Monday, March 27, 2017

15 Funniest Literature For Fun, Fools, and Frivolity

15 Funniest Literature For Fun, Fools, and Frivolity
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm

April is the perfect time to curl up and laugh yourself sick with a funny book. So I compiled a list of 15 books guaranteed to bring out the fool in any reader or at least put a smile at on their faces.
This list consists mostly of novels but also a short story, an autobiography, plays, an anthology, and two collections of writings by known humorists.
I  have also included the best quotes and moments that explain why these books are funny. While I am aware that humor is subjective, and maybe some of these quotes might be dark or even outdated but in my mind they represent the best of these books and their authors.
If you know of any books that make you laugh that I haven't included, please let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page.


15. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney-The school-age misadventures of Greg Heffley and his friends and family including his bullying older brother, Rodrick have been loved by kids and adults alike. Kids completely relate to Greg’s inability to control situations that often get progressively worse and funnier as the story goes along. Adults probably remember their own awkward youth and the mishaps that encountered.
The series is a very hilarious almost sitcom-like look as Greg recounts through writing and drawing his latest foibles to his exasperation and the reader’s delight.

Funniest Moments:
The Jeff Kinney illustrations are the best parts of the books in their simplicity and visual humor. The characters are drawn as stick figures and compliment and sometimes run counter to Greg’s writing as if to reveal Greg’s thought process or the real events that occurred.











14. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by John Thurber
Thurber’s short story is a simple one about a milquetoast unhappily married man dragged around the town by his nagging wife only to daydream of adventures and heroism. “Walter Mitty” has all of Thurber’s usual writing tropes some of which may be outdated to modern readers, such as the nasty wife/wimpy husband stock characters that were so popular in writings in the ‘20’s and ‘30’s. However it is the dream sequences that truly make the story unique and funny.
In each of his fantasy scenarios, Mitty is a too-good-to-be-true hero who walks in and saves the day to the amazement and awe of his fellow surgeons/pilots/attorneys/soldiers whatever. The dream sequences seem one part Boy’s Own Adventure and one part Hollywood film as Mitty’s fantasies allow him to become the hero that he can’t be in his real life. The dreamers inside all of us can relate.

Funniest Quote: Most of the dream sequences are hilarious in their over-dramatic dialogue, fictitious jargon, and melodramatic situations. Here is an example:  

“‘It’s the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan,’ said the pretty nurse. ‘Yes,’ said Walter Mitty removing his gloves slowly. ‘Who has the case?’ ‘Dr. Renshaw and Dr. Benbow, but there are two specialists here, Dr. Remington from New York and Dr. Pritchard-Milford from London. He flew over.’ A door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out. He looked distraught and haggard. ‘Hello Mitty,’ he said. ‘We’re having the devil’s own time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you’d take a look at him.’ Glad to,’ said Mitty.
In the operating room there were whispered instructions: ‘Dr. Remington, Dr. Mitty. Dr. Pritchard-Mitford, Dr. Mitty.’ ‘I’ve read your book on strepthothricosis,’ said Pritchard-Mitford shaking hands. ‘A brilliant performance, sir.’ ‘Thank you’’ said Mitty. ‘Didn’t know you were in the States, Mitty,’ grumbled Remington. ‘Coals to Newcastle, bringing Mitford and me up here for a tertiary.’ ‘You are very kind,’ said Mitty.
A huge complicated machine connected to the operating table, with many tubes and wires and began at this moment to go pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. ‘The new anesthetizer is giving way!’ shouted an intern. ‘There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it!’
‘Quiet Man,” said Mitty in a low cool voice. He sprang to the machine, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-queep. He began fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. ‘Give me a fountain pen!’ he snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen. He pulled a faulty piston out of the machine and inserted the pen in its place. ‘That will hold for ten minutes,’ he said. ‘Get on with the operation.’ A nurse hurried over and whispered to Renshaw and Mitty saw the man turn pale. ‘Coreopsis has set in,’ said Renshaw nervously. ‘If you would take over Mitty?’ Mitty looked at him and at the craven figure of Benbow, who drank, and at the grave, uncertain faces of the two great specialist. ‘If you wish,’ he said. They slipped a white gown on him; he adjusted a mask and drew on thin gloves; nurses handed him shining…..

13. The Princess Bride by William Goldman-While the film deservedly is a classic in parodying the fairy tale/adventure genre, the book is equally as humorous. Of course there is the story of Westley AKA the Dread Pirate Roberts and his true love, Buttercup.
All of the familiar characters like the vengeance seeking Inigo Montoya, the cowardly Prince Humperdinck, and the supposed genius Vizzini are there as well as the situations like the encounters with the ROUS, the history of the Dread Pirate Roberts, and the clever storming of the castle by three men, a holocaust cloak, and a wheelbarrow.
However, what sets the book apart from the movie is Goldman’s fictitious backstory to how he encountered the “original book” by S. Morgenstern  from his father and how the version that we are reading is simply “the good parts” version with all of Morgenstern’s original satire edited out.
The book is filled with humorous asides as Goldman explains what he had removed and the reasons behind it, such as a 30 page section on packing, and Buttercup’s royal training. (He limits this section to one line “One thing and another three years pass.”) This meta-fiction writing makes the book stand out as more than a stand-alone adventure novel and becomes a clever send-up of writing in general. In fact Goldman’s back story fooled readers so much that there are still people convinced that the original “text” by S. Morgenstern really exists.

Funniest Quote Narration (Very dark but very true at times): Look (Grown-ups skip this part): I’m not about to tell you this book has a tragic ending. I already said in the very first line how it is my favorite in all the world. But there’s a lot of bad stuff coming up, torture you’ve already been prepared for, but there’s worse. There’s death coming up and you better understand this: Some of the wrong people die. Be ready for it. This isn’t Curious George Uses the Potty. Nobody warned me and it was my own fault (you’ll see what I mean in a little) and that was my mistake so I’m not letting it happen to you. The wrong people die, some of them, and the reason is this: life is not fair. Forget all the garbage your parents put out.”

12. Then We Came To the End by Joshua Ferris-Anyone who has worked in an office setting will completely understand Ferris’ story about advertising agency employees worried about upcoming lay-offs during the early 2000’s dot com bubble burst.
Many scenes are almost unbelievable such as a fired employee who returns dressed as a clown to attack his former colleagues or a duo of office pranksters who pull an elaborate joke on a co-worker when they steal a Native American figure from his desk. The characters and situations are all sharply written and so broad and farcical but at the same time understandable. They become almost relatable in their elaborate schemes to beat the tedium and office politics and their anxieties when their time at work may be coming to an end. The reader will enjoy the ride even if they might sniffle a little at the end.

Funniest Quote: Narration: “Using a wide variety of media, we could demonstrate for our fellow Americans their anxieties, desires, insufficiencies, and frustrations-and how to assuage them all. We informed you in six seconds that you needed something you didn’t know you lacked. We made you want anything that anyone willing to pay us wanted you to want. We here hired guns of the human soul. We pulled the strings on the people across the land and by god they got to their feet and they danced for us.”

