Leseratte
Well-known member
What a warm defense, Ben! Going to look for that author.
Recently finished books?
- Thread starter Mirabell
- Start date
?? Joseph Roth - Job : Fairly impressed with it. Simple narrative and language. Not so profound as some of his other works, but on the whole, it did move me considerably. Modern day Job, Mendel Singer, is a remarkable character portray.
?? Raghavendra Patil - The Chariot : One of the acclaimed works in the modern day Kannada Literature. Weaved out of the legend that the temple Chariot will move only after a sacrificial blood, which become a tradition and privilege of a family. Raghavendra Patil mixes the myths, legends, the social / caste issues and the new political movements of the 70s into a compelling story. Even the methods of story telling, from the folk-oral traditions ( reproduced impeccably) to the modern narrative techniques was quite impressive. Decent translation too.
?? Pascal Quignard - The Rowing Shadows : Aphoristic, often brilliant. Intelligent writing. IT's a time consuming and difficult read, because of his literary and historical references or pointers. But, again, not sure how much of these are retained. I will go back to this ( and his other book) again on a lazy weekend. They give you the much needed intellectual jolt.
?? Nguigi Wa Thiong O - Wizard of the Crow : Clever mix of a political satire and the beliefs and practices. Post Colonial Modern Africa under the rule of a Tyrant, supported by the SuperPower to prevent Communism into the continent, bow trying to build a 'pathway to heaven' with the expected support from Global Bank. The power struggle within his trusted members, constant change of their positions in the hierarchy and roles, the fight of common people against the regime, the torture engines in place etc reminds us of all the dictatorial regimes across the globe.
While this is an important book, and much celebrated, to me, this did not come out as one of his best. At many a places, the language was 'lifeless', unlike his other books. The book apparently, translated by himself from Gikuyu. Even the story and narrative left me 'boring' at many a places.
?? Giorgi Gospodinov - Time Shelter : Man Booker International winner this year. Fabulous premise. Building a 'time shelter' for people of 'Dimentia' where they can live their past as tailored to their back ground. The 1940s, 60s etc are created to the minutest details, helping the 'patients' to live their life 'they remember'. Soon this become the 'experience center' for those who wish to live the past. The whole concept of 'building the past' then become the theme. Past for the dimented, past for those who seek, past of yourself ( the author/narrator), the society, the collective self of the country.
Book is complex as it deploy and criss cross many styles and methods , from fiction, history, auto-fiction, writing about the process of writing, pure journalistic at times, reviews of events and writings etc etc. That at times, takes the whole theme into a spin and leave you a bit confused. But, I liked it. May be others who has read this can throw more light into it.
?? Raghavendra Patil - The Chariot : One of the acclaimed works in the modern day Kannada Literature. Weaved out of the legend that the temple Chariot will move only after a sacrificial blood, which become a tradition and privilege of a family. Raghavendra Patil mixes the myths, legends, the social / caste issues and the new political movements of the 70s into a compelling story. Even the methods of story telling, from the folk-oral traditions ( reproduced impeccably) to the modern narrative techniques was quite impressive. Decent translation too.
?? Pascal Quignard - The Rowing Shadows : Aphoristic, often brilliant. Intelligent writing. IT's a time consuming and difficult read, because of his literary and historical references or pointers. But, again, not sure how much of these are retained. I will go back to this ( and his other book) again on a lazy weekend. They give you the much needed intellectual jolt.
?? Nguigi Wa Thiong O - Wizard of the Crow : Clever mix of a political satire and the beliefs and practices. Post Colonial Modern Africa under the rule of a Tyrant, supported by the SuperPower to prevent Communism into the continent, bow trying to build a 'pathway to heaven' with the expected support from Global Bank. The power struggle within his trusted members, constant change of their positions in the hierarchy and roles, the fight of common people against the regime, the torture engines in place etc reminds us of all the dictatorial regimes across the globe.
While this is an important book, and much celebrated, to me, this did not come out as one of his best. At many a places, the language was 'lifeless', unlike his other books. The book apparently, translated by himself from Gikuyu. Even the story and narrative left me 'boring' at many a places.
?? Giorgi Gospodinov - Time Shelter : Man Booker International winner this year. Fabulous premise. Building a 'time shelter' for people of 'Dimentia' where they can live their past as tailored to their back ground. The 1940s, 60s etc are created to the minutest details, helping the 'patients' to live their life 'they remember'. Soon this become the 'experience center' for those who wish to live the past. The whole concept of 'building the past' then become the theme. Past for the dimented, past for those who seek, past of yourself ( the author/narrator), the society, the collective self of the country.
