Steinbeck has the ability to bring a lump to your throat and a smile to your face sometimes in unison but always at the right time. Powerful stuff as characters struggle with hate, love and loneliness.
Bullet points between pages 402 – 502
* After his visit Adam comes back and shows an interest in his boys, which is the first time they have been really discussed in the story so far, and history seems to be repeating itself with Cal the dark menacing one and Aron the Adam junior
* Adam decides to write to his brother Charles and Lee asks him if he can leave to open a bookstore in San Francisco and it seems that Adam will be given a chance to rediscover the things lost in his decade of mourning for Cathy
* A letter is returned to him with a note from the lawyers saying that Charles has died and left his money to be split between Adam and Cathy which forces a reunion of the husband and wife in which Adam exposes her inability to believe in love
* Following Samuel’s death the Hamilton family settle in to their respective lives with Tom left at the ranch being eaten up with loneliness but he perks up when his sister Dessie sells her house in town to Adam and moves back home
* But Dessie is ill and just as they plan to travel Europe and escape for a life of adventure she takes a turn for the worst and in response, because by giving her salts Tom believes he killed her, the lonely son decides to take his own life
If that final few chapters fails to leave you with a tear in the eye then you must be made of tin. More tomorrow…
Monday, January 08, 2007
Lunchtime read: Russian Short Stories
Of all the Russian short stories the Queen of Spades by Aleksandr Pushkin is probably the most famous and combines some of the favourite Russian past times – gambling, an interest in the supernatural and social position.
The condensed story
* The story starts with a bunch of friends all sharing gambling stories with one man telling of his aunts amazing story that involved her winning with three cards. One of the assembled audience, a Russo German named Hermann is transfixed by the story and starts to court the old Aunt’s ward in a bid to gain entry into the house.
* He manages to get in and confronts her but after she appears to be unwilling to help he pulls out a pistol and the old lady dies. He is visited by her as a ghost and she tells him the secret of the three cards but tells him he can only play once and must marry her ward.
* He goes and gambles and wins big with the first card, the next night does the same with the second and then on the final night he expects to draw the ace, the last card in the sequence and win but as the card is turned over it is the queen who looks like the old woman and she winks at him sending him mad into an asylum.
If there is a moral then maybe it’s quit when you are ahead or better still don’t gamble at all…
The condensed story
* The story starts with a bunch of friends all sharing gambling stories with one man telling of his aunts amazing story that involved her winning with three cards. One of the assembled audience, a Russo German named Hermann is transfixed by the story and starts to court the old Aunt’s ward in a bid to gain entry into the house.
* He manages to get in and confronts her but after she appears to be unwilling to help he pulls out a pistol and the old lady dies. He is visited by her as a ghost and she tells him the secret of the three cards but tells him he can only play once and must marry her ward.
* He goes and gambles and wins big with the first card, the next night does the same with the second and then on the final night he expects to draw the ace, the last card in the sequence and win but as the card is turned over it is the queen who looks like the old woman and she winks at him sending him mad into an asylum.
If there is a moral then maybe it’s quit when you are ahead or better still don’t gamble at all…
In praise of the short story
An interesting point is made in the introduction to the Penguin Classics collection of Russian Short Stories that points out that Russian literature has an appreciation of the short story that is not as widely held in Western literature.
Short stories do seem to have a reputation here of being something that you do early on the journey to writing a novel. They crop up in supplements and places like Granta magazine but it is a shame that they are not taken more seriously because in their own way they are something more difficult than a longer novel where you get much more pages to spend setting out the characters and the locations. I’m looking forward to reading some of these Russian stories and the first lunchtime post will come shortly
"Russian literature probably includes more great short stories than the literature of any other European country. There is no major Russian prose-writer who has not written short stories, and many of Russia's finest prose writers wrote chiefly in this form."
