The Finest Legends of the Rhine by Wilhelm Ruland



This is a small collection of stories that originate from the area around the Rhine river in Germany.  I found it interesting to read literature from this country because I had never done so before.  However, on the whole I felt that the stories were not incredibly interesting. 

The first story spoke of a knight who desired the daughter of the king he served, however the king did not approve.  The knight and daughter were banished from the kingdom only to be discovered accidentally by the king much later in life.  At that point, he was simply happy to see them again.  This was one of the more enjoyable stories of the book, and a good example of the book's major flaw: the stories are incredibly short and underdeveloped. 

Another highlight is the story of a monk who lost his faith.  One day he went for a walk in the forest and fell asleep.  He woke up and much time had passed.  He returns to the monastery and none of the other monks know him anymore, and he quickly dies.  His lack of faith led him to this as punishment.  This was  another highlight of the book.

I would not necessarily recommend this to a friend.  But as I have long had an interest in mythologies, I could find some worth in reading it. 

Descending into the Mountains of Ignorance:  
An Open Life: Joseph Campbell in Conversation With Michael Toms 


This book is a compilation of conversations between Joseph Campbell, a man known for his knowledge of mythology, and journalist Michael Toms.  I find discussing this book is easiest by describing its parts.  It has four sections entitled: "Myth as Metaphor," "The God Denied," "The Social Contract," and "An Open Life."

In the first section, the duo discusses how myths' stories must be read - essentially without considering them literally or historically.  For instance, the story of the virgin birth shouldn't be taken literally (in fact it occurs in the mythology of multiple cultures), but as an expression of people's sense of the miraculous and, in turn, what that says about us. 

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather 

 


Like all of Willa Cather's works, this is a story about the American frontier & the people who lived there before it had been completely assimilated into the United States.  Just like My Antonia, the central character in this novel is a young man who comes of age during the course of the novel.  He is an idealistic young man who has a promising future as a lawyer & can leave the backwater town if he chooses.  Many of his peers don't have the same opportunity.  But the reader gets the sense that he can learn much of what he needs to learn about human nature without leaving his home town.  He observes Mr. & Mrs. Forrester, a  wealthy couple who live nearby, and learns a lot from them.  

As is typical of him, he idealizes Captain Forrester and his wife greatly.  He thinks Mrs. Forrester is the icon of femininity & sees refinement & style in everything she does & in the way she does it.  While Captain Forrester is a masculine symbol - a free man who symbolizes the dying wildness of a disappearing frontier.  The Captain idolizes his wife as much as the narrator does, and their perceptions of her slowly unravel over the course of the book.  Mrs. Forrester is, in some ways, not at all what she seems, and yet she is in others.  Mrs. Forrester was an interesting character to me - she was my favorite in many respects.  Willa Cather, in my opinion, is wonderful at descriptions.  Sometimes her descriptions are of landscapes and other times they are about people or states of mind/moments.  Her descriptions of Mrs. Forrester were the best passages in the book - with the exception of a few concerning the state of mind of the narrator.  

Are our perceptions of people the only way in which they exist for us?  Or do people exist apart from whatever we perceive them to be?  When they fall in our eyes and we think less of them - are they in fact less as a result?  Does Mrs. Forrester's refinement & grace get erased when the narrator no longer sees those qualities, or at least only those qualities without blemishes?  Can a man and a woman stay together once fidelity is lost & can that relationship still be based on a valuable foundation?  Is thinking in black and white a childish way to think?  

These are the central questions of A Lost Lady.  They are lived out by the narrator but they are really embodied in Mrs. Forrester's life and actions.  She forces the narrator to questions his assumptions once he learns she has been cheating on her husband for some time and probably never loved him completely.  She lusted after youth and excitement while the Captain was many years older than her & relatively sedate in lifestyle.  And yet, there is a memorable story in this book about when Mrs. Forrester meets the Captain for the first time.  They are climbing a mountain & Mrs. Forrester falls and breaks both her legs.  The Captain is the person who gets her down from the mountain, he carries her, and to safety.  While some of Mrs. Forrester sought excitement and was unfaithful to her husband, she is clearly a woman who always wanted to be cared for by another.  There was a frailty to her & the Captain was a suitable partner for that.  So, was she truly unfaithful to her husband?  

The other question that arises is whether Mrs. Forrester is as strong as she appeared to be.  She appeared to be a perfect hostess through much of the novel.  A woman who knew a lot, created great conversation, and interacted capably with men.  And yet, by the end of the novel she is a widow, living in a foreign country, & without the support of the Captain appears to be drifting.  Her appearance is no longer cared for she has no reliable partner & to the narrator's eyes she seems old.  

Can strength be true strength when it needs the presence of another to make or break it?  A central question of a good novel. 

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Susanna Kaysen was admitted to a psychiatric hospital when she was 18 years old.  She had attempted suicide twice, and describes herself as lacking animation and interest in life during that time.  In fact, the first chapter of the book - which describes the meeting with the psychiatrist who sent her to McLean Hospital - is one of the most upsetting chapters in the book.  Within a half hour the doctor had decided to commit her and she was too apathetic to care much about it.  At that point, she describes herself as happy she didn't need to bother with a bus ride home and could simply get into a taxi - even if that taxi is taking her to McLean Hospital.  Meanwhile, she will spend most of the next two years as a patient who is cut off from the outside world. 

Susanna continues to observe from a distance the other patients at McLean. She witnesses suicides, the maximum security ward, and the bizarre actions of the other patients.  Susanna also offers some of the thoughts she had while living at McLean, and later her experiences in the world as someone who was once committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Much of the philosophizing in this book is confusing.  She speaks of the "topography" of this alternate universe of a mental institution, which is affecting but not necessarily a helpful point of view for a reader.  Her descriptions of events in the hospital are the highlight of the book.  One chapter, called "Bare Bones" was particularly poignant.