danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

Before I became a British Literature major at the University of Florida, I had seen few episodes of PBS’ Masterpiece Theater.  I cannot recall what, in particular, induced me to watch a 2005 broadcast of Bleak House, but it was marvelous in every way.  Recalling how well the filmmakers had adapted Dickens, I resolved to watch as many productions as I could.  Unfortunately, Masterpiece Theater isn’t always classic fiction.  For quite some time last year they broadcast episodes in their “Contemporary” series.

I was thrilled, then, to see that the new year brought with it new adaptations of nineteenth century British novels, beginning with Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles.  It was fantastic.  The acting, sets, costumes and cinematography were all splendid.  It was truly affecting.  I had high hopes for Wuthering Heights, but alas, it was terrible.  Aside from the odd aspects of the filmmaking itself, the story was twisted and modified in really pointless ways.  It’s not hard to see why a filmmaker might choose to eliminate the dual narrator technique Bronte adopts.  What works in a book doesn’t always translate well to the screen.  So, Nelly Dean was just a minor character in this production, and Mr. Lockwood didn’t appear at all.  Much of the plot was compressed, and some of my favorite scenes from the book were jettisoned.  Most of Healthcliff’s evil machinations from the book were glossed over, and others not in the book were invented.  The conclusion was not right at all.

I’m crossing my fingers for Sense and Sensibility next week, and four Dickens adaptations.

Filed under: Film, Literature and Books, Television on January 28th, 2009 | No Comments »

Last year I wrote about one of my literature professors who was implicated in a plagiarism scandal.  Professor Twitchell, who has written many books about subjects like advertising and vampires, was accused of lifting passages from books by other authors without crediting them.  There is no doubt now that this is what occurred.  I heard from one of the authors whose works Twitchell failed to cite; I can understand how disturbing it must have been for her to find her words printed practically verbatim in his book.

In today’s Gainesville Sun I read that Professor Twitchell is stepping down now, after more than three decades at the University of Florida.  I took his English Romanticism course, and I can testify to the fact that he is a brilliant man, astonishingly knowledgeable and immensely capable.  The scandal that has brought him down is of Elliot Sptizer proportions.  I am certain this has been difficult for all parties involved, but the real losers in this scenario are the future English Literature students at UF.  There will be one less talented professor on the faculty.  With the budget situation being what it is, I doubt Twitchell will be replaced.  What a waste.

Filed under: Literature and Books, School on January 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

I recognize that 2008 was, for many, a bad year.  The worst economy in generations, rising unemployment, and record prices for almost everthing stemming from gasoline that topped $4.00 a gallon made life difficult for a lot of people.  In spite of all this, 2008 was good to me.  Some highlights:

• I began classes at the University of Florida.  This is remarkable, because had I waited any longer the window would have closed on me, probably forever.  The University announced this year that they were changing their admissions policy for transfer students.  Unlike other universities in Florida, UF doesn’t have to admit students with transfer degrees from community colleges.  They can pick and choose.  And when the average GPA for entering freshmen at UF is over 4.0, there is little incentive for them to take people like me.  I got in just under the wire.  School is challenging, but rewarding.  I feel very grateful to be where I am.
• This year I became active in a roller debry league.  I am not a skater, of course, but I spent a lot of time with the girls who are skaters, and contributed to the league in my own small way.
• I did lots of traveling in 2008.  In January I spent a weekend in Daytona Beach at the wedding of my closest friends; in June I spent almost a week in Chicago, which is surely one of the world’s great cities; in early August I spent several days in Hilton Head, South Carolina, which I didn’t care much for as a place, but can now say I’ve seen; went to Savannah twice; had a great weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which is a delightful little town; had an incredibly memorable week in Washington, DC, where I saw a million amazing things.
• I made lots of new friends, and reconnected with many old friends on Facebook.  I saw Burt twice.
• I got myself an amazing Fender Telecaster, which is ideal in nearly every way.
• I continued my incredible no-vomiting streak.
• I paid off all of my credit card debt.
• I watched lots of Olympics on TV.
• I became the last person I know to buy a laptop computer, and it’s changed my life.
• I discovered Samuel Johnson, which also changed my life.
• I had several photographs published in books, magazines, and even the website of the Wall Street Journal.
• I ate an astonishing amount of Hungry Howie’s pizza.
• I perfected the grilled cheese sandwich (the secret ingredient is salt).
• I read: Emma; Persuasion; Oroonoko; Wuthering Heights; Lady Audley’s Secret; Evelina; Robinson Crusoe; Roxana; Oliver Twist; The Monk; Clarissa; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and tons of poetry.
• I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert; they played “Jungleland”.

So long, 2008.  You were good to me.  As I do every year, I close with the Stephen Foster sentiment that has become my credo: Hard Times Come Again No More.

