Day 238: Bear-Hugging an Oeuvre
Are there oeuvres that you are hestitant to tackle just because they seem so daunting and you don't know where to start? I love the word 'oeurve', and its sigh-like nothingingness (when pronounced correctly) which stands for something so big. There are several big sigh-y nothingnesses I want to get in a headlock and pummel to the reading ground: Neil Gainman, Tim Winton, Angela Carter, and what for me seems the hardest to even admit to for no discernable reason—Margaret Atwood. Book Riot a blog I love to read, especially when I should be writing, celebrated its perfectly random and arbitrary Margaret Atwood Day recently with a number of posts about the great lady and it got me thinking about why I avoid her: even to the point where, when recently I was recommending great fiction to the world, I thought of her and didn't write her down! I think, when it gets down to it, I am intimidated. And I am ashamed. A writing/literature graduate with high, if deluded, hopes of continuing to doctoral level should have devoured Margaret by now. I read The Handmaid's Tale in high school. I don't recall it having a detrimental effect; I don't remember it having a life-changing one either. Maybe I should start there again. Damn One-Click. It's done. The Handmaid's Tale is whizzing over as we speak to my Kindle. Money, literally, where my mouth keyboard is. Because I haven't anything else to do (like catch up on the blog, work out what my thesis is about, read the books on my Eclectic Book Challenge or finish a hundred and twenty odd knitting projects and another three blogs) I will read it and see if I can work out why I'm not ready to tackle everything else on her very impressive list of written and awarded things. I'll get back to you.
Irene List_Addict
What about you? Have you read lots and lots of fabulous Atwood? Let me know. I have to admit I am more intrigued by her since Book Riot's celebration because she did a lot of discussion about monsters and what it means, one, to have monsters in literature, and two, that monsters in modern literature are becoming the good guys (think Edward and Jacob for example). At the Edinburgh Book Festival she asked the most interesting question of these good-guy monsters: what carries the darkness that monsters used to carry? Because, as she also said, there is no such thing as monsters, monsters are a metaphor. So what then, takes the place of vampires and zombies to carry human kind's metaphoric evil? Suggested answers were corporations and humans. See what looking at other authors does? It clouds ideas of what I should write my thesis about. It's a mess. Too many things are just too interesting!
While it may seem today's outfit is a thrown together frock and cardigan, it is actually haute couture straight down the lines of Saint Laurent. See here and here and here. There is a funny story associated with the french word 'faible' that I will have to tell you another day, but when I looked up the translation of low—opposite of high/haute—that is what I got. I hate to say it, but a large bit of this season seems rather 'faible couture' to me. Harsh critic? Personal opinion.
Get in close. A secret. The good thing, as a result, is you can get it at the op/thrift shop/store instead of spending a fortune on 'designer'. Hee hee.
The Outfit
Dress: Op-shopped
Cardigan: Op-shopped
Jewellery: CCJJSS
Shoes: Dr Martens
Photographer de Jour: V——
Who wore it better?
Getting linky today with:
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What about you? Have you read lots and lots of fabulous Atwood? Let me know. I have to admit I am more intrigued by her since Book Riot's celebration because she did a lot of discussion about monsters and what it means, one, to have monsters in literature, and two, that monsters in modern literature are becoming the good guys (think Edward and Jacob for example). At the Edinburgh Book Festival she asked the most interesting question of these good-guy monsters: what carries the darkness that monsters used to carry? Because, as she also said, there is no such thing as monsters, monsters are a metaphor. So what then, takes the place of vampires and zombies to carry human kind's metaphoric evil? Suggested answers were corporations and humans. See what looking at other authors does? It clouds ideas of what I should write my thesis about. It's a mess. Too many things are just too interesting!
While it may seem today's outfit is a thrown together frock and cardigan, it is actually haute couture straight down the lines of Saint Laurent. See here and here and here. There is a funny story associated with the french word 'faible' that I will have to tell you another day, but when I looked up the translation of low—opposite of high/haute—that is what I got. I hate to say it, but a large bit of this season seems rather 'faible couture' to me. Harsh critic? Personal opinion.
Get in close. A secret. The good thing, as a result, is you can get it at the op/thrift shop/store instead of spending a fortune on 'designer'. Hee hee.
Who wore it better?
Getting linky today with:
So loving that grunge is staging a comeback.
ReplyDeleteAs for Margaret Attwood, I have read Cats Eye and the Blind Assasin. The first way back at uni, the second about 7 years ago. It's not life changing stuff, but she can spin a solid narrative which keeps you engaged.
The greatest thing about the YSL show was the tights. They have actual pearly beads on them. Awesome to look at but possibly not so if one, you have to wash them, or two, unlike a model your two legs come in contact with each other at some stage!
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