Books, books, lovely books: Tanith Lee, Henry Fielding and William Congreve

[dangermousie]

Has anyone on my flist read Tanith Lee? Is she worth checking out? I saw something by her cross-referenced somewhere and it looked interesting, but I wanted some opinions...

Oh, and if you will read only one 18th century English novel in your life, you have to read Henry Fielding's Shamela. It's a parody of Samuel Richardson's Pamela which was a sentimental, bizarre, runaway bestseller about a worthy servant girl who wins the hand of her master in marriage by being super pure and resisting his lustful advances after he kidnaps her and repeatedly attempts to rape her. She thwarts it by suicide attempts and repeated fainting. Also, there is a breast obsession going on. Anyway, even though I got an extra kick because I read Pamela, Shamela is a great read in its own right, as it mocks the whole sanctimonious, full of virtuous sentiment yet chock-stuffed with titillating detail school of writing which Richardson might well have pioneered but which has reigned supreme even in our day with bad romance novels. Check it out.

And while I am on recs, I am really sad Oscar Wilde plays all got filmed at one time or another, but no one has had the thought to film any Congreve. He is so funny and clever and just think of the potential for costume Oscars for those gorgeous Restoration frocks. Booooo.

Comments

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Shamela! The only thing that makes my memory of reading Pamela bearable. Also I have mad love for Joseph Andrews (about Pamela's virtuous brother).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love Joseph Andrews too. Heck, I love all of Fielding. Tom Jones is love.

I have a very fond memory of reading Pamela. I can enjoy almost any book, and I read Pamela at 2-3 am, taking a bath in my college dorm suite in the middle of the week. It was fun. And I didn't get too into it so it was fun, mockable reading.

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

I've read Tanith Lee. She's . . . odd. She has a lovely dreamy style of writing, strange supernatural and sexual things and plots that go nowhere.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm. I don't know if it sounds like my thing. I will forgive a lot for a cool writing style though. I was thinking more specifically of The Silver Metal Lover. Have you read that one?

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

I have not. I've read a lot of her books, but not that one.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I very much like Lee. Her retold fairy tales are always good, if dark and a bit sensual. She's a great writer. One of the best female fantasy writers the genre has produced in a while. I've read a number of her short stories and really like them.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think I will check her out then...

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

He is so funny and clever and just think of the potential for costume Oscars for those gorgeous Restoration frocks.

Well, the ladies had excellent clothes, but the gentlemen all had incredibly silly hairdos during that period - or anyway, incredibly silly wigs. So I can understand a certain reluctance to film the Restoration :P

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I kinda like the wigs. Made the men look like humanoid spaniels :) The few times I've seen the Restoration period filmed (Frenchman's Creek, Stage Beauty, Restoration) it was actually quite nice. If nothing else, it would give everyone a break from the Victorian era :)