Book is complex as it deploy and criss cross many styles and methods , from fiction, history, auto-fiction, writing about the process of writing, pure journalistic at times, reviews of events and writings etc etc. That at times, takes the whole theme into a spin and leave you a bit confused. But, I liked it. May be others who has read this can throw more light into it.
tiganeasca
Moderator
Wonderful list and very helpful reviews, thanks! I was particularly interested in your comments on Roth, Patil, and Thiong'o. Your comments on Thiong'o, in particular, confirm my growing impression that he is an important thinker and writer--but that his strength lies in nonfiction, not so much in novels.
alik-vit
Reader
Nona Fernandez, "Voyager: Constellations of Memory", "Space Invaders", "The Twilight Zone".
I'm sincerely grateful to Neustadt jurors, because it was such great discovery! She is really an extremely interesting writer. "Voyager" was not the best intro. It's book-lenght essay about collective and individual memory, interesting and moving short book, but overloaded with too obvious and banal information. I mean, it's a little bit boring to read pages of retelling about ancient myths, history of astronomy, etc. But the kernel (memory, oppression, the possibility of reconciliation) is important and topical.
And it's main topics in other her books too. "Space invaders" is a short novel or long story about childhood during dictatorship, where she draws a parallel between real life and epominous computer game. Its oneiric cadences are really almost hypnotic, and suspense of some scenes would be the object of jealousy for Hollywood.
"The Twilight Zone" is account around (not about or on) famous case "Yo torture", but told via lenses of epominous American tv series. "The Twilight Zone" is place of residence, reserved for each and every in the time of dictatorship, where tortures, disappearances and kidnapping become a normal part of the world. She balances between fiction and non-fiction and result is an excellent text, full of sorrow and anguish, but clear and deliberated in its form and tone.
Of course, there is the main factor of my current situation. I'm eager reader of the Chilean books about Pinochet epoch, because I'm here and now. But I think, her topics still very important, and her craft is very high. Highly recommended.
I'm sincerely grateful to Neustadt jurors, because it was such great discovery! She is really an extremely interesting writer. "Voyager" was not the best intro. It's book-lenght essay about collective and individual memory, interesting and moving short book, but overloaded with too obvious and banal information. I mean, it's a little bit boring to read pages of retelling about ancient myths, history of astronomy, etc. But the kernel (memory, oppression, the possibility of reconciliation) is important and topical.
And it's main topics in other her books too. "Space invaders" is a short novel or long story about childhood during dictatorship, where she draws a parallel between real life and epominous computer game. Its oneiric cadences are really almost hypnotic, and suspense of some scenes would be the object of jealousy for Hollywood.
"The Twilight Zone" is account around (not about or on) famous case "Yo torture", but told via lenses of epominous American tv series. "The Twilight Zone" is place of residence, reserved for each and every in the time of dictatorship, where tortures, disappearances and kidnapping become a normal part of the world. She balances between fiction and non-fiction and result is an excellent text, full of sorrow and anguish, but clear and deliberated in its form and tone.
Of course, there is the main factor of my current situation. I'm eager reader of the Chilean books about Pinochet epoch, because I'm here and now. But I think, her topics still very important, and her craft is very high. Highly recommended.
Leseratte
Well-known member
It´s a very up to date theme in a world where so many nations flirt with the idea of informal totalitarism.
tiganeasca
Moderator
?? Anatole France, The Revolt of the Angels 
+
I would judge this one of his less successful efforts, though entertaining enough as a story. An angel appears to the son of a wealthy Parisian businessman in the late 19th century and enlists his sympathy for a second revolt of the angels against God or, as he insists on identifying him, Ialdabaoth, a mere “demiurge whom, in your blindness, you adore as the one and only God." France is nothing if not witty, learned, and a wickedly effective satirist. But the book had, for me, a dragged-out quality; I think it might have been far more effective as a short story. There is a little too much showing-off of his knowledge, particularly of Biblical history and theology. After a while, it becomes less-than-illuminating and more pedantry to wade through. I believe, as I suggested, he has a wonderful theme and a great plot but it all would have been better served in far fewer pages.
