Week #21: June 01 – June 07
Grab your passport, your hiking boots, and your cheaters (aka, reading glasses… but I just love the old-timers’ terminology) because the authors who celebrated a birthday this week came from all over the world: Australia, England, Russia, and Germany, and they each utilized their writing talents to deal with events beyond their control, which – thanks to translated editions (because for the life of me, I just can’t seem to learn even one foreign language – unless you count igpay atinlay – which Webster’s Dictionary clarifies it as just a language game, not a language, so I guess I better omit it from my resume!) – we can still enjoy their writing and perhaps even apply their messages and themes to our own societal dilemmas. My introduction to this first author occurred while at the podiatrist. The doctor broke that awkward silence that happens while conducting an examination by asking me what book I was reading; I always take a book with me to appointments because I hate sitting in that isolated little room for who knows how long, just waiting. This prompted a discussion on our favorite books. Hers was Australian author, Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds. She had such high praise for the novel that at the conclusion of my appointment I immediately placed it on my RBL (reading bucket list), and like over 33 million other people – including my podiatrist, I eventually read it too and became a fan of Colleen McCullough. Although she passed away in January 2015 after suffering from several strokes, we can certainly celebrate her talent by recognizing her on the anniversary of her June 1, 1937 birthday. So how did Colleen McCullough become Australia’s most famous author? Ironically, writing was her back-up to her back-up plan: after experiencing an allergic reaction to surgical soap, she had to sacrifice her dreams of becoming a doctor to research in the medical field. Knowing that her career in research could not maintain her current level of comfort after retirement, she decided she needed an alternative income - writing. Within a decade, she had written two books, Tim (1974) – a story about an unusual relationship between an unmarried middle-class older woman and her developmentally challenged gardener – and The Thorn Birds (1977) – the romantic saga about the forbidden love between Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart. Although, like many authors, McCullough included tragic events that she experienced in her writing – the drowning death of her brother inspired, almost word for word, the death of Meggie’s illegitimate son Dane – McCullough’s life also oddly resembled scenes from her novels: in her novel Tim, a relationship blossoms between an older woman and her much younger gardener; in real-life – almost ten years after writing Tim - McCullough married Ric Robinson, thirteen years younger than her and a palm tree grower. Events that she wrote about in The Thorn Birds also have an uncanny resemblance to events in McCullough’s life after she wrote it: in The Thorn Birds before Mary Cleary, owner of Drogheda sheep station, dies, she maliciously re-writes her will so that Father Ralph de Bricassart inherits her expansive fortune instead of her likable but conflicted niece Meggie. In McCullough’s real life, as honorary founding board member of University of Oklahoma’s Board of Visitors at its College of International Studies, she re-wrote her will so that the university, NOT her husband of thirty years, would inherit her expansive estate. And much like Father de Bricassart, the University of Oklahoma maintains that it’s the rightful beneficiary even though her husband vehemently disagrees. So what do we learn from her writing or her novels? We learn that after experiencing a tragic event, writing, much like talking, can be therapeutic in that you’re sharing your grief, but in this case, instead of sharing it with one psychologist, you can share your grief so that millions of people can empathize with you. And from her novels, at least from The Thorn Birds, we learn about the unfairness in life: some people can live a righteous life and lose the ones they love, while others can manipulate people they love, yet rise in society’s ranks. And although we certainly understand after reading The Thorn Birds that people must choose between love and ambition, I personally think that our society no longer accepts this dilemma. Just because a woman decides to have children, it no longer means that she must sacrifice her career; likewise, just because a man decides to have a career, doesn’t mean he no longer changes diapers nor attends little league games. We live in society where we want it all, and therefore strive to do it all. This of course leads us to a new dilemma: is it better to give one responsibility 100% or divide that 100% across multiple responsibilities? That question certainly makes me reflect upon my own accomplishments and realize that I could have improved my parenting if that was my sole responsibility; much like I could have improved my career if that was my sole responsibility, but I am thankful that I chose to juggle those responsibilities, for my children turned out well and I did achieve a certain level of success in my career. But what about Colleen McCullough? She didn’t have children; was that a choice or part of the vengeful God’s plan that she depicted in her stories? Regardless of the answer, she gave 100% to her writing, her books becoming her children. The success of The Thorn Birds, allowed McCullough to quit her research job at Yale University and concentrate solely on writing, but in order to maintain that level of concentration, she needed privacy and