The idea of adding Jewish angst to that novel is truly scary. Beatrice as a Jewish mother type could be fun, though. And what would Mrs Danvers turn into? A friend of mine did her dissertation on lesbian panic in Rebecca, and suggested that what the narrator should really have done was dump Maxim and shack up with Mrs D. When I protested that the prospect was a trifle overwhelming, she said, "Oh, I don't know, I'm sure she'd be fine once you fattened her up a bit. And let's face it, you'd never want for anything."
And you could do quite a good Jewish Mrs Van Hopper too, come to think of it. Daphne du M must have had a thing about scary mother types. But the rest of them are so English.
Once I've got this essay in (Weds) I might try to write an extract, if you fancy. I've always wanted to try my hand at parody, I believe I did an excellent Jane Austen imitation when I was 13 or something (i.e. too young to be intimidated by the very idea), our teacher made us write an extra chapter in Pride and Prejudice.
What sort of Jewish version are we talking? Modern, with Jewish mothers and angst and all that? What might be trickier, but possibly better, could be to cross it with I.B. Singer sort of stuff; he was very into gothic too, after all. Different style of gothic, though, and I'm not sure how you do those sorts of manor houses in the stetls of seventeenth-century Poland.
By the way, my friend wasn't serious about the idea of shacking up with Mrs Danvers, she was at that stage of her Masters where she was telling us to shoot her if she ended up wandering around dressed in black intoning, "The rooms in the east wing all look over the sea. The sea, I tell you. It was different when She was alive." (She didn't, thankfully; I probably would have in her place, knowing how obsessed I am with my texts by deadline time.) Dissertation is now in and she never wants to read the book again, so all's normal there.
Er <sheepish look> here's where I have to admit I've not actually read this book (though I suppose I ought to add it to my to-read list). The closest I got was seeing a play of it in Edinburgh (did you see that?).
So by all means write your extract, if it gives you pleasure, but I'm not the one who'll get the most out of it (or at least, not at present).
That said, I'm rather chuffed you've upped and run with the idea. ;^)
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zvi and
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Date: 2003-11-29 08:37 pm (UTC)And you could do quite a good Jewish Mrs Van Hopper too, come to think of it. Daphne du M must have had a thing about scary mother types. But the rest of them are so English.
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Date: 2003-11-30 05:52 pm (UTC)What sort of Jewish version are we talking? Modern, with Jewish mothers and angst and all that? What might be trickier, but possibly better, could be to cross it with I.B. Singer sort of stuff; he was very into gothic too, after all. Different style of gothic, though, and I'm not sure how you do those sorts of manor houses in the stetls of seventeenth-century Poland.
By the way, my friend wasn't serious about the idea of shacking up with Mrs Danvers, she was at that stage of her Masters where she was telling us to shoot her if she ended up wandering around dressed in black intoning, "The rooms in the east wing all look over the sea. The sea, I tell you. It was different when She was alive." (She didn't, thankfully; I probably would have in her place, knowing how obsessed I am with my texts by deadline time.) Dissertation is now in and she never wants to read the book again, so all's normal there.
"Rivkele"
Date: 2003-12-01 03:19 pm (UTC)So by all means write your extract, if it gives you pleasure, but I'm not the one who'll get the most out of it (or at least, not at present).
That said, I'm rather chuffed you've upped and run with the idea. ;^)