So we beat on--

[trinityofone]

Today I am supposed to: write my Great Gatsby essay.

Today I have:

1) Managed a vague outline of my Great Gatsby essay while mostly looking over various bits of the book and sobbing, sobbing, because no book ever has or does move me like this one; it tears me apart and I am totally inadequate to the task of explaining why.

2) Eaten a sandwich.

But seriously, regarding 1)--I maintain and will continue to maintain that Gatsby is the greatest novel ever written, packing more into less than 200 pages than what others can manage in nearly 2,000 (and I have read War and Peace, so I know *g*). I cry every time I read it (and when I'm reviewing my notes to write an essay on it, apparently). Those of you who have read it: does it effect you in the same way? The class I'm writing the essay for is an American Lit class taught at an Irish university; the tutor has stressed that she thinks the novel highlights American themes--do you think that's true? I would say that the themes of Gatsby--trying to recapture the past, yearning to be known, loved--are universal. But then I am American, so I could be projecting. We do that.

What's your favorite book of all time? What book has moved you more than any other?

Comments

[wychwood]

I shall have to look for Gatsby. Although I suspect it isn't going to be my sort of book (though the "not like Tess" thing makes it an improvement - I hate Hardy with a burning fire of hatred, and hated Tess so very much that I voluntarily read Far From The Madding Crowd as well so that I didn't have to write an essay about it...)

And hey, did you look down the rest of this thread? You totally started a trend with Mockingbird. *g*

That's because it's an awesome book! :)

[stillane.livejournal.com]

I hate Hardy with a burning fire of hatred

Oh, thank all that is holy I'm not alone in this. My senior paper in high school was actually titled 'The Mayor of Castorbridge, or Why Thomas Hardy Should Have Been Drug Out and Shot Before Putting Pen to Paper'.

I had a very relaxed teacher, thankfully. *g*

[wychwood]

'The Mayor of Castorbridge, or Why Thomas Hardy Should Have Been Drug Out and Shot Before Putting Pen to Paper'.

Ahaha :) That's awesome.

Although I now feel compelled to say that actually his poetry isn't bad. I mean, it's not particularly earth-shattering, but some of it's quite nice, and none of it compelled me to SPORK MY OWN EYES, yes, Moron Clare, that would be you I was looking at. We were studying him for a comparative pre- and post-1900 essay, because the novels are pre- and the poetry post-.

Apparently Jude The Obscure is even "better", involving incest, cannibalism and evil deformed children. Or something. Happily Sadly I've never read it.