"The Jews"

Religion these days is one of those touchy subjects that you try to avoid at all costs, like politics... But it seems as though in the times of this reading people were not quick to bite their toungue regarding their opinions of other religions. This reading makes a satire revolving the stereotypes of "the jews". The Baron's servant posing as a jew, with a beard to disguise him, is the one who is guilty of the Baron's assualt. After a series of interuptions, which occur throughout the dialogue thereby concealing the traveller's identity, we find out that he himself is Jewish. I enjoy reading dialogues because the reader gets to experience endless perspectives, as opposed to having one primary narrator. I thought it was clever how the author connected all the characters through the sniff box.

Mendleson Reading

The thing that struck me the most about the Mendleson reading was the tone he used. He had this facade of being polite and not wanting to engage in public controversies, but on the other hand he still managed to outright criticize the Lavater. The Lavater presented M Bonnet's book on Christianity to Mendleson in an attempt to convert him. Mendleson essentially said that his people were too good for conversions, and did not want people outside of their nation. The way he worded it was so strategic. He came off as being tolerant of religions. He then proceeded to challenge Lavater in his selection of Bonnet's book to convert him, which he did not find at all persuasive and even hardly relevant. After this direct blow on Lavater's ego, he then concluded his adress, "Your sincere admirer". This was the cherry on the sunday you could say.

Last Reading Assignments

for Friday, February 25:
Read Moses Mendelssohn, "Reply to Lavater" and Salomon Maimon, "Recollections of Mendelssohn," in The German-Jewish Dialogue.

for Monday, February 28:
Read Gotthold Lessing, The Jews, in The German-Jewish Dialogue.

for Wednesday, March 2:
Read Levin and Veit, "Correspondence," in The German-Jewish Dialogue.

for Friday, March 4:
Read The Brothers Grimm, "The Jew in the Thorn-Bush," in The German-Jewish Dialogue.

Dissertation Upon Roast Pig

I really enjoyed this reading. It was funny and completely irreverent, the kind of subject that no one particularly cares about but everyone likes to read about. I actually laughed out loud at the section about the people burning down their houses to get more roast pig because they didn't realize they could just cook them.

And, was it just me, or were the descriptions of the food at least mildly sexual? For example, the description about pineapple on page 166: "...a delight, if not sinful, yet so like to sinning...too ravishing for mortal taste...like lovers' kisses, she biteth - she is a pleasure bordering on pain from the fierceness and insanity of her relish...". I mean, seriously. The innuendo is pretty clear I think.

I also found the section about the young boy giving his aunt's cake to the beggar interesting, and reminded me of a discussion we had in psychology last year: is there such a thing as altruism, or is all philanthropy really just a selfish way to make the giver feel better? I'm thinking specifically of the quote on page 167 that says "I walked on a little, buoyed up, as one is on such occasions, with a sweet soothing of self-satisfaction."

On Love

This reading was definitely a nice change of pace- short and sweet. The author used a lot of figurative language for example "I have found my language misunderstood like one in a distant and savage land." From what I understood, he was expressing his dissapointment in the love department and that he hasn not found any one he can connect with. I enjoy creating my own interpretations on the occasional obcure phrase. He wants to find someone that he can think with, have an intellectual exchange, in his words mind children. When your alone you look for this connection in the worlds around you until you can find your "antitype"- your other half. I think that the author adds an element of fate in this. Fate is one of the main themes I found burried under all the metonymy.

the ole baron

In reading this again after clarifying the defining characteristics of Gothic literature I tried to read more closely for these themes. The ruins and the un-home continues to pervade the story. As the plot unravels we discover that Edmund is the son of the Old Baron, now merely a ghost. Their initial intuitions regarding his character were correct. This novel reads more like a mystery and I am having difficulty seeing the Gothic style in which Reeves claims her fame. We read Marry Shelley's Frankenstein in fiction who is another one of the most famous Gothic writers but I don't see any connections. I am probably biased right now because I am juggling The Old Enlish Baron and Maltise Falcon, one of the most charastic detective novels around. Regardless, This reading is definitely speeding up I just needed to warm up to her style.

Old English Baron Pg. 46-91

This second half of the reading was interesting and a little easier to understand now that we are familiar with the characters and where the plot is headed. I tried to keep in mind the characteristics of gothic literature while reading. The idea of "ruins" was evident during these chapters. Everyone thought that this was the end of Lord Lovel's family line, but it is now evident to everyone that Edmund is in fact the long lost son of the Lord and Lady Lovel and he will now become the rightful heir. I enjoyed Sir Philip Harclay coming back into the story. The other gothic literary idea of a hierarchy is somewhat not as distinguished with Harclay. He cares for the maimed war soldiers in his home and states in his will for some of his money to go to those soldiers and poor people if he dies in his fight against Walter. The idea of "unheimlich" or un-home like is seen is this section, as well with the Baron's family coming to terms with the evil that was finally uncovered in Wenlock and the ongoing battles he had with Markham-- just to name a few.

