Mrs Allen Mrs Allen's dreams about children Mrs Lacey personality Mrs Lacey appearence Mrs Lacey's behaviour with her children Mrs Allen's gardener Horse and Jockey Chequers Mr Allen Maureen, Vera, Ron Mr Lacey Mrs Lacey arrives unusually late Mrs Allen walks the dog Mrs Lacey feels unwell Mr Lacey pays a visit to Mrs Allen Mrs Lacey's real life Surprise at the end The title
The BLITZ. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4104942
Elisabeth Bowen was an Irish-born author, but she did her literary activities within a cultural club in London called The Bloomsbury Group, which had its headquarters in the neighbourhood of the British Museum and whose most famous members were the writer Virginia Woolf and the economist John M. Keynes (whose main idea was that the government had to intervene in the economy to correct the bad effects of the capitalism).
But Bowen isn’t very known here: in Catalan you aren’t going to find any translation, and there are only some of this books in Spanish. If you want to find her works in the library, click here.
The short story that we’re reading is a bit autobiographic, because she was born in Dublin and, although she went to live in England, she used to spend her holidays in Ireland where she had an estate and a house, and because during the World War II she worked in London for a Ministry that monitored the Irish neutrality.
Sunday Afternoon is the typical story in where it seems that nothing happens; but the thing is that what happens is about feelings, and this is harder to see and understand; so, I think that the story, although its language isn’t difficult, needs a slow pace and more than one reading.
SOME VOCABULARY YOU'LL HAVE TO CHECK
lawn, drawing, fanlight, twiddle, diversion, nonchalantly, preposterous, at any rate, pert, relinquish, ruthlessness, askance, last quarter (Mrs Versey beauty), besought (beseech), spell
PERHAPS THESE QUESTIONS WILL HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND DE TEXT.
Who was Mrs Versey and what was her relationship with Henry? Why, in your opinion, does Ria think that Maria wants to go to London? What is the relationship between Maria and Mrs Versey? Why does Ronald Cuffe think Henry is a bit cynic? Why do you think Maria looked at her wristwatch several times? How do you know that Mrs Versey is a very rich woman? Why does he call her “Miranda”? (Maybe the 'Miranda' in Shakespeare's The Tempest?) What’s the “new number chained to your wrist”?
HAVE A LOOK AT THESE SENTENCES/PHRASES AND COMMENT THEM
“But nothing dreadful: we are already feeling a little sad”. “The late May Sunday blazed, but was not warm.” “The coldness had been admitted by none of the seven people.” “They continued to master the coldness.” “He was to tell a little, but not much.” “… the aesthetic of living that he had got from them.” “’Are the things there as shocking there as they say... or the are more shocking?’, he went on, with distaste.” “The girl... seemed to belong to everyone there.” “This outrage... will not have literature.” “Their position was, he saw, more difficult than his own.” “Screen of lilac/Another cold puff came through the lilac.” “You had lost everything. But that cannot be true!” “You live with nothing, for ever. Can you really feel that that is life?” “This little bit of destruction was watched by the older people with fascination.” “’They are frightened someone would miss the bus and come back.’” “’How weak you are!’” (said Maria) “I can drive a car.” (said Maria) “We shall be nothing but brutes.” “You are only inside their spell.” “The trouble with you is, you’re half old.”
POSSIBLE TOPICS TO DEBATE:
-Gap between generations (you can see three in the story) -Wars and desertion -When can/must you be a pacifist?
1. Endo
Shusako or Shusako Endo?: Japanese names in modern times consist of a family name (surname), followed by a given name; in that order. Nevertheless, when a Japanese
name is written in the Roman alphabet, ever since the Meiji era official policy has been to reverse the order, but recently the government has
stated its intention to change this policy. (From Wikipedia)
3. A Catholic
writer. He is a very singular case of Japanese writer because he is considered
a Catholic author, when almost all the Japanese writers tend to follow the
culture and religion (Shinto or Buddhism) of their country. In Western literature
there are also Catholic writers; the most famous ones are the English
Graham Greene and the German Heinrich Böll. But why are they called
"Catholic authors"? Only because their characters act as practising
Catholics (they attend Mass, they pray...), and one of their side topics is
religion. This is a curious description for an artist, because we usually talk
about romantic, realistic, mystery authors.
4. Two well
known Japanese writers are Yukio Mishima and his friend Yasunari Kawabata. The
first one was an extreme right-wing activist and in 1970 he tried a coup against
the government because he said the 1947 Constitution was imposed by the USA. He
failed, and then he committed suicide by the ritual hara-kiri. His friend
Kawabata, who won the Nobel Prize in 1968, committed suicide gassing himself
allegedly because of his friend death.