??/?? Yiyun Li, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers+
I’ve managed to accumulate several volumes of Yiyun Li but had, for no good reason, never managed to read her until I sat down recently with this collection of stories. I won’t make that mistake again. Although her subjects aren’t quite up my alley, she is a terrific writer and has a knack for completely believable people (albeit in some occasionally unbelievable situations). “Immortality” is about a young man who is a double for the dictator and follows his (the double's) rise and inevitable fall. “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” follows an older Chinese man who visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter. The story is a well-done exploration of cultural and language barriers, about communication and about silence. I enjoyed most of the stories in the volume, the great majority of which take place in China and there is no doubt that Li has little use or love for the Communist Party, the communist system, or what it has done (and is doing) to China (she has lived in the USA since 1996 when she was 24). But her stories are about far more than that and if you have any interest in good modern short story writing, I’d definitely encourage you to look at this. I know I’ll be pulling down the other collections before very long.
?? Nuruddin Farah, Hiding In Plain Sight
Surprisingly disappointing. Farah is a good writer with a very good feel for interpersonal relationships and the way people communicate with each other. The plot of this novel is simply told: Aar, a Somali working for the UN, is killed very early in the book—just after the reader has come to like and be intrigued by him. The rest of the book relates the story of his sister, Bella—a highly successful, professional fashion photographer who travels the world and is highly successful—who places her life on hold to return to Kenya, where Aar's children have been living, to devote herself to raising them. (It doesn't help that the children, who are both teenagers, are largely "stick figures," whether because Farah doesn't really feel comfortable portraying teenagers or because he simply isn't good at it.) Perhaps the central conflict in the book concerns her relationship with her brother’s ex-wife. But nothing in the book, not any of the people, not any of the relationships, struck me as particularly insightful. Indeed, I found most of it far too predictable. Everything was believable but there was nothing in any of it that struck me as having a particular theme or message worth constructing a book around. Even the constant depiction of grief seems unexceptional and even repetitive. I read Links a month or two ago, the first book of his I had read. I thought it a far better work and, in fact, the reason I returned to read him again so soon. Guess I picked the wrong work.
?? Andrzej Szczypiorski, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
It took me longer than I anticipated to become as fully immersed in this work as in the first book of his that I read, A Mass for Arras (reviewed here). But when I did I came away enormously impressed—again—with this author, a Polish Catholic who writes about Jewish/Polish relations. A man who took part in the Warsaw Uprising in WWII, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, was an activist for Solidarity, and was imprisoned by the Polish Communist government, and who—it appeared after his death—may have collaborated with the secret police under Stalin. The book tells of the arrest and brief imprisonment of the title character. Each chapter examines in detail the life of one of the various people—Pole, Jew, Nazi, Catholic nun, and others—who had a role in her release. The stories are vividly told, occasionally philosophical, and always deeply moving. An exceptional work, highly recommended.
+I would judge this one of his less successful efforts, though entertaining enough as a story. An angel appears to the son of a wealthy Parisian businessman in the late 19th century and enlists his sympathy for a second revolt of the angels against God or, as he insists on identifying him, Ialdabaoth, a mere “demiurge whom, in your blindness, you adore as the one and only God." France is nothing if not witty, learned, and a wickedly effective satirist. But the book had, for me, a dragged-out quality; I think it might have been far more effective as a short story. There is a little too much showing-off of his knowledge, particularly of Biblical history and theology. After a while, it becomes less-than-illuminating and more pedantry to wade through. I believe, as I suggested, he has a wonderful theme and a great plot but it all would have been better served in far fewer pages.
??/?? Yiyun Li, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
+I’ve managed to accumulate several volumes of Yiyun Li but had, for no good reason, never managed to read her until I sat down recently with this collection of stories. I won’t make that mistake again. Although her subjects aren’t quite up my alley, she is a terrific writer and has a knack for completely believable people (albeit in some occasionally unbelievable situations). “Immortality” is about a young man who is a double for the dictator and follows his (the double's) rise and inevitable fall. “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” follows an older Chinese man who visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter. The story is a well-done exploration of cultural and language barriers, about communication and about silence. I enjoyed most of the stories in the volume, the great majority of which take place in China and there is no doubt that Li has little use or love for the Communist Party, the communist system, or what it has done (and is doing) to China (she has lived in the USA since 1996 when she was 24). But her stories are about far more than that and if you have any interest in good modern short story writing, I’d definitely encourage you to look at this. I know I’ll be pulling down the other collections before very long.
