To answer your question as to whether I would like you to create more vlogs: “Please, sir, I want some more.” I'm studying botanical illustration via The Society of Botanical Artists so I decided to give the full cast Dracula audiobook a go during the day while completing my assignments and I'm just beginning to read Rebecca at night because apparently my life wasn't intense enough.
Thank you, Sharon :) I will very happily oblige! I really enjoyed putting this one together. It's so cool to hear you're studying botanical illustration. And I'm so thrilled to hear you're enjoying two of my all-time favourite novels :)
Same sentiments. I've been like this from my late teens, early 20s...no one who really has the same interests and passion to discuss subjects like literature.
The elegance of nature has played a vital role in awakening my love for reading and creativity. I consider myself very fortunate to live on 100 acres of prosperous land. During autumn especially, I love reveling in literature while in the presence of nature. Although I haven’t gotten into gardening myself, I have been watching my parents do it. My observations led me to compose this passage for my latest book, “Love is not something that can be grown in a day. It has to be nourished, refined, and anointed. It will grow in the gardens of our dreams, for dreams are the seeds of Heaven.”
That's incredible, Joseph. The passage you shared is beautiful, crisp, and insightful. Thanks for sharing with us! I can tell it's going to be a great book :)
Oh my goodness I can't believe I've only just found you! The TH-cam recommendations worked for once! I'm alone in my family with my love for literature, so this is such a treat. I'm currently reading Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. He is becoming a favourite author of mine.
Aw, thank you, Emma :) I'm so happy you're here! And how wonderful to hear that you're reading 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'. I recently picked up a beautiful First Folio collection of Hardy's novels. Having finished a reread of 'The Woodlanders', I'm now embarking on 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' too!
I'm re-reading "Casterbridge" right now. I love it. I know Mr. McEvoy's favorite Hardy is "Tess" but I think I responded more to "Casterbridge," "The Woodlanders" and especially "The Return of the Native."
Book lovers not only love gardens but they also love golden stone walls ;) I've just finished Joan Dideon's Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Several of her poignant essays will stay with me. I've already recommended two to friends who would be touched by them. Now I am reading The Greatest Journey, a non-fiction book about Americans who traveled to Paris between 1830-1900. Its largely a book about the history of Paris through an American lens. I've also embarked (at your suggestion) on a daily reading of a Shakespeare sonnet. Each day I: a.) read it through, b.) read it aloud, c.) find some notes about it online and read those, d.) hand write (with a fountain pen) the sonnet into a journal for collecting them in my own handwriting. My canon: Les Miserables, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, all Thomas Hardy (although I found Jude to be very hard to bear), and anything Dickens. What's your favorite biography ? High on my list: Leonardo Da Vinci (Issacson) Joan D'Arc (Castor) and Me (Elton John.)
What you said about gardening and reading classics is so true to me. I enjoy so much with reading classics and planting alternatively. Gardening is in my finger tips while Tess of the Durberveillie is in my thoughts. They fill my life with enjoyment. So does your excellent videos!!😊😊
Been reading entirely too much, or not at all: Tolstoy (AK), Joyce (Dub.), Hardy (Jude), Sexton, Kurkov (Death and the Penguin), Helbig (Old Rendering Plant), Austen (P&P), Sandburg (Harvest Poems), Pratchett, the bible, and a dozen more. And now I've added even more to The List.
Nice line-up! Many of these are books that are currently strewn across my own coffee-table at the moment. I recently downloaded the latest audiobook project from Penguin - they have given the Terry Pratchett universe a new team of narrators, with Bill Nighy as the voice of Pratchett himself, and they've done a terrific job. I'm on a reread/listen to 'Equal Rites' at the moment.
I’m no gardner…not yet anyway, but since reading more literature I have this new love for nature and the outdoors. Now that the weather is warmer too I spend quite a bit of time reading outdoors. I’m very lucky there is a lake nearby and I tend to get there early to sit on the bench by the lake and just read for a couple of hours. It’s truly sublime. I love your channel so much. It’s opened up doors to new literature for me, perhaps books I may never have read before, so thank you, Ben. Best wishes, Samee.
That's lovely, Samee. Thanks so much for the great comment, and your kind words! Something similar happened to me when I increased the amount of literature I was reading. It started to tune me into the natural world, and made me want to see more of it. Reading outdoors, as you've described, is honestly one of life's greatest joys :)
Just subscribed to this channel. I think I'm going to enjoy this. Shhhhh...(low voice) I have a lot of time to watch TH-cam at my job. Seriously. I also have a lot of time to listen to audio books. As in I’m upwards in the 600. Thanks for the show mate.
Excellent themes Ben! 💯, I coincidentally dropped into a florist the other day after picking up Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” for the second time. Wilde’s aesthetic style prompts me to think more about nature and the senses.
You can really smell the flowers from Oscar Wilde's prose, can't you? The opening to Dorian Gray is a treat for the senses: "The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
Love Far From The Madding Crowd. I own the rose Gabriel Oak and I bought a climbing rose named after Bathsheba today. Love that some roses are named after literary characters. It's inspiring.
If I may be so bold to speculate: I think it very probable that those who laughed at your question concerning Thomas Hardy's oeuvre would be unable to last one round with you in a literary boxing ring today. Regarding gardening: you are about to embark on a beautiful and unbelievably satisfying journey that will complement your love of literature in ways you have yet to discover. I think our early school lives may have had similar (but different) obstacles laid in our path to confound us. In my case - perhaps I went to a somewhat better school, but it was run by the good Sisters of Loretto otherwise knows as _The Green Berets Of The Catholic Church_ who had not yet been made aware that the The Inquisition was over. In my case, as a result of the mercies of alphabetization, I was always seated in the extreme right hand row of seats and at the very back of the room which offered the benefit of being right next to the windows (we had no air conditioning) and also right next to our class bookstand. So, at twelve years of age and while Sister Mary Elephant droned on about Pope Leo IX during religion class I would sneak a book out of the case and memorize poems such as Kipling's _Gunga Din_ or Tennyson's _Charge Of The Light Brigade_ . In this manner Catholic school made me a better student of literature ....... though I must confess that it also turned me into a religious heathen. [Edit] To answer your question: I am currently re-reading a few of Montaigne's essays.
That's incredibly kind of you to say. And what you have written about gardening is truly inspiring. Over the last couple of weeks, it has been quite extraordinary seeing the flowers, vegetables, and fruits begin to grow. We've had lashings of rain, followed by a nice bit of sun, and suddenly the allotment is giving birth to carrots and kale and strawberries, and my Ancient Mariner roses have bloomed beautifully. Very interesting to hear about your school experience. I must say I had a good chuckle at the idea that the Sisters of Loretto hadn't received the memo about the Inquisition ending. Very relatable! My primary school was run by Irish nuns - all lovely women, but very fervent Roman Catholics! I love that you were memorising Tennyson and Kipling. What a beautiful memory. I remember being very angrily pulled up for reading Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in Religious Studies. Like you, I do have Catholic school to thank for making me so well-read - but not for the reasons they might have hoped!
I own Far From The Madding Crowd, Tess of the U'drbervilles, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Castabridge in Folio Society. I love Far From The Madding Crowd because Gabriel is lovely and I love Hardy's writing. His descriptions of the seasons and nature are beautiful. I like Tess too. I want to read Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Castabridge as well.
I loved this video. Currently, I am enjoying G.E.'s Daniel Deronda. I finished a 4 month read of Middlemarch and loved it. By the way, some other flowers for your literary garden are : Black Beauty lily, Scheherazade lily and Lady of Shalott rose. Happy gardening! 💐
Thank you, Adrienne :) Nice one on getting through Middlemarch in four months! I hope you enjoy Daniel Deronda. If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend The Mill on the Floss (my second favourite). And thank you for the recommendations for my literary garden 😊 I love the look of all three!
Really enjoyed this general chat as a contrast to your more structured vlogs. I'm sure your new interest in gardening will bring you so much joy and there's not many things nicer than sitting in a comfy chair in the garden that you have created with a drink and a book. My reading corner has a little pond and masses of fragrant jasmine to sit amongst although I even go out there with my coat on and a coffee to read in the autumn. Birds and other wildlife are a joyful presence too. I look forward to hearing about your progress and thank you for what you give to us 🌻
Thank you, Carol :) Your reading corner truly sounds like heaven. You've painted such an inspiring picture - the fragrant jasmine, the pond, the wildlife, all topped off with a coffee and a good book. The perfect way to spend an afternoon :)
Your comment on how we crave distraction too much nowadays reminds me of something Nietzsche said in his The Gay Science: 'For the thinker and for all inventive spirits, boredom is that disagreeable "lull" of the soul that precedes a happy voyage and cheerful winds; he has to endure it, must await its effect on him - precisely that is what lesser natures are totally unable to achieve! To fend off boredom at any price is vulgar, just as work without pleasure is vulgar.'-Aphorism 42
Thank you for that wonderful vlog about reading and literature. It's quite amazing how much you read and I am very inspired by how well read you are and all the activities that are going on that I will for sure be following. I have just enrolled in a Masters in Literature so many of these canonical texts are constantly being brought up and to have an awareness and a platform to learn about literature is fantastic, so thank you. I am interested in reading more contemporary British literature because I also love the classics which are very popular in South Asia, where I live, but would like to learn more about newer literature as well. Looking forward to your blogs and podcasts.
Thank you, Nahyan :) Congratulations on enrolling in your Masters! I would be interested to hear what area you decide to focus on. As for contemporary British Literature, I've recently enjoyed a reread of Welsh novelist/poet Joe Dunthorne's Submarine. Laugh out loud funny :)
I have a question/comment... I am currently reading _Bleak House,_ and I'm working on a reading program of my own design. I agree; I need a lot of time to read and digest these books, both to read and in the spaces between reading sessions. My question is: how did Harold Bloom do it? He was famous for his speed-reading through these classics. Granted, we all can't be Harold Bloom, a great man of letters, but, how? This ties in with my mediocre career in my literature classes in college; I was simply too slow a reader to keep up with the assignments.
Bloom admitted that he had savant-like qualities when it came to great literature, and he inherited a photographic memory from his grandfather. He was able to recall huge chunks of epic poetry, like Milton's Paradise Lost, and novels like Melville's Moby Dick from memory. He said that recall was easy if the phrasing seemed "inevitable" enough. Although he could read very fast, inhaling a page in seconds, he also exercised incredibly deep, slow reading and rereading. His lectures would run for hours, and he and the class would tear poems from the likes of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Hart Crane to pieces. He did that day in, day out, for decades and decades, writing, reading, and working in the classroom right up until the very week of his passing at the age of eighty-nine. His lectures would push him to the point of migraines and physical exhaustion. He also spoke about struggling with insomnia, so he would recite his favourite poems to himself throughout the night. As he grew older and almost all of his friends passed away, reading certain works was his way of reconnecting with them again. Although I personally don't have Bloom's photographic memory, and my own reading speed is naturally much slower, I've noticed that when you reread, recite, and discuss your favourite books endlessly with others, reading retention accelerates a lot, and speed accelerates a little bit. Despite Bloom's strength as a reader, he never really read a classic work once. The first reading was the initial groundwork for dozens, even hundreds, of rereads to come. Having said that - the man was a beast. Insanely prolific. And top of his game. I had the same experience as you, Ned, back in university. We would get these incredibly intimidating reading lists and a brutal amount of assignments. After three years, I was completely burnt out. Embracing the slow pace helped me fall in love with literature again.
You would probably like The Garden of Cyrus by Sir Thomas Browne. It's short, informative, and you get prestige points for reading Browne. If you get through Naked Lunch, you're a better reader than me!
Thanks for the great recommendation! I was a little obsessed with Browne's Religio Medici in my second year of university, and also enjoyed his Hydriotaphia, but don't recall reading The Garden of Cyrus - I'll check it out!
Lovely video, thanks! Right now, I'm reading Within a Budding Grove, the second volume in Proust's Search, and also just started David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. There's someone else Harold Bloom didn't much care for, but I've got to disagree with him there - I think he's absolutely brilliant! His descriptive powers actually rival Proust's. Really, this book is amazing; I give it an enthusiastic recommendation. And thanks so much for bringing up Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. I've never read it, but, from what I just learned about it from Wikipedia, it sounds like both it and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World would go very well with Infinite Jest. Hope I can find the time to squeeze them in. Happy gardening! Do you really like rhubarb?
Thank you, Dorothy :) Your reading sounds wonderful. Proust and Foster Wallace are always great to read. I actually organised a newspaper editorial to commemorate David Foster Wallace. We had reviews of all his different works, and I wrote a little appreciation piece. Very sad when he passed. I've been meaning to return to his Infinite Jest for a while, with the hopes of doing a podcast on it. As for Postman's work, you are 100% right that Huxley pairs beautifully. Postman actually brings Huxley into his book significantly - his assertion being that we're living in Huxley's future, not Orwell's. As for rhubarb, I love it :) Unfortunately it doesn't really love me...
I'm excited to hear your thoughts on Naked Lunch. I suspect it will be a bit of a Catcher in the Rye experience for me where reading as an adult rather than a teenager was like picking up an entirely new book! It's interesting how books reflect out changed selves back to us as we revisit them at different stages in our lives.
