What are you currently reading?

[steve ridgway]

Exploring Space With A Camera, NASA 1968

[LKB]

Exploring Space With A Camera, NASA 1968

Awesome little treasure, that. 

[AnotherSpin]

[San Antone]

Cormac McCarthy - Suttree



William Faulkner - The Unvanquished

[Mandryka]

I thought Sutree outlived its welcome - but only a bit, perhaps because of the absurdity of Harrogate's failed heist. Of course, it could have just been me. But the humanity of it is really moving - Sutree himself is the sort of guy I'd like to know - as is Harrogate and indeed all the whiskey drinkers.

If Knoxville is still like that I want to go and get drunk there, eat some catfish. My American friends here are northerners and tell me that I'm mad to want to go to the south - I want them to come with me on a Southern state road trip, but they refuse, spouting lots of invective about Southern culture. When I hear them speak it's clear that the North/South  split is alive and kicking still.

By the way, I've started to reread another biggie, viz





How on earth could a bloke get so deep into the heads of women? I should look out for some feminist and marxist criticism. The way he uses fiction to construct really difficult moral problems is so impressive - James, in the late novels, represents for me the best philosophical fiction I know - because he never starts to lecture about ideas, unlike Proust and Tolstoy and Mann. He just presents the problems sensitively, allowing no one angle to dominate. Maybe Melville could do the same, maybe Faulkner - I'm not so sure about him at the level of ideas. Americans all.

[Ganondorf]

I thought Sutree outlived its welcome - but only a bit, perhaps because of the absurdity of Harrogate's failed heist. Of course, it could have just been me. But the humanity of it is really moving - Sutree himself is the sort of guy I'd like to know - as is Harrogate and indeed all the whiskey drinkers.

If Knoxville is still like that I want to go and get drunk there, eat some catfish. My American friends here are northerners and tell me that I'm mad to want to go to the south - I want them to come with me on a Southern state road trip, but they refuse, spouting lots of invective about Southern culture. When I hear them speak it's clear that the North/South  split is alive and kicking still.

By the way, I've started to reread another biggie, viz





How on earth could a bloke get so deep into the heads of women? I should look out for some feminist and marxist criticism. The way he uses fiction to construct really difficult moral problems is so impressive - James, in the late novels, represents for me the best philosophical fiction I know - because he never starts to lecture about ideas, unlike Proust and Tolstoy and Mann. He just presents the problems sensitively, allowing no one angle to dominate. Maybe Melville could do the same, maybe Faulkner - I'm not so sure about him at the level of ideas. Americans all.

I've been meaning to read that one. In fact, I saw a copy of it last week in local library.

[San Antone]

I thought Sutree outlived its welcome - but only a bit, perhaps because of the absurdity of Harrogate's failed heist. Of course, it could have just been me. But the humanity of it is really moving - Sutree himself is the sort of guy I'd like to know - as is Harrogate and indeed all the whiskey drinkers.

If Knoxville is still like that I want to go and get drunk there, eat some catfish. My American friends here are northerners and tell me that I'm mad to want to go to the south - I want them to come with me on a Southern state road trip, but they refuse, spouting lots of invective about Southern culture. When I hear them speak it's clear that the North/South  split is alive and kicking still.

Yes, there is still some prejudice against the South from Northerners.  Purely due to old clichés, and not much exposure to it or Southerners. 

When I moved to NYC I remember being told my accent was "cute" or having become the butt of jokes because of some usages, e.g. "fixin' to do something."  But the more these folks got to know me the more they realized that just because someone had a Southern accent they were not dumb.  One of my best friends ended up being a Harvard educated, woman poet with whom I am still in contact, now after 44 years.

I am a died-in-the-wool Southerner, and read mostly Southern literature, except for J.D. Salinger, Jack Kerouac, Henry Miller, the plays of Eugene O'Neill, and I love Mark Twain who I consider mostly Southern.

I haven't read much James - but have always wanted to read more. There was a time when I read a number of 19th century British novels, Trollope (all), Austin (all, more than once), Forster (all), and maybe one book by Henry James. Joseph Conrad is among my favorite writers, does he count as British?

By the way, I've started to reread another biggie, viz





How on earth could a bloke get so deep into the heads of women? I should look out for some feminist and marxist criticism. The way he uses fiction to construct really difficult moral problems is so impressive - James, in the late novels, represents for me the best philosophical fiction I know - because he never starts to lecture about ideas, unlike Proust and Tolstoy and Mann. He just presents the problems sensitively, allowing no one angle to dominate. Maybe Melville could do the same, maybe Faulkner - I'm not so sure about him at the level of ideas. Americans all.

[Florestan]

Plenty of thought-provoking, if not downright weird, ideas here. 

[Mandryka]

I've been meaning to read that one. In fact, I saw a copy of it last week in local library.

It's elusive, complex and touches on many important moral and epistemological  themes.

I think this radio adaptation gives a good impression of the depth of the work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17LykK8Lvo&list=PL_ustI4oDwpWkq-QBtkVK6rLzwE7zXWh7&ab_channel=sapphicstuff

[Mandryka]

I haven't read much James - but have always wanted to read more. There was a time when I read a number of 19th century British novels, Trollope (all), Austin (all, more than once), Forster (all), and maybe one book by Henry James. Joseph Conrad is among my favorite writers, does he count as British?

Conrad seems a bit sui generis. I may get Nostromo out soon and have another look.

I've never read Mark Twain. That's something I'm definitely going to correct this year.

[SimonNZ]

Plenty of thought-provoking, if not downright weird, ideas here. 

The Ellington biography I was reading recently had a lot of praise for Grainger's writings - he being one of the very first to see Ellington's genius, and for being surprisingly "colour-blind" for the times.