Short stories do seem to have a reputation here of being something that you do early on the journey to writing a novel. They crop up in supplements and places like Granta magazine but it is a shame that they are not taken more seriously because in their own way they are something more difficult than a longer novel where you get much more pages to spend setting out the characters and the locations. I’m looking forward to reading some of these Russian stories and the first lunchtime post will come shortly
Sunday, January 07, 2007
bookmark of the week
Popped into London today and visited Somerset House, which has a small number of rooms dedicated to showing off some of the collections from the Hermitage and it also has a shop that sells Russian handicrafts, books on Russia and of course bookmarks. These three bookmarks show a hunting dagger, one of a pair of pistols and a six barrel rifle - just the sort of bookmarks if you are reading some military history or War and Peace.
Blaming the clouds
My father always used to talk to me when I was younger about 'atmospherics' the ability of the weather to have an impact on how you are feeling, particularly in terms of headaches. Things were never explained to me in more depth so I am unable to elaborate other than to say apart from the bookmark of the week, which I will post shortly, I have had a headache all day as London decides if it is going to rain and turn cold or not. As a result I have not felt like reading too much with this nagging headache - apologies but blame the atmospherics!
Saturday, January 06, 2007
East of Eden - post VII
The parts of the book describing the departure of Samuel Hamilton are very moving and he departs having shaken Adam out of his reverie once more and moved the story on regarding Cathy
Bullet points between pages 346 – 401
* The Hamilton’s all get together for Thanksgiving, including their daughter Olive who happens to be married to Ernest Steinbeck the narrator’s father, and they decide that Samuel needs to be taken away from the farm
* Samuel understands all too well what is happening and one by one visits his friends to bid them farewell saving Adam for last and he finds the 11 year old twins growing but Adam still stuck in the past so he tells him about Cathy running a whorehouse
* Samuel dies and his funeral is held in the town of Salinas and Adam, fuelled by drink, goes and has it out with Cathy and as her anger mounts he emerges from a dream and realises that he is free of her and heads back to his land happier than he has been for years
Is that the end of Cathy? Will her anger follow him? What next for the Hamilton’s after Samuel’s death? All the questions will be answered in the next few days as I get to the end of this engaging book…
Bullet points between pages 346 – 401
* The Hamilton’s all get together for Thanksgiving, including their daughter Olive who happens to be married to Ernest Steinbeck the narrator’s father, and they decide that Samuel needs to be taken away from the farm
* Samuel understands all too well what is happening and one by one visits his friends to bid them farewell saving Adam for last and he finds the 11 year old twins growing but Adam still stuck in the past so he tells him about Cathy running a whorehouse
* Samuel dies and his funeral is held in the town of Salinas and Adam, fuelled by drink, goes and has it out with Cathy and as her anger mounts he emerges from a dream and realises that he is free of her and heads back to his land happier than he has been for years
Is that the end of Cathy? Will her anger follow him? What next for the Hamilton’s after Samuel’s death? All the questions will be answered in the next few days as I get to the end of this engaging book…
Looking into the eyes of a psychopath
Eyes have always been described as a way of looking into someone's soul and when you are lying it's often hard to look someone in the face for fear of eye contact giving you away and some of the best examples of characterisation around eyes can be found in John Steinbeck's East of Eden.
Cathy Ames is someone who clearly does not operate to the same rules as you or I and Steinbeck is quick to label her a "monster". In the book Ames is introduced with the story of how she kills her parents. But as the story develops the challenge is to make it obvious to other characters and to the reader that she is dangerous, even when she is not burning people alive, and the way that this is expressed is nearly all through the description of her eyes.
When people meeet her, like Samuel Hamilton, Adam's brother Charles or even the servant Lee, they describe feeling uncomfortable and what they remember most are the eyes - black, cold without a spark of love or kindness.
So many writers use the eyes as a shorthand way of letting the reader know what type of person they are. Some characters seem to always have tears in the corners of theirs or in the other extreme like Cathy they are a window onto a cold soul. I haven't finished East of Eden but for me Cathy Ames is one of the most brutal cold hearted characters that I have so far come across in any book and the reason you know is because of what's in her eyes.
