Ava Fei Fei itibaren Alshan', Orlovskaya oblast', Rusya, 302520
an interesting book with a lot of information about the women who were influential in colonial times and the early years of the united states. my only complaint is with the tone of the book. i guess i was expecting more history and less cokie.
I've read Lear many times, and, although I didn't learn anything new about the play this reading, I did learn a little about myself, and how I have changed. I have always loved the play, but in the past I found its injustice and evil nigh overpowering, its victims pathetically guiltless, its perspective verging on the nihilistic. Now, though, I see goodness and grace everywhere: in Cordelia's plain-spoken honesty and love for Lear, in Kent and Gloster's loyalty, in Edgar's bizarre attempt to heal his father's soul through stratagem, and--perhaps most important--in the way Lear himself grows in understanding and compassion even as he grows in grief and madness. The bad guys have their moments too: the devotion of Oswald to Goneril, Edmund's tardy but apparently sincere attempt to save Cordelia and Lear's lives, and--my favorite--the heroic effort of Cornwall's servant to intervene in the blinding of Gloster by wounding the vicious master whom he has served loyally all his life. Goodness seems to triumph here even in the midst of loss, and I no longer feel the evil to be overwhelming: I merely bow my head in thanksgiving for the goodness and tremble in reverence before the mystery of life.