11. The Essential Groucho Writings by, for, and about Groucho Marx-The Marx Brothers are still some of the most well-known and beloved comedians of all time and part of their success lies in the character of Groucho. Known for his one-liners, his large mustache, his trademark cigar, and his eyebrows that seemed to have a life of their own, Groucho stood out as one of the most memorable of the brothers.
This book is a collection of many of Marx’s best works including the scripts from the movies, his columns, his period hosting the game show, You Bet Your Life, and reminisces and articles written by people who knew him best. It is a great, hilarious, and sometimes touching tribute to one of the funniest performers in the Golden Age of Hollywood

Funniest Quote(s):         
From the films: From Duck Soup
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Teasdale: “Oh your excellency. We’ve been expecting you. As chairwoman of the reception committee, I extend the wishes of every man, woman, and child of Freedonia.
Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly, President of Freedonia: Never mind that stuff. Take a card.
M.D.: Card? What will I do with the card?
G.M.: You can keep it. I’ve got fifty-one left.
M.D.: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I welcome you with open arms.
G.M. Is that so? How late do you stay open?
M.D. I’ve sponsored your appointment because I feel you are the most able statesman in all of Freedonia
G.M.: Well that covers a lot of ground. Say! You cover a lot of ground yourself. You’d better beat it! I hear they’re gonna tear you down and put up an office building right where you’re standing. You can leave in a taxi. If you can’t get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that’s too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know you haven’t stopped talking since I’ve been here. You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle.”

From his writing: Marx (After Warner Brothers sent the brothers a telegram protesting their use of the title A Night in Casablanca, he sent this letter to the film company’s legal department): “You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about ‘Warner Brothers?’ Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye and even before there had been other brothers-the Smith Brothers, the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit, and ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?’ (This was originally ‘Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?’ but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one, and whittled it down to ‘Brother Can You Spare a Dime?’)”

10. The Odd Couple/The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon-These two plays stand out as the best of Simon’s works, both portraying two bickering men forced to live and work together. Even the title, The Odd Couple, is instantly identifiable as well as the story of two polar opposites, a slob and a neat-freak living together. The situation has almost become a staple in modern day sitcoms and buddy films.
The Sunshine Boys is not as well-known but I like it better than The Odd Couple. The plot concerns vaudeville duo, Lewis and Clark, based on real-life duo Smith and Dale (with a lot of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’ acrimonious relationship thrown in). Lewis and Clark got along well on-stage but bickered off, but are forced out of retirement and back together for one show. This trope is also familiar to modern audiences as many shows and movies portray seniors who don’t get along but are forced to live or work together.
What stands out from the stock situations is Simon’s gift for writing the characters. Whether it’s Odd Couple’s Felix and Oscar or Sunshine Boy’s Lewis and Clark, Simon gives them great one-liners against each other making their encounters hilarious and causes them to stand out from their many imitators.

Funniest Moment(s):
From The Odd Couple:
Oscar: I can’t take it anymore, Felix, I’m cracking up. Everything you do irritates me. And when you’re not here, the things I know you’re gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. ‘We’re all out of cornflakes. F.U.’ Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Unger.

From The Sunshine Boys:
“Willy Clark: What’s wrong with saying ‘enter’ instead of ‘come in?’
Al Lewis: Because it’s different. Do you know why we did this sketch for 43 years, Willy because it’s good.
Willy Clark: And do you know why we’re not doing it anymore? Because we’ve been doing it for 43 years.
A.L.: If we’re not doing it anymore why are we changing it?
W.C.: You know what’s wrong with you, Lewis? You’ve been sitting on a New Jersey porch for too long. You’re out of touch. From my window here, I see everything that’s going on in the world. Look! I see old people, young people, nice people, bad people. I see hold-ups! I see drug addicts! Ambulances! Car crashes! Jumpers from buildings! I see everything! You see…a lawn mower…and the milkman.
A.L.: That’s why you want to say ‘enter’ instead of ‘come in?’ “

9. Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding-Bridget Jones’ is a humorously self-aware story about a woman who spends a year trying to lose weight, maintain a relationship with a responsible adult, and develop “inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend, as the best way to obtain boyfriend.” Her diary entries are great reading as she recounts her irritation with her smug married friends, her affair with her lecherous boss, Daniel Cleaver, her relationship with Mark Darcy, her parent’s friends’ son, and her mother’s late-life crisis and much younger boyfriend. Throughout the book, Bridget recounts her search for love and satisfaction with writing that is witty, dry and at times hopeful and optimistic. She is the character that many single men and women can completely understand and maybe are.

Funniest Quote: Bridget (on seeing Mark Darcy for the first time at her parents’ friends’ Turkey Curry Buffet): “It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It’s like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the gardens shouting ‘Cathy’ and banging your head against a tree.”

8. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams-While one would think a book about the destruction of earth would be too dark for a comedy, Adams made a Sci-Fi comedy classic.
It is filled with humorous situations such as when protagonists, Arthur Dent, the last surviving Earthling and Ford Prefect, an alien from Betelgeuse (not Guildford as he claimed) are trapped by a race of aliens who torture then by reciting bad poetry. Then there’s the simple fact that the Earth is destroyed so the aliens can make a new interplanetary highway.
The main characters make for a winning comedy team as Dent, Ford, Zaphod Beeblebrox, the idiotic President of the Galaxy, Trillian MacMillan, a beauty who speaks in probabilities, and Marvin, a mopey android, navigate the universe. Many lines are quite memorable such as “so long and thanks for the fish” and “the secret to life, the universe, and everything.” (Both of which ended up as book titles to the later installments to the series). It is to science-fiction, what Princess Bride is to fantasy: a great send-up of the genre and a legend in its own right.

Funniest Quote: Narration: “One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very, very obvious, as in ‘It’s a nice day,’ or ‘You’re very tall,’ or ‘Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty foot well, are you all right?’ At first Ford formed a theory to account for his strange behavior. If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months’ consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favor of the new one. If they don’t keep on exercising their lips, he thought their brains start working.”

7. A Liar’s Autobiography Vol. VI by Graham Chapman-No one would expect an autobiography from one of the members of Monty Python to be a dry dreary sob-fest and it isn’t. Chapman’s book movingly discusses such topics as his struggle with alcoholism, his homosexuality including his relationship with his life partner, David Sherlock and adopted son, John Tomiczek (The book ends before Chapman’s discovery of inoperable throat cancer and subsequent death in 1989). However in true Python fashion, Chapman never let the book get too dark or depressing. Throughout the book, Chapman’s writing is filled with funny asides and description that almost turn his life into a Python script in its own right.

Funniest Quote: Chapman (after he suffered from D.T.’s):
“My personal physician and hard-drinking companion, his Efficaciousness, A.R. Baily, the Practical, M.R.C.P., brought along a remarkably sane psychiatrist whose name for the purpose of this book, I shall give in the form of a Times crossword clue:

Across
1. Familiar French horseman on the tip of one’s tongue ruins musical pedigree (7,8)
Dr. One Across, having known me since medical school gave analytical flummery the elbow and said, ‘Graham, you’re an alcoholic.’
I said, ‘Yes.’
He said, ‘Do you want not to be?’
I said, ‘Yes.’”

6. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde-Any book lover would dream about visiting the world of Fforde’s Thursday Next series at least once. It is a world where literary characters such as Cheshire Cat or Miss Havisham come out daily to chat with real characters. Where Shakespeare machines stand on street corners and quote lines form the play for a small price. Where people take their literature so seriously that there are gangs that fight over whether Shakespeare did or did not write his plays (The Oxfordians and the Baconians are particularly vicious). Where people travel by airship instead of train or airplane and the Crimean War lasted for over 100 years.
Fforde writes of an intriguing alternate universe which plays out the humor in meta-situations that allow the real and the fictional world meld into each other. He also provides memorable characters to inhabit it, both his and other writers’, Thursday Next, the series’ main protagonist is a clever and memorable lead. She takes the world’s bizarreness with a detachment and wryness that accepts the goings-on.

Funniest Quotes: Many of them come from the epitaphs at the beginning of each chapter, which provide the reader with some much needed exposition, all without dropping it unnecessarily into the action. A couple of them:

Acheron Hades (resident antagonist and all around nasty guy): “The best reason for commuting loathsome and detestable acts and let’s face it, I am considered something of an expert in this field-is purely for their own sake. Monetary gain is all very well, but it dilutes the wickedness to a lower level that is obtainable by anyone with an overdeveloped sense of avarice. True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good-and we all know how rare that is.”

Thursday (describing her odd family particularly her time-traveling father): “I was born on a Thursday, hence the name.  My brother was born on a Monday and they called him Anton-go figure. My mother was called Wednesday but was born on a Sunday-I don’t know why-and my father had no name at all-his identity and existence had been scrubbed by the ChronoGuard after he went rogue. To all intents and purposes he didn’t exist at all. It didn’t matter. He was always Dad to me.”

5. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman-Like Hitchhiker, Good Omens takes the end of the world in a new and funny direction. This is more of a send-up of religion and Biblical prophecies as the Antichrist is born but given to the wrong parents and Crowley, a car-phone owning demon and Aziraphale, a bookstore owning angel, like Earth so much that they want to stop the inevitable Apocalypse.
Many of the Apocalyptic prophecies and writings are cleverly parodied such as the Bugger Alle Thise Bible (which has a few extra verses transcribed a clearly irritated copyist) and the Four Horseman, uh, Bikers of the Apocalypse (along with new members, Really Cool People and Things That Do Not Work Properly After You Give Them a Good Thumping). The stand-out characters are Crowley and Aziraphale. The angel and demon make a memorable duo with Crowley’s cynical barbs match up with Aziraphale’s idealistic naïve quips. Their scenes together make them more like a comedy team and less like sworn enemies on the battle between God and Satan.

Funniest Quotes:
Crowley There’s this big mountain, see a mile high, at the end of the universe and once every thousand years there’s this bird-
Aziraphale: The same bird every thousand years?
Crowley: The same bird
Aziraphale: Bloody ancient bird
C: Okay and every thousand years this bird flies-
A: -limps
C: -Flies all the way back to the mountain to sharpen its beak
A: Hold on you can’t do that. Between here and there there’s loads of-buggerall dear boy,
C: But it ges there anyway
A: How
C: It doesn’t matter.
A: It could use a spaceship.
C: Yeah if you like. So this bird-
A: Only it is the end of the universe we’re talking about, it would be one of those spaceships where the descendants who get out at the other end. You have to tell your descendants ‘When you get to the Mountain, you have to-‘You have to-What do they have to do?:
C:-Sharpen its beak to fly on the mountain and then it flies back-
A:-in the spaceship?”
C:And after a thousand years it goes and does it again
A: Seems like a lot of effort just to sharpen a beak.
C: Listen when the point is when the bird has worn down to nothing right then…then you still won’t have  finished watching the Sound of Music!!”

4.  The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde-Wilde’s comedy of manners is a terrific witty play filled with mistaken identity and silly situations. Jack Worthing, a young English-man-about town creates a separate identity, Ernest to propose to Gwendolyn Fairfax. Things get more complicated when Jack’s friend, Algernon Moncrief also adopts the Ernest persona to propose to Jack’s niece, Cecily Cardew. The situations and dialogue make this play one of the funniest of all time.

Funniest Quotes:
Algernon: What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyist I know.
Jack: What on earth do you mean?
Algernon: You have invented a very useful young brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with, you at Willis’ tonight, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.
J: I haven’t asked you to dine with me anywhere tonight.
A: I know. You are absurdly careless about sending out invitations. It is very foolish of you. Nothing annoys people so much as not receiving invitations.
 
3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare-Shakespeare was known just as much for his comedies as his tragedies and A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the best of them. Through fairies, four silly lovers, and an even sillier group of actors, Shakespeare sent up love stories in which couples are separated by parental circumstances.
The playwright used the lovers’ fickle nature as the boys are easily swayed to fall in love with different girls, as well as the actors’ production of Pyramus and Thisbe to parody such stories including his own Romeo and Juliet. The highlight is Puck, King Oberon’s jester who controls the events and mocks them by providing commentary to the audience.

Funniest Quotes:
 Puck has some very well-known monologues. His two best ones are

Puck (describes mortals most accurately):
 Captain of our fairy band
 Helena is here at hand
 And the youth mistook by me
 Pleading for a lover’s fee
 Shall we their fond pageants see?
 Lord what fools these mortals be!

Puck (one of the best apologies for a thin plot)
If we shadows have offended
Think but this and all is mended
That you have but slumbre’d here
While these visions did appear
And this weak and idle theme
No more yielding but a dream
Gentles, do not reprimand
If you pardon we will mend
And, as I’m an honest Puck
If we have unearned luck
Now to scrape the serpent’s tongue
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all
Give me your hands, if we be friends.
And Robin shall restore amends."


2. The Portable Dorothy Parker-Parker was considered the Queen of the Vicious Circle AKA The Algonquin Round Table, a group of actors, writers, columnists, and wits that tried to outdo each other with barbs and pranks. Parker was undoubtedly one of the funniest women of all time.

Her poems and short stories including, “Big Blonde” are dark, but filled with lines that mock romance and reason with a clever wit that finds humor in dark situations. Many of her characters are surrounded by conflicts like broken hearts, attempted suicide, racism, class distinction, and infidelity. However, there is a cynical humor  and situational irony in  Parker's stories such as "Too Bad" or "The Bolt Behind the Blue" in which other characters observe the protagonist in  a seemingly perfect enviable moment after the protagonist just bore their souls in an uncomfortable way in private. Parker's characters laugh so they don't cry.
Parker was also known for her reviews and literary criticisms. She often had a clever line to describe a book or a performance that she didn’t like such as writing "Theodore Dreiser ought to write nicer",or  her description of A.A. Milne’s House at Pooh Corner: “Tonstant Weader Fwowed Up.” Parker said out loud, what many reviewers probably wanted to say but often said it more memorable and made it more original.

Favorite Quotes From her poems:
“My own dear love, he is strong and true
And he cares not what comes after.
His words ring sweet as a chime of gold.
And his eyes are lit with laughter
He is jubilant  as a flag unfurled-
Oh a girl, she’d not forget him
My  own dear love, he is all my world-
And I wish I’d never met him

My, he’s mad and my love, he’s fleet
And a wild young wood-thing bore him
The ways are fair to his roaming feet,
And the skies are sunlit for him.
As sharply sweet to my hear he seems
As the fragrance of acacia
My own dear love, he is all my dreams-
And I wish he were in Asia

My love runs like a day in June,
And he makes no friends of sorrows.
He’ll tread his galloping rigadoon
In the pathway of the morrows,
He’ll live his days where the sunbeams start,
Nor could storm or wind uproot him.
My own dear love he is all my heart-
And I wish somebody’d shoot him.”