I relate to the "Catcher in the Rye" experience. This was an incredible book when I was a teenager. Returning to it really feels like meeting up with my younger self. Kerouac's 'On the Road' is like that too. Sometimes I'm hesitant to revisit a book I loved when I was younger. When I do, I have my fingers crossed that it ages with me.
New patron here! Currently working through your Wuthering Heights series and loving every minute of it. Thanks for being such a wonderful guide on the journey!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy your channel has been instrumental in reignighting my love for great literature. The concepts you explored in the vid on reading the great books as scripture completely changed the way I approach them and I'm excited to continue living these great works. Yes, it is definitely great and it gave me a peculiar eeire sense of joy when I realized I was chuckling aloud to words set down over a century ago. Cheers Ben and thanks for the reply!
Finished Clarissa Harlowe, looking forward to your lecture. People liked to read other people's mail on long sea voyages and this novel was like reading other people's mail. Okay, I buy James Joyce was writing for a small crowd, success, that's what he received. I'm reading Le Carre's Agent Running In The Field, less than a chapter to go and halfway through Salt Lick, a dystopian pleasure thus far. I have Le Carre's last book in the stack. I once read an entire book just on philodendrons, not a joke, it was a lovely book. Bloom seems to have disliked several people, one begins to wonder if that was part of his job description.
@@siamcharm7904 Yes, he brought me much reading joy, I remember reading a memoir of a friendship with Kim Philby by one of his colleague's in which he criticized The Spy Who Came In From The Cold rather harshly, but since his own book was about as exciting as watching paint dry, I'm grateful to John Le Carre (Cornwell).
I was meant to read Richardson's Clarissa as part of my MA in English, but it was the only book in the program I couldn't finish. Only because I had underestimated the amount of time it would take me to read it! I have been meaning to come back to it for years and give it the time and attention it deserves. Great video, by the way!
Thank you, Juan :) I relate to that! As part of my degree, I plumped for reading Pamela and read Clarissa in a fragmented way for a few years, before enjoying it all the way through. I've seen some Literature courses try to cram the likes of Richardson and Proust into a single semester, which seems like it would be a disorienting experience!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy It didn't help that at the time I had just read Pamela. I only studied literature in English and, although I would've loved to study Proust, doing Richardson and Proust in the same semester sounds insane!
Excellent format and great content - more please! Gardening is something that the Me of 10 years ago would never have imagined becoming addicted to but I certainly did. You'll likely find, as I did, that you start to anticipate the seasons ever more keenly.
Thank you very much :) I never expected I would fall in love with gardening either. You're so right about anticipating the seasons. My pumpkins have started to come in wonderfully - makes for a great homemade soup! I'll be carving some up for the end of the month and sticking some candles in them too 🎃
A Benjamin I'm old and I'm an artist work in ink and although I love oil I'm a kind of messy so I have nowhere to do it but I just want to tell you you've meant a lot to me reading you and listening to you it's really enriched my life which needed in reaching don't burn yourself out you seem to be the kind of person that gives and gives and gives you have to renew your own mind and body don't forget
Hi Eli :) Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment, my friend. You have made my day. I really appreciate you being here. You're right that I'm very prone to burnout, so I really appreciate your concern. Keep up the great work with your art! I utterly adore both ink and oil myself!
I have a Eustacia Vye rose- I got it simply because of the name but it's an absolutely gorgeous rose. I'm so grateful for your channel. I don't have that many 'deep' readers in my life so this channel has been a true godsend for me.
I've just looked up the Eustacia Vye rose, and it looks beautiful! And thank you for such a lovely comment, Cindy :) I'm so grateful to have you here with me! I think so many of us relate to not having many deep readers in our lives. Thank goodness for the power of the internet!
Mr McEvoy. You have taught me much on HOW to read a novel. However, the problem I often encounter is vocabulary, esp reading Dickens. I find myself having to understand the meaning of every word lately. That has slowed down my reading drastically. Is this a waste of time? Should I just ENJOY the book without stopping to look up the words unknown to me? Any advice?
I can only paraphrase Oliver Twist. Your amble through literature has given me great delight today. Can we have some more, please? Personally, my favourite novelist is George Eliot (but Why always MIDDLEMARCH?), and I have been re-reading ADAM BEDE & THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, two glorious novels that I imagine began the pastoral tradition, novels which are as precious as rubies. Have there every been two tragic female protagonists more memorable than Maggie Tulliver or Hetty Sorrel? Or a more engaging minor character than Bob Jakin, the young scamp who worships Maggie from afar, and helps the Tulliver family with such generosity in their time of adversity? I’m going to read THE ANCIENT MARINER for the first time, thanks to your recommendation, Ben. And thanks for your marvellous talks, which never cease to satisfy.
Growing up in Dorset, I too have an affinity with Hardy. He’s romantic, but he’s a realist; simply flicking through his poetry is enough to transport me to the quaint, bucolic Purbeck countryside.
Jonah: Forgive the unsolicited question, but I am a retired American geologist currently obsessed by UK geology, especially as it relates to British literature. I couldn't help but notice you mention the Purbeck countryside of Dorset. I am at least conversant enough to know Purbeck also refers to a section of Mesozoic limestone, and that these rocks are used extensively for building stone. Seems I also recall Purbeck limestone being used for some effigies. What I'm also curious about is the controlling bedrock geology for the Dorset heaths? Are these sited on sands and clays like the Weald beds? I've been informed that you need acidic conditions for heath formation, but can't really locate the heaths on a small scale geologic map. Thanks for any insight you can provide. Best regards from the western US.
If you adore the world of Wessex, I think you’d appreciate John Cowper Powys and his atavistic and visionary prose. A Glastonbury Romance is a masterpiece, perhaps the best book I’ve ever read. I highly recommend him and all his works! He’s unclassifiable.
Great video.... I am a huge Hardy fan.Far From The Madding Crowd. I loved Boldwood.....or Bloody Boldwood as I call him. That old codger fancied himself a ladies man. haha.......BATHSHEBA....NOOOOO!!!!!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy haha.....very good! :) Ben, I want to tell you how much I love your videos and hearing your take on the great works. I find that your input is valuable, inspiring, educated, informed and loving. You quite literally breathe in these works of art. Like yourself, I came from a bad education system (I once had an English teacher scoff at me for reading Dickens), but so happy that we found our way unjaded to the greats. I am middle aged and aware that I don't have as much time as I once did. You help me very much in driving me to use my time wisely and immerse myself into this beautiful world. I cannot say thank you enough. You are a Godsend.
