Charlotte Brontë, Shirley (1849).
“Ah!” said I, shaking my head, and heaving a deep sigh. Life’s too short. And Shirley hadn’t even shown up yet.
Also from Charlotte Brontë
A word : Three words : Jane Eyre, descriptivist : Bumps on the head : “In all quarters of the sky” : Small things : Some trees
Thursday, July 2, 2020
The sentences that made me
give up on Shirley
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comments: 9
Have you read the Kate Beaton comics about the Brontes?
I didn’t know there were such things. I’ll look. Thanks, Joan.
I just found one. Very funny. I’ll search more when it’s light out. :)
You are welcome!
I wonder how many people are disappointed that Dracula only speaks, or is consciously present, in the first chapter of the eponymous novel?
My impatience with Shirley wasn’t really with the absence of Shirley. It was with the writing. I don’t think Shirley’s presence would have helped with that.
Is Dracula really present only at the very start? I’ll take your word for it. I’m wondering now what I made of that novel as a kid.
I thought I'd commented, but it must not have gone through.
What a mess of a sentence.
Is a sigh an ejaculation? I'd say no.
And is a sigh capable of indicating the state and location of hardware?
Is this sentence salvageable? I do relate to a screw being loose but out of reach.
(Reminds me of recent frustrations with a coworker.)
The loose, unreachable screw contrasted with the reachable rules of grammar...
That's good.
No, I didn’t get a comment from you, Fresca. I guess you could exclaim and then sigh. But the whole thing is so labored.
I like your phrase “the reachable rules of grammar.”
I am puzzled by CB: the dialogue in Jane Eyre is sometimes so labored. In The Professor it’s often quick and surprisingly modern.
Shirley just felt tedious. But I may go back at some point and change my mind.
I don't think Dracula talks in most of the novel, but it's certainly centered around his doings.
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