I finished Margart Atwood's
Bluebeard's Egg earlier this week, for which I wrote an initial reaction
here. The remaining stories were very different in tone than the first few that I had read. While I enjoyed them all and have a deep respect for Margart Atwood, I was somewhat disappointed. Many of the other stories focus on relationships between men and women that are complicated by the woman's struggle for an independent identity from the marriage and home life. Several of the stories explore unhappy marriages or women who remain unmarried for fear of the impact of marriage on their identity. In "The Sunrise" a female artist stalks men who she finds interesting looking, draws them and occasionally becomes briefly romantically involved with them. She never remains with one man for very long and often expresses dissatisfaction when the man becomes too attached to her or the relationship. In the title story, "Bluebeard's Egg," the female protagonist feels her husband is incredibly stupid about everyday life, even though she implies he is a brilliant brain surgeon. Because of his stupidity regarding life's banalities, she assumes he is faithful and loves her blindly, but suddenly doubts everything at a dinner party when she witnesses her husband with his hand on a friend's backside. In these stories Atwood explores the complications when couples do not communicate or refuse to be clear about their needs and wants. Atwood's female characters strive to define themselves in their own terms, only to reveal in the narrative that their identities are truly outlined by the male figures in their lives.
I consider
Bluebeard's Egg as a folklore/folktale example in the reading challenge because it really addressed the folklore of modern life. In "Loulou," the title character is a successful potter who is exploited by several poets who live off her generosity and earnings. Loulou describes the ways in which these poets define her, relating the folklore of Loulou that these men imagine. The poets see Loulou a certain way and only want to relate to her in that manner, so that she must adjust her mood to present the folklore of Loulou's identity. This idea continues in "Bluebeard's Egg" when the narrator de-emphasizes her interest in her adult education classes so as to create a certain image of herself - the wife of a brain surgeon. Furthermore, the class in which she is enrolled is a storytelling class, focusing on various styles, particularly the oral tradition. I enjoyed that this text extended the idea of oral tradition and folklore into a modern setting because we all do create a kind of folklore about ourselves - the funny guy, the serious girl - and struggle to find how this lore and legend of selfhood reflect our true selves. However, I was disappointed by the change in tone from the first two stories because they played on the idea of modern folklore of families, with humor and heart. Many of the ensuing stories felt more analytical about the politics of sex, which I did not expect. Any collection of stories will feature pieces with different tone, but I loved the first direction of
Bluebeard's Egg and thus was disappointed by the change. Overall I do recommend
Bluebeard's Egg for its intelligently creative examination of how men and women interact and engage.
In other reading challenge news, I started my final book in the challenge, Robert Coover's
Pinocchio in Venice, for the fairytale section. In college I was first introduced to Robert Coover's style in a class on Postmodern American Short Stories, so I knew before I started that this book is a complex read. In
Pinocchio in Venice, Pinocchio is a grown man, a world renown scholar who returns to his birthplace and finds he is turning back into wood. Throughout the text there are several references to the original story of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, which I strongly recommend reviewing first. My only reference prior to picking up Coover's book was the 1940s Disney film, which strays a great deal from the original (when doesn't a Disney version?) I read the summary of Collodi's text on wikipedia and it aided my understanding greatly. I've read about 100 pages of Coover's text thus far, which serves as an introduction to the adult Pinocchio and his present circumstances. Pinocchio spends a few chapters recounting parts of his life story to two of his long lost friends and a basic knowledge of the plot in Collodi's text served as a great reference. Coover's language is rich in metaphor and paradoxical descriptions, juxtaposed with harsh and often violent imagery. The Venice Coover builds for Pinocchio is cold and filled with trickery - of the eye and by others. The world is mean and unforgiving as Pinocchio makes his life's journey come full circle. The back cover describes Coover's work as a "discussion on what is means to be human," which perfectly echos the original story of Pinocchio as well. Pinocchio wants to be a real boy, but he must first learn what it means to be a respectful human being, by bargaining before granting his wish, the fairy with blue hair teaches him valuable life lessons. More later when I finish the book!
- KER
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