tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48505652631291034132024-03-18T12:54:11.181-07:00a little place to call my own (art and fashion blog)Moda oda radosti is a fashion, literature and art blog whose aim is to celebrate all things beautiful. Focused on books, sustainable fashion, art and travel, this blog aims to find joy in everyday things.Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.comBlogger2250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-21875272747244402152024-03-15T13:00:00.000-07:002024-03-15T13:16:00.272-07:00A COMMISSIONED PAINTING OF A CHAPEL IN MOSTAR: ACRYLICS ON CANVAS- TRAVEL WITH MY ART #36<p style="text-align: justify;"> It's been so long since I shared a painting on my blog. The reason for this was simple. I decided to stop posting my art because of online AI theft. Anything that get posted nowadays is automatically stolen by AI. There are ways to try to protect one's self but they are not very efficient. In addition, I didn't feel the need to post my art regularly. I still don't. Not on social media anyway. Not that I have any social media, except for my <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog </a>and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivana-d%C5%BEidi%C4%87-4a0a7880/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>! I need Linkedin for my work and blog for my leisure.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When it comes to posting one's art online, there are valid arguments for and against it. It's a complex topic I shall not get into right now. If I were to write a post about pros and cons of positing one's art, I'm assuming it'd take me at least five thousand words to get my points across. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So, I'll leave that for some other time and just explain why I don't post art (or at least not as much as I used to). First of all, I generally don't post as often as I used to, so that's one reason. The second one is the AI theft thing, and the third one is that I don't really don't have the motivation to show my art right now. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53dT_XKhs6378eWvJFJ80_1Z3uSOC-oCAXVvA0YS630WZErX_PkYUgbN5OOEca4UvyxeWGlmX3Ba4mGGphMZ8utGSIUnyMh8XvQzlXCNBN9rl7T7sHOfFkzf8xrQ24Y_-zV6-qhuGgVIetFtnrmzABdyVkAKX_yL_GBK94j2Ww9l45fph5IX6bTkhN2A/s3000/a%20comission%20painting%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53dT_XKhs6378eWvJFJ80_1Z3uSOC-oCAXVvA0YS630WZErX_PkYUgbN5OOEca4UvyxeWGlmX3Ba4mGGphMZ8utGSIUnyMh8XvQzlXCNBN9rl7T7sHOfFkzf8xrQ24Y_-zV6-qhuGgVIetFtnrmzABdyVkAKX_yL_GBK94j2Ww9l45fph5IX6bTkhN2A/s16000/a%20comission%20painting%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: justify;">The third and main reason is just the time. So, basically I feel like posting art takes more time and energy than I've got. I could use the time it would take me to post my art could be better used in actually making art. Do you know what I mean? I could take the time it takes to photograph my art and write about it to actually work on my art skills. I prefer working on my paintings to advertising my paintings. Posting isn't necessarily advertising but sometimes there's a pressure to it. Photographing one's art and writing about it is a good way for reflecting on one's art. Still, why should I always post about it? Why not keep some things to myself? Today we live in a time when we perhaps overshare our lives online. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">However, painting has been a big part of my blog for so long that it feels odd to completely exclude it. So, I was thinking, why not do at least one art post this year (or month)? So, here is an art post! </p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVfPHYk9a2c7oTwl-9Y3jjsOM9Ye-vfBrDu9n2DWfVCEyRstebPyeFgqNQBpvjMTDI95T7Ynbm10I8LnvVxYfPFL_WE_jrHlE4fAdOz38q3xiBCOAqkNrrE-V-14qV-IfknZ664dBAwVCeCQ3WweJarBPOIem4_HIke80qg6QUJQETf9JX5ei85F57nyk/s3000/A%20COMISSIONED%20PAINTING%20OF%20A%20CHAPEL%20modaodaradosti.blogspot.com.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVfPHYk9a2c7oTwl-9Y3jjsOM9Ye-vfBrDu9n2DWfVCEyRstebPyeFgqNQBpvjMTDI95T7Ynbm10I8LnvVxYfPFL_WE_jrHlE4fAdOz38q3xiBCOAqkNrrE-V-14qV-IfknZ664dBAwVCeCQ3WweJarBPOIem4_HIke80qg6QUJQETf9JX5ei85F57nyk/s16000/A%20COMISSIONED%20PAINTING%20OF%20A%20CHAPEL%20modaodaradosti.blogspot.com.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DX6uDzrvofPo0QZ5Vhk2RJqnqPh6fM-5xqEAK8-Jm5OsgY-fXjvR8ktClNKm_pC8-hBbRyi6WgmkIT-Qm0onzu8zP9CRxA_q0nHaRu99MG7F1kgUuwxtjV0wLqXCXbFQ0-rOU2OcYEPtQ6iVMXAMYsmrF_eeY6a7OK91WocPjA6EnVyxQTThIaMsG4c/s3000/IMG_20230818_114017.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DX6uDzrvofPo0QZ5Vhk2RJqnqPh6fM-5xqEAK8-Jm5OsgY-fXjvR8ktClNKm_pC8-hBbRyi6WgmkIT-Qm0onzu8zP9CRxA_q0nHaRu99MG7F1kgUuwxtjV0wLqXCXbFQ0-rOU2OcYEPtQ6iVMXAMYsmrF_eeY6a7OK91WocPjA6EnVyxQTThIaMsG4c/s16000/IMG_20230818_114017.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPoARIGSsMb5WvVemWRzxYsCd29ChHnKaq1qgNCOHRLZuIzXhORjcrVq85FNAIywtUQyo2Ne6FA4zUYPdP2JQGDuF4EgE-RNByxOinqPLfHh6AdOc5WgGkg8wZXTXTtb9SBLehsnXZ-JTPeh55w4rEQnCRLAacDbQBGdi_9oriIGSS-uebhGxo0C1z8Gs/s3000/comissioned%20art%20mor%20blog%20collage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPoARIGSsMb5WvVemWRzxYsCd29ChHnKaq1qgNCOHRLZuIzXhORjcrVq85FNAIywtUQyo2Ne6FA4zUYPdP2JQGDuF4EgE-RNByxOinqPLfHh6AdOc5WgGkg8wZXTXTtb9SBLehsnXZ-JTPeh55w4rEQnCRLAacDbQBGdi_9oriIGSS-uebhGxo0C1z8Gs/s16000/comissioned%20art%20mor%20blog%20collage.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This painting took me about three months to finish for multiple reasons. First of all, I didn't work on it every day because- life. Secondly, there were many layers to it. Thirdly, I couldn't set for a certain photograph reference. I started working with one reference but then I actually went to visit the chapel and study it in person. Once there, we took some photographs. So, long story short- it was a long process.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The end result was interesting! I feel like it's a strong (if not perfect) result. The final painting does leave an impression on a review. It's neither realistic nor impressionist painting, but something in between. I managed to capture some of the things I wanted but other eluded me. I wanted to capture the strong shadows, the contrast between the whiteness of the stone and the shadows created at noon. I also wanted to capture the mosaic inside of the chapel. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Everything about this painting took me time and reflection. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoug9YHDuElKMPtRu5qPaklgWqzZYmBRCSXPC_x_rTdD5jUyqmuvZ-29Fe7Mnuzn6Vt84MpLeQjVLlaekW6OEkPnKT442Ai6cesRR_Q5DWMNxb3e8eDwB9sy89K17EG5pUMA41tpmYhjOq-EcldMEgmxLbKpNrVTaNsb8apAhJT3rxzb0jdjE5QnOnkno/s3000/A%20COMISSIONED%20PAINTING%20PRESENT%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoug9YHDuElKMPtRu5qPaklgWqzZYmBRCSXPC_x_rTdD5jUyqmuvZ-29Fe7Mnuzn6Vt84MpLeQjVLlaekW6OEkPnKT442Ai6cesRR_Q5DWMNxb3e8eDwB9sy89K17EG5pUMA41tpmYhjOq-EcldMEgmxLbKpNrVTaNsb8apAhJT3rxzb0jdjE5QnOnkno/s16000/A%20COMISSIONED%20PAINTING%20PRESENT%20.jpg" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNfpXcZVCjGhOC71H5darOe6r2YWZp4lLRk4sbZlqSG8D7aveTBc4H7i9E5oeFq1vmESVw77BWHe0dfKZwECLBsT9n6_UH47vK0qyiNKxOojaBHnB9ALKC8aH6sAlXWBJqVmjf9_p1pYkQBZ2GVi2T5FPLZ4pTQMEYvVK3547lCRUvMY2N58iKJqGEOQ/s3000/IMG_20230827_195237.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNfpXcZVCjGhOC71H5darOe6r2YWZp4lLRk4sbZlqSG8D7aveTBc4H7i9E5oeFq1vmESVw77BWHe0dfKZwECLBsT9n6_UH47vK0qyiNKxOojaBHnB9ALKC8aH6sAlXWBJqVmjf9_p1pYkQBZ2GVi2T5FPLZ4pTQMEYvVK3547lCRUvMY2N58iKJqGEOQ/s16000/IMG_20230827_195237.jpg" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQbWWql-bbXFQEYzWfntkKREOG9AZXl332orbG4XqHkxUxKmO5kEls-HWr1kE4jKFn8L2cUecfn2abGDj0ZzQTzUbuUULCBM2_YAP6eyRw2yRRd5iIccXybUCkGGhkZ8ponDir3hNGtvQCIpBa7OqggowG1HbWZwbOFk14amFzIhJ60jV6XRETtUEjz0/s3000/a%20comission%20chapel%20art%20sold.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQbWWql-bbXFQEYzWfntkKREOG9AZXl332orbG4XqHkxUxKmO5kEls-HWr1kE4jKFn8L2cUecfn2abGDj0ZzQTzUbuUULCBM2_YAP6eyRw2yRRd5iIccXybUCkGGhkZ8ponDir3hNGtvQCIpBa7OqggowG1HbWZwbOFk14amFzIhJ60jV6XRETtUEjz0/s16000/a%20comission%20chapel%20art%20sold.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: justify;">I sometimes get asked this question: 'Do I do commissions?' The answer is:' Yes, I do.' In fact, most of the time that's the only art work I do. If I didn't have commissions, I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to create art on regular basis. I typically get commissions from people in my region so that's another reason why I don't need to post my art.. I have about as much commissions as I can manage, working as a language teacher full time and working as a tutor part time. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I don't exactly work towards being or aspire to be a full time artist right now. Funny thing is that the better I get in art, the more difficult it becomes. It's a paradox. Perhaps we just tend to enjoy art more when it's a hobby. Once you get serious about it, there's an element of work about it all. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Art can be therapeutic but it can also be hard and draining. These things can sound contradictory, but they are really not. There are a lot of misconceptions about art. Painting can feel like torture sometimes. Physical and mental torture. If the end product didn't please me, I would never do it. The process is sometimes mostly pain, from studying the photograph reference to trying to get it right, to endless layers of paint.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Moreover, the better I get in painting, the more I feel displeased with my art. The more likely am I to obsess over every little mistake. There is no joy in the process. Absolutely none. There's only the joy I feel looking at a painting once it's finished. That's only brief. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">To go through all that torture out of my will? Not very likely. So, I'm grateful for the commissions!</p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGBhFfOLrkzfCnc3Tyip8H9a8JBH1jpvCyXwa0ZtW12WsHga2Ts9dTNiJvPsBFj11uyeNHWbKptLzqSCZDlnsw1PNQlaCFG4kP_8T0Job278XzZSIwNW-EZQLdBo2rvvyPeD7tzEJ7ARYj1_THUmyZLZ4I8At4AEt_v-WnO1vuzpIg1Yh5qobfZmNvgE/s3000/IMG_20230818_114126.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGBhFfOLrkzfCnc3Tyip8H9a8JBH1jpvCyXwa0ZtW12WsHga2Ts9dTNiJvPsBFj11uyeNHWbKptLzqSCZDlnsw1PNQlaCFG4kP_8T0Job278XzZSIwNW-EZQLdBo2rvvyPeD7tzEJ7ARYj1_THUmyZLZ4I8At4AEt_v-WnO1vuzpIg1Yh5qobfZmNvgE/s16000/IMG_20230818_114126.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ANOTHER PAINTING OF MINE WITH A SIMILAR MOTIVE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/12/a-mountain-church-blidinje-acrylic-on.html">A MOUNTAIN CHURCH BLIDINJE (ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 20+ HOURS) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrcQcTFdyICNd5wlm40_XlvV4HYMH1IptevjDXpPPPzqeD4MP_mX3AB8XNRuFaw2-tB5WRNcsDs54uTJl9W4BdWCYCxt30oalXybnsO3SrIPJdVDMwlyjXSYvWXg9_Au2GC0G7KZ1MnLAfY7uKvJrl2w5haZ8Gv3VYNre-_GfU-7eEcMGVQ1QYhxAAFFI/s2048/mountain%20church%20painting%20wrapped%20up%20as%20a%20gift%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrcQcTFdyICNd5wlm40_XlvV4HYMH1IptevjDXpPPPzqeD4MP_mX3AB8XNRuFaw2-tB5WRNcsDs54uTJl9W4BdWCYCxt30oalXybnsO3SrIPJdVDMwlyjXSYvWXg9_Au2GC0G7KZ1MnLAfY7uKvJrl2w5haZ8Gv3VYNre-_GfU-7eEcMGVQ1QYhxAAFFI/s16000/mountain%20church%20painting%20wrapped%20up%20as%20a%20gift%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimo4I-xa_CrOugwqb68hVZ3nI9H2RwmUQSWC818a_IQStuzhZ9tovVA02hA14nDu-bnlvdwhZ-tH6CWsKz_rpgGNJ1jb0aoe4r_3MVovzqsgRkQyo2DjAa7tiRwFuKVdNrBLPpTWxY4YOZ6VNTkfpbWdOE4qEtSZyuzzCN5OgbsXxhYAYMFeItBYOmJmY/s2048/mountain%20church%20new%20art%20project%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimo4I-xa_CrOugwqb68hVZ3nI9H2RwmUQSWC818a_IQStuzhZ9tovVA02hA14nDu-bnlvdwhZ-tH6CWsKz_rpgGNJ1jb0aoe4r_3MVovzqsgRkQyo2DjAa7tiRwFuKVdNrBLPpTWxY4YOZ6VNTkfpbWdOE4qEtSZyuzzCN5OgbsXxhYAYMFeItBYOmJmY/s16000/mountain%20church%20new%20art%20project%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">MORE OF MY ART </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-commissioned-painting-grandmother.html">A Commissioned Painting: Grandmother, Daughter and Grandson With the Dog ( Medium: Acrylic Paints on Canvas) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/08/repainting-and-repairing-oil-on-canvas.html">REPAINTING AND REPAIRING AN OIL ON CANVAS, A PAINTING OF ASSISI ( ITALY) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/11/art-update-new-acrylic-painting-boats.html">ART UPDATE: A NEW ACRYLIC PAINTING 'BOATS IN THE NIGHT' AND MORE (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAbxqCMppEJsaQ1Yxxr9VwynxZOuoaXCixf1thshHHdE2hgBlHuMEkFn1cBNzVpeTKbDSZLjSS4Bfp9o46GSK1q8_oYbbTGg7wj9b7amhd-p5iiy025lR88wihzNFMydRpde8b4LfQbvrqB_r9RP12l0rXKxFOHiXANtoPhpbpSoeby9Q746YYRQxEdE/s2048/zavala%20realistic%20seascape%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAbxqCMppEJsaQ1Yxxr9VwynxZOuoaXCixf1thshHHdE2hgBlHuMEkFn1cBNzVpeTKbDSZLjSS4Bfp9o46GSK1q8_oYbbTGg7wj9b7amhd-p5iiy025lR88wihzNFMydRpde8b4LfQbvrqB_r9RP12l0rXKxFOHiXANtoPhpbpSoeby9Q746YYRQxEdE/s16000/zavala%20realistic%20seascape%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgID6K8RQqx9HZ3jlio3da73kW1nMvqt2Yhl_JiR3EjzSB43l8qoxXC2M-hDtkZEs2By50btDIFdSUq07z4Fok0ve3SDfni3O9fsgt0CymAkZHjAeZhy4NY9ocnqYi03W9UtCzTowZ4ArX6jyAl-XRHcGIvCPAqDivXLrJrmX89jPGmCRvjF1BCHjBvI0A/s3000/a%20comissioned%20paint%20chapel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgID6K8RQqx9HZ3jlio3da73kW1nMvqt2Yhl_JiR3EjzSB43l8qoxXC2M-hDtkZEs2By50btDIFdSUq07z4Fok0ve3SDfni3O9fsgt0CymAkZHjAeZhy4NY9ocnqYi03W9UtCzTowZ4ArX6jyAl-XRHcGIvCPAqDivXLrJrmX89jPGmCRvjF1BCHjBvI0A/s16000/a%20comissioned%20paint%20chapel.jpg" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>MORE TRAVEL WITH MY ART POSTS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It's just occurred to me that this post could be another TRAVEL WITH WITH ART POST. Afterall, I was commissioned to paint a real location- a chapel in immediate vicinity of Mostar. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/travel-with-my-art-palermo-sicily.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#1 PALERMO ISLAND SICILY (ITALY)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/travel-with-my-art-2-bay-mala-stiniva.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#2 BAY MALA STINIVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/travel-with-my-art-3-church-of-our-lady.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#3 IRKUTSK, SIBERIA (RUSSIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/travel-with-my-art-4-matejuska-split.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#4 MATEJUŠKA, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)<br /></a>#5 <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/travel-with-my-art-5-franciscan.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HVAR CITY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/travel-with-my-art-6-zenta-marine-split.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#6 ZENTA MARINE, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)</a> </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;"> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/travel-with-my-art-7-zavala-island-hvar.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#7 ZAVALA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/travel-with-my-art-sucuraj-island-hvar.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#8 SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/travel-with-my-art-9-mala-stiniva-bay.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#9 MALA STINIVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/05/travel-with-my-art-10-hvar-town-croatia.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#10 HVAR TOWN, ISLAND HVAR ( CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/05/travel-with-my-art-11-dance-of-sails.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#11 JELSA TOWN, DANCE O THE SAILS (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/06/travel-with-my-art-12-zavala-island-hvar.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#12 ZAVALA, ISLAND HVAR, (CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/06/travel-with-my-art-13-sucuraj-island.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#13: SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/07/travel-with-my-art-14-island-hvar.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#14: BAY BRIZENICA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <br /><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/07/travel-with-my-art-15-bay-lozna-island.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#15 BAY LOZNA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/07/travel-with-my-art-16-bay-veprinova.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#16 BAY VEPRINOVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/travel-with-my-art-17-bol-island-brac.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#17 BOL, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/travel-with-my-art-18-planinica-bosnia.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#18 PLANINICA, (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/travel-with-my-art-19-sucuraj-island.html#comments" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#19 SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/travel-with-my-art-20-beach-soline.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#20 BEACH SOLINE,VRBOSKA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/10/travel-with-my-art-21-stari-grad-island.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#21 STARI GRAD, ISLAND HVAR </a>(CROATIA) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/10/travel-with-my-art-22-makarska-town.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#22 MAKARSKA (CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/travel-with-my-art-23-zavala-island.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#23 ZAVALA PANORAMA (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/travel-with-my-art-croatia-24-znanj-25.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#24 ŽNJAN BEACH, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)<br /></a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/travel-with-my-art-croatia-24-znanj-25.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#25 JELSA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/travel-with-my-art-croatia-24-znanj-25.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#26 ZAVALA BAY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/travel-with-my-art-mala-stiniva-bay-in.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">#27 MALA STINIVA IN SUMMER, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</span></span></a><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"> </span></span> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/travel-with-my-art-28-basina-bay.html" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#28 TRAVEL WITH MY ART, BASINA BAY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/travel-with-my-art29-bay-torac-at.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#29 TRAVEL WITH MY ART, BAY TORAC, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/travel-with-my-art-30-valetta-island.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#30 TRAVEL WITH MY ART, VALETTA, ISLAND MALTA (MALTA)</a> <span style="text-align: left;">#31 </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-wedding-proposal-travel-with-my-art.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">TRAVEL WITH MY ART : CAPE PLANKA (CROATIA)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/12/travel-with-my-art-32-zavala.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#32 TRAVEL WITH MY ART: ZAVALA (CROATIA)</a></div><p style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/01/travel-with-my-art-33-lozna-bay-cape.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#33:</a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/01/travel-with-my-art-33-lozna-bay-cape.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">TRAVEL WITH MY ART LOZNA, ISLAND HVAR</a></p></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/01/travel-with-my-art-34-bota-vrboska.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">#34 TRAVEL WITH MY ART BOTA SURF CENTRE, VRBOSKA, ISLAND HVAR, CROATIA</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/01/travel-with-my-art-35-beach-kamenjara.html">TRAVEL WITH MY ART #35: BEACH KAMENJARA, VRBOSKA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA ) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> 2023 </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6Hco2_RfOEBYxASv-KWRvpT0s6cDm6nDX0AFGCCTZIWCIjqB2Dbejg9gqRnSaIzPX7eP_TAr0FYY1xkeBQJTuNq3AWWdkk-4Sbnip8nQDjCcdbKBplZDKFuNHptTsvcF9TnPjyvNCGP89yPHcIvdDE94Cng04WW8vKqDKARwOcXHwKFLCy6gNIEFJlU/s2992/20230828_152739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6Hco2_RfOEBYxASv-KWRvpT0s6cDm6nDX0AFGCCTZIWCIjqB2Dbejg9gqRnSaIzPX7eP_TAr0FYY1xkeBQJTuNq3AWWdkk-4Sbnip8nQDjCcdbKBplZDKFuNHptTsvcF9TnPjyvNCGP89yPHcIvdDE94Cng04WW8vKqDKARwOcXHwKFLCy6gNIEFJlU/s16000/20230828_152739.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGJtWnLthEXy3hR0B97MD_iJw-F75MDC516X9emonupyGwI2XKRCzvefT-Szzhb-PaWkb3x0UQn_SmItLKUcLoh9g26xiG8DW7SnxrzqapPPW0uv-e6YxdLNC_ACZw7SqhdNPNhZCDLUjwyysRcV8zdE5pWXpC-Uk8YfcGK8PlE9lNj39SHeBGHcF3rvw/s2992/20230818_114005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGJtWnLthEXy3hR0B97MD_iJw-F75MDC516X9emonupyGwI2XKRCzvefT-Szzhb-PaWkb3x0UQn_SmItLKUcLoh9g26xiG8DW7SnxrzqapPPW0uv-e6YxdLNC_ACZw7SqhdNPNhZCDLUjwyysRcV8zdE5pWXpC-Uk8YfcGK8PlE9lNj39SHeBGHcF3rvw/s16000/20230818_114005.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">+</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qJFbDfj2B2sMw7vueM2nMT9PzP43xDsbH3wSGOxSImWRdlDUzd4heY62KU8F9QlDEJC0ZqUKf0zmEtN6vBlJe5QCWA26NPh9MV-ZHeA0BdDyBUzLZK83N05DzGdPU7Vo61es0NF7EYmcmpa4DHV0nF1Lkq94zdjIJ8nwoNGIKsnt41IwJHnsIf-FUOc/s1920/20230818_114130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qJFbDfj2B2sMw7vueM2nMT9PzP43xDsbH3wSGOxSImWRdlDUzd4heY62KU8F9QlDEJC0ZqUKf0zmEtN6vBlJe5QCWA26NPh9MV-ZHeA0BdDyBUzLZK83N05DzGdPU7Vo61es0NF7EYmcmpa4DHV0nF1Lkq94zdjIJ8nwoNGIKsnt41IwJHnsIf-FUOc/s16000/20230818_114130.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Z309kBpgwa2QAEx7_kraHj1UR-q5tegtZPj1krajk9mTP8BxFKa-jxCQWveSKcqlz-IMoYHOXPvL_lvRsNcun5UOUEbkoGGn7KTMUjeSjdPcgy3UfX_PyYRrTFsljY9s2DNTiJMmhpC3himp2f0Aiyy9JuplCgqaSiexWbktjsMgVJ9g-UG8WpKemQE/s1920/20230818_114133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Z309kBpgwa2QAEx7_kraHj1UR-q5tegtZPj1krajk9mTP8BxFKa-jxCQWveSKcqlz-IMoYHOXPvL_lvRsNcun5UOUEbkoGGn7KTMUjeSjdPcgy3UfX_PyYRrTFsljY9s2DNTiJMmhpC3himp2f0Aiyy9JuplCgqaSiexWbktjsMgVJ9g-UG8WpKemQE/s16000/20230818_114133.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxUZfBnP8rnSlOHtIh0FFaGuC2DW1GUb4j6CzGnWQCVUVUiMDjgP08PUld435asCcOpZvc0-CJMgsXGgVLYH2kgUWDgEXlZ2kRlY3yDB8gCYiUqZGLEvVxPW56I9kL6pqVq1MmJdPXbp8wewnhNzxza_-LIoWSkI6im0PwzsWPHxYfJb0VNQOgVRfivA/s3000/comissioned%20painting%20ART.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxUZfBnP8rnSlOHtIh0FFaGuC2DW1GUb4j6CzGnWQCVUVUiMDjgP08PUld435asCcOpZvc0-CJMgsXGgVLYH2kgUWDgEXlZ2kRlY3yDB8gCYiUqZGLEvVxPW56I9kL6pqVq1MmJdPXbp8wewnhNzxza_-LIoWSkI6im0PwzsWPHxYfJb0VNQOgVRfivA/s16000/comissioned%20painting%20ART.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Thank is all for today. Thank you for reading and visiting!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-8234576453580589762024-03-12T13:35:00.000-07:002024-03-15T13:19:39.680-07:00EUGENE ONEGIN, A VERSE NOVEL BY A. PUSHKIN (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello, dear readers! In this post, I shall review <b><i><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23997/23997-h/23997-h.htm" target="_blank">Eugene Onegin</a></i></b>, a verse novel by <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/pushkin-puskin.html" target="_blank">Alexander Pushkin</a>. I decided to reread this surprisingly short novel, so that's what I did. In fact, I finished it yesterday. If you want to read a Russian classic that isn't desperately long, this is a solid choice. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I first read it years ago, probably during my student days. Speaking of student days, this is the novel that your Slavic literature professors will pull out of their hat when you define a novel as a work of prose. What about the famous verse novel <b><i>Eugene Onegin</i></b>, they will ask you with a triumphant smile on their lips (and that'll teach you the value of precision). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“But whom to love?</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">To trust and treasure?</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">Who won’t betray us in the end?</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">And who’ll be kind enough to measure</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">Our words and deeds as we intend?”</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span class="authorOrTitle" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;">Alexander Pushkin, </span><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_27822" style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">Eugene Onegin</span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrFgcHInEP6HgBImVr0G9QTxArIKQNcaZrAEzQZ6hOKLbrKEjeBOvtg9oUNuhIZtDIzTHU7GhV1k2jY5v4tMnpc9z19_9NprGn6YXs37_2639oSYKxGV_YQf09wFNbYt1gDGWOG29pScx-bFAsY5oh5JY52cjSYGHViZ4Hs9WBtTG-3TaTb_kWdoj39E/s3000/BEIGE%20COAT%20BROWN%20BOOTS%20ANIMAL%20PRINT%20DRESS%20ME%C4%90UGORJE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrFgcHInEP6HgBImVr0G9QTxArIKQNcaZrAEzQZ6hOKLbrKEjeBOvtg9oUNuhIZtDIzTHU7GhV1k2jY5v4tMnpc9z19_9NprGn6YXs37_2639oSYKxGV_YQf09wFNbYt1gDGWOG29pScx-bFAsY5oh5JY52cjSYGHViZ4Hs9WBtTG-3TaTb_kWdoj39E/s16000/BEIGE%20COAT%20BROWN%20BOOTS%20ANIMAL%20PRINT%20DRESS%20ME%C4%90UGORJE.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My strict Slavic professors taught me many important things and I'm grateful for that. For example, the value of speaking fluently and enunciating your words </span>properly<span style="font-family: inherit;">. You couldn't get an A if you used a filler word in your exam (repeating any word, even something as simple as for example 'really' would automatically mean a B). They didn't grade us based only on our knowledge, but also on the way we spoke and presented ourselves. Our speech had to be absolutely perfect in order to get an A. This kind of perfectionism is stressful, but also ultimately useful, especially if you really want to perfect yourself.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In contrast, my English professors (by that I mean professors from English speaking countries, not necessarily ethnically English, some of my teachers were Irish, some American, some Canadian and so on) were a lot more relaxed and easy-going during their oral exams. Upon meeting their students, they joked and talked about their allergies and random stuff. They didn't care about filler words in our speech. The English professors weren't as strict when it came to form and speaking. From them, I learned in other ways. I learned that professors can also be very friendly and casual. In addition, I learned something about the culture of English speaking countries. A culture that is, after all, quite different from my own Mediterranean Slavic culture, so the lesson was all the more appreciated. Every culture is beautiful in its own way. Slavic people get very serious when discussing literature. Perhaps that is why the Slavic literature professors are expected to speak in a rather formal way. There is beauty in this for this striving for perfection in form reflects the love we have for literature. English professors, on the other hand, seem to be less serious. I don't know did it have anything to do with the fact they were teaching in a foreign country, but they didn't seem to take themselves so seriously. From them I learned there are more playful ways to examine literature. It doesn't all have to be strict literary theories, formal speech and striving for perfection. One can also talk about literature from a personal perspective.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOpg0T4aPzBIZIY4DxTQenWy6YshZhXNQOYoGsNrvIieErhjczGVzCLfKjhYkDq6MrldBTC0mCp4oLWd-YHcCLxZRyvygTRDyopZv-CQ9Gw_nieOn4RFDJAXm0RBCru5YI292niPlK8s6zBhGqnN5nT9ez0YfgYZeYKsV2AzmomztxZwETFY85_4KyWA/s3000/BEIGE%20ANIMAL%20PRINT%20BROWN%20FILI%20RESTAURANT%20ME%C4%90UGORJE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOpg0T4aPzBIZIY4DxTQenWy6YshZhXNQOYoGsNrvIieErhjczGVzCLfKjhYkDq6MrldBTC0mCp4oLWd-YHcCLxZRyvygTRDyopZv-CQ9Gw_nieOn4RFDJAXm0RBCru5YI292niPlK8s6zBhGqnN5nT9ez0YfgYZeYKsV2AzmomztxZwETFY85_4KyWA/s16000/BEIGE%20ANIMAL%20PRINT%20BROWN%20FILI%20RESTAURANT%20ME%C4%90UGORJE.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wonder sometimes what kind of teacher am I? Especially considering that I teach English? Am I strict like the Slavic teachers or friendly like the English teachers? The answer is that I really don't know, especially since I always end up being offered new English teaching jobs and gigs. Sometimes I miss hearing myself teach in my native Slavic tongue. When your profession is connected to languages in any way, there is always so many psychological, cultural and emotional things to consider in your every day life. </span>Language is such a complex field to work in! <span style="font-family: inherit;">That's both the curse and the blessing of working with languages. It's as beautiful as it is complex. Sometimes it seems it's all about asking yourself questions and not being quite sure about the answers. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I imagine it might have been like that for Pushkin as well. As a writer, he perhaps ask himself many questions connected to language and identity. As a member of nobility, he would have been either bilingual or multilingual, yet he choose to write in his own language. Pushkin's considered the father of modern Russian literature and not without a reason.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWg9-3LJeDRGaV63E8sBXfKRVcF1bMBKht0C9t9Uv-8iFLyqpJoRHHNGM_pqRdXVV6leCB3vcX7Q6BYUzrmhc4YfqDKUXbdGRIvAgGbQUdOlc2d2b5DfdPJyjJXeu9lsfLlrmEc4offxLYg_gEZ8LwfiZOnReAzO5lt-DnZO9ifCkjI5qhuzW_OG4Zf4/s3000/BEIGE%20COAT%20ME%C4%90UGORJE%20SUNNY%20DAY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWg9-3LJeDRGaV63E8sBXfKRVcF1bMBKht0C9t9Uv-8iFLyqpJoRHHNGM_pqRdXVV6leCB3vcX7Q6BYUzrmhc4YfqDKUXbdGRIvAgGbQUdOlc2d2b5DfdPJyjJXeu9lsfLlrmEc4offxLYg_gEZ8LwfiZOnReAzO5lt-DnZO9ifCkjI5qhuzW_OG4Zf4/s16000/BEIGE%20COAT%20ME%C4%90UGORJE%20SUNNY%20DAY.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>EUGENE ONEGIN</i></b>, A NOVEL BY A. PUSHKIN 4.6/5</span></span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published in mid 19th century, this verse novel is one of the founding works of Russian literature. Not only is </span><b><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Onegin</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">is considered a true classic of</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Russian literature</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">, but its</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">protagonist is considered the literary model for Russian heroes (especially so the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">superfluous men</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">As it was common in those days,<b><i> Eugene Onegin </i></b>was serialized (it was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832). The first complete edition was published a year later. However, the 1837 publication is considered the one most widely accepted.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">A NOVEL THAT IS UNIQUE IN ITS SHAPE AND FORM</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This novel is quite unique in many ways, mostly in that it is written in a quite an original rhyme scheme and made up of 389 fourteen-line stanzas (5,446 lines in all) of iambic tetrameter. Quite a poetical achievement! How does this verse novel functions? Well, it employs a framed narrative of sorts. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A FRAMED NARRATIVE</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The story is narrated by a narrator that might as well be Pushkin himself. The narrator mentions many of Pushkin's friends by name and seems to have a lot in common with the poet himself. Even if the poet dismisses the idea that the character is connected to him, one can assume there are autobiographical elements in both the narrator and the novel's protagonist. The narrator of <b><i>Eugene Onegin</i></b> could basically be considered to be a fictionalized version of Pushkin's public image.</span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"> XLI
How oft, when on a summer night
Transparent o’er the Neva beamed
The firmament in mellow light,
And when the watery mirror gleamed
No more with pale Diana’s rays,(17)
We called to mind our youthful days—
The days of love and of romance!
Then would we muse as in a trance,
Impressionable for an hour,
And breathe the balmy breath of night;
And like the prisoner’s our delight
Who for the greenwood quits his tower,
As on the rapid wings of thought
The early days of life we sought.
[Note 17: The midsummer nights in the latitude of St. Petersburg
are a prolonged twilight.]
XLII
Absorbed in melancholy mood
And o’er the granite coping bent,
Onéguine meditative stood,
E’en as the poet says he leant.(18)
’Tis silent all! Alone the cries
Of the night sentinels arise
And from the Millionaya afar(19)
The sudden rattling of a car.
Lo! on the sleeping river borne,
A boat with splashing oar floats by,
And now we hear delightedly
A jolly song and distant horn;
But sweeter in a midnight dream
Torquato Tasso’s strains I deem.
[Note 18: Refers to Mouravieff’s “Goddess of the Neva.” At St.
Petersburg the banks of the Neva are lined throughout with
splendid granite quays.]
[Note 19:
A street running parallel to the Neva, and leading from
the Winter Palace to the Summer Palace and Garden.]
XLIII
Ye billows of blue Hadria’s sea,
O Brenta, once more we shall meet
And, inspiration firing me,
Your magic voices I shall greet,
Whose tones Apollo’s sons inspire,
And after Albion’s proud lyre (20)
Possess my love and sympathy.
The nights of golden Italy
I’ll pass beneath the firmament,
Hid in the gondola’s dark shade,
Alone with my Venetian maid,
Now talkative, now reticent;
From her my lips shall learn the tongue
Of love which whilom Petrarch sung.
[Note 20: The strong influence exercised by Byron’s genius on the
imagination of Pushkin is well known. Shakespeare and other
English dramatists had also their share in influencing his mind,
which, at all events in its earlier developments, was of an
essentially imitative type. As an example of his Shakespearian
tastes, see his poem of “Angelo,” founded upon “Measure for Measure.”]</span></b></span></pre><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQQls4NZsCymv_cCSJQZt3vGM8uV64Dt80_H9LTPbkkd3Ww1-EzU78h5eRq14SR8B0YfcuwrswNAiSk0WDuYH9jxmZidsRqBbz41XfbrFrzwjQs-yC8XnzZ93Vo4ESN_QDrm0mwnxBPWOiJJD7ha2v-WpR1oia6zW_oWV_S5NJoCV9iz2uzQmZwvv5vY/s3000/IMG_20240217_121728.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQQls4NZsCymv_cCSJQZt3vGM8uV64Dt80_H9LTPbkkd3Ww1-EzU78h5eRq14SR8B0YfcuwrswNAiSk0WDuYH9jxmZidsRqBbz41XfbrFrzwjQs-yC8XnzZ93Vo4ESN_QDrm0mwnxBPWOiJJD7ha2v-WpR1oia6zW_oWV_S5NJoCV9iz2uzQmZwvv5vY/s16000/IMG_20240217_121728.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijePA7Noz9As08SzUmDWZNtu9d12gTmPuk3DRdHMm2wDzc62-ZmsK6EM3SYq3GTBysssQ5-yQNjTDAH595oGz7VSGDU2lBBhFnEGHKwRS6BrC7idUMZ2neO_w4oZQOChrykmVmZfIqwlSZipqlJVzgIagvE7gBLR-KVbaqQpAqRPZENcpN41r1tdYnI9c/s3000/IMG_20240217_121758.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijePA7Noz9As08SzUmDWZNtu9d12gTmPuk3DRdHMm2wDzc62-ZmsK6EM3SYq3GTBysssQ5-yQNjTDAH595oGz7VSGDU2lBBhFnEGHKwRS6BrC7idUMZ2neO_w4oZQOChrykmVmZfIqwlSZipqlJVzgIagvE7gBLR-KVbaqQpAqRPZENcpN41r1tdYnI9c/s16000/IMG_20240217_121758.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What is the narrator like? Well, he is certainly very educated. Every verse seem to have a literary, political or reference of some sort. If you are to read the fusnotes (especially in my edition translated by Ivan Slaming one of best Croatian translators) the novel suddenly becomes much longer.</span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> I
“My uncle’s goodness is extreme,
If seriously he hath disease;
He hath acquired the world’s esteem
And nothing more important sees;
A paragon of virtue he!
But what a nuisance it will be,
Chained to his bedside night and day
Without a chance to slip away.
Ye need dissimulation base
A dying man with art to soothe,
Beneath his head the pillow smooth,
And physic bring with mournful face,
To sigh and meditate alone:
When will the devil take his own!”</span></b></span></span></pre><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> II
Thus mused a madcap young, who drove
Through clouds of dust at postal pace,
By the decree of Mighty Jove,
Inheritor of all his race.
Friends of Liudmila and Ruslan,(1)
Let me present ye to the man,
Who without more prevarication
The hero is of my narration!
Onéguine, O my gentle readers,
Was born beside the Neva, where
It may be ye were born, or there
Have shone as one of fashion’s leaders.
I also wandered there of old,
But cannot stand the northern cold.(2)
[Note 1: <i>Ruslan and Liudmila</i>, the title of Pushkin’s first
important work, written 1817-20. It is a tale relating the adventures
of the knight-errant Ruslan in search of his fair lady Liudmila, who
has been carried off by a <i>kaldoon</i>, or magician.]
[Note 2: Written in Bessarabia.]</b></span></span></pre><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6a2p-TAmRXCxPeJqqZ7EY4LfVqfF9c8seE7nZAPk6yQJu23GvPtl5S4b7I_jxzl9J_67bgHebQ_Z60SCWrg0aLqOfbhWVSSHYqoxpR20SQZRvepvpk3jrw5ANXcZin3jR8JKX7sHmecjazzBidLT89MxRHtiv8TQqnQ9WrsH_1i5MCW-I-EAcKydf4Y/s3000/IMG_20240217_121837.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6a2p-TAmRXCxPeJqqZ7EY4LfVqfF9c8seE7nZAPk6yQJu23GvPtl5S4b7I_jxzl9J_67bgHebQ_Z60SCWrg0aLqOfbhWVSSHYqoxpR20SQZRvepvpk3jrw5ANXcZin3jR8JKX7sHmecjazzBidLT89MxRHtiv8TQqnQ9WrsH_1i5MCW-I-EAcKydf4Y/s16000/IMG_20240217_121837.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The narrator isn't always intellectually inclined, sometimes he's emotional and his tone is less scholarly and more personal. The narrator is a worldly and educated man, who is prone to humour, often humour of sarcastic and ironic kind, yet somehow he manages to be authentically warm and emotional nevertheless. The narrator is not solely focused on Onegin, for the narrator digresses at times to explores his thoughts on different matters. He makes comments about his country, his class and his social circle. However, the narration remains approachable and fairly easy to follow and read. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This non complicated if erudite verse narration is what allows the novel to be truly a novel and not just a verse comment on its times. The narrator doesn't forget about the characters and the story. It definitely enables a psychological exploration of its characters and the development of the plot. The versus are beautifully written, but the reader can still concentrate on the plot and the characters. </span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> IX
How soon he learnt deception’s art,
Hope to conceal and jealousy,
False confidence or doubt to impart,
Sombre or glad in turn to be,
Haughty appear, subservient,
Obsequious or indifferent!
What languor would his silence show,
How full of fire his speech would glow!
How artless was the note which spoke
Of love again, and yet again;
How deftly could he transport feign!
.....</span></b></span></span></pre><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIr_UUKIWh61KLBXW_QP5jUXCmO90MmgZdrAcE8T6QQpj3LOzxiXMwXmNbXO_rbKZRDzUx6e9_cl2Mw2uwgm2-CHtzx05vHradzbSYdy5Zl_jFl2HzO5VF3HhTLZzK7ncvtOnDB6niHWz1S9NdVziueajoCzezUt13pYTSKb6JaKmrfnkC98XCWWAvCqU/s3000/IMG_20240217_124122.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIr_UUKIWh61KLBXW_QP5jUXCmO90MmgZdrAcE8T6QQpj3LOzxiXMwXmNbXO_rbKZRDzUx6e9_cl2Mw2uwgm2-CHtzx05vHradzbSYdy5Zl_jFl2HzO5VF3HhTLZzK7ncvtOnDB6niHWz1S9NdVziueajoCzezUt13pYTSKb6JaKmrfnkC98XCWWAvCqU/s16000/IMG_20240217_124122.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">Basically, this verse novel has a lot going for it. From memorable characters to an interesting if simple plot. <i><b>Eugene Onegin </b></i>manages to tell an entrancing story. It invokes feelings in its reader, while it tells its tale rich in both humour and tragedy. This novel is both humorous and sad in tone. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The novel opens in<span style="text-align: left;"> the 1820s, with a bored Eugene Onegin. His father dies, not leaving Eugene with much due to debts. However, when his uncle dies, there's an inheritance so Eugene travels to his estate. Already bored of Saint Petersburg and the high society it might happen that Onegin ends up enjoying the land estate. At any rate, it gives the narrator the chance to contrast between the Saint Peterburg and rural life, a contrast that will be emphasized several times in the plot. Moreover, the verses introduce us to a man Eugene befriends, a young poet only eighteen year of age. Eugene is not much older himself, but due to his dandy lifestyle, Eugene feels older than he really is.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>VIII</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> This he believed: a kindred spirit</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Impelled to union with his own</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Lay languishing both day and night—</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Waiting his coming—his alone!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> He deemed his friends but longed to make</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Great sacrifices for his sake!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> That a friend’s arm in every case</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Felled a calumniator base!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> That chosen heroes consecrate,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Friends of the sons of every land,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Exist—that their immortal band</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Shall surely, be it soon or late,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Pour on this orb a dazzling light</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> And bless mankind with full delight.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> IX</span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Compassion now or wrath inspires</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> And now philanthropy his soul,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> And now his youthful heart desires</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The path which leads to glory’s goal.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> His harp beneath that sky had rung</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Where sometime Goethe, Schiller sung,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> And at the altar of their fame</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> He kindled his poetic flame.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> But from the Muses’ loftiest height</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The gifted songster never swerved,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> But proudly in his song preserved</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> An ever transcendental flight;</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> His transports were quite maidenly,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Charming with grave simplicity.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> X</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> He sang of love—to love a slave.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> His ditties were as pure and bright</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> As thoughts which gentle maidens have,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> As a babe’s slumber, or the light</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Of the moon in the tranquil skies,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Goddess of lovers’ tender sighs.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> He sang of separation grim,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Of what not, and of distant dim,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Of roses to romancers dear;</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> To foreign lands he would allude,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Where long time he in solitude</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Had let fall many a bitter tear:</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> He sang of life’s fresh colours stained</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Before he eighteen years attained.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> XI</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Since Eugene in that solitude</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Gifts such as these alone could prize,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> A scant attendance Lenski showed</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> At neighbouring hospitalities.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> He shunned those parties boisterous;</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The conversation tedious</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> About the crop of hay, the wine,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The kennel or a kindred line,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Was certainly not erudite</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Nor sparkled with poetic fire,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Nor wit, nor did the same inspire</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> A sense of social delight,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> But still more stupid did appear</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The gossip of their ladies fair.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> XII</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Handsome and rich, the neighbourhood</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Lenski as a good match received,—</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Such is the country custom good;</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> All mothers their sweet girls believed</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Suitable for this semi-Russian.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> He enters: rapidly discussion</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Shifts, tacks about, until they prate</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The sorrows of a single state.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Perchance where Dunia pours out tea</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> The young proprietor we find;</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> To Dunia then they whisper: Mind!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> And a guitar produced we see,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> And Heavens! warbled forth we hear:</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Come to my golden palace, dear!(25)</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> [Note 25: From the lay of the Russalka, i.e. mermaid of the Dnieper.]</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNivX_E81o_PD9OOMvNxCRy4aIDAkxCVUMXhFPTtQUZ3lzignCfKfFY0D-m5pLREUFyJovkaYl3TRfKP8XbonyLBCt931s4Ln6_VpNqZMa8X21r5Y98rTXp-vk8PB_NaP-sXLu5Q3m3HMocRNVDMJkmw3agT8XuDX5dVVQZleQghxPGFpzNcJ3JVF4Ow/s3000/IMG_20240217_110847.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNivX_E81o_PD9OOMvNxCRy4aIDAkxCVUMXhFPTtQUZ3lzignCfKfFY0D-m5pLREUFyJovkaYl3TRfKP8XbonyLBCt931s4Ln6_VpNqZMa8X21r5Y98rTXp-vk8PB_NaP-sXLu5Q3m3HMocRNVDMJkmw3agT8XuDX5dVVQZleQghxPGFpzNcJ3JVF4Ow/s16000/IMG_20240217_110847.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> XIII</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> But Lenski, having no desire</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Vows matrimonial to break,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> With our Onéguine doth aspire</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Acquaintance instantly to make.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> They met. Earth, water, prose and verse,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Or ice and flame, are not diverse</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> If they were similar in aught.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> At first such contradictions wrought</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Mutual repulsion and ennui,</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> But grown familiar side by side</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> On horseback every day they ride—</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Inseparable soon they be.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Thus oft—this I myself confess—</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><span style="text-align: left;"></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Men become friends from idleness.</b></span></p><div><br /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;">Lensky and Onegin become friends, whether from idleness or not, it's for the reader to judge. Lensky tells him of his love Olga. Lensky and Olga have known each other since they were kids and their love feels very innocent. Lensky accepts Onegin into his inner circle, invites him to meet not only his own family but also to dine with the family of his bride to be Olga Larina.</span></span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">XXI
When but a boy he Olga loved
Unknown as yet the aching heart,
He witnessed tenderly and moved
Her girlish gaiety and sport.
Beneath the sheltering oak tree’s shade
He with his little maiden played,
Whilst the fond parents, friends thro’ life,
Dreamed in the future man and wife.
And full of innocent delight,
As in a thicket’s humble shade,
Beneath her parents’ eyes the maid
Grew like a lily pure and white,
Unseen in thick and tangled grass
By bee and butterfly which pass.</span></b></span></pre><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"> XXIII
Obedient she had ever been
And modest, cheerful as the morn,
As a poetic life serene,
Sweet as the kiss of lovers sworn.
Her eyes were of cerulean blue,
Her locks were of a golden hue,
Her movements, voice and figure slight,
All about Olga—to a light
Romance of love I pray refer,
You’ll find her portrait there, I vouch;
I formerly admired her much
But finally grew bored by her.
But with her elder sister I
Must now my stanzas occupy.
</span></b></span></pre><div><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;">Eugene is not particularly impressed with Olga. He describes Olga as a modest if pretty girl. </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Lensky's love interest is not an only child, she has a sister Tatyana who is to become an important character in the novel. Eugene</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> shows an interest in her sister Tatyana. Olga's sister Tatyana (alternatively spelled as Tatiana) is more interesting because she is not ordinary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">
XXIV
Tatiana was her appellation.
We are the first who such a name
In pages of a love narration
With such a perversity proclaim.
But wherefore not?—’Tis pleasant, nice,
Euphonious, though I know a spice
It carries of antiquity
And of the attic. Honestly,
We must admit but little taste
Doth in us or our names appear(26)
(I speak not of our poems here),
And education runs to waste,
Endowing us from out her store
With affectation,—nothing more.
[Note 26: The Russian annotator remarks: “The most euphonious
Greek names, e.g. Agathon, Philotas, Theodora, Thekla, etc.,
are used amongst us by the lower classes only.”]
XXV
And so Tatiana was her name,
Nor by her sister’s brilliancy
Nor by her beauty she became
The cynosure of every eye.
Shy, silent did the maid appear
As in the timid forest deer,
Even beneath her parents’ roof
Stood as estranged from all aloof,
Nearest and dearest knew not how
To fawn upon and love express;
A child devoid of childishness
To romp and play she ne’er would go:
Oft staring through the window pane
Would she in silence long remain.</span></b></span></pre><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;">Her silent nature puts her into contrast with Olga. In fact, you could say that Tatyana and Olga are, in many ways, complete opposites. Eugene is not the only one struck here, for Tatyana shows an interest in him as well. You could say that Tatyana is instantly drawn to Onegin. Is it because of her poetic and silent nature? Is it because he is something new and different? Is it because she didn't really know anyone else? Or is it because they are truly kindred spirits? A reader can ask so many questions. The narrator certainly devotes a lot of time to describing Tatyana, so we know right from the start, she will play a crucial part:</span></span></p><pre style="margin-left: 132.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"> XXVII
But Tania ne’er displayed a passion
For dolls, e’en from her earliest years,
And gossip of the town and fashion
She ne’er repeated unto hers.
Strange unto her each childish game,
But when the winter season came
And dark and drear the evenings were,
Terrible tales she loved to hear.
And when for Olga nurse arrayed
In the broad meadow a gay rout,
All the young people round about,
At prisoner’s base she never played.
Their noisy laugh her soul annoyed,
Their giddy sports she ne’er enjoyed.
XXVIII
She loved upon the balcony
To anticipate the break of day,
When on the pallid eastern sky
The starry beacons fade away,
The horizon luminous doth grow,
Morning’s forerunners, breezes blow
And gradually day unfolds.
In winter, when Night longer holds
A hemisphere beneath her sway,
Longer the East inert reclines
Beneath the moon which dimly shines,
And calmly sleeps the hours away,
At the same hour she oped her eyes
And would by candlelight arise.</span></b></span></pre><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3ATvZ2XQkBwSg4B0IrtTu11prUIqGM1lfjJs_I4HT77Q6X4NYVxrv-SxE4OANWadeo4_k2Y2uxETwSxj9m0HggsTreUZMwc_zWFv7oSDyo8wqqQt_ja5R9RG6xZyctlvQ8_N4hyphenhyphenZDY4gwYFNj7bDp1GsKpd1Vfp5S24KW8U8J7vYt3X8ois4ugX_JTo/s3000/IMG_20240217_121852_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3ATvZ2XQkBwSg4B0IrtTu11prUIqGM1lfjJs_I4HT77Q6X4NYVxrv-SxE4OANWadeo4_k2Y2uxETwSxj9m0HggsTreUZMwc_zWFv7oSDyo8wqqQt_ja5R9RG6xZyctlvQ8_N4hyphenhyphenZDY4gwYFNj7bDp1GsKpd1Vfp5S24KW8U8J7vYt3X8ois4ugX_JTo/s16000/IMG_20240217_121852_1.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"> Tatyana eventually writes a letter to Onegin, bearing her emotions and confessing her love to him. That's where the plot really starts. Not long after, it's her name's day and Onegin is invited. Will he come? Yes, he comes and they talk. She learns his answer. What is it? I won't say because I don't want spoilers in this review. I will say that their story is far from over. What follows you will have to find on your own as readers.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>“Tatyana’s Letter to Onegin</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> I’m writing you this declaration— </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>What more can I in candour say? </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>It may be now your inclination</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> To scorn me and to turn away; </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>But if my hapless situation </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Evokes some pity for my woe, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>You won’t abandon me, I know. </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>I first tried silence and evasion; </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Believe me, you‘d have never learned</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> My secret shame, had I discerned </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>The slightest hope that on occasion— </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>But once a week—I’d see your face,</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Behold you at our country place, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Might hear you speak a friendly greeting, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Could say a word to you; and then, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Could dream both day and night again </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Of but one thing, till our next meeting. </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>They say you like to be alone </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>And find the country unappealing; </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>We lack, I know, a worldly tone,</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> But still, we welcome you with feeling. </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Why did you ever come to call?</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> In this forgotten country dwelling </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>I’d not have known you then at all, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Nor known this bitter heartache’s swelling.</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> Perhaps, when time had helped in quelling </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>The girlish hopes on which I fed,</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> I might have found (who knows?) another</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b> And been a faithful wife and mother, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Contented with the life I led. </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Another! No! In all creation </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>There’s no one else whom I’d adore; </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The heavens chose my destination</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> And made me thine for evermore! </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>My life till now has been a token</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> In pledge of meeting you, my friend; </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>And in your coming, God has spoken, </b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>You‘ll be my guardian till the end…."</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">CONCLUSION- THE UNDISPUTABLE LITERARY MERIT OF A TRUE CLASSIC</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"> What makes this novel so famous, revered and respected? First of all, the form for it is truly a triumph of poetry. The beauty of its verse narrative is certainly worth admiring. Secondly, this novel asks so many questions and invokes philosophical meditation. One must appreciate it for its rich social commentary as well as for its personal and philosophical exploration of life, death and love. It is a novel that questions the very time it is set in, referencing and examining ennui, convention, and passion. Thirdly, it is a novel with memorable characters. The characters of Tatiana and Eugene are timeless for a reason. Fourthly, the novel is quite easy to follow and read. It's neither too long, nor too short. It offers food for thought, but it's not overbearing. It's truly a work of art!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“People are so like their first mother Eve: what they are given doesn't take their fancy. The serpent is forever enticing them to come to him, to the tree of mystery. They must have the forbidden fruit, or paradise will not be paradise for them.”</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span class="authorOrTitle" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;">Alexander Pushkin, </span><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_27822" style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">Eugene Onegin</span></span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCc79HW3D3cRuzj__2GXt_9vYBnEGNXEqzxoO0K6qPtnvm1ZagChj7XwQP3xghfrAlEzBrvwF6KwNoDMV7SDjH1uOVlXWXIUa5dDUkCqPjf-4ZP57rIUyberyOCe4xVc4RGuqaD31SBpexsH7EzCVV8KI56tX1GRLGBownKxOXvwjotJDRvOrGUwdse4/s4640/IMG_20240217_124054.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4640" data-original-width="3488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCc79HW3D3cRuzj__2GXt_9vYBnEGNXEqzxoO0K6qPtnvm1ZagChj7XwQP3xghfrAlEzBrvwF6KwNoDMV7SDjH1uOVlXWXIUa5dDUkCqPjf-4ZP57rIUyberyOCe4xVc4RGuqaD31SBpexsH7EzCVV8KI56tX1GRLGBownKxOXvwjotJDRvOrGUwdse4/s16000/IMG_20240217_124054.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">For anyone who might be wondering, the location for the photography is <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/12/visit-meugorje-with-ivana-outfit-and.html" target="_blank">Međugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina.</a> Because I'm pretty sustainable in my fashion choices, I'm wearing clothing items I've had for years: <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/11/4-easy-comfy-autumn-outfits.html" target="_blank">an animal print dress</a>, a<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/wiw-in-mostar-zuleikha-book-review.html" target="_blank"> camel coat </a>and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/01/january-recap-10-outfits-i-loved-wearing.html" target="_blank">brown boots.</a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">Thank you for reading and visiting!</p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-80186250407333356562024-03-08T15:03:00.000-08:002024-03-12T13:40:58.865-07:00HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY- 15 READING RECOMMENDATIONS!<p style="text-align: justify;">HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY LADIES! I've worked for 12 hours straight today, so I'm pretty tired. Still, it was a good day. I love this holiday, honestly. I love being a woman. It's such a wonderful thing! Despite my long day, somehow I managed to find the energy to go through my blog archives and come up with 15 reading recommendations. </p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX772addNCEM8NflVNX15xpO4c6Mn1fA9V9A0B2EE59sWCfuc7mUwIjz19eaDmJrGfB1VEHCvCn9AdVGstJiHryZBS9sYWxaFYanV5bsCF6RiRH1ybjdV4_K1U8IcXl82MxyxKmrawNyRmu8wHYNPVFZwxV3ruL-CSn6BMfSQaVGZ66EnEkEi6F-O3dK4/s3000/BUNA%20WALK%20WINTER%20FLARES%20SKIRT%20PRO%20SKI%20JACKET%20MOR%20BLOG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX772addNCEM8NflVNX15xpO4c6Mn1fA9V9A0B2EE59sWCfuc7mUwIjz19eaDmJrGfB1VEHCvCn9AdVGstJiHryZBS9sYWxaFYanV5bsCF6RiRH1ybjdV4_K1U8IcXl82MxyxKmrawNyRmu8wHYNPVFZwxV3ruL-CSn6BMfSQaVGZ66EnEkEi6F-O3dK4/s16000/BUNA%20WALK%20WINTER%20FLARES%20SKIRT%20PRO%20SKI%20JACKET%20MOR%20BLOG.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">READING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY</span></b></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-size: large;">1) HUMAN ACTS, A NOVEL BY HANG KAN 4/5</span></span></h3><div><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></div><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/03/reading-update-two-book-reviews-human.html">READING UPDATE: TWO BOOK REVIEWS (HUMAN ACTS BY HAN KANG AND HOGFATHER BY TERRY PRATCHETT) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Human Acts is a beautifully written tale of a historical tragedy. This novel is very potent and meaningful, but it is not the easiest book to read. Set in the midst of a tragically ended student uprising in South Korea, much of the novel focuses on the death of a young boy named Dong-ho and the effect his tragic death had on his family and friends. It speaks of a painful time in South Korea's history, of the brutal dictator this country lived under, the military regime it experienced and the horrible massacres committed by the army. The fact that it was based on true events makes this story even more chilling. The author did a lot of research for this novel, she studies the fates of victims in detail. You can feel this in writing. While you read the novel, it does feel real. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves the single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, slaughtered - is this the essential of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?”</span></span></i></span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">Early in the novel, Dong-ho, a young student, is killed. He is not the only young and innocent person whose life ends suddenly. In fact, the novel opens with a massive tragedy. We meet Dong-ho as he is volunteering to help the grieving families identify their family memories killed by the army, hoping to find his school friend Jeong-dae (who we will learn was mercilessly killed as well). As Dong-ho watches over the corpses, we get to see the death in all of its horror. Dong-ho fights nausea but together with two brave young women (whose stories we will learn as well) he keeps working on standing watch over the bodies. In the end he refuses to save himself and leave. His character really grew on me. The young student who is looking for his friend was such a well crafted character. At the same time, the writer does a great job of setting the atmosphere of a tragically ended student protest, the prosecution and the horror of live under the military regime.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1Qvk-KzjXZgyytylzHdr6QYSc0BlD4CZVrBepae_9xG83ClcBSurh_dqFguPESCZN3x87Yxt2N5uID7ETt_3c0Pw5i0JWeaXYG_pFOR4A-pTBPpOQNdXwG8LelSx4ZQI6XKVOe-AnV1wgU-P-XCJfKk0hUv5r35Y2_SAg5tPtuv9nuJVHru-9Z9ENTs/s1600/reading%20update%20hang%20kan%20ljudska%20djela%20human%20acts%20novel%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1Qvk-KzjXZgyytylzHdr6QYSc0BlD4CZVrBepae_9xG83ClcBSurh_dqFguPESCZN3x87Yxt2N5uID7ETt_3c0Pw5i0JWeaXYG_pFOR4A-pTBPpOQNdXwG8LelSx4ZQI6XKVOe-AnV1wgU-P-XCJfKk0hUv5r35Y2_SAg5tPtuv9nuJVHru-9Z9ENTs/s16000/reading%20update%20hang%20kan%20ljudska%20djela%20human%20acts%20novel%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">2) DAMNED CROATIAN WOMEN BY MILANA RUNJIĆ </span></b></h3><p><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/07/summer-reading-and-rereading-update-p.html">SUMMER READING AND REREADING UPDATE: P. MERIMEE, F.S. FITZGERALD AND M. VUKOVIĆ RUNJIĆ (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Another book that I absolutely loved was <span style="font-weight: bolder;">Proklete Hrvatice- od Cvijete Zutorić do Ene Begović </span>by Milana Runjić Vuković (<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/09/for-love-of-reading-za-ljubav-prema.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">here you can read my review</a> for one of her other books)<span style="font-weight: bolder;">. </span>This book focuses on lives of several notable Croatian women. I found it absolutely fascinating and I enjoyed the writing style very much. The author wrote about these women from a more personal point of view, often wondering what they must have felt like in different stages of their life and I quite liked that.<span style="font-weight: bolder;"> </span>Since I read and reviewed this book in Croatian, I'll share my review of it in the language it was written in: </div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Pročitala sam knjigu Proklete Hrvatice u jednom dahu moglo bi se reći, imala sam dojam da sam jednostavno potonula u nju, u likove, povijest i događanja. Svidjelo mi se što je spisateljica o njima pisala iz osobne perspektive, gledajući ih, barem mi se tako činilo, prvenstveno kao žene, pitajući se kako su se osjećale u pojedinim trenucima. Povijesne žene, ali prikazane kroz osobnu i modernu prizmu. Čak mi se i jezik jako dopao i čitajući ovu knjigu shvatila sam koliko mi nedostaje čitati takve knjige. Hrvatska klasična književnost pa i ona novija mi je nekako uvijek pri ruci, ali lijepo je pročitati i nešto iz današnjice. Koliko god volim klasike, jednako volim čitati i modernije knjige na hrvatskom. Ova knjiga me nekako i ranila i izliječila, rastužila i usrećila. Bilo mi se lako poistovjetiti sa sudbinama i životima svih ovih žena, možda zato što sam o njima dosta i promišljala (ipak sam sa njima dosta upoznata). Osim mađarske plemkinje koja je odlučila postati ilirskom i Hrvaticom, sve su mi ostale žene bile otprije poznate. Imam dojam da bi i sama mogla o njima nešto zanimljivo napisati (možda nekad i sama napišem nešto više o njima, a u međuvremenu sam sretna što mogu o njima čitati). Ova knjiga je bila više nego dobrodošla lektira o znamenitim ženama čije su sudbine bile često tužne i tragične i vidim je i kao poticaj za daljnje čitanje. To svakako nije opširna knjiga, no upravo u tome je njezina draž. Kratka je i lako se čita, a opet prepuna je ne samo povijesnih podataka nego i emotivnih pitanja. Stil pisanja je jednostavan i prisan, bez pretenzija, a sama povijesna građa dobro je predstavljena.</i><i> Sveukupno, Proklete Hrvatice je zanimljivo i hvalevrijedno ostvarenje. </i></span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBUHspSV6ZhiQOw65Ek-Zd7Gn2hmpvJgT4n35tFyr-0HVhKzM4nq5_1OniTGFgBoIx2a7NBzR1EYdfDSPPEO98J08li3IXz36kqN00VypuwYKO74LcbG_-BbJN0DSdgOgHJxcwLH1DzNEcBINyo7XPYEVC-GveFWTriuhlLj4yKmzlnvL8BOGdm2eNh4/s1600/cherry%20print%20dress%20and%20a%20straw%20hat%20blog%20modaodaradosti%20book%20recommendation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBUHspSV6ZhiQOw65Ek-Zd7Gn2hmpvJgT4n35tFyr-0HVhKzM4nq5_1OniTGFgBoIx2a7NBzR1EYdfDSPPEO98J08li3IXz36kqN00VypuwYKO74LcbG_-BbJN0DSdgOgHJxcwLH1DzNEcBINyo7XPYEVC-GveFWTriuhlLj4yKmzlnvL8BOGdm2eNh4/s16000/cherry%20print%20dress%20and%20a%20straw%20hat%20blog%20modaodaradosti%20book%20recommendation.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><b><br /></b></i></span><b>3) THE LAST VOYAGE TO VIENNA, IRENA VRKLJAN</b></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><p style="color: #757575;"><span style="color: #1e1915;">Best know for non-linear poetical autobiographical novels, Irena Vrkljan was an authentic writer with an unique voice. She lived and worked both in Croatia and Austria (Vienna). Irena died last year, but her artistic legacy survives. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today I'll review another of Vrkljan's novels, but this time a crime novel. I was quite curious the first time I came across <span style="font-weight: bolder;">The Last Voyage to Vienna</span>. Now, I</span><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: inherit;">rena is not the kind of writer I would expect to write a crime novel, mostly because her writing style is quite poetical and artistic. I was surprised by how easily she switched genres. Indeed, Irena Vrkljan managed her transition to crime writing quite well. I think this proves that crime novels can be written in many styles- and still be an enjoyable and rewarding read. As someone who enjoys reading both 'serious' literature and crime novels, I'm always happy to see established authors venturing into the crime genre. </span></p><p style="color: #757575;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><i>Zdravo! Evo me natrag s ogledom knjige. Prije otprilike mjesec dana napisala sam pohvalni ogled za roman <span style="font-weight: bolder;">Marina ili o autobiografiji </span>hrvatske spisateljice Irene Vrkljan. Zapravo je ovaj roman na mene ostavio trajan dojam, pa sam sklona dosta visokom mišljenju o njegovoj autorici. Najpoznatija po nelinearnim poetskim autobiografskim romanima, Irena Vrkljan bila je spisateljica jedinstvenog glasa i rijetke autentičnosti. Živjela je i radila u Hrvatskoj i Austriji (Beč). Irena je umrla prošle godine, ali je njezina umjetnička ostavština još uvijek tu da u njoj uživamo. Danas ću podijeliti svoj ogled za još jedan roman Irene Vrkljan, ali ovaj put se radi o krimiću. Bila sam prilično znatiželjan kad sam prvi put naišla na <span style="font-weight: bolder;">Posljednje putovanje u Beč.</span> Irena nije spisateljica od koje bi očekivala da napiše krimić, ponajviše zato što je njezin stil pisanja prilično poetičan i umjetnički. Iznenadilo me kako je lako promijenila žanrove. Doista, Irena Vrkljan je prilično dobro ostvarila svoj prijelaz na pisanje krimića. Mislim da ovo dokazuje da se kriminalistički romani mogu pisati u puno stilova – a da pritom budu ugodni i korisni za čitanje. Kao netko tko voli čitati i 'ozbiljnu' literaturu i kriminalističke romane, uvijek sam sretna vidjeti etablirane autore koji se upuštaju u žanr kriminalističkog romana.</i></span></p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/03/irena-vrkljan-last-voyage-to-vienna.html">IRENA VRKLJAN, THE LAST VOYAGE TO VIENNA/ POSLJEDNJE PUTOVANJE U BEČ (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">4) MARINA OR ABOUT AUTOBIOGRAPHY, IRENA VRKLJAN</span></b></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><p>In this post I shall review a novel <i>Marina ili o biografiji </i>(<i>Marina or About Biography</i>) by Croatian writer Irena Vrkljan. Published in 1985, this lyrical novel is a poetical blend of biographical and autobiographic writing. This dual exploration of women's psyche and life is Vrljan's signature writing style. While writing about these two remarkably talented women with sad fates, Irena writes about her private sorrows as well. Irena examines the inner lives of Russian poetess Marina Tsvetaeva and Croatian actress Dora Novak. You could say that Irena seeks to write a biography of their souls, or at least catch a glimpse of it. </p><p>Three times the charm. Unless I'm mistaken, this was my third reading of this poetic novel. That doesn't mean there won't be a fourth reading, just that this third reading felt special. <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-brief-excursion-kraki-izlet-novel-by.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Didn't I say this was going to be a year of rereading for me?</a> Rereading <i>Marina or About Biography</i> was an emotional experience for me. Irena's sentences really resonated with me on a deeper level this time. What is so special about this novel? What is it that makes me want to reread it again and again? To start with, it has something to do with how poetical and layered the writing is. Secondly, I'm drawn to painful honesty of this book. Thirdly, I'm equally drawn to all the women artists it explores. Finally, it simply is an amazing novel. </p><p>This novel was published the year I was born in but it feels timeless. Vrkljan died last year. I'm always shocked when a writer dies, even if I know that it is a fate that awaits us all. Perhaps as a literature lover I feel the writers might or should be immortal. Perhaps only a literature lover can understand how much a loss of a writer can hurt.</p><div><i>U ovoj objavi pisat ću o romanu hrvatske spisateljice Irene Vrkljan Marina ili o biografiji. Objavljen 1985. godine., ovaj lirski roman poetičan je spoj biografskog i autobiografskog pisanja. Ovo dvojno istraživanje ženske psihe i života karakteristično je Irenin stil pisanja. Dok piše o ove dvije izuzetno talentirane žene tužne sudbine, Irena piše i o svojim privatnim tugama. Irena ispituje unutarnji život ruske pjesnikinje Marine Cvetaeve i hrvatske glumice Dore Novak. Moglo bi se reći da Irena nastoji napisati biografiju njihovih duša, ili je barem baciti pogled u nutrinu tih ženskih duša.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Treća sreća. Ako se ne varam, ovo je moje treće čitanje ovog poetskog romana. Što ne znači da je neću pročitati i četvrti put, ali ovo treće čitanje po nečemu ipak bijaše posebno. Ne rekoh li kako će ovo za mene biti godina ponovnog čitanja? Ponovno čitanje romana <span style="font-weight: bolder;">Marina ili o biografiji</span> za mene je bilo emotivno iskustvo. Irenine rečenice su mi jako odjeknule u duhu. Što je tako posebno u ovom romanu? Što je to što me tjera da ga ponovno i iznova poželim čitati? Za početak, to ima neke veze s tim koliko je pisanje poetično i slojevito. Drugo, privlači me bolna iskrenost ove knjige. Treće, podjednako me privlače sve umjetnice koje spisateljica istražuje. Konačno, radi se doista izvarednom romanu. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Ovaj roman je objavljen godine u kojoj sam rođena, ali se čini bezvremenskim. Vrkljan je preminula prošle godine. Uvijek sam šokirana kad pisac umre. Možda kao ljubitelj književnosti osjećam da bi pisci mogli ili trebali biti besmrtni. Možda samo ljubitelj književnosti može shvatiti koliko gubitak pisca može povrijediti.</i></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/marina-ili-o-biografiji-irena-vrkljan.html">MARINA ILI O BIOGRAFIJI, IRENA VRKLJAN (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5) THE LATHE OF HEAVEN BY URUSLA K. LE GUIN</b></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-lathe-of-heaven-by-ursula-k-le-guin.html">THE LATHE OF HEAVEN BY URSULA K. LE GUIN (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION ) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;">Once I picked </span><i style="text-align: left;">The Lathe of Heaven</i><span style="text-align: left;"> up, I had a hard time putting it down. I found the story quite easy to read and follow, but simultaneously very engaging and interesting. I warmed up the protagonist immediately. The original and inspiring story kept my interest through the novel. <i>The Lathe of Heaven</i> is a novel that has aged well and kept it relevance. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;"> Published in 1971, this science fiction novel was nominated for Hugo and Nebula award. </span><i style="text-align: left;">The Lathe of Heaven</i><span style="text-align: left;"> won the Locus award and was adapted twice. Ursula K. Le Guin was personality involved in the first of the two adaptations. I haven't seen either, but I think you can guess which one I would like to see.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;">Set in the future (already the past for us), the novel focuses on life of its passive but well meaning protagonist George Orr (highly possible and probable reference to George Orwell). George gets himself into a minor trouble with authorities for borrowing someone's pharmaceutical card to get a prescription medicine. George needs medication to stop dreaming. Why is so afraid of dreaming? Actually, there is a good reason. George believes that his dreams come true!</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">6) </span><span style="text-align: left;">THE DISPOSSESSED, A NOVEL BY URSULA K. LE GUIN (</span></span></b></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-dispossessed-novel-by-ursula-k-le.html"><span style="color: black;">THE DISPOSSESSED, A NOVEL BY URSULA K. LE GUIN (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>The Dispossessed</i>, a novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. This Utopian science fiction novel is one of the most critically acclaimed and best known Le Guin's works. Published in 1974, this novel won the Hugo, Nebula and Logus Awards for best novel in 1975. <i>The Dispossessed i</i>s a part of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle, but (like the other books in the Hanish Cycle) it can be read independently from other books. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">I've been looking forward to reading this novel for a long time. I was made aware of it years ago, but I didn't actively search for it. Sometimes I like to wait for books to come to me. So far in my life, books have often arrived just in right time for me to be able to fully appreciate them. This cemented a belief in me that as long as I frequent libraries and bookshops regularly, the right book for me will somehow find me. Sure, sometimes it works the other way around and I just look or ask for a book. However, there is something to be said about having faith in life's 'reading' timing. The day when I browsed Le Guin's bookshelf in the library and found this one was a happy one. It was in mid December last year (so about a month ago). If I remember correctly, I finished the novel in about two days' time. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">What can I say now that I have finally read <i>The Dispossessed</i>? To start with, I can acknowledge that is a novel of remarkable complexity. This book is political in the sense that it examines social structures and organization but it is also philosophical because it goes beyond political to study humanity. <i>The Dispossessed </i>is novel well worth the hype. Besides excelling in work building, this book features a charismatic scientist for its protagonist. It examines the following themes: revolution, anarchism, class, communism, capitalism, technology, society, education, individualism and love. Yes, love. The author didn't forget about that one eternal topic when she wrote this SF utopia. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>Pozdrav Suzemljani! U ovoj objavi podijelit ću književni ogled za <span style="font-weight: bolder;"> Ljude bez ičega (The Dispossessed </span>u originalu), roman Ursule K. Le Guin. Ovaj utopijski znanstvenofantastični roman jedno je od najcjenjenijih i najpoznatijih Ursulinih djela. Objavljen 1974. godine., ovaj roman nagrade Hugo, Nebula i Logus za najbolji roman 1975.<span style="font-weight: bolder;"> Ljudi bez ičega </span>je dio Le Guininog Hanish ciklusa, ali (kao i druge knjige iz ciklusa Hanish) može se čitati neovisno od drugih.</i></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>Već dugo se veselim čitanju ovog romana. Čula sam da njega prije dosta godina, ali nisam aktivno tragala za njim. Ponekad volim pričekati da mi knjige dođu. U životu su mi knjige često stizale nekako baš u pravo vrijeme kada sam ih mogla u potpunosti cijeniti. To je u meni učvrstilo uvjerenje da će me, sve dok redovito posjećujem knjižnice i knjižare, prava knjiga za mene nekako već pronaći. Naravno, ponekad proces ide obrnuto i jednostavno potražim ili zatražim knjigu koju želim. Međutim, ima nešto u povjerenju u odabir vremena 'čitanja' samog života ili sudbine. Dan kada sam provjerila policu Ursule K. Le Guin u knjižnici i pronašala ovu knjigu bio je sretan. Bilo je to sredinom prosinca prošle godine (dakle prije otprilike mjesec dana). Ako se dobro sjećam, roman sam završila za otprilike dva dana.</i></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>Što mogu reći sada kada sam konačno pročitala <span style="font-weight: bolder;">Ljude bez ičega?</span> Za početak, mogu priznati da je to roman izuzetne složenosti. Ova je knjiga politička u smislu da istražuje društvene strukture i organizaciju, ali je i filozofska jer nadilazi političko te prelazi u filozofsko proučavanje čovječanstva. <span style="font-weight: bolder;">Ljudi bez ičega (The Dispossessed)</span> je roman vrijedan hvale. Osim što odlično stvara i prikazuje jedan svijet, za svog protagonista ima karizmatičnog znanstvenika. Ispituje sljedeće teme: revolucija, anarhizam, klasa, komunizam, kapitalizam, tehnologija, društvo, obrazovanje, individualizam i ljubav. Da,ljubav. Na to autorica nije zaboravila kada je napisala ovu SF utopiju. </i></p><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF4zAg5fsEv_cH1tbz5FvCN36ZBbyxz4UcU2LsLUCvWXXfIv-rtVCleI2doEmqMC4jm2BYLZkbPLfKJEZYkhW9t-GUnIdGAMqpTyu3wTUzvnpFOIimkueMhszVAinaZkM_HDFwWpAvlhPsxfqVTuI7CLlhrJxDOZ6uDWoCDlcvmGShHpd65tK3hC9jnUg/s2048/HAPPY%20INTERNATIONAL%20WOMEN'S%20DAY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF4zAg5fsEv_cH1tbz5FvCN36ZBbyxz4UcU2LsLUCvWXXfIv-rtVCleI2doEmqMC4jm2BYLZkbPLfKJEZYkhW9t-GUnIdGAMqpTyu3wTUzvnpFOIimkueMhszVAinaZkM_HDFwWpAvlhPsxfqVTuI7CLlhrJxDOZ6uDWoCDlcvmGShHpd65tK3hC9jnUg/s16000/HAPPY%20INTERNATIONAL%20WOMEN'S%20DAY.jpg" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><h3><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>7) THE LOVER BY MARGUERITE DURAS</i></span></b></h3><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/03/lamant-lover-novel-by-marguerite-duras.html">L'AMANT (THE LOVER), A NOVEL BY MARGUERITE DURAS (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a435234f-7fff-d1ea-6a4a-cff898d47dbb"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Published in 1984, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Lover</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is a short and poignant lyrical novel. The novel’s dreamy atmosphere, lyrical writing and compelling narrative voice that switches between the first and the third person, makes it a hypnotizing read.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Set in Vietnam (French Indochina at the time),</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> The Lover</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> focuses on Duras’ adolescent years, mainly on her intimate relationship with a twenty something Chinese man named Leo. Translated in more than forty languages, this book continues to enchant readers around the world. The author was seventy years old when she wrote this novel. In this complex novel, Duras revealed very personal, painful and intimate details from her life. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b747932e-7fff-684b-b204-bcd583078432"><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Lover, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">this powerful</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Noveau Roman, is one of Duras’ best known works. Having read it, I can certainly see why it is such a popular and praised book. This short but complex book possesses unique literary and artistic quality. Before I start reviewing this wonderfully sophisticated novel in more detail, I will answer some questions about <span style="font-weight: bolder;">The Lover</span> to give you a more general idea of what kind of novel it is. That way you can also skip those questions that don't seem interesting to you. At different times in our life, we might be interested in different books.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">8) </span><span style="text-align: start;">THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREES BY ELIF SHAFAK </span></span></b></h3><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #0000ee; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: underline;">THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREES BY ELIF SHAFAK (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</span></div><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was actually gifted this book by a student on eight of March. What a wonderful present it proved to be! Published in 2021, this postmodern novel follows two story lines and uses framed narration. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees</i> tells the life story of a Greek Turkish couple and their adolescent daughter. <span style="font-family: inherit;">This novel examines and explores a number of topics such as identity, migration, immigrant life, war trauma, memory, love and family. It's an ambitious novel that examines serious topics with due respect and </span>sensitivity<span style="font-family: inherit;">. I read it months ago, but I remember it vividly. Honestly, I cried a lot while reading this novel. It really moved me greatly. In fact, that is probably why it took me this long to finish this book review. I needed to emotionally process the story.</span></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">set in London and Cyprus. The narration isn't </span>chronological<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The story jumps back and forth, following two main timelines, one set in modern time London (approximately year 2010) and the other during the civil war on Cyprus. So, one story line follows a young girl (the daughter of the couple in question), and the other ( focusing on the couple living on island </span>Cyprus) is set mainly in the seventies<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Through it all, there's the narrative voice of the fig tree. The fig tree in question was replanted to London from Cyprus. </span></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If the idea of a talking fig tree sounds odd to you, then you haven't read much magical realism. If you're new to magical realism, it's basically a literary style that features fantastical elements in otherwise realistic narrative. </span>Yes, the style of writing in <i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees </i>can be described as magical realism. Moreover, <i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees can</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> be </span>compared to works of <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/11/my-name-is-red-novel-by-orhan-pamuk.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Orhan Pamuk</a>, Laura Esquivel, Isabel Allende and Salman Rusdie. I do like magic realism, so I enjoyed those fantastical elements. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></p><h3 style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">THE FRAMED NARRATIVE - <span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; text-align: left;">WHERE DOES THE STORY BEGIN?</span></span></span></h3><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">I think the framed narrative worked really well in this novel that emphasizes the fact that life doesn't have a clear beginning or end. I didn't find the narrative jumps confusing at all, but than again, I usually don't. Somehow the nonlinear narrative functions perfectly in this one because it turns novel almost in a mystery, making the reader wonder what really happened. Often I felt a little bewildered as a reader. While I was trying to make the sense of things, I found myself more emotionally attached to this story. So, I think Elif Shafak was really clever with how she went about writing this one. </p><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Dancing Script";"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Where do you start someone's story when life has more then one thread and what we call birth is not the only beginning, nor is death exactly an end.”</span></span></span></i></span></p><h3 style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Dancing Script";"><br /></span></span></span></b></h3><h3 style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibT_bt8eWMjrVfEm3hdWWg8YgEMEKZMeNnA4DtwnvcMndMbHF76S0bO3wWszPWQf_pHtbzzTGE2MJLeqlMNP59kU1PT7OYep0ZMMYHq9WdmLgXyPGIo2v1OuP1HByNrhzyF8098aXNXv_hakQInaevhmIKdc8Y4vQNgYLSnw3hwzN2pLajPbfl2aZ1H2o/s3000/BUNA%20BLOG%20TARTAN%20JACKET%20READING%20BLOG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibT_bt8eWMjrVfEm3hdWWg8YgEMEKZMeNnA4DtwnvcMndMbHF76S0bO3wWszPWQf_pHtbzzTGE2MJLeqlMNP59kU1PT7OYep0ZMMYHq9WdmLgXyPGIo2v1OuP1HByNrhzyF8098aXNXv_hakQInaevhmIKdc8Y4vQNgYLSnw3hwzN2pLajPbfl2aZ1H2o/s16000/BUNA%20BLOG%20TARTAN%20JACKET%20READING%20BLOG.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Dancing Script";"><br /></span></span></span></b></h3><h3 style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Dancing Script";"><br /></span></span></span></b></h3><h3 style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Dancing Script";">9) </span></span><span style="text-align: start;">NOWHERE IN AFRICA: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL BY STEPHANIE ZWEIG</span></span></b></h3><div><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/nowhere-in-africa-autobiographical.html">NOWHERE IN AFRICA: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL BY STEPHANIE ZWEIG (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Written by Stephanie Zweig, it tells a tale of a German Jewish family surviving in Kenya during the Second World War. I would especially recommend it to German readers, as they can read it in the language it was written it. There is also an awarded movie version for those of you who aren't exactly bookworms.</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> With the expectation of <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/slaughterhouse-five-or-childrens.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Slaughterhouse 5</a> that I read and reviewed fairly recently (also set in WW2), it's really been a while since I read an autobiographical novel and I was really up for it. It was one of the first books I've read this summer and now as the summer is slowly but surely coming to its end, it's time for me to review it.</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> <i>Nowhere in Africa</i> is a novel about a Jewish family that escapes Nazi Germany and flies to Kenya to an uncertain future. It's an autobiographical novel, meaning that the author based it on her own experiences. It's beautifully written and feels absolutely authentic. It's touching but it's not sentimental. It's sensitive when it talks about the sensitive topics but it's real enough. The writing is realistic but it's not emotionless. In fact, there is a lot of emotion in this novel. It's not overwhelming, though. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The father is the first to leave Germany and immigrate Africa, a continent completed unknown to him. I call him father before I ever name him (his name is Walter). There's a reason for that. The author herself said this is a book about a father who has taught her daughter how not to hate. Such profound words! The perfect way to describe this autobiographical novel. Walter is based on Stefanie's father. He's an important character in this novel. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> Walter sort of establishes himself there in Africa, but his life is anything but easy. Walter doesn't speak English, he doesn't have any money or connections. In reality, his circumstances are quite desperate. He survives with the help of the locals and by that I mean more Kenyans than other Europeans. Other Europeans seem to keep to themselves. Not once in the novel it is revealed that European Africans don't really like the Jews. </p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">During their time in Africa, the family establishes close relationship with some of the locals. The father gives it all he has, but everything is absolutely uncertain. His wife Jettel arrives as well, but struggles with adapting to life in Africa. Life in Africa for them is indeed hard and uncertain. Walter complains because Jettel buys an evening dress prior to arriving. Walter wonders- Where is Jettel supposed to wear the dress? Educated and respected, lawyer Walter and his wife Jettel once lead a comfortable life in Germany. They are just refugees now, uncertain will they see their family or any of their parents even again. Imagine the isolation and fear they must have felt. Trying to manage a farm for some European for a few dollars. They who have been urban dwellers, upper middle class, and know nothing about farm management must learn not only how to work on a farm but how to survive with almost nothing. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoVh6tuVMhC-bLHbQ9o6VYAxjrjQxbYGseobWFBoXMKk_ikJIub85WD_YdfTsLMU5FRaq_x17jD2tocxGlQi4LiytFksbHx3g5BFzRwYZI2cGCOckR8bq1vZIsKOqJ7iG6TTfEqLa_qRBDYS5vvp08CcG-2vfeIEynK1dc73gVnEXA-wijTeQ0Opc9Qps/s3000/IMG_20240210_101257.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoVh6tuVMhC-bLHbQ9o6VYAxjrjQxbYGseobWFBoXMKk_ikJIub85WD_YdfTsLMU5FRaq_x17jD2tocxGlQi4LiytFksbHx3g5BFzRwYZI2cGCOckR8bq1vZIsKOqJ7iG6TTfEqLa_qRBDYS5vvp08CcG-2vfeIEynK1dc73gVnEXA-wijTeQ0Opc9Qps/s16000/IMG_20240210_101257.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></p></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">10) OUR KATE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL BY CATHERINE COOKSON</span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span><i style="font-size: 15px;">Our Kate: Her Personal Story</i><span style="font-size: 15px;"> is a deeply touching work of literature. It is a literary autobiography of writer Catherine Cookson and her mother Kate. The relationships between mother and daughter is the focus of this novel. The stories of their lives are interwoven, their relationship close but strained. </span><i style="font-size: 15px;">Our Kate</i><span style="font-size: 15px;"> is, in many way, a story of a mother and daughter relationship troubled by dire poverty and other problems. This was my first book by this author. Catherine Cookson, or to give you a full title and name: Dame Catherine Ann Cookson Dame Catherine Ann Cookson is one of twenty most widely read British novelists.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><i>Our Kate </i></span>is perhaps the best book I've read this year and certainly one of the best autobiographies I've ever come across. The reason why it took me so long to read this book is because it was so filled with different emotions, meanings and meditations. Some paragraphs I had to read very slowly so I can decipher the meaning intended. This book does not only a fantastic job of transporting us back to a certain historical time and place but also manages to capture the heart and soul of its characters. This is a writer that made her break-through as a regional writer. Catherine is brilliant at capturing the idiom of the place she grew up with. Her characters speak the English of their region and background and this makes the dialogues sound very natural and convincing. </span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The psychological portrayal of Catherine Cookson and her family is amazingly detailed but very warm at the same time. Her family members (her mother, aunt and uncle, grandma and grandpa) feel like real people. Even those individuals that are seldom mentioned seem convincing and well rounded. This book is not a light read but it is a very meaningful one. The topics this book touches on (such as alcoholism, cruelty, domestic abuse, depression, miscarriages, illegitimate or unwanted children, extreme poverty) are extremely hard to read about at times. However, there is such sincerity to Catherine's writing that it is find to put down this book, no matter how depressive it gets at times.</span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I like how Catherine approached many of the difficult topics this novel dwells on. Catherine doesn't make excuses for her characters, but she chooses not to look back in anger, if you understand what I mean. She paints her characters as flawed but human. You see all the nuances of their personalities and that it hard for you to judge them, but at the same time, you can judge their behaviour. I feel that as a reader you are made to see that extreme poverty is not an excuse for certain types of cruel behaviour. The author does a great job of making it clear that certain things like alcoholism should not be pardoned or bad behaviour excused, but at the same time there is forgiveness in her heart. I think that's a very health way to look on things, both in life and writing. It can be tempting to make excuses for both ourselves and others, but at the end of the day- everyone has got a choice. That's what I love about the writing, it is both emotional and rational. In fact, there is a very good balance between the heart and the mind in this book. The overall impression was very touching. It must have been hard to write this book for Catherine as the matters discussed are deeply personal. I was very touched by the author's honest, emotional and rational way of looking at things. </span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The only time I ever remember being so touched and impressed by an autobiography was when I read <i>A Portrait of an Artist As a Young Man</i>. Like Joyce's famous book, this one is a literary autobiography. Plus, it's really the only autobiography I can compare this book with. It is seldom that one comes across a book that feels so thoroughly honest and authentic. <i>Our Kate </i>is a book about the mother of Catherine Cookson, but it is just as much about Catherine Cookson herself. In many ways, it is a book about a troubled relationship between an alcoholic mother and an illegitimate daughter. The author showed with perfect clarity the horrible reality of growing up and living with an alcoholic and yet at the same time, Catherine did not demonize her mother but showed her as a person with weaknesses and strengths. At one point in the novel, when Catherine descends into depression, she realized how much hate she has gathered against her mother. In a way, it is her mother that was the reason for her mental breakdown as the years of worrying about her took their toll. Still, despite everything their bond remains strong. I was glad that Kate (the mother) found peace at the end. I hope Catherine the writer did too. If this book is any judge, Catherine was definitely an inspiring and brave woman and a wonderful human being. If there is a lesson we can take from this book, for me it is this one: Love others, but don't make excuses for them. The truth is always liberating. </span></div></span></div><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/10/our-kate-autobiographical-novel-by.html">OUR KATE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL BY CATHERINE COOKSON (BOOK REVIEW) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p></span></div><h3 style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>11) </i><span style="text-align: start;">VIRGINIA WOOLF, A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN</span></span></h3><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/07/book-review-virginia-woolf-room-of-ones.html">BOOK REVIEW: VIRGINIA WOOLF, A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></p><div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Let me just exclaim: 'What a wonderful essayist Virginia Woolf is!' I don't think I have enjoyed a book of essays in English this much since I've read George Orwell's essays. Considering how famous and well known this book is, I worried that reading <i>A Room of One's Own </i>will be a a deja vu experience, but I needn't have worried. Despite the fact that I've read many fragments from this book and probably know many quotes by heart, I still found it a fresh and an interesting read. Have a look at the opening words of this book:</span></div><pre style="font-family: monospace, monospace; font-size: 15px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">B<i>ut, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction--what,
has that got to do with a room of one's own? I will try to explain. When
you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of
a river and began to wonder what the words meant. They might mean simply
a few remarks about Fanny Burney; a few more about Jane Austen; a
tribute to the Brontës and a sketch of Haworth Parsonage under snow;
some witticisms if possible about Miss Mitford; a respectful allusion to
George Eliot; a reference to Mrs Gaskell and one would have done. But at
second sight the words seemed not so simple. The title women and fiction
might mean, and you may have meant it to mean, women and what they are
like, or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; or it
might mean women and the fiction that is written about them, or it might
mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and you want
me to consider them in that light.</i></span></pre><div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">VIRGINIA TRIES TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS</span></div><div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;">Virginia Woolf is wonderfully intelligent, logical and eloquent in her essays. She follows every thought to it logical end and she often reexamines them. While it might seem that Virginia is contracting herself at times, I think it's more a case of her being intellectual honestly and wanting to get at the bottom of things. I got the feeling that if Virginia thinks something logical, she will write it down even if it contradicts her feelings. At times, however, Virginia is more prone to listening to her heart or rather the general emotion of the historical period she lived in. That's understandable and not something I would mind. <span style="font-family: inherit;">At one point in the book, Virginia gets angry on a certain man who wrote about the inferiority of women, but instead of just following this emotion, she cools down and delivers such a fantastic psychological analysis of the man in question. Virginia writes her critique of him in such an intellectual way it is a true PLEASURE to read. For example, Woolf points out that such men are likely to be very insecure on the inside. I absolutely agree with that. I think when one writes or talks about the inferiority of others, one often feels insecure of one's own superiority and needs to reinforce it by pulling others down.</span></div><div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWpEDUtOTiZxDAIgfWBfeISyy23FQHpEOXKSarSZyOetOepdRSDAXxAY2xXCz8mgY2Q7wsIYfg_9XTxalgX7r0jZQo7z2MV48NR5VxFNu9kjWyRQo2GAqb6QR1VeA8lXiV0ORkRUaHVsfog5wIa1nN5bjMjNFDx7kXv7DhM4aWEu_APwcienPhGY_hVo/s3000/IMG_20240210_101317.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWpEDUtOTiZxDAIgfWBfeISyy23FQHpEOXKSarSZyOetOepdRSDAXxAY2xXCz8mgY2Q7wsIYfg_9XTxalgX7r0jZQo7z2MV48NR5VxFNu9kjWyRQo2GAqb6QR1VeA8lXiV0ORkRUaHVsfog5wIa1nN5bjMjNFDx7kXv7DhM4aWEu_APwcienPhGY_hVo/s16000/IMG_20240210_101317.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">12) Françoise Sagan: Réponses 1954- 1974 </span></b></h3><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Recommendation of the day: <i style="text-align: left;">Réponses, </i>a book of interviews by <span style="text-align: left;">Françoise</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span>Sagan, another author I hold in high esteem. Perhaps best known for her first novel <i>Bonjour Tristesse</i>, Sagan was actually an amazingly prolific author. Sagan published 21 novels, 3 short stories collections, 2 biographical books, 7 autobiographical works and 9 plays during her life. Sagan even wrote a ballet! After Sagan's death, 8 more books of hers were published posthumously. You could say Sagan proved many times that she is more than a one hit wonder. Still, most people know Sagan solely by her youthful hit. Maybe it is because <i>Bonjour Tristesse </i> has caused such a sensation upon its publication? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> I liked her youthful hit <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/11/dobar-dan-tugo-francoise-sagan-ogled.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Bonjour </a></i><i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/11/dobar-dan-tugo-francoise-sagan-ogled.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Tristesse</a></i> (Hello Sadness) a lot, but her other works even more. It was once I have read Sagan's more mature works (<i>Scars on Soul</i> and <i>Lost Profile</i>) that I have really fallen in love with her writing. Obviously, when I saw a lovely copy of this book in an antique bookshop, I simply had to have it. Thank God for translators because I don't speak a word of French (but I simply adore French literature), so translations save the day for me. I read <span style="text-align: left;"><i>Réponses (1974) </i></span>in a Croatian translation (<i>Odgovori -</i>a literal translation of the French title). This book, consisting of selected interviews with this great French writer was an extremely enjoyable read. I read it back in October, but I kept picking it up this November as well. It's the kind of book you can read many times, so I'm really glad I have this lovely vintage copy to hold onto. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><h2><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">13) <span style="text-align: start;"> BLACKBERRY WINE BY JOANNE HARRIS</span></span></h2><div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-book-review-blackberry-wine-by-joanne.html">A BOOK REVIEW : BLACKBERRY WINE BY JOANNE HARRIS (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">A NOVEL THAT KEPT ME INTERESTED BUT WHOSE PLOT DIDN'T IMPRESS ME</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">I quite enjoyed this novel, especially one character (more about that later). It wasn't as good as I think it could have been, but it was still pretty good. I suppose that like with <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/book-review-elephant-moon-by-john.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Elephant Moon</a>, I felt like this was a novel that didn't fully live up to its potential. I felt like the writer sacrificed potential depth for entertainment. Let me explain. There is a series of events in this novel that while interesting to read about seemed to take away from the magic of this book. I wanted to know more about Giddy and Joe, characters from the past of the protagonist. The whole plot of the book (the one dealing with present day events seemed a bit predictable to me).</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;">THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK- WINE AS THE STORYTELLER</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;">The narrator of this book is a bottle of wine. It's been with the protagonist Jay for a long time. It tells us stories about his past. It talks with other wines in Jay's collection. Making a wine bottle the narrator of the story was an interesting choice. A lesser writer would make some of the wine world play and metaphor's tacky. Joanne Harris makes it work. Her descriptions are rich and imaginative. At times, the story flows effortlessly. </p></div><div><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">JOANNE HARRIS, THE ENGLISH- FRENCH WRITER KNOWN FOR WRITING STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="text-align: left;">As I said, this was my first book by this author. Joanne Harris is an English- French writer. Her father was British, while her mother was French, a fact that seems to play a big role in her writing. From what I noticed from this novel, Joanne seems very knowledgeable about both the British and French culture. What particularly impressed me is how she understand that different generations of British and French people belong to different cultures. Culture is dynamic and different generations can perceive it quite differently. Moreover, Joanne Harris is simply wonderful at contrasting these two cultures in her writing. Considering Harries has grown up with both of these cultures, I imagine she drew from personal experience a lot.</span></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxdch1Y1urC1wokUzg_U8EOld5y3NsPeqOHlBswCDC1AGZ9_E5Nim8rruaWkb38WqUCFuPcFftHKBROO8uclVvLz7hC5d0DxFt_IJpjE61YNZbAnGTXed2bff81m4pUBork-j7T5rBz2HYb16yP12ClnnyIaJnQSL4K-FR3nQS32GCBoGo2Agh3CNYXk/s3000/IMG_20240210_101309.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxdch1Y1urC1wokUzg_U8EOld5y3NsPeqOHlBswCDC1AGZ9_E5Nim8rruaWkb38WqUCFuPcFftHKBROO8uclVvLz7hC5d0DxFt_IJpjE61YNZbAnGTXed2bff81m4pUBork-j7T5rBz2HYb16yP12ClnnyIaJnQSL4K-FR3nQS32GCBoGo2Agh3CNYXk/s16000/IMG_20240210_101309.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span><p></p><h3><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">14) </span><span style="text-align: start;">A RIVER SUTRA, A NOVEL BY GITA MEHTA</span></span></h3><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/07/book-review-and-recommendation-river.html">BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION: A RIVER SUTRA, A NOVEL BY GITA MEHTA (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> I'd like to recommend this novel <i>A River Sutra</i> by an Indian author Gita Mehta. This was my first Gita Mehta book.</p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">WRITING STYLE AND NARRATIVE USED IN A RIVER SUTRA BY GITA MEHTA</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>A River Sutra</i> is written in mid to late twentieth century style, so it is true to its time period, one could say. This novel uses a framed narrative. The narrator of the novel is an aging burocreate who decides to leave the world and retire as an in keeper. In some sense, the novel could also be called a collection of short stories. Almost every chapter in a novel is somebody's life story. All the characters in the novel including the protagonists are Indian. There are no foreign characters in the novel. The in keeper, that is the protagonist, comes in contact with both local people and travelers. The protagonist and the narrator of the novels listens to all of these stories, sometimes adding his own comments to them once they are done. However, the protagonists of these stories are narrators in their own right for it is them who tell their stories. I would say that Gita Mehta choose a good narrative technique as it enables the stories to come to life. A framed narrative is quite suitable for this work of literature and works into this novels' advantage. This novel is often about people, as the novel's opening quote from Love Songs of Chandidas implies: "Listen, O brother, Man is the greatest truth. Nothing beyond. "</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THEMES THAT A RIVER SUTRA EXAMINES: RELIGION, LOVE AND LIFE</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The novel opens with a paragraph:<i> "The government still pays my wages but I no longer think of myself as a bureaucrat. Bureaucrats belong too much to the world and I have fulfilled my worldly obligations. I am now a vanaprasthi, someone who has retired to the forest to reflect."</i> However, the protagonist doesn't exactly retire to a forest, he only assumes a different role. The protagonist goes on to explain that he has always wanted to withdrawn from the world but was aware that he is not equipped to wander the forests and survive on fruits so he chosen to apply for a vacant post at a Government rest house overlooking Narmada river. The very first page tells us something about themes that this novel examines. Religion and spiritual are very important themes in this novel. The protagonist claims that he wants to denounce the world but what does this really mean? Is the life of an aesthetic the only way to do it? Is there a correct way? The protagonist himself gets questioned on this in the course of the novel as he interacts with different characters and listens to their stories.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEBVPRyr2DrakIdtRJ20gb6onQMw7BNOQi0821v-XU4VTI0CGqVf_dRbdvf-g3lXp4bDXj699hjq9-yOg7EtroR7QiWDm3EO0SQ-cJORAEV5brWI6Wt3Hb0URpIIAldJtOWa2ZUtkHuEn9O6MpuzNij9EFZzV-zBelO9ozTqjCt-vh1J69uSorb0KhSw/s3000/IMG_20240210_101132.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEBVPRyr2DrakIdtRJ20gb6onQMw7BNOQi0821v-XU4VTI0CGqVf_dRbdvf-g3lXp4bDXj699hjq9-yOg7EtroR7QiWDm3EO0SQ-cJORAEV5brWI6Wt3Hb0URpIIAldJtOWa2ZUtkHuEn9O6MpuzNij9EFZzV-zBelO9ozTqjCt-vh1J69uSorb0KhSw/s16000/IMG_20240210_101132.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></div><h3 style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: start;">15) </span><span style="font-weight: bolder; text-align: center;">THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, A NOVEL BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL</span></span></h3><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/04/this-must-be-place-book-review-and.html">THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (BOOK REVIEW AND AN EARLY SPRING OUTFIT) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></p><p style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: #424242; font-size: 22px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></p></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSN5Ui653tU" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">This Must Be the Place</a></span> is a complex novel about life, marriage and loss, written by an English author Maggie O'Farrell. I read this book a month or so ago, but only now found the time to blog about it. As you can see above, I decided to score this novel quite highly. When I finished <span style="font-weight: bolder;"><i>This Must be the Place</i></span>, I thought to myself: '<span style="color: #181818;">I'm going to give this novel five stars because it absolutely enchanted me. It held my interest completely while I was reading it.' Indeed, a novel that can keep one's interest in this day and time must be something special, right? How to describe this novel? It tells a story of Daniel, an American who lives in Ireland with a recluse ex-movie super star, but it is not a linear sort of story. Well, I watched a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt6NP1bCvbE" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">YouTube interview </a> with Maggie O'Farrell in which the author herself described it as a novel that explores many themes but is perhaps mainly about 'marriage and the forces that keep it together and tear it apart.' Would I agree with that? I just might, especially towards the end, when their marriage really gets tested. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">What is the novel like? What's the writing style like?</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"> A part of the novel is written in almost an experimental way, with time switches and digressions. Generally speaking, I found the writing in this to be rather on the brilliant side, really. So in that sense I liked the novel from the start. As for the experimental bits I found them interesting. I felt they add a bit of freshness to the story. I read the afterword and the author said she wanted to experiment with a novel and break some rules. <span style="font-family: inherit;">I'd say she didn't get carried away, she kept the right balance.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">What is so wonderful about this novel?</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">This was actually my first novel by Maggie O'Farrell but I'm sure it won't be the last. This novel is wonderful in that it deals with some difficult topics such as loss and grief in a respectful and a realistic way. Moreover, I enjoyed the way family relationships were portrayed in this one. The challenges of parenthood and marriage, the special link between siblings and family members, now these subjects were described so well I'm sure they will always stay with me. Maggie O'Farrell knows how to write about the subtle parts of human relationships, about things that sometimes go unnoticed. I was really impressed with her writing style, the way she crafted characters and drew me into the story. I loved every single minute of reading this book.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i><span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; text-align: left;">“He thinks of his grief over his sister as an entity that is horribly and painfully attached to him, the way a jellyfish might adhere to your skin or a goitre or an abscess. He pictures it as viscid, amorphous, spiked, hideous to behold. He finds it unbelievable that no one else can see it. Don’t mind that, he would say, it’s just my grief. Please ignore it and carry on with what you were saying.”</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; text-align: left;">― </span><span class="authorOrTitle" face="lato, "helvetica neue", helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Maggie O'Farrell, </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_26128897" style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; text-align: left;"><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/46078766" style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">This Must Be the Place</a></span></i></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: left;">PREVIOUS POSTS POSTED ON INTERNATI</span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: left;">ONAL WOMEN'S DAY</span></span></b></div></div><p><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/happy-international-womens-day.html">HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY! (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> 2021</p><p><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/03/what-to-read-tonight-30-reading.html">What To Read Tonight? 30 Reading Recommendations For International Women's Day! Today We Are Celebrating Lady Writers! (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> 2018</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGY4hqQXpvuVNLrek8m60FWrOwUGGvSXqwF9bRR-z8tUVos3FJDUpzoLS6rRQhYb7wS1GdZKYh-HI2sX4KZY0jpMYiElI_MfVR4s7687lsxZswkI_bGhGiF22Ij6l31EEJGqckcUeC1nc6uYhxhOkrAmKjeTlHIUZNPvguS9F-PK3YeF6YZB4KlGD_EKg/s3000/BUNA%20RECREATIONAL%20PARK%20BUNICA%20MOR%20BLOG%20WINTER%20OUTFIT%20SKIPRO%20DR%20MARTENS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGY4hqQXpvuVNLrek8m60FWrOwUGGvSXqwF9bRR-z8tUVos3FJDUpzoLS6rRQhYb7wS1GdZKYh-HI2sX4KZY0jpMYiElI_MfVR4s7687lsxZswkI_bGhGiF22Ij6l31EEJGqckcUeC1nc6uYhxhOkrAmKjeTlHIUZNPvguS9F-PK3YeF6YZB4KlGD_EKg/s16000/BUNA%20RECREATIONAL%20PARK%20BUNICA%20MOR%20BLOG%20WINTER%20OUTFIT%20SKIPRO%20DR%20MARTENS.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>Thank you for reading and visiting!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-63589344210774881202024-03-06T11:45:00.000-08:002024-03-06T11:45:20.946-08:00DUNE: PART ONE & TWO (2021 & 2024 MOVIE REVIEW) PLUS COMPARISON TO THE NOVEL <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In this post, I shall review and compare the recent <i>Dune </i>movie adaptations to the novel. Readers of my blog might be aware of the fact that I'm a <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/dune-novel-by-frank-herbert-book-review.html" target="_blank">Dune </a></i>fan. I've read all the <i>Dune </i>books (most of them I read more than once) and I reviewed them on blog. I even read the prequels written by Frank Herbert's son, that are neither a part of Dune's canon nor very good, but I read them anyway (just because I love the Dune universe so much). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before I get into reviewing the new movies in more details, let me just say that I didn't hate the old adaptations, not even the infamous David Lynch version. Without the adaptations, perhaps I wouldn't have read <i>Dune </i>as early as I did or became such a fan. I mean I would have read it eventually, I'm quite sure of that, just because I read a lot of science fiction and <i>Dune </i>is THE science fiction novel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm not one of those people who gets upset when the movie is different from the <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/dune-novel-by-frank-herbert-book-review.html" target="_blank">book</a>. That's the whole point of adaptations, isn't it? To add something new, to offer your perspective on the book. Some books are quite different from the books and that's fine. However, when they are extremely different, one wonders what is the point? Why not just name it something else, I mean, if it has nothing to do with the original book? Not that I think that's what happened here, I'm just making a point. I think changes made to book are alright as long as there is a creative or artistic justification for them. Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't. Sometimes you can feel the creative drive behind the adaptation, sometimes you can't. In the case of the new adaptations, I think there's definitely vision. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOe5HZVJIoS32M4HJzLsghuI6FPNNMLb6erdO6bSS_SHjf4ZkBG7YekY5B2JjYAMPGmZ-OMLFe22fcs6YoCKiH-JxEeVCxlLGtCxN-4SCPNITRBwoGeq1LP-QbeT86EXeRGOg-bO1ZJQDu3Gi9F5Agvpd2OOG97Yd8gErqZwB0m62888h1LyV4AGNNm6U/s3000/book%20review%20mor%20blog%20leather%20jacket%20dune.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOe5HZVJIoS32M4HJzLsghuI6FPNNMLb6erdO6bSS_SHjf4ZkBG7YekY5B2JjYAMPGmZ-OMLFe22fcs6YoCKiH-JxEeVCxlLGtCxN-4SCPNITRBwoGeq1LP-QbeT86EXeRGOg-bO1ZJQDu3Gi9F5Agvpd2OOG97Yd8gErqZwB0m62888h1LyV4AGNNm6U/s16000/book%20review%20mor%20blog%20leather%20jacket%20dune.jpg" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></b></div>“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Frank Herbert, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_234225" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Dune</span></span></b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi280Gr03U-8iD4OCoasVFMn03ZUyHDSIMBvgf6RFHv1sKLlQ8J5DWFbJ3zMMu6OHTh7cJXJG7d7qySjVwDdOglNhqjvPmdffFVFKFMLgZelnFXjrH6AvZQEJA0tFJwg9KgUc7xPllJY74Fv9yKITzuHL2pjTGEPKatzpSi55UIBnuexp4qULS7SSXVGsA/s2048/dune%20book%20review%20book%20first%20in%20the%20series%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi280Gr03U-8iD4OCoasVFMn03ZUyHDSIMBvgf6RFHv1sKLlQ8J5DWFbJ3zMMu6OHTh7cJXJG7d7qySjVwDdOglNhqjvPmdffFVFKFMLgZelnFXjrH6AvZQEJA0tFJwg9KgUc7xPllJY74Fv9yKITzuHL2pjTGEPKatzpSi55UIBnuexp4qULS7SSXVGsA/s16000/dune%20book%20review%20book%20first%20in%20the%20series%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>DUNE </i>IS NOT EXACTLY AN EASY BOOK TO ADAPT SO I HAVE A LOT OF UNDERSTAND FOR ANYONE ADAPTING IT</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dune is a notoriously difficult book to adapt, because its world building is insanely complex. The politics of the Dune universe are so intricate and complex, that we can really say- it's all on another level. So, I understand that the film makers face many challenges when adapting this particular novel.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, how did I feel about the new 2023 & 2024 movie adaptations? I've seen the first movie on TV, and I liked it. Not as much as I liked the <i>Dune </i>2000 adaptation. I wanted to watch it again with my husband, but it disappeared in the meantime. I don't know how the cable things works, but apparently sometimes you can watch something and sometimes you have to upgrade. Anyway, I suggested going to see the sequel (Dune: part two) in our local Cinestar and that's what we did. The funny thing is that my husband ended up liking the movie more than I did. I'll get into the why soon enough. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TL3Gl5cfR4lAVKB3iDh5qDXd7RREWsYiHpj8oXXjHvKDeLddJg7WcJEvPjBG63zUUGtklVi0Oj-P-Gct7Kf3MqCbS6Wgz-IZocAQt-RrfFwciftiDw5jaJ9cwjFCwkjqrCT1sUeuADeq7KVr4raaamRQ2xh2rczLCAvUY21AG9_9EL_ZnJX6_MMb-bU/s2048/dune%20book%20review%20and%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TL3Gl5cfR4lAVKB3iDh5qDXd7RREWsYiHpj8oXXjHvKDeLddJg7WcJEvPjBG63zUUGtklVi0Oj-P-Gct7Kf3MqCbS6Wgz-IZocAQt-RrfFwciftiDw5jaJ9cwjFCwkjqrCT1sUeuADeq7KVr4raaamRQ2xh2rczLCAvUY21AG9_9EL_ZnJX6_MMb-bU/s16000/dune%20book%20review%20and%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before I get to film reviewing, I should perhaps stress that I definitely feel more comfortable reviewing books than movies. That might be because as a language teacher, I actually teach literature, reading and writing. That's something I've been doing for a while now, so when I talk about books, I feel like I know what I'm taking and writing about. Discussing literature is part of my job.