an escape from the interruptions caused by her fame. She found that solace at Out Yenna, her secluded home on Norfolk Island off the coast of Australia. Only now, after her death, can fans invade her sanctuary by visiting her unadorned grave at Emily Bay cemetery or touring her eccentric home, hoping to capture a little piece of her boldness in their memories as they view her library and ‘scriptorium’ which still houses her well-loved typewriter that she used to write her beloved novels, which by the end of her life comprised of another nine novels (including a 2008 controversial sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice titled The independence of Miss Mary Bennet), a psychological suspense series based on the title character detective Carmine Delmonico, and the seven-book Masters of Rome series, which she took the most pride in because of the exhaustive research she conducted in order to make them historically accurate. Fortunately, for most of us that do not have the opportunity to visit the island, we can still pick up one of her books and get lost in her world… while you’re on your way to England to celebrate our next author. Thomas Hardy, born June 2, 1840, eventually became a legendary poet and novelist, portraying Victorian society through a realistic lens. But in order to understand his works, we must first understand his youth, so once you land in England, don your hiking boots and head southwest towards Dorset County, the location that Thomas Hardy called home for more than three decades. As the son of a stonemason, Thomas Hardy’s beginnings reflected the life-style of any other respected, but under-privileged family: while his father worked long hard hours to bring in a little income, his well-educated mother schooled young Hardy until he went to grammar school. Thomas Hardy encountered his first obstacle as a member of the lower-class when his parents denied him the opportunity of continuing his education at the university level because of the financial burden of a higher education, and instead encouraged him to become an architect apprentice, which as a manual laborer, would only discouraged him from ever advancing into a higher social class. At the impressionable age of twenty-two, Thomas moved to London to continue his work in architecture. While there, he observed and felt the disparities between the classes, and after five years of it gnawing at his conscience, which eventually manifested in a physical illness, he moved back to Dorset to clear his conscience and regain his health by writing his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady (1867). Unfortunately, publishers did not appreciate his controversial views portrayed in the novel and they refused to publish it. Although Hardy would eventually cut and paste several segments of the story into his later works, he destroyed the manuscript so we will never know what he wrote exactly. Feeling a little apprehensive after enduring such a disappointment with his first foray into writing, yet wanting and needing to express his views, he picked up his pen again and wrote two more less controversial novels, Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), anonymously. Both novels deal with the injustice of belonging to a lower economic class and desiring something that only the higher class can obtain, and the success of both novels reignited Hardy’s enthusiasm for writing. A year later, he published (under his own name this time) A Pair of Blue Eyes, which, in the guise of a love triangle, continues to portray the challenges associated with different socio-economic classes, and also supposedly reflects Hardy’s courtship with his future wife, Emma. Unfortunately, Hardy’s marriage to Emma only re-enforced his opinion regarding the disparities between the classes: after the typical brief period of contentment associated with the early months and years of marriage, Hardy found himself miserable in the relationship, but due to society’s expectations and the cost of a divorce – which only the wealthy upper-class could ever afford – he stayed in the unhappy marriage. Perhaps in an attempt to improve his relationship with Emma, in 1885 he moved them, after living in his home for more than forty-four years, not too far away to a new home they called Max Gate. Unfortunately, the new home did not improve their relationship, and Hardy sought refuge from their unhappy encounters in his writing. During this time he wrote Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895), which both portrayed fatalistic opinions about relationships, marriage, and challenges associated with social-classes, and both received negative reviews from the public, causing Hardy to stop writing novels forever. Emma’s death in 1912 strangely inspired Hardy to write poetry which expressed a love and appreciation for her he hadn’t felt until after her death. But he didn’t stay single for long; just two years later at the age of seventy-four, he married his thirty-something year-old secretary (and Emma’s close) friend, Florence. They remained married until Thomas Hardy’s death in January 1928 after a month-long battle with pleurisy. As a final romantic gesture, Hardy had requested to have his remains buried at Stinsford Church in the same grave as his first wife; however, after his death, emulating a final battle between those with and without power, executors of his will disagreed and wanted him buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey because of his legendary literary influence. After deliberating, Florence and his friends convinced the executor of his will to bury Hardy’s heart with Emma and his ashes in the abbey, allowing future literary fans the opportunity