North and South. Elizabeth Gaskell. Charlotte Bronte. The Mayor of Casterbridge. The Prince and the Pauper. Pride and Prejudice. The Pickwick Papers. Two on a Tower. Wives and Daughters. Northanger Abbey. The Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer. Far from the Madding Crowd. The Bostonians. What Maisie Knew. The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Woodlanders.
The Annotated Sense and Sensibility. David M. I am willing to overlook that. Because Moll Flanders is one of my very favorite literary characters. She is the Scarlet O'Hara of the s; she has backbone. She's racy and edgy. She might have also slept with her brother on accident. I mean, haven't we all? NO, No, and absolutely not, but we can live vicariously through Moll and her other escapades, which is way better than accidental incest, in my opinion.
View all 5 comments. Nov 11, Ellen rated it really liked it Shelves: novels. Original title page for Moll Flanders The character of Moll Flanders has traditionally baffled critics.
Is she an ironic character? Is she truly penitent? How may her inconsistencies be justified? Critics have asserted there is irony in Moll Flanders but it is not in the book; that is, we--as readers--may appreciate irony in Moll's character but Defoe does not provide it. What may be easier to demonstrate, then, is that "Defoe's attitude toward Moll is consistent, even if Moll herself, ironically or otherwise, is not" James Whatever the critics propose, for readers, Moll emerges as irascible, vibrant, and wonderfully complex.
Moll also shows the limited choices for a woman of her time. Moll Flanders , as the description from Defoe's original title page suggests, is a novel written in the confessional mode. As readers of this type of work, our role is akin to that of a priest: we listen to the confessions and tacitly provide understanding or forgiveness.
To elicit our sympathy, Defoe places Moll in an environment not only hostile but enticing, a world, he would have us believe, that tempts and lures an otherwise virtuous individual into a life of crime. Again and again, Moll focuses on money and the material; early on, she defines herself in terms of her net worth. Though poor, Moll describes how she receives an education equivalent to that of a gentlewoman.
Though Moll admits her strong passion for the elder brother, her stronger passion soon becomes clear. After an initial episode of kissing, the brother gives Moll money. The elder brother—as we could predict—does not marry Moll and her reluctant marriage to the younger brother, done only out of financial necessity, receives a rapid narration. Typically, Moll assesses her present situation in terms of money, a description more graphic and several lines longer, than that of her five years of marriage.
Despite her professed good intentions, when push comes to shove, Moll consistently acts out of self-interest. Moll may momentarily hesitate and try to rationalize a forthcoming seduction or theft, but we never doubt the outcome. While we might find her attempts at rationalization or short fits of morality funny, Moll Flanders is a complex character. Ultimately, she is not simply funny nor simply tragic, but fully realized and equipped with powers of resourcefulness and self-preservation that might have been admired in a man.
You need to read this book. Armchair Historians! Forensic Sociologists! Moll Flanders is, I think, a rare look at the treatment and disposition of lower class women in Britain in the early s--what they thought, how they comported, and their daily interactions, no matter how insignificant.
What makes it a rare exposition? Fiction ofttimes captures the mood and milieu of a people and their condition far more accurately--and with muc Women! Fiction ofttimes captures the mood and milieu of a people and their condition far more accurately--and with much more meaning--than sterile government reporting and historian interpretations thereof. And this book is a snapshot of the then-current state of low income conditions instead of a retroactive screed or a future prediction.
Daniel Defoe is regarded by those crazy Wikipedians as one of the most prolific of all British writers, and he is certainly one of the best at cataloging daily life. His fiction portrayed Everyman or Everywoman in this case. It's a welcome relief to fiction of the Royal Court--its seneschals, courtiers, gallery, entourage, baggage, its rarefied air--that was so common among his literary peers.
Defoe's main character, Moll, is a woman with little money and few prospects. Throughout the book we witness the vagaries of her life in astonishingly candid details. She willfully, gladly and repeatedly partakes in whoring, infidelity, incest, child abandonment, rampant thievery, collusion, obstruction, misrepresentation. Despite what would normally be intriguing yet deplorable behavior, Defoe manages to make Moll, if not a likable character, at least one under which the pressures of her demographic makes her a believable, credible, and forgivable protagonist.
I understand Moll's behavior to be a faithful representation of her class. Unschooled, abused, almost no legal rights, victimized by any able man, no great hopes to improve her condition, destitute, routinely sick, routinely pregnant--this is the daily grind for women in Britain. Moll Flanders is a good, though unintentional, primary source that could easily be used as a historiography of the era. I recommend women read this book, not for my star rating, but because a man has written what I believe is a true, unabashed representation of a woman's condition in the s.
I'd like to know what women think of this book. I believe the abuse, sexual mores, and survival tactics of women in a brutish man's world at the lowest income levels is an unexpected reveal, and though the story drags at first, you may find yourself rooting for Moll. And despite her licentiousness, she ultimately finds modest wealth and success. She outwits the legal system, prevails to find a man of some substance, and escapes her demographic. Interestingly, she makes no excuse for how she lived; there's reflection, but no real penitence.
What do women today think of Moll? Is she diamond or quartz? Is this image of woman ready for high school English--a discussion for sophomores?
Now, Robinson Crusoe is close to my heart as one of my rare 5 star ratings, and the only book I've read both as a child and an adult, with equal curiosity and gusto, producing equal coolness.
But I'm a man, and that was a man-story and a boy's story too. So, if this story is about a women, does it work in the same regard as RC does for men? The writing, by common translation, has all the mile markers of early 18th century prose. The pervasive capitalization of random nouns, the apostrophe-heavy argot, no break for chapters, and the fastidiousness of complete thoughts for every sentence. All the hallmarks of what was then 'proper writing.
