09-21-2009, 07:52 AM | #46 |
Icanhasdonuts?
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I can imagine, and that is one of my major problems with it, trying to keep all the darn people apart
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09-21-2009, 07:54 AM | #47 |
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Oh that. It was a normal everyday word at the time. Heck, for that matter it was a normal everyday word here in the UK in my grandparents' time. You have to treat such books in the context of the culture in which they were written, don't you think?
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09-21-2009, 07:59 AM | #48 |
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Just as with the original AND next to orignal title for Agatha Christies "And then there were none"
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09-21-2009, 08:02 AM | #49 |
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I agree that it should be taken in a historical context, Harry.
But a young black person today might well feel affronted when reading the term scattered throughout a "classic" text. The status of the work lends a sort of tacit approval of the term. I've uploaded books that use this term, but I try to include a mention in the description, so that readers are prepared, and can choose not to read it. However, perhaps I'm over-sensitive. |
09-21-2009, 08:08 AM | #50 | |
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That's just my personal view, of course. |
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09-21-2009, 08:17 AM | #51 | ||
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Mind you, I only a few years ago read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and loved it, but several opinions that I respect informed me that it was "a small book that feels like a 1500 page novel" (and not in a good way). Cheers, Marc |
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09-21-2009, 08:38 AM | #52 |
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*****
Last edited by lovestoreadalot; 09-15-2010 at 09:02 AM. |
09-21-2009, 10:44 AM | #53 | |
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I would say a very small number of black men find the term offensive(mostly Intellectuals who do not like the so called ghetto lifestyle and I would agree with them in that context), it is a much larger fear of white people to use the word, or even speak it, but I have no qualms about that word considering I hear it everyday. Stop walking on Egg Shells, Black Men and Women are strong people and can handle a word. |
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09-21-2009, 10:54 AM | #54 | |
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A number of gay groups have called themselves "queer". A feminist theatre company has called itself "Monstrous Regiment". So, while a stratum of American youth use the term, I don't think that it would be polite if I used it. Similarly, only Irish people have carte blanche to tell Irish jokes etc. |
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09-21-2009, 11:00 AM | #55 |
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What weird chapters? Oh, the stuff on whiteness, the history of whaling, leviathans in the Bible, etc.? I think they are part of what elevates/demarcates this novel from being just a ripping good sea tale.
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09-21-2009, 11:41 AM | #56 | |
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09-21-2009, 11:50 AM | #57 |
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For me, I can appreciate Ulysses as "great literature", but I can't enjoy it as "a good read". I'm sure that many people feel the same about Dickens, an author whom I love. We all have our own preferences in these things.
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09-21-2009, 12:02 PM | #58 |
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I really have to try to read Ulysses. I started it several times over the years, but every time, I had heard so often that it was unreadable, I was convinced from the start I couldn't do it, and I never went further than the first page I think. Now I'm really curious
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09-21-2009, 12:18 PM | #59 | ||
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In my opinion - and this is only my opinion because of a bad experience, and I know the book is a masterpiece - Milton's Paradise Lost. I've mentioned that on other threads. In high school, I was in the advanced group, so the lit teacher assigned it to us. It was too heavy and dark for me at that age, and I've had an aversion to it ever since. Intellectually, I know it is a masterpiece and worthy of all these centuries of accolades, but I just can not make myself appreciate it. |
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09-21-2009, 12:34 PM | #60 |
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How about Salman Rushdie?
I waded through a few pages of Midnight's Children and all that came across was Rushdie shouting "Look at me, how clever I am" - I couldn't get past that to what he was actually on about. And Ulysses - yes, very clever, but I can't see for the life of me how anybody could enjoy it. I just tried Moby Dick last week for the first time and lost interest in the first few pages. Think I'll stick to the film. And finally Dickens - the problem I have with him, apart from his over the top sentimentality - is that he's clearly writing in instalments at so much per word and everything gets dragged on and on and on. Trollope did the same, but you can't tell by reading the books. But then I do love Anthony Trollope. |
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