23 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2020
    1. A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in India), to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems, supposed to be affected by the lunar influences

      The backdrop of the narrator's story is westward expansion, and this is important to keep in mind because it can correlate to lines like this. Here, the narrator demystifies the moonstone of its superstition by fitting it into a western geologic history. Notice that he does not totally demystify it. Our narrator may not be superstitious, but he is a little stitious.

  2. Oct 2020
    1. The sublime intoxication of opium gleamed in his eyes; the dew of a stealthy perspiration began to glisten on his face.

      It's interesting to me that not the moonstone, but rather a different exotic import (from India), would be the thing with strange and mysterious powers.

  3. Sep 2020
    1. There, again, lay the illuminated manuscript on a table. Mr. Luker’s attention was absorbed, as Mr. Godfrey’s attention had been absorbed, by this beautiful work of Indian art. He too was aroused from his studies by a tawny naked arm round his throat, by a bandage over his eyes, and by a gag in his mouth.

      It's rewarding to see the Indians use the characters own Orientalism as a trap. Especially in the midst of what is possibly the most racist bit of narration yet. I wonder if Collins meant this as a sly critique of Orientalism, I also wonder if the frequent use of 'Christian' in place of kind, or decent (or good, etc.), wasn't so on the nose, as to be satirical. Especially, in a story, which by it's very nature, makes us curious to the true nature of its characters.

    2. their respectable English friend

      “Their respectable English friend” (with the repetition of the phrase later) implies that “Oriental” people can’t be respectable on their own or that somehow they’re thought of as not respectable until proving themselves to be some kind of exception. The characters from India seemed to be treated even worse and thought of as savage or ill-intentioned. Attitudes towards the foreign (including how Betteredge sees the countries that Mr. Franklin studied in) in this book seem to be colonial in that they’re objectifying, antagonistic, and dehumanizing.

  4. Dec 2019
    1. is wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of ignorant carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy which otherwise he would command.

      In this addition to the 1831 edition, Walton’s earlier largely admiring portrait of the shipmaster was qualified by remembering that he did not have a wide moral frame of reference, having lived his life only on a ship, so his qualities fell somewhat short of being “noble.” But 1831 darkens the portrait by making him ignorant and careless while orientalizing him (“silent as a Turk”). This is one of many passages in 1831 that replace a liberal generosity toward her several of her characters with a more harshly conservative, intolerant stance.

    1. ces Parsis ou Guèbres, descendants directs des sectateurs de Zoroastre, qui sont les plus industrieux, les plus civilisés, les plus intelligents, les plus austères des Indous,—race à laquelle appartiennent actuellement les riches négociants indigènes de Bombay

      RACISM

    2. Ainsi donc, des merveilles de Bombay, il ne songeait à rien voir, ni l'hôtel de ville, ni la magnifique bibliothèque, ni les forts, ni les docks, ni le marché au coton, ni les bazars, ni les mosquées, ni les synagogues, ni les églises arméniennes, ni la splendide pagode de Malebar-Hill, ornée de deux tours polygones. Il ne contemplerait ni les chefs-d'oeuvre d'Éléphanta, ni ses mystérieux hypogées, cachés au sud-est de la rade, ni les grottes Kanhérie de l'île Salcette, ces admirables restes de l'architecture bouddhiste!

      fog doesn't care

    3. Mais l'Inde anglaise proprement dite ne compte qu'une superficie de sept cent mille milles carrés et une population de cent à cent dix millions d'habitants. C'est assez dire qu'une notable partie du territoire échappe encore à l'autorité de la reine; et, en effet, chez certains rajahs de l'intérieur, farouches et terribles, l'indépendance indoue est encore absolue.
    4. —Et c'est curieux, cette Inde-là? —Très curieux! Des mosquées, des minarets, des temples, des fakirs, des pagodes, des tigres, des serpents, des bayadères! Mais il faut espérer que vous aurez le temps de visiter le pays?
    5. répétant que le plus difficile était fait, que l'on était sorti de ces pays fantastiques de la Chine et du Japon, que l'on retournait aux contrées civilisées, et enfin qu'un train de San Francisco à New York et un transatlantique de New York à Londres suffiraient, sans doute, pour achever cet impossible tour du monde dans les délais convenus.

      fantastic and wild china and japan

    6. Mrs. Aouda remercia ses sauveurs avec effusion, par ses larmes plus que par ses paroles. Ses beaux yeux, mieux que ses lèvres, furent les interprètes de sa reconnaissance. Puis, sa pensée la reportant aux scènes du sutty, ses regards revoyant cette terre indienne où tant de dangers l'attendaient encore, elle fut prise d'un frisson de terreur.
    7. Mais, sans toute cette amplification, il suffit de dire que Mrs. Aouda, la veuve du rajah du Bundelkund, était une charmante femme dans toute l'acception européenne du mot. Elle parlait l'anglais avec une grande pureté, et le guide n'avait point exagéré en affirmant que cette jeune Parsie avait été transformée par l'éducation.
  5. Jul 2016
  6. Apr 2016