Your All-time 5 Favorite Literary Works

Started by Dry Brett Kavanaugh, June 06, 2022, 09:12:32 AM

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Jo498

I don't mind illustrations (years ago I got The hobbit and Lord of the Rings with illustrations). But I don't miss them at all. Probably cannot shake that as a kid "real" books were without illustrations ;)
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Todd

I am not sure I would want to see illustrations for some Cormac McCarthy novels.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Florestan

Quote from: Todd on June 11, 2022, 06:10:56 AM
I am not sure I would want to see illustrations for some Cormac McCarthy novels.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

DavidW

Quote from: Todd on June 11, 2022, 06:10:56 AM
I am not sure I would want to see illustrations for some Cormac McCarthy novels.

Blood Meridian, the Children's Edition with illustrations and an included coloring book. :D

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Florestan on June 11, 2022, 05:20:40 AM
Agreed.

I think, though, that in the 19th century things were different, at least in France, where Gustave Doré illustrated Dante, Cervantes, Balzac, Poe, Coleridge and Jules Verne's novels were published with illustrations.

These works with illustrations must have been marvelous!

Crime and Punishment, Red and Black etc with bunch of illustrations will be gorgeous!

Mandryka

Quote from: Florestan on June 11, 2022, 05:20:40 AM
Agreed.

I think, though, that in the 19th century things were different, at least in France, where Gustave Doré illustrated Dante, Cervantes, Balzac, Poe, Coleridge and Jules Verne's novels were published with illustrations.

I think there were some particularly good illustrations for The Arabian Nights. And I would like to see more for Les Miserables -- look at the Thernardiers



Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Florestan

Quote from: Mandryka on June 11, 2022, 09:16:07 AM


This strikes me as rather ambiguous. I mean, Mme Thenardier does look no less like a man than her husband.  ;D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Brian

Quote from: DavidW on June 11, 2022, 06:38:48 AM
Blood Meridian, the Children's Edition with illustrations and an included coloring book. :D
Wasn't the judge an albino too  ;D ;D

Jo498

Quote from: Florestan on June 11, 2022, 09:20:19 AM
This strikes me as rather ambiguous. I mean, Mme Thenardier does look no less like a man than her husband.  ;D
Maybe on purpose. She is an absolute bastard, IIRC, egging on her husband in his evil deeds. Of course they are also to be pitied in their desolate poverty but they are mostly a miserable, petty criminal couple, if I am not totally mistaken. They took lots of money from Fantine (who had to prostitute herself to come up with the money) and still treated her daughter like hell. They are more repulsive than Javert who is obsessed with catching Valjean but this is his job, a bit overzealous maybe.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Mandryka on June 11, 2022, 09:16:07 AM
I think there were some particularly good illustrations for The Arabian Nights. And I would like to see more for Les Miserables -- look at the Thernardiers


I especially like the illustrations of the Arabian Nights, as well as Rubaiyat, by Edmund Dulac.

















Biffo

Quote from: vandermolen on June 10, 2022, 08:35:43 AM
I think that there was a 'Golden Period' of Tintin in the 1950s and early 60s which included 'The Calculus Affair' (hilarious helicopter sequence over Lake Geneva), 'Tintin in Tibet' and 'The Castafiore Emerald'. I also like 'The Seven Crystal Balls' and its sequel 'Prisoners of the Sun'. I think that I started a Tintin thread some years ago. I was furious when my mother threw my whole collection out (other than 'The Red Sea Sharks') when I was at university - I had to buy them all again as an adult  >:D

I said 'an interesting choice' because I thought The Castafiore Emerald was one of the weaker stories. Of course, all the adventures have their great moments of humour and brilliant artwork. Tintin in Tibet is a fine story but I am not sure of my favourite.

Mandryka

#111
Quote from: Florestan on June 11, 2022, 09:20:19 AM
This strikes me as rather ambiguous. I mean, Mme Thenardier does look no less like a man than her husband.  ;D

When I was a child in Manchester there were women who looked like that, tough women who'd worked in the dark satanic mills from the age of 14. Northern women have a reputation for being ball breakers. I don't know if you get Coronation Street in Romania, it was a cult TV series of the 1960s and onwards, set in working class Salford. There was a character called Ena Sharples who looks a bit like that Thenardier image



Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Florestan

Quote from: Mandryka on June 12, 2022, 03:54:50 AM
When I was a child in Manchester there were women who looked like that, tough women who'd worked in the dark satanic mills from the age of 14. Northern women have a reputation for being ball breakers. I don't know if you get Coronation Street in Romania, it was a cult TV series of the 1960s and onwards, set in working class Salford. There was a character called Ena Sharples who looks a bit like that Thenardier image



Yes, this Ena Sharples is quite masculine too.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

San Antone

#113
My favorite illustrated books are Der Ring by P. Craig Russel



and

Maus by Art Spiegelman


Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: San Antone on June 12, 2022, 04:30:42 AM
My favorite illustrated books are Der Ring by P. Craig Russel


Nice illustrations!

Mandryka

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 11, 2022, 01:39:55 PM
I especially like the illustrations of the Arabian Nights, as well as Rubaiyat, by Edmund Dulac.















Yes it would be nice to get an edition with these illustrations. In Proust, there's a lot of talk about a dinner service illustrated with Arabian Nights scenes. I'd like a dinner service like that!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Jo498

Quote from: Biffo on June 12, 2022, 02:54:33 AM
I said 'an interesting choice' because I thought The Castafiore Emerald was one of the weaker stories. Of course, all the adventures have their great moments of humour and brilliant artwork. Tintin in Tibet is a fine story but I am not sure of my favourite.
I didn't like the The Castafiore Emerald at all as a kid, I still find it too "meta-level".
My favorite is probably "The Calculus Affair" and the "Double" with the Treasure of Rackham. Tim in Tibet was supposed to be Hergé's own favorite but I think that was also connected to his personal situation (divorce and depression or so)
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

vandermolen

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 10, 2022, 08:59:38 PM
A slightly related issue (for me) is that books for children tend to have a lot of illustrations whereas books for adult readers have few or no illustrations. Personally I don't think this is a good idea/custom. Sophisticated, artistic illustrations in books for adults would enhance the impact of stories as well as the artistic quality of whole books. The price would increase for such books with illustrations, but I would gladly pay for higher price.
An interesting point Manabu. I like the original illustrations in the Sherlock Holmes stories and in children's classics like the Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Quote from: Jo498 on June 12, 2022, 08:30:42 AM
I didn't like the The Castafiore Emerald at all as a kid, I still find it too "meta-level".
My favorite is probably "The Calculus Affair" and the "Double" with the Treasure of Rackham. Tim in Tibet was supposed to be Hergé's own favorite but I think that was also connected to his personal situation (divorce and depression or so)
I liked the Castafiore Emerald for it's humour (Mr Bolt the builder for example) and because it has no villain (except the magpie). Professor Calculus's experimental colour television was also fun for my much younger self.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Sergeant Rock

John Berryman The Dream Songs
T. S. Eliot Four Quartets
Vladimir Nabokov Ada or Ardor
J. P. Donleavy The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
Thomas Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow


Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"