F... is for Faust

About three years ago, I went to the Delhi World Book Fair with no TBR list. I walked around with no aim, picking up books that caught my fancy, ones that I'd heard were good, ones that looked like they'd be good etc. Good times... and I was earning at the time, so I splurged! One of the books that I bought and later read was Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I knew that it had something to do with Satan, and I really liked the name of the author.
I wasn't disappointed. Faust is the tale of a very learned young scholar, who sells his soul to the Devil and makes a pact with his advocate for years and years of power. In the degree that I'm currently studying towards, I'm required to read The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, same plot. Both texts I have thoroughly enjoyed. There is something truly wonderful and sinister about making a pact with the Devil himself, and I really think that each one of us should be put through that test. No, I'm not religious, but I do like the symbolism of it. And I thoroughly believe that all the so-called enlightened will fail the test.
Anyway, you must read one or both of these works about Faust, they are filled with intrigue and excitement. I have loved the characters and dark dark plot. As one would expect, the ending is tragic. Goethe's Faust is also filled with beautiful and lyrical poetry and is an excellent mix of prose and poetry, great for those who aren't comfortable with a body of work that is complete poetry, like Milton's Paradise Lost.

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This is the sixth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama, Edinburgh

D... is for Drama

Reading drama is very different from reading novels, you don't need me to tell you that. When I was much younger, I hated drama with a passion. I could never understand why dialogues have to be so difficult to understand (that's what I thought at the time). In fact, I'm not good with a lot of dialogues at length, I get muddled, that's a reason why I never read too many of Agatha Christie's novels. They tend to have long conversations and I get confused about who's saying what!
This was until I had to read 'Julius Caesar' in school, when I was 13 followed by 'Tempest' when I was 15. We had Oxford University Press annotated Shakespeare editions. And we had a very meticulous teach, who wasn't life changing or brilliant, but disciplined. The combination of the two meant that we were taught to read Shakespeare and understand him using the annotations on the side. We were required to enact them too, and I was Cassius. I have enjoyed drama ever since! It is always different and they is so much fun in imagining oneself in a character's shoes. This time around, for MA, I need to read a variety of playwrights, and they're all exciting, moving, and brilliant in their own right. Have you read any of these? What have you thought of it (them)?

The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hamlet
Alchemist by Ben Jonson
The Playboy of the Western World
Pygmalion
Murder in the Cathedral
Waiting for Godot
Look Back in Anger

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This is the fourth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis