tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4323965317890208182..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Henri Bosco's mystical Malicroix - the five other songs of silenceAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86944090432399220792020-07-16T08:57:01.729-05:002020-07-16T08:57:01.729-05:00Richard at Caravan de Recuerdos sends this comment...Richard at <a href="http://caravanaderecuerdos.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Caravan de Recuerdos</a> sends this comment by email:<br /><br />"I would've been/will be distracted by that savory pie also. Wow! Will read on to see if there's a reason for all the narrative misdirection. Was Bosco a mystic himself?"<br /><br />I have wondered that myself, and do not really have an answer. To what extent is the mystical side of <i>Malicroix</i> an arbitrary symbolic system, useful for constructing a novel (like Calvino dealing out his Tarot cards), and to what extent does Bosco mean it? I concluded that Bosco means it, but I don't really know.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17532283120902975122020-07-13T14:08:12.883-05:002020-07-13T14:08:12.883-05:00You should read it. You know Gérard de Nerval and ...You should read it. You know Gérard de Nerval and the French esoteric tradition. Publicity for the novel did not mention any of that stuff, I assume on the sound basis that readers generally hate it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-21979532465655159752020-07-13T13:35:13.760-05:002020-07-13T13:35:13.760-05:00Malicroix sounds better and better the more I hear...<em>Malicroix</em> sounds better and better the more I hear about it. You do realize that "a strange, strange novel, a little bit crackpot" is a siren song to some of us, no? Glad I now have a copy winging its way here from afar.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-23598473286393324532020-05-03T23:32:25.315-05:002020-05-03T23:32:25.315-05:00The English translation, the NYRB Classics book, i...The English translation, the NYRB Classics book, is brand new.<br /><br />It is a book that gets stranger the more I think about it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7103689252988674192020-05-03T22:05:06.034-05:002020-05-03T22:05:06.034-05:00Sheltering at home has probably made me "crac...Sheltering at home has probably made me "crackpot" too, but this book sounds really good, haha. I've never heard anyone mention it that I can remember. Will see if I can find a copy!Marian Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14115916138435761469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77888226357554249512020-05-03T08:42:42.816-05:002020-05-03T08:42:42.816-05:00That's a great post - great comments.
I guess...That's a great post - great comments.<br /><br />I guess the question is when does the motif becomes a cliché. In Flaubert, the dog barking in the distance is part of an elaborate motif. Or so I tell myself, or deceive myself. Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81607698297157216382020-05-03T08:06:01.143-05:002020-05-03T08:06:01.143-05:00It has become a cliché in contemporary literature ...<i>It has become a cliché in contemporary literature to drop in “A dog barked in the distance”</i><br /><br />It <a href="http://languagehat.com/somewhere-a-dog-barked/" rel="nofollow">goes back to the nineteenth century</a>!Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7515374052439301502020-05-02T19:21:39.939-05:002020-05-02T19:21:39.939-05:00Well, I thought a little bit about the narrator wo...Well, I thought a little bit about the narrator would take 100 words and it took all of them. So tomorrow for Mithras and the sun goddess and so on. At least I got Anne-Madeleine into the story, now.<br /><br />The overlay of the Greek stories with the Christian symbols and the pagan stories is quite interesting - and quite Modernist.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-65146807572977251162020-05-02T15:37:46.462-05:002020-05-02T15:37:46.462-05:00Of course the Greek myths are there too—they alway...Of course the Greek myths are there too—they always are with Bosco, who was a classicist—but Mithraism has center stage, as it did in the Camargue. I’ll be interested in what you have to say about East-West.Joyce Zonanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04057179865850704416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17019460254592349792020-05-02T11:07:41.412-05:002020-05-02T11:07:41.412-05:00Yes, Mithraism! The white bull had me fooled at f...Yes, Mithraism! The white bull had me fooled at first, pushing me more towards Greek myths, but once I started noticing the east-west theme, and the sun god theme, I thought, ah ha! <br /><br />I see I did not put a source on the map, how irritating. I will add that and clean up that line. Thanks!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57385127130782397872020-05-02T10:37:06.218-05:002020-05-02T10:37:06.218-05:00Thank you Tom for this insightful view of Malicroi...Thank you Tom for this insightful view of Malicroix! I look forward to your further reflections. Think Mithraism. (Also, I mistakenly attributed the map to Bosco. It’s based on his map, but not actually his.)Joyce Zonanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04057179865850704416noreply@blogger.com