1st Impression on The Professor's House by Willa Cather

What it’s about

After completing his masterwork and garnering a great deal of money for it, history professor Godfrey St. Paul has purchased a new house. But when the time comes to move, he cannot bring himself to do so. Sitting in his comfortable study in his current house near the shore of Lake Michigan—and on the verge of a midlife crisis—he reflects on his past.

At fifty-two, he has dedicated himself to his work, his garden, and his wife and two daughters, but despite all of his successes, he is unhappy with the course of his future. He retreats into his memories—his career and fond recollections of Tom Outland, his most outstanding student and once his son-in-law-to-be, who was lost in the Great War. He also thinks of his present and the daunting mystery of what lies ahead. And soon the introspection takes over...  - Goodreads


First lines:

"The moving was over and done. Professor St. Peter was alone in the dismantled house where he had lived ever since his marriage, where he had worked out his career, and brought up his two daughters."

My 1st impression:

I sympathize with the middle-aging Professor Godfrey St. Peter. The older we grow, the more we need stability. I realized this after watching how terrified my parents (my father especially) were when I suggested to sell our house and move into an apartment about seven years ago. Our thirty-years-old house was dilapidated at that time and in need of massive renovation (which we couldn't afford). Surely to sell the house and use the money to buy a smaller apartment was the most sensible choice. But my father was adamant, with many excuses. My mother and I need about a year to persuade him, that he finally relented. But that was that. To move to even a better place, to leave the old one with so many memories, to be separated from old habits, is hard and uncomfortable.

And that's what the Professor must have felt when the family move to a new house. Uprooted - that's the most appropriate term. He realized of so many imperfections of the old house, but he had accustomed to them. The old house had become, to St. Peter, a beloved entity. When you love someone, you're aware of their flaws, yet you still love them for what they are. You learn to accept the flaws with affection, and soon the flaws are mere unique personalities to you, and you'll be sad to be without it. And that's what the old house is for St. Peter.

So far the story is quite promising. I got to know Mrs. St. Peter, Lilian, who is jealous of St. Peter's deceased beloved pupil: Tom Outland. Then there are the daughters and sons-in-law. The elder is Rosamond, who was engaged to Tom Outland when he's alive, but now married a Marselus. Outland bequeathed his patented invention to Rosamond, and now its revenues enriched the Marseluses, and they even named their new house: Outland. I guess this will soon create problems.


Keep or Stop Reading?

Definitely I'll keep reading. I am curious about the secretive Tom Outland's background. I don’t know him, but I begins to like him. One character which I want to see more is Augusta, the sewer woman, who has become like a friend to St. Peter.


Have you read this book? Did you like it?

 

1st Impression on The Stone of Chastity by Margery Sharp

This would be my first book from Furrowed Middlebrow, the imprint of Dean Street Press; one of many more to come! The book I picked is...

The Stone of Chastity by Margery Sharp

Summary:

Entertainingly ridiculous story of an English village turned upside down when a visiting Professor who studies folklore discovers the legend of the Stone of Chastity - a stepping stone in the local stream reputed, according to legend, to trip up impure women.

My first impression:

It's indeed ridiculous! But more of a witty-sarcastic one. No doubt, it would be a criticism against  puritanical society.


About the author, Margery Sharp, who had a pretty name: Clara Margery Melita Sharp, was an English writer, born in 1925. From several books I've found of hers, I noticed that her titles are always intriguing. Like this one: The Stone of Chastity. Or the next book I'm going to read, maybe later this year, The Foolish Gentlewoman. They instantly attract your attention, don't they? There's something charming about them (the titles) that makes you instinctively want to read them.

Well, I am now 60-ish pages through, but, unfortunately, I don't feel absorbed into the book, like I usually do when reading a good book. I haven't met a pleasant character to like yet. Perhaps the Professor is the most interesting one so far, yet I don't really like him. Maybe it's still too early to tell, and I truly hope the story will improve from here.

I decided to keep on reading, because I'm curious of what might happen next. Right now the Professor is distributing surveys about stone of chastity: what do you know about it, where it was located, etc. And I'm curious how this little village Gillenham people will think and react about it. Hilarious things are prone to take place!

1st Impression on The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Summary:
A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.

The Enchanted April started with an advertisement of a small medieval castle in Italy, which to be let in April. There, four women embark on a holiday to get out of their dissatisfied lives, where they found beauty and warmth.

I was enraptured by the beautiful trees and flowers with which the castle is surrounded.

Wisteria

"All down the stone steps on either side were periwinkle in full flower, and [Mrs Arbuthnot] could now see what it was that had caught at her the night before and brushed, wet and scented, across her face. It was wisteria."

I can imagine now how it would've felt to be brushed by wet and scented wisterias across my face!

