I’m not going to whip out a new thread for it because I don’t think SRK will care as much, but apparently Umberto Eco just died as well.
Fuck that one hits me hard. Favorite author, maybe of all time. Need to reread me some Baudolino, and The Island of the Day Before.
Guy had the prose and imagination of the great magical realists, combined with the esoteric historical knowledge of an advanced medieval scholar (which was literally his day job).
I saw that in this morning’s paper. Sad indeed.
To be fair, “To Kill A Mockingbird” is slightly overrated. Only because it’s been analyzed to death by every single English-Lit student on the planet. I can’t even get close to estimate how many thesis, essays, or reports have been written about this one novel. This isn’t to say it was a bad novel; in fact, as stated here, it was a damn fine novel in every right. But it all depends on your view of “overrated”. As for “Catcher in the Rye”, Holden was actually in a boarding school. Personally, as many times as I’ve read this one novel (which, again, another “overrated” one) - it’s pretty hard to miss that it was a school instead of an institution. However, from Holden’s perspective… I would argue there wasn’t much difference between the two.
Holden was in school before he left to New York City and had a breakdown. The beginning of the novel starts with him in a mental institution retelling the story of what put him there, which starts at his boarding school.
I think when you look at the time period and culture that existed when To kill a mockingbird was written, then you realize that it was a bold book in the time it was written. By putting it in that kind of context makes you appreciate the book more than if you try to read it as a modern citizen living in a post civil rights movement United States. RIP to a daring author whose book will likely always have major cultural significance.
ewww reading