The Ocean is Not a Peaceful Grave

I can hear the waves, the enthusiastic gulls screaming.

I smell the salt, the different suntan lotions.

Children, adults - everyone in between - talking, laughing, living.

Then I feel the dead.

Bones have rotten but the sea is not a peaceful grave.

Some of these dead feed on the living.

The captain demands it of his crew because when they are all strong enough...

They can raise the sails, raise the ship from the torn remnants that treasure hunters haven't found.

Selections from Sabella by Tanith Lee

                                                          

"Out in the hallway, over the stair, the stained glass window cries too, staining the wooden floor with a big crimson patch."

"And like dolls, humans, given a certain programming, will do ... anything."

"She'd had intimations, but they would seem so crazy, she'd have to go crazy before she could accept them."

"There are wolves on all the hills, even the hills of glass."

"He has to dominate me, that's essential; for I take his life's blood. The victim must be stronger than the oppressor - or he dies."

Sometimes, After Sunset

Tanith Lee

Why is Pride and Prejudice one of my favorite books?

I keep coming back to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This time when I reread it, I read the annotated edition edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks and published by Belknap Harvard. Every time I read it there is something new to explore. This book is complex and this edition of it had pictures and insights that added even more fun and interpretation to this rereading.

I learned more about Jane Austen's time period and she presented insights that caused me to look at passages in different ways. One of the insights presented Pemberly as a representation of Darcy. Even though Darcy is absent at the beginning of this tour, Elizabeth is getting to know him through how his grounds are arranged and how he decorates his house. Darcy is shown to be a man of elegance rather than ostentation.

What makes the novel complex? The characters! How they act and how they speak are indicative of their specific personalities. Being a student of the craft it is important to analyze how other authors show personality through dialogue. Not only is Mr. Collins shown to be a pompous clergyman through the words he uses but also the grammar structure.

Human interaction is also complicated in this novel. Perception plays a large role. Especially perceptions that lead to assumptions that are later proven inaccurate when more information is revealed. We are looking at imperfect characters. Our narrator most often chooses Elizabeth's point of view. At first her views are so decidedly said that we the reader easily believe that her observations are correct. Much to our chagrin as well as Elizabeth's we find that her observations lead to the wrong conclusions. Lizzie has a crisis of confidence. She is forced to analyze herself as much as she has analyzed Wickham and Darcy.

I love Elizabeth even more because she is not perfect. Are any of us really qualified to deduce someone's complete moral profile from a first impression? I know I certainly am not but do I make assumptions based on first impressions? Indeed I do. Like Elizabeth, though, I've learned that there is more to the story.

I love this book. Every time I read it there is something new for me the reader and more for me the writer.