Post-coming of age-ism

 


All subsequent posts from this blog will be for the class "History as fiction".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm quitting 20th Century...

Image
The circumstances have changed. I feel it is necessary to let you, the readers, know that I can no longer in good conscience continue blogging about the 20th century. I have decided to shift the focus of my enthusiasm to the "Coming of Age" novel. I hope that you, the readers, will continue to support my blog in the new direction it is going. Thank you. All subsequent posts from this blog will be for the class "The Coming of Age Novel".
Read more

Jake's unfortunate impression of Spain

    When Jake Barnes returns from his trip to Spain and overtips a waiter at Cafe Marinas, he says,  "it felt comfortable to be in a country where it is so simple to make people happy. You can never tell when a Spanish waiter will thank you. Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France. It is the simplest country to live in. No one makes things complicated by becoming your friend for any obscure reason. If you want people to like you you only have to spend a little money. I spent a little money and the waiter liked me. He appreciated my valuable qualities. He would be glad to see me back. I would dine there again some time and he would be glad to see me, and would want me at his table. It would be a sincere liking because it would have a sound basis. I was back in France" (237).  I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not, but his words really bothered me. Money can buy you a lot more in France than it can in Spain, including people's respect. But clai...
Read more

Six Degrees of Ragtime

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow tells a unique story about the Ragtime era. There is no main character, no antagonist, and a very confusing plot. Instead, it jumps about seemingly aimlessly at the beginning, emulating some kind of omnipotent camera zooming in on random people. Doctorow doesn't use names for fictional characters but does for real historical figures in the book (with the exception of Coalhouse Walker). Things get interesting when historical figures interact with fictional characters, because Doctorow writes Ragtime in the gaps of history, making it impossible to know whether these events really happened.  Although all the characters are seemingly disconnected, they end up all having some connection to each other by the end of the book. The Family of Mother, Father, and the Little Boy meet Houdini in a rare coincidence, who meets Harry K. Thaw, death row convict and estranged husband of Evelyn Nesbit, who has an affair with Mother's Younger Brother. Coalhouse Walker'...
Read more