altariel | Strictly narrative

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Strictly narrative

Turning away from difficult issues, I'm internally debating the ethics of going to see Sylvia. It's hard not to take into account what Frieda Hughes has written:

"Now they want to make a film
For anyone lacking the ability
To imagine the body, head in oven
Orphaning children."

***

I really enjoy my offline reading group, but we decided at the outset not to read classics, in which I am woefully under-read. There should be a reading group for people hastily trying to fill the gaps in their reading. A sort of mutual support group in response to that game in that David Lodge novel, where all the English Lit academics admit to the most gaping hole in their reading.

***

And, thirdly:

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I don't know if it will ever come out in India, but I have my doubts about going to watch it too. It seems vaguely sacrilegous - I know Emma Tennant has a book called 'The Ballad of Ted and Sylvia' that I've never had the courage to pick up. Frankly, Gwyneth Paltrow puzzles me with her ability to pick up great roles all the time despite not deserving it. Hollywood is strange.

We've been discussing the BBC in class, and as much as we don't make a difference to the B.liar govenrment, we believe in them too. *thumbs up*

The Guardian's panned it (Sylvia, that is), for what that's worth; it certainly doesn't sound particularly insightful.

Yes, I gather it's getting poor reviews. Another reason to skip it, I think.

Speaking purely from personal experience, it's always easier to skip something on moral grounds when the something in question sounds as dull as overboiled cabbage leaves.

It certainly never hurts to have both the moral and the aesthetic high ground.

(PS - how are you?)

It wouldn't bother me on moral grounds. Frieda Hughes uses her parents as material when she fancies, and I'd say their lives, as famous artists, had become part of a common mythology. But I gave up on that film when they didn't realise only Alan Rickman could play Ted Hughes...

I really enjoy my offline reading group, but we decided at the outset not to read classics, in which I am woefully under-read.

You seem pretty well-read to me! Read what you want to read say I.

Love the "I believe in the BBC" logo, and the article. I always thought the Blue Peter advent crown could be turned into an offensive weapon, if it didn't set the house on fire first.

Well, from my evil boyband-porn-writing perspective, I say go if you want to. Unless it sounds like it will suck. :-)

*hugs* for difficult issues, if needed.

The Guardian and Observer reviews (http://film.guardian.co.uk/Film_Page/0,4061,1045771,00.html) were terrible, though I've seen two other reviews that like it.

As for gaps in reading, I think you're far better-read than most people. Probably even in the 'classics'! But I know what you mean, and I think I'm some way behind you. What I find depressing is the sheer scale of the catching-up that would be needed!

You mean that sort of thing doesn't actively encourage you? Mister, you're a better man than I.

If you want a say with me,
put it in better poetry.

;-p

The reviews haven't been up to much. I might stay at home and spend the time investigating evil boyband porn ;-D

You mean that sort of thing doesn't actively encourage you? Mister, you're a better man than I.

:-D

If you want a say with me,
put it in better poetry.

Does it only make it worse
If I say it in not terribly good verse?

I'm thinking that the lousiness of the reviews is going to prove a good way of making a decision about whether or not to see it :-)

Re: reading gaps - I am good at bullshitting ;-D

Frieda Hughes uses her parents as material when she fancies

Oh, that does put a slightly different complexion on it...

I gave up on that film when they didn't realise only Alan Rickman could play Ted Hughes...

The potential charms of Daniel Craig were one point in its favour, but I absolutely see the Rickman-casting!

I always thought the Blue Peter advent crown could be turned into an offensive weapon, if it didn't set the house on fire first.

So that's what Denethor used...

Re: reading - I dropped English lit at 16 and kind of regret it. And I bullshit wildly about things I haven't read (but have read other people's opinions of!).

I might stay at home and spend the time investigating evil boyband porn ;-D

I can practically guarantee it would be more fun :-)

Gratuitous link.

Alternatively: Tasty LotRips here

Stop.pimping.sparkly.fi....

Oh, hang on...

That's bloody hilarious!

Oh, that was really good.

Well, I've never realised you bullshit about stuff you haven't read, because you're so massively better read than I. Sure you're not just being modest?

I'd really love a list of all the excellent books that I've never read (which would be a really long one) and a few months off to read them all. With intermittend trips to the pub for a rest, of course. Unfortunately, my definition of excellent also includes the pre-requisite that I enjoy the books as well as admiring the writing, and it's much harder to get someone to create a list with that particular requirement in mind!

See, the trick with fishing is to make sure you reel them in sloooooooooowly. That way they don't feel the hook biting.