5. Another
rare Japanese writer was Lafcadio Hearn (not typical Japanese names or
surnames!). He was of a Greek-Irish descent (his first-first name was Patrick)
and lived for 10 years in New Orleans, where he wrote a book about his stay
there. Then he went to live in Japan, where he changed his name to a Japanese
one (Koizumi Yakumo), married a Japanese woman and wrote short stories in
Japanese about ghosts (typical there).
6. But the
writer I wanted to recommend you is Natsume Soseki and his book Botchan, a novel about the funny
adventures of a student in a secondary school. This book has been compared to Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye. Don’t miss them!
QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE STORY
What does the
old friend do? (occupation) What was the
reason of their meeting? What is the
meaning of “We had reached that age”? Who was Father
Bosch? What happened
to him during the war? What is the
meaning of the metaphor “bowling alleys”? Why was he
accused of being a spy? Can you give a
personal example of “at some time of their lives, people all taste the same
sorrows and the same trials”? We can see two
sides of Father Bosch character: what are they? What is the “convict
number tattooed in her arm”? “I am a
Catholic and I know I am supposed to forgive the others... But I have no desire
to forgive them.” What do you think of this sentence? In the story,
what does the symbol “smell of onions in one’s reek” stand for? What’s the
meaning of Father Bosch’s smile at the end of the story? He said “I
only feel pain in the winter when it’s cold. When spring comes, I’m fine again.
This is the way it always is”. What did he mean with this?
VOCABULARY:
pay attention to the context and say a synonym or a definition in English
Isak Dinesen was the pseudonym of Karen Blixen. Most people remember her because she was the heroine of Out of Africa, but Karen's life and character have very little to do with the role acted by Meryl Streep.
The Danish author Karen Blixen (1885) belonged
to an aristocratic family. She was grown up by some aunts obsessed by
being nobles. She fell in love with a distant cousin of hers, but he
rejected her and then she got married to his twin brother, a baron, with whom she sent to Kenya. The marriage was a disaster, and he transmitted the syphilis to her. He was also very bad at bussines, and she had to take care of their coffee plantation. At last, they went bankrupt, and she came back to Denmark, where she started to write.
Hemingway said she deserved the Nobel Prize more than himself.
Another very famous work of hers is Babette's Feast, also adapted to a film.
TRY TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS WHILE YOU READ
Was theirs a balanced marriage?
How do we know that they were happy?
What was the difference of character between them?
Where did they go in a lovely July morning?
Why does she think "What a baby he is! I'm a hundred years older than he?"
What happened to some of the English lambs?
What crimes did the thief commit?
What were Lise's feelings about the thief?
Why was she happy when she was alone?
Why did she go into the shrubbery?
Who did she find in the shelter?
What did the man do with the knife? What does it symbolize?
She dropped her handkerchief: What is the meaning of that? And of giving her ring?
And why did he kick the ring away?
What do you thing is the meaning of "the blade was much worn - it went in?
Why does she think "All is over"?
Was she in love with her husband? How do you know?
WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS: TRY TO LOOK THEM UP
aka
had set on their purpose for ten years
haughty
jesting
raillery
no stone in his bride's path
haymaking
drifted
frock
ram
stock
sheepfold
gruesome
whimper
shrank
swallows
gambolling
moist
took him in one simple glance
alcove
at bay
asunder
TOPICS TO DISCUSS
Why do some women take a male pseudonym to write?
What do you think of positive discrimination?
What is for you the difference between sex and genre?
SAYINGS, IDEAS AND OTHER THOUGHTS BY ISAK DINESEN
The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the
sea.
It is a good thing to be a great sinner. Or should human
beings allow Christ to have died on the Cross for the sake of our petty lies
and our paltry whorings.
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or
tell a story about them.
All the sorrows of life are bearable if only
we can convert them into a story.
Truth, like time, is an idea arising from, and dependent
upon, human intercourse.
People work much in order to secure the future; I gave
my mind much work and trouble, trying to secure the past.
If a man can devote himself undisturbed to the work
which is on his mind, he can, as far I have observed, completely ignore his
surroundings--they disappear for him; he can sit in filth and disorder, draught
and cold, and be completely happy. For most women it is insufferable to sit in
a room if the color scheme displeases them.
