Monday, April 9, 2012

We don't want genius in this country, unless it is accompanied by respectability

First post actually about The Women in White and not about Wilkie Collins crazy big forehead and Scheherazade-esque bullying. Readalong post ahoy!

So even though it's been made very clear, I'm still sort of in denial that there's no ghost in this story. So when Walter sees the woman in white walking along the road I kept expecting her to suddenly disappear while wearing his jacket and then he goes to find her and is told she's dead and then he sees his jacket on her grave AAHHHHHH!* So what I'm saying is "escaped from insane asylum" while fun, is not quite the same. But given that disappointment is my own fault even though I knew better, I can't hold this against Wilkie.

Besides, what the story lacks in ghosts, it makes up for with amazing characters. Professor Pesca, the Italian almost-but-not-quite dwarf. How fantastic is he? A little ball of energy who is SO EXCITED that he got Walter a teaching job, even if I don't think "got you a 4 month teaching job" is quite equal to "saved you from drowning", but if Walter's cool with it, that works.

And there's Mr. Fairlie, master of the house where Walter is teaching art. He's a hypochondriac. Or really suffers from maladies that make it so things that annoying him will kill him. Also he has super human smell, given he was offended by the "odour of plebeian fingers" on some art he'd asked Walter to take a look at. That was pretty awesome. So really, he's an ass who is rude to his servants and wants to stay away from everyone. We don't see him much (so far) but he's pretty great in that one scene.

But the best character is Miriam. Even if she keeps talking about how lame ladies are. At first when she's all like "Ladies, we suck don't we? Man I wish I could say the things that guys do." I was taken aback. But then she'd go ahead and say what she wanted. So I'm thinking (because I love her character) she's voicing the position most people at this time have about ladies and she's being sarcastic about it. Every once in awhile I remember it's Wilkie who wrote this and think maybe he really feels this way, but then why would he make Miriam so amazing?  Anyway, here are some of her gems I highlighted
"How can you expect four women to dine together alone every day, and not quarrel?"
"no woman does think much of her own sex"
"Women can't draw - their minds are too flighty, and their eyes are too inattentive."
"Don't shrink under it like a woman. Tear it out; trample it under foot like a man!"

Yeah, yeah, there's the actual plot involving Walter falling for the most boring person in the Limmeridge House (Laura) but she's getting married to a Baronet (Sir Percival Glyde) that the asylum lady hates. Oh also asylum lady has a name (Anne) and she grew up for awhile with Laura and sent a message talking about how much of a jerk Glyde is. Walter is sad Laura's getting married to someone that's not him, so he leaves the house. End of Walter's narrative!

So what's going on with Anne?
Why'd Glyde (probably) send her to the hut house?
Will Professor Pesca show up again and be hilarious?
Will we see more of Miriam being awesome?
Will Laura and Walter get together, even though they're both pretty boring so I'd rather spend time with the other characters?

Onto The Story Continued by Vincent Gilmore!

*I like urban legends...

Yes, yes I know it's Marian. But I like Miriam better so I'm sticking with that at least when I think about her name. Also I've been calling her that for whatever reason for this long so now the name has stuck in my mind.

Title quote from location 148, page 11

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Amazon Books, 2006. Originally published 1860

Comments (15)

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Ahaha Urban legend reference, dude. You get bonus points.

"there's the actual plot involving Walter falling for the most boring person in the Limmeridge House " I'm glad we all realize this about Laura. Although Hartright never really...like...let her talk. When she finally did a little at the very end, I was like "Oh, she's kind of more interesting now," but he glosses over his whole 'getting to know her' period. Which is kind of Victorian-era-douchey.

LET PROFESSOR PESCA SHOW UP AGAIN AND BE HILARIOUS, OH PLEASE. I kind of want to start the next section today (which I should, because it's longer than the first one, which I finished this morning), but I have to read a thing for my church's small group and so should waaaait. Damnit.
4 replies · active 674 weeks ago
He very much goes "Well aren't you pretty and quiet. Yes, I'll fall in love with you even though your sister is a billion times more interesting. But she has an almost mustache and I can't have that, can I?"

