tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post3973981818478915160..comments2023-10-07T11:03:10.202-05:00Comments on Autist's Corner: More about Jude the ObscureLindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10860246538349067232noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-64950021312356537172014-02-17T23:05:48.166-06:002014-02-17T23:05:48.166-06:00Sorry, I left the wrong email!
g.ray-barruel@griff...Sorry, I left the wrong email!<br />g.ray-barruel@griffith.edu.auAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-18452367845833754092014-02-17T23:02:41.023-06:002014-02-17T23:02:41.023-06:00Dear Lindsay,
Great blog! I especially like read...Dear Lindsay, <br /><br />Great blog! I especially like reading your interesting book reviews. We have read many of the same books, so I've added some of your recommended books to my ever-growing to-read list.<br /><br />I am especially interested in your two blogs about Jude the Obscure. I am currently completing a PhD on intellectual difference in Victorian literature, and I am writing a chapter on Sue Bridehead. <br /><br />My thesis concerns how discourse shapes interpretations of disability, and how it becomes possible for the reader to see neurodiverse traits in characters once they have been exposed to such discourse. This is based on Lennard Davis's idea that "disability is in the eye of the beholder". <br /><br />Could I possibly get your permission to quote some lines from your blog relating to Sue B. in my thesis? This would be to explore how it is possible for a woman with autism to identify with Sue, even though Hardy, of course, did not write her as autistic. I am absolutely fascinated with Sue and want to position her in a completely new way, if possible.<br /><br />I am very happy to discuss this further and you can contact me by email if you like. <br />g.ray-barruel@griffith.com.au<br /><br />Warm regards, and keep up the blogging!<br /><br />Gillian Ray-BarruelAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-69566941599988824082009-02-23T00:23:00.000-06:002009-02-23T00:23:00.000-06:00Thanks, Bob!I do remember seeing the second articl...Thanks, Bob!<BR/><BR/>I do remember seeing the second article, but I don't think I read the whole thing.<BR/><BR/>They both look interesting. <BR/><BR/>(More when I actually read them ...)Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10860246538349067232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-69774891526093292782009-02-22T23:42:00.000-06:002009-02-22T23:42:00.000-06:00Please may I draw your attention to two fascinatin...Please may I draw your attention to two fascinating articles:<BR/><BR/><BR/>Phillip Mallett's notes for a <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_se/personal/pvm/jude.html" REL="nofollow">lecture </A>, which argues the<BR/><BR/>"Novel thus shows TH at his most radical, showing that Sue is trapped within the language of her society, a language which is also, necessarily, the author's. So no 'realist' stance available, since that would imply a transparent language, opening directly on to the reality of Sue's experience. There is no 'given', no immutable natural fact about gender, to which a novelist has unique access; what TH chooses to do is to explore the complex of pressures which play on, define and enclose his heroine."<BR/><BR/><BR/>and William Deresiewicz's article, <A HREF="http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/wcircle/deresiewicz.pdf" REL="nofollow">"Thomas Hardy and the History of Friendship Between the Sexes"</A>, <BR/><BR/>which sets the novel in its New Woman context, arguing<BR/><BR/>"Sue is a “bundle of nerves” because she is emancipated. Her physical desires pull her in one direction, her intellectual and social desires in the other. In terms of New Woman fiction, she is an unstable compound of the two characteristic types of heroine: the celibate and the “natural,” Lyndall and Herminia, the woman with no sexual desires and the woman completely at peace with her sexual desires. Whatever she does, Sue can never make herself happy; no wonder she’s neurotic."<BR/><BR/>Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-5820779580518213582009-01-31T12:04:00.000-06:002009-01-31T12:04:00.000-06:00Thought i'd commented here before, but... obviousl...Thought i'd commented here before, but... obviously i didn't.<BR/><BR/>My interpretation of Sue is, i think, near enough identical to yours. And <I>that</I> sex scene is probably one of the most horrifying scenes not involving actual violence that i have ever read.<BR/><BR/>(Ironically, the actual pivotal scene of horror and violence in <I>Jude</I> didn't affect me anywhere near as much, because i think it had a sort of "jump the shark" effect - it was jarring more than actually affecting because it was <I>so</I> shocking that, to me, it felt like it moved the book into an entirely different genre, one of pulp melodrama rather than introspective literary novel... but, of course, YMMV...)<BR/><BR/>And i, too, love cheesy and ridiculous puns, the worse the better. Maybe this is an autistic thing?stevethehydrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18334234855643025449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-88500116876771808832009-01-12T18:21:00.000-06:002009-01-12T18:21:00.000-06:00Brideshead revisited, ha!(I like puns, the cheesie...Brideshead revisited, ha!<BR/><BR/>(I like puns, the cheesier the better. I suspect I'm in the minority on this).<BR/><BR/>Anyway, glad you like the blog.Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10860246538349067232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530548799681444324.post-86624060657071218572009-01-12T02:28:00.000-06:002009-01-12T02:28:00.000-06:00I'd like to return to the subject of Sue Bridehead...<I>I'd like to return to the subject of Sue Bridehead...</I><BR/><BR/>Or, Brideshead Revisited...<BR/><BR/>Sorry, couldn't resist :-)<BR/><BR/>(Here via your comment on HHL's Naomi Wolf review - what a great blog!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com