Somnambulism quote.

“She knew of nothing that could justify despondency. But such is humanity. Cheerfulness and dejection will take their turns in the best regulated bosoms, and come and go when they will, and not at the command of reason.” --Somnambulism, Charles Brown

Charlotte Temple

Fails at characterization.

Okay that's a bit harsh, I've seen far worse. But Rowson does honestly trip up. I can withstand Charlotte's characterization up to a point—she's supposed to be some kind of supremely innocent and unwary figure. Though I don't get why that would necessarily make her stupid--she is continually manipulated via guilt; you would think that eventually she would realize, "Oh look, they keep manipulating me by playing on my guilt. Maybe they're not as nice I thought."

Montraville is where my real problem lies though; Rowson tells us he's a good guy--that if he knew what he was doing would end badly, he would stop (which is some pretty weak reasoning). However, Montraville spends his time manipulating Charlotte with guilt the same way that the “bad” characters (Belcour and Mademoiselle) do. How is that “good”? The “good” character acts the same as the “bad” ones?

lolwut?

A message to myself.

No more.
It has ended tonight.
It will never happen again.
Have some damn self-control.


ETA: I know that reads kind of ominously, but it's nothing truly bad. Just a personal behavior of mine that I've grown tired of and want to stop. I wrote it here to keep as an affirmation of my conviction.

Old, funny quotes.

“From Kiquotan [the settlers] extended themselves as far as James-Town, where like true Englishmen, they built a Church that cost no more than Fifty Pounds, and a Tavern that cost Five hundred.” --From William Byrd II's, The History of the Dividing Line
ROFL

“The good Missionary, disgusted with this idle Tale, said, ‘What I delivered to you were sacred Truths; but what you tell me is mere Fable, Fiction, and Falsehood.’ The Indian, ofended, reply'd, ‘My brother, it seems your Friends have not done you Justice in your Education; they have not well instructed you in the Rules of common Civility . You saw that we, who understand and practice those Rules, believ’d all your stories; why do you refuse to believe ours?’” --From a conversation between a Swedish minister and a Native American chief, quoted in Benajmain Franklin's Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America

Bloviating about stuff I know little about.

(This is me pretending I know stuff. Don't take it too seriously.)

“A narrator should not supply interpretations of his work; otherwise he would not have written a novel, which is a machine for generating interpretations.”
—Umberto Eco

So if a story forces an interpretation of itself to the reader, it's not a story, it's a really long pamphlet. This is why stories have subtlety (in bringing across messages, that is), because subtlety allows for ambiguity of interpretation--it allows one person to read a story and see one thing, while another sees something else entirely.

This may be why I have such difficulty with earlier literature (in this case, the History of Eliza Wharton, which is about as subtle as a brick to the face). It's not their fault, they were writing prototypes and lacked the refinement of the art and codified tropes present today (I imagine in the future someone will say the same about the current generation, should be amusing. :P) But it doesn't change the crudeness inherent in many earlier works of literature.
Oh well.

It's also why we'll probably never replace the classics--they were first (from a standpoint of recorded history and known literature that is). How well they're written is only part of it; they just existed first and espoused relevant ideals, and so naturally have the most prominence.

I'm a brony. (Let's get that out of the way right now.)

Pony-induced “Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng!” from so much dawwwwwww.

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Midna's Lament is the second most beautiful thing Legend of Zelda has ever produced. Right after Midna.

Just read “The Coquette,” or, “The History of Eliza Wharton”

Peter Sanford is such. A. Dick.

Also, what does “&c” mean? I have never met a footnote with the decency to explain that to me.

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I just finished a Cracked article that shows off six amazing things we've discovered in outer space (what's inner space then? Do we have a better name for it?)

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Must buy MTG books. But first, Don Quixote, and then The Three Musketeers.

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Does anyone know how to make blogger use "smart" quotation marks? I don't like these dumb ones.
ETA: Haha, the smart has been doubled! “ ”