#god... i love literature!!!!

[rugwurm]

deus ex machina

[metamorphesque]

In Armenian, when we want to say “damn you” or “go to hell”, we use the expressions "գրողը քեզ տանի" [groxy qez tani] or "գնա գրողի ծոցը" [gna (kori) groxi tsocy], which translate to “may the writer take you away” or “go and get lost in the writer’s embrace” in English. You might wonder, “Who is this writer-person?” and “Why is it considered a curse?”

According to traditional Armenian belief, Grox (the writer) is a spirit who records a person's deeds during their lifetime, determining the purity of their soul. This concept may be linked to Tir, the god of writing and literature in Armenian mythology. In some interpretations, it was believed that anyone whose name Tir wrote in his notebook would die. This is where the curse "may the writer take you" originates.

During the Christian era, Grox was mistakenly represented as a Christian spirit who no longer recorded human deeds but instead determined each person's fate, inscribing it on their foreheads. Over time, Grox came to be depicted as an evil spirit, sometimes identified with Satan. Thus, the curse "get lost in Grox’s embrace," which originally signified death, took on a more negative connotation. However, this was not originally characteristic of Grox in Armenian traditional beliefs.

So, if you want to get creative with your curses, instead of saying “go to hell,” you can use the phrase “get lost in the writer’s embrace”.

[trashmakerarticle]

Everyone thinks that dick was the golden child when in reality it was Jason.

Clark: Bruce who was your favourite robin?

Dick: obviously it’s me?

Tim: it’s dick

Damian: I am superior robin, it will be me.

Bruce: it’s Jason

Everyone: WHAT?!?!???

Bruce: why are you so surprised? He didn’t jump on too my chandeliers which I had to replace each week

*everyone looks at dick*

Bruce: he didn’t drop out of school

*everyone looks at tim*

Bruce: I didn’t have to stop him from killing everyone who annoyed him

*everyone looks at Damian*

Bruce: in fact, he enjoyed school and handed all his homework in on time, we would spend hours in the library reading his favourite classics. He even helped Alfred with most of the cooking, He was my little boy

Jason: stop spreading lies, I hate you go away

Bruce: my precious little boy

[glorfindel-of-imladris]

(tw: death, gore, horror)

I love how downright creepy Sauron is.

He's your neighbourhood psychopathic genius, a skilled sorcerer whose allegiance was realigned once (to his true alignment imo) and then never since waivered.

Unlike Morgoth, who was more straightforward in his execution, Sauron's style is insidious, and in a sense more horrific for how slow and personal his tactics can be. His temper is such that he can play the long game, even play at being weak in order to earn trust or make his enemies complacent, and then next thing you know he has an old friend's corpse up as a war banner, or he has sunk a once great island down the Sea.

He bred the Orcs. Tolkien played with different version of the origin of Orcs, but what I like best is the version where they were corrupted Men, maybe even Elves, and although they were Melkor's idea, it was Sauron who had the ability, patience and tenacity to make the idea come to fruition.

He built cults. Do you know what cults are like? How they draw people in, what they make people believe, what they get people to do? From an outsider looking in it must have looked truly bizarre, but Sauron was able to turn a powerful nation against the Valar and painted Morgoth as the true god. Eru Ilúvatar was denied as a false god, and the Valar made to be liars. There were blood sacrifices, human sacrifices—all for a religion Sauron invented, but was so successful that, once Númenor was gone, Sauron brought the cult with him to Middle-earth.

He was called The Necromancer. What made him garner the title? Who gave it to him, and what had they seen? Surely the Nazgûl were not the first of their kind, not when the Nine were already so well-made. What manner of experimentation had Sauron done in order to make them, and what did the "failures" look like? What knowledge did he use to corrupt and circumvent the Gift of Ilúvatar, which gave Men free will and death, allowing their spirits to transcend Arda? And yet the Nazgûl were unable to die, and as wraiths they also lost their free will, bound to Sauron and the call of the Ring.

He corrupted kings. He corrupted his own kind. Curumo could not have been the only one, and we know Curumo was a powerful Maia in his own right, the leader of the Istari. Sauron played mind games with the best of people, and won. His ability to seduce even the most powerful beings and get them in his service was unparalleled.

Now imagine being a native of Mordor and witnessing the poisoning of the lands. And then an age later, imagine being from one of the villages around Rhovanion and experiencing the slow haunting of Amon Lanc. At least the Eldar could see Sauron and his agents; none of the Men can do so. What defense did the common Man have against such insidious evil? There must only have been odd sensations, a dread settling in, dreams that lure them in before turning into nightmares.