From my journeys in southern Europe I have gained the
impression that in our time the Virgin Mary is the only heavenly creature who
is really beloved by millions. But I believe these millions would be
uncomprehending and perhaps even offended if I were to tell them that the
Virgin Mary had made a significant discovery, solved difficult mathematical
problems, or masterfully organized and administered an association of
housewives in Nazareth.
Kate Chopin was an American writer of short stories, although her most famous work was the novel The Awakening (1899). This novel was banished because it was too adavanced for her time: the critics couldn't bear the feminist behaviour of her characters nor her treatment of the female sexuality or infidelity (remember she lived in the South of the USA, where they say people are more tradicionalist and can (or could) speak French). So most of people considered her writings offensive and they were forgotten until in the 1970s, when she was rediscovered for this feminist attitude, and, from then on, her novel and short stories have been republished several times.
Chopin had a hard life because of the successive loss
of her husband, her business, and her mother. A friend of Chopin's, a doctor, suggested her to start writing,
believing that it could be a good thereapy for her, and thus also to give way to her enormous energy.
Her short stories follow the topics and the style of the French writer Guy de Maupassant. He was a realistic or naturalistic writer, a bit pessimistic and with a good taste for life ironies.
More short stories by Kate Chopin (I recommend to read them: they're very short!):
Some good writers, even writers with a Nobel Prize, are sometimes out of fashion. It all depens on the market, and not on the quality of their texts. All of a sudden you discover an author and you want to read some books by them, but, what happens? It happens that is very difficult to find their books, or their books are old books and their editions not updated any more. I think Ivan Bunin is a typical case of this situation.
His short story is a very odd story: it doesn't have a regular chronological rhythm: at the beginning all it's very slow; then, at the middle of it, thirty years pass by in a single paragraph, and, after all the adventures, only a single afternoon remains.
At the end of our lives, what is going to remain? What is the thing, the deed, that would make us able to say about life: "it's worth it"?
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE READING
What happened on the 15th of June? What year was it? Who is the person who tells the story? What is the meaning of "her son to be" in the context of the story? In all the story you can breath sadness. Say some sentence, phrase, word, image that makes you feel that sadness. For example: "an early and cold autumn". Why do you think that the boy prefers going in the morning? The girl is frightened at her own thought "Suppose he realy is killed..." Why? What was in the little bag her mum has been sewing for him? Why fateful? What do you think this sentence mean: "not knowing what to do with myself, wether I should sob or sing at the top of my voice"? What was the protagonist doing 30 years after her boyfriend's death? Who did she get married to? Then it happened a lot of things to her in quick succession: what things? At the end, only a memory remains with all its strength inside her: what was it?
VOCABULARY
estate ≠ state gather = meet innermost = deep inside gaze = look at set off = leave, go away game of patience = game of cards where you play alone linger = wander waiting for nothing Fet = Afanassin Fet (1820-1872), Russian poet. stand out = be more visible that the rest <<< Swiss cloak jerky = nervous hoarfrost = ice on objects after a night of freezing weather Galicia = Galitzia = a region between Poland and Ukraine moth = little insect that eats clothes Arbat, Smolensk = markets in Moscow
As you can read on the Wikipedia, William Maxwell wasn't a typical celebrity with a lot of entries on Google. We know he was a fine scholar, editor and writer. There are no adaptations of his books for the cinema, so he's not a "celebrity" in the current sense. But the most important things for a writer are his writings, so let's read his short story and enjoy it.
QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU WITH THE READING
Who was the protagonist? What did she do? What was she like and what did she look like? How do you know she was a good teacher? What mischief by the pupils did the text mention? What present did the pupils give her for her birthday? How did they celebrate it? Why didn't she come to school one day? Who was the substitute? How did the pupils behave with the new teacher? What did Miss Brown home look like? What is the meaning of "She belonged to the illness"? And what does it mean: "The angel who watches over little boys (who know, but they can't say it) saw to it that we didn't touch anything"?
What did the teacher died of? How old was she? How did the boy find Miss Brown tomb?
TOPICS TO DEVELOP
What were your school days like? Anecdotes, mates, teachers, subjects...
VOCABULARY
flawlessly = perfectly
< oval Palmer method
call the roll = read out the list of pupils to see if they are in class
snicker = laugh silently
< aster = kind of flower
worm out = discover
< sweet pea = another kind of flower
Happy Returns = Happy Birthday
matinée = session (in a cinema...,) in the morning or early in the afternoon
crane one's neck = try to see a thing, e.g. far away or over a fence
weather-beaten = spent much time in the open air, very cold or very hot