Cathy Ames is someone who clearly does not operate to the same rules as you or I and Steinbeck is quick to label her a "monster". In the book Ames is introduced with the story of how she kills her parents. But as the story develops the challenge is to make it obvious to other characters and to the reader that she is dangerous, even when she is not burning people alive, and the way that this is expressed is nearly all through the description of her eyes.
When people meeet her, like Samuel Hamilton, Adam's brother Charles or even the servant Lee, they describe feeling uncomfortable and what they remember most are the eyes - black, cold without a spark of love or kindness.
So many writers use the eyes as a shorthand way of letting the reader know what type of person they are. Some characters seem to always have tears in the corners of theirs or in the other extreme like Cathy they are a window onto a cold soul. I haven't finished East of Eden but for me Cathy Ames is one of the most brutal cold hearted characters that I have so far come across in any book and the reason you know is because of what's in her eyes.
Lunchtime read: The Plato Papers - post V
After having returned from the past and explained the mysteries of Mouldwarp Plato faces his trial for misleading the young and lying but fights his corner in a bid to keep a hold on his sanity and his position
Highlights from pages 110 – 139
* Plato starts arguing with the guardians of the city and as he argues he is feeling his way round what he has discovered and he frustrates those trying to pin him down to some sort of admission of guilt
* Plato’s old friends despair about his slip into trouble and wonder if he has gone mad, a likely outcome after Plato starts talking about communicating with his soul, but hope that he will come through unscathed
* The guardians ask the citizens of London to make a judgement and they clear Plato of the charges but in response he demands that he been thrown into exile and as he is leaving hints that he believes that they are the founding fathers of Mouldwarp, a point completely lost on his old friend
Review will come in the next couple of days…
Highlights from pages 110 – 139
* Plato starts arguing with the guardians of the city and as he argues he is feeling his way round what he has discovered and he frustrates those trying to pin him down to some sort of admission of guilt
* Plato’s old friends despair about his slip into trouble and wonder if he has gone mad, a likely outcome after Plato starts talking about communicating with his soul, but hope that he will come through unscathed
* The guardians ask the citizens of London to make a judgement and they clear Plato of the charges but in response he demands that he been thrown into exile and as he is leaving hints that he believes that they are the founding fathers of Mouldwarp, a point completely lost on his old friend
Review will come in the next couple of days…
Friday, January 05, 2007
East of Eden - post VI
A terrible day on the reading front because I couldn’t find the book for many hours and so the page count is very low but it is still worth posting because the side story, that of the Hamilton’s as told by the grandson of Samuel, who is the narrator, develops
Bullet points between pages 312 – 346
* Samuel visits Adam and beats him out of his trance and they name the boys Caleb and Aaron and Adam seems to be starting to think of life beyond Cathy
* The story then shifts to focusing on Tom, as told through the eyes of his nephew, who loves his visits and recalls the times they went fishing together but Tom seems to be unsatisfied despite his talent
More tomorrow…
Bullet points between pages 312 – 346
* Samuel visits Adam and beats him out of his trance and they name the boys Caleb and Aaron and Adam seems to be starting to think of life beyond Cathy
* The story then shifts to focusing on Tom, as told through the eyes of his nephew, who loves his visits and recalls the times they went fishing together but Tom seems to be unsatisfied despite his talent
More tomorrow…
Lunchtime read: The Plato Papers - post IV
Things change dramatically for Plato but the outcome is not too good landing him in trouble with the authorities.