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Most book reviews on my blog are naturally subjective, but that is to be expected from a personal review posted on one's personal blog. However, it's still an area I'm knowledgeable about, so even when I approach it from a subjective point of view, I still can rely on my skills. Cinematography that is filmmaking, on the other hand, it's not my area of expertise. So, the review you're doing to read will probably focus more on the writing and dialogues in the movies than on photography. That's just because I'm wired to focus on writing, even when it comes to visual art forms. Let's get to reviewing.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">DUNE: PART ONE 2021 MOVIE REVIEW 3.4/5</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT DID DUNE I GET RIGHT IN REGARDS TO FILM MAKING?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE AMOSPHERE AND THE LOCATIONS ARE RIGHT ON 5/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The cinematography of Dune: part one (and Dune part two for that matter) is very impressive. The location for Caladan felt spot on and the Arrakis felt very well portrayed too. The atmosphere is there, no doubt about it. You do feel like a part of an alien world. You can see that the director is a fan of the Dune Universe. He paied a lot of attention to details that really made the difference. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! 5/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I mean cinematography and photography are as wonderful in this movie as in the sequel. There's nothing one can add there. The film is beautifully shot. The colours feel very natural. The close ups are shot with care. I loved how many of the actors were bare faced. It's so refreshing to see someone's actual natural skin. No filters, no editing to make the pores disappear or anything like that. Obviously, in a film like this one there is a lot of CGI but even when it comes to special effects, it all feels very natural as well. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">SPECIAL EFFECTS AND CGI 4.9/ 5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I already said, the special effects were done well. The only thing I didn't like were the giant worms of Arrakis. Whatever happened to their teeth? They failed to look very menacing to me, despite their enormous size.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE SOUNDTRACK IS OUT OF THIS WORLD 5/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I really enjoyed the soundtrack in the first Dune (2021) movie and the way it seemed to perfectly match every scene. It added to the watching experience for sure. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT DID DUNE 1 GET WRONG IN TERMS OF FILM MAKING ?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is just my personal opinion (as I said I'm not particularly qualified to talk about film making at all) but I think the pacing and the writing was a problem in both movies. Some scenes seem to endlessly drag, while others don't take up enough space or felt underwhelming. The same goes for writing, sometimes it felt too stretched out and sometimes it seemed to be just missing. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE WRITING (ADAPTING THE BOOK) 2.4/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The writing in Dune: part one (2021) was better than in the second (2024) one, but still it wasn't very good. The screenplay simply doesn't do anything to make the characters seem genuine or the dialogue natural. It does adapt some key phrases from the book. However, it offers little insight into the inner world of its characters. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE PACING 3/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The pacing isn't perfect in the first one, but considering the fact that the movie didn't feel nearly as long as it was, they must have done something right. Honestly, I thought that Dune: part one lasted only about an hour and was surprised to learn it was two. However, something about the 2024 version makes it feel so long! One definitely notices than in the sequel that is considerably longer. Subjectively it felt even longer than it was.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 2/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I didn't manage to see much character development in the first one. I know it was sort of an introductory film, but still I expected more. I understand that the director didn't have time to go into a detailed voyage into each character's past, but it's hard to see character development without being familiar with the character's past. It's our past that shapes us, after all. Lady Jessica and Duke Leto shine through a few times and one can see or sense some character development. You can feel that Lady Jessica and Duke Leto are the sort of characters who had to go through a lot of suffering and maturing, but that's about it. Their family doctor also gave a good performance and one could sort of feel some character development there, in the sense that one could feel what could make a humane man opt for something he did. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Timothee-Chalamet" target="_blank">Timothee Chalamet </a>wasn't bad as young Paul either, one could feel some character development but nothing terribly exciting. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE ACTING 3/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The thing is that acting felt all over the place. There are some impressive moments, but acting on the whole didn't seem to be the focus of this film. It's as if director relied more on cinematography to tell the story. Both the minor and the main characters had some great moments, but they were not impressive on overall. This is not a film that I'll remember for its acting, that's for sure. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Again, Lady Jessica (played wonderfully by Rebecca Ferguson) and Duke Leto (played by Oscar Isaac) are the only ones whose acting I could really believe (at least when it comes to principal characters). Timothee was alright but I expected more from him. Stellan Skarsgard was quite convincing as Barron Harkonnen. With a better script, I believe Stellan would have worked wonderful. He was still pretty good considering everything. Some minor characters also shines through, but on overall, the acting wasn't very impressive.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi974DGJI-f0a8zya7nmKThFu5iMvCsq1odnG4EKrCQuGnSJHSspJjDueQ1zgk6OUFyoHVIlepwErV6KX9sAr-vIqHFSP094skrun9_0xICgdwxxgWBBB0N_4y1uHAft0pPFz75cLmuHixIvMsbk8EWs9Xx511AQi2N2IJLf-Ep7ti1j16xGu_a9uacI8k/s3000/book%20review%20leather%20jacket%20dune%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi974DGJI-f0a8zya7nmKThFu5iMvCsq1odnG4EKrCQuGnSJHSspJjDueQ1zgk6OUFyoHVIlepwErV6KX9sAr-vIqHFSP094skrun9_0xICgdwxxgWBBB0N_4y1uHAft0pPFz75cLmuHixIvMsbk8EWs9Xx511AQi2N2IJLf-Ep7ti1j16xGu_a9uacI8k/s16000/book%20review%20leather%20jacket%20dune%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">HOW SIMILAR ARE THE FILMS AND THE BOOK?</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I said, I don't value the movie adaption solely on how similar it is to the book but I think I might be interesting to compare the two. When the movie adaptation strays away of the book (i.e. source material), it still needs to make sense in order for the writing to make sense. In this movie, I felt like sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT DID DUNE: PART ONE GET RIGHT IN REGARDS TO THE BOOK?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">THE LOYALTY TOWARDS DUKE LETO</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The movie managed to convey the respect that Duke Leto commands for his house. Duke Leto is loved by his men and respected by pretty much everyone. The 2021 film version also managed to convey the love that Lady Jessica and Duke Leto feel one for another. They didn't show the whole scale of it, though. I guess we live in a time when a woman who loves a man deeply is automatically considered anti-feminist. Lady Jessica's love for Duke Leto is of magnitude rarely seen. Their love story is what really puts things into motion. Fortunately, Rebecca Ferguson and Isaac have a good chemistry, so the viewer can feel something of the loyalty this couple feels for one another. The director didn't really devote a lot of attention to the extraordinary men that work for Duke Leto either. Some of them are immensely important for the sequels. Still, one can feel that the house Arrakis is much loved and respected. They rule by inspiring love in their followers, not fear. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">THE GENERAL FEEL OF THE HARKONNENS </span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If house Arrakis inspires love in people, the house Harkonnen invokes terror. The Harkonnes are the iconic villains in this story. In the first time, the movie did a good job at hinting at their cruelness. However, I didn't feel it really offered that much insight into the baron Harkonnen. The baron might be exceptionally cruel, but he possesses a brilliant mind. One doesn't really gets to witness it in this movie (or the sequel for that matter). Nevertheless, the general feeling is there. The baron and his nephews (although only one of them is presented in the 2021 Dune: part one ) are clearly imposing enemies.</span></p><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT DUNE: PART ONE DIDN'T GET RIGHT IN REGARDS TO THE BOOK? </span></h4><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT CHANGES DID IT MAKE? </span></h4><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some changes made sense to me, as the director clearly has his own creative vision and I can respect that. However, I feel like some changes just felt 'woke Hollywood' doing its thing, for example changing random characters and turning them into women, when the whole concept from the novel is that women are incredibly powerful and that they can shadow rule like nobody else. I guess Hollywood feels that isn't good enough. They didn't get the note. People love strong female characters, but they don't love bad writing. You cannot just create female Hulks and expect everyone to flock to see your movie. The reason why so many films with female leads flop is because of bad writing, not because people don't like female heroines. I think Herbert was way ahead of his time when it came to portraying female characters, but I guess not everyone agrees. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">-THE SPACE GUILD IS NOT GIVEN THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES....</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The movie didn't focus on them at all, almost omitting them out of the picture. I get that they didn't have unlimited time, but surely they could have explained it a little better? You could devote a few minutes to it surely?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">-...AND NEITHER ARE THE MENTANTS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dune is an infinitely complex world. Mentants play an essential part in it, but the Mentant characters don't get much space in this adaptation. Again, I felt like they could have put aside a few minutes for narration that would at least hinted on their importance or something. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- PAUL'S MENTAT TRAINING IS IGNORED</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Paul's mentant training is almost completely ignored in the movies, despite the fact that it makes him what he is. Unbeknownst to him, Paul has been trained as a mentat since his childhood. It's this training that enables him not only to stay alive, but to survive the ordeal in front of him. Leaving it from the movie, makes it quite a different story.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">-PRINCESS IRULAN'S INTRODUCTIONS TO THE EVENTS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This part was omitted from the movie. Was it a justified choice? Yes, I guess it can be said so. The director said that he wanted the viewer to see the characters from the first perspective, without the framed narrative and I understand him. Perhaps he also wanted to avoid comparison with David Lynch's version which is again fair enough. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- TURNING THE PLANETOLOGIST DR. KYNES INTO A WOMAN, CHANGING HIS DEATH AND MAKING HIM NOT CHANI'S FATHER</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't see this move as female empowerment at all. Dr. Kynes is a more significant character that he might seem. He's the father of Chani and that's significant because it means that Chani's Fremen mother choose to marry an outsider (a man of the empire) thus setting an example for Chani to accept Paul (another man of the empire) as her partner. Dr. Kynes opens the door for Paul in more ways than one, as he is the first man who successfully becomes part of Fremen society. I don't understand why they had to turn him into a woman. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The whole premise of <i><b>Dune </b></i>is that in reality, it's an elite group of women who control the entire society politically- the Bene Gessiret. Lady Jessica is described as being infinitely superior fighter than any of her husband's men and more intelligent as well. However, she acts from the shadows, never revealing her true physical and mental strength because that's the best chance she has to protect her family. Lady Jessica isn't even an advanced Bene Gessiret or Reverent Mother at that point. So, that's the kind of power these women posses- hidden but terrible and overwhelming.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, the director<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="text-align: left;">Villeneuve</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span>seems to think that this Herbert concept of powerful women is outdated. Villeneuve was quoted in an interview as saying that the book is dated, but that might be just marketing as he seems to genuinely be a fan of the series.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some of the changes I understand, but not this one. Honestly, the director making this character female doesn't make any sense. The changed death didn't feel satisfactory either, although I kind of get the reasons for it. The planetologist dies a lonely death in the book, being lost in the desert, while in the movie the lady planetologist kills of her enemies by invoking a worm and dies in the process. However, this completely defeats the purpose of this character. He is much more important as a character than it seems. It's he who starts changing the climate of Dune. So, his death in the desert is not only ironic but also sad. Changing his death underlines both the tragedy and the irony. Not only does the movie ignores his legacy and significance, they make him into a virtue trope. In the book, Dr. Kynes is Chani's father. The movie makes no reference to that. I don't get it, but hey what can be done?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCKhE2Xz0jtP5TxClo8QdT2b7qwriSyFLyCOnB1Iro3sOsrxQj-xOTqQNcazJir01R0p6sl7MPSoNqV2Nbp4jV21JUV2dtdvIaiL00nXK33URxMrxWvp5gJSv2rujDjyn_KSNyps_oUoiCG4l8HKF0TIPep9qxnQ3rkgvwPFhG8M7d4tLXR48wETBGFpc/s3000/book%20leather%20jacket%20dune%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCKhE2Xz0jtP5TxClo8QdT2b7qwriSyFLyCOnB1Iro3sOsrxQj-xOTqQNcazJir01R0p6sl7MPSoNqV2Nbp4jV21JUV2dtdvIaiL00nXK33URxMrxWvp5gJSv2rujDjyn_KSNyps_oUoiCG4l8HKF0TIPep9qxnQ3rkgvwPFhG8M7d4tLXR48wETBGFpc/s16000/book%20leather%20jacket%20dune%20review.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">DUNE: PART TWO 2024 MOVIE REVIEW 2.4 /5 </span></h2><div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT DID DUNE II GET RIGHT IN REGARDS TO FILM MAKING?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">AGAIN, THE AMOSPHERE AND THE LOCATIONS ARE MOSTLY WODERFULLY CAPTURED 4.5/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The cinematography of Dune: part two is almost perfect. The CGI in Harkonnen arena was a bit too much when it came into portraying the audience, but that's just a minor detail. I actually liked how she shot the Harkonnen world in black and white. The architecture of Harkonnen planet is quite spot on, actually. The books describe Harkonnen architecture as monumental and surviving mostly to inspire fear and make one feel small. However, when it came to Harkonnen military and mining vehicles and technology employed on Arrakis, it seems a bit dates. It definitely looked like they didn't really want to put up the fight with Fremen. Whenever Fremen attacked, their wins seemed super easy, making the whole conflict anti-climatic. If Fremen had superior weapons and stuff, why did they have to wait for Paul at all? I'm speaking about the start of the film, but the ending slacked a bit when it came to Arrakis. The emperor entourage wasn't impressive at all. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS BEAUTIFUL! 4.5/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I already said, cinematography and photography are as wonderful in this movie as they are in the sequel. The close ups are so well done. I love how the actors placed in the desert (both main and side characters) didn't wear any make up. There was no effort to make them look beautiful. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">SPECIAL EFFECTS AND CGI 4.5/ 5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I already said, the special effects were mostly done well.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE SOUNTRACK FELT A BIT REPETITIVE 3/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The sound effects and the soundtrack in the sequel gave me a bit of a headache when I saw this film in the cinema. It felt too repetitive and I felt like they overused certain compositions. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT DID DUNE II GET WRONG IN TERMS OF FILM MAKING ?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE WRITING (ADAPTING THE BOOK) 2.0/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm not happy with the writing in this one. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE WRITING IN PART TWO WASN'T EXACTLY STRONG</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I gave this a lot of thought and I think the main reason why I didn't really enjoy Dune: part two was the writing. The pacing issues and the lack of strong writing (and natural sounding dialogues) ruined this adaption for me. The photography, the soundtrack and the CGI were perfect. What lacked was writing to connect the story.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">LADY JESSICA WAS TURNED INTO A MESSANGER FOR HER FETUS</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was disappointed Lady Jessica wasn't given more space to shine. I also don't understand why they choose to make Lady Jessica into someone who just seems to pass on messages from her fetus most of the time, when she is such a strong woman in the original. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's almost as the movie implied that Alia has some special powers, when she's a basically fetus at that point. Yes, one that has undergone something terrible, an agony that allows it to see into the past, but again- she's a fetus. Why they didn't choose to have Alia born is another creative choice that doesn't make much sense. I understand why they changed the ending scene, although it is incredibly important for Alia to have done for she did. They didn't really explain why Alia was in such a unique position as a young child. Instead, they showed her as a woman grown, in a future version. Enough about that. Lady Jessica emotional devastation wasn't made obvious nor her complex relationship with her son explained enough. It's hinted upon, but not explained. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">PAUL'S CONVERSION SEEMED TOO SUDDEN</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Paul's conversion to leader seemed too sudden. I felt like for half the film, I was watching a goofy Timothee, not a heart broken one. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">THERE WAS NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN CHANI AND PAUL</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Paul and Chani are presented as one of the greatest love stories even shown. They dream of one another before meeting. They are predestined to be together. Zendaya and Timothee are giving vibes of a brother and sister who are having fun filming. </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE PACING 2.4/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The film felt too long. Something about the pacing just didn't feel right. I even considered leaving earlier.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 2/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I like how the director tried to make Paul a multidimensional character and not just a hero. Making Chani someone who actively fights his messiah status was a potentially interesting choice, but most of the time she just sounded like an angry LA girlfriend. There was potential for character development for sure. However, something was obviously lost in translation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE ACTING 2.8/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Again acting was inconsistent. Some notable actors weren't given much to work with. Christopher Walken could have given more depth to emperor if he had been given more screen time. I mean he has to be one of the most talented actors that have ever lived. Stellan Skarsgard wasn't given much to work with as Barron Harkonnen either. I understand that in this sequel, the attention is placed on his young nephew and potential heir, but still one expected this important character to be given some attention. Baron Harkonnen looks comatose for most of this film. In the book, he is obese and uses suspenders to walk, but he employs them to his benefit and moves with ease. Moreover, his mind in the book is energetic and quick (albeit in a wicked way). In this film, one got the impression that Baron Harkonnen was just waiting to die perhaps from being so morbidly obese. In addition, the movie more or less hides his intimate preferences because you cannot have a negative character being a minority. I get this, so I didn't really find it surprising. Nevertheless, ignoring the fact that his nephews Rabban and Feyd-Rautha conspired to kill him in the book, but Baron Harkonnen wasn't even that offended and let them 'practice', withholds some crucial information about what kind of man he was. Baron Harkonnen in the book was a mightily villain who was always a step ahead of others or so he thought. I think they could have at least referenced the failed conspiracy or showed a half a minute emotional reaction. Anything, to make Baron Harkonnen less comatose. What else to add? Feyd-Rautha was given considerable screen time but he failed to make an impression on me, it just looked like overacting to me.</span></p></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBA38T5qh7Y_OsWCyLyeiHSUoPpb4aU8yKQpQHCaLlqJjMiKsgIdMqd4EKwROTthac6uPQq0Rjw5AQzbWTwGgDWs6N8u3rlEcyM_DBqrOjm3WLaOzgtMg_GVQlzO65HcVENuY2mDfgSopRsrRGN3OjkaulKAKazt9kgH3eQZ1I36H7jhF5NSit8SSipk/s2048/final%20dune%20reviews%20mor%20collage%20girl%20on%20moon%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBA38T5qh7Y_OsWCyLyeiHSUoPpb4aU8yKQpQHCaLlqJjMiKsgIdMqd4EKwROTthac6uPQq0Rjw5AQzbWTwGgDWs6N8u3rlEcyM_DBqrOjm3WLaOzgtMg_GVQlzO65HcVENuY2mDfgSopRsrRGN3OjkaulKAKazt9kgH3eQZ1I36H7jhF5NSit8SSipk/s16000/final%20dune%20reviews%20mor%20collage%20girl%20on%20moon%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A COMMENTARY ON DUNE 1 &2 CASTING CHOICES & ACTING</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE ABSENCE OF MIDDLE EASTERN ACTORS IS STRANGE!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fremen culture is based on Middle Eastern culture (mostly Arabic). The Bushmen are sometimes quoted also a possible source of inspiration, although the Middle Eastern/Arabic influence is much more visible. The author himself often said that the 'spice' was a metaphor for oil. The wars for spice represent wars for oil. The Fremen religion in the book is a mix of Islam and Buddism (zensunni). That being said, the absence of Arabic, Middle Eastern or North African actors in this film was not something I expected. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CASTING OF DUKE LETO & HIS ACTING 4/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Oscar Isaac was a good choice for Duke Leto. He looks nothing like the actors who portrayed Duke Leto in the past, but I think this works in his advantage. Does he looks like the book version of Duke Leto? Yes, a little bit. Duke Leto is described as a tall man with olive skin, grey eyes and a hawk nose. Does it matter whether the two look alike? Not necessarily, I'd say. For this character, physical resemblance isn't crucial. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I would say Isaac acting was pretty good on overall. I think he could have done better if he was given more space and time to play with the role. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I didn't find Oscar Isaac fully credible as a duke and a leader of a powerful noble house. It's not that he lacks the ability to portray an aristocratic character for Isaac must be one of the most versatile actors of our generation. However, Isaac didn't really bring the sense of strictness to the role. I couldn't imagine him being a military commander. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't think this was entirely his choice as the director seem to have guided him in another direction. The director seems to have chosen to focus on portraying Duke Leto as a man of heart. I can understand his creative choices as he didn't have much screentime with Duke Leto and it was important for the audience to warm up to him. Nevertheless, the novel's Duke wasn't the most emotional of man and I would like to have seen him played as a bit more of an intelligent lord and strategist. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On the other hand, I must say that some scenes Isaac played out extremely well and with a lot of passion. Definitely the best acting in the film. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CASTING OF PAUL & HIS ACTING 2/5</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As for physical appearance, Paul is describes as being small and skinny for his age. So, Timothee sort of fits there. He has some feminine and childish facial features that make him look younger than he is, so that sort of works. But why did he have to keep his signature hairstyle? It somehow doesn't belong in the desert.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Moreover, one has the feeling he did absolutely no physical training for this rule. One doesn't see him developing his fighting skills. </span><span style="font-size: large;">In addition, he walks so clumsily. Somebody get him someone to teach him to walk with a bit of elegance. He is the last person I would think of as knowing even the basic knowledge of martial arts. In the book, Paul is supposed to have been trained in martial arts since he was a child. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Physical aspect isn't the most important here, I know. However, when it comes to acting Paul's emotions, I didn't get anything from him, which is surprisingly because he's a talented young man. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CASTING OF LADY JESSICA & HER ACTING</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rebbeca was wonderful and I was frustrated she wasn't given a bigger role in the sequel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CASTING OF OTHER MINOR CHARACTERS & THEIR ACTING</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not bad on overall, but some choices felt a bit- is commercial a good word? I felt like the movie tried to enlist as many A-list starts as it could. I think that in movie like this one, one doesn't always need that.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CASTING OF ZENDAYA AS CHANI</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't think this was a necessarily a bad casting choice. The writing in this movie isn't very strong, so it's hard for me to judge any actor. One feels like they didn't have much to work with. Zendaya lacked chemistry with Timothee but is it her fault or the writing? </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIESw4VOQGUME3NIPj3wHRfPTp3g7fj5JEBygWG1ps0Hnaln_mn7bmT2CwKEwtPeiknMAsCehq2xvQqQXqopsdPLq9E4fKZvLZ6BaC8ztjDR0qhFVIHBCTiNOMnQ-byfuSDh3OOgBXcSW2r8bzue1SI5FTPePw43rBtHRXYSbfQvNXq6wVNIijbQDUFU0/s2048/final%20dune%20book%20reviews%20for%20god%20emperor%20of%20dune%20and%20chapterhouse%20dune.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIESw4VOQGUME3NIPj3wHRfPTp3g7fj5JEBygWG1ps0Hnaln_mn7bmT2CwKEwtPeiknMAsCehq2xvQqQXqopsdPLq9E4fKZvLZ6BaC8ztjDR0qhFVIHBCTiNOMnQ-byfuSDh3OOgBXcSW2r8bzue1SI5FTPePw43rBtHRXYSbfQvNXq6wVNIijbQDUFU0/s16000/final%20dune%20book%20reviews%20for%20god%20emperor%20of%20dune%20and%20chapterhouse%20dune.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">"The drug's dangerous," she said, "but it gives insight. When a Truthsayer's gifted by the drug, she can look many places in her memory — in her body's memory. We look down so many avenues of the past...but only feminine avenues." Her voice took on a note of sadness. "Yet, there's a place where no Truthsayer can see. We are repelled by it, terrorized. It is said a man will come one day and find in the gift of the drug his inward eye. He will look where we cannot — into both feminine and masculine pasts."</span><br style="background-color: white; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">"Your </span>Kwisatz Haderach<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">?"</span><br style="background-color: white; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">"Yes, the one who can be many places at once: the Kwisatz Haderach. Many men have tried the drug . . . so many, but none has succeeded."</span><br style="background-color: white; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">"They tried and failed, all of them?"</span><br style="background-color: white; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">"Oh, no." She shook her head. "They tried and died."</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimnenSqi9twtJDSI27Qp6amjXAXIXpFO3U7K5XEvHXEj1GMqheJ0J94XpOuBvhveR0ZpMpuMDQvXyvxkEoC64pEwjyTew-A1_h3YKlN2AohLm57y_v9-rb_m9kPgxT1xpCHi7SFixN4P9a3KMdYuipgwAEjksukjD7Sda16sGVCLWTEpJqUieQgzruc7k/s2048/final%20dune%20%20reviews%20novel%20book%20reviews%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimnenSqi9twtJDSI27Qp6amjXAXIXpFO3U7K5XEvHXEj1GMqheJ0J94XpOuBvhveR0ZpMpuMDQvXyvxkEoC64pEwjyTew-A1_h3YKlN2AohLm57y_v9-rb_m9kPgxT1xpCHi7SFixN4P9a3KMdYuipgwAEjksukjD7Sda16sGVCLWTEpJqUieQgzruc7k/s16000/final%20dune%20%20reviews%20novel%20book%20reviews%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">CONCLUSION - PROS AND CONS IN A NUTSHELL</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The adaptation isn't bad, but the writing is lacking. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>PROS AND CONS OF DUNE: PART ONE AND TWO</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">PROS:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">GREAT CGI, LOCATIONS AND SOUND EFFECTS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">AMAZING CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPHY</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CREATIVE VISION</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CONS:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE MAIN LEADS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">RATHER POOR WRITING</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">MEDIOCRE ACTING</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A PEAK INTO MY REVIEW FOR DUNE THE NOVEL- THE NOVEL THAT INSPIRED THESE FILMS!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dune</i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the first novel in the Dune series, is (in my view) absolutely one of those life-changing reads. It is unique, that is for sure. The novel is wildly imaginative, set in an unique dystopian future and populated with some of the most memorable characters I have ever come across. </span></span><i style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dune </i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">takes world building on a whole new level but at the same time, it speaks of our present human society. It offers a future vision of mankind, but our struggles are still the same. <i>Dune</i> is a very relevant novel that raises numerous questions about religion, power, politics and identity. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">As many science fiction works I admire, </span></span><i style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dune </i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">asks the question- What does it mean to be human? Some of its characters exhibit or acquire superhuman abilities, but even they are often trapped by the constraints of human society and their own social programming. It is fascinating to observe the conflict between the individual and the society in this book so rich in meaning and philosophical questions. The imagined world of </span></span><i style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dune</i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> can be seen as a mirror in which we can see our inner selves. Many of the principal characters in this novel find themselves </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">trapped</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> between their duty to the outside world and their duty to themselves. Among the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ruling</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> class, often it is hard to remain truthful, even to the loved ones. There is </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">always</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> danger, lurking </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">both</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> outside and inside. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/dune-novel-by-frank-herbert-book-review.html"><span style="font-size: medium;">DUNE, A NOVEL BY FRANK HERBERT, BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</span></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">MORE BOOK REVIEWS CONNECTED WITH THE DUNE UNIVERSE</span></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-reread-dune-messiah-by-frank-herbert.html"><span style="font-size: medium;">I REREAD THE DUNE MESSIAH BY FRANK HERBERT (+SPRING STYLING) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</span></a></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/book-review-and-recommendation-dune.html"><span style="font-size: medium;">Book review and recommendation: Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</span></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYdEyPAAdrEK_TEIW5l01DIZCusbQ7PKHawKunE6amgjFz1iU6mBOYmaBLgYYKjcSKO8KuSKJlHcMTSQkjWQ38CSNmmdxKFCmPm4Km2DXViLp6G__DKT2RhZCJ3SoyRVBv-RGZaMhU9Hv4Yf3wZJBe39ZpvjG9Cv0Wso28_F1Uv58hv0gasWpNeYNICIE/s2048/final%20dune%20review%20%20novel%20book%20reviews%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYdEyPAAdrEK_TEIW5l01DIZCusbQ7PKHawKunE6amgjFz1iU6mBOYmaBLgYYKjcSKO8KuSKJlHcMTSQkjWQ38CSNmmdxKFCmPm4Km2DXViLp6G__DKT2RhZCJ3SoyRVBv-RGZaMhU9Hv4Yf3wZJBe39ZpvjG9Cv0Wso28_F1Uv58hv0gasWpNeYNICIE/s16000/final%20dune%20review%20%20novel%20book%20reviews%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>Thank you for reading and visiting!</div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-29595983183656259372024-02-27T13:14:00.000-08:002024-03-01T05:42:15.952-08:00STEPPENWOLF, A NOVEL BY HERMANN HESSE (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In this post, I shall review <i><b>Steppenwolf</b></i>, a well known novel by German-Swiss author Herman Hesse. <i><b>Steppenwolf </b></i>was the tenth novel published by Hesse and it remains one of his most popular works. Originally published (as <i>Der Steppenwolf</i>) in 1927 in Germany, it was translated to English two years later. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I read this novel years ago. It was not my first work by Hesse. I remember liking it, but not as much as some of Hesse's other works. When I prepare my book reviews, I often reread either part of the book or entire books. I like rereading and I enjoy a chance to compare my impressions.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The novel opens with a preface that is seventeen pages long. Only once the preface is over, does the real book (or book withing a book) begin. In a way, the preface introduces us to the first person narration. In fact, the<span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> book itself is presented in the preface as a manuscript written by Harry. Apparently Harry </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> leaves it to a chance acquaintance, the nephew of his landlady and it is this nephew who writes the preface and explain all of this.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaArAFvSrkf_jgHDm_xEwqIZz93QsQJxbt_bBF8gGYwZ-wxqQ40mTdblaP4QJZt_I1fLexRj4UBz8nOTDHSW45jIbEZOmm03ZbHTrxrrBur1dFEN6ZivY6CN7G-mBpVgGIvjtbAvA62Z69tegb_CaLH91z-gapfLR7d5giZ-eb_lYTtEJqdPbfifagUp4/s3000/IMG_20240122_122046.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaArAFvSrkf_jgHDm_xEwqIZz93QsQJxbt_bBF8gGYwZ-wxqQ40mTdblaP4QJZt_I1fLexRj4UBz8nOTDHSW45jIbEZOmm03ZbHTrxrrBur1dFEN6ZivY6CN7G-mBpVgGIvjtbAvA62Z69tegb_CaLH91z-gapfLR7d5giZ-eb_lYTtEJqdPbfifagUp4/s3000/IMG_20240122_122046.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIekRdCuwTrpr7AS5-AkjYs8HIdqh3okR0KTPwrDWSEYTjIoPCmzPJ1w_STHxeaKJHlNwLP3l0IkLc_21yUHe_V1pRE2rxsDEd4Ez_g6gU1JXxV8gQgmk66it1r5IppVTY28c3AOn_khu7gsijvxSQ8karGc8KFNVfi1d2ECGol1gM_MxEZmpIPi8F6k/s3000/READING%20RECOMMENDATIONS%20BLOG%20COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIekRdCuwTrpr7AS5-AkjYs8HIdqh3okR0KTPwrDWSEYTjIoPCmzPJ1w_STHxeaKJHlNwLP3l0IkLc_21yUHe_V1pRE2rxsDEd4Ez_g6gU1JXxV8gQgmk66it1r5IppVTY28c3AOn_khu7gsijvxSQ8karGc8KFNVfi1d2ECGol1gM_MxEZmpIPi8F6k/s16000/READING%20RECOMMENDATIONS%20BLOG%20COVER.jpg" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLMqrItoinyJKCLWcqE0gX7ZEq24WiP1j2ySnGZ-XvpeK38-hD7WQYlt8ZaBIosVfyP9pBNcnkRtgTHjPidvZcObeCvrD7tBOuFq4kqsH-Vi6C8c6owwwL-2dbO88aGqf7jroD4XXTi8amVbkwLjuTLTfbaDBRoWLlA1KY7mvcPXMGgq85GU-yrGqBec/s3000/IMG_20240122_122106.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLMqrItoinyJKCLWcqE0gX7ZEq24WiP1j2ySnGZ-XvpeK38-hD7WQYlt8ZaBIosVfyP9pBNcnkRtgTHjPidvZcObeCvrD7tBOuFq4kqsH-Vi6C8c6owwwL-2dbO88aGqf7jroD4XXTi8amVbkwLjuTLTfbaDBRoWLlA1KY7mvcPXMGgq85GU-yrGqBec/s16000/IMG_20240122_122106.jpg" /></a></div><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaArAFvSrkf_jgHDm_xEwqIZz93QsQJxbt_bBF8gGYwZ-wxqQ40mTdblaP4QJZt_I1fLexRj4UBz8nOTDHSW45jIbEZOmm03ZbHTrxrrBur1dFEN6ZivY6CN7G-mBpVgGIvjtbAvA62Z69tegb_CaLH91z-gapfLR7d5giZ-eb_lYTtEJqdPbfifagUp4/s16000/IMG_20240122_122046.jpg" /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">PREFACE </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">THIS BOOK CONTAINS THE RECORDS LEFT US by a man whom, according to the expression he often used himself, we called the Steppenwolf. Whether this manuscript needs any introductory remarks may be open to question. I, however, feel the need of adding a few pages to those of the Steppenwolf in which I try to record my recollections of him. What I know of him is little enough. Indeed, of his past life and origins I know nothing at all. Yet the impression left by his personality has remained, in spite of all, a deep and sympathetic one. Some years ago the Steppenwolf, who was then approaching fifty, called on my aunt to inquire for a furnished room. He took the attic room on the top floor and the bedroom next it, returned a day or two later with two trunks and a big case of books and stayed nine or ten months with us.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzyMjCn_cIv2i8fAgSHKl3t-f32SUKGNwkN_ZLCZFgiL8vS4tUAqULcRbANQHePPulVrlETwZPJQiGc3MwBB8ydXzOH5HzyMtqARt3SxoEf9U4dOTIs6edTGvNPSdWt9Ytkv09QsuyetZwLhZF-pYqhLDjIqrdvQzhEmMEKjhxoL_V2aQrAqJFDiXYBEE/s3000/IMG_20240122_122123.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzyMjCn_cIv2i8fAgSHKl3t-f32SUKGNwkN_ZLCZFgiL8vS4tUAqULcRbANQHePPulVrlETwZPJQiGc3MwBB8ydXzOH5HzyMtqARt3SxoEf9U4dOTIs6edTGvNPSdWt9Ytkv09QsuyetZwLhZF-pYqhLDjIqrdvQzhEmMEKjhxoL_V2aQrAqJFDiXYBEE/s16000/IMG_20240122_122123.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">The nephew in question tells us more about the protagonist of the novel:</span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"> He lived by himself very quietly, and but for the fact that our bedrooms were next door to each other—which occasioned a good many chance encounters on the stairs and in the passage—we should have remained practically unacquainted. For he was not a sociable man. Indeed, he was unsociable to a degree I had never before experienced in anybody. He was, in fact, as he called himself, a real wolf of the Steppes, a strange, wild, shy—very shy—being from another world than mine. How deep the loneliness into which his life had drifted on account of his disposition and destiny and how consciously he accepted this loneliness as his destiny, I certainly did not know until I read the records he left behind him. </span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the fact that Harry is very shy and withdraw, the nephew manages to sort of befriend him. At any rate, they establish a connection of some kind. The nephew describes Harry as seeming genuine and intelligent. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">Yet, before that, from our occasional talks and encounters, I became gradually acquainted with him, and I found that the portrait in his records was in substantial agreement with the paler and less complete one that our personal acquaintance had given me. By chance I was there at the very moment when the Steppenwolf entered our house for the first time and became my aunt's lodger. He came at noon. The table had not been cleared and I still had half an hour before going back to the office. I have never forgotten the odd and very conflicting impressions he made on me at this first encounter. He came through the glazed door, having just rung the bell, and my aunt asked him in the dim light of the hall what he wanted. The Steppenwolf, however, first threw up his sharp, closely cropped head and sniffed around nervously before he either made any answer or announced his name. "Oh, it smells good here," he said, and at that he smiled and my aunt smiled too. For my part, I found this matter of introducing himself ridiculous and was not favorably impressed. "However," said he, "I've come about the room you have to let." I did not get a good look at him until we were all three on our way up to the top floor. Though not very big, he had the bearing of a big man. He wore a fashionable and comfortable winter overcoat and he was well, though carelessly, dressed, clean-shaven, and his cropped head showed here and there a streak of grey. He carried himself in a way I did not at all like at first. There was something weary and undecided about it that did not go with his keen and striking profile nor with the tone of his voice. Later, I found out that his health was poor and that walking tired him. With a peculiar smile—at that time equally unpleasant to me—he contemplated the stairs, the walls, and windows, and the tall old cupboards on the staircase. All this seemed to please and at the same time to amuse him. Altogether he gave the impression of having come out of an alien world, from another continent perhaps. He found it all very charming and a little odd. I cannot deny that he was polite, even friendly. He agreed at once and without objection to the terms for lodging and breakfast and so forth, and yet about the whole man there was a foreign and, as I chose to think, disagreeable or hostile atmosphere. He took the room and the bedroom too, listened attentively and amiably to all he was told about the heating, the water, the service and the rules of the household, agreed to everything, offered at once to pay a sum in advance— and yet he seemed at the same time to be outside it all, to find it comic to be doing as he did and not to take it seriously. It was as though it were a very odd and new experience for him, occupied as he was with quite other concerns, to be renting a room and talking to people in German. Such more or less was my impression, and it would certainly not have been a good one if it had not been revised and corrected by many small instances. Above all, his face pleased me from the first, in spite of the foreign air it had. It was a rather original face and perhaps a sad one, but alert, thoughtful, strongly marked and highly intellectual. And then, to reconcile me further, there was his polite and friendly manner, which though it seemed to cost him some pains, was all the same quite without pretension; on the contrary, there was something almost touching, imploring in it. The explanation of it I found later, but it disposed me at once in his favor. </span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">This acquaintance (the nephew) who was in favour of Harry, is the one who finds Harry's manuscript, writes and adds a short preface of his own and then has the manuscript published. Once the long preface is over, we learn the actual title of the book is then: </span><i style="color: #202122; text-align: left;">Harry Haller's Records (For Madmen Only)</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Thus the story of Harry begins and we learn even more about him. It's not exactly a warm story. The very first sentence contains the word 'kill'.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">THE DAY HAD GONE BY JUST AS DAYS GO BY. I had killed it in accordance with my
primitive and retiring way of life. I had worked for an hour or two and perused the pages of old
books. I had had pains for two hours, as elderly people do. I had taken a powder and been very
glad when the pains consented to disappear. I had lain in a hot bath and absorbed its kindly
warmth. Three times the mail had come with undesired letters and circulars to look through. I
had done my breathing exercises, but found it convenient today to omit the thought exercises. I
had been for an hour's walk and seen the loveliest feathery cloud patterns penciled against the
sky. That was very delightful. So was the reading of the old books. So was the lying in the warm
bath. But, taken all in all, it had not been exactly a day of rapture. No, it had not even been a day
brightened with happiness and joy. Rather, it had been just one of those days which for a long
while now had fallen to my lot; the moderately pleasant, the wholly bearable and tolerable,
lukewarm days of a discontented middle-aged man; days without special pains, without special
cares, without particular worry, without despair; days when I calmly wonder, objective and
fearless, whether it isn't time to follow the example of Adalbert Stifter and have an accident
while shaving.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;">Harry</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> reflects on himself and the world, he often concludes he is not suited for the world and society. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">While wondering the city, Harry encounters a person carrying an ad for a magic theatre. This person gives Harry a small book,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Treatise on the Steppenwolf</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">. Parts of this book are printed in the novel. Harry tries to find this theatre. Thus, the novel truly begins. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If I recall well my original review, I wasn't exactly impressed with this novel. In other words, I liked it but I didn't love it. I found some new things to appreciate in rereading, but I still have other Hesse's favourites. This is a profound piece of writing, there's no doubt about that. However, it's not my personal favourite. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.”</i></b></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Possibly, my main issue with this book is that it was too similar to other Hesse's work I've read. Had this been the first Hesse's novel I've read, I'm sure that I would have been head over heels with it, but so it happens that it wasn't. It was my third novel by Hesse and for me personally, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/steppenwolf00hess_1/page/n5/mode/2up" target="_blank">Steppenwolf </a></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">and its theme of an isolated intellectual/</span>misanthropist<span style="font-family: inherit;"> didn't move me that much. It might bee because I felt like I had heard it all before. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While I was reading <b><i>Steppenwolf</i></b>, I had this deja vu sensation, a feeling that I have had already read all of it (heard all those life lessons), absorbed them from Hesse's other works. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Therefore, I found it challenging to fully immerse myself into the story. At least that is what I kept telling myself. Maybe this book demands more concentration than I gave it. Maybe it just isn't my preferred Hesse. </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><b>“I am in truth the Steppenwolf that I often call myself; that beast astray that finds neither home nor joy nor nourishment in a world that is strange and incomprehensible to him.”</b></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Having previously read<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2024/02/narcissus-and-goldmund-novel-by-herman.html" target="_blank"> <b><i>Narcissus and Goldmund</i></b></a>, as well as <b><i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2024/02/siddhartha-by-herman-hesse-book-review.html" target="_blank">Siddhartha</a></i></b>, I felt that <b><i>Steppenwolf </i></b>paled in comparison. Sure, it is an impressive and beautiful (in many ways) piece of writing, but comparing it with other Hesse's novels, I just couldn't find it in much 'novelty'. Despite its originality, it didn't feel strong enough on its own, more a continuation of Hesse's other works. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">“Once it happened, as I lay awake at night, that I suddenly spoke in verses, in verses so beautiful and strange that I did not venture to think of writing them down, and then in the morning they vanished; and yet they lay hidden within me like the hard kernel within an old brittle husk.”</span></i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><b><i>Steppenwolf </i></b>felt repetitive, offering neither much 'new' food for the thought nor music for the soul. However, it could be just me. It is entirely possible that this book is quite an accomplished work of literature, but I failed to connect to it on a deeper level because I felt like I was hearing a story I had already heard before. A story I liked, but two times was enough for me and I didn't need to hear it for the third time. Alternatively, I might have also missed something completely, a deeper message of some sort that I wasn't able to grasp.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve.”</b></span></i></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I still think Hesse's an amazingly intelligent writer, but frankly I wasn't able to fully immerse myself in this one. I did enjoy it, but not nearly as much as his other novels. <b><i>Steppenwolf </i></b>is strikingly similar to <b><i>Siddhartha</i></b>. Do you remember Siddhartha's infatuation with the prostitute? A similar motive is repeated in <b><i>Steppenwolf</i></b>. All I kept thinking was- here comes another intellectual who has issues connecting and communicating not only with other human beings, but with himself as well. I know that's kind of the point, the alienation of a modern human being, but Siddhartha moved me more. The same goes for <b><i>Narcissus and Goldmund.</i></b></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;">I feel like I have nothing new to say about this author, nothing I haven't said in my other reviews. More precisely, I feel like I have sang enough praised to Hesse in my reviews of the above mentioned two novels.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><b><i>“You should not take old people who are already dead seriously. It does them injustice. We immortals do not like things to be taken seriously. We like joking. Seriousness, young man, is an accident of time. It consists, I don't mind telling you in confidence, in putting too high a value on time. I, too, once put too high a value on time. For that reason I wished to be a hundred years old. In eternity, however, there is no time, you see. Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.”</i></b></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">.....BUT (and there is always a but) I'm not quite sure is what I have just written true at all. Perhaps I was just unable to fully grasp <i><b>Steppenwolf</b></i>. Not because it was too similar to other Hesse's work, but because it wasn't, or rather it was on the surface, but beneath the surface there was something more, something I couldn't quite understand. </div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Why could I understand it?Perhaps because I didn't want to deal with this book? Because I have recognized myself in the protagonist but was afraid to admit it? Did this novel truly disappoint me or did I disappoint myself? Now, that's the question. I may need to get back to this one. I want to reread it. I read <b><i>Steppenwolf </i></b>twice last month, but I feel like I need to read it once more, so it is possible that I will rewrite this review in the future.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">“I want to tell you something today, something that I have known for a long while, and you know it too; but perhaps you have never said it to yourself. I am going to tell you now what it is that I know about you and me and our fate. You, Harry, have been an artist and a thinker, a man full of joy and faith, always on the track of what is great and eternal, never content with the trivial and petty. But the more life has awakened you and brought you back to yourself, the greater has you need been and the deeper the sufferings and dread and despair that have overtaken you, till you were up to your neck in them. And all that you once knew and loved and revered as beautiful and sacred, all the belief you once had in mankind and our high destiny, has been of no avail and has lost its worth and gone to pieces. Your faith found no more air to breathe. And suffocation is a hard death. Is that true, Harry? Is that your fate?”</span></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWImOmznVu2ejuvvx37pWi6fSdv0oJdT9YfcCyAiYblYIa4kSyvWNaDjpWGg7ZXQXmnOCar8SJ_Kagrgur3c2EYQSuhdvKddUrLaAZkQJdDxdgealrEhdMu-3kNRO5t-OktfAzhrC2W6X5pTB93KvWiibJZ7B_hKPq8P_XFQU-vwDTbwBJJ8lRsDekck/s3000/IMG_20240219_165556.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWImOmznVu2ejuvvx37pWi6fSdv0oJdT9YfcCyAiYblYIa4kSyvWNaDjpWGg7ZXQXmnOCar8SJ_Kagrgur3c2EYQSuhdvKddUrLaAZkQJdDxdgealrEhdMu-3kNRO5t-OktfAzhrC2W6X5pTB93KvWiibJZ7B_hKPq8P_XFQU-vwDTbwBJJ8lRsDekck/s16000/IMG_20240219_165556.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i><b>“Every age, every culture, every custom and tradition has its own character, its own weakness and its own strength, it beauties and ugliness; accepts certain sufferings as matters of course, puts up patiently with certain evils. Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap... Now there are times when a whole generation is caught in this way between two ages, two modes of life, with the consequence that it loses all power to understand itself and has no standard, no security, no simple acquiescence. Naturally, every one does not feel this equally strongly.”</b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">To conclude, Steppenwolf is an amazing piece of writing. At times it's hard to follow and even a little repetitive in its enforcing of isolation. However, it is a novel that definitely streches benight the surface to look for eternal truth. Some of the lines in this novel are among the most profound that I have ever read. This is not a book to be underestimated, rather it is one that needs to be read with care and concentration. Sure, at times it might be depressing and sad, but those feelings are a part of human experience. We have all felt like Steppenwolf some time or other! I definitely feel greateful to this writing for putting so much of human experience into words. I hope to reread this novel once again some day and dig even deeper. I definitely give it thumbs up!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b><i>“Our leaders strain every nerve and with success, to get the next war going, while the rest of us, meanwhile, dance the fox trot, earn money and eat chocolates...And perhaps...it has always been the same and always will be, and what is called history at school, and all we learn by heart there about heroes and geniuses and great deeds and fine emotions, is all nothing but a swindle invented by the schoolmasters for educational reasons to keep children occupied for a given number of years. It has always been so and always will be. Time and the world, money and power belong to the small people and shallow people. To the rest, to the real men belongs nothing...eternity...it isn't fame. Fame exists in that sense only for the schoolmasters. No, it isn't fame. It is what I call eternity...The music of Mozart belongs there and the poetry of your great poets. The saints, too, belong there, who have worked wonders and suffered martyrdom and given a great example to men. But the image of every true act, the strength of every true feeling, belongs to eternity just as much, even though no one knows of it or sees it or records it or hands it down to posterity. In eternity there is no posterity...It is the kingdom on the other side of time and appearances. It is there we belong. There is our home. It is that which our heart strives for...And we have no one to guide us. Our only guide is our homesickness.”</i></b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrv1pzXrnHCkDYBbp2r8P8j3iaQb92Xp1mN73PkWWh0txOZk3oWIseAo_phn3G0Abp_MN7Jh0R7dffvk5_omN4eQZBgvAJRGsFpTO0fvxFyabW86r8gKyaQ-toficlnXgbxQwNodj-uB9W-FlmRwa1B6c8dFFsFtr7PNuIn_h4c7orHx8X1bc6dlBdTI/s3000/IMG_20240219_165559.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrv1pzXrnHCkDYBbp2r8P8j3iaQb92Xp1mN73PkWWh0txOZk3oWIseAo_phn3G0Abp_MN7Jh0R7dffvk5_omN4eQZBgvAJRGsFpTO0fvxFyabW86r8gKyaQ-toficlnXgbxQwNodj-uB9W-FlmRwa1B6c8dFFsFtr7PNuIn_h4c7orHx8X1bc6dlBdTI/s16000/IMG_20240219_165559.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">READ MORE HESSE BOOK REVIEWS: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2024/02/narcissus-and-goldmund-novel-by-herman.html">NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND, A NOVEL BY HERMAN HESSE (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2024/02/siddhartha-by-herman-hesse-book-review.html">SIDDHARTHA BY HERMAN HESSE (BOOK REVIEW) + HUTOVO BLATO (TRAVEL POST) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Thank you for reading! Have a lovely day. </div><br /><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-62217461362162126592024-02-26T13:12:00.000-08:002024-02-27T13:16:03.789-08:00NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND, A NOVEL BY HERMANN HESSE (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> In this post, I shall review <span style="background-color: white;"><i><b>Narcissus and Goldmund</b></i>, a novel by Herman Hesse. Published in 1930, is a critically acclaimed novel. In English, it's also published under the title <i>Death and the Lover</i>. Like many of Hesse's works, </span></span><span><b style="font-style: italic;">Narcissus and Goldmund </b>focuses on the protagonist's struggle to find himself. This novel </span><span><span style="background-color: white;">is considered a literary classic and rightfully so. I've heard many people recommending novel and saying how it moved them. I read it years ago, but it is still very close to my heart. It's definitely a novel that is worth the hype. No wonder </span></span><span style="background-color: white;">it remains a very popular read.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span><span style="background-color: white;">If you want to know why I consider </span></span><b style="font-style: italic;">Narcissus and Goldmund </b><span><span style="background-color: white;"> to be a work of art, read on.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqffYwgO6aYT5vfKH7V73h5y0VMtk3HLgtdw0XWjvjjsxkqidzxAcgPadA-C8D6hiOuhxDjtXmGLLEbZvgnGLTi0HX4wnyBqCL4NLelfH_F_YKqVrLvac0SxqxhZ9o_DRVNy4Y1wvhJJjWZVPautl2LWOdDMAYu6Vpnv71rrUQW7wh86RJQPtxjh-c_M/s3000/winter%20styling%20book%20herman%20hesse%20book%20review%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqffYwgO6aYT5vfKH7V73h5y0VMtk3HLgtdw0XWjvjjsxkqidzxAcgPadA-C8D6hiOuhxDjtXmGLLEbZvgnGLTi0HX4wnyBqCL4NLelfH_F_YKqVrLvac0SxqxhZ9o_DRVNy4Y1wvhJJjWZVPautl2LWOdDMAYu6Vpnv71rrUQW7wh86RJQPtxjh-c_M/s16000/winter%20styling%20book%20herman%20hesse%20book%20review%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">SUSTAINABLE FASHION FILES- HOW I WORE IT BEFORE?</span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">GREEN DRESS- SEE HOW I WORE IT BEFORE <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/05/12-ways-to-style-green-dress.html">13 WAYS TO STYLE A GREEN DRESS (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">RED TARTAN SKI PRO JACKET- I've had this jacket for ten years and it still looks brand new. See how I styled it before by clicking on one of my old outfit posts: <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/7-outfit-ideas-for-transitional-weather.html">7 OUTFIT IDEAS FOR TRANSITIONAL WEATHER (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/visit-blagaj-fortess-with-me-bosnia-and.html">VISIT BLAGAJ FORTESS WITH ME (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-i-wore-today-sto-sam-danas-nosila.html">What I wore today/ Što sam danas nosila (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-favourite-winter-outwear-outfit.html">MY FAVOURITE WINTER OUTWEAR: OUTFIT PROPOSALS TO CONSIDER (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">PINK SWEATER- IT'S NEW ACTUALLY, I got it from a mall (Terranova if I remember well), but I already got a lot of wear from it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">BLACK BOOTS- NEW (MARCO TOZZI) and a worthy successor to my legendary biker boots. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">BURGUNDY BAG- 53 <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/53-ways-to-wear-pair-of-brown-heeled.html">WAYS TO WEAR A PAIR OF BROWN HEELED SANDALS (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> This post also shows a dozen ways to wear this bag. </span></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouwxfeTDxS1F_FXrG4OzAMaHqG_XXaIlOo8r9_cqyGI4-q-LRipSua4ZhRAK_csNWSi2y_sq_e1zidvMVS2T_ButN-pNh1bIkInXf7iWpPskd-mlJ1Ymp0pXtTRqg5qrObUnZUrPxV1A5Btbed44rcNC8hY6_tNp1_JIjFgO-G-4jVadKRGw-ntT5EGc/s3000/winter%20outfit%20pink%20sweater%20beanie%20green%20dress%20boots%20herman%20hesse%20book%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouwxfeTDxS1F_FXrG4OzAMaHqG_XXaIlOo8r9_cqyGI4-q-LRipSua4ZhRAK_csNWSi2y_sq_e1zidvMVS2T_ButN-pNh1bIkInXf7iWpPskd-mlJ1Ymp0pXtTRqg5qrObUnZUrPxV1A5Btbed44rcNC8hY6_tNp1_JIjFgO-G-4jVadKRGw-ntT5EGc/s16000/winter%20outfit%20pink%20sweater%20beanie%20green%20dress%20boots%20herman%20hesse%20book%20review.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“All existence seemed to be based on duality, on contrast. Either one was a man or one was a woman, either a wanderer or sedentary burgher, either a thinking person or a feeling person-no one could breathe in at the same time as he breathed out, be a man as well as a woman, experience freedom as well as order, combine instinct and mind. One always had to pay for one with the loss of the other, and one thing was always just as important and desirable as the other.”</span><br /></i></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This beautifully written philosophical novel, that like most of Hesse’s work explores the theme of individual search for self-realization, was a genuine pleasure to read as well as to reflect on later on. It is one of those books that stays with you. I read it ages ago, but I can remember it without making any mental effort whatsoever. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It stayed in my heart and in my mind. The language used is fairly simple, but beautiful nevertheless and powerful in the messages it delivers. The story is quite easy to follow, which is logical because it is focused mostly on one character. As the novel has to do with his own personal search for beauty, it could be said that the story of his life (and all the events that take place) isn’t the focus of this novel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I mean there is a story to follow, as philosophical as it may be, this novel is never a mere collection of meditations and essays. There is the main character whose life story we shall learn and there are also other characters that matter, that aren’t only symbols, yet it is clear from the start that the story of the protagonist’s life isn’t the only thing that matters in this novel, that there is some deeper message to be found.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjihWgoyF3sObRYd0JLQQU7xA0XWROaQnKTfiBcJeqG7JJ-MSv-eSkZpROT-tpgL3WEj9tv6cCcJM9Tlg9hZN2GCJFvXLwzDuwNL7cSXJI1VTG5Wv5GPehdTVvkk4IPJ_9IvKR-1rTCGmcvjPlltUz9b63tPTvIvR1bfm_7mVKjl2a5ZmQtgACDkjH5zUU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjihWgoyF3sObRYd0JLQQU7xA0XWROaQnKTfiBcJeqG7JJ-MSv-eSkZpROT-tpgL3WEj9tv6cCcJM9Tlg9hZN2GCJFvXLwzDuwNL7cSXJI1VTG5Wv5GPehdTVvkk4IPJ_9IvKR-1rTCGmcvjPlltUz9b63tPTvIvR1bfm_7mVKjl2a5ZmQtgACDkjH5zUU=s16000" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Narcissus and Goldmund</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">basically focuses on a life story of a young man,</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;" title="German-language text"><span lang="de">Goldmund</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">who leaves a monastery and wanders Germany, while his friend and teacher Narcissus stays in the monastery. Like the protagonist of Siddhartha, Goldmund is a gifted young man and his name (means golden mouth in German) is symbolic of that. Similarly to Siddhartha, Goldmund decides to leave his life. The novel follows Goldmund. who </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">after leaving a Catholic monastery, searches for self-realization. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“He lived in this dream world more than in the real one. The real world: classroom, courtyard, library, dormitory, and chapel were only the surface, a quivering film over the dream-filled super-real world of images.”</i></span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Narcissus, who is like Goldmund, quite</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> gifted and </span>intelligent<span style="font-family: inherit;">, is another important character. Their friendship mirrors that of Siddhartha and Govinda. Narcissus is a young teacher at the start of the novel, and when he meets Goldmund, they become friends. The two were close in age and developed a relationship of respect. You could say that Goldmund admires Narcissus, and Narcissus loves his young student. When Goldmund decides to leave the monastery and renounce the monk life, their fates are </span>separated<span style="font-family: inherit;">. However, this is not the end of their beautiful friendship. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“...to you, differences are quite unimportant; to me, they are what matters most. I am a scholar by nature; science is my vocation. And science is, to quote your words, nothing but the 'determination to establish differences.' Its essence couldn't be defined more accurately. For us, the men of science, nothing is as important as the establishment of differences; science is the art of differentiation. Discovering in every man that which distinguishes him from others is to know him.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuKjziKjWO_UskfeA3K7K8l-K-RH_geYdejv9UAQziW8jwwll8FX7qPGpNIY7eRqFbgiHs8BkiAaLoDWCY9lMZgD6kkLOIva2KsuyL01wxZOxnLIwEB4akOL2Gs2mGAg-JVgwQxZ-CQOnt9QRv-0krEeozPyRDp8fZxJQPFAONeyRzICKYEJyw6HRNtWw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuKjziKjWO_UskfeA3K7K8l-K-RH_geYdejv9UAQziW8jwwll8FX7qPGpNIY7eRqFbgiHs8BkiAaLoDWCY9lMZgD6kkLOIva2KsuyL01wxZOxnLIwEB4akOL2Gs2mGAg-JVgwQxZ-CQOnt9QRv-0krEeozPyRDp8fZxJQPFAONeyRzICKYEJyw6HRNtWw=s16000" /></a></div><br /><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">“Obedient to no man, dependent only on weather and season, without a goal before them or a roof above them, owning nothing, open to every whim of fate, the homeless wanderers lead their childlike, brave, shabby existence. They are the sons of Adam, who was driven out of Paradise; the brothers of the animals, of innocence. Out of heaven's hand they accept what is given them from moment to moment: sun, rain, fog, snow, warmth, cold, comfort, and hardship; time does not exist for them and neither does history, or ambition, or that bizarre idol called progress and evolution, in which houseowners believe so desperately. A wayfarer may be delicate or crude, artful or awkward, brave or cowardly—he is always a child at heart, living in the first day of creation, before the beginning of the history of the world, his life always guided by a few simple instincts and needs. He may be intelligent or stupid; he may be deeply aware of the fleeting fragility of all living things, of how pettily and fearfully each living creature carries its bit of warm blood through the glaciers of cosmic space, or he may merely follow the commands of his poor stomach with childlike greed—he is always the opponent, the deadly enemy of the established proprietor, who hates him, despises him, or fears him, because he does not wish to be reminded that all existence is transitory, that life is constantly wilting, that merciless icy death fills the cosmos all around.” </span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Hermann Hesse, </span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_5954" style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>Narcissus and Goldmund</b></span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">This novel is less focused on events as than on mediating about the meaning of live itself. It is a novel about spiritualty? That depends on how you see it, how you define spirituality, this is not a book that will feed you any dogma or give you a set of rules to live by. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Narcissus and Goldmund</i> is a novel that doesn’t show you the meaning of life, for such a thing is hardly possible, but what does this novel do is show you what such a search looks like. It is about searching for meaning. We are all trying to make sense of this world we live it. We do it in our own different ways, for we’re all endowed with different temperaments and characters. Hence, there are no easy answers. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“One thing, however, did become clear to him—why so many perfect works of art did not please him at all, why they were almost hateful and boring to him, in spite of a certain undeniable beauty. Workshops, churches, and palaces were full of these fatal works of art; he had even helped with a few himself. They were deeply disappointing because they aroused the desire for the highest and did not fulfill it. They lacked the most essential thing—mystery. That was what dreams and truly great works of art had in common: mystery.” </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><b>Hermann Hesse, </b></span><b><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_5954" style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">Narcissus and Goldmund</span></b></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I see this book as a meditation on the beauty and the power of Art. Any flaws that appear in the narrative therefore I find to be irrelevant. I think that I didn’t even experience <i>Narcissus and Goldmund</i> as a typical narrative. It's more philosophical in nature, more a novel of ideas, more like reading a religious text than anything else, and that is the beauty of it... or at least that is what I have found in it. What a profound novel it really is!</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;">I loved the contrast between the two main characters, Narcissus and Goldmund and the true friendship that exists between them. That was my favourite part of the book and I think it adds a lot of depth to the writing as a whole. The writer managed to create a wonderful character to contrast our protagonist. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"><i><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">“</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other's opposite and complement.” </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Hermann Hesse, </span><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_5954" style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>Narcissus and Goldmund</b></span></span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;">The friendship Hesse described was very touching, but never sentimental. It is true emotional, pure and beautiful. I believe that such a friendship is a very rare thing. Perhaps what I liked most about this book is how it acknowledges the fundamental differences that can and often do exist between two people. So much more refreshing (and closer to truth) than saying we're all alike! I mean obviously all of our humans are alike in many things, but we are also unique in many ways. </span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Just observing that delicate friendships that oddly sometimes exist between the people who see the world in completely different way somehow felt enriching. It made me rethink great deal of things. Not all differences are differences and not all the similarities, one could say. However, one might mean different things by saying this. The meaning of words is harder to pin down than we think. We're so used to thinking in a certain way, most of us anyway, that we fail to understand that there is always something more, something behind our words that we cannot explain. This novel did a wonderful job of capturing that and I love it for it.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;">Take for example this friendship between Narcissus and Goldmund. From a worldly perspective, these two man have nothing in common and yet on some higher level they feel a deep connection, the kind that most people never experience and yet the similarity between them is as important as the differences are. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;">These two are connected by the holy bond of love and understanding. This friendship adds another dimension to their character. In addition, this difference between the thinker and the artist, allows the writer to develop some really amazing reflections upon the very nature of art.</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“We fear death, we shudder at life's instability, we grieve to see the flowers wilt again and again, and the leaves fall, and in our hearts we know that we, too, are transitory and will soon disappear. When artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the great dance of death, to make something last longer than we do.” </i></span></span><i style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="authorOrTitle" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Hermann Hesse, </span><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_5954" style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>Narcissus and Goldmund</b></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioUwyBq6N4VF_dtk6vf8ki__XFGjIfmmgcjITMNUFeqFjM4dnooZWlGxSISxCtlDdu-lGYP0F1ZfQgAvIifpHly0B1ko52Oo1xQ7FAZXQ9Co5SrXmGjw7feQp6SktW5qwLhZxpUIyb7ML56IaKdSeny5hLvhNtigCvuTPImdKy2DffAJzVJ1Zz4sDYcO0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioUwyBq6N4VF_dtk6vf8ki__XFGjIfmmgcjITMNUFeqFjM4dnooZWlGxSISxCtlDdu-lGYP0F1ZfQgAvIifpHly0B1ko52Oo1xQ7FAZXQ9Co5SrXmGjw7feQp6SktW5qwLhZxpUIyb7ML56IaKdSeny5hLvhNtigCvuTPImdKy2DffAJzVJ1Zz4sDYcO0=s16000" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">If I would care to, I could find a number of illogical things in this novel (unrealistic stories or plot developments, characterization of minor characters etc), small imperfections and weak points. However, I don’t want to. There is a reason why I don’t feel like doing it. The point is that this novel is a great piece of writing. I don't care to even notice those small flaws and the reason why I don't care to do so is because this is a work of art. Being what it is, in one way I really do feel that is perfect as it is.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"> This is a novel in the full sense of the world, one that has a protagonist, story and characters, but it is also very philosophical and spiritual in nature. It is perfect as it is and it would be wrong to focus on any small imperfections. You don't dissect a work of art. This is a work of art, of that I’m absolutely sure of it.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;">“O how incomprehensible everything was, and actually sad, although it was also beautiful. One knew nothing. One lived and ran about the earth and rode through forests, and certain things looked so challenging and promising and nostalgic: a star in the evening, a blue harebell, a reed-green pond, the eye of a person or a cow. And sometimes it seemed that something never seen yet long desired was about to happen, that a veil would drop from it all, but then it passed, nothing happened, the riddle remained unsolved, the secret spell unbroken, and in the end one grew old and looked cunning . . . or wise . . . and still one knew nothing perhaps, was still waiting and listening.”</i></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUH8E_gRF2MgHJ6SRcbqxqmSNSxrkH_LPkqsSKn4-s90r-kPhwQzT_QstHJIhZza29I-pbr_si5ks6488vUnF7P3XcP9gaOuzplKbptl80RN4ZRs0Od0MiAwbkMybuRWMStOfmzicvP6XSU-4DNZWgDdbBU_N2GoGJQUrb2e-yMoZrhD49fMWPiIs_buU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUH8E_gRF2MgHJ6SRcbqxqmSNSxrkH_LPkqsSKn4-s90r-kPhwQzT_QstHJIhZza29I-pbr_si5ks6488vUnF7P3XcP9gaOuzplKbptl80RN4ZRs0Od0MiAwbkMybuRWMStOfmzicvP6XSU-4DNZWgDdbBU_N2GoGJQUrb2e-yMoZrhD49fMWPiIs_buU" width="1" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh56tHjJDFiUROLdL9Tg-2v9S6WerbJtAE7o-R7zUvNeM8flQ2TOLiDxyjIXvclDv0Az9jVWhQuf-A6yRrkEps4overP9fZ44ijFKbasxHFw9CmA6M1-vKzI5PnuWVQwZHpotuqJKQhqqlJoh-MPxRxkXBeIK7OsdPVbTdnRKh-gvuQ_UMwVw5ACJPIPbE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh56tHjJDFiUROLdL9Tg-2v9S6WerbJtAE7o-R7zUvNeM8flQ2TOLiDxyjIXvclDv0Az9jVWhQuf-A6yRrkEps4overP9fZ44ijFKbasxHFw9CmA6M1-vKzI5PnuWVQwZHpotuqJKQhqqlJoh-MPxRxkXBeIK7OsdPVbTdnRKh-gvuQ_UMwVw5ACJPIPbE" width="1" /></a></div><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: large; font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">In my previous post, I reviewed </span><i style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2024/02/siddhartha-by-herman-hesse-book-review.html" target="_blank">Siddhartha</a></b></i><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: large; font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">, another novel written by Herman Hesse. Check out that review if you want to read more about Herman Hesse.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaOLjABK1PNH6lw_bB_TnI090ZbMRAP_T6q68ICnlJKyOHZNBJeFGgqWAw60vQ6jUuGLE34jnBvsJbqf6zzNVJ6pnhnSygdwliePxXs5rZ8EGQcnhgCOKde9iQGlXZwIWbmfH1qgbH7CMmhgdI5l7DWoYy3uIVzMRUgmDDQbiO7sWEpYSdPu4kfz_hjik/s1600/herman%20hesse%20book%20recommendation%20reading.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaOLjABK1PNH6lw_bB_TnI090ZbMRAP_T6q68ICnlJKyOHZNBJeFGgqWAw60vQ6jUuGLE34jnBvsJbqf6zzNVJ6pnhnSygdwliePxXs5rZ8EGQcnhgCOKde9iQGlXZwIWbmfH1qgbH7CMmhgdI5l7DWoYy3uIVzMRUgmDDQbiO7sWEpYSdPu4kfz_hjik/s16000/herman%20hesse%20book%20recommendation%20reading.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A photograph from my archives, with another of Hesse's works.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">MORE READING RECOMMENDATIONS AND BOOK REVIEWS</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: left;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/03/reading-update-two-book-reviews-human.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">HUMAN ACTS BY HAN KANG AND HOGFATHER BY TERRY PRATCHETT</span></span></a></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; 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So, we'll have two posts in one: a travelogue and a book review. A year cannot go by without a visit to Hutovo Blato. I actually visited it last Summer too, but I didn't blog about it (perhaps because I was so focused on book reviews). However, this spot was actually featured in one of my blog reviews. Bonus points to anyone who might have noticed it, even if I didn't blog about the place itself. Hopefully, I shall correct that some time in the future. Hutovo Blato is a truly gorgeous place and I love sharing more about it.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What about my book review? Well, let's start with that. Published in 1922 under the original title<b> </b></span><i lang="de" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><b>Siddhartha: Eine Indische Dichtung</b>, </i><span lang="de" style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">this novel focuses on the </span><span style="color: #202122;">spiritual</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> journey and the search for self awareness of its fictional </span>protagonist<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?" That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;">Hermann Hesse, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_52036" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">Siddhartha</span></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4VgvcmlDeomJmHypMwKDas_3GUHA9cGjczxa4qbljExIdgP8bYEwSMWcz_XLcfM5ikSpqrANayn1IGWL_N1sQVVqHAeKzjexABYo-qeT4ggrh0S7pGECAH6r8YzItElOMwMjHZuAEL27hI_QHL9EdX1lhmHhemciQj-o-soj13sDtNUAYUamlANj-QEo/s3000/hutovo%20blato%20cozy%20styling%20leather%20brown%20jacket%20furry%20hoodie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4VgvcmlDeomJmHypMwKDas_3GUHA9cGjczxa4qbljExIdgP8bYEwSMWcz_XLcfM5ikSpqrANayn1IGWL_N1sQVVqHAeKzjexABYo-qeT4ggrh0S7pGECAH6r8YzItElOMwMjHZuAEL27hI_QHL9EdX1lhmHhemciQj-o-soj13sDtNUAYUamlANj-QEo/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20cozy%20styling%20leather%20brown%20jacket%20furry%20hoodie.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: justify;"><p style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><i>Siddhartha </i></b><span style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">is a novel by German author Herman Hesse, originally published as a short novel in 1922. By the time Hesse died in 1962, he wasn't widely read, despite the fact that he was a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. In USA, Siddhartha was published (and translated to English) in 1951.</span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">It was in the sixties that this short novel became influential, probably due to the hippie movement and its focus on Eastern teachings and religions.</span></p><p style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"> If you know me, you know that I love to reread stuff. I actually listened to an audio-version of this book (in Italian) twice, and I plan to reread this novel again in the future. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>“My real self wanders elsewhere, far away, wanders on and on invisibly and has nothing to do with my life.”</b></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">Nowadays, </span><b style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><i>Siddhartha </i></b><span style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">is a well-known novel for sure, a book both critically acclaimed and popular, but not without a reason, I would hasten to add. You know sometimes hyped works are really worth the hype. Fortunately for me as a reader, this novel met my expectations and I wasn’t left disappointed in any way. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><i>“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.”</i></b></span></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">Besides giving me plenty of food for the thought, I can honestly say that <i><b>Siddhartha </b></i>touched me on an emotional level as well. Somehow the story of <b><i>Siddhartha </i></b>was very extremely easy to relate to. This novel is available online for free on a number of sites and public libraries, including Project Gutenberg. Below is are links to the book and individual chapters ( for those interested in reading it for free). </span></span></span></p><div><h1 style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.12em; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-top: 0.6em; text-align: center; word-spacing: 0.2em;"><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Siddhartha<br /><span class="ph3" style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.83em auto;">An Indian Tale</span></span></a></h1><div class="ph2 no-break" style="break-before: avoid; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.75em auto; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">by Herman Hesse</span></a></div><table style="color: black; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#part01" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">FIRST PART</span></b></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap01" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">THE SON OF THE BRAHMAN</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap02" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">WITH THE SAMANAS</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap03" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">GOTAMA</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap04" style="text-decoration-line: none;">AWAKENING</a><br /><br /></span></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#part02" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">SECOND PART</span></b></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap05" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">KAMALA</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap06" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">WITH THE CHILDLIKE PEOPLE</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap07" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">SANSARA</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap08" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">BY THE RIVER</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap09" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">THE FERRYMAN</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap10" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">THE SON</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap11" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">OM</span></a></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: small;"><a class="pginternal" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html#chap12" style="text-decoration-line: none;">GOVINDA</a><br /></span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Siddhartha by Herman Hesse? Curiously enough what comes to my mind is a scene from one Italian film <b>L’ultimo Bacio</b> in which Francesca (who is basically a teenager if I remember well) gives this book as a present to a man (Carlo was it?) she has fallen in love (and spent the night) with, a man who will leave her only a few moments later (and Carlo won’t even bother to take the book with him). For some reason I found that scene quite touching, the image of that young pain quite vivid, with the shock of that first heartbreak and treason clearly written on her face. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the fact that I had obviously heard about this novel before, I will perh</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">aps forever connect it with this film and this scene in which the book (or was it the wrap paper the book was in?) flies from the top of the car onto the street because this guy is such a rush to get away from poor Francesca and to get to his future wife. Anyway, this novel is filled with similar pain as there are an awful lot of painful goodbyes. There so much abandonment going on. Friends, children, lovers, parents, they all abandoning one another for one reason or other. I find it very interesting, especially when the reason for abandonment was the quest to find the meaning of life. Must we abandon those we love to find the meaning of love? Or are maybe some of the characters (whom I won’t name at this point) running away from life because they are afraid of it not because they want to find meaning in it?</span></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwey-sVoSG5iWYhCK9JTZzgaJ2H7wjhGu-bkSlvFXBzjG_I6-8ayLePU7QIA3q2kYIhfzmBs7c3__ydbpW-QjIFgqTx2_cQdZLLubtWGnW5FYUJkcPvPWmDTPSkYY2tRTUT8lK_v46s_vl8lq7n3LLnb-OHCVWB4UVvU1K8jT2ckHP5a65cRbZKKoCGoA/s3000/hutovo%20blato%20halfsmile%20siddartha%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwey-sVoSG5iWYhCK9JTZzgaJ2H7wjhGu-bkSlvFXBzjG_I6-8ayLePU7QIA3q2kYIhfzmBs7c3__ydbpW-QjIFgqTx2_cQdZLLubtWGnW5FYUJkcPvPWmDTPSkYY2tRTUT8lK_v46s_vl8lq7n3LLnb-OHCVWB4UVvU1K8jT2ckHP5a65cRbZKKoCGoA/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20halfsmile%20siddartha%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SIDDHARTHA, </b>A NOVEL BY HERMAN HESSE 4.8/5</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">This novel is written very simply, but it conveys profound messages and concepts. Perhaps the simplicity of its writing is what makes it such a popular reading among the youngsters? Or is it because the protagonist seems to be rebellious? Still, I would say that this book has a lot (perhaps even more) to offer to a mature reader. I’m certainly not a teenager anymore and I found it very much to my liking. </span></span></span></p><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>“Dreams and restless thoughts came flowing to him from the river, from the twinkling stars at night, from the sun's melting rays. Dreams and a restlessness of the soul came to him.”</b></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzqRhd0S4k9pkbZNArPCkp7xnMfFTR1UVYSaor3gg-VALXLVYQ7SN1z8xgFm6hY7_ecxATjVQ8ln9po72glcOmEAJIMiBoOj9ihtxWd85QxZnZaMSkCvFEPsptHEWbLtoge1H8N0SNbWDwSsCsSosEKzzH9YS_45fzCTLCfkhFjKjuCU9EZIVHWBG0ds/s3000/hutovo%20blato%20lake%20brown%20jacket%20wetland%20photography%20winter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzqRhd0S4k9pkbZNArPCkp7xnMfFTR1UVYSaor3gg-VALXLVYQ7SN1z8xgFm6hY7_ecxATjVQ8ln9po72glcOmEAJIMiBoOj9ihtxWd85QxZnZaMSkCvFEPsptHEWbLtoge1H8N0SNbWDwSsCsSosEKzzH9YS_45fzCTLCfkhFjKjuCU9EZIVHWBG0ds/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20lake%20brown%20jacket%20wetland%20photography%20winter.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Siddhartha is the protagonist of this novel. The novel's very opening paragraphs describe Siddhartha as a delight to everyone. He's loved by everyone, but especially so his parents and friend Govinda.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><h2 style="break-before: avoid; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 2em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">THE SON OF THE BRAHMAN</span></h2><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Sal-wood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the young falcon, together with his friend Govinda, son of a Brahman. The sun tanned his light shoulders by the banks of the river when bathing, performing the sacred ablutions, the sacred offerings. In the mango grove, shade poured into his black eyes, when playing as a boy, when his mother sang, when the sacred offerings were made, when his father, the scholar, taught him, when the wise men talked. For a long time, Siddhartha had been partaking in the discussions of the wise men, practising debate with Govinda, practising with Govinda the art of reflection, the service of meditation. He already knew how to speak the Om silently, the word of words, to speak it silently into himself while inhaling, to speak it silently out of himself while exhaling, with all the concentration of his soul, the forehead surrounded by the glow of the clear-thinking spirit. He already knew to feel Atman in the depths of his being, indestructible, one with the universe.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Joy leapt in his father’s heart for his son who was quick to learn, thirsty for knowledge; he saw him growing up to become great wise man and priest, a prince among the Brahmans.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Bliss leapt in his mother’s breast when she saw him, when she saw him walking, when she saw him sit down and get up, Siddhartha, strong, handsome, he who was walking on slender legs, greeting her with perfect respect.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Love touched the hearts of the Brahmans’ young daughters when Siddhartha walked through the lanes of the town with the luminous forehead, with the eye of a king, with his slim hips.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">The book also introduces us to an important character, Siddhartha's friend Govinda. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>But more than all the others he was loved by Govinda, his friend, the son of a Brahman. He loved Siddhartha’s eye and sweet voice, he loved his walk and the perfect decency of his movements, he loved everything Siddhartha did and said and what he loved most was his spirit, his transcendent, fiery thoughts, his ardent will, his high calling. Govinda knew: he would not become a common Brahman, not a lazy official in charge of offerings; not a greedy merchant with magic spells; not a vain, vacuous speaker; not a mean, deceitful priest; and also not a decent, stupid sheep in the herd of the many. No, and he, Govinda, as well did not want to become one of those, not one of those tens of thousands of Brahmans. He wanted to follow Siddhartha, the beloved, the splendid. And in days to come, when Siddhartha would become a god, when he would join the glorious, then Govinda wanted to follow him as his friend, his companion, his servant, his spear-carrier, his shadow.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Siddhartha was thus loved by everyone. He was a source of joy for everybody, he was a delight for them all.</b></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRhIv8pWFnWLV_QaVVH_4PoXeOgT3zSWvE6CC53FX2HHg45nyLVelUscStSJCOeN3irbCjE-B9jKgMD5cH_CYl35g7zdzgXNyg6al7kQBBUQwxMjwCZExWFk2RgiWTSBsPaaw93c9x4mT80-u6PMeG8TYOTni61JXkIYL41_j4NrxV07c0B_QKoESaXw/s3000/hutovo%20blato%20photography%20vintage%20levis%20jeans%20new%20black%20shoes%20bih.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRhIv8pWFnWLV_QaVVH_4PoXeOgT3zSWvE6CC53FX2HHg45nyLVelUscStSJCOeN3irbCjE-B9jKgMD5cH_CYl35g7zdzgXNyg6al7kQBBUQwxMjwCZExWFk2RgiWTSBsPaaw93c9x4mT80-u6PMeG8TYOTni61JXkIYL41_j4NrxV07c0B_QKoESaXw/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20photography%20vintage%20levis%20jeans%20new%20black%20shoes%20bih.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> Siddhartha is loved by everyone, but he isn't content! He starts asking questions and is very keen on finding the answers for himself. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>But he, Siddhartha, was not a source of joy for himself, he found no delight in himself. Walking the rosy paths of the fig tree garden, sitting in the bluish shade of the grove of contemplation, washing his limbs daily in the bath of repentance, sacrificing in the dim shade of the mango forest, his gestures of perfect decency, everyone’s love and joy, he still lacked all joy in his heart. Dreams and restless thoughts came into his mind, flowing from the water of the river, sparkling from the stars of the night, melting from the beams of the sun, dreams came to him and a restlessness of the soul, fuming from the sacrifices, breathing forth from the verses of the Rig-Veda, being infused into him, drop by drop, from the teachings of the old Brahmans.</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading these lines, one is almost under the impression that one is reading a fairy tale, a myth or an ancient text connected with either Hinduism or Buddhism. However, that is not the case. This novel is a work of fiction. Its principal character is a contemporary of Buddha and the novel takes place in India and Nepal. Moreover, its protagonist is in search for spiritual enlighten. However, the protagonist should not be confused with Buddha. Before achieving </span>enlightenment<span style="font-family: inherit;">, Buddha's name was Siddhartha but in this novel, Buddha is </span>referred<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to as Gautama and the name Siddhartha is only used to refer to the book's protagonist, an entirely fictional character. </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How mature is this work? Does this novel explain Buddhism? I don’t think it does in full, but then again I don’t see why it should. If someone expects that, they might be disappointed. This is a work of fiction, and as profound it might be, its aim is not to explain complex religious or spiritual concepts. </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Explaining a complex religious teaching, now would be a bit too much to expect of a novel, wouldn’t it? Perhaps we can say that this novel was important when it came to introducing and popularizing spiritual concepts from Buddhism to Western world, but it is first and foremost a novel, not a study of a religion. Hesse is amazing when it comes to conveying philosophical and theological concepts to literary forms, though. I could sense both references to Bhagavat Gita (the </span>sacred<span style="font-family: inherit;"> text of Hinduism, a part of Hindu epic <b><i>Mahabharata</i></b>) and Buddha's noble truths. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p style="font-size: 20px;"></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><i><b>The ablutions were good, but they were water, they did not wash off the sin, they did not heal the spirit’s thirst, they did not relieve the fear in his heart. The sacrifices and the invocation of the gods were excellent—but was that all? Did the sacrifices give a happy fortune? And what about the gods? Was it really Prajapati who had created the world? Was it not the Atman, He, the only one, the singular one? Were the gods not creations, created like me and you, subject to time, mortal? Was it therefore good, was it right, was it meaningful and the highest occupation to make offerings to the gods? For whom else were offerings to be made, who else was to be worshipped but Him, the only one, the Atman? And where was Atman to be found, where did He reside, where did his eternal heart beat, where else but in one’s own self, in its innermost part, in its indestructible part, which everyone had in himself? But where, where was this self, this innermost part, this ultimate part? It was not flesh and bone, it was neither thought nor consciousness, thus the wisest ones taught. So, where, where was it? To reach this place, the self, myself, the Atman, there was another way, which was worthwhile looking for? Alas, and nobody showed this way, nobody knew it, not the father, and not the teachers and wise men, not the holy sacrificial songs! They knew everything, the Brahmans and their holy books, they knew everything, they had taken care of everything and of more than everything, the creation of the world, the origin of speech, of food, of inhaling, of exhaling, the arrangement of the senses, the acts of the gods, they knew infinitely much—but was it valuable to know all of this, not knowing that one and only thing, the most important thing, the solely important thing? *</b></i></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-indent: 16px;">*all quotations from <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2500/pg2500-images.html" target="_blank">Project Gutenberg site </a>. </span></span></span></div><div><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I remember how amazed I was by <b><i>Narcissus and Goldmund</i></b>, when I had first read it. What fascinated me most about that novel was the complex way it spoke of religion. On one hand, I could sense irony when religion was discussed but at the same time there was also respect and understanding of theological concepts. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The same could be said of <b><i>Siddhartha</i></b>. Both novels tell a story of a young man who abandons his religious upbringing/education in favour of a sensual lifestyle that could be considered sinful, just one happens to a former monk and the other a son of a Brahmin. Perhaps both novel aren’t exactly a critique of religion and society (as some might see it), but more a critique of a superficial way of understanding spirituality and of danger of losing our individual self by following society's rules. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can spirituality exist outside of religion? I think Herman suggests that it can, that an individual can find the meaning of life in ways that aren’t necessarily traditional. The more I think of <i><b>Narcissus </b>and Goldmund</i>, the more I realize how that novel is extremely similar to <i><b>Siddhartha</b></i>.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUj3EZjA3I6mCTg1VKeKWSBmbwnLlHVNB7kHeD728nZ79CdJdFyRWCDQB8IVVERpEHad4vMZw7V5dWRFaiVd1iZ67HuPTRu6T6553T9CzixIaDpF-QVsL2KUtkCTq5wNBgq5PgcRluumOWBuj286nkDt5YFN4DC47AAT2JDK_4XkL2_M8_yVRjVlHeo6Y/s3000/hutovo%20blato%20restaurant%20bih%20mostar%20bih.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUj3EZjA3I6mCTg1VKeKWSBmbwnLlHVNB7kHeD728nZ79CdJdFyRWCDQB8IVVERpEHad4vMZw7V5dWRFaiVd1iZ67HuPTRu6T6553T9CzixIaDpF-QVsL2KUtkCTq5wNBgq5PgcRluumOWBuj286nkDt5YFN4DC47AAT2JDK_4XkL2_M8_yVRjVlHeo6Y/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20restaurant%20bih%20mostar%20bih.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I really enjoyed my pancakes at restaurant in Hutovo Blato.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is a novel that isn't afraid to ask questions. It's first chapter is filled with them. As the protagonist starts to ask questions, he also shows his rather impressive education. It's clear that the protagonist of this novel is well versed in theology and philosophy. The author of this novel, Herman Hesse, obviously had an excellent understanding of these topics as well.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i>Surely, many verses of the holy books, particularly in the Upanishades of Samaveda, spoke of this innermost and ultimate thing, wonderful verses. “Your soul is the whole world”, was written there, and it was written that man in his sleep, in his deep sleep, would meet with his innermost part and would reside in the Atman. Marvellous wisdom was in these verses, all knowledge of the wisest ones had been collected here in magic words, pure as honey collected by bees. No, not to be looked down upon was the tremendous amount of enlightenment which lay here collected and preserved by innumerable generations of wise Brahmans.—But where were the Brahmans, where the priests, where the wise men or penitents, who had succeeded in not just knowing this deepest of all knowledge but also to live it? Where was the knowledgeable one who wove his spell to bring his familiarity with the Atman out of the sleep into the state of being awake, into the life, into every step of the way, into word and deed? Siddhartha knew many venerable Brahmans, chiefly his father, the pure one, the scholar, the most venerable one. His father was to be admired, quiet and noble were his manners, pure his life, wise his words, delicate and noble thoughts lived behind its brow —but even he, who knew so much, did he live in blissfulness, did he have peace, was he not also just a searching man, a thirsty man? Did he not, again and again, have to drink from holy sources, as a thirsty man, from the offerings, from the books, from the disputes of the Brahmans? Why did he, the irreproachable one, have to wash off sins every day, strive for a cleansing every day, over and over every day? Was not Atman in him, did not the pristine source spring from his heart? It had to be found, the pristine source in one’s own self, it had to be possessed! Everything else was searching, was a detour, was getting lost.</i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i>Thus were Siddhartha’s thoughts, this was his thirst, this was his suffering.</i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i>Often he spoke to himself from a Chandogya-Upanishad the words: “Truly, the name of the Brahman is satyam—verily, he who knows such a thing, will enter the heavenly world every day.” Often, it seemed near, the heavenly world, but never he had reached it completely, never he had quenched the ultimate thirst. And among all the wise and wisest men, he knew and whose instructions he had received, among all of them there was no one, who had reached it completely, the heavenly world, who had quenched it completely, the eternal thirst.</i></b></p></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOaxWQcgxfniLaBgjxtFtaAmsQ9K3x7pdEYBR_JRfdXYL4SJ4tnqgQ-y4JU0RD8MJ-a3zxy8QJx22vmy3_SzTJS0VxQRIEgQED85YfQ5dgvBFI9efrxxglNySZmCLOZBQjF0wXgpmo4Sp8zPTp5oUyf7-vtO6g8BJK5mdUlUVsMyCsTlTMIPcrZbJWDBU/s3000/hutovo%20blato%20wetland%20european%20national%20park%20treasure%20bih.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOaxWQcgxfniLaBgjxtFtaAmsQ9K3x7pdEYBR_JRfdXYL4SJ4tnqgQ-y4JU0RD8MJ-a3zxy8QJx22vmy3_SzTJS0VxQRIEgQED85YfQ5dgvBFI9efrxxglNySZmCLOZBQjF0wXgpmo4Sp8zPTp5oUyf7-vtO6g8BJK5mdUlUVsMyCsTlTMIPcrZbJWDBU/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20wetland%20european%20national%20park%20treasure%20bih.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Our protagonist, tortured by questions, decides to seek answers and invites his friend Govinda. <span style="background-color: white;">This novel tells the story of Siddhartha, a beautiful and beloved young son of Brahmin, who discontent with his life, decides to leave his father and family behind and pursue a life of a mystic. Siddhartha is profoundly unhappy, despite being loved and respected by many, despite being a diligent student, a person that everyone, even masters and religious figures (Brahmans) admire. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>“Govinda,” Siddhartha spoke to his friend, “Govinda, my dear, come with me under the Banyan tree, let’s practise meditation.”</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>They went to the Banyan tree, they sat down, Siddhartha right here, Govinda twenty paces away. While putting himself down, ready to speak the Om, Siddhartha repeated murmuring the verse:</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>Om is the bow, the arrow is soul, The Brahman is the arrow’s target, That one should incessantly hit.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>After the usual time of the exercise in meditation had passed, Govinda rose. The evening had come, it was time to perform the evening’s ablution. He called Siddhartha’s name. Siddhartha did not answer. Siddhartha sat there lost in thought, his eyes were rigidly focused towards a very distant target, the tip of his tongue was protruding a little between the teeth, he seemed not to breathe. Thus sat he, wrapped up in contemplation, thinking Om, his soul sent after the Brahman as an arrow.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>Once, Samanas had travelled through Siddhartha’s town, ascetics on a pilgrimage, three skinny, withered men, neither old nor young, with dusty and bloody shoulders, almost naked, scorched by the sun, surrounded by loneliness, strangers and enemies to the world, strangers and lank jackals in the realm of humans. Behind them blew a hot scent of quiet passion, of destructive service, of merciless self-denial.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>In the evening, after the hour of contemplation, Siddhartha spoke to Govinda: “Early tomorrow morning, my friend, Siddhartha will go to the Samanas. He will become a Samana.”</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>Govinda turned pale, when he heard these words and read the decision in the motionless face of his friend, unstoppable like the arrow shot from the bow. Soon and with the first glance, Govinda realized: Now it is beginning, now Siddhartha is taking his own way, now his fate is beginning to sprout, and with his, my own. And he turned pale like a dry banana-skin.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>“O Siddhartha,” he exclaimed, “will your father permit you to do that?”</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>Siddhartha looked over as if he was just waking up. Arrow-fast he read in Govinda’s soul, read the fear, read the submission.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><b>“O Govinda,” he spoke quietly, “let’s not waste words. Tomorrow, at daybreak I will begin the life of the Samanas. Speak no more of it.”</b></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">His life story resembles but not reflects the story of Buddha, because Siddhartha is no Buddha. Siddhartha, the protagonist of this novel will encounter Buddha (who is in this novel referred to as Gautama) and talk with him, but Siddhartha will decide to follow his own path. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Why did Hesse decide to use the Buddha’s Indian name (the one Buddha had before finding enlightening) for his protagonist? Was it also his way of commenting of Buddha’s path? Does this Siddhartha of the novel symbolize Buddha prior to taking the road to nirvana?</span></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjndVZOI8YKwwbS5BKCWN-HR0EM59TjdaqziZVHUGRpVyUXi93Q0u47Obe9GH0uSB8ozmsCgyxBHPLn9M89HwOFVK1lt7BRDwlLtYD7O0SBu6pOiUMAXMQCWQtYMMHnGJoZjn4soFXqmcMM4feKucCTDqSGdTsMhsLQOqFeCgE4KFeV3M7sqx3Mci5MdY/s3000/IMG_20240120_114625.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjndVZOI8YKwwbS5BKCWN-HR0EM59TjdaqziZVHUGRpVyUXi93Q0u47Obe9GH0uSB8ozmsCgyxBHPLn9M89HwOFVK1lt7BRDwlLtYD7O0SBu6pOiUMAXMQCWQtYMMHnGJoZjn4soFXqmcMM4feKucCTDqSGdTsMhsLQOqFeCgE4KFeV3M7sqx3Mci5MdY/s16000/IMG_20240120_114625.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Siddhartha learned a lot when he was with the Samanas, many ways leading away from the self he learned to go. He went the way of self-denial by means of pain, through voluntarily suffering and overcoming pain, hunger, thirst, tiredness. He went the way of self-denial by means of meditation, through imagining the mind to be void of all conceptions. These and other ways he learned to go, a thousand times he left his self, for hours and days he remained in the non-self. But though the ways led away from the self, their end nevertheless always led back to the self. Though Siddhartha fled from the self a thousand times, stayed in nothingness, stayed in the animal, in the stone, the return was inevitable, inescapable was the hour, when he found himself back in the sunshine or in the moonlight, in the shade or in the rain, and was once again his self and Siddhartha, and again felt the agony of the cycle which had been forced upon him.</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">By his side lived Govinda, his shadow, walked the same paths, undertook the same efforts. They rarely spoke to one another, than the service and the exercises required. Occasionally the two of them went through the villages, to beg for food for themselves and their teachers.</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“How do you think, Govinda,” Siddhartha spoke one day while begging this way, “how do you think did we progress? Did we reach any goals?”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Govinda answered: “We have learned, and we’ll continue learning. You’ll be a great Samana, Siddhartha. Quickly, you’ve learned every exercise, often the old Samanas have admired you. One day, you’ll be a holy man, oh Siddhartha.”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Quoth Siddhartha: “I can’t help but feel that it is not like this, my friend. What I’ve learned, being among the Samanas, up to this day, this, oh Govinda, I could have learned more quickly and by simpler means. In every tavern of that part of a town where the whorehouses are, my friend, among carters and gamblers I could have learned it.”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Quoth Govinda: “Siddhartha is putting me on. How could you have learned meditation, holding your breath, insensitivity against hunger and pain there among these wretched people?”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">And Siddhartha said quietly, as if he was talking to himself: “What is meditation? What is leaving one’s body? What is fasting? What is holding one’s breath? It is fleeing from the self, it is a short escape of the agony of being a self, it is a short numbing of the senses against the pain and the pointlessness of life. The same escape, the same short numbing is what the driver of an ox-cart finds in the inn, drinking a few bowls of rice-wine or fermented coconut-milk. Then he won’t feel his self any more, then he won’t feel the pains of life any more, then he finds a short numbing of the senses. When he falls asleep over his bowl of rice-wine, he’ll find the same what Siddhartha and Govinda find when they escape their bodies through long exercises, staying in the non-self. This is how it is, oh Govinda.”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Quoth Govinda: “You say so, oh friend, and yet you know that Siddhartha is no driver of an ox-cart and a Samana is no drunkard. It’s true that a drinker numbs his senses, it’s true that he briefly escapes and rests, but he’ll return from the delusion, finds everything to be unchanged, has not become wiser, has gathered no enlightenment,—has not risen several steps.”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">And Siddhartha spoke with a smile: “I do not know, I’ve never been a drunkard. But that I, Siddhartha, find only a short numbing of the senses in my exercises and meditations and that I am just as far removed from wisdom, from salvation, as a child in the mother’s womb, this I know, oh Govinda, this I know.”</span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></b></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The legend of Buddha spreads and Govinda wants to know this man. Just as Govinda embraces the teaching of Samanas, now he wants to embrace the teaching of Buddha. However, Siddhartha's heart is never at peace it seems. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>“Oh Siddhartha,” Govinda spoke one day to his friend. “Today, I was in the village, and a Brahman invited me into his house, and in his house, there was the son of a Brahman from Magadha, who has seen the Buddha with his own eyes and has heard him teach. Verily, this made my chest ache when I breathed, and thought to myself: If only I would too, if only we both would too, Siddhartha and me, live to see the hour when we will hear the teachings from the mouth of this perfected man! Speak, friend, wouldn’t we want to go there too and listen to the teachings from the Buddha’s mouth?”</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Quoth Siddhartha: “Always, oh Govinda, I had thought, Govinda would stay with the Samanas, always I had believed his goal was to live to be sixty and seventy years of age and to keep on practising those feats and exercises, which are becoming a Samana. But behold, I had not known Govinda well enough, I knew little of his heart. So now you, my faithful friend, want to take a new path and go there, where the Buddha spreads his teachings.”</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Quoth Govinda: “You’re mocking me. Mock me if you like, Siddhartha! But have you not also developed a desire, an eagerness, to hear these teachings? And have you not at one time said to me, you would not walk the path of the Samanas for much longer?”</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>At this, Siddhartha laughed in his very own manner, in which his voice assumed a touch of sadness and a touch of mockery, and said: “Well, Govinda, you’ve spoken well, you’ve remembered correctly. If you only remembered the other thing as well, you’ve heard from me, which is that I have grown distrustful and tired against teachings and learning, and that my faith in words, which are brought to us by teachers, is small. But let’s do it, my dear, I am willing to listen to these teachings—though in my heart I believe that we’ve already tasted the best fruit of these teachings.”</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRlrLM9Z5d-o1A2E-5hMmZYrSSx7BF9KioIL67tWVQ0yoYAXWjd8vF8tHQTjbm8FPQYRPvNfXWr-hrRMQamVPHfj_yJ_co_mNJCKn9BSEXIaTXcuOrv6wp08pehkgDdko2DmaaNK1bQc5sD-Kx0-BrUktTPLp7jYIDHCc1AYk2aJJiIV6xhn_9x5tZYU/s3000/IMG_20240120_114720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRlrLM9Z5d-o1A2E-5hMmZYrSSx7BF9KioIL67tWVQ0yoYAXWjd8vF8tHQTjbm8FPQYRPvNfXWr-hrRMQamVPHfj_yJ_co_mNJCKn9BSEXIaTXcuOrv6wp08pehkgDdko2DmaaNK1bQc5sD-Kx0-BrUktTPLp7jYIDHCc1AYk2aJJiIV6xhn_9x5tZYU/s16000/IMG_20240120_114720.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why did Siddhartha decide not to follow Buddha despite his obvious respect and admiration for him? Was it because he wasn't ready for it? Was it because Siddhartha was aware that he probably wouldn't be able to accept Buddha as a teacher? Was it because Siddhartha was too proud or because he became jaded by studying different teachings? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">They both followed the Buddha until they reached the town and then returned in silence, for they themselves intended to abstain from on this day. They saw Gotama returning—what he ate could not even have satisfied a bird’s appetite, and they saw him retiring into the shade of the mango-trees.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">But in the evening, when the heat cooled down and everyone in the camp started to bustle about and gathered around, they heard the Buddha teaching. They heard his voice, and it was also perfected, was of perfect calmness, was full of peace. Gotama taught the teachings of suffering, of the origin of suffering, of the way to relieve suffering. Calmly and clearly his quiet speech flowed on. Suffering was life, full of suffering was the world, but salvation from suffering had been found: salvation was obtained by him who would walk the path of the Buddha. With a soft, yet firm voice the exalted one spoke, taught the four main doctrines, taught the eightfold path, patiently he went the usual path of the teachings, of the examples, of the repetitions, brightly and quietly his voice hovered over the listeners, like a light, like a starry sky.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">When the Buddha—night had already fallen—ended his speech, many a pilgrim stepped forward and asked to be accepted into the community, sought refuge in the teachings. And Gotama accepted them by speaking: “You have heard the teachings well, it has come to you well. Thus join us and walk in holiness, to put an end to all suffering.”</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Behold, then Govinda, the shy one, also stepped forward and spoke: “I also take my refuge in the exalted one and his teachings,” and he asked to be accepted into the community of his disciples and was accepted.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Right afterwards, when the Buddha had retired for the night, Govinda turned to Siddhartha and spoke eagerly: “Siddhartha, it is not my place to scold you. We have both heard the exalted one, we have both perceived the teachings. Govinda has heard the teachings, he has taken refuge in it. But you, my honoured friend, don’t you also want to walk the path of salvation? Would you want to hesitate, do you want to wait any longer?”</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p></i></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Why doesn't Siddhartha join Buddha if he perceives him as the ultimate truth? I might just as well ask- Why did the protagonist of <b><i>Narcissus and Goldmund</i></b> decide to leave the monastery despite being obviously gifted theologically?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Interestingly, both novels also feature a story of intense friendship between two men, friendship that seems to overcome time and separation. These stories of friendship humanize the headstrong protagonists of these two novels. Siddhartha’s friend Govinda leaves Brahmins and then later on also Samanas (ascetics) when Siddhartha does, following Siddhartha wherever he goes. Nevertheless, when the two of them met Buddha, his friend Govinda remains by Buddha’s side. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Siddhartha awakened as if he had been asleep, when he heard Govinda’s words. For a long time, he looked into Govinda’s face. Then he spoke quietly, in a voice without mockery: “Govinda, my friend, now you have taken this step, now you have chosen this path. Always, oh Govinda, you’ve been my friend, you’ve always walked one step behind me. Often I have thought: Won’t Govinda for once also take a step by himself, without me, out of his own soul? Behold, now you’ve turned into a man and are choosing your path for yourself. I wish that you would go it up to its end, oh my friend, that you shall find salvation!”</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Govinda, not completely understanding it yet, repeated his question in an impatient tone: “Speak up, I beg you, my dear! Tell me, since it could not be any other way, that you also, my learned friend, will take your refuge with the exalted Buddha!”</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Siddhartha placed his hand on Govinda’s shoulder: “You failed to hear my good wish for you, oh Govinda. I’m repeating it: I wish that you would go this path up to its end, that you shall find salvation!”</p></b></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why didn’t Siddhartha do the same? Siddhartha had learned everything that the Brahmin and Samanas had to teach him, or so he claimed so it makes sense why he didn't stay with them. However, Siddhartha admits that Buddha’s teaching is the most perfect one, yet he leaves Buddha in search of his own path.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is it a strictly spiritual path that he is searching? Not exactly. It's a path that will result in leading at least seemingly an ordinary life. What is the meaning of this? I think that what stroke me the most about the conversation between Buddha and our protagonist is Buddha’s warning ( I don’t want to say what kind of warning it is to avoid spoilers, but I thought that was an interesting moment). </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Siddhartha says he won’t accept any doctrine, perhaps what he means to say is that he intends find his own answers and then what follows is pretty much the plot of the novel, so I won’t get into that. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading this review, you might think that I have already given away the plot, but no. I have really just stretched the surface, discussing only the first chapters of the novel. I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that to me Siddhartha seems to be intellectual. It is perhaps exactly that intellectualism, that desire to know and explain everything that holds him back in experiencing not only profound spiritual experiences but also ordinary relationships.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">But Siddhartha walked through the grove, lost in thought.</p><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Then he happened to meet Gotama, the exalted one, and when he greeted him with respect and the Buddha’s glance was so full of kindness and calm, the young man summoned his courage and asked the venerable one for the permission to talk to him. Silently the exalted one nodded his approval.</p><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Quoth Siddhartha: “Yesterday, oh exalted one, I had been privileged to hear your wondrous teachings. Together with my friend, I had come from afar, to hear your teachings. And now my friend is going to stay with your people, he has taken his refuge with you. But I will again start on my pilgrimage.”</p><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">“As you please,” the venerable one spoke politely.</p><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">“Too bold is my speech,” Siddhartha continued, “but I do not want to leave the exalted one without having honestly told him my thoughts. Does it please the venerable one to listen to me for one moment longer?”</p><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Silently, the Buddha nodded his approval.</p><p style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-indent: 1em;">Quoth Siddhartha: “One thing, oh most venerable one, I have admired in your teachings most of all. Everything in your teachings is perfectly clear, is proven; you are presenting the world as a perfect chain, a chain which is never and nowhere broken, an eternal chain the links of which are causes and effects. Never before, this has been seen so clearly; never before, this has been presented so irrefutably; truly, the heart of every Brahman has to beat stronger with love, once he has seen the world through your teachings perfectly connected, without gaps, clear as a crystal, not depending on chance, not depending on gods. Whether it may be good or bad, whether living according to it would be suffering or joy, I do not wish to discuss, possibly this is not essential—but the uniformity of the world, that everything which happens is connected, that the great and the small things are all encompassed by the same forces of time, by the same law of causes, of coming into being and of dying, this is what shines brightly out of your exalted teachings, oh perfected one. But according to your very own teachings, this unity and necessary sequence of all things is nevertheless broken in one place, through a small gap, this world of unity is invaded by something alien, something new, something which had not been there before, and which cannot be demonstrated and cannot be proven: these are your teachings of overcoming the world, of salvation. But with this small gap, with this small breach, the entire eternal and uniform law of the world is breaking apart again and becomes void. Please forgive me for expressing this objection.”