#I like classical literature? you think I should DIE?

[communistkenobi]

reading orientalism some more and I like that the introduction is mostly Said listing all the caveats to his thesis. like for pages and pages he’s like I’m NOT saying this or this or this so don’t respond to me like I said any of that shit. I love when academics preface their work with “here are all the reasons why you’re not allowed to get mad at me”

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

A thousand times yes! This gave me so much to think about. Specifically, your point about how his name represents his old self/identity is very interesting to me, given what we see from him with Cosette towards the end of the novel.

I find it striking that Valjean tells Cosette to refer to him as "Monsieur Jean," out of all things. It makes sense that, because of his conversation with Marius and their belief that he must be cut out of Cosette's life, he wouldn't allow her to call him "Father." And, even though he literally has a full, sobbing breakdown in front of Marius when it seems like Cosette will find out about his past (the only time we see him cry in front of someone else, I'm pretty sure?), he doesn't go by Fauchelevent to her. Cosette likely would've found that less unusual, since we see her refer to him as "my father Fauchelevent" quite naturally, and it would make sense that Valjean would want to minimize her suspicions. But his great denied desire, as he expresses to Marius, is to be a part of a family; that's exactly what he felt he couldn't do as Fauchelevent. Keeping that name would mean he would always be worried that "the mask would suddenly be torn away," and he would be driven out as a monster. He wants to be accepted and loved for who he truly is, and while this isn't by any means complete honesty, in confessing to Marius and dropping the alias with Cosette, maybe he feels a little closer to what he's longed for.

There's also the social and metatextual significance of having Cosette call him "Monsieur Jean." First, in dropping his alias (which supplied Cosette's maiden name), he further severs any perceptible social tie between the two of them. "Jean," as you mentioned above, is a homonym of gens, which is fitting, since JVJ views himself as having become "just another person" to Cosette. And yet, calling him by his first name indicates some level of familiarity; social norms at the time meant that formal address used the last name. "Monsieur Jean" is oddly straddling the line between distant and personal (as Valjean himself is attempting to do).

Maybe most interesting of all is that, as many have noticed, Hugo almost exclusively refers to JVJ by his full name, Jean Valjean. This is one of the only instances in which the last name is dropped, which is part of why it stood out so much on my readthrough. It feels noticably more intimate, but also incomplete. And I think it ties into what (as you mentioned above) his last name means: "voilà Jean/gens": "behold the man." He's not ready for Cosette to know the full truth about who he is, so narratively, it's fitting that the withheld last name (which would allow her to learn about his past) is one which itself references a full and raw perception. It was first used of the suffering Christ, naked and humiliated and condemned and innocent; Valjean, in his fear and self-loathing, does not allow that revelation of himself.

Les Mis Hidden Name Meanings: Jean Valjean

Every Les Mis character’s name is either a pun or has some deep symbolic meaning– or both at once! Jean Valjean’s name has a ton of layers so let’s dive in.

When we’re first introduced to him, Hugo tells us that his name is quote “a contraction of voilà Jean, or “here is Jean.”” We’re told that he was named after his father, and that his family name probably began as a nickname.

The word “Jean” in french sounds like the word “gens,” which means “people.” So his last name is a pun meant to make you think “viola les gens”/ “here are people.”

The most obvious layer to his name is that Jean Valjean is basically John Doe. He is the anonymous Everyman. His sister’s name is Jeanne, so she’s basically Jane Doe. They aren’t special or exceptional or unusual; they’re just behold! The regular people.

In fact his name is so common-sounding that it's a plot point. Champmathieu, the man who is mistaken for Jean Valjean, has a name that the police connect with his. Javert theorizes that "Champ" is a version of "Jean" in a specific accent, while Mathieu was actually Jean Valjean's sister's maiden name. ("Champ" is also the French word for "field.") The fact that Jean Valjean is a peasant everyman makes it easy for others in his position to be conflated with him.

But the other layer is that this is all an elaborate pun biblical reference!

When Pontius Pilate presents a bound Jesus Christ to the crowd before his crucifixion, he says the words “ecce homo” or “Here is the man!”/”behold the man!”

“Voila Jean” or “here is Jean!”/”behold Jean!” is meant to be a reference to that.

During his death scene Jean Voila-Jean even references the “Ecce homo” line explicitly, gesturing at a crucifix and saying:

“Voilà le grand martyr.”

Which Isabel Hapgood translates as “behold the great martyr.”

At another point in the same scene Marius says to Cosette:

“He has sacrificed himself. Viola l’Homme. Behold the man.”

But more references to that biblical moment appear throughout the novel; Jean Valjean is associated with it constantly, all the time. It’s one of his defining biblical allusions. He’ll be trying to live anonymously, or under an alias– and then suddenly his true name and criminal past will be revealed, he’ll be revealed to be ‘the man,’ and some great horrible act of martyrdom will follow.

Sometimes Jean Valjean is the one revealing his own identity, but sometimes Inspector Javert is put into the role of Pontius Pilate. Javert himself explicitly makes that comparison– Jean Valjean as Jesus, Javert as Pontius Pilate– when he’s contemplating suicide.

And this ties into one of the largest differences between the book and the stage musical.

In the musical, “prisoner 24601” is the name that represents Jean Valjean’s dehumanization–while “Jean Valjean” is the name he uses while standing up for his own humanity. He will be called 24601, and proudly declare that “my name is Jean Valjean” to assert he’s still a person.

And while this is a great storytelling choice, it’s almost the opposite of how the name “Jean Valjean” is handled in the book.

Because in the book…. Jean Valjean IS the name that dehumanizes him. Jean Valjean is the name that he’s running from. The name that Javert uses when he’s insulting him, the name that bigots use when they’re threatening him, the name that ignorant people use when they’re mocking him – it’s not 24601, it’s Jean Valjean.

And there’s a special kind of agony to that.

The name that is being used to torture, humiliate, and dehumanize him isn’t 24601– it’s his name.

He thinks of it as a “fatal name,” as a punishment. Living under that name is living in hell. When Jean Valjean is living under one of his aliases, concealing his identity, he thinks:

That which he had always feared most of all in his hours of self-communion, during his sleepless nights, was to ever hear that name {jean Valjean] pronounced; he had said to himself, that that would be the end of all things for him; that on the day when that name made its reappearance it would cause his new life to vanish from about him, and—who knows?—perhaps even his new soul from within him.

It’s no wonder that he ends up internalizing the way society views him, and developing so much fear and hatred of himself. He’s grown to see his name as just….well, ecce homo, behold the man. His name is just the two words people say before they violently punish him.

Names and namelessness are a major theme in Les Mis, and he’s the character who has the most complex relationship with his own names. He has a legal name, but it’s used to torture him, and he has a series of false names he uses to escape torture.

If I were to describe Jean Valjean– one of the most complex characters in all of literature, in one word, that word would be “grief.”

The criminal justice system takes everything from him, including things he wasn’t aware he was able to lose. His name, the last connection he had to his family and his old identity, gets warped into this thing needs to view with fear and horror. The thing society despises isn’t 24601, isn’t a number they’ve placed on him – the thing they despise is Jean Valjean, some intrinsic inherent part of himself. He isn’t hated for what he did, he’s hated for what he is, and that is something he can never escape.

{But speaking of complexity we’ve actually barely scratched the surface of how Jean Valjean reacts to names, because he spends most of the novel living under a series of nicknames aliases. And guess what! Each of these names also has some elaborate symbolic meaning! If you’re interested in more posts covering his different aliases, feel free to leave a comment in the replies!}

[thanks for reading! For more in-depth analysis, check out the @lesmisletters readalong or join our discord server!]