?? Nuruddin Farah, Hiding In Plain Sight
Surprisingly disappointing. Farah is a good writer with a very good feel for interpersonal relationships and the way people communicate with each other. The plot of this novel is simply told: Aar, a Somali working for the UN, is killed very early in the book—just after the reader has come to like and be intrigued by him. The rest of the book relates the story of his sister, Bella—a highly successful, professional fashion photographer who travels the world and is highly successful—who places her life on hold to return to Kenya, where Aar's children have been living, to devote herself to raising them. (It doesn't help that the children, who are both teenagers, are largely "stick figures," whether because Farah doesn't really feel comfortable portraying teenagers or because he simply isn't good at it.) Perhaps the central conflict in the book concerns her relationship with her brother’s ex-wife. But nothing in the book, not any of the people, not any of the relationships, struck me as particularly insightful. Indeed, I found most of it far too predictable. Everything was believable but there was nothing in any of it that struck me as having a particular theme or message worth constructing a book around. Even the constant depiction of grief seems unexceptional and even repetitive. I read Links a month or two ago, the first book of his I had read. I thought it a far better work and, in fact, the reason I returned to read him again so soon. Guess I picked the wrong work.
?? Andrzej Szczypiorski, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
It took me longer than I anticipated to become as fully immersed in this work as in the first book of his that I read, A Mass for Arras (reviewed here). But when I did I came away enormously impressed—again—with this author, a Polish Catholic who writes about Jewish/Polish relations. A man who took part in the Warsaw Uprising in WWII, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, was an activist for Solidarity, and was imprisoned by the Polish Communist government, and who—it appeared after his death—may have collaborated with the secret police under Stalin. The book tells of the arrest and brief imprisonment of the title character. Each chapter examines in detail the life of one of the various people—Pole, Jew, Nazi, Catholic nun, and others—who had a role in her release. The stories are vividly told, occasionally philosophical, and always deeply moving. An exceptional work, highly recommended.
Last edited:
Ben Jackson
Well-known member
?? Anatole France, The Revolt of the Angels
I would judge this one of his less successful efforts, though entertaining enough as a story. An angel appears to the son of a wealthy Parisian businessman in the late 19th century and enlists his sympathy for a second revolt of the angels against God or, as he insists on identifying him, Ialdabaoth, a mere “demiurge whom, in your blindness, you adore as the one and only God." France is nothing if not witty, learned, and a wickedly effective satirist. But the book had, for me, a dragged-out quality; I think it might have been far more effective as a short story. There is a little too much showing-off of his knowledge, particularly of Biblical history and theology. After a while, it becomes less-than-illuminating and more pedantry to wade through. I believe, as I suggested, he has a wonderful theme and a great plot but it all would have been better served in far fewer pages.
??/?? Yiyun Li, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
I’ve managed to accumulate several volumes of Yiyun Li but had, for no good reason, never managed to read her until I sat down recently with this collection of stories. I won’t make that mistake again. Although her subjects aren’t quite up my alley, she is a terrific writer and has a knack for completely believable people (albeit in some occasionally unbelievable situations). “Immortality” is about a young man who is a double for the dictator and follows his (the double's) rise and inevitable fall. “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” follows an older Chinese man who visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter. The story is a well-done exploration of cultural and language barriers, about communication and about silence. I enjoyed most of the stories in the volume, the great majority of which take place in China and there is no doubt that Li has little use or love for the Communist Party, the communist system, or what it has done (and is doing) to China (she has lived in the USA since 1996 when she was 24). But her stories are about far more than that and if you have any interest in good modern short story writing, I’d definitely encourage you to look at this. I know I’ll be pulling down the other collections before very long.
?? Nuruddin Farah, Hiding In Plain Sight
Surprisingly disappointing. Farah is a good writer with a very good feel for interpersonal relationships and the way people communicate with each other. The plot of this novel is simply told: Aar, a Somali working for the UN, is killed very early in the book—just after the reader has come to like and be intrigued by him. The rest of the book relates the story of his sister, Bella—a highly successful, professional fashion photographer who travels the world and is highly successful—who places her life on hold to return to Kenya, where Aar's children have been living, to devote herself to raising them. Perhaps the central conflict in the book concerns her relationship with her brother’s ex-wife. But nothing in the book, not any of the people, not any of the relationships, struck me as particularly insightful. Indeed, I found most of it far too predictable. Everything was believable but there was nothing in any of it that struck me as having a particular theme or message worth constructing a book around. Even the constant depiction of grief seems unexceptional and even repetitive. I read Links a month or two ago, the first book of his I had read. I thought it a far better work and, in fact, the reason I returned to read him again so soon. Guess I picked the wrong work.
