http://www.xenith.net/columns/philosophy-in-literatures-clothing-why-i-couldnt-finish-the-grapes-of-wrath/ digital literature and other nifty things. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:16:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.xenith.net/columns/philosophy-in-literatures-clothing-why-i-couldnt-finish-the-grapes-of-wrath/#comment-938 Patrick Nathan Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:34:27 +0000 http://www.xenith.net/?p=943#comment-938 It has been a while since I've read <em>Hard Times</em>, but looking back on it, I can see your point. And you hit the nail on the head quite squarely: it doesn't make for fun reading. I like to be surprised. I like to discover things myself. I like to make my own connections. I think there's far more artistry in subtlety. It has been a while since I’ve read Hard Times, but looking back on it, I can see your point. And you hit the nail on the head quite squarely: it doesn’t make for fun reading. I like to be surprised. I like to discover things myself. I like to make my own connections. I think there’s far more artistry in subtlety.

]]> http://www.xenith.net/columns/philosophy-in-literatures-clothing-why-i-couldnt-finish-the-grapes-of-wrath/#comment-937 Phoebe Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:45:55 +0000 http://www.xenith.net/?p=943#comment-937 That was exactly my experience with Grapes of Wrath- I couldn't shake the feeling as I was reading it that Steinback was breathing down my neck, waiting to argue me into submission if I disagreed with the slightest thing he had to say. Same with Hard Times by Charles Dickens, which is a shame, because there's so much excellent prose in the novel. But the characters, and the story, it seemed, are besides the point, which doesn't make for very fun reading. That was exactly my experience with Grapes of Wrath- I couldn’t shake the feeling as I was reading it that Steinback was breathing down my neck, waiting to argue me into submission if I disagreed with the slightest thing he had to say. Same with Hard Times by Charles Dickens, which is a shame, because there’s so much excellent prose in the novel. But the characters, and the story, it seemed, are besides the point, which doesn’t make for very fun reading.

]]> http://www.xenith.net/columns/philosophy-in-literatures-clothing-why-i-couldnt-finish-the-grapes-of-wrath/#comment-920 R. Kyle Norris Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:36:47 +0000 http://www.xenith.net/?p=943#comment-920 I've never read The Grapes of Wrath, but i've read For Us, The Living, by Heinlein. The first novel he ever wrote, and the last that was ever published (posthumously) . Essentially, the whole thing was a diatribe of how the he thought the world should work socially and economically. He through in an extremely thin plot of a man who somehow traveled through time to this utopian future. In his later novels he did learn to incorporate his ideas without beating one over the head with them, and as i had read those other novels first, i was already familiar with these ideas. And i did enjoy it, not for any literary merit, but as an easily read manifesto of sorts. I’ve never read The Grapes of Wrath, but i’ve read For Us, The Living, by Heinlein. The first novel he ever wrote, and the last that was ever published (posthumously) . Essentially, the whole thing was a diatribe of how the he thought the world should work socially and economically. He through in an extremely thin plot of a man who somehow traveled through time to this utopian future.
In his later novels he did learn to incorporate his ideas without beating one over the head with them, and as i had read those other novels first, i was already familiar with these ideas. And i did enjoy it, not for any literary merit, but as an easily read manifesto of sorts.

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