[intermundia]

in general, i think engaging with star wars from a place of realpolitik and political analysis is a fun thought exercise, especially with the canon and legends lore fleshing out the world a bit beyond lucas's archetypal story. there's a whole swath of authors who have written books and comics for adults that all take the premises of the movies seriously, the work of james luceno jumps to mind, so you can choose to dig into that lore and take it seriously as well.

the politics of the saga are related to but greatly simplified from our reality, and there is much that can be said about the way that the galaxy is designed, from george's viet cong inspired rebellion to his prequels era citizens united and bush era executive overreach. i think it's a mistake to take the jedi's role in government too seriously, as they are kind of a hand-wavy organized militia answerable to the legislative branch (and later executive during the war).

they're both a symbol of how the system works at its best and its worst. under the flourishing galactic republic, they're ideal ambassadors of peacetime diplomacy, whose arrival at a conflict resolves it using negotiation and limited force, before those conflicts sprouted into inter-system military engagement. but under sidious, they're arguably willingly misused to enforce peace on a wider scale, due to sidious's design of breaking the galaxy with a civil war.

i see many, many takes that say that the jedi should not be involved in politics at all, but i really think that's missing the point. you can take how they are being used as like a health test of the body politic, they're an epiphenomenon dependent on the republic as a whole. by the era of the prequels, they were a tool of an age that no longer existed, a more civilized one, where conflict could be resolved locally.

should they not have participated? as george has said many times, they were in a bind. would you act to save civilian lives from an invading army of droids who didn't care for or actively sought collateral damage? could you live with yourself if you had the power to help but did not? it was doomed from the beginning, they were in a trap and about to die, but is it better to fight or run away?

anyway, i got slightly off topic. engaging with star wars politically can be a fun and meaningful exercise, which even academics are not immune from the lure. here are a few articles that i enjoyed reading, if anyone is interested:

Charles, M. B. (2015). Remembering and restoring the republic: Star wars and Rome. Classical World, 108(2), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.1353/clw.2015.0014 (link) Conor Casey & David Kenny (2021): How Liberty Dies in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Star Wars, Democratic Decay, and Weak Executives, Law & Literature, DOI: 10.1080/1535685X.2021.1991610 (link) Rackaway, C. (2020). Star Wars: The Fascism Awakens: Representation and its Failure from the Weimar Republic to the Galactic Senate. Studies in the Social Sciences, 1(1), 7-22 (link)

have at them and enjoy :)

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP EXCHANGE — @soleilonthesun

Your match is...

— Yukimiya Kenyu

✦ Yes, you can steal Yukimiya.

✦ My dear dumb bunny…

✦ The answer was as clear as day when I read through your info.

✦ (Actually, there was someone else first, but Yukimiya quickly made it obvious who was the right match.)

✦ Who's more perfect for you than our national glasses-wearing model?

✦ No one.

✦ It all really came down to how you described what you dislike in others. That ruled out a lot of people from Blue Lock.

✦ Specifically: "I also don't like toxic, arrogant people or people who are disrespectful to me. I can also say that I don't like people who emotionally manipulate others. Irresponsible, unfriendly, and also insult a lot." Okay, let's just eliminate a few characters right there, Suo, yeah?

✦ I think IRL, Yukimiya is probably ideal for you. He's reliable, responsible, intelligent, knows when to speak up or stay quiet, has nerves of steel, and just the right amount of arrogance to unnerve his opponents. In short, he's a very balanced character.

✦ I believe those who truly know they're good don't need to announce it. That's why Yukimiya is both one of the most discreet and one of the most talented characters on the roster.

✦ He has what it takes to bring a balanced relationship to you. I think your highly creative, scattered, and idealistic nature is a great match for his more measured, thoughtful, and strategic side.

✦ Anyway, I'm convinced a couple should complement each other, not be made of two overly similar people.

✦ "I'm that person who doesn't give up on her dreams even if I break her leg." That's a philosophy Yukimiya would resonate with, in my opinion. In his case, it's his vision, which is his main concern in his pursuit to be world number one. But both of you are die-hard pursuers of your passions, relentless even when life throws what seem like insurmountable obstacles at you. It's a big strength you share.

✦ "I can also be a person who stays at home." I tend to think Yukimiya goes out for obligations and social conventions but is introspective at heart. He likes and needs his moments of peace, of solitude. He understands well the desire to stay in.

✦ In the end, it's funny because you're both complementary but also share common traits, like the frustration you feel if you can't do something exactly the way you want.

✦ "His type is someone who laughs a lot and will always watch over him." I can see you excelling at that. Making him laugh, even when you weren't necessarily joking to start with. Your somewhat hyper, imaginative, and talkative nature brings him regular smiles. I don't see him being the type to constantly ask about your life or to get to know you because he understands that you talk enough that he learns everything without needing to ask. Let's be clear: with other people, that might annoy him. But not with you. In fact, it amuses him.

✦ "He feels happy when someone cheers for him warmly." Dumb bunny, best cheerleader of the year :) I see you attending all his games, even his training sessions, bringing a cool towel or water to refresh him.

✦ "I really like responsible people, with a good personality and education." Yes. That's Yukimiya in a nutshell.

✦ "I also listen to musicals like Phantom of the Opera or Hamilton." I think his tastes are both accessible and refined. With a bit of persuasion, you could easily bring him to musicals or similar events.

✦ "Movies from the 50s, 90s, and 2000s, even 2010s." Same here. Culturally, I don't see him liking just anything but being well-versed in the classics and enjoying watching old black-and-white films. It's kind of his guilty pleasure in the evenings, and he's happy to have found someone who shares this somewhat niche passion.

✦ "His favorite subjects are science, Japanese literature, and PE." I mention this because I know you love to read. To me, Yukimiya is more about documentaries and history, interested in major events and famous figures. From what I've seen of you talking about history, the two of you could have very long conversations. I'm convinced his knowledge of popular culture is extensive. We even know he speaks and understands German, so his knowledge is definitely broad.

✦ "I'm supposed to have the language of communication, assertive words (and that's true) but I also like to touch and hug the people I love with all my heart, or give them thoughtful and detailed gifts for them. I think we all have the language of love. [AND COMMUNICATION TOO] — it's important, and with that I fulfill two more languages like: spending time with my loved ones and helping them if they need help."

✦ I believe the love language that resonates most with Yukimiya is words of affirmation. It's the validation of his quality as a forward on the field. That his disability won't be what stops him from reaching his goal. On his part, I think he'd be good with physical contact. There's always some kind of distance between Yukimiya and others; for the person who matters, I believe he invests himself seriously and long-term. This shows up a lot in affectionate gestures, like holding hands in public or naturally embracing you.

✦ He likes spring, blossoms, ephemeral things. In fact, he loves the beauty of things that don't last, and I can easily picture him watching a landscape while you're busy drawing. The Tsuruoka Spring Festival is a must for you two. It's one of your favorite annual outings.

✦ I glanced at the moodboard you sent me for your appearance. Artist and model couple, basically. And it's funny because you never show what you look like, even with Picrews or artistic representations. There's maybe a part of you that's afraid to show yourself or wants to stay private. I even detect a tendency to go all-in but also a desire to hold back because there's a sense of discomfort somewhere. In other words: there's a fear of commitment.

✦ I'm explaining through the following lines because it all makes sense.

✦ No one has ever sent me their full natal chart before, so I'm taking this chance to highlight details that stood out.

✦ Leo stellium. That's the first thing. A stellium means having more than three planets in the same house: for you, that's the Sun, Lilith, Mercury, and Saturn in your Leo house. These four planets together suggest a solar personality capable of attracting others around you. There's a definite need to be seen and recognized, along with pressure to live up to expectations. There's also a desire to stand out, which shows in your more unique interests.

