Diziet, congrats on your new job title. Did they offer it out of the blue or did you apply for an open position? Anyway, good on ya. You deserve it and you've been such a great addition to the forums.
Thank you, Ken. Well, you know how these things work: tough competition and endless interviews. Besides, @Boreas and @TomTB weren’t that easy to win over: they are hard as nails...
No idea then. All I can think of is that WWII meant the end of this optimistic era, which believed that science and technology would transform the world during the 20th century. The end of this romantic idea of the liberation of the human soul as a creator of art…?
The Return of the Native by Hardy Barchester Towers by Thackery The Talisman by Scott The Mysterious Island by Verne Lady of the Lake by Scott Frankenstein by Mary Shelley A Passage to India by Forster Lorna Doone by Blackmore Pietr-le-Letton by Simenon Brighton Rock by Greene
Tough. You asked for classics (pre 1941)... Normally I would say the first three but this is a Sci-Fi forum and The Mysterious Island is, IMO. Verne's best work.
@Boreas, I think you mentioned this as one of your pending reads…? The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar $0.00
I have just finished Beowulf, well, Michael James Swanton's translation. I have also been gazing at different parts of the original poem mesmerised by old English and by this incomprehensible language. I could work out the odd word mostly because of its familiarity with German rather than current English. While reading it, I could not help thinking of the similarities with The Song of the Cid both epic poems, both telling the lives and adventures of two superheroes. Beowulf and El Cid are idealised, and virtuous historical characters endowed with fantastical superpowers. I enjoy superheroes of such worth, and therefore, I have appreciated Beowulf more than I have loved it.
Oh ... I remember reading that in my Latin classes - so, on one side, it was likely the snobbish thing to do, to read it in the original, on the other hand it did NOT increase the reading pleasure....
