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A review by qontfnns
An Autobiography of the Autobiography of Reading by Dionne Brand
4.0
Interesting outlook on reading colonialism on literary works.
You know, I've always been wondering how people on classic books seemed to dilly dally a lot in their lives, walking on morning and afternoon walks for hours, staying on acquaintance's residence for a fortnight at the shortest, and then moving directly to another acquaintance's castle on another city, not coming home and be productive for a month or more! And yet they still lived in a lavish property, ate proper dinner made by cooks, hired maids, and bequeathed thousands of pounds to their children upon marriage or death. Hiring maids and cooks were the least you could do for your social status, and they would still insist on doing so even if they already felt like they 'fell into poverty' (which poor people can hire anyone else to provide their basic necessities??). Lavish, lavish, lavish. Where's all the money from? Why of course, OF COURSE, they might just have been involved in the astronomically lucrative business of SLAVERY AND COLONIALISM. This is barely mentioned in the classics I've read, which are mostly Jane Austen's. The men's jobs were brushed over quickly as if it's so natural and easy to earn money, or she's just clueless about it. This is a parallel I noticed in Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang as well. Women living in affluent houses won't be affected by the conflicts happening outside their neighborhood. With no internet, limited means of disseminating the news, or intentional deprivation of information due to then European patriarchal tendency to baby their women lest they fell into a hYsTEriCaL fit, it's possible that they weren't quite aware of imperialism/colonialism going on? Well, being ignorant is a lesser sin than being the actor of evil themselves I guess. I'll be lenient to female classic authors.
Anyways, this book investigates traces of slavery and colonialism in Vanity Fair and Jane Eyre. I haven't read both, but anything written by white people pre 1945 hits different now. I'm seeing things in a new light, and I'll try to pay more attention to this nuance from now on IF I'm going to read more of such classics anytime soon. I feel it most urgent to read things from the colonized point of view instead now, at least until the disgust subsides :/
You know, I've always been wondering how people on classic books seemed to dilly dally a lot in their lives, walking on morning and afternoon walks for hours, staying on acquaintance's residence for a fortnight at the shortest, and then moving directly to another acquaintance's castle on another city, not coming home and be productive for a month or more! And yet they still lived in a lavish property, ate proper dinner made by cooks, hired maids, and bequeathed thousands of pounds to their children upon marriage or death. Hiring maids and cooks were the least you could do for your social status, and they would still insist on doing so even if they already felt like they 'fell into poverty' (which poor people can hire anyone else to provide their basic necessities??). Lavish, lavish, lavish. Where's all the money from? Why of course, OF COURSE, they might just have been involved in the astronomically lucrative business of SLAVERY AND COLONIALISM. This is barely mentioned in the classics I've read, which are mostly Jane Austen's. The men's jobs were brushed over quickly as if it's so natural and easy to earn money, or she's just clueless about it. This is a parallel I noticed in Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang as well. Women living in affluent houses won't be affected by the conflicts happening outside their neighborhood. With no internet, limited means of disseminating the news, or intentional deprivation of information due to then European patriarchal tendency to baby their women lest they fell into a hYsTEriCaL fit, it's possible that they weren't quite aware of imperialism/colonialism going on? Well, being ignorant is a lesser sin than being the actor of evil themselves I guess. I'll be lenient to female classic authors.
Anyways, this book investigates traces of slavery and colonialism in Vanity Fair and Jane Eyre. I haven't read both, but anything written by white people pre 1945 hits different now. I'm seeing things in a new light, and I'll try to pay more attention to this nuance from now on IF I'm going to read more of such classics anytime soon. I feel it most urgent to read things from the colonized point of view instead now, at least until the disgust subsides :/