Grrrrrrr...Heller....
Penelope, I don't know if this will help make you look more forward to the book, but I wouldn't categorize
Heart of Darkness as war lit. There's definitely some violence to it, and the colonialism that we've been discussing. But there isn't any real combat or even much threat of combat. More skirmishes and the random violence you would expect from an untamed wilderness. Though the film definitely incorporates war.
Ophelia wrote: My avatar is "Lady of Shalott" by J W Waterhouse.
There is a beautiful "Ophelia" painting, but I thought it would be a touch too gloomy for daily use.
Yet, they both made watery ends of it.
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.
There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds
Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up;
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and endued
Unto that element. But long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
Hamlet, (4.7.137-154)
Every time I see your name, Ophelia, I think of that passage. Now, the question is: did I remember that by rote; or did I look it up? During my schooling, I had two instructors who assigned Shakespeare memorization coursework, which, as far as I know, was rare for the states at the time I was a student. I remembered most of it, but I had to look it up for 100% accuracy. Thankfully, I usually have my Shakespeare anthology on hand.
Penelope wrote:...the Lady of Shallot in her tower, waiting for Lancelot? or was it Gallahad?
No, you're right, as I recall. It's Lancelot.
