It felt good last week to be back in a pretty bloggy mode. I’m hoping to continue it, though I don’t have so much material built up yet. Yesterday I read The Old Man and Me, by Elaine Dundy, though you’ll have to wait for the full scoop until it’s closer to its release. I liked it an awful lot though, better than The Dud Avocado I think. And strangely it seemed to fit in very well with my other, continuing reading, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. I might talk some about that.
What else…what else… The Adam Smith is, as I mentioned, ongoing, and ongoing, and ongoing. That’s not very fair, I’m really enjoying it, but I’ve been a little stuck this week. Also thinking about going back for some more of Dombey and Son soon, because I don’t want to sit in the middle of that forever.
But what I’ve really been thinking about this week is getting started on my next theme: epistolary fiction. Now, when I first thought about doing this, I thought I would start with Pamela, hit a few things in the 18th century, particularly Les Liaisons Dangereuses, then move forward through the 19th into the 20th. But this week I started doing a bit more research, and, well, there’s kind of a ton of 18th (and 17th) century stuff I want to get my hands on, and I’m thinking this might have to be phase 1 of me tackling the epistolary. Not only that, but the old stuff seems to be super long. Super, super long. Except Werther which is sort of miraculously tiny. So it’s probably going to be a bit spread out.
The real problem, though, is that it’s going to be an unfortunate pain to actually get my hands on a lot of these books. And not just the really old ones. In my internet travels I came across Epistolary Fiction in Europe, 1500-1850, but it’s unavailable anywhere but university libraries (I buy or am given pretty much everything I write about here, because I am acquisitive when it comes to books, but this is a little pricey and not something I probably need). And tons and tons of the older epistolary works I’ve searched for are likewise unavailable at the Chicago Public Library. First, I say: What is wrong with you, Chicago Public Library? Do you not think anyone wants to read Voiture’s Lettres Amoureuses? Well, I do! Second, I say: Why does your website not give me any instructions about how to request something via interlibrary loan—or even if you have such a function at all, or access to actually helpful university libraries?
I have become disgruntled.
I have also become impatient—I want to make my reading list and get started! I feel like I have been themeless for so long.
Glad to see someone has recovered their blogger sense of purpose this week while I have become a hopeless drifter. Thinking that I could be of some help to you in locating books as I a librarian, I am also frustrated to see that this is as difficult as you suggest. Off to the university library or part with a large some of money. If I can find reasonable used copies this week, I will drop you a line.
Aww, thanks!
I know this feeling! I hope you can get your hands on some copies soon. I realize reading online is not always the most entertaining but Guternberg probably has a fair number of the texts you’re looking for. You could at least get started with print outs and hope to get book copies before too long.
Yeah, I have to sit down and look through Gutenberg this afternoon and see what I can find. It’s unfortunate–I read *very* closely on a computer screen almost all day for work; doing so for play can be a real strain. But that’s what printouts are for!
Wow, this is a serious project. I had expected Evelina and Humphrey Clinker and so on. Can’t wait to see your list.
I don’t think you can blame the CPL for not having Voiture – you’ll have to find some publishers to blame. The most recent copy at the U of C library is from the 18th century. Interlibrary loan (scroll down a bit) won’t work for those.
Speaking of which, don’t you live close to one of the world’s greatest research libraries? I don’t know how much trouble it would be for them to let you in.
You have access to the Newberry, though. Go in and ask to see the 1687 edition of Voiture’s Lettres et autres œuvres or almost any other crazy thing besides their Mayan Codex, and they’ll bring it to you.
Wow, this is a serious project. I had expected Evelina and Humphrey Clinker and so on. Can’t wait to see your list.
I don’t think you can blame the CPL for not having Voiture – you’ll have to find some publishers to blame. The most recent copy at the U of C library is from the 18th century. Interlibrary loan (scroll down a bit) won’t work for those.
Speaking of which, don’t you live close to one of the world’s greatest research libraries? I don’t know how much trouble it would be for them to let you in.
You have access to the Newberry, though. Go in and ask to see the 1687 edition of Voiture’s Lettres et autres œuvres or almost any other crazy thing besides their Mayan Codex, and they’ll bring it to you. Course ya can’t take it home.
Sorry AR, I don’t know how you managed to get lost in my spam filter. I knew there was a reason I actually flip through all the ads for prescription meds.
My list is…becoming very difficult to form. Evelina and Humphrey Clinker should still very much be expected. But every time I start reading about it, the most interesting-sounding older stuff comes up. I might have to give up on the really hard to find; but I mean…it’s not like I’m going to run out of material here anyway. I’m going to try to force myself to actually decide this week.
I can only assume you’re talking about UofC when you mention a great research library (unless I’m seriously blanking) but based on preliminary research it seems to be quite the pain to get into. I may be able to do something about that though.
I think I used too many links.
Yeah, I mean the U of C. They really do have amazing things, some kind of hard to believe. In ther original mission, they were specifically open to the community. That seems to have changed at some point.
I understand, completely, the appeal of the Semi- and Non-canonical. Do you ever look at The Little Professor’s site (nervous about putting in a link), especially her Journey through the Non-Canonical? She reads some really bad – really, really bad – forgotten books for her research, and even there she sometimes finds rewarding things. And then there are the good forgotten books!
Hmm, no, I don’t think I’ve seen it…but that’s a good tip. From the description that is pretty much what I would do if left to my own devices.
Re: “specifically open to the community.” That is interesting. My university, I remember, would issue a student-privileges-equivalent library card to any member of the general public for a fee (something like $50/year) when I was attending. I was a bit surprised to not find such an option available either at the U of C or at the school in my own neighborhood (I’m on the North Side, actually, just spend a lot of time in Hyde Park)–or at least the ability to go look at things there if not take them home. The policies seem very restrictive in fact.