@@js.3490 Thank you so much! Your kind message has truly moved me. I really cannot express how much I appreciate that :) Also, how incredible to hear that your English teacher scoffed at you for reading Dickens! I had a secondary school teacher scoff when he saw I brought 'Ulysses' into the class. Scorn for Joyce is understandable (and perhaps my teacher was trying to provoke), but surely every English teacher should be inhaling Dickens regularly... Thank you again for such a beautiful message. Happy reading 🙏
I only recently found your channel and subscribed. Your content is so thoughtful and engaging. Everything book tube should be. Your suggestions were running through my mind as I walked through the bookstore today. I'm putting together a fall reading list and picked up the Salem biography by Stacey Shiff. It looks like it's going to be an amazing read. Thank you for the recommendation! How do I join the bookclub?
Thank you :) That really means a lot to me. Stacey Schiff's Witches paired with Arthur Miller's The Crucible makes for a terrifying reading experience. If you like her writing, she also has a great biography of Cleopatra. As for joining the book club, joining the Proust tier at patreon.com/hardcoreliterature will give you instant access, and you would be very warmly welcomed :)
Regarding your remarks on ekphrasis, Ben: of course I Iove Keats' Grecian Urn (and his other odes as weII), but I aIso Iove a poem by DonaId Justice, which not onIy empIoys ekphrasis but throws in a IoveIy bit of irony at the end. The poem is caIIed "Anonymous Drawing," and goes as foIIows: A delicate young Negro stands With the reins of a horse clutched loosely in his hands; So delicate, indeed, that we wonder if he can hold the spirited creature beside him Until the master shall arrive to ride him. Already the animal's nostrils widen with rage or fear. But if we imagine him snorting, about to rear, This boy, who should know about such things better than we, Only stands smiling, passive and ornamental, in a fantastic livery Of ruffles and puffed breeches, Watching the artist, apparently, as he sketches. Meanwhile the petty lord who must have paid For the artist's trip up from Perugia, for the horse, for the boy, for everything here, in fact, has been delayed, Kept too long by his steward, perhaps, discussing Some business concerning the estate, or fussing Over the details of his impeccable toilet With a manservant whose opinion is that any alteration at all would spoil it. However fast he should come hurrying now Over this vast greensward, mopping his brow Clear of the sweat of the fine Renaissance morning, it would be too late: The artist will have had his revenge for being made to wait, A revenge not only necessary but right and clever -- Simply to leave him out of the scene forever.
One of my favorite used book stores prices all their books according with popular demand, so that one may find a book which to a collector would be worth hundreds of dollars but they will sell the book for $0.50 because very very few people would want it. Whereas they'll sell a James Patterson novel for six or $8.
hello friend! I am very happy that there are still people like you who appreciate and read serious texts. Unfortunately, this is not so common anymore... Thanks! Sincerely from the homeland of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov)
Could you make a video talking about your favourite manga? Also on that topic, I highly highly recommend reading a short manga series called "Three Days of Happiness" (which also comes in novel form). The story itself is very short but delivers a powerful and beautiful narrative that has cemented itself as one of the most memorable stories I have ever read.
I too love secondhand bookstores. I think it's the very best recycling, and sometimes you rescue a real treasure. I read "The True History of theKelly Gang" and was blown away by it.
I had a garden briefly and it was very pretty. I took pride in it, like I was raising children. Now I live in a small apartment though and I dont even a house plant at the moment since my job makes it hard to take care of them. Hopefully in the future though. Maybe I'll grow some Zucchini!
Would love your take on The Master and Margarita. Not sure if you've mentioned it before but I'm sure you'd have wonderful, in depth monologs about it! Love your work, thank you ( :
Thank you :) I'm reading Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation of The Master and Margarita at the moment, and absolutely loving it. I'm hoping to make a podcast on it in the future :)
one of your best videos yet, Ben. Unrelated - but have you read Stoner by John Williams? Absolutley loved it. If so, would love to hear your thoughts ;)
Thank you, mate :) I read Stoner years ago, and am actually rereading it now after a good friend insisted. Although just halfway through this reread, I think it's incredible, and can feel a podcast on it brewing already!
A gardener friend of mine says to go to your nursery every month and buy whatever is bloom. In one short year you will have a garden blooming year round. Happy gardening 🧑🌾
love your channel. in the past, i tried to dive in on my own but quickly got overwhelmed. i was a business major so had very little literature in college. I've recently retired (early) to care for my medically fragile son and my brain needs something to chew on. i'm so glad to have found your channel and patreon. i will have to go slower than the live classes but i feel supported by your patreon content. You definately have the knowledge and depth of experience but what moves me most about your videos is your genuine love of literature. i'm reading Jane Eyre first, then plan to tackle Don Quiote. thanks for all that you put into this channel.
I’m just getting into As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and I don’t know why I’m having such difficultly. Do you have any advice? Am I maybe starting with the wrong book of his?
Your enthusiasm has rekindled my interest in serious literature. A big thank you from New Zealand.
Thank you, Mark. I'm so happy to hear that. Happy reading over in beautiful New Zealand! I've always wanted to visit :)
To answer your question as to whether I would like you to create more vlogs: “Please, sir, I want some more.” I'm studying botanical illustration via The Society of Botanical Artists so I decided to give the full cast Dracula audiobook a go during the day while completing my assignments and I'm just beginning to read Rebecca at night because apparently my life wasn't intense enough.
Thank you, Sharon :) I will very happily oblige! I really enjoyed putting this one together. It's so cool to hear you're studying botanical illustration. And I'm so thrilled to hear you're enjoying two of my all-time favourite novels :)
I need a friend like you in my life. Nobody I know loves and appreciates literature as much as I do. It’s so frustrating!!
I would always be happy to discuss literature😁
Same sentiments. I've been like this from my late teens, early 20s...no one who really has the same interests and passion to discuss subjects like literature.
I know not a soul who is a reader except my mother.
In all seriousness, I’ll discuss literature with you! What are ya currently reading?
The elegance of nature has played a vital role in awakening my love for reading and creativity. I consider myself very fortunate to live on 100 acres of prosperous land. During autumn especially, I love reveling in literature while in the presence of nature. Although I haven’t gotten into gardening myself, I have been watching my parents do it. My observations led me to compose this passage for my latest book, “Love is not something that can be grown in a day. It has to be nourished, refined, and anointed. It will grow in the gardens of our dreams, for dreams are the seeds of Heaven.”
That's incredible, Joseph. The passage you shared is beautiful, crisp, and insightful. Thanks for sharing with us! I can tell it's going to be a great book :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you! That means a lot.
I could cry.... Each time I listen to you I learn something new. " Ekphrasis" is certainly new to me,so thank you!
Thank you, Sam :) I'm so happy to have you here, my friend. I'm glad I could share one of my favourite parts of literature with you!
Oh my goodness I can't believe I've only just found you! The TH-cam recommendations worked for once! I'm alone in my family with my love for literature, so this is such a treat. I'm currently reading Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. He is becoming a favourite author of mine.
