Recently Begun Books

tiganeasca

Moderator
LOL, why do you say that? :)

I actually enjoyed reading Auster back in the day, but I only read his "early" works, like the New York Trilogy, etc. I think he "lost the plot" at some point, I am not sure where.

Seeing him described as the most important American writer of his generation (on the book cover) is cringeworthy though.
Who on earth described him as the most important writer of his generation? Or is it the publisher's (self-)promotion?
 

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
LOL, why do you say that? :)

I actually enjoyed reading Auster back in the day, but I only read his "early" works, like the New York Trilogy, etc. I think he "lost the plot" at some point, I am not sure where.

Seeing him described as the most important American writer of his generation (on the book cover) is cringeworthy though.

I think Auster being described as an important American writer has to do much with style and themes. Haven't read him yet, but his style's very postmodernistic, and is very much in line with Kafka and Beckett (I think Robbe Grillet) than many American writers like Eugenides (preocuppied with family and sexuality). Art and the role of the writer are some of his key themes (somehow like his wife Siri Hustvedt).
 

Liam

Administrator
Who on earth described him as the most important writer of his generation? Or is it the publisher's (self-)promotion?
"...arguably the best living American writer."--Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"...the most distinguished American writer of the generation below Updike and Bellow, indeed its only author... with any claim to greatness."--The Spectator (UK)

Both "appraisals" are from the back of the dust-jacket, ?
 

tiganeasca

Moderator
"...arguably the best living American writer."--Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"...the most distinguished American writer of the generation below Updike and Bellow, indeed its only author... with any claim to greatness."--The Spectator (UK)

Both "appraisals" are from the back of the dust-jacket, ?
:rolleyes:

I wouldn't argue with important but "best" or "most distinguished"? I guess it all depends on what you're smoking.... (And since when are generations "above" or "below"? Aren't they usually considered to come "before" and "after"?)
 

alik-vit

Reader
Join me on 'Saka Valka', if you may, as I have also completed those two books this year.
Yes, indeed I had this idea! Not about "Salka Valka" (it was published here two times, but I haven't copy), but about one of other his big novels. I lost my battle with Carson (again) and after some reflections began "2666".
 

Leseratte

Well-known member
Yes, indeed I had this idea! Not about "Salka Valka" (it was published here two times, but I haven't copy), but about one of other his big novels. I lost my battle with Carson (again) and after some reflections began "2666".
What are your impressions/ feelings about Carson, alik? I´m still trying to start with her.
 

alik-vit

Reader
What are your impressions/ feelings about Carson, alik? I´m still trying to start with her.
I've read "Autobiography of Red", "The Beauty of the Husband" and "Glass, Irony and God". And I like all these books. She is very inventive and very eruditе author, no doubt. And certainly she is virtuous. But I'm not sure, if this virtuosity is frame for something more substantial, or it's play for play. On the other hand, my main problem here, of course, is my poor English, very often it's under her high bar.
 

Liam

Administrator
I haven't read any Carson yet, but at first glance she strikes me as a little gimmicky.

Mind you, this is a very superficial assessment without the benefit of actually reading her work first.

In my mind, poetry that cannot be anthologized neatly in a Collected Works volume stands in danger of not being poetry at all.

In other words, is Anne Carson a poet, or is she a multi-media artist (scrolls, photographs, letters, objects, pictures, illustrations, etc) who just happens to use poetry to create artifacts that can only be described as micro-installations? Not sure.

I'll see what I can do about getting some of her titles, but the city college library where I currently teach leaves much to be desired, ?
 

Liam

Administrator
Auster's Baumgartner... 35 pages in and I'm bored to death. I do hope it improves, ?
I'm about half-way through the book and I'm happy to say that, yes, it improves. The first chapter is abysmal, with stilted dialogue and some clunky symbolism (the writer burns his hand on a cast-iron pot, is unable to write, falls down the stairs into a dark basement, blah blah blah), but it picks up from there.

The titular character is facing a dilemma at 70: does he continue to mourn his wife, who's been dead for a decade, or does he make a marriage proposal to the younger woman he's currently with (who happens to have been his late wife's colleague)?

And more crucially, is it even possible to love someone ever again, if the person you happened to lose was in many ways your "soulmate"? A profound question, the more I think about it.

I do hope that Auster handles it well, I will report back after I finish the book. His recent battle with mortality, as well as the loss of his child and grandchild in quick succession, might have done something to his vision, might have darkened (but also deepened) it in unexpected ways.
 

alik-vit

Reader
Maybe that is the point, alik. I haven´t read anything by her yet.
I'm not sure, but she is very interesting author, even if not too .... I don't know... deep? Somehow, I think about camp, in the terms of Sontag. And, no, she is no poet, she is author with great energy for transgression of all genre's borders.
 

