tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8174506839076482459..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: A year of good .... reading AHEAD - revisiting my New Year's resolutionsAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-35183417962289104652012-01-04T16:46:26.377-06:002012-01-04T16:46:26.377-06:00Oh good. You can always count on a murderer for a ...Oh good. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Write something about Dolly's class roster for me, will you, please.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28432210107071295062012-01-04T16:31:02.366-06:002012-01-04T16:31:02.366-06:00nicole, I couldn't tell you. Maybe she was cut...nicole, I couldn't tell you. Maybe she <i>was</i> cut up and packed in a lunchbox. I didn't finish the book, presciently on Tom's advice.<br /><br />I'm about to write what will probably be a longish piece on <i>Lolita</i>. "Like" is not the right word for how I felt about <i>Lolita</i> (passionate astonished bewonderment might be better), but I can see that deep engagement with characters and strategies that you abhor is very good for the brain.Jennyhttp://shelflove.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-62576421195674025932012-01-04T10:38:18.465-06:002012-01-04T10:38:18.465-06:00Jenny, I think I might have liked Tess a lot bette...Jenny, I think I might have liked <em>Tess</em> a lot better if she had been cut up and packed in a lunchbox!nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86641894330174764692012-01-04T10:10:36.465-06:002012-01-04T10:10:36.465-06:00Not finishing aids pleasure and scholarship. With...Not finishing aids pleasure <i>and</i> scholarship. With books in my field, I have no compunction about squeezing out the exact desired amount of knowledge and tossing the husk aside. Works of art have a different status, so I act like I must experience the whole thing. A good idea up to a point.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-4098236485744990162012-01-04T09:14:01.006-06:002012-01-04T09:14:01.006-06:00Bravo. I like the bit about not finishing more bo...Bravo. I like the bit about not finishing more books - especially as I grow longer in the tooth and begin looking over my shoulder for time sneaking up. I've decided that at this stage in my life I will read for pleasure and not scholarship (although I suppose there could be both). Looking forward to hearing about your plans.Gradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17526750467742207099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-42536883669703397262012-01-04T08:32:23.974-06:002012-01-04T08:32:23.974-06:00Tony, great, intriguing advice. I will be sure to...Tony, great, intriguing advice. I will be sure to read, or at least read about, both versions.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11961420552320651682012-01-04T01:57:13.664-06:002012-01-04T01:57:13.664-06:00Hardy, I love Hardy, read virtually all of the nov...Hardy, I love Hardy, read virtually all of the novels (not sure I'd love Hardy the poet as much). If you read 'Tess...', make sure you get Hardy's intended version; one of the pivotal plot points is ever-so-slightly different...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-90406257813648996622012-01-03T23:36:08.851-06:002012-01-03T23:36:08.851-06:00Forget Tess. No need to care about Tess. The cha...Forget Tess. No need to care about Tess. The character to keep an eye on is Thomas Hardy. He's the fellow making all of the choices. And what, exactly, is he doing with all of that Schopenhauer? I am suspicious.<br /><br />I like to like the books I read, sure. But more than that, I like to read great literature, even books I don't like. <br /><br />Writing about Dostoevsky, a writer I strongly dislike, on Wuthering Expectations has done wonders for me. Really focused my attention when I read <i>Karamazov</i> a couple of years ago. I should test myself with more Dostoevsky soon and see how I do. <i>Karamazov</i> Week was not so shabby. I would love to be half as successful with <i>Tess</i>.<br /><br />nicole, I should definitely not read more blogs, no matter that follows that "if". I should read many fewer. I left what I hope is an encouraging <i>W&P</i> note, by the way.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77435202395159630672012-01-03T21:56:25.468-06:002012-01-03T21:56:25.468-06:00I know you don't care whether you like Hardy. ...I know you don't care whether you like Hardy. I, on the other hand, like to like the books I read. This has nothing to do with sympathy. It has to do with enjoyment and understanding of whatever the book is providing me -- getting out of it what I'm meant to be getting out of it. The better reader I become, the more books I like. Or rather, the more good books I like. I still hate a whole slew of rotten ones! <br /><br />Nicole -- I quit reading Tess about 30 pages before the end, because I <i> just didn't care</i> what happened to her. She could have been cut up and packed in a lunchbox for all of me. I will probably read it again, but that intense indifference will be tough to overcome.Jennyhttp://shelflove.