Aw, thank you, Emma :) I'm so happy you're here! And how wonderful to hear that you're reading 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'. I recently picked up a beautiful First Folio collection of Hardy's novels. Having finished a reread of 'The Woodlanders', I'm now embarking on 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' too!
I'm re-reading "Casterbridge" right now. I love it. I know Mr. McEvoy's favorite Hardy is "Tess" but I think I responded more to "Casterbridge," "The Woodlanders" and especially "The Return of the Native."
First time here, I just subscribed. I looooove your channel! I'm a Brazilian trying to learn English through literature. I'm your fan now. 🥰
Thank you for being here :) And happy reading in beautiful Brazil! I've always wanted to visit your great country!
Book lovers not only love gardens but they also love golden stone walls ;) I've just finished Joan Dideon's Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Several of her poignant essays will stay with me. I've already recommended two to friends who would be touched by them. Now I am reading The Greatest Journey, a non-fiction book about Americans who traveled to Paris between 1830-1900. Its largely a book about the history of Paris through an American lens. I've also embarked (at your suggestion) on a daily reading of a Shakespeare sonnet. Each day I: a.) read it through, b.) read it aloud, c.) find some notes about it online and read those, d.) hand write (with a fountain pen) the sonnet into a journal for collecting them in my own handwriting. My canon: Les Miserables, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, all Thomas Hardy (although I found Jude to be very hard to bear), and anything Dickens. What's your favorite biography ? High on my list: Leonardo Da Vinci (Issacson) Joan D'Arc (Castor) and Me (Elton John.)
What you said about gardening and reading classics is so true to me. I enjoy so much with reading classics and planting alternatively. Gardening is in my finger tips while Tess of the Durberveillie is in my thoughts. They fill my life with enjoyment. So does your excellent videos!!😊😊
I love that - gardening in your fingertips, Tess in your thoughts! :) Thank you, Sunny - happy reading, and gardening!
Been reading entirely too much, or not at all: Tolstoy (AK), Joyce (Dub.), Hardy (Jude), Sexton, Kurkov (Death and the Penguin), Helbig (Old Rendering Plant), Austen (P&P), Sandburg (Harvest Poems), Pratchett, the bible, and a dozen more. And now I've added even more to The List.
Nice line-up! Many of these are books that are currently strewn across my own coffee-table at the moment. I recently downloaded the latest audiobook project from Penguin - they have given the Terry Pratchett universe a new team of narrators, with Bill Nighy as the voice of Pratchett himself, and they've done a terrific job. I'm on a reread/listen to 'Equal Rites' at the moment.
I’m no gardner…not yet anyway, but since reading more literature I have this new love for nature and the outdoors. Now that the weather is warmer too I spend quite a bit of time reading outdoors. I’m very lucky there is a lake nearby and I tend to get there early to sit on the bench by the lake and just read for a couple of hours. It’s truly sublime. I love your channel so much. It’s opened up doors to new literature for me, perhaps books I may never have read before, so thank you, Ben.
Best wishes, Samee.
That's lovely, Samee. Thanks so much for the great comment, and your kind words! Something similar happened to me when I increased the amount of literature I was reading. It started to tune me into the natural world, and made me want to see more of it. Reading outdoors, as you've described, is honestly one of life's greatest joys :)
Just subscribed to this channel. I think I'm going to enjoy this. Shhhhh...(low voice) I have a lot of time to watch TH-cam at my job. Seriously. I also have a lot of time to listen to audio books. As in I’m upwards in the 600.
Thanks for the show mate.
This is my new favorite daily TH-cam channel. This is great.
Excellent themes Ben! 💯, I coincidentally dropped into a florist the other day after picking up Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” for the second time. Wilde’s aesthetic style prompts me to think more about nature and the senses.
You can really smell the flowers from Oscar Wilde's prose, can't you? The opening to Dorian Gray is a treat for the senses: "The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
Love Far From The Madding Crowd. I own the rose Gabriel Oak and I bought a climbing rose named after Bathsheba today. Love that some roses are named after literary characters. It's inspiring.
If I may be so bold to speculate: I think it very probable that those who laughed at your question concerning Thomas Hardy's oeuvre would be unable to last one round with you in a literary boxing ring today. Regarding gardening: you are about to embark on a beautiful and unbelievably satisfying journey that will complement your love of literature in ways you have yet to discover. I think our early school lives may have had similar (but different) obstacles laid in our path to confound us. In my case - perhaps I went to a somewhat better school, but it was run by the good Sisters of Loretto otherwise knows as _The Green Berets Of The Catholic Church_ who had not yet been made aware that the The Inquisition was over. In my case, as a result of the mercies of alphabetization, I was always seated in the extreme right hand row of seats and at the very back of the room which offered the benefit of being right next to the windows (we had no air conditioning) and also right next to our class bookstand. So, at twelve years of age and while Sister Mary Elephant droned on about Pope Leo IX during religion class I would sneak a book out of the case and memorize poems such as Kipling's _Gunga Din_ or Tennyson's _Charge Of The Light Brigade_ . In this manner Catholic school made me a better student of literature ....... though I must confess that it also turned me into a religious heathen.
[Edit] To answer your question: I am currently re-reading a few of Montaigne's essays.
That's incredibly kind of you to say. And what you have written about gardening is truly inspiring. Over the last couple of weeks, it has been quite extraordinary seeing the flowers, vegetables, and fruits begin to grow. We've had lashings of rain, followed by a nice bit of sun, and suddenly the allotment is giving birth to carrots and kale and strawberries, and my Ancient Mariner roses have bloomed beautifully. Very interesting to hear about your school experience. I must say I had a good chuckle at the idea that the Sisters of Loretto hadn't received the memo about the Inquisition ending. Very relatable! My primary school was run by Irish nuns - all lovely women, but very fervent Roman Catholics! I love that you were memorising Tennyson and Kipling. What a beautiful memory. I remember being very angrily pulled up for reading Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in Religious Studies. Like you, I do have Catholic school to thank for making me so well-read - but not for the reasons they might have hoped!
What a wonderful channel! Thank you so much!
Aw, thank you so much, Tom! I appreciate that, my friend :)
I very much love these rambling talks. They’re a great idea. Great video
Thank you, Joshua :) We’ll have to do more!
I own Far From The Madding Crowd, Tess of the U'drbervilles, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Castabridge in Folio Society. I love Far From The Madding Crowd because Gabriel is lovely and I love Hardy's writing. His descriptions of the seasons and nature are beautiful. I like Tess too. I want to read Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Castabridge as well.
