NancyElin.blog

Mar

#ReadIreland 2020 Oscar Wilde

Author: Oscar Wilde
Title: Woman of No Importance
Premièred : 19 April 1893
Genre: “skeleton-in-the-closet” play
Reading time: 2 hours
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly plan
#ReadingIrelandMonth20
#Begorrathon20

Finished: 05.03.2020
Rating: A+++
#Classic

Conclusion:

Woman of No Importance satirizes upper-class English society
at the end of the 19th C.
It takes place, for the most part, in the homes of
the rich and powerful, where Lord, Ladies,
and Archdeacons socialize and gossip about their contemporaries.
In this play the gossip is about Mrs. Arbuthnot
…a woman of no importance.
How many of us have this play in the bookcase
…in The Complete Works of Oscar Wide?
I have overlooked Wilde’s plays
….and I am the lesser for it.
There’s a difference between the play as cultural work of art
…and the play as entertainment,
…in the same way that there’s a
difference between a classical symphony and a musical.
No, this play does not have the
…gravitas of Death of a Salesman (A. Miller)
…but is does have the emotion of the heart of a man (Oscar Wilde)
…who has known joy….but also great suffering.
The play touched a heart-string.
#Bravo…Oscar Wilde

Mar

#Play A Doll’s House

Playwright: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
Title: A Doll’s House
Genre: play
Opening night: 1879
Reading time: 30-45 min
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly reading plan

Conclusion:

This was a very easy play to read.
The dialogue is …
clean, simple, evocative, alive and easily spoken.
In Act III when Nora finally finds her voice she
pummels her husband….who can’t handle the truth!
#MustRead classic play!
This play is an audience favorite:
Film adaptations with Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Jane Fonda and Juliet Stevenson
Stage production is planned June 2020 London with Jessica Chastain.

At the moment a spin-off is on stage in London.
Nora: A Doll’s House –> Young Vic Theatre in London.
Stef Smith’s adaptation of the Ibsen play sends the title character on a time-traveling mission,
exploring how far women’s rights have progressed in the last 100 years.
The play re-frames the drama in three different time periods:
the women’s suffrage movement,
the Swinging ’60s in London, and
present day.
The play was recently named a finalist for the 2020 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Structure: Three act play:

Act 1: exposition (married life, Christine returns)
Act 2: rising action (Nora’s secret is discovered!)
Act 3: climax and resolution occur simultaneously (Nora…walks out the door with her baggage!).

Well-made play:

This created a sensation in 19th C Royal Theatre Denmark on 21 December 1879!
Ibsen broke with the traditional well-made play structure.
The well-made play from 19th C first codified by French dramatist Eugène Scribe
…with 5 equal parts in 5 acts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.

Genre:

Problem play…
…character Nora is in conflict with a social issue or institution ( marriage)
Ibsen presents in A Doll’s House the
treatment of women (..as unequal)
particularly the entrapment of women …in marriage
in a very realistic manner.

Timeline: 3 days

The play begins on Christmas Eve and
concludes the day after Christmas… the 26th.

Main characters:

Nora and Torvald (married)
Christine (BFF)
Nils – employee at Torvald’s bank
Dr Rank (family friend)

Quickscan: (…no spoilers)

— The institution of marriage was sacrosanct in 19TH C
— This play was highly controversial and elicited sharp criticism.
— Nora Helmer gains the reader’s empathy.
— Nora’s change: sheltered 19th C child wife….to mature woman who finds her voice
— Theme: woman trapped in a patriarchal society (…loveless marriage)
— Foils: Nora —> Christien (friend); Torvard (husband) —> Nils (employee)
— Foils: partners Nora and Tovard —> partners Christine and Nils
— Symbol: most important is the Christmas tree —> beautiful, admired, decorated
…parallel with Nora. During the play the tree loses it’s splendour, ornaments as does Nora
…appearing in a bedraggled state.

