Embers by S?ndor M?rai, not so brilliant, I'm afraid. I was hoping to chat with Dabbler about it, drats.
Syb, I must have read a different 100 Years of Solitude than everyone else. I think I'll pick this one up again after Tristam Shandy and have another go at it before I start The Wake. How did you find the characterizations? I felt like I was reading about cardboard cutouts with the label "symbol" attached to their heads. I mean, I get magical realism, but for it to work, there has to be some "realism" involved and I wasn't finding any. That left magical creatures standing in for characters without any sort of humanity living in an artificial environment meant to deliver a "message." It left me feeling like I was supposed to read this book because it's supposed to be good for me -- filled with moral fiber and spiritual nurturing. Anyone who knows be knows I'm allergic to moral fiber and I sold my spirit on e-bay for a cocktail shaker and a silver cigarette case.
What made this book work for you? What am I missing?
The Successor by Ismail Kadare, translated from the French by David Bellos and from the Albanian by Tedi Papavrami.
David Bellos talks about retranslating Kadare here.How I despise doubly translated books
the publisher must not care very much about the actual words the author was using
David Bellos talks about retranslating Kadare here.
for which his hands should be cut off and stuffed into his arse.He doesn't think that anything he writes in prose is "untranslatable" -- on the contrary, he thinks that what he has to say will come through in pretty much any language
Hmmm, the two I bought today.The Spare Room - Helen Garner (10/10)
His Illegal Self - Peter Carey (6.5/10)
That's encouraging. I've been thinking of stumping up for the ten Penguin Modern Classics that are Australian territory only (Jolley, Garner, Stow and Horne). Last week I did some investigation into the cheapest company, including shipping. Dymocks was best.The Well - Elizabeth Jolley (8.5/10)
Hmmm, the two I bought today.That's encouraging. I've been thinking of stumping up for the ten Penguin Modern Classics that are Australian territory only (Jolley, Garner, Stow and Horne). Last week I did some investigation into the cheapest company, including shipping. Dymocks was best.
come to think of it, I don't know so many canadian plays. There's Greg McArthur's play Snowman (great), John Mighton's plays (I love "Possible Worlds", am not so happy about some of the others), and then two or three whose names I have forgotten.
I know you're not meant to judge a book by its cover but those newly released Australian modern classics have really spiced up the old titles...
I'm really not the best source for this info as the play is not my favourite medium or even close but I did pay attention in school and have learned that drama/theatre in Canada is relatively poorly supported beyond the Bard in Stratford and American funded theatres running American plays with American actors mostly in Toronto. Beyond that there is little money for drama in Canada. Thus finding Canadian plays becomes a bit of work and unlikely to have much international exposure. I know of two Canadian playwrights, one is Ann-Marie and the other is Michel Tremblay. I can not stand Tremblay. His style and content bore me to the point of offence. Plain icky. But again, the play is not my thing. There may be fantastic Canucks writing dramas well worth seeing/reading of which I'm neither aware or likely to look for.