ed_moore's Reviews (345)

Alike to ‘The Iliad’, my reading of ‘The Odyssey’ was a reread in a different translation, this time in Fagles’ rather than Emily Wilson’s. I was a little harsh on ‘The Odyssey’ the first time I read it, and now with a greater understanding of mythology I can much further appreciate it. I also believe this translation was better than Wilson’s. It was much more poetic and less blunt, not americanised either in the way Lombardo’s ‘Iliad’ felt. I did forget quite how little of the epic actually focused on the journey Odysseus takes home, it only really occupying about a third of the epic with Telemachus opening it and a very dragged out return to Ithaca as Odysseus repeatedly witnesses the suitors plotting to kill his son, gets stuff tossed at him as he frames himself as a beggar, and retells the same fabricated tale of his identity. It isn’t as grand feeling as ‘The Iliad’ in its plot and the repetition of the latter half meant it was also far less engaging, my original thoughts about Odysseus getting away with so much as he was Athena’s favourite continued to be an annoying element too. Nonetheless it was an improved experience versus when I first read the ‘The Odyssey’ 

 

(As the most recent review is prioritised on the page I have copied my original review of Wilson’s translation from September 2022 below): 

2.25 ⭐️

The Odyssey is the first book I have had to read for my university course. It can be commended as it's one of the baselines in the history of literature, and the classic Greek tale of adventure has been built upon and explored by so many writers. The plot is alright, it's just the means in which the epic is written that I did not enjoy. I acknowledge that The Odyssey has been translated many a time throughout history, whereas now it reads like a list of events just stated to you. There is no tension as the hero Odysseus has no character flaws and he has the 'Gods on his side' and as a result cannot fail Further, the amount of times it is mentioned a character is 'son of ____" the father meaning absolutely nothing to the reader and playing no role in the story is painful, there was no character development and as a result, though highly significant, I found the book ultimately dull.

“He thought, in fine, that the dreams of poets were the realities of life.” 

Coming into existence in the same contest that led to the writing of ‘Frankenstein’, Polidori’s ‘The Vampyre, is an extremely fast paced tale of many deaths and supernatural occurrences as the protagonist Aubrey travels Europe with his friend Ruthven. The major points of this novella seem to come in such fast succession and so man individuals suddenly have unexplained deaths or fall to the trope I despise of ‘dying of heartbreak’. I was generally quite underwhelmed by the plot and didn’t think it the best written, especially in its pacing. ‘Frankenstein’ was the clear triumph of that fabled night.

I really enjoy the style in which Coleridge writes, though in the case of ‘Christabel’, it being unfinished, the narrative is much weaker than the poetic style. It follows Christabel who is seduced by Geraldine, a transgressive and slightly vampiric individual that tempts Christabel from an oak tree. She resides in a gloomy castle and there are multiple images of bad omens which introduce the gothic, though it was often confused and didn’t seem to be going anywhere, likely thus effect contributed to due to its nature as an unfinished work. 

Flaubert’s ‘Madame Bovary’ was the pioneering novel of realism and alongside ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘Ulysses’ one of the major turning points in the development of the novel. It follows Emma Bovary who is disillusioned by the love stories of her novels and dissatisfied in her marriage to Charles, and hence seeks frequent affairs in order to try and get the false love she has been promised in fiction. Despite this core character trait though it wasn't anywhere near as intertextual as I expected.

In my opinion it was very similar to ‘Anna Karenina’ in following an adulteress woman facing financial pressures and seeking a life that seems unfeasible. Ultimately though alike to the aforementioned these plot lines don’t particularly interest me ands Emma continually makes frustrating and foolish decisions which only worsens her situation. I don’t have much to comment on here, slightly better than ‘Anna Karenina’ because it wasn’t as long stuck in similar plot lines but nonetheless not my thing. 

I absolutely love Freud’s theory of the uncanny, aware of such before I read his essay going into detail on it. This is likely a consequence of it giving weight to and explaining my fear of humanoid puppets (of the muppets variation) given that the psychology behind it has a fear of the uncanny arise when childhood beliefs we have grown out of suddenly seem real. Being able to give a name to this repressed dread and read a study explaining it is brilliant for personal sanity and the debates Freud puts forward surrounding why this occurs are fascinating. 

Absolutely my favourite essay by him even if he is prone to dragging sentences a little making them hard to follow. How this man manages to bring castration and genitalia into everything he writes however is bordering on an extremely peculiar talent!

Zweig’s ‘Chess’ is a novella that had been on my radar for far too long, a story about an unnamed narrator who serves only as a connection point to discuss the closed off chess world champion Marko Czentovic, a child prodigy who is extremely stupid in all fields but the movements on the chessboard, and his amateur opponent the unremarkable seeming Dr. B. I am going to draw obvious comparisons to Tevis’ ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ here, which I feel did a better job building from the archetype of a child prodigy. Though Tevis’ work was longer and hence had more opportunity to explore wider themes, ‘Chess’ only touching the elements of the books that focused on the game itself I feel Tevis did a much better job of visualising the games and making events out of them, where Zweig sort of skimmed over the games though they are the primary focus of the novella. He also touches the themes of the capacity for madness within the human mind, which is explored through a background story of Dr. B discovering chess when held in solitary confinement by the nazis, although something felt missing with this story within the story that occupied almost half the book.