From her reviews (on The Glass Key by Dashielll Hammett.) "It is true that had the literary lads got past those names and cracked the pages, they would have found the plots to be so many  nuisances; confusion into madness as in The Red Harvest; fanciful to nausea as in The Maltese Falcon; or as in the case of the newly published The Glass Key, so tired that even this reviewer, who infancy was let drop by a nurse with the result that she has ever since then been fascinated by amateur coin tricks, was able to guess the identity of the murderer by the middle of the book."
 
1.The World of Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse-I always say that Wodehouse’s anthology is
the cure for what ails you. Every page is filled with hilarious situations usually involving upper-class twit, Bertie Wooster and his love-lorn friends all soliciting the help of Bertie’s valet, Jeeves. The plots are clever filled with madcap situations such as when Bertie finds himself unwittingly engaged to a horrible domineering woman. (The only way out is to convince her psychiatrist father that Bertie is mad).
Wodehouse’s writing and Bertie’s narration stands out. Bertie constantly waffles in his description, misquotes or forgets literary quotes, and makes a fool of himself when he tries to command Jeeves but often acquiesces in the end (usually involving Bertie’s fashion faux pas or Jeeves’ desire to travel). Many of the passages are laugh-out-loud hilarious even after multiple readings and are perfect for a beautiful spring day or a not-so-beautiful stressful winter day or any day that isn’t so beautiful or not-so-beautiful.

Favorite Quotes: From the original story, “Jeeves Takes Charge,” Bertie (after Jeeves tells him that he doesn’t approve of a checked suit that Bertie has selected): “Again there was that kind of rummy something in his manner. It was the way he said it, don’t you know. He didn’t like the suit. I pulled myself together to assert myself. Something seemed to tell me that, unless I was jolly careful and nipped this lad in the bud, he would be starting to boss me. He had the aspect of a distinctly resolute blighter.
Well, I wasn’t going to have any of that sort of thing, by Jove! I’d seen many cases of fellows who had become perfect slaves to their valets. I remember poor old Aubrey Fothergill telling me with absolute tears in his eyes-poor chap!-one night at the club, that he had been compelled to give up a pair of brown shoes simply because Meekyn, his man, disapproved of them. You have to keep these fellows in their place, don’t you know. You have to work the good old iron-hand-in-the-velvet glove wheeze. If you give them a what’s-its-name., they take a thingummy.”

Bertie (later after Jeeves has helped him out of an obstacle): “Oh Jeeves, about that checked suit.
Jeeves: Yes sir?
Bertie: Is it really frost?
J: A trifle too bizarre in my opinion.
B: But lots of fellow asked me who my tailor is.
J: Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.
B: He’s supposed to be one of the best men in London!
J: I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.
B: All right Jeeves, you know. Give the bally thing away to somebody.
J: Thank you, sir. I gave it to the under-gardener last night. A little more tea, sir?”



Monday, March 20, 2017

Our Sides of the Stories: Favorite Books Told From Another Point of View


Our Sides of The Stories: Favorite Books Told From Alternate Points of View


By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm

Have you ever read a book and thought to yourself, “This can’t be it; this can’t be the whole story?” Did you ever root for the antagonist more than the so-called hero? Did you ever wonder what was going through the heads of the secondary characters when this entire daring do was taking place? Well this countdown is made for you.

Call them “Postmodern Literature.” Call them “Parallel Stories.” Call them “Perspective Flip.” Call them “Really Well-Written Fan Fiction.” I just prefer to call them alternate points of view. The criteria is that the story has to be told from another character rather than the original protagonist, whether it is the antagonist or another character. There is one exception in this countdown but the protagonist is portrayed so differently that it counts. In one case, the story is told from a character that did not meet the other character in canon, but is unquestionably an inspiration. These include plays, short stories, and novels. The list is arranged in descending order to my favorite alternate point of view.


15. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard- Original tale: Hamlet by William Shakespeare- In Shakespeare’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s two money-hungry sometimes comic relief friends hired to spy on the Danish prince for his uncle/stepfather. In Stoppard’s witty and dark play, the duo took center stage as they get involved in Elsinore’s politics almost against their own will.

Stoppard’s play is full of wit and clever byplay as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern turn many of their verbal sparring into an almost tennis match. They play clever games such as when they flip a coin and count which side up, or where they engage in conversation by asking only questions. Their intelligence shows in these dialogues.

Stoppard’s Absurdist take of Hamlet turned around the idea of plays and fiction in general. The duo question their involvement in the conspiracies that surround Hamlet, wonder if they ever really knew him at all, and wonder if they are characters in someone else’s design.


14. Grendel by John Gardner-Original tale: Beowulf- This is probably one of the works that popularized the concept of alternate points of view. Instead of the Anglo-Saxon hero, Gardner’s main character is the monstrous creature that haunts Hrothgar’s castle. Instead of being a giant ogre-like beast, Grendel is furious at these humans who built their kingdom over his lands and his attacks seem almost reasonable. He thinks Beowulf is a monster. (Indeed Grendel doesn’t call him by name. He refers to him as a “brute” and a “beast”)

In Gardner’s clever almost subversive retelling, Grendel becomes almost a symbol of nature or early civilization fighting their conquerors. He is also an existentialist character deeply wondering about his own existence in a world of monsters, human and otherwise.


13.  Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner-Original tale: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens-Like Shakespeare’s Shylock, many consider Charles Dickens’ Fagin to be a victim of Anti-Semitism. Eisner’s graphic novel took this idea and gave it a story of his own. Fagin becomes a truly tragic character as he recounts his life story to Charles Dickens himself before he is led to the gallows.

His background is moving as Fagin recounts his childhood in the Ashkenazic Jewish community of London and his separation from his family because of a pogrom. He survives the only way he can in Victorian London by becoming a pickpocket and then training younger pickpockets as he ages.


12. “The Case of the Impecunious Chevalier” by Richard Lopoff-Original works “A Study in Scarlet” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle/”Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe-In Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet,” Watson compares his friend’s detection to Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin. Far from flattered, Holmes’ is offended. He calls Dupin a “very inferior fellow,” and ridicules Dupin’s ratiocination example of guessing his friend’s thought process as the work of a show off. In Lopoff’s interesting meeting of minds, Dupin reads Holmes’ insults and is rather offended especially since he trained Holmes in one of his earliest cases. Lopoff not only cleverly repaid the debt that Holmes and Doyle owe Dupin and Poe, but the story becomes a challenge between the two mental giants.

This short story is actually from an anthology book, My Sherlock Holmes, which tells of Holmes and Watson through other eyes such as Moriarty, Mrs. Hudson, Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars, various clients, Irene “The Woman” Adler, and the two Mrs. Watsons.


11. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley- Original tale: King Lear by William Shakespeare-Smiley does many of the other authors on this list one better. Instead of simply revising the story of King Lear through the eyes of his eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, she transplanted the story to modern day. Instead of two greedy princesses fighting their senile father for control of his kingdom, the novel instead is the story of two women fighting for control of the family farm from their abusive alcoholic father.