Contrast relationships:

Nora and Tovald:
NO…communication openly.
NOT honest with each other
NO respect for each other
KEEP secrets (…at least Nora does…)
UNEQUALS – man controles and is above wife
NO true love

Christine and Nils —> exactly the opposite!
YES…communication openly.
YES honest with each other
YES respect for each other
NO kept secrets
EQUALS

Mar

#Classic The Lottery

Author: Shirley Jackson (1916 – 1965)
Title: The Lottery
Genre: Short story, horror, realism
Published: June 26, 1948 ( The New Yorker)
Reading time: 6 minutes
Classic Club Master List
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly plan

Conclusion:

Even thought I knew how the story ended
…I felt a dread.
This horror of the ending and the even cheery,
…atmosphere of the scene
…small town USA just rattled this reader.
Narrative style: deadpan, 3rd person
Strong point: unexpected shock of the ending
Tone: calm
Point of the story: expose how people seize upon a scapegoat
…release the cruelties that people seem to have dammed up within themselves.
Trivia: story is taught in high school for decades
…often referred to as the best-known short story of the 20th century.
#Classic

Feb

#Play Tony Award Best Play 1984

Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close

Playwright: Tom Stoppard (1937)
Title: The Real Thing
Genre: play
Opening night: 1982
Trivia: Tony Award for Best Play 1984
Trivia: Tony Award for Best Revival Play 2000
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly reading plan

Finished: 27.02.2020
Genre: play
Rating: D

Quickscan:

Playwright Henry (J. Irons) and
….actress Annie (G. Close) fall in love
while cheating on their spouses.
They then marry and cheat on each other.
Core message:
Reality catches up with those who ignore it (2 married couples).
Art (playwriting) is no longer impossible imaginings
…but what is really happening.
— investigating adultry
— questioning the nature of true love
Title: The Real Thing…finding “the real thing” in second marriages
Type play: semi-autobiographical…Tom Stoppard is divorced and remarried.
Literary device Stoppard uses a theatrical device, the play-within-a-play.

Conclusion:

I am trying to read 50 Best Plays of the last 100 years.
The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard is nr. 20 on the list.
Characters stumble to enlightenment….
but realize that marriage is the ties that bind
…and strangle.
Dialogue is a combination of
…chit-chat and philosophical discussion
on the nature of true love.
The writing is interesting, but a bit belabored
…Stoppard is trying too hard to be clever.
Probably The Real Thing
…must be seen on the stage.
It won 2 Tony Awards
…so Stoppard must be doing something right.
Still it is ….not my kind of play.

Feb

#Classic The Crucible

Author: Arthur Miller (1915 – 2005)
Title: The Crucible
Genre: play
Published: 1953
Trivia: List 50 Best plays of the past 100 years
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly plan

Finished: 24.02.2020
Genre: play
Rating: C-
#Classic

Conclusion:

Abigail is the teenager who sparks a reign of unholy terror
among the upstanding citizens of Salem, Mass.
with her accusations of witchcraft.
This is a love triangle and battle of wills:
Elizabeth – John Proctor – Abigail.
Everybody loses….everybody suffers
except Abigail who flees the village in Act 3!
This is my 3rd A. Miller play
…but the one I least enjoyed.
If there is something missing in this
more forgettable unforgettable classic play is the
feeling of mass hysteria.
It just does not jump off the page.
A stage production will surely resolve this problem!
#DeathOfASalesman (review)
…..much better reading experience!

