Stuff About Books and Literature

Image by PetroleumJelliffe In Joan Barfoot's novel, Dancing in the Dark ,  set in the late seventies, Edna Cormick, is a perfect housewife.  Edna has dedicated her life to being a home-maker and has created a personality and regime for herself by following the advice given in women’s magazines  by the role models presented there. Her glossy magazines, however, have not prepared Edna for dealing with extra marital affairs. So, when Edna finds out from a 'friend' about her husband’s infidelities, the 'right' choice behaviour in Edna's mind is to commit murder. Real confidence manifests itself  in  a person who has  received the rightful proportion of love and approval. Without confidence, weaknesses prevail and life becomes one long struggle.  Fear, resulting from lack of self-esteem, eventually overwhelms the protagonist, Edna Cormick. Her acute insecurity causes her to close all windows of opportunity and restrict her mental and physical space in order to

Moonrise - Photo by Lesley Lanir Have you ever thought about ‘space’ in literature, in particular fiction, and I don’t mean interplanetary space. The concept of space in literature has not been dealt with as critically as the concept of time and is not as obvious. Yet, fiction takes place in time and space; the act of writing requires time which allows space to be delineated. Time and space interplay in reality and, therefore, in fiction. How does fiction translate the attitudes of human beings towards their environment - the space in which they move, feel and interact? The act of writing creates space At the beginning, before pen touches paper, there is nothing; something must be created. A break in the clouds - Photo by Lesley Lanir The writer delineates the setting in which fictional characters move.  By doing so the writer evokes a distinct atmosphere. Every single sentence that is composed forms the creation of one more element of space and in the end, fictiona

David and Ben Crystal Get stuck sometimes reading Shakespeare's works? Do you really know the true meaning of Juliet's famous line "...wherefore art thou Romeo?" You might not be the only one because world famous language expert, David Crystal , and his son, Shakespearean actor Ben Crystal , report their internet site, Shakespeare's Words , now has users from every country in the world.  “The site has become an entity in its own right,” says Ben Crystal. Ben Crystal as Hamlet Their website is the online version of their best-selling glossary and language companion listed below. Read more about this invaluable online companion on Digital Journal . On the subject of Apps, while chatting with Ben, he mentioned that his Shakespeare Sonnets iPad App is already out - check out more information on his blog Shakespeare on Toast . Some of Ben and David Crystal's publications:     Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion   Think On My Words: Exploring

David and Ben Crystal Internationally famous linguist, Professor David Crystal , together with world-renowned Shakespearean actor and author, Ben Crystal , who built the website Shakespeare's Words , have now moved into App support for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod. For more about their App read my article on Digital Journal. David and Ben Crystal built the website Shakespeare's Words , an online version of their best-selling book,  Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion David and Ben's web site integrates the full text of the all the Shakespearean plays and poems with an online Glossary, allowing readers to search for any word or phrase in Shakespeare's works during reading.  Here are some other works written by David and Ben Crystal in connection to Shakespeare and the language of the Bard: Think On My Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language   Shakespeare On Toast : Getting A Taste For The Bard     Shakespeare's Original Pronunci

Paul Meier - Dialect coach Shakespeare devotees now have Shakespeare's best loved comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream available in its original 16th century pronunciation on DVD.  Dialect coach and Kansas University Theatre Professor, Paul Meier , worked together with internationally famous Linguist, David Crystal on the stage production. Watch a scene on YouTube   or view the trailer .  After chatting with Paul Meier, director of the project, he mentioned that the  90-minute audio production in OP of the radio drama  of the play, has also now been released.  Click here for Paul Meier's production script of A Midsummer Night's Dream and c heck into his page dedicated to Shakespeare . If you want to know more about accents and dialects, the first half dozen of Pauls' 24 dialect instruction publications are now out as enhanced eBooks on iTunes. Have a look at Paul's Standard British English and General American  Dialect   on iTunes. Read more about Paul Meier

Hysterical was one of the most common descriptions given to middle-class women and above in the nineteenth century. Throughout classic literature, you will notice that panic-stricken and over excited type female characters appear frequently.  Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen’s protagonist, in Pride and Prejudice behaves rationally, in contrast to women like her frantic mother and her flighty younger sister Lydia. Despite her childhood experiences, Charlotte Bronte’s governess, Jane Eyre,  is a level-headed young woman  in contrast to Bertha Antoinetta Mason - the hysterical first wife of Mr. Rochester who has been incarcerated in the attic.  Hysterical women - image by vassiliki If you can’t shut women up – lock them up, it seems. Hysteria was viewed as a women’s disease and possessing an immature personality was partly to blame. American culture defined hysteria as a neurosis or a character disorder, since it was thought that women, fearful of their own sexual impul

Jane Austen collection - photo by Thalita Carvalho Jane Austen (1775 -1817) was born into a large, well-educated family of eight children and lived in Steventon, Hampshire, where her father was a clergyman. Austen was schooled at home like most girls of that time. Her first draft of   Pride and Prejudice , then entitled,   First Impressions , was not accepted for publication. However, refusing to be discouraged, she continued to write and her novel   Pride and Prejudice   was finally published in 1813. Jane Austen chose to use her own experiences throughout her novels, using the point of view of a woman living amongst the high-society but coming from a non-affluent family. Therefore, her novels tend to revolve around the lives of the English upper class society, consequently,   Pride and Prejudice   is classed as a realistic novel. However, through   Pride and Prejudice , Austen not only emphasises and criticises her knowledge of the importance of the maintenance of soci