Comments on: Universal Tales

By: Custard

Custard — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:58:11 +0000

I know I’m way, way late to this party but here’s my three:

Frankenstein – Mary Shelley: for it’s complex look at the treatment of oppressed classes (and the monster was vegetarian, amazing)

Save me the Waltz – Zelda Fitzgerald: because unlike her “too cool for school” husband there is huge emotional depth in her writing (compare to his “Tender is the Night” – based on the same events – and you wonder if he was that cold and cruel to her in real life too)

The Edible Woman – Margaret Atwood: because I really relate to this novel, and how the main character struggles to keep hold of her identity while the men around her try to swallow her up.

By: Pet Jeffery

Pet Jeffery — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:01:58 +0000

Venturing upstairs to my bedroom, for an empirical view of my literary tastes, I spotted two books that may have universal appeal (neither of them yet mentioned):

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The arbitrariness and madness of the adult world, viewed by the child who still lurks (I hope) somewhere inside everybody. I think there’s something here for anybody who hasn’t died from the inside.

The Wind in the Willows. Not the Toad chapters, but (especially) “Dolce Domum”, which says what there is to say about home; “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, which is simply wonderful; and “Wayfarers All”, which says what there is to say about the urge to leave home. I also love the seasonality of the book… spring, summer, autumn, winter are all encapsulated — and something important evoked about each of them.

By: Dee

Dee — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:26:05 +0000

I recognize that books that speak to me aren’t going to have universal appeal. ;-) Here are three off the top of my head.

1. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore. I can’t adequately describe how much this book has affected my thinking since I first read it in 1988.

2. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. This started my quest to read all of his books. I adore it and find new stuff to think about every time I read it.

3. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. A woman who wants to be a rock star and the Faerie court? This could have been written with me expressly in mind. ;->

By: Dave Godfrey

Dave Godfrey — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:07:19 +0000

In reply to Miranda. Definitely second Roll of Thunder. While I was heartily sick of it by the time I finished my GCSEs- it was the set prose text we studied, so I'd have been sick of anything frankly.

By: Russell

Russell — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:12:58 +0000

Okay, after some ponderance I have my three, and only one
of them is a trashy fantasy novel! (Go me!) 1. Dracula by Bram
Stoker – so few of the films really follow the book properly, and
so few people would take the time to read the book, which is
powerful, complex, evocative, and a true classic. It actually
follows the perceived “bunch of men save woman from evil (and
foreign) man” line a lot less than it’s thought to in many ways, as
well; Mina is a strong, independent character from the get-go and
is rewarded for this with ultimate redemption (even salvation)
whereas Lucy, the weak, stereotypical C19th beauty is punished by
vampiric transformation. There’s even an argument that suggest that
Mina, sexually experienced by virtue of her recent marriage, is
able to overcome Dracula’s divergent sexuality for exactly that
reason. Also, it’s a fantastic horror story with so much going on
beyond sexual and gender politics. 2. The Satanic Verses by Salman
Rushdie – so anyway, we were told that for our final sixth form
text we’d be reading the play “Translations” by Brian Friel. I
happen to think that play is awful (other opinions about that play
are available), so I checked out the reading list and sure enough,
there was “Midnight’s Children”. Now, for those of you who haven’t
read it, “Midnight’s Children” is essentially the X-Men in India,
and to my eighteen year old self nothing could be more appealing
(in fact, to my 26 year old self that’s still pretty
OHMYGODITSBEENEIGHTYEARS), so I promptly read it. Having devoured –
well, devoured isn’t really the right word for Rushdie – having
consumed it an appropriate rate, I moved on to The Satanic Verses
which I found suited the post-colonial themes of my course just as
well in many ways, so I proceeded to write a comparative essay in
the exam (go me!). In any case, The Satanic Verses is a complex and
difficult text whose inaccessibility is not assisted by the
controversy surrounding it. It is is subversive, complex, and
contains an excellent female read. If you’re looking for something
to read on holiday that has a bit more punch than your average
paperback, this is a good move. Unless you’re going to Dubai (other
Islamic nations are available). 3. Wheel of Time (series) by Robert
Jordan – Yay, the trashy fantasy novel. Whilst it is true that
there is a sub-trope of fantasy fiction in which the women have all
the magic while the men (with the exception of messiah-figure)
don’t (as far as I know it consists of this and Dune), I’ve always
felt that WOT treats women sensibly, cleverly, and fairly.
Essentially, the plot is that Supreme Evil(TM) has managed to
poison the male half of the true source of the one power (magic)
for the past three thousand years, and as a result all men who try
to channel (be magicians) go mad and then die. Therefore, the women
have become the sole legal magicians for health and safety reasons
and are forced to hunt down any male channellers for their own (and
everyone else’s) sake, with the exception of The Dragon Reborn (TM)
(aforementioned messiah-figure) who is prophesied to defeat the
Dark One (aforementioned Supreme Evil(TM)), restore piece to the
land, and comes with a free toy. As is the way with all the best
epic fantasy trash, it quickly gets more complex than that, with
war, political intrigue, returning exiles, a bad-ass ninja nation,
and villains everywhere. It’s often compared (favourably) to Lord
of the Rings, as all fantasy is, but the closest real approximation
in my opinion is George RR Martin’s A Son Of Ice And Fire, which is
nastier, but equally avoids skimping on the details. It has many
virtues which are often overlooked in episodic fiction, for example
the sheer joy of speculation prior to each new instalment, which
you can do alone or in a group. You don’t get that from your
grown-up books, do you?

