tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4409663903721452309..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Beginning a run through some Colette books - "I will dance nude or dressed, for the sole pleasure of dancing"Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83703271294483022692021-10-29T21:19:25.175-05:002021-10-29T21:19:25.175-05:00It is as if the school editions are written for me...It is as if the school editions are written for me! Not for those poor children. Someday I mean to take one of the books I brought home and show it off.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85472501122709236682021-10-29T18:11:56.675-05:002021-10-29T18:11:56.675-05:00Great post.
You know what I think about these dre...Great post. <br />You know what I think about these dreadful school editions but I understand why you find them interesting. Emmahttp://www.bookaroundthecorner.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-68984453877982469452021-10-29T10:05:11.457-05:002021-10-29T10:05:11.457-05:00Colette was essentially trained in a literature fa...<i>Colette was essentially trained in a literature factory, as a hack, and she has some hackish tendencies, sometimes writing fast and leaning on her talent.</i><br /><br />Also true of Chekhov; it took him a long time to get past that. I'm always amused by people who claim every one of his hundreds of stories is pure gold (or even worth reading if you're not a specialist).Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-64763611903209474092021-10-29T10:00:14.370-05:002021-10-29T10:00:14.370-05:00The COlette book I would recommend to you, Rohan, ...The COlette book I would recommend to you, Rohan, is <i>My Mother's House</i> (1922), memoiristic childhood vignettes built around Colette's mother. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I should get to it soon - only 6 books to go! But I thought this whole thing would take three days.<br /><br />I take writer's statements of process seriously, but as fiction. Another text to interpret.<br /><br />Colette was essentially trained in a literature factory, as a hack, and she has some hackish tendencies, sometimes writing fast and leaning on her talent. But often, thankfully, not. I often contrast her with Proust (two years older), whose method was so different. I should write about that today, come to think of it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-41631768527390327472021-10-29T08:32:49.269-05:002021-10-29T08:32:49.269-05:00I have no intention of trying Knausgaard (life is ...I have no intention of trying Knausgaard (life is too short), but I wouldn't take what he said about his process all that seriously. Writers lie/exaggerate a *lot* about anything to do with writing (e.g., Nabokov claimed Joyce hadn't had any impact on him); it's obviously a self-protective mechanism, but it still muddies the waters, and I'm always surprised people take it as seriously as they do.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87061580539548663332021-10-29T08:27:19.862-05:002021-10-29T08:27:19.862-05:00At least Cusk's "autofiction" (which...At least Cusk's "autofiction" (which I tried and didn't really find my thing) is very clearly written / polished. What put me off even trying Knausgaard was that he bragged about just writing as fast as he could and never mind editing or craft.<br /><br />I have not read Colette. I'm still not sure it would be my kind of thing either but I am much enjoying your posts about her!Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-33562951435190697442021-10-28T19:58:03.410-05:002021-10-28T19:58:03.410-05:00I should read Claudine à l'école at least. Fo...I should read <i>Claudine à l'école</i> at least. For one thing, it's a school novel, a whole 'nother French obsession.<br /><br />I am sympathetic to the idea that innovation is mostly implicit in the form, so one can always go back further and find whatever it is. Almost always. The talking animals must go back to the dawn of human thought. Stories about the story-teller, too.<br /><br />I count Proust as some kind of autofiction, although a screwy kind, yes.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13097936082877445322021-10-28T14:42:28.565-05:002021-10-28T14:42:28.565-05:00Since I'm reading Proust at the moment, I gues...Since I'm reading Proust at the moment, I guess that also might be auto-fiction - though since Proust denies me the validity of using my knowledge of his life to inform an understanding of his work, I guess I'll never know.<br /><br />Of course, Lucian was writing auto-fiction back in the 300-400s AD (or whenever) - as well as post-modernism, Menippean satire, and perhaps even stories about talking animals.