Literary Time Period Nominations • May 2013

[sun surfer]

Help us select what the MR Literary Club will read for May 2013!


The category for this month is:

Time Period
1801-1900, as chosen in the poll


This month is a two-part process:

The first part begins with a one-day poll to determine the time period we will use. It is multiple choice and you may choose as many options as you like when voting. This voting is separate from your nominations. There are no nominations during the poll, only voting. I will not vote in the poll, and if there is a tie, I will break it.

As soon as the poll is over and the time period is determined, then the second part (nominations) starts and you can begin nominating like normal. This will run for three days until May 5. We no longer aim for a certain number of fully nominated works; rather, we now only aim for a certain length of time for nominations (three days).

Nominations can be set in any time period and published in any time period, but they should be written during that time period.


Notes:

-Previously chosen time periods currently ineligible:
1981-2000

-The period of 2001-Present has been given its own category (Contemporary) and therefore isn't eligible anymore for the Time Period poll.


Once the poll is over and nominations begin:

In order for a work to be included in the nominee poll it needs four nominations - the original nomination plus three supporting.

Each participant has four nominations to use. You can nominate a new work for consideration or you can support (second, third or fourth) a work that has already been nominated by another person.

To nominate a work just post a message with your nomination. If you are the first to nominate a work, it's always nice to provide an abstract to the work so others may consider their level of interest.


What is literature for the purposes of this club? A superior work of lasting merit that enriches the mind. Often it is important, challenging, critically acclaimed. It may be from ancient times to today; it may be from anywhere in the world; it may be obscure or famous, short or long; it may be a story, a novel, a play, a poem, an essay or another written form. If you are unsure if a work would be considered literature, just ask!


The floor is now open!

*

Nominations now closed. Final nominations:


The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray, 1844 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - issybird, sun surfer, fantasyfan, Hamlet53


From Goodreads:

Set in late 18th century Europe the adventures and mis-adventures of a minor member of the Irish gentry trying to better himself. Redmond Barry of Bally Barry is a clever young man, who learns the manners of a gentleman. This serves him well, for the next few decades he meanders through Europe, as a soldier, mercenary, gambler, and vagabond. He reaches the pinnacle of worldly success by marriage to an English heiress, but disastrously squanders her fortune and good will.

The American Senator by Anthony Trollope, 1875 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - issybird, Bookpossum, desertblues, paola


From wikipedia:

...it is notable for its depictions of rural English life and for its many detailed fox hunting scenes. In its anti-heroine, Arabella Trefoil, it presents a scathing but ultimately sympathetic portrayal of a woman who has abandoned virtually all scruples in her quest for a husband. Through the eponymous Senator, Trollope offers comments on the irrational aspects of English life..... Through his often-tactless remarks in conversation, through his letters to a friend in America, and through a lecture in London titled "The Irrationality of Englishmen", he comments on British justice and government, the Church of England, the custom of primogeniture, and other aspects of English life.


Public domain. Available here at MR; if people don't want to convert to ePub it's also available at Manybooks. Free audio at LibriVox.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, 1899 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - fantasyfan, issybird, Bookpossum, paola


It's a short novel but incredibly powerful as a result. Here's an extract from Wikipedia:

Heart of Darkness (1899), by Joseph Conrad, is a short novel, presented as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow’s job as an ivory transporter down an unnamed river in Africa. ... a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. In the course of his commercial-agent work in Africa, the seaman Marlow becomes obsessed by Mr. Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent, a man of established notoriety among the natives and the European colonials.

The story is a thematic exploration of the savagery-versus-civilization relationship, and of the colonialism and the racism that make imperialism possible. Originally published as a three-part serial story, in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine’, the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh top-novel of the hundred-best-novels in English of the twentieth century; and is included to the Western canon.


There are moments in this novel--such as the appearance of the African woman--and those final words of Kurtz--which are unforgettable.

In 1979 it was made into a film Apocalypse Now which changes the setting but keeps the basic thematic approach--but loses the intensity of the novel.