Feb

#Classic The Quiet American

Author: Graham Greene (1904 – 1991)
Title: The Quiet American (210 pg)
Genre: novel
Published: 1955
Trivia: 2019 BBC News lists The Quiet American
….as on of the 100 most influential novels
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly plan

Conclusion:

This was an excellent book. (reading time: 4 hrs)
I needed to detach myself for one day
from the political turmoil on TV #Election2020 USA.
Novels are a means to escape reality…
yet they describe in ‘fiction’ what many don’t want to acknowledge.
I wanted discover Graham Greene’s view of U.S. foreign policy.
USA –> ill-advised and ill-informed
…sounds still very relevant in 21st C!
Greene portrays the French/British colonialism and American involvement in the
Vietnam War ….as a love triangle: Fowler – Phoung – Pyle
Central issue: the politics of intervention in a foreign nation.
Strong point: characters
…Britain (Fowler), America (Pyle), France (Vigot) Vietnam (Phoung)
Fowler:…..repeating “I’m not involved. Not involved.”
Pyle:…naive as he stumbles around Vietnam creating havoc wherever he goes
Inspector Vigot: “We are fighting your (US/UK) wars, but you leave us the guilt”.
Phoung: treated like property, to be passed among different nations.
#MustRead

Feb

#Election 2020 (4) A Very Stable Genius

Author: Carol Leonnig, Philip Rucker
Title: A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America
Published: 2020 (480 pages)
Genre: non-fiction
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly plan

Conclusion:

I enjoyed this book very much and
…at the same time it depressed me.
How did we let a man like Trump anywhere near the White House?
C.J. White House Press Secretary in the series
…West Wing uses the phrase “full lid”.
Press conference: “You have a full lid on Christmas day.”
This is to say that there will be no more news from the White House today.
Well, this book just “blew the lid off The White House”!
The book reveals some startling and spectacular insights
…about Trump that we don’t see in the newspapers.
A Very Stable Genius will find its audience
…..hopefully before November 2020!
#VoteBlueNoMatterWho

Trump: A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America

Legacy
Damage flowing from his every word and gesture
World leader
Translated bluster into hard policy
…withdrawal Paris climate accord, nuclear deal with Iran
Character
A name calling pigeon-chested schoolboy (Kim Jong-un, as Rocket Man)
Foreign policy
Trump looks like Bambi on ice.
Homeland policy
Pouring $$ into a fake emergency to stir up is political base (Finish the Wall!)
while the rest of the country is in the middle of a storm!
White House
Staff chosen from ‘central casting’ as
….Trump seeks ‘the look’ (do the job and look the part).
Revolving doors as advisors come and go.
West Wing is in a constant state of damage control.

Feb

#Election (3) Unmaking of the Presidency

Author: S. Hennessey, B. Wittes
Title: Unmaking the Presidency: Donald Trump’s War on the World’s Most Powerful Office
Published: 2020 (433 pages)
Genre: non-fiction
List of Challenges 2020
Monthly plan

Conclusion:

Politics is not beanbag….it’s hardball.
If you want to make an informed choice at the
ballot box in November 2020 start by looking
under the hood of Trump and his
… Administration in the White House.
This is not a book. This is an achievement
The Electoral College ushered Trump into office 2016
…despite losing the popular vote (3-4 million votes).
If Trump wins again in 2020…the question is:
has the public accepted as tolerable Trump’s presidency that
…is fundamentally about the vanity of one individual?
Be afraid, be very afraid in these dystopian times.
#MustRead

Speech:
Stream-of- consciousness, (example East Room Speech dd 07 February 2020)
Proudly illiterate; misspellings, Kansas City Chiefs
…Super Bowl winners…from Kansas or Missouri?
Trump does not speak to persuade, never makes an argument
…but constantly repeats epithets (Sleep Joe, Shifty Schiff) and
…slogans (MAGA, KAGA. Do Nothing Dems, Hoax, Witch Hunt)
to keep the base mobilized and validated.
Lies:
Trump does not ‘tap dance around the truth….he is a pathological
…liar about everything!! (example SOTU address dd 04 February 2020)
Mueller Report:
Trump feels like ‘victim-in-chief’.
Kingship:
I have the absolute right….to even pardon myself!
Management style:
Governs in eruptions; Trump attacks opponents via Dept of Justice
New York Times Editorial Board dd 13 February was very clear:
TRUMP does NOT have the authority to run the DOJ
— like a goon squad at one of his failed casinos.
What has Attorney Bill Barr done for Trump?
—misled the public about the findings from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III,
—cleared Trump of obstruction of justice,
—embraced Trump’s claim that the FBI was “spying” on him,
—worked to discredit the Russia probe,
—disputed the inspector general’s finding that the probe had a proper basis
—commissioned another probe in pursuit of his desired outcome
—declined to investigate the Ukraine allegations
—announced softened sentencing recommendations for Trump pal Roger Stone
—after Trump demanded it.
—investigating the prosecution of another former Trump aide, Michael Flynn.
Foreign Policy:
Shoot-from-the-hip deal-making, does not want to listen to his Generals.
Many foreign interlocutors simply ignore what the president says.
But I don’t think the Turkish President Erdogan will EVER forget Trump’s
….brash personal letter in which he warned
…not to be a “tough guy” or a “fool,” and
…said he risked being remembered as “the devil”. #OUCH

