What are you currently reading?

[vers la flamme]

Finally got started on A Fsrewell to Arms. To my surprized it is situated in Gorizia, which I accidentally visited in 2019.

Reresding Hemingway due to Ken Burns' documentary.

I read that in the springtime, it really blew my mind.

[ritter]

Starting Jean Giraudoux's Siegfried et le Limousin.



What a beautifully written book, enjoying every page if it! The "literary thriller" that triggers the story seems like a precursor if the work of Jorge Luis Borges.

[SimonNZ]

Ritter: was it you who was reading The Mandaribs a little while back? What did you think of it?

[ritter]

Ritter: was it you who was reading The Mandaribs a little while back? What did you think of it?

Yes, it was me, and I was planning to write to you about the book (as I recall you saying it was among your favourite novels).

I must admit I have mixed feelings. It took me very long to finish it (I was very tied up with work, and only managed to advance significantly now that I'm on holidays). I found it very difficult to relate to any of the characters, many of which I found downright unpleasant. Perhaps Perron and Dubreuilh are the most interesting, and their different ways of tackling the role of the "engaged intellectual" are the gist of the whole thing, aren't they? The former is idealistic and "sincere", but when he's faced with issues that affect him personally, he shows no remorse in abandoning his "ideals" (and oddly enough, appears to me even more honest and sincere when doing so). The latter, in pursuit of a goal, turns a blind eye to issues that clash with that goal, and seems rather cynical in that respect (but his final perseverance does generate some sympathy in me). Still, the book nicely deals with these—unsolvable—issues. Also, it appears to me that all the characters slide into a confortable—inevitable?—petit bourgeois complacency as the book advances, which from the point of view of the author must have been a sort of ultimate defeat. Perhaps the devastating (and to me, unexpected) last chapter also reflects this to a certain extent.

The transatlantic love story has some beautiful moments, but then its decline seemed to me to go on and on forever, and it was very difficult for me (as a male reader) to empathise with Anne's sorrow.

What I did not admire is how it is written. The alternation of third and first person is clever at first, and then becomes predictable. But the prose, at moments, verged on the crude: paragraphs and paragraphs of "X said this" followed by "Y said that". Not very fine, I must say.

In any case, I'm glad I read this important book, that touches some interesting issues, but I didn't really admire it.

Good night to you, Simon, and best regards,

[SimonNZ]

Thank you for that. Those are very interesting responses. I'll try and keep them in mind next time I read it.

[Brian]

Finally got started on A Fsrewell to Arms. To my surprized it is situated in Gorizia, which I accidentally visited in 2019.

I am curious how you accidentally visited a place!

[Spotted Horses]

I finally finished As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner (actually some time ago).

I find it a great book. William Faulkner himself characterized the book as a tour de force in narration, and I think that is a frank assessment.

It is the story of Addie, who lies on her death bed, as her family around her prepares for her burial (including her son Cash noisily fashioning her casket within earshot outside her window). She is intent on being buried with her people in Jefferson, an arduous journey away (in the aftermath of a strong storm) and her husband makes great hay of being determined to carry this out. It often seems like he is using this as a pretext to serve his own whims. The story is told alternately by the various participants, including her children, her husband, and various people who encounter the burial procession.

I think the point of this book, and a general theme in Faulkner's work, is that we think of ourselves are rational, but we are actually beholden to our own prejudices, obsessions, and emotional limitations. In this work, the distortion of reality by the various participants is exaggerated to a perhaps absurd level. But the effect is there isn "ordinary" people. Faulkner's genius is to illustrate that, and to tell a great, captivating story.

[vers la flamme]

I finally finished As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner (actually some time ago).

I find it a great book. William Faulkner himself characterized the book as a tour de force in narration, and I think that is a frank assessment.

It is the story of Addie, who lies on her death bed, as her family around her prepares for her burial (including her son Cash noisily fashioning her casket within earshot outside her window). She is intent on being buried with her people in Jefferson, an arduous journey away (in the aftermath of a strong storm) and her husband makes great hay of being determined to carry this out. It often seems like he is using this as a pretext to serve his own whims. The story is told alternately by the various participants, including her children, her husband, and various people who encounter the burial procession.