It is in the Public domain and easily available from PG and here at

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17486

The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett, 1896 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - Hamlet53, Bookpossum, desertblues, fantasyfan


From Wikipedia:

The Country of the Pointed Firs is an 1896 short story sequence by Sarah Orne Jewett which is considered by some literary critics to be her finest work. Henry James described it as her "beautiful little quantum of achievement." Because it is loosely structured, many critics view the book not as a novel, but a series of sketches; however, its structure is unified through both setting and theme. The novel can be read as a study of the effects of isolation and hardship experienced by the inhabitants of the decaying fishing villages along the Maine coast.

It is available in the MR library.

Also in audio form at LibriVox.

Eline Vere by Louis Couperus, 1889 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - desertblues, paola, Billi, sun surfer


Free from Gutenberg.http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19563
Not free from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...s=Eline%20Vere


Louis Couperus (1863-1923) is arguably the greatest Dutch novelist. He made his name at home and in the English speaking countries with psychological novels such as The books of the small souls, The hidden force and Old people and the things that pass.

(This novel is situated in The Hague. It was a great hit in these days. At the time of the installments in the daily newspaper, people asked each other: 'did you hear what happened to Eline Vere?)


From Wikipedia:

The naturalistic novel, first published in a daily newspaper (1888-1889), instantly established Couperus as a household name in the Netherlands. It has been in print ever since. In Dutch, there have been about thirty editions until 2010, two adaptations for the theatre and one for film. Composer Alexander Voormolen dedicated his Nocturne for Eline (1957) to the protagonist of the novel. It has been translated into English (twice), into Norwegian and into Urdu.

After the publication of the translation by Ina Rilke, the book was reviewed in The Scotsman in 2010: "Couperus is a fine, driving storyteller even when he's off telling fairy stories in some symbolist landscape as in the rather mimsy Psyche. He wrote Eline Vere for serialisation, so it has the energy of the great Victorian novels without the melodrama, something astounding spread over 600 careful pages. ... Rediscovered novels usually make you realise why they were lost in the first place, but Eline Vere is an exception: a pleasure we've missed for far too long."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eline_Vere

Nana by Emile Zola, 1880 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - issybird, Billi, desertblues, Hamlet53


From Goodreads:

One of the founders of literary naturalism, Émile Zola thought of his novels as a form of scientific research into the effects of heredity and environment. He created characters, gave them richly detailed histories, and placed them in carefully observed, precisely described environments, and his readers watch as they wriggle and thrash toward their inevitable destinies.

In Nana, the characters are a prostitute, who rises from the streets to become what Zola calls a “high-class cocotte,” and the men—and women—whom she loves, betrays, and destroys. Among the novel’s many ironies is the mutual envy felt by Nana and those around her. She yearns for their material possessions, while they admire her apparent independence and sexual self-confidence. And despite the chaos Nana causes, Zola imagines her as being essentially “good-natured,” a stupid, vain, but beautiful creature who can’t help drawing people into her web.

Not surprisingly, Nana’s portrait of a decadent world in which a prostitute amasses great wealth and power provoked protests from “polite society,” and it became one of Zola’s most controversial works. Today it is regarded as his masterpiece.

Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, 1818 - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - Billi, Hamlet53, Bookpossum, crich70

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, 1856 - 3

Spoiler:

In favour - sun surfer, fantasyfan, Synamon

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, 1897 - 2

Spoiler:

In favour - crich70, sun surfer


It was published in 1897, is in PD and is available here at MR.
Captain's Courageous

[crich70]

I chose 1801 - 1900 A.D. A lot of great books were written in that time period.

[Bookpossum]

So did I, plus the next two periods. 1801-1900 is looking very popular at the moment.

Yes, this book club will have to be around in the same format for another four years before any of the time periods prior to 1800 to have a chance I predict. Not that I predict that the book club as it now stands will last that long.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Yes, this book club will have to be around in the same format for another four years before any of the time periods prior to 1800 to have a chance I predict. Not that I predict that the book club as it now stands will last that long.

I predict the periods before 1801 will be explored sooner than most of those after. Most of the books after 1900 aren't in PD yet and it's always easier to get hold of a PD book than a book that isn't PD yet. I mean if you have two books one of which isn't PD and costs $8.00 or more (in some cases) and the other PD book is offered free many will choose the PD book, especially if it's by an author whom they have read other books by.

[paola]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Yes, this book club will have to be around in the same format for another four years before any of the time periods prior to 1800 to have a chance I predict.

yep, I wonder whether we should have subdivided this period in at least two chunks: there so much going on in literature in that century.

