Movie Review: The Barchester Chronicles

My local library had this, so I (rather gleefully) checked it out last week. As I read the book Barchester Towers a while back, I was looking forward to seeing how the video version turned out. I wasn't disappointed. The story is told on four discs and covers both The Warden and Barchester Towers. Now, I haven't (yet) read The Warden, but it seemed to me that it got the short end of the stick in this adaptation. That being said, if the film version is any indication of the storyline, I think quite a bit more happens in Barchester Towers.

As for the adaptation as a whole, it was charming, fun, clever, and altogether delightful. The casting was excellent -- with Alan Rickman as the devious Mr Slope -- and the characterization wasn't too far off what I had imagined in the book. The archdeacon was sufficiently "huffy." Eleanor truly lived up to her married name ("Bold"). The bishop, played by the same actor who plays Richard Bucket in the BBC program Keeping Up Appearances, was as waffling as I had pictured. And Mrs Proudie? Well, she was just as self-righteous and odious as she needed to be. In other words, I loved this. I couldn't get enough of it, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I love how Trollope creates a world that is simultaneously mundane and fascinating. Who would have thought that the town of Barchester could be so interesting, with the various machinations in its church goings-on? I have been giving my composition students a reading from a great piece of literature for each class period, and after watching this I decided to bring in a portion from a chapter of Barchester Towers. As the students read the passage, I heard one murmur, "I'm going to have to read this book." Score one for great literature!

Anyway, the story is a blast, plain and simple. And the film version is as close to perfect as (I think, at least) it can be. I should note for the record, however, that my husband objected strongly to the fact that this adaptation included FOUR WHOLE DISCS that I felt the need to watch in their entirety. (He could, of course, have gone to another room, but he decided to sit in and complain.) If you don't like Victorian literature that has been converted to FOUR WHOLE DISCS of film, you might not like this. I liked it, though, all the more because the story had some meaning for me. So, I'm going to stand by recommending it if you can get your hands on it. I don't, however, advise watching it until you have read at least Barchester Towers, because it will look like a lot of piffle. If you have read the book, though, go for it, because this adaptation is quite a bit of fun.

Book Review: The Dream of Scipio, by Iain Pears

Spanning three main characters in the same town over the course of three different eras, The Dream of Scipio is a complex, somewhat complicated story that is part historical fiction, part mystery, and part completely unique creature. And part of my own trouble with this book might have been that I was thoroughly distracted by work and life as I read it. So, I read it in bits and pieces and probably lost quite a bit along the way. As a result, my review might not be the best one out there, but I'm going to give it a stab.

The first of the characters -- historically speaking -- is the poet and philosopher Manlius Hippomanes (5th century AD) who is more of a pagan than a Christian but somehow manages to get himself appointed to the position of bishop in the town of Vaison, France. Manlius composes a collection of philosophical ideas that are later entitled The Dream of Scipio. Moving forward in history, there is Olivier de Noyens, a clerk under a powerful cardinal just as the plague is breaking out across Europe. Olivier came across a manuscript of Scipio and immediately falls under its spell, despite the clearly heretical views that are contained within it. Moving forward once again, Julien Barneuve is an academic in the era before the outbreak of World War II. He becomes something of an expert on Olivier de Noyens and, in turn, learns about Scipio (although it doesn't have quite the effect on him that it has on Olivier).

Additionally, each of these men has the influence of a woman in his life, although in none of the cases is she a wife. Manlius has the equally pagan philosopher Sophia; Olivier has his beloved Rebecca (who pretends to be a Jewess to protect herself from the very real accusation of the heresy she practices); Julien has Julia, a Jewish artist whom he loves for years and plans to marry until she is deported to a concentration camp.

In no way is this what I would call a happy story, nor does it ever really have any cheery moments. The story opens as it closes: with a fire that basically destroys the past along with the present (France, 1940s). In some ways, what is going to happen to each of the characters is fairly obvious from the start, and the reader is in for a story that remains something of a downer from start to finish. That doesn't make it any less worth reading: just be prepared to be moved by emotional struggles and grief rather than uplifted by happiness.