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3327559355035446032012-01-03T18:00:19.345-06:002012-01-03T18:00:19.345-06:00Yeah, Chekhov says that all you need for a story i...Yeah, Chekhov says that all you need for a story is a man, a woman and a reason for them to be unhappy. He is always concerned with the proper and efficient grouping of narrative elements with nothing going to waste. Dostoyevsky on the other hand seemingly wants to include the whole of creation in his books, to wallow in the excess of life. My own prose is more like Chekhov's and I constantly prune away, but I do envy Dostoyevsky his loose, baggy novels.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-14272949350110236372012-01-03T17:28:09.125-06:002012-01-03T17:28:09.125-06:00He is more than a little bit like Dostoevsky in th...<em>He is more than a little bit like Dostoevsky in this regard, and thus a great challenge for me.</em><br /><br />Haha, so <em>that's</em> why I hated <em>Tess</em>! (No, no it isn't. I'm so encouraged that others also hated it at a young age, though I'm not so sure I'd change my opinion now. If you do read it, I might have to finally give it another go. I would sort of hate that.)<br /><br /><em>An ongoing resolution, as a critic, is to understand these different approaches as well as I can, the messy and undisciplined writers as well as the precise and elegant ones.</em><br /><br />Sigh, always this. I am failing right now, with <em>W&P</em>. I should post on it this week so people can help me while I still have time left.<br /><br />Also. If you think you're writing bad prose, you should read some more blogs.nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-5424037284712635912012-01-03T17:14:44.490-06:002012-01-03T17:14:44.490-06:00Chekhov and Dostoevsky are examples of opposing an...Chekhov and Dostoevsky are examples of opposing and perhaps incompatible aesthetics. Different valuations or ranking of these writers are not just a matter of taste, but of one's approach to fiction, one's ideas about questions like "what does fiction do well?"<br /><br />An ongoing resolution, as a critic, is to understand these different approaches as well as I can, the messy and undisciplined writers as well as the precise and elegant ones.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48768746031228102412012-01-03T16:20:16.647-06:002012-01-03T16:20:16.647-06:001. Welcome back! I look forward to more of your po...1. Welcome back! I look forward to more of your posts, no matter their length.<br /><br />2. The only Hardy I recall reading is <i>Jude</i>, and well-compared to Dostoyevsky. I've enjoyed a few of his novels, but I keep not reading more of them despite ma femme's abiding love of him (she gives a hearty thumbs up to the newest translation of <i>The Possessed</i>, by the way). The same goes for Hardy; she's read all of him and I keep not following suit.<br /><br />I'm reading Chekhov's letters, and he's just picked up (in 1889) a complete set of Dostoyevsky. <i>Messy and undisciplined</i> seems to be the initial verdict from young Dr Chekhov.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-37042937273569558852012-01-03T15:52:05.651-06:002012-01-03T15:52:05.651-06:00SpSq - February. I want February. We can change ...SpSq - February. I want February. We can change that if something interferes.<br /><br />I have no particular interest in <i>liking</i> those unread Hardy novels. I just want to learn to read them well.<br /><br />My experience with Hardy's fiction (<i>Casterbridge</i> and <i>Jude</i>) is that he is the most bizarrely inconsistent writer in the English canon, careening from bad sentence to good and from inspired image to cliché. He is more than a little bit like Dostoevsky in this regard, and thus a great challenge for me.<br /><br />I note that <a href="http://shelflove.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/the-return-of-the-native-review/" rel="nofollow">both you</a> and <a href="http://shelflove.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/jude-the-obscure-review/" rel="nofollow">Teresa</a> make free use, regarding the prose, of the B word. You are absolutely right about Hardy's real but underemphasized sense of humor.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47059180993183776332012-01-03T15:05:46.660-06:002012-01-03T15:05:46.660-06:00Teresa has caused me to read all the Hardy I'v...Teresa has caused me to read all the Hardy I've read. She's purely right, of course. I haven't dared try Tess since I (like Sparkling Squirrel) hated it early, but I suspect I'd like it now.<br /><br />Looking forward to reading here in the New Year!Jennyhttp://shelflove.