I don't think it's about smart; I think it's about being educated in the way of her class and time.
I'm pretty fucking smart, but I took Spanish in school
Tracy: 'When you can't run, you crawl... and when you can't crawl, when you can't do that--' Zoe: 'You find someone to carry you.'
'The Message'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Jesse - May 25, 2008 6:39:18 pm PDT #5902 of 28359
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Ginger - May 25, 2008 6:39:21 pm PDT #5903 of 28359
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Latin and Oxford traditions, plus French.
They're all wonderful books, but I think there's plenty to enjoy in To Say Nothing of The Dog without them.
eta: Ha! French crosspost.
Polter-Cow - May 25, 2008 7:26:51 pm PDT #5904 of 28359
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I'm so confused. I didn't realize To Say Nothing of the Dog required so much prior reading!
Amy - May 25, 2008 7:31:58 pm PDT #5905 of 28359
Because books.
I'm thinking I need to go back to school before I attempt to read Sayers.
Susan W. - May 25, 2008 7:40:56 pm PDT #5906 of 28359
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
I'm pretty fucking smart, but I took Spanish in school
Same here. And Sayers is far from the only British author of the slightly older school who tosses in large chunks of untranslated French. I'm always finding it in my research materials, generally when I'm on the bus or in the cafeteria at work and can't page megan or my CP who spent a semester in Paris to enlighten me.
Susan W. - May 25, 2008 7:42:29 pm PDT #5907 of 28359
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
I'm so confused. I didn't realize To Say Nothing of the Dog required so much prior reading!
See, I'm now envisioning this broad-based liberal arts curriculum whose capstone experience is getting to read To Say Nothing of the Dog.
Hil R. - May 25, 2008 7:44:18 pm PDT #5908 of 28359
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I remember nearly throwing the book into the ocean when I spent a week of my summer vacation forcing my way through The Centaur, which was on the summer reading list for AP English, and then he ended it with a paragraph of Greek.
Consuela - May 25, 2008 8:02:23 pm PDT #5909 of 28359
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
I've always been a bit peeved that (spoilers for Gaudy Night) the culmination of the Peter/Harriet relationship comes in a snippet of untranslated Latin. I forget even what it is, and what it means now. But I found it a bit annoying, and I do have a high tolerance for reading polyglot writers (I am a Dunnett fan, after all).
Jessica - May 26, 2008 4:30:02 am PDT #5910 of 28359
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Because, um, I've never read Three Men. And still quite enjoyed To Say Nothing. And keep thinking I should read Three Men, and then re-read To Say Nothing, and haven't, yet.
Heh - meara is me.
Steph L. - May 26, 2008 8:08:17 am PDT #5911 of 28359
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
You'll need French if you read Busman's Honeymoon, which comes after Gaudy Night. Sayers assumed her readers were as smart as her.
Well, dang. But I enjoy being ignant.
Latin and Oxford traditions, plus French.
Oh, for fuck's sake.
I'm so confused. I didn't realize To Say Nothing of the Dog required so much prior reading!
I'm thinking I need to go back to school before I attempt to read Sayers.
I'm right there with you both. Man!
See, I'm now envisioning this broad-based liberal arts curriculum whose capstone experience is getting to read To Say Nothing of the Dog.
Right??? I'm glad Bellwether didn't presuppose a whole semester's worth of reading. I mean, hell, I read a LOT; just not the proper background material, apparently.