And imagine having wisteria on your porch to look at every morning when you first open your door! It's fortunate I don't have it though, or else, it would've caused struggles to tear myself from its sight everytime I need to go to work!

Judas Tree

I've never heard before that there's tree named Judas! I'd assume it to be an ugly one, but I was wrong...

Judas Tree is "one of the earliest trees to flower in spring, Cercis bursts into colour in April and keeps its large clusters of spectacular bright pink blooms right throughout May. The flowers are said to look like hummingbirds, with showy blooms tapering off into long, thin beak-like stems. [source]

Interestingly, Von Arnim wrote The Enchanted April in 1922 from Castello Brown, a 15th century castle in Portofino, where she herself was having a month-long holiday without her husband!

I wonder whether Castello Brown was as beautiful as what von Arnim described about San Salvatore!

In short, I've fallen in love with this book from the first chapter - no, the first paragraph. And I was instantly drawn to Lotty Wilkins' character. This would be a blissful reading for me, I'm sure, the one I'd be reluctant to end.

 

1st Impression on Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer) by Ahmad Tohari

Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is an Indonesian classic historical fiction written by Ahmad Tohari. It was first published in 1982 in trilogy, but in 2003 Gramedia Pustaka Utama published it as a whole novel. It had then been translated into Japanese, Dutch, German, as well as English. The English version is titled The Dancer, translated by Rene T.A. Lysloff, and published by Lontar Foundation in January 2013. 

Cover of the English translation

Synopsis
Set in the tumultuous days of the mid 1960s, "The Dancer" describes a village community struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing world. It also provides readers with a ground-level view of the political turmoil and human tragedy leading up to and following the abortive Communist coup. This trilogy of novels traces the lives of two characters: Srintil, a dancer whose unwitting involvement with the region's leftist propaganda machine sets her at odds with Rasus, the love of her life who embraces Islam and finds a career in the army. Through their separate experiences, both learn the concepts of shame and sin: Rasus after he leaves their home village and journeys into the wider world and Srintil when the outside world finally comes crashing into her remote and isolated village.
 

I am reading the Indonesian novel edition, though, with its bright orange cover. Though the story isn't really as bright as the cover!

Two most important themes of the story are ronggeng itself and the historical political turmoil in Indonesia in mid 1960s, which would become one of the darkest tragedies of this nation.

About Ronggeng
Quoting from wikipedia: "Ronggeng is a type of Javanese dance in which couples exchange poetic verses as they dance to the music of a rebab or violin and a gong. The term "ronggeng" also applied for this female dancers. During a ronggeng performance, the female professional dancers are expected to invite some male audiences or clients to dance with them as a couple with the exchange of some tips money for the female dancer, given during or after the dance. The couple dances intimately and the female dancer might perform some movements that might be considered too erotic by standard of modesty in Javanese court etiquette. In the past, the erotic and sexual nuance of the dance gave ronggeng a shady reputation as prostitution disguised in the art of dance."

Ronggeng Dance by P. A. van der Lith (1893-1894)

So, 'Ronggeng' in the title alludes to the dancer, Srintil, our protagonist. Dukuh is a small village; so Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk can be freely translated as Ronggeng Dancer from Paruk Village.


Ronggeng and Geisha
From what I've been reading so far, I gathered that ronggeng is the "lower" version of geisha. While geisha is usually multi-talented, ronggeng's skill is mainly dancing and a little singing. They both entertained men - geisha, those of the upper classes; ronggeng, the lower working classes. One more striking similarity: to become eligible, there's a special rite they must perform, where their virginity would be sold to the highest bidder (I've at least gathered that about geisha from Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden). To become either geisha or ronggeng is regarded as an honor, and little girls dreamed to have such career. Geisha is perhaps more of honorable and intelligent entertainer, but ronggeng is plain prostitute disguised as dancer!


The 1960s Political Turmoil
The Indonesian genocide or Indonesian politicide was a mass killings primarily targeting members of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), but also people or organizations suspected to be sympathizers of the ideology. It is estimated that between 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed during the main period of violence from October 1965 to March 1966.


Two rather unappealing historical facts in a novel - though the political turmoil, I suspect, will only appear rather later on the novel. But I decided to read through, because Tohari wrote this novel quite beautifully. I loved especially the first chapter, where he described the rustic beauty of Indonesian life in a small village - tranquil in its nature and simplicity - before modern life touched it.

I’m curious how the story and its characters would develop from that. I'm not really excited about this book – it might be a bit of a struggle for me - but let's just see!

1st Impression on Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

My third read this year is Dandelion Wine, a novel which was developed from a short story of the same title. It appeared in the June 1953 issue of Gourmet magazine, and based upon Bradbury's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois.

