Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Riddle of the Sands - Forgotten Classics (3)

By the end of this week Julie of Forgotten Classics will finish her reading of The Riddle of the Sands. Right after that, she has promised, she will be reading Genesis to us. I am very eager to find out how that works out. (feed)

In comparison, reading Genesis will be very different from The Riddle of the Sands. Not just because the one is a relatively modern spy novel and the other an age old text translated from Hebrew. Genesis is loaded with meaning, with historical reception and probably with much confusion. You cannot 'just' read it and I trust Julie will do so much more.

With the Riddle of the sands - which I recommend, especially for those of you who have an interest in sailing or in the cultural starting point for the First World War - she did not do much commentary, and that was not really needed. If there is need, Julie is capable of delivering the accompanying thoughts. This we saw in one of her previous projects: the reading of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She spent a great deal of time introducing the work and delivering to us the various interpretations and she dealt with the common trope in our time, that dismisses the novel as a racist work. Genesis will be in need of a similar treatment.

More Forgotten Classics:
The Riddle of the Sands - Forgotten Classics (2),
The Riddle of the Sands (1),
The message of Uncle Tom's Cabin,
Cooking with Forgotten Classics,
Forgotten Classics - podcast review.

1 comment:

Julie D. said...

Thank you, Anne, for your trust in the future with our Genesis readings. :-)

I have had it much on my mind, as you can imagine, and feel that we are privileged indeed to be allowed to read Robert Alter's translation, which was specifically done as an antidote to those translations which try to "explain" or do not understand the Hebrew well enough.

I am rather intimidated, but also getting excited about it. :-)