The two protagonists, Ginny and Rose, the modern equivalent of Goneril and Regan, become strong-willed sympathetic characters trying to survive in a man’s world of farming and remembering the incest from their father when they were younger. The plot moves from their rejection of their father and their betrayal from a man who seduces both sisters to its inevitable conclusion with the two sisters’ lives ruined forever.


10. Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman- Original tale: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier-If any character on this list needed their story told more, it is certainly Rebecca De Winter, Maxim De Winter’s first wife from Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca. We learned about her from De Winter, Mrs. Danvers, and Rebecca’s cousin, Jack Favell. Heck even the second Mrs. DeWinter got a say and she never knew Rebecca in life. Beauman cleared up that oversight by providing the reader with Rebecca’s journal.

Through her own eyes, Rebecca is hardly the paragon of beauty and social grace that Mrs. Danvers, Favell, or Mrs. De Winter see or the scheming harpy in Maxim’s version. Instead she is a troubled strong-willed woman with attitudes and affections that counter her upbringing of the times. Rebecca adds to Du Maurier’s tale and Rebecca’s actions towards her marriage to Maxim and her decisions leading to their final encounter become less arbitrary and more understandable through Beauman’s writing.


9. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire-Original tale: Cinderella-The first of two Gregory Maguire novels on this list. Maguire certainly has a history of telling stories from other points of view and this one is no exception. This recounts the story of Cinderella largely from her two stepsisters, the possibly mentally disabled Ruth and the aspiring artist Iris.

The stepsisters are fascinating as they try to survive accusations of witchcraft that cause them to flee England, their eccentric domineering mother, and their beautiful agoraphobic stepsister, Clara. Iris is effective as she tries to please her mother and make her mark as an artist studying under the Dutch Masters. Ruth’s story is particularly heartbreaking as she survives to hear their story become a legend which bears little resemblance to the facts.


8. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire-Original tale: The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum-Maguire’s second book on this list is probably the most famous work on here mostly because of the well-known musical. In the equally fascinating book, Maguire tells of the Witch of the West’s (called Elphaba) ostracism from Munchkinland because of her green skin, school days at Shiz University where she meets Glinda, studies of magic, and her activism for the rights of sentient Animals.

Elphaba becomes a unique character branded wicked because of her inability to follow the status quo and rejections of the manipulations of the Wizard and Madame Morrible, her devious former schoolmistress. Her journey from naïve schoolgirl to OZ’s Public Enemy #1 is a fascinating one.

Warning: While I like this story, I did not like the sequel Son of a Witch near as much and never read the other books in the series, A Lion Among Men or Out of OZ, so I don’t have a high or much of an opinion about the rest of the OZ Quartet series.


7. The Merlin Trilogy/The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart-Original tale: The Legends of King Arthur/La Morte D’Artur by Sir Thomas Malory- If a bookstore stocked up on only the various books, movies, plays and what not about the legends of King Arthur, there would not be room for anything else. Indeed this list has two in the major countdown and two more in honorable mention. Stewart’s Arthurian books tells the legends from two characters: Merlin in the beginning and Mordred in the final book.

In the Merlin Trilogy, Merlin recounts his childhood under Aurelius Ambrosious, his training in divination, his relationship with Arthur, and his love affair with Nimue, his young protégée. The final book The Last Enchantment is particularly moving as Merlin recounts the final days of Camelot, his faltering relationships with Arthur and Nimue, and his feelings that there is no longer a place for him in a world that moves ever so closer to progress.

Mordred’s book, The Wicked Day, tells of his life with his four half-brothers and his encounters with his father/uncle, Arthur, leading up to their inevitable confrontation. Mordred tells his story not with the world-weary detachment of Merlin, but instead with bitter cynicism and sarcastic one-liners such as when he ridicules his brothers, Gawain, Gareth, and Gaheris as pretentious social climbers using their relationship to “their Uncle the High King” to their advantage. He is also rebellious towards his upbringing by his mother and stepfather as a tool of vengeance against Arthur. His tender side is shown as he grows to respect and care for the King and is reluctant to bring about his downfall.


6. “The End of Little Nell “by Robert Barnard Original tale: The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens-This is the exception to the rule in this list of telling the story from the original protagonist’s point of view. Many may know of the tragic ingénue of Dickens’ book The Old Curiosity Shop whose death caused many a reader to cry or they may sympathize with Oscar Wilde that “One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing.” Barnard’s version of the Dickens heroine would agree with Wilde’s assessment.

Instead of a Victorian too-good-to-be-true victim, Barnard’s clever story gives us a young manipulative gambling prostitute who is well on her way to achieving her ambitions of being “England’s Queen of Crime.” Nell derisively talks of the other characters in The Old Curiosity Shop such as Daniel Quip, the antagonist and ex-lover, the do-gooder hero, Kit Nubbins (“a dim spark if ever there was one.”) and others. She mocks their gullibility in how they swallow her goody-two-shoes persona. She calls Dicken’s portrayal of her “garbage by a hack writer”. However she accepts that persona as the perfect disguise so she could continue her illegal activities by faking her death to become a part of London's Underworld.
Like “The Case of the Impecunious Chevalier,” this story comes from an anthology. It comes from Dickensian Whodunits, a book of short stories in which Dickens’ characters and Dickens himself get involved with various mysteries and crimes.


5. “Toil and Trouble” by Edward D. Hoch- Original tale: Macbeth by William Shakespeare-In Shakespeare’s play, The Weird Sisters are merely a plot device to reveal the prophecies that send Macbeth on his way and portray Jacobean fears of witches. Hoch’s brief but suspenseful story gives the three sisters a backstory, individual characteristics, and a more personal involvement in Macbeth’s life. Told primarily from the point of view of Selene, the middle sister, the story recounts how the sisters studied witchcraft from their teacher, Hecate. It also tells of their relationship with each other as Persephone is the leader guiding her younger sisters, Selene is the smart one able to see things that the others do not, and Artemis is the shyest and youngest but also filled with her own importance.

The atmosphere is equally as dark and chilling as Shakespeare’s play as the sisters become involved in the bloodshed and murders around them. The story also comes to a strange, but fitting conclusion as the trio realize that they have been manipulated and refuse to take part in these events any longer.

This too comes from an anthology, Shakespearean Whodunnits. Like the Dickens book, this book involves various Shakespeare’s characters participating in solving murder mysteries often concerning events in their own plays.


4. Marley’s Ghost by Mark Hazard Osmun-Original tale: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens-Ebenezer Scrooge’s late partner, Jacob Marley takes center stage in this moving surrealistic variation of Dickens famous Christmas story. Marley recounts his childhood, his life of business, his death, and his after-life.

The early years of his childhood are moving as Osmun reveals Marley’s closeness with his twin brother, the possibly autistic, Ezra. It also shows many of the hardships faced in Regency and Victorian England as the readers are treated to scenes of coal mines, poverty, debtor’s prisons, and other institutions.

The afterlife sections are surrealistic as Marley tows his chains in a strange world where he encounters three pagan spirits which will be familiar to readers of Dickens’ original tale. The after world shows the guilt and longing for redemption inside Marley’s soul and his anguish over his separation from his long-lost brother and the miserly solitary fate of Ebenezer Scrooge, his partner and friend.


3. Medea by Euripides –Original tale: Jason and The Golden Fleece/Jason and the Argonauts- The oldest story on this list. Some have called Medea the original feminist play and I would have to agree. Medea has been characterized as a femme fatale, dark sorceress, or a sociopathic villain in various works. Euripides took a more empathetic approach to Jason’s love interest/companion.