I loved this video. Currently, I am enjoying G.E.'s Daniel Deronda. I finished a 4 month read of Middlemarch and loved it. By the way, some other flowers for your literary garden are : Black Beauty lily, Scheherazade lily and Lady of Shalott rose. Happy gardening! 💐
Thank you, Adrienne :) Nice one on getting through Middlemarch in four months! I hope you enjoy Daniel Deronda. If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend The Mill on the Floss (my second favourite). And thank you for the recommendations for my literary garden 😊 I love the look of all three!
Really enjoyed this general chat as a contrast to your more structured vlogs. I'm sure your new interest in gardening will bring you so much joy and there's not many things nicer than sitting in a comfy chair in the garden that you have created with a drink and a book. My reading corner has a little pond and masses of fragrant jasmine to sit amongst although I even go out there with my coat on and a coffee to read in the autumn. Birds and other wildlife are a joyful presence too. I look forward to hearing about your progress and thank you for what you give to us 🌻
Thank you, Carol :) Your reading corner truly sounds like heaven. You've painted such an inspiring picture - the fragrant jasmine, the pond, the wildlife, all topped off with a coffee and a good book. The perfect way to spend an afternoon :)
Your comment on how we crave distraction too much nowadays reminds me of something Nietzsche said in his The Gay Science:
'For the thinker and for all inventive spirits, boredom is that disagreeable "lull" of the soul that precedes a happy voyage and cheerful winds; he has to endure it, must await its effect on him - precisely that is what lesser natures are totally unable to achieve! To fend off boredom at any price is vulgar, just as work without pleasure is vulgar.'-Aphorism 42
I love this vlog style - feels like chatting with a good friend.
Thank you, Marina :) I really appreciate you being here and chatting with me 😊
Thank you for that wonderful vlog about reading and literature. It's quite amazing how much you read and I am very inspired by how well read you are and all the activities that are going on that I will for sure be following. I have just enrolled in a Masters in Literature so many of these canonical texts are constantly being brought up and to have an awareness and a platform to learn about literature is fantastic, so thank you. I am interested in reading more contemporary British literature because I also love the classics which are very popular in South Asia, where I live, but would like to learn more about newer literature as well. Looking forward to your blogs and podcasts.
Thank you, Nahyan :) Congratulations on enrolling in your Masters! I would be interested to hear what area you decide to focus on. As for contemporary British Literature, I've recently enjoyed a reread of Welsh novelist/poet Joe Dunthorne's Submarine. Laugh out loud funny :)
I like to read on my porch which overlooks my bird feeders and birdbath. It is very serene. Love your videos.
2:46 Quite fascinating how you made the correlation between both literature and gardening.🤗 I love gardening myself, although I'm also a beginner.
I love being in the countryside because of it's nature. reading books there is much more satisfying for me.
P.S I admire your content
Thank you! It’s definitely more satisfying for me too. A good book among the elements can’t be beat 😊
"Birds Without Wings" by Louis de Berniers is a very "raw" description of war and it's horrors!
I have a question/comment... I am currently reading _Bleak House,_ and I'm working on a reading program of my own design. I agree; I need a lot of time to read and digest these books, both to read and in the spaces between reading sessions. My question is: how did Harold Bloom do it? He was famous for his speed-reading through these classics. Granted, we all can't be Harold Bloom, a great man of letters, but, how? This ties in with my mediocre career in my literature classes in college; I was simply too slow a reader to keep up with the assignments.
Bloom admitted that he had savant-like qualities when it came to great literature, and he inherited a photographic memory from his grandfather. He was able to recall huge chunks of epic poetry, like Milton's Paradise Lost, and novels like Melville's Moby Dick from memory. He said that recall was easy if the phrasing seemed "inevitable" enough. Although he could read very fast, inhaling a page in seconds, he also exercised incredibly deep, slow reading and rereading. His lectures would run for hours, and he and the class would tear poems from the likes of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Hart Crane to pieces. He did that day in, day out, for decades and decades, writing, reading, and working in the classroom right up until the very week of his passing at the age of eighty-nine. His lectures would push him to the point of migraines and physical exhaustion. He also spoke about struggling with insomnia, so he would recite his favourite poems to himself throughout the night. As he grew older and almost all of his friends passed away, reading certain works was his way of reconnecting with them again.
Although I personally don't have Bloom's photographic memory, and my own reading speed is naturally much slower, I've noticed that when you reread, recite, and discuss your favourite books endlessly with others, reading retention accelerates a lot, and speed accelerates a little bit. Despite Bloom's strength as a reader, he never really read a classic work once. The first reading was the initial groundwork for dozens, even hundreds, of rereads to come. Having said that - the man was a beast. Insanely prolific. And top of his game. I had the same experience as you, Ned, back in university. We would get these incredibly intimidating reading lists and a brutal amount of assignments. After three years, I was completely burnt out. Embracing the slow pace helped me fall in love with literature again.
You would probably like The Garden of Cyrus by Sir Thomas Browne. It's short, informative, and you get prestige points for reading Browne.
If you get through Naked Lunch, you're a better reader than me!
Thanks for the great recommendation! I was a little obsessed with Browne's Religio Medici in my second year of university, and also enjoyed his Hydriotaphia, but don't recall reading The Garden of Cyrus - I'll check it out!
I completed Garcia Marquez 's Chronicle of a death foretold and looking forward to read Dostoevsky for the first time with Crime and punishment !!
Congratulations on finishing, and good luck with Dostoyevsky. I envy your first time experience with Crime and Punishment. Great novel!
We had the infamous Kelly gang here too - in Western US.
Lovely video, thanks! Right now, I'm reading Within a Budding Grove, the second volume in Proust's Search, and also just started David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. There's someone else Harold Bloom didn't much care for, but I've got to disagree with him there - I think he's absolutely brilliant! His descriptive powers actually rival Proust's. Really, this book is amazing; I give it an enthusiastic recommendation. And thanks so much for bringing up Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. I've never read it, but, from what I just learned about it from Wikipedia, it sounds like both it and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World would go very well with Infinite Jest. Hope I can find the time to squeeze them in. Happy gardening! Do you really like rhubarb?
Thank you, Dorothy :) Your reading sounds wonderful. Proust and Foster Wallace are always great to read. I actually organised a newspaper editorial to commemorate David Foster Wallace. We had reviews of all his different works, and I wrote a little appreciation piece. Very sad when he passed. I've been meaning to return to his Infinite Jest for a while, with the hopes of doing a podcast on it. As for Postman's work, you are 100% right that Huxley pairs beautifully. Postman actually brings Huxley into his book significantly - his assertion being that we're living in Huxley's future, not Orwell's. As for rhubarb, I love it :) Unfortunately it doesn't really love me...
I try to plant mainly perennials because they come back year after year with little to no effort on my part.
What is your recommended minimum age for a girl to read Clarissa?
V.S. Naipaul’s ‘The Enigma of Arrival’ stands out to me as a great book intertwined with gardening - worth a read if you haven’t already, Ben!
