What are you currently reading?

[bwv 1080]

Ulysses is similar in that you can just read any chapter on a stand-alone basis.  The first time I read it cover to cover, now I will read (or better listen - Joyce seems to work better on audiobook for me) a couple of random chapters from time to time

[BasilValentine]

2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Had heard of it. Saw it in the local thrift store for $.50. I'm 125 pages in and have no idea where it's going but am enjoying it. Various literary scholars, when they aren't screwing one another, are in search of their favorite and apparently reclusive and elusive author.

I read Ulysses to see what all the ballyhoo is about and because I heard the claim that my favorite novel, William Gaddis's The Recognitions, wouldn't have existed without it. (I later discovered that Gaddis only read the first forty pages of Ulysses and then got bored.) I'm glad I read it, but have not joined the fan club.   

[Parsifal]

Its a great book, worthy of its reputation.  I dont find it boring at all, one of the few things I go back and re-read from time to time

I've tried to tackle it more than once. I find the beginning captivating, but about 20% in I hit a brick wall. That's where my Kindle app. says I am currently stalled.

[Karl Henning]

Ulysses is similar in that you can just read any chapter on a stand-alone basis.  The first time I read it cover to cover, now I will read (or better listen - Joyce seems to work better on audiobook for me) a couple of random chapters from time to time

Hmmm, audiobook Ulysses, there is an idea.

[ritter]

It's been a while since I last read anything by Jean Cocteau:


La Difficulté d'être is a collection of musings, reminiscences and reflections, originally published in 1947. Even taking into account the nature of this text, and its author's notoriously narcissistic personality, the incessant use of the word "je" becomes tiresome (I don't recall ever reading a text that uses "je"--or "I", "yo", "io" or "ich" for that matter--so often). Paradoxically though, the book is at its most interesting when Cocteau doesn't write about himself, but about others (e.g. Radiguet or Satie).

In any case, the book does display a certain charme désuet.

[NikF]

It's been a while since I last read anything by Jean Cocteau:


La Difficulté d'être is a collection of musings, reminiscences and reflections, originally published in 1947. Even taking into account the nature of this text, and its author's notoriously narcissistic personality, the incessant use of the word "je" becomes tiresome (I don't recall ever reading a text that uses "je"--or "I", "yo", "io" or "ich" for that matter--so often). Paradoxically though, the book is at its most interesting when Cocteau doesn't write about himself, but about others (e.g. Radiguet or Satie).

In any case, the book does display a certain charme désuet.

So what would you recommend reading by Cocteau?

[Parsifal]

2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Had heard of it. Saw it in the local thrift store for $.50. I'm 125 pages in and have no idea where it's going but am enjoying it. Various literary scholars, when they aren't screwing one another, are in search of their favorite and apparently reclusive and elusive author.

If I had paid $0.50 for it I would still regret the outlay. If I recall correctly, you'll soon get to the section of the book which is basically a laundry list of mutilated bodies discovered in some border town. Insidious because the impression was created that the book would eventually come to some sort of redeeming message, but that never happened.

[ritter]

So what would you recommend reading by Cocteau?

That's actually a good question, NikF. Cocteau was someone who did many things in the arts (poetry, drama, novels, films, libretti, painting) in a rather dilettantish way, and one would be hard-pressed to come up with a work that really stands out or could be called a "masterpiece" (whatever that may be). His constant striving to promote himself, and to make his work palatable to the beau monde, often gives his output a patina of superficiality which masks what I think deep-down is an original and interesting voice.

I think Les Enfants terribles (The Holy Terrors), his short novel from 1929, would be a good starting point, and some of his plays based on classical themes (Antigone, La machine infernale) are quite accomplished. I also remember enjoying Maalesh: A Theatrical Tour of the Middle East, his journal of a tour in 1949 to Egypt and Turkey, where the chaos of everyday theatrical life is vividly depicted (in an appropriately exotic setting).

Then, there's Le Coq et l'Arlequin, important as a manifesto of musical aesthetics in France in the 20s (he being the "godfather" of Les Six). I really don't share almost any of his tenets there, but it does make for interesting reading.

Not something you can read of course, but I must correct myself: if anything of Cocteau's can be dubbed a "masterpiece", I'd say it's his film Beauty and the Beast. One of the most beautiful motion pictures I've ever seen. 

[pjme]

What a great story! A real page turner. Drama, melodrama, love & hate, misery - good stuff.

P.


My copy.

[Karl Henning]

Not something you can read of course, but I must correct myself: if anything of Cocteau's can be dubbed a "masterpiece", I'd say it's his film Beauty and the Beast. One of the most beautiful motion pictures I've ever seen. 

Thanks for the reminder;  I really need to watch this . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Thread Duty:

Just finished Guy Rickard's Hindemith, Hartmann and Henze (Oh, My!)