to pay their respects while visiting London, or at the cemetery after touring his two homes in Dorset and hiking the Wessex countryside which inspired many of the settings for his writing. Regardless of where you pay your respects to Thomas Hardy or how you capture a little bit of his essence, you can’t help but understand his frustration with the class system that he so prominently portrays in his literature after taking a glimpse at his life. And unlike the dilemma reflected in Colleen McCullough’s writing regarding the hard choices in life that our society no longer accepts, the dilemma Thomas Hardy portrays regarding the class system has only worsened over time: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, ever widening the gap. And unfortunately, I don’t have the answer. If I did, I’d be popular and rich. Governments have tried to implement different philosophies and various programs, only to worsen the problem. The solution must come from a mixture of an individual’s moral character: compassion to help and motivation to succeed. But how to guarantee and then replicate that formula remains a mystery. In society, we will always have contrasting personalities when it comes to work: independent hard working people who believe in taking care of their own, or lackadaisical people waiting to accept the hard work others provide. What we need involves compassionate people who will work hard and help others, but how do you keep the balance? How do you encourage those who need the help to work if they receive help without working? How do you encourage those who need the help, if they encounter obstacle after obstacle when trying to better their situation? How do you encourage those with an abundance to give, when they see their funds mismanaged? Hopefully, we as a society will find the solution, but until then we’ve learned that even though Thomas Hardy penned his stories over a hundred years ago, their unjust and cruel endings depicting the reality of life still relate to us today. But should we sit by waiting idly for something to change? Or do we bravely speak out against the injustice we witness? Most of us would quickly reply that we’d choose bravery, that we would never sit idly; but how much would you sacrifice for your act of bravery? Would you sacrifice your home? Your loved ones? Your life? When forced to ponder those questions, we often hesitate in our reply to the original question. Perhaps it’s best that we often think an act brave only after it occurs. Such is the case for our next author, whom we celebrate his June 6, 1799 birthday this week. If we say “s dnem rozhdeniya, Alekandr Pushkin” can you guess which stamp you’ll see in your passport next? If you guessed Russia, you may not need to buy his literature already translated into English, and I’ll invite you to come translate for me while we visit his home, now the National Pushkin Museum in St. Petersburg. Unlike Thomas Hardy, who didn’t receive a university education because of his economic-status, Alekandr Pushkin’s family – although poor – had aristocratic lineage and therefore he received the best education. Whether he would have discovered his talent for writing without this formal education, we will never know; but before even graduating, he had published his first poem at the age of fifteen and received rave reviews. The first few years after graduation that Pushkin spent living the high-life affected him dramatically: instead of ostracizing those less fortunate than him, he sympathized with their plight. Utilizing the only skill he commanded, he wrote poetry that portrayed his frustration with the government. As an American, we take the act of speaking out against a government for granted, but Tsar Alexander of Russia felt differently. After reading Pushkin’s revolutionary poem, “Ode to Liberty” (1820), the tsar exiled young Pushkin. After three years, his influential friends finally arranged for Pushkin to live in Ukraine, where he continued to write poetry and began writing his first novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, a story about a gentleman who fails to appreciate true love until it’s too late. Although still under surveillance, after only a year of living a rather comfortable life in Ukraine, Pushkin refused to allow his situation to silence his concerns about how the government and religion treated the lower-class. Once again the government intervened; this time virtually imprisoning him at his mother’s house. And once again, Pushkin utilized this time to hone his writing skills by composing poetry and continuing his work on Eugene Onegin. Finally, under the new rule of Tsar Nicholas I, Pushkin returned to Moscow with the understanding that Pushkin would never write, publish, or even read his revolutionary writing again. Now, Pushkin may have subversively returned to his controversial writing, kicking the hornets’ nest again and chancing another exile, but for the love of a girl. Try as he might, Natalya Goncharova refused to accept his marriage proposal until the government allowed him to publish his writing again. With a renewed determination and taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s historical plays, Aleksandr Pushkin wrote “Boris Godunov” – a historical play about the anarchy surrounding the reign of Russia from 1584-1613. Although the play did not see an actual stage for almost forty years, the government did allow Pushkin to publish it, thus securing his marriage to Natalya, which occurred in 1831. For a few years, the couple lived happily in St. Petersburg welcoming several children, and Pushkin’s writing continued to flourish. He published several short stories including, “The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin” and “The Shot” (both in 1831), and “The Bronze Horseman” (1833). He even – after a decade of writing and revising - finally finished his novel Eugene Onegin, publishing it in 1833. But then as a dutiful son, Aleksandr agreed to help his deeply indebted family, causing Pushkin himself to fall into debt. Like many marriages that encounter money problems, Aleksandr and his wife began to argue and she eventually openly turned her affections to Georges D’Anthes. Not wanting to lose face, Pushkin challenged D’Anthes to a duel. D’Anthes fired first, mortally wounding Pushkin. He died two days later on January 29, 1837 and is buried at the Svyatye Gory Monastery. So here we have a man, who refused to sit idly waiting for someone else to find a solution, a man who accepted the call of bravery, voicing his opinion to help others. But he made a mistake: he allowed pride to interfere. Although he started out by utilizing his talent of combining the Old Slavonic language with everyday Russian vernacular to give voice to the lower-class by portraying the injustices that they endured and even accepted years of exile from his home and family for this practice, pride reduced him to a man too arrogant to allow his own personal injustices to go unanswered. Through Aleksandr Pushkin, we must learn that when we have our eyes and heart set on helping others, we will endure; but turn that interest inward, and we’ll perish before our time. And with that thought-provoking statement, we’ll leave Russia behind and travel to our next destination in order to celebrate the June 6, 1875 birthday of another legendary author, Thomas Mann. As we say “alles Gute zum Geburtstag” to him, any guesses on which country will stamp our passport next? If you guessed Germany, your ability to speak multiple languages leaves this sadly monolingual person in awe. I personally have only tip-toed into Germany once, crossing into its eastern city Aachen for a brief day visit; so the anticipation of visiting Lubeck, the northern city bordering Denmark and birthplace to Thomas Mann, truly excites me. And a visit here (at least for literary fans) certainly deserves a place on your must-see bucket list as it boasts housing the world’s most exceptional literary museum, The Buddenbrook House, which displays a tribute to both the history of the Mann family and Thomas Mann’s Nobel Prize winning novel Buddenbrooks. So if we’re traveling all this way, who is this man and how does his century-old novel relate to our society? Let’s take a look. Born into a long line of a bourgeois or middle-class family, Thomas Mann lived a typical childhood until the death of his father; after which his mother uprooted the children to move to Munich and forced Thomas to stay behind until he had finished grammar school. After graduating by the skin of his teeth, Thomas arrived in Munich with a career in journalism in mind and thus began classes at the university. After attending classes at the university, like many young men, he dabbled in life: traveling with his brother and taking odd jobs, such as one at an insurance company. It wasn’t until he witnessed the success of his brother’s writing career, that Thomas took a keener interest in writing. Although he started by submitting a collection of short stories to the fledgling satirical magazine, Simplicissimus, he quickly by-passed the success of his brother with his first novel, Buddenbrooks (1901), which eventually won him the Novel Prize in Literature in 1929. And even though Thomas Mann continued to write for years, publishing over twenty short stories, almost a dozen novellas and novels, and several other essays, speeches, and plays, his first novel has always remained his most popular, and still relates to our dream-filled society. As an American we have grown up with visions of the American Dream. The dream itself differs among individuals, but generally remains the same between generations: the younger generation wants to be better than the previous generation, with the meaning of better referring to money, housing, possessions, health, etc. And although Thomas Mann‘s German ancestry inspired his novel Buddenbrooks, it reflects the same philosophy behind our American Dream, making his novel still relatable regardless of where we live – generation after generation. And this particular generation, for the first time in decades, questions whether they can truly accomplish the American Dream. As the cost of living increases, they ponder their generation’s dilemma: “Can they achieve ‘it’ better than their parents?” The previous generation knew that even by working a manual-labor, 9-5 job they could afford to marry, buy a house, and live comfortably on one income while the wife stayed home to care for their children. Now in order to afford that lifestyle, the breadwinner of the family must bring in over a six-figure salary – typically not a salary you’d find in a hard-working 9-5 factory job. So more people go to college hoping a higher education will increase their future salary, only to discover they’ve begun their adult life on a foundation of debt. And as their mountain of debt rises along with their stress, they long for the way of life their parents lived. And this is the premise of Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks novel. It portrays the decline of a merchant family over the course of four generations, and although the setting is Germany, that longing for a better time crosses physical borders. And speaking of borders, Thomas Mann found himself crossing borders – several times. After marrying, he moved his family to Switzerland to escape the growing political tension in Germany and to capture inspiration