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March 2023 Self-Promotion Party!
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Hello to everyone! We are now in Spring, and I thought it would be a good time to share what you have been writing and what you have written. I want once again to offer an opportunity for all writers who follow this blog to share information on their books. It can be very difficult to generate publicity for our writing, so I thought this little effort might help. All books may be mentioned, and there is no restriction on genre. This includes poetry and non-fiction.
To participate, simply give your name, your book, information about it, and where to purchase it in the comments section. Then please be willing to reblog and/or tweet this post. The more people that see it, the more publicity we can generate for everyone’s books.
Thank you for participating!
Keep on writing!
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Celebrate and promote your writing! Shout it out to the world! Let everyone know about your work!
Don’t be shy. Be your own best promoter and publicist!
Feel free to promote a new or an older book!
I hope this idea is successful, and I hope many people share information on their books!
Available on Amazon
Get The Draft Done! is available here: Amazon.com
Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.
Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.
An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.
Please follow the following links to find my novel:
Thank you!
My radio interview:
Libraries of the Lehigh Valley, PA: Trexler Library of Muhlenberg College
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The next entry in my series on libraries in the Lehigh Valley, PA is Trexler Library of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. We, in this area, are extremely fortunate to have not only several city public libraries, but also we have small town libraries and those in six private colleges and universities, and in an extension campus of Penn State University, and two community colleges. This section of Pennsylvania is truly blessed with an abundance of knowledge and resources from these numerous institutions.
This building has a fascinating design, with three floors that descend. The top floor is the area with the checkout desks, information areas, talking sections, and the valuable writing center. Down the next two floors are the stacks with books, and these are quiet areas.
Not only does this building hold many volumes of books, music, and films, but it also has a rare books room, in which displays of unusual and often unseen items are put on display.
I was delighted to find that Trexler Library has in its collection several example of cuneiform tablets, dating probably from circa 2500-3000 B.C. as well as several ancient parchments. Here are some examples:
I also want to mention that I am proud that two of my novels, Maledicus, The Investigative Paranormal Society, Book 1 and Gallows Hill, The Investigative Paranormal Society, Book 2 are in the library’s collection!
Lastly, I apologize for the blurred photographs. Clearly, photography is not one of my talents.
A New Book Entry For the U.L.S., the Underground Library Society: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
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Here is another entry into the U.L.S., the Underground Library Society by Robbie Cheadle, a long-time member of this unofficial group. I am honored that Robbie Cheadle has written another entry–this one on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
To Robbie: thank you!
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Overview
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a gothic novel written by Oscar Wilde and first published in April 1890.
The book opens on with painter, Basil Hallward, a sensitive soul, painting a portrait of a young man of extraordinary good looks called Dorian Gray. Basil’s friend, Lord Henry Wotton is observing Basil adding the final touches to the painting and comments that it is Basil’s best work.
Lord Henry takes an interest in Dorian, a remarkably good looking but shallow young man, and sets about influencing him with his believes that beauty and the pursuit of personal pleasure are the only things in life worth pursuing.
Basil gifts the painting to Dorian who makes a secret wish that the painting could age and change on his behalf and that he, Dorian, could retain his good looks for the rest of his life.
Under the warped influence of Lord Henry, Dorian sets out to explore every emotion and sensation life has to offer, regardless of the cost to others. He meets a beautiful young actress, Sybil Vane, and falls in love with her amazing renditions of the various heroines in Shakespeare’s plays, in particularly the tragic roles. He purposefully meets Sybil and declares his love for her. A young and easily influenced girl from a poor family, Sybil falls in love with Dorian, and it impacts on her acting, rendering her quite unable to perform. Dorian rejects her and Sybil commits suicide in her anguish. After this tragedy, Dorian views the painting and see a sneer of cruelty around the portrait’s mouth. He realises that his wish for eternal youth and beauty has come true.
Influenced by a book provided by Lord Henry, Dorian sets out on a path of debauchery and sin, influencing other young men and women to accompany him in his heinous behaviours. As his life progresses, the painting becomes more and more hideous.
