Chapter VIII
As she decends from her punishment, Jane weeps tears of frustration at the persecution she has faced. Helen attempts to comfort her, but when Jane shows a dramatic coveting of a love of other’s opinions, Helen admonishes her:
Cirtnecce from Mockingbirds, Looking Glasses and Prejudices is hosting a read-along this August of The Home and the World, a novel that explores early 20th century India and the contrast between new ideas and old, a clash between tradition and progress. For this work, the author, Rabindranath Tagore, became the first Non-European Nobel Prize winner. Not to mention it’s the 100th anniversary since the novel’s publication date in 1916, so what better time to read it!
I know so little about Indian history that I’m very excited to be adding to my small fount of knowledge. Cirtnecce, with her vast knowledge of her country, will be guiding us through, not only the book, but the peripheral issues such as the political background of the time and the role of women in society.
It’s going to be an excellent read-along …. I can already tell. So please join us beginning August 1st!
Chapter V
On the morning of January 19th, Jane leaves the Reed residence of Gateshead, after saying a goodbye to Bessie and proclaiming that Mrs. Reed has never been a friend to her. Again the scene is set, a wet and misty dampness cloaking her travel until she arrives at Lowood Institution. Discipline is immediately apparent at this charitable school, yet we also see the compassion of Miss Temple, the supervisor, at the treatment of the pupils, who are fed a diet lacking in nutritious food. In spite of the rigidity of the place, there does seem a concern for health and well-being as far as it is possible within the structure of which it is run. Jane meets Helen Burns for the first time and we get an initial impression of her maturity and sensibility. And thus ended Jane’s first day at Lowood.
Chapter III
Jane awakes from her fit to find herself being attended by the apothecary. After her fright, she is strangely unsettled, unable to find joy in things that previously made her happy. When the apothecary returns, he asks Jane a number of insightful questions with regard to her feelings and state of mind. He then recommends that she be sent off to school, which agrees mightily with Mrs. Reed.
And we’re off! The Edge of the Precipice’s Jane Eyre read-along is off to a great start. It’s been a good number of years since I read this work last, and it’s certainly one of my favourites. With a reasonably adequate background to the book, I’m looking forward to digging deeper into its pages. My last Charlotte Brontë read, Villette, was less than thrilling (in fact, I could hardly believe it was the same author), so it will be refreshing to revisit her masterpiece. So without further ado, let the reading begin!
Publius Ovidius Naso was born in Sulmo, east of Rome in the year 43 B.C. As a son of an upper middle class family, his father sent him to be educated in Rome to distinguish himself in a career in law or government. Ovid was known as an exemplary rhetorician and worked at minor magisterial posts before quitting his public career to pursue poetry. Immediate success followed his first published elegy and by 8 A.D., the year in which Metamorphoses was published, he was one of the foremost poets of Rome.
Hamlette at The Edge of the Precipice is hosting one of her excellent read-alongs, this time on the most wonderful classic, Jane Eyre.
If you haven’t participated in one of Hamlette’s read-alongs before, you are in for a treat. They progress at such a slow pace, that it allow the reader time to read deeply, mull over what they have read, and come up with insights that would have perhaps been missed with a quicker read. When you finish, you feel like you know the book backwards, forwards, and upside-down. They are so beneficial!
This read-along will begin on May 29th and proceed through the summer until we finish. Having just read Brönte’s Villette and being less than thrilled with it, I’m looking forward to re-visiting one of my all-time favourites.
Please visit this page if you want to see how Hamlette’s read alongs work, and then please join us May 29th. It’s an experience not to be missed!
Passing the Cyclop’s fields, Messina, and that dangerous strait that separates Ausonia and Sicily, Glaucus streaks through the Tyrrhenian sea until he reaches Circe‘s palace. He tells of her of his woe and the fleet foot of Scylla who spurs his advances, but the goddess is enraged that he can only love Scylla and not her. Chanting infernal spells of Hecate, she heads for Rhegium across from Messina, polluting Scylla’s favourite pool with noxious poisons. As soon as the girl immerses herself, she sees snarling barking dogs in the water. Leaping up and running, she is astonished that she cannot escape them, finally realizing that they are part of her lower quarters. Glaucus flees in anguish but Scylla remains, and it is she who snatched up Ulysses’ men for revenge on Circe (see The Odyssey Book XII). She would have swallowed all the ships that passed if she hadn’t been changed into a rock, but even then, sailors fear her presence.