Highlights from pages 86 – 110
* Plato discovers that the inhabitants of Mouldwarp still exist in a cave under the City with the roof of the cave covered in stars, the limits of their perception, and he discovers that a lot of what he assumed is wrong
* He comes back and starts talking about what he discovered wearing a watch and rolling a dice for example but that soon lands him in trouble and he is put under trial for spreading fear and deceit
* In his trial Plato argues that he has not called on anyone to reject the principles of society but has discovered the joy of stumbling on individualism but his defence appears to be rejected and he is accused of going against “the way” and disturbing people, particularly children
Final instalment lunchtime tomorrow…
Highlights from pages 86 – 110
* Plato discovers that the inhabitants of Mouldwarp still exist in a cave under the City with the roof of the cave covered in stars, the limits of their perception, and he discovers that a lot of what he assumed is wrong
* He comes back and starts talking about what he discovered wearing a watch and rolling a dice for example but that soon lands him in trouble and he is put under trial for spreading fear and deceit
* In his trial Plato argues that he has not called on anyone to reject the principles of society but has discovered the joy of stumbling on individualism but his defence appears to be rejected and he is accused of going against “the way” and disturbing people, particularly children
Final instalment lunchtime tomorrow…
Thursday, January 04, 2007
East of Eden - post V
Although you sense what is coming with the murder of the madam Faye by Cathy the way she goes about it is chilling and her body count is now up to three and it would have been four if Lee had not come back and stopped Adam bleeding to death
Bullet points between pages 232 - 312
* Samuel goes to help Cathy have her babies and in an odd encounter she bites his hand so hard she tears flesh and it bleeds and all through the birth of her twins she shows no emotion and at the end asks for them to be taken away
* She ignores the twins and keeps this image of quiet reserve up even when Samuel sends his wife Liza to help and things come to a head when Cathy sends Lee away and asks the workers to leave them alone
* Adam hears her rustling around in her room and asks her to unlock the door to discover that she is dressed and ready to leave him and after he argues leaves but comes back into argue with her she shoots him in the shoulder and leaves
* The story runs parallel from that point with Adam a ghost of himself letting the house go to ruin and ignoring the twins while Cathy becomes a whore and starts to ingratiate herself with the madam slowly poisoning her until she finally takes her life
* There is a passage about how calculating she is about murder – prepared to take her time and work around obstacles – that gives a chilling insight into her psychopathic tendencies
* Meanwhile Samuel meets Lee and discovers that the twins have still been unnamed and so he gets ready to visit Adam to try and beat him out of his mental stupor
You sense that Adam is key to Cathy being discovered and if possible saved but first he needs to be brought back to life himself. More tomorrow…
Bullet points between pages 232 - 312
* Samuel goes to help Cathy have her babies and in an odd encounter she bites his hand so hard she tears flesh and it bleeds and all through the birth of her twins she shows no emotion and at the end asks for them to be taken away
* She ignores the twins and keeps this image of quiet reserve up even when Samuel sends his wife Liza to help and things come to a head when Cathy sends Lee away and asks the workers to leave them alone
* Adam hears her rustling around in her room and asks her to unlock the door to discover that she is dressed and ready to leave him and after he argues leaves but comes back into argue with her she shoots him in the shoulder and leaves
* The story runs parallel from that point with Adam a ghost of himself letting the house go to ruin and ignoring the twins while Cathy becomes a whore and starts to ingratiate herself with the madam slowly poisoning her until she finally takes her life
* There is a passage about how calculating she is about murder – prepared to take her time and work around obstacles – that gives a chilling insight into her psychopathic tendencies
* Meanwhile Samuel meets Lee and discovers that the twins have still been unnamed and so he gets ready to visit Adam to try and beat him out of his mental stupor
You sense that Adam is key to Cathy being discovered and if possible saved but first he needs to be brought back to life himself. More tomorrow…
Lunchtime read: The Plato Papers - post III
As more relics from the past are found the uncertainty in Plato increases as he doubts he is giving a true reflection of what happened in the past. Meanwhile the almost comical presumptions continue as Plato tries to fill in the blanks of an unknown past.
