tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8748123917391204360..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: A hodgepodge of factual matter and unsupported opinion about Anatole FranceAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-4218699393374441062011-03-10T12:44:28.678-06:002011-03-10T12:44:28.678-06:00Alas, it would appear Google Images has failed me ...Alas, it would appear Google Images has failed me yet again... Thanks for the links! Maybe I should rethink my cover-finding approach...?Meytal Radzinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15805413335735169073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-9111610979909917852011-03-08T23:46:24.071-06:002011-03-08T23:46:24.071-06:00I am unconvinced by the results of the ebook cover...I am unconvinced by the results of the ebook cover experiment.<br /><br />You want <a href="http://home.windstream.net/ronholl/mla/a_france.htm" rel="nofollow"> this cover</a>, which is unbeatable. I'm reading that Modern Library book, but in an older edition, with a generic cover, swathed in old library tape.<br /><br />Now, <a href="http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/bantam/12" rel="nofollow">this one</a> (about a quarter of the way down - search for "Anatole"), a Bantam Classic from 1958, is strong evidence for France's high status in English. That was the imprint for the canon, for books used in classrooms.<br /><br />My understanding is that France was well-known internationally long before he won the Nobel.<br /><br />I don't want to defend the importance of the Nobel - that's not a curse word at Wuthering Expectations, but it's much of an honor here, either.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-22202679196671384532011-03-08T22:18:56.530-06:002011-03-08T22:18:56.530-06:00In my quest to read as much by those big ol' N...In my quest to read as much by those big ol' Nobel prize winners, I downloaded <i>Penguin Island</i> from Gutenberg a few years ago. Though I still haven't gotten around to it (isn't this my excuse for everything by now...?), I did recently notice that when I tried to find a suitable "cover" for my eBook, none was readily available.<br /><br />Though it is clear to me that these were once more famous, I'm not certain they ever necessarily fared better in English. Look at Nobel prize winners today. Do they all enjoy Anglo-centric fame upon receiving the prize? Hardly.<br /><br />And as usual, off I go to the shame-list, gazing at all the book titles I always <i>say</i> I'll get around to reading but for some odd reason, <i>never read</i>...Meytal Radzinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15805413335735169073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74556105932300695622011-03-07T21:36:39.782-06:002011-03-07T21:36:39.782-06:00Outstandingly helpful stuff.
Vince - no, I had no...Outstandingly helpful stuff.<br /><br />Vince - no, I had not heard that quote. What a line! France was once a giant! I had thought about calling him "a Voltaire who had read Flaubert" - that quote suggests why.<br /><br />Charlotte - stuffy old translations could well be impediments. The old version of <i>Penguin Island</i> I used was lively, but that might not be the normal case.<br /><br />I'm glad you caught my little Proust inside joke. Although I meant it, too (the niche being "literature about the Dreyfus Affair"). Shaw is a good comparison - another giant, once. What happened? <br /><br />The older writers who lived across the cusp, who survived to see Modernism, were all targets for the young punks. Bennett for Woolf; France for Valéry. France was only four years younger than Zola - he was six years older than Maupassant! He was the same age as Paul Verlaine! But only France survived long enough to collect a Nobel, and to become a representative of the old order.<br /><br />Woolf, Gide, Proust, and Valéry are almost the same age, too. Gide received his Nobel at almost exactly the same age as France.<br /><br />obooki - I will read "Riquet" soon, this week, why not. I hate to tell you this, but the best part of <i>Thaïs</i> - I'm tempted to say, the only good part - is about 2/3 of the way in.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86626802059101200302011-03-07T20:35:31.188-06:002011-03-07T20:35:31.188-06:00I have never read France, but I must mention two t...I have never read France, but I must mention two things after reading this post...<br />The first: all the translations seen here seem strangely inflated... An example: 'avoir soif' is the most common expression for being thirsty, bar none. I really see no reason no to translate it simply as The Gods Are Thirsty. Similarly, his first banquet sentence, full of clichés as it is even in French, is at least pretty straightforward in the original, and uses mostly "lesser words"... So I have to wonder if the reasons evoked by obooki are not compounded by dated translations, at least as far as English readers go?<br />The second thing I wanted to mention, about Proust filling France's niche--that made me smile, because I have been taught that France was the probably model for Bergotte in La Recherche: the great writer who wrote for a century past, and whom the narrator had to replace to become, well, Proust.Charlottenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83888663369028663002011-03-07T18:29:10.853-06:002011-03-07T18:29:10.853-06:00I started reading France's The Gods Will Have ...I started reading France's The Gods Will Have Blood (sometimes also, The Gods Are Athirst) when you mentioned you were doing AF this week. It's ok so far, but I fear it's descending into long philosophical speeches about politics.<br /><br />Here are some ideas about why he's unpopular now:<br /><br />a) Gide said of him that he lacked the "inquietude" that is characteristic of c20th man.<br /><br />b) Valery, in his inaugural address to the Ac Francaise supposedly in praise of his predecessor France commented on "the repetitiveness, the mechanical neatness of form ... the digressive nature of much of his work which tends to turn some of his novels into abstract discussions about God, democracy, justice..."<br /><br />I think he fell down the same manhole as Shaw.<br /><br />I'm not wholly sold on him; I gave up on Thais: - but I keep persevering, perhaps because the first thing I read of his was a book of short stories, Crainquebille, which contains a marvellous 10-page story, Riquet, about a dog whose world is shattered when his family move house. A little moment of genius can last me a long time.obookihttp://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3386117424124058992011-03-07T15:16:26.523-06:002011-03-07T15:16:26.523-06:00Hi A.R.
Years ago I read a quote, supposedly by ...Hi A.R.<br /><br />Years ago I read a quote, supposedly by Anatole France, which I cannot find any attribution for now. It was:<br /><br /><i>"The first six revisions anyone could have written but the seventh, that’s Anatole France. </i><br /><br />I just love this quote but I can’t find the source. Have you ever heard this quote?<br /><br />VinceVincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12707773426729777989noreply@blogger.com