I want more Pesca and I hope he shows up doing something ridiculous. Or maybe more swimming. By the way, I picture him as John Leguizamo's Toulouse-Latrec from Moulin Rouge. And Mirian/m is a velociraptor. So what I'm saying is the movie version of what I'm picturing for this book is AMAZING.
Ugh Marian's so awesome I cannot handle it.

DUDE we should write and direct this movie. And because we're both non-millionaire 20somethings, it'd like, take place in our backyards and be filmed with an iPhone camera. I could make a cardboard velociraptor puppet.
When I was little I had a dinosaur Halloween costume my grandmother made. It would be a little small (cos I was probably 8 when she made it) BUT I think that should work its way into this production. It was technically a T-Rex but I think we can work with it to make it Victorian Velociraptor-y
Omg yessssssssssss. Best Woman in White ever.
I think Miriam is going to spread. So much cooler than Marian (I always have to think of Robin Hood when I hear that).
Also I'm promoting the plan of making Professor Pesca and Mr Fairlie meet. Oh, the drama it would be! I say let's re-write the book!
1 reply · active 674 weeks ago
Prof Pesca and Mr. Fairlie together would be the best!! I imagine them as very odd couple-y. Mr. Fairlie would always complain about his nerves and whatnot but you know he'd miss Pesca when he wasn't around.
Oh wait, it's miriaN?! I... Did not at all realise tha. Maybe we have selective dyslexia? I'm literally so stumped by this that I have nothing to say about anything else!

Oh except that Mr Fairlie is kind of super awesome in being so awful and caricature-y :)
1 reply · active 674 weeks ago
OK, now I feel way less bad calling her Miriam the whole time. But yeah Alice totally called me (rightfully so) on calling her Miriam and then I looked it up and Wikipedia says Mirian so damn. I still like Miriam better so I'm sticking with that.

Yeah, Mr. Fairlie is like a caricature but he's so amusing I forgive his lack of dimension.

Also happy birthday again!
Let's just rename ALL the characters. Can we? So, let's see...we'll have Walter Hartsick, Miriam "Velociraptor" Halcombe, Laura Fairly Unimpressive, Anne "The Ghost" Cathericke, and Pesca Come-Back-Now-We-All-Miss-You-and-Love-You.
1 reply · active 674 weeks ago
See, they're much better with new names! Pesca's new name may be a bit of a mouthful but worth it if he would just please come back now!
And on top of Marian's (possibly sarcastic) denigrating of her own sex, we have Collins or Hartright saying stuff like a woman's tenderness, her delicate innocent gentle blah blah blah.

And Marian/Miriam as a velociraptor is an appealing picture.
1 reply · active 674 weeks ago
I'm going to have to put together/find a picture of Miriam the Victorian Velociraptor for my next post. It's a wonderful image (in my head anyway).

I'm thinking Marion/Miriam is being sarcastic in all her mean talk about ladies when you consider her actions in no way match it. I think it's a sarcastic beat-them-to-the-punch type thing. Hartright does think these things are true or at least finds the super boring Laura the epitome of greatness even though she's mostly just sat around blushing, at least around him.
I agree that Marian is a weak name for such a strong character! I guess I don't mind the denigrating women thing when she's so ballsy -- I think the Laura character makes clear that is the feminine ideal. It bothered me more that Collins emphasizes how unattractive she is. I think the most awesome character is Count Fosco, maybe he hasn't really come into the story yet. Enjoy!
1 reply · active 673 weeks ago
Count Fosco just showed up and he is amazing and sort of terrifying!

Maybe Collins felt like he had to make her ugly to explain why shallow Walter fell for Laura instead of the clearly superior Marian (although Laura is slowly winning me over in the next section).

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