[insomniac-arrest]

Intellectualism is not just stoic enjoyment of abstract concepts. It's also girlish delish of abstract concepts. Like,

"The curtains were blue, representing the closed-off nature of their outlook triggered by a childhood sadness rooted in the home"

me: *twirling my hair, giggling, kicking my feet, getting freaky with* oh? Tell me more.

[thetriboulet]

oscar wilde really spent a whole chapter yapping about perfume and cool rocks and then devoted about three sentences to the murder of one of the central characters, and honestly? i see the vision

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

jon val jon or something

[jayktoralldaylong]

I love the TGCF approach to religion because it shows that you don't need to make your charcaters atheist to make them 'cool'.

Take He Xuan for instance. He Xuan spent day and night praying to god to solve his problems. Just to end up finding out that 'god' was causing ALL of his problems. 💀💀💀💀 What did He Xuan do? Defiantly stop believing in god? Don't be ridiculous. He Xuan's new goal became climbing into the heavenly realm to kill 'god' with own two hands. 😂😂🤣🤣😭😭

Now if anyone had the right to become athiest in TGCF, it was Qi Rong, the boy abandoned by god.

And I do love the parallels between Qi Rong and Hua Cheng because they essentially worshipped the same god. But Qi Rong is a representation of a fanatic. He beat children and slaughtered people 'in the name of the Lord' then did not understand why he was shunned by the god he loved. From his perspective, all he ever did was love god. But his god would not love him back.

Meanwhile, the reason Xie Lian responded to tiny Hua Cheng in the first place was because Hua Cheng was one of the only few believers to follow his instructions when it came to prayer.

Xie Lian wanted all of his believers to pray standing up with their heads bowed. He did not want monetary offerings but they were allowed to give him gifts. So tiny Hua Cheng did not kneel while he prayed and he brought Xie Lian a flower. It pleased the young prince greatly. He could not leave Hua Cheng's prayer unanswered.

Then Bai Wuxiang (I love all the four calamities so much).

Interestingly, the most atheist character in TGCF was a god himself. A god who'd grown quite tired of getting all the blame every time something bad happened. He'd slaved away thanklessly for the people he loved, but as soon as things went wrong, they turned on him. Hated him, cursed him, even beat him.💔 A god that grew to loathe his believers and caused them endless suffering.... Because they were always praying to god, but none of them would stay with him when things got hard.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

i love knights sooooo fucking much . sorry back on tumblr bc while agonizing over having to read vita nuova i forgot i’d also get the luxury of reading occitan poetry / reading about knights in general who <3 as u may know are my most beloveds forever… and i was so deeply reminded of why i adore them just now because knights irl were literally just contractually obligated servants of the king and church as part of the feodal system but they have been romanticized forever and ever. since the medieval ages, and even now!!!! we fantasize over this falsified / romanticized idea of noble, righteous knights, or knights as forbidden lovers of the queen (<- like in medieval poetry) and ohhhh it’s just so fucking good . they were pawns !!!!! crusaders!!!!!! but in fiction they’re so radiant and charming. lovers and killers and protagonists . i love it i think it’s the tastiest thing ever and the reason i can’t ever stfu about knighthood as a concept is because the fiction it has birthed is so upsettlingly good and fun to dig into — knighthood as a curse that masquerades as a badge of honour, knighthood as an unattainable ideal, knighthood as good men being ruined and soiled and broken under the boots of the system….. as good men doing everything everything they can to please the king and god and the people and failing themselves in the process. god i love knights

[bennetsbonnet]

It's surprising and, perhaps, a little depressing for a book so ostensibly beloved and held up as one of the finest in English literature, that Pride and Prejudice is so widely misquoted and misunderstood. It seems to be primarily viewed as a romance in the public's imagination, rather than the comedy of manners it truly is.

A large part of these misconceptions are admittedly, due to its various adaptations. I think a lot of people are surprised when they read the novel for the first time and discover that Mr Collins does not possess an affinity for boiled potatoes; that the proposal scene does not take place in the rain; that the second proposal is not made by Mr Darcy stumbling over his words at dawn and, ultimately, that he does not emerge from a lake in a wet white shirt. Nor is he really a brooding romantic hero.

