The Reading Room

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Bookworm

13:15

Q: What is the meaning of 'myopia' in literature studies?

Does the term myopia have a special meaning in the context of literature?

Q: Where does Goethe refer to "from the deepest mountain valley to the highest mountain top"?

I'm not sure about the precise wording of the sentence, neither in english or german. But the quote is often used when referring to a mans life or career that has gone from the lowest low (e.g. prison or homeless) to the highest high of society (e.g. successful businessman, minister). PS: It mi...

quote-identification johann-wolfgang-von-goethe

1 hour later…

Gareth Rees

14:33

Nice poem!
We don't say "just must" for some reason (it's perfectly grammatical English, but it sounds odd), so maybe something like, "That she must stir herself and go" (which also avoids having so many single-syllable words in a row). The "yet" in the third-to-last line is an expletive, but is easily removed with something like "New snow-capped summits will appear".

CowperKettle

@GarethRees Hi! Thank you for your corrections!

I have some 60 small poems written or translated into English ))

> The bold of us will surely say,
And shy will nod with smiles,
No ride with her is cold and gray,
Yes, she can light a rainy day,
And cheer the nightly miles.

This one is an acrostic

Dedicated to the girl in the greenish photo above )))

CowperKettle

14:55

@GarethRees "stir herself and go" is great

2 hours later…

Bookworm

16:29

Q: Purpose of realistic literature

In the 19th century, why did literary realism start? I mean it in contrast to romanticism. Why did writers stop to express their ideals and conflicts in their works? I think it might be because none of them came true. But what did the new way of depicting the reality bring to them? This almost sc...

realism

3 hours later…

Christophe Strobbe

19:20

I started rereading Jane Eyre as a preparation for rereading Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. I didn't particularly like Currer Bell's novel the first time I read it (more than twenty years ago); I think I like it better now.