I have been bedridden for three days with an awful stomach bacteria/virus/mysterious sickness. I won't go into all the details except that I was never that sick, not even when I was in South America (where I dangerously drank iced beverages, but thankfully skipped the sea food in Villa El Salvador) for six weeks! I will share one thing; Saturday morning, after spending much of the night awake and sick, I eagerly poured myself a nice glass of ice water (as I do every morning). I was especially looking forward to the drink that particular morning because I was dehydrated after vomiting every hour for most of the night. But there would be no cool satisfaction that morning as no little than five minutes later I was in the bathroom again, throwing up cold vomit. Unbelievable! Betrayed by my good friend water! I was so hurt. I love water and often declare my fondness for ice water in particular, so it was very damaging to have this happen.
Although for much of the weekend I was only able to lie in bed in the fetal position I did manage to re-read Anne of Green Gables, which I have read countless times. I felt I really needed something nice, loving, comfortable, and even heartwarming because the last two books I read were weird, creepy, uncomfortable, and disturbing.
The first was
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. Oh Vladimir Nabokov, how you love the untrustworthy, obsessive, delusional narrator! In this case it's Charles Kinbote (or is it?!) who presents us with a 999 line poem by his good friend (questionable) and neighbor (most likely true) John Shade, a well-known American poet. The poem is one line short of completion as Shade died before finishing it. Honestly, to even describe this book is like working out a puzzle so I think it's best to just lay out the format of the book and then get into the insanity. First, we get an introduction by Kinbote describing the poem and how he came to be in possession of this work (much to the chagrin of Shade's other friends and Shade's widow), how he met Shade and the nature of their friendship, and which windows of his (Kinbote's) provide the best view of the different rooms of Shade's house. Also mentioned is Kinbote's home country of Zembla (a made up country that plays a large part in the book). Next, is the 999 line poem called Pale Fire. It is an autobiographical poem in four cantos. The last, and largest part of the book is Kinbote's comments and notes on the poem. Obviously this is not the traditional format for a work of fiction and at times it's difficult to read because you are constantly cross-referencing between the poem and the notes but it works itself into your mind until you become as obsessed as Kinbote. This book has so many levels and weird aspects to it that it would require much more than just a simple blog entry to get into everything (and also a second or even third reading on my part) so I'll just leave you with some of the many different interpretations of the novel. Most first time readers(according to critics), like myself, will follow the story as it's presented and accept that Kinbote is the narrator and although he is obviously delusional and obsessed there is some truth to what he says. Perhaps he is really the former King of a distant land (Zembla) that had to flee to America after a revolution. Others see the whole set-up as a work of John Shade as a way to present his poem. He is the literary genius and he simply invented his spying neighbor and the land of Zembla as some sort of device to frame his poem. Another group claims the novel is the insane product of a minor character who works at the university! Honestly, when I read about the third interpretation I had to go back and look for this character because I hadn't even remembered him.
The second book was
The Collector by John Fowles. It was a much simpler concept but by no means less disturbing. In it a socially awkward butterfly collector wins a lot of money and abducts a young art student named Miranda. He keeps her as a "guest" in his cellar at his secluded cottage for several months. It was really a rather depressing book, especially the part told through Miranda's hidden diary that she keeps while locked up. Although she tries several times to escape, she is always out-smarted or over-powered. The most upsetting thing about the book is that by the end he has not changed at all, he sees no problem with his behavior and he continues to blame nearly everyone else for his short comings in life.
So you can see how after reading these two books I needed Anne to cheer me up! I found out that one of my favorite English Professors at FAU is teaching a graduate class in the spring about post-modern literature and is assigning Pale Fire, so I am going to try to take the class as a non-degree student (the deadline to apply to the graduate program for the spring has already passed). I hope that works out because I really want to discuss the book with other people and hear their opinions on it. Plus it would motivate me to write a substantial piece about and not just a brief mention in my blog.
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