tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7813354252497551400..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: the stupidity of people agreeing to get bored together for a day - general impressions of La RegentaAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-72001716492631400882016-09-07T10:22:27.003-05:002016-09-07T10:22:27.003-05:00I know so little about 19th century Spanish litera...I know so little about 19th century Spanish literature that it feels like nothing but discovery.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74578942989789721912016-09-07T10:12:04.003-05:002016-09-07T10:12:04.003-05:00Reading your post always leads to a discovery.Reading your post always leads to a discovery.ImageNationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021414643103601330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-38601614764875459402016-08-07T16:20:28.764-05:002016-08-07T16:20:28.764-05:00Didn't want to help himself. Why give up the ...Didn't <i>want</i> to help himself. Why give up the opportunity?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66648377727191295362016-08-07T16:19:55.298-05:002016-08-07T16:19:55.298-05:00Claude Frollo - yes! That is a promising idea. The...Claude Frollo - yes! That is a promising idea. There are some parallels, yes.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7430558330985514232016-08-07T09:43:28.347-05:002016-08-07T09:43:28.347-05:00Thanks for the mention...much appreciated. I'm...Thanks for the mention...much appreciated. I'm glad so many people read it. The meanness at times can be a little much, but I guess since it was such a target-rich environment Alas couldn't help himself, telling us as much about him as the subjects. Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75855480138713597252016-08-05T15:36:52.745-05:002016-08-05T15:36:52.745-05:00I've never tried writing a long - or even a sh...I've never tried writing a long - or even a short - novel, but it's very easy to get caught in them psychologically as a reader and hauled away. That's one reason I didn't join in here. <br />All the same, Trollope doesn't seem to have bothered very much about whether he was writing a long novel or a short one or had much difficulty: he began at the beginning, 250 words every fifteen minutes for three hours every day, got to the end and didn't stop but started on the next one. I don't know if it's heroic or nightmarish!<br />Could Claude Frollo in Notre-Dame de Paris be one of the literary ancestors of the priest here? The depiction of a priest with all the unpriestly virtues and all the priestly vices sounds very similar.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-24903791253599372022016-08-05T08:29:13.344-05:002016-08-05T08:29:13.344-05:00Long novels are nuts. Why do people read them? W...Long novels are nuts. Why do people read them? Why do people write them?<br /><br />I am only half joking.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47207909077423538202016-08-05T02:43:04.927-05:002016-08-05T02:43:04.927-05:00I'm currently finding it hard to get through v...I'm currently finding it hard to get through very short novellas so have abandoned long novels for a while. However I can get a sort of proxy education by following your posts.. Always good to be ready for that moment when someone brings up La Regenta.. or books at all... #quagmireoftrivialitySéamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-34981970047068469322016-07-28T13:54:18.987-05:002016-07-28T13:54:18.987-05:00My position is that "boring" is just a r...My position is that "boring" is just a rhetorical move for an artist, an aesthetic choice, and a completely legitimate one, especially beloved by writers of a more intellectual or conceptual bent, for example those who think it is a good idea to write a 500 page scene that includes the entire population of a good-sized city. See your local contemporary art museum for more examples.<br /><br />I spent three weeks writing about Adalbert Stifter's <i>Indian Summer</i>, for pity's sake. There is no way that Platonov is more tedious than Stifter.<br /><br /><i>Petersburg</i> has a ticking-time-bomb plot. If anything it is too tense.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50422458917753177812016-07-28T06:21:55.129-05:002016-07-28T06:21:55.129-05:00Priest as Tony Soprano: great thought! I'm try...Priest as Tony Soprano: great thought! I'm trying to put some thoughts of my own together, but am still woozy after dental surgery, so may be some time. I too have to admit I found long stretches of this novel boring, but as I return to it to examine passages that I underlined on first reading, i find subtleties and literary qualities that perhaps were obscured by the prolixity. Btw, I found The Pit pretty tedious, I'm afraid. Wouldn't mind a look at Petersburg, which I don't know much about, but have read some good reviews.Simonhttp://tredynasdays.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50071967782695153382016-07-27T15:16:09.267-05:002016-07-27T15:16:09.267-05:00The apotheosis of the husband was a shock. His st...The apotheosis of the husband was a shock. His story has a curious resemblance to a great bit of <i>Effi Briest</i> - two duels, treated similarly.<br /><br />The priest is a bit like Tony Soprano. I worry that I am being too sympathetic towards this guy - but then I meet his mother!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60594644391562471352016-07-27T11:18:31.172-05:002016-07-27T11:18:31.172-05:00The interior development of the characters is poss...The interior development of the characters is possibly the best thing about this novel. The secret lives even contradict the claims the narrator makes about some of these people, as if the narrator is a Vetustan who has swallowed the gossip whole and doesn't realize his own blinkered state. Fermin de Pas is wholly unwholesome, but completely sympathetic; that's some good writing. Victor is a fool, yes, but by the end we are no longer laughing at him. Etc. Really good work by Alas.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60538482489316184802016-07-26T21:33:50.716-05:002016-07-26T21:33:50.716-05:00Or maybe Platonov's "Foundation Pit."...Or maybe Platonov's "Foundation Pit." Or Bely's "Petersburg." Or how about Babel's "Odessa Stories"?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-71681118928573436172016-07-26T20:19:39.652-05:002016-07-26T20:19:39.652-05:00Let's keep Envy in mind, then.Let's keep Envy in mind, then.Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60310529533682917262016-07-26T20:02:44.200-05:002016-07-26T20:02:44.200-05:00Banffy is a good idea for someone else. It is a l...Banffy is a good idea for someone else. It is a little far from my period. It is <i>set</i> at a good time.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74752415103493589432016-07-26T19:38:04.622-05:002016-07-26T19:38:04.622-05:00Envy is an idea...
Here's another which isn&#...Envy is an idea...<br /><br />Here's another which isn't even Russian as I first suggested, nor is it short. How do you feel about They Were Counted by Miklos Banffy? I have long wanted to read that.Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91632738756562298122016-07-26T19:27:57.178-05:002016-07-26T19:27:57.178-05:00Wait, what free association game are we playing he...Wait, what free association game are we playing here? <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2010/07/russian-books-are-short.html" rel="nofollow">Russian books are short</a>. We should read Yuri Olesha's <i>Envy</i> this winter.<br /><br />I have an objection to long books in the context of a readalong or book club. Fewer people are likely to finish them. It is just logistics. The nature of the passage of time.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-14928179721144435792016-07-26T19:22:24.836-05:002016-07-26T19:22:24.836-05:00I have no objection to long. How do you feel about...I have no objection to long. How do you feel about something Russian in the winter? Seriously. Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75551936551895597662016-07-26T19:11:28.881-05:002016-07-26T19:11:28.881-05:00Forgive! Perhaps that should go the other way. L...Forgive! Perhaps that should go the other way. Long books make the worst readalong books. And this one is long and then some.<br /><br />Next time, a novella. A play. A prose poem.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-63607813692527105342016-07-26T19:08:09.534-05:002016-07-26T19:08:09.534-05:00Forgive me, Tom. I was bored, I loved it, I got bo...Forgive me, Tom. I was bored, I loved it, I got bored again. I am 300 pages in, fascinated by Ana, the canon and even his mother, but I am unable to continue. Some personal woe in my family prevents me from concentrating as I should, but that is a poor excuse. <br /><br />I hope you know how I have enjoyed reading with you and plan to do so again as the next book we agree on arrives on the horizon. Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.com