By: Brave Sir Robin

Brave Sir Robin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:07:59 +0000

I think the premise of the statement is deeply flawed, due to the huge variety of human experience how can any book really expect to have universal appeal? The three mentioned clearly fall down on gender, class and racial lines, but surely we’d also need to consider sexuality and cultural aspects too to find a universal novel. I just don’t see it happening.

Having said that, I’d bring up a book I read recently called Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (no, not that David Mitchell). It’s soft sci-fi with 6 stories set in different times, some past, some future. I’d say it takes a pretty good shot at looking at life from the perspective of a whole massive different set of identities. Plus it’s really good, just in general.

By: Miranda

Miranda — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:47:56 +0000

In reply to Simon.

With the original top three, laying aside The Universality Debate for a moment, I’m just not sure why this critic thinks there are only three Great American Novels in the first place. Just on the predominantly white and male “trad canon” writers front, there’s John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, late-period Henry James, Saul Bellow, and Hemingway?

So yes, the original premise is flawed in the first place.

But I have to admit I’m not a big reader of any of the authors above. Louisa May Alcott actually had a really big effect on me when I was younger, and I’d agree with Cat Valente that Little Women has far more to it than its detractors often claim. In fact I’d defend Little Women quite extensively if given the opportunity. Maybe I should write a post.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:01:25 +0000

Sorry – top 3 books I meant.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:59:39 +0000

American writing – that means no Shakespeare or Webster,
sorry! There’s no way that any of those 3 would make it into
anyone’s but the most chauvinistic of Americans’ top 3 novels of
world literature. Good shout for As I Lay Dying though.

By: Michael S

Michael S — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:47:01 +0000

I haven’t read the book and to my shame I’m not 100% which
of his books it is but I’m pretty sure it’s “If This Be A Man” by
Primo Levi. Because although I haven’t read the whole book I was
shown the passage where he relates the day Red Army Scouts got to
the fence of Auschwitz. He relates that as they looked in he at
first couldn’t place the expression on their faces. Then he
realised it was the same expression on his and others’ faces on
‘selection days’ when they survived. It was guilt. Less traumatic
though good suggestions come from Joseph Heller: “Catch 22” –
Futures trading, market forces, the insanity of those and of war.
Compare so much of the insanity he presents and compare to ‘normal’
today. “Picture This” – I bang on about this book a fair bit but
for me it’s as good a book as any written. The killer line for me
being: “”History is bunk.” Said Henry Ford, the American Industrial
genius who knew almost none. But Socrates was dead.”