Nice recommendation - thank you, Freddy! I'll order myself a copy :)
I'm excited to hear your thoughts on Naked Lunch. I suspect it will be a bit of a Catcher in the Rye experience for me where reading as an adult rather than a teenager was like picking up an entirely new book! It's interesting how books reflect out changed selves back to us as we revisit them at different stages in our lives.
I relate to the "Catcher in the Rye" experience. This was an incredible book when I was a teenager. Returning to it really feels like meeting up with my younger self. Kerouac's 'On the Road' is like that too. Sometimes I'm hesitant to revisit a book I loved when I was younger. When I do, I have my fingers crossed that it ages with me.
New patron here! Currently working through your Wuthering Heights series and loving every minute of it. Thanks for being such a wonderful guide on the journey!
Hi Zac :) that’s so awesome to hear! Wuthering Heights is such an incredible novel, isn’t it? I’m so happy you’re enjoying it!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy your channel has been instrumental in reignighting my love for great literature. The concepts you explored in the vid on reading the great books as scripture completely changed the way I approach them and I'm excited to continue living these great works. Yes, it is definitely great and it gave me a peculiar eeire sense of joy when I realized I was chuckling aloud to words set down over a century ago. Cheers Ben and thanks for the reply!
@@zacretzer Thank you, Zac, for such an incredibly thoughtful message. I appreciate you! You have truly made my day :)
Finished Clarissa Harlowe, looking forward to your lecture. People liked to read other people's mail on long sea voyages and this novel was like reading other people's mail. Okay, I buy James Joyce was writing for a small crowd, success, that's what he received. I'm reading Le Carre's Agent Running In The Field, less than a chapter to go and halfway through Salt Lick, a dystopian pleasure thus far. I have Le Carre's last book in the stack. I once read an entire book just on philodendrons, not a joke, it was a lovely book. Bloom seems to have disliked several people, one begins to wonder if that was part of his job description.
lecarre is great literature. love all his books.
@@siamcharm7904 Yes, he brought me much reading joy, I remember reading a memoir of a friendship with Kim Philby by one of his colleague's in which he criticized The Spy Who Came In From The Cold rather harshly, but since his own book was about as exciting as watching paint dry, I'm grateful to John Le Carre (Cornwell).
26:31 I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you! Please do more.
Thank you, Sam :)
I don't have a garden, but books are my roses. Thank you
Beautiful score from the Thrift-Store.
Another amazing video, Benjamin! Thanks for sharing! Cheers from Brazil!
Obrigado, Eduardo! ☺️
The Rainbow is a must read as is Jude the Obscure.
I was meant to read Richardson's Clarissa as part of my MA in English, but it was the only book in the program I couldn't finish. Only because I had underestimated the amount of time it would take me to read it! I have been meaning to come back to it for years and give it the time and attention it deserves. Great video, by the way!
Thank you, Juan :) I relate to that! As part of my degree, I plumped for reading Pamela and read Clarissa in a fragmented way for a few years, before enjoying it all the way through. I've seen some Literature courses try to cram the likes of Richardson and Proust into a single semester, which seems like it would be a disorienting experience!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy It didn't help that at the time I had just read Pamela. I only studied literature in English and, although I would've loved to study Proust, doing Richardson and Proust in the same semester sounds insane!
Excellent format and great content - more please! Gardening is something that the Me of 10 years ago would never have imagined becoming addicted to but I certainly did. You'll likely find, as I did, that you start to anticipate the seasons ever more keenly.
Thank you very much :) I never expected I would fall in love with gardening either. You're so right about anticipating the seasons. My pumpkins have started to come in wonderfully - makes for a great homemade soup! I'll be carving some up for the end of the month and sticking some candles in them too 🎃
A Benjamin I'm old and I'm an artist work in ink and although I love oil I'm a kind of messy so I have nowhere to do it but I just want to tell you you've meant a lot to me reading you and listening to you it's really enriched my life which needed in reaching don't burn yourself out you seem to be the kind of person that gives and gives and gives you have to renew your own mind and body don't forget
Hi Eli :) Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment, my friend. You have made my day. I really appreciate you being here. You're right that I'm very prone to burnout, so I really appreciate your concern. Keep up the great work with your art! I utterly adore both ink and oil myself!
i share your love of hardy. i think his poetry is equally fine.
love your chats and rambling. please continue. greetings from phuket.
I have a Eustacia Vye rose- I got it simply because of the name but it's an absolutely gorgeous rose. I'm so grateful for your channel. I don't have that many 'deep' readers in my life so this channel has been a true godsend for me.
I've just looked up the Eustacia Vye rose, and it looks beautiful! And thank you for such a lovely comment, Cindy :) I'm so grateful to have you here with me! I think so many of us relate to not having many deep readers in our lives. Thank goodness for the power of the internet!
Mr McEvoy. You have taught me much on HOW to read a novel. However, the problem I often encounter is vocabulary, esp reading Dickens. I find myself having to understand the meaning of every word lately. That has slowed down my reading drastically. Is this a waste of time? Should I just ENJOY the book without stopping to look up the words unknown to me? Any advice?
I can only paraphrase Oliver Twist. Your amble through literature has given me great delight today. Can we have some more, please?
Personally, my favourite novelist is George Eliot (but Why always MIDDLEMARCH?), and I have been re-reading ADAM BEDE & THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, two glorious novels that I imagine began the pastoral tradition, novels which are as precious as rubies. Have there every been two tragic female protagonists more memorable than Maggie Tulliver or Hetty Sorrel? Or a more engaging minor character than Bob Jakin, the young scamp who worships Maggie from afar, and helps the Tulliver family with such generosity in their time of adversity?
I’m going to read THE ANCIENT MARINER for the first time, thanks to your recommendation, Ben.
And thanks for your marvellous talks, which never cease to satisfy.
Growing up in Dorset, I too have an affinity with Hardy. He’s romantic, but he’s a realist; simply flicking through his poetry is enough to transport me to the quaint, bucolic Purbeck countryside.
Romantic, but realist, is a great description of Hardy. I envy your growing up in Dorset, Jonah. Such a beautiful part of the country!
Jonah: Forgive the unsolicited question, but I am a retired American geologist currently obsessed by UK geology, especially as it relates to British literature.
I couldn't help but notice you mention the Purbeck countryside of Dorset. I am at least conversant enough to know Purbeck also refers to a section of Mesozoic limestone, and that these rocks are used extensively for building stone. Seems I also recall Purbeck limestone being used for some effigies.
What I'm also curious about is the controlling bedrock geology for the Dorset heaths? Are these sited on sands and clays like the Weald beds? I've been informed that you need acidic conditions for heath formation, but can't really locate the heaths on a small scale geologic map.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
Best regards from the western US.