Highlights between pages 52 – 86
* Plato talks to his audience about what happened when the age of Mouldwarp ended and the age of Witspell began with a return of unicorns, pixies and Atlantis, which had all been hidden by the collective consciousness of the Mouldwarp population
* He then continues the dialogue with his should trying to ascertain whether or not the vision of the past he is painting is correct but his should is not prepared to be drawn on the subject
* The subject of his public lectures then returns to Mouldwarp and he extrapolates based on a film poster found on the South Bank advertising a Hitchcock film and so you get moments when he describes those in a pub worshiping the fire god by putting lit sticks in their mouths (cigarettes)
* But the doubts continue and he questions his soul again who announces that he will leave Plato to discover the truth but warns him that perhaps he has been used to keep the population content regardless of the truth of his proclamations
* Plato then starts to see visions of the past and tells his friend that he is going on a journey
More tomorrow…
Highlights between pages 52 – 86
* Plato talks to his audience about what happened when the age of Mouldwarp ended and the age of Witspell began with a return of unicorns, pixies and Atlantis, which had all been hidden by the collective consciousness of the Mouldwarp population
* He then continues the dialogue with his should trying to ascertain whether or not the vision of the past he is painting is correct but his should is not prepared to be drawn on the subject
* The subject of his public lectures then returns to Mouldwarp and he extrapolates based on a film poster found on the South Bank advertising a Hitchcock film and so you get moments when he describes those in a pub worshiping the fire god by putting lit sticks in their mouths (cigarettes)
* But the doubts continue and he questions his soul again who announces that he will leave Plato to discover the truth but warns him that perhaps he has been used to keep the population content regardless of the truth of his proclamations
* Plato then starts to see visions of the past and tells his friend that he is going on a journey
More tomorrow…
The ebook debate
The occasions when I can put on the hat I wear during my day job can be worn when posting on the blog but all this talk of digital book does have some crossover.
A great deal of fuss was made yesterday about a Cambridge-based company called Plastic Logic which is producing plastic microchips that can carry around large amounts of information and display them in an electronic A4 format (see picture) that is a potential way of storing e-books. Add to that development the planned arrival of the Sony eBook Reader into the UK in June and you just know that this year is going to be one dominated by a technology debate.
Getting in early my view is that these products will appeal to certain markets and can learn a lot from the Tablet PCs which have carved out a niche in hospitals and education but failed to go mainstream. The idea of an A4 ebook machine will appeal to academics and those working in government wanting to store lots of documents in one device but beyond that who wants to lug around yet another device when a handy paperback will suffice? In regards to the Sony product it sounds like a great idea but the iPod has been a success not just because of the technology but also because it can be hidden in a pocket. Try that with the eBook Reader and it defeats the purpose of the product but of course sit there in public and use it and it hands the muggers a perfect source of revenue to fund their crack habits.
There is nothing wrong with being niche but you can bet your house on the advertising folks taking a broad sweep approach claming the traditional printed book is dead.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
East of Eden - post IV
There is a lull while you wait to see what the ‘monster’ Cathy does next after she becomes pregnant but she makes no secret of the plan that she intends leaving California as soon as she can and seems not to care what Adam thinks about it.
