dialect
Wuthering Heights
Welcome to a very special episode of Novel Ideas. This week we join the Minerva podcast network. If you found us through Minerva Magazine, we’re pleased to have you! A quick word of warning: this podcast contains some adult language, so if that concerns you, consider this fair warning. Our spoiler policy generally doesn’t matter as much for classics, but you should also be aware that we spoil anything and everything because we want to be able to discuss everything in the book in detail.
For this episode we read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, a classic love story that might not be either of those things. We discuss those points as well as 19th century literary devices, the dangers of passion, Victorian values, and (of course) feminism. We also examine why it isn’t okay to hang puppies, weird hate auras, modern adaptations, and the questionable biology surrounding Victorian pregnancy.
The music bump is “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush, which is apparently sung from the point of view of Cathy’s ghost.
95 – Wuthering Heights – Hanging Puppy Love
Our ratings: All of the characters are terrible people, but at least it isn’t very fun to watch them interact.
Ben: 3/10. I didn’t enjoy reading it even a little bit. One extra point subtracted for having multiple instances of puppy hanging.
Gabs: 3.5/10. An extra half point awarded for demonstrating the healing power of reading.
This entry was posted in Admin, Episodes and tagged 19th century literary devices, classics, cousin fucking, death, dialect, dying of hate, editors are good, Emily Bronte, foiling expectations, ghosts, hate aura, insults, modern adaptations, not a love story, notagonist, passion, plot driven pregnancy, power of reading, proto-feminism, psychopathy, puppy hanging, recursive flashbacks, revenge, sex, supernatural, terrible people, the moors, Victorian values, weak of spirit, Wuthering Heights.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
We apologize for the lengthy interregnum, it was so long that we had to look up a new word just to describe it. Or possibly we just have trouble getting our act together sometimes. At any rate, Novel Ideas is back with Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, a story of a woman’s personal journey to self-realization. Listen to the episode to hear our conversation about dialect, ambition, feminism, and race. We also talk about white history professors, bees, how rabies works, and kickass deathbed scenes.
Quick scheduling note: We’re trying to post an episode for John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War next week, followed by our year in review episode for “Season 2” of Novel Ideas. There is likely to be a couple more missed weeks after that as Gabs gets married and goes on her honeymoon. Or maybe Ben will post something highly self-indulgent while we’re waiting. We’ll have to see.
If you have any comments or questions about anything we’ve talked about in the past year, please let us know! Also, if there’s anything you were hoping we might talk about outside those books, also let us know. We’d like to find some interesting and slightly different content for the end of the year episode if we can.
The music bump this week is “Janie Runaway” by Steely Dan, after our plucky protagonist.
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Too Dignified for a Mule Funeral
Recommendations:
A 20th century classic that is commonly assigned in school with a lot of conversation worthy content. A little tough to read due mainly to the use of dialect, but also rather short.
Gabs: 7/10 for literary value, 5/10 for ease of reading.
Ben: 5.5/10 because I liked it more than I didn’t, but just barely. This one felt kind of like assigned reading.
This entry was posted in Admin, Episodes and tagged 30 acres and a mule, ambition, assigned reading, childless female protagonist, coming of age, death by rabies, deathbed confrontation, dialect, domestic violence, feminism, go to the doctor, life, listener suggestion, love, marriage, mixed race, mule funeral, nicknames, personal story, punctuality, puppy story, racism, research standards, science standards, self-actualization, self-importance, social lenses, the bees, Their Eyes Were Watching God, white history professor, Zora Neale Hurston.
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