to be or not to be ~~ » 日志 » reading
reading
Clear up 发表于 2005-06-15 14:40:01
Beloved: a thrilling novel with building up suspense
"Beloved" is full of unexpected, eccentric events that revolve around the black community and 124, a house haunted by the spirit of a spiteful baby. Throughout the novel, haunting memories of slavery's inhumanity torment the four main characters, Sethe, Paul D., Denver, and Beloved. The aftermath of slavery, as this suspenseful novel reveals, is extremely brutal and destructive to each character's life. As the story transit from past to present in an unordered pattern, the true desires and values of the characters are slowly unmasked.
This novel requires deep understanding and reflection upon each ideas and events. An excessive amount of symbolic and metaphoric images are included within this novel, causing the reader to think beyond the surface of logical meaning. The supernatural aspects of the story, such as Beloved being a reincarnation of the dead baby's spirit, push the limit of readers' ordinary understanding. Morrison's use of poetic, vivid, and intense words help to create the tone of fear, anguish, and admiration.
Love, slavery, and motherhood are joined in "Beloved" to create emotional inspiration. Set in the years following Civil War in rural Ohio, the destruction of relationships, motherly love, and self-identity is clarified to be caused by the brutality of slavery. Sethe, escaping from slavery, struggles to break free from the cruel memories of her past as an owned property. Despite her freedom, she has difficulties leaving behind her past including the child whom she had killed, physical and mental scars that she finds impossible to heal, and the stories of Paul D. and Sweet Home.
I believe that through this novel, Toni Morrison attempts to prevent the extreme sufferings of the slaves from being forgotten due to forced silence. I strongly recommend this passionate and deep novel to everyone, especially for those interested in mystery and suspense.
The Portrait of a Lady
Watching Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady is kind of like watching a David Lynch movie: it may not always work, but it never ceases to be interesting. After winning an Oscar for writing The Piano and becoming only the second woman to ever be nominated for the Best Director Academy Award, hopes were high for what Campion had in store for us next, and perhaps some were disappointed by this flawed -- but good, nevertheless -- entry in her resume. But I wasn't (at least, not for the most part). Okay: so maybe this isn't a masterpiece in the vein of The Piano, but since when was everything supposed to be? What's important is that Campion tried something different and made a rather good movie in the process. The Portrait of a Lady marks another screen adaptation for the popular period novelist Henry James, and though it may not be as great an adaptation as, say, The Wings of the Dove, it is certainly one of the most peculiar. Peculiar in how it is treated, that is, not in the subject matter (which boils down to the typical money-hungry snobs searching for romance); rather than taking the Merchant Ivory route, Campion delivers a much looser interpretation of the material, starting with an opening sequence that features a multitude of modern women staring blankly at the screen, one of them dancing to the music of her walkman. While I'm still unsure as to whether or not her liberal vision works, I'm pleased that Campion had the nerve to try it. The Portrait of a Lady tells the story of a young American woman (played, oddly enough, by Aussie actress Nicole Kidman) who inherits a fortune and is seduced by a manipulative artist (John Malkovich) while a mysterious woman (Barbara Hershey) pulls the strings; ultimately, Kidman has to decide the spouse for her stepdaughter, and choose which life she wants to lead herself. The cast of Portrait of a Lady is something to salivate over: aside from the aforementioned stars, Shelley Winters, Christian Bale, Shelley Duvall, and John Gielgud are just a few of the A-list actors that make an appearance (also, keep your eye open for Viggo Mortensen, now famous for playing Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy). Kidman is appropriately melodramatic, and Malkovich is phenomenal (as always), but the Academy did right in recognizing the most outstanding performance of the picture, Barbara Hershey's (who earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress): she is both cold and wildly emotional, mystical and open, and she does it all with the grace and confidence of a true star. The script features some terrific dialogue, but at two-and-a-half hours, it runs a little long at times; Campion keeps the pace moving with her innovative direction (which features tilted camera angles, a throwback to silent black-and-white films, and a stunning romantic fantasy sequence), but one wonders if she doesn't try a little too hard at times. Yet as with any good period piece, when the story slacks, the costumes and art direction act as a worthy distraction (as they often do here). It is also worth noting the lush original score by Wojciech Kilar, which makes everything seem far more fascinating than it truly is. The Portrait of a Lady never reaches any true emotional or artistic depth, but I wasn't expecting it to: I was simply expecting something that was good to look at with just enough plot to keep me interested throughout, and that's what I got.