So, there's my review that might be more confusing than the book and might make the book sound too complicated to read. I don't want to discourage others from reading it, though, because this is a very beautifully constructed book and is one of Pears's more successful undertakings. It's worth the time -- more time than I had -- and it will give you considerable food for thought. Just keep your eyes open, because the story jumps around, the characters get confusing, and you can go from the 5th century to the 20th in no time at all!

Year of publication: 2003
Number of pages: 416

Art Study: Pensive Stretch

Art comes in all forms, so I'm going to indulge my own love for dance and post a ballet photo for this week's art study.

The dancer is Caroline Duprot (now with American Ballet Theatre), photographed by English National Ballet principal Daria Klimentova (who has also become quite a talented dance photographer in recent years).

Music: A Song of Humility for Ash Wednesday

Господи, помилуй: Gospodi, pomilui.

Lord, show mercy.

A shortened version of the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Art Study: The Penitent Magdalen

The Penitent Magdalen

Artist: Georges de La Tour (1593–1652)

Gallery Description: A sinner, perhaps a courtesan, Mary Magdalen was a witness of Christ who renounced the pleasures of the flesh for a life of penance and contemplation. She is shown with a mirror, symbol of vanity; a skull, emblem of mortality; and a candle, that may stand for spiritual enlightenment. The style of La Tour, a native of the duchy of Lorraine in eastern France, is much indebted to Caravaggesque painting. The contrast of candlelight and shadow, the pure geometry of form, and the meditative mood characterize the pictures for which he is chiefly famous.

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Derived from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Essay Challenge: Essays on Literature, by Umberto Eco

This is a fabulous read. I picked this gem up in the equally charming town of Marquette, and I'm glad I took the chance and bought it. I became an Eco fan after reading The Name of the Rose, and I was curious to see what Eco -- an early professor of semiotics -- had to say about literature as a study and the process of writing. I wasn't disappointed. Even in translation, Eco is clear, concise, and always thoughtful in his discussions. He is an exceptionally analytical writer, but he is also an exceptional writer, which means that he understands the point of writing: to communicate and to communicate effectively. (I have little respect for writers who choose just to show off their knowledge of big words and who seem to forget that they are actually supposed to say something that others can understand.)

This type of essay collection might fall under the category of specific tastes, but I don't want to discourage people from reading what is an excellent collection of writings on writing. Eco does go into a number of specifics that probably won't interest many, including even me. For example, his analysis of a French story, complete with a very complex map/timeline of overlapping events in the story lost my interest rather early. But other essays, such as his reading of the Paradiso and his discussion of his own writing process, are beautiful and fascinating. So, I do recommend this for anyone who enjoys Eco and might like to read a little more about him as a scholar and a novelist.

A few quotes that I liked:

From "A Portrait of the Artist as a Bachelor" (in context, the quote is referring to The Book of Kells)

As we look, the page never sits still, but seems to create its own life: there are no reference points, everything is mixed up with everything else. The Book of Kells is Proteus's realm...It is the lucid vertigo of a language that is trying to redefine the world while it redefines itself in the full knowledge that, in an age that is still uncertain, the key to the revelation of the world can be found not in the straight line but only in the labyrinth.

From "Between La Mancha and Babel"

Without language there would be no ideas, but a mere stream of experience that has not been processed or thought about.

From "On Symbolism"

Devoid of a God we allude to, we seek allegories everywhere, mysterious connections between the stabbing of two girls (when statistics tell us that to find two murders with similarities in the space of ten years is absolutely normal), short circuits flashing in the dull texture of everyday life.

From "How I Write"

One writes only for a reader. Whoever says he writes only for himself is not necessarily lying. It is just that he is frighteningly atheistic. Even from a rigorously secular point of view. Unhappy and desperate the writer who cannot address a future reader.

Year of publication: 2002
Number of pages: 334

More Posts on the Way

I suspect that I spend as much time blogging about how I'm too busy to blog as I do blogging about books and such...but I really do plan to blog soon.

Several interesting book posts on the way. I really do mean it.

Music: Bonny Portmore, by Loreena McKennitt

My love for Lorenna McKennitt has me currently entranced by this song. Something about the phrase "ornamental tree" captures my fascination.