The quote below describes the degeneration of Dorian’s soul as depicted by the painting:
“Often, on returning home from one of those mysterious and prolonged absences that gave rise to such strange conjecture among those who were his friends, or thought that they were so, he himself would creep upstairs to the locked room, open the door with the key that never left him now, and stand, with a mirror, in front of the portrait that Basil Hallward had painted of him, looking now at the evil and aging face on the canvas, and now at the fair young face that laughed back at him from the polished glass. The very sharpness of the contrast used to quicken his sense of pleasure. He grew more and more enamoured of his own beauty, more and more interested in the corruption of his own soul. He would examine with minute care, and sometimes with a monstrous and terrible delight, the hideous lines that seared the wrinkling forehead or crawled around the heavy sensual mouth, wondering sometimes which were the more horrible, the signs of sin or the signs of age. He would place his white hands beside the coarse bloated hands of the picture, and smile. He mocked the misshapen body and the failing limbs.
There were moments, indeed, at night, when, lying sleepless in his own delicately scented chamber, or in the sordid room of the little ill-famed tavern near the docks which, under an assumed name and in disguise, it was his habit to frequent, he would think of the ruin he had brought upon his soul with a pity that was all the more poignant because it was purely selfish. But moments such as these were rare. That curiosity about life which Lord Henry had first stirred in him, as they sat together in the garden of their friend, seemed to increase with gratification. The more he knew, the more he desired to know. He had mad hungers that grew more ravenous as he fed them.”
Characterisations
The introductory chapters to this book set the stage for the plot extremely well as it gives a lot of insight into the characters of the three men at that point in time.
Basil is clearly sensitive and creative, an excellent artist and a lover of beauty. Dorian’s angelic looks have captivated him to a point where he is obsessed by the concept and illusion of this young man he has created in his own mind. His painting of Dorian is his attempt to capture the beauty and goodness he believes he perceives in his subject. Basil is delighted by the painting which he believes does justice to the characteristics he has attributed to Dorian.
Basil is also a man of strong morals and principles. All his characteristics are demonstrated by the following quote:
“You don’t understand me, Harry,” answered the artist. “Of course I am not like him. I know that perfectly well. Indeed, I should be sorry to look like him. You shrug your shoulders? I am telling you the truth. There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one’s fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live–undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are–my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray’s good looks–we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.”
Lord Henry Wotton is a self-centred and egotistical man. Spoiled due to his life of wealth, privilege and idleness, Lord Henry proclaims himself to be a hedonist who believes the pursuit of personal pleasure is the most important thing in life. He is a clever man who has channelled his brilliant mind into devising fascinating, poisonous and ill-conceived theories to support his shallow and selfish beliefs. Despite his long ramblings in support of his ridiculous notions about life, he is not actually a bad man and does not indulge in sordid or criminal behaviour. In fact, he believes that criminal activity belongs exclusively in the realm of those he deems to be the lower orders of humanity.
Unfortunately, Lord Henry is charming and worldly in addition to being a great, albeit misguided, intellect and he easily influences the weak and spineless Dorian Gray with his radical theories.
The following quote is an example of one of Lord Henry’s speeches:
““There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral – immoral from the scientific point of view.”
“Why?”
“Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion – these are the two things that govern us. And yet […] I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream – I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all maladies of medievalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal – to something finer, richer, than the Hellenic ideal, it may be. […] We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us. … The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.””
Dorian Gray is a weak character with not ambition to do anything useful with his life. The reader quickly realises that Basil’s romantic ideas about the young man are mere fancies, and that Dorian is not actually a very nice person. He is aware of his beauty right from the beginning of the book, and is very vain, but he is not aware of its lack of durability. It is Lord Henry who draws Dorian’s attention to the fact that beauty and youth are short lived.
Consider this quote:
“The painter considered for a few moments. “He likes me,” he answered after a pause; “I know he likes me. Of course I flatter him dreadfully. I find a strange pleasure in saying things to him that I know I shall be sorry for having said. As a rule, he is charming to me, and we sit in the studio and talk of a thousand things. Now and then, however, he is horribly thoughtless, and seems to take a real delight in giving me pain. Then I feel, Harry, that I have given away my whole soul to some one who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat, a bit of decoration to charm his vanity, an ornament for a summer’s day.””
Is The Picture of Dorian Gray worth reading?
The painting in this story, effectively depicts Dorian’s soul or true self. As Dorian sinks deeper and deeper into a life of debauchery and sin, the effects of his actions show on the portrait making it uglier and uglier. For me, the effect of sin on the painting is an effective metaphor for the effect of selfishness and I-concentric behaviour on our own souls.
