A lot of surprising things have happened to me in the past few days....most of them not too pleasant. However, one of the nicer surprises was the realization that not only am I enjoying Finnegan's Wake, but I'm also really enjoying Bleak House. And that's pretty big coming from the girl who attempted to read David Copperfield one summer and started school late that August proclaiming she hated Dickens. I'm not saying I'm going to be a Dickens fan, per se, but I'm finding the book surprisingly tolerable. In fact, I'm actually excited to read more!
And Finnegan's Wake?? Well, it's still the most convoluted, confusing piece I have ever read (and I read a ton of metafiction!), but I'm really enjoying the lyrical power of the piece, and that jolt of excitement every time I find a small tidbit of a joke or a literary device or a language trick in the vast expansive ether that surrounds the text.
I'll be sure to post more soon!
I couldn't tolerate Dickens either at your age. John Irving, one of my favorite authors is a big fan though, always bringing him up, so as a much older adult I decided to give him another go, see what all the hubbub was about. I've enojoyed everything I read so far... can't even remember why I disliked Dickens so much.
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