Anna's 20th Century

After lots class discussion, I was flooded with additional thoughts about the change in scenery (from Paris to Spain). There is no doubt that Paris contributed a large amount of stress to Jake’s life. It represented the ungraspable –   Brett and full expression of his sexuality being the basis for Jake’s pining. While it is taken slightly out of context, Jake at one point remarks:  “You can’t get away from yourself by moving one place to another”. Jake says this because unlike the others, he acknowledges that the dissatisfaction with the lost generation and their lives is not with geography but with psychology. However, we noted in class the obvious shift in his demeanor and character when left the chaotic scenes of Paris. Based on the philosophy that Jake shared earlier in the book, it supports the alternative idea that while Spain was a beautiful and much ore calming place, perhaps the idea of Spain being “pastoral” was by the removal of himself from the crew, if you wi...

First, I would like to say that if you didn't see "The Hours", watch it. It is not only complementary to Mrs. Dalloway as a novel, but it is also a very powerful movie. While the movie introduces new sides to the characters (i.e. Richard with AIDS, Richard committing suicide, or Richard as a gay man) I thought that the adaptations made for an interesting plot line. I was particularly interested in who David Hare decided to pair together in terms of relationships. In the 2001 scenes, Clarissa is with Sally and Richard was with Louis. While the pairing of Sally and Clarissa was not surprising (knowing that in the novel she was fascinated with her), Richard's character was morphed into one similar to Septimus. This was not the only instance where two of the novel's character identities merged. In addition to the 2001 plot line, the undertones of Woolf's life that were portrayed in the other two plot lines added to the power of the movie. Things like the kisses...

With great sadness, I say that I was not a fan of the Mezzanine. I constantly felt trapped, not just inside of Howie's head, but in the structure of NYC life itself as well as the corporate American expectation. I understand that the whole point of the book is to span the lunch hour, use the vehicle of the escalator ride to the Mezzanine as a beginning and end - however, it is inefficient to me to constrict yourself to a mere hour. I'm very picky about books, have been my entire life, so when I sit down with something it often results in putting the book down fairly quickly. It was a huge struggle not to give up after the first twenty pages... Because there was never a real moment when Baker allowed Howie's thoughts to lapse and pull the magnified glass away from his eye, the reader is forced into a monotonous and exhausting analysis of everything. I wish that there had been a broader timeframe, one that allowed similar attention to detail but also space for the reader ...