tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-948826710613032587.post7328062358298891132..comments2024-02-05T01:55:53.566-08:00Comments on Gently Mad: The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts by Doughlas Bond, Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert; A Night on the Moor and Other Tales of Dread by R. Murray GilchristSharon Wilfonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466621290140789056noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-948826710613032587.post-45927311512721743522016-09-15T11:37:39.086-07:002016-09-15T11:37:39.086-07:00Hi R.T. that is a good question. I read the book ...Hi R.T. that is a good question. I read the book before I looked up background information on him.<br /><br />My impressions from reading the stories was of someone who saw women as unearthly and fairly like, very much an adulated and romanticized creature and completely out or reach.<br /><br />There did seem to be a connection between women and horror as though love for a woman could only bring about tragedy in the most horrible kind of way.<br /><br />As I said, sometimes the man was the victim, but often the woman was the victim at the hands of a man in a grotesque, perverse way.<br /><br />When I afterward read about his life it made me think that maybe that was why his stories took the turn they did. Rather like an "aha" moment.<br /><br />But ultimately, I would need to do further research on Gilchrist's life before arriving at any definite conclusions.<br /><br />I wholeheartedly agree with you (and C.S. Lewis who says the same) that we should simply read the books before reading anyone's analysis of the book or the author.Sharon Wilfonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17466621290140789056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-948826710613032587.post-90665437874481777312016-09-15T11:31:58.765-07:002016-09-15T11:31:58.765-07:00Hi Brian.
I think you are correct about people wh...Hi Brian.<br /><br />I think you are correct about people who are isolated or alone (or lonely) in that they have time to reflect and become more creative.<br /><br />I have often compared my time living in Chicago and New Jersey with living in Moblie, AL, on the Gulf Coast in Florida and now living in a small town in East Texas.<br /><br />I know I am more reflective in many ways here because there is so little external stimulus that I must create an internal stimulus.<br /><br />In the metropolitan areas there was a lot of external stimulus that provided a lot of excitement and creative inspiration in different ways. Mainly in my relationships with people because of the opportunity to meet such a greater diversity of people.<br /><br />So perhaps my time in the cities were more concrete and my time in lonely areas more abstract and impetus for using the imagination.Sharon Wilfonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17466621290140789056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-948826710613032587.post-16140277780422412462016-09-15T10:16:13.658-07:002016-09-15T10:16:13.658-07:00Sharon, your assessment of the Gilchrist book inte...Sharon, your assessment of the Gilchrist book interests me. Trained as I was as a New Critic, but reformed by more modern critical approaches (including new historicism, cultural materialism, biographical criticism, deconstruction. etc.), I am intrigued by your assessment of the author as a way of explaining the misogyny in the book. I wonder. Would you have seen it all differently if you had known nothing about the author's life? Let me be clear. I'm not impugning your critical approach. I am curious, though, about the process. I sometimes think I allow too much knowledge of an author to intrude upon my reading, but then I come upon someone like Emily Dickinson and cannot sound her depths without understanding more about the poet herself. Well, I've babbled enough. I'm just curious.RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-948826710613032587.post-79098400626225022152016-09-15T01:48:06.626-07:002016-09-15T01:48:06.626-07:00Hi Sharon.
These all look like good books. I hav...Hi Sharon. <br /><br />These all look like good books. I have seen Medieval Minsters around bookstores and online. It looks so appealing, I know too little about this type of art but I know that I like the kind that this book includes. <br /><br />The Gilchrist book sounds atmospheric. His attitude towards women is unfortunate.<br /><br />It seems that areas that are isolated and present the opportunity for people to be alone in a natural environment tend to develop very rich mythologies. <br /><br /><br />Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.com