What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I love them. You may like stories by E.T.A. Hoffman as well.

Cheers and thank you for the recommendation. I do not know E.T.A. Hoffman at all.

I second that. You should make his acquaintance asap. You might start with The Sandman which is the inspiration behind Coppelia and Les contes d'Hoffmann.

He was also a composer but his music isn't even a quarter as quirky and interesting as his literary works.

I forgot to mention that Offenbach's opera, Tales of Hoffman, is based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffman.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Huxley: Antic Hay





This is a rather cynical look at upper class attitudes and cultural life in a time of great change after the end of WWI.

Gorgeous cover !! I still read his Doors of Perception every year!

[aligreto]

Gorgeous cover !! I still read his Doors of Perception every year!

As a young man I devoured his books. I am now, as a more "mature" man, embarking on a slow re-reading project. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Katherine Mansfield, Stories. A glimpse of death, live and aging in fancy life.

[Jo498]

I second that. You should make his acquaintance asap. You might start with The Sandman which is the inspiration behind Coppelia and Les contes d'Hoffmann.

He was also a composer but his music isn't even a quarter as quirky and interesting as his literary works.

As a composer he revered Mozart (and changes his middle name to Amadeus) and this shows but while he also hailed Beethoven Hoffmann himself remained a more hesitant (and probably simply not as musically gifted) classicist romantic. Admittedly I have never heard his opera, Undine, that was more or less displaced by a later light romantic opera with the same title by Lortzing (which used to be rather popular in Germany until the 60s but has since almost fallen into obscurity).

The most famous piece based on Hoffmann (but rather different in detail) is the Nutcracker.
There is at least one more opera based on Hoffmann (the novella Madame de Scuderi), namely "Cardillac" by Hindemith.

[Florestan]

As a composer he revered Mozart (and changes his middle name to Amadeus) and this shows but while he also hailed Beethoven Hoffmann himself remained a more hesitant (and probably simply not as musically gifted) classicist romantic. Admittedly I have never heard his opera, Undine, that was more or less displaced by a later light romantic opera with the same title by Lortzing (which used to be rather popular in Germany until the 60s but has since almost fallen into obscurity).

The most famous piece based on Hoffmann (but rather different in detail) is the Nutcracker.
There is at least one more opera based on Hoffmann (the novella Madame de Scuderi), namely "Cardillac" by Hindemith.

I've heard his piano sonatas. I've forgotten them as soon as they were over --- but honestly, there's not much beyond Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven which did not suffer the same fate, Scarlatti, Schubert and Chopin excluded. 

[Jo498]

I think I have heard his symphpony that is modelled after Mozart's E flat K 543 and I have a recording of a piano trio. The latter is nice but not quite Beethoven.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Have you guys listened to JJ Rousseau's music? I thought that the music was mediocre.

[Brian]

Have you guys listened to JJ Rousseau's music? I thought that the music was mediocre.

Not yet but Nietzsche wrote some pretty prosaic piano music.

[Florestan]

nice but not quite Beethoven.

I guess you could say that about most composers. 

I strongly disagree to making Beethoven the universal standard by which all other composers are to be judged.

[Jo498]

Not the universal standard but a plausible standard and comparison for 1812-20 piano trios, wouldn't you say? I have not compared with Hummel, Hoffmann might not be far behind Hummel with that trio and by composing a (pre)romantic opera he was apparently more ambitious than Hummel.

[Biffo]

As a young man I devoured his books. I am now, as a more "mature" man, embarking on a slow re-reading project. 

As a young man I read several of his novels, now, 40+ years later I can remember very little about them. I remember one of the central characters of Point Counterpoint was obsessed with the Heiliger Dankgesang of Beethoven's Op 132 String Quartet; I hadn't heard the work at the time so it didn't mean much to me.

A colleague told me he thought Ape and Essence was the nastiest book he had ever read, can't remember why or whether he ever gave me an explanation.

Goof luck with your re-reading project

[Mandryka]

When she was 15, Vanessa Springora became the partner of Gabriel Matzneff, an author who had published pedophile literature including the diaries of his sexual adventures with teenagers in Thailand, and had published a tract in praise of sex with adolescents less that 15 years old. In the end she dumped him, deciding that his pedophile tendencies would mean that he would stop loving her when she aged. And she was worried that she would figure as a character in one of his books.

This book is her revenge: her revenge consists in turning him into a character in her book.


It is utter rubbish from every point of view - literary or moral. Its only reason for existence is to make a bit of dosh for its author post metoo.

Back to Proust now!

[aligreto]

As a young man I read several of his novels, now, 40+ years later I can remember very little about them. I remember one of the central characters of Point Counterpoint was obsessed with the Heiliger Dankgesang of Beethoven's Op 132 String Quartet; I hadn't heard the work at the time so it didn't mean much to me.

A colleague told me he thought Ape and Essence was the nastiest book he had ever read, can't remember why or whether he ever gave me an explanation.

Goof luck with your re-reading project

Cheers. I think that he wrote people very well. However, not all of those characters would necessarily come with a high recommendation. A lot of his characters were wanton and irresponsible but he did not try to justify them.

[Brian]

It is utter rubbish from every point of view - literary or moral. Its only reason for existence is to make a bit of dosh for its author post metoo.

I hope the man's "literature" is unpublished as it is surely much, much worse.

[AlberichUndHagen]

Finished Anna Karenina couple of days ago which I liked.

Now reading some Shaw essay on Ibsen.

[vers la flamme]

I hope the man's "literature" is unpublished as it is surely much, much worse.

He is quite well published:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Matzneff#Work

[Florestan]

He is quite well published:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Matzneff#Work

A brazen pedophile was awarded (twice!) a prize from the Académie française. Sweet.

[vers la flamme]

A brazen pedophile was awarded (twice!) a prize from the Académie française. Sweet.

Insane, right. I understand the French literary establishment has been catching some flak in recent years for backing this guy.

[Florestan]

Insane, right. I understand the French literary establishment has been catching some flak in recent years for backing this guy.

Many of the so-called intellectuals have lost their effing minds long time ago.