I seldom read the Introduction at the beginning, but I made an exception this time, because Bradbury wrote it so beautifully poetic, and with an interesting title too! Here's a glimpse:

Just This Side of Byzantium: An Introduction (what a title, eh?)

"No one said anything.

We all just looked up at the sky and we breathed out and in and we all thought the same things, but nobody said.

Someone finally had to say, though, didn’t they? And that one is me.

The wine still waits in the cellars below.

My beloved family still sits on the porch in the dark.

The fire balloon still drifts and burns in the night sky of an as yet unburied summer.

Why and how?

Because I say it is so."

And with that, I knew I'd love this story, which is a reminiscent of his childhood happy memories. Of summer, of being alive - "I'm really alive!" - and, of course, of Dandelion wines he's helped his grandfather in the making. What a lively imagination the twelve years old Douglas Spaulding (or Ray Bradbury) had! - Douglas is Ray Bradbury's middle name, while Spaulding is his father's.

Some excerpts from the book:

On Dandelion:

"A common flower, a weed that is one sees, yes. But for us, a noble thing, the Dandelion."


On Dandelion wine:

[source of the picture]

"The words were summer on the tongue. Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass, a tiny glass of course, the smallest tingling sip for children; change the season in your veins by raising glass to lip and tilting summer in."


What is Dandelion Wine, anyway?

Dandelion wine is a medicinal drink that also helps you feel buzzed. Dandelions are excellent for digestive health since they help detoxify the lungs and heart because the dandelion petals are rich in potassium, vitamins A, B, C, and D. Perhaps this was the very first wine that was genuinely beneficial to your liver. The taste of dandelion wine is slightly bitter with a dash of honey-like sweetness. [source]


It'd surely be a refreshing change after a gloomy Hardy, and so far I've been slowly savouring Bradbury's poetic narration in a bliss!

 

1st Impression on Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper

Painting: Woman Walking on a Forest Trail by Vasily Polenov

Susan Fenimore Cooper was the daughter of the great American novelist: James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote The Last of the Mohicans, and "whom she served as devoted companion and amanuensis until his death in 1851." [source: Britannica]

Encouraged by her father, Susan wrote her first novel: Elinor Wyllys; or, The Young Folk of Longbridge, under the pseudonym Amabel Penfeather. It was published in 1845.

Besides a writer, Susan was also, what one might call, an amateur naturalist. She loved to observe nature and rural country life of her village: Cooperstown, New York, during her walks and excursions. It was from her journals on these subject, that Rural Hours was published in 1850, with quite a big success.

Despite of not putting her name as the writer (it's written only as "by a Lady"), her book was by no means unnoticed by her contemporaries. Even Charles Darwin, the famous naturalist at that time, had mention Susan's book in his letter to a friend:

“Talking of books, I am in middle of one which pleases me…’Miss Cooper’s Journal of a Naturalist.’ Who is she? She seems a very clever woman & gives a capital account of the battle between our & your weeds”. - [source: Wikipedia]

(Rural Hours was also published as "Journal of a Naturalist").

Rural Hours was even believed to be the inspiration of Thoreau's Walden:
"Rural Hours in particular has been called the first major work of environmental literary nonfiction by an American woman writer, both a source and a rival of Thoreau's Walden" - [source: Wikipedia]

From her very first journal entry (Saturday, March 4th), I was instantly hooked; but it was her entry about birds which completely won my heart. I love birds, though living in a big city don't give me much opportunity to get to know them intimately. I'm contented enough to watch them flying and feeding on the trees outside my apartment window. Fortunately, I have a neighbor who's also a bird lover. Every morning she puts a plate of grains to feed birds around here outside her balcony. The visitors are mostly Old World Sparrows and two or three Black Pigeons. While the smaller one: Estrildid Finches are usually flying around and feeding on the trees. It's hard to see them, but I know where they are from their twittering. Also regular visitors to this area are Zebra Doves with their cute head movements when walking on the ground, and Sooty-headed bulbul with their beautiful singing voices.

Two of my favorite passages so far, are all about birds. I found them interesting mostly because I've never seen nor heard them. I've even checked YouTube videos because I was so curious. It actually added charm to my reading!

"Three large waterfowl also passed along in the same direction; we believed them to be loons; they were in sight only for a moment, owing to the trees above us, but we heard a loud howling cry as they flew past like that of those birds."

 

"The Dipper must indeed be a very singular bird; instead of swimming on the surface of the water like ducks and geese, or beneath like the loons, or wading along the shores like many of the long-legged coast tribes, it actually runs or flies about at will over gravelly beds of mountain streams."

This would be a very slow read for me. So exciting to explore the birds and flowers together with Cooper, all through the four seasons! Will report back my final thoughts in the next few weeks - or more!