“It was not the machine, but what one did with the machine, that was the meaning or the message” 

McLuhan’s essays on technology and the wave of consumerist capitalism ‘The Medium is the Message’ essentially argue that  the way you choose to talk to someone—the tool or medium you use—influences how that person receives your message. The important thing about media is not the messages they carry but the way the medium itself affects human consciousness and society at large, for example owning a TV is more significant than anything we watch on it. McLuhan’s ideas were interesting, especially considering modern forms of advertisement that rely on captivating shortening attention spans through social media noise. 

This ties into my dissertation in suggesting that while the content of Nursery Rhyme is essentially children’s nonsense, the value comes in how Orwell chooses to use the medium of rhyme as a familiar concept for readers, and hence use the medium to channel a completely separate political message. The cover being very reminiscent of the themes of 1984 here is pure coincidence!

Radcliffe’s ‘The Italian’ follows the kidnapping of the noble born Vivaldi’s lover Ellena by a corrupt monk, father Schedoni, due to Vivaldi’s mothers disapproval of the the match. The narrative takes you through convents and ruins leading to the dungeons of the Inquisition and is full of murder, moody gothic settings and deception. Though through all this Ellena remained the archetypal damsel in distress who is wholly good and yet in all the trouble she ends up in she seems to just spend the majority of the book sitting around and then eventually leaving places undisputed which was a strange one. 

I loved the tension and ambience of the scenes involving the Inquisition. It is such a dark and fascinating setting and group of jurisdictional enforcers especially considering the role of religious corruption in both the Inquisition and also the primary antagonist Schedoni. Despite all the tension occurring in these fantastic settings much of it is unfortunately recounted past events and hence no in-the-moment cumulations of the plot, and there were a few too many convenient family tree shock factors or narrative tie ups in the conclusion for me. 

Much of the atmosphere and narrative devices were similar to Matthew Lewis’ ‘The Monk’ (which I did slightly prefer) however both encapsulated the gothic ambience brilliantly. I do question however the categorisation of ‘The Italian’ in the separate sub-genre of the ‘female gothic’ as much was parallel to Lewis and I’d argue for such reason the genre doesn’t really exist. 

Side note: Spalatro deserved so much better. He did much wrong but for some reason I loved the man. 

Nicholls’ ‘You Are Here’, a book about two strangers walking coast to coast through the Lake District and Yorkshire Moors and trying to find love along the way, is so unlike the type of book I am usually gravitate to but I take my grandads’ recommendations as gospel and therefore gave it a go. It wasn’t much remarkable, just a simple story of the walk that honestly made me want to take the ramble coast to coast as it sounded absolutely gorgeous, despite the rain and hikes up mountains throughout. 

It was an extremely current book which took me aback at places, taking jabs at the Romantics in a very human way as the quote I picked up illustrates, or referencing pop culture and calling me out claiming that every basic man likes George Orwell and the Shawshank Redemption (the former is the one that applies here I have never seen Shawshank). It also made reference to the 2020 pandemic which seeing appear in literature was terrifying considering the passing of time and felt weird because that time still feels as if it were so current. It made some nice remarks on love and loneliness, especially being a love story between two divorcees now in their forties but I did find myself getting annoyed by the occurrence every day of almost going home and then choosing to stay and keep walking, such got very repetitive. The characters were nothing remarkable, alike to the plot, but served their purpose and made what was a surprisingly quaint and enjoyable read, yet nothing monumental by any means. 

‘Fear and Loathing’ is gonzo journalist Thompson’s fictionalised autobiographical account of his drug-infused trip to Las Vegas with his attorney. It is a nonsensical acid trip of a book with an extremely rough and vulgar prose style, little remorse for anyone other individual and on a futile search for the American dream, creating crossovers with 'The Great Gatsby' yet exploring the opposite side of society.

Throughout the narrative the speakers are continuously high pedalling huge quantities of drugs through hotel rooms and across the state, and generally aren’t very subtle about it but get by through deception and blackmail. The peculiar experience of this book is only heightened by the use of Ralph Steadman’s illustrations throughout, which are gaudy and equally drawn alike to a fever dream state of intoxication. I can draw a fair few parallels between ‘Fear and Loathing’ and Burroughs’ ‘Naked Lunch’, each exploring the drug culture of 60s and 70s America but while ‘Naked Lunch’ is among the worst books I have read ‘Fear and Loathing’ wasn’t quite as repulsive and vile in the majority of its depictions, and does a slightly better job of identifying somewhat of a problem, however still glorifies the freeloading crime-infused lifestyle. Everything I have read in this peculiar sub-genre of narcotics fiction has had similar choppy and vulgar feelings, with very confused narratives and are often quite unsettling, and yet for some reason despite not particularly liking any of this category I have read (considering De Quincey’s ‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater’ and ‘Naked Lunch’) I still have a curiosity towards the topic and literary movement, given how it rubs shoulders with absurdism. Of the aforementioned trio ‘Fear and Loathing’ has been the best, but nonetheless just as weird.