Posted by Steven on 11/7/2011, 9:21:08, in reply to "Re: Journal of the Plague Year"
76.186.51.185
I finished it last night. I guess one of the first things we could talk about is what to call it: novel or non-fiction. I was reading an ebook without any introductory material, but from what I can gather, even though these are not Defoe's personal observations, he may have been basing them on the actual writings of the person who signs "H.F." at the end.
Another question is whether the glowing portrait Defoe paints of the civil authorities and their actions during the plague was accurate or was perhaps motivated by patriotic or political feelings. Have you read anything that addresses this?
I've watched the first four lectures from the Yale course I cited earlier, and will be doing #5 this morning. The first two lectures are background material on the state of medical science at the time--they are interesting, but you can skip them. Lectures 3, 4 & 5 are about the bubonic plague itself, and are excellent resources for both the Defoe book and the Manzoni novel we will be reading later.
--Previous Message--
: I have finished it, and I have some comments to make. I
: will save them until everyone has finished. It's
: actually short, although not exactly a quick read.
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: --Previous Message--
: I started it yesterday and it looks very interesting.
: My
: Spanish edition has an excellent introduction, on
: which I will comment later. Anybody else?
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: --Previous Message--
: I will probably start reading our July selection late
: today or tomorrow. In the meantime I've discovered an
: interesting related resource. Among the latest
: additions to the Open Yale Courses, which are free
: videos of actual class lectures, there is a history
: course titled "Epidemics in Western Society Since
: 1600." Defoe's book is the first reading
: assignment in that class. Lectures 1 & 2 are
: introductory, and lectures 3, 4 and 5 deal
: specifically with plague.
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: http://oyc.yale.edu/history/epidemics-in-western-society-since-1600
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