</p></b></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Perhaps Siddhartha, at that point he meets Buddha, is ironically, so skilled in detachment and self-control that he doesn’t know how to give himself, how to really open up to another human being and hence he cannot accept Buddha as a teacher. He cannot open up to the man he admires above all others. Naturally, this is only one of possible interpretations. I could probably go about this topic forever, but I have to put a limit somewhere (on how long a review can be). So, I'll try to wrap things up. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I wish that you, oh exalted one, would not be angry with me,” said the young man. “I have not spoken to you like this to argue with you, to argue about words. You are truly right, there is little to opinions. But let me say this one more thing: I have not doubted in you for a single moment. I have not doubted for a single moment that you are Buddha, that you have reached the goal, the highest goal towards which so many thousands of Brahmans and sons of Brahmans are on their way. You have found salvation from death. It has come to you in the course of your own search, on your own path, through thoughts, through meditation, through realizations, through enlightenment. It has not come to you by means of teachings! And—thus is my thought, oh exalted one,—nobody will obtain salvation by means of teachings! You will not be able to convey and say to anybody, oh venerable one, in words and through teachings what has happened to you in the hour of enlightenment! The teachings of the enlightened Buddha contain much, it teaches many to live righteously, to avoid evil. But there is one thing which these so clear, these so venerable teachings do not contain: they do not contain the mystery of what the exalted one has experienced for himself, he alone among hundreds of thousands. This is what I have thought and realized, when I have heard the teachings. This is why I am continuing my travels—not to seek other, better teachings, for I know there are none, but to depart from all teachings and all teachers and to reach my goal by myself or to die. But often, I’ll think of this day, oh exalted one, and of this hour, when my eyes beheld a holy man.”</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">If I were to try to find faults with Hesse's novel, I could say that the protagonist seems terribly selfish. I know he is discontent with life, but is that the reason to abandon everyone who loves him. It seems that Siddhartha cares only about himself. I do love him for being him honestly, but Siddhartha's detachment with everyone makes him seem very distant and even cold. On the other hand, can Siddhartha be any different, can he act differently? Is there another way? </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: 16px;"><i><b>“Far is such a thought from my mind,” exclaimed Siddhartha. “I wish that they shall all stay with the teachings, that they shall reach their goal! It is not my place to judge another person’s life. Only for myself, for myself alone, I must decide, I must chose, I must refuse. Salvation from the self is what we Samanas search for, oh exalted one. If I merely were one of your disciples, oh venerable one, I’d fear that it might happen to me that only seemingly, only deceptively my self would be calm and be redeemed, but that in truth it would live on and grow, for then I had replaced my self with the teachings, my duty to follow you, my love for you, and the community of the monks!”</b></i></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">If Siddhartha were to remain by his father's side when he found no meaning in that kind of life, wouldn't that be hypocrisy, taking the easy way and giving up? Similarly, when romantic love doesn't offer him fulfilment, is Siddhartha really wrong to leave and search for his happiness elsewhere? If Siddhartha followed Buddha when he had no sincere desire to do so, wouldn't that been hypocrisy as well? </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 16px;"><b><i>I saw a man, Siddhartha thought, a single man, before whom I would have to lower my glance. I do not want to lower my glance before any other, not before any other. No teachings will entice me any more, since this man’s teachings have not enticed me.</i></b></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Those are all complex questions. This novel doesn't offer clear answers. It hints on spiritual and </span>religious concepts, meanings and truths. It hints that one must follow its own path, abandon the social conventions in favour of individual questioning. Isn't that something every mature individual should do? To question one's life? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who was Herman Hesse, this man who makes me ask so many questions? Having read only a few of his novels, I can't possibly answer that but for a long time I was (for some reason) convinced that he must have been a philosopher as well as a writer. Turns out that he wasn’t exactly a philosopher, although his grandfather seems to have been a philosopher of some esteem, so perhaps that is why Hesse comes off (at least in his writing) so fluent in philosophical subjects. One of the reasons why I found writing this review a bit challenging is because philosophy is not my strongest point but I did feel that this novel was a philosophical one. I liked this novel immensely, possibly because it is such an ambition work. It deals with subjects that are anything but easy to explain. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This book might have risen to fame because of the hippie movements and all that, but it is a very complex piece of writing. It is neither a novel about Buddhism, (it doesn’t really properly examine this religion and its teachings) nor does it shows ‘the way to nirvana and enlightenment'. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It does talk about spirituality, though. Siddhartha is, like <b><i>Narcissus and Goldmund</i></b>, a novel about the search for meaning of life. A novel about friendship, about love and about spiritually. Siddhartha devotes his whole life to studying and learning to think, only to discover that knowledge isn’t hidden solely in words and philosophy. What does Siddhartha really achieve at the end? Be what it may, we as readers are certainly there with him every step of the way. Hesse writes simply but powerfully. His words get to our heart and his protagonist under our skin. <b><i>Siddhartha </i></b>is a touching and beautifully written novel. I’m so happy I've had the chance to read it and I'll probably reread it a number of times.</span></span></div><p><span face="Lato, sans-serif" style="background-color: #ececec; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span face="Lato, sans-serif" style="background-color: #ececec; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">Now, that the book review is over, let's do the travel part of this post!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mZ1AfHxatJiUJc81KtrrWvDXa7L3EByEVIojboBdNM8ySo8P82yai8Q06cUE2jZNnLJkFjWjHbLvbwtFI8fKGVy_QktVLGXk8pC5aFac-MbQP7yvjGqyo8uJEMyf35J2pT-hZW3NmmGtQeP8zVarwqcF2P3kalq5OLgBEOKlEYVVeyTa7vemhhhorBs/s1600/hutovo%20blato%20revisit%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20floral%20dress%20boots.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mZ1AfHxatJiUJc81KtrrWvDXa7L3EByEVIojboBdNM8ySo8P82yai8Q06cUE2jZNnLJkFjWjHbLvbwtFI8fKGVy_QktVLGXk8pC5aFac-MbQP7yvjGqyo8uJEMyf35J2pT-hZW3NmmGtQeP8zVarwqcF2P3kalq5OLgBEOKlEYVVeyTa7vemhhhorBs/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20revisit%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20floral%20dress%20boots.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">MY PREVIOUS (YEARLY) VISITS TO WETLAND NATURE PARK HUTOVO BLATO</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-wetland-hutovo-blato-with-me.html">VISIT WETLAND HUTOVO BLATO WITH ME! (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)</a> 2022</span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/06/visit-hutovo-blato-wetland-nature-park.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/06/visit-hutovo-blato-wetland-nature-park.html</a>- this was <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/06/visit-hutovo-blato-wetland-nature-park.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">A SUMMER VISIT TO NATURE PARK HUTOVO BLATO </a>. There you can find tips on what to do in this nature park as well as some nice photography. Bellow are links to more visits:</span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/08/visit-hutovo-blato-with-modaodaradosti.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">NATURE PARK HUTOVO BLATO AUGUST (SUMMER) 2020 </span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/09/pepita-shorts-and-cropped-top-for-visit.html?m=0" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">HUTOVO BLATO (SUMMER) 2019</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/02/lets-visit-hutovo-blato-together-idemo.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">LET'S VISIT HUTOVO BLATO, JANUARY (WINTER) 2018</a> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">MORE OLDER VISITS AND LINKS BELLOW: </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2017/02/hutovo-blato-part-one-hutovo-blato-prvi.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>and <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2017/02/hutovo-blato-wintertime-zimi-part-two.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>(Winter 2017) </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/10/hutovo-blato-revisited-little-place-to.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/10/to-be-continuednastavlja-se.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>(Autumn 2017)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/08/visiting-hutovo-blato-in-pastel-dress.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> (Summer 2016)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/04/nature-park-hutovo-blato-part-2-park.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> (Spring 2015)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/08/sights-to-see-places-to-visit_30.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a> and <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/04/nature-park-hutovo-blato-part-1-park.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>(Summer 2015)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2013/09/nature-park-hutovo-blato-1-outfit-post.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>(Summer 2013) and <a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2013/03/a-visit-to-nature-park-hutovo-blato.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>(Winter 2013)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2013/11/hutovo-blato-travel-post-putopis.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>(photographs taken during Summer 2012 but published during Winter 2013)</span></span></div></div></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT NATURE PARKS IN THE AREA, DON'T FORGET TO VISIT <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/04/protected-areas-in-bosnia-and.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">MY POST ABOUT PROTECTED AREAS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA! </a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzrFkPjU30LKTCMyaAIA6__F3OFxKQcFoiXUZqw12UVKs80k9z68mLBHV1L71KT_WpoOEKbx9JwjCLIYjQGGChqS0vNwe__om5x5VXNjxv52cYdaWo_lXYacBoNiwTQfv8Ma_nUR2fT63U47ZiRVCpfnXWCCxq4WwdCS8hKm1wNBLTG91qRy6z3NF5u0/s1600/hutovo%20blato.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzrFkPjU30LKTCMyaAIA6__F3OFxKQcFoiXUZqw12UVKs80k9z68mLBHV1L71KT_WpoOEKbx9JwjCLIYjQGGChqS0vNwe__om5x5VXNjxv52cYdaWo_lXYacBoNiwTQfv8Ma_nUR2fT63U47ZiRVCpfnXWCCxq4WwdCS8hKm1wNBLTG91qRy6z3NF5u0/s16000/hutovo%20blato.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bolder; text-align: center;">WHAT TO SEE AND DO AT NATURE PARK HUTOVO BLATO?</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">TOP SEVEN THINGS TO DO IN HUTOVO BLATO:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">1. TRY OUT THE NEW ADVENTURE PARK TRACK AND ROCK CLIMBING</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"> </span>On this particular visit to Hutovo blato we noticed something new. There's an adventure track and a rock climbing polygon. It seems to be only for kids, though! There was nobody doing it that we could see, so maybe one needs to book in advance or something. Maybe next time we shall ask around. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">2. GO FOR A BOAT RIDE AND ENJOY MAGNIFICENT VIEWS (BRING YOUR CAM!)</span><br />I went for a boat ride twice and it was such a great experience, I might do it again. It's all about that interaction with the environment. If you like boats, its definitely something you should try. For more information about boat rides, feel free to visit my old posts. Basically, the typical boat rides aren't expensive because the cost can be split between passengers on board. Once you get to this park, you just go and ask around, there should be some boats available for a drive around. You can also pay for a private ride, but that would be a more pricey option. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">3. VISIT A SECRET BRIDGE THAT IS EVEN OLDER THAN THE FAMOUS OLD BRIDGE</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">Right next to the sign announcing entrance to the park, you can see a very old bridge. In fact, I took photos of it many times. If you don't know it is there and if you don't look carefully, you can easily miss it. For some reason, nobody really pays attention to this historical bridge. This bridge is even older than the more famous and more 'touristy' old bridge in Mostar. Don't miss this spot!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">4. DINE OR STOP FOR COFFEE AT THE RESTAURANT MOTEL PARK</span><br />There is a nice restaurant/motel in the park that I can recommend. We always stop there either for a cup of coffee or a meal. You can also stay there. Maybe I'll try that some day too.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">5. GO HIKING OR CYCLING </span>Besides taking a boat ride, hiking and cycling are also a great ways to explore this nature park. Exercise is good for our health</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">6. DISCOVER THE AMAZING NATURAL BEAUTY AND WILDLIFE- </span><span style="font-weight: bolder;">BIRD-WATCHING</span><span style="font-weight: bolder;"> IN PARTICULAR IS A MUST HERE!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"> The wild life you can spot is an additional bonus. If you're into bird-watching, this is a place for you!We always end up seeing so many birds. There are literally everywhere, you cannot miss them.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">7. TAKE A SOUVENIR WITH YOU!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">You can find a shop or two at the premises, so why not take a souvenir with you?</span></div></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWaX_NjQhPkpLJklqVZhvRmY7DN72Xz1g5gp1pthmzajYI2Il5rNngUh6ICQZaMXX-xvaQuN5KMhpjEANWFT0oWHuKDRW-z5K30WJr94c8lH2h-miNlUww-vpZiUEfsL_oa-rDTIOm7OjH2dIYAn4sYSOiX_DvXf751GJQejWFtaEh5DtYAhJ7LuU25U/s1600/hutovo%20blato%20boat%20wetland%20mor%20blog.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWaX_NjQhPkpLJklqVZhvRmY7DN72Xz1g5gp1pthmzajYI2Il5rNngUh6ICQZaMXX-xvaQuN5KMhpjEANWFT0oWHuKDRW-z5K30WJr94c8lH2h-miNlUww-vpZiUEfsL_oa-rDTIOm7OjH2dIYAn4sYSOiX_DvXf751GJQejWFtaEh5DtYAhJ7LuU25U/s16000/hutovo%20blato%20boat%20wetland%20mor%20blog.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*photographs from my previous visit, the link is available above.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; text-align: justify;">As always, thank you for reading and visiting. Have a lovely day!</div></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-60307317550970257812024-02-16T16:08:00.000-08:002024-02-18T04:33:12.334-08:00STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, A NOVEL BY ROBERT A.HEINLEIN (BOOK REVIEW)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello! In this post, I shall review <i> Stranger in a Strange Land </i>by Robert A. Heinlein. Intentionally provocative with its ideas, this novel caused quite a stir back in its day. Published in 1961, this science fiction novel won the Hugo award the following year. However, it still ended up being banned from most school libraries due to its controversial writing. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The author had worked on this novel for a decade. Heinlein claimed he hadn't been in a hurry to finish it as he knew the public wouldn't have been ready anyhow. Heinlein said he published it in 1960s because he felt the times were changing- and it certainly seems he was right. Despite the controversy (that was expected) and possibly partly because of it, this novel has become a cult classic.<i> Stranger in a Strange Land</i> has had a profound influence on our modern culture, influencing many works of art. It even inspired a pagan church that still exists to this day. Not that this was ever Heinlein's intention. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZb4Rs94O2xbzKQPQHSQdyv4Eq_WsMDoSd3TorlxRLDc6V3z-2IKdUlmtepYjQtdgGcH3yMjz7fWoYD4exBQxnMDhgsh4-5-u4E0-ZkwgbVHYDinQYTPY863hMGZAqqt_3ox67exXZXJUV-Cs2BR1OUiah07TciF6HFImdWrlLKhOEgM9htQWjXgtyF-c/s1600/stranger%20in%20a%20strange%20land%20book%20ivana.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZb4Rs94O2xbzKQPQHSQdyv4Eq_WsMDoSd3TorlxRLDc6V3z-2IKdUlmtepYjQtdgGcH3yMjz7fWoYD4exBQxnMDhgsh4-5-u4E0-ZkwgbVHYDinQYTPY863hMGZAqqt_3ox67exXZXJUV-Cs2BR1OUiah07TciF6HFImdWrlLKhOEgM9htQWjXgtyF-c/s16000/stranger%20in%20a%20strange%20land%20book%20ivana.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Stranger in a Strange Land </i><span>is, in many way, a novel of ideas. Heinlein had often stressed that it was not his intention to give answers, rather to ask questions. Heinlein was genuinely surprised that some </span>interpreted<span> this novel as instructions on how the society should function, when it was a novel that was </span>supposed<span> to </span>challenge<span> the norms of society..</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heinlein didn't want to make a reader believe anything not even his ideas. He wanted his readers to ask questions and find their own answers. He also wanted to record the spirit of its time, including bigotry and what he personally felt was wrong. Some readers mistakenly read some parts of the book as Heinlein being a bigot. While there are certainly some questionable quotes one can draw from this book, it is important to read books understanding the historical context and the writer's intention. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Heinlein was pretty clear on the topic of this novel, often stressing how the intention is to make the reader questions societal norms. It's something more serious book often do, one way or the other. In that sense, I would say that this novels remains relevant in its examination of numerous (often controversial) topics. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I OPTED FOR THE LONGEST VERSION OF THIS BOOK AND I DIDN'T REGRET IT</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In 1991, Heinlein's widow authorized the publication of the original (significantly longer) version. This is the version I read or better to say- listened to. Yes, I've finally finished listening to the lengthy audio version of this novel! I've been meaning to read the full version of this book for twenty years now, so it's good that's finally out of the way. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Honestly, I've read so much about this book before actually reading it that I was afraid that I will feel deja vu reading it. I was also familiar with a detailed summary of this novel! Not to mentioned knowing a number of quotes by heart. I worried about whether I will even be able to fully enjoy it, seeing that I read parts of it already. Fortunately, my worries amounted to nothing. I immensely enjoyed <i>Stranger in a Strange Land</i>. I mean many of the ideas I encountered in this book weren't exactly new to me, but I still felt immersed in this strange and wonderful novel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQj5lVCP8g-QoqO8XMv-iK6yw0rZ1shg9CxiNixdVFYbhQWubXMdz_u_5kVAQg3HskML0IClxfTWw21CLChg6vCr0tb1irFOZlew6mKwwAGexqzAzWZPQdGwBgfinzX2F-DOIxdZtE9FfoQc5JrCWkhUybyWEYRy57FnfpTYdt_yuT0ALcqeW2SoLDs1I" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQj5lVCP8g-QoqO8XMv-iK6yw0rZ1shg9CxiNixdVFYbhQWubXMdz_u_5kVAQg3HskML0IClxfTWw21CLChg6vCr0tb1irFOZlew6mKwwAGexqzAzWZPQdGwBgfinzX2F-DOIxdZtE9FfoQc5JrCWkhUybyWEYRy57FnfpTYdt_yuT0ALcqeW2SoLDs1I" width="1" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">FOREWORD FROM VICTORIA</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This particular edition has a foreword from Heinlein's widow. She explained everything about this version. Robert wanted to write a story about a human infant raised by another alien race for quite a some time, but it was not finished until 1960. It was a book his publishers feared, so basically Heinlein was told he had to do a drastic cut if he wanted to see it in print. Robert had to cut out one quarter of the book, a nearly impossible task for such a complicated novel. Somehow, Heinlein accomplished this difficult task, he even claimed to prefer the short version. When he died, there was a new law that allowed the window to exercise more rights over the original manuscript. Fortunately, Heinlein had a copy of the manuscript preserved in the proper legal way (I forget exactly what that means, something about it being legally registered and kept in public records). Therefore, Heinlein's widow was able to reprint the book how it was originally intended to look like! Good for her and good for us. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzLI2QsCBn5oIzDV6X4ER-RO-vrvPv92eMZW8DgAA2gDKNd_yM7weKgWaWVP54lYH65NwIi4C3N1jHf40OLKczOahsdiOAoBDGiCkGYJuoYGKP8yArcq2C_ztaY_Fj56_zdOs4lakAgdmkSFDAa2KH6k_7D2XluW77i7f-sPjWxgQnrH8d0TGXVV7mF2s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzLI2QsCBn5oIzDV6X4ER-RO-vrvPv92eMZW8DgAA2gDKNd_yM7weKgWaWVP54lYH65NwIi4C3N1jHf40OLKczOahsdiOAoBDGiCkGYJuoYGKP8yArcq2C_ztaY_Fj56_zdOs4lakAgdmkSFDAa2KH6k_7D2XluW77i7f-sPjWxgQnrH8d0TGXVV7mF2s=s16000" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THIS IS A WRITER I HAVE REALLY READ A LOT FROM</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've really read an awful lot of Heinlein: nine of his novels, two of his novellas, and pretty much all of his short stories. So, many ideas that I came across in Stranger in A Strange land, I've already read in another shape and form. I still enjoyed them, though. Will I continue reading Heinlein? Probably I will continue not just reading his works but also reviewing them. I'll share links to my reviews at the end of the post. Now, let me get to my review!</span></p><h1 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, 4.9/5</i></span></span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">HIS MACULATE CONCEPTION </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Michael Smith was as real as taxes</i>, Heinlein assures us, introducing us to his protagonist. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #202122; list-style-image: url("/w/skins/Vector/resources/skins.vector.styles.legacy/images/bullet-icon.svg?d4515"); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">ONCE UPON A TIME when the world was young there was a Martian named Smith.<br />Valentine Michael Smith was as real as taxes but he was a race of one.</span></i><ul style="list-style-image: url("/w/skins/Vector/resources/skins.vector.styles.legacy/images/bullet-icon.svg?d4515"); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First lines "uncut edition" of Ace/Putnam 1991, Part1:Chapter1,p.5 (UC)</span></a></i></li></ul></li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Stranger in a Strange land </i><span>opens by with the history of an expedition to planet Mars, effectively introducing us to Michael Smith's background. While the <i>Envoy </i>expedition is still in planning, <i>Envoy is </i>described as a rather primitive vessel and the physical danger of an eight year long trip to Mars more than </span>tangible<span>. The </span>phycological danger is deemed as even greater and so an all male crew was out of the question. Therefore, it<span> was </span><span style="text-align: left;">decided (by the planners of the mission) that the best combination for the mission would be a crew consisting of four intelligent and skilled married couples. It was difficult to find the astronaut crew with the exact skills and perfect health needed. Machines constantly reviewed the data and new volunteers searching for the ideal combination. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">EVEN THE VERY BEGGINING OF THE STORY IS FULL OF TWISTS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">One ambitious pilot slash captain must had had inside information as he had suddenly flew off across the world to propose marriage to a woman who had the exact set of skills needed. Soon the two of them are paired with other three other couples to form the crew of the spaceship </span><i style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Envoy, </i><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">with the newly wed man serving as captain.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><i style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Envoy</i><span style="text-align: left;"> arrives on Mars but is never heard from again. If I recall well, it is implied there might have been some cheating involved, which might be what caused the deaths of the crewmembers. </span><span style="text-align: left;">Anyhow, s</span><span style="text-align: left;">ix years after the <i>Envoy </i>was lost, a robot mission brought photographs that showed prof of intelligent life. A man mission would be next but there was all the WWIII. After the war (some twenty and something years later), an all man crew finally landed on Mars, finding the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> single <i>Envoy </i>mission survivor, Valentine Michael Smith. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">CLEARLY, MICHAEL IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN THIS NOVEL</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael is the novel's titled stranger and the protagonist of the story. The title is quoted from the Bible and the name Michael (who is like God) was carefully selected. Michael's background is quite unusual. As explained earlier, Michael's mother and father were two brilliant scientists who were travelling to Mars to make important discoveries. Unfortunately, they ended up dead, making Michael an orphan. There's also an ironical remark to his birth. Heinlein titles this part of the book Maculate conception, clearly referring to Immaculate Conception. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Born on the </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Envoy</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">, Michael is in every way, but biological, a Martian. He was raised entirely by the Martians and he doesn't belong to a human society. Michael is ordered by Martians to accompany the returning expedition to Earth for reasons that will be hinted on only towards the end of the novel. That's not the real plot of the novel after all! This book is more focused on examining human society through lenses of an alien culture than on direct collaboration of two alien species. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Nhb_E93-ehO3zbDihN-0u5V2ZznDFoT_bnMpRD2ZubASop4I70fOO_rkfLF3VWn_SceB8gmnF_rSx_rXcNKGuBQxsxiCKbRq6oJgcZIeL0qbEJgj0Bt_yluaSFBMZDIOaDtNKa59c5Fr2UOygxNnny5VPRBsh6_EBzPoh5caES42EVpdTv4u43Ocv-k/s1600/stranger%20book%20review.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Nhb_E93-ehO3zbDihN-0u5V2ZznDFoT_bnMpRD2ZubASop4I70fOO_rkfLF3VWn_SceB8gmnF_rSx_rXcNKGuBQxsxiCKbRq6oJgcZIeL0qbEJgj0Bt_yluaSFBMZDIOaDtNKa59c5Fr2UOygxNnny5VPRBsh6_EBzPoh5caES42EVpdTv4u43Ocv-k/s16000/stranger%20book%20review.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">HEINLEIN'S HEROES OFTEN TEND TO BE SUPERHEROES OF A KIND</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Many of Heinlein's heroes are superheroes of a sort. The female protagonists are usually drop dead gorgeous, brave and intelligent (sometimes scientists, sometimes just kick ass heroines) and the male protagonists are similar- usually geniuses of some kind. So, it's not surprising that Michael parents were super smart and accomplished individuals. It also makes for a funny contrast. People who assume Michael isn't too bright are the ones who themselves aren't that smart. Accomplished as he might be intellectually, Michal is still in a difficult position. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“There is no safety this side of the grave.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">However, once Michael finds himself on Earth, he is completely lost. He is put in a hospital. Unbeknownst to him, Michael is actually quite wealthy. Moreover, the government might want him dead for more than his money. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Smith is not a man. He is an intelligent creature with the genes and ancestry of a man, but he is not a man.</b><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">He's more a Martian than a man. Until we came along he had never laid eyes on a human being. He thinks like a Martian, he feels like a Martian. He's been brought up by a race which has nothing in common with us. Why, they don't even have sex. Smith has never laid eyes on a woman — still hasn't if my orders have been carried out. He's a man by ancestry, a Martian by environment.</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Ace/Putnam 1991 Part1:Chapter3,p.10 (UC)</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> A JOURNALIST WANTING TO SAVE MICHAEL GETS CAPTURED BY THE GOVERNMENT</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">A reporter Ben Caxton investigates the case. Soon <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Ben discovers that Michael is extremely wealthy and worries that he might be held against his will. Ben shares his concerns with nurse Jill, who happens to be his girlfriend. Ben worries that the government might go as far as kill Michael.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"> Reporter/ journalist Ben </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">becomes one of the central characters, both through his relationship with nurse Jill and Michael. He also undergoes some character development, especially towards the end. However, he is not the typical hero protagonist. You might say that he gets himself captured early on, leaving his girlfriend to fend not only for herself, but for the innocent and naive Martian as well. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczK06F1E5UyzkgoDOBtWztwEKb0u_h6yExBLQbGHgJOrEzXqX2wyUTfjdFXz25sfNLlB0HiZ-teBCp_suSNbJIjUXDK1z7gXu0qf1giOTROeHWU7Q-y4Yca2Qxxplj5kTKJfXUpAlHS5fW_aa2ef05mGFZq2CITWwMVm3mhzmVhVo2DQYrP_IhpdbjDM/s1600/portrait%20mor%20blog%20diy%20necklace.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczK06F1E5UyzkgoDOBtWztwEKb0u_h6yExBLQbGHgJOrEzXqX2wyUTfjdFXz25sfNLlB0HiZ-teBCp_suSNbJIjUXDK1z7gXu0qf1giOTROeHWU7Q-y4Yca2Qxxplj5kTKJfXUpAlHS5fW_aa2ef05mGFZq2CITWwMVm3mhzmVhVo2DQYrP_IhpdbjDM/s16000/portrait%20mor%20blog%20diy%20necklace.JPG" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A BEAUTIFUL NURSE STEPS IN AND SHE'S NO DAMSEL IN DISTRESS</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A strong female character is introduced early on and she stays on the scene. Gillian (aka Jill), a nurse who works in Michael's hospital, manages to sneak in and see </span>Michael despite the strict rules.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> She is confused by his odd behaviour but they establish a connection. Jill offers Micheal water, a gesture that </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">unbeknownst</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> to her has a profound spiritual meaning on Mars. Jill thus becomes Michael first "water brother", a sacred relationship in Michael's eyes. To Michael, Jill is now a member of family, a spiritual sister of sorts. She's also the first woman he ever lays eyes on.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else. Jill Boardman encountered her personal challenge - and accepted it - at 3:47.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">When Ben is captured by the government, Jill realizes the danger Michael might be in. Jill decides to risk her own life to save Michael's. C</span><span style="color: #202122;">onvincing Michael</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Smith to </span>escape<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the hospital with her, they are </span>successful<span style="font-family: inherit;">, but only with his help and under difficult circumstances. Michael seems to have powers that are hard to comprehend. The government isn't playing.</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> After Gillian </span>escapes<span style="font-family: inherit;"> with Michael, she seek refuge with </span></span>Jubal Harshaw<span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, a person of significant influence. He might be the only person who could help them. Jubal is an accomplished writer, businessman, physician and lawyer. He can be very </span>pleasant<span style="font-family: inherit;">, but he can also start be (in his own words) nasty: </span></span></span><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Sit back down—and for God’s sake quit trying to be as nasty as I am; you don’t have my years of practice.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;">Maybe that is just what they need!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMgO55pkhLclYi41XAtiien-VW5-vV4_hnLP5lK9a4Nq0qkqP0YsU0m2LmSdUC_FoOLjXhPeNFl-YF2lTFZ15_Gv-rK7ALBxJgq5v0rvjthIwgETGMkDAL5N5BsnwVTFCduoDlT8TN0qkUH3bvancRgwKozmRbeZJ-KkS0P_kfy4oONz-yZHqBqKhKyWE/s1600/portrait%20mor%20blog%20outfit%20boots.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMgO55pkhLclYi41XAtiien-VW5-vV4_hnLP5lK9a4Nq0qkqP0YsU0m2LmSdUC_FoOLjXhPeNFl-YF2lTFZ15_Gv-rK7ALBxJgq5v0rvjthIwgETGMkDAL5N5BsnwVTFCduoDlT8TN0qkUH3bvancRgwKozmRbeZJ-KkS0P_kfy4oONz-yZHqBqKhKyWE/s16000/portrait%20mor%20blog%20outfit%20boots.JPG" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE PLOT STARTS TO UNRAVEL JUST AS THE READER IS TRYING TO GET HIS HEAD WRAPPED ABOUT MICHAEL</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael is in danger and things aren't looking up. The writer did a great job of </span>demonstrating<span style="font-family: inherit;"> just how different Michael is to us at the start of the novel. Michael's utter ignorance of Earthen ways makes him as defenceless as a child. Gill is very protective of Michael, but what can she do? She already managed to do the mission impossible, escape with Michael with government on her heels. What can Jubal do against the whole government?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“....a government is a living organism. Like every living thing its prime characteristic is a blind, unreasoned instinct to survive. You hit it, it will fight back.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth stupid fumbling—oh, he conceded that man, a social animal, could not avoid having government, any more than an individual man could escape his lifelong bondage to his bowels. But Harshaw did not have to like it. Simply because an evil was inescapable was no reason to term it a “good.” He wished that government would wander off and get lost!”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JUBAL IS INTRODUCED AND HE IS BOTH THE PLOT DRIVER AND A PHILOSOPHER</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">“Dr. Jubal Harshaw, professional clown, amateur subversive, and parasite by choice, had long attempted to eliminate “hurry” and all related emotions from his pattern. Being aware that he had but a short time left to live and having neither Martian nor Kansan faith in his own immortality, it was his purpose to live each golden moment as if it were eternity—without fear, without hope, but with sybaritic gusto.”</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Just when things start to look very desperate for Michael, Jubal steps on the scene. He was one of my favourite characters in this novel. His monologues tended to be endless, but I enjoyed them. Some say he was written to reflect Heinlein himself, even though he was considerably older than our writer was at the time he was writing this character. Here are some of my favourite lines from this no nonsense character. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Oh, I’m not offended. But when they began handing out doctorates for comparative folk dancing and advanced fly-fishing, I became too stinkin’ proud to use the title. I won’t touch watered whiskey and I take no pride in watered-down degrees. Call me Jubal.”</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“He did not expect reasonable conduct from human beings; he considered most people fit candidates for protective restraint and wet packs. He simply wished heartily that they would leave him alone!—all but the few he chose for playmates. He was firmly convinced that, left to himself, he would have long since achieved nirvana . . . dived into his own belly button and disappeared from view, like those Hindu jokers. Why couldn’t they leave a man alone?”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLOBK4jkFExmKDFYqwMflEL1Cvu6MYZtwauUbCvAHF9ri91WMbgsVgA3UgiGQSBZQkh0P9wu0TYgiU6wtT13uX3uQdOzs-zm5BXZo7XT43UGZrG2a1gNHjcB_PwcxlxsUe113gitWpLo4l7rCsMCpSQdZz4dw5ARb4-qoOdekPHIHXt63wZAl_C3XOBw/s1600/portrait%20mor%20blog%20tennis%20court%20mostar.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLOBK4jkFExmKDFYqwMflEL1Cvu6MYZtwauUbCvAHF9ri91WMbgsVgA3UgiGQSBZQkh0P9wu0TYgiU6wtT13uX3uQdOzs-zm5BXZo7XT43UGZrG2a1gNHjcB_PwcxlxsUe113gitWpLo4l7rCsMCpSQdZz4dw5ARb4-qoOdekPHIHXt63wZAl_C3XOBw/s16000/portrait%20mor%20blog%20tennis%20court%20mostar.JPG" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE PLOT IS QUITE FAST PACING AT FIRST BUT THEN IT SLOWS DOWN</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth--then shut up.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Juval sets to business, pulling all the strings he can pull and using his considerable intellect and wealth in a battle to save Michael's life. While the battle against government starts to unfold, we learn more about Michael and his unusual views and ways. Everything that is natural to us is strange to Michael and vice versa. Martians can decide when they die and even when they die, their spirits are present.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Unexpected discorporation was always rare on Mars; Martian taste in such matters called for life to be a rounded whole, with physical death taking place at the appropriate and selected instant. This artist, however, had become so preoccupied with his work that he had forgotten to come in out of the cold; by the time his absence was noticed his body was hardly fit to eat. He himself had not noticed his own discorporation and had gone right on composing his sequence.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The plot is quite fast paced initially, then it slows down considerably as Michael starts to feel out our world. We as readers get introduced to new characters and new philosophies. Yes, this is a novel of ideas.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THIS NOVEL HAS SOME REALLY MEMORABLE CHARACTERS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Juval doesn't live by himself. He has some interesting friends /employees. The novel doesn't stop there. As the crisis is near solution, the book starts in a totally unexpected direction with Michael becoming more proactive and discovering more about our planet. New characters are introduces and they are introduced to the </span>existing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> (already interesting) cast. I would say that the characters are the strong point in this novel. Not all of them are developed or researched in detailed, but they are all credible and memorable!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">JUVAL STARTS TO CARE FOR MICHAEL DEARLY</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“[He] stopped long enough to remind himself that this baby innocent was neither babyish nor innocent — was in fact sophisticated in a culture which he was beginning to realize, however dimly, was far in advance of human culture in some very mysterious ways… and that these naive remarks came from a superman — or what would do in place of a ‘superman’ for the time being.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">Juval starts to fight this battle for more than one reason, but as the battle progresses, the reader can see how much he cares for Michael. Juval is often the voice of reason and conscience. Juval doesn't want Michael to be ruined or brainwashed by our culture. He truly seems to be want what is best for him.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“The second point I want to make is that you are right; the boy does indeed have to learn human customs. He must be taught to take off his shoes in a mosque and to wear his hat in a synagogue and to cover his nakedness when taboo requires it, or our tribal shamans will burn him for deviationism. But, child, by the myriad deceptive aspects of Ahriman, don’t brainwash him in the process. Make sure he is cynical about each part of it.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">ONE FEELS THAT HEINLEIN OFTEN SPEAKS THOROUGH JUVAL</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">Jival seems to think that people really do what they want to do. Is he wrong? </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Jill, of all the nonsense that twists the world, the concept of 'altruism' is the worst. People do what they want to do, every time. If it sometimes pains them to make a choice - if the choice turns out to look like a 'noble sacrifice' - you can be sure that it is in no wise nobler than the discomfort caused by greediness . . . the unpleasant necessity of having to decide between two things both of which you would like to do when you can't do both. The ordinary bloke suffers that discomfort every day, every time he makes a choice between spending a buck on beer or tucking it away for his kids, between getting up when he's tired or spending the day in his warm bed and losing his job. No matter which he does he always chooses what seems to hurt least or pleasures most. The average chump spends his life harried by these small decisions. But the utter scoundrel and the perfect saint merely make the same choices on a larger scale. They still pick what pleases them.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">Juval is the kind of character that criticizes everything but is smart enough for his criticism to often make sense. This makes him a fun read: </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Democracy’s worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents—a depressingly low level, but what else can you expect?</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQukniIOl0YfXUJ5fI02kkqviBwJi8gFQ179wFjFx8PiZErZdKPXxbMs17N4MGF0oUYZpuZOXJc52LTIkvb_lUIu3egeMw57raHFZLD7qjC4-YkRfCS6M_G1S3nu5henjB4XchNiUaXD74QBanOz0ZUYGNN7JTgfoPDKYLjFg0DnK0ax8zqnktZVB1Ur0/s1600/portrait%20mostar%20blog%20heels%20blog.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQukniIOl0YfXUJ5fI02kkqviBwJi8gFQ179wFjFx8PiZErZdKPXxbMs17N4MGF0oUYZpuZOXJc52LTIkvb_lUIu3egeMw57raHFZLD7qjC4-YkRfCS6M_G1S3nu5henjB4XchNiUaXD74QBanOz0ZUYGNN7JTgfoPDKYLjFg0DnK0ax8zqnktZVB1Ur0/s16000/portrait%20mostar%20blog%20heels%20blog.JPG" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">THIS NOVEL EXAMINES THE WAY EVERYONE IS INDOCTRINATED BY ITS OWN SOCIETY</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">We are all shaped by the society we are raised in, this novel stresses over and over again.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“All three of us are prisoners of our early indoctrinations, for it is hard, very nearly impossible, to shake off one’s earliest training.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“It is almost impossible to shake of one's earliest training. Duke, can you get it through your skull that had you been brought up by Martians, you would have the same attitude toward eating and being eaten as Mike has.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">AS A NOVEL OF IDEAS, IT IS JUST DELIGHTFUL!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This novel manages to talk about so many different topics, from art to religion to language to culture. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Take a look at these quotes about art: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist--a master--and that is what Auguste Rodin was--can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is . . . and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be . . . and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“What the self-styled modern artists are doing is a sort of unemotional pseudo-intellectual masturbation . . . whereas creative art is more like intercourse, in which the artist must seduce—render emotional-his audience, each time.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“She’s not quite a mermaid—see?—and she’s not quite human. She sits on land, where she has chosen to stay . . . and she stares eternally out to sea, homesick and forever lonely for what she left behind. She’s everybody who ever made a difficult choice. [...] She doesn’t regret her choice, but she must pay for it; every choice must be paid for. The cost to her is not only endless homesickness. She can never be quite human; when she uses her dearly bought feet, every step is on sharp knives.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THOUGHTS ABOUT LANGUAGE</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Language is one of the topics examined in this novel. What is language? How does it influence us? Would learning Martian make us Martian? Would learning an alien language make us partly alien?</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“If a word for a concept isn’t in a language, then its culture simply doesn’t have the referent the missing word would symbolize.” “Oh, twaddle, Stinky! Animals fight—and ants even conduct wars. Are you trying to tell me they have to have words for it before they can do it?”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“English swallows up anything that comes its way, makes English out of it. Nobody tried to stop this process, the way some languages are policed and have official limits . . . probably because there never has been, truly, such a thing as ‘the King’s English’—for ‘the King’s English’ was French. English was in truth a bastard tongue and nobody cared how it grew . . . and it did!—enormously.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Grok’ means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed-to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science-and it means as little to us as a color means to a blind man.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">SOME OF THE IDEAS IN THE BOOK WERE A BIT REPETITIVE AND SOME STRANGE</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">As much as I loved Juval's character, I found some of the ideas presented in his monologues a bit repetitive</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;">. At times I felt like I was listening to a sermon I heard before. This is without a doubt due to me reading so much of this author. Still, some ideas in the book were also a bit strange. There's this infamous line from Jill about rape that put many readers off and understandably so. Where was the author heading with it, I cannot really say. It is possible that he was making a commentary of some sort. This novel is in many ways a societal commentary and a novel of ideas. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;">LOVE IS IN THE AIR IN THIS BOOK</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;">One of the themes explored in the book is also love. I don't think I will reveal too much if I say there is a lot of falling in (and consuming) love. <i>Stranger in a Strange Land </i>examines love in its many shapes and forms.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">“Human bipolarity was both the binding force and the driving energy for all human behavior, from sonnets to nuclear equations. If any being thinks that human psychologists exaggerate on this point, let it search Terran patent offices, libraries, and art galleries for creations of eunuchs.”</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">MICHAEL STARTS TO ACT ON HIS OWN</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">Michael is this amazing creature of high emotions and spiritual states that humans are only starting to grok. However, this makes him seem a bit distant. He serves a magnet of sorts, connecting all the characters, bringing them together and making them better people. He also serves as a mirror that allows us to examine human ways. While we try to understand what Michael is feeling while he is learning about our world, we also learn about his. Nevertheless, he remains somewhat distant and passive for quite some time. Towards the ending, however, Michael stops being a sort of vessel of love and understanding, and starts acting on his own. Towards the end, he starts to feel like a more active character and becomes the driving force behind the plot.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“But goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE ENDING WAS WELL PLOTTED AND WRITTEN</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There was a time in a novel when the story seemed to drag a little bit. Some small bits and details even felt a bit repetitive and immature. However, just when you get tired of all the philosophical talk, the story takes a sharp and unexpected turn towards the finish. The best thing about the end is that there is some real depth there. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”</i></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CONCLUSION: THIS BOOK IS A CLASSIC FOR A REASON!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To conclude, <i>Stranger in a Strange Land i</i>s a brilliantly clever novel. It's a classic for a reason. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6WCGfl1Zyz0LCJW2iuWNDu94Tb22-GydO0PM5WX2W0gSN2MyTS_vovFGMjwdxwPRkpl1qx8O0haI2qbhM8-6rOupRVPwfandd39dVzqMWXoU3r9QzlDfmyk5sBzthGUqN77vaiy9AbNSsm3MS5IonJV7pjATmtLS5dd3qIq0YAeOok__fEy9HnbcKrr4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6WCGfl1Zyz0LCJW2iuWNDu94Tb22-GydO0PM5WX2W0gSN2MyTS_vovFGMjwdxwPRkpl1qx8O0haI2qbhM8-6rOupRVPwfandd39dVzqMWXoU3r9QzlDfmyk5sBzthGUqN77vaiy9AbNSsm3MS5IonJV7pjATmtLS5dd3qIq0YAeOok__fEy9HnbcKrr4=s16000" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /><br /></b></span><p></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><b>MORE HEINLEIN WORKS TO READ</b></span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you would like to read some of my old reviews, here's a list of his work I reviewed on my blog. The only one I wouldn't really recommend to read is The Number of the Beast. Supposedly his brain was short on oxygen when he wrote this one. No really, he had some kind of a problem. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">READ MORE OF MY REVIEWS AND FIND WHAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU:</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SHORT STORIES: <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/reading-recommendation-delilah-and.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DELILAH AND THE SPACE-RIGGER</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/reading-recommendation-water-is-for.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">WATER IS FOR WASHING</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/reading-recommendations-space-jockey.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">SPACE JOCKEY, THE LONG WATCH</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/reading-recommendation-logic-of-empire.html" target="_blank">LOGIC OF EMPIRE</a></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/reading-recommendation-logic-of-empire.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">NOVELLAS: <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/reading-update-book-review-robert.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">WALDO </a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/reading-update-book-review-robert.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">MAGIC INC.</a></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/reading-update-book-review-robert.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">NOVELS: <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/reading-update-book-review-robert.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">PODKANYE OF MARS</a> , <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/reading-update-book-review-robert.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">SPACE CADET </a> , <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/09/reading-update-robert-heinlein-brian.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST</a> , <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/09/reading-update-robert-heinlein-brian.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">BEYOND THIS HORIZON</a> , <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/book-review-and-recommendation-starship.html#comments" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">STARSHIP TROOPERS</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/book-review-and-recommendation-moon-is.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/book-review-and-recommendation-orphans.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">THE ORPHAN'S OF THE SKY</a>, </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/book-review-and-cat-lover.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">THE DOOR INTO SUMMER</span><br /></a></span><br /></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjamC4ZL_MIZN9VYWGwV_z-YOJU_7J1sQKUbGzgk10dACGrfP6BDhW1AZ5nCPL72Umf1QroXITpAFovDKiDd5859z1grcu8mYIBb9GyyJMyecenGcJ8Tv_R-BXICzhG50Afittv4jnraNsCaBdwjjtz7n7C_UxQTWwOiwA_om-WPGxMmdhKYZDyWqhPgp8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjamC4ZL_MIZN9VYWGwV_z-YOJU_7J1sQKUbGzgk10dACGrfP6BDhW1AZ5nCPL72Umf1QroXITpAFovDKiDd5859z1grcu8mYIBb9GyyJMyecenGcJ8Tv_R-BXICzhG50Afittv4jnraNsCaBdwjjtz7n7C_UxQTWwOiwA_om-WPGxMmdhKYZDyWqhPgp8=s16000" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I do recommend this strange and wonderful novel! The photographs are from my blogging archives. Thank you for reading. </span></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-14515159395036481022024-01-28T04:48:00.000-08:002024-01-28T10:07:58.329-08:00LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #8: YOU ALWAYS NEED NEW RESOURCES<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Hello, readers! Do you remember my first post about language learning myths? Well, I decided it's time for another one. Language is such a fascinating subject and I love writing about it. In addition, I will also show you what I wore yesterday for a stroll in <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-to-find-best-photo-worthy.html" target="_blank">Mostar city. </a> The weather was sunny but windy and I dressed accordingly. This post is actually a continuation of the <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">one </a>published in 2022. In that post, I wrote about the seven most common language learning myths. Today I'll write about the eight one!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/11/madame-bovary-provincial-manners-novel.html" target="_blank"> </a></span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/11/madame-bovary-provincial-manners-novel.html" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;">Gustave Flaubert, </span><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span></i><span id="quote_book_link_2175" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;">Madame Bovary</span></span></a></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-eXkQjYjDLraaEEN5S4cI8ZWWhwgxBh6HQ55CDB8ZuezJTW-4fV77ZLz-zpYFaYLRimcp1N-bjtuStZcMC3PjO0vcw9zuMNXzv6GCIJQs1Ss4kvVyXtoUIE1A7eoBW55u8fY8kO-nOMviPap_yHL1SYiE4CGu9lFKqtbpRs8X2uolnivwjE6rf3vVQ0/s3000/IMG_20240127_120011.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-eXkQjYjDLraaEEN5S4cI8ZWWhwgxBh6HQ55CDB8ZuezJTW-4fV77ZLz-zpYFaYLRimcp1N-bjtuStZcMC3PjO0vcw9zuMNXzv6GCIJQs1Ss4kvVyXtoUIE1A7eoBW55u8fY8kO-nOMviPap_yHL1SYiE4CGu9lFKqtbpRs8X2uolnivwjE6rf3vVQ0/s16000/IMG_20240127_120011.jpg" /></a></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7nbVnYV9zH0lYWvV92BXwEVxLtrUdVkdPWvm1powNwjSukvgfgJvPq9AuAATr3xmDvaXD_pO0x6BackgJq7yJE6_roMncLqPsTj2pnIGYZCkW6Vg_6J8RiZ4fbSqS1tsmdxYvJoEAwusJ5rLFQ8CLyDh-aK7ICxkdF7DdTYC5SaVPoJZzHSGV3EvvOI/s3000/IMG_20240127_120015.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7nbVnYV9zH0lYWvV92BXwEVxLtrUdVkdPWvm1powNwjSukvgfgJvPq9AuAATr3xmDvaXD_pO0x6BackgJq7yJE6_roMncLqPsTj2pnIGYZCkW6Vg_6J8RiZ4fbSqS1tsmdxYvJoEAwusJ5rLFQ8CLyDh-aK7ICxkdF7DdTYC5SaVPoJZzHSGV3EvvOI/s16000/IMG_20240127_120015.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/reading-blogs-as-language-learning-tool.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">READING BLOGS AS A LANGUAGE LEARNING TOOL</span></a></h3><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When it comes to language learning, there are so many myths surrounding it. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Regardless whether we're talking about acquiring a foreign language or improving our own mother tongue, language learning is an activity few understand well. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many myths surrounding language learning often discourage potential language learners. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Among the most common language learning myths are those that claim that it requires great talent, effort, financial resources and so on. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As if language learning isn't something we've been doing since the day we were born. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We all started as babies who couldn't speak and acquired our language skills gradually. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Every time you learn a new word, phrase or manage to express yourself better in the written or spoken form- you’re (consciously or unconsciously) improving on your language skills.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Language learning is something we never stop doing. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Most of our every day activities include language usage. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This means we have endless opportunities to work on our language skills. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7E6MU9GalmLQXDSNvd9vd_VRsCzpp7Nk2KeeVmykyZLmI_JiGHxTNQHgcpKEIBd9M70jRjVMn23XDN03yQV-H3u7lsi6RUqRDgXzBoXOwrOjMd3I-G3kBjTgckqJZgTFWV0p_BUDYWHtgkZeAbzwHNDQoqiYpHGp_zdoUEA1dWSX71jGfQl57rj7f90g/s3000/IMG_20240127_120015_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7E6MU9GalmLQXDSNvd9vd_VRsCzpp7Nk2KeeVmykyZLmI_JiGHxTNQHgcpKEIBd9M70jRjVMn23XDN03yQV-H3u7lsi6RUqRDgXzBoXOwrOjMd3I-G3kBjTgckqJZgTFWV0p_BUDYWHtgkZeAbzwHNDQoqiYpHGp_zdoUEA1dWSX71jGfQl57rj7f90g/s16000/IMG_20240127_120015_2.jpg" /></a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">DOES LANGUAGE LEARNING TAKE TIME? HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT USUALLY TAKE?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While it is true that language learning takes time, it doesn’t have to be an extreme time investment.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Research suggests that it takes around 500 hours to reach basic fluency in language from the same language family.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Now, try to add all the time you spend on your smartphone or watching Netflix and you’ll see it is not that big of an investment. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When it comes to your own language, becoming better at it is possibly even more important than learning a foreign language. No matter what you do for a living, you need communicative skills. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, having highly developed language skills can only help you, both in your personal and private life!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiviil357NwXqwlQMboDpm3OKUiYGJXElxf-WDTcAO7hhns0ewNxvHot47GWGV4-ktdb8BhR0i1zbFc5bwpIv6VJzh93NuB0x6JHvxAJ2TLS2NHT2am55CR4V3dlrCbhhX4cKGTKY8_q14esAvqAaj1u4rlD0RuGKdxK3KbGLZ9PdzBrlUDj0UQOEUYKCA/s3000/IMG_20240127_115948.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiviil357NwXqwlQMboDpm3OKUiYGJXElxf-WDTcAO7hhns0ewNxvHot47GWGV4-ktdb8BhR0i1zbFc5bwpIv6VJzh93NuB0x6JHvxAJ2TLS2NHT2am55CR4V3dlrCbhhX4cKGTKY8_q14esAvqAaj1u4rlD0RuGKdxK3KbGLZ9PdzBrlUDj0UQOEUYKCA/s16000/IMG_20240127_115948.jpg" /></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">DEBUNKING THE MOST COMMON LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTHS</span></a></h3><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #1: YOU CAN ONLY LEARN A (TARGET) LANGUAGE BY LIVING IN A (TARGET) COUNTRY</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #2: THE AMOUNT TIME IT TAKES TO LEARN A LANGUAGE</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></div><div><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #3: LANGUAGE LEARNING IS HARD AND/OR BORING</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #4: LANGUAGE LEARNING REQUIRES TALENT OR </a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LOVE/AFFINITY FOR LANGUAGES</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LANGUAGE MYTH #5: LANGUAGE LEARNING IS EXPENSIVE</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #6: YOU HAVE TO START YOUNG BECAUSE CHILDREN MAKE BETTER LEARNERS</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/debunking-most-common-language-learning.html" target="_blank">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #7: YOU HAVE TO BE SMART TO LEARN A LANGUAGE</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmkTyJPo-XCVv11RQ8eABJi1NRmSn033GRujckAsVp4_-jgV1QKlweowRlE_0Hi_3KimFQbavX5cJ9f47MBgsLI2SWfA7XTY5KnN9daqm_ikHgv7DxLxL2xpQ1NsuJo2AZdnO-6RK8BIXzVlX-PiCgdNW_LGRdAoYP7h_WhTrezLrI7zEAWZFlQHYCTDU/s3000/IMG_20240127_115945.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmkTyJPo-XCVv11RQ8eABJi1NRmSn033GRujckAsVp4_-jgV1QKlweowRlE_0Hi_3KimFQbavX5cJ9f47MBgsLI2SWfA7XTY5KnN9daqm_ikHgv7DxLxL2xpQ1NsuJo2AZdnO-6RK8BIXzVlX-PiCgdNW_LGRdAoYP7h_WhTrezLrI7zEAWZFlQHYCTDU/s16000/IMG_20240127_115945.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><div><br /></div></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">LANGUAGE LEARNING MYTH #8: YOU ALWAYS NEED NEW RESOURCES AND LANGUAGE MATERIALS</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Many people think they need to consume as much language learning material as possible. The more, the better. They treat language learning materials as food. Once the language learning material is consumed, it's gone forever. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If they've listened to an audiobook book or watched a movie in a target language, they will never go back to watch that movie or listen to that audiobook again. Once they finish doing the grammar exercises, they will never revisit them again. Once they finish a language coursebook, they will forget about it. They will never go back to read a chapter again and revisit what they have learnt. Once they finish a language learning course, they will never go back to it. Instead, they will always look for something new. I get it, for novelty has its attractions. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The thing is that when it comes to language learning, repetition is important. By reading a book again, you're actually solidifying your vocabulary. Rereading is an extremely effective type of reading. I believe this is especially the case when it comes to reading in a foreign/target language.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Rereading builds your knowledge of a language in more ways than one. By rereading, you can focus better on the message and rethink it. You can explore different interpretations. You can build not just your vocabulary but your understanding of grammar and syntax. The same goes for relistening audiobooks, articles or podcasts. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When it comes to listening (that is audio materials), there's an added benefit of multitasking. You can turn on your favourite audiobook while you're working on something else. Seeing that you're already familiar with it, even if you attention is not fully on the listening material, you'll be able to follow it without problems. The same goes for rewatching your favourite documentaries, films or language tutorials. They can help you solidify your language skills. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMkhWW3f6EQz14VNulfxHu2Q3bVx-PCDdr0pRbhJhHIPO_BBCcppN1b9YDhJfx26wzoyJhcNjZzhGGhk4SuoZ83NfVd6Zy5oe0WtkZlxTG0vjsDOqMspV7_JyJvkrj4DRuHsWiZn0B7C_JTEj1leq-feNoivcycxTUVoehA3VoiPEOQEBlwLaxI5ii8FA/s3000/IMG_20240127_120004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMkhWW3f6EQz14VNulfxHu2Q3bVx-PCDdr0pRbhJhHIPO_BBCcppN1b9YDhJfx26wzoyJhcNjZzhGGhk4SuoZ83NfVd6Zy5oe0WtkZlxTG0vjsDOqMspV7_JyJvkrj4DRuHsWiZn0B7C_JTEj1leq-feNoivcycxTUVoehA3VoiPEOQEBlwLaxI5ii8FA/s16000/IMG_20240127_120004.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thinking you always need something new can keep you back in a number of ways. First of all, you never know whether the 'new' thing will be a good fit for you or not. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You might end up picking a bunch of books, movies or language resources you don't like. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You might end up feeling discouraged because you cannot get into these new books written in the target language. You might end up not enjoying the new language materials. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I honestly think it's often more about finding the language learning materials and resources you actually enjoy, then about looking for that new thing all the time. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When you find language materials and resources you actually like, then not only is it ok to reuse them, but it's recommended. You should always go back to the content and materials you enjoyed in the past!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Sometimes you do need something new. Sometimes you will need to explore and find new language learning materials. What I'm saying is just that you don't need new ones. Not all the time. Sometimes instead of looking for something new to consume, you can enjoy your own language learning favourites.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Reread your favourite book. Reread that article you've enjoyed so much! Revisit your favourite blogs. Rewatch your favourite films, movies or series. Listen to your favourite podcasts again.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> Listen to that inspiring lecture again and again! As long as the language learning materials/resources you're using are a good fit for you, there's nothing wrong in using them again. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr41CItxQxCyFuIZzNHP0p-C8xQe-03sA5o-imt-zxqeWhM3ITAwaIKRcB0RoWs8cRnEdpR0mVUBT1AiGc2uQRE1hCWxFy0kI06KEpJqposlyA9nxVnU3yqx5CRD54XQuakRTJjSAJ9nhrZ4QR9jcB2-vC8hdqQPBW4ZJ35OPgYBWr7MBoiWWUc7lcS0/s3000/IMG_20240127_120015_3.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr41CItxQxCyFuIZzNHP0p-C8xQe-03sA5o-imt-zxqeWhM3ITAwaIKRcB0RoWs8cRnEdpR0mVUBT1AiGc2uQRE1hCWxFy0kI06KEpJqposlyA9nxVnU3yqx5CRD54XQuakRTJjSAJ9nhrZ4QR9jcB2-vC8hdqQPBW4ZJ35OPgYBWr7MBoiWWUc7lcS0/s16000/IMG_20240127_120015_3.jpg" /></a></span></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;">Before I link up my clothing items, I'll share some (old and new) links about Mostar town. </div><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">MORE POSTS ABOUT MOSTAR CITY </span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/reading-recommendation-logic-of-empire.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">PHOTOS OF NERETVA RIVER </a>& SPORTY STYLING 2023</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/01/eye-of-cat-novel-by-roger-zelazny-book.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">OUTFIT POST FEATURING A LEATHER JACKET IN MOSTAR CITY</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/reading-blogs-as-language-learning-tool.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">SPANISH SQUARE IN MOSTAR CITY</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/what-have-i-been-wearing-in-mostar-5.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">WHAT HAVE I BEEN WEARING IN MOSTAR? </a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/03/uno-nessuno-e-centomila-one-no-one-and.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">ŠANTIĆEVA THE MOST PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY STREET IN MOSTAR </a>2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/happy-easter-weekend-everyone-wiwt.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/happy-easter-weekend-everyone-wiwt.html</a>- EASTER POST FROM MY HOME</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-vintage-white-blazer-blue-jeans-diy.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-vintage-white-blazer-blue-jeans-diy.html</a>- RESTAURANT ROMANCA</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/ozz-students-fashion-show-under.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/ozz-students-fashion-show-under.html</a>- MOSTAR INTERNATIONAL FAIR </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/03/uno-nessuno-e-centomila-one-no-one-and.html" style="color: #2196f3; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;">https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/03/uno-nessuno-e-centomila-one-no-one-and.html- </a><span style="text-align: start;"> ŠANTIĆ STREET IN MOSTAR</span><p style="text-align: start;"></p><p style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/fashion-illustration-friday-stanka.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">THE JAPANESE CHERRY TREES IN MOSTAR </a> / <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/fashion-illustration-wednesday-faux-fur.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">PARK ZRINJEVAC FASHION ILLUSTRATION</a></p><p style="text-align: start;">TWO MORE POSTS ABOUT MOSTAR: <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/1-black-coat-2-locations-3-winter.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE </a>& <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/all-black-outfits-for-strolling-mostar.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a> <span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/all-black-winter-outfit-spanish-square.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">SPANISH SQUARE MOSTAR </a></span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/happy-holidays-and-greetings-from-mostar.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM MOSTAR !</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/farewell-to-summer-from-mostar-city.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">FAREWELL TO SUMMER FROM MOSTAR CITY</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-dress-casual-but-still-look.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">2018 STREET ART MOSTAR </a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/dark-side-tamna-strana.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">2016 STREET ART</a> , <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/2-outfits-sushi-date-exploring-street.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">2021 STREETART </a>and also <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/08/summertime-in-mostar-black-and-white.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/rain-street-art-and-smiles-kisa-ulicna.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a>and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-little-place-to-call-my-own-outfit.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </span></span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/wiwt-for-strolling-mostar-city-book.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">STROLLING MOSTAR CITY 2021</a><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: start;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: start;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">OLDER posts about Mostar </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">1. You can see Mostar from the bird perspective in my previous posts </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(</span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/01/overlooking-mostar-city-sights-to-see.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/11/mostar-what-i-wore-today-sto-sam-danas.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/11/mostar-what-i-wore-today-sto-sam-danas.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"> </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/04/mostar-in-background-outfit-post-mostar.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">). </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. One of my favourite streets in Mostar </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/06/sights-to-see-places-to-visit-outfit.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/01/darkness-and-light-tama-i-svijetlo.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">3. Musala bridge (also known under its old name Tito's bridge </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2017/04/mostar-city-of-bridges-mostar-grad.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/02/flare-jeans-and-magetna-coat-location.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">) </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">4. You can see photographs of Mostar's Catholic cathedral </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/05/another-transitional-outfitjos-jedna.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">5. You can see images of Mostar and its famous Nertva river </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2017/04/bad-news-good-news-great-news-outfit.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/07/two-novels-one-play-literary.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2013/04/diy-earrings-and-outfit-post-doraene.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">6. You can see the surrounds of one of its most iconic catholic churches </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/02/warmth-is-important-toplina-je-vazna.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">7. You can see both photographs of old bridge and my drawing of it </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/03/pencil-drawing-making-of-outfit-post.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">8. Another one of my favourites when it comes to streets </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/08/one-special-blouse-jedna-posebna-bluza.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">9. You can see photographs of Croatian cultural centre/theater </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/02/can-we-talk-about-backpack-trend-outfit.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> , </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/08/painting-with-make-up-ootd-slikanje-sa.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/04/red-for-spring-how-to-style-flare.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/06/why-do-i-like-wearing-patterns-zasto.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/07/why-is-diy-good-for-soul-zasto-je-dobro.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">10. You can see photographs of the main city park </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/07/let-there-be-colour-outfit-post-neka.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/01/sunny-days-suncani-dani.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/11/travelling-is-state-of-mind-putovanje.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/09/the-heart-of-woman-outfit-post-and-book.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/08/outfit-and-painting-of-day-fairy-tale.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;">11. You can see images of Spanish square </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/12/subtle-mix-of-prints-leo-and-tartan.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="text-align: justify;">, </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/03/rainy-days-outfit-proposal-2-how-to.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="text-align: justify;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/03/outfit-proposal-for-rainy-days-1-how-to.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="text-align: justify;">, </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2014/12/wiwt-sto-sam-danas-nosila_30.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="text-align: justify;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/08/summertime-in-mostar-black-and-white.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="text-align: justify;">. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">12. You can see photographs of Custom's bridge </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2016/09/how-to-style-flare-sleeves-first-autumn.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here </a><span style="text-align: justify;">and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/10/something-old-something-newnesto-staro.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="text-align: justify;">. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">13. You can see photographs of the new bridge </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2018/04/red-for-spring-how-to-style-flare.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> and </span><a href="http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/2015/11/new-bridge-outfit-post-novi-most.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span style="text-align: justify;">. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">14. A few photographs from old city centre (2018) </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-to-wear-socks-with-heels-outfit.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">15. What to wear for sightseeing Mostar in summer </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/10/new-outfits.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">16. This post is focused on 7 outfits I wore but you can see many of Mostar's attractions <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/7-outfit-ideas-for-transitional-weather.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">there</a> as well. I suppose the same can be said for most of my outfit posts. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">17. Mostar as an Easter </span>destination<span style="font-family: inherit;"> (2019) </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/04/is-mostar-good-easter-day-destination.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18. Mostar dinning and cafe recommendations <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/08/mostar-august-recommendations-where-to.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">19. Hiking options in Mostar </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/07/hiking-options-in-mostar-city-and.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">20. My drawing of Mostar old bridge </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/03/pencil-drawing-making-of-outfit-post.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">21. University campus in Mostar </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/styling-summer-dress-with-jeans.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">22. How I have fallen in love with Mostar </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/06/falling-in-love-with-mostar-city.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGETKEvTNt3Mx4t6Gu1KzeHNvPe-MFI-ggYuWMVeKi8P3frvPq5rYH2YIQNUBzFXvrHtpO2CYGwGhp8y5RRFHtghh80K1tnng2wWUQXFaACXZcMQCwQHeYIb2o3jJIVxaMvZFqWnS5Wo6cepYjB62KiEj2AYl5OWoxA9cuv3hcOTIM7CjYwxEUeazLg8/s3000/IMG_20240127_120014.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGETKEvTNt3Mx4t6Gu1KzeHNvPe-MFI-ggYuWMVeKi8P3frvPq5rYH2YIQNUBzFXvrHtpO2CYGwGhp8y5RRFHtghh80K1tnng2wWUQXFaACXZcMQCwQHeYIb2o3jJIVxaMvZFqWnS5Wo6cepYjB62KiEj2AYl5OWoxA9cuv3hcOTIM7CjYwxEUeazLg8/s16000/IMG_20240127_120014.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: large;">SUSTAINABLE FASHION FILES: </span></b><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/21-ways-to-wear-black-leather-jacket.html" target="_blank">21 WAYS TO WEAR A BLACK LEATHER JACKET</a> PLUS 5 more outfit posts featuring this leather jacket: 1) </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/spring-styling-in-mostar-vintage.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">A VINTAGE LEATHER JACKET</span></a> 2) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/leather-and-striped-outfits-in-mostar.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">LEATHER AND STRIPED OUTFITS</span></a> 3) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/six-winter-outfit-proposals-sustainable.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">SIX WINTER OUTFIT PROPOSALS </span></a>4) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/all-black-winter-outfit-faux-fur.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">ALL BLACK WINTER OUTFIT: FAUX FUR & LEATHER </span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>5) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/01/how-to-style-leather-jacket-with.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">HOW TO STYLE A LEATHER JACKET WITH AN OVERSIZE SCARF FOR WINTER? </span></a></h3><div><div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Not only is this not the first time I styled an oversize scarf with a leather jacket, I wore this exact combination a few years ago. The only thing different were the boots and the bag (but even the colour of the boots and the bag was the same, just different tonality). So, why should you pair a leather jacket with a cozy scarf? To answer the question why you would want to do that in the first place, I'll just stress that leather jackets are a perfect outwear for cold and windy days. </div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">I'm sure that many of you own a black leather jacket, I'm sure. Faux leather jackets are great item, but I'll talk about them some other time. Basically, leather jackets are great because they provide us with an isolation against the wind and the cold (especially quality ones). However, as you probably know, a leather leather is usually not the most soft item as such. To create that cozy feeling, you need to wear something soft underneath it. Why not wear something soft over it as well. A nice oversize scarf can be a great solution to make your leather jacket more cozy for the winter. Moreover, an oversize scarf can be a great pop of colour. In this outfit, I played with colours a bit to dress up the classical leather jacket.</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">This particular black leather jacket I'm wearing is vintage. I will probably continue wearing it until it falls apart (which might not happen in a long time). Anyhow, here I pared it with a snake patterned faux leather bag that comes in a mustard yellow colour. I also opted for a colourful skirt paired with brown boots. I do love to wear colour in winter. Tell me how do you like this outfit? It can be a challenge to create a feminine outfit in winter, but sometimes something as simple as putting on a warm skirt and a pair of boots with high heels can do the trick. I finished the look with a cozy beanie! I'm also wearing <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/05/visit-wonderful-ston-croatia-and-learn.html" target="_blank">coral earrings</a> I purchased in Ston, Croatia.</div></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/01/how-to-style-oversized-beige-scarf-2.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">HOW TO STYLE AN OVERSIZED BEIGE SCARF?</span></a> See these two posts as well: 1) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/wiw-in-mostar-zuleikha-book-review.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">WIW IN MOSTAR </span></a>2) <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/5-december-outfits-mini-fashion-recap.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">A MINI FASHION RECAP</span></a></h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I HAVE ILLUSTRATED THIS LEATHER JACKET TWICE! <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/fashion-illustration-friday.html" style="color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE </a>& <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/fashion-illustration-wednesday-faux-fur.html" style="color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> Browsing my archives I realized that I have illustrated this leather jacket at least twice before. Moreover, counting the post today I have illustrated this pair of high brown boots four times! Is it me or am I starting to wear the items I have illustrated more often? Do you think that's possible? Perhaps illustrating them creates a sort of visual fashion memento in my head. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PREVIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED- A LEATHER PAIR OF </td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/fashion-illustration-friday-brown-and.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HIGH BROWN BOOTS - HERE</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> & </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/02/fashion-illustration-sunday-winter-chic.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> &</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/12/fashion-illustration-and-outfit-of-day.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a> & <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/spring-styling-in-mostar-vintage.html" target="_blank">HIGH BROWN BOOTS</a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDJplvY0_AcYKl15KohciUsWaikXDTo7C0l-0Q4YWRo-lKot2WE2TniqxWtCacveiPlnHk32nAiUH3wiaLWcMOJApxYOTjjBOsQXJj2qKNX4cxqHwylbS4SE986U80Udxr9RhRy7n3ta1EFKRRU0uqAnKtUrFQtsVNJ8WV_zpugUMLO87jOY4vcuKf5s/s3000/IMG_20240127_120015_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDJplvY0_AcYKl15KohciUsWaikXDTo7C0l-0Q4YWRo-lKot2WE2TniqxWtCacveiPlnHk32nAiUH3wiaLWcMOJApxYOTjjBOsQXJj2qKNX4cxqHwylbS4SE986U80Udxr9RhRy7n3ta1EFKRRU0uqAnKtUrFQtsVNJ8WV_zpugUMLO87jOY4vcuKf5s/s16000/IMG_20240127_120015_1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Thank you for visiting! How is life treating you?</div><br /></div></div></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-31012891749728711312024-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:002024-01-22T08:24:51.636-08:00LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER BY D.H. LAWRENCE (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello, in this post I shall review<i> Lady Chatterley's Lover.</i> It used to be somewhat of a controversial book. Originally published in Italy almost a hundred years ago (in 1928), it had to wait for decades to be published in England. In fact, it wasn't until the 1960s, that the uncensured version of this novel wasn't published in English. When it was finally published as it was, it was put on a trial for obscenity in England! A trial it lost. Not surprisingly, if it is true that the prosecutor opening statement was: 'Is this a book you would want your wife or your servants to read?' Did somebody really think it was a good question to ask in the sixties? </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">If you read it as a modern reader, you'll probably wonder what all the fuss was about. However, back in the day, this book caused quite a stir. A lot of fuss over nothing, really! It's a shame because it took away the attention from the novel itself. It really is a great novel in many ways. Perhaps you could say that it's a book that got famous for all the wrong reasons. </span><i>Lady Chatterley's Lover </i>is not even a particularly erotic writing. <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;">Indeed, I cannot wonder whether the class question was the real controversy. You see the lady in the title has an affair with someone from the lower class. That could have been the real controversy, and not the few pages that talk about lovemaking! Before I get to my review, I'll just like to share a few more pieces of information about this interesting novel. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNnVTPPDsaDSldXCUbZLOp44bGvKR4dBs-OwThyphenhyphen1iGBoBUujxWTDaGU-X1BzYptnOGlQHfWOBaIZqT_yuRQoHv-WHNjFKFsAq9gJ7UL7EJK19l_XaBO7YBkA0GpJ-sCS7kwU5QLBkMhLQRVnigh3cbCS9kfsM8RZUfVFuQQamDkPp7A7F1-sw2eJjjgY/s3000/IMG_20231102_164611.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNnVTPPDsaDSldXCUbZLOp44bGvKR4dBs-OwThyphenhyphen1iGBoBUujxWTDaGU-X1BzYptnOGlQHfWOBaIZqT_yuRQoHv-WHNjFKFsAq9gJ7UL7EJK19l_XaBO7YBkA0GpJ-sCS7kwU5QLBkMhLQRVnigh3cbCS9kfsM8RZUfVFuQQamDkPp7A7F1-sw2eJjjgY/s16000/IMG_20231102_164611.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAawcdoL73AmBdjEEhSMZRecb-PdtcOEHNEYcxpYkIjVpFVXMWTeI5AA0o0o3b9AExdGKUUWUpu6qVfVgmD62VTFBHrX6nznohgPuvHIosDZvkA4qDa8igpIwfCj1Xsjrx7WkGpT25zCT4EXUmlT4i7erQ8S63OQ2ZUrgniZPWxZzhd52P_egHTPLogY/s3000/lady%20chatterly's%20lover%20quote.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAawcdoL73AmBdjEEhSMZRecb-PdtcOEHNEYcxpYkIjVpFVXMWTeI5AA0o0o3b9AExdGKUUWUpu6qVfVgmD62VTFBHrX6nznohgPuvHIosDZvkA4qDa8igpIwfCj1Xsjrx7WkGpT25zCT4EXUmlT4i7erQ8S63OQ2ZUrgniZPWxZzhd52P_egHTPLogY/s16000/lady%20chatterly's%20lover%20quote.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">THE BACKGROUND (SOME BASIC INFORMATION):</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">This is what Wikipedia has to say about the background of this novel and I found it fascinating:<i> </i></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Lawrence's life, including his wife, Frieda, and his childhood in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottinghamshire" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Nottinghamshire">Nottinghamshire</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">, influenced the novel.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="color: #202122; line-height: 1; text-align: left; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Chatterley%27s_Lover#cite_note-4" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[4]</a></sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">According to some critics, the fling of</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Ottoline_Morrell" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Lady Ottoline Morrell">Lady Ottoline Morrell</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">with "Tiger", a young</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonemason" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Stonemason">stonemason</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">who came to carve</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plinth" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Plinth">plinths</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">for her garden statues, also influenced the story.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="color: #202122; line-height: 1; text-align: left; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Chatterley%27s_Lover#cite_note-5" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[5]</a></sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span></i><i style="color: #202122; text-align: left;">Lawrence allegedly read the manuscript of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_(novel)" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Maurice (novel)">Maurice</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="E. M. Forster">E. M. Forster</a>, which was published posthumously in 1971. That novel, although it is about a homosexual couple, also involves a gamekeeper becoming the lover of a member of the upper classes and influenced <b>Lady Chatterley's Lover</b>.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What I found so fascinating was the life of the Lady Ottoline Morrell, the one that influenced this novel. Do give it a read if you like that sort of stuff. I have little to no interest in present day gossip, but somehow old scandals fascinate me. Moreover, I didn't know that this novel was possibly influenced by E.M. Forster's <i>Maurice</i>. While on the subject, I would also like to recommend <i>Maurice</i>. I read it back at University and I remember we had some good discussions about it. Like most classics, <a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html" target="_blank">Lady Chatterley's Lover </a>can be read online (on project Gutenberg and other places). </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="color: green; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Lady Chatterley's Lover</span></h1><p class="author" style="color: green; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by<br /><br /><b>D H Lawrence</b></span></p><hr style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; width: 257.737px;" /><h2 style="color: green; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Contents</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 484.55px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch1">Chapter 1.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch2">Chapter 2.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch3">Chapter 3.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch4">Chapter 4.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch5">Chapter 5.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch6">Chapter 6.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch7">Chapter 7.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch8">Chapter 8.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch9">Chapter 9.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch10">Chapter 10.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch11">Chapter 11.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch12">Chapter 12.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch13">Chapter 13.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch14">Chapter 14.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch15">Chapter 15.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch16">Chapter 16.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch17">Chapter 17.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch18">Chapter 18.</a><br /><a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100181h.html#ch19">Chapter 19.</a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;">Do I reread the novels I'm reviewing? Often I do, even if I don't plan on it. I just find it interesting to compare my old reviews with a new reading experience. When I opened my blog, I didn't originally post my book reviews here, but that changed with time. Still, I have a lot of book reviews I haven't shared yet and a lot of books I want to talk about. So, you could say I'm doing a lot of rereading for my blog and I love it. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgW5wPBwn_lfgdQFWjvAKdomkTcCQxaxiGCDUik4dsRZNCZ8ilideCfMg38-hNGXILc7ZDnphn9RCkAgUgRw1iDPdrZjFcb1SDRnY17IK-mcwhyDJEB7BpAbyUUczBE5ShrP2TnXeeTriBoVR2VU8iuXqtKeYgrRjbfxz3mvUmpb6KyBb0_c5ws8_d0c/s3000/IMG_20231102_164545.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgW5wPBwn_lfgdQFWjvAKdomkTcCQxaxiGCDUik4dsRZNCZ8ilideCfMg38-hNGXILc7ZDnphn9RCkAgUgRw1iDPdrZjFcb1SDRnY17IK-mcwhyDJEB7BpAbyUUczBE5ShrP2TnXeeTriBoVR2VU8iuXqtKeYgrRjbfxz3mvUmpb6KyBb0_c5ws8_d0c/s16000/IMG_20231102_164545.jpg" /></a></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><b>LADY'S CHATTERLY'S LOVER BY D.H. LAWRENCE, 4/5</b></span></h2><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> While I was writing this review, I read this novel again. You see, I had first </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;">read it quite a long time ago (13 years ago), and while I remembered it fondly, I wanted to refresh my knowledge about it. So, yesterday I followed the Gutenberg link and started reading. Now, I'm not even sure if the edition I read earlier was the same or the censored one because the Gutenberg one contains a lot of detail then I didn't remember. Moreover, I found an audiobook (narrated by Judi Dench!) on YouTube that also seemed a lot shorter than the Gutenberg version. So, I'm assuming that the Gutenberg version is the novel as it was first indented to look like! Let me know what version you have read. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Rereading the novel again, I must admit I've experienced the writing a little differently. It was honestly more beautiful than I remembered. I have originally described the writing as more sensual than lyrical, more original than accomplished, but now I'm not so sure. I think some parts of this novel are definitely lyrical and accomplished. I will agree with my original conclusion of it being an unusual novel! </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Back when I read it (that is as a literature student), I was reading almost </span><span style="color: #181818;">exclusively</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> classics. Compared to the others book I was reading, </span></span><i style="text-align: justify;">Lady Chatterley's Lover </i><span style="text-align: justify;">didn't seem like such </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">a significant achievement of literature. However, reading it again, it kind of feels like it is! Well, I always thought it was literature, I just didn't think it was that significant. Now, I think it might be more serious and profound piece of writing that what I originally deemed it to be.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">However, even on my first reading I noted that it felt so fresh and unique, I simply couldn't help liking it. I did have some complains, though. I deemed </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Lady Chatterley's Lover</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> to be </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">it's messy, disorganized and even probably a bit dated, even if there was definitely an authentic feel about it. I wouldn't agree with that critic anymore. It doesn't seem so messy and disorganized anymore. I'm really wondering whether it just felt that way because I read a shorter version of it or something. My conclusion when I reviewed it </span><span style="color: #181818;">thirteen</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> years ago was that it might not be a masterpiece, but that was an original piece of writing nevertheless. How I feel about it now? Well, I think it might be a masterpiece, even if a slightly flawed one. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">When I spoke about the positives of this book, I said that it might</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> not the best writing out there but there is substantial ambition and drive behind it that can't be missed. I agree with what I wrote back then. There is passion and </span><span style="color: #181818;">authenticity</span><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in this novel, especially when it comes to the portrayal of its main characters. I would say that the </span>portrayal<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of the characters is one of its main literary merits. The setting feels very well drawn as well. The clash of classes was handled especially well. It really is a deeper book than it seems. It speaks a great deal about the society and the divisions caused by the class system. It describes different types of personalities and types. </span></span></span><i>Lady Chatterley's Lover</i> turns in a psychological study at times. I think those moments are those I liked the best in this novel. <i> </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> I heard </span><i>Lady Chatterley's Lover </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">described as one of those novels you skip the pages to get to the juicy parts, and I don't really agree with that description. As I wrote in my original review, for me personally those pages weren't particularly interesting (or juicy), so I there was no need to skip anything to get to them. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Not that I wasn't tempted to skip a page or two from time time to time- the novel wasn't one of those that makes you clutch to every page- but I didn't skip anything and I'm glad I didn't because novel as whole works quite well, if not perfectly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> I don't think most people would read it only for juicy pages nowadays. Really, for today standards, there is nothing shocking in this </span><i>Lady Chatterley's Lover . </i>However<i>, </i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">I can see how for its time this novel must have been shocking and it must have seemed like something else. Again, I think that was the most shocking was an </span><span style="color: #181818;">occasional</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> description of the act of lovemaking, but rather the fact that the novel's heroine cheated her husband with someone belonging to a lower class. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The affair wasn't exactly all romantic, either. Throughout the novel, the class question comes up. The writer is quite keen as </span>describing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is a </span>tangible<span style="font-family: inherit;"> thing. Possibly, it was this social realism that angered some people. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i> Lady Chatterley's Lover </i>was an enjoyable read this time around as well. The plot itself was interesting enough to reread, and I noticed some other things while I was rereading this novel. The humour of this book is quite nice too, not pretentious at all, quite refreshing in fact. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">What I noticed while rereading it was how much the novel centred on descriptions of feelings of isolation and alienation. At times this novel feels like a study of loneliness: </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><b>“It's no good trying to get rid of your own aloneness. You've got to stick to it all your life. Only at times, at times, the gap will be filled in. At times! But you have to wait for the times. Accept your own aloneness and stick to it, all your life. And then accept the times when the gap is filled in, when they come. But they've got to come. You can't force them.”</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><b>“All hopes of eternity and all gain from the past he would have given to have her there, to be wrapped warm with him in one blanket, and sleep, only sleep. It seemed the sleep with the woman in his arms was the only necessity.”</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><b>“Perhaps only people who are capable of real togetherness have that look of being alone in the universe. The others have a certain stickiness, they stick to the mass.”</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">This novel could be compared with <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/04/an-unconventionally-romantic-reading.html" target="_blank">Tolstoy's<i> Anna Karenina</i></a> and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/11/madame-bovary-provincial-manners-novel.html" target="_blank">Flaubert's <i>Madame Bovary</i></a><i>. </i> Both novels feature a heroine that married young and sought and/or found extramarital love. However, it actually reminds me the most of<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/03/what-to-read-tonight-30-reading.html" target="_blank"> Kate Chopin's <i>The Awakening</i></a>. Chopin's heroine resembles Constance more than Anna or Emma. Constance seems to be more sensual and rational than Anna or Emma, who in comparison seem more romantic and sensitive. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Now, what follows is a more detailed review of Lady Chatterley's lover. If you don't want any spoilers, I suggest you to skip this part: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PV9aboYT_n_5ib-9CrSsYWs7GCkEY1OlozE2xWSRh3izzJEIZG7iDcCQfpn3NfaFvtY_5LI0gu_nyqgddIpSbFkAjn5C96Ei-vIeRce8jW3o70CL8fKWUg9el5Vf2XC-x1JnLMfK8fLDwGMWzA8-EOC4GEikdhzSPcmw27QbGo2ylM4LfPBFdeM19-M/s3000/lady%20ch%20quotes%20forest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PV9aboYT_n_5ib-9CrSsYWs7GCkEY1OlozE2xWSRh3izzJEIZG7iDcCQfpn3NfaFvtY_5LI0gu_nyqgddIpSbFkAjn5C96Ei-vIeRce8jW3o70CL8fKWUg9el5Vf2XC-x1JnLMfK8fLDwGMWzA8-EOC4GEikdhzSPcmw27QbGo2ylM4LfPBFdeM19-M/s16000/lady%20ch%20quotes%20forest.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE PLOT- THE STORY OF LADY CHATTERLEY</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;">Chapter one is all about introducing us to </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><i> </i></span><span style="color: #202122;">principal characters in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><i> Lady Chatterley's Lover</i></span><span style="color: #202122;">. As soon as I started reading it, I knew that this was </span><span style="text-align: justify;">one of those novels that draws the reader in. It opens up with a philosophical passage:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: x-large;"><b>Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">After this philosophical passage, we are introduced to the main character of the novel: Constance. We don't learn too much about her at the very moment, because the author quickly jumps to her husband. We'll learn a lot more about Constance before the end of the first chapter. However, this initial sequencing is important. The author first mentions tragic times, implies we must live on and confirms such was Constance's position: </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i>This was more or less Constance Chatterley's position. The war had brought the roof down over her head. And she had realized that one must live and learn.</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i>She married Clifford Chatterley in 1917, when he was home for a month on leave. They had a month's honeymoon. Then he went back to Flanders: to be shipped over to England again six months later, more or less in bits. Constance, his wife, was then twenty-three years old, and he was twenty-nine.</i></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The author wastes no time. We are introduced to our heroine: Constance, a young woman who realized that she must live and thus married </span>Clifford.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Well, the wording certainly implies that their love wasn't up for the most romantic start. D.H. Lawrence proceeds to inform us about Clifford's title and his health state. Why is title so important? Well, because the class question is a part of this novel. Why is the health </span>important<span style="font-family: inherit;">? Because the marriage itself will be questioned. What else do we learn about the couple? That they return to his ancestral home, so that he could keep the family name alive for a while. What does this mean? Well, that the Sir Clifford shall not be able to sire any offspring. </span></div><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><i>His hold on life was marvellous. He didn't die, and the bits seemed to grow together again. For two years he remained in the doctor's hands. Then he was pronounced a cure, and could return to life again, with the lower half of his body, from the hips down, paralysed for ever.</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span><b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script;"></span></i></b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><i>This was in 1920. They returned, Clifford and Constance, to his home, Wragby Hall, the family 'seat'. His father had died, Clifford was now a baronet, Sir Clifford, and Constance was Lady Chatterley. They came to start housekeeping and married life in the rather forlorn home of the Chatterleys on a rather inadequate income. Clifford had a sister, but she had departed. Otherwise there were no near relatives. The elder brother was dead in the war. Crippled for ever, knowing he could never have any children, Clifford came home to the smoky Midlands to keep the Chatterley name alive while he could.</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">What else does the author says? He gives us a real insight into Clifford's character, explaining how he was relived and glad to be alive, but at the same time there was a sadness in him. This is all very relevant for understanding both Clifford and Constance character: </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">He was not really downcast. He could wheel himself about in a wheeled chair, and he had a bath-chair with a small motor attachment, so he could drive himself slowly round the garden and into the fine melancholy park, of which he was really so proud, though he pretended to be flippant about it.</span></i></b></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">Having suffered so much, the capacity for suffering had to some extent left him. He remained strange and bright and cheerful, almost, one might say, chirpy, with his ruddy, healthy-looking face, and his pale-blue, challenging bright eyes. His shoulders were broad and strong, his hands were very strong. He was expensively dressed, and wore handsome neckties from Bond Street. Yet still in his face one saw the watchful look, the slight vacancy of a cripple.</span></i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span><b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script;"></span></i></b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">He had so very nearly lost his life, that what remained was wonderfully precious to him. It was obvious in the anxious brightness of his eyes, how proud he was, after the great shock, of being alive. But he had been so much hurt that something inside him had perished, some of his feelings had gone. There was a blank of insentience.</span></i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Once we get a good description of Clifford, the author gives us more insight into Constance's character. Lawrence describes Constance's appearance, education and background. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Constance, his wife, was a ruddy, country-looking girl with soft brown hair and sturdy body, and slow movements, full of unusual energy. She had big, wondering eyes, and a soft mild voice, and seemed just to have come from her native village. It was not so at all. Her father was the once well-known R. A., old Sir Malcolm Reid. Her mother had been one of the cultivated Fabians in the palmy, rather pre-Raphaelite days. Between artists and cultured socialists, Constance and her sister Hilda had had what might be called an aesthetically unconventional upbringing. They had been taken to Paris and Florence and Rome to breathe in art, and they had been taken also in the other direction, to the Hague and Berlin, to great Socialist conventions, where the speakers spoke in every civilized tongue, and no one was abashed.</b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"></span></b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>The two girls, therefore, were from an early age not the least daunted by either art or ideal politics. It was their natural atmosphere. They were at once cosmopolitan and provincial, with the cosmopolitan provincialism of art that goes with pure social ideals.</b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">It seems that Constance's education and upbringing was quite liberal and happy. Both of her parents seem to encourage her to live her life. Her family will continue to play a part in the novel. </span></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>They had been sent to Dresden at the age of fifteen, for music among other things. And they had had a good time there. They lived freely among the students, they argued with the men over philosophical, sociological and artistic matters, they were just as good as the men themselves: only better, since they were women. And they tramped off to the forests with sturdy youths bearing guitars, twang-twang! They sang the Wandervogel songs, and they were free. Free! That was the great word. Out in the open world, out in the forests of the morning, with lusty and splendid-throated young fellows, free to do as they liked, and--above all--to say what they liked. It was the talk that mattered supremely: the impassioned interchange of talk. Love was only a minor accompaniment.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is a mentioning of love affairs, something everyone seemed to approve of. The writers emphases how for the girls, love was more about talking then about the actual act of love making. Well, this makes sense, because as we know for women (young and old) communication is really important.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-family: "Dancing Script"; font-size: x-large;">Both Hilda and Constance had had their tentative love-affairs by the time they were eighteen. The young men with whom they talked so passionately and sang so lustily and camped under the trees in such freedom wanted, of course, the love connexion. The girls were doubtful, but then the thing was so much talked about, it was supposed to be so important. And the men were so humble and craving. Why couldn't a girl be queenly, and give the gift of herself? <span>So they had given the gift of themselves....</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Women like to be heard. It's said that women are more audio types, while men are visual ones. It's not a strict division, I would say, but there is truth in that. I'd say that the author showed some good understanding of the female psychology. Lawrence's </span>portrayal of Constance<span style="font-family: inherit;"> might not be as elaborate and detailed as the one of Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina but it is certainly a very successful one. We can see </span>Lawrence<span style="font-family: inherit;"> wants to give us a detailed view of Constance's upbringing by the amount of text he devotes to it in the first chapter: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>When the girls came home for the summer holidays of 1913, when Hilda was twenty and Connie eighteen, their father could see plainly that they had had the love experience.</b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><i>L'amour avait passe par la</i>, as somebody puts it. But he was a man of experience himself, and let life take its course. As for the mother, a nervous invalid in the last few months of her life, she wanted her girls to be 'free', and to 'fulfil themselves'. She herself had never been able to be altogether herself: it had been denied her. Heaven knows why, for she was a woman who had her own income and her own way. She blamed her husband. But as a matter of fact, it was some old impression of authority on her own mind or soul that she could not get rid of. It had nothing to do with Sir Malcolm, who left his nervously hostile, high-spirited wife to rule her own roost, while he went his own way.</b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>So the girls were 'free', and went back to Dresden, and their music, and the university and the young men. They loved their respective young men, and their respective young men loved them with all the passion of mental attraction. All the wonderful things the young men thought and expressed and wrote, they thought and expressed and wrote for the young women. Connie's young man was musical, Hilda's was technical. But they simply lived for their young women. In their minds and their mental excitements, that is. Somewhere else they were a little rebuffed, though they did not know it.</b></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;">...</p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1g171g-usXgPR7XThxd4kAmjr8Sr-P2aKzqHrmwMYF31eGVKI-r-bHIbUejkK2I_3B8qbO46Xm3eCHZfdYzplec98ZLRHC3MyMAvYTeOBXrOlyzpyA3KECL2oA66HDmclqOXLMyGNIpB-3RxhdPpuXsQfj-0ScrLLWeNR-J1nwSHI0Cainthi97LOQSk/s3000/lady%20%E2%80%9CThe%20world%20is%20a%20raving%20idiot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1g171g-usXgPR7XThxd4kAmjr8Sr-P2aKzqHrmwMYF31eGVKI-r-bHIbUejkK2I_3B8qbO46Xm3eCHZfdYzplec98ZLRHC3MyMAvYTeOBXrOlyzpyA3KECL2oA66HDmclqOXLMyGNIpB-3RxhdPpuXsQfj-0ScrLLWeNR-J1nwSHI0Cainthi97LOQSk/s16000/lady%20%E2%80%9CThe%20world%20is%20a%20raving%20idiot.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><p></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm quite impressed with how much detailed the author put into Constance's backstory. It makes her seem so much more real. Lawrence tells us how the girls lost their first lovers, their mother and peace they enjoyed. Lawrence proceeded to give us more information about the social classes Connie and Clifford belonged to, how they came to be together, how Clifford was a light sort of rebel and so on. I admire how Lawrence gets straight to the point in this chapter. There's no extra information, the writing simply flows, explaining the history of our main characters and proving us with intelligent remarks about the society in the process. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>However, came the war, Hilda and Connie were rushed home again after having been home already in May, to their mother's funeral. Before Christmas of 1914 both their German young men were dead: whereupon the sisters wept, and loved the young men passionately, but underneath forgot them. They didn't exist any more.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Both sisters lived in their father's, really their mother's, Kensington house, and mixed with the young Cambridge group, the group that stood for 'freedom' and flannel trousers, and flannel shirts open at the neck, and a well-bred sort of emotional anarchy, and a whispering, murmuring sort of voice, and an ultra-sensitive sort of manner. Hilda, however, suddenly married a man ten years older than herself, an elder member of the same Cambridge group, a man with a fair amount of money, and a comfortable family job in the government: he also wrote philosophical essays. She lived with him in a smallish house in Westminster, and moved in that good sort of society of people in the government who are not tip-toppers, but who are, or would be, the real intelligent power in the nation: people who know what they're talking about, or talk as if they did.</b></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Connie did a mild form of war-work, and consorted with the flannel-trousers Cambridge intransigents, who gently mocked at everything, so far. Her 'friend' was a Clifford Chatterley, a young man of twenty-two, who had hurried home from Bonn, where he was studying the technicalities of coal-mining. He had previously spent two years at Cambridge. Now he had become a first lieutenant in a smart regiment, so he could mock at everything more becomingly in uniform.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Clifford Chatterley was more upper-class than Connie. Connie was well-to-do intelligentsia, but he was aristocracy. Not the big sort, but still it. His father was a baronet, and his mother had been a viscount's daughter.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">But Clifford, while he was better bred than Connie, and more 'society', was in his own way more provincial and more timid. He was at his ease in the narrow 'great world', that is, landed aristocracy society, but he was shy and nervous of all that other big world which consists of the vast hordes of the middle and lower classes, and foreigners. If the truth must be told, he was just a little bit frightened of middle-and lower-class humanity, and of foreigners not of his own class. He was, in some paralysing way, conscious of his own defencelessness, though he had all the defence of privilege. Which is curious, but a phenomenon of our day.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Therefore the peculiar soft assurance of a girl like Constance Reid fascinated him. She was so much more mistress of herself in that outer world of chaos than he was master of himself.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Nevertheless he too was a rebel: rebelling even against his class. Or perhaps rebel is too strong a word; far too strong. He was only caught in the general, popular recoil of the young against convention and against any sort of real authority. Fathers were ridiculous: his own obstinate one supremely so. And governments were ridiculous: our own wait-and-see sort especially so. And armies were ridiculous, and old buffers of generals altogether, the red-faced Kitchener supremely. Even the war was ridiculous, though it did kill rather a lot of people.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">In fact everything was a little ridiculous, or very ridiculous: certainly everything connected with authority, whether it were in the army or the government or the universities, was ridiculous to a degree. And as far as the governing class made any pretensions to govern, they were ridiculous too. Sir Geoffrey, Clifford's father, was intensely ridiculous, chopping down his trees, and weeding men out of his colliery to shove them into the war; and himself being so safe and patriotic; but, also, spending more money on his country than he'd got.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxrvel76S2_bYva0j1dMnsF-SRAgaNG98EJb4CgwE16bBM1JsFE0VT7Is-TzOiX0_oCYUyp9shPs3Gj8IhePtU1GLk9iY09rFVW9YuzlGOnp5mL2-8cHUZMzOjC-dKVBhllVOzQm-CUZEnLC90YnBl6ff5zPVaSvi1YAoC0c9fvfNWW7xB7n-Wd3s0gb8/s3000/IMG_20231102_164548.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxrvel76S2_bYva0j1dMnsF-SRAgaNG98EJb4CgwE16bBM1JsFE0VT7Is-TzOiX0_oCYUyp9shPs3Gj8IhePtU1GLk9iY09rFVW9YuzlGOnp5mL2-8cHUZMzOjC-dKVBhllVOzQm-CUZEnLC90YnBl6ff5zPVaSvi1YAoC0c9fvfNWW7xB7n-Wd3s0gb8/s16000/IMG_20231102_164548.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The third chapter introduces us a new unhappy Constance. She's feeling trapped, living in a big house, separated by everyone else by the class distinction. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;">Connie was aware, however, of a growing restlessness. Out of her disconnexion, a restlessness was taking possession of her like madness. It twitched her limbs when she didn't want to twitch them, it jerked her spine when she didn't want to jerk upright but preferred to rest comfortably. It thrilled inside her body, in her womb, somewhere, till she felt she must jump into water and swim to get away from it; a mad restlessness. It made her heart beat violently for no reason. And she was getting thinner.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LOSF5IBKmV8xtZ33KyoPYy70H-iESY6Us0O6RTC6FVUG9LvIykRaSHGTFJPqOaeknhYgpgmVb2WhkXTrPZjX1eb4NzjPQaojivLv7FjqtiJwCU51XV06PJGAvmRUDvpySJg3rl23479TGoglMvTCtpK-csF1HOyRzGot5iVQrcBYVnLpkeYa_lbdjtc/s3000/lady%20ch%20lover%20quote.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LOSF5IBKmV8xtZ33KyoPYy70H-iESY6Us0O6RTC6FVUG9LvIykRaSHGTFJPqOaeknhYgpgmVb2WhkXTrPZjX1eb4NzjPQaojivLv7FjqtiJwCU51XV06PJGAvmRUDvpySJg3rl23479TGoglMvTCtpK-csF1HOyRzGot5iVQrcBYVnLpkeYa_lbdjtc/s16000/lady%20ch%20lover%20quote.jpg" /></a></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Constance father advises her to get a lover and when there is a visiting Irishman, Constance actually takes his advice. The Irishman shares her isolation perhaps. He can never truly be a part of English society. This alienation brings them together. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Connie was in love with him, but she managed to sit with her embroidery and let the men talk, and not give herself away. As for Michaelis, he was perfect; exactly the same melancholic, attentive, aloof young fellow of the previous evening, millions of degrees remote from his hosts, but laconically playing up to them to the required amount, and never coming forth to them for a moment. Connie felt he must have forgotten the morning. He had not forgotten. But he knew where he was...in the same old place outside, where the born outsiders are. He didn't take the love-making altogether personally. He knew it would not change him from an ownerless dog, whom everybody begrudges its golden collar, into a comfortable society dog.</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Chapter four introduces us to Constance's life of the mind. She is aware that her affair with the Irishman is doomed. She spends her time with her husband and his friends, living a life of the mind: </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Connie quite liked the life of the mind, and got a great thrill out of it. But she did think it overdid itself a little. She loved being there, amidst the tobacco smoke of those famous evenings of the cronies, as she called them privately to herself. She was infinitely amused, and proud too, that even their talking they could not do, without her silent presence. She had an immense respect for thought...and these men, at least, tried to think honestly. But somehow there was a cat, and it wouldn't jump. They all alike talked at something, though what it was, for the life of her she couldn't say.</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Chapter five is centred around an interesting conversation between Constance and Clifford. Constance is somewhat surprised when her husband speaks of wanting an heir in a rather impersonal way, but when she says she is sorry they don't have a child, he shocks her even more with his proposal: </p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>'It would almost be a good thing if you had a child by another man, he said. 'If we brought it up at Wragby, it would belong to us and to the place. I don't believe very intensely in fatherhood. If we had the child to rear, it would be our own, and it would carry on. Don't you think it's worth considering?'</b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>Connie looked up at him at last. The child, her child, was just an 'it' to him. It...it...it!</b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>'But what about the other man?' she asked.