This year Katherine from November’s Autumn is hosting an interesting classics literary event called Turn of The Century Salon. The idea is to have “a special club but one where everyone feels comfortable and happy and welcome to share their ideas, wanderings, and discoveries through Literature be you an expert or reading your first work that's been graced by that title: Classic.” Referring to the title, our discussion for the Salon would be focused on the classics written between the late 1880s through the early 1930s.
The salon
will take place through the year of 2013, and for our first “meeting”, of
course, we will first introduce ourselves to each other….
What
draws you to read the Classics?
Hmm…this is
always a delicate question, I think it’s because I have a passion to read great
pieces from great authors that people from centuries had read and appreciated
them. I want to be part of them, but also, I’m interested in learning much
about human life, history and existence.
What era have you mainly read? Georgian?
Victorian? Which authors?
I think I
have been reading more Victorian than
others so far, with Charles Dickens dominating
the list (he happens to be one of my favorite authors too).
What
Classics have you read from the 1880s-1930s? What did you think of them?
Germinal –
Emile Zola
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Have And
Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Name
some books you're looking forward to read for the salon.
Both La Bete Humaine and The Masterpiece from Zola; I have been very eager to read more from
Zola, that I can’t make up my mind which one should I read first… ;)
Which
authors do you hope to learn more about?
Ernest Hemingway, I have only read two
of him in Indonesian-translation, so now I’m excited to read the original
English version. I have 2 books of him for this year: The Old man and The Sea and A
Farewell To Arms.
Which literary characters are you most akin
to?
Until now, I
think, Isabel Archer—the heroine of
The Portrait of A Lady. She is a woman of freedom who likes to do things her
own way, she doesn’t like to be told by others what to do.
Which authors do you love?
Emile Zola, I’m a big fan of him :)
Is your preference prose? poetry? both?
Prose; I’ve never been successful with
poetry.
viva Isabel Archer
ReplyDeletebtw, Dickens emang inspiring yaaa *Walo aku cuma nonton film adaptasi bukunya ajah*
Yap, aku suka gaya nulisnya Dickens. kenapa gak coba baca bukunya?
DeleteI do want to read Germinal this year but I'm thinking, with so many books to choose from, for the Salon I'll focus on English authors.
ReplyDeleteGoing to be fun!
I hope you can read Germinal someday, it's so worth to read!
DeleteOh, I see, more Zola for you! I'm looking forward to reading my first Zola.
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you here, too, that I would love to read The Great Gatsby with you in May. :)
I will host a Zola event in April, hope you can appreciate more from my favorite author during that month :)
DeleteYayyy...can't wait to 'readalong' Great Gatsby in May, there'll be 6 of us, that will be fun!
I've heard so many great things of Zola. I actually found a film about him at the library the other day too. Planning on reading Germinal this year.
ReplyDeleteAah...I haven't watched that film, I haven't watched any movie adaptations by Zola too, actually :( Hope you can really make it to Germinal, it's an inspiring book!
DeleteI like Emile Zola, too. I loved Nana; it was like being drop-kicked into 19th-century Paris.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Nana, but I enjoyed Germinal very much. It has been one of my favorite books now.
DeleteI've never read Portrait of a Lady, but I'm intrigued by the character of Isabel Archer.
ReplyDeleteI've never read Zola, but looking forward to diving into Germinal.
You have chosen the best of Zola (from what I've heard) to begin with!
Delete