✦ Neptune and Mars conflict. Mars in Taurus seeks stability and pragmatism, which can clash with your Neptune in Aquarius, tied to idealism and dreams of innovation. This combination has probably led you to escape reality through procrastination many times, with Neptune dulling Mars with its dreams and idealism. Neptune manifests in your life through art, giving form to your ideals and daydreams. Mars brings rationality to your journey, pushing you to advance step by step with caution rather than making a drastic change in pursuit of a dream that's overly embellished.

✦ These two aspects reflect the issue of commitment: "I want to, but at the same time, I don't." It's about finding balance, and that's why these details in your chart seem important to note—they probably represent challenges you experience daily, and after speaking with you at length, I can confirm these hypotheses of ambivalence.

✦ The good news is that Yukimiya is the stable pillar in your life :) It's easier to move forward with a reliable anchor than to wander aimlessly. Yukimiya has a dream, but he's not passive. That's what inspires you and helps you achieve your own goals.

A word about your match: I first thought of Isagi because he's the epitome of a balanced guy who respects everyone. But something was missing. The doubt didn't last, though. Yukimiya quickly took the upper hand in this matchup. Favorite character or not, the truth always wins.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | INTERESTED IN A MATCHUP EXCHANGE? CHECK THIS.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #19 – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the third book I’ve picked up as part of my whole aspirational ‘read a piece of non-SFF capital-l Literature every month’ New Years resolution. Of those three, it is the second I opened only to discover it actually is science fiction and/or fantasy after all. Which is just a very funny thing to happen twice, and also meant the book was significantly less outside my comfort zone than I’d expected. Which did make it quite a pleasant read.

The story follows Klara, an AF (Artificial Friend, a companion robot for children) in a broadly sketched and mildly dystopian future America. At first it just follows her life in the shop where she’s kept, observing the world around her and interacting with the store manager and the other AFs, but the meat of the book is her life with the family who buys her. Over time you learn that Josie, her child, suffers from severe and increasing health issues as a consequence of being ‘lifted’ (genetically enhanced, in some unclear way) in the womb. Klara, being solar-powered and having quietly developed a one-robot religion underpinned by a firm belief in the power and benevolence of Mr. Sun (and a moral opposition to Pollution, which obscures and drives him away) does her best to invoke his help in nourishing and restoring Josie. At the same time, she learns that her job is not just to comfort Josie but, should she die, to be her mother’s replacement goldfish and imitate her perfectly.

The setting is broadly sketched and never really exposited upon – it’s just not something Klara is particularly interested in – but it’s a very modern sort of dystopia. Much of the populace, even among the American professional elite, have been left ‘post-employed’ by robotic automation. The remaining meritocratic elite have embraced novel and risky genetic enhancements for their children, as the only possible way of ensuring they get into a good school and one of the few good careers left. There are fascist militia compounds off in the distance somewhere. The overall feeling is that of a society dimly aware it’s midway through collapsing, but with no ideas of how to arrest its fall. But since Klara has no interest at all in either politics or economics, we only see this as it directly intrudes upon the story, with nary a lecture or manifesto to be seen.

I’ve only ever read one other book by Ishiguro, so I really don’t know how much this generalizes, but the similarities to Never Let Me Go really were striking. Both books are set in really rather horrifying societies, but portrayed in an utterly normalized way by someone who never even thinks to question the real rules they live under. Which is even more striking because in both cases the protagonist is seen by society as only quasi-human – like a person, but existing only in relation to and for the benefit of the people who really matter. And in both cases the story follows the protagonist who lives their life moving through the role they were made for without ever really resisting it, let alone changing it. Not that the roles of ‘friend to sick child’ and ‘mandatory organ donor’ are exactly comparable but, you know.

A definition I’ve always kind of liked for what makes literary fiction, well, literary is that it’s as or more concerned with the beauty and presentation of its prose than it is on the information the prose is conveying. Not at all true in terms of how the term’s actually used (genre is marketing), but it works for me, and lets this book count as literature quite handily. The whole story is told quite tightly from Klara’s point of view, and it’s a pleasure to read. Even if it took me more than a few pages to really understand how she described scenes, always foregrounding the ways they were divided by grids or patterns of the sun’s light.

Portraying the normal human society through the eyes of a naive and somewhat alien narrator to get away without explaining everything is a classic sci fi trope for a reason, but it’s overall used really well here as well.

I’m still not entirely sure how to interpret the sudden intrusion of magical realism with the ending. But otherwise, really quite a good read.

[snaggletoothedbastard]

So I'm having thoughts about LOTR. Specifically the ending. And the fanfiction that rewrites the ending. Bear with me.

So we all know that LOTR ends with Frodo leaving Middle Earth and going to the Undying Lands, right. And we all know that he does this because all the events of the story have had such an impact on him that they've left him quite traumatised and not really able to live life the way he used to. And we can probably all guess that this is a reflection of how Tolkien may have thought about his trauma after fighting in the First World War.

The ending makes sense considering the time the book was written, because in the 1940's and 50's, people didn't know as much about mental health and disability as they do now, and there weren't as many ways to help people manage disabilities other than institutionalising them or like. Giving them cocaine or something idk. So it's reasonable to assume that because Tolkien didn't see many ways that people could live with disabilities and be happy, he couldn't write them into LOTR and instead basically just put Frodo in Middle Earth's equivalent of Heaven and said "there you go, you're all better now".

I like this as a sort of tragic ending. I mean, you can't deny that someone being so drastically changed by an experience means they can't enjoy the things they grew up with is pretty tragic. The ending does make sense. But I kind of hate it.

I don't think it was written badly or anything, and I'm not trying to dismiss Tolkien's experiences that influenced this ending. My issue with it is that, when you look at it through a modern lens, it has vaguely ableist connotations. Specifically the idea that disabled people (Frodo) can't live full lives and be happy in the real world (Middle Earth) and can therefore only be happy when they're "cured" or when they die and go to Heaven (the Undying Lands).

Now obviously LOTR is an old book and it's important to consider the time it was created when analysing it, as you would do with any other piece of classic literature. A lot of old books have some outdated language and concepts in them, simply because that was normal back then. And until very recently, we probably wouldn't have thought the ending of LOTR was in any way problematic. And it might not have been, because it's not really the fact that Tolkien wrote that ending that's an issue; it's the fact that the way the world worked back then made it near impossible to even think about any other ending.

Since the book was written, though, there have been a lot of advancements in science and research into disabilities, and there are now much more effective ways to treat and manage them. There's medication and therapy for physical and mental issues, and there are lots of accommodations that we can and should put in place to make life easier for everyone. Back in the 1940's, Tolkien wouldn't have had these things, and therefore didn't consider them to be options when writing about what happens to Frodo at the end of the story. But now, we do have them, and it's this progress that has discredited the idea that disabled people can't be happy in the real world, and subsequently made LOTR's ending seem outdated by today's standards.

Now this is where the fanfiction comes in.

LOTR readers these days, who are aware of the progress we've made as a society and the new ways people view and treat minorities, often write fanfiction that puts things into Tolkien's universe that wouldn't have otherwise been there because of when the books were written, from openly queer characters to characters living good, happy lives with disabilities. And I think this is a good thing and it's really nice to see, especially in regards to Frodo's disability. I like seeing people work out how he might accommodate himself in the world of Middle Earth, and how the other characters would help him with that. I like that sometimes people have to get creative when figuring out how he would cope with trauma and chronic pain, because obviously Middle Earth doesn't have a lot of the things we have in the real world.

I like that we can finally give Frodo a chance to recover in a more realistic way than just sending him to the afterlife. I like that we can finally allow him to live.

