Beyond the Letters

Biographies are generally a non-fiction genre, for even though they have some place for imagination and emotionality within them, they are mostly a collection of facts presented in an attractive way. But many writers, especially modern ones, try to reconsider this quite old genre and give a new life to it. Here I will tell you about some novels that depict images of famous people, and whose main aim is not to tell the story of someone’s life but to let the reader see these personalities through the author’s eyes. 1. Miss Charity by Marie-Aude Muriel Loosely based on the life of Beatrix Potter this little comedy however managed to create a very credible image of the acclaimed children author. Beatrix Potter was a talented writer with her own unique vision of the world and her own ideas about woman’s position in society. Living in highly conventional Victorian society, she dared to state that any woman could be more than just a wife or a housekeeper. The book is written in th...

Having read some reviews, I realized, to my surprise, that many people blame this novel for exessive intertexuality (which is the basis of all postmodern literature, by the way). Indeed, some believe that this postmodern feature comes from some kind of literature crisis and shows the inabily of modern authors to produce anything genuine and original (therefore such desire to quote and interpret the classics). But if we think about it carefully we'll find out that throughout the history literary texts were always connected with and influenced by each other. Many authors of Renaissance borrowed their plots from the works of ancient Greeks and Romans, while the Romanticists took inspiration in folklore fables and fairy tales. As for me, even if Mr. Pip IS a compilation of already knows classic pieces, it is surely a very clever one. So if we focus on something positive a reader can take from this book, what shall that be? Firstly, there is  a small secluded island in the Pacific ...