I think the point of this book, and a general theme in Faulkner's work, is that we think of ourselves are rational, but we are actually beholden to our own prejudices, obsessions, and emotional limitations. In this work, the distortion of reality by the various participants is exaggerated to a perhaps absurd level. But the effect is there isn "ordinary" people. Faulkner's genius is to illustrate that, and to tell a great, captivating story.

Well said! Glad you enjoyed your rereading. Certainly a great book that I look forward to rereading and rereading in the future.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Schopenhauer's Encounter with Indian Thought. Stephen Cross. Univ. of Hawaii Press. Fun read.

[Artem]

Read these books recently.



Wojnarowicz autobiographical essays were rather brutal, many of them dealing with AIDS in the US, religion and politics surrounding the epidemic. I can also see how Hanya Yanagihara could possibly be inspired by some of his writing about, for example, homosexual relationships.

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages is a curious collection of various images, historical and fictional figures from the old times, what they meant back than and how they are presented in modern culture.

The most fascinating thing that I found out from the Pale Rider is that so many issues we are dealing with during the current pandemic were the same ones that people had to decide on during the Spanish Flu 100 years ago.

[vers la flamme]

Kobo Abe, The Face of Another



So far, so good. A scientist, whose face is disfigured with keloids after an experiment gone horribly wrong, endeavors to create a new face for himself; insanity ensues. (I think: I'm not very far into the book yet.)

[JBS]

Read these books recently.



Wojnarowicz autobiographical essays were rather brutal, many of them dealing with AIDS in the US, religion and politics surrounding the epidemic. I can also see how Hanya Yanagihara could possibly be inspired by some of his writing about, for example, homosexual relationships.

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages is a curious collection of various images, historical and fictional figures from the old times, what they meant back than and how they are presented in modern culture.

The most fascinating thing that I found out from the Pale Rider is that so many issues we are dealing with during the current pandemic were the same ones that people had to decide on during the Spanish Flu 100 years ago.

You might find this of interest regarding Wojnarowicz
http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2009/10/passion-of-david-wojnarowicz.html

http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-second-wojnarowicz-series-in-its.html

[SimonNZ]

I read a number of Jacques Le Goof's books at university. Somehow I've never seen that one before. Is it a posthumous roundup of uncollected pieces?

[The new erato]

I am curious how you accidentally visited a place!

I was driving through a beautiful Slovenian  valley looking at vineyards, passed a nearly unnoticeable border post and were in Italy/Goritza before I even had noticed I were in Italy. Turned around and went back after 100 meters as I really were aiming for Kroatia. My shortest Italian holiday ever.....

[Artem]

I read a number of Jacques Le Goof's books at university. Somehow I've never seen that one before. Is it a posthumous roundup of uncollected pieces?

The publication in French dated 2005 and 2008. It has an author's preface. So, probably just a later book.

[Artem]

You might find this of interest regarding Wojnarowicz
http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2009/10/passion-of-david-wojnarowicz.html

http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-second-wojnarowicz-series-in-its.html

Thank you. I'll check it out.

[Brian]

Got really disappointed when I saw that his name is not in fact Jacques Le Goof.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Kobo Abe, The Face of Another



So far, so good. A scientist, whose face is disfigured with keloids after an experiment gone horribly wrong, endeavors to create a new face for himself; insanity ensues. (I think: I'm not very far into the book yet.)

Takemitsu made the music for the movie version.

https://youtu.be/vUilkXF8VIA

[Ganondorf]

About 80 pages left in Joseph. Jacob just met Joseph for the first time after all those years and I liked the recalling imagery of glittering, in the first passage, many hundred pages earlier caused by Joseph's coat when arriving to his brothers, in this one, by Joseph's arrival in chariots, this time with happy results rather than tragic.

[SimonNZ]

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