A Gay/campy chronicling of daily life in NYC,with individual kernels of human truth. copyright 2011 by The Raving Queen
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Hey, Would The Brontes Have Written Online??????????
Chalk this up, girls, to me currently rereading "Wuthering Heights," which, even on a ninth reading, is absolute Heaven!!!!!!!! This question came in relation to myself, as I was crossing at Greenwich and West 12th this morning, on my way to work.
I have been writing online now for several years. I have written other things in addition to this blog, but I have to ask--could I write this blog conventionally????? I would have to say no.
The media are different. When I am on here, I can write almost as fast as I think, because the words just come to me, without much time for contemplation. With pen and pad, or even manual typewriter, that contemplation is always there; sometimes helpful, sometimes getting in the way, which means if I were to attempt this offline, the scintillating prose style you see before you might cease to be.
But back to the Brontes. Would they have written online? Absolutely; they
were forward thinkers for their time, and went with whatever the time offered them. Which would apply if they were living in ours.
However, I fear were they to do so, the output would not be what us Bronte mavens hold in high esteem!!!!!!!! What would "Wuthering Heights" be like, if Emily had written it online?
Would it be the greatest novel in the English language, seconded only by "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, and separated by a couple of micrometers???? I would like to think so, but, unfortunately, I think what you would get is a Brontesque version of something like "Fifty Shades of Gray." Can you imagine this, darlings???? Emily Bronte must be turning over in her grave. Forgive me, Emily!!!!!!!!! Perhaps her spirit will haunt me at the window tonight, as Catherine Linton's did Mr. Lockwood!!!!!!!!!!!
As for Charlotte, the most prolific sister, and Control Queen Extraordinaire, I think, with her fixation on female empowerment, evidenced by "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" (her two best books) she might have produced something along the lines of "The Hunger Games." Hopefully, not as violent.
Now, don't get me wrong, girls; I am not suggesting that Suzanne Collins or E.L. James are the equals to the Brontes, or even anywhere near their level!!!!!!!! Are you kidding?????
What I am suggesting is that, just as the Brontes adapted to their time, so would they adapt to ours. And while whatever they produced would be infinitely superior to what these two aforementioned have churned out, they would not be be the works we hold in reverence today.
In that case, would we revere them?????????????
This question cannot be answered, but is fascinating to contemplate. All I can do is offer thanks the Brontes wrote when they did. Their efforts have perpetuated down through time in a way I do not see Collins or James doing.
Bell, book and candle, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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