dear proulxfan:
I was afraid it might not be available yet in stores. I got mine at Amazon, and you're right it is a little pricey - but hey, its Brokeback, so what am I gonna' do? Once your addicted you’ll pay any price to get your “fix” right? I've been trying to read an essay a night so as to not get them all blended together in my feeble head. I wish I was better at remembering the things that strike me as I'm reading them, but I don't take notes and it's kind of difficult to go back later because there as so many interesting issues raised.
The book is organized (i.e. the essays are presented) in a somewhat chronological manner, so that ones dealing with historical precedents and issues come first and others dealing with 20th or 21st century issues come last. I've only read the first four so far, so these are the only ones I can comment on. The first two were absolutely fascinating to me as history is something I find very engaging. A really in-depth discussion of various Greek, Roman, and later myths and stories going all the way up to Shakespeare with Romeo & Juliet and his other creations. The third essay was a little less interesting, but the fourth sparked my interest back again.
Some might find the text a little "academic" but not overly so. There are good footnotes and every time a passage is cited from either the SS or screenplay it's identified as such and the page number from the published text is included. It's NOT fluff. There is a lot of discussion of ancient Greek writers many of whom I don't recognize but if you're an English major or interested in Literature you'd probably know them, (I'm an architect, duh . . .) for instance I knew nothing of Theocritus, but his work is discussed as it relates to directly to BBM.
What I’ve found most fascinating is to learn other, “outsider” points of view and interpretations of the scenes and storyline. You know how to some degree people tend to congregate with their own type; so many of us here at ennisjack have generally the same interpretation of certain aspects of the SS or movie? Well here’s an entirely new, fresh and intelligent take on many scenes and aspects of the entire phenomena. These aren’t “reviews” or even criticisms, but truly enlightened analysis. I find myself thinking Wow! I never thought of it like that!
It will be interesting to see if my own interest level stays as high when I get to essays dealing with more contemporary issues and aspects, like gay rights, etc. I sometimes feel it is difficult to analyze recent history because we are “sitting too close to the screen” to see the entire picture.
Summary-
I’d say if you are at all interested in literature, writing, and movies; or the analysis of literature, writing and movies you will find this very intriguing. I’m just guessing but I’ll bet it will be used in countless college courses dealing with these subjects as well as the Brokeback Mountain phenomena itself due to its thoughtful approach and (as we all know) the endlessly fascinating subject of Ennis, Jack, Annie, Larry, Diana, and Ang.
jackster
