tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post6936238082678978033..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Fusion, transfusion, diffusion, confusion, and profusion - Machado de Assis at his DalkeyestAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-90169773602291962522016-03-31T08:13:09.281-05:002016-03-31T08:13:09.281-05:00Such a treat, those late novels. I never did get ...Such a treat, those late novels. I never did get to the last one.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-311939165870233942016-03-30T23:27:10.823-05:002016-03-30T23:27:10.823-05:00All that body switching talk in ye olde post remin...All that body switching talk in ye olde post reminds me that I ought to return to Machado's <em>Quincas Borba</em> this year. Have not tried his short stories as yet, but what I've read of his novels makes me sad that he's regarded as an "obscure" writer even by some of your more than usually well-read readers. What a treat!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-73094454020161926502016-03-30T17:44:33.016-05:002016-03-30T17:44:33.016-05:00Indeed, useful lingo for book lovers.Indeed, useful lingo for book lovers.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-46259527856584927712016-03-30T13:43:31.296-05:002016-03-30T13:43:31.296-05:00Ha, those are exactly the names I would list.Ha, those are exactly the names I would list.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-18099622199860294382016-03-30T10:22:31.600-05:002016-03-30T10:22:31.600-05:00As much as I love Lispector, I must say that Macha...As much as I love Lispector, I must say that Machado is up there with Melville, James, Faulkner and Borges among the very greatest fiction writers the American continents have produced. Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-10222105841820789822016-03-30T08:03:20.088-05:002016-03-30T08:03:20.088-05:00It's a useful word! Meaningful.It's a useful word! Meaningful.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-68025166120797256082016-03-30T08:02:50.619-05:002016-03-30T08:02:50.619-05:00You'll have to take that up with Brazilian rea...You'll have to take that up with Brazilian readers, Mel. I don't know enough to say. Machado is Brazil's - who is famous enough - Brazil's Mark Twain, the author everyone reads - or is assigned - in high school.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-63888250399788053452016-03-30T01:08:25.710-05:002016-03-30T01:08:25.710-05:00I have begun reading all of Clarice Lispector and ...I have begun reading all of Clarice Lispector and she certainly is in the running for Brazil's greatest writer. Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66106689559379617402016-03-29T23:51:21.126-05:002016-03-29T23:51:21.126-05:00I've yet to read Machado other than a cursory ...I've yet to read Machado other than a cursory glance through <i>Brás Cubas</i>, but "Dalkeyest" certainly gets my vote for the Oxford Dictionnaries Word of the Year 2016, Literary Category. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-33721930607671324422016-03-29T15:20:41.928-05:002016-03-29T15:20:41.928-05:00It's really just that "Dictionary" s...It's really just that "Dictionary" story that stands out as Borges-like. Restless, imaginative Machado anticipated so many writers, even if just here and there.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66563389456741493602016-03-29T15:15:43.289-05:002016-03-29T15:15:43.289-05:00I've read so much by Borges, non-fiction-wise,...I've read so much by Borges, non-fiction-wise, and I don't remember mentions of Machado; it could be that at the time my mind wasn't focused on Machado to notice. It's telling, though, that he doesn't include him in any of the two lists of favourite books he compiled.<br /><br />If you read John Barth's two first books of essays, though, you'll find several mentions of Machado. I don't think he and Borges are that similar; Machado liked too much to write about people and relationships; and even his metafictions are in the service of showing the mental idiosyncrasy of the narrator. Borges instead started from a description of an object or a concept and seldom moved into human territory.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59942722245541776942016-03-29T08:16:02.167-05:002016-03-29T08:16:02.167-05:00I don't know that Machado did influence Borges...I don't know that Machado did influence Borges, actually. I doubt it. Machado's novel <i>Dom Casmurro</i> (1899) is so strangely Nabokovian that Brian Boyd has written a piece comparing the two writers, but there is no hint Nabokov read Machado. Everyone was behind Machado, that's all.<br /><br /><i>A Chapter of Hats</i> is a nicely balanced collection.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-26514759960393509212016-03-29T02:36:08.607-05:002016-03-29T02:36:08.607-05:00I've read A Chapter of Hats and The Psychiatri...I've read A Chapter of Hats and The Psychiatrist as well as Dom Casmurro but this sounds like a collection that takes his work even further out there! Definitely agree that a more orderly translation would be good - I never understand why we can't just have equivalent collections in English.<br /><br />Tim - love the concept of a Swiss cheese mind - that is *so* what I've got!!Kaggsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07348319724492250546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87714309128360642322016-03-28T23:39:02.441-05:002016-03-28T23:39:02.441-05:00i've read quite a bit of borges; don't kno...i've read quite a bit of borges; don't know nearly enough about what literary figures influenced him, though. guess i'll have to get ahold of some machado. txMudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70994136191513112822016-03-28T22:37:57.426-05:002016-03-28T22:37:57.426-05:00Brazilian, yes, Brazil's greatest writer, or s...Brazilian, yes, Brazil's greatest writer, or such is the conventional opinion. He's a true original, writing Borgesian stories in the 1880s, as well as other kinds of works, often of the highest quality.<br /><br />Several years ago, I read five of his novels as well as the three collections of stories. I probably should, this time, have written more about who Machado was. I should learn to repeat myself more. I wrote those other posts about him a long time ago, in some sense.<br /><br /><i>The Psychiatrist</i> is a <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2011/11/both-theory-and-practice-psychiatrist.html" rel="nofollow">great starting point</a> - fierce, funny, relevant, etc.<br /><br />As far as "reading decisions" go, I just read what I want to read, constrained by the availability of books. Maybe I ask, as I finish a book, now do I want something similar or something different?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-82439637881029865022016-03-28T17:36:10.028-05:002016-03-28T17:36:10.028-05:00I think I've asked this before (but I forget d...I think I've asked this before (but I forget doing so, and I forget the answer), so I'll try again: How do you make your reading decisions, some of which seem to include some very obscure writers? (Note: My decisions are almost always accidents; see my most recent posting for an example -- http://thewritersalmanac.blogspot.com/2016/03/death-is-now-my-neighbor-and-few-other.html -- but I with my Swiss-cheese mind am the confused exception who must rely upon serendipity and impulse.)RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-19410519355827348972016-03-28T17:30:57.792-05:002016-03-28T17:30:57.792-05:00a brazilian writer, i take it? i've heard the...a brazilian writer, i take it? i've heard the name but never read any; that one quote sounded slightly borgesian...Mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.com