View all 15 comments. Hmmm, I gave this only 4 stars just a couple months ago, when I read it on my Kindle. Either I changed my mind, and it's really a 5-star, or perhaps the 'x' factor is the narration by Virginia Leishman. She's very good! I enjoyed very much my 're-read' via listening to this audiobook CD.
There was also a male narrator at the end, but I don't see his name on the packaging for the CD book. Interestingly, they included the Author's Preface at the end. The male narrator read that, and also the summary Hmmm, I gave this only 4 stars just a couple months ago, when I read it on my Kindle.
The male narrator read that, and also the summary Defoe gives, at the very end of the book. The rest was narrated by Ms. I had also checked out some physical books from the library to 'read along' with the Audio, but I didn't read along. I did read the extras in each of the three volumes after. They were good. I'll put in a separate review for those later, probably. Edit - they were: - a Heritage Press hardback edition favorite , - a Signet Classics paperback edition , - and a Penguin Classics paperback edition.
Edit: Included on the cover is a 'blurb excerpt' by Virgina Woolf Hmmmmmm, she may be right. It kinda is indisputably great. Such a fascinating character, particularly for the time, that Defoe created. Defoe is a very interesting person, himself. Shelves: novels , defoe. This, of course, was called an actual memoir when it was published. Today's novelists should take note: The first novels definitely were meant to deceive the public into thinking they were true stories.
The Norton Critical Edition I read in college was one soild paragraph. This means Defoe didn't get an effect out of the LOOK of his prose, unless an effect of incredible suffocation was intentional. The fact that it was one paragraph drove me insane, as it did my elder brother, who, upon hearing This, of course, was called an actual memoir when it was published.
The fact that it was one paragraph drove me insane, as it did my elder brother, who, upon hearing I had read it, said, "Oh, my God. It was one paragraph! It's frightening, funny and tragic. No need to ignore the fact that both characters share the first four letters of their names. Moll Flanders is not a very likeable woman, but she is a survivor and her escapades are well worth taking in.
Take her home. Jun 25, Cass rated it really liked it Shelves: books-i-own , , must-read-books. I finally finished reading Moll Flanders, and I loved it. I have heard such negative reviews about this book. I have heard it said that the heroine is not likeable.
She is painted as a whore and a thief. I came away with an entirely different view. Her character hooked me from the start. A beautiful and skillful woman, she is intelligent but unworldly. She meets with great success in the beginning of the book due to her own personal accomplishments, aspirations, and personality. She takes what lit I finally finished reading Moll Flanders, and I loved it. She takes what little she has and uses it as best she can. She keeps running into bad luck which she works hard to overcome.
I just adored her. I love everything about the book. This isn't pulp fiction. I was recently inspired listening to a cambridge professor on the radio commenting on the idea of reading for fun. He criticised the idea that we read pulp fiction for fun, and suggested that we should read good novels for fun, he suggested Anna Karenina etc. The idea struck home with me, these are well written and highly enjoyable pieces of literature, why are they often considered too hard.
I read Anne Karenina recently and found it fabulous, it blew me away. Sep 12, Pinky rated it really liked it Shelves: classics. Ever wondered what the significance of Ned Flander's wife's name on the Simpons? Moll Flanders is about a woman that not only fell on hard times, but is a strong, self asserted woman that uses any possible wiles to survive in a time when women were still nothing more than trinkets.
She goes from reputable, to the London street slum, to accidentally marrying her brother, to living a long life with one that she loves. Far beyond its time, Moll Flanders is a classic. Hard to read at times, as is most Ever wondered what the significance of Ned Flander's wife's name on the Simpons?
Hard to read at times, as is most of the books that came from the ss, just meerly because of the style of writing can get long in the tooth.
This isn't a book for someone to pick up that isn't willing to read. Aug 25, Jim rated it it was amazing. Amusing, picaresque portrait of an unsrupulous antiherione the narrator in 17th century England and America. She lies, she steals, she whores - whatever it takes. I, and I suspect she, lost track of how many children she has by an assortment of fathers, but no matter.
The fact that there are no separate chapters may daunt some, but her amoral, approach to all her conflicts is most satisfing and you root for her to succeed. Words cannot express how happy I am I'm finally able to throw this book aside to never pick it up again. Nothing of this novel worked for me, starting with the odd writing style.
It was painful and more often than not I had to put it down because it was giving me headaches. The narrator, Moll, didn't work to help the story either. Moll Flanders was a torture and I don't care why it is still studied today. She leaves him in disgust and returns to England, where she becomes the mistress of a man whose wife has gone insane. He renounces his affair with Moll after a religious experience. Moll's next marriage offer is from a banker whose wife has been cheating on him.
Moll agrees to marry him if he can obtain a divorce, and meanwhile she travels to the country and marries a rich gentleman in Lancashire. This man turns out to be a fraud--he is as poor as she is--and they part ways to seek their fortunes separately. Moll returns to marry the banker, who by this time has succeeded in divorcing his wife. He dies soon after, however, and Moll is thrown back upon her own resources once again.
This they accomplished and settled in Maryland, where they became successful plantation owners in about a year's time. In Virginia, Moll's former husband-brother was living with one of their sons. Moll was anxious to receive her inheritance from her mother's estate and to meet her son, but was equally reluctant to confront her brother.
Everything turned out all right for Moll: she was able to get her inheritance, she was able to avoid her brother, and she met her son, who proved to be devoted and fair. At the age of almost seventy, Moll returned with Jemmy to London, here they planned to live out their lives in repentance for their criminal activities.
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