#volfoss

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Hmm, this is a hard question to answer because I'm not sure what should count as "obscure", so if these are well-known take pity, but here are some favorites that I don't think people talk about very often:

Evelina by Frances Burney - Evelina is a young ingenue who is pulled away from her quiet life at an abbey to go to London, after her real parentage is revealed. Jane Austen was quite inspired by Burney and you can tell. Written in epistolary form, it contains biting satire and is very funny.

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte - The best book I've read this year (besides maybe Foucault's Pendulum) I know Charlotte Bronte is most famous for Jane Eyre and that Shirley is often derided as the Tory equivalent of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. It's true that the politics in this novel are conservative. But that is not where I see the value in this work.

What I adored, and what I think people miss about Charlotte Bronte when they call her the most conventional of her siblings, is the way that Bronte refuses to fall into the trap of making women flat characters. It is Caroline Helstone, the more conventional of the two leads, who expresses the most violence of emotions within her (also, she is just like me for real). These women live their lives and conform or don't to societal expectations, but Charlotte Bronte never forgets that they are nebulous, flawed, complex characters. And, frankly, I think most authors still haven't caught up.

This is Moscow Speaking by Yuli Daniel - Technically a short story, not a novel, but a really good one. Daniel has sort of flown under the radar of Russian authors, even though it was his trial (along with Sinyavsky) was both the end of Khrushchev's Thaw and a turning point in the dissident movement. The actual story itself is basically "What if, the purge??" It's stomach turning and unpleasant, but it's stuck with me even years after I read it.

The Princesse de Cleves by Mme de la Fayette - This is one of the first, if not the first, French novels. About a Mme de Cleves who is in love with a man not her husband, but who is determined to stay faithful, this novel is a painful look into love and duty. The catalyst for things going wrong is not Mme de Cleves acting on her feelings, but rather her honesty in telling her husband that she is experiencing infatuation for another man. I wanted to underline half of the lines in this novel, it's so good. It shows that even when (almost) everyone makes the right choices, love can still cause catastrophe.

And, lastly for now, The Monk by Matthew Lewis - This novel was a massive scandal when it came out. Published a few years into the French Revolution (and it shows) by a British writer, the Monk is the story of proud monk Ambrosio who becomes involved with the devil in order to seduce a young woman. I should say that this novel has a content warning list the length of your arm: rape, incest, murder, torture, etc.. It's a gothic novel through and through. I found it compelling, and at the very least entertaining, and want to reread it soon. So if you're interested in the grotesque, you should check it out.

HI TWIST!! and omg i am truly SO delighted to hear my media+blorbo posting has had an Effect (yet again, no less... i'm so honoured by your consideration)!! kaname date is truly one of the Guys Ever. what is wrong with this guy somebody has to Get Him with hammers Now.

oh thank you...it isn't much of an essay-essay tbh, we're just supposed to puzzle with a question / thing we think is weird (mine only applies to the second volume / generation so I will put it under the cut if you don't want to be distracted when you get there 👆), but sure!! anyways, where are you right now? what do you think about it so far? what stuff is standing out? :-]!!