July 16, 2012

Allusion

Friday night around 8:30, I sat down with the first installment of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy-turned-phenomenon. Despite myself, I put it down at 1:00 am, annoyed I was too tired to finish it. I generally don’t read much popular fiction, because I’m a recovering snob. Twilight is proof enough for me that viral is not synonymous with worthwhile. So I’ve been skeptical of The Hunger Games. I also get scared about as easily as an eight-year-old. I’m serious. I hide my eyes during violent movie-scenes so that I don’t have nightmares. So when I heard this book was about children fighting to the death, I figured I should stay away.

But at some point it just becomes ridiculous to resist. If virtually everyone has read it and likes it, there has to be a reason. So when my consistently tasteful and discerning (despite her unfortunate fling with the aforementioned Twilight saga) roommate was up half the night engrossed in Games, I figured I should see what I was missing out on. I finished book one Saturday afternoon, and I absolutely see why everyone loves it.

July 4, 2012

Allusion

Ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things; nay, they are more extraordinary. –G.K. Chesterton

In celebration of Independence Day, today I went to see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at the Kentucky Theater (which, incidentally, has become one of my new favorite places). This 1939 Frank Capra film is wonderful for a couple reasons. First, Jimmy Stewart. (Need I say more?) Second, Capra’s characteristic emphasis on the importance of the ordinary person.

The movie is about America, really, and what it means to be American. We get a David vs Goliath setup as our loveable, bumbling Jefferson Smith finds himself in Congress, fighting against a corrupt political machine. He’s just a regular guy, standing for ” plain, decent, every day, common rightness.” Capra knew as well as we do that these are not words we would use to describe the United States Government. But what he shows us through Smith’s uphill battle is that, in the end, that’s what America is about.

June 15, 2012

Allusion

I’m not sure I’ve ever been quite so affected by a book as I was by Sheldon Vanauken’s A Severe Mercy. I’m saying a lot here, because my thinking has been shaped by some incredible writers. But, rarely has a book engaged my mind and my heart so deeply at once. I was quite literally speechless when I finished.

The story is straightforward enough – it’s basically a memoir of of the author’s life with his wife, Davy. He shares their love story, their journey to faith, and his own process of grief after Davy’s early death (I’m not giving anything away that’s not on the back cover). He also recounts his friendship with C.S. Lewis, and the book includes much of their correspondence. The events of the story are intriguing, to be sure – Sheldon and Davy lead a life of enviable adventure. But what I found so gripping was the depth of feeling and insight with which Vanauken treats his experience.

June 5, 2012

Allusion

No story is complete without references to other works of art, right? Allusion happens to be one of my favorite literary elements, because I love to see connections. I also love to feel smart, and catching an obscure allusion to Greek poetry or whatever reassures me that I am well-read. But that’s beside the point.

In Allusion posts, I’ll be writing about different works of art, primarily literature, that I love. Having an English degree means I’ve written about literature a lot, but I’ve always had to use academic voice and keep “critical distance.” That’s always been hard for me, because I really can’t distance myself from what I’m reading. I’m excited here to just write of what I love. I thought long and hard about what to do for this first one, and I thought, what the hay, let’s start it off with a bang. So, my friends, I give you T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, a notoriously difficult but unspeakably beautiful series of poems.