Parade's End

Having read this novel, I have come to the conclusion that Parade's End is centralised around women.

From pre-first world war Britain to post-D-day Britain, the book follows the life of Christopher Tietjens (portrayed by the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC adaptation), an English aristocrat who tries to live by Edwardian values, surrounded by the prejudice, arrogance and pettiness of others, suffering through the horrors of the trenches, death and hardship. Throughout the book he is tormented by his wife Sylvia, made an outcast by his colleagues and friends and slowly and deeply falls in love with Valentine Wannop, a petite, pretty, bright young woman who is an enthusiastic surrogate.
Despite Chrissie's many bad experiences with the fair sex (rather inappropriately named considering the nature of many women in the novel), he sympathises with Valentine and her feminist views, he is also very accepting of people from all the classes, unlike many of his peers.

Valentine Wannop represents the strongwilled, open-minded and caring side of womankind, who aren't afraid to have their own mind. She portrayed as a petite, loyal and strong young woman with a simple prettiness which Christopher comes to adore. She is also intelligent and strong-minded; being one of the only people who could argue a point again Chrissie and succeed, and her strong-mindedness being the cause for Christopher's change in values and lifestyle- from a government statistician to a footsoldier in the trenches, a rich man surrounded by antique furniture and expensive suits, to a poor minimalist man adorned in simple clothes. Valentine was also the only reason Christopher hoped to come out of the war alive- her strength, hope and beauty illuminating his dark days.

Sylvia Tiejens. Well I would certainly relish the chance to push her off a high, rocky cliff. She represents to tormenting, egomanical, disloyal and heartless shadow of womankind; her words poisonous and each slithering movement a butterfly effect. There are points in the novel where one feels that Sylvia could almost redeem herself from her sins, perhaps even make oneself feel sorry for her, however these feelings didn't last long, and one wishes for her violent death once more.

Another woman in 'Parade's End' include Mark Tietjens' (Christopher's brother's) French mistress, Marie Léonie. Marie is a simple, sensible woman, who cleans her house to perfection, cooks traditional meals, does gardening and preserves fruits of all sorts, just as a 'normal' housewife was expected to do. The relationship between Mark and Marie is an unusual and symbiotic one; he buys her expensive gifts like any male suitor, pays for her home and expenses, however when he visits her home on a weekly basis, he expects no more than for her company, a good hot meal, a warm bed to sleep in, to have some of his clothes washed and listen to her endless nattering in French. Theirs is not an intimate relationship but, I think, a beautiful one; Marie knows very little about Mark, as he is content to listen to Marie talk for hours, and does not talk about his work, just as Marie does not ask anything of him, looking after him without his asking.

I could go on, however I don't want to reveal any more about the book, should you want to read it yourself without my having spoiled it. However, my interpretation of this book is that is about women, and the female characters in this book representing different attitudes of women in pre-WWI Britain; those who were strong, independent women making sacrifices at suffragettes in order to get women the vote, women who were the cancer of society- spreading rumours, cheating on their husbands, and exploiting good people, and women who were neither of the previous, content to care for their husbands and leading simple lives.

Insults: the literate side to the English teenager.

One will have heard about the criticism of the sacrilege of the English language by teenagers today ad nauseam- with texting reducing what was once a poetic, complex and beautiful language into a salmagundi of abbreviations, emoticons, and misplaced numbers by the youth of today.
But what if I told you that amongst all the seemingly moronic disarray of a teenager's vocabulary, there is evidence of a more complex etymology behind some of their insults?
I was surprised to hear a group of teenage boys running around a shopping centre calling each other 'plebs'- (an insult insinuating that someone is mentally incompetent or below them). 'Pleb' can be interpreted as a shortened version of 'plebian' meaning 'peasant-like', deriving from the Latin 'plebes' which translates as 'common people'. This elitist insult is, ironically, predominantly used by teenagers brought up in a lower class environment, and, more ironically, the users of the insult usually do not understand the meaning of it.
'Cretin'- another increasingly popular insult- also has an interesting etymology behind it; deriving from the French 'crétin' itself deriving from the Alpine dialect 'crestin' meaning 'a dwarfed and deformed idiot'- which is the basis for the insult. 'Cretinism', named after the French 'crestin', is a condition of stunted physical and mental growth caused by congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones; hence the 'dwarfed and deformed idiot'.
So, whether or not they realise it, young people are using insults handed down to them by their bad-mouthed ancestors through the generations, and that their granny was no less of a heckler than they think they rebelliously are.

Doctor Zhivago

Hello all,
So I wanted to talk to you about a book which I finished reading a few months ago- the Russian Novel set between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the Second World War, Doctor Zhivago, written by Boris Pasternak.
Starting this book was a daunting task- a heavy, thick hardback with microscopic writing, and indeed, the book was at times a chore to read. I found myself at many points in the book re-reading the same page numerous times, as well as being confused beyond belief by a seemingly endless number of complex Russian names, all of which are intrinsically linked into a plot which will take you many chapters to understand, should you ever understand it.
Though this book may sound draconiously difficult to read, it is certainly worth a read, as it has a rich, complex plot which entwines the numerous characters in the book, beginning as young children, who struggle their way through life, experiencing deceit, murder, love, loss, hardship and war, contemplating politics, philosophy, humanity and loyalty in the long monologues and strings of thought of Yury Zhivago, his affairs with Tonya Gromeko and Larissa Feodorovna Guishar, and his experiences of war, hardship and loneliness.
The ending can be seen to some as peaceful and perhaps even happy, but I, and many others I am sure, could not spare a thought to this interpretation through all the tears.
Should you manage to finish this book, let alone begin it, I assure you it is a book which will stay with you long after the last page.

Hello/Jesus adorned in velvet trousers

Hello reader,

I've been thinking for a while about how to start my blog, and I have decided to skip all the cheesy greetings and anecdotes, after which I would atrophy at my desk for days on end in anticipation of the post being viewed so that I can feel some sort of inner gratification from my existence being acknowledged by another human being, and get straight to what is on my mind.

I recently came across an interesting French idiom:

'Le petit Jesus en culotte de velours'

Translating as:

'The baby (or little) Jesus in velvet trousers.'

This idiom is used in the context of wine, and is usually used to express how a fine wine can 'go down smoothly', as if wearing velvet trousers to aid its movement down one's throat, and being a 'baby Jesus' may link to the use of wine in Holy Communion, representing the blood of Christ.

Not quite an idiom one could slip into casual conversation (though in the wine abundant country of France, an appropriate situation should arise more often than not) and an amusing idiom when used appropriately.