A lot of Tolkien purists complain about new adaptations and fanfiction because "it's not what Tolkien wrote so he wouldn't like it". First of all, why do we still care about the opinions of a man who's been dead for over fifty years? What are you going to do, summon his ghost to haunt all the fanfic writers? Hold a seance to find out exactly what he thinks? Good luck with that.

Second of all, I honestly believe this is something he would approve of. He went on living after the First World War, but he didn't get to live with the disability accommodations we have today. And because he didn't, neither did Frodo. We can't give Tolkien the life many disabled people have now, but we can give it to his tragic hero. We can make his story a little less tragic. And if Tolkien was here now, of all the tropes we're using in LOTR fanfiction, it wouldn't surprise me if "Frodo stays in the Shire" is one he could get behind.

[katherinakaina]

🧡🖤💀

for pathologic ofc

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

I have a hard time assessing what is popular. As far as I can tell, anything you’d call a theory is rather unpopular around here. Most people just go with the text and take all the characters at their word. Which honestly baffles me, because the game warns you every chance it gets that everybody’s lying to you all the time.

For example, most people seem to think Aglaya is sincerely in love with Artemy or the player. And, strictly speaking, it doesn’t really change anything whether her feelings are genuine or she’s just manipulating either him or you directly. BUT I feel strongly that her being a master manipulator and all around heartless bitch makes for a better character. Maybe I just find love and affection less interesting than cunning and ambition – especially in women. But when a character is introduced like ‘oh, she’s devilishly smart, she’ll achieve her goals no matter what, she’ll make you do her bidding and you won’t even know it, every thought you have in your head was planted there by her on purpose’ I am going to assume she had you all fooled, sorry.

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

Lara Ravel. She has a very particular brand of darkness that nobody seems to be talking about. Her deal is that she wants to be a good person. That’s why she always tries to sign up for all these humanitarian efforts like House of the Living, Isolation Ward, testing medicine, working at the Hospital or having water delivered to her house in p2. She romanticizes the idea of being a hero, a beacon of light, of giving away everything she can. “Lara reads too much classic literature” as Daniil puts it. The problem is, she tries. Doesn’t actually go through with any of it. Because she’s a coward.

Bachelor: Are you that afraid of death?

Lara Ravel: Utterly…

She says this on day 10. After you’ve seen her trying to involve herself in events and put herself in danger so many times. After she talks big talk about how she’d totally go and kill Alexander Block. And yet she always lets the circumstances stop her. And now you know why.

Is this too understandable to be a moral failing? People seem to think worse about Daniil for even considering fleeing the town. Or maybe you are mad at us americans for not going against armed police more often to stop a genocide. Or at russians for not overthrowing our warmongering regime yet. Whatever it is, sometimes people should risk their lives. Extraordinary things won’t be achieved without extraordinary effort.

Anyway, I think Lara is my favourite bound. I honestly want to write a separate post about her, especially her p2 story, because it has interesting things added there. Her story is probably the most well written in general, thematically consistent and human. And just plain relatable. We all wish we were Danill Dankovsky. But we all are Lara Ravel. Too afraid of death to make anything of our lives.

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

If you think about it, it’s a bit of a plot hole that Aglaya doesn’t try to get rid of all the humbles to make the Changeling's ending impossible. She can’t just execute them without being too obvious about it, but she can plot and scheme to make that happen. Like, what if it was her who gave that gun to Anna on day 9? Would be fun if one of them actually died as the result of this whole thing or even all three of them. Something like that.

[hxhhasmysoul]

Im pretty sure that killua took gon saying ‘lets stay together’ on whale island as a agreement to commit shinju,because shinju is dying together so you can be together in the afterlife or in the next life,so does that mean that killua didnt want to die with gon out of his non platonic love for him but just because of that agreement,and it wasnt romantic??

Well, in Japanese "staying together forever" is a pretty romantic kind of declaration, even more than in a language like English. And in English it already is a more romantic kind of sentiment than a platonic one.

I mean it's not impossible for people to have a platonic relationship and tell each other such stuff. Of course I have no statistics on something like that, but I would imagine it's much more often expressed in a romantic context.

The way that Gon and Killua speak about/to each other has a lot of romantic subtext. Even if you don't know Japanese, these things sound pretty intense in English too.

I don't know that much about shinjuu, maybe it's formalised, but I personally don't think there has to be an agreement of both parties to a lovers' suicide. At least in the most classical western example of "Romeo and Juliette" there wasn't any such agreement. My biggest exposure to classical Japanese literature was to Heian nikki, I haven't really read that much of the later stuff, and I think shinjuu as a theme was popularised later. Still, I don't think that shinjuu is the same as a suicide pact, just for loved ones. But I might be wrong.

The word shinjuu in itself is very dramatic. 心中 means literally something like "through the heart", so whether romantic or not, the act seems to be very emotionally loaded, not just some agreement.

To me Killua's actions read more as him not wanting to live without Gon, so if Gon has entered a path to suicide, Killua wants to follow. Maybe so they can stay together forever, even in the next life? That dying together would make it easier for them to meet in the next life?

If anything, the shinjuu would be Killua defying Gon openly. When they were capture by Nobunaga, Gon openly tells Killua that only Gon's allowed to be suicidal.

If you prefer to think of the relationship between Gon and Killua as platonic, then you should. Togashi uses very romantically loaded language between them and for instance the anime creators have been outspoken about noticing that, but there has been no official statement of Togashi's that "yes, they are definitely in love with each other". So you can interpret it however makes HxH more fun for you.

[your-absent-father]

Hihi get it? Because Eve is my name-

Okay, in all seriousness, hi to old friends. It's been a while. Almost half a year it seems. I took too much pressure on this thing which should have been like a hobby and not... like work. We aren't getting paid to do this so I want my free time to be escapist and fun and not another reason to fall into previous habits.

I am rambling. The tldr is that I am on my rebrand and self care era after a year of disappointment after disappointment so I want to do something fun and have fun.

Who am I?

I am... people on here call me Eve, but I have juggling around new pen names I could start using, mainly because my last one I have used ever since middle school. So, you can call me Eve, but don't wonder if you see other names popping up like Alina Ellis and E.V May that are now the top runners up.

I am queer, probably more neurodivergent than diagnosed but I am too broke to get tested. I live in Finland. I am 22 years old and right now I am trying to get my papers to be a full time teacher's aid, and maybe apply to study to be a elementary school teacher.

I love K-pop, especially stray kids and (g)-idle, classical literature, media about problematic women doing problematic stuff, Taylor Jenkins Reed's historical books, pretending to watch indie movies even tough I would rather just watch musicals on loop.

As a writer, I love to write some good angst. I have recently tried to write some more positive stories and just have fun but I can have fun while writing some pain. I really love complex female lead that has that delicious female rage in her. I also almost always have at least one lesbian couple or/and wholesome guy with a girlboss woman.

my WIPs

Drafting

All the great love stories

Six love stories all different in nature. An evil sorceress waiting for her turn in the steak falling in love with her guard. Cabaret performer seducing the police officer and getting more that she barganded for. Children of rival mob bosses falling in love. Two soulmates trying to find each other. Mad scientist trying to keep their lover alive. Girl with unbeliavable power who can't seem to die. All of the stories are different but they all have one faithful similarity: All of the stories end in a tragedy.

intropost

all writing in one

Tag: WIP: ATGLS

False Gods

the story of Beatrix Jones, the lead singer of the rising indie rock band Aurora Four. With fame and success on the rise, Beatrix and her bandmates navigate the music industry while keeping their identities hidden behind masks, a decision made after a scandal threatened their careers. Is the hid indentity worth the criminal activity they tangled themselves in.

Tag: WIP: FG

intropost

all the writing in one

The vanishing act

a mystery thriller about a mystical carnival whose employees seem all to be identical to missing people trough out the years, and haven't aged a day even if 100 years have gone by. After year of gaslighting, Amanda witnesses her best friend and her mother, looking almost same age, in the circus performing.