I was rather hoping that this would (in line with similar reading about this or that composer in the past) quicken more of a sympathy with Henze.  The absorbing reading about Hindemith and Hartmann I entirely counted on;  and on the whole, the intertwined, chronological narrative I found very well advised.  Perhaps the problem (for me) is simply, that Henze was determined to politicize art (a requiem to honor Che, for out loud crying);  this is, sadly, in line with a like problem in our day, the determination to favor (and support) art which is "socially relevant."

A kind of Eugenics in Art, it feels like.

As a result, and given the structure of the book, the last 50-ish pages were rather a chore.

I suppose I'll try to read it again, five years hence perhaps.  The tough break for Henze is, the book has whetted my appetite for Hindemith and Hartmann, but quite firmly put me off any short-term interest in Henze.  In fact, it rather has me feeling that the Henze in my library at present, is probably as much as I shall ever need.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

What a great story! A real page turner. Drama, melodrama, love & hate, misery - good stuff.

P.


My copy.

Never read Zola yet, although I do know his open letter J'accuse...! And I mean "know it" in the way of "know the background of it, never actually read it".

[ritter]

Never read Zola yet, although I do know his open letter J'accuse...! And I mean "know it" in the way of "know the background of it, never actually read it".

Exactly my situation...strangely, I don't really feel attracted by his work. My loss, for sure...

[Ken B]

Thread Duty:

Just finished Guy Rickard's Hindemith, Hartmann and Henze (Oh, My!)

I was rather hoping that this would (in line with similar reading about this or that composer in the past) quicken more of a sympathy with Henze.  The absorbing reading about Hindemith and Hartmann I entirely counted on;  and on the whole, the intertwined, chronological narrative I found very well advised.  Perhaps the problem (for me) is simply, that Henze was determined to politicize art (a requiem to honor Che, for out loud crying);  this is, sadly, in line with a like problem in our day, the determination to favor (and support) art which is "socially relevant."

A kind of Eugenics in Art, it feels like.

As a result, and given the structure of the book, the last 50-ish pages were rather a chore.

I suppose I'll try to read it again, five years hence perhaps.  The tough break for Henze is, the book has whetted my appetite for Hindemith and Hartmann, but quite firmly put me off any short-term interest in Henze.  In fact, it rather has me feeling that the Henze in my library at present, is probably as much as I shall ever need.

Nice phrase, eugenics in art. Conveys the idea pithily.

[Karl Henning]

Wow: $57.14 for the Kindle edition?

[asin]0810858770[/asin]

I feel really happy about having found a good copy for $15 . . . .

[North Star]

Thread Duty:

Just finished Guy Rickard's Hindemith, Hartmann and Henze (Oh, My!)

I was rather hoping that this would (in line with similar reading about this or that composer in the past) quicken more of a sympathy with Henze.  The absorbing reading about Hindemith and Hartmann I entirely counted on;  and on the whole, the intertwined, chronological narrative I found very well advised.  Perhaps the problem (for me) is simply, that Henze was determined to politicize art (a requiem to honor Che, for out loud crying);  this is, sadly, in line with a like problem in our day, the determination to favor (and support) art which is "socially relevant."

A kind of Eugenics in Art, it feels like.

As a result, and given the structure of the book, the last 50-ish pages were rather a chore.

I suppose I'll try to read it again, five years hence perhaps.  The tough break for Henze is, the book has whetted my appetite for Hindemith and Hartmann, but quite firmly put me off any short-term interest in Henze.  In fact, it rather has me feeling that the Henze in my library at present, is probably as much as I shall ever need.

As long as Royal Winter Music is in there.

[Karl Henning]

As long as Royal Winter Music is in there.

It is not, yet.  And it may be a while before I feel I really want to address that 

[Spineur]

Exactly my situation...strangely, I don't really feel attracted by his work. My loss, for sure...

I have read a number of Zola's books.  He started the realist style that inspired the Italian post-war cinema (Victorio de Sica,...)
A very strong book is Thérèse Raquin.  It has been adapted to the cinema by Marcel Carné with Simone Signoret as Thérèse Raquin.
IMHO both book and movie are worth it.

Another classic adaptation of Zola is La bete Humaine by Jean Renoir with Jean Gabin.  In spite of the cinematography and the great actors, I always felt Zola's story was dated.

[Spineur]

I am re-reading a french classic



Although Stendhal left the book unfinished, it is the best novel he wrote, better than La chartreuse de Parme or le rouge et le noir.
I would recommend a detailed edition with the different endings that Stendhal sketched.  La Pleiade has it.

[Florestan]

I am re-reading a french classic



Although Stendhal left the book unfinished, it is the best novel he wrote, better than La chartreuse de Parme or le rouge et le noir.

That's quite a bold statement! Having read both LCDP and LRELN, I dare doubt it!