"Beloved" is full of unexpected, eccentric events that revolve around the black community and 124, a house haunted by the spirit of a spiteful baby. Throughout the novel, haunting memories of slavery's inhumanity torment the four main characters, Sethe, Paul D., Denver, and Beloved. The aftermath of slavery, as this suspenseful novel reveals, is extremely brutal and destructive to each character's life. As the story transit from past to present in an unordered pattern, the true desires and values of the characters are slowly unmasked.
This novel requires deep understanding and reflection upon each ideas and events. An excessive amount of symbolic and metaphoric images are included within this novel, causing the reader to think beyond the surface of logical meaning. The supernatural aspects of the story, such as Beloved being a reincarnation of the dead baby's spirit, push the limit of readers' ordinary understanding. Morrison's use of poetic, vivid, and intense words help to create the tone of fear, anguish, and admiration.
Love, slavery, and motherhood are joined in "Beloved" to create emotional inspiration. Set in the years following Civil War in rural Ohio, the destruction of relationships, motherly love, and self-identity is clarified to be caused by the brutality of slavery. Sethe, escaping from slavery, struggles to break free from the cruel memories of her past as an owned property. Despite her freedom, she has difficulties leaving behind her past including the child whom she had killed, physical and mental scars that she finds impossible to heal, and the stories of Paul D. and Sweet Home.
I believe that through this novel, Toni Morrison attempts to prevent the extreme sufferings of the slaves from being forgotten due to forced silence. I strongly recommend this passionate and deep novel to everyone, especially for those interested in mystery and suspense.
The Portrait of a Lady
Watching Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady is kind of like watching a David Lynch movie: it may not always work, but it never ceases to be interesting. After winning an Oscar for writing The Piano and becoming only the second woman to ever be nominated for the Best Director Academy Award, hopes were high for what Campion had in store for us next, and perhaps some were disappointed by this flawed -- but good, nevertheless -- entry in her resume. But I wasn't (at least, not for the most part). Okay: so maybe this isn't a masterpiece in the vein of The Piano, but since when was everything supposed to be? What's important is that Campion tried something different and made a rather good movie in the process. The Portrait of a Lady marks another screen adaptation for the popular period novelist Henry James, and though it may not be as great an adaptation as, say, The Wings of the Dove, it is certainly one of the most peculiar. Peculiar in how it is treated, that is, not in the subject matter (which boils down to the typical money-hungry snobs searching for romance); rather than taking the Merchant Ivory route, Campion delivers a much looser interpretation of the material, starting with an opening sequence that features a multitude of modern women staring blankly at the screen, one of them dancing to the music of her walkman. While I'm still unsure as to whether or not her liberal vision works, I'm pleased that Campion had the nerve to try it. The Portrait of a Lady tells the story of a young American woman (played, oddly enough, by Aussie actress Nicole Kidman) who inherits a fortune and is seduced by a manipulative artist (John Malkovich) while a mysterious woman (Barbara Hershey) pulls the strings; ultimately, Kidman has to decide the spouse for her stepdaughter, and choose which life she wants to lead herself. The cast of Portrait of a Lady is something to salivate over: aside from the aforementioned stars, Shelley Winters, Christian Bale, Shelley Duvall, and John Gielgud are just a few of the A-list actors that make an appearance (also, keep your eye open for Viggo Mortensen, now famous for playing Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy). Kidman is appropriately melodramatic, and Malkovich is phenomenal (as always), but the Academy did right in recognizing the most outstanding performance of the picture, Barbara Hershey's (who earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress): she is both cold and wildly emotional, mystical and open, and she does it all with the grace and confidence of a true star. The script features some terrific dialogue, but at two-and-a-half hours, it runs a little long at times; Campion keeps the pace moving with her innovative direction (which features tilted camera angles, a throwback to silent black-and-white films, and a stunning romantic fantasy sequence), but one wonders if she doesn't try a little too hard at times. Yet as with any good period piece, when the story slacks, the costumes and art direction act as a worthy distraction (as they often do here). It is also worth noting the lush original score by Wojciech Kilar, which makes everything seem far more fascinating than it truly is. The Portrait of a Lady never reaches any true emotional or artistic depth, but I wasn't expecting it to: I was simply expecting something that was good to look at with just enough plot to keep me interested throughout, and that's what I got.
收藏:
QQ书签
del.icio.us