If you adore the world of Wessex, I think you’d appreciate John Cowper Powys and his atavistic and visionary prose.
A Glastonbury Romance is a masterpiece, perhaps the best book I’ve ever read. I highly recommend him and all his works!
He’s unclassifiable.
Great video.... I am a huge Hardy fan.Far From The Madding Crowd. I loved Boldwood.....or Bloody Boldwood as I call him. That old codger fancied himself a ladies man. haha.......BATHSHEBA....NOOOOO!!!!!
Thank you :) There was actually a "Bathsheba" rose at the gardening centre too, but it was old sold out..
@@BenjaminMcEvoy haha.....very good! :) Ben, I want to tell you how much I love your videos and hearing your take on the great works. I find that your input is valuable, inspiring, educated, informed and loving. You quite literally breathe in these works of art. Like yourself, I came from a bad education system (I once had an English teacher scoff at me for reading Dickens), but so happy that we found our way unjaded to the greats. I am middle aged and aware that I don't have as much time as I once did. You help me very much in driving me to use my time wisely and immerse myself into this beautiful world. I cannot say thank you enough. You are a Godsend.
@@js.3490 Thank you so much! Your kind message has truly moved me. I really cannot express how much I appreciate that :) Also, how incredible to hear that your English teacher scoffed at you for reading Dickens! I had a secondary school teacher scoff when he saw I brought 'Ulysses' into the class. Scorn for Joyce is understandable (and perhaps my teacher was trying to provoke), but surely every English teacher should be inhaling Dickens regularly... Thank you again for such a beautiful message. Happy reading 🙏
I only recently found your channel and subscribed. Your content is so thoughtful and engaging. Everything book tube should be. Your suggestions were running through my mind as I walked through the bookstore today. I'm putting together a fall reading list and picked up the Salem biography by Stacey Shiff. It looks like it's going to be an amazing read. Thank you for the recommendation! How do I join the bookclub?
Thank you :) That really means a lot to me. Stacey Schiff's Witches paired with Arthur Miller's The Crucible makes for a terrifying reading experience. If you like her writing, she also has a great biography of Cleopatra. As for joining the book club, joining the Proust tier at patreon.com/hardcoreliterature will give you instant access, and you would be very warmly welcomed :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you for suggesting the Crucible. That's a great idea. I appreciate the link to join.
Regarding your remarks on ekphrasis, Ben: of course I Iove Keats' Grecian Urn (and his other odes as weII), but I aIso Iove a poem by DonaId Justice, which not onIy empIoys ekphrasis but throws in a IoveIy bit of irony at the end. The poem is caIIed "Anonymous Drawing," and goes as foIIows:
A delicate young Negro stands
With the reins of a horse clutched loosely in his hands;
So delicate, indeed, that we wonder if he can hold the spirited creature
beside him
Until the master shall arrive to ride him.
Already the animal's nostrils widen with rage or fear.
But if we imagine him snorting, about to rear,
This boy, who should know about such things better than we,
Only stands smiling, passive and ornamental, in a fantastic livery
Of ruffles and puffed breeches,
Watching the artist, apparently, as he sketches.
Meanwhile the petty lord who must have paid
For the artist's trip up from Perugia, for the horse, for the boy, for
everything here, in fact, has been delayed,
Kept too long by his steward, perhaps, discussing
Some business concerning the estate, or fussing
Over the details of his impeccable toilet
With a manservant whose opinion is that any alteration at all would spoil it.
However fast he should come hurrying now
Over this vast greensward, mopping his brow
Clear of the sweat of the fine Renaissance morning, it would be too late:
The artist will have had his revenge for being made to wait,
A revenge not only necessary but right and clever --
Simply to leave him out of the scene forever.
One of my favorite used book stores prices all their books according with popular demand, so that one may find a book which to a collector would be worth hundreds of dollars but they will sell the book for $0.50 because very very few people would want it. Whereas they'll sell a James Patterson novel for six or $8.
Ah. The widow’s son outlawed. I hope you enjoy it. Try “For the Term of His Natural Life”. One of our very few claims on classic gothic literature.
hello friend! I am very happy that there are still people like you who appreciate and read serious texts. Unfortunately, this is not so common anymore... Thanks! Sincerely from the homeland of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov)
Could you make a video talking about your favourite manga? Also on that topic, I highly highly recommend reading a short manga series called "Three Days of Happiness" (which also comes in novel form). The story itself is very short but delivers a powerful and beautiful narrative that has cemented itself as one of the most memorable stories I have ever read.
I too love secondhand bookstores. I think it's the very best recycling, and sometimes you rescue a real
treasure. I read "The True History of theKelly Gang" and was blown away by it.
I had a garden briefly and it was very pretty. I took pride in it, like I was raising children. Now I live in a small apartment though and I dont even a house plant at the moment since my job makes it hard to take care of them. Hopefully in the future though. Maybe I'll grow some Zucchini!
Would love your take on The Master and Margarita. Not sure if you've mentioned it before but I'm sure you'd have wonderful, in depth monologs about it! Love your work, thank you ( :
Thank you :) I'm reading Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation of The Master and Margarita at the moment, and absolutely loving it. I'm hoping to make a podcast on it in the future :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy charming coincidence! Can't wait!
one of your best videos yet, Ben. Unrelated - but have you read Stoner by John Williams? Absolutley loved it. If so, would love to hear your thoughts ;)
Thank you, mate :) I read Stoner years ago, and am actually rereading it now after a good friend insisted. Although just halfway through this reread, I think it's incredible, and can feel a podcast on it brewing already!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy someone called it a remarkable story about an unremarkable life. Glad you're enjoying! Cant wait for that podcast! :)
A gardener friend of mine says to go to your nursery every month and buy whatever is bloom. In one short year you will have a garden blooming year round. Happy gardening 🧑🌾
love your channel. in the past, i tried to dive in on my own but quickly got overwhelmed. i was a business major so had very little literature in college. I've recently retired (early) to care for my medically fragile son and my brain needs something to chew on. i'm so glad to have found your channel and patreon. i will have to go slower than the live classes but i feel supported by your patreon content. You definately have the knowledge and depth of experience but what moves me most about your videos is your genuine love of literature. i'm reading Jane Eyre first, then plan to tackle Don Quiote. thanks for all that you put into this channel.
i've been a lover of mccarthy since 1980 and i'm a cranky old man. nothing nice about me.
It seems most classical art, litérature and music is based on the love(awe) of nature 🥰
I’m just getting into As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and I don’t know why I’m having such difficultly. Do you have any advice? Am I maybe starting with the wrong book of his?
I really love your videos!
Why do you say your secondary school is one of the worst in the country xD?