The Oval Portrait

I’m going to talk about The Oval Portrait we studied in class. It’s a full short story by Allan Edgar Poe in 1842. There are two characters : the narrator and his valet. They have decided to stop for a night in an abandonned castle. The room where is the narrator is isolated and it’s a particular architecture, the decorations are antique and old. The narrator is reading a book and he moves the candelabrum to have more light, and he see a painting that he had not noticed before. It’s very strange because he is sure that there was nothing before, and because he thought that the girl who is painting was alive. Then there is a decription of the woman who is very beautiful and lovely, and we learn that the painter is passionate by his art. I find this short story very interesting because there is a strange link between art and death with the painter who seems to paint his wife while she gradually dies. And you what do you think about it ?

« Bridget Jones’s Diary » by Helen Fielding

I would  like to speak to you about the novel « Bridget Jones’s Diary » writing by Helen Fielding in 1996. Helen Fielding is a famous novelist in England which is especially known for the novel that I will speak to you. This novel is rather ironic, it tells the story of an unmarried young woman who works in a company newsletter. The main character, Bridget Jones, tells his story as if she wrote a diary. She seeks the prince charming who will change his life, his vision on itself and on the world.
This novel was adapted out of film by the English director Beeban Kidron who made film comic.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rbadSnlVc[/youtube]

The Unabridged Journal of Sylvia Plath

In class we worked on The Unabriged Journal of Sylvia Plath, it’s an autobiography. At the beginning of the extract the author is in Benidorm, in Spain, during her honeymoon with her husband. Her husband is also a writer, so writing is the center of their relationship, we can see that Sylvia admires her husband and they seems to leave in a perfect harmony.It gives to Sylvia much energy and she has many projects. Her life seems to be perfect now she is married. Then it’s very strange because just a few hours after, we feel that something has happened, she seems to be lost and there is no more harmony. It’s very surprising because suddenly it’s as if everything around her has changed. We can see that the author souffers probably from psychological instability and we know that she commited suicide. I found this extract very interesting and I like autobiographies because we learn lot of things about authors, but in this case I think it’s different because the journal was published after Sylvia Plath’s death and we don’t know if she would have agreed to publish it. And you, what do you think about autobiographical novel ?