I decided last night to hold off on starting First Among Sequels and finished Seduction and Betrayal. Wonderful essays all. Not only do I want to now read Jane Carlyle’s letters but I want to read all of Ibsen’s plays, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf. I also want to learn more about Zelda Fitzgerald, and read Dorothy Wordsworth’s jounrals. A dangerous book, Seduction and Betrayal.
I thought you might like some tidbits from the essays. About Zelda who wanted so much to have work of her own and tried writing, dancing and painting:
If she had not been married to Fitzgerald her “ambition” would not have presented itself as a “competition.” Perhaps the result would have been the same; it would have been looked at differently, however.
About Sylvia Plath:
There is nothing of mystical and schizophrenic vagueness about her. No dreamy loss of connection, no manic slackness, impatience, and lack of poetic judgment. She is, instead, all strength, ego, drive, endurance–and yet madly concentrated somehow, perplexing. Disgust is very strong in her nature, but she faces things with a classical fierceness and never loses dignity. That is why her vision is more powerful and more pure than the loose abandon of other poets of her period.
About Virginia Woolf:
The novels are beautiful; the language is rich and pure, and you are always, with her, aware of genius, of gifts extraordinary and original. Our emotions are moved, at least some of our emotions are moved, often powerfully. And yet in a sense her novels aren’t interesting. This is the paradox of her work, part of the risk of setting a goal in fiction, having an idea about it, and abstract idea. Part of the risk also of the bravest and most daring insistence that she would make something new.
About Dorothy Wordsworth:
For him [Wordsworth] the wanderings, the hikes, gave a depth of scenery into which he poured meaning, philosophy, morality. For Dorothy they were like moments of love, pure sensation that held the meaning of her life without clearly telling her what that meaning was.
The concluding essay in the book is the titular essay. In it Hardwick discusses sexual seduction and betrayal in novels like The Scarlet Letter, Tess, Adam Bede, and Clarissa. I’ve marked lots of passages about Clarissa, she has many interesting things to say about the novel. I will same them for when I am done actually reading it and re-read the section of the essay in which she talks about it. Her conclusion at the end of the essay, however, is an intriguing one:
Sex can no longer be the germ, the seed of fiction. Sex is an episode, most properly conveyed in an episodic manner, quickly, often ironically. It is a bursting forth of only one of the cells in the body of the omnipotent “I,” the one who hopes by concentration of tone and voice to utter the sound of reality. Process is not implacable; mutation is the expedient of the future, and its exhilaration too.
I’ll be thinking about this idea for sometime, wondering if it is true or not.
Seduction and Betrayal is a fantastic book. I recommend it to everyone, even if you don’t generally like reading criticism. Hardwick is less like a critic and more like a friendly college professor chatting with you about literature over a cup of coffee. I can hardly wait to read her novel Sleepless Nights. But first, it’s Thursday Next who will get my attention.
I’m jealous that you have got First Among Sequels already! I haven’t even seen it in the shops here yet!
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The Zelda Fitzgerald was my favourite, primarily because I knew less about her than any of the others who were covered. I never though I’d enjoy a whole collection of critical essays until I bought that book on a whim. I figured if anyone could make me like such a thing it would by NYRB classics. So glad you enjoyed it too!
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After what you and Imani has to say about “Seduction and Betrayal” – I’m sold on the book. Thanks. π
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I bought Seduction and Betrayal after you first posted about it, and I’m looking forward to reading it even more now. Thanks!
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Stefanie, you are reading some great stuff.
If you are anything like me, you want another four… no… SIX lifetimes to get through HALF of what you want to explore, in the world of literature alone, am I right?
I have just read Hitchens, and now I am reading Dawkins, and I am thinking… “Oh God… [or Whoever…] please let me live twice as long as half of what I want to read?”
— Cip
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on similar subject– may be Lust in Translation might interest your read.
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Ok, I am completely sold. I’m off to order this book right now; it sounds wonderful.
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Thanks for those quotations — I loved every one of them! I agree with the other commenters — I must get this book.
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I’m particularly intrigued by that quote about Plath, since, yes, I’ve always been inclined to view her as ‘mystically vague’ and ‘maniacal’. This is probably more a result of my favouring Ted Hughes than of disliking Plath in a real sense – perhaps Hardwick will help me re-evaluate her as a poet (although litlove already went a good long way with her excellent post on her)? I hope so. I already popped onto Amazon and ordered a copy. π
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I read your blog regularly and enjoy it very much. I find that quote about V Woolf so frustrating to read. Hardwick, while admitting admiration for her books, at the same time contends that they’re not about anything. How can that be said? The Waves tells the life stories of multiple characters as World War I murders romanticism, Mrs. Dalloway tells of a day in the life of a woman who fights for her life not to be empty….on and on. If they don’t tell stories this critic wants to hear, that’s one thing and she should say so. But they’re certainly not about nothing. Secondly, Woolf may have set out to do something new, but not for the sake of being new or merely being interesting. She set out to write stories in a new way because the old did not reflect how she experienced life. She wished to be true to her experience of life, and did her job as an artist by trying to find a way to express that, that mission was anything but abstract. It was as concrete as could be.
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I’m definitely interested in this one and will try to find a copy this week. It just sounds wonderful.
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What?! First Among Sequels is out now? How did I miss that one? Do you have an advance copy of something because Borders.com says it isn’t being released until July 24? Anxious inquiring minds want to know. π
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Marg, the book is not in the shops yet. It pays to have a husband in the book biz.
Imani, Zelda was an interesting essay. I don’t know much about her but I always heard negative things, the F. Scott and Hemingway propaganda. She seems like she was an interesting woman however mentally ill she really was. With a different husband perhaps she wouldn’t have been as ill.
Dark Orpheus, you’re welcome. It really is a good little book.
Gentle Reader, I hope you enjoy the book!
Cip, I wish for immortality so I can read all the books I am interested in. Nothing less will do!
Yuva, thanks for the suggestion, I’ll be sure to check it out!
Litlove, I feel confident that you will enjoy the book. It is something I can imagine you writing.
Dorothy, at the very least you need to read the essay on your namesake!
Victoria, I’m with you on viewing Plath as maniacal, it is difficult not to even if you don’t side with Hughes.
Ted, thanks and thanks for you comment. Woolf’s novel are very much in the heads of the characters, this is not to say that they aren’t about anything, that nothing happens, but I think what hardwick might be getting at in the quote is that nothing we think of as a traditional plotline happens in Woolf. Beautiful description of Mrs Dalloway btw. I agree with youon your second point wholeheartedly.
Verbivore, I hope you find a copy and enjoy!
J.S. First Among Sequels is not out yet. I have an adance copy and consider myself a very lucky girl π
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Yes, I see your point.
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I have this checked out from the library. I want to read it…I wonder how many times I can renew…or I could buy it, what a great excuse.
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