Filed under: Cost of Living, Dana Heritage Project, Food, Friends, General, Literature and Books, Photography, Popular Music, School, Sports, Technology, Television, Travel on January 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment »

As a student of literature, I buy a goodly number of books.  For the sake of convenience, I acquire many at Goerings Bookstore on 1st Avenue, just a block north of campus.  All the English professors put their orders in there, and the store is generally well-stocked.  Plus, they have titles that the big stores in town (Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Books-a-Million) might not generally carry.  Actually, you’d be surprised at the important novels that I haven’t been able to find at some of the chain stores – Oliver Twist, for instance.  Next time you’re in one of these stores, see what Dickens novels they have.  If they don’t have a copy of Bleak House that’s a bad sign.  That said, authors like Aphra Behn or Mary Elizabeth Braddon are considerably less well-known, and I can understand how difficult it would be to stock every work of classic literary fiction and still have room for the mandatory coffee shop in the front corner.

For this reason, it’s convenient that Amazon.com exists.  If I have the time to wait, and I can put together an order substantial enough to qualify for free shipping, it’s hard to beat Amazon.  I value having a brick-and-mortar store like Goerings, and I want them to succeed.  For all I know, they’re doing very well, since they get so much student business.  But in several respects no brick-and-mortar store, including Goerings, can compete with Amazon.

First, Amazon charges below cover price for most of their paperback books.  Sometimes this is a substantial discount.  For example, the Penguin edition of Clarissa bears a cover price of $24.95, and that is what you’d pay anywhere else, including Borders (I saw a copy at a Borders in Chapel Hill, North Carolina last August).  At Amazon, however, you can get a brand new copy of Richardson’s absurdly long novel for $16.47.  That’s a substantial discount.

Second, of course, is selection, which I mentioned above.  At a good independent brick-and-mortar shop, you will certainly find a copy of Wuthering Heights.  (If you don’t, turn around a walk out; they don’t deserve your business.)  Often, however, they may only have a mass-market edition, like Signet, which is inexpensive, but bare-bones.  The Penguin and Oxford editions are better, and just a few dollars more.  Best of all, though, especially for something like Wuthering Heights, is the Norton Critical Edition, which has translations of Joseph’s incomprehensible mumblings.  You can find all of these at Amazon.

Finally, Amazon has built an astonishing used marketplace.  For paperback classics it is often no cheaper after shipping to buy used than new, but for almost everything else it is.  But the easy availability of used books (and CDs and DVDs, too) is apparently a mixed blessing.  David Streitfeld wrote an especially interesting article last weekend about his conflicted feelings regarding buying and selling used books online.  On one hand, it’s such a convenient and cost-effective way for readers to shop.  On the other hand, it hurts publishers, bookstores and authors.  This doesn’t apply to Samuel Richardson or Charles Dickens, of course, but it does affect living writers (and songwriters and filmmakers), and the shops that sell their wares.  Streitfeld’s article cites a California shop owner who criticized him for “depriving” the author of income, and driving bookshops out of business.

I have a problem with that sort of logic.  We buy books for what’s written on their pages, but they are still physical objects, as are CDs and DVDs.  As a physical objects, they take space on our shelves and coffee tables.  They can be loaned to friends or sold to strangers.  Those in the business of publishing would have us think this is wrong.  Of course, if they had their way there would be no libraries either.  They can whine until the end of time, but they cannot convince me that when I am finished reading a book I should throw it away in the garbage or leave it to collect dust on my shelf.  If I want to pass it along to a friend I will.  If I want to sell it to someone else I will.

The music industry fought a losing battle against MP3 for years.  They feared that MP3 made it too easy to steal music.  That is, one person made an MP3 of a song, then posted it online for others to take without paying anything.  They also didn’t like the idea of consumers not having to buy an entire $18 CD when they only wanted one song.  I acknowledge that it isn’t easy to make an argument in favor of loaning MP3s given the lack of physical medium.  The labels now know that they can save a ton on production and distribution in an MP3 world.  Likewise, publishers can save a fortune selling e-books.  Do you think that record labels and book publishers care about record stores and bookshops?  I don’t think they do.

It’s clear to me that everyone is simply trying to get as much money as they can however they can, and will use whatever flawed reasoning it takes to justify their greed.  If publishers could figure out a way to charge a fee for literacy I think they would.

Filed under: Literature and Books, Rantings on December 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

Christmas 2008 has come and gone, and I am back home in Gainesville after three days and more than 500 miles on the highway.  On the Turnpike this afternoon, an accident on the southbound lanes caused a tremendous backup in the northbound lanes, and more than five miles (I counted) of bumper-to-bumper traffic for the southbound travelers.

Christmas Eve was spent in St. Petersburg at Grandma’s house.  She was at church when I arrived, but had made dinner and left it on the counter.  Plus, there were brownies.  When she got home we watched It’s a Wonderful Life.  On Christmas Day we went over to Julie’s.  It was a great time.  I gave Miriam some aluminum plates for her skates.  I gave my dad a book of selected essays of Samuel Johnson, a book which has changed my life.  Grandma gave me a book of photos of me as a child.  Julie gave me a neat personalized stone for the garden.  Miriam gave me the DVD of La fanciulla del West I’ve wanted for a long time with Sherrill Milnes as Jack Rance, and the Penguin Classics edition of Dumas’ Count of Monte Christo I’ve been itching to read.

Filed under: Family, Literature and Books, Special Occasions, Travel on December 27th, 2008 | No Comments »