<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unbeknownst to each other, in an O. Henry style, my\u00a0\u00a0husband and I exchanged gifts on valentine\u2019s day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separately we each found a book for the other in the used book store sources we haunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I gave him a book about tanks. As I suspected, he already had it. But we had a chance to look over it and discuss it, even comparing it to the one he had. This new one will recirculate out again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He gave me a book he knew I had already read:
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I read it in the original English, because it had been printed in Russia while I was living there..during that year and a half, I read every English book I could find. Our translators had a copy they lent me: the Forsyte saga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris discovered my appreciation for this story after PBS ran TV series of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was riveted, and enjoyed the period scenes this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And here it is in my hands again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will read the story again, remembering the 19 year old perspecpective thr, and the 30 year old who saw the tv series<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what will I think of it today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a whole suitcase of new experiences and knowledge to bring to writing now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I set it on the pile of books to be read, I discuss it with Chris like he talked tanks with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This period romance is different <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story is told from the tortured perspectice of a man. Soames Forsyte was a highly eligible bachelor, but the books pick up after the marriage has happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the \u201cever After\u201d which is usually vieled by the curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soames loves his wife but is desperately and terribly unable to capture her love in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His locked-up turmoil keeps me coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is rare in fiction to see a man so powerless against his nature. That same nature which draws him to his wife keeps him from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is so good at what the world demands of him. At the tail end of the Victorian period, he got the prize: he is rich and a man of substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it has also left him powerless and grasping for the woman he can\u2019t connect with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even in Victoria era the male point of view is an exotic landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unbeknownst to each other, in an O. Henry style, my\u00a0\u00a0husband and I exchanged gifts on valentine\u2019s day. Separately we each found a book for the other in the used book store sources we haunt. I gave him a book about … Continue reading