[Florestan]

The Ellington biography I was reading recently had a lot of praise for Grainger's writings - he being one of the very first to see Ellington's genius, and for being surprisingly "colour-blind" for the times.

Grainger has the reputation of being a believer in the racial superiority of the Nordic people but his own words on the matter paint a very different picture. While he is proud of his "Nordic" roots, heritage and mentality, he never proclaims them superior to al others. In fact, he explicitly says that he believes all races to be equally endowed artistically; it's just that the artistic expression differs according to the characteristics of the race and he clearly prefers the "Nordic" way in music. One may or may not agree with that but he was most certainly not a racist. He also praised Grieg for his attitude regarding the Dreyfuss affair and was appreciative of jazz and Negro spirituals, Indonesian and African music.

His quirkiness is to be found in other directions, such as labeling Beethoven's music as "unstable and spasmodic", in proclaiming William Lawes a greater and more profound musician than Bach, in claiming that Purcell's Fantazies in 4 parts are the most satisfying string quartets ever penned, way better than Haydn's and in stating that the music of the 18th and 19th centuries is among the shallowest, dullest and most uninspired the world has ever known (and that includes Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, which he labels "jazz classics"). Now, that's some food for thought. 

[SimonNZ]

He sounds like a hoot. I keep hoping to find a copy of his "Music, Ho" collection of writings, but somehow never have, despite it being a Pelican imprint of Penguin and printed in some quantity.

Does your volume contain that?

[Florestan]

He sounds like a hoot.

And I forgot to add probably the best part: he praised to the skies, as being one of the greatest and most forward-looking composers contemporary with him, the one whom the future will recognize as a prophet, a guy named Arthur Fickenscher, whose In the Seventh Realm for piano quintet is an immortal masterpiece. I confess I didn't even had the curiosity to Google him. 

I keep hoping to find a copy of his "Music, Ho" collection of writings, but somehow never have, despite it being a Pelican imprint of Penguin and printed in some quantity.

Does your volume contain that?

No, there is no article or series of articles titled "Music, Ho" in the volume I'm currently reading --- and which is available for free at archive.org (requires registration).

[Ganondorf]

I've never read Mark Twain. That's something I'm definitely going to correct this year.

Twain is definitely worth it. However, before his pessimistic phase towards the end of his life, he's not a particularly "deep" writer. However, he most certainly is an entertaining one.

[vers la flamme]

Cormac McCarthy - Suttree



William Faulkner - The Unvanquished

I have read The Unvanquished, but reckon I'm due for a reread. I just reread a couple of Faulkner books but not that one. Suttree is one of only a couple of McCarthy's books that I've never read, and I intend to fix that asap. BTW I am also a southern boy who recently relocated to NYC, and have definitely noticed certain prejudices among the Yanks.

I have been wanting to read some Henry James for years... I wonder what would be the best place to start, if anyone here can guide me it would be appreciated. I seem to recall that Jorge Luis Borges called him "the strangest of all writers" (paraphrase) and I want to know what he meant by that...

Re: Mark Twain, I read Huck Finn earlier in the year, and I enjoyed maybe the first 2/3 of it a good bit but he lost me at the end. (I think I posted about it at the time.)

Currently in the middle of a few books, one of them is James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, about the American Civil War, which is quite, quite good. Not really a "military history" style book so far but more about the cultural and political attitudes that led up to the war.

[AnotherSpin]

Conrad seems a bit sui generis. I may get Nostromo out soon and have another look.

I've never read Mark Twain. That's something I'm definitely going to correct this year.

In the USSR, Mark Twain was compulsory reading. In the sense that a strictly limited number of foreign authors in checked translations were published, but what was published was read by everyone. I think Tom Sawyer was better known in the USSR than anywhere else.

Joseph Conrad, in contrast, was virtually unknown, even despite the fact that he was born in the Russian Empire and first saw the sea in Odessa.

[Mandryka]

I have been wanting to read some Henry James for years... I wonder what would be the best place to start, if anyone here can guide me it would be appreciated. I seem to recall that Jorge Luis Borges called him "the strangest of all writers" (paraphrase) and I want to know what he meant by that...

When I was about your age (fuck, that makes me feel old) . . . anyway . . . when I was in my 20s I read Portrait of a Lady and thought it was unputdownable. It's very early though, you may get an idea of the strangeness Borges alludes to, but maybe not. For real strangeness in his novels you need to take the plunge and immerse yourself into a long term relationship with Ambassadors, Dove or Bowl.

I'd say it's not strangeness, because it's the human condition and we're all humans. It just is totally disconcerting to have it exposed.

There's also the novellas and they can give a clear view of his elusiveness. Turn of the Screw -- you'll find yourself wondering who's a ghost and who isn't, what exactly is truth, reality . . . .  Aspen Papers too. 

Proust is similar really -- easier to read in a way, but less relateable for me, I don't see myself so clearly in Proust. And Proust turns into a lecturer, which James never does. 

[Florestan]

oseph Conrad, in contrast, was virtually unknown, even despite the fact that he was born in the Russian Empire and first saw the sea in Odessa.

Joseph Conrad was published in Romanian translation in the 1960s: Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo. He's one of my favorite writers, a truly unique style and a sumptuous use of English, despite him being Polish.

[AnotherSpin]

Joseph Conrad was published in Romanian translation in the 1960s: Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo. He's one of my favorite writers, a truly unique style and a sumptuous use of English, despite him being Polish.

Conrad was translated and published in Russian almost during his lifetime, but his popularity in Soviet times is not comparable to the popularity of Mark Twain, who was published in millions of copies, filmed screenings, etc.