Wesley: Illyria can be...difficult. Testing her might be hard without getting someone seriously hurt. Angel: We'll make Spike do it. Wesley: Good.

'Underneath'


We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good  

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."


Micole - Jul 08, 2004 7:56:56 am PDT #4790 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.

I like Racine, but I read him in French for a class, and I can see how the best parts of the language wouldn't translate: it was very like Alexander Pope, all these perfect couplets that snap tight on sound and meaning.

I don't know why the plots and themes wouldn't, though; I mean, Phédre is Phaedra is 2,000 years old and counting.

I wonder if attempting to reread those plays in French would work as more than an exercise in masochism proving yes, my brain cells have deteroriated.


Polter-Cow - Jul 08, 2004 7:59:41 am PDT #4791 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Well, he's twentieth-century and it's not original, but Rice did Jean Anouilh's version of Antigone a couple years ago. It was pretty amazing.


Nutty - Jul 08, 2004 8:04:48 am PDT #4792 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Oh yes! I saw that too -- my highschool did it, and it was awesome. Actually, I think it is the only French play I have seen (in translation). Notably, it was in very modern prose, instead of rhymed couplets as I presume is the case with Racine.

Certainly, French films are popular in the US (or anyway, exported to the US more than films in any other European language). So I imagine that if there were a recent film of a Racine play, then the chances of someone teaching Racine in a class would go up. Especially if everyone drops trou, as seems always to happen in French films about the Renaissance (for that matter, any historical period).


Dana - Jul 08, 2004 8:05:39 am PDT #4793 of 10002
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

What about Sartre? No Exit is a play, isn't it?

t suddenly doubting own brain


Betsy HP - Jul 08, 2004 8:07:18 am PDT #4794 of 10002
If I only had a brain...

t takes the doubt away from Dana's brain and applies it to self


Polter-Cow - Jul 08, 2004 8:07:36 am PDT #4795 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

What about Sartre? No Exit is a play, isn't it?

Yep. Rice did that too, though I didn't see it.


Connie Neil - Jul 08, 2004 8:08:13 am PDT #4796 of 10002
brillig

Well, at least LKH has finally accepted where her true market/leanings/interests lay. "None of that silly plot, now, just write sex."


Katerina Bee - Jul 08, 2004 8:10:37 am PDT #4797 of 10002
Herding cats for fun

Snacky: The Great Brain books remind me of the Alvin Fernald books. Did anyone else ever read them? Am I showing my age again?

I have a vague memory of thinking that Alvin Fernald and the Great Brain should have met up and made a buddy movie, but I think that was mostly because Eric Shea from the Poseidon Adventure played Alvin. I can't remember titles or author, though, so I'm showing my age here, too.


Miracleman - Jul 08, 2004 8:15:16 am PDT #4798 of 10002
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020

Moorcock is one of those authors I love, but I find him either completely insane, incomprehensibly brilliant or both.

Read all of the Cornelius books and was blown away. From there to Elric (which suffered in comparison to Cornelius in my opinion) and from Elric to...the other...guy. Another Eternal Champion incarnation...hold on. Google, here I come...Corum! Yeah! (Obviously left a hell of an impression on me. Neh.)

Also completely in love with his 1969 novella "Behold the Man". If you ever run across it in an anthology or somewhere, dudes and dudettes...read. It. Good stuff.


Polter-Cow - Jul 08, 2004 8:18:42 am PDT #4799 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Another Eternal Champion incarnation

All I think of is the Sega Genesis fighting game Eternal Champions, which was pretty damn cool. There was this one wizard character who had an attack that would scramble all your opponent's buttons.