In the days after their journey, Medea recounts how she helped Jason acquire the Golden Fleece by using clever tricks and ruses to aid his search, murdered a king, and cut herself off from her father to join the Argonauts and Jason.  After the adventure, Medea is understandably hurt when he rejects her for another woman. She wonders what was in that entire struggle for her.

Medea’s decision to kill her and Jason’s children becomes more understanding when Medea reveals that is based partly on a jealous rage to make Jason hurt, but also to protect the children from a life of exile. Medea definitely is seen as a multi-faceted fascinating character as she challenges the fate that she has been dealt with in a faithless and ungrateful lover and questions who is the real author of her and Jason’s tragedy.



2. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys-Original tale: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte-Bertha Rochester is seen in Bronte’s original book as the mad wife in the attic, Jane’s dark alter ego and an obstacle towards her happiness. Rhys gives her a complete makeover into a passionate woman challenging her marriage and suffering from her husband’s coldness to the point of madness.

Bertha, called Antoinette Cosway in this book, is a Jamaican white woman descendant of former slave masters. She suffers from the hatred of the black locals, her mother’s mental illness and preference for her mentally disabled son, Pierre, and the indifference of her emotionally abusive stepfather, Mason. She fights her circumstances by arguing, studying obeah magic under her family servant, Christophine and flirting with other men.

Antoinette’s story becomes a feminist story as she challenges the circumstances around her, particularly her arranged marriage to Rochester.

Besides being a feminist novel, Wide Sargasso Sea is also seen as an attack on colonialism. Antoinette’s fascination with Jamaica’s natural beauty and closeness to the culture contrasts with Rochester’s discomfort with the wilderness around him and desire for ownership of the people. Antoinette is truly an outsider in every sense of the word. Because she is ridiculed as “a white cockroach,” she is unwelcomed by many people in Jamaica and is considered a wild Jamaican by the English; she is unable to fit in. Much of Rochester’s mistrust of her comes from his willingness to believe accounts from others about her character. This results in his rejection of Antoinette and her subsequent madness.


1. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley-Original tale: The Legends of King Arthur/La Morte D’Artur by Sir Thomas Malory-The best alternate point of view

tells of the Arthurian legends through the eyes of its female characters primarily Morgan Le Fey and Guinevere.

The two become a study in contrasts in their narratives. Morgan Le Fey, called Morgaine,

is trained on Avalon’s community of magical women. Her aunt, Vivienne AKA The Lady of the Lake rears her to study magic, practice divination, and honor the Goddess. Guinevere is trained in a rigorous convent where she practices Christianity but fears the outside world full of sin and what she deems as black magic. Morgaine is raised to be a powerful leader and advisor to royalty. Guinevere’s only goal is to be the wife of a king and possibly the subject of someone’s courtly love poems.

The religious and feminist aspects of the two characters come to a head in their involvements with Arthur. Morgaine and Arthur become involved in a pagan ritual which alternately fascinates but then disgusts Arthur when Morgaine bears their son, Gwydion (later called Mordred). Guinevere tries to get her husband to embrace Christianity and to honor no gods but the Hebrew-Christian one. Guinevere and Morgaine also have to deal with their romantic feelings for Lancelot in the former and Accolon in the latter.

The struggles between the two are fascinating to read as the known events of the Arthurian legends become turned around. The book’s best character is Morgaine who fights the male dominance of Camelot to protect her pagan beliefs and the connections to the Goddess.


Other works worth mentioning are Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Finn by John Clinch, March by Geraldine Brooks, Jack Maggs by Peter Carey, The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall,  Rhett Butler’s People by Donald MacCraig, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Gentleman Trilogy by Pamela Aiden, Captain Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth by J.V. Hart, I, Iago by Nicole Galland, I Am Mordred and I Am Morgan Le Fay by Nancy Springer, The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, Ahab’s Wife or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund, and Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard.


So that’s my list. What are some of your favorite stories told from other points of view? Which long neglected or misunderstood character do you believe deserves to finally have their say? Let me know in the comments below or through Facebook.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Favorite Feminist Literature Part III: Mid to-End of the 20th Century


Favorite Feminist Literature Part III: Mid-to- End of the 20th Century

 

By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm


In honor of March, Women’s History Month, I am writing a three-part review series of my favorite works considered feminist literature from the 19th to the end of the 20th century. While most of the authors are women, not all are. The works just have to be told primarily from a woman’s point of view or feature a female protagonist.

The female protagonists are strong characters who challenge society’s expectations of them. While some are successful, others are not so successful. But they certainly let the other characters and the reader know exactly who they are and how they feel. I use the term “literature” because while the selections are mostly novels, I have also included one book of poems and an anthology of short stories.

I am aware that some books are left out. Many such as The Well of Loneliness, Mrs. Dalloway, and Atonement were left out for a very simple reason: I haven’t read them. (Though I want to). Of course, I am open to any great suggestions of feminist literature or any other sort of literature that discusses important topics, so please write your comments below.

All descriptions will include spoilers to the works.


5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

The plot- Celie and Nettie are two impoverished African-American sisters that get separated: Nettie joins a missionary couple to Africa and Celie, after having been impregnated by her father is practically sold into marriage to Mr., a cruel abusive man. While living with Mr., Celie becomes romantically involved Shug Avery, a blues singer and Mr.’s mistress.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature-The Color Purple explores the solidarity and union between the female characters and how they rely on each other for strength and support. The one bright spot in Celie’s childhood is in her relationship with Nettie and even as she grows older, she continues to write letters to Nettie.  (Letters that change from “Dear God” to “Dear Nettie.”) Shug and Celie seem like a very unlikely couple. (In fact when she first sees her, Shug tells Celie, “You as ugly as sin.”) but they bring out the best in each other as Celie reveals Shug’s kindness and Shug helps Celie find her independence by helping her open a store and become a pants designer.


Favorite Quote: Celie (to Mr., as she and Shug, leave him): I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I’m here.


4. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1986)

The plot: In a futuristic dystopian society, women are placed in only a few categories: as wives of commanders, as servants, or as handmaids whose job is to give birth to children to be raised by commanders and their wives. The society is seen through the eyes of Offred, a handmaid, who writes not only about this society, but her memories of the days before.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: It portrays what would happen if women’s roles were completely stifled in the name of religion and conservatism. Through Offred’s cynical and sarcastic observation, she describes the regulations that demean her and the other women. (All of the signs have pictures because women are forbidden to read along with other rules and regulations that are meant to remind women that they are second class citizens in this society.)

She fights in minor ways by whispering her name late at night, receiving little tokens like hand lotion and fashion magazines from her commander, engaging in an affair of sorts with the commander, and learns about the Resistance from her fellow handmaids. She also reveals her connections to her former life by remembering her mother, her friend Moira, her husband Luke, and her daughter as well as memories like having a job and her own money and living independently. The reader feels her despair at the world that ended and her rage to fight the new order in her own way.


Favorite Quote: Offred (on Serena Joy, a former religious leader and her Commander’s wife): “Her speeches were about the sanctity of the home, about how women should stay home. Serena Joy didn’t do this herself, she made speeches instead, but she presented this failure of hers as a sacrifice she was making for the good of all…..She doesn’t make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word.”


3. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (1995)

The Plot: Two sisters, Gillian and Sally, belong to the eccentric Owens clan, a family whose women are rumored to be witches. The sisters conspire to get away from the odd happenings and vicious rumors. Gillian runs away and gets involved in various short-lived marriages while Sally settles for a suburban life with a husband and two daughters. The Owens sisters are forced to confront their magical past and their feelings for each other after Gillian returns with her deceased husband.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: Practical Magic is filled with the strength and power of its female characters. Gillian and Sally’s aunts often use herbs and charms to aid women in town with their problems in love and health. Sally’s daughter, Kylie, sees auras and gains empathic abilities into others’ emotions. Despite their rejection of their past, Gillian and Sally also have precognitive abilities and deep connections with nature. The strongest magic that the Owens women have is their union with each other and how the various generations challenge their destinies of having short-lived or bad romantic relationships. Also, the Owens women are able to band together to fight against the vengeful spirit of Gillian’s abusive ex-husband and their own fears and insecurities to embrace their inner power.


Favorite Quote: Narration: “For more than two hundred years, the Owen women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in town. If a damp spring arrived, if cows in the pasture gave milk that was runny with blood, if a colt died of colic, if a baby was born with a red birthmark stamped onto his cheek, everyone believed that fate must have been twisted, at least a little, by those women over on Magnolia Street. It didn’t matter what the problem was-lightning, or locusts, or a death by drowning. It didn’t matter if the situation could be explained by logic, or science or plain bad luck. As soon as there was a hint of trouble or the slightest misfortune, people began pointing their fingers and placing blame. Before long they’d convinced themselves that it wasn’t safe to walk past the Owens house after dark, and only the most foolish neighbors would dare to peer over the black wrought iron fence that circled the yard like a snake.”


2. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

The plot: Sethe, a former slave escaped to freedom but still has many dark secrets. She and her daughter, Denver, are haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s deceased daughter. After the ghost is exorcised by Paul D, a friend of Sethe’s from slavery days who longs to be more, a young woman appears. The young woman, called Beloved, begins to share information and knowledge that only Sethe and her daughters would know. So it doesn’t take long for Sethe and Denver to suspect the mysterious young woman may be Sethe’s daughter returned from the grave. Sethe not only has to deal with the return of her daughter but also her guilt for murdering her daughter, so she couldn’t be returned to slavery.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature:  Like The Color Purple and Practical Magic, Beloved also explores the ties between women in families and in society. Sethe, Denver, and Beloved play off each other with their affection as well as the guilt and buried anger within. Sethe feels guilt about the death of her daughter and filters that in her relationship with Denver and Beloved. Denver finds a connection with the sister that she never know and Beloved finds some answers to her own identity.

The female connections aren’t just limited to the members of Sethe’s family but are found in the society at large. The community of escaped slaves is headed by Baby Suggs, Sethe’s former mother-in-law, who holds the community together through her love of God and family. During her escape, Sethe gets assistance from Amy Denver, a street-smart white woman who helps Sethe escape and give birth to her daughter whom she names her for. These connections reveal the strong circle of communication and love between the female characters.


Favorite quotes: Denver: “Slaves are not supposed to have pleasurable feelings on their own; their bodies are not supposed to be like that, but they have to have as many children as they can to please whoever owned them. Still they were not supposed to have pleasure deep down. (Baby Suggs) said for me not to listen to all that. That I should always listen to my body and love it.”


1. The Bell Jar and Poems by Sylvia Plath (1963 Britain; 1971-United States)

The plot: Plath’s semiautobiographical novel focuses on Esther Greenwood, a brilliant scholarship student working at the prestigious Ladies’ Day magazine. Esther becomes overwhelmed by her work at the magazine, writing her thesis on twins in Finnegan’s Wake, her failed romances, and her failing relationship with her dim mother. Esther’s sanity ebbs, so she suffers a nervous breakdown and attempts suicide.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: Esther is the worst-case scenario of a woman who is so overwhelmed by her unhappiness that she cannot find her way out except to surrender. Many women who are mentally ill or engage in addictions or self-destructive behavior can completely relate to the struggles that both Esther and her author, Sylvia Plath felt.

Esther is not fulfilled, but she sees little hope in her future. Her self-consciousness against other women hamper her pursuit for a career. She also finds little romance and companionship in her relationships with men ending any possibilities of marriage. She wants so much in her life, but feels unable to pursue any of her goals and desires. She even wonders, “I wonder what terrible thing it is that I had done.” This inability to find satisfaction in her life leads to her psychological downfall.

Plath herself also suffered from mental illness until her suicide in 1963. Many of her poems recounted such emotional struggles as her unhappy marriage to poet, Ted Hughes, her difficulties with her parents particularly her father, and her struggles with her psychological state. Her writing made readers share her pain and suffering and explore what the mind of a brilliant, but troubled woman was like.


Favorite quote: Esther: “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story.

From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Eee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantine and Socrates and Atilla and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these fights were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out.

I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”


Honorable Mention: Fear of Flying by Erica Jong, The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike, Possession by A.S. Byatt, The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor, and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding, Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, and The Women's Room by Marilyn French

Non-Fiction: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and Nineteenth Century Imagination by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, and The Warrior Woman: Memoirs of A Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston

Plays: The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Short Stories and Poems: Works by Maya Angelou, Shirley Jackson, Flannery O’Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, Gwendolyn Brooks, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Sandra Cisneros, Lorrie Moore, and Alice Munro


Favorite Feminist Literature Part II: Early 20th Century-WWII


Favorite Feminist Literature Part II: Early 20th Century-WWII

 

By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm



In honor of March, Women’s History Month, I am writing a three-part review series of my favorite works considered Feminist literature from the 19th to the end of the 20th century. While most of the authors are women, not all are. The works just have to be told primarily from a woman’s point of view or feature a female protagonist.

The female protagonists are strong characters who challenge society’s expectations of them. While some are successful, others are not so successful. But they certainly let the other characters and the reader know exactly who they are and how they feel. I use the term “literature” because while the selections are mostly novels, I have also included one book of poems and an anthology of short stories.

I am aware that some books are left out. Many such as The Well of Loneliness, Mrs. Dalloway, and Atonement were left out for a very simple reason: I haven’t read them. (Though I want to). Of course, I am open to any great suggestions of feminist literature or any other sort of literature that discusses important topics, so please write your comments below.

All descriptions will include spoilers to the works.


5. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (1938)

The plot: A young unnamed protagonist marries Maxim De Winter, a wealthy Cornish man and moves to his estate, Manderley. While setting up house, Mrs. De Winter hears about Rebecca, Maxim’s late first wife who was apparently a paragon of beauty, social grace and skills. Rumors start to swirl about Maxim and Rebecca’s relationship and Mrs. De Winter begins to fear and envy the deceased woman. When she learns about Maxim and Rebecca’s marriage and the truth about her death, Mrs. De Winter finally comes into her own.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: Through the two female characters, Du Maurier gives a stronger look at the “Madonna/Whore” stereotypes in which female characters are either good or bad, but not both. Instead Du Maurier turns that around by creating two characters that are revealed to be more than their outward appearances suggest.