Tag: WIP: Circus Moirai

intopost

All the writing in one

Mika Connelly VS the power of love

Mika Connelly never thought something like this cpuld happen to her. After pissing off a fortune teller, who was secretly Cupid in disguise, Mika Connelly is forced to live in a teen romance novel so Cupid can prove that everyone falls in love at least someone. Problem is, Mika is aroace, so romance is final thing she could think about.

To escape her rose colored prison, Mika makes a deal with cupid. Cupid has 20 chances to make Mija fall in love. Mika's mission on the other hand, is to make her new love interest not in love with her anymore. If she fails, she is trapped eternally as a high school senior in a warpped version of her old high school.

Intropost

On the shelve rn:

Children of Jessamine

Fantasy story about a queen who has to make a choice between betraying her country to join her husbands enemy, or protecting her son while the time is ticking. People might soon find out, the crown prince isn't the kings child

intopost

Also I have couple on hiatus that some people might remember. I think I'll come back to them at some point.

What I am doing on tumblr?

I am not probably going to be that active on ask games and all of those but I do want to do stuff and be creative so I have couple of ideas that maybe could be fun.

I want to do trailers for my wips. I want to edit again and I don't vibe with any fandom where I could do the edits I want

fake scenes from the books as edits too

more organized stuff

I just want to be creative without putting pressure on myself.

Other tags:

Eve Rambling: My random ramblings

Eve venting: If I need to vent

Eve being creative: creative stuff other than writing

other people's x: Other people's writeblr

So... Sorry for the essay lmao. But feel free to messenge me. I'll follow back. Let's have some fun!

[fuji-irid]

rapid analysis of what some of the descriptions/footnotes possibly mean

usually i wouldn’t put this on my main account, but since the other blog i would post it on is a little more in-detail on average, i decided why not (i think you know which blog i’m referring to)

so yep! i read some of the footnotes and added some personal analysis as to what some of them could mean. i’m positive the song used in the new DRDT MV will be “bungaku shoujo insane,” based on the similarity of the thumbnail as well as some specific footnotes, so a lot of my analysis will be based on that song and its lyrics

anyways

[1] In this situation, it is better to use full names over nicknames. Exclude our protagonist—he is not "that person." not sure what this means yet. we’ll have to see.

[2] Other examples include Drosophilia melanogaster and E. coli. don’t know if this is intentional, but drosophila is misspelled. (they wrote it as “drosophilia”) either way, both are often used in school experiments in order to develop a further understanding of genetics and genetic material (and how it’s transferred). 

[3] From Title 17 of the United States Code. referring to copyright laws in the United States. the reference may be more apparent in the released MV, similarly to some other footnotes—after all, the original “Bungaku Shoujo Insane” video has some moments where they simply show excerpts from famous texts. this may be one of them that’s featured specifically in the DRDT version of the MV

[4] The practice of avoiding the number four; it is most common in East Asia. This superstition arises from the fact that the number four can be read similar to the word "death" in multiple languages. self-explanatory.

[5] As the translation has been intentionally botched in many parts, it should not be considered accurate. this could be a separate author’s note to one of the texts referenced in the MV—we’ll have to see.

[6] (Prayer) no idea but i don’t feel like searching the bible for this one /hj (i think there might be a prayer written in text in the MV though)

[7] Seven is considered an auspicious number in many Western cultures. Let's just skip it. also self-explanatory.

[8] 'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it. excerpt from Alice in Wonderland. don’t know how important that’ll be in the future—could be referenced directly in the MV? 

[9] no respect for the classics smh hold on let me see if there’s a lyric mocking classic literature- 

[10] The Roman numeral for 10 is X. imagine there’s an X with a footnote and it’s just this

[11] I admit to lying. There is no one named OOOOO OOOOO. I am, and always have been, an only child. a lot of theories about this, but regardless of whether or not this statement is true, it could be a reference to diana chiem, arturo’s sister, david himself even (i’ll explain later), etc. either way, this footnote seems to be more about one of the characters in the DRDT cast than anything

[12] "Majority rule" is known to be the fairest method of making decisions for a group. That's why murderers never complained when we voted for them to die. just a random question, but you know what a majority vote is? /ref this may also be a reference to this lyric:

rough translation + wiki info: to be, or not to be—i have no idea! but let’s decide, with a democratic method!

[13] 正 character that’s often used to represent something that’s “correct,” “right,” or “just,” speaking from experience. additionally, it’s sometimes used as tally marks in a few eastern countries (china, japan, etc)

[14] Hint: word length of 256 Hamlet’s soliloquy, which starts with “to be, or not to be—that is the question,” is exactly 256 words (at least, according to this source). Additionally, this soliloquy is also referenced in one of the lyrics in this song (see [12]—the first line is actually one of the more well-known Japanese translations of “to be or not to be.” additionally, a few lines from the text are actually shown in the MV at that point), so that may be what it’s referring to

[15] “Ignorance is bliss" is an idiom used to say that it is better to remain ignorant about certain harsh truths, in order to avoid causing oneself stress. The expression comes from a 1742 Thomas Gray poem ("Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College": "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." might be a stretch, but possibly a reference to this lyric?

(rough translation: things like the meanings(?) behind art, you’d be happier not knowing)  (note: the word used for “art” here encompasses all types of media, which include dance, writing, etc.)

i feel like this is specifically referring to how it’s better to be ignorant of the meanings behind certain actions and words, than to be aware of the dark implications behind them. this is a stretch though. do what you will with it but i think this is referring to one of the characters and their actions + true meanings behind them *cough* david *cough*

[16] While it was originally intended to serve as a military march, today it is most commonly recognized for it's association with circuses and tomfoolery. the exact song that this footnote refers to is Julius Fučík’s “Entrance of the Gladiators.” This is a song that’s featured in Bungaku Shoujo Insane, and it can be heard in the interludes—in fact, this footnote is what pointed me to Bungaku in the first place

[17] Not a real word. Can't be found in any dictionary. this might be an actual translation footnote of the song, since it’s definitely not unheard of to have words in japanese that don’t have an english translation and/or words that don’t actually exist. whether that’s actually in the lyrics i don’t know but i’ll have to look into it

[18] A/N: soz not very good at drawing flowers lol!!! i find it weird how this one specifically has A/N (author’s note)

[19] A dialogue between two individuals that serves as a discussion of moral and philosophical issues. this is known as a socratic dialogue. not sure how this is important yet

[20] It is considered by many to be outdated, providing little-to-no insight on human nature. unfortunately i don’t know what this is referring to, but it will likely be made clear in the mv. my first thought was actually the enlightenment documents, since a lot of those discuss the inherent nature of humanity and how it’s “regulated” by society and government—but i’ve never heard it being called outdated, so that’s kind of a stretch.

someone said it could be an excerpt from one of Sigmund Freud’s works, which honestly, would make total sense-

[21] Deriving from the Latin phrase "Et cetera" : meaning "and other (similar) things", "and so forth", or "and the rest (of such things)" : abbreviated to etc., etc, et cet., &c. or &c

also pretty self explanatory. however, i have no idea how this fits in the MV

[22] The rest is silence.

no idea about this one.

anyways if you have suggestions please feel free to reblog with them 🫠 i have no idea what’s going on and tbh 90% of this is me trying to grasp at straws

[raayllum]

too many bangers to just do one little blurb, so here's a few of my favorite excerpts from the chapter that absolutely destroyed me

"...the dam bursting of every time she’d been frightened or hungry by herself, every time she’d wondered if she’d ever make it back to Katolis or see anyone she loved again, and the persistent pulsing push in her mind, constantly telling her that she didn’t deserve to." 

