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.

And now, I am you.

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.

You're not missing much, on the French. I read it for French class and thought it was sludge. Irritating book. I get very bored with writers who use a lot of symbolism ("the runaway carriage scene was really a metaphor for...") Oh, bite me, Gustave, and just tell me the damned story, already.

I do love Shakespeare, heart and soul. But Aimee, Nic - who was born poetry gene-deficient - loves Shakespeare for the stories, not the language.

A funny note, on reading the "good" stuff: along around age twenty, I dedided that polish up my French and I decided to do it by reading "À la recherche du temps perdu" in the original.

Why, yes, I was a thorough shmuck. Bad idea. Really really really bad idea.

About fifty pages in, on the verge of tears, I rang up my sister, who has a PhD in the French language. Hullo, Alice? Au secors, sister, I think my brain just fell out - I'm reading "Remembrance of Things Past" in French and I can't understand what it says. I mean, I can make the words make sentences, but I can't figure out what this book is about, or what he's talking about. I feel stupid. Help!

After she stopped laughing, she told me to carefully close the book and step away from it. She then explained that since the French version was completely dependent on the reader knowing not only insider French gossip and politics of the era but also the slang, she (PhD, yo) had been unable to figure it out either.

Brrrrrr. I never tried that again. Screw the intelligent good intentions. That experience was a brainbuster and an ego-smoosher.

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

Heather is me. Also with the Portia- and Camino Real-love.

I finally get to see Master and Commander tonight! I had to wait until Z was out of town, as he has unspecified objections to seeing it.

Oh, oh! The Awakening sucks. I haven't read Madame Bovary yet.

I have some Awakening ok-ness. But I'd rather read The Yellow Wallpaper. I haven't read Madame Bovary, though.

Honestly, as an English Lit major, there is a shocking amount of things I haven't read.

Honestly, as an English Lit major, there is a shocking amount of things I haven't read.

t snickers with Lilty

Oh, oh! The Awakening sucks.

t gasps I love The Awakening.

I have some Awakening ok-ness. But I'd rather read The Yellow Wallpaper.

Oh, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a thousand times better than The Awakening. Gilman makes her story creepy and psychologically compelling. Chopin makes her story BORING AS ALL FUCK.

Honestly, as an English Lit major, there is a shocking amount of things I haven't read.

English major here. Similar boat.

I like both The Awakening and Madame Bovary.

The "Infinite Jest" thing is rather a modern version of the same. If it doesn't make some sense in the next fifty pages...I may abandon it, especially since the guy that recommended it is all interested in some other chick, anyway.ETA: Dana is me. I wrote a paper on "The Yellow Wallpaper" though.

Dana's a freak.