English class almost ten years ago. my teacher had me so focused on the tone of the words, on the metaphors, and the elusive nature of the characters that i plumb forgot there was supposed to be a storyline.
"there is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind."
this time 'round, i was positively engrossed in the story and madly in love with the language. perhaps it was the training my teacher gave me, or maybe it was because i'm now ten years older that these things had significance this time around.
(as some of you know from a previous post, cath committed me to read The Great Gatsby again. which reminds me, cath, i have your copy at my house in Salt Lake.)
really, everyone should read this book again if they read it as a teenager. i knew nothing concerning the dimensions of life and love when i first read it. i hardly know anything now. but, i can say that i recognize a far greater and far more complicated world than i did when i was in high school.
"tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . And one fine morning ----"
i didn't understand daisy my first time through. by now, i've met people like daisy - charming, mysterious, unsure, and yet they still thrive. and how could she say that she loved gatsby AND loved tom? why wasn't it as simple as gatsby getting daisy and happily ever after? how can someone love two people at once - and still not be sure who she truly loves? this was my simple teenage perspective. now i can see that the human heart doesn't always know what it wants and what it feels and what it felt in the past. it doesn't always work in absolutes. it rarely, if ever, works in absolutes.
"so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
i need to find another book that keeps me so engaged. i keep trying to get into the list of classics knowing that it will mold me into a better reader and prepare me for things that i really want to read. i brought Plato's Republic and Austen's Emma with me to AZ. sigh. i'm afraid I will be bored by these selections - although, that could be my teenage mind talking again. i brought them as my healthy vegetable reading selections to balance out any candy media i may consume. i'd much rather read sensational things these days - like the things that modernists and post-modernists write about. i started Emma, though, and it seems like it is gonna be a good read. it's embarrassing that a girl my age hasn't even read such an Austen classic, so that should be incentive enough to pick it up.
if anyone has suggestions of sensational reading even, and maybe especially, if it's your own writing, send it my way.
Gwendolen: "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
9 comments:
ooooh I LOVE this post. This summer, I read Persuasion for the first time, and completely loved it, so Emma might be all right. I also read The Glass Castle which is interesting but certainly not a classic. I'm in the middle of Home by Marilynne Robinson (she also wrote Gilead--both are must reads.) I also suggest Winter Wheat, though I can't remember the author. I love love love summer reading.
i knew i could count on you, cath.
Love this post, Jana. You may have already read the book I'm going to suggest, but it's still my favorite. You may find it interesting, as you're pursuing a law degree. You'll find a mix of everything in it, but the themes are incredibly thought provoking. So, if you haven't read "Advise and Consent" by Allen Drury, I highly recommend it. It's one of those books that I can never seem to shake from my mind. A friend of mine recently read it as well, and after struggling to get into it, by the end, he loved it. Happy reading!
emma is a little slow, but just keep plugging though. it's worth reading. you might try The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho if you haven't read it. It's pretty easy to read but it'll give you lots to think about.
Love you tons!
Gatsby is my all time favorite classic. I think I've read it at least four times. I was going to suggest Gilead but Cath beat me to it. Another classic I loved was A Separate Peace. And I just finished one called Impossible that I loved.
I KNOW! I taught The Great Gatsby for two years, and the second time was even a different experience. I must say, though, I believe daisy is manic...bipolar...something. Not normal. But the story is good because I believe Fitzgerald somehow was able to make his characters and story real, though it was sad. But such is life a lot of the time. And I'm sure you've read about his wife, Zelda who is just like Daisy. And now that I think of it, she was schitsophrenic? And ended up in a mental institution that burned down and took her life. I think Fitzgerald wrote himself into Nick, Tom, and Gatsby. Anyway, I could go on and on. If you want a good read, check out my favorite books on facebook. I only put my VERY favorites on there. They have all deeply affected me in some way.
PS-I REALLY loved The Glass Castle. And I love ya.
i read a book once.
hey jan so i'm a frequent attender of your blog as you may know and i always feel too intimidated by your incredible experiences and writing that i feel my comments would be obselete but i have summoned the courage for today. This blog related to me first, i know i am an immature teenager and i know i can not fully comprehend the meaning of these classic books. second, i have read emma and think you will enjoy it. third, i love your connection to the importance of being earnest. fourth, i am currently in a library and feel the need to read. So lastly, thank you for your inspiriation to read more i definately need another hobby to spend my summer hours more wisely. thanks. infinite x's and o's.
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