</b></span></p><p style="font-size: 1.35em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>'Does it matter very much? Do these things really affect us very deeply?...You had that lover in Germany...what is it now? Nothing almost. It seems to me that it isn't these little acts and little connexions we make in our lives that matter so very much. They pass away, and where are they? Where...Where are the snows of yesteryear?...It's what endures through one's life that matters; my own life matters to me, in its long continuance and development. But what do the occasional connexions matter? </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel like the fifth chapter is where the novel really starts. It </span>includes<span style="font-family: inherit;"> a lot of foreshadowing. Constance sees her husband in another light. He speaks of having a child, but not of out love, but rather duty. Moreover, the way he speaks about the marriage seems a bit cold. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn39ezJNMUiZ2visqQziLtI2tzBNfu1W6ZTF06Gz2kt2XiLLER5HZQ6rv2aU89SgStKn0piZMvHmzJmzQ5VOaosPLpDvPDJr2KwDem485AC_asH479MDEFOSKaUgMOc565swphSp59aarcCEWNI4sCjsyQCU1OCfXNmQsdJYJZIa2dBP8KroGKOZhuZyo/s3000/IMG_20231102_164527.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn39ezJNMUiZ2visqQziLtI2tzBNfu1W6ZTF06Gz2kt2XiLLER5HZQ6rv2aU89SgStKn0piZMvHmzJmzQ5VOaosPLpDvPDJr2KwDem485AC_asH479MDEFOSKaUgMOc565swphSp59aarcCEWNI4sCjsyQCU1OCfXNmQsdJYJZIa2dBP8KroGKOZhuZyo/s16000/IMG_20231102_164527.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>CONCLUSION</b></span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">In my original chapter, I stressed how I really liked the character of Constance. On a reread I liked her even more. I was touched by how caring, independent and openminded she was. A curious mix of feminine qualities! There was something very lively about her.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Again, I have to stress that the class gap was well handled. In some cultures, belonging to different classes is like belonging to different worlds. The society the novel describes was multicultural in the sense of classes being like different cultures. </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">In my first review I felt like Lawrence was getting at something universal (perhaps even wise) in his exploration of characters but I wasn't certain he had come full circle. Now, I think he actually has.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">While reading this novel for the second time, the characters seemed less unfinished and more carefully drawn. I really sympathized with all of them. I felt like not revealing everything about them was the point. I think that as readers we're supposed to guess what they were really feeling.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">However, there were still things I didn't like. I feel like the author doesn't have a good understanding of feminine desire and sensuality. So, I can understand why some female readers are put off by this book.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Another thing that impressed me (both the first time around and now) were the touches of philosophy. It was lovely to read most of those philosophical passages. All in all, this is a fascinating and beautifully written novel. I immensely liked it. So, I do recommend it!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzAtq5i2nxNzd9zhx1toJ-FoRKqQVEYBHSYliXnpYTHORm97rH1ciwPnD8XFTmQ3wUkvCWT4xPGxzRRvsoFivQ12lxuf-M2X4ROEPY18RYsmsv7W3BTYiXExsgvBEf7z1xO0_0-C9uSRrJiyJOdA43FdHPQ8KUCGar6hOZ8HG2YQIpNRlEI6-Odfmwlm8/s1600/International%20Fair%20Mostar%20LGD%20modaodaradosti.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzAtq5i2nxNzd9zhx1toJ-FoRKqQVEYBHSYliXnpYTHORm97rH1ciwPnD8XFTmQ3wUkvCWT4xPGxzRRvsoFivQ12lxuf-M2X4ROEPY18RYsmsv7W3BTYiXExsgvBEf7z1xO0_0-C9uSRrJiyJOdA43FdHPQ8KUCGar6hOZ8HG2YQIpNRlEI6-Odfmwlm8/s16000/International%20Fair%20Mostar%20LGD%20modaodaradosti.jpg" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/05/business-chic-outfit-proposal.html" target="_blank">BUSINESS CHIC OUTFIT PROPOSAL : INTERNATIONAL MOSTAR FAIR 2019</a></h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">SUSTAINABLE FASHION FILES</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is an outfit I wore for work and I good representation of how I usually dress for school. This year we have gotten a black and white dress code. While I love the timeless elegance of black and white, I find myself missing colour. I'm trying to sneak up some colour with scarves. I also wear grey because it is (when you think about it) just a shade of black and white.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE BW PEPITA JACKET: VINTAGE. It was bought years ago at a second hand in Split. Honestly, it's one of the hardest working pieces in my closet. It's perfect for creating office and professional looks.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">See how I styled it in the past:</p><p style="text-align: justify;">- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/05/north-american-novels-worth-reading-at.html" target="_blank">with black jeans and white sneakers for a smart casual hiking outfit.</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/03/how-to-style-lbd-dress-for-early-spring.html" target="_blank">with a LBD dress and a straw hat for a chic office styling.</a> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">-<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/02/todays-outfit-post-heavy-is-head-that.html" target="_blank"> with jeans, a braided hairstyle and a statement belt for a more interesting look</a>,</p><p style="text-align: justify;">-<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-rainy-day-outfit-moje-ruho-za-kisni.html" target="_blank"> with a white lace dress and a white vintage shawl for a romantic and feminine styling</a>, </p><p style="text-align: justify;">- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/04/outfit_30.html" target="_blank">with a denim skirt, a turtleneck and Mary Jane heels for a pretty nerd look</a>, </p><p style="text-align: justify;">- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-to-wear-biker-boy-hat-in-casual-way.html" target="_blank">with a pair of white jeans, a pair of sneakers and a baker boy hat for a tomboy look</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">-<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/03/book-review-and-recommendation-starship.html" target="_blank"> and layered with a camel coat and striped skirt for a winter styling</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE WIDE TROUSERS: WAIKIKI (I bought them for work and I've worn them a lot for work, just not for the blog). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE WHITE SHIRT- borrowed from hubby. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE GREY STRIPED TIE: VINTAGE. I borrowed it from my husband years ago. See how I styled this tie with shorts and a blazer <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/01/happy-new-year-2020-with-suit-outfit.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE HIGH BROWN BOOTS - Well, you cannot see this pair of boots well, but they are very old. I must have worn them a thousand times, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/12/visit-meugorje-with-ivana-outfit-and.html" target="_blank">most recently here with a blue SH printed dress,</a> more ideas <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/01/january-recap-10-outfits-i-loved-wearing.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;">HERE</a><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 15px;"> & </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/six-winter-outfit-proposals-sustainable.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 15px;"> & </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-maxi-gypsy-skirt-paired-with-pussy.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;">HERE</a>!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_1xhdPqKqDdW6gw3VsVoJfVKT0BNJYBcyBArOiB8cdGTosip8KQgUR02FKtHpbKfDMlJR7Mgtlp22H6mX_N5bnJalgDKLSX7Txk-pFaofQ0BpjvRvbdGvmhZeTiHMnFZu54BrLCjocpmTi2g-cKILt6E2WK1qsoyRnB6PIZOn6GyaZNnkgGhcLyqhLU/s3000/IMG_20231102_164553.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_1xhdPqKqDdW6gw3VsVoJfVKT0BNJYBcyBArOiB8cdGTosip8KQgUR02FKtHpbKfDMlJR7Mgtlp22H6mX_N5bnJalgDKLSX7Txk-pFaofQ0BpjvRvbdGvmhZeTiHMnFZu54BrLCjocpmTi2g-cKILt6E2WK1qsoyRnB6PIZOn6GyaZNnkgGhcLyqhLU/s16000/IMG_20231102_164553.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As always, thank you for visiting and/or commenting! Take care.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-78072356507643626532024-01-10T13:42:00.000-08:002024-01-11T11:26:35.468-08:00VISIT OMIS (CROATIA) WITH ME AND LEARN ABOUT ITS PIRATE HISTORY!<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, I'm taking you to Omiš (pronounced Omish), Croatia. <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2024/01/alongside-river-poem-by-vesna-parun.html" target="_blank">In my last post,</a><span> I showed you some photographs of Omis city but today we'll take a more detailed look at this stunning Croatian seaside city. I've got maps, photographs, history facts and everything you need to experience this town from the comfort of your home! This town has a fascinating pirate history! Pirates that ruled the Adriatic for two centuries. I don't know if the world has never seen pirates quite like these ones. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span>Did you know that the pope Honoris the third fought a crusade war against the Omis pirates and lost? Did you know that the mighty Republics of Venice and Dubrovnik, the wealthiest city republics of their time had to pay Omis a fee for safe transport? Did you know that there were </span>numerous<span> attacks on Omis pirates and the town itself, but nobody </span>succeeded<span> in defeating them? Even the mighty Turkish Empire never </span>conquered<span> them. Lead by the duke Kacic and his descendants, the Omis people evaded every enemy until the time came when the sea trade wasn't as important. Once the naval superpowers were no more, it was the time for the pirates to step down from the front pages of history. With the fading of might of Venice and Dubrovnik ( two naval trading superpowers) republics, came the inevitable downfall of pirates and the sea snakes (Kacic surname comes from a word for a snake). </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span>In the 12th and 13th century Omiš was quite famous for its pirates whose ships were built for speedy escape into the Cetina river. Pirates sounds a bit </span>ominous<span>, they were also often protectors against foreign </span>invaders<span>. There are two sides to every story. Those were difficult times and often every town or village was for itself. In medieval times, people didn't necessarily form ties and became allies on the basis of faith or nationality. Instead, they were loyal to the lords (nobility) under which they served. You know one's man pirate is another man freedom fighter and all that. </span></span></span>This area was always a crossroads between Western and Eastern imperialism, so piracy was sometimes a way of preserving one's cultural identity. Pirating was a way to financial independence that allowed your noble house to rule independently. Maybe they saw it as making the wealthy pay their taxes!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKd0d0I-go1qvxD7jm9_-Q_pFVhNsK6GFMcYiJQHcts_MUjxpdQYfQkT9X_Ej1otTQkXRfcGJvlFc_p_F3M0eVFhIyeiqsul_lBp1LARrWkTNQg1UB2nvlychxzk0V6jnd-B7iBTdpHrs7sO2KtkuyQSEgZpI-idWnizVSvZ3MG0Ywes2T-T2QoJbmtzc/s3000/IMG_20231014_145133.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKd0d0I-go1qvxD7jm9_-Q_pFVhNsK6GFMcYiJQHcts_MUjxpdQYfQkT9X_Ej1otTQkXRfcGJvlFc_p_F3M0eVFhIyeiqsul_lBp1LARrWkTNQg1UB2nvlychxzk0V6jnd-B7iBTdpHrs7sO2KtkuyQSEgZpI-idWnizVSvZ3MG0Ywes2T-T2QoJbmtzc/s16000/IMG_20231014_145133.jpg" /></a></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IPs11pknRQMy8PYIjnZsZp5dM0rcyNtefIJ4Uz-EVqHwVM0zvgqMXfKRWEyF7a5VFEoQouGo-ptxQna1eNUS0vEAKiXrkpMgi0B1jS1i4eOKylcitl9CnOqLALuGLXDjhHIk4lXcb9ahxZruqstXlAp3EU_oEIq2Lp19XbECRKnZTED1U5ib85UsqI4/s3000/IMG_20231014_145222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IPs11pknRQMy8PYIjnZsZp5dM0rcyNtefIJ4Uz-EVqHwVM0zvgqMXfKRWEyF7a5VFEoQouGo-ptxQna1eNUS0vEAKiXrkpMgi0B1jS1i4eOKylcitl9CnOqLALuGLXDjhHIk4lXcb9ahxZruqstXlAp3EU_oEIq2Lp19XbECRKnZTED1U5ib85UsqI4/s16000/IMG_20231014_145222.jpg" /></a></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;">I don't judge the Omis pirates harshly, even though historically speaking, their tribe sort of used to raid my tribe. I'm originally from island </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/08/3-charming-villages-near-hvar-town-to.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Hvar </a><span style="text-align: justify;">and </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/06/zadar-zara-photography-post.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Zadar </a><span style="text-align: justify;">& </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/04/split-city-guide-palace.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Split</a><span style="text-align: justify;">, areas that were raided by these pirates. However, I cannot help but admire the pirates cunning and bravery a little. To go against the most powerful political and financial powers of their time with so much daring is awe-inspiring. These Croatian pirates fought everyone : other Croats, the Roman pope, the republic of Venice and Dubrovnik (basically just about anyone else who happened to come their away and tried to take their freedom away). </span><br /></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">VENICE AND DUBROVNIK HAD TO PAY A FEE TO OMIS PIRATES</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During the height of their power, the Omis pirates spared no ships, including those from fellow Croats from the Republic of Dubrovnik. At one point in time, Dubrovnik was the wealthiest city republic in Europe. You should read their historical contracts such as marriage contacts and dowry reports (they were insane!). One of my University professors was a known scholar and an authority on history of Dubrovnik so I had to learn a lot about it myself. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span>Republic of Venice and Dubrovnik rivalled each other for position of the ultimate naval power for centuries, sometimes one city republic won, sometimes the other. Both of them had to pay a tribute to Omis pirates and their crazy fast little ships. While they raided one Croatian republic, they made friends with another- The Republic of Poljica- ruled by the same system as Dubrovnik- democratically elected 'knez'. Poljica people became one of their strongest allies. </span></span><span> Eventually, the Omis pirates agreed to live peacefully. Legends says that they burned their pirate ships on a great pile fire. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBG56MxlngH3IOiYUWbj10oPQLMpe-rueXsRH6wSFh4g46x8lEH9HiP_bNr13fYKY_hLoP9UGBCIrS1lSP9hsKl3T3_EBvlOaY5ch83RFEobT3GRB-oZqNT8GDYYoMWiPJs-T5B0OEAkU5VbcmOiyGj5yfwjwnTRGqPaTLZWgS-Qrt8YTw9G9apOOrP50/s3000/IMG_20231014_145135.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBG56MxlngH3IOiYUWbj10oPQLMpe-rueXsRH6wSFh4g46x8lEH9HiP_bNr13fYKY_hLoP9UGBCIrS1lSP9hsKl3T3_EBvlOaY5ch83RFEobT3GRB-oZqNT8GDYYoMWiPJs-T5B0OEAkU5VbcmOiyGj5yfwjwnTRGqPaTLZWgS-Qrt8YTw9G9apOOrP50/s16000/IMG_20231014_145135.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>A VIEW INTO THE FEROUSCIOUNESS OF THE PIRATES OF OMIS</b></p><ul style="background-color: white; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1145 - Povlja, Otok Brač - Omiš pirates destroy the Benediction monastery built in the 9th/10th century. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1167 - Duke Nikola Kačić signs a peace treaty with merchants from Kotor (present day Montenegro). The peace treaty was soon cancelled. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1180 - The archbishop of Split was stoned to death in a village near Omiš over dispute of the land. The order was probably given by Duke Nikola.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1190 - The noble family Kačići sign a new treaty with Dubrovnik. It gets cancelled quickly. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1200- Komiža, island Vis - Monks of the Benedict order move their monastery in fear of the attack from the Omis pirates. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1208- The Republic of Venice signs are a treaty with Omiš pirates and promises to pay them a fee for safe transport. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1215- Kačićs were, for first time, cited for piracy in writing. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1220- Omiš pirates attack the papal crusaders on their way to Palestine. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1220, the Hungarian-Croatian king <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_II_of_Hungary" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Andrew II of Hungary">Andrew II</a><span style="text-align: start;"> threatened retaliation with the royal army against knez Malduč and his relatives unless the piracy and heresy ended.</span></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1221- The Pope undertakes a crusade war against the pirates of Omiš. The Omiš pirates won. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1222- The pope sought help from residents of Dubrovnik against the activity of<span style="text-align: start;"> Omiš pirates.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-27" style="line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><span style="text-align: start;"> His efforts, as well as those of Guncel, Archbishop of Split, resulted in a temporary peace treaty with </span><i style="text-align: start;">Kačići Omišani</i><span style="text-align: start;"> (Cacecli Almesiani).</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-28" style="line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a> </sup></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-wrap: nowrap;">D</span>uring the same year, knez Nikola and his relatives made peace between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachlumia" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Zachlumia">Zachlumia</a><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;"> and Split, agreeing to pay for damage earlier in the year when Malduš nephew Toljen ravaged Split.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-32" style="color: #202122; line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;"> However, compensation for the ravages of Toljen was not paid, leading to conflict in the following year.</span></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1226- Duke Toljen Kačić raids the areas around Split town. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1228- Pope starts another war against the Omiš pirates. This time he doesn't lose, but he doesn't win either. The pirating continues. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1228 - Omiš pirates destroy the church of saint Mary on island Brac. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1232- Venetians mentioned that Dubrovnik was not allowed to accept Kačićs and Omišani, and if Venice were to send ships against Kačićs, Dubrovnik must join the Venetians with a ship of at least 50 people.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1236- Venece and Dubrovnik republics join forces against Omis pirates. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1239- Nikola of Hodimir and Pribislav of Malduč claimed bail for the Omiš pirates who murdered Dubrovnik nobleman Grubeša and looted his ship.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1241- island Šolta is heavily damaged in the attack lead by Kacic nobles and Omis pirates. Many villages are destroyed. </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1273- Omis pirates attack and rob the </span>bishop<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Kefalonije.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1277 - Omis pirates attacked Nerežišća on island otok Brac. They burn and destroy all written records on island Brač! </span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1278- Omis pirates claim island Brac for themselves.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1280- Omis pirates destroy and burn the monastery in Sućuraj on island Hvar.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1294- Omis pirates rob and raid Povlja on island Brač.</span></li><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 7px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("/templates/yougrids/images/mesh/bodyli.gif") 0px 7px no-repeat; line-height: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">YEAR 1331- the islanders of Hvar island accept Venetian rule in promise for protection against Omis pirates. </span></li></ul><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzYNZKct7VtqamKCNzkdvcUppWqCna1W-B64uxO6s139kFwhy6A8Q25E_T2__7odE0hvk99sAFnyVLdpdOXXbRIOPZl9EJCwrMertSuX9nZ1xz_xKecF_dyUhadmtW0VPykML9b_Xkjbmp0RqbxyKk-i3ivNnhT4sNtCSU9TSdYc6SXlf6TiT6laX4YY/s2992/20231014_144024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzYNZKct7VtqamKCNzkdvcUppWqCna1W-B64uxO6s139kFwhy6A8Q25E_T2__7odE0hvk99sAFnyVLdpdOXXbRIOPZl9EJCwrMertSuX9nZ1xz_xKecF_dyUhadmtW0VPykML9b_Xkjbmp0RqbxyKk-i3ivNnhT4sNtCSU9TSdYc6SXlf6TiT6laX4YY/s16000/20231014_144024.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What does <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omi%C5%A1" target="_blank">Wiki says about Omiš?</a> </span><i><b style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Omiš</b><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> (</span><span class="IPA-label IPA-label-small" face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 11.9px;">Croatian pronunciation:</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span class="IPA nowrap" face="sans-serif" lang="hr-Latn-fonipa" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Serbo-Croatian" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Help:IPA/Serbo-Croatian">[ɔ̌miːʃ]</a></span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Latin language">Latin</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Italian language">Italian</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">: </span><span face="sans-serif" lang="it" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Almissa</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">) is a town and port in the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatia" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Dalmatia">Dalmatia</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> region of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Croatia">Croatia</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">, and a municipality in the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-Dalmatia_County" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Split-Dalmatia County">Split-Dalmatia County</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">. The town is approximately 25 kilometres (16 miles) south-east of Croatia's second largest city, </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(city)" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Split (city)">Split</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">, where the </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetina_River" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Cetina River">Cetina River</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> meets the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriatic_Sea" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Adriatic Sea">Adriatic Sea</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">. Omiš municipality has a population of 14,936</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-census2011_3-0" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omi%C5%A1#cite_note-census2011-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> and its area is 266 square kilometres (103 sq mi). </span></i><i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Omiš was well known in the past by the Corsairs of Almissa (</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Omiški gusari</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">)</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omi%C5%A1#cite_note-6" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[6]</a></sup><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> whose Sagittas (ships) (</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genitive_case" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Genitive case">Genitive case</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">: </span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Sagittae</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">, translated as </span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">The Arrow</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">), brought fame to them because they were built for attack and fast retrieval into the mouth of the Cetina River, protecting the town from foreign invaders. At a very early date, neighbours of the Corsairs of Almissa, the highlanders of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Poljica" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Republic of Poljica">Poljica Principality</a><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omi%C5%A1#cite_note-7" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[7]</a></sup><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> (</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Poljička Republika</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">), became their friends and allies. This allowed them to harass the seaborne trade, without fear of a sudden attack from inland.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="sans-serif" style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><i>PIRATES AS TRIBUTE COLLECTORS</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #131415; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.11px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px auto 1rem; max-width: 21.4rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">During the 12th and 13th centuries, Omiš pirates ruled the sea from Split to Dubrovnik. Since both Venice and Dubrovnik were a major trading force, harvesting ships in this area was very fruitful. All the ships that went through this route had to pay tribute to the mighty lords Kačić. Even the papal galleys that went into the Crusades were not spared.</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #131415; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.11px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px auto 1rem; max-width: 21.4rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fortresses Peovica and Fortica guarded this path and reported to pirates about the arrival of the ships. As soon as they spot the victim, Omiš Arrows, boats of very shallow beam and uncanny agility went to action. They would attack the ships and, if they did not immediately make a decisive advantage, retreated into Cetina. Source : <a href="https://croatiaundiscovered.info/en/blog/omis-pirates/" style="background-color: transparent;">Omiš pirates - Croatia Undiscovered - Discover wonders of Croatia</a></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #131415; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.11px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px auto 1rem; max-width: 21.4rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #131415; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.11px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px auto 1rem; max-width: 21.4rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVAogS4m27ZDPvxrfs9yFGRmLzQQeNW2Xn2g2n4xHN4uArzOwBGVQZxx0RC4UWuMBTZ6trAJdDl9Pz4Tk53v-ppv301Wcn_dgq5vtx_hZivG4MxAQeSThrhcJymHrj9LxsKQ6IvYDfNe94GKAl_bB5maQbv41UymM4DJKdf9DLXZhPd00DsksKdFHxUQ/s2992/20231014_144027.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVAogS4m27ZDPvxrfs9yFGRmLzQQeNW2Xn2g2n4xHN4uArzOwBGVQZxx0RC4UWuMBTZ6trAJdDl9Pz4Tk53v-ppv301Wcn_dgq5vtx_hZivG4MxAQeSThrhcJymHrj9LxsKQ6IvYDfNe94GKAl_bB5maQbv41UymM4DJKdf9DLXZhPd00DsksKdFHxUQ/s16000/20231014_144027.jpg" /></a></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #131415; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.11px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px auto 1rem; max-width: 21.4rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>THE NOBLE KACIC FAMILY- THE LORDS OF OMIS - </b><b>THEIR RISE TO POWER AND EVENTUAL FALL </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">The </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">Kačić family</b><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> (</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Croatian language">Croatian</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">: </span><i lang="hr" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">Kačići</i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_language" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Hungarian language">Hungarian</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">: </span><i lang="hu" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">Kacsics</i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">, </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Latin language">Latin</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">: </span><i lang="la" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">Cacich</i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">) was one of the most influential Croatian noble families, and was one of the Croatian "</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_noble_tribes_of_Croatia" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Twelve noble tribes of Croatia">twelve noble tribes</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">" described in the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacta_conventa_(Croatia)" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Pacta conventa (Croatia)">Pacta conventa</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supetar_Cartulary" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Supetar Cartulary">Supetar Cartulary</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić20048_1-0" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%8720048-1" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[1]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200527–28_2-0" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200527%E2%80%9328-2" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[2]</a></sup><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> Historical sources refer to members of this family as nobles in the area of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Croatia#History" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Counties of Croatia">Luka</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> županija in the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadar" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Zadar">Zadar</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">-</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biograd_na_Moru" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Biograd na Moru">Biograd</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> hinterland (12th–16th centuries), as the lords (</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knyaz" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Knyaz">knezes</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">) of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omi%C5%A1" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Omiš">Omiš</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> (12th and 13th centuries), and as the lords of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makarska_Riviera" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Makarska Riviera">Makarska Riviera</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> (15th and 16th centuries).</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić20048_1-1" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%8720048-1" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[1]</a></sup><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> Another prominent branch of the family, Kacsics, was part of the Hungarian nobility and from it branched many families including </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9cs%C3%A9nyi_family" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Szécsényi family">Szécsényi</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić20048_1-2" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%8720048-1" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[1]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;">The first known knez of Omiš, Nikola, was mentioned, along with his relatives and everyone under his lordship, in a peace treaty with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotor" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Kotor">Kotor</a> from 1167.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200414–17_20-0" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200414%E2%80%9317-20" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[20]</a></sup> Knez Nikola's power and independence was strong enough to have Rogerije, the Archbishop of Split, executed in 1180. Family political influence at that time included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra%C4%8D" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Brač">Brač</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvar" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Hvar">Hvar</a>, Breueco (Brenti, Brevko, Brečko)—also of genus Kačić—as well as the previous Šibenik iupanus (župan).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200425–29_21-0" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200425%E2%80%9329-21" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[21]</a></sup> Archbishop Rogerije, who also served Byzantine Emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_I_Komnenos" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Manuel I Komnenos">Manuel I Komnenos</a> as representative governor of Croatia, had become involved in a dispute about an estate around Mosor.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200413–14,_21–22_22-0" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200413%E2%80%9314,_21%E2%80%9322-22" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[22]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMarković2003b58_5-1" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMarkovi%C4%872003b58-5" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[5]</a></sup> A <i>conte Nicola Aprico</i>, who was identified in two dispute settlements of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Split, Croatia">Split</a> during 1178–79, is considered to be the same knez Nikola.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200413_23-0" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200413-23" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[23]</a></sup> In 1190, Nikola established a peace treaty with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Dubrovnik">Dubrovnik</a>. Like the 1167 treaty with Kotor, the 1190 treaty granted safe and free navigation to Dubrovnik ships from Molunat to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orebi%C4%87" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Orebić">Orebić</a> (Trstenica).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200417_24-0" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200417-24" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[24]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6XbmHFm_x_fwaaWRx4t51XqGrAgTb60ZN5ZcF_0nc84HYL3HgLHjiC46GPAC1Ser5Jc1IBHbkbuN-gs9PAMwCNnedsBaYhyphenhyphenTLluXr48MCkfLJFGHuR84D5o19jIuP__kBDpn14e4HKpgSU2xVBI8V95zcp5lj4vESqjvVEKFbAsTwKG4tm2LoMUSXhA/s2992/20231014_145709.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6XbmHFm_x_fwaaWRx4t51XqGrAgTb60ZN5ZcF_0nc84HYL3HgLHjiC46GPAC1Ser5Jc1IBHbkbuN-gs9PAMwCNnedsBaYhyphenhyphenTLluXr48MCkfLJFGHuR84D5o19jIuP__kBDpn14e4HKpgSU2xVBI8V95zcp5lj4vESqjvVEKFbAsTwKG4tm2LoMUSXhA/s16000/20231014_145709.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;">The area of Omiš principality seems to have included the islands of Brač, Hvar and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vis_(island)" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Vis (island)">Vis</a>, and probably at some point <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kor%C4%8Dula" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Korčula">Korčula</a>, but it is uncertain whether the land included coastal <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poljica_(Dalmatia)" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Poljica (Dalmatia)">Poljica</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDrnovnica" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Žrnovnica">Žrnovnica</a> to the North and Makarska coast to the South.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-18" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić200417–18_25-0" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87200417%E2%80%9318-25" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[25]</a></sup> In the 13th century the center of the principality was Omiš, and with the title of Omiš <i>knez</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Comes">comes</a>) the sources also mentioned the title of <i>knez</i> for the islands.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-19" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> In the 13th century the terms Kačićs (<i>Kačići</i>) and residents of Omiš (<i>Omišani</i>) are both mentioned, making it sometimes more difficult to reliably identify members of the genus.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-20" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> However, it seems that the princely titles were held only by the Kačićs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-21" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> They achieved a large degree of independence from the central government and imposed the name of Omiš and Kačić family over the entire region.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-22" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Croatian_Encyclopaedia_4-1" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-Croatian_Encyclopaedia-4" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[4]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkv9aH5m1wms3gLFc9elkdNn54w4mv4Cd199FGgUjg9PPA1jt-mqdjPCOP2qEbqx5dUvoNvYgJOQjo4hO7K3IEPPzY62_86THnS03hR9e0KK7RQROSD3-geVDaW5sh-Q2uwM3MgcS8bPqzaHl9UXgD6wUuSzJZ7CqQDDO_UNQYSuHxLaIEPLsVU5frgY/s3000/IMG_20231014_145555.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkv9aH5m1wms3gLFc9elkdNn54w4mv4Cd199FGgUjg9PPA1jt-mqdjPCOP2qEbqx5dUvoNvYgJOQjo4hO7K3IEPPzY62_86THnS03hR9e0KK7RQROSD3-geVDaW5sh-Q2uwM3MgcS8bPqzaHl9UXgD6wUuSzJZ7CqQDDO_UNQYSuHxLaIEPLsVU5frgY/s16000/IMG_20231014_145555.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivVEYjIPL82z_m2vDmjPvkuTnLLjOMnnJfI7yAwOaZO4kylOxr_Z7ypXqmjRMq1GfRqCOTK4C0RWSWyau9djRdW6bIpaBYTuaXiaoTET87pmNLKz8z4QpLpB0nlkHd9EwZEoBbdKaWBWj1FuODjv_-HPO9d1BZJSwSwc_HRcViHa6jcfGmYFsG83nMlEQ/s2992/20231014_145713.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivVEYjIPL82z_m2vDmjPvkuTnLLjOMnnJfI7yAwOaZO4kylOxr_Z7ypXqmjRMq1GfRqCOTK4C0RWSWyau9djRdW6bIpaBYTuaXiaoTET87pmNLKz8z4QpLpB0nlkHd9EwZEoBbdKaWBWj1FuODjv_-HPO9d1BZJSwSwc_HRcViHa6jcfGmYFsG83nMlEQ/s16000/20231014_145713.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;">In March 1244, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Holy Roman Empire">Holy Roman</a> Emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor">Frederick II</a> threatened conflict with the Omišani over damage incurred along the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apulia" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Apulia">Apulian</a> coast.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-36" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> In March 1245, knez Nikola of Hodimir, with 100 Omiš citizens and knezes Pribislav, Osor, Juraj, Radoš (son of Bogdan), Slomir, and Prodan (son of Dragan), made a treaty with Dubrovnik.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-37" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> According to the 1245 treaty, if the king called upon the Kačićs and Omišani to help in an attack on Dubrovnik, they would respond with the least possible forces.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-38" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;">In 1252–54, Juraj helped <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Uro%C5%A1_I_of_Serbia" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Stefan Uroš I of Serbia">Stefan Uroš I of Serbia</a> in the war with Dubrovnik, as he was married to Stefan's daughter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-39" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> In 1256, a dispute between knez Osor and the city <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trogir" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Trogir">Trogir</a> about property in the village of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bija%C4%87i" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Bijaći">Bijaći</a> was resolved by king <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_IV_of_Hungary" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Béla IV of Hungary">Béla IV</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban_of_Croatia" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Ban of Croatia">ban</a> Stjepan.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-40" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> In 1258, when the king confirmed rights to the Omišani, knezes Osor and Radoš were called "kingdom noblemen".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-41" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> Documents from 1261-62 describe an agreement in which Dubrovnik paid <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Feud">blood feud</a> to the relatives of murdered Omišani, who promised not to cause any harm to the Dubrovnik residents.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-42" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> In 1267–68, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge_(title)" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Doge (title)">Doge</a> warned the citizens of Split about helping Omiš pirates.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-43" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> In 1271, the pirates looted a ship on which the Archbishop of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trani" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Trani">Trani</a> was traveling to Dubrovnik.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-44" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> A similar incident occurred in 1273 when pirates commanded by Stanoj and Saracen looted the ship of bishop Kefalinije Henrik.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-45" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1i4XgN-JxgOVKDj7ktAMQdzyRpToJHmchUF8YSYPWBEsSFO1D7hi9H0N3T8OmGLYQYPEbcAnrO6kLD7tptCUU_aGdD2nw586lQ2reJclc88n4Dy4H1qnW-ikaoqB5SDeUL5OK2ZrdVDrRmM2V_pu86xRKF96aSUrNgl75JZeGuhN2hd5eN4fgG4feV_k/s3000/IMG_20231014_145503.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1i4XgN-JxgOVKDj7ktAMQdzyRpToJHmchUF8YSYPWBEsSFO1D7hi9H0N3T8OmGLYQYPEbcAnrO6kLD7tptCUU_aGdD2nw586lQ2reJclc88n4Dy4H1qnW-ikaoqB5SDeUL5OK2ZrdVDrRmM2V_pu86xRKF96aSUrNgl75JZeGuhN2hd5eN4fgG4feV_k/s16000/IMG_20231014_145503.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_Naples" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Charles I of Naples">Charles I of Naples</a> signed an alliance with Split and Šibenik against Omiš pirates in June and September 1274.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-46" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> The citizens of Omiš responded by an alliance with Venice in August, in accordance with a 20-year peace treaty signed by knezes Radoš, Bogdan, Juraj and Semen. This triggered conflict on the land and sea in 1275.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-47" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> The activities in the intermediate years are unknown, besides that in April 1278 the islands of Hvar and Brač recognized Venetian authority, and the Omiš in 1281.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-48" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;">At the end of the 13th century, the Omiš branch of the Kačić family was involved in the politics of more powerful authorities.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-49" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> Their local hereditary oligarchy disappeared, but the Kačićs probably continued to live in the area.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-50" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> The war with Venice at the end of the 1270s and the beginning of the 1280s led to their loss of Omiš in favor of princes from the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0ubi%C4%87_noble_family" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Šubić noble family">Šubić</a> noble family.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-51" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Croatian_Encyclopaedia_4-2" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-Croatian_Encyclopaedia-4" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[4]</a></sup> </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;">The Omiš Kačićs are mentioned for the last time in 1294, when the Venetians wrote to Dubrovnik residents seeking compensation from Dubrovnik authorities who had failed to send an armed ship against Omiš pirates.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-52" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> It is not known whether Ivan, son of Matej Kačić, mentioned in Dubrovnik 1285, was related to the Omišani Kačićs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-53" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup> After that, Kačićs are no longer mentioned.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMajnarić_(HBL)2005_3-54" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMajnari%C4%87_(HBL)2005-3" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[3]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Croatian_Encyclopaedia_4-3" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%C4%8Di%C4%87_family#cite_note-Croatian_Encyclopaedia-4" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[4]</a></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHE6_pWK2svJC3zRp8_DCYwIZHbyRRGkjKk1Y0dyX_uS_yia_H95EwhZYdxx4GELj_UplTO3d6FpTKtYz7aP8-h5uxRuiHpzT7IEbl5IWdBT4S_8dIF0nn_Ynj4YOr3DGuond2f-chQ8hXWPqvG7vGXEZC8DMdN-AHCunk9vmuMK1freamOeffVF5B38/s2992/20231014_144048.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHE6_pWK2svJC3zRp8_DCYwIZHbyRRGkjKk1Y0dyX_uS_yia_H95EwhZYdxx4GELj_UplTO3d6FpTKtYz7aP8-h5uxRuiHpzT7IEbl5IWdBT4S_8dIF0nn_Ynj4YOr3DGuond2f-chQ8hXWPqvG7vGXEZC8DMdN-AHCunk9vmuMK1freamOeffVF5B38/s16000/20231014_144048.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN OMIS CITY? </b></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What makes Omiš so special?</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Is it the joining of the river Cetina that flows into the sea? </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is it the meeting of the canyon with the sea? </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is it its history?</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is it the historical part of the town? </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Is it the beaches and the sea, the panorama of the islands?</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Is it the mountains that surround the town?</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Perhaps it is the combination of these factors. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There's so much you can see and do in Omiš. If sports are your thing, then you should try rafting on river Cetina, hiking the canon and the mountains or some of the water sports available at Omiš beaches. If you are a history lover, then you can enjoy seeing the fortresses, the stone houses, palaces and churches. If you're into pirates, Omiš is simply a must visit place!</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvpYyAxflb4HmoaPj7YWX4DPfUtvDO3uKxkoOGFPQ2q3gMYvoB-3j_P-jRkPV4vcS_QsgOLEcTmWeeJti3mkcsqHwoaVCSzhIhewOilNr_AyL61fQyebyEDKzHoSTuM-WAmtINcm4la6Nhig_1LjxoFS7e0aHP8SzosVw7F143Kef-0rxZFPGzDfGKgM/s1920/Omis%20croatka%20blog%20modaodaradosti.blogspot.com%2035.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvpYyAxflb4HmoaPj7YWX4DPfUtvDO3uKxkoOGFPQ2q3gMYvoB-3j_P-jRkPV4vcS_QsgOLEcTmWeeJti3mkcsqHwoaVCSzhIhewOilNr_AyL61fQyebyEDKzHoSTuM-WAmtINcm4la6Nhig_1LjxoFS7e0aHP8SzosVw7F143Kef-0rxZFPGzDfGKgM/s16000/Omis%20croatka%20blog%20modaodaradosti.blogspot.com%2035.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"> VISIT HISTORICAL SITES AND CHURCHES</span></b></span></p><h2 id="church-of-st-peter-x-c" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">CHURCH OF ST. PETER (X. C.)</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Church of St Peter on the Western bank of the Cetina, in the part of town called Priko. Due to its well-preserved condition and architectural features the Church of St. Peter (10th century) is considered to be one of the most important examples of Early Croatian Pre-Romanesque sacral architecture, and it was first mentioned in 1074, during the rule of King Slavac. </span></p><h2 id="poljica-square-early-17-c" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">POLJICA SQUARE (EARLY 17. C.)</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The place of the main market, grain trade and fairs. It got its more appealing appearance at the beginning of the 17th century, and it was decorated in 1811 during the regulation of the river bank. A flag pole with the coat of arms of providur Molina (1961) was also used for the announcement of orders and public punishment for minor offences.</span></p><h2 id="caralipeo-house-early-17-c" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">CARALIPEO HOUSE (EARLY 17. C.)</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An early Baroque building, one of the first buildings built among the family houses alongside the western town wall. An example of a two-story house with elegant balconies, which were built high on the second story because of the town wall. There is a memorial plaque in the honour of Pavle Caralipeo that was erected by Ivan Matulić and Ante Benković together with fellow citizens in 1981 for his merits in regulation of river bank.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzNPVmo-EJbbghF7RcahRTp4hhoW9qRfPQG315YAN453dFLZju9KxHcQ6SlmJyUnm3432x7BRkyDr3gTWtyUNoyXfnaHyw8heqaBnBKDFklchchsQBlmY04K9W5TlArKGeraBEkbom6MDuCRjo2OePHCWNqhPBDy4V2mwU_O5k3hQPl9RGD9hZpd8bU0/s2992/Omis%20detail%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzNPVmo-EJbbghF7RcahRTp4hhoW9qRfPQG315YAN453dFLZju9KxHcQ6SlmJyUnm3432x7BRkyDr3gTWtyUNoyXfnaHyw8heqaBnBKDFklchchsQBlmY04K9W5TlArKGeraBEkbom6MDuCRjo2OePHCWNqhPBDy4V2mwU_O5k3hQPl9RGD9hZpd8bU0/s16000/Omis%20detail%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></span></p><h2 id="parish-church-of-st-michael-early-17-c-with-a-bell-tower-early-18-c" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL (EARLY 17. C.) WITH A BELL TOWER (EARLY 18. C.)</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It combines the stylistic features of Gothic style, Renaissance and early Baroque. A lavish portal from the workshop of the Bokanić family from the island of Brač, a window rosetta, the statue of St. Michael and the coat of arms of Omiš dominate the church. The coats of arms of Venetian providurs are located above the side entrance. The new bell tower was built according to the project of the Venetian engineer Giovani Battista Camozzini. The church also contains valuable sacred works of art.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO41JSUWjlD-s-HPRcswfoDb_VPjoRLkPE9wzq9iHoUL4MjGAue4WDCZZcOvto_QLEJo5gpWp0KZkc4RR9tdECKMl7V8zWfl0JwMUBdOqRbAVH4-yJdkNGxnPfgto0w5ow52QFpHou3MFaN9BCZBAOrueoewkVux5eATCcBfzQSMJln_9nkkyu2aAuqDs/s2992/Omis%20church%2014_150259.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO41JSUWjlD-s-HPRcswfoDb_VPjoRLkPE9wzq9iHoUL4MjGAue4WDCZZcOvto_QLEJo5gpWp0KZkc4RR9tdECKMl7V8zWfl0JwMUBdOqRbAVH4-yJdkNGxnPfgto0w5ow52QFpHou3MFaN9BCZBAOrueoewkVux5eATCcBfzQSMJln_9nkkyu2aAuqDs/s16000/Omis%20church%2014_150259.jpg" /></a></span></p><h2 id="the-church-of-the-holy-spirit-1585" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1585.)</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was built in the place of a Gothic church that was completely renovated in 1585. Located under the Omiš kaštel, right in the heart of the old administrative buildings of the commune (town office and the writing office, and near the providur's palace) The altarpiece ˝The Descent of the Holy Spirit˝, was painted by Jacopo Palma Junior (early 17th century).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h2 id="the-church-of-st-rocco-16-c" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">THE CHURCH OF ST. ROCCO (16. C.)</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The church of the eponymous brotherhood. Francesco Negri painted the altarpiece ˝Virgin Mary with Jesus, St. Rocco and St. Sebastian˝, with the coat of arms of the Kačić Dukes.<br style="margin: 0px;" />St. Rocco and St. Sebastian are the patron saints of plague, which threatened the town on several occasions.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="color: #5c5c5c; margin: 0px;" /></span></p><h2 id="the-church-of-st-euphemia-5-6-c" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">THE CHURCH OF ST. EUPHEMIA (5-6. C.)</span></span></h2><h2 id="the-monumental-five-sided-fortification-1659" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="color: #5c5c5c; font-weight: 400; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Church of St. Euphemia (5th -6th century) - the remains of the single-nave early Christian church with a semi-circular apse and subsellium. The recently studied foundations, excavated during archaeological research in 2004, are mentioned in written sources from 1527. The church is dedicated to a Chaldecon martyr Euphemia, the patron saint of true faith.*</span></span></p><p style="color: #5c5c5c; font-weight: 400; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #5c5c5c; font-weight: 400; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">SOURCE: <a href="https://www.visitomis.hr/en/cultural-and-historical-heritage" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.visitomis.hr/en/cultural-and-historical-heritage</a> 18.4. 2022</span></span></p></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">BESIDES HISTORICAL CHURCH OF SAINT PETER , THERE IS ALSO NEWER ONE</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This time we visited a newer church and monastery. This one is also called saint Peter but it is not to be confused with the one from the tenth century. I'm not sure when exactly this new church was built but I managed to find out (online) that it was consecrated fourteen years ago. I will show you both photographs taken by my husband and myself. When it comes to photography on this blog, it's a team work. Both my husband and myself enjoy taking photographs. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifNV4VICK3GfOhwCC44eJUI0AbVGDdjA2WRt0v_c2ezlb2eGwoZGvblXsIEL-OqPbXUvRQYhQBJf6eZRekNnS9PG6TUCLLD90uDJgQwTbbT6YH67vIP2i5NCXbLINICbJb7CAk5SP_2Ggi5U5mFnnercYSyNVMA2jYoGTlV0-hQLzQ2BHENsMbMtSDzfw/s2992/Omis%20new%20church%20mor%20blog3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifNV4VICK3GfOhwCC44eJUI0AbVGDdjA2WRt0v_c2ezlb2eGwoZGvblXsIEL-OqPbXUvRQYhQBJf6eZRekNnS9PG6TUCLLD90uDJgQwTbbT6YH67vIP2i5NCXbLINICbJb7CAk5SP_2Ggi5U5mFnnercYSyNVMA2jYoGTlV0-hQLzQ2BHENsMbMtSDzfw/s16000/Omis%20new%20church%20mor%20blog3.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a photograph of the church of Saint Paul and the bell tower</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWF8iET83VemK9wJ9L1_86Avo1qeuqSCRY-wXVpMuxHod2vZ25uTbRrNSAdJUMRtqW41KSmL9J3EEUbPOitDA3cp7fWKXLRi6hGlMggOVu19kURLu13lNDVgObcG2-Uc6KSM2ROIluj6xf8ii3e6FhVhV6GKb_p_2DxhpxDKuuYWsH4P9W1Ln4JDVJW8/s3000/IMG_20231014_143601.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWF8iET83VemK9wJ9L1_86Avo1qeuqSCRY-wXVpMuxHod2vZ25uTbRrNSAdJUMRtqW41KSmL9J3EEUbPOitDA3cp7fWKXLRi6hGlMggOVu19kURLu13lNDVgObcG2-Uc6KSM2ROIluj6xf8ii3e6FhVhV6GKb_p_2DxhpxDKuuYWsH4P9W1Ln4JDVJW8/s16000/IMG_20231014_143601.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside of the church</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2QhXJzV9wEtWBpRpDk-f94OrHvpnjd1AfPUHekZaiSimlvqu9av0QRd56OwNzlk_GExejQh5kBfEuUkbjZPiL8wIT9DeTAQGtfrlanvFGHgNPKzmRWkakmizy0rM0T0t6sCblncgUXV43u-fUjvJYdJDQKshueYy45SmIQOwNwxSSX8sxE9lMedz4rA/s2992/Omis%20gordan%203654.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2QhXJzV9wEtWBpRpDk-f94OrHvpnjd1AfPUHekZaiSimlvqu9av0QRd56OwNzlk_GExejQh5kBfEuUkbjZPiL8wIT9DeTAQGtfrlanvFGHgNPKzmRWkakmizy0rM0T0t6sCblncgUXV43u-fUjvJYdJDQKshueYy45SmIQOwNwxSSX8sxE9lMedz4rA/s16000/Omis%20gordan%203654.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My husband strolling around</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">....And now the pictures my husband took. An image of myself strolling around. :) What follows are some photographs that I have captured of this new church. I quite liked the contrast between the bell tower and the mountains. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Omis is an incredibly photogenic town. The mountains, the river, the greenary, the trees, the boats and the historical sites. Everywhere you look around, there's so much beauty!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWG3XbT7skVYXduUw_XIPAPELWDZkzomC2Gmg81yHi0WX79_FVxY1Q7jHeJSRSjHhgEsnJmmar-BqvdQ2_IF2ukIrkCFOmdsXdAANrkL2d2YVXghIKjbzpVU2W_iijVShDfPYA0k77l65uBSEE2H6jIrgJS9b-FPdKODvpruxSnVOFjMf7zNuQg_iSB2c/s3000/IMG_20231014_143414.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWG3XbT7skVYXduUw_XIPAPELWDZkzomC2Gmg81yHi0WX79_FVxY1Q7jHeJSRSjHhgEsnJmmar-BqvdQ2_IF2ukIrkCFOmdsXdAANrkL2d2YVXghIKjbzpVU2W_iijVShDfPYA0k77l65uBSEE2H6jIrgJS9b-FPdKODvpruxSnVOFjMf7zNuQg_iSB2c/s16000/IMG_20231014_143414.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0tD152sO8XxvqhpArRdIDm11SPnO5G-2H-X7T9Uerj4AqY1N0SJYXOUfyEd0B0V6Nb5wGhE0o_O5F0m8oYJGkLZvvI-JrKHfJPthMEjUngeTBQ-pu2CNXlDb1I80Hc5t7jaoTbhkPNCCLQZBi2MmATIPsdeazTnkShyphenhyphenhAoYrc1oZgc1jGoUidzvINLqg/s3000/IMG_20231014_143435.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0tD152sO8XxvqhpArRdIDm11SPnO5G-2H-X7T9Uerj4AqY1N0SJYXOUfyEd0B0V6Nb5wGhE0o_O5F0m8oYJGkLZvvI-JrKHfJPthMEjUngeTBQ-pu2CNXlDb1I80Hc5t7jaoTbhkPNCCLQZBi2MmATIPsdeazTnkShyphenhyphenhAoYrc1oZgc1jGoUidzvINLqg/s16000/IMG_20231014_143435.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">SUSTAINABLE OUTFIT FILES- HOW I WORE IT BEFORE?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE COBALT BLUE DRESS--very old ( from New Yorker), see how I wore it <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2017/05/how-to-wear-animal-print-without-being.html" target="_blank">here</a> with leopard print, with a leather jacket <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/leather-jacket-kozna-jakna.html" target="_blank">here </a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/white-blue-and-black-bijela-plava-i-crna.html" target="_blank">with a long black coat here</a> ,<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/10/nature-is-my-inspiration-priroda-je.html" target="_blank"> here with a yellow blazer </a>and here with .</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This dress is quite short, so I usually layer it with leggings. However, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/06/blue-and-green-outfit-post-plava-i.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/07/plaything-of-winds-outfit-post-igracka.html" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-new-creation-outfit-post-moja-nova.html" target="_blank">here are a summer outfit </a>where I was brave enough to rock it on its own. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE BLACK FLARED LEGGINGS- worn <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/07/translating-vesna-paruns-poetry-three.html" target="_blank">here</a> AND <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-hot-summer-in-mostar-city-nine.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE SNEAKERS- worn <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/visit-stjepans-fortress-in-ljubuski.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE BAG- worn <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/suddenly-in-depths-of-forest-fable-by.html" target="_blank">here</a> &<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/two-ways-to-style-red-flared-top-for.html" target="_blank">here </a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE NECKLACE- first worn <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/10/i-love-split-city-two-early-autumn.html" target="_blank">here</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG088HKSxOMZ9Vv62IcK8xlijrXpqS0gh_ogdf2X64nO6EvaWt1Eogj8bupuYZWlHNRkgNyTJyAXcKdsXAloPWQmGGPonXJaHoxxcAC1DtiJoBH5_JLtwY9x7mmeeUE4gD_lesYNSraWAcI5f3MS7WteGdsXBv5iY4HHhs-VTRLbijUG8wOHvbBYItNBg/s3000/IMG_20231014_143428.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG088HKSxOMZ9Vv62IcK8xlijrXpqS0gh_ogdf2X64nO6EvaWt1Eogj8bupuYZWlHNRkgNyTJyAXcKdsXAloPWQmGGPonXJaHoxxcAC1DtiJoBH5_JLtwY9x7mmeeUE4gD_lesYNSraWAcI5f3MS7WteGdsXBv5iY4HHhs-VTRLbijUG8wOHvbBYItNBg/s16000/IMG_20231014_143428.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jEYpoHheM6v_PhY748uv4MxulNm9Dx_yU8RysO3DUIQTH1MLfuZ3PWmN3q352PTyslJ-psc6eFqGX355wiEUa_EEvtxg3ZCTx_ucG_lD4i8KEpMc8J-1x67sM6_ykkomtBvZjpl-N3Bsw_tfmr7W885C9pWDFkst1PCER6ZytyQpiMmn6cy5TfpH7Ig/s2992/20231014_143457.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jEYpoHheM6v_PhY748uv4MxulNm9Dx_yU8RysO3DUIQTH1MLfuZ3PWmN3q352PTyslJ-psc6eFqGX355wiEUa_EEvtxg3ZCTx_ucG_lD4i8KEpMc8J-1x67sM6_ykkomtBvZjpl-N3Bsw_tfmr7W885C9pWDFkst1PCER6ZytyQpiMmn6cy5TfpH7Ig/s16000/20231014_143457.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmmEFtyYkQC7a7F58zvQ7nWrGDxaom5Df8WHufteUJZEhQhXFqqEOpP6_1SLe6vjrBx7mQx8pTa1FjVzf2Lo8sg4SXGZEwwcb3irmJxteqd5igUdt0NFI1N7TVdtRWup5Yn5SMyx9f1UHqvZhTk_Ktid7YOreHcRSCfZbpOXJefe9mwT_ASxFpiHuoAE/s2992/Omis%20church%20mor%20blog%20435.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmmEFtyYkQC7a7F58zvQ7nWrGDxaom5Df8WHufteUJZEhQhXFqqEOpP6_1SLe6vjrBx7mQx8pTa1FjVzf2Lo8sg4SXGZEwwcb3irmJxteqd5igUdt0NFI1N7TVdtRWup5Yn5SMyx9f1UHqvZhTk_Ktid7YOreHcRSCfZbpOXJefe9mwT_ASxFpiHuoAE/s16000/Omis%20church%20mor%20blog%20435.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">MORE SIGHTS TO SEE IN OMIS</p><h2 id="the-monumental-five-sided-fortification-1659" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">THE MONUMENTAL FIVE-SIDED FORTIFICATION (1659.)</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span>The monumental five-sided fortification – the baroque bastion in the south-eastern part of the town – was built in the course of the Cretan War (fought between the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire from 1645 until 1669), during the service of the Provveditore Antonio Bernardo. It consisted of the Turjun Fort (Torre di terraferma) and of “The Garden Gate“, which led to the fields and gardens on the sandy peninsula of Punta. Its strategic purpose was to deny the enemy access to the wide southern front along the moat (Italian fossa, today’s Fošal – the main road through the town centre). </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">MIRABELA AND FORTICA FORTRESS</span></b></span></h4><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">A quick glance at the page of </span><a href="https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?ID=45123" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">CROATIAN ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span><span> told me more about Omiš. I didn't know that a part of medieval walls (with city doors) was preserved in its original form. On the other hand, it is to be expected. Medieval urban architecture has been preserved pretty well in Dalmatian cities. I knew about the fortress Mirabela and Fortica that the </span></span><span>encyclopaedia</span><span><span> mentions. I'll speak about them in more detail later on. What else does encyclopedia mention? Historical landmarks but also some newer information for example the accapella festival that has been active since the sixties. </span></span></span></span></div><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nobody knows everything. As much as I love history of my region, I'm not an expert on it. So, I try to include quotations from reputable sources in my blog posts. </span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OMIŠ CITY LANDMARKS (TAKEN FROM THE SITE <a href="https://www.visitomis.hr/en/cultural-and-historical-heritage" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">VISIT OMIŠ</a>):</span></p><h2 id="mirabela" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">MIRABELA</span></span></h2><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Just above the roofs of the old town, as a permanent reminder of the glorious pirate history, stands one of the most famous Omiš landmarks – the fortress of Mirabela. The old pirates of Omiš used Mirabela as a lookout over the Channel of Brač, so that rich merchant ships had no way of sailing along the coast of Omiš unnoticed. The fortress itself was built in the 13th century, and, interestingly enough, its age was in fact determined based on an old Byzantine coin that some visionary pirate had obviously thrown into its foundations, making it much easier for future generations to determine the age of this important fortress and a long-standing witness of numerous wars and battles throughout the history in which it undoubtedly played a crucial role. But although over the centuries it had managed to resist all kinds of forces of man, not even Mirabela could measure up against a force of nature. During a heavy storm in 1988, the top of the fortress was struck by lightning and the medieval fort was almost completely destroyed. Luckily, dedicated restorers gathered and reused every last peace of stone in the long process of restoring the fortress back to its original form. Mirabela stands today as one of the most popular landmarks of Omiš, attracting tourists with its accessibility and the one of a kind view over the entire town offered from the top of the fortress. You can reach Mirabela by a set of stairs leading up to it directly from the entrance to the Parish Church of St Michael.....</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>FORTICA - </span><span style="text-align: justify;">If you are spending more than a day in Omiš, a short climb up to the Fortica fortress is something you should by no means miss. A well-marked path leading from the very centre of town will take even the ones not exactly in top form up to the fortress in less than an hour, and once there, you’ll be richly rewarded for your efforts by one of the most magnificent views in all of Dalmatia. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Once you set foot onto the more than 500 years old fortress, you’ll understand in an instance why the medieval inhabitants of Omiš hauled the heavy stone blocks all the way up to the top of the mountain in the first place. The one of a kind view over the islands of Brač, Hvar and Šolta, the Cetina canyon and a good portion of Poljica offered from the top of the fortress will prove itself as reason enough for such labour. Fortica was, in fact, primarily used as a lookout, and whatever the direction the enemies approached from, the watch guards would be able to spot them early enough to warn the inhabitants of Omiš of danger. This is why precisely the Fortica fortress is said to be one of the most important reasons for the town of Omiš remaining unconquered throughout its entire history. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Other than as a lookaout, the medieval inhabitants of Omiš also used Fortica as a place of refuge.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SOURCE: </span><a href="https://www.visitomis.hr/en/cultural-and-historical-heritage" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://www.visitomis.hr/en/cultural-and-historical-heritage</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> 18.4. 2022</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><span style="color: #5c5c5c; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSy_T-OREtM8Ruk0OFT00rxc-bcOlLXRNQ_g6lJ7P-idd4FWT3H4ytSucWWUzV_XXYd7tbQeMSLfmUmCOeTJhwqNjdIHKDaBch9B9yLk2-S-GZfU6z-Qa_5LKJVBBGu1Au1VFI19LPJlM3YfFLww-sRtnx5Bcn9D4cR7WyS5dROPj7YyOOS6EPA_EVzw0/s2992/Omis%20croatia%20mor%20blog%200216.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSy_T-OREtM8Ruk0OFT00rxc-bcOlLXRNQ_g6lJ7P-idd4FWT3H4ytSucWWUzV_XXYd7tbQeMSLfmUmCOeTJhwqNjdIHKDaBch9B9yLk2-S-GZfU6z-Qa_5LKJVBBGu1Au1VFI19LPJlM3YfFLww-sRtnx5Bcn9D4cR7WyS5dROPj7YyOOS6EPA_EVzw0/s16000/Omis%20croatia%20mor%20blog%200216.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><h2 id="the-monumental-five-sided-fortification-1659" style="background-color: white; color: #1c3664; line-height: 32px; margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></h2><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><span style="color: #5c5c5c; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVhmQIBaaL-7tFAYWMCAhJxF8pluqr8kcPARe7GIgbMlXjVIer0sDC7dpFiMsoYanh_eDD_lBuG6H7D0q4a59gkrYEBrzOVX_eXUdt1etCgu4xnmBPDLUlwRreP_CWmKOus8u0r0K3sgz6cgP7thIwWbwG-AT_PtGlzMsGb_iyOoQL8T7GHbHFUq6T6E/s1920/20231014_145533.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVhmQIBaaL-7tFAYWMCAhJxF8pluqr8kcPARe7GIgbMlXjVIer0sDC7dpFiMsoYanh_eDD_lBuG6H7D0q4a59gkrYEBrzOVX_eXUdt1etCgu4xnmBPDLUlwRreP_CWmKOus8u0r0K3sgz6cgP7thIwWbwG-AT_PtGlzMsGb_iyOoQL8T7GHbHFUq6T6E/s16000/20231014_145533.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">If you enjoyed this post, feel free to check my old ones, for I blogged about this city, not once, not twice, but four times (</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-omis-town-croatia-with-me-part-1.html" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Omis 1</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> / </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-omis-croatia-with-me-part-2.html" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">2</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> /</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/omis-fotografijaphotography.html" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">3</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> /</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/02/presenting-omis-moj-pogled-na-omis.html" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">4 </a>).<p></p><div>As always, thank you for visiting and/or commenting! Take care.</div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-74228300237038968312024-01-06T09:06:00.000-08:002024-01-06T09:10:31.026-08:00ALONGSIDE THE RIVER, A POEM BY VESNA PARUN (TRANSLATION AND TRAVEL POST)<p style="text-align: justify;"> Hello! In this post, we'll mix Croatian poetry with travelling. Isn't poetry a way of travelling into our soul anyway? So, we might as well do some soul travel with real one? Today I will not only review one of Vesna Parun's poems, I will also translate it to English, so that you all can enjoy it. I've translated Vesna Parun's poetry on my blog before and I will do it again in the future. Not that Vesna's poems haven't been translated in English. There is at least <a href="https://www.exactingclam.com/issues/no-4-spring-2022/you-with-hands-more-innocent-selected-poems-of-vesna-parun/" target="_blank">one edition</a> that I know of containing her selected poems. However, since I've actually studied translation and literature, why not give it a go myself? </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b>Zdravo! U ovom postu pomiješat ćemo hrvatsku poeziju s putovanjima. Nije li poezija zapravo način putovanja u našu dušu? Dakle, mogli bismo putovanje duše uskladiti s pravim putovanjem? Danas neću samo napisati ogled pjesme Vesne Parun, već ću je prevesti i na engleski, tako da mnogi mogu uživati u njoj. Poeziju Vesne Parun već sam prevodila na svom blogu i to ću učiniti opet u budućnosti. Nije da Vesnine pjesme nisu prevedene na engleski. Postoji barem jedno izdanje (poveznica u engleskom dijelu teksta) za koje znam da sadrži njezine odabrane pjesme. Međutim, budući da sam studirala jezik ( pa time prevođenje) i književnost, zašto ne bih i sam pokušala?</b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><i><b> Dark treetops of centuries are mirrored in the water.</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i> Mračne krošnje stoljeća u vodi se zrcale.</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-t55Vwghcq4cAXIjkwf4x3wUWOHExgd6mQuKw-orh2GHhzWU34ycupi1AEFCpzQsr3-uVdq9tkLv5qCu7HpTTJ5o4uW57ay_pZXyieYpX0RVOspAlGIZoM8O5EoScA8Tgw9EabN52pKSBrBfwQsIk5xuo9g_DJPAolj3asLkCTQq2wtGl8Xvaio8-jm0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-t55Vwghcq4cAXIjkwf4x3wUWOHExgd6mQuKw-orh2GHhzWU34ycupi1AEFCpzQsr3-uVdq9tkLv5qCu7HpTTJ5o4uW57ay_pZXyieYpX0RVOspAlGIZoM8O5EoScA8Tgw9EabN52pKSBrBfwQsIk5xuo9g_DJPAolj3asLkCTQq2wtGl8Xvaio8-jm0=s16000" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdKwQi0gpJHj-p3-FABBKXcsPyxo78hXzjcnDJ0kvPuR597-hW90I8WHerFajsYYj9ly-juchonAr0HYKS79f3euEuP5mmlOR1UjH5XIjS-vNm2jvKKmQid5PWc6cr7t9H3pcq1AeLPoSSCHTiCeY1Z5XfFJ11FnoFUZXRWmWJpGUVcEuDESv0zWQ3McE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdKwQi0gpJHj-p3-FABBKXcsPyxo78hXzjcnDJ0kvPuR597-hW90I8WHerFajsYYj9ly-juchonAr0HYKS79f3euEuP5mmlOR1UjH5XIjS-vNm2jvKKmQid5PWc6cr7t9H3pcq1AeLPoSSCHTiCeY1Z5XfFJ11FnoFUZXRWmWJpGUVcEuDESv0zWQ3McE=s16000" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Vesna Parun remains one of my favourite Croatian poetesses. Her poetry is truly one of a kind. When I came across this poem in a book (that I borrowed from the library last Summer and still haven't returned because I just couldn't stop reading her poetry), I knew that I had to translate and post it. The next question was the location photography. What location in Croatia would be a good pairing for this poem that talks of river but also mentions sea? Well, the town of Omis presented itself as a perfect choice. It's a breathing-taking town where the canon of river Cetina flows into the Adriatic sea. Moreover, it has two types of trees that are mentioned in the poem: poplars and willows. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> I had some photographs from the last year that I haven't posted yet so I decided to use them to make collages. This Omis stop was quite meaningful to me. We stopped there in late October after a short visit to a wife of our friend that passed away. I also had in mind another person that died last year. So, with all that loss in mind at that particular moment, I was trying to find some solace and hope. I did leave Omis feeling much better. The beauty must have inspired me! I think this poem really captures that, because it evokes both death and rebirth. Maybe I will focus more on Omis in my next post (until then here are my older posts about <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-omis-town-croatia-with-me-part-1.html" target="_blank">Omis 1</a> / <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-omis-croatia-with-me-part-2.html" target="_blank">2</a> /<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/omis-fotografijaphotography.html" target="_blank">3</a> /<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/02/presenting-omis-moj-pogled-na-omis.html">4 </a>/), but this one will be more about poetry. Let's begin! Scroll down to read the poem!</p><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">Vesna Parun ostaje jedna od mojih najdražih hrvatskih pjesnikinja. Njezina je poezija doista jedinstvena. Kad sam naišla na ovu pjesmu u knjizi (koju sam prošlog ljeta posudila u knjižnici i još je nisam vratila jer jednostavno nisam mogla prestati čitati njezinu poeziju), znala sam da je moram prevesti i objaviti. Sljedeće pitanje bilo je fotografiranje lokacije. Koja bi lokacija u Hrvatskoj bila dobar izbor za ovu pjesmu koja govori o rijeci, ali spominje i more? Pa grad Omiš predstavio se kao savršen izbor. To je grad koji oduzima dah gdje se kanonska rijeka Cetina ulijeva u Jadransko more. Štoviše, u njemu možemo pronaći dvije vrste drveća koje se spominju u pjesmi: jablani i vrbe.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">Imala sam neke fotografije od prošle godine koje nisam objavila pa sam ih odlučila iskoristiti. Uz to, ovaj kratki posjet Omišu je bio značajan jer sam njime na neki način odala počast preminulim osobama. Njegova ljepota me nadahnula i svakako planiram još pisati o Omišu (</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-omis-town-croatia-with-me-part-1.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">1</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> / </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/visit-omis-croatia-with-me-part-2.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">2</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> /</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/omis-fotografijaphotography.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">3</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> /</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/02/presenting-omis-moj-pogled-na-omis.html" style="text-align: justify;">4 </a><span style="text-align: justify;">/)</span><span style="font-family: "Dancing Script";">, ali danas je naglasak na poeziji Vesne Parun tako da nastavite čitati.</span></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDI8B1eorejTgdqUa7RBkl3HA1MJNoHf81bhATGfGlWyrvL6xqUJ71O8Sp_cqxA2IEb3XfVlVdtqouS1dfhZmeqwTQHnwKDWLSraLWh7cRg8-oQMqDLViKDnOeDn3ZVaHokqi4B6hwYylSaW9WPJc2kDj3Hx4Yc7lBLbWhZcIUagdAx0QjLhp81ntx-I/s3000/vesna%20Next%20to%20a%20River%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDI8B1eorejTgdqUa7RBkl3HA1MJNoHf81bhATGfGlWyrvL6xqUJ71O8Sp_cqxA2IEb3XfVlVdtqouS1dfhZmeqwTQHnwKDWLSraLWh7cRg8-oQMqDLViKDnOeDn3ZVaHokqi4B6hwYylSaW9WPJc2kDj3Hx4Yc7lBLbWhZcIUagdAx0QjLhp81ntx-I/s16000/vesna%20Next%20to%20a%20River%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>TRANSLATION OF VESNA PARUN'S POEM 'KRAJ RIJEKE' - THE FINAL VERSION</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I translated this poem, not once but four times. The final version is a sort of mixture of three versions. Mind you, these three versions are all final versions. There were a lot of drafts that didn't make the cut. Translating poetry is an art of sorts. There's so much to consider. It is also very time-consuming. Translating this little poem took me many hours spent in complementation.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Along the River</i></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>I'm walking along the dam. Sedge halts me<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>with the voices of birds that'd migrated.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Autumn alongside river is full of ancient rustling long<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>lost, originating neither from the reeds<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>nor the water, nor the strayed trout.</i><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>The river is unfaithful. It washes away desires<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>that you'd whispered into the ear of sand in a faint.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>It forgets the prows of black vessels.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>A cloudburst, when the river spilled from its streambed,<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>faded away from its memory.</i><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Hey, Tatar horses crossed this river!<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>From their skeletons, the time uncaringly</b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b> made a museum. Three poplars in front of an entrance.</b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Dark treetops of centuries are mirrored in the water.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>And the water flows, thinking of the longing of wild ducks<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>in Spring, a thousand times sprung.</b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Spring of growing fish scales.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b> </b></i></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Hail water trembling from the freezing cold, awakening from the cracked<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b> walls of ice<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>do you hear the piercing voices of seagulls?<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>They are calling to you so you'd be friends.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Oh, you migrations that are repeating yourself.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>instincts that make the river evaporate,<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>nude and dark, laid out under the willows.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><b><span lang="HR" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></b></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Spring of growing fish scales. </b></i></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzwMUHGrho1Vj9sy1Z-s8sNIM7Fcg-iLJYD5rUxCirolO1XN1hM0xKvapCn0UuvpxJlppAqh9oBmQgwut6MmtAka2r-Z8vLL-iM3sOXJFmNoFQZkyPPVWbWVwE5AUUSngF-aTUxK0dKpia6NxIFcS0m9uhNeH-6AyEEx99oDsdDzh3l9D2Ml0ah-iTTpY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzwMUHGrho1Vj9sy1Z-s8sNIM7Fcg-iLJYD5rUxCirolO1XN1hM0xKvapCn0UuvpxJlppAqh9oBmQgwut6MmtAka2r-Z8vLL-iM3sOXJFmNoFQZkyPPVWbWVwE5AUUSngF-aTUxK0dKpia6NxIFcS0m9uhNeH-6AyEEx99oDsdDzh3l9D2Ml0ah-iTTpY=s16000" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">TRANSLATION ATTEMPT NUMBER 1</span></b></div><div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Next to a River</b></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Along the dam I walk. Sedge pauses me<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">with the voice of birds that have migrated.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Autumn by the river is filled with rustling long<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">lost, that is not coming from the reeds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">neither from the water, nor the strayed trout.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The river is unfaithful. It washes away desires<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">that you've whispered unconscious into the ear of sand.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It forgets the prows of black boats.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Cloudburst</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">, when it spilled from its streambed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">faded away from its memory.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hey, Tatar horses crossed over this river!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">From their skeletons, the uncaring time</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> made a museum. Three poplars in front of an entrance.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Dark treetops of centuries are mirrored in the water.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And the water flows, thinking of the longing of wild ducks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">During the thousand times sprung Spring.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Spring of growing fish scales.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hey water trembling from the freezing cold, awakening from the broken<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> walls of ice<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">do you hear the shrill voices of seagulls?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They are calling to you to be friends.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Oh, the migrations that are repeating itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">instincts that make the river evaporate,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">naked and dark, laid out under the willows.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Spring of growing fish scales. </span></p></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZWiUJvPXUc_o3mLmKdDgSsUPmFvsR_QJh6shNPQqPP51YTSGG-bBOgdpKAPcykZ_UZAlDctk8YMSG5ooruU0q4SunO1EvWI6s5z1BHDeBRVnM6C97heN_rQ45Ey4oerl8os4HXqBg_pJOzW38ZKsWwC5tJG6H8j3BL5Eu-ukS1KyZ74LG3U0QldQ-sD0/s3000/vesna%20parun%20Hey%20water%20trembling%20from%20the%20freezing%20cold,%20awakening%20from%20the%20broken.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZWiUJvPXUc_o3mLmKdDgSsUPmFvsR_QJh6shNPQqPP51YTSGG-bBOgdpKAPcykZ_UZAlDctk8YMSG5ooruU0q4SunO1EvWI6s5z1BHDeBRVnM6C97heN_rQ45Ey4oerl8os4HXqBg_pJOzW38ZKsWwC5tJG6H8j3BL5Eu-ukS1KyZ74LG3U0QldQ-sD0/s16000/vesna%20parun%20Hey%20water%20trembling%20from%20the%20freezing%20cold,%20awakening%20from%20the%20broken.jpg" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">TRANSLATION ATTEMPT NUMBER 2</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">By the River</span></b></h4><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Along the embankment I go. Sedge stops me<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">with the voices of birds that have moved away.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Autumn by the river is full of ancient whispers long<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">lost, that are coming neither from the reeds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">nor the water, nor the lost trout.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The river is disloyal. It cleans out wishes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">you'd whispered into the ear of sand in a faint.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It forgets the prows of black boats.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A rainstorm, when it spilled out from its streambed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">faded in its remembrance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hey, Tatar horses'd passed over this river!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">From their skeletons, the time had indifferently<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">constructed a museum. Three poplars in front of an entrance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Dark treetops of centuries are reflected in the water.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But the water flows, thinking of the longing of wild ducks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">During the thousand times reappeared Spring.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Spring made of growing fish scales.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hail water, shuddering from the chill, awakening from the cracked</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> ice walls<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">do you hear the shrill voices of seagulls?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They are calling to you to be your friends.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Oh, hail migrations repeating themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">instincts</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> that make the river smoke,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">naked and dark, sprayed out under the willows.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Spring made of growing fish scales. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEbNv1hsehgjAEqXBootjJLZs5qE6xyiFtFcgwLScRnD9JfhDmtRZCHjJGQrgHXGvlGJQByQYC9f32P-OGpuva2rFDJs5RfpjuK4W-A6p4_I-KX-cVRl7csa_otXGx2dMUTsUVL9_ZaURBu3unZBNUIM-GRvIo87KsILqdMWmimbZxMAwHj6XDD00CYoE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEbNv1hsehgjAEqXBootjJLZs5qE6xyiFtFcgwLScRnD9JfhDmtRZCHjJGQrgHXGvlGJQByQYC9f32P-OGpuva2rFDJs5RfpjuK4W-A6p4_I-KX-cVRl7csa_otXGx2dMUTsUVL9_ZaURBu3unZBNUIM-GRvIo87KsILqdMWmimbZxMAwHj6XDD00CYoE=s16000" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">TRANSLATION ATTEMPT NUMBER 3</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Alongside River</span></b></h4><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Along the embankment I'm going. Sedge stops me </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>with the call of birds that had relocated.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Autumn alongside river is full of rustling since antiquity</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>lost, neither from reeds</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>nor from the water, nor from lost trout.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>River is false. It washes out cravings </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>you'd in a faint whispered into the ear of sand </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Prows of the black vessels it forgets.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Cloudburst, when it spilled out from streambed,</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>faded in its memory. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Hey, Tatar horses trotted over this river!</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Time uncaringly built a museum</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>from their bones. Three poplars in front of an entrance.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Dusky treetops of centuries are mirrored in the water.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>And it flows, contemplating the yearning of wild ducks</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>in a thousand times materialized Spring. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Spring from the maturing fish scales. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Hail water, shuddering from the cold, awakening from the cracked</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> walls of ice </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>hear you the seagulls' piercing calls? </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>They are calling to you for they want to be your friends.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Oh, you migrations repeating yourself. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Instincts that make the river smoke,</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>nude and dusty, sprayed out under the willows.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> Spring from the maturing fish scales. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5z7-eZQ7G4iRXyw9YkZouoM_Gur2M5bRa90xlvnb3M0rUfvlGVKnndiuMaCIY-NNPQD8prhSc8DyVS-v2QY0MBq2YwGodlUcBw5k-FzNROrd7wyns3QyazOh-BnXB6jouxCIV0TX3F0nhyX9VwT_FphcDOUOYmlhmZ_jOOTQ75MNqNpXidIEdmVQ8V00/s3000/vesna%20parun%20i%20ja%20.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5z7-eZQ7G4iRXyw9YkZouoM_Gur2M5bRa90xlvnb3M0rUfvlGVKnndiuMaCIY-NNPQD8prhSc8DyVS-v2QY0MBq2YwGodlUcBw5k-FzNROrd7wyns3QyazOh-BnXB6jouxCIV0TX3F0nhyX9VwT_FphcDOUOYmlhmZ_jOOTQ75MNqNpXidIEdmVQ8V00/s16000/vesna%20parun%20i%20ja%20.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">VESNA PARUN POSTS<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/10/you-whose-hands-are-more-innocent-than.html"> 1</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/03/home-on-road-dom-na-cesti.html" target="_blank">2</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/03/when-bird-ceases-to-loveoutfit-post.html" target="_blank">3</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/07/translating-vesna-paruns-poetry-three.html" target="_blank">4</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>KRAJ RIJEKE </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Duž nasipa idem. Šaš zaustavlja me <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>glasom ptica što odselile su.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Jesen uz rijeku puna je šumova od davnine<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>izgubljenih, što nisu od trstike<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>ni od vode ni od zalutalih pastrva.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rijeka je nevjerna. Ona ispire želje<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>koje u uhu pijeska šapnuste u nesvjestici.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Pramce lađa crnih zaboravlja.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Prolom oblaka, kad se iz korita razlila,<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>u njenom je pamćenju izblijedio.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Hej, konji tatarski ovu su rijeku pregazili!<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Od njihovih kostura vrijeme je nehajno<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>napravilo muzej. Tri jablana pred ulazom.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Mračne krošnje stoljeća u vodi se zrcale.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>A ona teče, misleći na čežnju divljih pataka<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>u tisuću puta banulo proljeće.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Vodo koja dršćeš od studeni, budeć se iz raspuklih<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b> zidova leda<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>čuješ li reske glasove galebova morskih?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Oni te zovu da bi drugovali s tobom.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>O seobe koje se ponavljate.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Nagoni od kojih se rijeka puši<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>gola i tamna, pod vrbama prostrta.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba.</b></span></p><div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD648qyUd2YCCYomsWcW3IAIYyHZ5KdVlDGKObZEDuPBiNItR9iqeHMIWjcAadarFoZ4zLvsjrvVTLbGHYuLC_29UwcViLWDFOzWXGxQX0QB08nW-Pn_7CktSva4y7DSu1yrnIZFTjJeZFgOM8bNQRxguSZUa4FMV-p31Nu7qp1On1J9egS7W063GPDpo/s3000/vesna%20parun%20kraj%20rijek%20omis%20mor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD648qyUd2YCCYomsWcW3IAIYyHZ5KdVlDGKObZEDuPBiNItR9iqeHMIWjcAadarFoZ4zLvsjrvVTLbGHYuLC_29UwcViLWDFOzWXGxQX0QB08nW-Pn_7CktSva4y7DSu1yrnIZFTjJeZFgOM8bNQRxguSZUa4FMV-p31Nu7qp1On1J9egS7W063GPDpo/s16000/vesna%20parun%20kraj%20rijek%20omis%20mor.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>KRAJ RIJEKE </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Duž nasipa idem. Šaš zaustavlja me <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>glasom ptica što odselile su.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Jesen uz rijeku puna je šumova od davnine<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>izgubljenih, što nisu od trstike<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>ni od vode ni od zalutalih pastrva.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Rijeka je nevjerna. Ona ispire želje<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>koje u uhu pijeska šapnuste u nesvjestici.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Pramce lađa crnih zaboravlja.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Prolom oblaka, kad se iz korita razlila,<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>u njenom je pamćenju izblijedio.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Hej, konji tatarski ovu su rijeku pregazili!<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Od njihovih kostura vrijeme je nehajno<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>napravilo muzej. Tri jablana pred ulazom.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Mračne krošnje stoljeća u vodi se zrcale.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>A ona teče, misleći na čežnju divljih pataka<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>u tisuću puta banulo proljeće.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Vodo koja dršćeš od studeni, budeć se iz raspuklih<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b> zidova leda<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>čuješ li reske glasove galebova morskih?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Oni te zovu da bi drugovali s tobom.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>O seobe koje se ponavljate.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Nagoni od kojih se rijeka puši<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>gola i tamna, pod vrbama prostrta.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="HR" style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba.</b></span></p></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCyKZW59gix5sOgTwS66bpEeJVjUtCDMwMmFjJLEkFXHMOMUXrNdu-zJO_SsL6od20sF1ikIhJIjg0r5wjm6DwzABFiHejywjCOZBisVFizmeFQZCQDwwl1o0KJgi7Xvof3MMA05oJOElr80u0-0h-mZSGplgoApeaxOrL3TGeYzzvPatat01z86IEn8/s3000/vesna%20parun%20omis%20kraj%20vode%20stihovi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCyKZW59gix5sOgTwS66bpEeJVjUtCDMwMmFjJLEkFXHMOMUXrNdu-zJO_SsL6od20sF1ikIhJIjg0r5wjm6DwzABFiHejywjCOZBisVFizmeFQZCQDwwl1o0KJgi7Xvof3MMA05oJOElr80u0-0h-mZSGplgoApeaxOrL3TGeYzzvPatat01z86IEn8/s16000/vesna%20parun%20omis%20kraj%20vode%20stihovi.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeHv-A7_jf-V3fUOH2JA8SBimPuj2j8Uux4FSzrstH_9C482Kg8gWnJR62PxxIpML9V_tFuMouzlvI0GhE5ixgF4mInuKi8UHgLNRpS2pDAgqfLi5zYFsD6DkpSxiHRKrrmZADi_Qfe5xeCJdLrngJhvgtyk4dOPPyJ5yw1zsmlF-m-6iphKqXuNqtP0/s3000/vesna%20parun%20omis%20stihotvorenje.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeHv-A7_jf-V3fUOH2JA8SBimPuj2j8Uux4FSzrstH_9C482Kg8gWnJR62PxxIpML9V_tFuMouzlvI0GhE5ixgF4mInuKi8UHgLNRpS2pDAgqfLi5zYFsD6DkpSxiHRKrrmZADi_Qfe5xeCJdLrngJhvgtyk4dOPPyJ5yw1zsmlF-m-6iphKqXuNqtP0/s16000/vesna%20parun%20omis%20stihotvorenje.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">INTEPRETATION OF THE POEM </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Vesna Parun's poem <i>Along the River </i>is written in the first person. Readers of Vesna Parun can assume that it is about the poetess herself. Vesna Parun often writes in the first person. Her poetry is mostly intimate, emotional and spiritual. The first verse reveals the location of the lyrical narrator i.e. the person speaking to us through the poem. Your personal interpretation may or may not experience the narrator as a poet herself. In any case, we have a picture of a person walking along an embankment. The very title of the song tells us that it is about the embankment of the river. A river can have many symbolic meanings, which do not have to exclude the literal one. Reading the poem, we can imagine a person by the river, and we can see beyond that poetic image and look for additional meanings. </p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Along the River</i></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>I'm walking along the dam. Sedge halts me<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>with the voices of birds that'd migrated.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Autumn alongside river is full of ancient rustling long<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>lost, originating neither from the reeds<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>nor the water, nor the strayed trout.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The river as a symbol of life is a word poignant with meaning, visually and interpretatively rich. That word, which is not static, like water itself, like language itself, is the perfect starting point for this poem. We can see this not only by analysing the noun "river" itself, which has many metaphorical meanings in the Croatian language, but also by looking at the poetic work of Vesna Parun, in which the noun "river" appears quite often. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore, in the Croatian language, the noun river is feminine, which is not insignificant considering how personal Vesna Parun's poetry is. Her poetry is the poetry of a woman, her experiences are the experiences of a woman. One can certainly read the meanings and connections between female psychology and identity. A woman brings life into the world, just like mother nature, she is the one who enables the rebirth of life. Of course, everyone can read this poem in their own way, put themselves in the position of narrator and poetic voice, but the female identity and perspective in the context of the interpretation of the poem should not be ignored. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first verse consists of one finished and one started sentence. The first sentence is short, it takes us to the place of action, omitting the pronoun and ending with the verb. The choice of verb itself is interesting. It can refer to movement, but also to direction and intention. 'I'm going there', it can mean that we plan to go in that direction, and it can also mean that we are already on our way. The Croatian language uses the present tense for both options. However, the very combination of the name and the first sentence in the verse gives the impression that the lyrical narrator is already there. It is clear which embankment we are talking about according to the title, and it is not necessary to add that it is a river embankment. In the same verse we have another poetic image. The personification of sedge brings us into contact with nature.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Sedge is placed first in the sentence and becomes the subject. It is sedge who stops the lyrical narrator. The sentence does not end there, but is transferred to the next verse. How does the sedge stop the poetess, our lyrical storyteller? It stops her not with what we would expect, i.e. with his material form (by that I mean that sedge can be dense and as such stop our movement) but with voices. Sedge stops her with the voice of birds. Again, it is expected to assume that it is about birds in the sedge, but here comes the surprise because it is about the voice of birds that have moved away. What does the poet mean by saying that the birds have moved away? How come they don't live there? Or simply how did they migrate? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>The river is unfaithful. It washes away desires<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>that you'd whispered into the ear of sand in a faint.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>It forgets the prows of black vessels.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>A cloudburst, when the river spilled from its streambed,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>faded away from its memory.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The second stanza begins with a short three-word sentence describing the river as unfaithful. That first verse continues through the second sentence which says that the river washes away the wishes that we have whispered. In this second verse of the second stanza, the poet, that is, the lyrical narrator, addresses us as readers directly. She claims- 'you'd whispered'. Considering that Croatian uses this verb form both for singular and plural of the second person, she might be addressing all the readers or us specifically. ' How do we whisper those wishes? Vesna says we do it unconsciously- in a faint. What does that mean? How are we not aware when we whisper wishes? How do we even whisper them? Where do we direct them? Vesna says we whisper into the ear of sand. What does that mean? What is an ear of sand? Is it in the river? How does the river wash away our desires? Is that what a river does when it washes away an ear of sand? What do these metaphors refer to? The poet again encourages the reader to question. What are our desires? Are they always aware? Aren't they often unconscious? Secret? Aren't wishes really sometimes just a whisper in the ear of the sand washed by the river?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Hey, Tatar horses crossed this river!<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>From their skeletons, the time uncaringly</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> made a museum. Three poplars in front of an entrance.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Dark treetops of centuries are mirrored in the water.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>And the water flows, thinking of the longing of wild ducks<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>in Spring, a thousand times sprung.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Spring of growing fish scales.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span></o:p><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The third stanza begins with an exclamatory sentence. All sentences so far have been declarative. We observe he use of the exclamation "Hey" as an introduction to the sentence that informs us that the Tartar horses crossed this river. The demonstrative pronoun emphasizes that it is about this particular river. Why are the horses in question specifically Tatar? The next poetic image is a bit dark, it mentions the skeletons of horses that time had carelessly turned into a museum. Again, the second sentence continues into the third verse. A short sentence in the third verse gives a poetic image of three poplar trees in front of the entrance. The next verse brings a picture of dark treetops reflected in the water. The poet tells us about the dark crowns of the century. Again we have the invocation of ancient motifs. Centuries allude to ancient times. Mentioning of time, museums and bones reminds us of death. On the other hand, water reminds us of new birth. Water is life and movement. In the next sentence water becomes the subject, it is said that it flows thinking of the longing of wild ducks. So we have the personification of water, it becomes a thinking creature. What is this longing like, when it happens? The poems answers us in a thousand times sprung Spring. Therefore, we see that it is all about spring longing. Is it a longing for life? Does this longing for spring symbolize life itself, which always repeats itself and recovers. Does Spring symbolize </span>never-ending<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and eternal natural movement and change?</span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Hey water trembling from the freezing cold, awakening from the cracked<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> walls of ice<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>do you hear the piercing voices of seagulls?<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>They are calling to you so you'd be friends.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Oh, you migrations that are repeating yourself.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>instincts that make the river evaporate,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>nude and dark, laid out under the willows.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span lang="HR" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Spring of growing fish scales. </i></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The poet then addresses the water itself with a question. What does the lyrical subject/poetess ask the water? She asks her if the water hears the voices of seagulls. Again we have a connection with creatures of air, but this time with seagulls. The lyrical narrator says that the seagulls call to the water in order to make friends with it. Seagulls are birds that live both by the sea and by the water. Here we see the connection of water and the sea, two strong symbols in Vesna's poetry collection. In Croatian version, it's stressed that the gulls in questions are those living by the sea. So, they are seagulls. Then, in the fifth and last verse, the poet talks about repeated migrations, which we can connect with birth and the circle of life, but also with other thoughts and metaphors. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The richness of poetry is precisely in its multiplicity and interpretation. The lyrical subject addresses the migrations in the vocative case, but in a declarative sentence, and we can imagine how the intonation is calm, perhaps even wistful. The urges that make the river smoke are mentioned, which again we can connect with natural forces, rebirth and life. The water is described as naked and dark under the spreading willows, and we can also imagine it as something mystical or at least mysterious. As the final verse and sentence we have the repetition of the motif of spring from the growing fish scales. The poem ends with a repetition that perhaps connects all the poetic images. In any case, the poetic images are strong and impressive. The poet not only encourages thinking and questioning, but also leaves a strong impression. It is a successful and beautiful poetic achievement.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWI7FFpzBRM4kz5DMT5IKoiBO9yhoio3j1u_DzHHKnWjuCfesTDsiYeqrtWHhx-AUQddq7LjFxKKgH59JVA2yINriLy9dik-Bgp0kwJ6ZeKl_LN_M9LplHJGglyMsVXEqOhCsBR7FwG1wyGs2W4roi0OHmD2Lz0apMVdtThmN47pCFeT-hMGYfAeG_HNM/s3000/vesna%20parun%20The%20river%20is%20unfaithful.%20It%20washes%20away%20desires.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWI7FFpzBRM4kz5DMT5IKoiBO9yhoio3j1u_DzHHKnWjuCfesTDsiYeqrtWHhx-AUQddq7LjFxKKgH59JVA2yINriLy9dik-Bgp0kwJ6ZeKl_LN_M9LplHJGglyMsVXEqOhCsBR7FwG1wyGs2W4roi0OHmD2Lz0apMVdtThmN47pCFeT-hMGYfAeG_HNM/s16000/vesna%20parun%20The%20river%20is%20unfaithful.%20It%20washes%20away%20desires.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgan4vZDF9CGvK-hpJzWa5EHzy5RFm8sekbBAYgZ3E0gCH6ehJYDs4KxJthL4eb7AUEPO5tyvj-hvGKhqBsBC5v2otjHFgAi42oyEKrk4PJCLSYn2Bp1pjSxjdEdeXxgkvZP34eB2yV4ZPG58kLvdGMD6ZKMdkoBNuEAgKA3TkYv3rhbJLjXCokkYGfG2w/s3000/IMG_20231014_145501.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgan4vZDF9CGvK-hpJzWa5EHzy5RFm8sekbBAYgZ3E0gCH6ehJYDs4KxJthL4eb7AUEPO5tyvj-hvGKhqBsBC5v2otjHFgAi42oyEKrk4PJCLSYn2Bp1pjSxjdEdeXxgkvZP34eB2yV4ZPG58kLvdGMD6ZKMdkoBNuEAgKA3TkYv3rhbJLjXCokkYGfG2w/s16000/IMG_20231014_145501.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>INTEPRETACIJA PJESME KRAJ RIJEKE</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">Pjesma Vesne Parun <i>Kraj rijeke</i> napisana je u prvom licu. Čitatelji
Vesne Parun mogu pretpostaviti da se radi o samoj pjesnikinji. Vesna Parun
često piše u prvom licu. Njena poezija je ponajviše intimna, emotivna<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>i duhovna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prvi stih nam otkriva gdje se nalazi osoba koja nam se obraća kroz
pjesmu. Vaša osobna interpretacija može je i ne mora doživjeti kao samu
pjesnikinju.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>U svakom slučaju imamo sliku
osobe koje hoda uzduž nasipa. Sam naslov pjesme nam otkriva da se radi o nasipu
rijeke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Rijeka može imati brojna simbolična
značenja, koja ne moraju isključivati ono doslovno. Čitajući pjesmu, možemo
zamisliti osobu kraj rijeke, a možemo vidjeti i onkraj te pjesničke slike i
tražiti dodatna značenja. Rijeka kao simbol života je riječ nabijena značenjem,
vizualno i interpretativno bogata. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ta
riječ koja nije statična, kao i sama voda, kao i sam jezik, savršeno je
polazište za ovu pjesmu. To možemo vidjeti ne samo analizom same imenice „rijeka“
koja u hrvatskom jeziku ima brojna metaforička značenja, već i uvidom u
pjesnički opus Vesne Parun u kojem se imenica „rijeka“ pojavljuje dosta često. Nadalje
u hrvatskom jeziku je imenica rijeka ženskog roda, što nije beznačajno
uzimajući u obzir koliko je osobna poezija Vesne Parun. Njezina poezija je
poezija žene, njena iskustva su iskustva žene. Svakako se može iščitavati
značenja i poveznice između ženske psihologije i identiteta. Žena donosi život
na svijet, kao i majka priroda, ona je ta koja omogućava ponovo rađanje života.
Naravno da<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>svatko može čitati ovu pjesmu
na svoj način, postaviti se u poziciju pripovjedača i pjesničkog glasa, ali
ženski identitet i perspektivu u kontekstu interpretacije pjesme ne treba
zanemariti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Prvi stih se sastoji od
jedne završene i jedne započete rečenice. Prva rečenica je kratka, odvodi nas
na mjesto radnje, izostavljajući zamjenicu i završavajući sa glagolom „idem“.
Sam izbor glagola je zanimljiv. On se može odnositi na kretanje, ali također i
na smjer i namjeru. Idem tamo tako može značiti da planiramo ići u tom smjeru,
a može značiti i da smo već na putu. Hrvatski jezik koristi prezent za obje
opcije. No, sama kombinacija naziva i prve rečenice u stihu ostavlja dojam da
je <a name="_Hlk155274163">lirski pripovjedač ili pripovjedačica </a>već tamo.
Jasno je o kojem se nasipu radi prema naslove te nije potrebno dodati kako se
radi o nasipu rijeke. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">U istom stihu imamo drugu pjesničku sliku.
Personifikacija šaša dovodi nas u vezu s prirodom. Šaš se stavlja na prvo
mjesto u rečenici te postaje subjekt. Šaš je taj koji zaustavlja lirsku
pripovjedačicu. Rečenica tu ne završava već se prenosi u idući stih. Čime šaš
zaustavlja pjesnikinju, našu lirsku pripovjedačicu? Zaustavlja je ne onim čime
bismo očekivali, svojim materijalnim postojanjem. Šaš može biti gust i kao
takav zaustaviti naše kretanje. No, ovdje se radi o nečem drugom. Šaš je
zaustavlja glasom ptica. Opet očekivano je pretpostaviti kako se radi o pticama
u šašu, ali tu dolazi iznenađenje jer se radi o glasu ptica koje su odselile.
Što pjesnikinja želi reći time da su ptice odselile? Kako tu ne žive? Ili
jednostavno kako su migrirale? U hrvatskom jeziku ptica selica je čest izraz
koji izražava vrste ptica koje prirodno migriraju. No, iako često za ptice
kažemo da su selice, kažemo li doista da su odselile? Izraz odseliti koristimo
više za ljude. Koristeći taj izraz, Vesna Parun stvara dojam začudnosti. Govori
li o pticama selicama ili o pticama koje su odselile trajno iz nekih drugih i
ne sasvim prirodnih razloga. Druga rečenica završava, a sa njom i drugi stih.
Druga rečenica u pjesmi započinje u prvom stihu i završava u drugom. Već tu
možemo postaviti niz pitanja.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLGxyb8O7Evb0I_XP_WfqpFPanlNRX9F4K_OF1y6HJp8tpXMR5-qbS6D02weXXfzH8yGtRvx7wXhg2fhOR5uCUNQdNa8LUeTeBgiruugVgiWSk4jbIcRMbwExbDeHxBf3atHs4lqm69DT_YISR7AU49kVX84pWroneth7ZTEz8HjP2pBlz63YBReagq5I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLGxyb8O7Evb0I_XP_WfqpFPanlNRX9F4K_OF1y6HJp8tpXMR5-qbS6D02weXXfzH8yGtRvx7wXhg2fhOR5uCUNQdNa8LUeTeBgiruugVgiWSk4jbIcRMbwExbDeHxBf3atHs4lqm69DT_YISR7AU49kVX84pWroneth7ZTEz8HjP2pBlz63YBReagq5I=s16000" /></a></span></div><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"> Kako lirski pripovjedač ili pripovjedačica može
osjetiti glas ptica koji više nije tu? Kako ga šaš može prenijeti? O čemu se tu
zapravo radi? Možemo reći kako nas je zaustavila neka prepreka bez da je
personaliziramo. U hrvatskom jeziku ne koristimo često pasiv pa je prirodno
reći kako nas je nešto ili netko zaustavio, nekakva prepreka ili nešto slično.
To činimo bez da nužno personificiramo tu prepreku, biće ili stvar. No, ovdje
se ipak radi o personifikaciji jer šaš dobiva glas. On zaustavlja glasom.
Glasom koji možda ne pripada njemu, ali on ga ipak ima. Šaš prenosi glas ptica
i to ne bilo kakvih ptica nego onih odsutnih. Nije točno jasno kako to radi,
možda se radi tek o tome da on lirski subjekt podsjeća na nešto ili dovodi u
vezu sa tim. Svejedno, neki oblik personifikacije postoji te čini se ide ruku
pod ruku s efektom začudnosti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sljedeća
rečenica spominje godišnje doba uz rijeku <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pa ga u neku ruku i opisuje. Je se misli na jesen
u tom trenutku, govori li nam da je jesen dok je on ili on tu, ili je to tek općenita
konstatacija lirskog subjekta nije sasvim jasno, iako se može pretpostaviti
kako je ipak jesen. Spominjanje šumova može se vezati uz šaš. Šaš šumi kada
vjetar puše. Je li to ono na što se aludira? Nemoguće je znati, ali može se
napraviti ta poveznica. Jesen uz rijeku je uvod u treći stih i rečenicu koja
završava u idućem stihu.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"> Kakva je jesen? Jesen se opisuje kao puna šumova od
davnina. Ponovo to možemo, a i ne moramo, povezati s prijašnjim stihom koji je
aludirao na glas ptica koje više nisu tu. Četvrti stih nastavlja se na treći te
je dio iste rečenice. Šumovi od davnina su izgubljeni, saznajemo. Što to točno
znači možemo se upitati kao čitatelji. Jesu li davni šumovi izgubljeni ili su
šumovi od davnine izgubljeni? Znači li to jedno to isto? Možda i ne mora
značiti isto. Možda može značiti da su šumovi od davnine (davni šumovi)
izgubljeni bez da znamo kada su izgubljeni. S druge strane može značiti da su
šumovi davno izgubljeni to jest da su ti šumovi izgubljeni već dugo vremena
(kakvi god bili). Kakvi su ti šumovi? Prije nego što četvrti stih završi,
saznajemo da šumovi od davne nisu od trstike, a zatim u petom stihu saznajemo
da nisu ni od vode ni od zalutalih pastrva. Tom informacijom se zaključuje
posljednja rečenica u strofi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Šumovi su
naznačeni i lokalizirani u šumu u trećoj strofi te se peta strofa i četvrta
rečenica završava negacijom njihovih potencijalnih izvora. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Od čega su onda ti šumovi? Ako su izgubljeni
od davnine, zašto je tomu tako? Jesu li ti šumovi nešto što svi mogu čuti?
Objasnivši da šumovi od davnina ne dolaze od izvora koje bismo mogli
pretpostaviti (trstike, vode, pastrva), lirski subjekt potiče nas na
propitivanje. Lirska pripovjedačica isključuje biljke (trstiku), prirodni
element (vodu) i životinje (pastvu i ptice).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ipak šuma je puna tog šuma. S tom slikom i s tim pitanjima nas
pjesnikinja ostavlja te završava prvu strofu. Možda su šumovi dio same šume ili
neke dublje stvarnosti? Nešto što nema svoj izvor, početak i kraj?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="text-align: left;">KRAJ RIJEKE </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Duž nasipa idem. Šaš zaustavlja me <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>glasom ptica što odselile su.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Jesen uz rijeku puna je šumova od davnine<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>izgubljenih, što nisu od trstike<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>ni od vode ni od zalutalih pastrva.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">Druga strofa počinje kratkom rečenicom koja se sastoji od tri riječi i
opisuje rijeku kao nevjernu. Taj prvi stih se nastavlja kroz drugu rečenicu
koja kaže kako rijeka ispire želje koje smo mi šapnuli. U ovom drugom stihu
druge strofa pjesnikinja to jest lirski pripovjedač / pripovjedačica nam se
direktno obraća. Ona tvrdi kako vi 'šapnuste'. Može se raditi o obraćanju u
množini svim čitateljima ili kao korištenju pristojnog obraćanja jednoj osobi u
množini. Kako mi šapnusmo te želje? Vesna kaže u nesvjestici. Što to znači?
Kako nismo svjesni kada šapćemo želje? Kako ih uopće šapćemo? Vesna kaže u uho
pijeska. Što to znači? Što je uho pijeska? Nalazi li se u rijeci? Kako rijeka
ispire naše želje? Čini li to rijeka kada ispire uho pijeska? Na što se te
metafore odnose? Pjesnikinja opet potiče čitatelja na propitivanje. Kakve su
naše želje? Jesu li uvijek svjesne? Nisu li želje doista ponekad tek šapat u
uho pijeska koje ispire rijeka? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Rijeka je nevjerna. Ona ispire želje<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>koje u uhu pijeska šapnuste u nesvjestici.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Pramce lađa crnih zaboravlja.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Prolom oblaka, kad se iz korita razlila,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>u njenom je pamćenju izblijedio.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">Možemo vidjeti da
prva i druga strofa koriste istu strukturu. Obje strofe počinju sa kratkom
rečenicom od tri riječi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>U prvoj strofi
se zatim uvodi druga rečenica koja se nastavlja u drugoj strofi i tu i
završava. Uz to, prva i druga strofa imaju obje pet stihova. Što se događa u
trećoj strofi? Započinje nova rečenica. Za razliku od prve strofe u kojoj se
treći stih nastavlja u četvrti rečenicom, ovdje treći stih počinje i završava
jednom rečenicom. Ponekad se rečenice prenose u novi stih, a ponekad ne. Treći
stih i rečenica sastoji se od kratke rečenice koja se odnosi na rijeku iako se
sama rijeka ne spominje. Treći stih donosi nam pjesničku sliku crnih brodova.
Vesna nam govori kako rijeka pramce crnih lađa zaboravlja. Što su crne lađe?
Zašto ih rijeka zaboravlja? Što to znači da zaboravlja pramce crnih lađa? Jesu
li crne lađe simbol smrti ili propadanja? Jesu li pramci crnih lađa simbol
teških godina koje dolaze? Želi li nam reći kako rijeka zaboravlja propadanje?
Kako rijeka zaboravlja dolazak teških godina? Možda i to kako rijeka sve
zaboravlja. Zaborav što to točno znači? Izgubljena sjećanja? U prvoj strofi
imamo aluziju na izgubljene šumove davnina ili na šumove koji su davno
izgubljeni, a sada u drugoj strofi saznajemo kako je rijeka zaboravna i
nevjerna. Simbolizira li rijeka priroda koja se uvijek rađa iznova? Koja donosi
život, ali i smrt i propadanje? Idući stih počinje novim rečenicom. Prolom
oblaka se spominje i kada se iz korita razlila? Je li to aluzija na rađanje
rijeke? Je li rijeka rođena kroz prolom oblaka, koji je za posljedicu imao to
da se rijeka razlika iz korita? Odgovor na to pitanje ne saznajemo, ali idući
stih donosi zaključak rečenice koji nam kaže kako je sve to izblijedilo u
sjećanju rijeku. Prolom oblaka je izblijedio u sjećanju rijeke. Time se
završava druga strofa koja se kao i prva sastoji od pet strofa. No, za razliku
od prve strofe sastoji se od četiri, a ne tri rečenice. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Hej, konji tatarski ovu su rijeku pregazili!<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Od njihovih kostura vrijeme je nehajno<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>napravilo muzej. Tri jablana pred ulazom.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Mračne krošnje stoljeća u vodi se zrcale.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>A ona teče, misleći na čežnju divljih pataka<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>u tisuću puta banulo proljeće.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i> </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">Treća strofa počinje
uskličnom rečenicom. Sve rečenice dosada su bile izjavne. Ponovo imamo izravno
obraćenje, korištenje uzvika „Hej“ kao uvoda u rečenicu u kojoj nas obavještava
kako su tatarski konji pregazili ovu rijeku. Pokazna zamjenica naglašava kako
se radi o rijeci oko koje se ova pjesma vrti. Zašto su konji u pitanju baš
tatarski? Sljedeća pjesnička slika je pomalo mračna, spominje kosture konja od
kojih je vrijeme nehajno napravilo muzej. Ponovo se druga rečenica nastavlja u
treći stih. Kratka rečenica u trećem stihu daje pjesnički sliku tri jablana
pred ulazom. Sljedeći stih donosi sliku mračnih krošnji koje se zrcale u vodi.
Mračne krošnje stoljeća kaže nam pjesnikinja. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ponovno imamo prizivanje motiva davnina.
Stoljeća aludiraju na davnine. Spominjanje vremena i prolaznosti te kosti
podsjeća na smrt, a voda ponovo na novo rođenje. Voda je život i kretanje. U
sljedećoj rečenici voda postaje subjekt, kaže se kako ona teče misleći na
čežnju divljih pataka. Dakle, imamo personifikaciju vode, ona postaje misleća.
Kakva je ta čežnja, kada se ona događa? Pjesma nam odgovara u tisuću puta
banulo proljeće. Stoga, vidimo da se radi o proljetnoj čežnji. Je li to čežnja
za životom? Simbolizira li ta proljetna čežnja sam život koji se uvijek ponavlja
i oporavlja, prirodno kretanje i promjenu? Sa svojevrsnim prizivanjem proljeća
završava četvrta strofa. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">Zatim slijedi razmak te odvojena rečenica. Možemo li je
promatrati kao novu strofu koja se sastoji od jedne kratke rečenice? Ta
rečenica kaže samo: Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba. Ta pjesnička slika spaja
u sebi ideju života s prizivanjem i slike godišnjeg doba koji označava rođenje
i vode u kojoj ribe žive i samih riba. Ljuske riba rastu dok i one rastu, kao i
naprimjer drveća. Iduća strofa počinje obraćanjem vodi u vokativu, a zanimljiva
je jer se nastavlja u rečenicu koja se ne samo provlači kroz dvije strofe nego
ima i zanimljiv vizualan oblik. Vesna Parun se nije tipično koristila takvim
inovacijama no ovdje imamo dvije riječi koje su izdvojene na kraj stiha te vizualno
mijenjaju cijelu pjesmu. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Vodo koja dršćeš od studeni, budeć se iz raspuklih<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i> zidova leda<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>čuješ li reske glasove galebova morskih?<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Oni te zovu da bi drugovali s tobom.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>O seobe koje se ponavljate.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Nagoni od kojih se rijeka puši<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>gola i tamna, pod vrbama prostrta.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="HR"><i>Proljeće od rastućih ljusaka riba.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="HR" style="mso-ansi-language: HR;">Pjesnikinja se obraća vodi. Što lirski subjekt pita vodu? Pita je čuje li glasove galeba.
Opet imamo povezivanje s bićima koja lete, ali ovaj put s galebima. Lirski
pripovjedač kaže kako galebi zovu vodu kako bi drugovali sa njom. Galebovi su
ptice koje žive i pokraj mora i pokraj vode. Tu vidimo povezivanje vode i more,
dva snažna simbola u Vesninoj pjesničkoj zbirci. Pjesnikinja zatim u petom i
posljednjem stihu priča o seobama koje se ponavljaju, što možemo povezati s
rađanjem i krugom života, ali također i drugim promišljanjima i metaforama. Bogatstvo
pjesništva je upravo u mnogoznačnosti i tumačenju. Lirski subjekt se seobama
obraća u vokativu, ali u izjavnoj rečenice, te možemo zamisliti kako je
intonacija mirna, možda i sjetna. Spominju se nagoni od kojih se rijeka puši,
što opet možemo povezati sa prirodnim silama, rođenjem, rađanjem i životom.