... a reading group for people hastily trying to fill the gaps in their reading.

I'd join. Is there a club time machine, so that I can fit all that reading into my otherwise rich and full (hah!) life? Or maybe a cloning machine?

I'll start with that David Lodge novel.

He did a couple of novels about academic life, 'Small World' and 'Changing Places' - they're very funny. And on the shelf here...

Oh, god, that's funny. I don't think I must have read it all last year. You know, it would be much easier to maintain a high-minded distance from evil boyband porn if

nopseud didn't do it so well... ;-)

I am good at bullshitting

Ah, the benefits of the undergraduate supervision system (for both students and teachers ;-))

:-D

must... resist... must... resist...

...especially the latter...

Too right! I never really got the hang of bullshitting as a student, but the moment I switched chairs, I suddenly realised that *it was actually my job to bullshit*. The difficulty is in convincing them without committing yourself to something you're going to regret when you look it up in a book after they've gone. ;-)

You have to rely on the fact that students have little memory, rarely take notes and even more rarely read them afterwards. (Which does make one wonder why one bothers, from either side of the desk. I justified it on the pay cheque...)

While some of the Plath cult has been horribly insensitive and invasive, it's certainly true that the Hughes family have profited from it themselves. E(.g. Olwen Hughes, Ted's sister and manager of the Estate, sold high-priced limited editions of some otherwise unavailable poems.) It's also the family who decided to release intimate stuff like Plath's journals and letters in order to provide information on her life, and T.H. as executor who authorized The Bell Jar (originally pseudonymous) to appear under Plath's name and later be made into a film.

Is the Plath-Hughes marriage all that cinematic, anyway? Since the film-makers have been forbidden to quote from the poems at any length, we might be left with nothing but looking after babies, picking daffodils and stencilling furniture :)

IIRC, the trailer went: smoky, ill-lit party -- biking, punting, generic scenes of Cambridge gaiety -- frolicking on beach -- vicious arguing in London flat after Hughes has stayed out late. There may well be some daffodils and stencilling in the rest of it!

I would add to your scenario John Cusack feeding me chocolates and massaging my feet.

You are who I think you are, aren't you? :-D *adds you to friends list*

generic scenes of Cambridge gaiety

That brings back horrible memories of Paul Anderson's bad Plath biography, Rough Magic, which describes the bar where S & T met as being 'on campus'. Clearly familiar with the place.

Hehehe! I'll remember to avoid that one.

Re: Ted and Sylvia - I don't have a problem with biographies or biopics per se, it just seems to me that this subject has been done over and over, with varying degrees of viciousness on the various sides, and perhaps it's time to give it a rest for a while. Particularly if it's not going to be done well (which I gather this hasn't been).

We've been discussing the BBC in class, and as much as we don't make a difference to the B.liar govenrment, we believe in them too. *thumbs up*

*thumbs up back*

It also includes the little-known fact that Ted once tried to strangle Sylvia. Definitely best avoided.

The best book on them I've read so far isn't any of the Plath biographies, but Janet Malcolm's study of the biographies, The Silent Woman. She says some interesting things both about biographical bias and the subjects themselves, and treats them common-sensically as human beings with understandable issues, rather than taking up either the 'Plath-as-victim' or 'Plath-as-self-dramatizing-fantasist' lines. That one is worth reading.

That sounds extremely interesting - thank you for the recommendation.

Hmmm. John Cusack. Oh, yes indeed.

I don't know if I am who you think I am - tricky to say! I probably am though ;-)

One day we really will go punting on the Cam so I can find out if I can do the jumping out of the boat and running over the top of the bridge trick!

I don't know if I am who you think I am - tricky to say! I probably am though ;-)

One day we really will go punting on the Cam so I can find out if I can do the jumping out of the boat and running over the top of the bridge trick!

:-D Yes, you are who I think you are!

My South Park piccie isn't as nice as yours.

But I covet your chainsaw! That must be you on a grumpy day!

If you know who I am you won't be surpised to learn I got lost again yesterday. On Coldham's lane. How can anyone get lost on Coldham's lane? I don't know. It's not like I don't drive down it at least twice a month.

Speaking of which, I'd love to pop in and catch up with you and "Mr Altariel" some time. There aren't enough hours in the day to catch up over email!

Are you in Cambridge often these days?!?

Most weekends! Not this coming weekend though - I'm won't get up there until 7.30pm Sunday. I'm staying until Wednesday morning though - evening plans Sunday and Tuesday night, haven't made any other plans yet though.

Hope to see you at a Certain Birthday Bash?

You certainly will. I won't be there 'till later in the evening though.

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