for his next novel, The Magic Mountain, which he published in 1924. With his writing success he purchased a summer cottage in the village of Nidden (now Lithuania), which is now a small museum in his honor. He had planned on returning to his homeland, but WWII began and the Nazi occupation made his return unsafe, so he immigrated to the United States. As one of the few surviving German authors that had fled the Nazi regime, he felt compelled to give anti-Hitler speeches in his native tongue, which the United States then gave to the British Broadcasting Company to transmit across Europe. His fervor ultimately led him to earn the position as Consultant in Germanic Literature at the Library of Congress. Unfortunately for Mann, his helpful status in the United States did not last. During the Cold War, the increase in intolerance and interrogations, and the decrease in legal rights he witnessed in America reminded Mann of the political atmosphere in Germany prior to WWI. So when Mann protested the arrest of the ‘Hollywood Ten’ he also came under suspicion of having Communist ties and had to vacate his position at the Library of Congress and he eventually moved back to Switzerland. Although he returned to Germany for visits, he died in 1955 never having lived in his home country again. These four legendary authors certainly gave our passport a workout! And we’ve learned that although authors come from all over the world and may have lived over a hundred years ago, we can still relate to what they experienced and the messages they conveyed in their writing. Society long ago had to choose which path to take in life, and today we choose how to juggle traveling multiple paths. Society long ago faced the challenges associated with social classes, and today the rich still get richer and the poor, poorer. Society long ago made the brave decision to take action, and today we still fight the battle, giving a voice to the under-represented. And society long ago dreamt of a better life, and today we question the achievability of our own American Dream. These authors may not give us the answers to our problems, but at least through reading their writing we understand that ultimately we are not alone with our troubles and that life will go on… for someone a hundred years from now will read and still feel connected. In addition to the websites I mentioned in my article, I also reference information from researching these authors on the following sites: Aleeva, Ekaterina. “10 reasons why Pushkin is so great.” Russia Beyond. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2018 from https://www.rbth.com/arts/literature/2016/06/06/pushkin-birthday_600561 Chawkins, Steve. “Colleen McCullough dies at 77; author of ‘Thorn Birds,’ mysteries.” 29 January 2015. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 June 2018 from http://www.latimes.com/ local/obituaries/la-me-colleen-mccullough-dies-at-77-20150129-story.html Fincham, Tony. “About Hardy.” The Thomas Hardy Society. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2018 from http://www.hardysociety.org/about-hardy Hall, Louise. “Battle over author Colleen McCullough's estate takes a twist.” The Sidney Morning Herald. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2018 from https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/battle-over-author-colleen-mcculloughs-estate-takes-a-twist-20160512-gotksh.html Mann, Thomas. “Thomas Mann: Biographical.” Nobel Prize Organization. 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2018 from https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1929/mann-bio.html McMillan, Eric. “The politics of an apolitical writer.” Editor Eric. 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018 from http://www.editoreric.com/greatlit/authors/MannT.html Shubnaya, Ekaterina. “Prominent Russians: Aleksandr Pushkin.” Russiapedia. 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018 from https://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/literature/aleksandr-pushkin/ “Thomas Hardy.” Poetry Foundation. 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018 from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-hardy Wikipedia contributors. “Alexander Pushkin.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018 from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander _Pushkin&oldid=844206688 Wikipedia contributors. “Colleen McCullough. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018 from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colleen_ McCullough&oldid=842395247 Wikipedia contributors. “Thomas Hardy.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 June 2018. Retrieved on 6 June 2018 from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Hardy& oldid=844365298
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AuthorLet me introduce myself. I am Julie Blasofsel. While teaching high school English for the past dozen years, my appreciation for works of literature increased after visiting several locations associated with the authors and their texts. You can't help but feel the presence of Ralph Waldo Emerson as you stand on the shores of Walden pond, the despair of Henry Longfellow as you stand in his house, the loneliness of Edgar A. Poe as you descend into his walled basement, the candor of Samuel Clemons as you reach his men-only study. My goal is to gather information and relate my experiences about these places of literary significance in this literary hive. Please add your literary travel experiences and recommendations. Together we can bring these authors to life and light the flame of passion for reading in others. Enjoy! Archives
October 2018
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