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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Noa on January 1, 2005, at 8:03:04
"Found" is a funny word to use since I've walked by the store zillions of times. It's in an antique shopping area, so usually I'm more intent on the other 'stuff' and just pass by the bookstore.
But since I had the day to spend as I like, I went in to browse, thinking I might spend a few minutes there. I ended up there for I don't even know how long--I lost track of time. I browsed and read a little and had a great time.
What I bought were a couple of inexpensive books (all under $5). One is the Modern Library (I like these little books with their cloth binding) edition of "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James.
I am reading it, gradually. The language is challenging for me. Actually, I do best when I read it out loud to myself. (It is a "told" story, after all). Hearing it makes it easier to get the phrasing of the sentence structure to make more sense to me. Otherwise, sometimes I have to read and re-read sentences to get them.
What is amazing about this work is that it is a quintessential "urban myth", set up by the kind of preface that all urban myths have: a story heard from someone who heard it from someone else (someone very reliable, of course), with attempts to show evidence of authenticity. Immediately, when this happens, it both authenticates the story and casts doubt on the reliability of the story at the same time. In this case, there remains a lot of ambiguity in how to interpret this ghost story. Apparently, there has been a lot of controversy among the critics about whether the story is straight up ghost story or more psychological. My take on it is that James meant it to be very ambiguous--the old, "you'll never know, will you?" like a sort of "ha-ha" the author plays on the reader. In this way, I think he was more modern than his times!
Well, apparently the book was originally published serially in a magazine, it makes me feel better that I can only read a bit at a time before tiring--I'm reading it the way it was first read by contemporary readers! Maybe even faster, since who knows, maybe they were reading it a chapter a week. : )
Posted by morning*bell on January 7, 2005, at 12:14:41
In reply to found a nice used book store, posted by Noa on January 1, 2005, at 8:03:04
i find bookstores, especially used or independent bookstores, to be the most wonderful, safest place on earth i could spend hours there :)
This is the end of the thread.
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