tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post1662650374720801167..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: What I read in November, all in one place for some reasonAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47445711945149694232021-01-22T21:13:21.924-06:002021-01-22T21:13:21.924-06:00The Moore book is a blast, and although he does te...The Moore book is a blast, and although he does tell a bit of a story, each section stands on its own, so if you think "Wait, Tibetan religious novels!" then you can just read that bit.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-55498420643147606562021-01-22T17:44:13.375-06:002021-01-22T17:44:13.375-06:00Very few things are The Moonstone, more's the ...Very few things are The Moonstone, more's the pity...<br /><br />The Moore book sounds enticing! Byzantine, Tibetan, more...Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11102760784619065952020-12-10T13:18:46.824-06:002020-12-10T13:18:46.824-06:00Milosz, the nut, finds himself outside of Poland a...Milosz, the nut, finds himself outside of Poland after the German invasion, and goes to heroic lengths to get back in!<br /><br />I'm afraid I don't know much about Polish history. The book you mention must be of great interest.<br /><br />Greek tragedy - yes, "Noon Wine" has a sense of inevitability, of fate working its way.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-46636128212097636892020-12-09T11:52:49.083-06:002020-12-09T11:52:49.083-06:00"Milosz’s material reality is the destruction..."Milosz’s material reality is the destruction of Warsaw and everything around him."<br />A lot of what I have teed up to read somehow seems to include the destruction of Poland, probably because it seems to have happened several times. I've dipped into Larry Wolff's "Inventing Eastern Europe" (really good, by the way), but I'm really interested in finding good books (nonfiction and fictional settings) on the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century since that seems to resonate so much in later Polish writing. Any recommendations are appreciated.<br /><br />Re: Porter. I remember really enjoying Noon Wine. It felt like a Greek tragedy sent in the American southwest. Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-2292030007153273382020-12-09T09:16:41.718-06:002020-12-09T09:16:41.718-06:00True, yes. Maybe your comment got cut off somehow...True, yes. Maybe your comment got cut off somehow.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-4692536539734202062020-12-09T08:09:28.844-06:002020-12-09T08:09:28.844-06:00Czeslaw Milosz had an equally noteworthy contempor...Czeslaw Milosz had an equally noteworthy contemporary, poet and essayist Zbigniew Herbert, whose work is mostly in English translation. Citronyellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756931188297902463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48347002125029370482020-12-08T10:35:50.328-06:002020-12-08T10:35:50.328-06:00Moore says there is one 12th century Byzantine nov...Moore says there is one 12th century Byzantine novel available in English, <i>Drosila and Charikles</i> by Niketas Eugenianos, published in 2004 by an <a href="https://www.bolchazy.com/A-Byzantine-Novel-Drosilla-and-Charikles-by-Niketas-Eugenianos-P3518.aspx" rel="nofollow">obscure press</a> specializing in educational material for the teaching of Latin and Greek.<br /><br />Only two other complete novels from the period survive. There is another burst of Greek novellas from the 14th century, three of them in English in <i><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Three-Medieval-Greek-Romances/Betts/p/book/9780367149956" rel="nofollow">Three Medieval Greek Romances</a></i>.<br />Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-49944612723539934672020-12-08T09:50:29.828-06:002020-12-08T09:50:29.828-06:00Is any of the c12th Byzantine literature available...Is any of the c12th Byzantine literature available in English? Uncommon stuff. There was meant to be a Lucianic revival around that time (maybe the same thing?), But no idea if any of it is extant, let alone in English.obookihttps://obooki.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-38241943433079588722020-12-05T16:12:40.986-06:002020-12-05T16:12:40.986-06:00Straight through! But I guess Larkin's Collec...Straight through! But I guess Larkin's <i>Collected</i> is about as long as Bishop's, not one of those 800 page monsters.<br /><br />Sometimes it's the poet, or the collection or just the poem. That's one of the great things about poetry to me, that a poet can feel like a great poet even if just for one poem.<br /><br />What combination of a poem with a reader's inclination, attention and circumstance that causes that click, yes, a mystery. An endless quest.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-30739464641554148352020-12-05T16:03:44.390-06:002020-12-05T16:03:44.390-06:00One of the few volumes of poetry on my own (vs wor...One of the few volumes of poetry on my own (vs work) shelves is Bishop's complete poems: I bought it because she seems like the kind of poet I would like, plus also Nova Scotia connections. Yet she has never clicked for me: I open the book and put it back. In contrast, I also own Larkin's collected poems and read the volume straight through one summer afternoon. I guess the short version is that (for this novel reader, anyway) poetry is always a bit mysterious.Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-35584952023237844722020-12-02T15:57:46.904-06:002020-12-02T15:57:46.904-06:00I took the Moore book as entirely about further re...I took the Moore book as entirely about further reading, although when that reading will happen, when I could even get the books, I do not know. The book is also a tribute to American university research libraries, particularly the Asian collection at the University of Michigan.<br /><br /><i>Some</i> semantics about "what is a novel?" seem necessary for the book to function. I never thought I had to agree on particular cases. Of course, I don't care that much about novels as such. I would as eagerly read the companion volume <i>The Not-a-Novel, an Alternative History</i>.<br /><br /><i>Miss Lonelyhearts</i> is of a bleakness not to be described, not to be looked at directly. <i>Locust</i> can only gesture towards its bleakness.<br /><br />Something new in American literature, at least.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-25556891761605181272020-12-02T13:53:51.890-06:002020-12-02T13:53:51.890-06:00That's some pretty good reading.
I read the f...That's some pretty good reading.<br /><br />I read the first half of Moore's book when it came out, and I remember getting annoyed at his argument about what constituted <i>a novel</i>. It seemed like pointless semantics, though I was much crankier back then than I am now. I didn't think to use the book as a source book for further reading, which it could easily be. Now I want to take another look at it. I wonder where I shelved it.<br /><br />I have a copy of <i>Day of the Locust</i>, but <i>Miss Lonelyhearts</i> is so damned bleak that I have been avoiding it for years now.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-46690594445402623882020-12-01T16:46:32.562-06:002020-12-01T16:46:32.562-06:00The entire Japanese section is 70 pages, of which ...The entire Japanese section is 70 pages, of which <i>Genji</i> gets 12. He begins in the 8th century, and covers many Heian novels, as well as other periods. I had so idea there was so much in English, not to mention untranslated novels, and lost novels.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-21085462100769085952020-12-01T16:39:22.314-06:002020-12-01T16:39:22.314-06:00I'm interested in the last one. Or at least I ...I'm interested in the last one. Or at least I wanna read the Genji section. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.com