<br /><br />The Claudine books were the first Colette I read, and I remember them as highly enjoyable (perhaps they appeal more to an adolescent though). I find her difficult too in French, and will put off reading her for now - but one day I intend to read them all. obookihttps://obooki.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-40590851348665016022021-10-27T10:51:14.728-05:002021-10-27T10:51:14.728-05:00I read some earlier Cusk, which didn't make a ...I read some earlier Cusk, which didn't make a strong impression and didn't keep me reading.<br /><br />'none of the characters have distinctive voices--they all sound like the narrator' certainly would describe my impression of How Should A Person Be? <br /><br />However I will admit to reading and enjoying Chris Kraus' I Love Dick and the three characters did not all sound alike.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39326300661027459742021-10-27T09:27:35.482-05:002021-10-27T09:27:35.482-05:00I have only read excerpts of Cusk, and was only im...I have only read excerpts of Cusk, and was only impressed by the essay where she pretends to be or actually was the world's worst book club member, outstanding humiliation comedy either way.<br /><br />Happily, I have forgotten exactly what claims the reviewers made, but it was not ideas about the quality of Cusk's books that caught my attention but rather that her books were <i>innovative</i>. And every specific "innovation" was an antique.<br /><br />Colette gives characters distinctive voices, even, though the most common voice is her own, so she is way ahead there. But she is observant about the details of the world, and enjoys describing the ways people speak.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-64909955143400672882021-10-27T09:15:14.105-05:002021-10-27T09:15:14.105-05:00I actually read Outline and wasn't that impres...I actually read <i>Outline</i> and <a href="https://languagehat.com/language-barrier-ii/" rel="nofollow">wasn't that impressed</a>: "the structure (a series of interactions in which interlocutors and their experiences are carefully described but the narrator is left mostly a blank) is interesting, but not so interesting that we can’t tear ourselves away, and none of the characters have distinctive voices — they all sound like the narrator."Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-90657927720022512282021-10-27T09:08:10.287-05:002021-10-27T09:08:10.287-05:00Yes, at that time I read what felt like an enormou...Yes, at that time I read what felt like an enormous amount about Cusk for some reason, and her reviewers were among the most ignorant about earlier literature. Maybe they were all very young.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85668759535674079672021-10-26T23:38:45.565-05:002021-10-26T23:38:45.565-05:00Knausgaard could exhaust any number of impulses.
...Knausgaard could exhaust any number of impulses. <br /><br />I haven't read any of Cusk's Outline trilogy, but it also sometimes flies under the banner. Though for that matter I see even her most recent book is something different.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48193168691562714862021-10-26T21:19:27.356-05:002021-10-26T21:19:27.356-05:00No, but I think the odd craze for it dissipated. ...No, but I think the odd craze for it dissipated. I am not sure what caused it. Knausgaard or something.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3525754149351050672021-10-26T21:07:37.098-05:002021-10-26T21:07:37.098-05:00Autofiction doesn't seem to me to have disappe...Autofiction doesn't seem to me to have disappeared entirely, alas. (Though some of it can be OK.) And Canadians like it perfectly well: Sheila Heti, et al.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-84258583770556636452021-10-26T08:24:11.406-05:002021-10-26T08:24:11.406-05:00The dictée is about as close a close reading as I ...The dictée is about as close a close reading as I can imagine.<br /><br />It is not as if a concept like "Menippean satire" is forced on the 7th graders. Rather: talking animals, look what writers have done with talking animals! Natural, logical.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75220481126284699662021-10-26T06:45:05.285-05:002021-10-26T06:45:05.285-05:00The French teach literature by surrounding it with...<i>The French teach literature by surrounding it with more literature.</i><br /><br />Well put, and true -- it occurs to me that my high school French classes (taught by an actual Frenchwoman, Mme Ruegg, with dictées and all the trimmings) were the best preparation I had for becoming a reader of literature (English classes were certainly no help).Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.com