March 13 is Home Reading.
The story to read is A. Bennett The Supreme Illusion
Reader-3, pp. 187-193
Questions to do in writing.
6, 7 NEW ITEMS: 4, 8, 17, 18 are to be answered in detail!!!
While interpreting, pay attention to the following questions 9, 11, 13-16 (to be included in your written interpretation)
HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS STORY?
Share the impressions in the commentaries.
I like this story as well as Arnold Bennett’s style of writing. “The Supreme Illusion” touches upon such themes as illusion and its aftermath, famous people and their satisfied ambitions, art and theatre. This story is about the narrator’s disillusions which can be seen throughout the narration. I think composition helps us to understand it, e.g. in exposition the narrator meets the barbaric and vulgar woman and Octave Boissy who tells him about his life and Blanche (a woman who inspired him to become a playwright); in climax the narrator expects Blanche to be magnificent, and in denouement we see his disappointment in realizing that Blanche is the very disgusting woman he met having arrived at the hotel. So, I think, the idea of the story is that “If you want no disappointment, don`t indulge in illusions”, and, moreover, you should understand that “Appearances are often very deceptive”.
ReplyDeleteI like the story because of the themes which, in my opinion, are very interesting and important. The problem of illusion faces people almost every day because we like to fantasy and think as we wish. In the text we see exactly this problem. I was also interested in a "secret" woman about whom Boissy Minor told his friend. Her personality was a kind of intrigue not only for us but for the narrator as well. He could not imagine that this actress was the ugly and savaged-dressed one who he met while arriving. The author, Arnold Bennett, created the story in a way to keep our attention and curiosity till the end.
ReplyDeleteAll in all I like the story; it's a bit unusual for me because of the author's style of writing. He described Blanche from different points of view absorbing our attention from the very beginning. As for the narrator she seemed to be ugly and ageing woman, whom he would never accepted for the actress. However, for Boissy she was different, as he admired her.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading the story as this text shows us author's irony and vivid character drawing.But the power of illusion has demonic roots. As for me, I can differ the word "fantasy" and the word "illusion" because our fantasies came from goodhearted dreams and desires and illusions are made from solid fiber of fanatical faith and extreme self-persuasion. And in this case we can see the man with strange woman-image, spoiled by his mind ( transformation of his blind passion inside the misty mind).
ReplyDeleteI like The Supreme Illusion by A. Bennett, especially his style of writing. His language is stylistically coloured and I think he succeeds in using a mix of formal and informal language. The story represents an established trusting relationship between the old friends. At first, they reminisced about their school years, actually they had been in the same class, then the old friends shared their problems and interests and finally, the main character Octave Boissy, who turned out to be a very wealthy European celebrity revealed his inmost thoughts and worryings dealing with his private life to his schoolfellow.
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ReplyDeleteI like Arnold Bennette`s style of writing. It goes without saying that he perfectly mixes formal, informal and harsh words (offensive hag, to deign, monstrosities, barbaric creature). Sometimes they are useful to express the narrator`s disgust , sometimes – delight but always to intensify desired effect.It's not hard to imagine.It's not hard to throw an illusion in the air.The simplest might be to close our eyes to life.Illusion don't cease existing.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed the story by A. Bennett. "The Supreme Illusion" is a very short story, and yet it manages to get a good twist so that it's fascinating to read it. Although the story is rather simple for understanding, there is plenty in it to make us think. Such themes as illusion and its consequences , material and spiritual values of different people are discussed in this story thus making it instructive. As for the language I am deeply impressed by the vivid descriptions of the main characters .The author uses a plenty of epithets providing us with a great deal of information about them , such as their appearance and some character features. All in all the story is exciting and worth reading
ReplyDeleteThe story is interesting, but that is all. It didn't impress me greatly. The way it was written didn't suit it at all. Though the idea is clear and really important today: you can be a black horse in the ordinary life and the king on the scene and vice versa. By the way you shouldn't be pretty and perfect, but you are to have a talent to make feelings in the audience, like great actors of the world. Truly speaking, our life can bring us more miraculous illusion, but it is the talk about other story...
ReplyDeleteI really like the story and Bennett’s style of writing. It was very pleasant to read because although it is a short story, it consists of much useful, worth thinking information. Bennett’s direct and indirect description of the main characters are not complete and it allows us reach it by ourselves. It is full of themes and the main idea is not trivial and easy to understand. Anyway, the story gives us mental pabulum. The ending is really gorgeous, especially if we correlate it with the title, what is also interesting for discussion.
ReplyDeleteI like this story. First of all it seemed to me funny. It's a pity that the story has no continuation. It would be interesting for me how the main character behaved further. But we can only guess. I think he would not say Octave about his impression of this woman but perhaps his attitude to his friend would change.
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