Heh. I had to drag DH kicking and screaming to Master & Commander, because to him if it has pretty men in pretty clothes doing adventurous things, it's a chick flick. Though he didn't make the same argument about PotC or LotR, so he's not entirely consistent. And I may be able to get him to see King Arthur with me, because Keira Knightley cancels out the chick flick factor.

I adore the more bizarre Tenessee Williams like Camino Real,

Heh. Suddenly, Last Summer. Homosexuality and cannbalism, baby. And a nun!

In most cases, I'm completely un-pinged by gender issues when I read. It's just a big old blind spot.

The one exception is that I do tend to subconsciously judge female POVs as "accurate" or not, which I don't do if the narrator is male. But I can't ever think of a time when I've given up on a book or movie because there were no women in it.

Who else thinks "Madame Bovary" was a giant piece of crap and wanted to slap whatsherface around by page 4?

Yo! Represent!

I can't appreciate the prose style on account of not reading French, and I wanted to slap (A) Mme. B and (B) her entire milieu and social restrants silly.

CR has a gypsy's virginity being restored by the moon, IIRC- Plus Byron, and Gutman- cripes I forget who else. 'Tis one of my favorites.

The thing that fascinates me about Conrad? That he'd take up writing stories as an adult, in a language he learned as an adult. Unfortunately, I found that the only interesting thing about the six weeks of "Heart of Darkness". (The horror! The horror!)

Madame Bovary had no effect on me at all. I read it, was entertained while I read it, and then forgot it.

Yo! Represent!

t high fives Betsy

Another Mme. Bovary hater. Mostly, I didn't see the point of all that pining and whingeing; and I am immensely resentful that so many see the novel as influential. If that novel's an influence on me, just go ahead and shoot me now.

My reaction is extreme, in this case. In most cases, I'm perfectly happy to read a book because it is/has been influentual, whether or not it's actively fun, as long as I've scheduled a fun (or at least fluffy) book next. And I don't usually actively resent the influentialness of a book, unless I'd like to throw its author into a fiery chasm.

Lords how I wish there was a "Biographies of Silver Screen Stars 1920-1960" major. I'd have the frickin PhD

I had exactly one professor who nurtured rebellion- who handed me lists of canonical works and books one had to have read to be considered 'literate' and smiled and nodded as I turned red and sputtered. The rest were rather stodgy folk who equated a disinterest in anything deemed classic or canonical to lack of intelligence.

Personally, I've felt that the value of any work of literature, theater, music, or film is exactly contained in the reader/viewer/listener experiencing it.

End rant.