In our modern world of excessive consumption, I think this lesson is still vitally important. Mankind needs to look beyond individual wants and desires and set about earnestly saving our wildlife and natural environment as well as uplifting and education disadvantaged people.
In addition, from my personal perspective, I loved the skilful and beautiful writing (although it does require extra concentration effort as the descriptive paragraphs are long and intricate) and an interesting storyline in addition to its focus on questionable ideals that still dominate our society.
Please visit Robbie Cheadle’s sites, and please buy her books! They are all excellent.
Thank you to Robbie Cheadle!
Check out her newest book of poetry; it is extraordinary!
Please be sure to visit Robbie Cheadle’s wonderful sites:
Robbie Cheadle Books/Poems/Reviews
If anyone wants to join this group, simply send me an email to frenchc1955@yahoo.com. Write about what book you would choose to memorize and save if we lived in a world in which books were banned.
National Reading Month!
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March is designated in the U.S.A. as National Reading Month to honor the legacy of Dr. Suess and his birthday. This action was taken originally to focus on children and reading with and to them. This action of shared reading aloud is extremely important and establishes one of the most important skills all children need in reading, as well as opening them to one of the best joys in life–imagination through books.
I consider reading to be not only a wonderful skill but also one of the greatest pleasures in life. I have been an avid reader for almost as long as I can remember. The act of reading fills me with joy, with journeys into other worlds, and with knowledge.
Please find the time to read. If you can, read to a child or children, to other adults, or simply read for yourself.
Please read!
What Is A Book That You Love?
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I am a teacher, a writer, and a lover of books. I cannot remember a time when I could not read, and the simple act of reading a book is one of the best pleasures in life. So, I was thinking today about a book, one of my all time favorites: The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, that I have taught often, both at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. This novel is brilliant, funny, witty, Gothic, romantic, and deeply engaging. Can you tell I love it?
Here is a quotation from the back cover of the paperback:
“Wondrous . . . masterful . . . The Shadow Of The Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.”
— Entertainment Weekly, Editor’s Choice
So, I ask you: what is one of your favorite books?
A March Wish For Writers
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Can you believe it is the beginning of March already? Winter is almost over, even though where I live it has been almost unbelievably mild, and Spring will soon be here. I know it is a function of age, but it does truly seem that time is racing by!
With that thought in mind, I simply wanted to wish all writers a productive month of writing. Remember to take your writing in chunks, first a day at a time, then a week, and then a month.
Also, keep in mind that if you write only 250 words a day, that by the end of one year, you will have completed a full first draft of a book!
Don’t stop, don’t give up, and always believe in yourself.
Happy Writing!
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What book(s) are you reading?
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I have spent the majority of my time on this blog writing about writing, so I thought I would address the most fundamental and most important part of this experience with books: reading.
I have been reading my entire life; in fact, I cannot remember a time when I did not read. And reading has informed my life in many ways, not only in terms of career but also in the joys of life itself.
I read books, I teach them, and I write about them, but mostly, I enjoy them. I remember my mother telling me when I was very little that you can go many places that you might not ever have a chance to visit, real and made up, if you read. And I have visited and continue to journey to real and fantastic lands.
I am not a reading snob. While I teach college English Literature, I read in a very wide range, from adventure and horror to drama and so-called high literature, although I am not so certain that this distinction is accurate. Both Shakespeare and Dickens were considered popular writers in their time. Hemingway straddled the mythical fence of literature and genre writing. Today, I happily read authors in a multitude of genres, including Stephen King and John Connolly, among many others. So, I read whatever I choose, in any area. And I get great pleasure from the reading.
I am currently reading, as I usually do, several books, including A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny, Twilight Of The Gods by Ian W. Toll, and Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.
Happy Reading!
And a quick question: what is a book you are currently reading?
Quotations On Censorship
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“Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.”
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me.”
Judy Blume
( By Moritz Daniel Oppenheim)
“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”
Heinrich Heine
“In our current political climate, in which some politicians openly state their plans to ban books, it is time for those of us who love books and who honor and cherish the freedom to choose our reading, to oppose their censorship. Let our voices be heard. Stand up against censorship. Always remember that book banning is the act of a tyrant or someone who would be a tyrant.”
Charles F. French
Creativity Quotations
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“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Maya Angelou
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“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
Albert Einstein
“Creativity takes courage.”
Henri Matisse
charles french words reading and writing 