![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
From far, from eve and morning
After a complete and surprising failure to find anything by E.M. Forster in a used book store in the Boston area—I can only conclude he is beloved and never put up for sale—I gave up and bought A Room with a View (1908) from the Harvard Coop this afternoon; Maurice is next. Tomorrow, Eric and I see Låt den rätte komma in (2008) at the Kendall.
Happy birthday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nineweaving!
Happy birthday,
nineweaving!
no subject
I have no explanation! Maybe I scared him off.
ARWAV is great -- much more pointed and sort of sharply Mozartian than the film, which goes more for the romance.
I think it is amazingly faithful in its translation of the protagonists and the numinous quality of the world when Lucy lets it in; what it loses is the simultaneously satirical and candid depth of the supporting cast, particularly Miss Lavish and the two contrasted clergymen. (Am I the only person who thought Cecil would be much happier if he ran off with Mr. Beebe?) The onscreen preservation of the chapter titles and the score help a lot, though.
What I did not realize I would love so much was Forster's style.
There is some interesting stuff I read somewhere about Forster trying to write heterosexual relationships (which is supposedly why he gave up writing novels) and Lucy Honeychurch, but I forget where it is, duh.
Fascinating. Because I had no difficulty accepting George and Lucy as a couple, which could otherwise have cold-cocked the novel for me: it is a delicate feat to position a marriage as the stamp of independence genuinely achieved, rather than just one expectation traded for another.
Anyway, Lucy is kickass.
Ja.
It feels sort of v Enlightenment comedy to me, in that the plot and consequences are v wind-them-up-and-watch-everyone-freak! but the people are v real. To me it's v Austenian, only I think Austen would have raised her eyebrows a bit at the Romantic Lad and his Da.
Yes. I loved how much of the comedy (and character work) derives from that very mannered clockwork, relays of convention and politesse tripping person to person until they reach the Emersons, at which point social engineering blows a fuse.
I also really like how he tried to create a character v different from hmself in Maurice, so it wasn't just My Big Gay Coming Out Bildungsroman.
If there isn't already something called My Big Gay Bildungsroman, there probably should be.
(I will have more to say about Maurice when I have actually laid my hands on a copy.)
ALSO OKAY THIS IS NOW JUST ME GOING ON AND ON ABOUT FORSTER, BUT, 'HOWARDS END' SRSLY ONE OF THE BEST MODERNIST NOVELS EVER.
All right! It's on the list!
no subject
I also forgot how much more I like Mr Emerson in the movie as Denholm Elliott plays him -- he seems much more sympathetic and less Lawrencian-preachy.
That is because Denholm Elliott is really, really awesome.
SETS TO WORK, AND WITH A WILL
My work here is done.
His first novel! the Apostles at Cambridge! also so so good, altho I think I am overly affectionate towards it b/c of its setting and its being his first.
Explain—was it the first novel of his you read?
no subject
I've heard before from used booksellers (an uncle, for one) about certain authors being hard to find/not being sold often. The Beats, graphics novels, etc., are all ones I'd expect. P.G. Wodehouse, when I went looking one day, was equally difficult to find. But Forster? Color me surprised. I would have thought he was enough of a "Classic" at this point that the shelves would have been groaning with him. Hmm.
no subject
That was my assumption. Either I picked a bad week or I'm going blind.
no subject
In a college town, another thing that can affect availability is whether courses are using the author. Students buy the books, use them, and may sell them back at end of studies, or may keep them.
no subject
This heartens me!
In a college town, another thing that can affect availability is whether courses are using the author. Students buy the books, use them, and may sell them back at end of studies, or may keep them.
Good point. It's finals season.
no subject
Many thanks for the birthday wishes.
Nine
no subject
And with lemon and ginger.
Do try the collected stories as well: "The Machine Stops" is astonishingly prescient.
I have read about half the collected stories. In your apartment, mostly.
Many thanks for the birthday wishes.
Welcome. You get them all year round.
no subject
Nine
no subject
no subject
This is true. But I suspected that I would like at least A Room with a View well enough to own it, and this turned out also to be true.
no subject
I just Googled the Swedish movie--it sounds interesting. Enjoy!
no subject
It was incredible. Go see it!
no subject
Excellent! I'll keep an eye out to see if it shows up round here.
no subject
Spoiler: we both thought it was incredibly good; I thought it was the second-best movie I've seen this year (after The Fall and edging out In Bruges).
no subject
I don't know if Let the Right One In is an empirically lesser film than The Fall; I really dislike ranking art, especially since a given piece can appeal more on a given day. The Fall blew me away visually on a scale that Let the Right One In didn't. Right now, I feel more haunted by Let the Right One In. We'll see how they settle out. I'm very glad we saw them both.