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81369512242308966402012-01-03T14:33:38.443-06:002012-01-03T14:33:38.443-06:00Having only read two Hardy books, but having dated...Having only read two Hardy books, but having dated an Englishman enamored with them, I highly recommend F from the M C, and need to re-read Tess, which I hated enough at 16 to be shocked when I loved FftMC at 28.<br />Oh, I'd like to put my new Portuguese novel on my STIR schedule. What month do you want? All are available at the moment.Sparkling Squirrelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10899640164757220074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-24655739273601112992012-01-03T13:43:17.681-06:002012-01-03T13:43:17.681-06:00I can only speak for myself - different writers ne...I can only speak for myself - different writers need to follow different rules. For me, length encourages slackness, wandering, purely decorative adjectives, and trivial digressions. So I need the pressure - word count, limited time, a narrow subject, something like that.<br /><br />A really good soundbite is also known as an aphorism! If only I could write like Lichtenberg or La Rochefoucauld.<br /><br />I do think a little "Wagner as literature" project would be really interesting to do, and to write about.<br /><br />seraillon - I am glad you mentioned the Pessoa book. I will refer to your comment, which contains highly useful information, tomorrow. Short answer: end of March, more or less.<br /><br />One may wonder, examining the WPA poster, how those tall books in the foreground stay upright. The answer is that it is so cold that the books have actually frozen to the sled.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-33362736993710620512012-01-03T13:12:41.116-06:002012-01-03T13:12:41.116-06:00Happy new year, by the way!Happy new year, by the way!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-88513591439450974192012-01-03T13:12:04.367-06:002012-01-03T13:12:04.367-06:00"Write shorter posts"? Surely not! Why g..."Write shorter posts"? Surely not! Why give in to the Age of the Soundbite?<br /><br />I am all for writing more about music, though. As you say, opera is theatre, and there is no reason why we shouldn't write about it. I'm sorry you deleted your post on Massenet - I'd have enjoyed reading it. As for Wagner - bring him on! I can take it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59844190595659827182012-01-03T13:09:56.130-06:002012-01-03T13:09:56.130-06:00Happy 2012 to you too! I doubt I'll be reading...Happy 2012 to you too! I doubt I'll be reading "Middlemarch" this year, but I'd be more than happy if I could accomplish even reaching a 1,000 word limit on my own interminable posts, so if you don't mind, I'll try harder to adopt at least the spirit of that particular resolution. By the way, are you still expecting to cover <i>The Book of Disquiet</i> as part of the Portuguese challenge? I've just finished it - a marathon, but I'm at last over the finish line. It's been such a close daily companion for the last two months that I feel like someone dear has just died.<br /><br />Oh, and that poster image, despite the cozy winter reading nook promised by the hut in the background, makes me glad I live in coastal California.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58283873671674376142012-01-03T10:42:37.618-06:002012-01-03T10:42:37.618-06:00How odd, those are exactly the 3 of the 5 most fam...How odd, those are exactly the 3 of the 5 most famous Hardy novels that I have not read. <br /><br />That readalong would be useful. We need to schedule it for [vague waving at the horizon] later, though. Summer, fall.<br /><br />That word "plans" over-promises. That'll just be a dang bookkeeping post, I fear.<br /><br />You know, I just thought of part of why that Trollope joke works so well. It's a signal to us, one of many, that the author is enormously enjoying his own novel. "Isn't this fun?"Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-72219705771724477052012-01-03T09:45:23.898-06:002012-01-03T09:45:23.898-06:00Welcome back and Happy New Year! I look forward to...Welcome back and Happy New Year! I look forward to knowing your plans.<br /><br />I didn't finish a couple of books this year myself. It felt like failure, but it also felt good. Paradoxical!<br /><br />I'm rereading Barchester Towers, by the way (preparatory for teaching it next week) and because of you I especially enjoyed "It was a pity that in such a state he could not have encountered Mrs Proudie" this time.Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-84297937410808106952012-01-03T09:40:31.818-06:002012-01-03T09:40:31.818-06:00I too have not read Tess yet, though it is sitting...I too have not read Tess yet, though it is sitting on my bookshelf along with Far from the Madding Crowd and Return of the Native. Perhaps a Hardy read-along is in order?<br /><br />Welcome back! I look forward to new posts, new books, and new ideas.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961332983813359209noreply@blogger.com