"'You are not a burden,” he continued. 'And even if you are, I want to carry you. You don’t have to be good enough, Rayla. There is no invisible standard you have to meet. You don’t have to be perfect to be perfect. You are not responsible for other people’s choices, and you don’t have to pay the prices for their mistakes. You don’t have to pay the price for your choices and mistakes.'"

"'You are a person and you deserve to be here without having to constantly be hurting yourself to earn it. You don't have to justify your existence by punishing yourself for it. You deserve to just be. To live and exist and be loved. Unconditionally.'"

chapter 7 man.... lives were changed. as someone who has the absolutely hardest time describing feelings--especially something as complex and messy as depression and suicidal thoughts feel--you just absolutely blew me away. and THEN to just put therapists across the globe to shame with the literal most perfect affirmations of all time? when i said this chapter destroyed me i forgot to mention that it also healed me. this is classic literature. this fic should be required reading in schools. shakespeare and my therapist are rolling in their respective graves

I have a lot of Rayla feelings in Ch7: at the end of the tunnel in particular tbh so I'll break them down here in regards to what went into the passages above.

To begin with, I'm so glad this part of the fic resonated with you. This isn't the last time we'll be addressing Rayla's mental health but it is one of the more prominent, as idk how anyone can watch s1-s4 + TTM and not take away that... she's not Doing Well, to say the least. I was definitely thinking about quotes from the show's writers with "Rayla can sometimes default to 'hurting myself is clearly a good, because I'm taking it away from someone else'" to heart.

I've written this discussion and affirmation scene in other fics, and explored Rayla's mental health before (probably most notably "say the winds won't change on us," "i care if i am guilty," and "i hope you die (i hope we both die)") but given that fanon s6 is such a big ambitious project I wanted to make sure I was getting it right in particular, here. While I've never experienced Rayla's forms of self loathing myself / to the same severity, I have quite a few people in my life that I deeply cherish who have, or in ongoing struggles with it, and I've been Callum here more than a few times.

I think a lot about how Rayla rarely allows to let two things matter if one of those things is herself ("Don't worry about my hand now; the egg is all that matters") when the boys are perfectly capable at holding space for multiple concerns, including themselves, in most instances. Rayla leaving in TTM is just the most extreme version of that, and I think the way Rayla will exceptionalize herself in a negative way—everyone else deserves good nice things / second chances / happiness except her, for Some Reason ("Your plan was fine! [...] You should cut yourself a break. Everyone messes up sometimes, or in my case, all the times [...] That shouldn't have mattered; I had a job to do")—is like... relatable for a Lot of people even when they don't also have symptoms of PTSD/depression/passive suicidal ideation.

Like Rayla was not safe or happy when she was away, and it would not surprise me at all if, while I don't think canon will necessarily touch on any of this as intensely as I have, I do think we'll get something of her having a hard time of her talking about how she suffered in favour of wanting to talk about how she made Callum suffer, for obvious reasons. Which is exactly why she left in the first place (s4 my beloved)

With all that out of the way I wanted to set up her breakdown accordingly:

You have the chapter title which is a reference to the literal tunnel they exit, and an Orpheus and Eurydice reference, while also very much being about Rayla finding the light at the end of her tunnel regarding her mental health

"I was a coward. I was weak." ("My parents aren't really dead, but I wish they were! They're cowards" / "It was the same problem every time. Hesitation, sympathy, distraction… all just weakness in a different mask.")

And then we see Callum shift to the heart of it, which is that her letter and mission was basically suicide and she knew it, and still won't really acknowledge it out loud or why it was Okay for her to do that but not for Callum to come with her, because she feels Inherently Unworthy and that there's something fundamentally broken with her, which has been pretty clear in canon for a while tbh.

With that in mind, I wanted to take Callum's viewpoint and affirmation a step further. I always say that the first step in therapy is learning to assume that no one is mad or annoyed with you at all times. The second step is learning that it's Okay even if someone is mad or upset with you. I think Rayla fears being a burden or more trouble than she's worth so much, and I think Callum at this point (in fic / canon, 5x01 you beautiful episode) has progressed to the point of like...

Rayla's not going to believe that she's not a burden, and sometimes people are burdens, shit happens, life is hard. What's most affirming for her to hear is that he wants her and loves her even if/when she IS a burden. It cuts right through all the bullshit and fear to the "you think you're terrible and awful and unworthy" and go "so what if you are? I still want you" and there's just not a lot of places for self loathing to go after that point. Like it's still there, but it can't grow to be as intensive, I find.

It's also written in mind from Callum's perspective because I've said this before, but Rayla is not an Easy person to love. Like feeling love for her is easy — she's warm and funny and kind — but she's not easy to love in terms of getting her to accept and rely on love. She's incredibly secretive and has a lot of hyper-independence as a result of her trauma and survivor's guilt, and Callum — especially post-s4 / 4x09 — has fully accepted all of this. Even if Rayla doesn't change, he's there. He knows this is not going to be an easy climb for either of them, but it's worth it to him, because it's her.

At the same time, Callum in canon has always been good at not making Rayla dependent on him ("You're too good to feel this bad about yourself. I know that, and you should know that" / "But it's your choice. No one else's" / "No, I meant what I said. You don't have to justify or explain anything to me") and emphasizing that she can and should want to get better and treat herself better for herself. So I really wanted to capture that vibe here. Rayla feels unworthy of his love, to an extent, yes, but it's also far more about her life and how routinely she puts what she wants on the back-burner... like, Rayla is a character who's always gone looking for redemption, and often times rightfully so! But I am very excited for her to realize there's nothing she has to Redeem herself for, there's nothing she has to earn or pay a price or suffer for in order to get to be Happy on the other end or put herself first for once. She deserves to just get to exist and live and be happy about that, y'know?

And I think Rayla also fundamentally wants those things, as she states at the beginning of the chapter, “I want to see the sun again first" before she'll let Callum heal her. Because you can only save someone who wants to be saved, and you can only save them so far if they want to save themselves, too, and that starts with you, that you have to want it. You have to want to live and love yourself.

Cause everyone deserves to. They really, really do.

And I just have a lot of feelings about fics / things / anything where Rayla goes "I don't want to be broken. Maybe I never was. And I want to live" because like. Yeah

[sherylhooper]

JJK SPOILERS!!!

The new chapter reminded me again why I can no longer be satisfied with Shounen.

Gojo's dead and people think Itadori has a chance to kill both Sukuna and Kenjaku....

"We can now see who's the main character" (ნიშნისმოგებით, თან) cuz Gojo was "in the way of the story" and "story couldn't progress with him in it."

Yeah, if Itadori randomly gets an upgrate out of thin fucking air, when he doesn't even have a innate technique - "but he is gonna develop Sukuna's CT". — How the fuck is he developing anything if Sukuna is no longer in his body but in Megumi's?? You are BORN with innate technique!! Unless Sukuna goes back inhabiting Itadori's body, Yuji isn't developing anything (unless Gege pulls out some residual cursed energy leftover bullshit — i.e. powerup out of blue sky).

As a writer myself, I don't really understand why some people (especially Sukuna's die hard fans) don't get it how killing of Gojo Satoru OFF SCREEN is bad writing so I'm gonna explain (and rant) here.

Okay, pals, sit down, we are having a lecture in basics!

"How to become good at Writing 101" states that the writer can write story in TWO main ways: 1) is called "tell" and 2) is called "show".

Every single writer and critic from centuries ago to today can confidently say that writer using "tell" is one of the weaker writing choice. Let's compare simple examples.

1) "He died." — this here is "tell". Nothing happened, it's boring.

2) "He felt fatigued, he eyes could no longer focuse on the scene in front of him. The sound of blood rushing in his ears was defeating.. To draw air in his lungs was becoming harder and harder as time went on..." etc — this is "show".

