(no subject)

[bironic]

Two stories posted on synn's lovely fic archive at nostatement.com --

A Survey of Contemporary Muggle Habits, by Arthur Weasley. (Honorable mention in Fiction Alley's Witching Hour essay contest.)

That story I still haven't found a title for, which is variously about the anxieties of college graduation, failed attempts at compensation through voyeurism, and, naturally, English professors.

Praise and criticism alike are welcome.

Comments

[synn.livejournal.com]

*cries out with child-like exhillieration:* First post! First Post!

Erm... I mean;
Lovely, lovely stories, old chap. Good show!
I would leave much praise, but you've heard my opinions and you already know I worship you.
Or maybe you didn't, but you certainly do now.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

Okay, you already know I love the story and the essay, but I thought I'd tell you once again:

I LOVE YOUR WRITING.

Particularly The Story That Must Be Been Named. It's a bit difficult to describe, but there's an almost palpable texture to your prose in that one. It's sort of like dark velvet, warm and rich with a soft bite. *Sigh* This kind of criticism is why you're an English major and I'm not.

On a more logical note, I really like your unnamed protagonist; I think her wry, slightly removed perspective, the jadedness that has both anxiety and sensuality just underneath it, really makes the story.

For titles - how about some Tale of Two Cities reference? (Not having read it, I can't offer one myself.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Good idea on the Tale of Two Cities title. At work on Friday I re-read (well, skimmed) the Sydney bits on a virtual texts site and copied down the most relevant quotes. None are perfect, but some might work. At the very least I may have Thompson quote one at her on the couch.

Of course, I left the document with all the quotes at work, but I'll add them here for you tomorrow.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Right, okay, the quotes I promised:

"I hardly seem yet," returned Charles Darnay, "to belong to this world
again."
[... Sydney replied:] "As to me, the greatest desire I have, is to forget that I belong to it. It has no good in it for me- except wine like this- nor
I for it. So we are not much alike in that particular. "

"A last word, Mr. Darnay: you think I am drunk?"
"I think you have been drinking, Mr. Carton."
"Think? You know I have been drinking."
"Since I must say so, I know it."
"Then you shall likewise know why. I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care
for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me."

"I shall never be better than I am. I shall sink lower, and be worse."

"I am like one who died young. All my life might have been."

"A dream that ends in nothing."

"And yet I have had the weakness, and have still the weakness, to wish you
to know with what a sudden mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am,
into fire- a fire, however, inseparable in its nature from myself,
quickening nothing, lighting nothing, doing no service, idly burning away."

[Lucie to Charles:] "I would ask you, dearest, to be very generous with him always, and very lenient on his faults when he is not by. I would ask you to believe that he has a heart he very, very seldom reveals, and that there are deep wounds in it. My dear, I have seen it bleeding."

"Keep your eyes upon me, dear child, and mind no other object."


I am thinking about having Thompson say the "I would ask you to believe" sentence and replace "he" with "she," while she's leaning on him on the couch...

it seems to fit this description:

[(Anonymous)]

A certain strangeness, something of the blossoming of the aloe, is indeed an element in all true works of art: that they shall excite and surprise us is indispensable. (Walter Pater)


[This comment and random quotation has been brought to you by Steve]