Voda se opisuje kao gola i tamna pod vrbama prostrta, te je možemo zamisliti i
kao nešto mistično ili barem misteriozno. Kao završni stih i rečenicu imamo
ponavljanje motiva proljeća od rastućih ljusaka riba. Pjesma završava ponavljanjem
koje možda povezuje sve pjesničke slike. U svakom slučaju, pjesničke slike su snažne
i dojmljive. Pjesma ne samo potiče na razmišljanje i propitivanje, već i ostavlja
snažan dojam. Radi se o uspjelom i lijepom pjesničkom ostvarenju. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDkmgtGoKm2I4JoHl5RVrUpjaEco4ETS6snKT9aFuXyq731_6EvDKEMPrkfxwBNbvI5iaR-eFapDo4B7pMzJ3BxMHHn-Id8kceBPpcPy-G7S3dBbgZX7IIsWUL3gNLWotsCQy1M_5VUMVz1jdoOrjZJC80pi0IH3c6hnra8VPZGo1T-gIOkfYczt4WUsU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDkmgtGoKm2I4JoHl5RVrUpjaEco4ETS6snKT9aFuXyq731_6EvDKEMPrkfxwBNbvI5iaR-eFapDo4B7pMzJ3BxMHHn-Id8kceBPpcPy-G7S3dBbgZX7IIsWUL3gNLWotsCQy1M_5VUMVz1jdoOrjZJC80pi0IH3c6hnra8VPZGo1T-gIOkfYczt4WUsU=s16000" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">MORE OF VESNA PARUN'S POETRY -LINKS</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/10/you-whose-hands-are-more-innocent-than.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">YOU WHOSE HANDS ARE MORE INNOCENT THAN MINE, A POEM BY VESNA PARUN</span></a></p><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/03/home-on-road-dom-na-cesti.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">HOME ON THE ROAD, A POEM BY VESNA PARUN</span></a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/03/when-bird-ceases-to-loveoutfit-post.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/03/when-bird-ceases-to-loveoutfit-post.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">WHEN A BIRD CEASES TO LOVE, A POEM BY VESNA PARUN</span></a></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/07/translating-vesna-paruns-poetry-three.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">VESNA PARUN'S POETRY: THREE ISLANDS, A MAN HAUNTED BY FIRE & I WAS A BOY</span></a></h3></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/07/translating-vesna-paruns-poetry-three.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">VESNA PARUN'S POEM DREAM IN 3 LANGUAGES</span></a></h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you for reading and visiting. How are you doing?</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-31768177952207732024-01-03T15:03:00.000-08:002024-01-03T15:03:26.211-08:00HAPPY 2024! ABOVE ALL I WISH YOU LOVE!<p style="text-align: justify;"> Happy 2024! I was thinking about New Year wishes for the last few days. I must admit that this year I didn't felt that sense of freshness followed by a surge of optimism that I usually feel on the first day of the New Year. However, I still enjoyed sending the New Year greetings and just the general spirit of the holiday. It's always nice to feel that holiday spirit in the air. Everyone wishing good things upon others. Some say it's not that deep, that it is something people do automatically, but I say that it can't really hurt. I mean, it's entirely up to you what you choose to do this time of year and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Celebrate the way you want to, or don't celebrate at all.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEX0Ye9rIqDBtPa_7krmV9LDT_M8wTjTyN5PD_ZKnwrvM1a8IU_1LSK2PcvBz_8LGRQA5frBfrrfHmKaT1WNccmi6Z3sXgtY7c5_NqV2z88an_QU9gYHtbCdOm9iYBH0GRIvm4DCXBZ-6FmRXLXiPDzN60g185tSLishXCeKt4V99yJDCHL1q8e1NVhnQ/s3000/happy%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; text-align: justify;">So, let me wish you (one again) all the best! To quote the legendary Dolly Parton (and let's not forget Whitney's interpretation) I wish you joy and happiness! But above I wish you love! Love is that hard to define thing that really makes a difference in our lives. It doesn't have to be romantic love, it can be love towards a friend or a family member. These days I just keep coming back to that line- But above I wish you love! Dolly was the one who wrote the lyrics for the iconic ' I will always love you' song and also the one who sang this song first. However, Houston's version is better known. Both versions are absolutely gorgeous and powerful interpretation of a truly beautiful song. There's a whole (really cool) story behind this song that you might or you might not know, but I won't get into that today. What I will say is that this line- but above all I wish you love- is something that is becoming my mantra these days.</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEX0Ye9rIqDBtPa_7krmV9LDT_M8wTjTyN5PD_ZKnwrvM1a8IU_1LSK2PcvBz_8LGRQA5frBfrrfHmKaT1WNccmi6Z3sXgtY7c5_NqV2z88an_QU9gYHtbCdOm9iYBH0GRIvm4DCXBZ-6FmRXLXiPDzN60g185tSLishXCeKt4V99yJDCHL1q8e1NVhnQ/s3000/happy%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEX0Ye9rIqDBtPa_7krmV9LDT_M8wTjTyN5PD_ZKnwrvM1a8IU_1LSK2PcvBz_8LGRQA5frBfrrfHmKaT1WNccmi6Z3sXgtY7c5_NqV2z88an_QU9gYHtbCdOm9iYBH0GRIvm4DCXBZ-6FmRXLXiPDzN60g185tSLishXCeKt4V99yJDCHL1q8e1NVhnQ/s16000/happy%202024.jpg" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEX0Ye9rIqDBtPa_7krmV9LDT_M8wTjTyN5PD_ZKnwrvM1a8IU_1LSK2PcvBz_8LGRQA5frBfrrfHmKaT1WNccmi6Z3sXgtY7c5_NqV2z88an_QU9gYHtbCdOm9iYBH0GRIvm4DCXBZ-6FmRXLXiPDzN60g185tSLishXCeKt4V99yJDCHL1q8e1NVhnQ/s3000/happy%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMxu3NPlJI8JglEedWq1eXnyEfjJ1iXh7U4rK5AVxbWAkZg42srVwc1hRjuiGWywy7WOD3wkJ9umjxD74qSwnr5po2dzNV0OMTYq_9Mjw5uNOxyqh31FL56iurhHERpSi8GxPE6Ls8RM_379TNW2tM0ctVadHT4meEgYLBbJ6hSEi4GVZQ8thHQURA5UM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMxu3NPlJI8JglEedWq1eXnyEfjJ1iXh7U4rK5AVxbWAkZg42srVwc1hRjuiGWywy7WOD3wkJ9umjxD74qSwnr5po2dzNV0OMTYq_9Mjw5uNOxyqh31FL56iurhHERpSi8GxPE6Ls8RM_379TNW2tM0ctVadHT4meEgYLBbJ6hSEi4GVZQ8thHQURA5UM=s16000" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Sure, we wish joy and happiness to others. What else to wish these days? But what is joy and happiness without love? There is no happiness without sadness, so sorrow without joy. They come and go in intervals. If you are blessed enough to have people you love in your love, you'll live to miss them- one way or another. Where there is gain, there is also loss. What I'm trying to say is that I think it's OK to wish happiness and joy on this day. I'm not a fan of forced happiness or toxic positivity, but it doesn't hurt to focus on the positivity, especially if you are so inclined. If there should be a day for good wishes, the start of New Year year is a good day as any. The miseries of life are always there. We don't need to wish for them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">What is happiness? It can something as simple as saying hello to a random animal you see. Just the other day, my husband slowed down the car while we were passing by some goats, so I was able to blow them kisses. Goats were slightly amused. It made my day. It also amused me that my husband slowed down our car because he figured I might do something like that. I read somewhere that happiness is a by- product. It is something that happens on its own, not something we should chase. In life, we wish for happiness. We wish it upon others. It's normal and natural. However, we should also remember that life is not just about happiness and joy. It's far more complex than that. But love? Genuine love and affection, now that's a true blessing. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I won't write about everything I've been up to lately because that would be too long, rather I'll share a few highlights. I'd say that my holidays were pretty peaceful. Considering how exhausted I've been feeling lately, they went pretty well! I spent time with my husband's family in Mostar and then we went to Split, spent two days with my family, came back to Mostar. I still have a few days off and I'm grateful for that. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5OIzBrWEhEiPuH3izHGldRsAwC_91JE_Qoq_naMPphT6n4fwCNHtMm3Moizwc4J4LNdDi_zEBXp5v8uHyaxsb2TqbU0S2PZoVgHx07riHoQ9tgtJsceRAtzyPPbttIzI24SDaD1-joGAXnQBNcXARDTzfbNdrgtAp6Pd05CPulyrNIuRg3BExZKzIjU/s3000/IMG_20231228_125859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5OIzBrWEhEiPuH3izHGldRsAwC_91JE_Qoq_naMPphT6n4fwCNHtMm3Moizwc4J4LNdDi_zEBXp5v8uHyaxsb2TqbU0S2PZoVgHx07riHoQ9tgtJsceRAtzyPPbttIzI24SDaD1-joGAXnQBNcXARDTzfbNdrgtAp6Pd05CPulyrNIuRg3BExZKzIjU/s16000/IMG_20231228_125859.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">REVISITING THE MOSTAR PEACE BELL TOWER</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Out of the blue, a friend (a former colleague from island Hvar) texted me saying she'll in Mostar with her two boys and husband. She wanted to meet up if I was free. I texted back off course, so my husband and I met them in Campanile café next to Franciscan church. We advised them to park next to the tennis centre because it's free (that's an insider tip intended for you too). Franciscan church is a good place to meet up because it has this 105 meters tall bell tower so it's easy to find! <span style="color: #0000ee; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;">IMAGES OF THE CHURCH AND BELL TOWER TAKEN LAST SUMMER</span></div><div><span style="color: #0000ee; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;">THE CHURCH AND THE MONASTERY OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL, MOSTAR</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;" /><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-size: 15px;">This church and monastery are actually quite new. This church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is newly built because the old church dating back to the 19th century was completely destroyed in the war. It was rebuild in recent times and now it also includes a large monastery and a church tower. The church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul can also boost with an impressive library that contains 40,000 volumes of old and vintage books. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Perhaps you didn't know this, but Mostar has this really tall church tower. I've written about it a couple of time and I visited it twice. The first time was years ago, when I was showing it to a lovely Russian girl I met through conversation exchange site. She really liked it and her being a teacher, we had a lot to talk about. I actually texted her for NYE and she remembered it. She asked me for photographs of the inside of the church. I'll save that for another post. As it happens, I was planning on showing the inside of the church (it's really amazing) to my Croatian friends, but the church was locked. Fortunately my husband remembered to inquire about the entrance to the church tower in the face. Another insider tip, if the tower looks closed and there's nobody charging the fee, just go to the café Campanile, the waiters can tell you what to do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzyQxygtCNvOgQaepGuL-wOViwqvRLYPBRESBsuccsIFkbFK3Eu9FbzBlHjKnikvc1t5Fa9V2B9ZdnXHoKlHrTmSIvdt1swsxKy0sQvlZbtX5Yege9KqGAtoJVfQKNupy9bG26mf1uza2aBwjRPEgW7li0XXynqpSkC3WxgHyilc41Ei7PQlMlvSfM0M/s3000/IMG_20231228_125927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzyQxygtCNvOgQaepGuL-wOViwqvRLYPBRESBsuccsIFkbFK3Eu9FbzBlHjKnikvc1t5Fa9V2B9ZdnXHoKlHrTmSIvdt1swsxKy0sQvlZbtX5Yege9KqGAtoJVfQKNupy9bG26mf1uza2aBwjRPEgW7li0XXynqpSkC3WxgHyilc41Ei7PQlMlvSfM0M/s16000/IMG_20231228_125927.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Anyhow, this was our second visit- the purpose was the same. To show the panorama to somebody visiting Mostar. Great thing about showing someone around is that you get to be a tourist in your own city and that's always great. This bell tower is definitely worth a visit. The fee is reasonable and there is an elevator. You still have to walk some stairs (about 70 of them if I remember correctly), but the elevator really takes you most of the time. Imagine climbing all the way to the time. This is much more effective and comfortable, I'm glad someone thought of installing an elevator. There are stutters on the windows as you climb the final few floors (I mean if we can call them stores or floors, you can see those windows on the photograph below and see what I mean). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7mznyzZy4P567R3vWzxl10VoVdFnq1UE4w16ZZKxVuP-KEXnrCLP0Yvnafd1blUPjj2Maindd3Q5cYVv2jQqkhaI1spRJk7DSqRlBSsqRBwR7cL3_Q4SwP7rvZduVIzAVXzygrToNxA9HQLbxkWwjFogEFDC3YQIHSujVzq-W9g4CL_ZdafhwN4wZJs/s3000/mostar%20tower%20view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7mznyzZy4P567R3vWzxl10VoVdFnq1UE4w16ZZKxVuP-KEXnrCLP0Yvnafd1blUPjj2Maindd3Q5cYVv2jQqkhaI1spRJk7DSqRlBSsqRBwR7cL3_Q4SwP7rvZduVIzAVXzygrToNxA9HQLbxkWwjFogEFDC3YQIHSujVzq-W9g4CL_ZdafhwN4wZJs/s16000/mostar%20tower%20view.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> Anyway, I really appreciate that as it reduces the anxiousness for the people who are afraid of heights. This way you can peep through the windows, but you're not fully exposed to the view while you're climbing. My friend told me it would have made her feel dizzy if that was the case. Once you get to the final floor there are big widows but you can stand in the middle of the space if you're not comfortable with heights. Both my friend and her husband (who is a firefighter) are somewhat afraid of heights, but they felt comfortable enough during the visit. She first stayed in the middle and then wondered around once she got more comfortable with the height. The panorama is stunning. The heigh you're at when you get to the top is about 70 meters. That's quite high! Her boys really enjoyed it as you can imagine. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I also had a nice talk with my friend, we did some catching up. She's has had a back surgery and is still experiencing chronic pain. But what can you do? Sometimes you just have to keep going, for yourself and others. We also talked about work. If you're a teacher, consider finding and maintaining friendships with other teachers. Having someone who really gets you, could greatly improve your mental health. It's always important to have somebody you can talk to. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHuVo1f9tfNjVPQhfrK-WZbQuFotjwgGTelMG6BmUA1VLK4e-aYIR4kMrq3K2zlhrqtlQeNcU1kvl1Qq9EmbKEAA4vzjyer1LzqgxFUyYGGgBzo0GBJ9yR6lp4SNmxAuV5OlFkjofWOFXabK6rE-0mQkJKsV-vAsxuyQZYdVX23UZk2Ey4SrLseToEyE/s3000/view%20from%20mostar%20tower%202024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHuVo1f9tfNjVPQhfrK-WZbQuFotjwgGTelMG6BmUA1VLK4e-aYIR4kMrq3K2zlhrqtlQeNcU1kvl1Qq9EmbKEAA4vzjyer1LzqgxFUyYGGgBzo0GBJ9yR6lp4SNmxAuV5OlFkjofWOFXabK6rE-0mQkJKsV-vAsxuyQZYdVX23UZk2Ey4SrLseToEyE/s16000/view%20from%20mostar%20tower%202024.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div>VIEW FROM THE CHURCH TOWER</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">One more photograph of the view. If you want to see more images of this church, you need what you need to do- visit my old post. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVTwD8pCCjGFgDbioIglwwi02AIF5ePxypXbR_jzFs5srR1gxMmMrEA4Pr5VqskIQsWI8vTEypH4TJDRJ4pg7XvagkwVR3N0fmDXNr_hi1zIiHMksYyrxp1Fys6sVjSRwQHjoxX16bwsp4v8EmWOkhnufDjc2ZT09dtIIT78Nh-UcMe35ctDiHw3ij7w/s3000/view%20from%20mostar%20ower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVTwD8pCCjGFgDbioIglwwi02AIF5ePxypXbR_jzFs5srR1gxMmMrEA4Pr5VqskIQsWI8vTEypH4TJDRJ4pg7XvagkwVR3N0fmDXNr_hi1zIiHMksYyrxp1Fys6sVjSRwQHjoxX16bwsp4v8EmWOkhnufDjc2ZT09dtIIT78Nh-UcMe35ctDiHw3ij7w/s16000/view%20from%20mostar%20ower.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />READING KUNDERA IN A MOSTAR PABLO'S CAFE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Some say that Pablo's restaurant in Mostar has the best espresso in the city. I agree with them. When we are in town, we often stop there for an espresso. Not that we don't dine there as well. We do, from time to time. I love their bruschetta and pasta options. Anyhow, when we were there lately, I noticed that they had some Kundera's books on the so I picked up one of them. It was a novel <i>Joke. </i>When I started reading I assumed it was a collection of stories. I read three of them while we were enjoying coffee and I quite enjoyed them. When I looked it up on wiki, I realized it was a novel. This is what wiki says of the plot. :</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; text-align: start;">Like most of Kundera's novels, the book is divided into seven parts;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joke_(novel)#cite_note-1" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[1]</a></sup> the parts switch among the viewpoints of four characters. Ludvik Jahn has been expelled from school and the Communist Party for his irreverence. Jaroslav is an old friend with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalom" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Cimbalom">cimbalom</a> band which Ludvik had once played in. Helena Zemánková is a radio reporter going to interview Jaroslav, and the wife of Ludvik's old nemesis. Kostka is a Christian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_(narrative)" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Foil (narrative)">foil</a> for Ludvik who spars with his life philosophy.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; text-align: start;">The novel opens with Ludvik back in his hometown in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravia" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Moravia">Moravia</a> for the first time in years, startled to recognize the woman cutting his hair, though neither acknowledges the other. He reflects on the joke that changed his life in the early 1950s over the next several chapters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(narrative)" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Flashback (narrative)">flashback</a>. Ludvik was a dashing, witty, and popular student who, like most of his friends, supported the still-young <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Czechoslovakia" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Communist Party of Czechoslovakia">Communist regime</a>. During their summer break, a girl in his class wrote to him about "optimistic young people filled through and through with the healthy spirit" of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Marxism">Marxism</a>; he replied caustically, "Optimism is the opium of mankind! A healthy spirit stinks of stupidity! Long live <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Leon Trotsky">Trotsky</a>!"</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; text-align: start;">The girl, under pressure, shared the contents of the letter with others in the Party at school, who did not find it funny. Commissions were convened to investigate Ludvik, who remained defiant, culminating in a plenary session — led by his peer, Pavel Zemanek — in which he was unanimously expelled from the Party and from the college. At the wedding of his old friend Jaroslav, whom he had once encouraged to revive <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_traditional_music" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Moravian traditional music">Moravian folk music</a> under the Party banner, Ludvik found that his stance toward that revival had turned bitter.</p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I must really finished this novel. I stopped reading just when things got interesting. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7v2l5OobsvSsat9tFPJ1o8PHOQNaZrTOZZGSeElNn5V1ElaIK4nkaSfmZI3pt_Xpw3_kAjgZWJjGloMsAk4vjVVRXKOkDFDTCoufoOtUT6czGs80IoqmPVk-eAT1_q1NFPI_RijPhSt69lTVF9gmRS_81Mjr5x_1SE4BNav06Lc-qR6GSE1u-VoBm8g/s3000/kundera%20reading%20book%20happy%202024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7v2l5OobsvSsat9tFPJ1o8PHOQNaZrTOZZGSeElNn5V1ElaIK4nkaSfmZI3pt_Xpw3_kAjgZWJjGloMsAk4vjVVRXKOkDFDTCoufoOtUT6czGs80IoqmPVk-eAT1_q1NFPI_RijPhSt69lTVF9gmRS_81Mjr5x_1SE4BNav06Lc-qR6GSE1u-VoBm8g/s16000/kundera%20reading%20book%20happy%202024.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“I was not a hypocrite, with one real face and several false ones. I had several faces because I was young and didn't know who I was or wanted to be.” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;">Milan Kundera, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_26114" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>The Joke</i></span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Love is by definition an unmerited gift; being loved without meriting it is the very proof of real love. If a woman tells me: I love you because you're intelligent, because you're decent, because you buy me gifts, because you don't chase women, because you do the dishes, then I'm disappointed; such love seems a rather self-interested business. How much finer it is to hear: I'm crazy about you even though you're neither intelligent nor decent, even though you're a liar, an egotist, a bastard.” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Milan Kundera, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"></span><span id="quote_book_link_26097" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><i>Slowness</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiCA-M2F7HlYQwP5_7SpUNAeiJiRqqYIrNuYkTB_sjVsKmX7hbgybQOQoPeZMqg4wIunzwVLh7iQeILUFQq-bAir9npes1RHdZJUMpJTXuS5Srol4RouWyDKeP7KdG9cNChtDe32hoqbFQ3CCApetzdf-Ae0y5QTArIqNJaMsjdvWJr3_7C8HrVX_b2n0/s3000/kundera%20reading%20magenta%20coat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiCA-M2F7HlYQwP5_7SpUNAeiJiRqqYIrNuYkTB_sjVsKmX7hbgybQOQoPeZMqg4wIunzwVLh7iQeILUFQq-bAir9npes1RHdZJUMpJTXuS5Srol4RouWyDKeP7KdG9cNChtDe32hoqbFQ3CCApetzdf-Ae0y5QTArIqNJaMsjdvWJr3_7C8HrVX_b2n0/s16000/kundera%20reading%20magenta%20coat.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Now, we're leaving Mostar for a another quick stop in Split city! Below is a photograph of me and my husband. I was too tired to wear any make up (plus I realized I don't have any), but I did wear this pretty red vintage dress. My sister-in-law's sister took these two shots. I quite like them!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">MY SISTER-IN-LAW ALWAYS HAS AMAZING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This is not our Christmas tree. These photographs were shot in my brother's apartment. My sister-in-law always does an amazing job decorating the home for Christmas. She always buys the most beautiful Christmas tree, too! Her sister is the same way and even makes and sells unique handmade Christmas ornaments. I might order some next year!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlJrBbKfc6guBO16KcTyiX9rO4VfjMIvsoeMdMc3OxrwF5TbgySe1vt6eZwiDHJ1lAKkdpaUSNffHmoa98-evki6iQjVVUdXrewpYrVf7fEpS3HnCITtShHuUfiu57QUUWM2KEaE81nQWRMShM1zbduyJGNBVobxANkeXSTUw5_GvvfX2c9CBOSagCrE/s3000/IMG_20231226_192924.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlJrBbKfc6guBO16KcTyiX9rO4VfjMIvsoeMdMc3OxrwF5TbgySe1vt6eZwiDHJ1lAKkdpaUSNffHmoa98-evki6iQjVVUdXrewpYrVf7fEpS3HnCITtShHuUfiu57QUUWM2KEaE81nQWRMShM1zbduyJGNBVobxANkeXSTUw5_GvvfX2c9CBOSagCrE/s16000/IMG_20231226_192924.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-jW3vH0CK7IGYNDZWvW_e6aCOSE1EvXOOvKCvuRO1Y5mDXuOybRICiudRyxbR9zX-e9hj8CaT1l8nDWVhZQJEk1GHfSycujb4P8HntG3T_L8mAKRb-0qmCnx64cEiiqwWglaGGDgvJRmksguC_tR7T6f0eI3LIfx3jXE3TqNDX4qSu3ehiWSpZleR8E/s3000/IMG_20231226_192918.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-jW3vH0CK7IGYNDZWvW_e6aCOSE1EvXOOvKCvuRO1Y5mDXuOybRICiudRyxbR9zX-e9hj8CaT1l8nDWVhZQJEk1GHfSycujb4P8HntG3T_L8mAKRb-0qmCnx64cEiiqwWglaGGDgvJRmksguC_tR7T6f0eI3LIfx3jXE3TqNDX4qSu3ehiWSpZleR8E/s16000/IMG_20231226_192918.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Those were my highlights. I don't have any specific blogging plans for the New Year. I plan to continue focusing on book reviews with a sprinkling of fashion and travel content. I might even start sharing my art again. I haven't stopped making art. I have had pretty regular commissions last year, almost as many as my full working hours permit. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">How are you doing? As always, thank you for your comments and visits. Take care.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-42300978047667619262023-12-29T10:46:00.000-08:002024-01-02T09:25:10.424-08:00VISIT MEĐUGORJE WITH IVANA! ( OUTFIT AND TRAVEL POST)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Hello! Did you know <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2012/11/basketball-caps.html?sc=1703871072916#c8437451713900791969" target="_blank">my blog came to life on 22nd of November 2012</a>? My first post was about baseball caps, so it was fashion oriented and contained what could be now called 'outfit post'. I opened my blog planning to write about fashion, but with time it grow to include my other interests such as art, literature and sustainable travel. So, I have been blogging for eleven years and a month! That's quite a long career for a personal (i.e. non profitable) blog, I would say. I even googled the average life span of a blog and the result indicated an average of only one hundred days. I'm glad I'm still blogging. I've considered retirement once or twice, took a break or two, but I always came back to blogging. Why not?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> Blogging can be such an educating and enriching experience. Both blogging and reading blogs is something I still love, so I plan on continuing doing it. There's much talk about whether blogs are dead or not, but if you're not doing it for a profit, the popularity of blogging doesn't seem that important. So, what if social media has taken over? It doesn't really matter, especially if you're blogging for yourself and your friends/readers. If you're blogging for a profit, you'll still have a chance as you're likely have less competition. Blogs will always be in demand one way or another. The way we consume them has changed and it will continue changing. The rise of social media didn't kill blogging, but it made it a different experience. Us seasoned bloggers remember the times when it was not unusual for a blog post to have hundreds of comments. It is rare to see many comments under a post nowadays. The experience is different, but it's still a good one. Blogging can be digital diary, a place for us to express our creativity and thoughts and a little place to call our own in the open spaces of Internet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ab61kDzEjAePjLWbHDnFXAbIi4XjzvVAUjGDgOT9CXKXegxv_4q06bTZlkZewdtg0lY0C266_isrMmGdlSRnlWAdT7gpirxy4S9oUn6mf8c_Aj7uhCplSRZp_2icc1hSLs0gppTYc1NArFDAEJGCXrQ55vuWcb2Moy06ilSikC5_6t69_EA7ZeF5wmo/s3000/beige%20auumn%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ab61kDzEjAePjLWbHDnFXAbIi4XjzvVAUjGDgOT9CXKXegxv_4q06bTZlkZewdtg0lY0C266_isrMmGdlSRnlWAdT7gpirxy4S9oUn6mf8c_Aj7uhCplSRZp_2icc1hSLs0gppTYc1NArFDAEJGCXrQ55vuWcb2Moy06ilSikC5_6t69_EA7ZeF5wmo/s3000/beige%20auumn%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimZ3VfNQkXbqr-vOHA05AzRMn1DmrNkYX4rvsrT5zSElHcO7u8d12IczhdfjwnYom9KfD1OtgJy1qxf1_TpM2poF13Axp1_BX-kTBJGt4hpiOznAzLrQZlKDcV03EUp8ccbGYwlvFMoGaeI4VSz6LqdxpCLE1Ldfv9sTFxndyvxHCn0y1qpFjhuuvN7kM/s3000/me%C4%91ugorje%202023%20fall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimZ3VfNQkXbqr-vOHA05AzRMn1DmrNkYX4rvsrT5zSElHcO7u8d12IczhdfjwnYom9KfD1OtgJy1qxf1_TpM2poF13Axp1_BX-kTBJGt4hpiOznAzLrQZlKDcV03EUp8ccbGYwlvFMoGaeI4VSz6LqdxpCLE1Ldfv9sTFxndyvxHCn0y1qpFjhuuvN7kM/s16000/me%C4%91ugorje%202023%20fall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rA7W2sQStNePc1zb9uhf61dSs2NcJPLjzXKd7Dm4MvlcQfkFFXBofpSfiafn4IcMMJnkpvclf9cn6JcNQAt6wO8pTfeocX6yz92glzmJZ84gMHHmXkWGXB6J-HcDt9LkpFw5s0-JHxrvajpspRW3hwHFthdm0bql5YV0n7mL9JrE5BqIWT310AQYVvA/s3000/travel%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="VISIT MEĐUGORJE WITH IVANA! ( OUTFIT AND TRAVEL POST)" border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rA7W2sQStNePc1zb9uhf61dSs2NcJPLjzXKd7Dm4MvlcQfkFFXBofpSfiafn4IcMMJnkpvclf9cn6JcNQAt6wO8pTfeocX6yz92glzmJZ84gMHHmXkWGXB6J-HcDt9LkpFw5s0-JHxrvajpspRW3hwHFthdm0bql5YV0n7mL9JrE5BqIWT310AQYVvA/s16000/travel%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" title="VISIT MEĐUGORJE" /></a><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ab61kDzEjAePjLWbHDnFXAbIi4XjzvVAUjGDgOT9CXKXegxv_4q06bTZlkZewdtg0lY0C266_isrMmGdlSRnlWAdT7gpirxy4S9oUn6mf8c_Aj7uhCplSRZp_2icc1hSLs0gppTYc1NArFDAEJGCXrQ55vuWcb2Moy06ilSikC5_6t69_EA7ZeF5wmo/s16000/beige%20auumn%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja7XStl1Ur7qLx6ZVVjQyU4LGyHsAk4CyL1EkOWFZ4KzTlILrjQxatV0ztutb0oua9fvH1lKQegARuqYv2OQdftm0PHTNRHAq4GS5uhDJcWsemlyk5i-q6Qf9-1nNDj3friklacJ2xA-mMoja8DJw4D5ylQdOdHnzhtFYgig-1lB7bCh9MIhqmDw9BDk8/s3264/mor%20blog%20autumn%20styling%20me%C4%91ugorje%20blogger%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja7XStl1Ur7qLx6ZVVjQyU4LGyHsAk4CyL1EkOWFZ4KzTlILrjQxatV0ztutb0oua9fvH1lKQegARuqYv2OQdftm0PHTNRHAq4GS5uhDJcWsemlyk5i-q6Qf9-1nNDj3friklacJ2xA-mMoja8DJw4D5ylQdOdHnzhtFYgig-1lB7bCh9MIhqmDw9BDk8/s16000/mor%20blog%20autumn%20styling%20me%C4%91ugorje%20blogger%20.jpg" title="VISIT MEĐUGORJE WITH IVANA! ( OUTFIT AND TRAVEL POST)" /></a></div> Time for another travel post. It's been a while since I did one (<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-green-cathedral-and-vrlika-river.html" target="_blank">THE GREEN CATHEDRAL AND VRLIKA AUGUST 2023</a>). Lately I've been focused mostly on book review posts i.e. my reading recommendations. Although, one could argue that my book posts are also travel and outfit post as I usually shot at different locations. So, you get a dose of fashion and travel even in my book review posts. Today I'm taking you to Međugorje, a charming village in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I'll talk a bit more about it later. Now, about my outfit! This brown and blue autumn styling proved to be a success. I loved paired different shades of brown, from chocolate to beige. Moreover, the blue tones on this dress are quite refreshing. I've gotten more wear than I expected from this second hand dress. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqmOpfvv4_TFFtG8Sf2hDva6Bp-wNyqIhxeIlAWoc1iq-dGp0h1fAC3hhkj6rS6mgZdo0wGEsNhyF1sKiSo6qqGSZDSWUgwKBlMNjfGCwpEfre-y5Owa8z1039m-APpxxh6NE5ikyFOfxoG9t1cB6aEs3Ipuoln_D-9sUGfa_sCet_yWUbN1bLYS6YNw/s3000/me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqmOpfvv4_TFFtG8Sf2hDva6Bp-wNyqIhxeIlAWoc1iq-dGp0h1fAC3hhkj6rS6mgZdo0wGEsNhyF1sKiSo6qqGSZDSWUgwKBlMNjfGCwpEfre-y5Owa8z1039m-APpxxh6NE5ikyFOfxoG9t1cB6aEs3Ipuoln_D-9sUGfa_sCet_yWUbN1bLYS6YNw/s16000/me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">SUSTAINABLE FASHION FILES- THE STORY OF MY OUTFIT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Sustainable fashions files are all about wearing our clothes repeatedly and shopping our closets. I shop my closet all the time, opting to wear things I already have instead of shopping for new things. Having a blog is wonderful because it enables me to prove that I indeed shop my closet all the time. You wouldn't believe how long I go without purchases, often months on end. When I do shop, I try to support local designers or opt for vintage/ second hand options. I always loved shopping </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">MIXED PRINT BLUE SECOND HAND DRESS - WORN <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-tower-of-swallow-novel-by-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">HERE </a>AND <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/fables-for-robots-by-stanislaw-lem-book.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">HIGH BROWN BOOTS- WORN <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/01/january-recap-10-outfits-i-loved-wearing.html">HERE</a> & <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/02/six-winter-outfit-proposals-sustainable.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> & <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-maxi-gypsy-skirt-paired-with-pussy.html">HERE</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">SHORT BEIGE CAMEL COAT- WORN <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/05/urban-vs-county-style-goranci-village.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> & <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/what-have-i-been-wearing-in-mostar-5.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">BROWN WIDE HAT WITH FAKE PEARLS- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/11/acrylic-beach-paintings-inspired-by.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">BLUE IMPRESSIONIST PATTERN SCARF- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/5-vintage-pieces-i-have-worn-most-in.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoM9XlYJdZRQFaiohP38w2aFsxamzsGDnLd4fMDK3FxPk2VbGwewYkIJeScjgz9CWXwRpKIqxLF_h4Bq_HNDJhiwpS6BQmVhtM3XFDLM9p_8zHg6Hv2c_ZwA1aCdXIM7b-ww55qqBmm-dFLVCduejrvcNgaH1yc-1ohGuFym3zjMbgu46Zw45wwXXdDoo/s3000/people%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoM9XlYJdZRQFaiohP38w2aFsxamzsGDnLd4fMDK3FxPk2VbGwewYkIJeScjgz9CWXwRpKIqxLF_h4Bq_HNDJhiwpS6BQmVhtM3XFDLM9p_8zHg6Hv2c_ZwA1aCdXIM7b-ww55qqBmm-dFLVCduejrvcNgaH1yc-1ohGuFym3zjMbgu46Zw45wwXXdDoo/s16000/people%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Was there anything about my outfit that I would change? Honestly, yes. I should have worn warmer tights. It wouldn't make any difference to the outfit visually, but I would have been warmer. Otherwise, I really loved this look and I felt great wearing this! My husband also liked it. He took a lot of photos of me! Well, he always loved that but this time he seemed even more enthusiastic than usual. He made me pose in such a way to show statement sleeves. I do love a good statement sleeve. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPQHUp492p2a8yA5jhL_a8srtl9_mfCtBOVpTl3_BQa7qYG07V231HveILRUNfD1ba5ucjmmFcCnNGcKCczCy7SnodyrsDGx51uW_gLucNvPQd-M9oSkBPMq2xG4XaXLahKV1H5Z-qyKxX5S5DF3_lSgf1mUtQyMwCLFiA6y5rK-KoHYIGEKrjmPBv6E/s3264/blue%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPQHUp492p2a8yA5jhL_a8srtl9_mfCtBOVpTl3_BQa7qYG07V231HveILRUNfD1ba5ucjmmFcCnNGcKCczCy7SnodyrsDGx51uW_gLucNvPQd-M9oSkBPMq2xG4XaXLahKV1H5Z-qyKxX5S5DF3_lSgf1mUtQyMwCLFiA6y5rK-KoHYIGEKrjmPBv6E/s16000/blue%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KuLvaHoKoxGb-9V4RS-jo0-Y7tsxgLzlcQPIzkR5sfMg3uBjLn0h8yUA5RDLNJsUO4h8QX21SFd5v2r3WZf9jsQpR6dwRwFw75jzSkVbZw8dDLjwKp13AnWIKBE2gE3VHrp5VNkiCo3YWvLLwX83WwB9X7_YTEwoNwt3tiCbn3IC5NRRGZGUhLW1hyY/s3264/mor%20collage%20me%C4%91ugorje%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KuLvaHoKoxGb-9V4RS-jo0-Y7tsxgLzlcQPIzkR5sfMg3uBjLn0h8yUA5RDLNJsUO4h8QX21SFd5v2r3WZf9jsQpR6dwRwFw75jzSkVbZw8dDLjwKp13AnWIKBE2gE3VHrp5VNkiCo3YWvLLwX83WwB9X7_YTEwoNwt3tiCbn3IC5NRRGZGUhLW1hyY/s16000/mor%20collage%20me%C4%91ugorje%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxpZyKb4BoyjNMzHfDgOQofEo04SdKA-NmJcMQQXKVr8UdFKo6djNbQu-VC2UkeJMeGpnQJKdckEvuy96xzaldL1L48LJfnpgp-QZ6nNrp8tfGPjVNjdbOGUGIa6c5rkqe_SYJLBssMwS-jLVfGoGGbDuzILHBY867hwoPyIuUOhaeYTraa2vcXyV6XAg/s3264/edited%20hat%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxpZyKb4BoyjNMzHfDgOQofEo04SdKA-NmJcMQQXKVr8UdFKo6djNbQu-VC2UkeJMeGpnQJKdckEvuy96xzaldL1L48LJfnpgp-QZ6nNrp8tfGPjVNjdbOGUGIa6c5rkqe_SYJLBssMwS-jLVfGoGGbDuzILHBY867hwoPyIuUOhaeYTraa2vcXyV6XAg/s16000/edited%20hat%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> I've blogged about Međugorje many times. I will include some links below in case you want to have a look. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: start;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/styling-leather-jacket-for-visit-to.html" target="_blank">STYLING A LEATHER JACKET FOR A VISIT TO MEĐUGORJE (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA) 2020</a></h3></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"> DECEMBER 2020 - <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-style-pleated-skirt-in-winter.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-style-pleated-skirt-in-winter.html</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-to-style-maxi-skirt-in-winter.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">MEĐUGORJE- A GREEN OASIS OF PEACE AND QUIET</a>- Being sustainable with travel is another great idea if you are looking to make a difference. You can do it by being a local tourist and exploring the areas you would otherwise visit for various.</span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"> <span style="text-align: justify;">The location where these photographs were taken is Međugorje (Medjugorje), a small touristic village in Herzegovina. Most of tourists that come to this village do so for religious reasons as Medjugorje is one of the most visited Christian pilgrimage sites, but you can also come to enjoy the nature. If you're interested to see and learn more about Međugorje, you can also visit my old post shot at this location and find more information there. It really is a lovely and peaceful place. Perfect for lovers of rural tourism and fine dining. There are some amazing restaurants in this area!</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/05/ethno-village-to-be-etno-selo-koje-ce.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">1. An Ethno Village to Be....</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/search?q=me%C4%91ugorje&updated-max=2016-05-17T07:58:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=1&by-date=false" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">2. Simplicity (summer outfit post)....</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2017/02/meugorje-mostar-styling-cropped-flares.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">3. Međugorje Mostar- styling cropped jeans</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/04/meugorje-view-from-hill-krizevac.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">4. A view from hill Križevac</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-outfit-post-proljece-odjevna.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">5. Spring outfit Međugorje</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/04/meugorje-fotografija-meugorje.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">6. Međugorje photography</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/02/sunday-is-all-about-comfort-nedjelja-je.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">7. Sunday is all about comfort</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/02/meugorje-outfit-post-odjevna.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">8. Međugorje winter outfit post</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-sunday-outfit-post-find-out-how-to.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">9. DIY post plus a visit to Međugorje</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-to-wear-biker-boy-hat-in-casual-way.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">10. How To Wear a Biker Hat?</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/01/things-to-do-in-ethno-village-herceg-in.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">11. Things to do in Ethno Village Herceg in Winter</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/06/when-in-doubt-wear-bold-print-cherry.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">12. Cherry Print Dress For a Visit to Međugorje</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-to-style-animal-print-autumnal.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: inherit;">13. How to style Animal Print? </span></a></div></div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7CUBqdHyuTcT4P2t-fKMmwSIDl7mQnwP_YIN5NogLo2FYW0gl5iuUSNgKrkMu41n6WH8XlCNbT4A_88QGcOs4gJ4nNGaVjmx-ewZgjmowwdHxifY1yxRZDHBD04lVBkN2sQlPMJ2cAJdLBxy3IOtDY6fYVYayZiFRP1IW-1haaK1ABj643IiKicu2acg/s3264/collage%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7CUBqdHyuTcT4P2t-fKMmwSIDl7mQnwP_YIN5NogLo2FYW0gl5iuUSNgKrkMu41n6WH8XlCNbT4A_88QGcOs4gJ4nNGaVjmx-ewZgjmowwdHxifY1yxRZDHBD04lVBkN2sQlPMJ2cAJdLBxy3IOtDY6fYVYayZiFRP1IW-1haaK1ABj643IiKicu2acg/s16000/collage%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">HOW ARE YOU DOING? WHATEVER YOU'RE FEELING IS VALID!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">How are your holidays going? I hope you've had some time off. How are you doing in general? I'm alright. I feel like I'm starting to come to my senses. One of the things I enjoyed in my days off was just cooking for myself and others. I don't normally get to cook with my usual working hours (except for the weekends). Naturally, I've also enjoyed spending time with friends and family. I'm grateful for any amount of time I get to spend with my loved ones. I'm learning just how fast the life flies by. We should cherish those moments, no matter how we might be feeling at that moment and no matter what is going on in the world. It's alright to be tired. We're all tired sometimes. Many of us often. Life is hard. It's ok not to be ok. It's also ok to be ok. You don't have to make yourself feel down because of the increasingly depressive state of the affairs this world is in. Your feeling are valid either way. Feel what you've got to. Happy, sad a mix or whatever- if that is not what you're feeling. If you feel down, that's alright too. Holidays can be hard. They sort of get our hopes up and put things under a magnifying glass. I didn't really feel that as exhausted as I expected considering how burned out I went into the holidays started. I sort of took things easy, drank a lot of ginger tea and did one thing at a time. It looks like I've finally learned to take my own advice- at least sometimes- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-to-choose-festive-outfit-more-tips.html" target="_blank">MY TIPS FOR SURVIVING THE HOLIDAYS!</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUgKdO3p9uRbgzeLIOEPlYqAyrJirI5M8JEUPKhPzM9u6GpExgzD8WXOCRv6nj4XplIlsa6gWKTwb_l3h0yBe2CRw0sVVfNK4qInOdzxDUa5r6DjzsszTfkR2EsbU4zCG-vQCkLY9DyGOC414vYXfMhlyNDV4QLv24wIxkmkJVRzk_BwSnzb5tOX_VRE/s3000/blue%20dress%20boots%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUgKdO3p9uRbgzeLIOEPlYqAyrJirI5M8JEUPKhPzM9u6GpExgzD8WXOCRv6nj4XplIlsa6gWKTwb_l3h0yBe2CRw0sVVfNK4qInOdzxDUa5r6DjzsszTfkR2EsbU4zCG-vQCkLY9DyGOC414vYXfMhlyNDV4QLv24wIxkmkJVRzk_BwSnzb5tOX_VRE/s16000/blue%20dress%20boots%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>MY PAST REFLECTIONS ABOUT NEW YEAR </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Do you write NY resolutions lists? I sometimes do and sometimes I don't. Sometimes my resolution is more of a mantra, sometimes I make concrete and detailed plans. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-wedding-proposal-travel-with-my-art.html" target="_blank">ALL THE BEST IN 2023!</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/travel-with-my-art-full-2021-recap.html" target="_blank">HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022!</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/12/goodbye-2021-welcome-year-2022.html" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; text-align: left;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">GOODBYE 2021 & WELCOME YEAR 2022!</span></a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/01/happy-new-year-2020-with-suit-outfit.html" target="_blank">HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/headband-trend-for-2020-comfy-nye.html" target="_blank">NYE OUTFIT PROPOSAL 2020</a></h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: left;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/01/happy-2019-new-art-and-winter-outfit.html">HAPPY 2019: NEW ART AND A WINTER OUTFIT PROPOSAL</a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: left;"><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/12/last-minute-new-year-gift-ideas.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">2018: LAST MINUTE NEW YEAR GIFT IDEAS</span></a></h3><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/01/fashion-illustration-of-day-red-hair.html" target="_blank">2018: HAPPY NEW YEAR FASHION ILLUSTRATION</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2017/12/instead-of-recap-here-are-4-outfits.html" target="_blank">HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/happy-new-year-sretna-nova-i-nova-godina.html" target="_blank">2016: HAPPY NEW YEAR!</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2015/01/happy-new-year-sretna-nova-godina.html" target="_blank">2015: HAPPY NEW YEAR!</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-year-nova-godina.html" target="_blank">2014: NEW YEAR, NEW START!</a></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-pick-13-outfits-of-year-2013.html" target="_blank">2013: HAPPY NEW YEAR!</a></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQ2k9-JVNVo8PCo0VPRxtDbxMxMHtzKkoUiZna7_FlMYOyco7yZm5BzowtNnCuhMHWkuMqfe3HJOL3-dq5G0luIwhyphenhyphenvZaoSIqnsYSIp_L76BJ3yxXG5VdI0XreoxaKFy_FOHcGPddCm7-WA7Ny5rYsbp4Iwo6FRctH5rFQ-_rSKmPjnEnuFLCxnNMofA/s3000/mixed%20print%20dress%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQ2k9-JVNVo8PCo0VPRxtDbxMxMHtzKkoUiZna7_FlMYOyco7yZm5BzowtNnCuhMHWkuMqfe3HJOL3-dq5G0luIwhyphenhyphenvZaoSIqnsYSIp_L76BJ3yxXG5VdI0XreoxaKFy_FOHcGPddCm7-WA7Ny5rYsbp4Iwo6FRctH5rFQ-_rSKmPjnEnuFLCxnNMofA/s16000/mixed%20print%20dress%20me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCptY7-vd2S8-CcBF3FaDSkvPGvvJXYYkqLnuDhUKym6NveFl4OYViWv7d6WTocywI_0rzsF1Grn8cdn7w5MkyPKu2MfjPTGaPT7TRuUhXzB4k1LuAHUvv0veJnX6Ipt1SZUyyQa0m_bulIjzdftRUKxHsZZ5CEcPWI_l-A5VW8vPWgjdvOYFGmLv-mY/s3264/me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20blue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCptY7-vd2S8-CcBF3FaDSkvPGvvJXYYkqLnuDhUKym6NveFl4OYViWv7d6WTocywI_0rzsF1Grn8cdn7w5MkyPKu2MfjPTGaPT7TRuUhXzB4k1LuAHUvv0veJnX6Ipt1SZUyyQa0m_bulIjzdftRUKxHsZZ5CEcPWI_l-A5VW8vPWgjdvOYFGmLv-mY/s16000/me%C4%91ugorje%20mor%20blog%20blue.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> I hope I'll manage to see you again before the year ends, but if I don't, I wish you a happy 2024! All the best. Take care, life is short!<p></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-1425410688756141822023-12-16T14:58:00.000-08:002023-12-16T14:58:55.920-08:00REREADING THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (STREET ART MOSTAR) <p style="text-align: justify;"> Hello! In this post, I shall write about <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/07/two-novels-one-play-literary.html" target="_blank">The Picture of Dorian Gray</a></i> by Oscar Wild. I already reviewed this novel on my blog, so this is obviously a reread. I never understood why rereading confuses some people. When I get asked how I can read a book multiple times, I'm tempted to ask how you can listen to the same song twice. Some people can rewatch their favourite films countless times. So, why shouldn't we reread books? Rereading strengthens our language skills and makes us better readers (and potentially also writers). Rereading deepens our understanding our literature and makes us appreciate the writer's skill more. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIdmyPGfK8k2YNzwKKSQuA3DwWo9nC-OHVD2zXEoODzNFAyTio6skDMfHsHz6iUvgcOSktFT_dxMYEZqRELnAMhzu1u_fALqZQLKBeDprTUDgVQ1VVjVgLJh9TmH9nXFsaKJqCPts21EfE4doFz8u7oxAQ_aDOSl3j_uLrJ-J2r8C5tRDh2kwAK9k_l4A/s3264/streetart%20mostar%20dorian%20gray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIdmyPGfK8k2YNzwKKSQuA3DwWo9nC-OHVD2zXEoODzNFAyTio6skDMfHsHz6iUvgcOSktFT_dxMYEZqRELnAMhzu1u_fALqZQLKBeDprTUDgVQ1VVjVgLJh9TmH9nXFsaKJqCPts21EfE4doFz8u7oxAQ_aDOSl3j_uLrJ-J2r8C5tRDh2kwAK9k_l4A/s16000/streetart%20mostar%20dorian%20gray.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnXUklbM93H3ffaFjLiUdWHgoJHzp134e8vr4Vybp1hd3HjDmPz-FRp31cy3r6Bh5XfPIyNc8A5wOk-ZtgdpcaP6qD3Rq_RID5lq5myEJ7yBhyphenhyphenQfyDh6vGdAXQedr3kr29Np-UIrr4e-xOYKn28UX9iaX-rtTB74QYR174YpASSt9EjY70b4ORUVgibc/s3000/street%20art%20blazer%20beige%20sunnies%20hears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnXUklbM93H3ffaFjLiUdWHgoJHzp134e8vr4Vybp1hd3HjDmPz-FRp31cy3r6Bh5XfPIyNc8A5wOk-ZtgdpcaP6qD3Rq_RID5lq5myEJ7yBhyphenhyphenQfyDh6vGdAXQedr3kr29Np-UIrr4e-xOYKn28UX9iaX-rtTB74QYR174YpASSt9EjY70b4ORUVgibc/s16000/street%20art%20blazer%20beige%20sunnies%20hears.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I reread this novel only a few days ago, while I was in a hospital. My husband brought some books for me to choose and I opted for this one and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/05/book-review-il-piacere-pleasure-novel.html" target="_blank"><i>Il Piacere</i> by D'Annuzio</a>. Normally, I don't read while hospitalized because it's hard to concentrate as I'm usually in pain and/or distracted by the screaming people and stuff. However, this time I somehow managed it because I got better sooner than later. A day or two before I was realized, I felt fine so I reread Wilde. If you new to this blog, I have a chronic illness and I'm no stranger to hospitals. It doesn't necessarily get easier, but you do get used to it. I got out of hospital and worked ten hours the very next day like nothing happened. Honestly, with the hours I work, I'm sure I'd be exhausted even if I was in perfect health. I sometimes think my life probably wouldn't have been that different without my illnesses. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyhow, I'm glad I had the opportunity to reread this novel as I really enjoyed it. Reading it as a painter of sorts, also hits differently. I mean I don't work as a painter fully time, but I do commissions. I don't share them on my blog because of <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/02/interesting-tips-i-found-online-for.html" target="_blank">AI art theft </a>and all that, but I make them. So, I'm sort of an artist myself. I've certainly gotten better at art. So, reading a novel where a painting plays such a crucial par was a rewarding experience.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In my original review for this novel, I mentioned how much I loved <i>the Preface</i>. It really is the best defense for this somewhat controversial book. <i>The Preface</i> uses such simple words to express such profound truths. The novel on the other hand is more lyrical. Both speak about art. To match the theme of my post, I'm posting photos of Mostar street art, taken not too long ago. You can see more Mostar street art <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/01/1-black-coat-2-locations-3-winter.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-dress-casual-but-still-look.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/2-outfits-sushi-date-exploring-street.html" target="_blank">here </a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/rain-street-art-and-smiles-kisa-ulicna.html" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-style-dad-sneakers-outfit_22.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As for my sustainable outfit post, I'm wearing <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/04/layering-red-midi-dress-with-ruffled.html" target="_blank">a DIY painted vintage blazer</a>, a <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/04/layering-red-midi-dress-with-ruffled.html" target="_blank">gifted often worn mini bag</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-island-of-missing-trees-by-elif.html" target="_blank">a pair of black leggings</a> I got from a friend and<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/01/20-ways-to-wear-tartan-blazer-for-cold.html" target="_blank"> biker boots with hundreds of wears.</a> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Where to find a free copy of THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY? <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm" target="_blank">Project Gutenberg </a>or <a href="https://www.planetpublish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_NT.pdf" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://ia601600.us.archive.org/2/items/pictureofdoriang00wildiala/pictureofdoriang00wildiala.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">What is it to be an artist? What is to be art critic? Can books be immoral? You will find all the answers in <i>the Preface</i>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDsUpb246H1iEOOJeujsMeUL8D3hwhHX-dcd6lXcj0NmIX3ePpH1WUryNMuilkkmDBfW98JqzQUX4dq6rxMHDXPD6nmTrL4DlBfUDS-l4M1eo7-NxV_OjMxgnQxMJUQZyyM9UvjU-4lPKaWOaPdKVGGnPtYCioigDfoQKQ4gesEOYXL1CTBZtSj9ASTY/s3264/street%20art%20picture%20of%20dorian%20gray%20mor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDsUpb246H1iEOOJeujsMeUL8D3hwhHX-dcd6lXcj0NmIX3ePpH1WUryNMuilkkmDBfW98JqzQUX4dq6rxMHDXPD6nmTrL4DlBfUDS-l4M1eo7-NxV_OjMxgnQxMJUQZyyM9UvjU-4lPKaWOaPdKVGGnPtYCioigDfoQKQ4gesEOYXL1CTBZtSj9ASTY/s16000/street%20art%20picture%20of%20dorian%20gray%20mor.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwDfUAoKLuTtZi3oEly7gj4jj8EuUvCQJkG8TpVUz5elt9rkzLl7-qKNgmjVKoD5yyqDdU3FqRGohkdjr5wsZlU5yKLHfPe9_m7q9XSsmDjbhYsGSHvjKyNOP5T7sr7O1J7az6kVMxWgsoSHmGg2ilgWu2UOb0m8Ui-EP9jgoRjnjrDzdvCbo2DyQSkk/s3264/streetart%20mostar%20quotes%20oscar%20wilde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwDfUAoKLuTtZi3oEly7gj4jj8EuUvCQJkG8TpVUz5elt9rkzLl7-qKNgmjVKoD5yyqDdU3FqRGohkdjr5wsZlU5yKLHfPe9_m7q9XSsmDjbhYsGSHvjKyNOP5T7sr7O1J7az6kVMxWgsoSHmGg2ilgWu2UOb0m8Ui-EP9jgoRjnjrDzdvCbo2DyQSkk/s16000/streetart%20mostar%20quotes%20oscar%20wilde.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNwYhZKqK8Ga5L-gIlEuhxlPyYkiPJobRqOTnxxP_Q9A_VAGHVE3DwONmaE8fzLvkP7sJ1NeW3ck-KTD6beJjfnyBMtrABQSUdzDhAzUzqF2UiAAtbpJ7uuZKa0dm_X23vmzEGdtkooGc4b4Ovhyphenhyphen2H1Q7HxIaCQgMKeHYB33CS1erAov5aVqYVR7Vtlc/s3264/streetart%20dorian%20gray%20quotes%20there%20is%20no%20such%20thing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNwYhZKqK8Ga5L-gIlEuhxlPyYkiPJobRqOTnxxP_Q9A_VAGHVE3DwONmaE8fzLvkP7sJ1NeW3ck-KTD6beJjfnyBMtrABQSUdzDhAzUzqF2UiAAtbpJ7uuZKa0dm_X23vmzEGdtkooGc4b4Ovhyphenhyphen2H1Q7HxIaCQgMKeHYB33CS1erAov5aVqYVR7Vtlc/s16000/streetart%20dorian%20gray%20quotes%20there%20is%20no%20such%20thing.jpg" /></a></p><h2 style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 2em; text-align: justify;">THE PREFACE</h2><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor’s craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">All art is quite useless.</p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;">OSCAR WILDE</p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZhrxXz1yjLTAOy3btkc707e-b0iHWPOn96wapQP1WYK55VtT9x45UzcSX3OX3CLR3J0g8kT7TNehNOlIB3_yZwmjlFqsub1A9cvboXrvdrtrR3Rcwg6l5IBLwr8uInKVKKaLSueXO4uRZtCMc4_MWODCKpC8JUs98GpzkgQnibgthJWfSxn8sRu0wYc/s3264/street%20art%20mostar%20blog%20quotes%20oscar%20wilde%20dorian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZhrxXz1yjLTAOy3btkc707e-b0iHWPOn96wapQP1WYK55VtT9x45UzcSX3OX3CLR3J0g8kT7TNehNOlIB3_yZwmjlFqsub1A9cvboXrvdrtrR3Rcwg6l5IBLwr8uInKVKKaLSueXO4uRZtCMc4_MWODCKpC8JUs98GpzkgQnibgthJWfSxn8sRu0wYc/s16000/street%20art%20mostar%20blog%20quotes%20oscar%20wilde%20dorian.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lcu7qoB0Oy0GzNs-zZwZAsc87ZDJFb9VX2YKEqrOYhmaLz_eYvLUUHL2T3GVLkwjbaC503nTzSiVoQboOzvuzSbZTNQI5uaRQoLNOamk4K_fSRaU59q_YZs7CP8FobkfjFNd_r6rexXb3UxHNYK3IBmqrZrLFT9LrjAkOhOnSNelBrw6fxhAtAahZ84/s3000/street%20art%20mostar%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lcu7qoB0Oy0GzNs-zZwZAsc87ZDJFb9VX2YKEqrOYhmaLz_eYvLUUHL2T3GVLkwjbaC503nTzSiVoQboOzvuzSbZTNQI5uaRQoLNOamk4K_fSRaU59q_YZs7CP8FobkfjFNd_r6rexXb3UxHNYK3IBmqrZrLFT9LrjAkOhOnSNelBrw6fxhAtAahZ84/s16000/street%20art%20mostar%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKhh0baNbK5hMf4O8Hm3gzA-c-npr8OwQMfNEHLa-mwurV-NyL5diPVT8RB1B3eXKk6WDhI8y4lxXOYJvPhs9_jMVeh9mJi3GsIbUosFzRPlCyI_BoWkEYUuTeD4n1gkudWnLU2hZYYs4J5oYobDUkMVLpstNt46BoVKjUawCpHEItdcwhhFiPYt6eMU/s3264/streetart%20mostar%20quotes%20oscar%20wilde%20mor%20blog%20prefac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKhh0baNbK5hMf4O8Hm3gzA-c-npr8OwQMfNEHLa-mwurV-NyL5diPVT8RB1B3eXKk6WDhI8y4lxXOYJvPhs9_jMVeh9mJi3GsIbUosFzRPlCyI_BoWkEYUuTeD4n1gkudWnLU2hZYYs4J5oYobDUkMVLpstNt46BoVKjUawCpHEItdcwhhFiPYt6eMU/s16000/streetart%20mostar%20quotes%20oscar%20wilde%20mor%20blog%20prefac.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><h1 style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.12em; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-top: 0.6em; text-align: center; word-spacing: 0.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Picture of Dorian Gray</span></h1><h2 class="no-break" style="break-before: avoid; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 2em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Oscar Wilde</span></h2><hr style="margin-bottom: 2em; margin-top: 2em; text-align: justify; width: 759.844px;" /><h2 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 2em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Contents</span></h2><table style="color: black; text-align: justify;" summary=""><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap00" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">THE PREFACE</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap01" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER I.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap02" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER II.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap03" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER III.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap04" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER IV.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap05" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER V.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap06" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER VI.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap07" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER VII.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap08" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap09" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER IX.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap10" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER X.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap11" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XI.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap12" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XII.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap13" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap14" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap15" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XV.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap16" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap17" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap18" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap19" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm#chap20" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">CHAPTER XX.</a><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhrR9DUBwh5X2Qf6zY6qbjHOJv0g9I5Mryscnty84i2s6CUgALKeiAGIIuOy_XczufiTlFHeMbho1-gYfhEHmceIgakxX09zluD0K5cOIjs4HywfhFBIcq999tW67GJjeef_PjJg7R8V1TnL8p-ij7E_OVtlWRQv7boW8kFXdZJSwMpO-mpHjqO_g_58/s3264/streetart%20mostar%20oscar%20wilde%20dorian%20gray%20chapter%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhrR9DUBwh5X2Qf6zY6qbjHOJv0g9I5Mryscnty84i2s6CUgALKeiAGIIuOy_XczufiTlFHeMbho1-gYfhEHmceIgakxX09zluD0K5cOIjs4HywfhFBIcq999tW67GJjeef_PjJg7R8V1TnL8p-ij7E_OVtlWRQv7boW8kFXdZJSwMpO-mpHjqO_g_58/s16000/streetart%20mostar%20oscar%20wilde%20dorian%20gray%20chapter%201.jpg" /></a></p><h2 style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 2em; text-align: center;">CHAPTER I.</h2><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flamelike as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid, jade-faced painters of Tokyo who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl6ge_sgnAH-oIa3zt_6uxExIXAeN-aY9wceAxjEm5NoIkzLAhk39uDkbF59otHSWQtBc2GiKg1wqp0Gy2eodvK_B-77XewCdyZLvpjMoE6AVbeyTKl6ByjfeM4lxXAoXJFf7dvVNax4JLSBBszG5jKYuhsjclvsUSgbhQ54j0bRKYLJ7kTLw_Y5lBJpU/s3264/streetart%20mostar%20oscar%20wilde%20dorian%20gray%20introduction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl6ge_sgnAH-oIa3zt_6uxExIXAeN-aY9wceAxjEm5NoIkzLAhk39uDkbF59otHSWQtBc2GiKg1wqp0Gy2eodvK_B-77XewCdyZLvpjMoE6AVbeyTKl6ByjfeM4lxXAoXJFf7dvVNax4JLSBBszG5jKYuhsjclvsUSgbhQ54j0bRKYLJ7kTLw_Y5lBJpU/s16000/streetart%20mostar%20oscar%20wilde%20dorian%20gray%20introduction.jpg" /></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years ago caused, at the time, such public excitement and gave rise to so many strange conjectures.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>As the painter looked at the gracious and comely form he had so skilfully mirrored in his art, a smile of pleasure passed across his face, and seemed about to linger there. But he suddenly started up, and closing his eyes, placed his fingers upon the lids, as though he sought to imprison within his brain some curious dream from which he feared he might awake.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“It is your best work, Basil, the best thing you have ever done,” said Lord Henry languidly. “You must certainly send it next year to the Grosvenor. The Academy is too large and too vulgar. Whenever I have gone there, there have been either so many people that I have not been able to see the pictures, which was dreadful, or so many pictures that I have not been able to see the people, which was worse. The Grosvenor is really the only place.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“I don’t think I shall send it anywhere,” he answered, tossing his head back in that odd way that used to make his friends laugh at him at Oxford. “No, I won’t send it anywhere.”</b></span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjST-enP8RWOmaF41rGwqK57BvqRHCrp4Hh1QngMmllOTagsWo7uI34DceYx6mDklTtZ8EZeZn6Da51Xk7o0C8GSEmMTlFKIttmdksSPY9e5UgXdWfmKTd3kvp2jOULOE7vXJ6-QO1UZ6kkQeFXRjtYAPTWaDw0QdF872kehQ771ro3_OCvjsBsz45GWI0/s3000/street%20art%20portrait%20mostar%20mor%20blazer%20sunglasses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjST-enP8RWOmaF41rGwqK57BvqRHCrp4Hh1QngMmllOTagsWo7uI34DceYx6mDklTtZ8EZeZn6Da51Xk7o0C8GSEmMTlFKIttmdksSPY9e5UgXdWfmKTd3kvp2jOULOE7vXJ6-QO1UZ6kkQeFXRjtYAPTWaDw0QdF872kehQ771ro3_OCvjsBsz45GWI0/s16000/street%20art%20portrait%20mostar%20mor%20blazer%20sunglasses.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows and looked at him in amazement through the thin blue wreaths of smoke that curled up in such fanciful whorls from his heavy, opium-tainted cigarette. “Not send it anywhere? My dear fellow, why? Have you any reason? What odd chaps you painters are! You do anything in the world to gain a reputation. As soon as you have one, you seem to want to throw it away. It is silly of you, for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England, and make the old men quite jealous, if old men are ever capable of any emotion.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>“I know you will laugh at me,” he replied, “but I really can’t exhibit it. I have put too much of myself into it.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">“Yes, I knew you would; but it is quite true, all the same.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;">“Too much of yourself in it! Upon my word, Basil, I didn’t know you were so vain; and I really can’t see any resemblance between you, with your rugged strong face and your coal-black hair, and this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you—well, of course you have an intellectual expression and all that. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful. Your mysterious young friend, whose name you have never told me, but whose picture really fascinates me, never thinks. I feel quite sure of that. He is some brainless beautiful creature who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence. Don’t flatter yourself, Basil: you are not in the least like him.”</span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFQHpL09GcLnT6TCAIrv87Ed0iBapRfKYf4wxcgUtXQVRrTeCrodyxzsfJA3u81qccPLop5l3MIuc9eGum0-fiUOHNYk1Sq9gv56WW8lfaSbTiDnUoYnV2lDbv354DLjD6J6ZMLklzL13OcWRw7GsHXzbj2AJ-bI1uB54waslAoauQLmq-t4YT6ebBk8/s4160/STREET%20ART%20MOSTAR%20MODAODARADOSTI%20BLOG%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFQHpL09GcLnT6TCAIrv87Ed0iBapRfKYf4wxcgUtXQVRrTeCrodyxzsfJA3u81qccPLop5l3MIuc9eGum0-fiUOHNYk1Sq9gv56WW8lfaSbTiDnUoYnV2lDbv354DLjD6J6ZMLklzL13OcWRw7GsHXzbj2AJ-bI1uB54waslAoauQLmq-t4YT6ebBk8/s16000/STREET%20ART%20MOSTAR%20MODAODARADOSTI%20BLOG%20.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">“</span><span style="font-size: large;">You don’t understand me, Harry,” answered the artist. “Of course I am not like him. I know that perfectly well. Indeed, I should be sorry to look like him. You shrug your shoulders? I am telling you the truth. There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one’s fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live—undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are—my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray’s good looks—we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.”</span></b></span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3V-6L55zI3X04gard4SGUO60wcK9RXxL2frEVtMVp7N4Pn4RejVKWG9j3h23QVo0zon137j97Ge1R0VebgP6ms1p9lsgh6CPCvHl1642SzOdv8bnDlW302Ygy3kASOk5CD8HBQa66_I_ugh0q9n8aWzCGN7pZMlSIJnGJZgRdlqUNzJBQ2K1nzHQPMI/s3000/street%20art%20diy%20blazer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3V-6L55zI3X04gard4SGUO60wcK9RXxL2frEVtMVp7N4Pn4RejVKWG9j3h23QVo0zon137j97Ge1R0VebgP6ms1p9lsgh6CPCvHl1642SzOdv8bnDlW302Ygy3kASOk5CD8HBQa66_I_ugh0q9n8aWzCGN7pZMlSIJnGJZgRdlqUNzJBQ2K1nzHQPMI/s16000/street%20art%20diy%20blazer.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Dorian Gray? Is that his name?” asked Lord Henry, walking across the studio towards Basil Hallward.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Yes, that is his name. I didn’t intend to tell it to you.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“But why not?”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Oh, I can’t explain. When I like people immensely, I never tell their names to any one. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I dare say, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into one’s life. I suppose you think me awfully foolish about it?”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Not at all,” answered Lord Henry, “not at all, my dear Basil. You seem to forget that I am married, and the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties. I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet—we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to the Duke’s—we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it—much better, in fact, than I am. She never gets confused over her dates, and I always do. But when she does find me out, she makes no row at all. I sometimes wish she would; but she merely laughs at me.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“I hate the way you talk about your married life, Harry,” said Basil Hallward, strolling towards the door that led into the garden. “I believe that you are really a very good husband, but that you are thoroughly ashamed of your own virtues. You are an extraordinary fellow. You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose.”</b></span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZQt0Kiy5rpWRFjuKLo2HGpN14EPhbgTaEE3BuFZmmmoJurIf5-3HqqDbQQ-6TvRuocllYuyr7cqhv2A9R6xPaBYfAVhpBPMhG8qTxUbgs2g-QyV57emCJPOvFelctJexmMQKSF8kPNLsC9epy8iUsQsGC8IAIX4lhd32cK4zlc6SoaKEJ4VH4vxuzr4/s3000/street%20art%20mostar%20mor%20outfit%20fashion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZQt0Kiy5rpWRFjuKLo2HGpN14EPhbgTaEE3BuFZmmmoJurIf5-3HqqDbQQ-6TvRuocllYuyr7cqhv2A9R6xPaBYfAVhpBPMhG8qTxUbgs2g-QyV57emCJPOvFelctJexmMQKSF8kPNLsC9epy8iUsQsGC8IAIX4lhd32cK4zlc6SoaKEJ4VH4vxuzr4/s16000/street%20art%20mostar%20mor%20outfit%20fashion.jpg" /></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know,” cried Lord Henry, laughing; and the two young men went out into the garden together and ensconced themselves on a long bamboo seat that stood in the shade of a tall laurel bush. The sunlight slipped over the polished leaves. In the grass, white daisies were tremulous.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>After a pause, Lord Henry pulled out his watch. “I am afraid I must be going, Basil,” he murmured, “and before I go, I insist on your answering a question I put to you some time ago.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“What is that?” said the painter, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“You know quite well.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“I do not, Harry.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Well, I will tell you what it is. I want you to explain to me why you won’t exhibit Dorian Gray’s picture. I want the real reason.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“I told you the real reason.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“No, you did not. You said it was because there was too much of yourself in it. Now, that is childish.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Harry,” said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face, “every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Lord Henry laughed. “And what is that?” he asked.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“I will tell you,” said Hallward; but an expression of perplexity came over his face.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“I am all expectation, Basil,” continued his companion, glancing at him.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Oh, there is really very little to tell, Harry,” answered the painter; “and I am afraid you will hardly understand it. Perhaps you will hardly believe it.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Lord Henry smiled, and leaning down, plucked a pink-petalled daisy from the grass and examined it. “I am quite sure I shall understand it,” he replied, gazing intently at the little golden, white-feathered disk, “and as for believing things, I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The wind shook some blossoms from the trees, and the heavy lilac-blooms, with their clustering stars, moved to and fro in the languid air. A grasshopper began to chirrup by the wall, and like a blue thread a long thin dragon-fly floated past on its brown gauze wings. Lord Henry felt as if he could hear Basil Hallward’s heart beating, and wondered what was coming.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“The story is simply this,” said the painter after some time. “Two months ago I went to a crush at Lady Brandon’s. You know we poor artists have to show ourselves in society from time to time, just to remind the public that we are not savages. With an evening coat and a white tie, as you told me once, anybody, even a stock-broker, can gain a reputation for being civilized. Well, after I had been in the room about ten minutes, talking to huge overdressed dowagers and tedious academicians, I suddenly became conscious that some one was looking at me. I turned half-way round and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. I did not want any external influence in my life. You know yourself, Harry, how independent I am by nature. I have always been my own master; had at least always been so, till I met Dorian Gray. Then—but I don’t know how to explain it to you. Something seemed to tell me that I was on the verge of a terrible crisis in my life. I had a strange feeling that fate had in store for me exquisite joys and exquisite sorrows. I grew afraid and turned to quit the room. It was not conscience that made me do so: it was a sort of cowardice. I take no credit to myself for trying to escape.”</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.</b></span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0px;"> I happen to think that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder; text-indent: 0px;">The Picture of Dorian Gray</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #757575;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> has never been as relevant as today. The theme of </span>narcissist<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is something that can be talked about for ages.</span></span></span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #757575;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our society has grown so obsessed with looks and physical beauty, that such a novel is really (or it should be) a must read. Sure, this novel is more than just a warning what happens to those overly </span>obsessed<span style="font-family: inherit;"> with their </span>appearance<span style="font-family: inherit;"> but I had to mention that aspect of it. Probably this novel would be relevant even if we didn't lived in such a society for it is indeed timeless. That is always a sign of a true masterpiece, isn't it so? I will never forget reading it for the first time. </span></span><span style="color: #757575; font-family: inherit;">Since then, I enjoyed reading it many times...and when you reread a book that many times, it really stays with you. So, my experience of reading it was quite intense! As for the novel itself, perhaps the best way to sum my feelings about it is to say that it never really ceased to enchant me.</span></span></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrqKa8q-TcFg7afyu9H0NP-RKIXylS5gcYlnNCGw6GK8IShllU_Scpmqt28UmbVVPZkcUTFpeBobGnmFHuNfAzlo5z51iag_F0C-uiJMSCMWoRgerNes2zQ4I1cO80Apf2pXaKDTb4K6WY6y6Grfj8tj3v040r11lGtDqYeScLJRuqiqrIT-acub35vo/s3264/street%20art%20collage%20quote%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrqKa8q-TcFg7afyu9H0NP-RKIXylS5gcYlnNCGw6GK8IShllU_Scpmqt28UmbVVPZkcUTFpeBobGnmFHuNfAzlo5z51iag_F0C-uiJMSCMWoRgerNes2zQ4I1cO80Apf2pXaKDTb4K6WY6y6Grfj8tj3v040r11lGtDqYeScLJRuqiqrIT-acub35vo/s16000/street%20art%20collage%20quote%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></p><p class="right" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 94.9688px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">Thank you for reading and stopping by.</p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-30739758466855409042023-12-02T05:47:00.000-08:002023-12-02T05:47:37.431-08:00THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREES BY ELIF SHAFAK (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today I shall review </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Elif Shafak.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> I was actually gifted this book. What a wonderful present it proved to be! Published in 2021, this postmodern novel follows two story lines and uses framed narration. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees</i><span> tells the life story of a Greek Turkish couple and their adolescent daughter. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This novel examines and explores a number of topics such as identity, migration, immigrant life, war trauma, memory, love and family. It's an ambitious novel that examines serious topics with due respect and </span>sensitivity<span style="font-family: inherit;">. I read it months ago, but I remember it vividly. Honestly, I cried a lot while reading this novel. It really moved me greatly. In fact, that is probably why it took me this long to finish this book review. I needed to emotionally process the story.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">set in London and Cyprus. The narration isn't </span>chronological<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">The story jumps back and forth, following two main timelines, one set in modern time London (approximately year 2010) and the other during the civil war on Cyprus. So, one story line follows a young girl (the daughter of the couple in question), and the other ( focusing on the couple living on island </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Cyprus) is</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">set mainly in the seventies</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">. Through it all, there's the narrative voice of the fig tree. The fig tree in question was replanted to London from Cyprus. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">If the idea of a talking fig tree sounds odd to you, then you haven't read much magical realism. If you're new to magical realism, it's basically a literary style that features fantastical elements in otherwise realistic narrative. </span>Yes, the style of writing in <i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees </i>can be described as magical realism. Moreover, <i style="font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees can</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> be </span>compared to works of <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/11/my-name-is-red-novel-by-orhan-pamuk.html" target="_blank">Orhan Pamuk</a>, Laura Esquivel, Isabel Allende and Salman Rusdie. I do like magic realism, so I enjoyed those fantastical elements. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjG9BnStFm4wYda2A66qejr_3dbvn6VNuAQ7jRbOUlsVYhMYMHkQ-FGRogKaS6hyphenhyphenEY3YdSCkZpZl8mBad95g2wRYFfRtY_kfKY8wSa_pbxjQ72EpCYIs2ccwz-n_Gt7nyOEDGwwzukk2IJgJIGssn9wjMIe1d4oFvj90_chcgwO-UWs_Y8QddnYOyHcic/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees%20book%20review%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjG9BnStFm4wYda2A66qejr_3dbvn6VNuAQ7jRbOUlsVYhMYMHkQ-FGRogKaS6hyphenhyphenEY3YdSCkZpZl8mBad95g2wRYFfRtY_kfKY8wSa_pbxjQ72EpCYIs2ccwz-n_Gt7nyOEDGwwzukk2IJgJIGssn9wjMIe1d4oFvj90_chcgwO-UWs_Y8QddnYOyHcic/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees%20book%20review%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvNzDSqz33KVaykSgNZ4N4ygZ6rjDths8N1Pnx8pDVyqXybFEMqyS1bamgnUpqa7N-hPL6gBdffjU6UqqJww1j18Y6ZYi7cAukAZFI3YiR8ENQvjbOSt6dLU9gEej4oN0R2zIKotpZZSbrs1RyY75GiM8QArD6sccphIwwkVVrYG2XGevEkDUfROtz5o/s3000/buna%20quotes%20where%20do%20you%20start%20somebody's%20story%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvNzDSqz33KVaykSgNZ4N4ygZ6rjDths8N1Pnx8pDVyqXybFEMqyS1bamgnUpqa7N-hPL6gBdffjU6UqqJww1j18Y6ZYi7cAukAZFI3YiR8ENQvjbOSt6dLU9gEej4oN0R2zIKotpZZSbrs1RyY75GiM8QArD6sccphIwwkVVrYG2XGevEkDUfROtz5o/s16000/buna%20quotes%20where%20do%20you%20start%20somebody's%20story%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees.jpg" /></a></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE FRAMED NARRATIVE - <span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; text-align: left;">WHERE DOES THE STORY BEGIN?</span></b></span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;">I think the framed narrative worked really well in this novel that emphasizes the fact that life doesn't have a clear beginning or end. I didn't find the narrative jumps confusing at all, but than again, I usually don't. Somehow the nonlinear narrative functions perfectly in this one because it turns novel almost in a mystery, making the reader wonder what really happened. Often I felt a little bewildered as a reader. While I was trying to make the sense of things, I found myself more emotionally attached to this story. So, I think Elif Shafak was really clever with how she went about writing this one. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Where do you start someone's story when life has more then one thread and what we call birth is not the only beginning, nor is death exactly an end.”</b></span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgExmhPC5VE-7clgIv65LSQaBSTEeEjZqxSSWY6Igj0XwU6LB5wWKtekB9hi-8Y1uPXO9NCrxQQ1M1CJjhotQ3JXK3UCWGrII368y6-1Mhnywb-VPZSLUus0ujlnH1POdeeCBA5Qu5Tb5-Evhgxlx4ynXfjmX6KagVZ3zywdXGjflWqai5CXhHOI7eeOmw/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20where%20do%20you%20start%20quotes.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgExmhPC5VE-7clgIv65LSQaBSTEeEjZqxSSWY6Igj0XwU6LB5wWKtekB9hi-8Y1uPXO9NCrxQQ1M1CJjhotQ3JXK3UCWGrII368y6-1Mhnywb-VPZSLUus0ujlnH1POdeeCBA5Qu5Tb5-Evhgxlx4ynXfjmX6KagVZ3zywdXGjflWqai5CXhHOI7eeOmw/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20where%20do%20you%20start%20quotes.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Shafak states that in life stories come to us in bits and pieces. So, that is the way she presents this story to us. The writer feeds us information about her characters slowly and partially. Her writing is often very poetical and lyrical. Elif Shafak does wonders with her botanical metaphors. As Aristotle famously said: <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"...</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.” </i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">I do think that Aristotle would have enjoyed the following metaphor if he had the chance to read it: </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_19387739" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIm20xqFyYUObvvzlxsMvGohhpiFptFvNR9l2jnPGXoHxcNIvCKSgjyUB2VM8wPCH_Ao-0liJzuwFNkVhb3aJaeUKzItqimJ35DIi9yEM0hHkFCAw0tg0JH15T9LYEkzYod1yTRfWN2IByYGW4LvhX8S31necbnOzbTiFkKv9dkyawdXfmpwpAUZJSick/s3000/buna%20book%20quotes%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIm20xqFyYUObvvzlxsMvGohhpiFptFvNR9l2jnPGXoHxcNIvCKSgjyUB2VM8wPCH_Ao-0liJzuwFNkVhb3aJaeUKzItqimJ35DIi9yEM0hHkFCAw0tg0JH15T9LYEkzYod1yTRfWN2IByYGW4LvhX8S31necbnOzbTiFkKv9dkyawdXfmpwpAUZJSick/s16000/buna%20book%20quotes%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees.jpg" /></a></p><p> </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Because in real life, unlike in history books, stories come to us not in their entirety but in bits and pieces, broken segments and partial echoes, a full sentence here, a fragment there, a clue hidden in between. in life, unlike in books, we have to weave our stories out of threads as fine as the gossamer veins that run through a butterfly's wings.”</b></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">STORIES COME TO US IN BITS AND PIECES BUT THEY ARE WORTH THE WAIT</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I loved this quote. It made me realize that in order to really understand a story we need to be patient. A good story is worth the wait. In addition, I loved how inter-textual this novel was. By examining our human need for stories and reflecting what storytelling is all about, the writer makes us ponder the novel itself. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">THERE IS SOMETHING CHILDLIKE IN OUR NEED FOR STORIES</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“There was something childlike in the way grown-ups had a need for stories. They held a naive belief that by telling an inspiring anecdote-the right fable at the right time-they could lift their children's moods, motivate them to great achievements and simply change reality. There was no point in telling them that life was more complicated than that and words less magical than they presumed.”</b></span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3LfNAf94KgBDLsaeVThbuHKNkCW16XVuuwjFNEZbwW3lnvNobIoCOXxQKI70CCgORlYTHDh5sI4s6QNl6jQBmYePF0Sj3wX8OBVCF213onVvEAltQkqo_Hlce5KlA2qswUBBNwzyoCJg9PrysHYwynvNGmHjzWsJafd_0LarB0UlfENsIaq2NPxd3PM/s4000/IMG_20231119_124431.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3LfNAf94KgBDLsaeVThbuHKNkCW16XVuuwjFNEZbwW3lnvNobIoCOXxQKI70CCgORlYTHDh5sI4s6QNl6jQBmYePF0Sj3wX8OBVCF213onVvEAltQkqo_Hlce5KlA2qswUBBNwzyoCJg9PrysHYwynvNGmHjzWsJafd_0LarB0UlfENsIaq2NPxd3PM/s16000/IMG_20231119_124431.jpg" /></a></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREES!</b></h2><p>TO WHOM IS THE NOVEL DEDICATED? DEDICATION TO MIGRANTS AND TREES</p><p>This novel opens with a dedication to migrants/ immigrants and trees they left behind. What do the trees symbolize? Perhaps the immigrants themselves. Trees planted in another climate/culture can be a metaphor for immigrant who have to adopt to survive in another country or place. Moreover, the trees can symbolize roots, lore, life, wisdom and so on.</p><p><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“To immigrants and exiles everywhere,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">the uprooted, the re-rooted, the rootless,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">And to the trees we left behind,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">rooted in our memories ...”</span></span></b></i></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUYIEMK8ZWzT0ThqVP6SMiWntc4m4a7L7IDR2dCjnvr1tJvCwQ-5D_V4khbcfz3GX5Oz7hEuevdiNW_LAdBeiF44amX-N5RVF7H57_-X0LhU5OLJCO9_gBtT9vTAY9ypBKCh2IJt63mT3HtfB3FoD0QcXIBJRHCDB5MKqxDFG2NmUTKoJUtJf-Y3OkeU/s3000/buna%20book%20quotes%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees%20collage%20mor.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUYIEMK8ZWzT0ThqVP6SMiWntc4m4a7L7IDR2dCjnvr1tJvCwQ-5D_V4khbcfz3GX5Oz7hEuevdiNW_LAdBeiF44amX-N5RVF7H57_-X0LhU5OLJCO9_gBtT9vTAY9ypBKCh2IJt63mT3HtfB3FoD0QcXIBJRHCDB5MKqxDFG2NmUTKoJUtJf-Y3OkeU/s16000/buna%20book%20quotes%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees%20collage%20mor.jpg" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">“I’ve been thinking that you are my country. Is that a strange thing to say? Without you, I don’t have a home in this world; I am a felled tree, my roots severed all round; you can topple me with the touch of a finger.”</span></b></span></p><p><br /></p><p>WHOM DOES THE WRITER QUOTE IN THE BEGINNING OF THE NOVEL? </p><p>Elif Shafak cites <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/fashion-illustration-friday-spring-vibes.html" target="_blank">Pablo Neruda</a>'s <i>Memoirs</i> and William Shakespeare's <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2017/01/macbeth-first-outfit-of-year-prva.html" target="_blank">Macbeth</a></i>. Very appropriate, I would say, for she writers as poetically and wisely as Neruda and Shakespeare. </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What is the opening chapter of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREES </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">like? </span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The novel’s opening chapter is titled -the island. We will learn that it means one island- </span><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cyprus</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Indeed, </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cyprus</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is almost like a character in this novel. The opening lines tell us legends about Cyprus. The narrative voice </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">reestablishes</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that legends tell us what history books have </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">forgotten</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">. So, is this a story that the history books have omitted? A more human but not necessarily less factual tale?</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Is this claim about legends a reference to a Greek philosopher Aristotle that </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">claimed</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> in his <a href="https://archive.org/details/aristotlestreati00aris/page/n13/mode/2up" target="_blank"><i>Poetics </i></a>that poetry is more true than history? Aristotle </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">suggested</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that poetry (i.e) literature is more serious </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">because</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> it examines life from a wider perspective. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">According</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to Aristotle, literature is more trustworthy </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">because</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> it doesn't serve political aims but artistic ones. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Aristotle</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> said: </span></span><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“Poetry utters universal truths, history particular statements.” </i>In this sense, this novel is really poetry </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">(i.e literature) because it examines universal truths and our humanity. It dives into the soul of its character and invites us along. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>T</i></span><i style="background-color: transparent;">he Island of Missing Trees</i><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i> </i>examines things beyond the harsh realities of life, but admits how deep the scarves left by life are. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Early in the novel (i.e in the first chapter), it is said that cartography is another name for stories told by winners. What is literature then? Is it about the stories of those who have lost? Is this novel about loss? In some way, it is. </span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">The Island of Missing Trees </i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">is anti-war prose in the sense that it emphasizes how traumatic and horrible war is</span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">. </i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">When it comes to trauma in war, there are no winners. Everyone is traumatized by war.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcli9AMXt-09UuisTmNcmJ8dizhUDE2z064Fd5wsB5kEw77U9JHyf-WefCSFkxmeTyxFQ_JhjVmP9FkStJfPkhg5bkYfwT4vvGZ2EQIykCYD7moAc3ZuIf6RaSwsS0ghyjm8HUBEt3fX608K0zzpe_AmDxGIN2BWVOTIh-dPIoYOlmKWMIzURl2njycYU/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20mor%20blog%20covers%20book%20recommendation.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcli9AMXt-09UuisTmNcmJ8dizhUDE2z064Fd5wsB5kEw77U9JHyf-WefCSFkxmeTyxFQ_JhjVmP9FkStJfPkhg5bkYfwT4vvGZ2EQIykCYD7moAc3ZuIf6RaSwsS0ghyjm8HUBEt3fX608K0zzpe_AmDxGIN2BWVOTIh-dPIoYOlmKWMIzURl2njycYU/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20mor%20blog%20covers%20book%20recommendation.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;">THE FIRST CHAPTER SPEAKS OF THE ISLAND AND ITS CARTOGRAPHY</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">STORIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE LOST AND THOSE WHO HAVE WON</i></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>“A map is a two-dimensional representation with arbitrary symbols and incised lines that decide who is to be our enemy and who is to be our friend, who deserves our love and who deserves our hatred and who, our sheer indifference. Cartography is another name for stories told by winners. For stories told by those who have lost, there isn’t one.”</i></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">The novel doesn't immediately reveal its lyrical and dreamy quality in the first chapter, but it hints of it. The initial narrative tone seems rational but not without emotion. As a reader, I could still feel emotion beneath the words in the first paragraphs. As the first chapter progresses, the lyrical writing becomes more obvious.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Humans, especially the victors who hold the pen that writes the annals of history, have a penchant for erasing as much as documenting.”</b></span></i></span></p><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Welcome to the no man's land, the Shafak writes, as she shows us divided Cyprus with </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">patrolling</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> UN forces. Could it be </span></span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">argued that the opening chapter has a fair amount of foreshadowing? Yes, indeed. The author hints at secrets to be revealed and compares time with a songbird in his hauntingly beautiful passage: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><h1 class="quoteText" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">“Time is a songbird, and just like any other songbird it can be taken captive. It can be held prisoner in a cage and for even longer than you might think possible. But time cannot be kept in check in perpetuity. No captivity is forever.”</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDF6XWenypTfC0QBKbRiG7r37soZOqibpjFcLEaCMzVW6QOPoRjGEFfJSrInjf_DY-0sDHvzud5VJ3AhMsME5gInOpgEobxmCpv54ry_G6GgL3WczeK05Q_uZu1NVrZ2XeS5m764nZbkgALhWJs6NZ61UtrAxZ98QbDUUQn7sgSNIdZzkYUgff9S82dZk/s4000/buna%20time%20is%20a%20song%20bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDF6XWenypTfC0QBKbRiG7r37soZOqibpjFcLEaCMzVW6QOPoRjGEFfJSrInjf_DY-0sDHvzud5VJ3AhMsME5gInOpgEobxmCpv54ry_G6GgL3WczeK05Q_uZu1NVrZ2XeS5m764nZbkgALhWJs6NZ61UtrAxZ98QbDUUQn7sgSNIdZzkYUgff9S82dZk/s16000/buna%20time%20is%20a%20song%20bird.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">THE FIRST CHAPTER INTRODUCES US TO THE STORY OF TWO CORPSES</p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">After presenting legends about the islands and reflecting on cartography, the author tells us about the island, contrasting the beautiful beaches with barb wires. The realistic descriptions are then replaced by dreamy passages than are in turn replaced with an image of two corpses in a well. It is said their secret will be revealed. <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">As you progress through the novel, you will learn what Shafak means by this. These two corpses play an important part in this book. </span>This gives the novel an aspect of murder mystery and brings to mind <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-little-prince-novella-by-antoine-de.html" target="_blank"><i>My Name is Red</i> by Orhan Pamuk</a>, a novel that I have recently reviewed. It is also not accidental that I have chosen the same location for my photography session- <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-short-visit-to-buna-near-mostar.html" target="_blank">Buna recreational area</a>. <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> There are many beautiful trees, plants and birds here. Moreover, something about Buna feels as magical as this novel. Take a look at this wonderful quote:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“The glint does not come from a living being, but from an antique pocket watch - eighteen-carat gold encased with mother of pearl, engraved with the lines from a poem:</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">"Arriving there is what you are destined for,</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">But do not hurry the journey at all..."</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">And there on the back are two letters, or more precisely, the same letter written twice:</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">Y & Y”</span></span></b></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the novel’s opening chapter, the author shares a great deal about what the novel is ultimately about. We get to understand that it is going to be a complex work of </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">literature</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">. What follows is the first part of the book and introduction to a girl called an island, that is, Ada Kazantzanis.</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK: HOW TO </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">BURY</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> A TREE?</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">The chapter that comes after that title is: A Girl Called an Island. In this chapter we are introduced to the daughter of the protagonists of the novel: Ada Kazantzanis. This sixteen year old girl is sitting quietly as she seems to be listening to a history class in Brook Hill school in North London. However, her mind is anything but quiet. Ada wonders why she was never taken to Cyprus, remembers the life before her mother's death, reflects on the fact that her Greek father, an evolutionary biologist, is so different from other fathers. When Ada is asked some questions about her family background by her teacher, her inner turmoil explodes and she screams an inhuman scream. The scream lasts for almost a whole minute and scares both the teacher and Ada's classmates. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why did Ada scream? Well, there are many reasons. Ada's mother Defne is dead, her father Kostas buries himself in his work and becomes more and more estranges, she is oblivious to what is going on with the rest of her family and doesn't understand why she has never met them. Her parents were silent on many topics and this makes Ada feel more isolated. There's such a thing as inherited trauma. A daughter of immigrants, Ada feels isolated at her school. Moreover, she doesn't have ties to her culture. In many ways, Ada is an island. She lives in London, but doesn't feel a Londoner. She doesn't know much about the past of her parents. Her scream is a scream of pain, isolation and grief. She loves her parents but she doesn't understand them and the opposite is often true. The following quote focuses on Kostas need to assume a normality. Kostas isn't a distant parent intentionally, he is a man broken apart by the death of his wife:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">PARENTS DESPERATELY NEED THINGS TO RUN SMOOTHLY</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Parents, especially those as distracted as her father, desperately needed things to run smoothly and were so inclined to believe the system they had created was working fine that they assumed a normality even when surrounded by clues to the contrary.”</b></span></i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">One thing I loved about this novel is that it avoids judgement. The writer doesn't judge Ada for screaming nor her father for being absent. The book understand that life is hard. It understands how family trauma works. It understands that we cannot silence away our pains. </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Sometimes family trauma skips a generation altogether and redoubles its hold on the following one. You may encounter grandchildren who silently shoulder the hurts and sufferings of their grandparents.”</b></span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">Is Ada's immigrant background important? Yes, it most certainly is. It is important for understanding both Ada and her parents. Much of this novel is Ada's pursuit into the past of her parents and family. In order for her to heal, words need to be spoken. The author has done a great job presenting Ada to the reader. She's a confused and hurt adolescent, but also a strong one. Her scream is the start of her journey. As Ada tries to make sense of things, she examines her immigrant family roots.</p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“People from troubled islands can never be normal. We can pretend, we can even make amazing progress – but we can never really learn to feel safe. The ground that feels rock hard to others is choppy waters for our kind.”</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">In its exploration of identity, this novel reminded me of novels by <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2018/03/what-to-read-tonight-30-reading.html" target="_blank">Amy Tan</a> such as <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bolder;">The Kitchen's God Wife</span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 15px;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bolder;">The Joy Luck Club. </span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 15px;"> Like this novel, Tan's novels are </span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 15px;">written from a feminine immigrant perspective. Tan's focus on the dynamics of an American Chinese family, more precisely on the relationship between a mother and a daughter.</span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> Elif Shafak explores dynamics of a British Greek and Turkish family, but like with Tan, the focus is often on the mother daughter relationship. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">THIS IS WHAT MIGRATIONS AND RELOCATION DO TO US</p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #181818;"><b>“.....that is what migrations and relocations do to us: when you leave your home for unknown shores, you don’t simply carry on as before; a part of you dies inside so that another part can start all over again.</b>”</span></span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPImlJ3oNznXXR0GuJzgivO0OAaOhgZFcgi4AKgDXTcwLApt-FQlqTlLgU0XfxjW71MKyraXRgCG3bvzn812Mwoz220hzk-FqH7C07d9rNsh9k6h684JeN8YZ-7nHEnCozWiUkmuHSJXleDkWb-aefGed73VuglKg-pW7RtXdFALJ9-G38M_MACX6eKk/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20elif%20shafak.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPImlJ3oNznXXR0GuJzgivO0OAaOhgZFcgi4AKgDXTcwLApt-FQlqTlLgU0XfxjW71MKyraXRgCG3bvzn812Mwoz220hzk-FqH7C07d9rNsh9k6h684JeN8YZ-7nHEnCozWiUkmuHSJXleDkWb-aefGed73VuglKg-pW7RtXdFALJ9-G38M_MACX6eKk/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20elif%20shafak.jpg" /></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">“A fig is not exactly a fruit, you see. It is a synconium – a fascinating structure that hides flowers and seeds in its cavity, with a barely visible opening through which wasps can enter and deposit their pollen. And sometimes, seizing the opportunity, ants, too, crawl through that opening and eat what they can.”</i></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> The next chapter not only focuses on the fig tree, it is narrated by it. This fig tree is almost a character in the novel. It seems to posses a soul of its own. On the other hand, it often contrasts its plant nature with human nature. </span></span><i style="background-color: transparent; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">“But if you are going to claim, as humans do, to be superior to all life forms, past and present, then you must gain an understanding of the oldest living organisms on earth who were here long before you arrived and will still be here after you have gone.”</i></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Yaj9r4D0Xx4UKR2TMenpFv4Un8bSQrwgYdI6veNkd9sGnCcdqLkmqf4dA8c4kLTGjWCGyjwGIe9ERkHt2UlTe-YCZAhSPO5jSsBrHJxRtmvzSJDbjj_lXYKD4cpQUnT9kQcfTg-IYRYz0MMTzW10EpRNkKmk7BJIUw17ek0hU_XIDK8AGsRWJpbzf2g/s3000/buna%20elif%20shafak%20quote%20if%20you%20are%20going%20to%20claim.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Yaj9r4D0Xx4UKR2TMenpFv4Un8bSQrwgYdI6veNkd9sGnCcdqLkmqf4dA8c4kLTGjWCGyjwGIe9ERkHt2UlTe-YCZAhSPO5jSsBrHJxRtmvzSJDbjj_lXYKD4cpQUnT9kQcfTg-IYRYz0MMTzW10EpRNkKmk7BJIUw17ek0hU_XIDK8AGsRWJpbzf2g/s16000/buna%20elif%20shafak%20quote%20if%20you%20are%20going%20to%20claim.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE TREE AS A NARRATOR</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The narration mostly switches between the main characters but some parts of the novel are narrated from the point of a view of a family fig tree. Not just any fig tree, though. A Mediterranean fig tree that is fighting for survival in the colder British climate. Like the characters in the novel, the tree is a migrant. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“When you are in trouble or at your lowest point, and have no one in whom to confide, a hawthorn would be the right choice. There is a reason why hawthorns are home to fairies and known to protect pots of treasure. For wisdom, try a beech; for intelligence, a pine; for bravery, a rowan; for generosity, a hazel; for joy, a juniper; and for when you need to learn to let go of what you cannot control, a birch with its white-silver bark, peeling and shedding layers like old skin. Then again, if it's love you're after, or love you have lost, come to the fig, always the fig.”</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">TREES ARE NEVER LONELY</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“I wish I could have told him that loneliness is a human invention. Trees are never lonely. Humans think they know with certainty where there being ends and someone else's starts. With there roots tangled and caught up underground, linked to fungi and bacteria, trees harbour no such illusions. For us, everything is interconnected.”</b></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EhmAL343GJ_e57U9Ocx4uWY_du4-OAmCeraHg96oW184Ro6xOm9zFNVtPbgmYHub3Fcmb-NkZpqJxeV-F2IM6dEKfIMEBwxnTtTWSOnnNUh9XeE5MfO-Su94qItZvyp3YqxVz2hvDaeTKSUJ408PqXbMOfkCVVtMVFwwV5iHo6tSFvfbiNkD0pmipxo/s3000/buna%20elif%20shafak%20quotes%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EhmAL343GJ_e57U9Ocx4uWY_du4-OAmCeraHg96oW184Ro6xOm9zFNVtPbgmYHub3Fcmb-NkZpqJxeV-F2IM6dEKfIMEBwxnTtTWSOnnNUh9XeE5MfO-Su94qItZvyp3YqxVz2hvDaeTKSUJ408PqXbMOfkCVVtMVFwwV5iHo6tSFvfbiNkD0pmipxo/s16000/buna%20elif%20shafak%20quotes%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Why is the fig tree so important?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"> Well, it is not only the narrator, but the part of the plot and a key witness in the murder case. The tree is question is actually </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">a cutting was taken by Kostas many years ago. However, this cutting retains all of its original memories- and it's a very old fig tree. Kostas plants the cutting in his and Defne's English garden so that the cutting becomes a part of their story. </span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">What is Kostas and Defne story about? It's first and foremost a story of love. However, it is also a story of loss, death, isolation, war, trauma, </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">abandonment</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> and depression. Through the story, the fig tree shows us insight into their relationship and past. The fig tree feels both human and inhuman at the same time. It gives us arguments that a tree could give, it judges the actions of humans and views from a botanic perspective, yet at the same time, it seems to posses a bleeding human heart. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I believe one reason why humans find it hard to understand plants is because, in order to connect with something other than themselves and genuinely care about it, they need to interact with a face, an image that mirrors theirs as closely as possible.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I’ve been thinking that you are my country. Is that a strange thing to say? Without you, I don’t have a home in this world; I am a felled tree, my roots severed all round; you can topple me with the touch of a finger.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div></span></div><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>TREES AND FAMILY </i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What I meant was, some people stand in front of a tree and the first thing they notice is the trunk. These are the ones who prioritize order, safety, rules, continuity. Then there are those who pick out the branches before anything else. They yearn for change, a sense of freedom. And then there are those who are drawn to the roots, though concealed under the ground. They have a deep emotional attachment to their heritage, identity, traditions …”</span></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“If families resemble trees, as they say, arborescent structures with entangled roots and individual branches jutting out at awkward angles, family traumas are like thick, translucent resin dripping from a cut in the bark. They trickle down generations.”</i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“They ooze down slowly, a flow so slight as to be imperceptible, moving across time and space, until they find a crack in which to settle and coagulate. The path of an inherited trauma is random; you never know who might get it, but someone will.”</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx-_V_PL9xa72Sbsih1xCs4Dheie0gT6zszcXQmx5j80ORe2W6RLKF3qE2T6xZlesp6jkLIakqAZlc9f3dFYNSTiGKZEWa_strbnJGQ5kb8GlhOSrzxvmR83e0P9kWDqagbABVzeMeAVUgOOioIlJQMztCPD0i17xZ1rqVj-PL86I7IPR4GyipZUDJAk0/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20quotes%20family%20trauma%20elif%20shafak.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx-_V_PL9xa72Sbsih1xCs4Dheie0gT6zszcXQmx5j80ORe2W6RLKF3qE2T6xZlesp6jkLIakqAZlc9f3dFYNSTiGKZEWa_strbnJGQ5kb8GlhOSrzxvmR83e0P9kWDqagbABVzeMeAVUgOOioIlJQMztCPD0i17xZ1rqVj-PL86I7IPR4GyipZUDJAk0/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20quotes%20family%20trauma%20elif%20shafak.jpg" /></a></span></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>WHAT ARE THE KEY STORIES IN THE OF THE MISSING TREES BY ELIF SHAFAK?</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Ada's story can be viewed as the central one because she seems to be the protagonist of the novel.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">However, I think that Kostas and Defne's story is just as important.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">We meet Ada as tries to deal with the loss of her mother. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Ada's grief for the loss of her mother is tremendous because she feels isolated in her grieving.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Thus begins Ada's search for answers and her exploration of her cultural and national identity and history.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Did subsequent generations ineluctably start where previous ones had given up, absorbing all of their disappointments and unfulfilled dreams? Was the present moment a mere continuation of the past, every word an afterword to what had already been said or left unsaid?”</i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Ada learns parts of her family history through her aunt Meryem's visit and her retelling of her parents' love story. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">This troubled love story is the origin story for Ada.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">As the novel travels into the past, it focuses on Defne and Kostas, living on Cyprus in the seventies.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiekE_p7sRI5P5igpCEnDVjf486pram0Hs6jS_BUbpO8BIOsHDqfd7V1iUfSf-0qnUWh_7ExveStaGxyuMbqBWtAJ1ZJjHh8Eu-ARhBxNNYOraqTRWqdBhJgbgFw2JIs3_0tR3YGOeCauG27o6dcyObl013T2E_p2n2tCgtC8nUj22xVWBZXZ_tyG_21A/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20mor%20blog%20quotes.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiekE_p7sRI5P5igpCEnDVjf486pram0Hs6jS_BUbpO8BIOsHDqfd7V1iUfSf-0qnUWh_7ExveStaGxyuMbqBWtAJ1ZJjHh8Eu-ARhBxNNYOraqTRWqdBhJgbgFw2JIs3_0tR3YGOeCauG27o6dcyObl013T2E_p2n2tCgtC8nUj22xVWBZXZ_tyG_21A/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20mor%20blog%20quotes.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>“Love is the bold affirmation of hope. You don't embrace hope when death and destruction are in command. You don't put on your best dress and tuck a flower in your hair when you are surrounded by ruins and shards. You don't lose your heart at a time when hearts are supposed to remain sealed, especially for those who are not of your religion, not of your language, not of your blood. You don't fall in love in Cyprus in the summer of 1974. Not here, not now. And yet there they were, the two of them.”</i></span></p><p><br style="text-align: left;" /></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">HOW DO DEFNE AND KOSTAS FALL IN LOVE?</span></span></p><p>They fall in love quickly and profoundly, despite the troubled setting and the war on horizon. </p><p><br /></p><p>Love is not meant to be rational, but their love is especially dangerous. The killings have already started. </p><p>Defne, who is eighteen, becomes the lover of seventeen year old Kosta. </p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;"> Defne and Kostas are two different young people, not just by background but by nature. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Defne is described as strong, brave and independent, while Kostas is described as a dreamy, sensitive and caring young man. Obviously, the opposites attract because they fall madly in love with one another.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">However, falling in love on a divided island is a desperately dangerous action. </span></span></p><p><i style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">“Not a very sensible thing to do, I admit, to fall for someone who is not of your kind, someone who will only complicate your life, disrupt your routine and mess with your sense of stability and rootedness. But, then again, anyone who expects love to be sensible has perhaps never loved.”</i></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin_kcJcP_Gk7S82SWNdWm7Pcf8C1aOruNk2NImIXpuDzRRybylt2VedKYP4khtLf1jnmZJQxhOtPD8-FqkLKdNhztLHQTFfMUfdFXS9IwxSvs4UCeGet7PzH-dMEL8JqEKL3bYzRdD5eAJGaJ5fQtLDSl9htOfyk3kE_kUEgNGDTGyjYc2r5izlse__Os/s3000/IMG_20231119_124137.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin_kcJcP_Gk7S82SWNdWm7Pcf8C1aOruNk2NImIXpuDzRRybylt2VedKYP4khtLf1jnmZJQxhOtPD8-FqkLKdNhztLHQTFfMUfdFXS9IwxSvs4UCeGet7PzH-dMEL8JqEKL3bYzRdD5eAJGaJ5fQtLDSl9htOfyk3kE_kUEgNGDTGyjYc2r5izlse__Os/s16000/IMG_20231119_124137.jpg" /></a></p><p><i style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></i></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THEY FALL IN LOVE? </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Theri love is intense, but trouble is on horizont. Kostas' brothers are all killed or missing, so his bother begs him to go to visit his uncle in London. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“At night, when the moon shone high above the lemon trees and there was a shiver in the air, of insects invisible to the eye or fairies sent to exile, Kostas would sometimes catch his mother staring at him with a pained expression....”</span></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Kostas hasn't got the strength to say no to his broken mother. However, as soon as he arrives to London, the war breaks out in Cyprus and he is trapped there. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">So, Kostas lived at his uncle's place, dreaming of a return, whilst Defne is left behind.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Both of them are heart-broken but what can they do? </span></span></p><p>ALWAYS AIM FOR THE PROFOUND LOVE</p><p>There is no doubt that their love is strong, but can they survive the separation?</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsSgGftG6ZR3kaChUsHXzvLcWRjF11ewhDYgCKpoJCd5XY7OcnGbOIi5tLHwbCzatEp1CCLtSPOmAa7PQQfEGMEFGuedN7Z6dIP9cbXFiSaKYxi9VFPSUttzW7j0o62XG66do1-V3_rG0OIShxL0RfttZl-rCboEKLJRaA8zUsmX8K2bvEERepuSZHDo/s3000/buna%20elif%20shafak%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees%20quotes.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsSgGftG6ZR3kaChUsHXzvLcWRjF11ewhDYgCKpoJCd5XY7OcnGbOIi5tLHwbCzatEp1CCLtSPOmAa7PQQfEGMEFGuedN7Z6dIP9cbXFiSaKYxi9VFPSUttzW7j0o62XG66do1-V3_rG0OIShxL0RfttZl-rCboEKLJRaA8zUsmX8K2bvEERepuSZHDo/s16000/buna%20elif%20shafak%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees%20quotes.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">“You see, there are two kinds: the surface and the deep water. Now, Aphrodite emerged from foam, remember? Foam love is a nice feeling, but just as superficial. When it’s gone, it’s gone, nothing remains. Always aim for the kind of love that comes from the deep.”<br /><br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>MERYEM'S ARRIVAL UNLOCKS THE SECRETS</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Meryem, late Defne's sister, comes to visit, Ada meets a family member for the first time. Meryem embraces Ada with all the love of a<span> </span></span>devoted<span style="font-family: inherit;"> aunt and eases her loneliness. Ada observes that her Turkish aunt is very possessive when it comes to cuisine. While she is a liberal person otherwise, Meyrem is very<span> </span></span>tyrannical<span style="font-family: inherit;"> when it comes to coking,<span> </span></span>appropriating<span style="font-family: inherit;"> only the<span> </span></span>Turkish<span style="font-family: inherit;"> cuisine. I found his<span> </span></span>humanizing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> detail about Meyrem very<span> </span></span>endearing<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">AS FAR AS MEYREM WAS CONCERNED...... QUOTE</span></span></p><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“As far as Meryem was concerned, Greek baklava was Turkish baklava. And if the Syrians or Lebanese or Egyptians or Jordanians or any others lay claim to her beloved dessert, tough luck. It wasn’t theirs either. While the slightest change in her dietary vocabulary could rub her up the wrong way, it was the label Greek coffee that particularly boiled her blood. Which to her always was and always would be, Turkish coffee. By now, Ada had long discovered that her aunt was full of contradictions. Although she could be movingly respectful and empathetic towards other cultures and acutely aware of the dangers of cultural animosities, she automatically transformed into a kind of nationalist in the kitchen, a culinary patriot.”</i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div></div><p>With Meyrem's visit, Ada starts to realize to what lengts her parents had to go to be able to reunite one with another... She realizes that a life together meant abandoning their families....</p><p><i style="color: #181818;">“So I guess it is in my genes, this melancholy I can never quite shake off. Carved with an invisible knife into my arborescent skin.”</i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It is a map, the body of an ex-lover, pulling you into its depths and bringing you back to a part of yourself that you thought had been left behind sometime, somewhere. It is a mirror too, though, chipped and cracked, showing all the ways you have changed; and, like every mirror, it dreams of becoming whole again.”</span></i></span></p><p><i style="color: #181818;"><br /></i></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLmLKhSxBu47PLiKOqQqBgK5Hzj_WQGAPyXaOKECsUyGqhTAi6V7NmXL-PLwkBDjMuz5FeSW8GvNZJAP6ypeYAL8om6-cVwtpnrAabQX-6eZQdG_DxQTHET0f0UCxkc9UAtxqYkTYEaglGDJOKCr1TUY1MSjHdyuOiDJBQjCW6xupXuW4cS1IA2FvoRYM/s4000/IMG_20231119_124354.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLmLKhSxBu47PLiKOqQqBgK5Hzj_WQGAPyXaOKECsUyGqhTAi6V7NmXL-PLwkBDjMuz5FeSW8GvNZJAP6ypeYAL8om6-cVwtpnrAabQX-6eZQdG_DxQTHET0f0UCxkc9UAtxqYkTYEaglGDJOKCr1TUY1MSjHdyuOiDJBQjCW6xupXuW4cS1IA2FvoRYM/s16000/IMG_20231119_124354.jpg" /></a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i style="color: black;"><b>MORE MEMORABLE QUOTES</b></i></span></h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>THE LIFE BENEATH</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Life below the surface is neither simple nor monotonous. The subterranean, contrary to what most people think, is bustling with activity. As you tunnel deep down, you might be surprised to see the soil take on unexpected shades. Rusty red, soft peach, warm mustard, lime green, rich turquoise … Humans teach their children to paint the earth in one colour alone. They imagine the sky in blue, the grass in green, the sun in yellow and the earth entirely in brown.”</b></span></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>THE WORLD IS UNFAIR</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“The world is unfair, said Meryem. "If a stone falls on an egg, it is bad for the egg; if an egg falls on a stone, it is still bad for the egg.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“Wherever there is a war and painful partition, there will be no winners, human or otherwise.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“Listen, canim, I know you might get cross with me for saying this, but remember, good advice is always annoying and bad advice never is. So if what I say irritates you, take it as good advice.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“But not everyone needs to be a warrior, my dear. Otherwise we’d never have poets, artists, scientists …’ ‘I disagree,’ said Defne into her wine glass. ‘There are moments in life when everyone has to become a warrior of some kind. If you are a poet, you fight with your words; if you are an artist, you fight with your paintings … But you can’t say, “Sorry, I’m a poet, I’ll pass.” You don’t say that when there’s so much suffering, inequality, injustice.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX98NuiJf5RJLLIWjInB12d2qNwSruVAxWoo7qie7I3D9pN2fKODq4Ilt9XZNryDVSkytkH4lQNQYE-BOTlIQM4BpCIjy0NVGqB49Cl2cvFlv6oKNqiGO7fCAgLhWYzi9W-xCYAYQAzsvy5B4i3OdO7nGOVXGJzOCgCvgtBjg4qFNKymMCDSbeGEMlIJ4/s3000/IMG_20231119_123628.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX98NuiJf5RJLLIWjInB12d2qNwSruVAxWoo7qie7I3D9pN2fKODq4Ilt9XZNryDVSkytkH4lQNQYE-BOTlIQM4BpCIjy0NVGqB49Cl2cvFlv6oKNqiGO7fCAgLhWYzi9W-xCYAYQAzsvy5B4i3OdO7nGOVXGJzOCgCvgtBjg4qFNKymMCDSbeGEMlIJ4/s16000/IMG_20231119_123628.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PESSIMIST AND AN OPTIMIST</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“People assume it’s a matter of personality, the difference between optimists and pessimists. But I believe it all comes down to an inability to forget. The greater your powers of retention, the slimmer your chances at optimism.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>GRIEF IS A LANGUAGE</b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“You don't share a language, you think, and then you realise, grief is a language. We understand each other, people with troubled pasts.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b>“She could detect other people’s sadnesses the way one animal could smell another of its kind a mile away.”</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b>“Wisdom consists of ten parts: nine parts of silence, one part of words.”</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>CAN PAIN BE USEFUL?</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“Some day this pain will be useful to you.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“She was no part of anything. In her unbroken loneliness, she was complete. Never had she felt so exposed, yet so powerful.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>DEPRESSION</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“He knew, even back then, that she was prone to bouts of melancholy. It came to her in successive waves, an ebb and flow. When the first wave arrived, barely touching her toes, it was so light and translucent a ripple that you might be forgiven for thinking it insignificant, that it would vanish soon, leaving no trace. But then followed another wave, and the next one, rising as far as her ankles, and the one after that covering her knees, and before you knew it she was immersed in liquid pain, up to her neck, drowning. That's how depression sucked her in.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">“Throughout my long life, I have observed, again and again, this psychological pendulum that drives human nature. Every few decades they sway into a zone of unbridled optimism and insist on seeing everything through a rosy filter, only to be challenged and shaken by events and catapulted back into their habitual apathy and listless indifference.”</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>WHAT IS A MEMORY- A BLESSING OR A CURSE?</b></i></span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">“When elderly Cypriot women wish ill on someone, they don't ask for anything blatantly bad to befall them. They don't pray for lightning bolts, unforseen accidents or sudden reversals of fortune. They simply say,</span></b></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>May you never be able to forget.</b></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>May you go to your grave still remembering.”</b></div></b></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWvkAeWgSs2SqAd2nUm1no_WmRonnCJyCxoIRq21forn5hM1qDAu1Q_dPALiXN-llCUCBgkeaHV3fjE4MNcx7BmP5aB_F43QO_aFUoFJwaZRC4QTlRSlPFPdrdTl4jXrl6gbF5l8sNta6d9H89jIT_nGTSeinC4vMrPJlcgY5axUzRMcCLDUk0Tu5Csw/s3000/buna%20tartan%20print%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWvkAeWgSs2SqAd2nUm1no_WmRonnCJyCxoIRq21forn5hM1qDAu1Q_dPALiXN-llCUCBgkeaHV3fjE4MNcx7BmP5aB_F43QO_aFUoFJwaZRC4QTlRSlPFPdrdTl4jXrl6gbF5l8sNta6d9H89jIT_nGTSeinC4vMrPJlcgY5axUzRMcCLDUk0Tu5Csw/s16000/buna%20tartan%20print%20the%20island%20of%20the%20missing%20trees.jpg" /></a></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></div>FINALLY A NOVEL THAT TREATS SERIOUS TOPICS WITH RESPECT<br /></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't want to include spoilers in my review, so I won't discuss what happens in the novel. I will say, however, that the plot is anything but predictive. There are surprises along the way and not the kind you would </span>always<span style="font-family: inherit;"> expect. I found the story to be ultimately tragic but also very realistic and human in its tragedy. It's a sad and heart-breaking story in many way, but it does end on an optimistic note. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I’ll come to the island,’ Ada said, a new note in her voice. ‘I just want to meet islanders, like myself.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">FINAL THOUGHTS</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><i style="color: black; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">The Island of Missing Trees </i><span style="color: black; text-align: justify;">by Elif Shafak is a magically written and deeply touching novel. While it deals with some extremely difficult topics, it does so wisely. I immensely enjoyed it and I'm confident I'll reread it some day- and perhaps even write another review!</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">“Truth is a rhizome – an underground plant stem with lateral shoots. You need to dig deep to reach it and, once unearthed, you have to treat it with respect.”</span></b></i></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5rSlkW_uNI_OGFkBvPbvMQio1Kh6BAH_ieOBQayDX7bzNxcB5uf5xUk4zxjXMTpSrai-q9h4kQfpzosm13rKpjbJPz6DPvjgn0kiAfsoi2qxZ73sa8JMOnmGP5dPlbfyeVlDn3chw45WayHVmJ6WoBuTs4ubr1SkCTQMoGs3BD_jkEGjw7yKmmyOAxM/s3000/IMG_20231119_123537.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5rSlkW_uNI_OGFkBvPbvMQio1Kh6BAH_ieOBQayDX7bzNxcB5uf5xUk4zxjXMTpSrai-q9h4kQfpzosm13rKpjbJPz6DPvjgn0kiAfsoi2qxZ73sa8JMOnmGP5dPlbfyeVlDn3chw45WayHVmJ6WoBuTs4ubr1SkCTQMoGs3BD_jkEGjw7yKmmyOAxM/s16000/IMG_20231119_123537.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><i>MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</i></p><p style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels, including her latest <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Island of Missing Trees</span>, shortlisted for the Costa Award, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is a bestselling author in many countries around the world and her work has been translated into 56 languages. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World</span> was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Forty Rules of Love</span> was chosen by BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Architect’s Apprentice</span> was chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall’s inaugural book club, The Reading Room. Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. Shafak is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and has been chosen among BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women. She is a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations).<a href="http://www.elifshafak.com/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.elifshafak.com</a></i></span></p><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dsdX8kw_ph32ql8HN7C0CIivdJfDu8PY2KKH9imgUCnbjPBJBnMFHxeHTw4DLDPgGVaQB5UB0NzJg1VOkvPtHTZfHBM9CzHe6z5v9ptKamlkXPF3y6kHTWwPIheIK52UlPSeoESBDrNqsP9O-87d6A15G2h6ZpeFx-ebOcZFkkLqguIbT8BOBc-kjWw/s3000/IMG_20231119_123134.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dsdX8kw_ph32ql8HN7C0CIivdJfDu8PY2KKH9imgUCnbjPBJBnMFHxeHTw4DLDPgGVaQB5UB0NzJg1VOkvPtHTZfHBM9CzHe6z5v9ptKamlkXPF3y6kHTWwPIheIK52UlPSeoESBDrNqsP9O-87d6A15G2h6ZpeFx-ebOcZFkkLqguIbT8BOBc-kjWw/s16000/IMG_20231119_123134.jpg" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">MORE MAGIC REALISM READING RECOMMENDATIONS THAT MADE ME THINK OF THIS NOVEL</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-book-review-blackberry-wine-by-joanne.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">BLACKBERRY WINE</a> BY J.HARRIS</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>One thing that connects Joan's novel </b></span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-book-review-blackberry-wine-by-joanne.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; font-size: large; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">BLACKBERRY WINE</a><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: 700;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> with </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: medium;"><b>THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREES is the love of plants. In fact both of these novels are simply perfect reads for anyone who has ever done any gardening. The love of trees and other plants really comes to life in both of them. Moreover, the authors really did their research. If you want to dive into botanic writing in fiction, these are the books for you!</b></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/12/ivanas-holiday-reading-recommendations.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">SWIFT AS DESIRE BY LAURA ESQUIVEL</span></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This novel is another work of magic realism that made me think of this novel. One thing these two novels have in common is that they focus on the theme of family a lot.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/autumn-outfit-and-book-review-east-west.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">EAST, WEST BY SALMAN RUSHDIE </span></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Again, a work of magic realism that examines memory, identity, love and family.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/kafka-on-shore-novel-by-haruki-murakami.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><br /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/kafka-on-shore-novel-by-haruki-murakami.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">KAFKA ON THE SHORE BY MURAKAMI</span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another similar work of magic realism that examines identity, loneliness and being human.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/02/reading-update-new-finds-mario-vargas.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER BY MARGIO VAGAS LLOSA</span></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span><span style="text-align: justify;">This novel is quite focused on a love story ( quite an original love story, I might add) but it still paints a good picture of what growing up in this particular place and time must have felt like. In fact, this novel is quite autobiographical. I'm not sure in what extent Shafak's work is </span></span></span><span style="text-align: justify;">autobiographical, but there are definitely </span><span style="font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">autobiographical elements. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/09/of-love-and-shadows-isabel-allende.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">OF LOVE AND SHADOWS BY ISABEL ALLENDE</span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/02/reading-update-robert-thorogood-bianca.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">OF LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS, BY GABRIEL MARCIA MARQUEZ </span></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/11/my-name-is-red-novel-by-orhan-pamuk.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/11/my-name-is-red-novel-by-orhan-pamuk.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY NAME IS RED BY ORPHAN PAMUK</span></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9DTYtAdji-0PodIVsf9GlwIoDW4ca32T9QhyphenhyphenU4BiJBmaJgnI_dhpllgQEFwQ3K9wE8f93aTgKWOZ76CmckW4_nIXIKkTjoNFqJQUGn0ZlmW5FoW_9JQP6RBhcw-KWVEXcgx1-0paaDSpUhw4qBAc6vKPbz7GD6DC16a6EnAG4L5n7Vr4KuIqnEcrFa0/s3000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20if%20you%20weep%20for%20all%20the%20sorrows%20of%20the%20world%20quotes.jpg" style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9DTYtAdji-0PodIVsf9GlwIoDW4ca32T9QhyphenhyphenU4BiJBmaJgnI_dhpllgQEFwQ3K9wE8f93aTgKWOZ76CmckW4_nIXIKkTjoNFqJQUGn0ZlmW5FoW_9JQP6RBhcw-KWVEXcgx1-0paaDSpUhw4qBAc6vKPbz7GD6DC16a6EnAG4L5n7Vr4KuIqnEcrFa0/s16000/buna%20the%20island%20of%20missing%20trees%20if%20you%20weep%20for%20all%20the%20sorrows%20of%20the%20world%20quotes.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">“If you weep for all the sorrows in this world, in the end you will have no eyes.”</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;" /></p><p style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrvZD_gOtu985MhQ4GJuqsvAlv4UZw_ai81BaTM7NW8uEoQnM7opkcmiBvltboY5WRL5QGxtmASLmAVESq-rkAvN01LxdCihEy4d920whnRnUOeyGmggq4d6SN-WQplCQWkPZsoQcfpT5Ond2rlxQ1-BsuqF8Z_gI8bhpKguF50VgWl-pgTf0c5YWcaU/s3000/IMG_20231119_123132.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrvZD_gOtu985MhQ4GJuqsvAlv4UZw_ai81BaTM7NW8uEoQnM7opkcmiBvltboY5WRL5QGxtmASLmAVESq-rkAvN01LxdCihEy4d920whnRnUOeyGmggq4d6SN-WQplCQWkPZsoQcfpT5Ond2rlxQ1-BsuqF8Z_gI8bhpKguF50VgWl-pgTf0c5YWcaU/s16000/IMG_20231119_123132.jpg" /></a></p><p style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Thank you for reading!</p></span><p></p></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-39740432315808418932023-11-24T17:53:00.000-08:002023-11-25T05:13:21.415-08:00THE LITTLE PRINCE, A NOVELLA BY ANTOINE DE SAINT- EXUPERY (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In this post, I shall review <i style="color: #181818; text-align: justify;">The Little Prince (</i><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"> </span><span lang="fr" style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Le Petit Prince)</span></i><i style="color: #181818; text-align: justify;">, </i><span style="color: #181818; text-align: justify;">a novella by </span>Antoine de Saint-Exupéry<span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">.</span><span style="color: #181818; text-align: justify;"> Published in 1943, </span></span><i style="color: #181818; text-align: justify;">The Little Prince </i><span style="color: #181818; text-align: justify;">became </span>Antoine's most successful and best known work. In many ways, <i style="color: #181818;">The Little Prince</i><span style="color: #181818;"> is</span> a labour of love. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">This world renown novella is what </span></span>Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot is best known for. Antoine had quite an interesting and eventful life! </span><i style="color: #181818;">The Little Prince </i>contains some autobiographical elements. It might be what adds that special something to it. The writer included both his personal experience and meditations in it. Moreover, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry laboured hard over this little novella, aiming for and reaching literary perfection.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> Supposedly, the author would cross out whole pages of <i style="color: #181818;">The Little Prince</i><span style="color: #181818;"> to leave just one sentence, resulting in a poignant and poetic prose this novella is known for. Moreover, </span><i style="color: #181818;">The Little Prince</i><span style="color: #181818;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">was not only written but also illustrated by </span>Antoine de Saint-Exupéry<span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">. The illustrations and the text come together to tell a beautiful and touching story of a stranded pilot who meets a magical young boy and learns important lessons from him. The contrast between the realist pilot and a fantastical being highlights some of the important lessons this novella teaches: What is truly important can be only seen with the heart. This novella teaches us how important our inner world is.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0iEoIorwNDKzKmf2vfMEiGkRlXYgd1kJtbOC3VwDxNwIcklrN8cJ44taSFrXKR7hhuzD80QmaSJwtkT7xtqJDVZTU2CSioaPcA4JF4BBYs1RzOQM8AUQp0L1pn-dXJn55qDN3J0FGsmKpkgfW_Jwx7h2qeC847ZKzto42ZIQJUP3VagTCjWeMSSrZLLo/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20mor%20blog%20quotes%20invisible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0iEoIorwNDKzKmf2vfMEiGkRlXYgd1kJtbOC3VwDxNwIcklrN8cJ44taSFrXKR7hhuzD80QmaSJwtkT7xtqJDVZTU2CSioaPcA4JF4BBYs1RzOQM8AUQp0L1pn-dXJn55qDN3J0FGsmKpkgfW_Jwx7h2qeC847ZKzto42ZIQJUP3VagTCjWeMSSrZLLo/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20mor%20blog%20quotes%20invisible.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">The novella opens with narrator that is based on the author. The narrator is a pilot stranded in desert. This was based on the writer's actual experience. In the desert, the narrator meets the little prince. Once he is introduced, the novella focuses on this young prince who came 'from the stars' to tell of his visits to various planets, ending with him visiting our own planet Earth and meeting the narrator. As the narration progresses, we learn that the prince's home planet was quite small but that he had a special rose there. </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">The Little Prince</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> is much more serious than it seems at first. In fact, there are many lessons one can learn from this novella.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">- What should be done ? Said the little prince.
“You must be very patient,” replied the fox. You will sit first a little far from me, like that,
in the grass. I will look at you from the corner of your eye and you will not say anything.
Language is a source of misunderstanding. But every day you can sit a little closer … “
The next day the little prince returned.</span></b></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This books speaks about examines important topics of love, loss, responsibility and freedom. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">TO WHOM WAS THE LITTLE PRINCE, A NOVELLA BY ANTOINE DE SAINT- EXUPERY DEDICATED?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This novella was dedicated to Leon Werth. The author first apologizes for devoting a novella to a grown up but then stresses that it was dedicated to Leon Werth as a boy. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>To Leon Werth
I apologize to the children for dedicating this book to a grown-up. I have a good excuse:
this grown-up is the best friend I have in the world. I have another good excuse: this
grown-up can understand everything, even children’s books. I have a third good excuse:
this grown-up lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs to be comforted. If
all these excuses are not enough, I will then dedicate this book to the child who became
that grown-up. All grown-ups were first children. (But few of them remember it.) So I
correct my dedication:
To Leon Werth
when he was a little boy.</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Antoine writes from the perspective of a young boy. This is relevant because this is a book aimed at both children and adults. The foreshadowing is very successful. Antoine makes the reader feel a part of his story. The other uses humour and simple truths to capture the reader's attention. The first chapter opens with the author as a six year old boy. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>When I was six years old, I once saw a magnificent picture in a book on the virgin forest
called Stories of Life. It was a boa constrictor that had swallowed a wild beast. Here is a
copy of the drawing.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here the author inserts his illustration. The illustrations play a role in this novella, they are a part of the story really. They make the book more playful and visually interested.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> It was written in the book, Boa constrictors swallow their whole prey without chewing.
Then they can not move and they sleep during the six months of their digestion.
I then thought a lot about the adventures of the jungle and, in turn, succeeded, with a
colored pencil, in drawing my very first drawing. It was like this:</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The illustration is not understood by adults. I loved how the writer stressed the difference between child and adult views. The way Antoine explains that adults always need more explanation was funny as well. The writer is able to see the world from a perspective of a child. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups and asked them if my drawing frightened
them.
They said, Why would a hat be scary?
My drawing was not of a hat. It was a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. I then drew
the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could understand. They always
required more explanation. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The contrast between the rationalism of adults and the imagination of a child doesn't stop there. It is implied that it was this youthful criticism that made the narrator opt for a less artistic career. Instead of an artist, he became a pilot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The grown-ups advised me to leave aside the drawings of boa constrictors from the
outside or the inside, and to interest myself instead in geography, history, calculation, and
grammar. Thus, at the age of six, I abandoned a magnificent career as a painter. I had been
discouraged by the failure of my first drawing and my second drawing. Grown-ups never
understand anything on their own, and it is tiring for children to always have to give them
explanations.
So I had to choose another profession. I learned to fly planes. I flew all over the world.
And geography, that’s right, served me well. I knew how to recognize, at first glance,
China, or Arizona. It is useful if you have gone astray during the night. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">What makes the first chapter so approachable to both children and adults is its gentle humor. The author is criticizing adults but in a playful way. It is as if he wants to remind them they were once children too. The narrator himself is obviously an adult, but in the first chapter he assures the young reader that he is on his side, that he remembers what it is like to be an child. At the same time, he reintroduces the wonder of childhood to the adult reader, he reminds the adults of the importance of imagination. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>I have had, in the course of my life, a lot of contact with many serious people. I have lived
among the grown-ups. I saw them up close. It did not really improve my opinion of them.
When I met one that seemed to me a little lucid, I had them experience my drawing
number 1, which I had preserved. I wanted to know if they could come to a real
understanding. But they always replied: It’s a hat. After that I spoke to them neither of boa
constrictors, nor of virgin forests, nor of stars. I put myself within their reach. I talked
about bridge, golf, politics, and ties. And the grown-ups were glad to know such a
reasonable man.</b></span></div><br />What can be conclude about the narrator at the end of the first chapter? That he is a sensible man, an educated and rational pilot but also at heart- he's still a child. He testes adults by showing them his old drawing. His inner child still lives!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2xFLz9XWU0scgNQWbjXpTSvL51IBqpkzpYIZhZBrkGNqsKtE9K7gWYZuAy1wm4yy30sSJHhkx0OWd2jaa_AZsZK8eWBq4nNbyqaU8-UsYxV1tAG7BMpmdyr_8VCANg_etkns3VnA-LxeGzlrG0tHMpIf1qQCxiUTodVUL6LlwJEu37Or4wc2i82UgtmM/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20quotes%20photos%20collage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2xFLz9XWU0scgNQWbjXpTSvL51IBqpkzpYIZhZBrkGNqsKtE9K7gWYZuAy1wm4yy30sSJHhkx0OWd2jaa_AZsZK8eWBq4nNbyqaU8-UsYxV1tAG7BMpmdyr_8VCANg_etkns3VnA-LxeGzlrG0tHMpIf1qQCxiUTodVUL6LlwJEu37Or4wc2i82UgtmM/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20quotes%20photos%20collage.jpg" /></a><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The second chapter opens up with a somber tone. The narrator informed us of his loneliness. This adult who is lonely even if he is among people, lonely because nobody understands his child's drawing, find himself isolated in literal and not only metaphorical sense. Our narrator has crashed in Sahara desert and it's a matter of life and death: </p><p><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">So I lived alone, with no one to talk to, until a breakdown in the Sahara desert six years
ago. Something had broken in my engine. And since I had neither a mechanic nor a
passenger with me, I prepared to try, by myself, to make a difficult reprieve. It was a
matter of life and death. I had hardly any water to drink for a week.</span></b></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoiUYT2PPq7WAAdMo_OUpx-dxgglzgz83sY4APMZOYOI3UGhPULB18SVsvzv1cqLEYnbsDFAtQEGqo2DohzBgXZ6KvYZUsnZ0UaLBFMGVKx6PDdaMJxtVHFr69LsLP13oDBFf9JfPgl0fLhdwD4HYzFekhM0M3f51RjSBFov5a-YLYD4KmMKE_nmpdUY/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20quotes%20mor%20blog%20invisible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoiUYT2PPq7WAAdMo_OUpx-dxgglzgz83sY4APMZOYOI3UGhPULB18SVsvzv1cqLEYnbsDFAtQEGqo2DohzBgXZ6KvYZUsnZ0UaLBFMGVKx6PDdaMJxtVHFr69LsLP13oDBFf9JfPgl0fLhdwD4HYzFekhM0M3f51RjSBFov5a-YLYD4KmMKE_nmpdUY/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20quotes%20mor%20blog%20invisible.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Once our narrator meets the little prince, the serious tone is met with a poetical one: </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The first night I fell asleep on the sand a thousand miles from any inhabited land. I was
much more isolated than a castaway on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Then you
imagine my surprise, at dawn, when a funny little voice woke me up. He said:
” Please draw me a sheep !
- Hein!
- Draw me a sheep… “
I jumped on my feet as if I had been struck by lightning. I rubbed my eyes well. I watched.
And I saw a very extraordinary little man who looked at me gravely. This is the best
portrait I later managed to make of him.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The narrator draws the little prince for the reader to see. The illustrations shows a young boy in a lavish costume. A friendship is immediately established, it seems. The narrator doesn't really question the reality of the little prince. He is there, so obviously he exists. Life is a reality to be experienced and lived, not a riddle to be solved, one could say. Still, the narrator is curious about the little prince.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbyG9sHLtEOEwRZC3yz2k62CVzUiecyJJ_1dG_pLAjMlhI2gghE8nNO1LTuTks9oVo_qssxkyI3pTInPq8YPKL88kqscpehmN3TpcHo7v2JA0IehkqRvf1HwMGz3g8KatTzpcBBXJkuL_vt8wtA3_QbW8ZVZRva_QEBjov89D9Crc4tpCPm6DKZB67ko/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20migration%20of%20wild%20birds%20mor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbyG9sHLtEOEwRZC3yz2k62CVzUiecyJJ_1dG_pLAjMlhI2gghE8nNO1LTuTks9oVo_qssxkyI3pTInPq8YPKL88kqscpehmN3TpcHo7v2JA0IehkqRvf1HwMGz3g8KatTzpcBBXJkuL_vt8wtA3_QbW8ZVZRva_QEBjov89D9Crc4tpCPm6DKZB67ko/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20migration%20of%20wild%20birds%20mor.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the author (narrator of the story) complains that he is unable to do the little prince justice, you have this feeling that he genuinely feels it. Why isn't he able to draw a prince the way he should be drawn? Is it because he lacks artistic skill? Is is about him being discouraged from making art. The following passage made me think of Picasso when he said that all children are artists, but the challenge is being an artist as an adult. </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">"But my drawing, of course, is much less ravishing than the model. It is not my fault. I had
been discouraged in my career as a painter by the grown-ups at the age of six, and I had
learned nothing to draw, except closed boas and open boas. "</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The narrator is almost mesmerized by the little prince. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">I looked at this apparition with eyes full of astonishment. Do not forget that I was a
thousand miles from any inhabited region. Now my little fellow seemed to me neither
astray, nor dead of fatigue, nor dead of hunger, nor death of thirst, nor dead of fear. He had
not the appearance of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any
inhabited region. When I finally succeeded in speaking, I said to him:
” What are you doing here ? “
And he repeated to me, very gently, as a very serious thing:
” Please draw me a sheep… “
When the mystery is too impressive, we do not dare to disobey. As absurd as it seemed to
me a thousand miles from all inhabited places and in danger of death, I took out of my
pocket a sheet of paper and a pen. But I remembered that I had studied geography, history,
calculation and grammar, and I told the little fellow (with a little bad humor) that I did not
know how to draw. He replied,
” It does not matter. Draw me a sheep. “
As I had never drawn a sheep, I thought of him as one of the only two drawings of which I
was capable. That of the boa closed. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow reply:
” No ! No ! I do not want an elephant in a boa. A boa is very dangerous, and an elephant is
very cumbersome. My place is tight. I need a sheep. Draw me a sheep.”</span></b></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTMuBMrheZcltGrQsHZM19JrGfnmN7V2N702IrYgKLqLL77KHDCM1KDjbNQ267UnLVuNijuisSrHzgl4g1yUPlf_ZIx_JdwlVGbRLA6Lq6OTSear962zqdzpprLcgXA0wmkqXjsKsa5tEV2BjGM5eqP4dMWq8n-4DA930N6JOYiARmnbor4Q_M8ZkAng/s3000/yellow%20mustard%20turtleneck%20knit%20vintage%20blazer%20doc%20martens.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTMuBMrheZcltGrQsHZM19JrGfnmN7V2N702IrYgKLqLL77KHDCM1KDjbNQ267UnLVuNijuisSrHzgl4g1yUPlf_ZIx_JdwlVGbRLA6Lq6OTSear962zqdzpprLcgXA0wmkqXjsKsa5tEV2BjGM5eqP4dMWq8n-4DA930N6JOYiARmnbor4Q_M8ZkAng/s16000/yellow%20mustard%20turtleneck%20knit%20vintage%20blazer%20doc%20martens.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The little prince upon some protests gets a satisfying drawing from the narrator. As readers, this reveals little prince as a being with imagination. The little prince has the innocence of a child. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">In the third chapter, we learn more about the little prince but we are left hungry for more.The way this novella is written, it really draws the reader into the story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>It took me a long time to understand where he came from. The little prince, who asked me
many questions, never seemed to hear mine. These are words spoken by chance that, little
by little, have revealed all to me. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>So when he saw my plane for the first time (I will not
draw my plane, it is a drawing too complicated for me) he asked me:
“What is that thing?” </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>- It’s not a thing. It flies. It’s a plane. This is my plane. “
And I was proud to tell him I was flying.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Then he exclaimed:
“How! You have fallen from heaven! </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>- Yes, I said modestly. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Ah! Now that’s funny… “
And the little prince had a very pretty burst of laughter, which irritated me very much. I
wish to take my misfortunes seriously. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The little prince doesn't take the narrator's misfortunes seriously. Maybe because to the little princes what is visible and rational is less important than what is non visible and felt rather than seen. The little prince is, in many ways, quite innocent. He doesn't know a lot about our world. In other ways, the little prince is quite wise. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Then he added:
“Then you too come from heaven!”</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> What planet are you from?