?? Andrzej Szczypiorski, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
It took me longer than I anticipated to become as fully immersed in this work as in the first book of his that I read, A Mass for Arras (reviewed here). But when I did I came away enormously impressed—again—with this author, a Polish Catholic who writes about Jewish/Polish relations. A man who took part in the Warsaw Uprising in WWII, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, was an activist for Solidarity, and was imprisoned by the Polish Communist government, and who—it appeared after his death—may have collaborated with the secret police under Stalin. The book tells of the arrest and brief imprisonment of the title character. Each chapter examines in detail the life of one of the various people—Pole, Jew, Nazi, Catholic nun, and others—who had a role in her release. The stories are vividly told, occasionally philosophical, and always deeply moving. An exceptional work, highly recommended.
For Farah, you can try his masterpiece Maps next. I haven't read Links but your review was very helpful, so probably will start that soon.
Thank you. The cost is still prohibitive. But, will buy it soon.?? Andrzej Szczypiorski, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
It took me longer than I anticipated to become as fully immersed in this work as in the first book of his that I read, A Mass for Arras (reviewed here). But when I did I came away enormously impressed—again—with this author, a Polish Catholic who writes about Jewish/Polish relations. A man who took part in the Warsaw Uprising in WWII, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, was an activist for Solidarity, and was imprisoned by the Polish Communist government, and who—it appeared after his death—may have collaborated with the secret police under Stalin. The book tells of the arrest and brief imprisonment of the title character. Each chapter examines in detail the life of one of the various people—Pole, Jew, Nazi, Catholic nun, and others—who had a role in her release. The stories are vividly told, occasionally philosophical, and always deeply moving. An exceptional work, highly recommended
tiganeasca
Moderator
By way of further explanation of my unhappiness with Farah's Hiding in Plain Sight, reviewed above, I add a few comments about his Farah's writing since I just discovered a page of notes I took while reading.
For reasons I cannot begin to understand, Farah had a habit in this book (a habit that he did not have at all in Links) of showing off the breadth of his reading and knowledge. If he had limited these "intrusions" to a few times, they might have been entirely convincing (although given his characters' backstories, I honestly doubt that any of them would have been entirely convincing). But they kept popping up in the mouths of characters in whom they simply seemed to be odd and out of place:
"A line from a poem by Dylan Thomas..." and he proceeds to quote something from Thomas.
"A phrase from Samuel Beckett...." and ditto.
"[quotation from Roland Barthes...who he expressly notes reading in his acknowledgments]"
"...remembering a line from a poem by Apollinaire..." which he then quotes.
"remembering a couple of lines from a Rilke poem...." and ditto.
"as the John Coltrane lyric goes" and ditto.
Enough already.
He likewise relies overmuch on frequently identifying and quoting from Somali sayings and proverbs. And his contemporary cultural references from around the world is both astonishing and intrusive: Celine Dion; Camus; "The Dirty Dozen" [US movie]; "Ben Hur" [US movie]; Alfred Stieglitz; Georgia O'Keeffe; Nina Simone; Cesaria Evora; Mapplethorpe; Salgado; Paul Robeson; the New York Yankees [US baseball team]; Champions League teams; Kenneth Kaunda; Mussolini; Miles Davis; Miriam Makeba.... It's not that these references are "wrong" in context, it's that they just feel dropped in for the purpose of displaying the breadth of his cultural knowledge. Likewise, he alternates between frequent use of UK and US slang. So you're reading along and all of a sudden there's a slang US idiom that is used correctly but is out of place when cited constantly in a novel about Somalis that takes place in Kenya. For those who are interested, he also goes to the trouble of compiling a very specific list of "gay classics."
All of this tells me that, for whatever reason, he felt obliged to pack his writing with this stuff because he felt that the writing (or the novel as a whole) needed it. And, for a novelist as accomplished and highly regarded as he is, I find that little short of astonishing.