Bullet points between pages 160 – 232
* Cathy tires to abort her baby with a knitting needle but fails and the doctor threatens to report her if she attempts it again and informs Adam that he is going to be a father leading him to get excited about settling down
* Adam sets his heart on a property owned by a Swiss man and as part of the process of sounding out opinions on the land is introduced to Samuel Hamilton who offers him friendship and some advice about water
* Adam goes ahead and buys the farm and starts to do it up and sends his Chinese servant Lee to get Samuel Hamilton to come and visit and offer advice about water and on the way back Lee reveals that he is not stupid and can speak English fluently
* Cathy is already on her guard against Lee and when introduced to Samuel she leaves him cold and doesn’t seem to share any of her husband’s warmth or enthusiasm about the farm of Adam’s dream of turning it into an Eden
* The Hamilton’s are taken on to dig three wells and build windmills and as the process starts Cathy goes into labour, a process that Lee describes as strange when he calls on Samuel to come and deliver the baby
What does Lee mean and what will Cathy do next - suspicions are that she will start flirting with the Hamilton boys Joe and Tom who are helping dig the wells. More tomorrow…
Bullet points between pages 160 – 232
* Cathy tires to abort her baby with a knitting needle but fails and the doctor threatens to report her if she attempts it again and informs Adam that he is going to be a father leading him to get excited about settling down
* Adam sets his heart on a property owned by a Swiss man and as part of the process of sounding out opinions on the land is introduced to Samuel Hamilton who offers him friendship and some advice about water
* Adam goes ahead and buys the farm and starts to do it up and sends his Chinese servant Lee to get Samuel Hamilton to come and visit and offer advice about water and on the way back Lee reveals that he is not stupid and can speak English fluently
* Cathy is already on her guard against Lee and when introduced to Samuel she leaves him cold and doesn’t seem to share any of her husband’s warmth or enthusiasm about the farm of Adam’s dream of turning it into an Eden
* The Hamilton’s are taken on to dig three wells and build windmills and as the process starts Cathy goes into labour, a process that Lee describes as strange when he calls on Samuel to come and deliver the baby
What does Lee mean and what will Cathy do next - suspicions are that she will start flirting with the Hamilton boys Joe and Tom who are helping dig the wells. More tomorrow…
Fiction v non-fiction - the wrong battle
One of my resolutions for this year was to write more posts that had some sort of intellectual substance. This first stab at more of a think piece concentrates on the rewards and differences between reading fiction and non-fiction. For the last few years, partly as a result of undertaking an MA in historical research, plus a life-long love of history, my reading was devoted to history almost exclusively.
It was all too easy to see reading fiction as something frivolous and a bit like sitting down to swallow the latest Eastenders episode rather than watching the news. But the last ten months, which has been all classic fiction rather than history, has been the most enjoyable reading time in my life. It is not because history was not as rewarding but it touches you in a different way. Reading history makes you think about why and how people reacted to certain situations but fiction makes you dream even more because you never know what is coming next. The best books hide their secrets until the final pages whereas if you choose to leaf through a book on the Russian revolution however much the first chapters might make the communists seem to be weak and vulnerable you know Lenin and company win in the end.
My problem had been to make it a choice between two different broad styles, which was a mistake because they can be complementary. Fiction has provided me with pictures and images that are echoed in history but because they are about ordinary people, the Tara Bulba’s of this world, they somehow seem to be more accessible and feel more real. To keep the example of the Russian revolution, which I’ve chosen going, you can read about the revolution in numerous books but you only start to understand what it felt like to be involved with it when you read Boris Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago and Mikhail Bulagov’s The White Guard. Then you start to understand what Lenin replaced when you read Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
My only wish is that I had started to mix up fiction and non-fiction earlier on.
It was all too easy to see reading fiction as something frivolous and a bit like sitting down to swallow the latest Eastenders episode rather than watching the news. But the last ten months, which has been all classic fiction rather than history, has been the most enjoyable reading time in my life. It is not because history was not as rewarding but it touches you in a different way. Reading history makes you think about why and how people reacted to certain situations but fiction makes you dream even more because you never know what is coming next. The best books hide their secrets until the final pages whereas if you choose to leaf through a book on the Russian revolution however much the first chapters might make the communists seem to be weak and vulnerable you know Lenin and company win in the end.
My problem had been to make it a choice between two different broad styles, which was a mistake because they can be complementary. Fiction has provided me with pictures and images that are echoed in history but because they are about ordinary people, the Tara Bulba’s of this world, they somehow seem to be more accessible and feel more real. To keep the example of the Russian revolution, which I’ve chosen going, you can read about the revolution in numerous books but you only start to understand what it felt like to be involved with it when you read Boris Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago and Mikhail Bulagov’s The White Guard. Then you start to understand what Lenin replaced when you read Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
My only wish is that I had started to mix up fiction and non-fiction earlier on.
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