Thoughts on Voltaire's Candide

It kicks ass!

Kipling on Twain

I can't think of a more delightful reading experience than of one great author interviewing another. It's like reading them both at the same time. Rudyard Kipling's tale of hunting down Mark Twain to meet and interview him is full of charm and humor, evidence of one writer's style affecting another's. For example, Kipling wrote: "Blessed is the man who finds no disillusion when he is brought face to face with a revered writer. That was a moment to be remembered; the landing of a twelve-pound salmon was nothing to it. I had hooked Mark Twain, and he was treating me as though under certain circumstances I might be an equal." Eventually, of course, Rudyard Kipling became as famous and well-loved as Mr. Clemens himself. (photo: me by "Kim's Gun" in Lahore, Pakistan. Kim by R. Kipling.)

I myself hooked a treasure when I discovered and subscribed to Library of America free weekly stories (http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/). What a pleasure and I recommend it to everyone who loves to read, but is short on time (or not).

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

I finished reading this very old book, 2nd edition/December, 1847, with its brown and brittle pages (with a couple of pages missing and most marked with child scribbles, but still a treasure to me because it is a gift from my brother Bill). It begins with "Author's Preface," Currer Bell, Bronte's pen name.

I immensely enjoyed reading Eyre again. Many years ago I also saw the 1944 film that starred Orson Welles as Rochester, the mysterious and appealing owner of Thornburg Mansion and Jane's employer. Jane was hired to be a governess to Rochester's young ward, rarely saw her master (boss, in today's language), but became intrigued by his broodiness. He, in turn, found Jane's honest and intelligent conversations captivating. A great shadow lurks in the mansion, giving the story Gothic drama, and shocking turns.

I think the couple of offensive racial remarks in the story were careless signs of how embedded prejudices are in human history, and had Bronte examined those phrases as deeply as she did the individual's struggle for identity, she would have edited them out of her story.

Bronte quotes:
"If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love friends for their sake rather than for our own."

"You -- poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are -- I entreat to accept me as a husband." (Rochester to Jane)

"One does not jump, and spring, and shout hurrah! at hearing one has got a fortune, one begins to consider responsibilities, and to ponder business; on a base of steady satisfaction rise certain grave cares, and we contain ourselves, and brood over our bliss with a solemn brow."

I read that a new film version is coming out next year. I hope to see it.