The adaptations have had such a huge impact on the popular perception of Pride and Prejudice, that all of these products can be found on only the first two pages of an Etsy search of the title. All very nice products, I am sure. However, none of them contain quotes found in the original novel:

(quite why you'd want to be seen in a 'barely tolerable' hoodie I don't know but... each to their own... )

I question how widely-liked the actual novel is, if those who are keen to walk around in merch or decorate their homes inspired by Pride and Prejudice, are doing so with references that are nowhere to be found in the book's pages. Adaptations are part of many of our paths to falling in love with the novel; they were part of mine. But there are so many hilarious quotes contained within the first few chapters alone, you soon realise that nothing can live up to Austen's quick, witty dialogue or her observational comedy.

Yet, even when the novel is correctly quoted, it is not always done in an apt manner. Jane Austen was deemed important enough by the Bank of England to warrant her own banknote. Released in 2017, it looks like this:

I remember the controversy about the portrait, and how little it actually looks like the only (incomplete) drawing we have of Jane (which was said by those who knew her to not even resemble her all that well), but that's another matter. I'm most interested in the quote from Pride and Prejudice beneath it:

Let's put the quote in context. It is taken from chapter 11, and spoken by Caroline Bingley who is trying, unsuccessfully, to capture the attention of Mr Darcy.

Why did she pick up a book? Because Mr Darcy did:

'Darcy took up a book; Miss Bingley did the same'

How much enjoyment did she derive from the book? Not a great deal, apparently:

'Miss Bingley’s attention was quite as much engaged in watching Mr. Darcy’s progress through his book, as in reading her own; and she was perpetually either making some inquiry, or looking at his page. She could not win him, however, to any conversation; he merely answered her question, and read on.'

And now comes the actual passage from which the quote is taken, which tells us why Caroline chose that particular book:

'At length, quite exhausted by the attempt to be amused with her own book, which she had only chosen because it was the second volume of his, she gave a great yawn and said, “How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."'

On the surface, such a quote—especially taken in isolation—would invariably lead you to believe that said character was an avid reader. However, the context demonstrates that Miss Bingley is far from a bookworm.

If you were left in any doubt, however, her next action surely confirms it:

'No one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest for some amusement'

As soon as Caroline realises that her quest to capture Mr Darcy's affection is futile, she throws her book away entirely; perhaps there are more enjoyable pursuits than reading, after all.

So, a quote deemed to have such importance as to be immortalised forever alongside Jane Austen on the currency of an entire nation (the design of which will likely be used for several decades) is so important in the context of the novel that it is... uh... *checks notes* ignored entirely. Right.

I mean, I don't necessarily understand why the quote had to be about reading but if it was, I could argue that a quote from Mr Darcy in chapter eight, about how extensive reading improves the mind could be far more sincere. Or why not one of the numerous lovely quotes from the novel? Obviously, an agenda was set and a quote needed to be found to match it.

Still, it is quite ironic indeed that reading actually opens your eyes to how ridiculous a choice of quote was made.

Anyway, what is my overarching point? Well, I think, largely due to its various adaptations, a majority of people believe they know the story of Pride and Prejudice. But shockingly few, despite it being consistently ranked as one of the most popular books, actually understand it on the level which it deserves to be.

This post was not intended to bash adaptations, it is absolutely fine to like them! But they are, by their very nature, going to differ from the book. That is inevitable. Yet, I think it's quite sad when people watch a film or series and believe they can possibly understand the story on the same level. Spoiler alert: you cannot. I know books are a luxury and reading is time-consuming, but Pride and Prejudice is out of copyright now. PDFs are abundant, as are audiobooks if you cannot sit and read!

Put some time and effort into understanding the novel. I promise not a single second of it will be wasted; you will gain a deeper admiration for Jane Austen's talent as an author, and you will fall in love anew with the many wonderful characters she so beautifully brought to life.

[eonsandeternity]

“Soul Connections” 🖤🖤

[metamorphesque]

"The Brothers Karamazov", Fyodor Dostoevsky (translated by Constance Garnett)

[sassywiththesas]

Love is just a word. But actions can prove it's worth.

[halflifesk666]

Yoo I miss those random outbursts of cute aggression, like bite me randomly, hug me, squeeze the shit out of me

[sorryicouldntsayitbeforejune]

the truth is I would’ve given anything to see that smile again

[aceinacloset]

can u draw monika again pleaaaaseee :) i love her

Monika <3