I caught a glimpse in the mystery of his presence, and I suddenly questioned:
“So you’re from another planet?”
But he did not answer me. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>He nodded softly as he looked at my plane:
“It’s true that you can not come very far from it.”
And he sank into a reverie that lasted for a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his
pocket, he plunged into the contemplation of his treasure.
You can imagine how intrigued I was by this half-confidence about “the other planets.” I
therefore endeavored to learn more:
“Where do you come from, my little fellow?” Where is “at home”? Where do you want to
take my sheep? </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>He replied after a meditative silence:
“What is good, with the box you gave me, is that, at night, it will serve him as a house."</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>...</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JRD0KvlBxRHroZJwXR1GHypNht___jarBLhmYU9O4oNaBBqqNpdiz82CoF6sCHy-ZUvV6fWWFyLHxhY_zUSi5qQy6nErThHXW_IvycbPUSswV_P-Y1jvCe8cVvpaw1yMhu6Gs_MVOU5904qpNdPL_Mx8N6nRxk53bwUbPqDjP1PHF8mmbGULi_sIxcA/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20art.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JRD0KvlBxRHroZJwXR1GHypNht___jarBLhmYU9O4oNaBBqqNpdiz82CoF6sCHy-ZUvV6fWWFyLHxhY_zUSi5qQy6nErThHXW_IvycbPUSswV_P-Y1jvCe8cVvpaw1yMhu6Gs_MVOU5904qpNdPL_Mx8N6nRxk53bwUbPqDjP1PHF8mmbGULi_sIxcA/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20art.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>“If someone loves a flower that only exists in one million and millions of stars, that’s
enough for him to be happy when he looks at them. He said to himself: “My flower is
there somewhere …” But if the sheep eats the flower, it is for him as if, suddenly, all the
stars were extinguished! And that’s not important! “</b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-p0AWRCaHU4Ce0dOMiiyi1ClL1x7rc7kknKT1RWD1UEokAiG7cellSSxm5vB0EUrRTJRcKp7hz98KO18JGTeHgo1nf0h9EbVmsHrCeM0xo-_YGnC257U1gG556Tq98CN5tigMthiO77nNgaf99WOWGpLOCt7maO9lBr33DUI8X2mKQcF64TLxq5h5Bk/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20review%20quotes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-p0AWRCaHU4Ce0dOMiiyi1ClL1x7rc7kknKT1RWD1UEokAiG7cellSSxm5vB0EUrRTJRcKp7hz98KO18JGTeHgo1nf0h9EbVmsHrCeM0xo-_YGnC257U1gG556Tq98CN5tigMthiO77nNgaf99WOWGpLOCt7maO9lBr33DUI8X2mKQcF64TLxq5h5Bk/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20review%20quotes.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">THE STORY OF THE FLOWER AND THE LITTLE PRINCE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">One of the most touching parts was the relationship between the prince and his flower. The narrator hears about it from the little prince himself. The little prince cares about the flower but he doesn't know how to show it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>I soon learned more about this flower. There had always been very simple flowers on the
planet of the little prince, adorned with a single row of petals, and which held no room,
and which did not disturb any one. They appeared one morning in the grass, and then they
were extinguished in the evening. But that one had germinated one day, of a seed brought
from somewhere, and the little prince had watched very closely that twig that did not
resemble the other twigs. It could be a new kind of baobab. But the shrub soon ceased to
grow, and began to prepare a flower. The little prince, who was watching the installation
of an enormous button, felt that a miraculous apparition would emerge, but the flower did
not finish preparing to be beautiful, sheltered from his green room . She carefully chose
her colors. She dressed slowly, she adjusted her petals one by one. She did not want to get
out of it all like the poppies. She wanted to appear only in the full radiance of her beauty.
Hey! Yes. She was very coquette! His mysterious dress had lasted days and days. And
then one morning, just at sunrise, she had shown herself.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>And she, who had worked so precisely, said in yawning:
“Ah! I’m just waking up … I beg your pardon … I’m still disheveled … “ </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The little prince, then, could not contain his admiration:
” How beautiful you are ! </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Is not that right,” the flower replied softly. And I was born at the same time as the sun …
“ </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>The little prince guessed that she was not too modest, but she was so moving! </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“It’s time, I think, for breakfast,” she would soon add, “would you have the kindness to
think of me?”
And the little prince, quite confused, having sought a watering-can of fresh water, had
served the flower.
So had she quickly tormented him by his somewhat shady vanity.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> One day, for example,
speaking of her four thorns, she had said to the little prince:
“They can come, the tigers, with their claws!
“</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>There are no tigers on my planet,” objected the little prince, “and then the tigers do not
eat grass.” </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>- I am not a grass, had gently replied the flower.
- Excuse me…
“I have no fear of tigers, but I hate currents of air.” You would not have a screen? “</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> “Horror of drafts … it is not luck, for a plant, had noticed the little prince. This flower is
very complicated … »
“In the evening you will put me under a globe. It’s very cold at home. It’s badly installed.
Where I come from… “
But she had interrupted herself. It had come in the form of a seed. She had not known
anything about other worlds. Humiliated at having allowed herself to be surprised at
preparing such a naive lie, she coughed two or three times to put the little prince into his
wrong:
“This screen?” …
- I was going to get him but you were talking to me! “
Then she had forced her cough to inflict remorse. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>Thus the little prince, notwithstanding the goodwill of his love, soon doubted her. He had
taken unimportant words seriously, and had become very unhappy.
“</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>I should not have listened to him,” he confided to me one day, “you must never listen to
flowers. You have to look at them and breathe them. Mine embalmed my planet, but I
could not rejoice. This story of claws, which had so annoyed me, should have tempted me
… “
He again confided to me:
“I did not understand anything! I should have judged her on the acts and not the words.
She embarrassed me and enlightened me. I should never have fled! I should have guessed
his tenderness behind his poor tricks. The flowers are so contradictory! But I was too
young to know how to love him. “</b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1_8zH7R61QNVt-FVtguZajKk8_sAKJyx67mKCJ7zXsZRKgNBtgJo7d56AyzhoAYxO8-m36ugraOYN_6gKpC33QcBZ6deov4MqOs94NWD7Rdl0YLCyLwKwjblETcSD7CYZ4L8YykgdD9mzQLkOlcAfNv_AQKSgIJ2K81Okjn_nJfdYC-3c7JCi4iO79JI/s3000/IMG_20231022_110701.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1_8zH7R61QNVt-FVtguZajKk8_sAKJyx67mKCJ7zXsZRKgNBtgJo7d56AyzhoAYxO8-m36ugraOYN_6gKpC33QcBZ6deov4MqOs94NWD7Rdl0YLCyLwKwjblETcSD7CYZ4L8YykgdD9mzQLkOlcAfNv_AQKSgIJ2K81Okjn_nJfdYC-3c7JCi4iO79JI/s16000/IMG_20231022_110701.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">THE LITTLE PRINCE MEETS A SERPENT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I also quite enjoyed reading about the little prince meeting with serpent. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“Good night,” said the little prince, at all hazards.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> “Good night,” said the serpent. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>- On what planet have I fallen? Asked the little prince.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> “On the Earth, in Africa,” replied the serpent. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“Ah! … So there is nobody on Earth? </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“Here is the desert.” There is no one in the deserts. The Earth is great, “says the serpent. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The little prince sat down on a stone and raised his eyes to the sky:
“I wonder,” he said, “if the stars are illuminated so that everyone can one day find his
own. Look at my planet. She’s just above us … But how far she is!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> “She is beautiful,” said the serpent. What are you doing here ? </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“I have difficulties with a flower,” said the little prince. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“Ah! The serpent said.
And they were silent. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuM9UhbdJT4E7n2Ho_LAMcDFAtVNyN_1n3c7H2BvF1zp1xyuzrf5DmoV6mdK2_RVcEeM9Wl0VeqgwzZEwIdhjzMr4IGul0aXK38Lj3NGFfcGmGjNC21Rce3Yv_8lxLnSsbaa3ixLeWkRsuDlxrHUSPTXamzDLWQ9b9pSR-NrO123ACjEKYgrYO8wfRozg/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20review%20mor%20blog%20the%20one.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuM9UhbdJT4E7n2Ho_LAMcDFAtVNyN_1n3c7H2BvF1zp1xyuzrf5DmoV6mdK2_RVcEeM9Wl0VeqgwzZEwIdhjzMr4IGul0aXK38Lj3NGFfcGmGjNC21Rce3Yv_8lxLnSsbaa3ixLeWkRsuDlxrHUSPTXamzDLWQ9b9pSR-NrO123ACjEKYgrYO8wfRozg/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20review%20mor%20blog%20the%20one.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">BUT THE SERPENT DOESN'T HARM THE LITTLE PRINCE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“But I am more powerful than the finger of a king,” said the serpent. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The little prince smiled:
“You’re not very powerful … you do not even have paws … you can not even travel … </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“I can carry you farther than a ship,” said the serpent.
He wrapped himself around the ankle of the little prince, like a gold bracelet:
“The one I touch, I return to the earth from which he came out,” he said again. But you are
pure and you come from a star … “ </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The little prince answered nothing.
“You pity me, you so weak, on this Granite Earth. I can help you someday if you regret
too much your planet. I can… "</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>"- Oh ! I understood very well, “said the little prince,” but why do you always speak in
riddles?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> “I will resolve them all,” said the serpent. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>And they fell silent.</i></div><br />The serpent offers him an easy way out (death), but the little prince is not interested. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3wK4dLDq15Wdz1xLDYF_okT_8kU3HhSIztqSyZ7m0nT_nIFsCy5vVN-AfhvkDirWLdhxt-rkEtcqR1t-U_oKRG8KlfNH2ujADMPkkkR3WO4T_we3TwulzRJIS4RSKAz0_PIixJKS0RpEa6spnjJHyyxSuF5qiKnLMhjhI0xt34c77aFl2WoE5SfioZ-o/s3000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20the%20one%20I%20touch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3wK4dLDq15Wdz1xLDYF_okT_8kU3HhSIztqSyZ7m0nT_nIFsCy5vVN-AfhvkDirWLdhxt-rkEtcqR1t-U_oKRG8KlfNH2ujADMPkkkR3WO4T_we3TwulzRJIS4RSKAz0_PIixJKS0RpEa6spnjJHyyxSuF5qiKnLMhjhI0xt34c77aFl2WoE5SfioZ-o/s16000/the%20little%20prince%20book%20the%20one%20I%20touch.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><p></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><b>THE LITTLE PRINCE, A NOVELLA BY ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY 5/5</b></span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Beautifully written, <i>The Little Prince</i> is an allegorical story that reads like a dreamy fairy-tale. This legendary tale of a pilot who meets and befriends a wonderful boy named 'Little Prince' in the desert, deserves its iconic status. Poignant with meaning and life lessons, it is a short read but a memorable one. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">I would recommend it to both children and adults. I first read it as an adult myself. I started reading it as a kid, but didn't manage to finish it. I kind of wish I had read it as a child, but maybe it is better this way for I think we all need to be reminded of the child within and not only for sentimental seasons. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">When you reread books that moved you as a kid, there is always that element of remembering what being a kid feels like. What is precious about this book is that even if you haven't read this book as a child yourself, you feel like you have, because it really evokes that child like innocence. Moreover, there is truly something timeless about this story. I actually bought a copy recently (with the original illustrations that I simply adore!) and gifted it to two children (a brother and a sister). May it serve them well! I have also listened to an audio-version of <i>The Little Prince</i> in Italian and it was wonderful. You can easily find and read this novella <a href="https://archive.org/details/TheLittlePrince-English" target="_blank">online</a>. It has been translated to many language. Highly recommended! The success this dreamy lyrical novella has enjoyed is much deserved!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”</b></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqS5FBsIvsxHqR7Onx0WqDlltrPzKnL0r6yi4KpZ-lBNJG6ntHl0pZX4FypOzdapQ1-p_ot7OCgLRr7MjaJZppwiW31xKa94fbvTNOKmZeZnMgDUgneYkHE1QBWHjM8-GWJV85uObSQPk_C07gEFJ6OR0KYnlQBIRoplobe21k40HloXP7cPgVxXyc7M0/s3000/mustard%20turtleneck%20modaodaradosti%20yoga%20pose%20in%20the%20forest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqS5FBsIvsxHqR7Onx0WqDlltrPzKnL0r6yi4KpZ-lBNJG6ntHl0pZX4FypOzdapQ1-p_ot7OCgLRr7MjaJZppwiW31xKa94fbvTNOKmZeZnMgDUgneYkHE1QBWHjM8-GWJV85uObSQPk_C07gEFJ6OR0KYnlQBIRoplobe21k40HloXP7cPgVxXyc7M0/s16000/mustard%20turtleneck%20modaodaradosti%20yoga%20pose%20in%20the%20forest.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">How are you doing? These photographs were taken about two weeks ago. I'm shopping my closet again. You can see me wearing this <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/04/outfits-4-being-tourist-in-mostar.html" target="_blank">yellow mustard turtleneck</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/11/one-year-living-in-jelsa-on-island-hvar.html" style="color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #757575; font-size: 15px;">, </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/11/inspired-bybloggers-shanaz-marisa.html" style="color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/11/art-update-fashion-illustrations.html" style="color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #757575; font-size: 15px;">.and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/11/my-name-is-red-novel-by-orhan-pamuk.html" target="_blank">here</a>, this <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/05/another-transitional-outfitjos-jedna.html" target="_blank">vintage cord blazer here</a> and his </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/11/revisiting-magnificent-hvar-town-in.html" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">gypsy skirt </a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/08/two-ways-to-style-red-flared-top-for.html" style="color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">he<span style="font-family: inherit;">re</span></a><span style="color: #757575; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;">, <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/03/3-ways-to-wear-gypsy-skirt-tri-nacina.html" style="color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2013/09/farewell-to-summer-outfit-postdovienja.html" style="color: #2196f3; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Balancing on a pole in <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/04/seventeen-ways-to-style-dr-martens-boots.html" target="_blank">doc martens boots</a> wasn't easy but I managed it. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></span>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-81887868467499928482023-11-22T11:40:00.000-08:002023-11-22T11:40:28.443-08:00MY NAME IS RED, A NOVEL BY ORHAN PAMUK (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;">Hello dear friends and fellow bloggers! I'm back with another reading recommendation. <i>My Name is Red </i>is a novel by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. Published in 1998, this lengthy postmodern historical novel focuses on a group of miniaturists working in sixteenth century Istanbul. Most of the major characters are a part of the same group of artists. The novel opens with a murder mystery. What follows is a story that has two main characters (protagonists if you will) but also subplots.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> There is a love story of sorts within this murder mystery, but <i>My Name is Red </i>is not a typical romance. It's, in many ways, a philosophical and detailed dive into Ottoman Empire. The realism of this novel is at times graphic (featuring graphic descriptions of violence) and at times dreamy (featuring poetical descriptions).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> <i>My Name is Red </i>often focuses on philosophical debates about the nature and purpose of art. It uses postmodernist writing techniques and is narrated by various characters, some of which are fantastical, for example a tree or a dog. The very first chapter is narrated by none other by a corpse- a man who was killed by an unknown killer. From then one, the novel switches narrators pretty much every chapter. Some readers might find this shifting narrative confusing, especially as the readers dive deeper into the intrigues. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Let me first state forthright that contrary to what we've often read in books and heard from preachers, when you are a woman, you don't feel like the Devil. ”</b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> There is self-awareness to this narrators. The narrators often address the reader directly. Some of narrators are unreliable narrators. Some are fantastic, for example a talking dog. However, the novel really flows once you get used to its magic realism. In many ways, <i>My Name is Red </i>invokes the magic realism, particularity magic realism of Latin American writers. At the same time, it is deeply rooted in Turkish culture. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i style="text-align: left;"><b>“For if a lover's face survives emblazoned on your heart, the world is still your home.”</b></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgTIpLY1YwQ6BF_obxdc-sDLVJeLrIVQpKmzjwt7-OTxeatM4d8eXFaWo7uJLt82kxA5mfRntA9qJrmKfyd9BVM3FUVVrMKsz8tnfT67CnNhXsmQknCKx_g6eIWWxLCNjkBVG87VrBRHwkF9aV8rCTfCea-4FYGyTQvR-0tk1gLlu4G3zcZ7Tkpz8nVQ/s4000/my%20name%20is%20red%20book%20review%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgTIpLY1YwQ6BF_obxdc-sDLVJeLrIVQpKmzjwt7-OTxeatM4d8eXFaWo7uJLt82kxA5mfRntA9qJrmKfyd9BVM3FUVVrMKsz8tnfT67CnNhXsmQknCKx_g6eIWWxLCNjkBVG87VrBRHwkF9aV8rCTfCea-4FYGyTQvR-0tk1gLlu4G3zcZ7Tkpz8nVQ/s16000/my%20name%20is%20red%20book%20review%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></span></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“…he quit drinking coffee, and naturally, his brain stopped working.”</b></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">When I first read this novel back in 2011, this is what I wrote: "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">I think it could have benefited from being shorter. It is not that I detest long novels, I just feel they should be long for all the right reasons. However, it is filled with such wonderful thoughts about art and life that minor faults can really be forgotten."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></p><p><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Before my birth there was infinite time, and after my death, inexhaustible time. I never thought of it before: I'd been living luminously between two eternities of darkness.”</b></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">I still stand by my words in the sense that I feel that the novel might be too long for most readers. However, I think a patient reader will be rewarded. This is not a novel for everyone, but there are many readers who will enjoy it.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">You might like this novel if you:</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- enjoy Pamuk's work in general or are familiar with it,</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- enjoy complicated narrative structures (or at least don't mind them),</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- don't mind characters addressing you as the reader,</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- like magic realism,</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- have an interest in Ottoman Empire,</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- enjoy philosophical debates about the nature of art,</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- are fascinated by the contrast between the East and the West, </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- don't mind lengthy descriptions and digressions, </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">- don't mind graphic details, descriptions of violence and some mature content.</span></span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-L2-Qxrqojr4Ul8U5zAAen9TxMXxcGFPYUWFg5ZbY1ox5GGMrXvzXKUIzc1Cz7VFn2mSVwrZJdLNJTL7yBGFwEUWbAzRZ6Yi3Xa9MxQ7RgbVxSAwVKNe6SEro7dQS5_ldIay3TvttLzcpSlKe4NiOKXPKFH68oBZpn1c22KAbhqjSA95uaiVMW9VDVk/s3000/my%20name%20is%20red%20modaodaradosti%20blogspot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-L2-Qxrqojr4Ul8U5zAAen9TxMXxcGFPYUWFg5ZbY1ox5GGMrXvzXKUIzc1Cz7VFn2mSVwrZJdLNJTL7yBGFwEUWbAzRZ6Yi3Xa9MxQ7RgbVxSAwVKNe6SEro7dQS5_ldIay3TvttLzcpSlKe4NiOKXPKFH68oBZpn1c22KAbhqjSA95uaiVMW9VDVk/s16000/my%20name%20is%20red%20modaodaradosti%20blogspot.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLBaI10mRu4N_EczKSm59vOKQ3hp_ZBp7H2Wu6iJ2oQ281agTddACh7yXMELYzHtz6WZqTG0wC3ZvvtHvk31onzMgzrnpIaIhKx7dnnu7fZvxvBb2Vgoyx0IJYmi-US-wNSr_TgnhYvufR1M_xYszDKUj8kKCL8Og45-xGmRd4QLdqsVKUyK5CeZBK2E/s3000/my%20name%20is%20red%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20painting%20is%20quote.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLBaI10mRu4N_EczKSm59vOKQ3hp_ZBp7H2Wu6iJ2oQ281agTddACh7yXMELYzHtz6WZqTG0wC3ZvvtHvk31onzMgzrnpIaIhKx7dnnu7fZvxvBb2Vgoyx0IJYmi-US-wNSr_TgnhYvufR1M_xYszDKUj8kKCL8Og45-xGmRd4QLdqsVKUyK5CeZBK2E/s16000/my%20name%20is%20red%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20painting%20is%20quote.jpg" /></a></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">PAINTING IS THE SILENCE OF THOUGHT AND THE MUSIC OF SIGHT</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">This novel has some of the most beautiful quotes. It's a highly quotable novel! At times the poetry of its prose is simply magnificent. It's the kind of book that makes you think. </span></span></p><p>WHAT IS IT TO BE A COLOUR?</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“I hear the question upon your lips: What is it to be a colour?</b></i></span></p><p><span><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Colour is the touch of the eye, music to the deaf, a word out of the darkness. Because I’ve listened to souls whispering – like the susurrus of the wind – from book to book and object to object for tens or thousands of years, allow me to say that my touch resembles the touch of angels. Part of me, the serious half, calls out to your vision while the mirthful half sours through the air with your glances.</span></b></span></i></span></p><p><span><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2mOZuCN1ABFBoOMje5mCqrCrljW178h4sy2mSBFE1GgTKJIU9554I04J3widPI_iDAm26MCjA-nItZsK-wUCnPPoZPlpZEzDBdFMwl7TX1_T_O7aqfnqkgPgXIc9K2GTZ1AePXfTyLimxld3ZMoJRA5Vs9-EviPn_AJD0MVL4w5tkFl-h8NpW2ZxCT4/s3000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20QUOTES.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2mOZuCN1ABFBoOMje5mCqrCrljW178h4sy2mSBFE1GgTKJIU9554I04J3widPI_iDAm26MCjA-nItZsK-wUCnPPoZPlpZEzDBdFMwl7TX1_T_O7aqfnqkgPgXIc9K2GTZ1AePXfTyLimxld3ZMoJRA5Vs9-EviPn_AJD0MVL4w5tkFl-h8NpW2ZxCT4/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20QUOTES.jpg" /></a></span></p><p><span><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /></b></span><br />I'M SO FORTUNATE TO BE RED!</i></span></p><p><i>This novel is named after one colour- and his colour actually addresses the reader. The colour of blood is also the colour of love and life. It's not just any red that addresses the reader- it's bold red. It is full of energy and kind of full of itself too. When you read the novel, you'll understand what I mean.</i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br style="background-color: white;" /><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">I’m so fortunate to be red! I’m fiery. I’m strong. I know men take notice of me and that I cannot be resisted.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">I do not conceal myself: For me, delicacy manifests itself neither in weakness nor in subtlety, but through determination and will. So, I draw attention to myself. I’m not afraid of other colours, shadows, crowds or even of loneliness. How wonderful it is to cover a surface that awaits me with my own victorious being! Wherever I’m spread, I see eyes shine, passions increase, eyebrows rise and heartbeats quicken. Behold how wonderful it is to live! Behold how wonderful to see. I am everywhere. Life begins with and returns to me. Have faith in what I tell you.”</span></span></b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg32mgbrgi9s4dBafW_7lSr3QWvulYwFfHgeXDbB3LXvis6uG-YbbK9pazNqQWop9k-vJRuWgdJ9Eg6Vyg_Vjy1ipN7VNqSOt2S36bMpq3JlwzdsVLy0hHAMRizzwm-spXZX0rRiO3ngkAb9XZYEzQ-VGT1RbtMIDH2coPSOBIRJYGz_81a5h65I7AZl0c/s3000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20QUOTES%20I'M%20FORTUNATE%20TO%20BE%20RED.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg32mgbrgi9s4dBafW_7lSr3QWvulYwFfHgeXDbB3LXvis6uG-YbbK9pazNqQWop9k-vJRuWgdJ9Eg6Vyg_Vjy1ipN7VNqSOt2S36bMpq3JlwzdsVLy0hHAMRizzwm-spXZX0rRiO3ngkAb9XZYEzQ-VGT1RbtMIDH2coPSOBIRJYGz_81a5h65I7AZl0c/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20QUOTES%20I'M%20FORTUNATE%20TO%20BE%20RED.jpg" /></a></span></p><p><br /></p><p>WHAT WAS LIKE READING<i> MY NAME IS RED</i> FOR THE THIRD TIME?</p><p>I started rereading this novel about a month or so ago. I must admit that I skimmed it towards the end because the whole murder mystery and intrigue didn't interest me that much. The characters also left me a bit cold. I felt like I learned what I could from them the first time around.</p><p>I LOVE HOW UNIQUE THIS NOVEL FEELS</p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“The larger and more colorful a city is, the more places there are to hide one's guilt and sin; the more crowded it is, the more people there are to hide behind.”</b></span></i></p><p><br /></p><p>I do like how bold this novel is at times, with all its experimental and postmodernist writing techniques and all. It's an unique bland of old and new. Set in 16th century, it really conveys that historical feeling. You can see that the writer really knows his stuff. Pamuk goes into great detail describing the life in Istanbul during Ottoman Empire. His knowledge of Eastern art techniques is truly impressive. </p><p><br /></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“As in many other cities, money no longer had any value in Istanbul. At the time I returned from the East, bakeries that once sold large one-hundred drachma loaves of bread for one silver coin now baked loaves half the size for the same price, and they no longer tasted the way they did during my childhood.”</b></span></i></p><p>As a reader, you do really feel like you're transported back in time. In that sense, the novel is authentically historical. For example, women are very restricted in their movements. You see all the characters acting if they really belonged to and lived in some other past times. It's not just that the culture described feels genuinely unique, it is also that it feels genuinely historic. </p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“A city's intellect ought to be measured not by its scholars, libraries, miniaturists, calligraphers and schools, but by the number of crimes insidiously committed on its dark streets over thousands of years.”</span></i></p><p><br /></p><p> At the same time, there's the magic realism. There is a Jewish woman who is illiterate but reads letters of lovers, serving as a bridge between characters:</p><p><i style="color: #181818;">“A letter doesn't communicate by words alone. A letter, just like a book, can be read by smelling it, touching it and fondling it. Thereby, intelligent folk will say, 'Go on then, read what the letter tells you!' whereas the dull-witted will say, 'Go on then, read what he's written!”</i></p><p>There are people looking for answers and those wanting to give them: </p><p><br /></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I'm a dog, and because you humans are much less rational beasts than I, you're telling yourselves, 'Dogs don't talk.' </span>Nevertheless<span style="font-family: inherit;">, you seem to believe a story in which corpses speak and characters use words they couldn't possibly know. Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”</span></span></i></p><p><br /></p><p>Some narrators just want to tell their story, some want to teach us a lesson, and some perhaps both:</p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Maybe you've heard the story of the man who was so driven by this curiosity that he roamed among soldiers in battlefields. He sought a man who had died and returned to life amid the wounded struggling for their lives in pools of blood, a soldier who could tell him about the secrets of the Otherworld. But one of Tamerlane's warriors, taking the seeker for one of the enemy, cleared him in half with a smooth stroke of his scimitar, causing him to conclude that in the Hereafter man is split in two.”</span></i></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzQjUVpa3eNLBPfxUcsMG2_oJmGa0Haas-Jk7qW1ZGVwWtNswmBtfjbtQ-g_ZkLnaZDc-o6PjPWlXEZ3AZ1X7gBcB-EJKKzA2bT-q-TQv0QKaUuLOSMZ989_BVpd1YpWPFc70oo9utNBRdIr75GD8ICLhjI6oJcYnM01LgjAC7IYWuv9-sJ86Rw5hj7M/s4000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20MOR%20BLOG%20READING.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzQjUVpa3eNLBPfxUcsMG2_oJmGa0Haas-Jk7qW1ZGVwWtNswmBtfjbtQ-g_ZkLnaZDc-o6PjPWlXEZ3AZ1X7gBcB-EJKKzA2bT-q-TQv0QKaUuLOSMZ989_BVpd1YpWPFc70oo9utNBRdIr75GD8ICLhjI6oJcYnM01LgjAC7IYWuv9-sJ86Rw5hj7M/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20MOR%20BLOG%20READING.jpg" /></a></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></p><p>READING THIS NOVEL AS A PAINTER FELT DIFFERENT!</p><p>This rereading made me focus on all the Art talk. I remember talking about this novel back in 2011 with a fellow student (yes, back then I was still in school) and saying how this novel taught me to look at Eastern art with new eyes.</p><p>Now, reading about Art felt even more intense this time. Maybe because I'm a sort of a painter myself now. People commission art from me. So, I definitely payed even more attention to all those profound Art discussions. Some of those art quotes really stayed with me.</p><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“To know is to remember that you've seen. To see is to know without remembering. Thus painting is remembering the blackness.”</span><br /></b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“It is indeed important that a painting, through its beauty, summon us toward life’s abundance, toward compassion, toward respect for the colors of the realm which God created, and toward reflection and faith. The identity of the miniaturist is not important.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br /><span id="quote_book_link_5358372" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b>“A great painter does not content himself by affecting us with his masterpieces; ultimately, he succeeds in changing the landscape of our minds. Once a miniaturist’s artistry enters our souls this way, it becomes the criterion for the beauty of our world.”</b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“In the realm of book arts, whenever a masterpiece is made, whenever a splendid picture makes my eyes water out of joy and causes a chill to run down my spine, I can be certain of the following: Two styles never brought together have come together to create something new and wondrous.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /></b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXzVQmS18IVWfHKoXsf1Te8P_MiLiEc7HRzTg3jGL-L_a_x1IxTkW6iyZT5aLeeBMmVqkc8gFA-8SwlsXNruu-GAeow-DcoE4jJDiHwwUNTCPEvcD9EJAhF-2wRbzSNBY60-VyoeI9iazcKTsthL4sEW1KfJyuwJvJP2VGxI54cZ4ma93VnauvV9ui0P4/s3264/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20QUOTES%20WHERE%20THERE%20IS%20TRUE%20ART.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXzVQmS18IVWfHKoXsf1Te8P_MiLiEc7HRzTg3jGL-L_a_x1IxTkW6iyZT5aLeeBMmVqkc8gFA-8SwlsXNruu-GAeow-DcoE4jJDiHwwUNTCPEvcD9EJAhF-2wRbzSNBY60-VyoeI9iazcKTsthL4sEW1KfJyuwJvJP2VGxI54cZ4ma93VnauvV9ui0P4/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20QUOTES%20WHERE%20THERE%20IS%20TRUE%20ART.jpg" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic;">“In actuality, we don't look for smiles in pictures of bliss, but rather, for the happiness in life itself. Painters know this, but this is preciously what they cannot depict. That's why they substitute the joy of seeing for the joy of life.”</span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“A miniaturist creates his art by heeding his conscience and by obeying the principles in which he believes, fearing nothing. he pays no attention to what his enemies, the zealots and those who envy him have to say.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /></i></span></div><div><br /></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic;">“An illustration that does not complement a story, in the end, will become but a false idol. Since we cannot possibly believe in an absent story, we will naturally begin believing in the picture itself.”</span></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Where there is a true art and genuine virtuosity the artist can paint an incomparable masterpiece without leaving even a trace of his identity.”</span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></p><p>WHAT LOVE IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE!</p><p>I have to admit that the ending, albeit realistic, felt a bit too anti-climatic. Still, I enjoyed the story of Black and his beloved Sugar!</p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“We embraced. This so pleased me that I felt no guilt. I let myself be borne away by sweet emotion. I hugged him tighter. I let him kiss me, and I kissed him back. And as we kissed, it was as if the entire world had entered a gentle twilight. I wished everybody could embrace each other the way we did. I faintly recalled that love was supposed to be like this.”</span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic;">“Maybe you've understood by now that for men like myself, that is, melancholy men for whom love, agony, happiness and misery are just excuses for maintaining eternal loneliness, life offers neither great joy nor great sadness.”</span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMf8sXusHXC5njZzspYxYkdCwXZtuU_fEKjLyJOh0ebQw4t9987s_ysPtrzV6kfOeQKUY-kxZxXxxhePBo14UXsCgt3dfkwndTwfaPBiLmdUhsJKUI1yaxS-QSgG1jeY0nvbiBsAnCublFNPGvbQqpopMamxqsKaGxcvAn_u36B9PRqhI__ext-ncNjc4/s3264/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20MAGIC%20REALISM%20QUOTES.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMf8sXusHXC5njZzspYxYkdCwXZtuU_fEKjLyJOh0ebQw4t9987s_ysPtrzV6kfOeQKUY-kxZxXxxhePBo14UXsCgt3dfkwndTwfaPBiLmdUhsJKUI1yaxS-QSgG1jeY0nvbiBsAnCublFNPGvbQqpopMamxqsKaGxcvAn_u36B9PRqhI__ext-ncNjc4/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20MAGIC%20REALISM%20QUOTES.jpg" /></a></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></p><p>MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR (CITED FROM <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Orhan-Pamuk" target="_blank">BRITANNICA</a>)</p><p class="topic-paragraph" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: var(--paragraph-margin-bottom); margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: var(--font-weight-bold);">Orhan Pamuk</span>, (born June 7, 1952, Istanbul, Turkey), Turkish novelist, best known for works that <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="probe" data-type="EB" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/probe" style="border-bottom: 2px dotted var(--blue); box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none !important;">probe</a> Turkish identity and history. He was awarded the <a class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nobel-Prize" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nobel Prize</a> for Literature in 2006.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="marker p1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a;"></span><span class="marker AM1 am-inline" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a;"></span><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a;"></span></span></p><p class="topic-paragraph" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: var(--paragraph-margin-bottom); margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Raised in a wealthy and Western-oriented family, Pamuk attended Robert College, an American school in <a class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Istanbul" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Istanbul</a>, and went on to study architecture at Istanbul Technical University. After three years he dropped out and devoted himself full-time to <a class="md-crosslink autoxref" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/writing" style="box-sizing: border-box;">writing</a>. In 1977 he graduated from the University of Istanbul with a degree in <a class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/journalism" style="box-sizing: border-box;">journalism</a>. From 1985 to 1988 he lived in the <a class="md-crosslink autoxref" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" style="box-sizing: border-box;">United States</a> and was a visiting scholar at <a class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Columbia-University" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Columbia University</a> in <a class="md-crosslink autoxref" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state" style="box-sizing: border-box;">New York</a> and the <a class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Iowa" style="box-sizing: border-box;">University of Iowa</a>. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pamuk began writing seriously in 1974 and eight years later published his first </span><a class="md-crosslink autoxref" data-show-preview="true" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">novel</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><span id="ref897052" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span>Cevdet Bey ve oğulları</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (“Cevdet Bey and His Sons”), a sweeping history of an Istanbul family during and after the establishment of the Turkish republic. He followed it with </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Sessiz ev</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1983; </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><span id="ref1184845" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span>Silent House</em><span style="font-family: inherit;">), relying on multiple narrators to shape the story of a family gathering on the eve of the Turkish military </span><a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="coup" data-type="EB" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/coup" style="border-bottom: 2px dotted var(--blue); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none !important;">coup</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> of 1980. Pamuk first achieved international fame with </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Beyaz kale</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1985; </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><span id="ref897053" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><a class="md-crosslink" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-White-Castle" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The White Castle</a></em><span style="font-family: inherit;">), his third novel, which explores the nature of identity through the story of a learned young Italian captured and made a slave to a scholar in 17th-century Istanbul. His subsequent novels, which were widely translated, included </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Kara kitap</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1990; </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">The Black Book</em><span style="font-family: inherit;">), a dense depiction of Istanbul, and the mysteries </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Yeni hayat</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1996; </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">The New Life</em><span style="font-family: inherit;">) and </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Benim adım kırmızı</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1998; </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">My Name Is Red</em><span style="font-family: inherit;">).</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #181818;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWI6xq-8dF3LUP-B8NOdxZex7ziTcD-yLjI5uP7Y3YW7lVxUMILMBMTLOtz1EFBPVXKeHjX1eE8buun5fuFMByT0-oQFARtl-ghdgemMQGNo4OAwFRG4sPr2PMiqnxTUOBp_xrWL9sGEXAVJTINyKFL7cAWoP8p1fqPIMYFfnHNppSZmZZxh18yjzoq4/s3000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20BLACK%20MOR%20BLOG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWI6xq-8dF3LUP-B8NOdxZex7ziTcD-yLjI5uP7Y3YW7lVxUMILMBMTLOtz1EFBPVXKeHjX1eE8buun5fuFMByT0-oQFARtl-ghdgemMQGNo4OAwFRG4sPr2PMiqnxTUOBp_xrWL9sGEXAVJTINyKFL7cAWoP8p1fqPIMYFfnHNppSZmZZxh18yjzoq4/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20BLACK%20MOR%20BLOG.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><span style="color: #181818;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>MORE MAGIC REALISM READING RECOMMENDATIONS</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-book-review-blackberry-wine-by-joanne.html" target="_blank">BLACKBERRY WINE</a> BY J.HARRIS</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/12/ivanas-holiday-reading-recommendations.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>SWIFT AS DESIRE BY LAURA ESQUIVEL</b></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/autumn-outfit-and-book-review-east-west.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>EAST, WEST BY SALMAN RUSHDIE </b></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/kafka-on-shore-novel-by-haruki-murakami.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/12/kafka-on-shore-novel-by-haruki-murakami.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>KAFKA ON THE SHORE BY MURAKAMI</b></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2019/02/reading-update-new-finds-mario-vargas.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER BY MARGIO VAGAS LLOSA</b></span></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/09/of-love-and-shadows-isabel-allende.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">OF LOVE AND SHADOWS BY ISABEL ALLENDE</span></b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/02/reading-update-robert-thorogood-bianca.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">OF LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS, BY GABRIEL MARCIA MARQUEZ </span></b></a></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtL-Noclf7COOZfnF4VuQjZ-lUuuDWRHbRAkphv8ouRXfMw0w_WyswgJ2lpVMV7T7iKCAg3yaZmzd2DKOaJmyBpI9N2ZjW_IWpLdlPXqCg3YPE2uRn6ycCTSPkM4FFCth03JKL4og6veJzOGFY3gEr6hpd6wQNgtNs0uPFZwi8NSfMF3n78338nfqqY_E/s3000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20IT%20SEEEMED%20TO%20ME.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtL-Noclf7COOZfnF4VuQjZ-lUuuDWRHbRAkphv8ouRXfMw0w_WyswgJ2lpVMV7T7iKCAg3yaZmzd2DKOaJmyBpI9N2ZjW_IWpLdlPXqCg3YPE2uRn6ycCTSPkM4FFCth03JKL4og6veJzOGFY3gEr6hpd6wQNgtNs0uPFZwi8NSfMF3n78338nfqqY_E/s16000/MY%20NAME%20IS%20RED%20IT%20SEEEMED%20TO%20ME.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>MORE MEMORABLE QUOTES</i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“...it seemed to me that the entire world was like a palace with countless rooms whose doors opened into one another. We were able to pass from one room to the next only by exercising out memories and imaginations, but most of us, in our laziness, rarely exercised these capacities, and forever remained in the same room....”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /></i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“...The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion; if you want to live in the paradise where happy mares and stallion live, open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony.”</span><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span id="quote_book_link_2517" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“We passed through forests of fire, forded rivers of light and forged dark seas and mountains of snow and ice.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Each crossing took us thousands of years, though it seemed no more than the blink of an eye.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br /><span id="quote_book_link_2517" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrELVIuokz05GRMuB6fSs0hakqXrwo4KzXeUqj_gsXozF7iTh6YEzLAUun-bBA2aR95rGqW9Yo36RYbbBQpsdfhVLnftmh1SB8MAYT_69C3LJxoqid0fOgeppBKdMRcAskFVQBtXLijcKRa97MxnwXjJRk291lQokaixf07DKgU2425vNGjfeHWl2IKPw/s3000/white%20blazer%20styling%20mostar%20heels%20edi%20skirt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrELVIuokz05GRMuB6fSs0hakqXrwo4KzXeUqj_gsXozF7iTh6YEzLAUun-bBA2aR95rGqW9Yo36RYbbBQpsdfhVLnftmh1SB8MAYT_69C3LJxoqid0fOgeppBKdMRcAskFVQBtXLijcKRa97MxnwXjJRk291lQokaixf07DKgU2425vNGjfeHWl2IKPw/s16000/white%20blazer%20styling%20mostar%20heels%20edi%20skirt.jpg" /></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;">Anyhow, I presented two outfits to you today. One suitable for warm autumn days and one for colder ones. Both outfits feature the same<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2022/04/happy-easter-weekend-everyone-wiwt.html" target="_blank"> wool silk skirt with red details</a>. I had to have red details for this book review. Interestingly, I often wear this skirt when I post about books. For example, see this post from <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/darkness-and-light-tama-i-svijetlo.html" target="_blank">2016</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How are you doing? Last weekend, </span>I have finally found some time to catch up with my blogging friends. I always have a dozen posts in my drafts, but I don't like to post when I'm not around. Automatic posting just isn't for me, you know. I like to post when I can be actually present in the blogging world. </div><div><br /></div></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-79839031748442614642023-11-18T14:59:00.000-08:002023-11-21T10:38:49.168-08:00THE ROSE TATTOO, A PLAY BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this post, I shall review<i> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/04/they-find-god-in-each-other.html" target="_blank">The Rose Tattoo</a></i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/04/they-find-god-in-each-other.html" target="_blank">,</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/02/repose-pribranost.html" target="_blank">a play</a> by<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/this-sort-of-freedom-is-not-chaos-nor.html" target="_blank"> </a></span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/this-sort-of-freedom-is-not-chaos-nor.html" target="_blank">Tennessee</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/this-sort-of-freedom-is-not-chaos-nor.html" target="_blank"> Williams</a>. It's one of his lesser known plays, but it is not lesser in any other way. There's also a movie version I haven't watched and therefore cannot comment on. I haven't actually seen this play on stage, but I have imagined it. I've also read it a number of times. Some say you cannot understand a play without seeing it on stage, but I think it depends on the play. Some plays are very readable. All </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/this-sort-of-freedom-is-not-chaos-nor.html" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2014/02/this-sort-of-freedom-is-not-chaos-nor.html" target="_blank">Tennessee</a> Williams's<span style="font-family: inherit;"> plays are that way for me. When I read them, I both see and feel them. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I actually wrote this review years ago.</span>You could say it's one of those books that have stayed with me and that I remember fondly.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> It's been sitting in my blog </span>archives<span style="font-family: inherit;">, waiting for the right moment to be presented to my readers. I think I have found a suitable outfit to publish this book review with.</span> I'm shopping my closet once again. I'm wearing a vintage red dress paired with matching boots. I paired these two items with a vintage beige blazer (I painted the hearts myself) and a mini grey bag. With all the red in this look, I think I'm matching with the play that is all about love. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8hiQ0fEn4gS4ziL1flDU6jKm4gW7Xm6t4JJ12HQvMpMfC9cEFQQ_4vUpDQThRTaJad3SxqkSSxkpjnOHIiAlvupcfrrcSKfa5En-z2VQ2yPre1zdtFFttjs48iE6Qe0QTGWyVh0UZ4wS5fZ_TDLb-bc_7dSuvK9mJXumqNw1MnnEQu4T2N8ZevENVmw/s3000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20red%20dress%20beige%20blazer%20diy%20mini%20bag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8hiQ0fEn4gS4ziL1flDU6jKm4gW7Xm6t4JJ12HQvMpMfC9cEFQQ_4vUpDQThRTaJad3SxqkSSxkpjnOHIiAlvupcfrrcSKfa5En-z2VQ2yPre1zdtFFttjs48iE6Qe0QTGWyVh0UZ4wS5fZ_TDLb-bc_7dSuvK9mJXumqNw1MnnEQu4T2N8ZevENVmw/s16000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20red%20dress%20beige%20blazer%20diy%20mini%20bag.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BpKjwzn4HCQqafQivzOaUxe0z1PjqBTAHWmvygVSaqNyWAgDMLozLimeYv3QzhMl2sHu1ugfBXTbWh0vwSejzrU-XT7cfbbA9bj7gMhln8sG2Br3KGRJ7y8J0Aw4MKybOPFUcuNhpv5wjVb9iHn8E5lQHMHsdCFy2LpQhRKPX_Mueg_f5kxm4hSro_4/s3000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20a%20play%20by%20t%20williams.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BpKjwzn4HCQqafQivzOaUxe0z1PjqBTAHWmvygVSaqNyWAgDMLozLimeYv3QzhMl2sHu1ugfBXTbWh0vwSejzrU-XT7cfbbA9bj7gMhln8sG2Br3KGRJ7y8J0Aw4MKybOPFUcuNhpv5wjVb9iHn8E5lQHMHsdCFy2LpQhRKPX_Mueg_f5kxm4hSro_4/s16000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20a%20play%20by%20t%20williams.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>AN EXHIBITION THAT PORTRAYED NUMEROUS CROATIAN ARTISTS POSING BY THEIR WORKS<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I wore this red and beige styling for a stroll with my husband. We also visited a photography exhibition focused on showcasing Croatian painters and sculptures. It was very interesting!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWO9Y-h9zw27njlBY9ofoYP2VPDvAFfof2je4jFknVq-CiQikJj9jGgnEgEzy3YZdkyrwlD9fJhaqH-Qg2qt3oPq8tLsFxE4eiEEXKxbE_lA9zfdpePg4we_FVNnqWX1WaltIsmdbRMaJN3-VVPcL02T2UGdxvNJdaUiZiFxLOutrviWcTBu06APitZM/s3000/IMG_20231021_124420.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWO9Y-h9zw27njlBY9ofoYP2VPDvAFfof2je4jFknVq-CiQikJj9jGgnEgEzy3YZdkyrwlD9fJhaqH-Qg2qt3oPq8tLsFxE4eiEEXKxbE_lA9zfdpePg4we_FVNnqWX1WaltIsmdbRMaJN3-VVPcL02T2UGdxvNJdaUiZiFxLOutrviWcTBu06APitZM/s16000/IMG_20231021_124420.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAcZrYUrrMXdNECMUwTZrnJ_RQGcQWE3gIV6aN38p8AAX40MVaQrHuO9Mu5FPvJAAaazDgN5IqkHt37ZIvtvX2fichHLEz7bf6petfNU-rGltROpAxqjIPWrQO5xsYrVXukAQRerer3FVQOodWsZPAB5ZvHS1wnvTWU1JRrqQ5IrTgMpmG5VbQX0tJkI/s3000/IMG_20231021_124431.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAcZrYUrrMXdNECMUwTZrnJ_RQGcQWE3gIV6aN38p8AAX40MVaQrHuO9Mu5FPvJAAaazDgN5IqkHt37ZIvtvX2fichHLEz7bf6petfNU-rGltROpAxqjIPWrQO5xsYrVXukAQRerer3FVQOodWsZPAB5ZvHS1wnvTWU1JRrqQ5IrTgMpmG5VbQX0tJkI/s16000/IMG_20231021_124431.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">MORE ABOUT TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (CITED FROM <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/tennessee-williams" target="_blank">POETRY FOUNDATION</a>):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;">Playwright Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. After studying at the University of Missouri in Columbia and Washington University in St. Louis, he earned a BA from the University of Iowa in 1938. He then moved to New Orleans, one of two places where he was for the rest of his life to feel at home. The production of his first two Broadway plays, </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Glass Menagerie</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> (1945) and </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Streetcar Named Desire</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> (1947), secured his place, along with Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, as one of America’s major playwrights of the 20th century. Critics, playgoers, and fellow dramatists recognized in Williams a poetic innovator who, refusing to be confined in what Stark Young in the </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New Republic</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> called “the usual sterilities of our playwriting patterns,” pushed drama into new fields, stretched the limits of the individual play and became one of the founders of the so-called “New Drama.” Praising </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Glass Menagerie</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> “as a revelation of what superb theater could be,” Brooks Atkinson in </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broadway</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> asserted that “Williams’s remembrance of things past gave the theater distinction as a literary medium.” 20 years later, Joanne Stang wrote in the </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> that “the American theater, indeed theater everywhere, has never been the same” since the premier of </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Glass Menagerie.</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> Four decades after that first play, C.W.E. Bigsby in </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> termed it “one of the best works to have come out of the American theater.” </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Streetcar Named Desire</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> became only the second play in history to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Eric Bentley, in </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What Is Theatre?</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;">, called it the “master-drama of the generation.” “The inevitability of a great work of art,” T.E. Kalem stated in Albert J. Devlin’s </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conversations with Tennessee Williams</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;">, “is that you cannot imagine the time when it didn’t exist. You can’t imagine a time when </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Streetcar</em><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="background-color: white;"> didn’t exist.”</span></span><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Williams drew from the experiences of his persona. He saw himself as a shy, sensitive, gifted man trapped in a world where “mendacity” replaced communication, brute violence replaced love, and loneliness was, all too often, the standard human condition. These tensions “at the core of his creation” were identified by Harold Clurman in his introduction to </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Tennessee Williams: Eight Plays</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> as a terror at what Williams saw in himself and in America, a terror that he must “exorcise” with “his poetic vision.” In an interview collected in </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Conversations with Tennessee Williams</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">, Williams identified his main theme as a defense of the Old South attitude—”elegance, a love of the beautiful, a romantic attitude toward life”—and “a violent protest against those things that defeat it.” An idealist aware of what he called in a </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Conversations</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> interview “the merciless harshness of America’s success-oriented society,” he was, ironically, naturalistic as well, conscious of the inaccessibility of that for which he yearned. Early on, he developed, according to John Gassner in </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Theatre at the Crossroads: Plays and Playwrights of the Mid-Century American Stage,</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> “a precise naturalism” and continued to work toward a “fusion of naturalistic detail with symbolism and poetic sensibility rare in American playwriting.” The result was a unique romanticism, as Kenneth Tynan observed in </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Curtains,</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> “which is not pale or scented but earthy and robust, the product of a mind vitally infected with the rhythms of human speech.”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">Williams’s characters endeavor to embrace the ideal, to advance and not “hold back with the brutes,” a struggle no less valiant for being vain. In <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Streetcar Named Desire</em>, Blanche’s idealization of life at Belle Reve, the DuBois plantation, cannot protect her once, in the words of the brutish Stanley Kowalski, she has come “down off them columns” into the “broken world,” the world of sexual desire. Since every human, as Val Xavier observes in <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Orpheus Descending</em>, is sentenced “to solitary confinement inside our own lonely skins for as long as we live on earth,” the only hope is to try to communicate, to love, and to live—even beyond despair, as <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Night of the Iguana</em> teaches. The attempt to communicate often takes the form of sex (and Williams has been accused of obsession with that aspect of human existence), but at other times it becomes a willingness to show compassion, as when in <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Night of the Iguana</em> Hannah Jelkes accepts the neuroses of her fellow creatures and when in <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</em>, Big Daddy understands, as his son Brick cannot, the attachment between Brick and Skipper. In his preface to <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</em>, Williams might have been describing his characters’ condition when he spoke of “the outcry of prisoner to prisoner from the cell in solitary where each is confined for the duration of his life.” “The marvel is,” as Tynan stated, that Williams’s “abnormal” view of life, “heightened and spotlighted and slashed with bogey shadows,” can be made to touch his audience’s more normal views, thus achieving that “miracle of communication” Williams believed to be almost impossible.</span></div></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 22px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 22px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 22px; text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97sM6rXuWLF1iVkRvuOCejhK1jS4IX_HhSEOyZfUitJKf1bz_PXytlmsVLIdtN3iT7nMBJkOjrYIFtP5ERr90QSFyHpSafxYoVjrc5JVIuyhDsbwuxJ4GeyDsVA_ttLCb5T0-K_iQPclSVwA9GHGknTfNVWBVW-1QMNvgeWnd2cUiGBR4MtOrx5r9bIA/s3000/IMG_20231021_124522.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97sM6rXuWLF1iVkRvuOCejhK1jS4IX_HhSEOyZfUitJKf1bz_PXytlmsVLIdtN3iT7nMBJkOjrYIFtP5ERr90QSFyHpSafxYoVjrc5JVIuyhDsbwuxJ4GeyDsVA_ttLCb5T0-K_iQPclSVwA9GHGknTfNVWBVW-1QMNvgeWnd2cUiGBR4MtOrx5r9bIA/s16000/IMG_20231021_124522.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I ABSOLUTELY LOVE TENNESSE WILLIAMS!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">I have this thing about Tennessee. I had read all of his plays (and a few of his biographies as well). I suppose it could be said that somewhere along the way I just fell in love with his style of writing. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">READ MY REVIEW FOR<i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/04/an-unconventionally-romantic-reading.html" target="_blank"> A CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF</a> &<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/10/for-love-of-readingorpheus-descending.html" target="_blank"> ORPHEUS DESCENDING</a></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">He is, possibly, one of my favourite playwrights of all time and surely my favourite when it comes to American dramatists. There is something in me that resonates with his preferred subjects of isolation, love, despair and loneliness. Moreover, there is something quite magical about the way he employs words. His plays are incredibly poetic and lyrical. This play is no exception. Perhaps it could be said that he used dreamy words to create a safe haven where his overly fragile heroines can truly shine. He shows us a world within a world, he takes us into a journey into the human soul and I love him for it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>“Everybody is nothing until you love them.”</b></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnUI63SZqJlOMP2EVJR9CttWkuQJcGSCwHA1J9hvQF4aYpWLCjJlrwLb80JzTcm57fTgEUD5jKuqKaffmt_YPTjLOE9f1XY12XQ7oPuXmaemmMW_RhUiA0LraOfqpXRa8_dPz2bP9Y-z6eSE1GVlzSAr7szbxMbqBZK0x4uFhItZFWVgIOPushq3v6Vw/s3000/IMG_20231021_124514.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnUI63SZqJlOMP2EVJR9CttWkuQJcGSCwHA1J9hvQF4aYpWLCjJlrwLb80JzTcm57fTgEUD5jKuqKaffmt_YPTjLOE9f1XY12XQ7oPuXmaemmMW_RhUiA0LraOfqpXRa8_dPz2bP9Y-z6eSE1GVlzSAr7szbxMbqBZK0x4uFhItZFWVgIOPushq3v6Vw/s16000/IMG_20231021_124514.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The Rose Tattoo is a hidden gem. It may not be one of his best known works, but it is a great play. Beautifully written (has ever a playwright been more lyrical?) and profoundly touching. Its exploration of daughter and mother relationship, is just as ingenious and skilful as the one in the better know <i>The Glass Menagerie</i>. As is often the case with Williams, it is a female character that is in the centre of the play. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><pre style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.42857; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: auto; padding: 9.5px; text-align: start; word-break: break-all;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"> Serafina, for you everything has got to be a different
sign, a miracle, a wonder of some kind. You speak to Our
Lady. You say that She answers your questions. She nods or
shakes Her head at you. Look, Serafina, underneath Our
Lady you have a candle. The wind through the shutters
makes the candle flicker. The shadows move. Our Lady
seems to be nodding.</span></pre></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">This time the tragic heroine is Serafina Delle Rose. Serafina is portrayed tenderly but with great attention to detail. Her portrayal is precious. Serafina, is shown to us, as a woman, as a human being with faults and virtues. Just like Blanche from Streetcar she has her shortcomings and the way she behaves is sometimes quite absurd. Nevertheless, Serafina, like Blanche, possesses a great inner strength. Is Serafina a strong woman? That she certainly is. She doesn't give up easily, she defends her choices with all she has got and in the process takes us on a road of soul-searching with her.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The play opens with Serafina sitting on the sofa waiting for her husband Rosario's return. Serafina is a Sicilian women living in USA. She absolutely worships her husband and makes him the very purpose of her life. She makes a religion out of her love, as her adoration of her husband is enforced by her Roman-Catholicism. Having found a complete physical, emotional and spiritual </span>fulfillment<span style="font-family: inherit;"> in her relationship, it could be said that she is perfectly content. Well, it's not a drama if two people fall in a love, get married and live happily ever after, is it? I don’t think it is a spoiler if I let you know that Serafina’s marriage isn’t as perfect as she believes it to be. She might utterly and absolutely adore her husband, but does he feel the same?</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7IrEfHi3yhJuOruBLuTAgH157Naf3S5wkp86rP6wEwqdpdc4TZObCzJD3lA00IRHLRtRCCYqD2oC40Re9uKFncnb1Mgnr9GJ_gPBBtJbjRy9FxBXaTzXU5R9NCDYxbXUNSY0kBUbDfQHcGhCAL8NwYsFhzuV0gOWgeL53v2cSX4WQqd6rAk2qaXUo1s/s3000/IMG_20231021_125710.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7IrEfHi3yhJuOruBLuTAgH157Naf3S5wkp86rP6wEwqdpdc4TZObCzJD3lA00IRHLRtRCCYqD2oC40Re9uKFncnb1Mgnr9GJ_gPBBtJbjRy9FxBXaTzXU5R9NCDYxbXUNSY0kBUbDfQHcGhCAL8NwYsFhzuV0gOWgeL53v2cSX4WQqd6rAk2qaXUo1s/s16000/IMG_20231021_125710.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> This play raises many interesting questions about love and explores this subject from different points of view. What is love? Is romantic love an end in itself? What is parental love about? Is romantic love a kind of religion? What is the link between body and soul? Can love go on forever? Is love eternal? Can love between two human beings ever be perfect? The Rose Tattoo is a play that bravely and </span><span style="color: #181818;">boldly</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"> explores a great number of themes: love, sexuality, loneliness, motherhood etc...</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">" You love your people but you don't understand them. They find God in each other. Any when they lose each other, they lose God and they're lost. And it is hard to help them" <i>The Rose Tattoo, </i>Tennessee Williams.</span></blockquote><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdQuSyYQtDkZgoF_wUCvgpk93Ke0JSB9Sq_cLxecCrFccW2BpimJHDZzpN49SBvClSYIYdWD_ZE3xdhnnjCu-jJ9MyRCXI9GoRIKSQp5riY__r74RrgD7j3H0wgpLSOrnx6PL4YTNSK9IEGyoIPSnosikZdk7pOh5GwnPh6JI7edaMQfwMajM3nJvXBA/s3000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20quote%20my%20illustration.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdQuSyYQtDkZgoF_wUCvgpk93Ke0JSB9Sq_cLxecCrFccW2BpimJHDZzpN49SBvClSYIYdWD_ZE3xdhnnjCu-jJ9MyRCXI9GoRIKSQp5riY__r74RrgD7j3H0wgpLSOrnx6PL4YTNSK9IEGyoIPSnosikZdk7pOh5GwnPh6JI7edaMQfwMajM3nJvXBA/s16000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20quote%20my%20illustration.jpg" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The majority of characters in this play are Sicilians. I think that T.W. once said that Italians were his kind of people. Perhaps there was something in their tempter that reminded him of Southern Americans and their French influenced ways. I would say that the writer does manages to capture something of Sicilian culture in this one. Williams doesn't stereotype Sicilians, nor does he turn them into a caricatures, which is obviously, a good thing. Another thing that deserves to be mentioned is the complex characterization. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3AEk13yoP0kq2jImILuL1aoV7To5au8eyZsb6zhhlKezyEB_3Z6E7eBEWM8nvn71ecxS5BS0_ChV2BmNDm5L_zHKmQuXrBPvv03RfEOHx8bmkq4qRt5KTEh1LUq7YKWhBU2UKrNbQg6negbFsN5K-6vyCL_atsaJhTW0XSNtXCN2IrKeCJFx6u6X7Wn0/s3000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20illustration%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3AEk13yoP0kq2jImILuL1aoV7To5au8eyZsb6zhhlKezyEB_3Z6E7eBEWM8nvn71ecxS5BS0_ChV2BmNDm5L_zHKmQuXrBPvv03RfEOHx8bmkq4qRt5KTEh1LUq7YKWhBU2UKrNbQg6negbFsN5K-6vyCL_atsaJhTW0XSNtXCN2IrKeCJFx6u6X7Wn0/s16000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20illustration%20.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Serafina and her daughter are the main characters of this play. Similarly, to The Glass Menagerie, their portrayal is often highlighted with by contrasting them one to another. There is a clash of generations but also of desires, as Serafina’s daughter grows up she wants a life (and love) of her own. Serafina loves her daughter, but haunted by the tragedy of her lost love, she struggles to connected to her daughter, the very product of that love that consumes her so. Loneliness and isolation are something that can be felt in this play. I admire the way that cultures clash in Williams’ plays, he has a unique gift for portraying that. The cultural distance created in his plays often deepens that sense of loneliness and this play is no exception. Serafina belong to another culture, she is an Italian immigrant, isolated and alone, trying to make sense of the world she finds herself in. In Williams’ play it is often the clash between the South and the West of USA that creates trouble and tension, so in that sense this play is only slightly different.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A must read for all fans of Tennessee Williams!</span></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy1B7ecae6hxeysscP2Pzc9T6o2OH_bhI4VkyIg2Y1f0AJB7WDE0e2ZTnHrCgPIkxvEHQ87W-HxbVPCsSO5yXGiOKw1I1D8sbdCVjY6FSAvQ3zWBZpq9ODwapg8x4Y1mnkE-XOXIzAGmTelELtg1UKPwb8thP0CNnxMBvEhUqii0k06Y4y3E2wNGyiUu0/s3000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20vintage%20red%20dress.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy1B7ecae6hxeysscP2Pzc9T6o2OH_bhI4VkyIg2Y1f0AJB7WDE0e2ZTnHrCgPIkxvEHQ87W-HxbVPCsSO5yXGiOKw1I1D8sbdCVjY6FSAvQ3zWBZpq9ODwapg8x4Y1mnkE-XOXIzAGmTelELtg1UKPwb8thP0CNnxMBvEhUqii0k06Y4y3E2wNGyiUu0/s16000/the%20rose%20tattoo%20vintage%20red%20dress.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Thank you for visiting and reading. Take care!</span></span></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-21983276471576695072023-11-11T09:30:00.001-08:002023-11-11T09:30:19.784-08:00THE LADY OF THE LAKE, A NOVEL BY A. SAPKOWSKI, WITCHER BOOK #7 (REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;">Hello dear readers and fellow bloggers! In this post, I shall review <i>The Lady of the Lake</i>, the eight book and the fifth novel in the Witcher series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. Published in 1999, <i>The Lady of the Lake</i> is a direct sequel to <i>The Tower of Swallow</i>. Chronologically, <i>The Lady of the Lake </i>is the last novel in the Witcher series. However, there's another Witcher book, <i>Season of Storms</i>, that follows it. <i>Season of Storms </i>is a prequel of sorts, basically a novel chronically placed between the first two Witcher books. Published in 2013, <i>Season of Storms</i> is the actual last published Witcher book. Nevertheless, it is not wrong to regard <i>The Lady of the Lake </i>as the final book of the Witcher saga. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> In fact, <i>The Lady of the Lake is </i>basically the final book of the Witcher series. After all, this novel is the one that really wraps up the saga and ends the story. Having read this fifth novel, I do have a sense of closure. I might even wait a bit, you know, before I read and review <i>Season of Storms. </i>I have had such a lovely time reading and reviewing the Witcher saga. I started back in Summer and I managed to complete it before the end of Autumn. Immersing myself into the Witcher saga, meant less published posts, because these reviews take forever to write, but that's alright. I'm a fast reader, but book reviews take time!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm happy to have finally stolen some time to type this review. I got up at 6am on a Saturday morning to get a head start. That's some reviewing dedication. This novel actually surprised me in a number of ways. I will have to be careful about how I word my review, because I want to avoid major spoilers. My initial reviews weren't spoiler free, because I figured a lot of people are familiar with the basics of the Witcher saga, due to the increasing popularity of the series and all that. Once something goes Netflix, everyone seems to know about it. I don't do Netflix but I've seen enough of ads for this series to confirm there are indeed differences between the books and the most recent adaptation. All the same, I don't want to spoil someone's enjoyment by revealing too much. As the adaptation is still catching up with the books, the ending of the saga isn't widely known. I'll do my best to keep this review spoiler free. What I can say for certain is that<i> The Lady of the Lake</i> was an extremely satisfying read. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><i><b>“Love mocks good sense. That's its charm and beauty.”</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lcaMH3wv7kZst-e2la_adWg_gUq-rYu7RtwBvRHm5dagK5jpyBK-3ISi4P8G8EeRTW6ZAF8vNazlSN2JuGPF9t8q1KZ8SJP3zNmzqVvKd9kgwOfez0I3XaO2nIKgycLvAe-kdUrjsJVZV-H2shi5eSWm-DFkMJ7qCb5tRBFjVsfycROXtyJZjUqqNyk/s4000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20book%20review%20and%20recommendation%20mostar%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lcaMH3wv7kZst-e2la_adWg_gUq-rYu7RtwBvRHm5dagK5jpyBK-3ISi4P8G8EeRTW6ZAF8vNazlSN2JuGPF9t8q1KZ8SJP3zNmzqVvKd9kgwOfez0I3XaO2nIKgycLvAe-kdUrjsJVZV-H2shi5eSWm-DFkMJ7qCb5tRBFjVsfycROXtyJZjUqqNyk/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20book%20review%20and%20recommendation%20mostar%20.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXprwOlmWU7wyZVqnjNv_zGXBsKONUnJmtj1jaQWCK46x1Oyn-x1Gc4HVkJReKxUNyzkRLmhWCmwKkkcMb7VZL93zgRyIvL98lZyarDpti_C1aglDjU0YgGmi7sbE1_Y9soAezbIQbG04tzLq9vlzjr72zrmAj_GLK3qNhrTAcUSRb9qMZ12-quAV4Beg/s4000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20quotes%20they%20taught%20me%20that%20at%20Kaer%20Morhen%20neretva.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXprwOlmWU7wyZVqnjNv_zGXBsKONUnJmtj1jaQWCK46x1Oyn-x1Gc4HVkJReKxUNyzkRLmhWCmwKkkcMb7VZL93zgRyIvL98lZyarDpti_C1aglDjU0YgGmi7sbE1_Y9soAezbIQbG04tzLq9vlzjr72zrmAj_GLK3qNhrTAcUSRb9qMZ12-quAV4Beg/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20quotes%20they%20taught%20me%20that%20at%20Kaer%20Morhen%20neretva.jpg" /></a></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b>THE LADY OF THE LAKE, </b></h2><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b>A NOVEL BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI 5/5</b></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">What is your first impression upon hearing the title? Camelot? Well, that wouldn't be wrong. Ciri's stories continues in world of Arthur. The novel opens with Sir Galahad's (as in King Arhur's Knight of the Round Table!) happening upon Ciri and mistaking her for the Lady of the Lake. Quite a turn of events! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">“You may turn around.”</span></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"> “Lady of the Lake—” </span></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">“And introduce yourself.” </span></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;">“I am Galahad, of Caer Benic. A knight of King Arthur, the lord of Camelot, the ruler of the Summer Land, and also of Dumnonia, Dyfneint, Powys, Dyfedd…”</span></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Moreover, the opening is wonderfully humorous. Galagad is being a true gentlemen, but Ciri isn't having any of it. Ciri is, all her magical powers put aside, very down to earth type of gal. Her conversations with Sir Galahad were very amusing. This book manages to be delightfully funny in a number of ways. No matter how bleak things get, there's always space for humour. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“There's Merlin. And Morgana. But Morgana is evil.'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">'And Merlin?'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">'Average.”</span></b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This pairing was not what I expected, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Arthurian myths are a sort of fantasy, aren't they? In Arthurian myths, knights fight with monsters. In this saga, the knight who fights evil is seemingly Gerald, but in reality women play an important part in the turn of events, particularly Ciri and Yennefer. Not that woman didn't play a role in medieval literature. Morgana, for example, was a sorceress, like Yennefer. In the early Arthurian legends, Morgana was portrayed as a positive character. Later, she was portrayed negatively and finally in our modern times she became somewhat of a heroine (if a flawed one). Similarily, Yennefer is seen as a positive character by some and a negative by others. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Moreover, the witcher is set in a time period that could be linked to medieval times. The world of the witcher is not our world, but it resembles it, especially in the description of human society. The elves and dwarves do feel otherworldly, or at least belonging to a different culture, but the Witcher humans resemble us acutely in both in good and bad qualities. Yennefer, Gerald and Ciri are not your average humans, being isolated by their powers, but they are also like us in many ways. In my previous reviews, I elaborated more on the fact that some parts of the Witcher world, particularly the urban settings, felt like late medieval period or even early Renaissance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As a novel,<i> The Lady of the Lake </i>seems to acknowledge both the historical and the modern writing. It can be compared to other fantasy writing of our time. In particular, there are parallels with the Tolkien's world. There is also the historical context to consider. <i>The Lady of the Lake </i>opens with (what can be interpreted) as a nod<i> </i>to medieval literature (hence the Camelot episode). Is it implying that Camelot was real? Not necessarily. Camelot could be just one of parallel worlds, not necessarily our own. The author really did some thinking when he created the witcher saga. All the worldbuilding really makes sense in <i>The Lady of the Lake. </i>At the same time, Sapkowski greater parallels between <i>The Lady of the Lake </i>and other books.<i> </i> At the same times, its intertextuality doesn't make it seem any less real. I quite liked this!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYx3DfNyhB3eLFWQu22zpT5iPNsIweSvh3RQqEG6ahlxV_m2VXuMbNB38C_dNT_ibU6SarqyRYKUXZe0or-KQl9faYwuyEhXmTPYGgNon_5Owjz32Dd86bFKmmfZJwyvWbAxnTn80CThXoUwMoxrAV2nB8TlJC_COtwDEsiDauAmtZGjeZxLCbPMRp3xo/s3000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYx3DfNyhB3eLFWQu22zpT5iPNsIweSvh3RQqEG6ahlxV_m2VXuMbNB38C_dNT_ibU6SarqyRYKUXZe0or-KQl9faYwuyEhXmTPYGgNon_5Owjz32Dd86bFKmmfZJwyvWbAxnTn80CThXoUwMoxrAV2nB8TlJC_COtwDEsiDauAmtZGjeZxLCbPMRp3xo/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE NARRATIVE DEVICES EMPLOYED IN THIS NOVEL ARE COMPLEX</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> This novel partly uses as a double frame narrative set in a future in which Gerald, Ciri and Yennefer are historical figures. A priestess of the lake tries to dream about Ciri to find out the </span>truth<span style="font-family: inherit;"> behind the legends. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">It all happens somewhere in the Northern Kingdoms, upon some lake, years or perhaps centuries after the events described. There is this young priestess </span><span style="color: #202122;">apprentice (perhaps also </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">student sorceress) Condwiramurs who serves the Lady of the lake Nimue by dreaming 'true' dreams. Her job is</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> to study the legend of Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri. Condwiramurs does not mind it, even if she sometimes struggles with her dreams, </span><span style="color: #202122;">because</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> she has always been fascinated by Ciri. Is </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">Condwiramurs</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">a completely reliable narrator? Who knows? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Foolish indeed is he who lends credence to dreams and treads the path of delusion. Nonetheless, whoever disdains and does not believe them at all also acts unwisely. For if dreams had no import whatsoever why, then, would the Gods, in creating us, give us the ability to dream?”</b></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">CIRI TELLS HER STORY TO SIR GALAHAD AFTER SHE </span><span style="color: #202122;">BEGINS</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> TO TRUST HIM</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, Ciri tells her story to Sir Galahad. After some misunderstandings, sparks start flying. It seems that Ciri likes Sir Galahad. Ciri might have been trained by witchers, but she was born a princess. Ciri has an education of a princess, it's just that she has been forced to deal with bandits and murderers. Once she meets a true knight, Ciri is somewhat softened. When Ciri is ashamed of her scarf, Sir Galahad reassures her by showing his own scarf and telling her that no scarf is ugly when it is earned in a battle. Once a relationship of trust is establish, Ciri starts to tell her story. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">So, it's sort of a story within story, framed narrative within a frame narrative. The narrative voice is therefore quite unreliable in some ways. That's delightful if you like ambiguous books and writing that is open to interpretation, but it might not make everyone happy. <span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Is Ciri </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">a completely reliable narrator? Who knows? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8b7iRvNMrH_r9Z3_DRwJ6PnR9ntxyrDWN9liPLTopU4Qgx5DgK9APW8kXMH9lVkuiZ5Q3D7ZltP1HhOTmKlsQVnrlQZdpcyqlT5olYNZMROCDnXEYo2dXI_J_kbCWRM5t9NT9ktnAahbUdSW9xkq2SK2W58RPrTLkrXNf0LezcKCwPdIbpcmMc4768Uw/s4000/lady%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20or%20we%20wont%20meet%20again.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8b7iRvNMrH_r9Z3_DRwJ6PnR9ntxyrDWN9liPLTopU4Qgx5DgK9APW8kXMH9lVkuiZ5Q3D7ZltP1HhOTmKlsQVnrlQZdpcyqlT5olYNZMROCDnXEYo2dXI_J_kbCWRM5t9NT9ktnAahbUdSW9xkq2SK2W58RPrTLkrXNf0LezcKCwPdIbpcmMc4768Uw/s16000/lady%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20or%20we%20wont%20meet%20again.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">A FRAMED NARRATIVE PACKED WITH MANY DIGRESSIONS AND SUBPLOTS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Once Ciri starts to tell her story, it is not all linear. At the same time, the narrative follows other heroes as well. The narrative actually follows different perspectives and sometimes it seems like it is told by an all knowing third person narrator. Things get even more complicated, when we learn about parallel universes. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">NUMEROUS TIME JUMPS AND CIRI'S INCREASING POWERS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Ciri does time jumps! Yes, you have read that right. Ciri grows more powerful, but she struggles to control her power. She travels through time and parallel universes. So, obviously there are digressions. We see some familiar characters as they catch a glimpse of Ciri from the future. The scenes are written very well, I must say. It must have taken a lot of effort from the writer to plan all those scenes in the way they make sense, but Sapkowski certainly managed to do it. Moreover, Sapkowski managed to make it all sound reasonable and sensible. It serves to his credit as a writer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">There are numerous time jumps as Ciri rides for her life. The time jumps or world hopping made me think of walking the shadows in the Amber series. Like in that legendary series, the parallel words are not completely explained and I honestly don't mind it. Sometimes it's good to keep something a mystery. </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkzq1c7y48EWRQeJR9gkLrC25C4obGztF-DkD_BMijAiqDp-liO-YFUeiHRg32471HYb57h2pOK5aFXaKLAiOVMLCz9mfczn6uYH8C_VBATgbHgGfGlavJnVM3yYHDmjsEjZCzD1nWMBxZUdyaOUJZBXW68R2E40dpyT2-34-QozFL7_EKXNn025QMOI/s4000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkzq1c7y48EWRQeJR9gkLrC25C4obGztF-DkD_BMijAiqDp-liO-YFUeiHRg32471HYb57h2pOK5aFXaKLAiOVMLCz9mfczn6uYH8C_VBATgbHgGfGlavJnVM3yYHDmjsEjZCzD1nWMBxZUdyaOUJZBXW68R2E40dpyT2-34-QozFL7_EKXNn025QMOI/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">MORE WORLD-BUILDING AND MORE BITTER ELVES</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Ciri finds herself among elves again. The Witcher saga portrays elves as sophisticated, beautiful and proud, but also cruel and bitter. Their kind is dying, so it is no wonder they are bitter. The long life span has made them arrogant and conceited. However, the elves are also powerful. Moreover, they exist in different parallel worlds. Doesn't this tell the reader something about their powers? Throughout the series, Ciri's elven blood is repeatedly stressed. It is the key to her powers. Or is it? Ciri's identity is interesting to study. Culturally and racially, she is more human than elven. Both humans and elves want to use Ciri for her power. Nevertheless, her power doesn't belong to any race. It belongs only to her- if Ciri manages to control her power- it becomes truly hers. In order to do that, Ciri has to embrace the best in her human and elven side. During her time among the elves, Ciri learns a thing or two. Even when the elves treat her cruelly, Ciri manages to see the good in them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“There,’ said the elf. ‘The ancient snake Ouroboros. Ouroboros symbolises eternity and is itself eternal. It is the eternal going away and the eternal return. It is something that has no beginning and no end. ‘Time is like the ancient Ouroboros. Time is fleeting moments, grains of sand passing through an hourglass. Time is the moments and events we so readily try to measure. But the ancient Ouroboros reminds us that in every moment, in every instant, in every event, is hidden the past, the present and the future. Eternity is hidden in every moment. Every departure is at once a return, every farewell is a greeting, every return is a parting. Everything is simultaneously a beginning and an end.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE KING OF ELVES, SOPHISTICATED BUT ALSO CRUEL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">To avoid spoilers, I don't want to reveal how Ciri found herself among the elves. I also don't want to say whether she was with them by choice or not. I will, however, say that there was something between her and the kind of elves, Auberon Muircetach. The two of them spend some time together, not necessarily by a deeply personal choice but they do get to know one another a bit. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I found the king's portrayal quite interesting. At times he is cruel towards Ciri but most often he is just cold, treating her with politeness. There is one moment when Auberon insults her, revealing his hatred towards the human kind. Obviously, the king sees humans are less worthy creatures. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i>“It's all my fault,' she mumbled. 'That scar blights me, I know. I know what you see when you look at me. There's not much elf left in me. A gold nugget in a pile of compost—'</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i> He turned around suddenly. '</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i>You're extremely modest,' he drawled. </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i>'I would say rather: a pearl in pig shit. A diamond on the finger of a rotting corpse. As part of your language training you can create even more comparisons. I'll test you on them tomorrow, little Dh'oine. O human creature in whom nothing, but nothing, remains of an elven woman.”</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> Sometimes Auberon is almost kind and Ciri manages to see that behind his coldness lies a broken heart. I think Ciri is able to feel for the elven folk, even when she doesn't approve of their ways. It seems that Lara was his daughter or at least someone extremely dear to him. The king cannot get over the fact that Lara isn't living. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Who are you,” he asked extremely calmly, “to dare to defile her name in such a way? Who are you to dare to abuse me with such miserable charity? Oh, I know, I see who you are. You are not the daughter of Lara. You are the daughter of Cregennan. You are a thoughtless, arrogant, selfish Dh’oine, a simply perfect representative of your race, who understands nothing, and must ruin and destroy, besmirch by touch alone, denigrate and defile by thought alone. Your ancestor stole my love from me, took her away from me, selfishly and arrogantly took Lara from me. But I shall not permit you, O his worthy daughter, to take the memory of her from me.”</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqCrBt8Lx-lHt0YZGLYUo-mMQBCdEJeEKam0dp3XE8GGq4Abp4eX7YfGR02qhbChedgCHJwol20uTpDJHXmjkD6os685SzEVfInUQEwjzoniSHyujoa0MCG5YTRba3s4ID6fdWPZTYntSLx5dPaH5zdKlYjZqzDAKlKAoG3VZE8U1tKy-TGg2T1KnLXk/s4000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20quotes%20a%20mad%20elf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqCrBt8Lx-lHt0YZGLYUo-mMQBCdEJeEKam0dp3XE8GGq4Abp4eX7YfGR02qhbChedgCHJwol20uTpDJHXmjkD6os685SzEVfInUQEwjzoniSHyujoa0MCG5YTRba3s4ID6fdWPZTYntSLx5dPaH5zdKlYjZqzDAKlKAoG3VZE8U1tKy-TGg2T1KnLXk/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20quotes%20a%20mad%20elf.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">UNICORNS STEP BACK ONTO SCENE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I don't want to reveal too many details but unicorns appear again. Once again, they seem to get along with Ciri. What is more, Ciri meets an old friend. I loved this part of the book. It really confirmed unicorns were intelligent beings. I just remember one joke about unicorns from one of the previous books in the series. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“We won’t manage to do much more than we’re capable of,’ he said more quietly and more warmly. ‘But we shall all do our best to make sure it won’t be much less.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">CIRI LONGING FOR HER PARENTS AND VICE VERSA</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Longing is huge in this book. Our unorthodox family is doing everything to come back together. Gerald is looking for Ciri and so is Yennefer. At the same time, Ciri is looking for them. In fact, Ciri is ready to do just about anything to get reunited with her non biological parents. There is one moment in the book, when Ciri stops for lunch in a tavern in a strange world (possibly a parallel one) and refuses the offer of the tavern owner to spend the night. Despite the fact that the lady and Ciri don't speak the same language, they are able to communicate with gestures. The lady understands that Ciri hurries to find her mother.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“How does it happen, thought Ciri, what can it be ascribed to, that in all worlds, places and times, in all languages and dialects that one word always sounds comprehensible? And always similar?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">"Yes. I must ride to my mamma. My mamma is waiting for me.”</span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">A NARRATIVE THAT FOLLOWS SEVERAL DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“And a day will come, perhaps, when we shall stop believing at all that something is lurking in the darkness. We shall laugh at such fears. Call them childish. Be ashamed of them! But darkness will always, always exist. And there will always be Evil in the darkness, always be fangs and claws, death and blood in the darkness. And witchers will always be needed.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The narrative is, as I explained, quite complex and even complicated at times. However, I didn't find he story hard to follow. The jumps between the perspectives felt a bit sudden at times, but I got used to them. As Gerald continues his travels with his fellowship, we learn more about them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“You know what, Reynart,’ Geralt suddenly said. ‘I also prefer you as you are now. Talking normally. Back in October you were using infuriating, moronic mannerisms.’ ‘’Pon my word, Witcher, I’m a knight errant,’ chortled Reynart de Bois-Fresnes. ‘Have you forgotten? Knights always talk like morons.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">A SATISFYING CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF GERALT'S FELLOWSHIP</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">One thing I loved about this novel was how consistent the character development was. The reader can really see them as not just a rescue party for Ciri, but a group of individuals connected with ties of friendship and love. At times it even seemed like Geralt wasn't their leader but rather that they were leading themselves. Sometimes it was them who urged Gerald to go on. His fellowship, gang or however we are to call them really came through for him. I was particularly impressed by the humanity of the vampire.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“If it is written in the books of providence", the sorceress said after a while, “that Geralt will find Ciri, then it will happen. Regardless of whether the witcher sets off into the mountains or sits in Toussaint. Predestination overtakes humans. Not vice versa. Do you understand that? Do you understand, Mr. Regis Terzieff-Godefroy?"</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"Better than you think, Miss Vigo.” The vampire turned the sausage link in his fingers. "However, you must excuse me, I do not accept that predestination is in some book, written by the hand of a great Demiurge, or the will of heaven, or the unalterable judgment of any providence. Rather, it is the result of many seemingly unconnected facts, events, and actions. I tend to agree with you that the predestination overtakes humans...and not only humans. However, I accept much less the view that it could not also be reversed. Because this view is a convenient fatalism. It is a paean to apathy and baseness on a feather bed and the charming warmth of a woman’s womb. In short, to live in a dream. Life, Miss Vigo may be a dream, may end in a dream ... But it's a dream that you must actively dream. Therefore, Miss Vigo, the road awaits us."</span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">WE GET TO SEE MORE OF THE CHARACTERS WE HAVE GROWN TO LOVE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Seeing more of the characters we have frown to love is always good, right? Besides Geralt's gang, there are some other recurring characters that make an appearance. Some of them appear only towards the end, but I was still trilled to see them. As always, the dialogues were so well written and they made the characters come alive. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Progress,' he said with reverence, 'will lighten up the gloom, for that is what progress is for, as - if you'll pardon me - the arsehole is for shitting. It will be brighter and brighter, and we shall fear less and less the darkness and the Evil hidden in it. And a day will come, perhaps, when we shall stop believing at all that something is lurking in the darkness. We shall laugh at such fears. Call them childish. Be ashamed of them! But darkness will always, always exist. And there will always be Evil in the darkness, always be fangs and claws, death and blood in the darkness.”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">.........</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Progress,’ he said finally, ‘is like a herd of pigs. That’s how you should look at progress, that’s how you should judge it. Like a herd of pigs trotting around a farmyard. Numerous benefits derive from the fact of that herd’s existence. There’s pork knuckle. There’s sausage, there’s fatback, there are trotters in aspic. In a word, there are benefits! There’s no point turning your nose up at the shit everywhere.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">..........</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Progress,” said Yarpen Zigrin amidst the silence, “will eventually light up the darkness. The darkness will yield before the light. But not right away. And definitely not without a fight.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSc24U3xNronISsrWi_EQETSCQjJVnTFfXjfNPw0Bh0x4oj1uIASKQ_fksIZoSyLQdgX9SyccLcdynQy5432P6LPo8FY-AsdsmQzvq1cQLE1lzqHKoRo1MTxOiBshSaBDsVULlvhae41TvRDPrx_L7d9-IQyerA7Vyg_0e_LqC0zndcaX2NE-uiSiGsC8/s3000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSc24U3xNronISsrWi_EQETSCQjJVnTFfXjfNPw0Bh0x4oj1uIASKQ_fksIZoSyLQdgX9SyccLcdynQy5432P6LPo8FY-AsdsmQzvq1cQLE1lzqHKoRo1MTxOiBshSaBDsVULlvhae41TvRDPrx_L7d9-IQyerA7Vyg_0e_LqC0zndcaX2NE-uiSiGsC8/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">THE BAD GUYS ARE JUST AS ANNOYING AS THEY WERE</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“And even if you don’t make a mistake, an opportunity will arise to blame you for something. Some misfortune, some disaster, some pestilence, perhaps a plague or an epidemic, will fall on humanity… Then your guilt will descend on you. You will not be blamed for having been unable to prevent the plague, but for being unable to remove its effects. You shall be to blame for everything. And then fires will be lit under stakes.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE SURPRISING INTRODUCTION OF NEW CHARACTERS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">What I found quite surprising was the introducing of so many new characters. Not that I minded it, I just didn't expect it. Still, I must say that the new characters really made sense. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">We were all just as brave,’ finished Julia Abatemarco. ‘Neither of the sides had the strength to be braver. But we … We managed to be brave for a minute longer."</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">.....</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Because the people are ignorant, stupid, and easy to manipulate," Skellen finished the sentence, after he had himself a sneeze. "You need only ‘Hurrah!' and make a speech from the senate steps promising to open the prisons and cut the taxes."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"You are absolutely right, Owl," said the syllable stretcher. "Now I know why you shout so loudly for democracy.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">GERALT GETTING SIDETRACKED AND BEING VULNERABLE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">She smelled of ambergris, roses, library dust, decayed paper, minium and printing ink, oak gall ink, and strychnine, which was being used to poison the library mice. The smell had little in common with an aphrodisiac. So it was all the stranger that it worked on him.</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Geralt gets entangled in a relationship with a sorceress. We follow their story as Fringilla narrates it, so we have another story within the story. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"I believe," the vampire replied calmly, "You are mistaken, Miss Vigo. The dream you dream with the witcher is, I confess with a bow, magical and beautiful. However, any dream that we dream for too long becomes a nightmare. And from it we awake with a scream.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98qcyqJAJj9t2wGlIOAviOkfghlcwQLiVzzvnIA3-_kDlpHrLI14qn4YPdo6PCMLqfJY5wJ3IoqOW4pY6L20YEi2hd9q4RAvoc2TLlai3DlXEyKbLG7_dYu_PMkrbe5fk25fQRDJPjKwF828ExR01awz0arfosIVJNogjDdu_JD1x7dnQ7Uo3XFcE53E/s4000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20series%20quotes%20every%20dream%20if%20dreamed%20too%20long%20turns%20into%20nightmare.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98qcyqJAJj9t2wGlIOAviOkfghlcwQLiVzzvnIA3-_kDlpHrLI14qn4YPdo6PCMLqfJY5wJ3IoqOW4pY6L20YEi2hd9q4RAvoc2TLlai3DlXEyKbLG7_dYu_PMkrbe5fk25fQRDJPjKwF828ExR01awz0arfosIVJNogjDdu_JD1x7dnQ7Uo3XFcE53E/s16000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20series%20quotes%20every%20dream%20if%20dreamed%20too%20long%20turns%20into%20nightmare.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As Fringilla brags to other sorceress about how she seduced Geralt, we learn that not all is as it seems. In fact, Fringilla has fallen for Geralt. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">"Go ahead." Fringilla stood up, almost as violent as Milva recently. "As you wish! Snow, cold, and predetermination await you on the passes. And the atonement that you so urgently seem to need. Go ahead! But the witcher is staying here. In Toussaint! With me!"</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">A TOXIC SORT OF LOVE STORY AND SORCERESSES BEING TOUGH</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Sorceresses might be tough, but they suffer too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Fringilla,” he answered after a while. “You’re a woman a man can only dream about. My fault, my only fault, is that I don’t have the nature of a dreamer.” </span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You are,” she said a moment later, biting her lip, “like an angler’s hook, which once it’s stuck in, can only be pulled out with blood and flesh. Well, I’ve only got myself to blame. I knew what I was doing, playing around with a dangerous toy. Luckily, I also know how to cope with the effects. In that respect I have an advantage over the rest of the female species.”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">.......</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Love,’ Fringilla said slowly, ‘is like renal colic. Until you have an attack, you can’t even imagine what it’s like. And when people tell you about it you don’t believe them.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllX8MK6yj5rc3k-QlB5ExIw_A8wW6_1Srss6CVpypYMYovW0_lZxoI1lVozjLW3qMExnuLz0rYYgJFSlvyhBhpA9sZKiQYx2KcKbhZPMYsBYbsdGOWPfjC0VwAMFDejrmr-orSx1SACoXLaK4dwi1ErdWveg-p6QMiAHMRjrPftRv7JNEnn46JIH8AC0/s4000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20collage%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllX8MK6yj5rc3k-QlB5ExIw_A8wW6_1Srss6CVpypYMYovW0_lZxoI1lVozjLW3qMExnuLz0rYYgJFSlvyhBhpA9sZKiQYx2KcKbhZPMYsBYbsdGOWPfjC0VwAMFDejrmr-orSx1SACoXLaK4dwi1ErdWveg-p6QMiAHMRjrPftRv7JNEnn46JIH8AC0/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20collage%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE WINTER IS COMING....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">There are some wonderful descriptions to be found in his novel. As for example this passage about the arrival of winter.....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The sight of the table, arranged in a gigantic horseshoe, signalled emphatically that autumn was passing and winter was coming. Game in all possible forms and varieties dominated the delicacies heaped on great serving dishes and platters. There were huge quarters of boar, haunches and saddles of venison, various forcemeats, aspics and pink slices of meat, autumnally garnished with mushrooms, cranberries, plum jam and hawthorn berry sauce. There were autumn fowls–grouse, capercaillie, and pheasant, decoratively served with wings and tails, there was roast guinea fowl, quail, partridge, garganey, snipe, hazel grouse and mistle thrush. There were also genuine dainties, such as fieldfare, roasted whole, without having been drawn, since the juniper berries with which the innards of these small birds are full form a natural stuffing. There was salmon trout from mountain lakes, there was zander, there was burbot....."</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">YENNEFER BEING LARGER THAN LIFE BUT NOT AS PRESENT AS I WOULD HAVE LIKED</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Yennefer plays a central role in saving Ciri. She endures as much suffering as her adoptive daughter, but always come out stronger. I absolutely loved all the episodes featuring Yennefer, I only wished there was more of her in the novel. When she does step on the scene, Yennefer is very memorable. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Bless you,’ said Yennefer, not at all bothered by Vilgefortz’s portentous words. ‘Where did you catch such an awful chill, good sir? Did you stand in a draught after bathing?”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">STORIES ARE TOLD BUT REALITY OF WAR IS ALWAYS BRUTAL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Stories were made up and spun in the evenings in rooms smelling of melting lard and fried onions, village halls, smoky taverns, roadhouses, crofts, tar kilns, forest homesteads and border watchtowers. Tales were spun and told. About war. About heroism and chivalry. About friendship and hatred. About wickedness and betrayal. About faithful and genuine love, about the love that always triumphs. About the crimes and punishments that always befall criminals. About justice that is always just.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLJYc_iYbO4UbKVA4GgNAx6PaIn2Jb8ak8QdxpctEv1teTxvwRISntO3pBNhXbQ2jyRiomwploJeKJrJYs-c_cW4rgXMLaFBGh31dD0Rbm6RrR1VvWgj3E4_rqYWt3vG24m79oBF5f2IYQ8yYCBxFGvSOm7jtL8y_-QlQ3uHkKn0Ynl0pzsc21KgSyq4/s4000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20books%20quotes%20he%20drank%20a%20lot%20like%20artists%20do.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLJYc_iYbO4UbKVA4GgNAx6PaIn2Jb8ak8QdxpctEv1teTxvwRISntO3pBNhXbQ2jyRiomwploJeKJrJYs-c_cW4rgXMLaFBGh31dD0Rbm6RrR1VvWgj3E4_rqYWt3vG24m79oBF5f2IYQ8yYCBxFGvSOm7jtL8y_-QlQ3uHkKn0Ynl0pzsc21KgSyq4/s16000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20books%20quotes%20he%20drank%20a%20lot%20like%20artists%20do.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE HUMOUR IS EVER PRESENT IN THE WITCHER SAGA....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">For a saga that portrays a violent and chaotic world, it is wonderfully funny. The amount of humour to be found in his novel is impressive: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There are plenty of tapestries like that in Beauclair. The master who wove them was a true master. But he drank an awful lot. As artists do.”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“When they’re about to hang you, ask for a glass of water. You never know what might happen before they bring it.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Women don't need money. I mean what for? They don't drink, they don't play dice, and they're bloody women themselves.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The great and grandiosely heralded feast,’ began Geralt, ‘was preceded by serious preparations. We had to find Milva, who’d hidden in the stables, and convince her that the fate of Ciri and almost the entire world depended on her participation in the banquet. We almost had to force her into a dress. Then we had to make Angoulême promise she would avoid saying “fuck” and “arse”.”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Caring not for Angoulême’s vulgar October jests,’ Reynart leaned back from the table, his belt loosened, ‘today we drink a fine label and a fine vintage, Witcher. We can afford it, we’ve made some money. We can revel.’ ‘That’s right,’ Geralt beckoned to the innkeeper. ‘After all, as Dandelion says, perhaps there are other motivations for earning money, but I just don’t know any.”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“There was talk about a great victory in this war; it was so important that… That this war put an end to all wars.’ Sheldon Skaggs snorted, spitting beer onto his beer. Zoltan Chivay roared with laughter. ‘What do you think, gentlemen?’</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Now it was Dennis Cranmer’s turn to burst out laughing. Yarpen Zigrin retained his seriousness. He studied the young man attentively and seemed concerned.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">‘Son,’ he said very seriously. ‘Look. There, sitting at the counter is Evangelina Parr. She is admittedly, substantial. Indeed, even great. But despite her actions, not one whore can put an end to all whores.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsB1AIqyjlvfmL-wHxleJQyge6HHUNGLWjVLIzhsWyL2HD7pGSqrtZJWgdO1_Kgdc-ey0R4gPWidf4DGWFHOLs38I2Ib6MC5DJd8gG9jZM7S2bbhjutGQ0eOiclsKlQ6tzt7U2SGvIsj4Pjp-jAeuk2c1ukweAXdNYYhW8hbbmH1pmqEx8IdKjhBvTdA/s4000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20book%20review%20quotes%20evil%20has%20stopped%20being%20chaotic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsB1AIqyjlvfmL-wHxleJQyge6HHUNGLWjVLIzhsWyL2HD7pGSqrtZJWgdO1_Kgdc-ey0R4gPWidf4DGWFHOLs38I2Ib6MC5DJd8gG9jZM7S2bbhjutGQ0eOiclsKlQ6tzt7U2SGvIsj4Pjp-jAeuk2c1ukweAXdNYYhW8hbbmH1pmqEx8IdKjhBvTdA/s16000/the%20lady%20of%20the%20lake%20book%20review%20quotes%20evil%20has%20stopped%20being%20chaotic.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">HOWEVER, THE DARK THEMES ARE EXPLORED AS WELL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">At the same time, this novel explores some serious subjects such as wars, politics, murders and abuse. There is an underlying message that humans are often the worst monsters. Perhaps it also implies that- We all must fight our demons in order for the world to become a better place.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Evil has stopped being chaotic. It has stopped being a blind and impetuous force, against which a witcher, a mutant as murderous and chaotic as Evil itself, had to act. Today Evil acts according to rights–because it is entitled to. It acts according to peace treaties, because it was taken into consideration when the treaties were being written …”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Victory should look thus: the defeated are compelled to buy goods manufactured by the victors. Why, they do it willingly, because the victors’ goods are better and cheaper. The victors’ currency is stronger than the currency of the defeated, and the vanquished trust it much more than their own. Do you understand me, Baron Fitz-Oesterlen? Are you beginning slowly to differentiate the victors from the vanquished? Do you comprehend whom woe actually betides?”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">DANDELION AND A FRIENDSHIP THAT HAS SEEN IT ALL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Dandelion spoke first; elaborately, fluently, colourfully and volubly, embellishing his tale with ornaments so beautiful and fanciful they almost obscured the fibs and confabulations. Then the Witcher spoke. He spoke the same truth, and spoke so dryly, boringly and flatly that Dandelion couldn’t bare it and kept butting in, for which the dwarves reprimanded him.<br /></span></span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">And then the story was over and a lengthy silence fell.</span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">CIRI ACTING AS SOMETIMES AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As we move toward the ending, Ciri becomes more unreliable as a narrator.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE RISKY ENDING THAT WON'T WORK FOR EVERY READER</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The ending of the saga was incredibly touching- in my view. It might not appeal to everyone as it is open to interpretation. An ambiguous ending is always risky. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“He nodded. Reluctantly. He’d had enough of silent assent. Of agreeing to everything she communicated to him, with everything she decided. But he nodded. He loved her, when all was said and done.”</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1P9PCabCxzMNT2VORBezb4CBltY3l56AXhIg7LxDTtboYXj2tk2UWxWCwup66eOLDUs0k_W69A5zOl0zYoUMnNID4EZPjQxn9uFDNYz71ySMoa8bAGzyMHbZs6FjCKr8Z1IW3aiL3N_Spjt_qXEJwGc3s_1rQDBvQFHXXBBb4fE3nWb-mAywF2KS2c8/s4000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20quotes%20mor%20mostar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1P9PCabCxzMNT2VORBezb4CBltY3l56AXhIg7LxDTtboYXj2tk2UWxWCwup66eOLDUs0k_W69A5zOl0zYoUMnNID4EZPjQxn9uFDNYz71ySMoa8bAGzyMHbZs6FjCKr8Z1IW3aiL3N_Spjt_qXEJwGc3s_1rQDBvQFHXXBBb4fE3nWb-mAywF2KS2c8/s16000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20quotes%20mor%20mostar.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Destiny isn't the judgements of providence, isn't scrolls written by the hand of a demiurge, isn't fatalism. Destiny is hope. Being full of hope, believing that what is meant to happen will happen.”</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>OTHER BOOKS IN THE WITCHER SERIES I HAD REVIEWED</b></i></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><h4 style="background-color: white; float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: bolder; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-last-wish-book-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>THE LAST WISH</i>, THE FIRST BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;" /></span></div></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Last Wish</i> could just be the best book in the series for me. It is definitely my favourite among the Witcher books I have read so far. The Witcher series started with short stories. In my opinion, the short story format works really well for this series, especially with the white wolf as protagonist.</span></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><h4 style="float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: bolder; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>SWORD OF DESTINY </i>, THE SECOND BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Sword of Destiny</i> consists of six short stories. All of the stories feature Gerald, the witcher as the protagonist. The stories are told by an all knowing narrator whose voice is often rich with irony and sarcasm. The writing style is simple and descriptive, but at times also poetical.</span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><h4 style="float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: bolder; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>BLOOD OF ELVES,</i> THE THIRD BOOK (AND THE FIRST NOVEL) IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div style="font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 1em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once I started reading <i>Blood of Elves,</i> I immediately felt drawn into the story. The novel is well plotted and well paced. It's rather conversation heavy so that slows down the pacing but it helps us to get to know the characters better. Moreover, I really enjoyed the dialogues. I enjoyed learning more about this fantasy world, so I'm not complaining. </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><h4 style="float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/time-of-contempt-novel-by-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>TIME OF CONTEMPT</i></span></a></h4><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Time of Contempt</i> is a direct sequel to <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #009eb8; display: inline; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Blood of Elves</a>.</i> Honestly, at first I hardly noticed the transition from one novel to another. The first part of <i>Time of Contempt</i> might as well be included in<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #009eb8; display: inline; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank"> <i>Blood of Elves</i></a> as it almost feels like the same novel. In addition, I was able to read the novels one after the other so the transition was especially smooth. However, as <i>Time of Contempt </i>develops, some differences between the two novels can be spotted. Published in 1995, <i>Time of Contempt</i> takes off where <i>Blood of Elves </i>ended, but it feels more fast paced than its prequel.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><h4 style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: bolder; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/baptism-of-fire-novel-by-sapkowski.html" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><i>BAPTISM OF FIRE</i></a></span></h4><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the novel opens, the war is still in progress. Our heroes were utterly unprepared for an attempted coup at the mage meeting that turned into complete chaos and left the protagonist separated. Yennefer is missing, Geralt is recovering from his serious wounds with the help of dryads. As we learned from previous novel, Dandelion is by Geralt's side. Moreover, another strong female character is soon introduced. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">One thing I really </span>appreciated<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is how t</span><span style="text-align: start;">he </span><span style="text-align: start;">witcher </span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">world is depicted as quite complex and </span>morally<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>ambiguous<span style="font-family: inherit;">. As the war wages on, one understand the Witcher's wish for neutrality better and better. </span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-tower-of-swallow-novel-by-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">THE TOWER OF THE SWALLOW </a></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><i style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: inherit;">The Tower of the Swallow</i><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: inherit;"> opens with Ciri waking up in a safe location. One of my complaints about the previous novel was that it didn't feature Cirilla and Yennefer enough. While I understand the reason for their absence, that is, the fact that the novel cannot trace all subplots and characters simultaneously, I still felt like they could have been included somehow. For example, they could have been present in the thoughts of other characters. Whereas it is obvious that Geralt is </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa;">thinking</span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: inherit;"> of them in the prequel novel, it is not exactly shown. In a nutshell, Ciri and Yen are key characters, so their absence is always felt. This novel, however, more than makes up for it. Yen and Ciri take the front stage in this novel.</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCbCssJMGK41Pb4ZgSsmM0NDN3kobBtypoxU3LfY8xT8pYrzPEXwTO1zSZcTPrWiVdzlHzWlx9Av58AuWkhhenN8kUVUKQZBzdjqsOLd11PdEpfm6THlIaxUBsiD_CVGTNmN_vwXn-2xdi4DVImnU4SECip7yQhNOR0pZaX5XEbJgbjGEAHZw9bZfVcds/s4000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20book%20review%20blog%20collage%20river%20neretva.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCbCssJMGK41Pb4ZgSsmM0NDN3kobBtypoxU3LfY8xT8pYrzPEXwTO1zSZcTPrWiVdzlHzWlx9Av58AuWkhhenN8kUVUKQZBzdjqsOLd11PdEpfm6THlIaxUBsiD_CVGTNmN_vwXn-2xdi4DVImnU4SECip7yQhNOR0pZaX5XEbJgbjGEAHZw9bZfVcds/s16000/lady%20of%20the%20lake%20witcher%20book%20review%20blog%20collage%20river%20neretva.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Thank you for reading and visiting!</span></span></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-87525997737119997892023-10-28T09:56:00.011-07:002023-11-04T00:28:06.208-07:00THE TOWER OF THE SWALLOW, A NOVEL BY A. SAPKOWSKI, WITCHER BOOK #6 (REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>In this post, I shall review <i>The Tower of Swallow</i> (published under the title <i>The Tower of Swallow</i>s in USA). </span> <i>The Tower of Swallow </i>is <span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">the sixth book and the fourth novel in the Witcher series. I'm currently reading the sequel to this novel (i.e <i> The Lady of the Lake</i>). That basically means you can expect the review for the final book in the series soon. I have sure enjoyed reviewing this fantasy series so far! I hope you have found the reviews interesting. If fantasy isn't your cup of tea, don't worry for there are many book reviews and recommendations to come. It might take some time, though. Writing good book reviews is quite time-consuming, especially when you're reviewing books of quality.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">I have listened to an audio version of this novel in English. As you probably know, the books were originally published in Polish. I've read some of the books in Croatian and some in English translation. I didn't really notice much difference between them. Since I don't have the actual copy of the book with me, I edited the photographs to feature covers. As for the photography in this post, it is by my husband (editing by me). As for the two outfits I'm sharing, they feature <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-pale-blue-grecian-dress-17-ways-to.html" target="_blank">the same pair of leopard heels</a> and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/53-ways-to-wear-pair-of-brown-heeled.html" target="_blank">burgundy bag</a> (sustainable fashion and all that). The one on the right features<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-tale-of-love-and-darkness-novel-by.html" target="_blank"> a tea-green set from fashion designer Stanka Zovko</a> and one on the right<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/fables-for-robots-by-stanislaw-lem-book.html" target="_blank"> a second hand hippie dress</a>. You know I'm shopping my closet like a pro!</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: "Dancing Script"; text-align: left;"><b>“The priceless writing from the Dark Ages burned with a tall, bright flame. For a few short moments the centuries spoke with the soft whisper of paper blackening in the fire. And then the flame went out and darkness covered the earth.”</b></i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIK27nWzI-VyXTnDrqEU9I6OmzMU_lShpvHOONxT5XxN0BxOHIxphV66UXZJ2M2kRW7jJ8qMUbVzdJuYd_N7nyeCwmBS8pl7Qtk9e33FiHiaFW76VBWQjr8qynxfKGcsGuQoATrCoAeUZPshmFuxCF06v1hHFvyFo1iqSfAKN7dIfBzIChgzCced6kKjo/s4000/THE%20TOWER%20OF%20SWALLOW%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20MODAODARADOSTI%20BLOG%20%20COVER%20BOOK%20REVIEW.jpg" style="font-style: italic; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIK27nWzI-VyXTnDrqEU9I6OmzMU_lShpvHOONxT5XxN0BxOHIxphV66UXZJ2M2kRW7jJ8qMUbVzdJuYd_N7nyeCwmBS8pl7Qtk9e33FiHiaFW76VBWQjr8qynxfKGcsGuQoATrCoAeUZPshmFuxCF06v1hHFvyFo1iqSfAKN7dIfBzIChgzCced6kKjo/s16000/THE%20TOWER%20OF%20SWALLOW%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20MODAODARADOSTI%20BLOG%20%20COVER%20BOOK%20REVIEW.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Location: </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-interpreter-novel-by-brian-aldiss.html" style="background-color: white; color: #2196f3; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Mostar</a><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> /Photography: by my husband, editing by me.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: large;">“No. I'm a witcher! When they were teaching me, I swore I would act against Evil. </span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Always. And without thinkin...'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'Because when you start thinking,' she added hollowly, 'killing stops making sense.</span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: large;"> Revenge stops making sense.”</span></b></span></i></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHOYkcY0kP_5_wR2f8EjZBTqJJOoCUJMpluTZj0lT_-4UMOqxC_agIMDgoGtKWKvSH4zlRAPjmSMa1V1p3B5Q0qvgDIoRiYaj5ddKave-aNL5CssEs9Do8fx7GRQKmMMRoTOk1scFQZJ2lBzJtYXBqycyfAv0zOAAF0zgYyOnmlxfSav3WC4nkesZuLQ/s3000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20book%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" style="font-style: italic; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHOYkcY0kP_5_wR2f8EjZBTqJJOoCUJMpluTZj0lT_-4UMOqxC_agIMDgoGtKWKvSH4zlRAPjmSMa1V1p3B5Q0qvgDIoRiYaj5ddKave-aNL5CssEs9Do8fx7GRQKmMMRoTOk1scFQZJ2lBzJtYXBqycyfAv0zOAAF0zgYyOnmlxfSav3WC4nkesZuLQ/s16000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20book%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><b>“The world you envision is made for a witcher. A witcher would never be short of work in it. Instead of codes, articles and peevish platitudes about justice, your idea creates lawlessness, anarchy, the licence and self-serving of princelings and mandarins, the officiousness of careerists wanting to endear themselves to their superiors, the blind vindictiveness of fanatics, the cruelty of assassins, retribution and sadistic vengeance. Your vision is a world where people are afraid to venture out after dark; not for fear of cut-throats, but of the guardians of public order. For, after all, the result of all great crackdowns on miscreants is always that the miscreants enter the ranks of the guardians of public order en masse.”</b></span></i></div><div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE WITCHER SAGA- WHAT BOOKS I HAVE READ AND REVIEWED SO FAR?</span></span></span></h3></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><h4 style="background-color: white; float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: left;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-last-wish-book-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>THE LAST WISH</i>, THE FIRST BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;" /></span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Last Wish</i> could just be the best book in the series for me. It is definitely my favourite among the Witcher books I have read so far. The Witcher series started with short stories. In my opinion, the short story format works really well for this series, especially with the white wolf as protagonist. Geralt is an absolutely fascinating protagonist. He is not a typical hero. Geralt has a wicked sense of humour and an anti-political attitude towards the world. Once you learn more about this fantasy world, you start to understand Geralt and his philosophy of neutrality better. It's a dark and grim world filled with monsters of all kinds.</span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><h4 style="float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>SWORD OF DESTINY </i>, THE SECOND BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Sword of Destiny</i> consists of six short stories. All of the stories feature Gerald, the witcher as the protagonist. The stories are told by an all knowing narrator whose voice is often rich with irony and sarcasm. The writing style is simple and descriptive, but at times also poetical. The stories are generally chronological, but they are not tightly bound one to another. It's not exactly sure how much time has passed between the stories or what exactly happened in that time. So, the chronology of the stories is loose. In that sense, you could say that the stories are independent one of another. All the six stories feature at least some the recurring characters from the Witcher universe. Some of these characters will become heroes of the books and novels to follow.</span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><h4 style="float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>BLOOD OF ELVES,</i> THE THIRD BOOK (AND THE FIRST NOVEL) IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once I started reading <i>Blood of Elves,</i> I immediately felt drawn into the story. The novel is well plotted and well paced. It's rather conversation heavy so that slows down the pacing but it helps us to get to know the characters better. Moreover, I really enjoyed the dialogues. I enjoyed learning more about this fantasy world, so I'm not complaining. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published in 1994, this fantasy novel further develops the life story of Gerald of Rivia. It introduces new subplots and characters, but remains focused on the main characters. Gerald, Ciri, Dandelion and Yennifer are the main characters in this novel. The narrative in this novel is told from from the third person but with alternative points of view. The protagonist is, as always, Gerald the witcher, but the focus is often on Ciri. Gerald will have to go to great lengths to protect her. It could be argued that Ciri is really the most important character of the Witcher's saga. </span></p><p><br /></p><p style="color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><h4 style="background-color: white; float: left; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: justify;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/time-of-contempt-novel-by-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>TIME OF CONTEMPT,</i> THE FOURTH BOOK AND THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h4><div><br /></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Time of Contempt</i> is a direct sequel to <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Blood of Elves</a>.</i> Honestly, at first I hardly noticed the transition from one novel to another. The first part of <i>Time of Contempt</i> might as well be included in<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> <i>Blood of Elves</i></a> as it almost feels like the same novel. In addition, I was able to read the novels one after the other so the transition was especially smooth. However, as <i>Time of Contempt </i>develops, some differences between the two novels can be spotted. Published in 1995, <i>Time of Contempt</i> takes off where <i>Blood of Elves </i>ended, but it feels more fast paced than its prequel. <i>Blood of Elves </i>is all about world-building, particularly in the sense of explaining the politics of this fantasy world. <i>Time of Contempt</i> adds more action and in that sense feels more true to the first two books in the series. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #757575; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #757575; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><h4 style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px); text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/baptism-of-fire-novel-by-sapkowski.html" target="_blank"><i>BAPTISM OF FIRE</i>, THE FIFTH BOOK AND THIRD NOVEL IN THE WITCHER SERIES</a></span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the novel opens, the war is still in progress. Our heroes were utterly unprepared for an attempted coup at the mage meeting that turned into complete chaos and left the protagonist separated. Yennefer is missing, Geralt is recovering from his serious wounds with the help of dryads. As we learned from previous novel, Dandelion is by Geralt's side so he is not completely isolated. Moreover, another strong female character is soon introduced. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One thing I really </span>appreciated<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is how t</span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">he </span></span><span style="text-align: start;">witcher </span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">world is depicted as quite complex and </span>morally<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>ambiguous<span style="font-family: inherit;">. As the war wages on, one understand the Witcher's wish for neutrality better and better. The Squirrels ( </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Scoia'tael</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> ) </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">guerrilla group is responsible for much killing and is famous for its cruelty. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> Previous novels have provided enough context for this conflict. Therefore, it is hard for us as readers to choose sides. I think the author was really clever the way he went about this. On overall, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">I enjoyed </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Baptism of Fire</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> a lot. The new characters introduced were very interesting and he familiar ones didn't disappoint. The plot with all its subplots was well developed. I only wish that more time and perhaps attention was devoted to Yennefer and Ciri.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;">“It is better to go forward without a goal, than to have a goal and stay in one place, and it is certainly better than to stay in one place without a goal.”</span></b></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Now that we went through previous Witcher reviews, I'm now ready to review this novel.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #181818; font-family: "Dancing Script";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>“The Witcher had no work, for though the Dank Wilderness was so dank it would have been difficult to imagine anything danker, we did not encounter any monsters.”</b></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Published in 1997, <i>The Tower of Swallow</i> is a direct sequel to <i>Baptism of Fire</i>. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> Like in my last post, I shall do my best to avoid spoilers. Some of my Witcher reviews are filled with spoilers, mostly because I enjoy writing detailed reviews and when you go into details, the spoilers are hard to avoid. However, this time, I'll keep things short and sweet. Scroll down to read my review.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></b><b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXk32aMus81_O3j_xtEN3rb4M50YqGnpebRh_cJIFUgIBpwXPajLwx3CDpYap5Omr5lyqmd-GuNlJGksNvt2dOuIJTz-JgmSJutz72lm5mwy-0m2PiIAIzA9qibg0obxNsZKinmCv76iCTcu5Rz3dwDDIjrs-iSeYsM5mYotxdXkbpnwOaOQEujPXnG_A/s3000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20hippie%20dress.jpg" style="font-size: medium; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXk32aMus81_O3j_xtEN3rb4M50YqGnpebRh_cJIFUgIBpwXPajLwx3CDpYap5Omr5lyqmd-GuNlJGksNvt2dOuIJTz-JgmSJutz72lm5mwy-0m2PiIAIzA9qibg0obxNsZKinmCv76iCTcu5Rz3dwDDIjrs-iSeYsM5mYotxdXkbpnwOaOQEujPXnG_A/s16000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20hippie%20dress.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>THE TOWER OF THE SWALLOW,</i></b> A NOVEL BY A. SAPKOWSKI, WITCHER BOOK #6 (REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) 4.4/5</span></h2></div><div style="font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Tower of the Swallow</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> opens with Ciri waking up in a safe location. One of my complaints about the previous novel was that it didn't feature Cirilla and Yennefer enough. While I understand the reason for their absence, that is, the fact that the novel cannot trace all subplots and characters simultaneously, I still felt like they could have been included somehow. For example, they could have been present in the thoughts of other characters. Whereas it is obvious that Geralt is </span>thinking<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of them in the prequel novel, it is not exactly shown. In a nutshell, Ciri and Yen are key characters, so their absence is always felt. This novel, however, more than makes up for it. Yen and Ciri take the front stage in this novel.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><i style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Mistrust regarding me?'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'Regarding the world, Ciri. A world in which a deceptive appearance dons the mask of truth to pull the wool over the eyes of another truth - a false one, incidentally, which also tries to deceive.”