I’m Not the Only One Who Thinks Darcy is a Tool

Last week I picked up the book Beowulf on the Beach, and I’ve really been enjoying it! It’s a light literary criticism (the diet coke of literary critique, if you will) of some of the “best” works of literature, from The Iliad to Lolita. I’m been reading it on my lunch break, and I have to say the commentary is quite funny. More than once I’ve closed the book and laughed out loud at some barb or another. Jack Murnighan (the esteemed author) creates a crib sheet for each work which includes the Buzz, the Best Line, Quirky Fact, What’s Sexy and What to Skip. Murnighan takes a variety of great works (you know the ones you hated in high school) and attempts to make them appeal to the masses. He (mostly) succeeds. My opinion? The reviews read more enjoyably if you have a passing knowledge of the texts.

A few of my favorite chapters (so far):

The Aeneid

Don Quixote

The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling – and his reference to Fielding’s other, less famous, novel Shamela: satire of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela.

Jane Eyre – I *love* Jane. Intelligent and compassionate, she rivals most of the Austen heroines (except for maybe Anne Elliot).

Moby Dick – Hannah (my little sixteen year old sister) read this last year and loved it. She kept trying to read passages to me that were (apparently) filled with mirth. I’m not going to lie; I didn’t quite see the hilarity. Murnighan (with his PhD in literature from Duke University) also saw the humor, and indicated that this book should be read by adults who can see and appreciate the wit that high school students usually miss.

Dearest Hannah,

I bow down to your superior intelligence.

Love,

Leah (your favorite sister)

p.s. Don’t get too full of yourself. I know that in between John Steinbeck and Graham Greene, you’re reading the Twilight series….

Bleak House – I love, love Dickens. Forget everything anyone has ever told you about him (or at the very least everything you decided as a twelfth grader). If you’re only exposure to Dickens is Oliver Twist, give David Copperfield, Great Expectations, or even The Pickwick Papers a go. And...I don’t want to give anything away, but someone dies by spontaneous combustion. Yes, that’s right. Don’t you want to read it now? :D

Madame Bovary – I’m infinitely glad someone else dislikes Emma as much as I do (p.s. Flaubert did as well).

What I Wished He’d Included:

Thomas Hardy – Possibly the most depressing novelist of all time. (If you doubt me, read Jude the Obscure. I promise you won’t soon forget that ending.) My friend, Annie, said it best: “Hardy had his place in history. He brought attention to the plight of the poor and downtrodden, but at this point he should be read in passages. In a history class.” My opinion? Dickens and Gaskell brought the plight of the downtrodden to the masses in a more compassionate and infinitely more readable way. I can’t even take Under the Greenwood Tree, which is a much lighter, romantic story. I was really hoping Murnighan could make Hardy palatable. Oh well.


*On a completely unrelated and entirely vapid note, I've been braiding my hair recently (it's finally long enough!) and I've been loving it!! Cute and low-maintenance. :)