tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883842356602985918.post825430543097743263..comments2011-10-04T08:53:54.470-07:00Comments on Susan and Liana Rock Their PhDs: Ray and Harden let me down!Susan & Lianahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13488572876417338804noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883842356602985918.post-49811912173102784082011-03-16T21:17:33.001-07:002011-03-16T21:17:33.001-07:00Hey Liana! It took a lot of doing (and convincing)...Hey Liana! It took a lot of doing (and convincing). A critic (that actually came to BU), Rosemarie Bodenheimer, wrote a fascinating book on George Eliot that read her letters alongside her fictions and explored the connections. <br /><br />By reading Thackeray's letters, illustrations, diary entries, etc.in tandem with his fictions I feel I see a much more complete picture of how an intelligent, multi-lingual, globetrotter like himself viewed the empire and reflected on what it meant to be "English." <br /><br />I'm also questioning recent (narrow) postcolonial readings that say things like: "In Barry Lyndon, the English were mean to young Barry, so his later abuse of his English wife is Thackeray criticizing English rule of Ireland." <br /><br />I find such readings terribly forced; when you read his letters alongside his fictions it shows that he believed in the "civilizing mission of empire, but often questioned many English practices and their treatment of those categorized as distinctly "non-English." <br /><br />Hope that makes sense, had my evening glass of wine!Susan Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06485670335322412497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883842356602985918.post-31316706738353521232011-03-16T20:08:26.093-07:002011-03-16T20:08:26.093-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Susan Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06485670335322412497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883842356602985918.post-62706892060461223762011-03-16T19:26:05.952-07:002011-03-16T19:26:05.952-07:00Wow, you and Willy T are definitely closelikethis....Wow, you and Willy T are definitely closelikethis. ;) Just curious: how are you using the biographical info in the diss?literarychicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17429122166895693446noreply@blogger.com