</span></b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Ciri matures a lot in this novel and becomes the kind of heroine she was destined to be: fierce but also wise. Ciri not only makes amends for her recent bloody past but develops her moral compass and critical thinking. Yennefer, on the other hand, reveals herself as an extremely powerful women. When it comes to protecting Ciri, she is ready to do anything and face anyone. Yen has always been written as a strong and ambitious woman, but her love for Ciri gives her </span>portrayal<span style="font-family: inherit;"> another dimension. Yen has always been </span>fiercely<span style="font-family: inherit;"> loyal to her friends, but this </span>boss lady<span style="font-family: inherit;"> was also </span>extremely<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>ambitious<span style="font-family: inherit;">. There was a hunger for power in Yennefer that made her act calculated and manipulative. In this novel, the true extent of Yennefer's love for Ciri is revealed in that she really acts like Ciri's mother. It makes for an interesting and believable character development. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKDC855QAG1fAgLIrmRejgjCT2Qq_l-BzDVFWrbeA2VYisQh_wLYdaCax8on9YOjF0LNs1GGFcp2LMZBKJlAPTyWYgqgJGfCdV8ud4V3rpf5tYtzZy8UMlK7XP4ofwjiWNKfiOfEtGdzZ2PbnOFkrtd6NQo9CCm4ZD8bgI4Ptu4fzkkJFn0UrBlO4tD8/s3000/collage%20green%20plus%20witcher%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKDC855QAG1fAgLIrmRejgjCT2Qq_l-BzDVFWrbeA2VYisQh_wLYdaCax8on9YOjF0LNs1GGFcp2LMZBKJlAPTyWYgqgJGfCdV8ud4V3rpf5tYtzZy8UMlK7XP4ofwjiWNKfiOfEtGdzZ2PbnOFkrtd6NQo9CCm4ZD8bgI4Ptu4fzkkJFn0UrBlO4tD8/s16000/collage%20green%20plus%20witcher%20review.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF CIRI AND YEN IS SUPERBLY WRITTEN</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">So, this novel focuses on Ciri and Yennefer. Ciri is recovering from her injuries, being cared for by an elderly hermit Vysogota. The hermit in </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">question</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> was once a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">renown</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> philosopher but was forced to flee his homeland due to his independent thinking. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">.....</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>“Do you know, Ciri, what university studies give a person?”</b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b> “No. What?”</b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b> “The ability to make use of sources.”</b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Dancing Script;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b>......</b></i></span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“In the same place as you, darling.’ ‘How many mice you have here, Vysogota!’ Ciri said, breaking off her story and looking down at the floor, where a veritable mouse circus was taking place in the circle of light thrown by the oil lamp. One could only imagine what was happening in the gloom beyond the light. ‘A cat would come in useful. Or, better still, two.’ ‘The rodents,’ the hermit coughed, ‘are coming inside because winter is drawing nigh.”</b></span></i></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">As Ciri recover from her injuries, she retells the philosopher her past. Thus, we as readers learn about the recent events through digressions. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span><span style="color: #181818;">‘An accurate statement,’ said the hermit, while adding another skin to the appropriate lot. ‘And how inevitably it leads to the conclusion that we, Ciri, we know nothing about each other. We know only the appearances and they lie.’</span></span></i></div><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">He waited a moment, but Ciri did not hasten to say anything.</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">‘Although we both have succeeded in making a preliminary inquiry, we still don’t know anything. I do not know who you are, you do not know who I am…’</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">This time he deliberately waited. She looked at him and her eyes burned with the question he was expecting. Her eyes flashed when she asked:</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">‘Who will start?”</span></span></i></p></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Ciri also engages into philosophical debates with Vysogota. </span><span style="background-color: white;">These debates were not only interesting to read, they were also an insight into Ciri's moral and philosophical development. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Why should I give up revenge? On behalf of what? Moral principles? And what of the higher order of things, in which evil deeds are punished? For you, a philosopher and ethicist, an act of revenge is bad, disgraceful, unethical and illegal. But I ask: where is the punishment for evil? Who has it and grants access? The Gods, in which you do not believe? The great demiurge-creator, which you decided to replace the gods with? Or maybe the law? </span></b></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is a side in Ciri that sides with violence and revenge. Not surprisingly, given Ciri's recent traumatic experiences. Ciri will need to find her own reasons for refraining from violence when possible. In the meantime, Ciri makes valid arguments why fight against violence is necessary. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>" I know what evil is afraid of. Not your ethics, Vysogota, not your preaching or moral treaties on the life of dignity. Evil is afraid of pain, mutilation, suffering and at the end of the day, death! The dog howls when it is badly wounded! Writhing on the ground and growls, watching the blood flow from its veins and arteries, seeing the bone that sticks out from a stump, watching its guts escape its open belly, feeling the cold as death is about to take them. Then and only then will evil begin to beg, 'Have mercy! I regret my sins! I'll be good, I swear! Just save me, do not let me waste away!'. Yes, hermit. That is the way to fight evil! When evil wants to harm you, inflict pain - anticipate them, it's best if evil does not expect it. But if you fail to prevent evil, if you have been hurt by evil, then avenge him! It is best when they have already forgotten, when they feel safe. Then pay them in double. In triple. An eye for an eye? No! Both eyes for an eye! A tooth for a tooth? No! All their teeth for a tooth! Repay evil! Make it wail in pain, howling until their eyes pop from their sockets. And then, you can look under your feet and boldly declare that what is there cannot endanger anyone, cannot hurt anyone. How can someone be a danger, when they have no eyes? How can someone hurt when they have no hands? They can only wait until they bleed to death.”</b></span></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">The philosopher hermit is patient with Ciri, his attitude to her is paternal. Understanding that Ciri has been to hell and back, Vysogota tries to install belief into humanity into her. At the same time, he is not perfect. Sometimes he underestimates Ciri and she is ready to point it out and stand up for herself. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“And so it's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? Blood for blood? And for that blood, more blood? A sea of blood? Do you want to drown the world in blood? O naive, damaged girl! Is that how you mean to fight evil, little witcher?”</b></span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Ciri retells her story, we learn the extent of </span>horrors<span style="font-family: inherit;"> she has </span>suffered<span style="font-family: inherit;"> that lead her to consider taking her own life. When Bonhart forces Ciri to fight in an arena, Ciri wants to kill herself but is unable to do it. Not from the lack of courage, as Bonhart implies, but rather because of her bravery. Ciri chooses to live and fight, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Ciri has been demonstrating her exceptional courage from the day she was born.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“You won't do it.' Bonhart's voice resounded in the complete silence. 'You won't do it, witcher girl. In Kaer Morhen you were taught how to kill, so you kill like a machine. Instinctively. To kill yourself you need character, strength, determination and courage. And they couldn't teach you that.”</b></span></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDZ5_qZGT2ez0KqlI_hh2ItPattA-OoRgTEyfJuouiECO5pVbsro4FZQOcK-1jUSSkpAp_4mdpgeLe0gNsk7ueQQ0PVID1eUygvF8SChHqU2kQzTALRhOi3XPqj0BPyezDvKMbkObYpHFP_-ZkR3GUsJYU4q2jydJwlWshy9QhMJWkNUgLVz0R-lC9-4/s3000/oz%20zovko%20blog%20mor%20green.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDZ5_qZGT2ez0KqlI_hh2ItPattA-OoRgTEyfJuouiECO5pVbsro4FZQOcK-1jUSSkpAp_4mdpgeLe0gNsk7ueQQ0PVID1eUygvF8SChHqU2kQzTALRhOi3XPqj0BPyezDvKMbkObYpHFP_-ZkR3GUsJYU4q2jydJwlWshy9QhMJWkNUgLVz0R-lC9-4/s16000/oz%20zovko%20blog%20mor%20green.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">CIRI'S TIME WITH BONHART- THE NOVEL TURNS VERY DARK AND GRAPHIC</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I must admit that I wasn't too keen of the depiction of this Bonhart character. I sometimes felt that Bonhart was given too much space in the novel, especially since some potentially fascinating characters are not further developed. In a saga known for crafting complex characters that are neither bad nor good, Bonhart stands out as a typical stereotypical bad guy. At times I felt like this psychopathic killer was given too much space and time. I understand that not all the characters should and could be depicted as morally complex and grey. Clearly, evil characters without redeeming qualities should also exist. Moreover, their existence makes the writing more realistic because genuinely rotten individuals obviously exist. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">It is just that I feel that this purely evil character does not add much to the novel. The chapters featuring him are too violent and dark for my taste. I think we could have done with less graphic descriptions of Bonhart's numerous killing. While it is true that graphic violence is a part of the Witcher saga, it never felt so overbearing before. The whole Bonehart episode felt like too much. Some other sadistic characters are introduced by him, so vile even Bonehart despises them, but their destiny isn't elaborated on which is a shame because their death would have been satisfactory. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The first book in the Witcher series contains graphic violence and even elements of horror and gore, but somehow it felt more at place than in his novel. Perhaps because all those short stories were quickly paced and well rounded, whereas here the violence drags on and gets overbearing because of some general (albeit small) pacing issues. Somehow those pacing issues become distracting as he novel progresses. Not that the whole Bonepart's episode is without sense. His action start making sense towards the end. Moreover, we get to learn more about Ciri. Even in captivity, Ciri is able to move towards fulfilling her destiny. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“You are not. The sword is for her, not for you. Come here, girl with a collar on her neck. Examine the marks etched into the blade. You don’t understand them, naturally. But I shall explain them to you. Look. The line delineated by destiny is winding, but leads to this tower. Towards annihilation, towards the destruction of established values, of the established order. But there, above the tower, do you see? A swallow. The symbol of hope. Take this sword. And may what is to come about, come about.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> Bonehart's chapters serve to add to the bleakness and serve to highlight a common motif in the Witcher saga- and that is that humans can be worse than monsters. The Witcher saga isn't afraid to dig into the darkness of the human spirit. Trigger warnings, though. This novel often speaks of about and depicts abuse in different forms. At times, it's anything but an easy read.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yitEsJ_lyi2ESNos0utb_e6U-U_6mp-kRYq4Y3yKSkI2Z1fmbZ4z1HWxXcyAXRJtk49D_cFCROHGzk7bbsfeTkRrNFrRBxaUcUeBs5tta6YyNbIw27sz275hp0c_LhTi8lkza0Miqgp9QWmvW8WehIoxyeknLpFTwj8Qw0DKKGu7H0ijJRkZFvDXKR4/s3000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yitEsJ_lyi2ESNos0utb_e6U-U_6mp-kRYq4Y3yKSkI2Z1fmbZ4z1HWxXcyAXRJtk49D_cFCROHGzk7bbsfeTkRrNFrRBxaUcUeBs5tta6YyNbIw27sz275hp0c_LhTi8lkza0Miqgp9QWmvW8WehIoxyeknLpFTwj8Qw0DKKGu7H0ijJRkZFvDXKR4/s16000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“Mamma, are they demons? Is it the Wild Hunt? Phantoms from hell? Mamma, mamma! Quiet, quiet, children. They are not demons, not devils . . . Worse than that. They are people.”</b></span></span></i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">MEANWHILE, GERALT'S VOYAGE CONTINUOUS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The subplot with Geralt and his company continues. I quite liked all the characters in his company, so I was happy to witness their character development. One thing that surprised me is Geralt and Cihir's understanding. It's like both men are somehow united by their desire to protect Ciri. However, some details in Cehir's description of saving Ciri seemed strange to me. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the unity of this travelling company. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“And you? Don't you have dreams now?'<br /></span></span></i><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'I do,' he said bitterly. 'But seldom since we crossed the Yaruga. And I remember nothing after waking. Something has ended in me, Cahir. Something has burned out. Something has ruptured in me . . .'<br /></span></span></i><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'Never mind, Geralt. I shall dream for both of us.”<br /></span></span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“Had someone crept up to the cottage with the sunken thatched roof that night, had they peered through the slits in the shutters, they would have seen in the dimly lit interior a grey-bearded old man and an ashen-haired girl sitting by the fireplace. They would have noticed that the two of them were staring silently into the glowing, ruby coals. But no one could have seen it. For the cottage with the sunken, moss-grown thatched roof was well hidden among the fog and the mist, in a boundless swamp in the Pereplut Marshes where no one dared to venture.”</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">One thing I found interesting is how Geralt seems to be ready to give up his witcher identity. He becomes devoted solely to finding Ciri. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“I’ve stopped being a witcher. I’ve learned that now. On Thanedd, in the Tower of the Seagull. In Brokilon. On the bridge on the Yaruga. In the cave beneath Gorgon. And here, in Myrkvid Forest. No, I’m not a witcher now. So I’ll have to learn to manage without my medallion.”</span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Dandelion is still by Geralt's side, being himself. I do enjoy their bromance, I must say.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Dandelion! You’re asleep in the saddle!’ </i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>‘I’m not asleep. I’m thinking creatively!”</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">We do learn more about the other members of the company, for example Milva. She is the strong female characters that we have learned to love.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">You did not like your stepfather, I take it,’ said Dandelion after a short silence.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">‘I did not.’ Milva audibly gritted her teeth. ‘Because he was a bastard. If my mother was not looking, he would run up and grope me, then claim he did nothing. So, I finally lost control and hit him with a rake, and as he fell I gave him a bit more – two kicks in the ribs and one in the course. He laid there for two whole days, spitting blood... And I ran away from home into the wide world, not waiting until he was healthy again. Then I heard that he died, and my mom shortly after he... Hey, Dandelion! Are you writing about this? Don't you dare! Don't you even dare, do you hear me?”</span></i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>NEW CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED AND MORE WORLD BUILDING TAKE PLACE</div><div><br /></div><div>This novel introduces new characters and places. It takes us into prisons and army camps. On overall, it is more focused on action than world-building but it does a good job revealing more about this world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">In normal gaols the inmates were still traditionally separated according to sex. In military citadels it was different. Emperor Fergus var Emreis – confirming women’s equality in the imperial army by special decree – had already ruled that if it was to be emancipation, then let it be emancipation. Equality ought to be complete and outright, without any exceptions or special privileges for either sex. Since then, inmates had been serving time in mixed cells in the strongholds and citadels.”</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">......</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“When they learned what orders they were to execute, they fell into a panic. They were concerned about releasing more than three thousand people from prisons, internment camps and exile. House arrest was to be withdrawn from more than a hundred. ‘No, it didn’t only apply to bandits, common criminals and hired mercenaries. The pardons were mostly for dissidents. Among the pardoned were henchmen of the deposed King Rhyd and people of the usurper Idi, their virulent partisans. And not only those who had supported in word: most were in prison for sabotage, assassination attempts and armed revolts. The minister of internal affairs was horrified and papa extremely worried.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xeY6WD09ljbUpm6IxbCN7nnLaMkQDmUiCteH7e1tb53kohvFrJagJQFUhsV6JRskEmVDz-Il8u0gRWMlNbqvqG1uRflwm_ildFU7RmqkTO3rhGKnuR-FqaVpvhP3jHy6NCOGG6QSWaMh3XHDTGwlngcZVu_LIigGXUrqiRXAWGGZRQBU4WUnp3UUuU8/s3000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20photo%20book%20review%20blog%20mor.jpg" style="font-style: italic; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xeY6WD09ljbUpm6IxbCN7nnLaMkQDmUiCteH7e1tb53kohvFrJagJQFUhsV6JRskEmVDz-Il8u0gRWMlNbqvqG1uRflwm_ildFU7RmqkTO3rhGKnuR-FqaVpvhP3jHy6NCOGG6QSWaMh3XHDTGwlngcZVu_LIigGXUrqiRXAWGGZRQBU4WUnp3UUuU8/s16000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20photo%20book%20review%20blog%20mor.jpg" /></span></b></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Dancing Script; font-size: medium;"><b>“No one wants to suffer. But that is the fate of each. And some suffer more. Not necessarily of their own volition. It's not about to enduring the suffering. It's about how you endure it.”</b></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div>LEGENDS AND STORIES ARE FOUND RIGHT AND LEFT</div><div><br /></div><div>Legends, prophecies and stories are not important just for the plot. They play an important part in world-building as well. I really liked it how some legends reinforced the atmosphere of the novel. One legend in particular, the one about Cintra princesses, was so well placed in the story. It gave Yen confirmation that Ciri is alive. Moreover, some legends are just beautifully written and imagined.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">“The blood of the queens of Cintra,’ Crach began, ‘is uncannily bound to the sea. When one of the women of that blood dies the sea falls into sheer madness. It’s said that Ard Skellig bewails the daughters of Riannon. For the storm is so strong then that the waves striking from the west squeeze through crevices and caverns to the east side and suddenly salt brooks gush from the rock. And the entire island shudders. Simple folk say “See how Ard Skellig sobs. Someone has died again. Riannon’s blood has died. The Elder Blood”.”</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some stories are poetical, some more ironic and realistic:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">...A certain Gabriel, a craftsman from Verden, had invented and patented a miniature crossbow. He advertised them with the slogan "Defend yourself". His handbill declared "Banditry and violence are rampant among us. The law is powerless and inept. Defend yourself! Don't leave home without a handy Gabriel crossbow. A Gabriel is your guardian, a Gabriel will protect you and your dear ones from bandits. " </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Sales were phenomenal. Soon every bandit packed a Gabriel during robberies...</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div>THERE IS YET ANOTHER EPISODE WITH A BITTER ELF</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Elves of the Witcher saga are bitter and it's hard to blame them for it. They are presented as sophisticated and advanced beings that are about to go extinct. The elfkind is dying and is aware of that. However, at times their hatred of humans seems to be their downfall. Maybe there should try to make compromises? They don't seem to consider humans their equals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Anyone,’ Avallac’h wiped his hands on a rag, ‘can foretell the future. And everyone does it, for it is simple. It is no great art to foretell it. The art is in foretelling it accurately.”</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">.....</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Avallac’h said nothing for a moment. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>‘Share?’ he finally drawled. ‘With you? Knowledge, my dear, is a privilege, and privileges are only shared with one’s equals. And why would I, an elf, a Sage, a member of the elite, share anything with a descendant of a creature that appeared in the universe barely five million years ago, having evolved from an ape, a rat, a jackal or some other such mammal? A creature that took around a million years to discover that one can execute some sort of operation with a gnawed bone using its two hairy hands? ”</i></span></div><div>....</div><div><i style="color: #181818;">“And then suddenly comes the Conjunction of the Spheres and you, people, appear here. Human survivors, come from another world, from your former world, which you managed utterly to destroy with your still-hirsute hands, barely five million years after evolving as a species. There’s only a handful of you, your life expectancy is ridiculously low, so your survival depends on the pace of reproduction. Thus unbridled lust never leaves you, sex totally governs you; it’s a drive more powerful even than the survival instinct.”</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJkzgWrCsVY1WuKKoQuvjQL0fIDl7LDFs2WZPa1O2wRWmGcK9F7hMTAxiojR3AOJjvoaSY5YTR2akN2W3NeBijEMhddRZAAoMJoYCqF0qlKnNB3SQsMhf69FAQGsvlzXkOK7uuJ1W6_wBLoxvLPecKJ8wcQfXfJKJ563SmOOGHwlIL5zFbHpX_kRosIM/s4640/the%20witcher%20quotes%20yennefer%20former%20lovers%20gerald%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4640" data-original-width="3488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJkzgWrCsVY1WuKKoQuvjQL0fIDl7LDFs2WZPa1O2wRWmGcK9F7hMTAxiojR3AOJjvoaSY5YTR2akN2W3NeBijEMhddRZAAoMJoYCqF0qlKnNB3SQsMhf69FAQGsvlzXkOK7uuJ1W6_wBLoxvLPecKJ8wcQfXfJKJ563SmOOGHwlIL5zFbHpX_kRosIM/s16000/the%20witcher%20quotes%20yennefer%20former%20lovers%20gerald%20modaodaradosti%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><div>WE LEARN MORE ABOUT YENNEFER- AND SHE REALLY GIVES IT HER ALL!</div><div><br /></div><div>Yennefer is a mighty impressive heroine in this novel. My only complaint is that Geralt seems weak in comparison. Yen doesn't even consider looking for Geralt to ask for his help. It is not that Yen doesn't care about him, it's more that Ciri is a priority. Yennefer is the kind of woman that takes matters into her own hands. When Yen criticizes Geralt as incompetent, she seems to be right. At the same time, Geralt suspects Yen, so he seems to have had it coming.</div><div><br /></div><div>This novel also offers an unique view into Yennefer's past. We get to see her as a child that was rejected by both of its parents. No wonder she and Geralt both have abandonment issues.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">“Janka! Dear Janka! Take this hunchbacked monstrosity from me! I don’t want to look at it!</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"> She’s your daughter as much as she is mine.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;"> Indeed? The children I have sired are normal. </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">How dare you… How dare you suggest… </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">It was in your elven family that there were witches. It was you that aborted your first pregnancy. It was because of that. You have tainted elven blood and a tainted womb, woman. That’s why you give birth to monsters. It is an ill-fated child… </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">Such was the will of the gods! She’s your daughter as much as she is mine! What was I to do? Smother her? Not tie the birth cord? What am I to do now? Take her to the forest and leave her? What do you want from me, by the Gods? </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">Daddy! Mummy! </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">Get away, you freak. </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">How dare you! How dare you strike a child! </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">Stop! Where are you going? Where? To her, are you? To her! </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">Yes, woman. I’m a man. I’m free to sate my lust where and when I want, as is my natural right. And I loathe you. You and the fruit of your degenerate womb. Don’t wait with supper. I won’t be back tonight. Mummy… Why are you weeping? Why are you beating me and pushing me away? I was good, wasn’t I? Mummy! Dear Mummy!”</i></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPU4IahTur420TPhPrGR90LBfy9PfYL_s202afmnxLwKK-Lx2DJXLct0ZpKPsO5jrSBMbi_Dpq6SDCKINUXLsg5eQ9GZmkRFbI3UDNJP0Tf1JXVXyqiUD9crXfwcQHg8IfBExSvChO-BquxcR7nxvabkvSXQEnQf8ClqLEwWW-slfhUPQptAz5JhRVr5Y/s3000/oz%20green%20top%20and%20trousers%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPU4IahTur420TPhPrGR90LBfy9PfYL_s202afmnxLwKK-Lx2DJXLct0ZpKPsO5jrSBMbi_Dpq6SDCKINUXLsg5eQ9GZmkRFbI3UDNJP0Tf1JXVXyqiUD9crXfwcQHg8IfBExSvChO-BquxcR7nxvabkvSXQEnQf8ClqLEwWW-slfhUPQptAz5JhRVr5Y/s16000/oz%20green%20top%20and%20trousers%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>MORE MEMORABLE QUOTES</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">DEBATES, POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY IN THIS NOVEL</div></div><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“For the law is not jurisprudence, not a weighty tome full of articles, not philosophical treatises, not peevish nonsense about justice, not hackneyed platitudes about morality and ethics. The law means safe paths and highways. It means backstreets one can walk along even after sundown. It means inns and taverns one can leave to visit the privy, leaving one’s purse on the table and one’s wife beside it. The law is the sleep of people certain they’ll be woken by the crowing of the rooster and not the crashing of burning roof timbers! And for those who break the law; the noose, the axe, the stake and the red-hot iron! Punishments which deter others.”</span><br /></span></i></p><p>........</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“It isn't the evil and indecent who are flung down into the depths, no! Oh, no! The evil and decisive fling down those who are moral, honest and noble but maladroit, hesitant and full of scruples.”</i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>.........</i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“Instead of codes, articles and peevish platitudes about justice, your idea creates lawlessness, anarchy, the licence and self-serving of princelings and mandarins, the officiousness of careerists wanting to endear themselves to their superiors, the blind vindictiveness of fanatics, the cruelty of assassins, retribution and sadistic vengeance. Your vision is a world where people are afraid to venture out after dark; not for fear of cut-throats, but of the guardians of public order. For, after all, the result of all great crackdowns on miscreants is always that the miscreants enter the ranks of the guardians of public order en masse. Your vision is a world of bribery, blackmail and entrapment, a world of turning imperial evidence and false witnesses. A world of snoopers and coerced confessions. Informing and the fear of being informed upon. And inevitably the day will come in your world when the flesh of the wrong person will be torn with pincers, when an innocent person is hanged or impaled. And then it will be a world of crime.”</i></span></p><p>.........</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><i>“Treaties are like marriage: they aren't entered in to with the thought of betrayal, and once they're concluded one shouldn't be suspicious. And if that doesn't suit somebody, they shouldn't get married. Because you can't become a cuckold without being a husband, but you'll admit that fear of wearing the horns is a pitiful and quite ridiculous justification for enforced celibacy.”</i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaIsQusjr7VM9pHC7car6V_C8hLT47dbcJDp7sb2SE2JTo3CYMeBAjLkNULhUk82PpHvBagj87XVyFi4K1YF6TyUSksnImX6I1YXy86Cab9MRrvO2PL4yDUlRzww5fOvfekqYqRlXBKagAbbEEXhALO0s-wKPzJHojGDxuzatnzLPR9FlnTyIYWgUprI/s3000/stanka%20zovko%20green%20set%20mostar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaIsQusjr7VM9pHC7car6V_C8hLT47dbcJDp7sb2SE2JTo3CYMeBAjLkNULhUk82PpHvBagj87XVyFi4K1YF6TyUSksnImX6I1YXy86Cab9MRrvO2PL4yDUlRzww5fOvfekqYqRlXBKagAbbEEXhALO0s-wKPzJHojGDxuzatnzLPR9FlnTyIYWgUprI/s16000/stanka%20zovko%20green%20set%20mostar.jpg" /></a></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">FINAL THOUGHTS</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">I really enjoyed reading </span></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Tower of Swallow.</i> The novel was filled with some wonderful surprises, both it terms of introduction of new characters and the character development of existing ones. The novel was for most part well developed and plotted. There were </span><span style="text-align: justify;">some small pacing issues, but they didn't ruin the narrative or take away from enjoyment. However, I didn't like how graphic and violent this novel was. I'm not against gore in writing as long as it serves its purpose. The description of violence should always fit the context. In this novel, sometimes it does, sometimes it does not. To conclude, </span><i>The Tower of Swallow </i>is a great novel despite some minor flaws. Highly recommended!</p><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkqK-pDid_0KTXFwG4tPV0GQXH03W9uSkMRN4VmhSgGkXLRqYJNqpSevVvnJ_lngGyYXieNM-RsjRU4EHV97KTGRUrsV6t9PBKThvrMvQrJ1TFxSKbWoFhzRmHzRr12Er53ke7YMpyGVjGQrilUQdrSZMjJ3D67BSJs2xZDEZos9FJ9J0brBAzLe4UVw/s3000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20book%20review%20covers%20dress%20mor.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkqK-pDid_0KTXFwG4tPV0GQXH03W9uSkMRN4VmhSgGkXLRqYJNqpSevVvnJ_lngGyYXieNM-RsjRU4EHV97KTGRUrsV6t9PBKThvrMvQrJ1TFxSKbWoFhzRmHzRr12Er53ke7YMpyGVjGQrilUQdrSZMjJ3D67BSJs2xZDEZos9FJ9J0brBAzLe4UVw/s16000/the%20tower%20of%20swallow%20book%20review%20covers%20dress%20mor.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Thank you for reading and visiting. Have a nice day!</span></span></p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-75044613149243691302023-10-07T06:32:00.004-07:002023-10-11T12:07:44.656-07:00BAPTISM OF FIRE, A NOVEL BY A. SAPKOWSKI, WITCHER BOOK #5 (REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"> In this post, I shall review <i>Baptism of Fire</i>, the fifth book and the third novel in the Witcher series. I'm currently reading the sequel to this novel, so you can expect the review for <i>The Tower of Swallow</i> soon. The photographs I will use to accompany this book review were two weeks ago on <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/05/fashion-illustration-friday-rujiste.html" target="_blank">mountain Prenj ( Rujište</a>) near Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). I'm wearing Yennefer colours (black and white), but I didn't plan it. I don't do cosplay, so it's just a coincidence. When I write my book reviews, I do try to match my outfits and locations to the book somehow. he visual aspect of a book review is also important to me. In this case, I think the location will match the book review for <i>Baptism of Fire</i> quite well. Most of this novel takes place outdoors in the nature, so in forests and plains. I love this black and white dress too, it has such a fun print. I bought this dress back in summer in a second hand shop in Split and the label says Solin (a town next to Split) so I'm pretty sure it was made in Croatia. Anyhow, back to the subject at hand- the book review of the fifth book in the Witcher series! </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Advice is superfluous to you, allies are superfluous, you’ll get by without any travelling companions. The goal of your expedition is, after all, personal and private. More than that, the nature of the goal demands that you accomplish it alone, in person. The risks, dangers, hardships and constant struggle with doubt must only burden you. For, after all, they are components of the penance, the expiation of guilt you want to earn. A baptism of fire, I’d say. You’ll pass through fire, which burns, but also purges. And you’ll do it alone. For were someone to support you in this, help you, take on even a scrap of that baptism of fire, that pain, that penance, they would, by the same token, impoverish you. They would deprive you of part of the expiation you desire, which would be owed to them for their involvement. After all, it should be your exclusive expiation.”</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“A baptism of fire, the Witcher thought, furiously striking and parrying blows. I was meant to pass through fire for Ciri. And I'm passing through fire in a battle which is of no interest to me at all. Which I don't understand in any way. The fire that was meant to purify me is just scorching my hair and face.”</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Baptism of Fire</i> takes off immediately where its prequel ended. On overall, the third person narrative is quite chronological. There are neither time jumps nor major digressions in the first three novels. As with the two first novels in the series, the transition between novels was effortless. You can hardly tell when one ends and the other beginnings. However, when you look at the novels as whole books, there are some inconsistencies in the pacing and the character development. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Moreover, when I compare the first three novels in the series, I do see some slight differences between them. On overall, some novels are more dark and grim while others are a bit lighter in tone. The first novel in the series (<i style="background-color: white;">Blood of Elves)</i> was more slow paced than the second one (<i style="background-color: white;">Time of Contempt)</i>, probably because it included more worldbuilding. The second novel was more graphic in descriptions of violence, especially towards the end. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFa8bTvcAVg6RQ7GjmGQhOam_VqU0DVXVsFG4xlFyvSNkyscrezMZubMfsC-LH83XDtt4h-4jAcg1a1Z969DtGfjsMUMgh9kEbdcvvYMgmV7XKAhBOnkmjM2h5gXU9MCydw-DKRnV1nJrvZ4xg8Uz-ugBaSBs1tS6y42vJiO98HPsl5dSdhpdmC4qpuGk/s4000/baptism%20of%20fire%20book%20review%20art%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFa8bTvcAVg6RQ7GjmGQhOam_VqU0DVXVsFG4xlFyvSNkyscrezMZubMfsC-LH83XDtt4h-4jAcg1a1Z969DtGfjsMUMgh9kEbdcvvYMgmV7XKAhBOnkmjM2h5gXU9MCydw-DKRnV1nJrvZ4xg8Uz-ugBaSBs1tS6y42vJiO98HPsl5dSdhpdmC4qpuGk/s16000/baptism%20of%20fire%20book%20review%20art%20cover.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“At the root of this myth, invented around primeval campfires, lies your heliophilia, by which I mean love of warmth; the circadian rhythm, which relies upon diurnal activity. For you the night is cold, dark, sinister, menacing, and full of danger. The sunrise, however, represents another victory in the fight for life, a new day, the continuation of existence. Sunlight carries with it light and the sun; and the sun’s rays, which are invigorating for you, bring with them the destruction of hostile monsters.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnABL8ZLb_edcfXsVg7zCaqA1YP7o0x_3D30UwgKZaFKwBuLpVDC8D1aKVLiWS9UTmxLJlAxfT6P9rvk8xoZfuh73EVe42k9HOtm4jnk9VDmMGaujFdzon1Ra6cJb4pmBa0YoRKji04FEShMOskNZ99x0XPLfWsJ7i6FwqkPzDztS4rvMT9b8eTuebZDA/s3000/VATRENO%20BAPTISM%20OF%20FIRE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnABL8ZLb_edcfXsVg7zCaqA1YP7o0x_3D30UwgKZaFKwBuLpVDC8D1aKVLiWS9UTmxLJlAxfT6P9rvk8xoZfuh73EVe42k9HOtm4jnk9VDmMGaujFdzon1Ra6cJb4pmBa0YoRKji04FEShMOskNZ99x0XPLfWsJ7i6FwqkPzDztS4rvMT9b8eTuebZDA/s16000/VATRENO%20BAPTISM%20OF%20FIRE.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">“I would argue that when mutation is spread over a sufficiently long period it ceases to be mutation and becomes evolution."</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Baptism on Fire</i> connects the two novels quite well and at times feels like the mixture of two, for it includes both wordbuilding and action. The novel follows the stories of the main characters (protagonists Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer) and the side characters introduced in the previous novel, but we also witness the reappearance of some memorable characters such as dwarf Zoltan. His discussions with Geralt often turn philosophical and are quite interesting.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“Unbridled altruism is a huge vice of mine,’ he explained. ‘I simply have to do good. I am a sensible dwarf, however, and know that I’m unable to do everyone good. Were I to attempt to be good to everyone, to the entire world and to all the creatures living in it, it would be a drop of fresh water in the salt sea. In other words, a wasted effort. Thus, I decided to do specific good; good which would not go to waste. I’m good to myself and my immediate circle.”</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> Having read the first three novels in the series, I have to admit that I have a slight preference for the short stories book collections (that is the first two books: <i style="background-color: white;">The Last Wish </i><span style="background-color: white;">and</span><i style="background-color: white;"> </i><i style="background-color: white;">Sword of Destiny</i>). Not saying that I don't love the novels because I really do, but there is something about the short stories that is truly magical. The novels are more chronological than the short stories and easier to follow, though. I'm really excited to review this novel. This time, I shall do my best to avoid spoilers. Scroll down to read my review.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OFvbTwanXVeHI79ixQ34d5ikwht1trBBLLDWPVLo47gxRTkvoucUGCwYiXT51af2aMOv6pBYQzP5AxbLk7Qi9dYJ-R6S3uw6eiHfTXuJE9XR-veCxNMo5B0FMfEMHaZ9VPXHgc1yqiZzsOHLikUQvDroa_8idqPInVaRBnXW_KZ_IB2fvTJmMgJkIhA/s4000/baptism%20of%20fire%20book%20cover%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OFvbTwanXVeHI79ixQ34d5ikwht1trBBLLDWPVLo47gxRTkvoucUGCwYiXT51af2aMOv6pBYQzP5AxbLk7Qi9dYJ-R6S3uw6eiHfTXuJE9XR-veCxNMo5B0FMfEMHaZ9VPXHgc1yqiZzsOHLikUQvDroa_8idqPInVaRBnXW_KZ_IB2fvTJmMgJkIhA/s16000/baptism%20of%20fire%20book%20cover%20review.jpg" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIIhT3kueqtLQU7YsU3LEmcfUHgJKtV-8UykU_J9NSHTGn5qq5x9Hyz03a0u30EhNp9ze7-LR_uLrcVhhvkdfVLVrbIJk-gYsKklTrQWWrpCiJAPIsmFBETd8Fzl6DcJ5zMtkUpzEQ1CwW6KX1y_lHngunUyMc22IKb8uwepcHAMmwSz7y-NxLFUYlIXo/s3000/VATRENO%20BAPTISM%20OF%20FIRE%20WITCHER%20QUTES.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIIhT3kueqtLQU7YsU3LEmcfUHgJKtV-8UykU_J9NSHTGn5qq5x9Hyz03a0u30EhNp9ze7-LR_uLrcVhhvkdfVLVrbIJk-gYsKklTrQWWrpCiJAPIsmFBETd8Fzl6DcJ5zMtkUpzEQ1CwW6KX1y_lHngunUyMc22IKb8uwepcHAMmwSz7y-NxLFUYlIXo/s16000/VATRENO%20BAPTISM%20OF%20FIRE%20WITCHER%20QUTES.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“A sense of guilt, as well as the need for expiation, a baptism of fire, aren't things you can claim an exclusive right to. Life differs from banking because it has debts which are paid off by running up debt with others.”</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">THE WITCHER SAGA- WHAT BOOKS I HAVE READ AND REVIEWED SO FAR?</span></b></h3><p><br /></p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-last-wish-book-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>THE LAST WISH</i>, THE FIRST BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h3><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Last Wish </i>is considered the first book in the Witcher series, even if it was published in 1993, a year after the publication of <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Sword of Destiny</a></i>. The reason why <i>The Last Wish</i> is considered the first Witcher book is all due to do the chronology of the events it describes. The events described in <i>The Last Wish</i> take place before those described in <i>Sword of Destiny. </i></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i>The Last Wish</i> could just be the best book in the series for me. I</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">t is definitely my favourite a</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">mong the Witcher books I have read so far. The Witcher series started with short stories. In my opinion, the short story format works really well for this series, especially with the white wolf as protagonist. Geralt is an absolutely fascinating protagonist. He is not a typical hero. Geralt has a wicked sense of humour and an anti-political attitude towards the world. Once you learn more about this fantasy world, you start to understand Geralt and his philosophy of neutrality better. It's a dark and grim world filled with monsters of all kinds. Often it's people who turns out worse than monsters. The reader really has the opportunity to get inside of Geralt's head in this book. Most of Geralt's words are both quotable and memorable. He alternates between being seriously philosophic and wickedly humorous often. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">What made this one the best book for me? Well, despite being familiar with the events this book describes, I immensely enjoyed it. I read the summary of these stories prior to reading them, but it didn't take anything from them. The pacing in this book is simply perfect. Every story has its own rhythm and atmosphere. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">The stories are unusual, unique and well connected. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">The writing is engaging and interesting. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>SWORD OF DESTINY </i>, THE SECOND BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Sword of Destiny</i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> consists of six short stories. All of the stories feature Gerald, the witcher as the protagonist. The stories are told by an all knowing narrator whose voice is often rich with irony and sarcasm. The writing style is simple and descriptive, but at times also poetical. The stories are generally chronological, but they are not tightly bound one to another. It's not exactly sure how much time has passed between the stories or what exactly happened in that time. So, the chronology of the stories is loose. In that sense, you could say that the stories are independent one of another. All the six stories feature at least some the recurring characters from the Witcher universe. Some of these characters will become heroes of the books and novels to follow. I enjoyed immensely both of the short stories collections, but I enjoyed </span></span><i style="text-align: justify;">The Last Wish</i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> a bit more than </span><i style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Sword of Destiny.</i></div><div><i style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></i></div><div><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></a></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>BLOOD OF ELVES,</i> THE THIRD BOOK (AND THE FIRST NOVEL) IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h3></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The first two books in the Wicher series are collection of short stories. So, <i>Blood of Elves </i>is actually the first novel in the series. I was really curious to read the first novel. Once I started reading <i>Blood of Elves,</i> I immediately felt drawn into the story. The novel is well plotted and well paced. It's rather conversation heavy so that slows down the pacing but it helps us to get to know the characters better. Moreover, I really enjoyed the dialogues. I enjoyed learning more about this fantasy world, so I'm not complaining. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published in 1994, this fantasy novel further develops the life story of Gerald of Rivia. It introduces new subplots and characters, but remains focused on the main characters. Gerald, Ciri, Dandelion and Yennifer are the main characters in this novel. Some might argue that Dandelion is a side character, but his friendship with Gerald seems to make him more important. Moreover, Dandelion has a habit of constantly popping up. There are other recurring and important characters, such as Tess and other sorceress yet Dandelion really stands out. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Naturally, Gerald, Ciri and Yennefer are always in the focus. The narrative in this novel is told from from the third person but with alternative points of view. The protagonist is, as always, Gerald the witcher, but the focus is often on Ciri. Gerald's adoptive daughter is the focus of this novel. Gerald will have to go to great lengths to protect her. It could be argued that Ciri is really the most important character of the Witcher's saga. Ciri's uniqueness is the driving force behind the main plot of the saga. In this novel, we learn more about Ciri's past and lineage. Moreover, we learn more about Yennefer and Dandelion. <i>Blood of Elves</i> is a great sequel to <i>Sword of Destiny</i>. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; max-width: calc(100% - 48px);"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/time-of-contempt-novel-by-sapkowski.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>TIME OF CONTEMPT,</i> THE FOURTH BOOK AND THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE WITCHER SERIES</span></a></h3></div><div><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><i>Time of Contempt</i> is a direct sequel to <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Blood of Elves</a>.</i> Honestly, at first I hardly noticed the transition from one novel to another. T</span>he first part of <i>Time of Contempt</i> might as well be included in<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> <i>Blood of Elves</i></a> as it almost feels like the same novel. In addition, I was able to read the novels one after the other so the transition was especially smooth. However, as <i>Time of Contempt </i>develops, some differences between the two novels can be spotted. Published in 1995, <i>Time of Contempt</i> takes off where <i>Blood of Elves </i>ended, but it feels more fast paced than its prequel. If you have read my review for <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Blood of Elves</a>,</i> you would have known that I found it slower paced than the <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Sword of Destiny </a></i>but also very interesting in its own right, as it explains a great deal about the Witcher world. <i>Blood of Elves </i>is all about world-building, particularly in the sense of explaining the politics of this fantasy world. <i>Time of Contempt</i> adds more action and in that sense feels more true to the first two books in the series. </span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjljOo5rYCfuX-nQXAEgv0PGmedeTWleGTlnoa1yOb-6N6RXbn6z6sdmfPD8GujxiLl_1SbKMRwa4IC4XGxTW2AhJfSOaVf3mIF5Pkhs0cMUz6xpLUeIftv1vBbhXzTvAYQJv0Vmgv_kdmxT4NBQ03cNJFyVuAmAze8glZNRLtTwUclIVvuZ1bi0QbKb0/s3000/VAT%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20WITCHER%20COVER.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjljOo5rYCfuX-nQXAEgv0PGmedeTWleGTlnoa1yOb-6N6RXbn6z6sdmfPD8GujxiLl_1SbKMRwa4IC4XGxTW2AhJfSOaVf3mIF5Pkhs0cMUz6xpLUeIftv1vBbhXzTvAYQJv0Vmgv_kdmxT4NBQ03cNJFyVuAmAze8glZNRLtTwUclIVvuZ1bi0QbKb0/s16000/VAT%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20WITCHER%20COVER.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>BAPTISM OF FIRE, A NOVEL BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI 4/5</b></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">GERALT, CIRI AND YENNEFER ARE SEPARATED BY WAR AND CHAOS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">“For a war is raging, and disinformation is a weapon whose blade must always be kept sharp.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As the novel opens, the war between northern kingdoms and Nilfgaard is still in progress. The start of war caught pretty much everyone by surprise. Wise ones were expecting the Nilfgaard attack, but not so soon and not with such force. Our heroes were unprepared for an attempted coup at the mage meeting than turned into complete chaos and left the protagonist separated. Yennefer is missing, Geralt is recovering from his serious wounds with the help of dryads. As we learned from previous novel, Dandelion is by Geralt's side. This is consistent with his character development.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“A most deplorable sight," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "Someone who has lost everything. You know, minstrel, it is interesting. Once, I thought it was impossible to lose everything, that something always remains. Always. Even in times of contempt, when naivety is capable of backfiring in the cruellest way, one cannot lose everything. But he... he lost several pints of blood, the ability to walk properly, partial use of his left hand, his witcher's sword, the woman he loves, the daughter he had gained by a miracle, his faith... Well, I thought, he must have been left with something. But I was wrong. He has nothing now. Not even a razor."</span></span></i></p><i style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Dandelion remained silent. The dryad did not move.</span></span></i></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"I asked if you had a hand in this," she began a moment later. "But I think there was no need. It's obvious you had a hand in it. It's obvious you are his friend. And if someone has friends, and he loses everything in spite of that, it's obvious the friends are to blame. For what they did, or for what they didn't do.”</span></span></i></div></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“È davvero uno spettacolo molto brutto vedere qualcuno che ha perso tutto. Sai, cantore, è curioso. A suo tempo, mi sembrava che non si potesse perdere tutto, che rimanesse sempre qualcosa. Sempre. Perfino nei tempi del disprezzo, in cui l'ingenuità sa vendicarsi nel modo più spietato, non si può perdere tutto. Ma lui... Lui ha perso un'infinità di sangue, la possibilità di camminare agilmente, l'uso parziale della mano sinistra, la spada da strigo, la donna che amava, la figlia recuperata per miracolo, la fede... Be', ho pensato, qualcosa deve pur essergli rimasto. Mi sbagliavo. Non ha più nulla. Neppure un rasoio.</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><i style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Ti ho chiesto se eri tra quelli che lo hanno ridotto così. Ma forse è una domanda inutile. È chiaro che la risposta è sì. È evidente che sei suo amico. E, se si hanno degli amici, e ciononostante si perde tutto, è chiaro che gli amici ne hanno colpa. Per ciò che hanno fatto o non hanno fatto. Per non aver visto cosa andava fatto.”</span></span></i></div></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1f9HHA1bzJQ8OUZOUoLDz9N0uOkHLJEJp_N8vci1sonKiqx7FgbEcja32UPTiG84cf703d9zDRKwx8URMM86CLaezYJugYG2z9goU0MMvsX5lzSOyxBiiSvqhcPr4GzujQlr1xrLUDK0oGVsdVQdEMFS8OyHp42e_GnP_s6cMfh5RX8_Bddtw9VUWlE/s4000/vatreno%20collage%20book%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1f9HHA1bzJQ8OUZOUoLDz9N0uOkHLJEJp_N8vci1sonKiqx7FgbEcja32UPTiG84cf703d9zDRKwx8URMM86CLaezYJugYG2z9goU0MMvsX5lzSOyxBiiSvqhcPr4GzujQlr1xrLUDK0oGVsdVQdEMFS8OyHp42e_GnP_s6cMfh5RX8_Bddtw9VUWlE/s16000/vatreno%20collage%20book%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">DANDELION PROVES TO BE A TRUE FRIEND</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Despite dryad's criticism, Dandelion turns out to be a true friend. Moreover, he plays a significant part in this novel. He bravely risked his life, venturing into the dryad forest where he could have been easily shot on approach. Yennefer on the other hand is nowhere to be found. Many suspect her to be a traitor. It seems that our little family has fallen apart as soon as they managed to find one another. In previous novel we witnessed Geralt's and Yennefer's reunion. With little help from Ciri, the two met and made up. However, trouble is always near in the Witcher world and the trio was forced apart.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Some say everything in the world—everything, with no exception—has a price. It’s not true. There are things with no price, things that are priceless. But you realise it belatedly: when you lose them, you lose them forever and nothing can get them back for you.”</i></span></span></div><p></p><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Fortunately, Geralt isn't entirely alone. Dandelion is there by his side. The more I read about these two, the more I understand why they are best of friends. They are more similar than they seem at first. In many ways they are complete opposites, but then you realize they are both decent men with a fun sense of humour. Life would be dull without Dandelion. In addition, both of them are smarter and more knowledgeable than they seem. Despite his wondering ways, Dandelion is practically a scholar, a guest professor at an University. He's more than a troubadour with a wicked sens of humour.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I have met many military men in my life. I have known marshals, generals, commanders and governors, the victors of numerous campaigns and battles. I’ve listened to their stories and recollections. I’ve seen them poring over maps, drawing lines of various colours on them, making plans, thinking up strategies. In those paper wars everything worked, everything functioned, everything was clear and everything was in exemplary order. That’s how it has to be, explained the military men. The army represents discipline and order above all. The army cannot exist without discipline and order. So it is all the stranger that real wars–and I have seen several real wars–have as much in common with discipline and order as a whorehouse with a fire raging through it.</i></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Dandelion, <i>Half a Century of Poetry</i>”</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GERALT IS IN A PRETTY BAD SHAPE BUT DETERMINED TO LOOK FOR CIRI</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Geralt is </span><span style="color: #202122;">physiologically</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, emotionally and </span>physically<span style="font-family: inherit;"> exhausted. In the book, it is stressed that Geralt is indeed unwell. He doesn't know what happened to Ciri and Yennefer or whether they are alive. Yu could say he is a broken man in many ways. The Dryads advise him against travel but when he insists, they not only let him leave but their queen introduces Geralt to Milva, another strong female character. This is pretty unusual as dryads don't usually do favours for men, but with the white wolf they make </span>exception<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Is it because Geralt is a mutant? It might be part of the reason, but there is more. Dryad queen and Geralt go way back. Besides, as we have the chance to learn- Geralt is not only more than he seems, but a man strongly marked by destiny. This is in some way true of all witchers, but it is even more so in Geralt's case.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“It’s impossible to repay something that has no price. Some say everything in the world–everything, with no exception–has a price. It’s not true. There are things with no price, things that are priceless. But you realise it belatedly: when you lose them, you lose them forever and nothing can get them back for you. I have lost many such things. Which is why I can’t help you today.”</i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWmHAaWJMqy5sdm95kqIytjSMcI0Apq-VNQO_paTJW2DzpjO-vvktu2nKdG_paLnKE80hREkOlP5OPYjet6EWqa6WWhhz7MsItzVRCIxGiqniiKIWuurNB9JAfl54OUAUAt9yNwpcdZQ70HYGicqZNvX-m_95kDcjfGJoMpiSSXz2DmiLgrZcwJfU3Yc/s3000/VATRENO%20KR%C5%A0TENJE%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20BAPTISM%20OF%20FIRE%20QUOTES.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWmHAaWJMqy5sdm95kqIytjSMcI0Apq-VNQO_paTJW2DzpjO-vvktu2nKdG_paLnKE80hREkOlP5OPYjet6EWqa6WWhhz7MsItzVRCIxGiqniiKIWuurNB9JAfl54OUAUAt9yNwpcdZQ70HYGicqZNvX-m_95kDcjfGJoMpiSSXz2DmiLgrZcwJfU3Yc/s16000/VATRENO%20KR%C5%A0TENJE%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20BAPTISM%20OF%20FIRE%20QUOTES.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: center;">A SEARCH COMPANY IS FORMED AND ANOTHER STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER INTRODUCED </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Milva is a first class archer who was spared by dryads and now works for them. I believe she was too old to be turned into a dryad, but she has an understanding with them and they collaborate well together. Milva hunts </span></span></span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">outside the forest because the forest is sacred to dryads. In addition, she is guiding </span><i style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Scoia'tael</i><span style="text-align: start;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> when they seek refuge in Brokilon. This fact about her is not only quite important to her personal story but it provides </span><span style="color: #202122;">context for the novel itself</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">. </span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Milva doesn't see eye to eye with Geralt, but when asked by dryads, she agrees to accompany him and Dandelion and help hem on their way. Therefore, she becomes an important character.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“He’s just “me, me, by myself, all alone”. A lone wolf! But you can see he’s no hunter, that he’s a stranger to the forest. Wolves don’t hunt alone! Never! A lone wolf, ha, what twaddle, foolish townie nonsense. But he doesn’t understand that!”</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">A FRIEND OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND? THE COMPLEX WORLD OF WITCHER SAGA</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world of witcher is quite complex. There are no clear 'good' and 'bad' guys. As the war wages on, one understand the witcher's wish for neutrality better and better. The S</span>quirrels (<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Scoia'tael</i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> ) </span></span><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;">guerrilla<span style="font-family: inherit;"> group is responsible for much killing and is famous for its cruelty. At the moment, they are allied with </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">Nilfgaard Empire that uses them as pawns. </span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Once we learn more about the prosecution endured by elves on hands of Northern kingdoms, it is more understandable why the Squirrels hate humans so much. Previous novels have </span><span style="color: #202122;">provided</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> enough context for this conflict. Therefore, it is hard for us as readers to choose sides. I think the author was really clever the way he went about this. Every character tells a different story.</span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What is Milva's motivation in helping the </span>guerrilla<span style="font-family: inherit;">? Despite being human, Milva has little love for humans, especially men. She escaped her family as a </span></span><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;">teenager,</span><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> when her stepfather made advances on her. Taken in by the dryads, she has become loyal to them. Milva is rough on the outside, coming from family of </span>poachers<span style="font-family: inherit;">, but she is soft on the inside. We get to know her better when her back story is revealed. The author goes to great </span>length<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to describe her skill with the bow. Sapkowski describes her elven bow in detail, pointing out how superior it is. The bow is perhaps a metaphor. It's a beautiful thing created by elven skill and culture, but it's used for killing. So, are the </span>Squirrels<span style="font-family: inherit;"> used. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202122; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;">THE CRUELTY OF THE SQUIRRELS IS BEING PUNISHED</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><i>“When someone tells me he is politically neutral,’ Francesca smiled, ‘I always ask which politics he specifically has in mind.”</i></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"> In the previous novel we learned that the mage Francesca Findabair has secretly been an ally to Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr. Presently, the Emperor Emhyr has allowed her to become a queen</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;"> of Dol Blathanna. In reality, Francesca serves the Emperor and is queen only in name. Moreover, in exchange for her throne, Francesca agreed to withhold aid from the elven </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">Scoia'tael. </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">So, are those </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">who supported Nilfgaard's initial advance into the North rewarded! They are left to their own devices- basically these elves are sentenced to death.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;">Knowing this, one can understand how the Witcher doesn't argue with dryads because they are helping <i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">Scoia'tael.</i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"> I don't think it's just because Geralt is in no position to argue. He understand the complexities of this world. Geralt doesn't seem to be focused on revenge. Geralt's priority is saving Ciri. The </span></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;">Scoia'tael </i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;">attack of mages' meeting separated Geralt from his adoptive daughter, but he knows that Ciri is no less threatened by the norther kingdoms, whose rulers agreed to kill her. So, Geralt's isn't picking sides anytime soon. </span></span></div></div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Dsfc_esCpEvKbVVrwYTmdkV0e5PZtXiBAZZ7a5Ahdg0eqth7uAKnkLow_wdum2Tem07fIztg3X9I-YTg3bplGEu-rEnAeLUFjEDOjKM38yA7a91NKQMFiiy9kUwQWthC8ic3K9vZ14ZNxbubwpWH73xYib45lLdvxxFYz9OqZoKyALJPU2Pha7ESwQg/s3000/VATRENO%20KR%C5%A0TENJE%20SAGA%20O%20VJE%C5%A0CU.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Dsfc_esCpEvKbVVrwYTmdkV0e5PZtXiBAZZ7a5Ahdg0eqth7uAKnkLow_wdum2Tem07fIztg3X9I-YTg3bplGEu-rEnAeLUFjEDOjKM38yA7a91NKQMFiiy9kUwQWthC8ic3K9vZ14ZNxbubwpWH73xYib45lLdvxxFYz9OqZoKyALJPU2Pha7ESwQg/s16000/VATRENO%20KR%C5%A0TENJE%20SAGA%20O%20VJE%C5%A0CU.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">......</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><i>For him the points of the compass have no great importance. It's all the same to him which one he chooses, as long as he's not idle. That is truly a witcher's principium. The world is full of evil, so it's sufficient to stride ahead, and destroy the Evil encountered on the way, in that way rendering a service to Good. The rest takes care of itself. Being in motion is everything, the goal is nothing.”</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: justify;">.........</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What a company I ended up with,’ Geralt continued, shaking his head. ‘Brothers in arms! A team of heroes! What have I done to deserve it? A poetaster with a lute. A wild and lippy half-dryad, half-woman. A vampire, who’s about to notch up his fifth century. And a bloody Nilfgaardian who insists he isn’t a Nilfgaardian.’ </span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>‘And leading the party is the Witcher, who suffers from pangs of conscience, impotence and the inability to take decisions,’ Regis finished calmly. ‘I suggest we travel incognito, to avoid arousing suspicion.’ </i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Or raising a laugh,’ Milva added.”</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhraaJkNHAfGM8zSAatVhRE0YecFtsav-nyAuSvw99Lv5zK2Il71Sm44MTnXmm1XCubzXt1hLsanSpIfEuXxcLdgZRdq_gIBHGnq9UM9TuIcxmpsWjpEhh1Sg0_-ihuZ698IUE1utX-qd-fjRwg99eqmYlUofkM353aQYOFChhdOmOngCPczamnxfhsxIw/s3000/VATRENO%20KR%C5%A0TENJE%20TPWRZYSZE%20BRONI%20MOR%20BLOG%20REVIEW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhraaJkNHAfGM8zSAatVhRE0YecFtsav-nyAuSvw99Lv5zK2Il71Sm44MTnXmm1XCubzXt1hLsanSpIfEuXxcLdgZRdq_gIBHGnq9UM9TuIcxmpsWjpEhh1Sg0_-ihuZ698IUE1utX-qd-fjRwg99eqmYlUofkM353aQYOFChhdOmOngCPczamnxfhsxIw/s16000/VATRENO%20KR%C5%A0TENJE%20TPWRZYSZE%20BRONI%20MOR%20BLOG%20REVIEW.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">MORE INTERESTING CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED- AN INTELLIGENT AND TRUSTWORTHY VAMPIRES JOINS IN AND SO DOES THE BLACK KNIGHT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">With Milva as their guide, Geralt and Dandelion travel more safely. Soon, they meet some new interesting characters and some old ones as well. I must say I really enjoyed all the characters in this novel. The vampire was particularly entertaining: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Yes, indeed' said the vampire, impervious to the </i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic;">derision. </span></div><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">‘Your mutated race is capable of regenerating its fingernails, toenails, hair and epidermis, but is unable to accept the fact that other races are more advanced in that respect. That inability is not the result of your primitiveness. Quite the opposite: it’s a result of egotism and a conviction in your own perfection. Anything that is more perfect than you must be a repulsive aberration. And repulsive aberrations are consigned to myths, for</div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">sociological reasons.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: black; text-align: left;">“I’m not certain,’ Regis said, smiling through pursed lips, ‘that you’re treating the right illness. I’d also like to remind you that one should treat causes, not symptoms.”</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR17chUvYSZ0osi0NHhx75ekWodtd1rC_ysNGIXoiKLQxDuDMVDNxbIoKZx5wkPm2wd_urROfRE9do_NQcRANdKNKUNYtjahYzPxDJRjdo8Gqk2uvFug-hQeK5A5fA7-aMsvBSVibSfONldkHVJ0VdDMXFBOSCluE6UgiZYhl1BVlCOCch3TWeGg5KvzY/s3000/VATRENO%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20MOR%20BW%20DRESS.jpg" style="font-style: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR17chUvYSZ0osi0NHhx75ekWodtd1rC_ysNGIXoiKLQxDuDMVDNxbIoKZx5wkPm2wd_urROfRE9do_NQcRANdKNKUNYtjahYzPxDJRjdo8Gqk2uvFug-hQeK5A5fA7-aMsvBSVibSfONldkHVJ0VdDMXFBOSCluE6UgiZYhl1BVlCOCch3TWeGg5KvzY/s16000/VATRENO%20BOOK%20REVIEW%20MOR%20BW%20DRESS.jpg" /></a></div></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE DWARF WITH A BIG HEART...WELL, SORT OF!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I enjoyed Zoltan's and Geralt's reunion. Their conversations are always so amusing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“It’s time you gave up your secrets, Geralt,’ Zoltan grimaced. ‘Dandelion hasn’t told us much we didn’t know. You can’t help it if you’re a walking legend. They re-enact stories of your adventures in puppet theatres. Like the story about you and an enchantress by the name of Guinevere.’ ‘Yennefer,’ Regis corrected in hushed tones. ‘I saw that one. It was the story of a hunt for a genie, if my memory serves me correctly.”</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Moreover, Zoltan sometimes turns quite serious and philosophical.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I predict a bad end for your race, humans,' Zoltan Chivay said grimly. 'Every sentient creature on this earth, when it falls into want , poverty and misfortune, usually cleaves to his own. Because it's easier to survive the bad times in a group, helping one another. But you humans, you just wait for a chance to make money from other people's mishaps. When there's hunger you don't want want to share out your food, you just devour the weakest ones. The practice works among wolves, since it lets the healthiest and strongest individuals survive. But among sentient races selection of that kind usually allows the biggest bastards to survive and dominate the rest.”</i></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Geralt and Zoltan are such a great team. They both alternative between being dead serious and sarcastic. </span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">“You can be certain I will,” Geralt said, taking the sword and slinging it across his back.“You can be certain I’ll remember. In this rotten world, Zoltan Chivay, goodness, honesty and integrity become deeply engraved in the memory.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjied7W-mCJ2hUxSX-M3jChwORsvbXJ7Q1hyphenhyphenPGnrFgSHx8c-t4OqT_pgv4WW3lfphq-_HFlqbJaHUDquE36DTrjePxT3pEkE1uGzaAf3-H88j6DFvs8tMYLbbKykMpQpPVoHmQfD5nRcFgDzh-5wGaEY_irG3VTplhwDgS2rNx4CSmp_0HZOv1XfzEMar0/s3000/BW%20DRESS%20RUJI%C5%A0TE%20HAPPY%20IN%20THE%20NATURE.jpg" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjied7W-mCJ2hUxSX-M3jChwORsvbXJ7Q1hyphenhyphenPGnrFgSHx8c-t4OqT_pgv4WW3lfphq-_HFlqbJaHUDquE36DTrjePxT3pEkE1uGzaAf3-H88j6DFvs8tMYLbbKykMpQpPVoHmQfD5nRcFgDzh-5wGaEY_irG3VTplhwDgS2rNx4CSmp_0HZOv1XfzEMar0/s16000/BW%20DRESS%20RUJI%C5%A0TE%20HAPPY%20IN%20THE%20NATURE.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">GERALT GETS A CHANCE TO EARN HIS TITLE</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">There is a fantastic episode in this book when Geralt gets caught up in a battle nd he and his party have to decide whether they will help the queen of Rivia. Geralt calls himself Geralt or Rivia in a witcher's tradition of choosing a name that sounds good but now he will be given a chance to fight for Rivia. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“But they’re your countrymen, Witcher,’ Regis said. ‘I mean, they call you Geralt of Rivia.’ ‘A slight correction,’ he replied coldly. ‘I call myself that to make my name sound fancier. It’s an addition that inspires more trust in my clients.’ ‘I see,’ the vampire said, smiling. ‘And why exactly did you choose Rivia?’ ‘I drew sticks, marked with various grand-sounding names. My witcher preceptor suggested that method to me, although not initially. Only after I’d insisted on adopting the name Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde. Vesemir thought it was ridiculous; pretentious and idiotic. I dare say he was right.”</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>....</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“The freshly dubbed knight, Geralt of Rivia, bowed low, so that Queen Meve, his suzerein, would not see the smile - the bitter smile - that he was unable to resist.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">THE REAPPEARANCE OF YENNIFER DOESN'T DISAPPOINT BUT....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Yennefer appears late in the book, but as usually she makes quite an impression. I won't write about that because I want to avoid spoilers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“But am I suitable? Will I find sufficient strength of character to rid myself of my grudges against the people who took Ciri from me, cruelly beat a man who is dear to me, and packed—” </i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I am certain,” the she-elf interrupted, “that you will find sufficient strength of character, Yennefer.”</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> Nevertheless, I wasn't happy with how 'far from sight, far from mind' she seemed to be. I understand that it's part of the book's plot to keep her destiny a mystery at this point but it is hard to understand why she isn't at least present in Geralt's and Ciri's mind. It is understandable that Geralt doesn't want to think about her, but it doesn't seem consistent with his character's development. I understand that he finding Ciri is his priority. I also understand Geralt's must be careful of his actions and wary of rusting anyone, but I felt like more references to her were needed. I mean Geralt has pretty much been obsessed with Yennefer since their first meeting. While he tried to run from his feelings, Geralt was never particularly successful at escaping his passion for Yennefer...so why this silence now? Is it because he suspects treason or death? What option is worse for him? It would have been nice to learn more, but perhaps author was intentionally silent. Perhaps Geralt is too emotionally exhausted to cope with everything that happened. Who knows?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">CIRILLA'S STORY IS CHILLING</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, Ciri has settled to her life with teenage outlaws which is terrible and chilling. Again I will avoid spoilers, but this was not an easy reading. This must be one of the darkest points in Ciri's personal history. For me personally, it was too much, to soon. One moments she is this adorable kid with a troubled past, and the next....all hell breaks loose. I understand she had been through a lot, but I still found her character development a bit questionable. I would have liked if there was more of a transition between the young mage/witcher apprentice Ciri and the cruel gang member Ciri. It is not that it doesn't make sense. I just think it could have been written better. It all seems to happen in a heartbeat. On the other hand, I don't want to be too critical. Maybe the author was going for the shock effect. Maybe there is a message behind all of it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>“He who has spit blood and he who has drunk blood,’ the girl said, her head still lowered, ‘shall pay in blood. Within three days one shall die in the other, and something shall die in each. They shall die inch by inch, piece by piece… And when finally the iron-shod clogs wear out and the tears dry, then the last shreds will pass. Even that which never dies shall die.”</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL2xwRRL7f90lB8_ooGmcSZ0xSmEMxWd0BnqQ8lcwEtjyo089mJ3WHL-TYdLZkCEqUhS1aTKYSUAiMCXJzZBEq_IulB6aFSlw3yl2RhLKGvIJsgzaqLGtkITtQ24f6Dfi0Ehh-8yhcACFzGf-vC6WBVVTDkx3SugP67naE5V9iLyrLJQjfIY_OIikoIHc/s2992/20230727_120616.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL2xwRRL7f90lB8_ooGmcSZ0xSmEMxWd0BnqQ8lcwEtjyo089mJ3WHL-TYdLZkCEqUhS1aTKYSUAiMCXJzZBEq_IulB6aFSlw3yl2RhLKGvIJsgzaqLGtkITtQ24f6Dfi0Ehh-8yhcACFzGf-vC6WBVVTDkx3SugP67naE5V9iLyrLJQjfIY_OIikoIHc/s16000/20230727_120616.jpg" /></a></p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="text-align: left;">“Ah' the troubadour said, nodding. </span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="text-align: left;">'Ah. Geralt understood right away and Cahir thinks he understands. I, naturally demand to be enlightened, but first I'm told to be quiet, and then I hear there's no need for me to understand. Thank you. Twenty years in the service of poetry, long enough to know there are things you either understand at once, even without words; or you'll never understand them.'</span><br style="text-align: left;" /><span style="text-align: left;">The vampire smiled.</span><br style="text-align: left;" /><span style="text-align: left;">'I don't know anyone,' he said, 'who could have put it more elegantly.”</span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">FINAL THOUGHTS</h3><div>I enjoyed <i>Baptism of Fire</i> a lot. The new characters introduced were very interesting and he familiar ones didn't disappoint. The plot with all its subplots was well developed. I only wish that more time and perhaps attention was devoted to Yennefer and Ciri.</div><div><br /></div><div><i style="color: #181818;">“The challenge you have in front of you is the same one we face: to survive and stay alive. In order for this noble mission to continue. Or live an ordinary life, but so as not to be ashamed at the hour of death.”</i></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSDhpmsjhB8NN84r9_Xragd2y9YL1ovN45ezS4hnLSL2WjYXnG7JIdHwk1hhgH8Qq1REi_wDoM3zhcKXiYmpYIciGCIPDgpQLLFFV48GZIVlojcXldOst0L5JT2uriZyDCpGbX9JEaweM7MbOQAMqgQLn_fzCf6WvW-q7oFYAG-sA8jiBne9fFD87lB4/s2992/20230727_120626.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSDhpmsjhB8NN84r9_Xragd2y9YL1ovN45ezS4hnLSL2WjYXnG7JIdHwk1hhgH8Qq1REi_wDoM3zhcKXiYmpYIciGCIPDgpQLLFFV48GZIVlojcXldOst0L5JT2uriZyDCpGbX9JEaweM7MbOQAMqgQLn_fzCf6WvW-q7oFYAG-sA8jiBne9fFD87lB4/s16000/20230727_120626.jpg" /></a></p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MORE MEMORABLE QUOTES </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A profound quote about personal debts that I found quite memorable:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Everyone has some kind of debt. Such is life. Debts and liabilities, obligations, gratitude, payments, doing something for someone. Or perhaps for ourselves? For in fact we are always paying ourselves back and not someone else. Each time we are indebted we pay off the debt to ourselves. In each of us lies a creditor and a debtor at once and the art is for the reckoning to tally inside us. We enter the world as a minute part of the life we are given, and from then on we are ever paying off debts, To ourselves. For ourselves. In order for the final reckoning to tally.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><br /></span></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span>I also liked this quote about ambition:<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;"><span>“Ambition is the undoing of men. They always want what they know to be impossible and unattainable. And they are unaware of the attainable.”</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3-cGD5prPXxFbJLvT4hDJRF8dveZDVAxHEjl7-K2Nbxf5Yku7w_JZ4ptQSYJzkSQsK3O7K7a5c2Paz7i_VkUfv1uNBycmNO1JBvEOuUZSwRyJbsZfDCuhEzFaqCH3dGOJ-gzJrB3JHBL_4PN7pYYHQjQE9FXeZ72PXumr8NE0iqkZtn2OlP4SCkPxFs/s4000/IMG_20230916_111710.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3-cGD5prPXxFbJLvT4hDJRF8dveZDVAxHEjl7-K2Nbxf5Yku7w_JZ4ptQSYJzkSQsK3O7K7a5c2Paz7i_VkUfv1uNBycmNO1JBvEOuUZSwRyJbsZfDCuhEzFaqCH3dGOJ-gzJrB3JHBL_4PN7pYYHQjQE9FXeZ72PXumr8NE0iqkZtn2OlP4SCkPxFs/s16000/IMG_20230916_111710.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you for reading. Have a lovely weekend!</span></span></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-63888630304616114522023-10-02T12:44:00.006-07:002023-10-03T08:09:50.479-07:00THE LAST WISH, A BOOK BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In this post, I shall review <i>The Last Wish</i>, a short story collection by Andrzej Sapkowski. </span><span style="background-color: white;">In my last post, I reviewed</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/time-of-contempt-novel-by-sapkowski.html#comments" target="_blank"> <i>Time of Contempt</i></a><span style="background-color: white;">, the second novel and the forth book in the Witcher saga. I had actually read the sequel to it and was planning to review </span><i>Baptism of Fire</i><span style="background-color: white;">. However, I decided to review </span><i>The Last Wish</i><span style="background-color: white;"> instead. </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Last Wish </i>is considered the first book in the Witcher series, even if it was published in 1993, a year after the publication of <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">Sword of Destiny</a></i>. The reason why <i>The Last Wish</i> is considered the first Witcher book is all due to do the chronology of the events it describes<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">. The events described in <i>The Last Wish</i> take place before those described in <i>Sword of Destiny. </i></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">I have recently listen to an audio version of this book, so before I continue with other reviews, I want to review </span><i>The Last Wish</i><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">When I stared reading The Witcher series (sometime in June), I started with </span><i style="background-color: white;">Sword of Destiny</i><span style="background-color: white;"> and followed with </span><i style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" target="_blank">Blood of Elves,</a> <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/time-of-contempt-novel-by-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">Time of Contempt</a></i><span style="background-color: white;"> and </span><i style="background-color: white;">Baptism of Fire</i><span style="background-color: white;">. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Yes, I was aware that I was starting with the second book in the series ( mostly because the cover of the book said so), but I figured I can always read the first one when I happened upon it. However, I got so into the books that I read them one after the other.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> Now, that I have finally read </span><i>The Last Wish</i><span style="background-color: white;">, I can't wait to start my review. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Before writing my reviews, I did read about events described in</span><i> The Last Wish, </i>so I was familiar with the plot. Surprisingly, that didn't ruin the way for me. <i>The Last Wish</i> is so well written!<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"> It's not a long book so it's perfect if you don't have lot of time on your hands.</span></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5shM0V2s8UzI5_Cn-eYJLTWnptByLjMuyT4s_UPtx5Ne513ILYt4WA8AkpNw5GO4nffsmsi120yTVdbAN9df4UyXWvj1dkh0C29Upkg-h6gpddgo_RkNiS6zOc3EcrvhdXjiHOVPs1-B7l-NUWjvJRraHhNNAfxmE3NrNn5BDnD91nqJl9NLMgpskOqs/s4000/the%20last%20wish%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5shM0V2s8UzI5_Cn-eYJLTWnptByLjMuyT4s_UPtx5Ne513ILYt4WA8AkpNw5GO4nffsmsi120yTVdbAN9df4UyXWvj1dkh0C29Upkg-h6gpddgo_RkNiS6zOc3EcrvhdXjiHOVPs1-B7l-NUWjvJRraHhNNAfxmE3NrNn5BDnD91nqJl9NLMgpskOqs/s16000/the%20last%20wish%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20.jpg" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><h1 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE LAST WISH, A BOOK BY A. SAPKOWSKI 5/5</span></span></h1><div><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE BEST BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES </b></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Last Wish</i> could just be the best book in the series for me. I</span></span><span style="background-color: white;">t is definitely my favourite a</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">mong the Witcher books I have read so far. The Witcher series started with short stories. In my opinion, the short story format works really well for this series, especially with the white wolf as protagonist. Geralt is an absolutely fascinating </span>protagonist<span style="font-family: inherit;">. He is not a typical hero. Geralt has a wicked sense of humour and an </span>anti-political<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>attitude<span style="font-family: inherit;"> towards the world. Once you learn more about this fantasy world, you start to </span>understand<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt and his philosophy of neutrality better. It's a dark and grim world filled with monsters of all kinds. Often it's people who turns out worse than monsters. The reader really has the opportunity to get inside of Geralt's head in this book. Most of Geralt's words are both quotable and memorable. He </span>alternates<span style="font-family: inherit;"> between being seriously </span>philosophic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and wickedly </span>humorous often<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>'PEOPLE LIKE TO INVENT MONSTERS' QUOTE</b></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While some episodes (short stories) in his book feature Geralt as a typical monster slaying protagonist, he often questions his job and wonders whether the real monsters are his fellow humans. Thus we get to see there are different sides to him. One quote really caught my attention, the one where Geralt explains why humans like to invent monsters:</span></span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“People," Geralt turned his head, "like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.”</i></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></i></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE WRITING IS WELL PACED AND ENGAGING</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What made this one the best book for me? Well, despite being familiar with the events this book describes, I immensely enjoyed it. I read the summary of these stories prior to reading them, but it didn't take anything from them. The pacing in this book is simply perfect. Every story has its own rhythm and atmosphere. </span></span><span style="background-color: white;">The stories are unusual, unique and well connected. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The writing is engaging and interesting. Take a look at this paragraph:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;">“The Witcher had a knife to his throat. He was wallowing in a wooden tub, brimfull with soapsuds, his head thrown against the slippery rim. The bitter taste of soap lingered in his mouth as the knife, blunt as a doorknob, scraped his Adam's apple painfully and moved towards his chin with a grating sound.”</span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">Isn't that the most dramatic description of shaving you have ever read? Sapkowski knows how to keep the reader at his toes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE LAST WISH IS A PROFOUND BOOK IN MANY WAYS</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I felt like there is a real depth to this book. While it retells classical fairy tales and reinterprets myths, it manages to raise many interesting questions. It explains both Geralt's views of the world and his beliefs. In other words, it's the perfect introduction into the Witcher universe. At some points in this book, Geralt seems at peace with his life, at others, he questions it. I thought this was very human. For example, at one point he doesn't want to a witcher anymore.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“You remind me, Geralt, of an old fisherman who, toward the end of his life, discovers that fish stink and the breeze from the sea makes your bones ache. Be consistent. Talking and regretting won’t get you anywhere.”</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Become a priest. You wouldn't be bad at it with all your scruples, your morality, your knowledge of people and of everything. The fact that you don't believe in any gods shouldn't be a problem—I don't know many priests who do.”</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, while Geralt speaks with an elf, he seems at peace with his profession and mutations. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;">“How do you find cohabiting with neighbors from whom, after all, you do differ somewhat?"</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"I manage." The witcher looked him straight in the eyes, "I manage because I have to. Because I've no other way out. Because I've overcome the vanity and pride of being different. I've understood that they are a pitiful defense against being different. Because I've understood that the sun shines differently when something changes, but I'm not the axis of those changes. The sun shines differently, but it will continue to shine, and jumping at it with a hoe isn't going to do anything. We've got to accept facts, elf. That's what we've got to learn.”</span></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCzoK3LHBGhoOoWjIFhwlz5TxxwP8xgPJQTHESgMewEFzQ0W1oC4alQVrGwyohSQRViV2XRtAmQgtSMvse5GObksZqOiWC97Etk-Iq_KPjbE9ptvQ2yQj_IYA9rx-05kF-LkuCoElFWG3Cw984XKWHxAA9OeAk4Snmk4yelTzocMCfOeRZN0w25k4MzYE/s4000/red%20boots%20floral%20dress.jpg" style="font-style: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCzoK3LHBGhoOoWjIFhwlz5TxxwP8xgPJQTHESgMewEFzQ0W1oC4alQVrGwyohSQRViV2XRtAmQgtSMvse5GObksZqOiWC97Etk-Iq_KPjbE9ptvQ2yQj_IYA9rx-05kF-LkuCoElFWG3Cw984XKWHxAA9OeAk4Snmk4yelTzocMCfOeRZN0w25k4MzYE/s16000/red%20boots%20floral%20dress.jpg" /></a></span></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>BEING A WITCHER ISN'T EASY AND IT'S A LONESOME JOB</b></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We also get a non-romantic view of Geralt's profession in his book. This is something that is present in other books as well. The <span style="background-color: white;">witchers are often hated by ordinary people for their powers and skills. </span><span style="background-color: white;">This is something that is repeated throughout the series. In general, people don't like witchers. Despite the fact that witchers kill monsters and thus obviously save lives, they are not exactly seen as heroes. In fact, Geralt is often attacked by people.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>There are some <span style="background-color: white;">exceptions</span>, though. Women seem to be particularly attracted to Geralt for some reason. </span>A man who can kill a monster and this save lives must be attractive in some ways. <span style="font-family: inherit;">The witchers are strong and brave, so some women might be attracted to them. Still, it's a rather lonely life. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I visited towns and fortresses. I looked for procl</span><span style="color: #181818;">amations nailed to posts at the crossroads. I looked for the words ‘Witcher urgently needed.’ And then there’d be a sacred site, a dungeon, necropolis or ruins, forest ravine or grotto hidden in the mountains, full of bones and stinking carcasses. Some creature which lived to kill, out of hunger, for pleasure, or invoked by some sick will. A manticore, wyvern, fogler, aeschna, ilyocoris, chimera, leshy, vampire, ghoul, graveir, werewolf, giant scorpion, striga, black annis, kikimora, vypper… so many I’ve killed. There’d be a dance in the dark and a slash of the sword, and fear and distaste in the eyes of my employer afterward.”</span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>THE LAST WISH </i>FELT MORE LIKE A NOVEL THAN A SHORT STORY COLLECTION</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It felt more like a novel than a collection of short stories. It felt like it was a novel written as a collection of short stories as opposed as a collection of short stories that was turned into a novel. There seems to be a clear writing vision behind this book. The stories are not only well connected but they are the perfect introduction to the series. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE FRAME NARRATIVE REALLY WORKS TO THE BOOK ADVANTAGE</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The frame narrative frame was ingenious. It really tied all the stories together nicely. The book opens with Geralt waking in a temple where he is being cared for by head priestess. As he recovers from his wounds, Geralt travels back in time and remembers different adventures. Besides the framed narrative, I really enjoyed the conversations between the priestess and Geralt. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>MANY STORIES IN THE BOOK FEEL LIKE TWISTED OR HORROR INFUSED FAIRY TALES</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Compared to other books in the series, this one felt more horror infused. The description of Geralt's battles with certain monsters could be described as fantasy horror. Moreover, the descriptions of violence in some of these stories is quite graphic.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In my review of <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">Sword of Destiny</a></i>, I described <span style="background-color: white;">Sapkowski's writing style as less graphic than George R.R. Martin but I might have spoken too soon. Speaking of George R.R. Martin, I giggled when I read Geralt saying this line: </span></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“No. I’ve no time to waste. Winter’s coming.” </i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;">Doesn't that sound familiar? However, the Witcher book actually predate </span><i style="color: #181818;">The Song of Ice and Fire</i><span style="color: #181818;"> saga hence it's just a coincidence. Moreover, the Witcher books were originally published in Polish so Martin couldn't have read them either. There are definitely some similarities in their writing style, especially in realistic and naturalistic scenes.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">When it comes to gore, I think it really depends on the book. Some books in the Witcher saga are more graphic, some less. In this book, there is both violence and gore, but it's never overbearing. I love Martin, I really do, but reading a page after page about this or that infected wound was too much gore for me. Sapkowski feels more balanced in his descriptions of violence, especially in this book, that is after all, not very long.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5N_ojlfJh6xm7GkoqCcuXQnCRUB2QordMJNjEru3VR4pFu9l5DsdzWCVRfvSOOuUd8nqWYK8bpH5lhlvL-qHO3DeTz7Wl0ewrZDFQpe93RW4XnkMac4cz7vZVyrJCioJlomyguCMjfKh0ji5anSNH7VQVf5KsHIh1R8cs4b0qNxA8DD0Kl9g9TtDrjdc/s4160/watercolour%20pencils%20modaodaradosti%20a%20profile%20portrait%20of%20a%20girl%20with%20long%20hair%20dry%20yellow%20roses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5N_ojlfJh6xm7GkoqCcuXQnCRUB2QordMJNjEru3VR4pFu9l5DsdzWCVRfvSOOuUd8nqWYK8bpH5lhlvL-qHO3DeTz7Wl0ewrZDFQpe93RW4XnkMac4cz7vZVyrJCioJlomyguCMjfKh0ji5anSNH7VQVf5KsHIh1R8cs4b0qNxA8DD0Kl9g9TtDrjdc/s16000/watercolour%20pencils%20modaodaradosti%20a%20profile%20portrait%20of%20a%20girl%20with%20long%20hair%20dry%20yellow%20roses.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS OF ALL SHORT STORIES IN THIS BOOK</span></b></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> VOICE OF REASON PART ONE</b></span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book opens with framed narrative, with Geralt awakening in a temple, more precisely in the</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Ellander's Temple of Melitele. A </span><span style="color: #202122;">seriously</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> wounded Geralt is still trying to make sense of things when he sees or rather feels a beautiful girl next to him. She is described somewhat poetically, although it turns out later, that she looks slightly different than Geralt imagined. </span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Geralt always imagines Yennefer it seems. This is also the book where Yen and Geralt's first meeting is <span style="font-family: inherit;">described and let me tell you I wasn't disappointed. At start, Yennefer isn't mentioned directly just </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">referenced (as usual) <span>when Geralt hooks up with someone and he does it a lot. Women can't stay away from him. Who is the girl this time? It turns out that it is Iola, a servant priestess (or a pagan nun? not sure what title to use) who doesn't resemble Yennefer as much as it </span>initially<span> seemed to sleep dazed Geralt. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>We don't get a lot of details about this religion that is </span>practiced<span> in the temple but the priestesses seem quite open in some ways. So it happens that Geralt and Iole make love and soon after fall asleep together. What happens next is a sort of flashback because Geralt is dreaming of his fight with the monster who wounded him. That is how the whole book is framed. Geralt is recovering in the temple, where head priestess Nenneke takes a keen interest in him, and so we get to hear stories about him as he remembers them. They are told in a third </span>person<span> narration but are focused on Geralt. Well written dialogue not only contribute to the portrayal of the Witcher and other characters, they make the book more dynamic and interesting. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><i><span style="color: #181818;">“Nenneke felt the wound, washed it and began to curse. He already knew this routine by heart. She had started on the very first day, and had never failed to moan when she saw the marks left by the princess of Wyzim's talons.</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">'It's terrible! To let yourself be slashed like this by an ordinary striga. Muscles, tendons -- she only just missed your carotid artery! Great Melitele! Geralt, what's happening to you? How did she get so close to you? What did you want with her? To mount her?'</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">He didn't answer, and smiled faintly.”</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: black; text-align: justify;">THE WITCHER</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">What was the monster that seriously wounded Geralt? It was a striga. The first adventure story opens as the witcher finds out about the King of Temeria, Foltest's offer- a reward to anyone who can lift the curse on his daughter without killing her. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">It is revealed that the striga is the punishment of sorts for the incestuous union between the king and his late sister, Adda. The name made me immediately think of Lord Byron's daughter Ada. I wonder if the man who was </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">allegedly</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> so in love with his half-sister that his wife accused him of incest wasn't the inspiration for this story, especially as the king seems like a decent man. His daughter - the striga, however, is truly terrifying: </span><i style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">“Her Royal Highness, the cursed royal bastard, is four cubits high, shaped like a barrel of beer, has a maw which stretches from ear to ear and is full of dagger-like teeth, has red eyes and a red mop of hair! Her paws, with claws like a wild cat's, hang down to the ground! I'm surprised we've yet to send her likeness to friendly courts! The princess, plague choke her, is already fourteen. Time to think of giving her hand to a prince in marriage!”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;">Style-wise, there are elements of horror in this story. It's fantasy with elements of horror if you will. The king </span><span style="color: #202122;">Foltest naturally wishes that his daughter not be harmed for the child is not guilty for anything. On the other hand, the child had killed many innocent people up to that point. The king actually grants Geralt permission to kill her if the curse cannot be lifted, for he has probably come to terms with the fact it might be inevitable. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202122;">Geralt is shocked when he finds out the striga had been free for seven long years and </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">is unsure whether the girl can live a normal life even if the curse is lifted. This story reveals a lot about Geralt's principles. </span><span style="color: #202122;"> </span><span style="color: #202122;">Geralt is informed that other witchers have tried and given up. Many men were killed by striga. Obviously, Geralt </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">doesn't shy away from danger and will do what he considers just. He is a </span><span style="color: #202122;">straightforward</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> man who tells he truth.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Geralt sets to his task and decides to spend the night at the old palace which houses the striga. Everyone had moved to a new palace, leaving the old one abandoned. Geralt is led by Lord Ostrit from Novigrad, who tries to bribe him into abandoning the job, as the striga can be used as proof against king Foltest. Geralt isn't interested in the offer and uses Ostrit as bait. Beside it being a sort of a funny moment, it also shows that our protagonist isn't easy to bribe. The monster slayer is bribe resistant. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What follows is a rather bloody and graphic battle between Geralt and the truly terrifying striga. Unable to defeat it with force, Geralt outsmarts the stiga. He seals himself into its crypt, together with the corpse of striga's unfortunate mother. Geralt seals the crypt with the help of witcher magic and falls asleep. Once the striga is forced to spend the night outside its lair, the curse is lifted- or so it seems. Morning arrives and Geralt approaches the girl, who looks normal. However, the girl still attacks him. Geralt finds it difficult to hurt her in her present normal form. Taking advantage of that, the girl bites his neck, seriously wounding him. In fact, she nearly kills him. Geralt manages to kick the striga unconscious before he faints. Fortunately, Geralt is found by king's man and both he and the girl are thus saved. Well, sort of. The girl might never be normal. Geralt is informed she spends her time crying. Geralt is severely injured and he comes to his senses in the temple. So, the story comes full circle.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Geralt looked out of the palace window for the last time. Dusk was falling rapidly. Beyond the lake the distant lights of Wyzim twinkled. There was a wilderness around the old palace – a strip of no-man’s land with which, over seven years, the town had cut itself off from this dangerous place, leaving nothing but a few ruins, rotten beams and the remains of a gap-toothed palisade which had obviously not been worth dismantling and moving. As far away as possible – at the opposite end of the settlement – the king had built his new residence. The stout tower of his new palace loomed black in the distance, against the darkening blue of the sky.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">THE VOICE OF REASON PART 2- Once again, the framed narrative places us into the temple. It's</span><span style="color: #202122;"> morning and as priestess Nenneke awakens Geralt and Iola, she asks Geralt to hear his fate and take a part in a trance with Iola. Geralt doesn't want to and cites his lack of faith as a reason. Nenneke dismisses his reasons, but Geralt still refuses.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;"><i style="color: #181818;">Don't you think”—he smiled—“that my lack of faith makes such a trance pointless?” “No, I don't. And do you know why?” “No.” Nenneke leaned over and looked him in the eyes with a strange smile on her pale lips. “Because it would be the first proof I’ve ever heard of that a lack of faith has any kind of power at all.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“As I said, your view on religion is known to me, it’s never particularly bothered me and, no doubt, it won’t bother me in the future. I’m not a fanatic. You’ve a right to believe that we’re governed by Nature and the Force hidden within her. You can think that the gods, including my Melitele, are merely a personification of this power invented for simpletons so they can understand it better, accept its existence. According to you, that power is blind. But for me, Geralt, faith allows you to expect what my goddess personifies from nature: order, law, goodness. And hope.”</i></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-size: large;"><b>A GRAIN OF TRUTH</b></span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This story is a modern interpretation of Beauty and the Best. While riding through a forest, Geralt comes across corpses and inspects them. There are two of them: a man and a young girl, both with strange wounds. Following their traces, the Witcher arrives at a seemingly deserted house.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Upon approaching the house, a beast resembling a bear, tries to scare him away.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818;">“The witcher's right hand rose, as fast as lightning, above his right shoulder while his left jerked the belt across his chest, making the sword hilt jump into his palm. The blade, leaping from the scabbard with a hiss, traced a short, luminous semi-circle and froze, the point aiming at the charging beast. At the sight of the sword, the monster stopped short, spraying gravel in all directions. The witcher didn't even flinch. The creature was humanoid, and dressed in clothes which, though tattered, were of good quality and not lacking in stylish and useless ornamentation. His human form, however, reached no higher than the soiled collar of his tunic, for above it loomed a gigantic, hairy, bear-like head with enormous ears, a pair of wild eyes and terrifying jaws full of crooked fangs in which a red tongue flickered like flame. “Flee, mortal man!” the monster roared, flapping his paws but not moving from the spot. “I’ll devour you! Tear you to pieces!” The witcher didn't move, didn't lower his sword. “Are you deaf? Away with you!” </i></span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“Look at him, isn’t he brave?” He spoke calmly, baring fangs and glowering at Geralt with bloodshot eyes. “Lower that iron, if you please. Perhaps you’ve not realized you’re in my courtyard? Or maybe it is customary, wherever you’re from, to threaten people with swords in their own courtyards?”<br /></span></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“It is customary,” Geralt agreed, “when faced with people who greet their guests with a roar and a cry that they’re going to tear you to pieces.”<br /></span></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“Pox on it!” The monster got worked up. “And he’ll insult me on top of it all, this straggler. A guest, is he? Pushes his way into the yard, ruins someone else’s flowers, plays the lord and thinks that he’ll be brought bread and salt. Bah!”<br /></span></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">The creature spat, gasped and shut his jaws. The lower fangs protruded, making him look like a boar.<br /></span></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“So?” The witcher spoke after a moment, lowering his sword. “Are we going to carry on like this?”<br /></span></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“And what do you suggest instead? Lying down?” snorted the monster.”</span></i></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The witcher isn't afraid, and the bear monster Nivellen invites Geralt to enter the strange house. Possibly Nivellen is low key impressed with Geralt who didn't even flinch. Geralt is interested in the beast, possibly reading the clues right away. The witchers know a lot about monsters. They can also tell a difference between a cursed man and a monster. Geralt is pretty knowledgeable about lifting curses. There is another story in this collection that shows him helping to lift a curse.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The two have dinner in the strange house that has supernatural powers and obeys Nivellen's commands. Nivellen is initially suspicious of Geralt, knowing that witchers kill monsters, but once Geralt tells him he knows Nivellen is no monster, they converse more openly. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“You aren’t a monster, Nivellen,” the witcher said dryly. </i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Pox, that’s something new. So what am I? Cranberry pudding? A flock of wild geese flying south on a sad November morning? No? Maybe I’m the virtue that a miller’s buxom daughter lost in spring? Well, Geralt, tell me what I am. Can’t you see I’m shaking with curiosity?”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I quite enjoyed their dialogue. Geralt was quite careful in choosing his words, showing himself to be wiser than he seems. Moreover, it is obvious he wants to help Nivellen. So, Nivellen opens up and his narrative is fascinating.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The cursed man tell his life story, starting with being raised by his father who was some kind of bandit that met his end while Nivellen was still a boy. Nivellen thus became a leader of his father's gang and acted quite stupidly as one would expect. He was essentially a boy in bad company. As the leader of his late father's gang of bandits, he did more bad than good. Not that bandits ever do good, but what he did was deserving of a curse. Urged by his gang, Nivellen raped a priestess of an uknown temple, who cursed him before killing herself. The curse turned him into the beast. The priestess told Nivellen about the curse, but he has forgotten her exact words and isn't sure how the curse can be lifted.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Eventually, Nivllen returned to his family home, as he had his father's money hidden there. Initially, he was horrified but slowly he got used to his condition. He used to scare everyone away, but started to crave human company again. Once Nivellen caught a man stealing from his garden and being lonesome asked the man to bring his daughter as ransom to save his life. The man obeyed and was rewarded richly. So, Nivellen got into habit of paying the daughters of locals to spend a year with him.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Nivellen told Geralt of different girls that all got quite used to him. He tried the kissing method with some of them, remembering the old fairy tales and legends, but no kiss helped to lift his curse. Nivellen </span><span style="color: #202122;">eventually </span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">got used to things as they are. Not only did he gave up trying to lift the curse, but he started enjoying the girls' company in his bear monster shape. He was no longer as insecure as he was as a young man. In other words, he found positives about it or so Nivellen claimed. He explains that as a monster he has perfect health and </span>everything<span style="font-family: inherit;"> he can ask for (both the material </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">security in the form of his father's treasure</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> and magical house coming really in handy). At the same time, Nivellen is terrified as he started suffering from nightmares and is afraid he is tuning into monster permanently</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> However, there is something else at stake and Geralt senses this. Nivellen says that he got tired of local girls and now enjoys a company of a girl he believes to be a rusalka (water fairy) because she doesn't speak. Nivellen doesn't want to lift the curse </span><span style="color: #202122;">because</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> every rusalka is afraid of humans. However, Nivellen is also worried he is turning into a real monster because his nightmares. Geralt warns Nivellen that his newest girlfriend Vereena is quite possibly a monster. Nivellen seems reluctant to accept Geralt's help, unsure if </span><span style="color: #202122;">Vereena </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">would love him if he was human, so the two part ways. Geralt rides away and continues his travel. However, his horse reacts to Vereen with fear.</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt </span>scolds<span style="font-family: inherit;"> his horse, but then it dawns on him what is going on. Vereena has been inducing </span>nightmares<span style="font-family: inherit;"> so she could control Nivellen and use his monster </span>strength<span style="font-family: inherit;">. She wants to turn him into an eternal monster bodyguard boyfriend of some sort.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt hurries to the strange house, where he meets the mute Vereena, with her almost </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">transparent</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> skin. Geralt knows what she is now, a bruxa, a blood thirsty vampire. Vereena has been killing people around, including the girl and her father that Geralt had found. She communicates with Geralt </span><span style="color: #202122;">telepathically</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and he can hear her in his head. Geralt attacks her, but finds her more powerful then he imagines. What follows is a terrible fight in which Vereena grows more and more terrible, until she overcomes Geralt. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Vereena almost kills the witcher, growing terrible, but then Nivellen appears and impales her. Once impaled, she looses her </span>strength<span> but the graphic </span>violence<span> doesn't stop. The bruxa continues to move, impaling herself, coming closer and closer to Nivellen.</span></span></span><span style="color: #202122;"> As Vereena approaches him, she regains her previous form and the blood comes out of her wound.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Slowly, as if a caress, the bruxa moved her tiny hands along the stake, stretched her arms out to their full length, grasped the pole hard and pulled on it again. Over a meter of bloodied wood already protruded from her back. Her eyes were wide open, her head flung back. Her sighs became more frequent and rhythmic, turning into a ruckling wheeze. Geralt stood but, fascinated by the scene, still couldn't make himself act. He heard words resounding dully within his skull, as if echoing around a cold, damp dungeon. Mine. Or nobody's. I love you. Love you. Another terrible, vibrating sigh, choking in blood. The bruxa moved further along the pole and stretched out her arms. Nivellen roared desperately and, without letting go of the stake, tried to push the vampire as far from himself as possible—but in vain. She pulled herself closer and grabbed him by the head. He wailed horrifically and tossed his hairy head. The bruxa moved along the pole again and tilted her head toward Nivellen's throat. The fangs flashed a blinding white."</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">The vampire then confesses her love to confused Nivellen just before Geralt finishes her off. Her love breaks Nivellen's curse, as it turns out she actually loved him. Nivellen becomes a young man again and is at loss for words. Gerald explains that the old legends about a kiss from a maiden lifting a curse contain a grain of truth:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“There's a grain of truth in every fairy tale.. Love and blood. They both posses a mighty power. Wizards and learned men have been racking their brains over this for years, but they haven't arrived at anything except that-"</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"That what, Geralt?"</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"It has to be true love.”</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #181818;">I found this story quite interesting. If such monsters as bruxa are capable of true love, then aren't all monsters capable of it?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><b>THE VOICE OF REASON PART 3</b></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><i style="color: #181818;">“Shut up, you brat," interrupted Geralt, smiling nastily "Halt your uncontrolled little tongue. You speak to a lady who deserves respect, especially from a Knight of the White Rose...”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> As the above quote indicates, Geralt meets some bad mannered knights of the Order of the White Rose. Two of them Count Falwick and Sir Tailles, arrive to the temple, explaining they are ordered by the prince of Ellander to remove Geralt out of town. The head priestess scolds them and sends them away but they continue with their threats. Geralt doesn't want to create problems for the temple, so he promises to leave in three days. Nenneke is suspicious of the kings and when they don't show her the due respect, Geralts calls one of them a brat. The brat challenges Geralt to a duel, but the knights finally leave, promising to return. I liked this introduction to the story and the way the head priestess held her ground. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Did you hear, boys? The witcher will remain here for three days because that’s his fancy. And I, priestess of Great Melitele, will for those three days be his host, for that is my fancy. Tell that to Hereward. No, not Hereward. Tell that to his wife, the noble Ermellia, adding that if she wants to continue receiving an uninterrupted supply of aphrodisiacs from my pharmacy, she’d better calm her duke down. Let her curb his humors and whims, which look ever more like symptoms of idiocy.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE LESSER EVIL</span></b></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Geralt was called the butcher of Blaviken by the knights. In this story we learn how he got that unfortunate nickname. In addition, we basically get to read a very dark version of Snow white. If you always wanted to read a Snow white as a horror fantasy, this is a story for you. When I say it's dark, it really is- it talks of rapes, murders, abuses and so on. It's quite graphic as well. There should be a warning or a disclaimer.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The story opens on the eve of a festival, with Geralt riding into the town of Blaviken with a monster carcass he hopes to gain some reward for. The city elder refuses to pay him, but his guards suggest Geralt to visit the town wizard, Stregobor, who might have an interest in the carcass. As it happens, Stregobor is a mage not unknown to Geralt. Stregobor is delighted to see him but only because he wants the witcher's help.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818;">“During his life, the witcher had met thieves who looked like town councilors, councilors who looked like beggars, harlots who looked like princesses, princesses who looked like calving cows and kings who looked like thieves. But Stregobor always looked as, according to every rule and notion, a wizard should look. He was tall, thin and stooping, with enormous bushy gray eyebrows and a long, crooked nose. To top it off, he wore a black, trailing robe with improbably wide sleeves, and wielded a long staff capped with a crystal knob.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt is invited into Stregobor's house where the mage tells his story and explains his predicament. Stregobor speaks of prophecy of cursed female children, and he quite possibly truly believes he is on the right side when he speaks about the imprisonment of marked female children in the towers. Supposedly, the girls are marked by abnormal cruelty.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><i style="color: #181818;">“Lilit's path was to be prepared by ‘sixty women wearing gold crowns, who would fill the river valleys with blood.’” </i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><i style="color: #181818;">“Nonsense,” said the witcher. “And what's more, it doesn't rhyme. All decent predictions rhyme.”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;">Geralt clearly considers such witch hunts monstrous and can't refrain from spiteful comments. For Gerald, such prophecies are perhaphs just excuses for prosecution of innocent. Stregobor wants Geralt's help to stop a young woman who wants to kill him. Geralt is immediately suspicious, especially as the mage claims that a supposedly cursed woman is a monster. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><i style="color: black;"><span style="color: #181818;">“Listen, Geralt—"</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"No. You won't win me over with your reasons nor convince me that Eltibad wasn't a murdering madman, so let's get back to the monster threatening you. You'd better understand that, after the introduction you've given me, I don't like the story. But I'll hear you out."</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"Without interrupting with spiteful comments?"</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"That I can't promise.”</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;">When the mage admits that he teamed up with the girl's stepmother to kill the girl, Geralt is sure that Stregovor is, if not a villain, then certainly not a good guy. Geralt continues to interrupt the story with spiteful comments. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Aridea quite often turned to the Mirror—’ </span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘With the usual question, I take it,’ interrupted Geralt. ‘“Who is the fairest of them all?” I know; all Nehalenia’s Mirrors are either polite or broken.”</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;">The girl's story resembles that of a Snow white but is full of violence. Stregbor presents himself as a victim but Geralt is not impressed.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Then, four years later I received news from Aridea. She’d tracked down the little one, who was living in Mahakam with seven gnomes whom she’d managed to convince it was more profitable to rob merchants on the roads than to pollute their lungs with dust from the mines.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stregobor wants Geralt's protection but he refuses and leaves. Both options are evil and he doesn't want to interfere. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818;">“Evil is evil, Stregobor,” said the witcher seriously as he got up. “Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I’m not a pious hermit. I haven't done only good in my life. But if I’m to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">....</span></p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Zło to zło, Stregoborze – rzekł poważnie wiedźmin, wstając. – Mniejsze, większe, średnie, wszystko jedno, proporcje są umowne, a granice zatarte. Nie jestem świątobliwym pustelnikiem, nie samo dobro czyniłem w życiu. Ale jeżeli mam wybierać pomiędzy jednym złem a drugim, to wolę nie wybierać wcale.”</i><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bJIi7oNmWO3nd22PftOfAjJEnlYo94hQU4gOAC_dXzTyQIkCs26rwbw9TY0qrrMdKSx2hUVH4i1-ZxCfNlF5E_LocSklSU0sL-nGb5PD8t0oXSL-pAxrrKtyaX1SIhpqRVODrzjUFXRm5Om5AqZBhPnN6SiITFmGpIB7L1zOmvsJ_HpsxW9o7PwKI98/s4000/WITCHER%20THE%20LAST%20WISH.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bJIi7oNmWO3nd22PftOfAjJEnlYo94hQU4gOAC_dXzTyQIkCs26rwbw9TY0qrrMdKSx2hUVH4i1-ZxCfNlF5E_LocSklSU0sL-nGb5PD8t0oXSL-pAxrrKtyaX1SIhpqRVODrzjUFXRm5Om5AqZBhPnN6SiITFmGpIB7L1zOmvsJ_HpsxW9o7PwKI98/s16000/WITCHER%20THE%20LAST%20WISH.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The girl has been through a lot. She was imprisoned, raped and almost killed. Is it any wonder that she wants revenge on Stregobor? Nevertheless, as the story grows increasingly chiller and one learns about the murders committed by the young Snow white, the reader has to wonder. Is she an innocent girl who turned a killer or was she always a killer? What if the prophecy is true? </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“You don't believe in it, you say. Well you're right, in a way. Only Evil and Greater Evil exist and beyond them, in the shadows, lurks True Evil. True Evil, Geralt, is something you can barely imagine, even if you believe nothing can still surprise you. And sometimes, True Evil seizes you by the throat and demands you choose between it and another, slightly lesser, Evil.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Snow White arrives. She's named Renfri and she has arrived to Blaviken to kill Stregbor. Geralts meets the bloodthirsty Refri and her gang of mercenaries. Refri informs Geralt that she is under the protection from a king, proving she is well connected. Gerlt goes to bed but someone is waiting for him. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“There was someone in his little attic room. Geralt knew it before he even reached the door, sensing it through the barely perceptible vibration of his medallion. He blew out the oil lamp which had lit his path up the stairs, pulled the dagger from his boot, slipped it into the back of his belt and pressed the door handle. The room was dark. But not for a witcher. He was deliberately slow in crossing the threshold; he closed the door behind him carefully. The next second he dived at the person sitting on his bed, crushed them into the linen, forced his forearm under their chin and reached for his dagger. He didn't pull it out. Something wasn't right. “Not a bad start,” she said in a muffled voice, lying motionless beneath him. “I expected something like this, but I didn't think we'd both be in bed so quickly. Take your hand from my throat please.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Renfri sneaks into Geralt's room and we hear the story from her perspective. She tells him of her life before Stregobor, a life of princess and of her life after the mage tries to kill her- a proper horror story. </span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“That was my life until Stregobor and that whore Aridea ordered a huntsman to butcher me in the forest and bring back my heart and liver. Lovely, don't you think?” </i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“No. I’m pleased you evaded the huntsman, Renfri.” </i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Like shit I did. He took pity on me and let me go. After the son of a bitch raped me and robbed me.”</i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i> Geralt, fiddling with his medallion, looked her straight in the eyes. She didn't lower hers. </i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“That was the end of the princess,” she continued. </i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“The dress grew torn, the cambric grew grubby. And then there was dirt, hunger, stench, stink and abuse. Selling myself to any old bum for a bowl of soup or a roof over my head. Do you know what my hair was like? Silk. And it reached a good foot below my hips. I had it cut right to the scalp with sheep-shears when I caught lice. It's never grown back properly.” She was silent for a moment, idly brushing the uneven strands of hair from her forehead. </i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“I stole rather than starve to death. I killed to avoid being killed myself. I was locked in prisons which stank of urine, never knowing if they would hang me in the morning, or just flog me and release me. And through it all, my stepmother and your sorcerer were hard on my heels, with their poisons and assassins and spells. </i></span></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Renfri tells her extremely traumatic life story and pleads with Geralt to kill Stregobor. Nevertheless, Gerald refuses her as he did Stregbor. He asks Renfri to forget Stregobor, to prove the mage wrong by living her life normally. Renfri promises to leave town and ends up spending the night with Geralt. For some reason, women can't seem to help themselves around the witcher. In some ways, this book contradicts the genre stereotype but not in this one. It's very common for writer to fall into that stereotype. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the morning comes the brutal awakening. Geralt realizes that Renfri plans to kill the people of Blaviken</span>, on the busy day of the festival, <span style="font-family: inherit;">to force Stregobor out of his hiding, hence he rushes outside. Geralt finds Renfri's mercenaries in the marketplace and </span>fights them <span style="font-family: inherit;">to the death. Geralt tries to reason with Renfri when she appears, but to no avail. Once again, he is forced to make a horrible choice.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Geralt and Renfri fight and Geralt kills her. A relieved Stregobor appears and approaches Geralt. The mage plans on performing an autopsy on Renfri's body to prove her monstrosity, but Geralt is </span><span style="color: #202122;">appalled</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and chases him away. The locals, not knowing he context of the story, i.e. that the witcher saved them from massacre, attack Geralt and accuse him of murdering a group of innocent men. The irony! Thus Geralt </span>acquires<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the </span>unfortunate<span style="font-family: inherit;"> nickname "the Butcher of Blaviken."</span></span></p><div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I thought I was choosing the lesser evil. I chose the lesser evil. Lesser evil! I’m Geralt! Witcher…I’m the Butcher of Blaviken—”</i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>....</i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Nothing. I've had a bit to drink and I'm philosophizing. I'm looking for general truths. And I've found one: lesser evils exist, but we can't choose them. Only True Evil can force us to such a choice. Whether we like it or not.”</i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><b>THE VOICE OF REASON PART IV</b></h3><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The framed narrative takes us back to the temple where</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Geralt talks to Iola. It's a monologue since she doesn't talk back to him due to her </span><span style="color: #202122;">vows</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> of silence.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“I need this conversation. They say silence is golden. Maybe it is, although I'm not sure it's worth that much. It has its price certainly; you have to pay for it.”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“I don't believe in Melitele, don't believe in the existence of other gods either, but I respect your choice, your sacrifice. Your belief. Because your faith and sacrifice, the price you're paying for your silence, will make you better, a greater being. Or, at least, it could. But my faithlessness can do nothing. It's powerless.”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> We learn more of his history as a Witcher. We heard the story of his first noble deed.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #181818;">“My first noble deed. You see, they'd told me again and again in Kaer Morhen not to get involved in such incidents, not to play at being knight errant or uphold the law. Not to show off, but to work for money. And I joined this fight like an idiot, not fifty miles from the mountains. And do you know why? I wanted the girl, sobbing with gratitude, to kiss her saviour on the hands, and her father to thank me on his knees. In reality her father fled with his attackers, and the girl, drenched in the bald man's blood, threw up, became hysterical and fainted in fear when I approached her...”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;">We learn why witchers carry two swords and about what this witcher believes in.</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“I believe in the sword. As you can see, I carry two. Every witcher does. It's said, spitefully, the silver one is for monsters and the iron for humans. But that's wrong. As there are monsters which can be struck down only with a silver blade, so there are those for whom iron is lethal. And Iola, not just any iron, it must come from a meteorite”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEm6NE9bPx4nV-dgGGau4I6NHWeUtMXmUG5sFwprsOL3kjHTbAIv32qYbjl1oV52zTimM0YQTHBAuELI0q55h6WcpupLrBCnn2elyAMIqrsAGWlVzsIAqE1w20VWzqQNaF2UCZ0fv3-8QDsnHy9aAyIpHTqlvgq1oPmuE6ydhP439pidWvLuPVCjciIM/s4000/red%20boots%20black%20blazer%20park.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEm6NE9bPx4nV-dgGGau4I6NHWeUtMXmUG5sFwprsOL3kjHTbAIv32qYbjl1oV52zTimM0YQTHBAuELI0q55h6WcpupLrBCnn2elyAMIqrsAGWlVzsIAqE1w20VWzqQNaF2UCZ0fv3-8QDsnHy9aAyIpHTqlvgq1oPmuE6ydhP439pidWvLuPVCjciIM/s16000/red%20boots%20black%20blazer%20park.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></p><h3 style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><b>A QUESTION OF PRICE</b></span></h3><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">A new story begins, one poignant with destiny. Geralt arrives to a the castle of Cintra. He was invited by Queen Calanthe. He's required to leave his sword behind to attend a </span><span style="color: #202122;">formal</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> celebration prepared for Crown Princess Pavetta. The Queen is looking for a husband for her daughter. That's what everyone is talking about!</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Queen Calanthe wants her to marry someone from Skellige; an alliance with the islanders would mean a lot to us.’</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i> ‘Why them?’</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i> ‘Those they’re allied with aren’t attacked as often as others.’</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i> ‘A good reason.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: #202122;">Geralt and queen Calanthe have a long talk. She refuses to reveal what exactly she wants from him.</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Last winter Prince Hrobarik, not being so gracious, tried to hire me to find a beauty who, sick of his vulgar advances, had fled the ball, losing a slipper. It was difficult to convince him that he needed a huntsman, and not a witcher.”</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"> The queen is portrayed as strong-willed and intelligent. </span></span><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Kings,” continued Calanthe, “divide people into two categories—those they order around, and those they buy—because they adhere to the old and banal truth that everyone can be bought. Everyone. It’s only a question of price.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, Geralt is not for sale. What happens that night is bigger than them all. Every dialogue becomes poignant with </span>meaning<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span><i style="color: #181818;">“Then pay greater attention. The difference, my dear witcher, is that one who is bought is paid according to the buyer’s whim, whereas one who renders a service sets his own price. Is that clear?”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Suddenly, a knight with his face covered enters the room and introduces himself as Urcheon of Erlenwald, aka Duny. He refuses to take off his helmet. To everyone's surprise, the strange knight wants to marry Pavetta. He says he has a </span>legitimate<span style="font-family: inherit;"> claim. He claims Pavetta belongs to him via law of surprise. She was promised by her father Roegner and Calenthe's late husband. The queen admits that Urcheon had saved the life of the late king, but refuses to marry Pavetta to him as he is a complete stranger.