Of course death can come instantly but as a doctor (by profession) I can assure you that human brain even after being decapitated can remine "alive" for few seconds/minutes, can understand commans, can open eyes, can look at someone who is talking to them, etc..

Even Gojo looking down at himself, while he was being cut in two, would have been enough "showing".

But to have another character, in this case, Sukuna, explain i.e. "tell" how Gojo died is exactly how it sounds — "tell".

In every literature: classic books, modern books, manga, etc, "tell" is considered weak writing style and it seems even Gege is bound to it for now.

Also, what was the point of unsealing Gojo if he had to still die in the end? Him remining sealed would make no difference in the story - Sukuna vs Kashimo would still happen and now that Sukuna has "adapted" to Infinity means absulutely nothing, cuz nobody is using Infinity in the manga anymore for him to cut "space".

In fact Gege just replaced Gojo with Sukuna as overpowered character and we can see that he hated Gojo solely based on how "strongest" he was (and on his attitude) and how he couldn't kill him.

And how he handled his overpowered character? Killed him off screen. So how's Sukuna dying now? Also getting off screened??

And Gojo died with no regrets, apparently. His pseudo-son has fried brain, his sister and his speudo-dad are dead (at his own hands (even if Sukuna is using them)), most of his shikigami are gone, and Sukuna is parading around using him as "meat suit" — that should, at the very least, still be Gojo's regret (not saving Megumi) but, no, apparently Gojo is selfish bastard who doesn't care about anything and he is glad that he died (even after not acomplishing anything at all), but just mad that Sukuna didn't go all out???

Talk about anti climatic.

Gojo dying like this is kinda giving Madara and Kishimoto and I do not like that (I don't think anybody does)...

This is why I can't deal with Shounen anymore, because no matter what, at some point story telling gets inconstintent and I better stick with Seinen, cuz story there makes more sense.

Thank you for reading this rant and Sukuna-stans don't interact, cuz I'm blocking you all, if I see one word about "coping" or whatever.

(თქვენი თავი ნაღდად არ მაქვს და დიდი ალბათობით, შემდეგი თავის მერე ამ მანგასაც მივაგდებ).

[gayest-classiclit]

ROUND 1; classic literature adaptation bracket

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO:

based on: henry iv parts 1 and 2, henry v; william shakespeare medium: movie propaganda: 'My Own Private Idaho is completely bizarre, blurry, controversial, bold, God it's just such a good movie in every way. The main character Mike Waters is based on Poins (i think?), his best friend Scott based on Hal, and Bob based on Falstaff. Mike and Scott are street children and sex workers, but Scott is the son of some really rich important guy idk. Anyway it's not exactly a direct adaptation but it is definitely based on the henrys and a lot of the dialogue is from them iirc? And honestly bob is definitely one of my favourite falstaff portrayals if not my absolute favourite and yeah it's just SO GOOD oh my god. Everyone should watch it rn.'

SECRET SHANGHAI:

based on: romeo and juliet, as you like it; william shakespeare medium: book series propaganda: 'YA retellings (hear me out) of Shakespeare plays set in 1920s-30s Shanghai! Romeo and Juliet as childhood lovers and heirs to rival gangs! As You Like It but all the characters are spies!! Set against a backdrop of real Chinese history but with sci-fi/fantasy elements like monsters and mind control and invulnerability! EVERYONE is queer! Real justice paid to the characters and themes of Romeo and Juliet beyond just "it's a forbidden love story where people die"! Nods to the crazy gender roles in As You Like It in the form of double agents, triple agents, rogue agents and top secret secret agents! Just enough deviation from the original plots of both plays to keep you guessing before the original plot points come crashing back in to destroy you! Very good series would recommend'

[german-enthusiast]

Hi :) I hope you are well.

I am learning German and was wondering if I could get some audio book recommendations on Spotify ? I enjoy historical fiction, the classics and weird surrealist literature. My favorite book in English is a tale for the time being by Ruth Ozeki I also liked that book called Perfume but I have forgotten the authors name. I would also like any tv or movie recommendations too if possible :)

Thank you !

Hi!!

I've only JUST reinstalled Tumblr and I'm so glad I saw your ask!

(I'll give short summaries of reccs and links in a list later in the post!)

Surrealist lit and classics? have i got the book for you!

Die Verwandlung von Franz Kafka (Eng: The Metamorphosis) professionally recorded on Spotify.

It might be a tough one, being classics and from 1915, but the text should be available online to read along!

Once you've finished that, I suggest reading (the english) Haruki Murakami's "Samsa in love," a short story based on Die Verwandlung!! (available online!)

Other surrealist classics could be "Der Steppenwolf" (Hermann Hesse) and "Der goldene Topf" (E.T.A. Hoffman) - both of which were works analyzed in the Abitur (german highschool graduation exams) and thus might be especially tough, but on the flip side there's thousands of German resources about the books online!

"Der Goldene Topf" is on Spotify, Steppenwolf doesn't seem to be...

However! As you progress (idk your level but classics tend to be difficult even for natives), you might come to appreciate Reclam (a german publisher) with a focus on classics (known for their small yellow books)) and, great news, they publish professional recording of German classics on Spotify!

In terms of classics, here's my favorite: Stefan Zweig, a german author especially famous for his short stories. One of them, Schachnovelle, is on Spotify by Reclam here!

To be honest, Schachnovelle is a favorite because they made it a movie a couple years ago and it is SO. FREAKING. GOOD. (bad news: incredibly different from the original story but in a way you get two great stories under one name so I'm not complaining!) on the OTHER hand, I just found out that there's an audiobook of the book of the movie on Spotify, so you can also listen to that and then watch the movie (or vice versa)

TV or Movie reccs: if you can, get Netflix and a VPN! with the vpn you should be able to make Netflix think you're in Germany and there is barely a show/movie on German Netflix that isn't dubbed (or at the very least subbed) - really, we dub everything (and it's not bad either most of the time!!)

Besides that, our "öffentlich rechtliche" (the publicly owned) channels have got "Mediatheken" (basically Netflix for their shows) and you can watch most that is published on those channels in TV here (ARD, ZDF,...) on there (often with subtitles! (i should make a post about this, damn!)

Here some german movie/TV reccs on Netflix: Fack you Göthe 1&2&3, (T)Raumschiffsurprise, Petterson and Findus, Mord mit Aussicht, der Tatortreiniger

(Reminder that most shows/movies you already know and love on Netflix will probably be dubbed in Germany! AND that in Netflix in a browser, one can browse by language!)

List of reccomendations & links:

Die Verwandlung (Franz Kafka) - man wakes up in body of a bug (link)

Der Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse) - man thinks two wolfes live inside him

Der goldene Topf (E.T.A. Hoffmann) - man falls in love with a snake who is the daughter of a magician who is a lizard or something? (link)

Die Schachnovelle (Stefan Zweig) (movie version) - austrian notary is arrested by the nazis because he has access to money of noble families, he's put in a hotelroom and deprived of mental stimulus to make him crack but he discovers chess to keep himself sane (link)

Reclam Spotify (link)

On Netflix:

Fack you Göthe - criminal poses as a teacher to get access to the basement of a school where his loot is hidden, teacher-student bonding, Eylas M'Barek (actor) national treasure

(T)Raumschiff Surprise - parody of Star Trek, really funny (maybe moreso to natives), at times a bit problematic because it's from 2004; Germans LOVE it

Petterson and Findus - old man with his cat. cute. nordic. cozy.

Mord mit Aussicht - policewoman from Cologne is relocated to a little rural town (she's a city person, yknow?), little town shenanigans, murder and cute bonding ensues (maybe quite german humor?)