Johnny

Well-known member
I'm about half-way through the book and I'm happy to say that, yes, it improves. The first chapter is abysmal, with stilted dialogue and some clunky symbolism (the writer burns his hand on a cast-iron pot, is unable to write, falls down the stairs into a dark basement, blah blah blah), but it picks up from there.

The titular character is facing a dilemma at 70: does he continue to mourn his wife, who's been dead for a decade, or does he make a marriage proposal to the younger woman he's currently with (who happens to have been his late wife's colleague)?

And more crucially, is it even possible to love someone ever again, if the person you happened to lose was in many ways your "soulmate"? A profound question, the more I think about it.

I do hope that Auster handles it well, I will report back after I finish the book. His recent battle with mortality, as well as the loss of his child and grandchild in quick succession, might have done something to his vision, might have darkened (but also deepened) it in unexpected ways.
Let’s hope so, this is on the short term TBR list for me. It would be great if he can go out with a masterpiece, the interview he just did seems to suggest this will be his last book.
 

Phil D

Well-known member
I've read "Autobiography of Red", "The Beauty of the Husband" and "Glass, Irony and God". And I like all these books. She is very inventive and very eruditе author, no doubt. And certainly she is virtuous. But I'm not sure, if this virtuosity is frame for something more substantial, or it's play for play. On the other hand, my main problem here, of course, is my poor English, very often it's under her high bar.
I haven't read any Carson yet, but at first glance she strikes me as a little gimmicky.

Mind you, this is a very superficial assessment without the benefit of actually reading her work first.

In my mind, poetry that cannot be anthologized neatly in a Collected Works volume stands in danger of not being poetry at all.

In other words, is Anne Carson a poet, or is she a multi-media artist (scrolls, photographs, letters, objects, pictures, illustrations, etc) who just happens to use poetry to create artifacts that can only be described as micro-installations? Not sure.

I'll see what I can do about getting some of her titles, but the city college library where I currently teach leaves much to be desired, ?
Anne Carson writes about eros, death, power, and love. She is also playful; she also uses all manner of technical innovations; she is also funny, but don't let that make you think she is not serious.

She has a lot of writing that can be anthologised very successfully (I first came across her in an anthology). Her verse novels wouldn't tend to anthologise well, but that doesn't make them less apt to be called poetry. You could easily anthologise her Collected Works-That-Fit-In-A-Standard-Format-Book, and the volume would be large. Producing work that isn't poetry (whatever your definition of 'poetry' happens to be) doesn't mean that you aren't a poet, too – as long as you write poetry.
 

Phil D

Well-known member
?? Juan Ramón Jiménez - Antolojía poética (ed. Soledad González Ródenas)
Hundred-odd pages in, no idea why it's taken me this long to come around to Juan Ramón. Beautiful.
 

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
I'm about half-way through the book and I'm happy to say that, yes, it improves. The first chapter is abysmal, with stilted dialogue and some clunky symbolism (the writer burns his hand on a cast-iron pot, is unable to write, falls down the stairs into a dark basement, blah blah blah), but it picks up from there.

The titular character is facing a dilemma at 70: does he continue to mourn his wife, who's been dead for a decade, or does he make a marriage proposal to the younger woman he's currently with (who happens to have been his late wife's colleague)?

And more crucially, is it even possible to love someone ever again, if the person you happened to lose was in many ways your "soulmate"? A profound question, the more I think about it.

I do hope that Auster handles it well, I will report back after I finish the book. His recent battle with mortality, as well as the loss of his child and grandchild in quick succession, might have done something to his vision, might have darkened (but also deepened) it in unexpected ways.

I read recently (can't actually remember where exactly) that the novel is actually his last book (he's battling an illness). Well, I'll wait for your opinion and see if I'll go ahead and read it.
 

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
?? Juan Ramón Jiménez - Antolojía poética (ed. Soledad González Ródenas)
Hundred-odd pages in, no idea why it's taken me this long to come around to Juan Ramón. Beautiful.
Unfortunately, his Collected/Complete poems hasn't appeared in English yet, but I did read his Selected Poems like four years ago. His style is similar to poets adhering pure poetry (writing in poetic language of accessibility to evoke emotions, pushing for symbolism), like Seferis, Valery and Eliot. Best part of Jimenez's the poems where he uses dashes like Dickinson (Ocean for example). He's deserving Nobel Laureate. I believe you'll enjoy him.
 

tiganeasca

Moderator
?? Ismail Kadare, Chronicle in Stone

??/?? Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the Narcissus

(I had previously listed Conrad's Under Western Eyes. But no sooner had I started to read it than I realized that I had already read it. But, since I was "primed" for Conrad, I found another of his books to substitute; not as famous, perhaps, though certainly well-known.)
 
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