The Old English Baron

After reading the Old English Baron I realize that the one thing that attracted me the most was the authors use of dialogue. The entire narrative was a dialogue but that did not take away from the story. Clara Reeve was able to illustrate a plot without lengthy description and an intense love story begins to develope. Along with Candide and Rasseless this story illustrates allot about the importance of class in the 18th century. Is their any connection between Gothic literature and the aristocracy?

Old English Baron (Pgs. 1-45)

I had missed feelings about the reading. At some points, and I still am, confused about the characters and I found the author's diction sometimes hard to understand; but I did enjoy the section where Edmund stays in the "haunted" apartment. From the preface, I read that this is a Gothic story, but what exactly makes a story gothic? Is it just a specific time period that the story was written in, or does it contain certain elements that categorize the story as Gothic?

Bougainville's Voyage

I want to start by stating, I couldn't tell where the sections were and accidently read the whole thing. On a more analytical note, I felt the dialogue flowed well and was easy to read, even the large sections where one character had large pieces of dialogue. However, I didn't like the actual topic itself. I felt like the author was attempting to show that the native, simple culture is superior to complicated European Culture. I felt, though, that the native culture was just as hypocritical and dumb as the European one. For all of the natives "freedoms" the still had crazy rules like veils, and chains, or at least a month love affairs. Also, they said that they just wanted sex to be about reproduction, yet the men weren't to have it until they were 22. I say they only wanted reproduction, because people wore veils and were not supposed to have sex after they were barren, even if they could still enjoy it. I thought it was incredibly hypocritical that when the chaplain explained that people who had affairs during marriage were only punished by social disrespected, the native said that was silly and a sign of weakness ont he part of the law. However! The native explained that disrespecting their own sexual laws were only punished by social disapproval, unless it was an underage girl who got the honor of being locked in a room. On a similar note, the native's use of logic and attacks on European morality would be far from his comprehension, especially since earlier the two commentors had explained that the natives could barely communicate their ideas. I just felt the narrative was flawed and the topic was hypocritical in itself, unless I totally missed the point and both cultures were supposed to be bad. I just didn't get that feeling.

end of Candide

In the end of Candide, the main character encounters more people who lead him to question Pangloss' optimism, notably Martin. In looking back, thinking about the paper, I couldn't help but notice that he targeted women. He continually portrayed women in a negative light: the women who played "dirty tricks" on them, Pacquette the prostitute. Women were only good for one thing- sex. Count Pococurante was "getting tired" of his two maidens. In the end Candide confesses that he did not even wish to marry Cunegonde who had become horribly ugly. This is also on top of the stereotypical portrayal of the Jews in the novel, starting with Daniel in the begginning. Should this blatant display of discrimination be taken offensively or does it add to the tongue in cheek tone of the story?

Candide 20 - end

After reading the whole book, I really liked it, but there's almost too much to comment on. I thought this passage on page 140 kind of summed up the whole novel in a way:
"I should like to know which is the worst, to be ravished a hundred times by negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet of a Bulgar regiment, to be whipped and hanged at an auto-da-fe, to be dissected, to row in the galleys - in fact, to experience all the miseries through which we have passed - or just to stay here with nothing to do?"
I just thought it was interesting that they were questioning whether it was all worth it just to end up on a farm with little more than they started out with and just tend to the garden. I also loved that Pangloss came back finally and that he was still saying that everything was going to turn out okay, even though he hardly believed it himself anymore.
Voltaire definitely had a lot of social commentary going on in the last parts of the book too, but I thought the part that stood out the most in my mind was the fact that once Candide found out that Cunegonde was ugly now, he didn't even want to marry her anymore but was doing so just to spite her brother. I think there was a lot of tongue-and-cheek commentary going on in this last section. There was so much going on in the last ten chapters of this book, so I'm interested to see what everyone else has to say about it.

Candide 11-20

I think Voltaire's writing, much like Johnson's, is a happy medium between blutness (e.g. Boswell) and wordiness (e.g. Rowlandson and Byrd). This style would be perfect for our essays because, while there is much detail present, it is not excessively descriptive.

Candide 1-10

This reading was more enjoyable for me than the story of Rasselass. While this to portrayed the dark side of human nature, Voltaire's satirical tone provides comic relief. While Rasselass went out into the world to find happiness, Candide's venture proves against his teacher's belief that we live in the "best of all possible worlds." His teacher is one of the most interesting characters, telling dying victims that the earth quake was for the best. His arguments in defense of his optimism are so far fetched, trying to explain that syphillis is good because it can be traced back to the people who discovered the Americas which brought things like chocolate. These connections are very humorous, I enjoy Voltaire's "tounge-in-cheek" attitude. I wonder what Voltaire's view on religion is. He seems to have an anti-semmetic attitude, as Cunejonde's owner embodies the stereotypes of the jews.