Meanderings....as usual..

Sons and lovers (D.H Lawrence ) belongs to a class of books that i began reading out of curiosity and to 'educate' myself so to speak. i guess i realised that i had'nt read any really good writing..the greats , the supposed classics. thoughts that revolutionized , ideas that shocked , that kind of thing.

so i set about to educate myself a while ago. and since i love reading i did'nt think it would be that much of a struggle. but it was...not in the way one might presume ..that is to say it was not boring and that i definitely could comprehend it's beauty ,novelty and greatness. it was a struggle however , because of the strange nature of these books. i think a lot of the 19th century and early 20th century authors wrote sordid tales of people to illustrate how insignificant, pointless , ridiculous , etc. that their lives were. it was probably their need to cry out for change..both in society and for people as induviduals

Intellectuals Wrote. Most of them in the form of novels back then probably because it would mean that more people read it..take voltaire.. often considered one of the greatest intellectuals and philosophers ...i have only read one book of his...called candide. the story in itself is quite bizarre. there is barely any story line , and if there is its nothing special , barely any plot, except enough to make the reader see what the author was trying to illustrate in a subtle manner. the language is quite good but nothing particularly remarkable .unlike shakespeare , where along with his brilliant and incisive ideas , he managed to portray it so eloquently . so what is it that makes these books so powerful. for that is the word that describes them the best

i have read about 15 books written in the late 19th and early 20th century and i found quite a few similarities. perhaps 15 is too small a no. to make a real judgement but i don't want to make one..only merely to state how fascinating it has been to find so much in common with people who have lived in different centuries... but i suppose like paul simon sang.. "after changes upon changes we are more or less the same"....

perhaps they are obvious, barely profound. but since this has been my exploration with no one to even discuss it with , all the ideas are mine entirely however valid or not.

so i found that one thing in common ...in the books that i read..was that there was a strong leaning towards emotional freedom or rather the lack of it. Women suddenly became the central characters. Adulterous Women became a favourite. that's one interesting thing too..they began to be portrayed with a little more sympathy. Women ...in all stations of life. A maid could now be a convincing central character..Absolutely fascinating... and the best thing about it was that these were books written by men.

But i suppose objectivity and detachment are requirements to be an intellectual and i'm sure men are capable of it every now and then...(lol...that's ridiculous even for a feminist...and i'm not one..so..)
. hmm...often wondered why i read these books..because usually they are pretty sad. and i mean that. none of them have a 'happily ever after' kind of ending. and i am a sucker for those..lol..(i should stick to mills and boon..lol..) well , one possible reason , is the amount of insight one gets into the nature of men and women..then i suppose..exposure to new ideas..and philosophy..like for ex. razor's edge by somerset maugham..and fountainhead..ayn rand...(although must admit tht was the most difficult for me to read..have'nt yet done...) and catcher in the rye...although that is more recent...but it has sort of the same feel...

The feel being...that i found it hard to read..'cos the books in themselves were quite intense..so u had to pay attention to every bit..not the skimming thing i do when i read pulp..plus the stories themselves are sort of emotionally draining in a weird kind of way..or atleast i found them to be so...i could only read so much at once..but i had to keep going back..it was like an addiction to something that made u depressed...(especially Of Human Bondage..which btw is a brilliant book but very depressing..)

so i kept asking myself why was reading them in the first place...was it because i wanted to be exposed to good stuff...or was it because i felt particularly intellectual when i read them...maybe.. that could be part of it i guess...although i reassure myself with the thought that if it was a need to feel intellectual when i was'nt really inclined that way..i would not be interested enough to be able to read it for i know loads of people who won't read these books if u paid them...so i'm hoping that's not it..lol..

i think the allure for me is that they give me a nice look into the character's head...and since i am very interested in how people think..what they think..why they think ..that sort of thing...so i guess the thing is they describe the human psyche in such a detailed manner...in a way that u can relate to it two centuries later...so it's the base stuff....our instincts...well i find it fascinating..

does this sound pretentious...hmm...should'nt bother with that...fuck it..lol..being pretentious is'nt just the prerogative of some people i know...lol..

anyway...weird mood..guess it's the book...well anyway will stop meandering now....till next time...sayonara