February 27, 2003
From the desk of Jane Galt:Now here's a fascinating site: Classic Novels in Five Minutes a Day. You subscribe, and every day it emails you a bite-sized installment of the book you've selected. I've subscribed to Beowulf, the Age of Innocence, and the Arabian Nights so far.
For those who want more in-depth coverage, try the Online Books Page, which may be the best thing ever. It was there that I discovered, among many other treasures, Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. For devotees of the mid-Victorian woman's novel, it is a must read, as it is quite possibly the worst one ever written. The author's stilted prose is matched only in her ingenuity in finding afflictions to visit on her protagonist, in the frail hope of making a tragic heroine out of a middle-class housewife in a New England town. Her husband is simply the archetype of all other husbands in Victorian novels, the living, breathing, soft-boiled-egg demanding impersonation of God on earth -- infinitely just, infinitely kind, and totally remote. Really, if you know anything about the period at all, you just can't skip it -- it's more absorbing than a train wreck, although of course, much longer.
Posted by Jane Galt at February 27, 2003 01:10 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksGood idea, but, gee, five minutes seems like a lot. How 'bout one minute?
Here's Beowolf:
Hrothgar: Let's build a big old dining hall and call it Herot.
(They do. Then Grendel, an ugly guy, takes over Herot and eats people. Beowulf rips his arm off.)
All: You rule, Beowulf.
(Some people make SPEECHES and tell IRRELEVANT STORIES. Beowulf kills some more STUFF.)
Beowulf: Wiglaf, I'm dying. See that my funeral pyre fits my greatness.
Wiglaf: Ok.
THE END
...and they have _lots_ more:
http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/
Good idea, but, gee, five minutes seems like a lot. How 'bout one minute?
Here's Beowolf:
Hrothgar: Let's build a big old dining hall and call it Herot.
(They do. Then Grendel, an ugly guy, takes over Herot and eats people. Beowulf rips his arm off.)
All: You rule, Beowulf.
(Some people make SPEECHES and tell IRRELEVANT STORIES. Beowulf kills some more STUFF.)
Beowulf: Wiglaf, I'm dying. See that my funeral pyre fits my greatness.
Wiglaf: Ok.
THE END
...and they have _lots_ more:
Book A Minute
Sorry for the dup. Got a transmission error, and resent it.
Posted by: bruce on February 27, 2003 01:55 PMVery cool, Megan. One of these days I need to kick my allergy to thick-set literature.
Bruce, what's funny about that "condensed" version of Beowulf is that having read it in third grade, I recall the plot highlights to be exactly as you've described.
Posted by: Michael Ubaldi on February 27, 2003 03:35 PMTO: Jane Galt
RE: Of Stepping Heavenward and Train Wrecks
"...if you know anything about the period at all, you just can't skip it -- it's more absorbing than a train wreck, although of course, much longer." -- Jane Galt
Actually, I think you can start and finish the story in about the same amount of time as it takes to deal with a 'train wreck'.
Train wrecks, as apparently does this story, have pre-cursors, things that lead up to the actual event. Usually quite innocuous things, the slow decay of a vital link; morals, communications, diligence; all setting the stage for the event.
Then comes the event, all energy, fury and violence. All compressed into a brief span of time that is only best observed at slow motion. The corpses are scattered about the scene; so much wreckage, steaming in the dark and flames.
Then comes the aftermath; pain, sorrow and anguish. In a real train wreck theres so much paperwork. So it is in real life too.
The personal 'train wrecks' all too many of us experience go on for months with all the paperwork. Even years. The bodies go on moving about, like so many dead people walking.
Heck, this story would take much less time to get through than an actual wreck, train or marital.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Posted by: Chuck Pelto on February 27, 2003 04:27 PMBookaminute -- thanks for the link, that site's a classic!
The Jane Eyre and Hitchhiker's Guide condensations had me on the floor.
Posted by: anony-mouse on February 27, 2003 09:53 PMComments are Closed.