tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8654472465999230236..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: who needs context - novels by Gyula Krúdy and Ilf & Petrov - drink to the irrigation of Uzbekistan!Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-10241162925806137782018-12-07T09:43:40.768-06:002018-12-07T09:43:40.768-06:00Ilf and Petrov are such good comedians that they e...Ilf and Petrov are such good comedians that they even get the sour future jokes right.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77617608964885503482018-12-07T09:34:09.964-06:002018-12-07T09:34:09.964-06:00Rodger Cunningham:
My immediate association to th...Rodger Cunningham:<br /><br />My immediate association to this is that the irrigation of Uzbekistan (which sounds like a good idea at least--I'll drink to that!) led eventually to the disappearance of the Aral Sea and the covering of Central Asia with windblown pesticide residue.*Sigh*Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-19906238189150712062018-11-30T16:03:39.547-06:002018-11-30T16:03:39.547-06:00Thanks for the link.
Firbank is great fun, if you...Thanks for the link.<br /><br />Firbank is great fun, if you can stand the flavor.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81648263326802045882018-11-30T14:45:01.760-06:002018-11-30T14:45:01.760-06:00If you don't mind me mentioning this...anyone ...If you don't mind me mentioning this...anyone interested in Krúdy can visit Hungarian Literature Online ( http://hlo.hu/ ) and do a search on his name. They have several excerpts by him and articles about/regarding him. <br /><br />And yes, please post more on Firbank when you can! <br />- DwightAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-78847462695484739012018-11-27T09:28:59.059-06:002018-11-27T09:28:59.059-06:00That is quite a stylistic career. Master and Marg...That is quite a stylistic career. <i>Master and Margarita</i> is quite high on my imaginary list of the Most Important Books I Have Not Read.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-52780906299221826802018-11-27T00:50:45.757-06:002018-11-27T00:50:45.757-06:00Bulgakov evolved from writing like Turgenev (Count...Bulgakov evolved from writing like Turgenev (<i>Country Doctor's Notebook</i>) to writing like Tolstoy (<i>White Guard</i>) to writing like the Dostoyevsky who wrote "The Crocodile" and at some point wrote the magical-realism social satire <i>The Master and Margarita</i>. I quite like <i>White Guard</i>, but <i>MaM</i> has an oversized cat with a loaded pistol and pokes a good deal of fun at Soviet writers' collectives.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83383675503321715552018-11-26T19:48:45.832-06:002018-11-26T19:48:45.832-06:00If anything, my problem is knowing too much about ...If anything, my problem is knowing too much about the later Soviet Union and shifting it into the 1920s. So I am learning something from Ilf and Petrov and Zoshchenko and so on, besides enjoying them. But a reader could come to these books with nothing, or almost nothing, and be fine.<br /><br />I've never read Bulgakov, for some reason.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-38808607063429880132018-11-26T15:52:16.819-06:002018-11-26T15:52:16.819-06:00These novels remind me of some of Bulgakov's s...These novels remind me of some of Bulgakov's satires, like <i>Heart of a Dog</i> or <i>A Dead Man's Memoir</i>. Those books work even for a reader who is unfamiliar with the Soviet Union in the 1920s, because human shortsightedness and idiocy really are timeless.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-1251985871830104082018-11-26T13:33:12.311-06:002018-11-26T13:33:12.311-06:00Yes! Readers, in my classroom experiences, were of...Yes! Readers, in my classroom experiences, were often unsure of themselves as readers when they encountered O'Connor. She hits them between the eyes with a comic vision of the inevitable irony for Christians: "A funny thing happens on the road to Damascus ... and Calvary ... and beyond ..." RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32640471080213136042018-11-26T13:26:07.554-06:002018-11-26T13:26:07.554-06:00I suppose Flannery O'Connor's works have a...I suppose Flannery O'Connor's works have a similar problem. Readers think "Is this supposed to be funny? Am I allowed to laugh?"<br /><br />Good luck with the resurrection!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74867152509070429142018-11-26T12:45:03.886-06:002018-11-26T12:45:03.886-06:00Satire, like irony, goes over many readers' he...Satire, like irony, goes over many readers' heads. The evil sibling, sarcasm, seems lately to be easier and more popular. You remind me that I ought to revisit Gulliver. Well, best wishes from the old goat on the Gulf coast who has resurrected himself from the ash heap of blogging with a new blog and address. I look forward to reading about your future reading adventures.<br />https://beyondeastrod2018edition.blogspot.com/RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76124895890331646502018-11-24T20:11:05.080-06:002018-11-24T20:11:05.080-06:00I have seen so many bloggers whine about satire. ...I have seen so many bloggers whine about satire. They can't understand <i>Gulliver's Travels</i> or whatever because of all the "satire." It is as if they were told somewhere that the point is to line up the fictional characters with real politicians, about whom they of course know nothing.<br /><br />Yes, Ilf and Petrov effortlessly give the reader of a hundred years in the future and one hemisphere over everything he could possibly want.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-37721449098811922502018-11-23T09:51:06.180-06:002018-11-23T09:51:06.180-06:00I love Ilf and Petrov and I really don't think...I love Ilf and Petrov and I really don't think you need context - they're just so funny and it translates. Time for a re-read, perhaps... ;)<br /><br />kaggsysbookishramblingsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com