</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“Indeed, Urcheon of Erlenwald made a strange request of King Roegner, a strange reward to demand when the king offered him his wish. But let us not pretend we've never heard of such requests, of the Law of Surprise, as old as humanity itself. Of the price a man who saves another can demand, of the granting of a seemingly impossible wish.</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i> ‘You will give me the first thing that comes to greet you.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"> The Queen manages to tricky Duny into removing his helmet earlier, revealing a monster. Only he's not really a monster, but a cursed knight. </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">Geralt refuses to attack Duny when ordered so by the Queen. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">When the Queen asks Pavetta whether she will agree to marry Urcheon, she is sure of a </span><span style="color: #202122;">negative</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> answer, but to </span>everyone's<span style="font-family: inherit;"> outrage (and especially that of the other suitors), Pavetta accepts Duny. </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">For the law of surprise to work, the child must accept is as well.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">An attack on Duny ensures, but to his surprise, Geralt and ,Eist Tuirseach, defend him. Pavetta experiences some kind of magic trance. The stress </span><span style="color: #202122;">actives</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Pavetta's latent magical powers that are so strong, they almost destroy the castle and split the ballroom in two. Geralt and palace druid barely manage to put Pavetta's powers under control. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">It turns out that Pavetta and Duny have been secretly meeting and are in love. Duny seems more interested in Pavetta than the throne. Calanthe sees she has no alternative so she agrees to give Duny Pavetta's hand. Grateful to Geralt for saving him, </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">Duny has some kind words for the witcher:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><i style="background-color: transparent; color: #181818;">“But I’ve become convinced that the witcher’s profession is worthy of respect. You protect us not only from the evil lurking in the darkness, but also from that which lies within ourselves. It’s a shame there are so few of you.”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Duny offers Geralt whatever he want. Geralt invokes The Law of Surprise, the same law which gave Duny his claim to Pavetta's hand. </span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Duny,” said Geralt seriously, “Calanthe, Pavetta. And you, righteous knight Tuirseach, future king of Cintra. In order to become a witcher, you have to be born in the shadow of destiny, and very few are born like that. That's why there are so few of us. We're growing old, dying, without anyone to pass our knowledge, our gifts, on to. We lack successors. And this world is full of Evil which waits for the day none of us are left.”</i></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> “Geralt,” whispered Calanthe. </i></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Yes, you're not wrong, queen. Duny! You will give me that which you already have but do not know. I’ll return to Cintra in six years to see if destiny has been kind to me.”</i></p><p>Pavetta's alredy prequent with Duny. So, the child of surprise is Cirilla, better known as Ciri. As the reader will learn in latter book. Ciri is really at the centre of everything.</p><p>This was my favourite story in the collection! I really liked how wisely the witcher behaved and how eloquently he spoke. He is not always talkative, but when he is, he says the most interesting things. </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNdC5KH4yCEZn8423_XyzloLNJFwzXNmeUujHO71hSVdLxlOu2iGvXLkdSrmc3TlsqgP9bPT5znckRxLy4xMUPHf70idIscm5DNBlFycgwCj8KTANWBcjOT1sWuCS-RBwRz1lSHf68mkFTzV80shA-JiIrlmYxNV2KexO64oK4nFbU_28ZeIqNi_mCLI/s4000/black%20blazer%20floral%20skirt%20the%20last%20wish.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNdC5KH4yCEZn8423_XyzloLNJFwzXNmeUujHO71hSVdLxlOu2iGvXLkdSrmc3TlsqgP9bPT5znckRxLy4xMUPHf70idIscm5DNBlFycgwCj8KTANWBcjOT1sWuCS-RBwRz1lSHf68mkFTzV80shA-JiIrlmYxNV2KexO64oK4nFbU_28ZeIqNi_mCLI/s16000/black%20blazer%20floral%20skirt%20the%20last%20wish.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>THE VOICE OF REASON PART 4</b></h3><p>Geralt's friend Dandelion arrives to the temple. Priestess Nenneke is not a fan. In fact, she cannot stand the poet. I found it very musing how Nenneke positively hates Dandelion. </p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“A pearl of laughter and the strumming of a lute resounded in the corridor and there, on the threshold of the library, stood Dandelion in a lilac jerkin with lace cuffs, his hat askew. The troubadour bowed exaggeratedly at the sight of Nenneke, the heron feather pinned to his hat sweeping the floor.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“My deepest respects, venerable mother,” he whined stupidly. “Praise be the Great Melitele and her priestesses, the springs of virtue and wisdom—”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Stop talking bullshit,” snorted Nenneke. “And don’t call me mother. The very idea that you could be my son fills me with horror.”</span></i></p><p>.........</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: black;"><span style="color: #181818;">“No. It’s Dandilion this time, your fellow. That idler, parasite and good-for-nothing, that priest of art, the bright-shining star of the ballad and love poem. As usual he’s radiant with fame, puffed up like a pig’s bladder and stinking of beer. Do you want to see him?"</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">"Of course. He’s my friend, after all.”</span></i></span></span></p><p>Geralt's and Dandlion's friendship is a beautiful thing. Although quite different individuals, they are both loyal friends one to another. They also happen to share a healthy sense of humour.</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“History was second on my list of favorite subjects when I was studying at the Academy in Oxenfurt.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“What was first?”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Geography,” said the poet seriously. “The atlas was bigger and it was easier to hide a demijohn of vodka behind it.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Geralt laughed dryly and got up, removed Lunin and Tyrss’s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Arcane Mysteries of Magic and Alchemy </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">from the shelf and pulled a round-bellied vessel wrapped in straw from behind the bulky volume and into the light of day.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Oho.” The bard visibly cheered up. “Wisdom and inspiration, I see, are still to be found in libraries. Oooh! I like this! Plum, isn’t it? Yes, this is true alchemy. This is a philosopher’s stone and worth studying. Your health, brother. Ooooh, it’s strong as the plague!”</span></i></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE EDGE OF THE WORLD</span></b></h3><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Geralt and Dandelion travel together in a futile search of work. Finally, they meet someone willing to employ a witcher- Well, sort of.... a village elder tells them of a devil that </span><span style="color: #202122;">troubles</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> them but they don't </span>want<span style="font-family: inherit;"> it </span>harmed<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Geralt is interested in this </span>creature<span style="font-family: inherit;"> whose mischief creates so many problems, but must not be harmed in anyway. The story is up to a light and playful start.</span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">“And what if it’s the devil’s path?”</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">“All the better. We won’t have to walk too far.”</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">“Do you know, Geralt,” babbled the bard, following the witcher along the narrow, uneven path among the hemp. “I always thought the devil was just a metaphor invented for cursing: ‘go to the devil’, ‘to the devil with it’, ‘may the devil’. Lowlanders say: ‘The devils are bringing us guests’, while dwarves have ‘Duvvel hoael’ when they get something wrong, and call poor-blooded livestock devvelsheyss. And in the Old Language, there’s a saying, ‘A d’yaebl aep arse’, which means—”</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">“I know what it means. You’re babbling, Dandelion.”</span></i></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Once they happen upon it, Geralt and Dandelion confront the devil, who turns out to be a sylvan. They don't seem that surprised. However, Dandelion insults the sylvan Torque and there are problems. Torque disappears and the two of them continue their </span>investigation<span style="font-family: inherit;">. They find out there's a young woman in the village who is obeyed by everyone. Many villages have such wise ones and they usually hide them way as the local lords usually don't like other authority figures. The two of them deduce all this. The girl doesn't talk but </span>communicates<span style="font-family: inherit;"> via an old lady. It was she who demands that Torque not be harmed despite his mischief.</span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“—though the witchman greatly covetous and greedy for gold be,” mumbled the old woman, half-closing her eyes, “giveth ye not such a one more than: for a drowner, one silver penny or three halves; for a werecat, silver pennies two; for a plumard, silver pennies—”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“Those were the days,” muttered the witcher. “Thank you Grandma. And now show us where it speaks of the devil and what the book says about devils. This time ‘tis grateful I’d be to heareth more, for to learn the ways and means ye did use to deal with him most curious am I.”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“Careful Geralt,” chuckled Dandelion. “You’re starting to fall into their jargon. It’s an infectious mannerism.”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">The woman, controlling her shaking hands with difficulty, turned several pages. The witcher and the poet leaned over the table. The etching did, in effect, show the ball-thrower: horned, hairy, tailed and smiling maliciously.</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“The deovel,” recited the woman. “Also called willower” or “sylvan”. For livestock and domestic fowl, a tiresome and great pest is he. Be it your will to chase him from your hamlet, tamest thou—”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“Well, well,” murmured Dandelion.</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“—takers thou of nuts, one fistful,” continued the woman, running her fingers along the parchment. “Next, takest thou of iron balls a second fistful. Of honey and utricle, of birch tar a second. Of grey soap a firkin; of soft cheese another. There where the deovel dwelleth, goest thou when ‘tis night. Commenceth then to eat the nuts. Anon, the deovel who hath great greed, will hasten and ask if they are tasty indeed. Givest to him then the balls of iron—”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“Damn you,” murmured Dandelion. “Pox take—”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“Quiet,” said Geralt. “Well, Grandma. Go on.”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“…having broken his teeth he will be attentive as thou eatest the honey. Of said honey he will himself desire. Givest him of birch tar, then yourself eateth soft cheese. Soon, hearest thou, will the deovel grumbleth and tumbleth, but makest of it as naught. Yet if the deovel desireth soft cheese, givest him soap. For soap the deovel withstandeth not—”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“You got to the soap?” interrupted Geralt with a stony expression turning toward Dhun and Nettly.</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“In no way,” groaned Nettly. “If only we had got to the balls. But he gave us what for when he bit a ball—”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“And who told you to give him so many?” Dandelion was enraged. “It stands written in the book, one fistful take. Yet ye giveth of balls a sackful! Ye furnished him with ammunition for two years, the fools ye be!”</div><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">“Careful,” smiled the witcher. “You’re starting to fall into their jargon. It’s infectious.”</div></i></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt and </span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #202122;">Dandelion's search for sylvan results in them being captured by elves. Suddenly, the story turns sad and dark. We learn about the<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html?sc=1696338468231#c5996930920327791879" target="_blank"> confrontations and the wars between the elves and humans.</a> </span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #202122;">It also turns out that the sylvan was helping the elves get grain, so they can survive the winter in the mountains. Harsh words are spoken, Dandelion's lute gets broken and Geralt turns into a peacemaker of sorts. Ultimately, the witcher advises elves to adapt, but they explains it's not so easy.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">“T</span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">he world is huge,” muttered the witcher. “We can find room. There’s enough space.”</span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">“The world is huge,” repeated the elf. “That’s true, human. But you have changed this world. At first, you used force to change it. You treated it as you treat anything that falls into your hands. Now it looks as if the world has started to fit in with you. It’s given way to you. It’s given in.”</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">Geralt didn’t reply.</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">“Torque spoke the truth,” continued Filavandrel. “Yes, we are starving. Yes, we are threatened with annihilation. The sun shines differently, the air is different, water is not as it used to be. The things we used to eat, made use of, are dying, diminishing, deteriorating. We never cultivated the land. Unlike you humans, we never tore at it with hoes and ploughs. To you, the earth pays a bloody tribute. It bestowed gifts on us. You tear the earth’s treasures from it by force. For us, the earth gave birth and blossomed because it loved us.”</span></span></i></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;">..........</div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;">The elves decide to kill Geralt and Dandelion. Geralt is resigned to his death and prophesies a dark end for elves.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><i style="color: black;"><span style="color: #181818;">“Your mother gives birth to you only once and only once do you die,' the witcher said calmly. 'An appropriate philosophy for a louse, don't you agree? And your longevity? I pity you, Filavandrel.'</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">The elf raised his eyebrows.</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">'Why?'</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">'You're pathetic, with your little stolen sacks of seeds on pack horses, with your handful of grain, that tiny crumb thanks to which you plan to survive. And with that mission of yours which is supposed to turn your thoughts from imminent annihilation. Because you know this is the end. Nothing will sprout or yield crops on the plateaux, nothing will save you now. But you live long, and you will live very long in arrogant isolation, fewer and fewer of you, growing weaker and weaker, more and more bitter. And you know what'll happen then, Filavandrel. You know that desperate young men with the eyes of hundred-year-old men and withered, barren and sick girls like Toruviel will lead those who can still hold a sword and bow in their hands, down into the valleys. You'll come down into the blossoming valleys to meet death, wanting to die honourably, in battle, and not in sick beds of misery, where anaemia, tuberculosis and scurvy will send you. Then, long-living Aen Seidhe, you'll remember me. You'll remember that I pitied you. And you'll understand that I was right.'</span><br style="color: #181818;" /><span style="color: #181818;">'Time will tell who was right,' said the elf quietly. 'And herein lies the advantage of longevity. I've got a chance of finding out, if only because of that stolen handful of grain. You won't have a chance like that. You'll die shortly.”</span></i></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><br /><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Suddenly the legendary Queen of the Fields appears - a deity of some kind. She is actually the young girl from the village or better to say the girl is a goddess. While the goddess and Filavandrel talk </span><span style="color: #202122;">telepathically</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">, Torque frees Geralt and Dandelion. The poet even gets a new lute as a parting gift.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span><i><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The elf nodded. From her </span>saddle-bow<span style="font-family: inherit;">, she took a lute, a marvelous instrument of light, tastefully inlaid wood with a slender, engraved neck. Without a word, she handed the lute to </span></span><span style="color: #181818;">Dandelion</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">. The poet accepted the instrument and smiled. Also without a word, but his eyes said a great deal.</span></i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;">I quite enjoyed this story. Its switch from comedy to tragedy was well cone and convincing. I also didn't mind he literal 'deux in machina' ending. Interesting ending for an atheist protagonist!</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>THE VOICE OF REASON PART 4</b></h3><p>Geralt talks with the head priestess bout his relationship with Yennefer. He recounts how they first met.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE LAST WISH</span></b></h3><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">As the story opens, </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Dandelion and Geralt are fishing and </span><span style="color: #202122;">arguing quite loudly</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Suddenly, </span>Dandelion<span style="font-family: inherit;"> hauls up an ancient sealed vase and ignoring Geralt's warnings </span>releases<span style="font-family: inherit;"> a genie that instantly attacks him. The genie isn't interested in Dandelions's wishes and cuts his recital short, causing serious injuries to the poet. Fortunately, </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Geralt manges to banish the creature with a exorcism, and takes Dandelion to the nearest city in search of help. He is informed that v</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">isitors are not admitted after nightfall, so Geralt spends the night in the guardhouse. He meets three other characters- elves Chireadan, Errdil, and half-elf knight Vratimir and drinks tea with them.</span></span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Geralt finished his mug of herb tea, grimacing dreadfully. He valued and liked the settled elves for their intelligence, calm reserve and sense of humour, but he couldn’t understand or share their taste in food or drink.”</i></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Vratimir has to spend the night there as well, as a half elf he doesn't have the same status as human, even if he is knight. Vratimir tells Gerlat how the city authorities imposed heavy duties for magic, thefefre the mages are boycotting the place. At the moment, there is only one mage in the city - the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg. The fated meeting happens! The sparks are flying from the start. Geralt is warned not to trust Yennefer. </span></span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Geralt goes to meet Yennefer and wakes her up. Yennefer agrees to help him, but only after taking a bath.</span><span style="color: #181818;">...She invites him to take a bath as well.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><br /><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Make use of the opportunity to have a bath yourself. I can </span>not only guess the age and breed of your horse, but also its color, by the smell.”</i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Don’t be embarrassed,’ she said, throwing an armful of clothing on the hook. ‘I don’t faint at the sight of a naked man. Triss Merigold, a friend, says if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.</i></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;">Geralt's first meeting with Yenneger is very memorable. He perceives her as very attractive, but not beautiful. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><i style="color: #181818;">“The young sorceress would become attractive because the prestige of her profession demanded it. The result was pseudo-pretty women with the angry and cold eyes of ugly girls. Girls who couldn’t forget their ugliness had been covered by the mask of magic only for the prestige of their profession.”</i></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;">His witcher perspective revels to him that Yennefer was born a hunchback. He also stresses the fact that the mages are rarely naturally beautiful for some reason. Yennefer is portryed s ambitious and dangerous. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><i style="color: #181818;">“It's an invention, a fairy tale devoid of any sense, like all the legends in which good spirits and fortune tellers fulfill wishes. Stories like that are made up by poor simpletons, who can't even dream of fulfilling their wishes and desires themselves. I'm pleased you're not one of them, Geralt of Rivia. It makes you closer in spirit to me. If I want something, I don't dream of it—I act. And I always get what I want.”</i></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;">However, as the story develops Geralt will risk his life to save Yennefers. What followed after that seems fated.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“She leant over him, touched him. He felt her hair, smelling of lilac and gooseberries, brush his face and he suddenly knew that he’d never forget that scent, that soft touch, knew that he’d never be able to compare it to any other scent or touch. Yennefer kissed him and he understood that he’d never desire any lips other than hers, so soft and moist, sweet with lipstick. He knew that, from that moment, only she would exist, her neck, shoulders and breasts freed from her black dress, her delicate, cool skin, which couldn’t be compared to any other he had ever touched. He gazed into her violet eyes, the most beautiful eyes in the world, eyes which he feared would become . . . Everything. He knew.”</i></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>.....</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“He interrupted her with a kiss, an embrace, a touch, caresses and then with everything, his whole being, his every thought, his only thought, everything, everything, everything. They broke the silence with sighs and the rustle of clothing strewn on the floor. They broke the silence very gently, lazily, and they were considerate and very thorough. They were caring and tender and, although neither quite knew what caring and tenderness were, they succeeded because they very much wanted to. And they were in no hurry whatsoever. The whole world had ceased to exist for a brief moment, but to them, it seemed like a whole eternity.”</i></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfl79Mg58esMGkhVQh-1Y8YrbxO3eCz8ByEtaBJqfREL4YFaSAu7m46rMQUUIzHdbDe2pZ59zXwP53lwKsxQ-E4ibGXWmL9A-1x88unHnwbTZS2g7Jr5lQWd74BwQnyJToai0fZmkMIMlJFz1KWFgJXb6GLpFtuJeYJfyqjKuKtXaSXUM2S-P4EDHoWT4/s4000/red%20blazer%20boots%20floral%20dress.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfl79Mg58esMGkhVQh-1Y8YrbxO3eCz8ByEtaBJqfREL4YFaSAu7m46rMQUUIzHdbDe2pZ59zXwP53lwKsxQ-E4ibGXWmL9A-1x88unHnwbTZS2g7Jr5lQWd74BwQnyJToai0fZmkMIMlJFz1KWFgJXb6GLpFtuJeYJfyqjKuKtXaSXUM2S-P4EDHoWT4/s16000/red%20blazer%20boots%20floral%20dress.jpg" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>THE VOICE OF REASON</b></span></span></h3><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the ending, Gerlt says godbye to priestess Nenneke.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“So long, Nenneke."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"So long, Geralt. Look after yourself."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The witcher's smile was surly.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"I prefer to look after others. It turns out better in the long run.”</span></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, it's time for the confrontation with the knights. What do you think happens?</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“If i understand correctly, he said, I'm to fight the duel because, if I refuse, I'll be hanged. If I fight I'm to allow my opponent to injure me because if i wound him I'll be put to the rack. What charming alternatives. Maybe I should save you the bother? I'll thump my head against the pine tree and render myself helpless. Will that grant you satisfaction</i></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXZ01S2ciPp9SrtK1cVC9yjJ6VdL-Hb26snPlWyarMhUwUdXlvTa7Ovlfa79UNLW28WDl1VbmziLged3BcwXDiLwEXWo0VsiTu1WaUHCAsTw6XEkLSJoQ0J6z15ZMZ2DENOvcua1WIjpBHUY-OKiaBmcNxZmRZcMq15xnlv8xMHrgJE1fPi38dZfaJ1g/s4000/the%20last%20wish%20witcher%20book%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXZ01S2ciPp9SrtK1cVC9yjJ6VdL-Hb26snPlWyarMhUwUdXlvTa7Ovlfa79UNLW28WDl1VbmziLged3BcwXDiLwEXWo0VsiTu1WaUHCAsTw6XEkLSJoQ0J6z15ZMZ2DENOvcua1WIjpBHUY-OKiaBmcNxZmRZcMq15xnlv8xMHrgJE1fPi38dZfaJ1g/s16000/the%20last%20wish%20witcher%20book%20review.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I will probably review <i>Baptism of Fire</i> next. I'm currently reading <i>The Tower of the Swallow.</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">THANK YOU FOR READING!</p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-81410382304002550562023-09-24T09:41:00.005-07:002023-11-12T10:55:18.895-08:00TIME OF CONTEMPT, A NOVEL BY A. SAPKOWSKI, WITCHER #4 (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Hello there! Happy Autumn! In this post, I shall review <i>Time of Contempt</i>, the second novel and the forth book in the Witcher saga, created by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. The first two books in the Witcher series being collections of short stories (<i> Last Wish</i> and <a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">Sword of Destiny</a>) , <i>Time of Contempt</i> is a direct sequel to <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" target="_blank">Blood of Elves</a>.</i> Honestly, at first I hardly noticed the transition from one novel to another. T</span>he first part of <i>Time of Contempt</i> might as well be included in<a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" target="_blank"> <i>Blood of Elves</i></a> as it almost feels like the same novel. In addition, I was able to read the novels one after the other so the transition was especially smooth. However, as <i>Time of Contempt </i>develops, some differences between the two novels can be spotted. I shall elaborate!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></span></i></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“You can’t afford the luxury of spurning contempt. A time of contempt is approaching, Witcher, my friend, a time of great and utter contempt. You have to adapt.”</span></span></i></blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Published in 1995, <i>Time of Contempt</i> takes off where <i>Blood of Elves </i>ended, but it feels more fast paced than its prequel. If you have read my review for <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/blood-of-elves-novel-by-andrzej.html" target="_blank">Blood of Elves</a>,</i> you would have known that I found it slower paced than the <i><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" target="_blank">Sword of Destiny </a></i>but also very interesting in its own right, as it explains a great deal about the Witcher world. <i>Blood of Elves </i>is all about world-building, particularly in the sense of explaining the politics of this fantasy world. <i>Time of Contempt</i> adds more action and in that sense feels more true to the first two books in the series. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I said </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Time of Contempt</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> continues where </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Blood of Elves </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">left off. Therefore, spoilers in this review shall be hard to avoid. All of my Witcher saga reviews include spoilers, so if you want to avoid them, just scroll down to the conclusion and/ or read just the quotes. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4r3imISmzAigxuBOCl3Nvi_5Bp-zYhv52X4hkoqiwt1hGyw8oCLUNLpp4kpVg-2jUIs4JZwd7M6WO5hZBaN-eK2VV1PJ2J1MwZ6yq43gbqULUlBEuSmU16XVRmRH-Rb2XYJyYDeJFE58p6P3oQfbyMkUm9BuCSgFXg4yoZmKEJXEslBx_JCEy2XrqHw/s4160/VISIT%20SPLIT%20TOWN%20WITH%20ME%20SUMMER%20PRINTED%20DRESS%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4r3imISmzAigxuBOCl3Nvi_5Bp-zYhv52X4hkoqiwt1hGyw8oCLUNLpp4kpVg-2jUIs4JZwd7M6WO5hZBaN-eK2VV1PJ2J1MwZ6yq43gbqULUlBEuSmU16XVRmRH-Rb2XYJyYDeJFE58p6P3oQfbyMkUm9BuCSgFXg4yoZmKEJXEslBx_JCEy2XrqHw/s16000/VISIT%20SPLIT%20TOWN%20WITH%20ME%20SUMMER%20PRINTED%20DRESS%20.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyS72RlPluaONUOTWIZ9XXBofWn-Z8CBcXmDVpJCfCsQJts0oVDqSBCmVpjml5rUD_O8uzntng8xL3HQ0lpBfetXQyE7G0R5pAxd2D0oapcpMBSj5DnXrMkD2cve5TJPUWKjApXc0Bhyxu2fdYXlr1OyXbH5xZsLVxVYkVr_gDuuLU3tQNKmuz6yl-cM/s3000/IMG_20230830_180845.jpg" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyS72RlPluaONUOTWIZ9XXBofWn-Z8CBcXmDVpJCfCsQJts0oVDqSBCmVpjml5rUD_O8uzntng8xL3HQ0lpBfetXQyE7G0R5pAxd2D0oapcpMBSj5DnXrMkD2cve5TJPUWKjApXc0Bhyxu2fdYXlr1OyXbH5xZsLVxVYkVr_gDuuLU3tQNKmuz6yl-cM/s16000/IMG_20230830_180845.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegXmcQI_zw9MRi-joXhW-dlayr57Gq-lfq0km37u_6noP22Pau2UFV9m652u95JOM_MEP8Jt5nK_A16kQwUIWhwB311SQ45Rmd_g2Sb-tXFxg6be4HvYzJ_s4c67ZoMAqlWEULvzGpHG2q-g8J8uiYrb9LxtIErIBUQE3Rz4VFuGZncu1_Dwfe99-xn8/s4000/the%20witcher%20time%20of%20contempt%20vrijeme%20prezira%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegXmcQI_zw9MRi-joXhW-dlayr57Gq-lfq0km37u_6noP22Pau2UFV9m652u95JOM_MEP8Jt5nK_A16kQwUIWhwB311SQ45Rmd_g2Sb-tXFxg6be4HvYzJ_s4c67ZoMAqlWEULvzGpHG2q-g8J8uiYrb9LxtIErIBUQE3Rz4VFuGZncu1_Dwfe99-xn8/s16000/the%20witcher%20time%20of%20contempt%20vrijeme%20prezira%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I honestly don't feel bad about including spoilers. This saga has been popular since the nineties and it's 2023 now. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you heard about the Witcher saga, you've heard at least some spoilers. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> In fact, this fantasy saga has become a part of modern culture, inspiring movies, plays, songs, comic books, television series and video games. The Witcher saga is so popular that it has been translated into 37 languages, making Andrzej Sapkowski the second most translated Polish author after</span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/08/fables-for-robots-by-stanislaw-lem-book.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> Stanislaw Lem</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Having read these books, I can certainly understand the hype. It seems that </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sapkowski has managed to create his own unique style of </span>fantasy<span style="font-family: inherit;">. The ironical and </span>pessimistic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> view of politics and human nature, the apolitical tendencies, the preoccupation with the nature and the appeal of the philosophy of neutrality are as present in </span></span> <i>Time of Contempt </i>as in his other Witcher books.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Nature doesn’t know the concept of philosophy, Geralt of Rivia. The pathetic–ridiculous–attempts which people undertake to try to understand nature are typically termed philosophy. The results of such attempts are also considered philosophy. It’s as though a cabbage tried to investigate the causes and effects of its existence, called the result of these reflections “an eternal and mysterious conflict between head and root”, and considered rain an unfathomable causative power. We, sorcerers, don’t waste time puzzling out what nature is. We know what it is; for we are nature ourselves. Do you understand?’ </span></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">‘I’m trying to, but please talk more slowly. Don’t forget you’re talking to a cabbage.’ </span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> </span></span></i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <i>Time of Contempt</i> continues to focus on the Ciri. The small family that was developing in <i>Blood of Elves </i>continues to stick together. Ciri, Gerald, Yennefer and Dandelion are once again the main characters. Like in the previous novel</span><span style="background-color: white;">, as readers we get to learn more about Yennefer, Gerlad and Dandelion. We witness their character development. However, the plot is all about Ciri. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I mentioned in my last review, one might even argue that the novels are ultimately about Ciri and that she is their real protagonist. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Geralt . . . Listen to me—’ ‘Listen to what?’ shouted the Witcher, before his voice suddenly faltered. ‘I can’t leave— I can’t just leave her to her fate. She’s completely alone . . . She cannot be left alone, Dandelion. You’ll never understand that. No one will ever understand that, but I know. If she remains alone, the same thing will happen to her as once happened to me . . . You’ll never understand that . .</span></span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerald was undoubtedly the main protagonist in the short stories collections, but once Ciri steps to the scene, she seems to take over. Moreover, the ultimate plot of the novels seems to be about Ciri.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> <i>In Blood of Elves</i>, we learned more about Ciri, this girl whose personality is a strange mix of cheerful and sad, happy and tragic. Now, as readers we shall witness Ciri growing up into a young woman. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">“To say I knew her would be an exaggeration. I think that, apart from the Witcher and the enchantress, no one really knew her. When I saw her for the first time she did not make a great impression on me at all, even in spite of the quite extraordinary accompanying circumstances. I have known people who said that, right away, from the very first encounter, they sensed the foretaste of death striding behind the girl. To me she seemed utterly ordinary, though I knew that ordinary she was not; for which reason I tried to discern, discover–sense–the singularity in her. But I noticed nothing and sensed nothing. Nothing that could have been a signal, a presentiment or a harbinger of those subsequent, tragic events. Events caused by her very existence. And those she caused by her actions. Dandelion, Half a Century of Poetry”</span></span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>I'll tell you all about it in my review, so scroll down. </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7SuFgR_eSQa4YHhCKCc-U6tDpZ_kRzdpgTI7J84q7gHiSM_Wz2ZAbFJKOcGZprLcgYQlrHDB6KYSEe858wlbl5nDZYjasJKRTLrPQOfCLpSIWBwZbd272UhI3g6ph7gbmmZWar-gxtWJK8fpX967ZvOZgfqJLiEJUOLHcOgyvsoxeP_DS6BoxYdG-zvg/s1600/VISIT%20SPLIT%20CITY%20WITH%20ME%20MODAODARADOSTI%20BLOG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7SuFgR_eSQa4YHhCKCc-U6tDpZ_kRzdpgTI7J84q7gHiSM_Wz2ZAbFJKOcGZprLcgYQlrHDB6KYSEe858wlbl5nDZYjasJKRTLrPQOfCLpSIWBwZbd272UhI3g6ph7gbmmZWar-gxtWJK8fpX967ZvOZgfqJLiEJUOLHcOgyvsoxeP_DS6BoxYdG-zvg/s16000/VISIT%20SPLIT%20CITY%20WITH%20ME%20MODAODARADOSTI%20BLOG.JPG" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><h1 style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>TIME OF CONTEMPT</i>, A NOVEL BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI 5/5</b></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE COLD WAR BETWEEN THE NORTHERN KINGDOMS AND NILFGAARD IS STILL ON AND ONCE AGAIN IT IS HARD TO TELL WHO IS THE ULTIMATE BAD GUY</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As it was already stressed, this novel is very much a direct sequel. The alliance of the Northern kingdoms is still on. However, as the northern kings plot against the emperor of Nilgaard, the emperor seems to always be one step ahead of them. The cruelty of Nilfgaard Empire and its ruler is elaborated on in the books, making its emperor seem like the key villain on the first glance. However, is it really so? The claim that he is the main villain can be disputed. There is a constant implication that everyone playing the game of thrones is rotten to the core, hence Gerald's </span>insistence<span style="font-family: inherit;"> on </span>neutrality<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>The kings of Northern Kingdoms are perhaps not any better than the emperor of Nilfgaard. <i>Blood of Elves</i> informed us of the racism and the pogrom that elves, dwarves and other intelligent human species endure in the northern kingdoms. The rulers of northern kingdoms go so far as making the elves and the dwarves pay taxes for not being people but members of elder races. Historically, humans didn't treat elder races justly and so naturally there is much resentfulness and bitterness. <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">I liked how Sapkowski created a world that isn't white or black, but where every race has its own challenges and disagreements. At times, this saga does seem pessimistic but if you like your fantasy to be </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/09/book-review-demons-aka-possessed-devils.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">realistic </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">and </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/08/book-review-and-recommendation-bel-ami.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">naturalistic</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">, its </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2016/01/book-recommendation-and-review.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">pessimism </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">will probably appeal to you. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Geralt seems to understand there are two sides to every story. The more the reader finds out about the politics of the Witcher world, the more he understands the Geralt's neutrality. Geralt refuses to serve any ruler, because to him they are all the same. In the context of the present situation and the danger Ciri is in, Geralt has even more reasons to hate all the rulers, as they are all after Ciri. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Geralt had discovered, many times, that all mechanisms are unreliable. They only worked when they ought not to work, and vice versa.”</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">He may not have all the details at that point, but Geralt understand politics well enough to know that Ciri's royal blood makes her a potential pawn for those in power and one very desired. <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">In that sense, this emperor of Nilfgaard is no different than others in power, only more capable than most. T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">he monarchs of the Northern Kingdoms all agreed to kill Ciri for political reasons. So, the reader doesn't exactly know whom to cheer for as they are about to start a war with Nilfgaard. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“It may turn out,’ said the white-haired man a moment later, ‘that their comrades or cronies may ask what befell these evil men. Tell them the Wolf bit them. The White Wolf. And add that they should keep glancing over their shoulders. One day they’ll look back and see the Wolf.’ </span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="quote_book_link_18924206" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSE6lnArSyMoY0pxhchVwEu7sood2xFZq5ukgpuB_ZvtLX38nrfAp6ADPDvgC7E62t70CK93N8IWynl0xFXz_o02gfAUEhgkby19kuabHfC7gDfHhpxV3wdPweESvOAi2Y-0B-m9HjwQ8Gkmb_xwzcvZVUl-jH165tHLUf3Xzux2TLzVFRbkYxyrBO0Hk/s3000/IMG_20230830_181050.jpg" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSE6lnArSyMoY0pxhchVwEu7sood2xFZq5ukgpuB_ZvtLX38nrfAp6ADPDvgC7E62t70CK93N8IWynl0xFXz_o02gfAUEhgkby19kuabHfC7gDfHhpxV3wdPweESvOAi2Y-0B-m9HjwQ8Gkmb_xwzcvZVUl-jH165tHLUf3Xzux2TLzVFRbkYxyrBO0Hk/s16000/IMG_20230830_181050.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white;">GERALD CONDUCTS HIS OWN INVESTIGATION </span></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;"> In the meantime, Geralt does all he can. He doesn't have all the information, but he has good instincts. One of themes of this fantasy series is the dark in all of us. It is often implied that the real monsters are not the ones that Gerald hunts but rather those in human form. As a witcher, Geralt lives by a moral code. Moreover, he has the wisdom of a person that has lived a long and </span><span style="color: #202122;">eventful</span><span style="color: #202122;"> life. He is really quite a moral man once you get over his cold interior, his cynicism and his dark sense of humor. He even feels sorry for the monsters he kills.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Fifty for a werewolf. That was plenty, for the work had been easy. The werewolf hadn’t even fought back. Driven into a cave from which there was no escape, it had knelt down and waited for the sword to fall. The Witcher had felt sorry for it. But he needed the money.”</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-weight: bold;">Andrzej Sapkowski</span></span></i></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202122;">Anyhow, Gerald travels to an urban settlement (i.e. a small town Dorian) to meet with a Machiavellian character i.e. the lawyer Codhringer. As I already mentioned in my last review, different parts of the Witcher world are at different stages of development. Some places are distinctly medieval, while other places (especially urban settlements) feel more like late medieval or even early Renaissance.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Anyhow, Geralt meets with the notorious Codringer to task him with finding mag Rience identity</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. The notorious lawyer slash detective was already informed of the mag's existence by Dandelion, who only </span>escaped<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the mag with Yennefer's help. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">“Don’t mock me, Witcher. The matter is becoming serious. It’s becoming ever less clear what this is all about, and when no one knows what something’s about it’s sure to be all about money.”</span></span></i></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why is the lawyer so </span>notorious<span style="font-family: inherit;">? Well, his firm is. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Codringher and Fenn</b><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> was quite a notorious law firm and detective agency founded by two men. Many falsely assumed there is only one but there are actually two, although one of them is </span>rarely<span style="font-family: inherit;"> seen. Moreover, t</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">heir legal assistance was described to be somewhat dubious i.e, murderous. In other words, they seem willing to do anything and kill anyone to get the job done. Well, perhaps not everyone. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Codringer seems to honestly like Geralt and sides with him by hiding information about Ciri even before Geralt tasks him with that job. Maybe he has other less noble motives? You'll find out if and when you read the book. What I can say is that I quote liked this episode. Geralt and Codringher meeting was impressive, as it not only presented a credible Machiavellian character but showed a more intelligent side of Geralt. The White Wolf is more that a fighting man. Geralt is more than capable of conducting his own investigations in a complex and dangerous world. I also like the dark humor in this episode: </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"A famous pair of lawyers who ran a firm in Dorian until both partners died tragically under mysterious circumstances. At its height, the firm was retained by people from all over <a href="https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Temeria" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Temeria">Temeria</a>. If someone had difficulties, troubles, problems - they went to Codringher and Fenn. So the firm's clients quickly received proof of dishonesty and malpractice by their business partner. They could count on receiving credit from a bank without insurance or security. As one of a long list of creditors, they would be the only one to exact what was due from the company declaring bankruptcy. Their son would be released from the dungeon and cleared of all charges based either on irrefutable evidence or a lack thereof, because if evidence existed it disappeared mysteriously while witnesses retracted any earlier testimony. The wife's lover or the daughter's suitor would suffer complicated fractures in three limbs, including at least one upper one - all as a result of an unfortunate accident. And an enemy with a grudge or some other troublesome individual would soon stop being a nuisance, often vanishing into thin air. That's how Codringher and Fenn worked."</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> quoted from </span></i><span style="text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Codringher_and_Fenn">https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Codringher_and_Fenn</a> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-x54b6U6Ne7ofpY1XlihOqLKK0cTH_nCqa8kD46r8X5poCHlAlYdskQMs9x2mlQYrRZHvThOWN0iKKGUVJPWGUEJ41p_7hiMI8mtFlydPgxwnH9r0wC-PZayATwbKYdjLrFm4qDsDN-EtqigQS4bocNMLN3UfG4BZiAHRA3MTimB7lIwjkYPE8eMCtus/s2992/20230727_120536.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-x54b6U6Ne7ofpY1XlihOqLKK0cTH_nCqa8kD46r8X5poCHlAlYdskQMs9x2mlQYrRZHvThOWN0iKKGUVJPWGUEJ41p_7hiMI8mtFlydPgxwnH9r0wC-PZayATwbKYdjLrFm4qDsDN-EtqigQS4bocNMLN3UfG4BZiAHRA3MTimB7lIwjkYPE8eMCtus/s16000/20230727_120536.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">SPOILER ALERT! THIS IS WHERE WE START TO DISCUSS THE PLOT</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Then the prophetess said to the witcher: "I shall give you this advice: wear boots made of iron, take</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">in hand a staff of steel. Then walk until the end of the world. Help yourself with your staff to break the land before you and wet it with your tears. Go through fire and water, do not stop along the way,</span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">do not look behind you. And when the boots are worn, when your staff is blunt, once the wind and the heat has dried your eyes so that your tears no longer flow, then at the end of the world you may</span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">find what you are looking for and what you love... </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">The witcher went through fire and water, he did not look back. He did not take iron boots or a staff </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">of steel. He took only his sword. He did not listen to the words of prophets. And he did well because she was a bad prophet.”</span></div></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">YENNEFER LEARNS OF THE IMPENDING WAR AND TRAVELS WITH CIRI TO VISIT A SCHOOL OF MAGIC</span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyhow, while Geralt employs </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Codhringer in efforts to discover the identity of mage that is looking for Ciri, Yennefer is right by her side. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Their mother daughter kind of bond seems only to deepen with time. In this novel we get to see a softer side to Yennefer, but she remains the </span><span style="color: #202122;">ambitious</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> and proud woman we know. Yennefer receives news of the impending conflict with Nilfgaard and decides Ciri needs to continue to study magic safely. The sorceress leaves</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> Temple in Ellander with Ciri by her side. Her plans? Yennefer plans to take Ciri to Gors Velen and enroll her at the Aretuza school of magic on Thanedd Island. The always busy and proactive Yennefer also plans to attend a conference of mages there. The mages meet to discuss the current matters, such as the impending conflict. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">YENNEFER MEETS UP WITH HER DWARVEN BANKER IN GORS VELEN AND MAKES BANK </span><span style="color: #202122;">TRANSACTIONS</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> TO PAY FOR CIRI'S EDUCATION</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Yenner and Ciri make a stop in a city where</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> Yennefer visits a bank and </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> meets up with her banker, the owner of Giancardi bank</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">, who informs her of attempts to access her bank account in Novigrad. While they discuss</span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the economic situation, it is again implied that the northern kings are preparing for war. I quite liked this detail. By including discussions about the finance world, Sapkowski made his fantasy world politics seem more credible and </span>tangible<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Molnar Gincardi, the dwarven banker was an interesting character as well, even if we don't learn that much about him. As the owner of the bank, he is in the know. Yennefer helped to save Molnar's live during the pogroms against non-humans, so he seems eager to return the favour. Molnar </span>therefore<span style="font-family: inherit;"> informs Yennefer about the preparations for the war. Yennefer is already aware of this, but surely </span>appreciates<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the </span>additional<span style="font-family: inherit;"> information. Yennefer then </span>proceeds<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to send money to the Temples to pay for Ciri's future studies. I quite enjoyed this episode, especially the part where Ciri gets to wonder the town.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CIRI FINALLY GETS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW OFF HER FIGHTING SKILLS</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yennefer needs to talk more business with the banker in private, so she asks for </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">one of the banker's young employees to show Ciri the town. Ciri is quite happy to take her on her offer and wonder the town of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> Gors Velen. Ciri and the boy happen upon a monster, a caged monster that is being shown as in a zoo or menagerie. The monster manages to break free and this is where </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Ciri has the opportunity to put her witcher training to the test. She manages not only to fight the monster, but to make it look like someone else did it. A young man who faints gets to be the hero of the day and Ciri assures him that he indeed fought the monster even if he doesn't remember it. Since everybody fled as soon as the monster appeared, Ciri is the only witness of her own courage. Even though it was Ciri who unintentionally provoked a disturbance, we see she acted correctly. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Ciri seems to be both brave, intelligent and resourceful young girl. Her cheerful nature is often contrasted with her tragic past, revealing a sense of sadness about the girl. This episode, as generally light as it is, also foreshadows future fighting and suffering </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">in the novel</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">. Ciri does kill the monster, so here is foreshadowing of death. When Ciri escapes using a magic amulet Yennefer </span><span style="color: #202122;">instructed</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Ciri to use if needed, mages Tissaia de Vries and Margarita Laux-Antille take notice. The former and current headmistresses of Aretuza, assume that Ciri must be one of their magic students ditching classes so they capture her and put her under the spell. Unbeknownst to them, Ciri is about to become a student of theirs. So, the two women really found what they were looking for: a student of magic. This little fun action episode not only ends well, but introduces new characters in the novel. It's also consistent with the character of Ciri, who seems to be talented in making a dramatic entrance, even when she doesn't mean to. Ciri is the child of surprise after all, appearing in unexpected ways. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBG6b0iB2lf-kQXjkWPKsP-9c_b7kVxoeN1c3Z7S4c0fBsYZKe8xUMNnHKG1UMgKrNpnCzQAk8tKTl6MTq3JQm2TqH5w5IWiEffju_cjvrMaUcYf8k2ZSGYUcxVYDFj9EkcRvEWzwRxARio-oFeEoSA5J_ELcfI__vw6320Z3Y-1HIIg0-wAYwl3YwOKU/s4000/the%20witcher%20series%20blog%20review%20book%20the%20time%20of%20contempt%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBG6b0iB2lf-kQXjkWPKsP-9c_b7kVxoeN1c3Z7S4c0fBsYZKe8xUMNnHKG1UMgKrNpnCzQAk8tKTl6MTq3JQm2TqH5w5IWiEffju_cjvrMaUcYf8k2ZSGYUcxVYDFj9EkcRvEWzwRxARio-oFeEoSA5J_ELcfI__vw6320Z3Y-1HIIg0-wAYwl3YwOKU/s16000/the%20witcher%20series%20blog%20review%20book%20the%20time%20of%20contempt%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">WE GET TO MEET MORE OF YENNIFER SORCERESSES FRIENDS </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">After reuniting with her friends and introducing Ciri to them, Yennefer discusses Ciri's fuure education. Tissaia and Margarita make a lot of jokes while with Yennefer, but when it comes to discussing Ciri's education at Aretuza, they are serious. Yennefer seems to be at ease with her two friends and it's interesting to follow their dialogues and learn more about the dynamics of mag friendships. Like witchers, mags are somewhat feared by the general population, so they probably feel isolated among regular people. In addition, sorceresses live long lives and this possibly makes them feel closer to their own kind. Birds of feather flock </span><span style="color: #202122;">together</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and all that. Ciri, however, might feel left out. Ciri might feel that Yennefer treats her like a child, deciding everything for her. When Ciri hears that Gerald is around, she feels even more imprisoned. Knowing that once she is really under supervision at school, she won't be able to leave without </span>permission<span style="font-family: inherit;">, Ciri takes to action. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“But you should act, be brave, seize life by the scruff of the neck. Believe me, little one, you should only regret inactivity, indecisiveness, hesitation. You shouldn’t regret actions or decisions, even if they occasionally end in sadness and regret.”</span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> </span><span id="quote_book_link_18924206" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CIRI RUNS AWAY TO SEE GERALT AND THUS RECONNECTS HER ESTRANGED ADOPTIVE PARENTS</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Madam Yennefer, Forgive me. I'm riding to Hirundum because I want to see Geralt. I want to see him before I start school. Forgive my disobedience, but I must. I know you'll punish me, but I don't want to regret my indecision and hesitation. If I'm to have regrets, let them be for deeds and actions. I'm an enchantress. I seize life by the scruff of the neck. I'll return when I can. - Ciri”</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In </span>accordance<span style="font-family: inherit;"> with her spontaneous character, Ciri </span>decides<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to sneak off to see Geralt. She steals a horse and rides in search of Geralt. Yennefer is after her and manages to catch up with her. Ciri's </span>escape<span style="font-family: inherit;"> proves lucky for her, as it means not only seeing Geralt, but seeing and understanding Geralt and Yennefer relationship. </span>Moreover<span style="font-family: inherit;">, Yennefer cannot be too angry at Ciri's escape, as it leads to her reunion and reconciliation with Geralt.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Dandelion is there as well, to put Geralt's and Yennefer feelings to words. As the poet observes what is basically Yennefer and Gerald's getting back together, he explains their relationship to Ciri in a honest but touching way. Indeed, Dandelion deserves to be considered a troubadour and a poet. Ciri perhaps doesn't understand it at the moment, but he is teaching her an important lesson about poetry. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Hmm…’ Ciri bit her lower lip, then leaned over and put her eye closer to the hole.</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">‘Madam Yennefer is standing by a willow… She’s plucking leaves and playing with her star. She isn’t saying anything and isn’t even looking at Geralt… And Geralt’s standing beside her. He’s looking down and he’s saying something. No, he isn’t. Oh, he’s pulling a face… What a strange expression…’</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> ‘Childishly simple,’ said Dandelion, finding an apple in the grass, wiping it on his trousers and examining it critically. </span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘He’s asking her to forgive him for his various foolish words and deeds. He’s </span>apologizing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to her for his impatience, for his lack of faith and hope, for his obstinacy, doggedness. For his sulking and posing; which are unworthy of a man. He’s </span>apologizing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to her for things he didn’t understand and for things he hadn’t wanted to understand—’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘That’s the falsest lie!’ said Ciri, straightening up and tossing the fringe away from her forehead with a sudden movement. ‘You’re making it all up!’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘He’s </span>apologizing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> for things he’s only now understood,’ said Dandelion, staring at the sky, and he began to speak with the rhythm of a balladeer. ‘For what he’d like to understand, but is afraid he won’t have time for… And for what he will never understand. He’s </span>apologizing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and asking for forgiveness…</span></span></span></i><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hmm, hmm… Meaning, conscience, destiny? Everything’s so bloody banal…’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘That’s not true!’ Ciri stamped. </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Geralt isn’t saying anything like that! He’s not even speaking. I saw for myself. He’s standing with her and saying nothing…’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘That’s the role of poetry, Ciri. To say what others cannot utter.’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘It’s a stupid role. And you’re making everything up!’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘That is also the role of poetry. Hey, I hear some raised voices coming from the pond. Have a quick look, and see what’s happening there.’ </span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Geralt,’ said Ciri, putting her eye once more to the hole in the wall, ‘is standing with his head bowed. And Yennefer’s yelling at him. She’s screaming and waving her arms. Oh dear… What can it mean?’</span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> ‘It’s childishly simple.’ Dandelion stared at the clouds scudding across the sky. ‘Now she’s saying sorry to him.”</span></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JgmSmZF8-T2W6n0fCXp4RTKzoRmMK666mhmmbHf2RDl3kNPr9jrZtKq_CEDMTNC-fW947pqbRNLrz3bxPf-xaNzZAawtZqQzN_dC6Ug4FLC0IpgfUXThSxq7nlWWYCdt7EBGD6UkU5rV1F0lparL_Tmf0TNa37W0YSNVC6FQ62SejvmrUHEJALEOQ3E/s4000/the%20witcher%20series%20book%20review%20time%20of%20contempt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JgmSmZF8-T2W6n0fCXp4RTKzoRmMK666mhmmbHf2RDl3kNPr9jrZtKq_CEDMTNC-fW947pqbRNLrz3bxPf-xaNzZAawtZqQzN_dC6Ug4FLC0IpgfUXThSxq7nlWWYCdt7EBGD6UkU5rV1F0lparL_Tmf0TNa37W0YSNVC6FQ62SejvmrUHEJALEOQ3E/s16000/the%20witcher%20series%20book%20review%20time%20of%20contempt.jpg" /></a></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE </span>RECONCILIATION<span style="font-family: inherit;"> THAT WILL PROBABLY MAKE EVEN THE MOST DEMANDING HAPPY</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The on and off thing seems to draw to a halt, as Geralt and Yennefer </span>reconcile<span style="font-family: inherit;">. What a </span>reconciliation<span style="font-family: inherit;"> it is! I think it will make even the most demanding of readers </span>satisfied<span style="font-family: inherit;">. It's a tender, candid and loving </span>reconciliation<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>between<span style="font-family: inherit;"> two proud and at times quite difficult </span>characters<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“He embraced her. And touched her. And found her. Yennefer, in some astonishing way hard and soft at the same time, sighed loudly. The words they had uttered broke off, perished among the sighs and quickened breaths, ceased to have any meaning and were dissipated. So they remained silent, and focused on the search for one another, on the search for the truth. They searched for a long time, lovingly and very thoroughly, fearful of needless haste, recklessness and nonchalance. They searched vigorously, intensively and passionately, fearful of needless self-doubt and indecision. They searched cautiously, fearful of needless tactlessness.”</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The time doesn't stop for anyone, so the three return to Thanedd Island together. There is a feeling of peace, though. Ciri is a little confused perhaps but possibly quite satisfied. Her adopted father and mother have got together again and that must be a good thing. This chapter really makes the trio seem like a family. In addition, it seemed like a conclusion of some sort, especially as the following </span>charters<span style="font-family: inherit;"> introduce new </span>characters<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span>subplots<span style="font-family: inherit;">. From this point, the novel moves more quickly and sometimes feels like a NEW book altogether. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZehbT0vN8dI4LbA_qHu0ExTKeXmfPbGN6Q15pMmM_aNV0qKMbFsDJJ3vL4EkmlYADXEZT21eefGnwkV47MlMN38B66QD6R_hiExns92vpVdGbqdTBbU-V0s6hHWxQmUlkmk-E6FG97XEkYZZKs7NrNL-jjg0U3RFMxFm-ViXC0DyF3aBW0JJNps8anI/s2992/20230727_120510.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZehbT0vN8dI4LbA_qHu0ExTKeXmfPbGN6Q15pMmM_aNV0qKMbFsDJJ3vL4EkmlYADXEZT21eefGnwkV47MlMN38B66QD6R_hiExns92vpVdGbqdTBbU-V0s6hHWxQmUlkmk-E6FG97XEkYZZKs7NrNL-jjg0U3RFMxFm-ViXC0DyF3aBW0JJNps8anI/s16000/20230727_120510.jpg" /></a></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">YENNEFER INVITES GERALT TO A MAGE MEETING AND NEW IMPORTANT CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED</p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Yennefer wants to take Geralt as her date to the mage meeting she came to attend. We are informed that in the past, Geralt has always refused such invitations from Yennefer. Now, Geralt agrees to join her and surely they make a striking couple at an evening reception. Geralt is a bit </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">uncomfortable</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> there, as mage receptions are quite odd in some ways. However, Geralt is also happy to be Yennefer's date, because it makes them official. That's the impression I got anyway. The writer is perhaps implying they are for real now. Geralt is telling everyone to choke on their envy- at least in his thoughts. </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">“Yes, he answered in his thoughts, you’re not mistaken. There is only she, Yennefer, at my side, here and now, and only she matters. Here and now. And what she was long ago, where she was long ago and who she was with long ago doesn’t have any, doesn’t have the slightest, importance. Now she’s with me, here, among you all. With me, with no one else. That’s what I’m thinking right now, thinking only about her, thinking endlessly about her, smelling the scent of her perfume and the warmth of her body. And you can all choke on your envy.”</span></span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> This is also a nice </span>opportunity<span style="font-family: inherit;"> for the writer to introduce new </span>characters and makes us see them through both Geralt's and Yennefer perspective. Geralt talks with and <span style="font-family: inherit;">meets </span></span></span><span style="color: #202122;"> </span><span style="color: #202122;">quite a few </span><span style="color: #202122;"> </span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">new mages. The sorceress seem to all flirt with Geralt for some reason. They are all quite </span>glamorous<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and attractive, but Geralt still have eyes only for Yennefer. He does </span>talk<span style="font-family: inherit;"> notice of the legendary beauty of some, for example the elven queen Francesca, said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt also talks with the mage Vilgefortz. The two discuss </span>neutrality<span style="font-family: inherit;">, one of the key topics in </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Blood of Elves</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. The mage states Geralt won't be able to remain neutral, i.e., he will have to choose sides.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Why didn't you become a sorcerer, Geralt? Weren't you ever attracted by the Art? Be honest.'</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'I will. I was.'</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'Why, then, didn't you follow the voice of that attraction?'</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>'I decided it would be wiser to follow the voice of good sense.'</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>'Meaning?'</i></div><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"></span><span style="color: #181818;"></span><span style="color: #181818;"></span></i></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">'Years of practice in the witcher's trade have taught me not to bite off more than I can chew. Do you know, Vilgefortz, I once knew a dwarf, who, as a child, dreamed of being an elf. What do you think; would he have become one had he followed the voice of attraction?”</span></i></div><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.....</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">“And so,' smiled the Witcher, 'I have no choice? I have to enter into a pact with you, a pact which should someday become the subject of a painting, and become a sorcerer? Give me a break. I know a little about the theory of heredity. My father, as I discovered with no little difficulty, was a wanderer, a churl, a troublemaker and a swashbuckler. My genes on the spear side may be dominant over the genes on the distaff side. The fact that I can swash a buckler pretty well seems to confirm that.”</span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Vilgefortz tries to </span>convenience<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Geralt to join his side, but Geralt refuses as he prefers </span></span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">neutrality. There are others who try to do the same. For example, Dijkstra, a master spy also tries to recruit Geralt, but is refused. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">“It’s incredible,’ the Witcher smiled hideously, ‘how much my neutrality outrages everybody. How it makes me subject to offers of pacts and agreements, offers of collaboration, lectures about the necessity to make choices and join the right side.”</span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">This </span><span style="color: #202122;">Machiavellian</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> reception was well written and entertaining, I enjoyed it a lot. The way Geralt and Yennefer seem to stick together and have each other back was really sweet.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSB5P4e3x7zPKpqIL6fl_QoZtYRmaQoMxlIF6Uqz3L75_0YQ7rgNuZFB08aCfJlb1m5ZKZpWipgOiWGgz37FS1CYPJbtinN4eScfJa6O0CxBwKvWmjB_yZxRPf1UzeRlJVQUtbZpM3i4nw/s1600/DSCN3303.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSB5P4e3x7zPKpqIL6fl_QoZtYRmaQoMxlIF6Uqz3L75_0YQ7rgNuZFB08aCfJlb1m5ZKZpWipgOiWGgz37FS1CYPJbtinN4eScfJa6O0CxBwKvWmjB_yZxRPf1UzeRlJVQUtbZpM3i4nw/s16000/DSCN3303.JPG" title="odjevna kombinacija" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">AND </span><span style="color: #202122;">THERE'S A COUP</span><span style="color: #202122;"> </span><span style="color: #202122;">AND </span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">THEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Everything seems to be going well, almost too well for the witcher universe. However, if the books have taught us </span><span style="color: #202122;">anything</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">, it's that Geralt just cannot catch a break. Soon after Geralt wakes up, he stumbles on a bloody coup.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Dijkstra and Philippa Eilhart are behind it. Philippa believes that some mages are traitors aided by Nalfgaard emperor. They have proof that mage </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Vilgefortz is one of the traitors working for Nalfgaard. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Naturally, Emperor Emhyr wants to destroy the Chapter of Mages. He didn't forget that he lost the war primary because of the mages' aid. The Battle of Sodden hill where Yennefer and Triss fought so bravely, is what pretty much stopped Emhyr invasion. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">Philippa is a sorceress in Redania's court and has her </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">ambitions, but her motivation here is to root out traitors</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">. Like everyone, she believes her actions are </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">justified</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">. Philippa and the master spy have organized the coup, but who else in on it? Who are the traitors? </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They are found and rounded up. Geralt was magically blinded Geralt during the coup so he wouldn't interfere. Philippa gave him his eyesight back but the troubles are far from over. Phillipa presents Dijkstra with a list of traitors and they </span>intend<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to take the captured mages to trial. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;">Meanwhile</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">, Tissaia is not impressed, rather she is extremely angry because of the coup and the mages turning one on another. In order to give Vilgefortz and the other captured mages a chance to defend themselves, Tissaia releases them. Her reasoning is that mages shouldn't get so involved in politics as to be divided and fight one another. Tissaia also </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">possibly</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">believes the captured mages might be innocent. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Soon </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">a bloody fight starts out between both sides. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"> Yennefer and Ciri are there too. Ciri falls into trance and informs them</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> of the start of the war, the </span><span style="color: #202122;">assassination</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> of the King of Redania and an attack on Nilfgaard. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Soon all hell breaks loose. Now, everyone's lives are in danger.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Tissaia's decision to free Vilgefortz and others proves even more dangerous. What is even worse, as she freed them, Tissaia deactivated </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">the field inhibiting the use of magic. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">The captured traitors attack Phillipa and the other Northern mages. Do you remember Scoia'teal? Also known as Squirrels, they were composed mostly of elves, but other non humans joined them. They are aided (or better to say used) by </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Nilfgaard</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> emperor to fight humans. The </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Nilfgaard</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> emperor</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> takes advantage of eleven painful history with the northern kingdoms. The </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">Squirrels return to the scene. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">There is another attack as </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Scoia'tael</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">working with Nilfgaard invade the place. At this point, everyone is fighting for their life. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><i style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;">“The fair-haired maid of Cintra, who for some unknown reason had not killed him, seemed insane. The white-haired fiend was not insane. He was calm and cold. And killed calmly and coldly.”</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Do you remember when I said that <i>Time of Contempt</i> is quite eventful? Well, it certainly is. What follows is a battle with many causalities but for once I shall refrain from revealing spoilers. Let's keep something a secret, at least when it comes to the ending of the novel.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Give me my sword, Geralt.’ He looked at her. Ciri stepped back involuntarily. She had never seen him with an expression like that before. ‘If you had a sword, you might have to kill with it. Can you do it?’ ‘I don’t know. Give me my sword.’ ‘Run. And don’t look back.’</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">THE NOVEL SUDDENLY TURNS DARK IN TWO EPISODES FEATURING CIRI : ONE HAS HER SURVIVING TH DESERT AND ONE JOINING A TEENAGE GANG</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is where the novel turns so dark and graphic, it almost feels like an other book. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Ciri survives as she is the heroine of the saga. However, she undergoes some seriously traumatizing experiences. Her coming of age story suddenly demands her to be extremely strong. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“They were outcasts. They were a strange, mixed bag created by war, misfortune and contempt. War, misfortune and contempt had brought them together and thrown them onto the bank, the way a river in flood throws and deposits drifting, black pieces of wood smoothed by stones onto its banks.”</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">........</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“Everywhere you are a stranger.’ Finished Iskra with seeming carelessness, and quickly and unceremoniously placed a beret with turkey feathers on her head. ‘An Outsider everywhere and always different. How shall we call you, little hawk?’ </span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Ciri looked into her eyes. ‘Gvalch’ca.’ The elf laughed. </span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">‘Once you start to speak, you speak in multiple languages, little hawk! Very good. You will carry the name from the Elder People, a name that you yourself have chosen. You will be called Falka.”</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">FINAL THOUGHTS</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Time of Contempt</i> was a very satisfying read in more ways than one. It was more action packed than the first novel in the series and it had less pacing problems. However, this novel was more violent and graphic than he previous one speciously toward he end. The plot was well written and so were the subplots. The main characters character development was fanatic. All in all, highly recommended!</span></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818;">“But do you know when stories stop being stories? The moment someone begins to believe in them.”</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIwzXGN9NJDyJ1smoKkC3jbV1bMlB6jpASBmk9Z6GdOZJQJxR5ojzOCyLavKreKhZdzpAl5gtu8EN3Z2QzMavH2VfD3wtvpdZd0DqVNzKjCL-vB-5JJzJIzjt5xJigYW4eDMbFM77CCccsYbFk8YSCMlF1xIEsMcJrl8lnjcnRlvsET70Qmubpd3QR41s/s4000/the%20witcher%20series%20time%20of%20contempt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIwzXGN9NJDyJ1smoKkC3jbV1bMlB6jpASBmk9Z6GdOZJQJxR5ojzOCyLavKreKhZdzpAl5gtu8EN3Z2QzMavH2VfD3wtvpdZd0DqVNzKjCL-vB-5JJzJIzjt5xJigYW4eDMbFM77CCccsYbFk8YSCMlF1xIEsMcJrl8lnjcnRlvsET70Qmubpd3QR41s/s16000/the%20witcher%20series%20time%20of%20contempt.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Thank you for reading! Have a lovely day.</p>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850565263129103413.post-16917388734493831252023-09-16T13:35:00.004-07:002023-09-16T13:35:53.525-07:00BLOOD OF ELVES, A NOVEL BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI, WITCHER #3 (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)<p style="text-align: justify;"> Hello. In this post, I shall review<i> Blood of Elves</i>, the third book and the first novel in the Witcher saga. The first two books in the Wicher series are collection of short stories. So, <i>Blood of Elves </i>is actually the first novel in the series. As I explained in my last post, I was a bit surprised to find out that <i>Sword of Destiny</i> was a short story collection (for some reason I thought it was a novel), but I got used to it soon enough and ended up enjoying the book (<span style="text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2023/09/sword-of-destiny-by-andrzej-sapkowski.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SWORD OF DESTINY BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI , THE WITCHER SERIES #2</span></a>) . Nevertheless, I was really curious to read the first novel. Once I started reading <i>Blood of Elves,</i> I immediately felt drawn into the story. The novel is well plotted and well paced. It's rather conversation heavy so that slows down the pacing but it helps us to get to know the characters better. Moreover, I really enjoyed the dialogues. I enjoyed learning more about this fantasy world, so I'm not complaining. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Published in 1994, this fantasy novel further develops the life story of Gerald of Rivia. It introduces new subplots and characters, but remains focused on the main characters. Gerald, Ciri, Dandelion and Yennifer are the main characters in this novel. Some might argue that Dandelion is a side character, but his friendship with Gerald seems to make him more important. Moreover, Dandelion has a habit of constantly popping up. There are other recurring and important characters, such as Tess and other sorceress yet Dandelion really stands out. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Naturally, Gerald, Ciri and Yennefer are always in the focus. The narrative in this novel is told from from the third person but with alternative points of view. The protagonist is, as always, Gerald the witcher, but the focus is often on Ciri. Gerald's adoptive daughter is the focus of this novel. Gerald will have to go to great lengths to protect her. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It could be argued that Ciri is really the most important character of the Witcher's saga. Ciri's uniqueness is the driving force behind the main plot of the saga. In this novel, we learn more about Ciri's past and lineage. Moreover, we learn more about Yennefer and Dandelion. <i>Blood of Elves</i> is a great sequel to <i>Sword of Destiny</i>. I'll tell you all about it in my review, so scroll down. </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></i></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You’ve mistaken the stars reflected on the surface of the lake at night for the heavens.”</span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Dz6sqSKAeAjStt3t2LhhIfc2GBii-MUJ3d-Z_AfnzMUns8mN3Q8osAOXfc7SYpmjfSX2nqIVjRcdu4PeUrNSajCRn7-yPL4_TbEW-9jEG6VxUNBJBhmC8Rl6yVQUN6sZ33I0IXao8ikW3vY8QUgmAKwE7_06utwGEu2dOPq7_yvR77TMMwd4xjfTsuc/s4000/witcher%20the%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20mor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Dz6sqSKAeAjStt3t2LhhIfc2GBii-MUJ3d-Z_AfnzMUns8mN3Q8osAOXfc7SYpmjfSX2nqIVjRcdu4PeUrNSajCRn7-yPL4_TbEW-9jEG6VxUNBJBhmC8Rl6yVQUN6sZ33I0IXao8ikW3vY8QUgmAKwE7_06utwGEu2dOPq7_yvR77TMMwd4xjfTsuc/s16000/witcher%20the%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20mor.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>BLOOD OF ELVES</i>, A FANTASY NOVEL BY ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI, 4.4/ 5</h1><p><br /></p>Getting into this novel was quite easy and natural. I picked up this novel immediately upon finishing <i>Sword of Destiny</i> so everything was fresh in my mind. <p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE FALL OF THE CINTRA KINGDOM, THE DEATH OF QUEEN CALANTHE AND THE NILFAGAARD INVASION </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The time setting for this novel is about a year before the fall of Cintra. The queen of Cintra, grandmother to Ciri, fought heroically, but wasn't able to stop the Nilfgaard attack and invasion. The invasion and war are described as particularly brutal and bloody. Throughout the novel, the cruelty of Nilfgaard Empire is emphasized. In fact, the level of destruction and ruin that Nilfgaard army causes goes to such extend that there is talk about the end of the world. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> Queen Calanthe, a character mentioned several times in <i>Sword of Destiny</i>, is described as a brave and strong woman, if somewhat tyrannical and overprotective at times. It is interesting to see how her character is portrayed differently in different stories. I think that is very true to life and realistic. We all play different roles at different times. Moreover, people aren't always what they seem. For example, in the first Witcher book, Calanthe tries to stop her daughter's marriage. In the second book, she appears in two stories, first as a back character seen only through Ciri's words and then as an active character that tries to trick Gerald. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> The sympathies of the world now lie with her, as she had fought Nilfgaard army to the end. She becomes something of a symbol and to some extent a beacon of hope. Although, the queen death certainly seems to extinguish that hope somewhat, the perceived heroism of her death helps to keep the flame of hope up- at least for some. As readers we learn that the Cintra queen has committed suicide upon being mortally wounded. Therefore, she fought to the very end.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Nicknamed the Lioness of Cintra, queen Calanthe is one of Witcher's noticeably strong female characters. Speaking of that, I feel like there are a lot of strong female characters in this novel. In addition, legendary female characters are mentioned repeatedly. Not all female characters are positive and even those that are on the good side are very human. What is certain is that there are women who hold considerable political power in the Witcher Universe. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4r3GkVRj7JE5Ym2J5d9_-9KXsOoKani6xitTzfVSpK8eqfcr781LRf6BpPVRnIrFmv7ICzfnR7GBojN-eGqAEKSvc0YLH0IJC54reoyDfzYDND9K-2ZWd9b2i7BLWYtLh9nshNyHnTC1MzAUJFDl9LjUbZXEoA0ySyfQH8ltgvq5W3N2SSHLFp3lj6zM/s2992/20230727_120551.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4r3GkVRj7JE5Ym2J5d9_-9KXsOoKani6xitTzfVSpK8eqfcr781LRf6BpPVRnIrFmv7ICzfnR7GBojN-eGqAEKSvc0YLH0IJC54reoyDfzYDND9K-2ZWd9b2i7BLWYtLh9nshNyHnTC1MzAUJFDl9LjUbZXEoA0ySyfQH8ltgvq5W3N2SSHLFp3lj6zM/s16000/20230727_120551.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">THE START OF CIRI'S JOURNEY AND THE FLIGHT OF A GIRL THAT EVERYBODY SEARCHES FOR!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you have read <i>Sword of Destiny</i>, you'd have known that Ciri wasn't killed but managed to escape (and be reunited with Gerald). In the book, this fact is not well known. Quite on the contrary, Ciri is presumed dead by many. However, the emperor <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">of Nilfgaard,</span> Emphyr var Emreis seems to believe she is alive. He is another important recurring character in the series. He already appeared in one of the short stories as Duny, a curse man who becomes the son-in-law of Lioness of Cintra. </p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Emhyr var Emreis is Ciri's father. As we learned from the first book, Emhyr var Amreis married Ciri's mother Pavetta and lifted his curse with the help of Gerald and the law of surprise. Now, ironically Duny is the one Gerald needs to protect Ciri against. We see that Ciri's family history is complex. There is the war of empires and kingdoms, a father who faked his death and now ascends a new throne. Emhyr sends his people to find Ciri. He seems to know a lot about his daughter and is motivated to use her as a more than a political pawn. Ciri has elven blood that coupled with her royal lineage make her a </span><span style="color: #202122;">formidable</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> child. There's also a </span>prophecy<span style="font-family: inherit;"> that involves Ciri. What is certain at this point is that Ciri has immense potential. Many want to use and abuse her, including her biological father. </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsqfbz9lZxI-Fh8lrlg5GOj46vMLR_kQfMyTDrZ5vc1twcnDbEA5rdPrqteYvS5y-IY3abjlwaMqtOPt82EoudodIb0lH3ALaZzogtqE1tHnMPg-yytfxOmVOPZ-x4P532ufftzbSM5h7dRzJLLMxbziXFNmtjgthN77USAfkiTJIw7QGthn3g5zWcutE/s2992/the%20witcher%20series%20blog%20review%20mor%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsqfbz9lZxI-Fh8lrlg5GOj46vMLR_kQfMyTDrZ5vc1twcnDbEA5rdPrqteYvS5y-IY3abjlwaMqtOPt82EoudodIb0lH3ALaZzogtqE1tHnMPg-yytfxOmVOPZ-x4P532ufftzbSM5h7dRzJLLMxbziXFNmtjgthN77USAfkiTJIw7QGthn3g5zWcutE/s16000/the%20witcher%20series%20blog%20review%20mor%20cover.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">THE RULERS OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM WANT CIRI DEAD</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The war with Nilfgaard's ended when they were faced with a coalition of the Northern Kingdoms. Nevertheless, the war isn't exactly won. It's more a battle won. A temporary peace. The menacing Empire still </span>threatens<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and its ruler is determined to take not just the </span>Northern<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Kingdoms but the whole world. Nilfgaard remains </span>immensely a<span style="font-family: inherit;"> powerful and treating enemy. Therefore, the kings and queens </span></span></span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">of the Northern Kingdoms have a secret meeting to decide on their further actions and to talk over the current political situation. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> They are well aware that the peace with Nilfgaard is an illusion. The Empire is moving against them, using every tactic available: by ruining the northern economy with financial measures, by provoking aristocrats, by turning merchants against their monarchs, by </span>encouraging<span style="font-family: inherit;"> racial divisions and unrest, by funding a </span>guerrilla<span style="font-family: inherit;"> group of elves and dwarves that kills people in revenge for past human crimes. There are even paid preachers that say that the world is going to end unless the Savior comes from the South. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, the allied kings and a queen debate starting a war and finally decide there is no other way. Moreover, they talk of Ciri. </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">Painfully</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> aware that the Emperor is searching for Ciri with intention of marrying her and gaining </span>political<span style="font-family: inherit;"> power in strategically important </span></span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Cintra, the kings and the queen decide to find Ciri first and end her life. As long as Ciri is alive, she can be used as a political pawn. Therefore, they decide Ciri must die. This episode in the novel paints the worlds of politics realistically. All kings and queen must kill in order to stay in power. Sapokowski takes a very grim view of politics. In this novel in particular there is a lot of talk about the </span><span style="color: #202122;">ruling</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> powers and the politics of the Wicher world. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHtznT7XgWINKR7my63hFg2F0YTNr_yIap6Y7qse3vQxRqZ1Rgi2jOOt9WyzmbZasdzZv16ydwGvJSSnDyLc0squOmil4Lp9wclloFeyE_KthaAl6yC9e3YzX0uieqm6mQ26Xx06H8Z-FAVRcEoDLZ0cvkJyuMay7KC9rpMXwWgg2ksfJsMhHfJ-MiNc/s4000/the%20witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20quotes%20stupidiy%20mor%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHtznT7XgWINKR7my63hFg2F0YTNr_yIap6Y7qse3vQxRqZ1Rgi2jOOt9WyzmbZasdzZv16ydwGvJSSnDyLc0squOmil4Lp9wclloFeyE_KthaAl6yC9e3YzX0uieqm6mQ26Xx06H8Z-FAVRcEoDLZ0cvkJyuMay7KC9rpMXwWgg2ksfJsMhHfJ-MiNc/s16000/the%20witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20quotes%20stupidiy%20mor%20blog.jpg" /></a></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Intolerance and superstition has always been the domain of the more stupid amongst the common folk and, I conjecture, will never be uprooted, for they are as eternal as stupidity itself. There, where mountains tower today, one day there will be seas; there where today seas surge, will one day be deserts. But stupidity will remain stupidity."</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">MEANWHILE CIRI IS GROWING UP WITH HER NEW WITCHER FAMILY</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Besides the merciless world of politics, this novel tells us more about witchers. Previously, we have been told bits and pieces about the witcher training but now we are going to learn more. The writer takes us to witcher's keep where </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Ciri is doing some growing up. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Being taken under Gerald's wing means becoming a part of witcher family. Gerald is Ciri's protector and adopted father. Like all witchers, Gerald has undergone </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">a </span><span style="color: #202122;">painful</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> training paired with magically and genetically induced mutations in order to become what he is. A witcher is basically a monster-slayer-for-hire, a mutant who kills other monsters. From previous book, we know that people often don't like mutants, even if they depend on them to rid them of monsters. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerald took Ciri to the witchers' keep, Kaer Morhen and there Ciri is undergoing the same training as he did. It is not entirely sure why Ciri undergoes the training. It seems Gerald isn't entirely sure what is the right thing to do. Ciri is a child of surprise, so she is supposed to be a witcher. However, girls can't be witchers. What if they can be? I think that at this point many options are still open. What is certain is that the witcher training might prove useful. Ciri is a girl that can only benefit from learning how to fight. Considering how many want to kill or </span>abduct<span style="font-family: inherit;"> her, it only makes sense to train Ciri to kill monsters. After all, the humans might prove to be the worst monsters. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“When you know about something it stops being a nightmare. When you know how to fight something, it stops being so threatening.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Ciri is not trained by </span>Gerald<span style="font-family: inherit;"> alone, but by all the remaining witchers. Not that there are many of them, the book indicates only four (if I remember well). Anyhow, as readers we get to meet the small witcher family. From what I learned from the first book, a witcher is a lonely creature. Now, it seems that is not entirely so. The friendship demonstrated between the few remained witchers seem </span>tangible<span style="font-family: inherit;">. I really enjoyed reading about them. I could easily imagine the other witchers. I almost wished there are more of them but their reducing numbers are a part of book canon. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is an atmosphere of </span>melancholy in the wicher's keep. Maybe their demise has something to to with it. The remaining witchers did feel like a family.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I also found it really sweet how they all want to protect Ciri. It seems that the girl has gotten under their skin. However, Ciri cannot remain at the keep forever. In </span>addition<span style="font-family: inherit;">, her position at the keep has to be </span>resolved<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Moreover, there is an even more pressing issue. Ciri's behaviour at times defines logic. So, the oldest witcher Vesemir decides to ask for help and advice.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A SORCERESS TRISS MERIGOLD ARRIVES AT THE SCENE AND HELPS CIRI</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;">Summoned</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> by Vesemir, Triss Merigold arrives to meet Ciri and help figure out what is going on. She's another recurring female character and Gerald's former lover. A</span><span style="color: #202122;">lthough</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Triss and Gerald's </span>relationship<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is more one sided, as Gerald loves Yennefer, there is still some tension present. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Yennefer, Triss is a powerful sorceress. The novel is told from the third person narrative, but the perspective shifts a bit toward Triss once she arrives to the scene. As readers, we can see Triss remains focused, </span>suppressing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> her emotions toward Gerald and using her magic powers for good. It seems that Triss is more than happy to help the witchers. This seems to be in accordance with Tess' generally tender and sweet character. In addition, Triss immediately takes a liking to Ciri and behaves like her older sister or even a motherly figure.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Triss examines the witcher's keep, studies the training and the daily routine of the girl. She is horrified by Ciri's bruises that she earned during her wicher training. Triss gets down to job at hand, i.e., finding the root of </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">strange behavior that the witcher elder Vesimir had </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">observed</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"> in Ciri. At times Triss is critical of the witcher ways, but she is fair and it is clear they are all on friendly terms. For example, early on Triss criticizes the witchers from not acknowledging that Ciri is a girl and that some adjustments in the way she is trained must be made. Ciri didn't want to disappoint the witchers, so she never complained. She didn't even tell them about getting her period. When Triss scolds them for not noticing this, the witchers accept Triss criticism. They all just really want what is best for Ciri. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i>“You catch fear,” Ciri repeated proudly, brushing her ashen fringe from her forehead. “Didn’t you know? Even when something bad happens to you, you have to go straight back to that piece of equipment or you get frightened. And if you’re frightened you’ll be hopeless at the exercise. You mustn’t give up. Geralt said so.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: left;">It is interesting to observe the relationship between the witchers and the sorceress. There seems to be some mutual respect there, as they both play with powers greater then themselves. There are some witcher's secrets </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Triss is not privy to and questions she is not allowed to ask. However, she deduces quickly and finds the right answers. Triss deduces that the potions given to Ciri by wichers are not good for the girl. Throughout her stay, Triss behaves protectively towards Ciri. At night Triss sleeps badly, thinking of Gerald and her life. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">It is reveled that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> Triss is a close friend with Yennefer and that could be an additional reason why she keeps her distance from Gerald. I found her character very interesting as she seems to be a fascinating woman herself. Triss is also a strong woman, but in a different way from Yennefer. Triss is more gentle and meek, but also potentially fierce in her loyalty. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Triss ultimately finds out the truth and reveals Ciri's magic potential. Triss explains to the witchers that that Ciri is a "Source". Not just any source, but a potent source that can be used for good and bad. While in trance, Ciri gives a prophecy. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><i>“Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf’s blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of the Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but will burst into flame. Ess’tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves… Aen Ithlinnespeath, Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien’s prophecy”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Triss understand there is nothing more she can do because what is needed is a better mag. Triss is not powerful enough to control Ciri's talent. Triss urges Geralt to seek help from Yennefer. As Yennefer is revealed to be a more experienced and powerful sorceress, there is hope she might help Ciri. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;">After she has done what she could, Triss leaves Gerald and Ciri. Triss </span><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;">appears</span><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> then and again in the books, but she never seems to be in the focus the way she was in this introduction. It is as Triss willing steps down from the scene, knowing this story is </span>really<span style="font-family: inherit;"> all about Gerald, Yennefer and Ciri. I did really like her character and I felt like I could really </span>understand<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the way Triss thinks and feels. I also liked the fact that she and Yennefer are close friends and not stereotypical femme fatales pinned one against the other. It seems to me that the author is trying to move away from some genre stereotypes for sure. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3xRq51MCrZXx9uvxPYdsqxxWoYWU9RtAeq11A9RDhC-BharE0AM5Pkwr90Dk0z9G8pv9EVUx3mr35XpiIIZJRaNvSw71zm_g3ydbWGcpaXLej-raDIY_1pvmO28Vtkff6Pthskmx0fxL3E0LkAfZB1QcqORuAuW4kuMp09dJnDHtyyCzPydo7jQYbyA/s4000/the%20witcher%20book%20review%20hutovo%20blato%20blog%20long%20scarf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3xRq51MCrZXx9uvxPYdsqxxWoYWU9RtAeq11A9RDhC-BharE0AM5Pkwr90Dk0z9G8pv9EVUx3mr35XpiIIZJRaNvSw71zm_g3ydbWGcpaXLej-raDIY_1pvmO28Vtkff6Pthskmx0fxL3E0LkAfZB1QcqORuAuW4kuMp09dJnDHtyyCzPydo7jQYbyA/s16000/the%20witcher%20book%20review%20hutovo%20blato%20blog%20long%20scarf.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GERALT WRITES A LETTER TO YENNEFER AND SHE REPONSDS</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Geralt follows Triss's advice and writes to Yennefer. Her answer to Gerald is precious. Simply hillarious. Yennefer writes a letter that is wonderfully ironical. </span>Essentially<span style="font-family: inherit;">, Yennefer mocks him because Geralt called her a friend and </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;">because he hesitated to ask her for help first. Behind the irony and humour, there is hurt for both of them. However, a reader must be entrained by this letter. Moreover, one must remember that despite the teasing words, Yennefer did hasten to help Gerald. She might be impulsive and ambitious, but she is a loyal friend to Gerald- and more than a friend. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Dear friend…'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">The Witcher swore quietly, looking at the sharp, angular, even runes drawn with energetic sweeps of the pen, faultlessly reflecting the author’s mood. He felt once again the desire to try to bite his own backside in fury. When he was writing to the sorceress a month ago he had spent two nights in a row contemplating how best to begin. Finally, he had decided on “Dear friend.” Now he had his just deserts.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">'Dear friend, your unexpected letter – which I received not quite three years after we last saw each other – has given me much joy. My joy is all the greater as various rumours have been circulating about your sudden and violent death. It is a good thing that you have decided to disclaim them by writing to me; it is a good thing, too, that you are doing so so soon. From your letter it appears that you have lived a peaceful, wonderfully boring life, devoid of all sensation. These days such a life is a real privilege, dear friend, and I am happy that you have managed to achieve it.</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">I was touched by the sudden concern which you deigned to show as to my health, dear friend. I hasten with the news that, yes, I now feel well; the period of indisposition is behind me, I have dealt with the difficulties, the description of which I shall not bore you with. It worries and troubles me very much that the unexpected present you received from Fate brings you worries. Your supposition that this requires professional help is absolutely correct. Although your description of the difficulty – quite understandably – is enigmatic, I am sure I know the Source of the problem. And I agree with your opinion that the help of yet another magician is absolutely necessary. I feel honoured to be the second to whom you turn. What have I done to deserve to be so high on your list?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">Rest assured, my dear friend; and if you had the intention of supplicating the help of additional magicians, abandon it because there is no need. I leave without delay, and go to the place which you indicated in an oblique yet, to me, understandable way. It goes without saying that I leave in absolute secrecy and with great caution. I will surmise the nature of the trouble on the spot and will do all that is in my power to calm the gushing source. I shall try, in so doing, not to appear any worse than other ladies to whom you have turned, are turning or usually turn with your supplications. I am, after all, your dear friend. Your valuable friendship is too important to me to disappoint you, dear friend.</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">Should you, in the next few years, wish to write to me, do not hesitate for a moment. Your letters invariably give me boundless pleasure.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">Your friend Yennefer'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">The letter smelled of lilac and gooseberries.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">Geralt cursed.”</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p>DANDELION AND YENNEFER FIGHT MAG RIENCE TOGETHER</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was happy to see Dandelion make another appearance. It's also nice to learn about the more urban parts of this world. The troubadour womanizer isn't as </span>pigeon<span style="font-family: inherit;">-hearted as he sometimes seemed. When Dandelion is attacked by a mysterious stranger, he shows characters and puts up quite a fight. Well, to be fair, the more I read about Dandelion, the braver he seemed. By the end of the second book, I quite liked him. This novel made me like him even more, even if he really is annoying sometimes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Dandelion is not a typical </span>fighting heroic type of<span style="font-family: inherit;"> man, but he has a sense of honour and will fight to </span>protect<span style="font-family: inherit;"> his friends. Anyhow, I mentioned that there are many who are searching for Ciri. T</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">he wizard Rience is one of those who are willing to do anything to locate Ciri. He is not the most powerful </span><span style="color: #202122;">sorcerer</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> but he has help and is serving an unknown powerful mage. Dandelion fights him, but is </span>eventually<span style="font-family: inherit;"> captured. Dandelion refuses to reveal anything about Ciri, even as he is being tortured.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>Fortunately<span style="font-family: inherit;"> helps arrives and Dandelion is saved by none other than Yennefer. I found this entertaining as Yennefer and Dandelion don't like one another particularly. Yennefer fights as </span>fiercely<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and bravely as usual, winning a magic duel with Rience. However, Rience manages to escape because there is some power behind him, probably a more skilled and powerful mag. Again, it was nice to see Yennefer defying the genre conventions of a damsel in distress. In this episode, the damsel in distress was Dandelion. It was fun to see them team up. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbiBL0OcB7ObnL9omqOyGSDIaMZ62Bdsq8lcQI9cZB-v79EzMglHGZuV7s-707t5ZK6MbWpubfVWVre9BIWoHJeQtxjHdgdz3RKILUbFQtob0_h0SQgs-FTwK5eQt-owtYs2UBhWmH355Uq5fvncqTparXFRFZUYprft-5YO-ReKkeHtpGohmrzTq16w/s4000/witcher%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20poetry.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbiBL0OcB7ObnL9omqOyGSDIaMZ62Bdsq8lcQI9cZB-v79EzMglHGZuV7s-707t5ZK6MbWpubfVWVre9BIWoHJeQtxjHdgdz3RKILUbFQtob0_h0SQgs-FTwK5eQt-owtYs2UBhWmH355Uq5fvncqTparXFRFZUYprft-5YO-ReKkeHtpGohmrzTq16w/s16000/witcher%20quotes%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20poetry.jpg" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GERALD AND CIRI TRAVEL AND ARE ATTACKED BY SCOIA'TEAL</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, it has been decided that the Temple School is the best place to continue hiding Ciri. The witchers have done what they could for Ciri, they gave her the training but they shall not give her the test of herbs that truly makes one a witcher- and kills many children in the process. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: start;">Once the winter ends, Ciri, Tessi and Gerald leave<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> for Temple School in Ellander where Ciri is to be educated by the priestess Nenneke. However, Triss falls violently ill and this </span>slows<span style="font-family: inherit;"> down their journey. Cities and caravans refuse to accept them as they fear Triss might be </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">contagious</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Ironically, Tris cannot cure herself. </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;">Another thing that is interesting is about Triss is that she is allergic to magic potions. She's very good at curing others but if she falls ill, she cannot use magic to cure herself. I found this detail somehow very realistic. There are limits to magic after all. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">“But bear in mind you are not alone. You have a gravely sick woman on your shoulders and this brat..."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Ciri, who was trying to clean her dung-smeared boot on a ladder rung, raised her head.”</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The three of them travel alone until they meet Yarpen Zigrin's dwarven company. Zigrin accepts them and they travel together. When Zigrin asks Geralt about Ciri, he basically says she is his </span>daughter<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“And the girl?” Yarpen indicated Ciri with his head as she wriggled under the sheepskin. “Yours?”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Mine,” he replied without thinking. “Mine, Zigrin.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Yarpen is another recurring character, who first appears, with his company, in<i> Sword of Destiny </i>where he joins the dragon hunt. In this novel, we see him in a different and more serious light. During the dragon hunt, Yarpen seemed a bit crude and base, but here he not only offers a helping hand to Gerald but shows he has a big heart. Geralt and Yarpen don't always see eye to eye, but they respect one another.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Please don’t count on my sword.’ </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, so haughtily, nobly and proudly said! Shove your haughtiness up a dog’s arse, and your bloody pride with it!”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> “I just wanted to be honest. I don’t want to get mixed up in this conflict. I want to remain neutral.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> “It’s impossible!” yelled Yarpen.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> “It’s impossible to remain neutral, don’t you understand that? </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">No, you don’t understand anything. Oh, get off my wagon, get on your horse, and get out of my sight, with your arrogant neutrality. You get on my nerves.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">The author uses this opportunity to discuss racial tensions that are a part of the history in this fantasy saga. Humans seem to have </span><span style="color: #202122;">prosecuted</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> other races such as </span>elves<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and dwarves. This fantasy world is filled with racial </span>divisions<span style="font-family: inherit;"> between the </span>intelligent<span style="font-family: inherit;"> races: humans, halfings, gnomes, elves and dwarves. Only the children are unaware of them and even they only for a time.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The exception, as ever, was the children. Freed from the constraints of silence which had been enforced during the bard's performance, the children dashed into the woods with wild cries, and enthusiastically immersed themselves in a game whose rules were incomprehensible to all those who had bidden farewell to the happy years of childhood. Children of elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, half-elves, quarter-elves and toddlers of mysterious provenance neither knew nor recognised racial or social divisions. At least, not yet.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of elves and dwarves now fight the humans organized in a </span>partisan<span style="font-family: inherit;"> group. Yarpen believes in peace and discusses his views on the topic. Some see him as a traitor </span>because<span style="font-family: inherit;"> he works for and with </span>humans<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span>Currently<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Yarpen is leading a caravan for King Henselt of Kaedwen. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;">Meanwhile</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, Geralt and Ciri talk and debate a number of topics. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Elves live a long time, Ciri. By our time scale they are almost eternal. They thought humans were something that would pass, like a drought, like a heavy winter, or a plague of locusts, after which comes rain, spring, a new harvest. They wanted to sit it out. Survive.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerald shows her the ruins of an elevn town and tells her a tragic episode from elven history, about the roses of Aelirenn. Ciri picks one rose for herself among the ruins. She is touched by the story of Aelirenn. She was a legendary elven queen who died leading elven youths in a hopeless battle against the humans that ended with all of them being killed. As always, there are two sides to every story. Some worship her </span>because<span style="font-family: inherit;"> they see her death s </span>honorable<span style="font-family: inherit;">, some curse her because only the eleven youth can have offspring. This means that Aelirenn has sentenced her own race to extinction. Yarpen joins in the discussion. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If Elirena was a hero, if what she did is heroism, then that's just too bad. Let them call me a traitor and a coward. Because I, Yarpen Zigrin, coward, traitor and renegade, state that we should not kill each other. I state that we ought to live. Live in such a way that we don't, later, have to ask anyone for forgiveness. The Heroic Elirena... She had to ask. Forgive me, she begged, forgive me. To hell with that! It's better to die than to live in the knowledge that you've done something that needs forgiveness.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At one point, Ciri and Yarpen debate. He doesn't understand Geralt's neutrality. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“What does it mean, ‘remain neutral’?” “To be indifferent,” he muttered reluctantly. “Don’t let the reins hang down. Pull the left one closer to yourself!” “What’s indifferent? Indifferent to what?” The dwarf leaned far out and spat under the wagon. “If the Scoia’tael attack us, your Geralt intends to stand by and look calmly on as they cut our throats. You’ll probably stand next to him, because it’ll be a demonstration class. Today’s subject: the witcher’s behaviour in the face of conflict between intelligent races.” </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> Soon they all find themselves in moral danger as the Scoia'tael terrorist attack them. Many are killed, but Ciri surives. It is implied that her elven blood stopped an elf from killing her as she reminded him of Aelirenn. At this point, Ciri is not aware of her eleven blood, though. In sad turn of events, it is revealed that the escort mission was a trap to test Yarpen. It was set by the kings who doubted Yarpen's loyalty and this obviously makes him bitter. Yarpen has put his faith into human but he was betrayed.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“The misfortune behaved in the eternal manner of misfortunes and hawks—it hung over them for some while waiting for an appropriate moment before it attacked.”</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhbZB4cv3vz5bWzdVuR1G5Fn8Lad8tVB1B560BhysrKMjZD7WniwY9S107aE0LI3DjTEHof9IIsZRq9QHDP6fuVM2YP9vNfK3AJHK_uaX3hnYPjhOgvmWnj8tOI_H9Yuqm9qOXvaOWo_4o4WElRUg9fCZTyF5nz-IXOwhAK1uzJpnC5BEx4tBkvlqGCJQ/s2992/20230727_120602.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="2992" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhbZB4cv3vz5bWzdVuR1G5Fn8Lad8tVB1B560BhysrKMjZD7WniwY9S107aE0LI3DjTEHof9IIsZRq9QHDP6fuVM2YP9vNfK3AJHK_uaX3hnYPjhOgvmWnj8tOI_H9Yuqm9qOXvaOWo_4o4WElRUg9fCZTyF5nz-IXOwhAK1uzJpnC5BEx4tBkvlqGCJQ/s16000/20230727_120602.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">GERALD THE PHILOSOPHER- THE QUESTION ON NEUTRALITY</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Murder is always murder, regardless of motive or circumstance. Thus those who murder or who prepare to murder are malefactors and criminals, regardless of who they may be: kings, princes, marshals or judges. None who contemplates and commits violence has the right to consider himself better than an ordinary criminal. Because it is in the nature of all violence to lead inevitably to crime.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One thing about this book is the question of neutrality. Geralt wants to remain neutral. He is wiser than he seems at first. We shouldn't forget that witchers live long lives. Gerald is disillusioned with politics. He doesn't want to align himself with any rules because he can see through their Machiavellian ways. So, he wants to stay neutral. The question is whether that is really possible. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“To be neutral does not mean to be indifferent or insensitive. You don't have to kill your feelings. It's enough to kill hatred within yourself.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>.....</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“You can't stop a soldier from being frightened but you can give him motivation to help him overcome that fear. I have no such motivation. I can't have. I'm a witcher: an artificially created mutant. I kill monsters for money. I defend children when their parents pay me to. If Nilfgaardian parents pay me, I'll defend Nilfgaardian children. And even if the world lies in ruin - which does not seem likely to me - I'll carry on killing monsters in the ruins of this world until some monster kills me. That is my fate, my reason, my life and my attitude to the world. And it is not what I chose. It was chosen for me.”</i></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>.....</i></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;">“Mistakes,’ he said with effort, ‘are also important to me. I don’t cross them out of my life, or memory. And I never blame others for them.” </span><span id="quote_book_link_11570031" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1877722" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Blood of Elves</a></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">GERALD CONDUCTS AN INVESTIGATION IN ORDER TO SAVE CIRI</span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Night and day the streets resounded with music, song, and the clinking of chalices and tankards, for it is well known that nothing is such thirsty work as the acquisition of knowledge.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Geralt has left Ciri in a temple but he is not idle. He is prepared to do anything to save Ciri. Warned by Dandelion, he sets to find Rience and whoever is backing him up. I enjoyed learning more about Dandelion in this part of the novel.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4H-Kuz45Dm-RkZLPbq-NFexHfRi3BI51S74E7tiC99M92Q-5Yq5STFNPSPrhnsibzIDhbcvhi_98DI71FTQcdCMo8-GRulOycrLixE8ZuPZ8r_xrFtZlOyv05odhya6SBhf9WqIk267NfjdKagTa0z0ECa5r2uXBtLBtIaQMc38Ou7WNz8Qla_9hpXs/s3000/witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20quotes%20shani%20smiled%20beautifully.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4H-Kuz45Dm-RkZLPbq-NFexHfRi3BI51S74E7tiC99M92Q-5Yq5STFNPSPrhnsibzIDhbcvhi_98DI71FTQcdCMo8-GRulOycrLixE8ZuPZ8r_xrFtZlOyv05odhya6SBhf9WqIk267NfjdKagTa0z0ECa5r2uXBtLBtIaQMc38Ou7WNz8Qla_9hpXs/s16000/witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20quotes%20shani%20smiled%20beautifully.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Shani smiled even more beautifully and Dandilion was once more filled with the desire to finally compose a ballad about girls like her – not too pretty but nonetheless beautiful, girls of whom one dreams at night when those of classical beauty are forgotten after five minutes.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerald and Dandelion work together on this. We get to know a bit about the </span>University Dandelion taught in.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Some new characters are introduced as they join in, for example, the medical student Shani, and the sorceress Philippa Eilhart. Both Shani and Philippa can be described as strong female characters. Philippa is an especially powerful sorceress, as she mastered the art of </span></span><span style="color: #202122;">metamorphosis</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">. During their search, Philippa transforms herself into an owl.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">With the help from all of them, </span><span style="color: #202122;">Gerald</span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> finds and confronts Rience. What ensures is a fight that injures them both. Once again Rience is saved by an unknown mag (probably his employer). Rience escapes through a portal that was created for him. Gerald is furious but there is nothing he can do.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“Your great causes, your wars, your struggle to save the world … Your end which justifies the means … Prick up your ears, Philippa. Can you hear those voices, that yowling? Those are cats fighting for a great cause. For indivisible mastery over a heap of rubbish. It’s no joking matter—blood is being spilled and clumps of fur are flying. It’s war. But I care incredibly little about either of these wars, the cats’ or yours.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6q4DrMDMubX2pMghQDW6I6LZFuxWqEwjAo0FcCEJeplFY4-ebzdUwljGydIeGcZuHwAD_RhGl-P2qdmd_I0zMoKGDxSvaUfUpbuUpFoeThhmjWAoweuxAUWXTOmO6flBIDSqI6fNaF2Cak52c90Omb6MIxBg7gu1aEO7XE8efGZSLoAZcwfUmZDlE9M/s3000/the%20witcher%20quotes%20blood%20of%20elves%20drinking%20and%20knowledge.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6q4DrMDMubX2pMghQDW6I6LZFuxWqEwjAo0FcCEJeplFY4-ebzdUwljGydIeGcZuHwAD_RhGl-P2qdmd_I0zMoKGDxSvaUfUpbuUpFoeThhmjWAoweuxAUWXTOmO6flBIDSqI6fNaF2Cak52c90Omb6MIxBg7gu1aEO7XE8efGZSLoAZcwfUmZDlE9M/s16000/the%20witcher%20quotes%20blood%20of%20elves%20drinking%20and%20knowledge.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CIRI AND YENNIFER MEET AND FORM A DAUGHTER-MOTHER RELATIONSHIP</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">The </span><span style="color: #202122;">beginning</span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> of the close relationship between Yennefer and Ciri is told in a sort of a flashback. As readers we are moved a bit in the future, just as Yennefer and Ciri are leaving the Temple School in Ellander. When Yennefer asks Ciri whether she did not like her at first, what follows is a </span>lengthily<span style="font-family: inherit;"> flashbacks that shows the reader the course of Ciri's studies with Yennefer. The readers reads about the </span>development<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of their friendship up to that point when they are leaving together. We also learn about the magic system. </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKaDIR6uHkuJIzspDwLePnDoj9-zU-VjKu4HW7nNk4JGG6WEK5VB3-FtzZIxAvoxkliG940ALem_GhWSPIxeGyG7H3lZiyWZv5jWOA_iGP1_4Ad7EL_i4iG8SnmC7o1CU-fICFMONrhnwRUifTMWFcPIHVK6AGnhFfobUqPyPFL9cE14EeWaQZEHgq0CE/s4000/witcher%20quotes%20blood%20of%20elves%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKaDIR6uHkuJIzspDwLePnDoj9-zU-VjKu4HW7nNk4JGG6WEK5VB3-FtzZIxAvoxkliG940ALem_GhWSPIxeGyG7H3lZiyWZv5jWOA_iGP1_4Ad7EL_i4iG8SnmC7o1CU-fICFMONrhnwRUifTMWFcPIHVK6AGnhFfobUqPyPFL9cE14EeWaQZEHgq0CE/s16000/witcher%20quotes%20blood%20of%20elves%20mor%20blog%20.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ciri's stay in Ellander didn't start all that well. The girl was lonely. As we learned, Ciri is a source. Her magical potential manifested itself in </span>nightmares<span style="font-family: inherit;"> that kept Ciri exhausted and bewildered.</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“Yennefer looked her in the eyes and Ciri shrivelled under the gaze. “The saying goes,” said the magician slowly, “that the night brings solutions. But in your case, Surprise, the only thing night can bring is yet another nightmare.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqRsrGTf2JV7mUtcskj3M5WjOAp8jNDLm1NoK8QzzCK4VBAI3lX8Sk_EhWAHJXg__eHpu45VSIEX79EX__Wfuj81RkygBVK9iCm57cqr_7ax2ULZnVLqec2QIJFWvgeCW9Tx_DiXEQQk22wldPuVG0-w4S1qhqplNPjzxJoxCG-RYrPKgauLVcHpl52s/s3000/the%20witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20cats%20quotes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqRsrGTf2JV7mUtcskj3M5WjOAp8jNDLm1NoK8QzzCK4VBAI3lX8Sk_EhWAHJXg__eHpu45VSIEX79EX__Wfuj81RkygBVK9iCm57cqr_7ax2ULZnVLqec2QIJFWvgeCW9Tx_DiXEQQk22wldPuVG0-w4S1qhqplNPjzxJoxCG-RYrPKgauLVcHpl52s/s16000/the%20witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20cats%20quotes.jpg" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“Cats like sleeping and resting on intersections. There are many stories about magical animals but really, apart from the dragon, the cat is the only creature which can absorb the force. No one knows why a cat absorbs it and what it does with it...”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Yennifer was a bit cold with Ciri when she arrived, but she warmed up to the girl. Similarly, Ciri disliked Yennefer originally but learned to appreciate her. Once Yennefer became her teacher, Ciri started to learn about magic. </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">“...Chaos extends its talons towards you, still uncertain if you will be its tool or an obstacle in its design. That which Chaos shows you in your dreams is this very uncertainty. Chaos is afraid of you, Child of Destiny. But it wants you to be the one who feels fear."</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">There was a flash of lightning and a long rumble of thunder. Ciri trembled with cold and dread.</span><br style="color: #181818; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;">"Chaos cannot show you what it really is. So it is showing you the future, showing you what is going to happen. It wants you to be afraid of the coming days, so that fear of what is going to happen to you and those closest to you will start to guide you, take you over completely. That is why Chaos is sending you those dreams. Now, you are going to show me what you see in your dreams. And you are going to be frightened. And then you will forget and master your fear."</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Ciri learned to control her magical potential better, a mother-daughter bond was formed. They become more and more closer. Ciri confides in Yennefer asking her for advice about different things. Sometimes they talk about serious matters, but sometimes they are more relaxed. For </span>example<span style="font-family: inherit;">, the advice Yen gives her about choosing a lover is very funny:</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i>“Those who don’t have a bed at all, you eliminate on the spot. From those who remain, you eliminate the owners of any dirty or slovenly beds. And when only those who have clean and tidy beds remain, you choose the one you find most attractive. Unfortunately, the method is not a hundred per cent foolproof. You can make a terrible mistake.”</i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the book ends, Ciri admits that she did not </span>initially<span style="font-family: inherit;"> like Yennefer. The books ends with Yennefer and Ciri leaving the temple together. </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“That laughter, thought Ciri watching swarms of black birds flying eastwards, that laughter, shared and sincere, really brought us together, her and me.”</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNK-q0XGxRQ0i3pJPBHF0cqhmJ4BHVetHiaFg9BSD8pppi5jId40Meee66_VBzjOghgqS9Y9lIORzgh7YJ-s-iNHG6o0Xiqqy12RPWgFU7Bw1XlFUS9vpeYvSRRPpnO5wWJMDrLbKtUJHSZHARdVZgccAifWxeGsQ9zQ-J8CFvBum1U32E9mvnPxt7-E/s3000/witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20quotes%20book%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNK-q0XGxRQ0i3pJPBHF0cqhmJ4BHVetHiaFg9BSD8pppi5jId40Meee66_VBzjOghgqS9Y9lIORzgh7YJ-s-iNHG6o0Xiqqy12RPWgFU7Bw1XlFUS9vpeYvSRRPpnO5wWJMDrLbKtUJHSZHARdVZgccAifWxeGsQ9zQ-J8CFvBum1U32E9mvnPxt7-E/s16000/witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20quotes%20book%20review.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; text-align: left;"><i> ......“Magic is Chaos, Art and Science. It is a curse, a blessing and progress. It all depends on who uses magic, how they use it, and to what purpose. And magic is everywhere. All around us. Easily accessible.”</i></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT <i>BLOOD OF ELVES</i> NOVEL</b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Blood of Elves</i> is a sort of 'coming of age' story for Ciri. She's becoming a teenage girl in a confusing world. Ciri has lost her family but she has found new one, among witchers and sorceresses. I feel like this novel was a great introduction to the politics of this fantasy saga. There is a lot of dialogue and monologue in the <i>Blood of Elves</i>, but it serves a good purpose. There is less action in the sense of monster hunting and battles, but in return the reader gets more world building and character development. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Look around you—there is crime and sin everywhere, greed, the pursuit of profit, quarrels and disagreements are rife. Our traditions are disappearing, respect for our values is fading. Instead of living according to Nature we have begun to destroy it. And what have we got for it? The air is poisoned by the stink of smelting furnaces, the rivers and brooks are tainted by slaughter houses and tanneries, forests are being cut down without a thought … Ha—just look!—even on the living bark of sacred Bleobheris, there just above the poet’s head, there’s a foul phrase carved out with a knife—and it’s misspelled at that—by a stupid, illiterate vandal. Why are you surprised? It had to end badly....”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is also a philosophical aspect to this novel. The author explores some difficult themes such as war, racism, genocide, civilization development and even ecology. I was honestly surprised by how much the author emphasized the ecological themes in his book. I found many quotable and profound paragraphs in his book. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We are the children of Mother Nature. And though we do not respect our mother, though we often worry her and cause her pain, though we break her heart, she loves us.”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Still, those that prefer action packed and fast paced stories might be a bit disappointed. For example, <i>Sword of Destiny</i> is definitely faster paced than <i>Blood of Elves. </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“And who are you putting make-up on for, exactly?”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> “Myself. A woman accentuates her beauty for her own self-esteem.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I mentioned that this novel focuses on Ciri. However, she's not the only strong female character. In fact, this novel features a number of strong women such as for example: Yennefer, Triss, Philippa and Shani. The author himself said he wanted to defy genre stereotypes when he created Yennefer. In that sense, it could be said Sapkowski was rather successful as Yennefer is certainly no stereotype.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Beautiful, long, loose hair was a rarity, an indication of a woman's position, her status, the sign of a free woman, a woman who belonged to herself. The sign of an unusual woman – because "normal" maidens wore their hair in plaits, "normal" married women hid theirs beneath a caul or a coif. Women of high birth, including queens, curled their hair and styled it. Warriors cut it short. Only druids and magicians – and whores – wore their hair naturally so as to emphasise their independence and freedom.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> On the other hand, it seems a bit convenient how all the women are falling for Gerald, the protagonist of this novel, especially as is often described how people shun witchers. On the other hand, there could be logical explanation for this. Sorceress like Yennefer and Triss might be sensitive to witchers. Triss describes a tingling sensation she feels whenever she touches any witcher- not just Gerald. As both witchers and mags are often envied and hated by ordinary people for their powers and skills, this gives them something in common. As for ordinary women, there is a logic there as well. The witchers are strong and brave, so it is not odd some women might be attracted to them. A man who can kill a monster and this save lives must be attractive. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gerald is not described as particularly handsome in the book, covered with scars and all that, but women are not always drawn to conventionally handsome man. As Keanu Reaves famously said in <i>Replacements</i>: Chicks dig scars. Moreover, witchers are also very rare, only a few of them remain. So, that might be part of the appeal. I would be the first to say that a lady magnet protagonist is a definite stereotype, but in the case I don't really mind. I think this book defies enough stereotypes to be an interesting, though-provoking and fun read. Highly recommended!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiseu1JLG1TUeKDRIgIXVU1KzDtjskQY9WU-hYApTZk-0MXWdtnlhl3weStaFfv3JhP31IR83FzR_lcA5qwSfdVb8dZh_Od54qTdUXw0BxmBoAxIcFi0AVSULGF_C9kfm4UWGrvRH48-fnGN1kEc8hS4NUImutsANpmCdlMkOBRSUdbAkDbcCWx3yOjcMM/s4000/the%20witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiseu1JLG1TUeKDRIgIXVU1KzDtjskQY9WU-hYApTZk-0MXWdtnlhl3weStaFfv3JhP31IR83FzR_lcA5qwSfdVb8dZh_Od54qTdUXw0BxmBoAxIcFi0AVSULGF_C9kfm4UWGrvRH48-fnGN1kEc8hS4NUImutsANpmCdlMkOBRSUdbAkDbcCWx3yOjcMM/s16000/the%20witcher%20blood%20of%20elves%20book%20review%20modaodaradosti%20blog%20review.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Thank you for visiting! <p></p></div>Ivana Splithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908566377732204399noreply@blogger.com29