Rebecca and Mrs. De Winter are practically two halves of the same woman. On the surface, Rebecca seems like the perfect lady, beautiful, brilliant, and well bred. Mrs. De Winter appears to be a mousy ingénue who is overwhelmed by her predecessor. However, when Maxim reveals the truth of his marriage to Rebecca and her death, and then Maxim and Mrs. De Winter learn of the possible motive for Rebecca’s death, their personalities begin to change. Instead Rebecca is seen as a spirited, intelligent, troubled woman making her life and death meaningful in the only way that she can. Mrs. De Winter also takes control of her role as lady of Manderley and Maxim’s wife by revealing her love for her husband and her own control over the servants and the estate.


Favorite Quote(s): Mrs. Danvers, Manderley’s sinister housekeeper: (Rebecca) had all the knowledge then of a grown person, she’d enter into conversation with men and women as clever and full of tricks as someone of eighteen….Spirit, you couldn’t beat my lady for spirit….No one got the better of her, never, never. She did what she liked, she lived as she liked. She had the strength of a lion too…..That’s how she went at life, when she grew up. I saw her. I was with her. She cared for nothing and for no one. And then she was beaten in the end. But it wasn’t a man, it wasn’t a woman. The sea got her. The sea was too strong for her. The sea got her in the end.”

Mrs. De Winter (after Mrs. Danvers disagrees with her decision to send messages through Robert, a junior servant): “I’m afraid it does not concern me very much what Mrs. De Winter used to do. I am Mrs. De Winter now, you know. And if I choose to send a message by Robert I shall do so.”


4. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton ((1902)

The plot: Lily Bart longs to enter New York high society. She falls in love with lawyer, Lawrence Selden but does not want to pursue a relationship with him further because of his lack of wealth. Instead she engages in bridge playing for money, gets involved with crooked financier, Gus Trenor, and is accused of engaging in an affair with the married, George Dorset, husband of Lily’s nemesis, Bertha. All of these along with other scandals lead to Lily’s ostracism from society and decline.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: Wharton knew how to write about 19th century high society in New York, since she was herself a member. She had a cold indifferent relationship with her family particularly her mother and had an unhappy marriage with Teddy Wharton, a socialite who was abusive, violent, and bipolar. Wharton engaged in an affair with an American journalist which though passionate ended badly. All of this pain is revealed in her writing, particularly how she described the New York setting that Lily longs to be a member with cynicism and an experienced eye.

The world is filled with men and women who scheme, bicker, have secret affairs, and then judge others for doing the same, particularly Lily. Lily however questions these standards longing to find enjoyment and mirth along with her desire for money and a comfortable life.


Favorite quote: Narration (after Lily lies about seeing her dressmaker when she was alone having tea with Lawrence Selden): “Why must a girl pay so dearly for her latest escape from routine? Why could one never do a natural thing without having to screen it behind a screen of artifice? She had yielded to a passing impulse in going to Lawrence Selden’s rooms, and it was so seldom that she could allow herself the luxury of an impulse!”


3. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1890-1913)

The plot: Various, but Perkins Gilman most famous story is “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In this story, a young married woman is given a “rest cure” by her physician husband. This entails her to be placed in a bedroom without any outside stimulation: no writing, hardly any visitors, no physical activity. As the narrator writes of her confinement, she becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room which she begins to believe has a woman trapped inside.

Perkins Gilman’s other stories feature various women who embrace independence despite objections from friends, lovers, spouses, and family members. Some of the best include: “My Poor Aunt,” in which a young woman follows the path of her divorced journalist aunt, “Three Thanksgivings,” in which a middle-aged mother decides to live on her own and run a social club despite her children’s objections, “Her Beauty,” in which a seemingly plain-looking woman embraces her unconventional beauty to become a dressmaker, and “When I Was A Witch,” a fantasy story in which a woman uses her wishes to make the world a better place with unique results.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: Perkins Gilman captured some of the issues prevailing women in her day some that still resonate like lookism, desires to find fulfilling careers, choosing love over duty, and other themes.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” in particular stands out. Perkins Gilman herself was given a rest cure which made her mental and emotional state worse than she was before she was prescribed the cure. Even though the narrator is thought to be insane, the realization of her confinement from her husband and brother become clearer to her. She sees herself in the dream woman behind the wallpaper. In freeing the dream woman, the narrator is trying to free herself.


Favorite quote: The narrator: “The front pattern does move-and no wonder! This woman behind shakes it!

Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over….And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern-it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many shakes.

They get through, and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down, and makes their eyes white!”


2. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)          

The plot: Lolly, a middle-aged spinster, becomes tired of being shuffled between her brothers’ families. Under a bit of serendipitous and possibly supernatural circumstances, she decides to move to the fictional village of the Great Mop. While at the Great Mop, Lolly begins to make herbs, takes in a stray cat, and meets a somewhat sinister visitor. She then attends Sabbat meetings and becomes a witch.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: Warner turns the concept of an innocent getting involved in witchcraft on its head. Instead of the Sabbats becoming a satanic wicked orgy of hatred, Lolly feels a welcome connection to other women and to nature. She becomes enamored of her independence and solitude far from her family’s protective watch. This book could almost be a precursor to Wicca and its members’ involvement in feminism and environmentalism.


Favorite Quote: Lolly: “It’s like this. When I think of witches, I seem to see all over England, all over Europe, women living and growing old, as common as blackberries, countries one sees from the train. You know. Well, there were, there they are, child-rearing, house-keeping, hanging washed dishcloths on current brush; and for diversions each other’s silly conversation, and listening to men talking together in the way that men talk and women listen. Quite different to the way women talk, and men listen, if they listen at all. And all the being thrust further down into dullness when the one thing all women hate is to be thought dull.”


1. The Awakening bby Kate Chopin(1899-I think of this book as a bridge between the Feminist works of the 19th and 20th centuries)

The plot: Edna Pontellier, a dissatisfied married Creole wife and mother falls in love with a young man. Edna is awakened to the idea of her own desires and lives independently, becomes an artist, befriends an outspoken female musician, and engages in an affair with a known seducer. She worries that her new independent life is only temporary and agonizes about returning to her role as wife and mother.


Why it’s a favorite in Feminist literature: The book is filled with imagery about sleeping and awakening, which reflects Edna’s life before and after her transformation. Once she is awakened to the idea of being a liberated woman, she pursues this desire to the fullest. Edna discovers her sexuality in her affairs with Robert Lebrun and Alcѐe Arobin. She also finds fulfillment in her talent for painting and swimming. She awakens to being an independent woman.

While the book ends with Edna drowning, the plot and characterization suggests that Edna does not commit suicide so much as she is unwilling to return to the confinement of marriage even to the point of swimming to exhaustion.


Favorite quote: Narration: “There were days when (Edna) was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested.”


Honorable Mention: Novels: Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, My Antonia by Willa Cather, Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, Notes on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith, Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence, and Pursuit of Love/Love in A Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, Herland by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

Non-Fiction: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, The Story of My Life and Other Writings by Helen Keller, The Fun of It and Other Writings by Amelia Earhart, and “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston

Plays: Trifles by Susan Glaspell, The Children’s Hour and Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, and The Women by Clare Booth Luce

Poetry and Short Stories: Works by Dorothy Parker, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), Sara Teasdale, Stevie Smith, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Katherine Mansfield, Tillie Olsen, and Eudora Welty