Friday, October 15, 2010

Book Review - The Count of Monte Cristo

As part of a class project for a mini-book club, Rhett Ferrin, Kurt Witt, and I decided to read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  We were asked to share our learning/reading in different ways.

One way we decided to share out learning is by meeting up after class on Thursday and video tape ourselves giving a book review.  Watch it online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tids7PTi1tI

My way of both sharing and creating something from what I have learned will be through the comments that I post on our YouTube video.  I invite readers to join in the conversation.  I will be creating a Diigo Bookmark and sharing it with my Digital Civilization class for the video inviting them to comment.  I have already posted it on Facebook.  I'm excited to see what kind of ripple I can make in the internet ocean. 

Please visit the video, watch it, and comment on it.

5 comments:

Andrew said...

I can't seem to comment on the video right now. So I'll post a few comments here on my blog and then try transferring them over to YouTube as soon as I can.

Andrew said...

The Count of Monte Cristo is full of historical references. For example. I learned a lot about the Hundred Days (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days) where Napoleon returns from his exile on the Island of Elba. While reading it I also learn about the Bourbon Restoration. I never realized that another monarch was crowned in France - Louis IVXX.

Andrew said...

Unfortunately the video gets cut off right as Kurt was talking about drugs. As far as Romanticism is concerned, drugs are a way to intensify feelings and emotions. In the novel Edmond Dantes uses drugs to do just that. Also, during that romantic time period, people were quite fascinated with drugs and medicine which is evidenced by the curiosity that people had over the Count of Monte Cristo's sleeping pills.

Andrew said...

Not only is the Count of Monte Cristo a Romantic Novel, but it definitely fits into the Gothic genre. All the bad things that happen to Edmond Dantes, despite his innocence, conjure up sad and dark emotions - a very Gothic trait. Also, Gothic ideas are presented in Dantes' imprisonment because it is a form of isolation ad Rhett mentions in the video. His vary dark, damp, and cold prison cell also paint a visual portrait that is quite Gothic.

Andrew said...

I also posted a book review on Amazon.com here

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