What I’ve Been Reading Lately…

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“The Glass Menagerie,” Tennessee Williams

   A story of shattered hopes and dreams, “The Glass Menagerie” was Williams’ first successful play and is the one that originally made him popular. It tells the story of a family whose desires will be left unfulfilled–the son, who wants to leave his job at the warehouse to become a poet but has to support his family; the sister, who is tremendously shy and won’t take advantage of any of the opportunities presented to her; and the mother, who wants to see her daughter married and her son successful. From Willams’ ending, it seems that almost none of this will be possible, and one has to wonder about the wondrously pessimistic view of Williams’ plays and how they reflect on the society in which he lived.

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“Justine,” Iben Mondrup

   Mondrup is one of Denmark’s most successful contemporary feminist writers, and this shows through her novel again and again as readers see her heroine battle through sexist society and ugly stereotypes of women. Told through a series of flashbacks that set the story in a disarray, much like the protagonist’s own life, the reader is never quite sure of when or where each of the short vignettes (most only a page long) are taking place–in the past or the present. When the reader reaches the end and finally realizes the succession of events, it leaves you quite astounded. Basically, a fire at Justine’s house has destroyed everything for her upcoming exhibition and she must hurriedly create new work, but it is the surrounding events that change the course of her life.

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