More Confession and A Little Obsession

Dear Reader, I hope Professor J is enjoying his vacation and getting all the reading done he hopes to. I have to confess that I too have several books in waiting to have their worthiness determined. All book lovers must. I doubt we'll hear from our vacationing friend for a while as my guess is that he is relishing being "disconnected." So onto my response, which I'll break up so you don't feel that you've been abandoned.

Dearest Unwound (hopefully) One,

When I read this book again I was struck by the amount of truly gut wrenching vignettes included about the war. When you remember the book it isn't what you think of, but the wonderful characters instead and the way their charm and the simplicity and beauty of the pastoral setting seep into your heart.

Isola and Juliet's correspondence in regards to the Brontes did just what so many books do which is send me in search of more books.  Though I'd read the most famous works, I knew little about the family. Weren't they fascinatingly sad? Yet out of that sadness (and what we would clearly today call "dysfunction") came masterpieces!

 Something strikes me about that and your comment about Remy's statement concerning Elizabeth's heart. How often it seems that tragic circumstances and pain lead to greatness. Sometimes in action taken, other times in a powerful flow of creativity that is released. The power of conviction is often fiery enough to work for real change in an institution or a society.  Maybe something in adversity hones a spirit of determination that simply outlasts others. The biographies of great leaders as well as artistic legends are strewn with hardship and deprivation.

It makes one wonder what refinement of character is lost in our constant quest for sweetness and light. Ease. What has been lost to Xanex? What talents have gone un-excavated because our current culture would rather be numb than to feel all that there is to be felt? Is it possible that many great artists will never emerge because they will never be forced to find a way to cope?   It does seem that struggling with difficult circumstances can unleash something fierce in people that will not be kept down. So much good and inspiration come from pain yet none of us want to do the requisite suffering... The paradox of Elizabeth's heart that you point out on a broad scale. 

So as I say I've been reading up on the Brontes. Juliet was right; it is quite difficult to find much on Anne. Poor Anne. As Juliet says: "Lord knows how Anne managed to write any books at all, influenced by such a strain of religion as her Aunt Branwell possessed...Imagine preaching that God meant women to be Meek, Mild, and Gently Melacholic."  I don't know what version of the Bible Aunt Branwell was reading; I can't find those women in it anywhere. You can imagine how glad I am; I'd miss the mark by quite a bit. lol

Don't you think Auntie Glum and Dreary would have gotten on swimmingly with Adelaide? :) I loved the imagery involved in Juliet's guess at why Ms. Addison was the way she was, "...a maligant fairy at her christening."  No shortage of those it seems. :)

And this from Isola about why she so admired those Bronte girls: "I like stories of passionate encounters. I myself have never had one, but now I can picture one." Bless her heart. 

Next up: Just Juliet.