The Reading Room

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12:56 AM

I'm worried this question is going to be confusing.

There are two characters, Karen and Valkyrja. They have the same powerset. By the end of the story Karen becomes, for all intents and purposes, Valkyrja. I'm not sure how to talk about them without confusion.

The fact that they are initially different is important, as is the reason Karen adopts the name Valkyrja, so I can't just leave out the difference.

1 hour later…

bobble

2:02 AM

</end complaining>.... I have figured out what I think will be a decent enough explanation that will confuse readers as little as possible

6 hours later…

Rand al'Thor

7:42 AM

Hardy scholars and Shakespeare scholars, have at it!

Bookworm

7:59 AM

Q: Historical King Ina and Shakespeare's King Lear in the writings of Thomas Hardy

In Thomas Hardy's short(ish) story "The Withered Arm", one of his descriptions of the Wessex countryside features the following cryptic allusion: It was a long walk; thick clouds made the atmosphere dark, though it was as yet only early afternoon; and the wind howled dismally over the slopes of ...

verbose

Honestly I don't know what to do. I have enjoyed the Harry Potter books (excluding The Cursed Child) and I do enjoy the Robert Galbraith / Cormorant Strike series. But Rowling's terfiness has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't feel I can justify reading the latest one.

It's probably pertinent to mention that I've always argued that Heidegger's Naziness is not something that can be waved away as irrelevant to his philosophy

Sigh

Oh well, there are other books

6 hours later…

Bookworm

2:20 PM

Q: What is it time for in Paul Celan's "Corona"?

From Paul Celan's poem "Corona", available e.g. here in both the original German and an English translation: It is time that the stone took the trouble to bloom That an unrest’s heart started to beat It is time to be time It is time. No matter how many times I read this poem, I have not yet bee...

meaning poetry german-literature paul-celan

1 hour later…

Fabjaja

3:44 PM

@Randal'Thor That's super! I'm not well versed in King Lear at all, but am very interested in looking at answers that come up.

1 hour later…

Tsundoku

5:11 PM

@Bookworm 2020 was the centenary of Paul Celan's birth and the 50th anniversary of his death.

3 hours later…

Bookworm

7:51 PM

Q: Which Animals did George Orwell Own?

Dear fellow Orwell nerds, I wanted to try and figure out what animals George Orwell owned, &, if possible, what they were called.

history-of-literature george-orwell

bobble

8:08 PM

@Bookworm I'm not sure of the on-topicness of this. It's not about Orwell's life as a writer, it's about his life. Is the fact that the person in question happens to be a writer mean that questions about their non-writing life are okay?

Napoleon Wilson

9:04 PM

I thought at least it would make a spurious relation to Animal Farm, but no.

1 hour later…

Bookworm

10:23 PM

Q: Is there a significance to Valkyrja's powerset?

The character Valkyrja/Karen has an unusual, very specific array of powers: I can sense where things that open the way are... Also people who are about to die, and any serious violence within a hundred miles. Plus ravens, swans, horses, and alcohol. Technically, it's not a hundred miles, it's t...