Der Tatortreiniger - a man who cleans up crime scenes for a living. Each episode is him cleaning a different crime scene until a person comes around and starts talking to him (about their life, his job, ...) (similar to MmA, has got the same actor, similar humor)

ARD Mediathek: (link) https://www.ardmediathek.de/

recc: Sendung mit der Maus !!! (a show for kids with both little stories and explaining how the world works, a classic for all german kids, was aired sunday mornings and part of the sunday ritual for many!)

ZDF Mediathek (link) https://www.zdf.de/

I couldn't find non-classics on Spotify that fit your type but should I find some in the future I'll message you and maybe someone else has some reccs!!

Hope this helps!

And I really reccomend the Mediatheken!!!

[sforzesco]

i fully consider you the italian renaissance guy so i am going to ask you this because i’m genuinely curious <3 do you have Thoughts on the pazzi conspiracy…… i have sooo many tbh it makes me really crazy <333 i read this book about caesar’s assassination a while back and it said something along the lines of “Why were the conspirators apparently surprised by the panic their deed caused in the city?” and i think about that every time i think about the pazzi conspiracy…. the parallels between classical/late republican conspiracies and the ones present in the italian renaissance era…… aughhhh it’s. 😵‍💫

thank you, but I am merely standing on the shoulders of the work of all the other italian renaissance guys (gender neutral) who came before me!!

that said I have so many thoughts about the Pazzi conspiracy, the Pazzi conspiracy my beloved, my best friend, my most ardent love, I'm obsessed with it. hashtag Francesco de' Pazzi apologist etc etc

It has EVERYTHING it shows that people did not sit idle in the shadow of Medici power, the politics of banking and generational humiliation, it has cannibalism, it has such hate that the act of retaliation cannot simply be exile and death their memory must be wiped out too, faces removed from portraits, it has a private affair (conspiracy) being made public (the assassination) and the failure to control the immediate aftermath (everything is an echo of the Ides of March assassination but worse, and also the Pazzi conspiracy in a larger discussion of renaissance assassinations and conspiracies? Stefano Porcari, I'm sending you flowers), there's the whole thing with churches as a bloody theatre for spectacles of violence: Galeazzo Maria Sforza, killed on a feast day, the Pazzi planning assassination during a High Mass, the way potential assassins cower under the eye of God and refuse to spill blood on sacred ground but a priest has no such fear.

it's also got that dramatic and tragic foreshadowing, like god, it has it all, I think about this part out of Machiavelli's Florentine Histories constantly

Lorenzo, flushed with youth and power, would assume the direction of everything, and resolved that all transactions should bear an impress of his influence. The Pazzi, with their nobility and wealth unable to endure so many affronts, began to devise some means of vengeance. The first who spoke of any attempt against the Medici, was Francesco, who, being more sensitive and resolute than the others, determined either to obtain what was withheld from him, or lose what he still possessed.

it's all or nothing, baby! (admittedly this overlaps into an adjacent category into a larger discourse on morality and personality with political slander in pro-Medici works regarding the Pazzi, Pontano has a similar line about Orsini, but I think it's fun! bite chomp kill away, Francesco)

this is not to imply that Machiavelli was a pro-Medici writer (imo it's a lot more complex than that), Poliziano attributes this Do or Die trait to Francesco, and Machiavelli was writing after Poliziano. Machiavelli and conspiracies is a whole topic on it's own, it's just that Machiavelli's writings live rent free in my head and I'll always reference them first. like. every time I think about failed conspiracies that cycle to tragedy, I think about Machiavelli's commentary on power in Discourses on Livy, about how one must slay the sons of Brutus too, and how inevitably, this genre of conspirators always opt for less bloodshed, which always leads to their own demise.

there's this fascinating topic of Greek narratives as a mold for Roman biographies in regards to Plutarch's Lives, and there's something similar going on with the Pazzi, Sallust and Suetonius, and Poliziano's Commentarium that compels me too, ngl.

on the topic of the Commentarium, tho

Conspiracy Literature in Early Renaissance Italy, Marta Celati

the Pazzi conspirators 🤝 the Ides of March conspirators

In a larger historical dialogue, I think Medici retaliation for the assassination really highlights the later violence that the Medici will inflict on a much larger scale in the 1530 siege of Florence. it's like, the Pazzi are the most obvious crack in the Medici facade.

April Blood, Lauro Martines

The Medici, Mary Hollingsworth

oh boy, this is getting out of hand, but to go back to what you mentioned about Caesar and failed conspiracies, I'm thinking again about Machiavelli (this time his chapter on Conspiracies in Discourses in addition to the You Must Kill The Sons Of Brutus line. Like, you must also slay the sons of Brutus, but no one wants to do it!!!!). time is a flat circle for real, tragic repetitions all the way down 😔

[bindi-the-skunk]

More rambling from me about Jekyll and Hyde

Part of the reason I think it is so easy to woobify Jekyll well the other literature classic monsters usually get a good amount of bashing is body count (don't get me wrong there are at least two examples of evil!Jekyll (Penny dreadful and Once upon a time) but no one really talks about Jekyll and Hyde from those series so ....and I thought both where pretty bland and did nothing for the characters but that is for a later date...)

Jekyll gets ONE murder victim, Carew and one girl (who was not named and was stated to have not been hurt, only frightened) And the fact Jekyll was under the influence of a drug when he did both crimes, not an excuse, but something to at least note ) these characters are just a means to an end in the story, we only care about them as far as their respective chapter, we only care as far as "murder is bad" and "walking on a child like their a WELCOME mat is bad"

They are faceless, Utterson cares about Jekyll, so we learn to care for him too, in the end Jekyll is a drug addict who kills himself, both are reasons to also feel sorry for him, we are given just enough about him to build him up in our mind, so when we find out he did bad things, it is ultimately in the back of our heads and the fact he did TRY and quit the potion cold turkey does prove he is not a complete monster and did want to at least try and quit before it all crashed around him.

Dorian Gray caused several young women to be ruined and caused an unnamed guard boy to kill himself (back of the mind atrocities sort of like Carew and the girl, we know it is bad, but we don't KNOW them)

But we do get to see Dorian's fall from grace, we see his mind twist, the book is mostly from HIS point of view, we see him think his picture should go back to being perfect just because he THOUGHT about being good, he sold his soul for something as meaningless as beauty.

We see poor Sybil vane kill herself because of him after being cruelly rejected by Dorian, we empathize with her brother, wanting to avenge his sister's death and knowing he was so close to it, we know Dorian cried tears of JOY hearing about his death, and we know he, in his right mind, no drugs or anything, murdered his best friend Basil who we have grown to love.

Frankenstein refused time and time again to take responsibility for his actions and it led to the death of at least four people, he left his newborn creation to die (already not scoring PO points ) then refused to speak up at Justine's trial leading to her being HUNG (a pretty nasty way to die mind you and the poor girl was SIXTEEN when she was hung, and this was old time shit so she most likely suffocated to death from the noose since she would have been light (which could take over twenty minutes of her kicking and struggling for air) over a broken neck ) when just saying he had a fight with a large man who vowed revenge would have done wonders for her ) his little brother William (death of a child pity points) Henry Clerval and finally Elizabeth, both of which we learn of and grow to look at affectionately

And throughout all this, all Victor can do is bellyache how bad HIS life is (and the fact he thought "I will be with you on your wedding night" meant the monster would come to kill HIM did not win him any intelligence points either...)

But what do you think? What makes Jekyll the go-to for the lovable but flawed scientist? What put him a cut above the rest as far as being loved by so many of us? He is the main character of no less than three webcomics I'm watching and a secondary character in another (and my friend plans on drawing her own comic one day as well) Why is making the others evil not much of a consequence, but Jekyll being evil always seems to fall flat?