And I close with this sentence which just sort of left me slack-jawed with amazement: "A life of quality merde* mixed with quite a bit of weltschmerz#"!!
* French for 'shit'
# German for 'world-weariness'
For reasons I cannot begin to understand, Farah had a habit in this book (a habit that he did not have at all in Links) of showing off the breadth of his reading and knowledge. If he had limited these "intrusions" to a few times, they might have been entirely convincing (although given his characters' backstories, I honestly doubt that any of them would have been entirely convincing). But they kept popping up in the mouths of characters in whom they simply seemed to be odd and out of place:
"A line from a poem by Dylan Thomas..." and he proceeds to quote something from Thomas.
"A phrase from Samuel Beckett...." and ditto.
"[quotation from Roland Barthes...who he expressly notes reading in his acknowledgments]"
"...remembering a line from a poem by Apollinaire..." which he then quotes.
"remembering a couple of lines from a Rilke poem...." and ditto.
"as the John Coltrane lyric goes" and ditto.
Enough already.
He likewise relies overmuch on frequently identifying and quoting from Somali sayings and proverbs. And his contemporary cultural references from around the world is both astonishing and intrusive: Celine Dion; Camus; "The Dirty Dozen" [US movie]; "Ben Hur" [US movie]; Alfred Stieglitz; Georgia O'Keeffe; Nina Simone; Cesaria Evora; Mapplethorpe; Salgado; Paul Robeson; the New York Yankees [US baseball team]; Champions League teams; Kenneth Kaunda; Mussolini; Miles Davis; Miriam Makeba.... It's not that these references are "wrong" in context, it's that they just feel dropped in for the purpose of displaying the breadth of his cultural knowledge. Likewise, he alternates between frequent use of UK and US slang. So you're reading along and all of a sudden there's a slang US idiom that is used correctly but is out of place when cited constantly in a novel about Somalis that takes place in Kenya. For those who are interested, he also goes to the trouble of compiling a very specific list of "gay classics."
All of this tells me that, for whatever reason, he felt obliged to pack his writing with this stuff because he felt that the writing (or the novel as a whole) needed it. And, for a novelist as accomplished and highly regarded as he is, I find that little short of astonishing.
And I close with this sentence which just sort of left me slack-jawed with amazement: "A life of quality merde* mixed with quite a bit of weltschmerz#"!!
* French for 'shit'
# German for 'world-weariness'
Last edited:
nagisa
Spiky member
I am! ?
Thanks for the helpful reviews as always. Regarding use of quotes, curious what you think of Markson, if you've read him, especially his late quartet, which is almost all references!
tiganeasca
Moderator
Happy to oblige...though I suspect this is a bit like carrying coals to Newcastle. I just thumbed the book quickly and couldn't find it quickly, but I will be happy to list them once I do find it.I am! ?
Sorry but I haven't read Markson, but I find in general that relying on references is usually lazy and suggests that there are other problems.
Found it! (page 318) in a sentence spoken by the ex-wife's lesbian partner:
"'I just love gay classics like Nightwood by Djuna Barnes; The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde; Death in Venice by Thomas Mann; The Color Purple by Alice Walker; Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde; and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. They are wonderful.'"
Who on earth speaks like that unless they're reading from a bibliography?
Last edited:
Leseratte
Well-known member
Sad but not uncommon in writers which are not of hegemonic countries. Whatever their quality or their fame, they will always feel that there is something lacking.
tiganeasca
Moderator
Interesting observation and I may find more of it as I read more of him, but there was none of this silliness in Links which I found to be a pretty impressive work.
Liam
Administrator
Curiously, A. S. Byatt's work is chockfull of references, but perhaps in her case it makes sense because most of her characters are either literary scholars and/or academics (Possession, Babel Tower, The Biographer's Tale). And let me assure you, we ARE, all of us, dusty mothballs who do indeed quote ad nauseam from their favorite texts/theorists, LOL.
tiganeasca
Moderator
I think you explained precisely why it might be "proper" for Byatt. A lot has to do with how it's done. Plus, it has to work in the context of the book. Relying on a series of writers who there is no reasonable basis to believe the characters have read is fishy, to say the least. Or, the quote I offered above, where it sounds like someone is simply reading a list of books.
And say what you will but I ain't no "dusty mothball," fella!
alik-vit
Reader
The students are such.... students!
By the way, my moment of total narcissism: from July 1 - Full Professor of the Department of art history and art education)))))