What are you currently reading?

[Lilas Pastia]

I think Proust was very much an agent of forward momentum, even if in his writing he is obsessed with the past.

That could be, I guess it depends how you understand it. Proust's life and mind were entrenched in social conservatism. His artistic oeuvre may be viewed differently (personally I don't think so).

It's often been noted that Proust and Debussy shared an artistic kinship. There are books on this similitude : The Siamese (Proust and Debussy) and on their shared fondness for the hypallage. Debussy's use was probably not a grammatical one (unless it refers to his choice of texts). I tried to find how it could be applied to music, but short of ordering the book and reading it I can only hypothesize.

[Kullervo]

That could be, I guess it depends how you understand it. Proust's life and mind were entrenched in social conservatism. His artistic oeuvre may be viewed differently (personally I don't think so).

Well, to my green eyes the social stratum he is concerned with is not really too far-removed from the kind Balzac described (even though they are separated by more than 50 years), but his idea of life as a succession of images and sensory impressions seems to me very contemporary (and something I relate with personally).

It's often been noted that Proust and Debussy shared an artistic kinship. There are books on this similitude : The Siamese (Proust and Debussy) and on their shared fondness for the hypallage. Debussy's use was probably not a grammatical one (unless it refers to his choice of texts). I tried to find how it could be applied to music, but short of ordering the book and reading it I can only hypothesize.

That is one of my favorite things about Proust's writing — how he seems to find the most interesting analogies between things that couldn't be more dissimilar. I don't see how that would translate to Debussy's music, however. I've never mentally connected the two, but the idea seems interesting. Personally, I've always imagined Vinteuil's sonata to sound like Franck or Chausson. 

[Opus106]

P.G. Wodehouse is great. Reading him is sheer joy, even apart from the humour. I don't know how he does it, but his choice of words is exquisite and his sentences are immaculate.

That should keep me occupied during the long bus ride every (week)day for the next couple of weeks. 

[mozartsneighbor]

Wodehouse -- I second the recommendation. You are in for a treat. Never fails to cheer me up.

[orbital]

Personally, I've always imagined Vinteuil's sonata to sound like Franck or Chausson. 

Is that a re-occuring theme throughout?

I was thinking of something a bit more avant-garde myself.

[rubio]

I'm a bit interested in cyling and I'm captivated by the contrasted beauty of Colombia. So inspired by the Tour de France I read this book about the Colombian cycling (in their extreme altitude) in the light of the country's history, often violent and connected with drug money. Fascinating and also something to learn about the complex story of this country.

[Kullervo]

Is that a re-occuring theme throughout?

It does reappear again in The Guermantes Way, IIRC.

I was thinking of something a bit more avant-garde myself.

Well, remember that whenever Swann is first hearing it, he is a young man, and later when the narrator (Marcel?) is in his late teens, Swann is showing the signs of old age (but you're not there yet ). Assuming that Proust was narrating from the time the book was written, that would put the sonata's creation around the 1880s or 90s — so I was thinking the model would be one of the French Wagnerians.

[Lilas Pastia]

More likely than not it would have been Guillaume Lekeu, then. Ysaÿe commissioned the work and performed it extensively. Dates and style match, and the composer's prestigious sponsors would have caught Proust's attention.

[Philoctetes]

Just finished the Compton-Burnett. Not my taste at all. I found it quite boring.

Next up:
Markson's Vanishing Point

[sound67]

Just finished: Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye



Arguably, Bukowski's best novel; it deals with the youth of his alter ego Henry Chinasky as the son of poor German immigrants in L.A. in the 1920s and 30s until his dropping out of college in 1941. The writing is more sophisticated than that of his early success Post-Office, and less brazenly chauvinistic than that of Women. Bukowski was a great writer of poems and short-stories, too (to Jean Genet, the greatest since Hemingway). I read this in German when I was young (the German title, Fast eine Jugend (meaning "Almost a youth") I find more appealing) and always wanted to read the original version.

Thomas

[orbital]

Just finished: Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

This one is on my to-read list, probably 2 or 3 books down the line. But I am a bit reluctant about Bukowski as I don't know if I can take misogyny even in small doses. I could hardly stand the short stories I've read from him so far.

[sound67]

Ham on Rye is a lot more compassionate than his other works, what negativity there is appears to stem from sadness and alienation rather than misogyny. I wouldn't generally describe Bukowski as a misogynist - surely, there is a lot of rage in his writings, but he does have compassion for the "bums".

Thomas

[DavidRoss]

This one is on my to-read list, probably 2 or 3 books down the line. But I am a bit reluctant about Bukowski as I don't know if I can take misogyny even in small doses. I could hardly stand the short stories I've read from him so far.

My experience has been similar.  I've not read much Bukowski, mostly because what I have read has been coarse and commonplace and hasn't interested me in reading further.

[karlhenning]

Yesterday and today I returned to:



. . . for reasons specific to this forum, actually . . . .

[sound67]

My experience has been similar.  I've not read much Bukowski, mostly because what I have read has been coarse and commonplace and hasn't interested me in reading further.

Well, if you're writing about harsh living conditions, there's little point in beating about the bush.

Thomas

[orbital]

Well, if you're writing about harsh living conditions, there's little point in beating about the bush.

Thomas

True, but there are many styles of doing that (GG Marquez for example). The thing with Bukowski, from my very limited exposure, is that the line between the author and his protagonists are not very clear. I am keeping an open mind about Ham on Rye, however.

[sound67]

With his relentless portraits of drunkards and floozies, Bukowski even attracted the rich and beautiful ... floozies 



Thomas

[orbital]

Paris Hilton reading Art of War sitting with Bukowski?  Now that is one cool photo.

[Kullervo]

James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[Opus106]

Paris Hilton reading?  Now that is one cool photo.