Princess Napraxine Read Along
Oct. 20th, 2024 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee34Link to Volume 2 and Reading Schedule
Chapters 32-33 pages 320-end
Othmar and Yseulte stay at Amyot the entire spring and summer. The narrative compares the estate to a book and to a grave, which fascinates me. Is this marriage no different, no better, than the convent? Fritz questions whether she's actually worse off with Othmar than at the convent.
Othmar is hiding from Nadine at Amyot; Fritz tells him he has to go to Paris and be seen. Othmar thinks his residence in Paris (decorated by his father) is decorated in poor taste and vulgar.
Yseulte sees that Othmar is bored but thinks this is natural because of her age and that she'll be more interesting to him as she grows older.
Othmar tells Yseulte that women of the world crush their souls and waste all their gifts, but he isn't worried that she'll be one of them. He wants her to circulate in society because he wants her to have friends to ease the disappointment of finally realizing he doesn't love her. He knows this is a vulgar impulse.
Othmar is compared to Hamlet, the quintessential Victorian man of neuroses. LOL
Fritz shares Nadine's lack of religious beliefs and laments the loss of an older/more traditional atheism without all the neuroses of the current era.
Yseulte has a boating accident that causes a miscarriage. Othmar doesn't experience the gut-wrenching grief that Yseulte experiences; in fact, he feels almost nothing. He sounds clinically depressed to me.
The second volume of the novel ends with this quote: "for love is fate, and will neither be commanded for gainsaid."
Chapters 32-33 pages 320-end
Othmar and Yseulte stay at Amyot the entire spring and summer. The narrative compares the estate to a book and to a grave, which fascinates me. Is this marriage no different, no better, than the convent? Fritz questions whether she's actually worse off with Othmar than at the convent.
Othmar is hiding from Nadine at Amyot; Fritz tells him he has to go to Paris and be seen. Othmar thinks his residence in Paris (decorated by his father) is decorated in poor taste and vulgar.
Yseulte sees that Othmar is bored but thinks this is natural because of her age and that she'll be more interesting to him as she grows older.
Othmar tells Yseulte that women of the world crush their souls and waste all their gifts, but he isn't worried that she'll be one of them. He wants her to circulate in society because he wants her to have friends to ease the disappointment of finally realizing he doesn't love her. He knows this is a vulgar impulse.
Othmar is compared to Hamlet, the quintessential Victorian man of neuroses. LOL
Fritz shares Nadine's lack of religious beliefs and laments the loss of an older/more traditional atheism without all the neuroses of the current era.
Yseulte has a boating accident that causes a miscarriage. Othmar doesn't experience the gut-wrenching grief that Yseulte experiences; in fact, he feels almost nothing. He sounds clinically depressed to me.
The second volume of the novel ends with this quote: "for love is fate, and will neither be commanded for gainsaid."
no subject
Date: 2024-10-20 11:17 pm (UTC)I also appreciated the Othmar/Hamlet comparison!
It seems very Victorian that we don't hear any sign that Yseulte is pregnant until the miscarriage/stillbirth (I don't think we know how far along the pregnancy is, but they were married in February and this is October, so it could be relatively close to term).
Two thirds of the way through, I'm not sure where things are going. Maybe Yseulte and Platon will both die, and Nadine and Othmar will get to make each other happy? Maybe they'll run off with each other without the spouses dying? To bring Nadine's character arc to a conclusion, I think she needs to either find a sense of purpose or die.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-21 10:03 am (UTC)The pregnancy isn't even mentioned until the miscarriage, but she must have been far enough along that she delivered an actual baby who died or was born dead. Poor Yseulte. I do think that having a child would make a world of difference for her. She might be hurt when she realizes the truth about Othmar's feelings, but she'd have her kid to love.
I love your speculations! <3
I'll post a reading schedule for volume 3 later today.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-31 09:53 pm (UTC)https://lunabee34.dreamwidth.org/780636.html
no subject
Date: 2024-10-31 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-31 10:54 pm (UTC)Cries
no subject
Date: 2024-11-03 06:20 pm (UTC)I was looking at an October calendar and set the reading dates for the middle of the week instead of the weekend. Do you want to keep as is or move to the weekend? It's fine either way with me.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-03 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-03 07:28 pm (UTC)Let's do that then. I'll amend the reading schedule post.