Feb

#Election 2020 (2)

12.02.2020 Thank god we have house pets (…cats and dogs)…it’s the only thing that is keeping me sane!

11.02.2020: What a night! I was awake until 0230 am. Results from NH Primary, interference in DOJ by (?) in Roger Stone sentencing, 4 lawyers on the case resign! When is this news cycle going to stop? #FeelTheBern won.…Pete (“Buddha-Edge”) Buttigieg did very well…. 3 cheers for Amy Klobuchar for proving pundits wrong. Lastly…oh,”Say it isn’t Joe”….Joe Biden in 5th place and left NH before the voting ended. Not a good sign.

Joe Biden was the MAN Donald Trump feared most a few months ago. But….Joe’s electability took a hit in New Hampshire. Remember the main objective in the Election2020 is to beat Trump #ElectabilityMatters. Biden’s electability
is like….grown-ups discussing Santa Claus in front of the children.
They knew the illusion wouldn’t last forever,
but nobody wanted to be one to spoil it.

I am amazed ….every ad @MikeBloomberg
is a megahit against the president. Trump must be going thermonuclear! #Elections2020

https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1226960536736276485?fbclid=IwAR16i4JbtlQnfMngfJBS-lM9gxNdUBvMPlMb9Oe6CFDSj_rr_MpbVXrJc6I

10.02.2020 Impeachment, Iowa Caucus, State of the Union Address….I am so exhausted from all these events. The only thing I want today is a good book, some cookies and #NeedCoffee

Read: 10.02.2020. “A Warning”
Rating: C
Conclusion:

The book is entertaining if you
like White House gossip and
water cooler discussions.
Author remains unknown. Not a good sign.
IMO your reading time is better spent with
A Very Stable Genius….Pulitzer Prize winners
Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.
Both are Washington Post investigative journalists.

PS: I wonder what is on Frank Underwood’s reading list this #Election2020 year?

10.02.2020

I love #FeelTheBern Sanders who has the money and organization to win in NH. But I think Michel Bloomberg is the ONLY one who can beat Trump. Mike has more resources ($$).
Mike is prepared to fight as dirty as Trump who is emboldened after acquittal*. We will have to wait and see how Bloomberg does on Super Tuesday, 03 March 2020.

Feedback @ReeseTypings

Well, that is the core message #VoteBlueNoMatterWho.
I think being famous for something is less important than character, leadership and acting presidential. Trump’s stream-of-consciousness speech in the East Room last Friday was beyond belief for the most powerful world leader…vindictive full of mendacity. I hope Trump’s message is growing stale with voters…., I hope.

No, Bloomberg will appeal to moderates and Republicans who are fed up with Trump. Bloomberg, for his part, continues to face questions on his record….but this happens to all the candidates.
Bloomberg skipped all four February contests but has climbed into double digits in national polls on the strength of an enormous and sustained advertising campaign. Wouldn’t it be nice if America became a source of pride both domestically and globally.

Good news: 09.02.22020 I survived Storm Ciara that swept over Northern Europe….whew! 130 km per hour winds. Happy to confirm the storm has passed and cats are safe to resume usual prowling activities.