[Bookpossum]

Well, we could presumably decide to do that still - just have a run-off vote for 1801-1850 or 1851-1900. Would that be feasible?

[desertblues]

I must admit being a bit puzzled about ths period- voting, but that would be due to my ignorance of the discussion that preceded it?

Originally Posted by paola

yep, I wonder whether we should have subdivided this period in at least two chunks: there so much going on in literature in that century.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Well, we could presumably decide to do that still - just have a run-off vote for 1801-1850 or 1851-1900. Would that be feasible?

Actually my comment was more about the idea that the 20th Century was too finely subdivided. I do agree that the 19th Century is very fertile for a lot of great literature, and have no problem with it winning.

[Billi]

Originally Posted by desertblues

I must admit being a bit puzzled about ths period- voting, but that would be due to my ignorance of the discussion that preceded it?

It's some kind of a "free" month as every genre is allowed. But the book must have been written in the chosen time and, as usual, it must be "literature".

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by Billi

It's some kind of a "free" month as every genre is allowed. But the book must have been written in the chosen time and, as usual, it must be "literature".

Thank you, Billi . I voted for the periods of which I know some good books.

[issybird]

OK, the clock is ticking with only a little over two days left to nominate, so in the absence of any consensus or a ruling from Fearless Leader, I'm going to go ahead with a suggestion.

I nominated The American Senator by Trollope in the main club last month; it had some traction in the voting and I still think it has merit, so I'm repeating it here.

it is notable for its depictions of rural English life and for its many detailed fox hunting scenes. In its anti-heroine, Arabella Trefoil, it presents a scathing but ultimately sympathetic portrayal of a woman who has abandoned virtually all scruples in her quest for a husband. Through the eponymous Senator, Trollope offers comments on the irrational aspects of English life..... Through his often-tactless remarks in conversation, through his letters to a friend in America, and through a lecture in London titled "The Irrationality of Englishmen", he comments on British justice and government, the Church of England, the custom of primogeniture, and other aspects of English life.

Public domain, of course. Available here at MR; if people don't want to convert to ePub it's also available at Manybooks. Free audio at LibriVox.

I gotta lot of ideas, so if no one else jumps in, I'll subject you all to more of them!

I'll note two things: one, that the club anniversary is coming up, and categories can be rejiggered for next year, if people think the nineteenth century is getting short shrift.

Two, I think the idea behind both the region and time period categories is to force people outside their comfort zones. Sooner or later (perhaps later, as Hamlet points out), we should have covered the globe and the (linguistic) history of mankind.

[issybird]

Oh, what the heck. I heard David Chase talking about Kubrick's Barry Lyndon on NPR this morning, and thought the novel by Thackeray would make an excellent selection for this month!

From Goodreads:

Set in late 18th century Europe the adventures and mis-adventures of a minor member of the Irish gentry trying to better himself. Redmond Barry of Bally Barry is a clever young man, who learns the manners of a gentleman. This serves him well, for the next few decades he meanders through Europe, as a soldier, mercenary, gambler, and vagabond. He reaches the pinnacle of worldly success by marriage to an English heiress, but disastrously squanders her fortune and good will.

[fantasyfan]

I'll nominate Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It's a short novel but incredibly powerful as a result. Here's an extract from Wikipedia:

"Heart of Darkness (1899), by Joseph Conrad, is a short novel, presented as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow’s job as an ivory transporter down an unnamed river in Africa. ... a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. In the course of his commercial-agent work in Africa, the seaman Marlow becomes obsessed by Mr. Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent, a man of established notoriety among the natives and the European colonials.
"The story is a thematic exploration of the savagery-versus-civilization relationship, and of the colonialism and the racism that make imperialism possible. Originally published as a three-part serial story, in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine’, the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh top-novel of the hundred-best-novels in English of the twentieth century; and is included to the Western canon."

There are moments in this novel--such as the appearance of the African woman--and those final words of Kurtz--which are unforgettable.

In 1979 it was made into a film Apocalypse Now which changes the setting but keeps the basic thematic approach--but loses the intensity of the novel.

It is in the Public domain and easily available from PG and here at

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17486

[issybird]

Second Heart of Darkness. It's been on my short list of works to reread.