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Sounds like GViktor Pelevin to me, except he's post-soviet. Not that it matters though since, like all things from the 90s, he has a timeless quality.
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# ? Jul 17, 2014 13:56 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2024 06:00 |
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inktvis posted:Sounds like GViktor Pelevin to me, except he's post-soviet. Not that it matters though since, like all things from the 90s, he has a timeless quality. I was going to say Pelevin as well. Sounds like his book Empire V. I have not read this book. But I have homo zapiens and the helmet of horror and they were both really good. Homo Zapiens is sort of like a subversive post-Soviet Horatio Alger story.
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# ? Jul 17, 2014 18:08 |
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Xun posted:Well this is a good a place to ask as any. I've heard of some Russian "literature" written during the Soviet Union where the writer wrote some book criticizing the bureaucracy and saying they were all vampires. He later wrote another book about how the bureaucracy was so bad even vampires thought it was poo poo. I think his name started with a G. All my google searches have brought up Draco Malfoy vampire fan fiction and the vampire diaries. WHAT ARE THESE BOOKS I MUST READ THEM.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 17:11 |
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Jive One posted:If anyone is looking for a solid list of classic literature I edited an old 2009 thread's OP into my post at the beginning of this thread. Lots of books from different eras and across different cultures. Big post but worth reading I think. Needs more Ferdowsi. And Rumi. (I'm sorry, I got trapped with some Persians for a while.)
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 07:21 |
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Mr. Squishy posted:I don't think Gogol satirized the USSR as he died the better part of a century before its inception. Yeah, the author can't be Gogol in this case but everyone should read him anyways because hes amazing.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 11:23 |
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I have Dead Souls next up in my queue after I finish Journey to the End of the Night and Much Ado About Nothing, so hopefully I'll be starting it within the next few days. Question after that will be if I want to read any of the essays that come with it; I'm starting to really like the Norton Critical Editions of books just for existing, but I usually find that I would rather just move onto another book.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 15:35 |
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Just move onto the book.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 16:46 |
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It was Bulgakov, thanks! I might have been thinking it was Gogol, all I know is some stuff from a half remembered conversation. But now I have a bunch of other Russian writers to look at too yay.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 23:20 |
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Xun posted:It was Bulgakov, thanks! I might have been thinking it was Gogol, all I know is some stuff from a half remembered conversation. But now I have a bunch of other Russian writers to look at too yay. Do I have a thread for you!
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 23:26 |
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the JJ posted:Needs more Ferdowsi. And Rumi. Translated poetry
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 00:25 |
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Translated poetry owns, you just have to get over the idea that it's the original composition, because honey, it ain't.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 00:55 |
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I posted that Dickens thread, here's the link: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3652121 It's probably not very good but if you guys wanna talk about Wackford Squeers that's the place!
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 01:09 |
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I almost suggested Bulgakov but I didn't know he included vampires in his crew of witches, cats and Pilate.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 12:26 |
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Does anyone know a good English translation of Goethe's Faust, or at least which ones are just awful and to be avoided?
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# ? Jul 22, 2014 11:05 |
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Mr. Squishy posted:Does anyone know a good English translation of Goethe's Faust, or at least which ones are just awful and to be avoided? David Luke did a pretty good contemporary translation with tons of notes if that is your thing. Beyard Taylor's is an older translation that keeps the original metre but you are bereft of all the extra dlc content that Luke's version contains but I still find it p. decee.
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# ? Jul 22, 2014 13:50 |
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I have the Calla edition of Faust which I think is the Bayard Taylor translation. Also it is illustrated by Harry Clarke and just really nice to look at, not only read.
pixelbaron fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Jul 22, 2014 |
# ? Jul 22, 2014 17:46 |
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Has anyone else read the Arndt translation? It's the translation I read, and I liked it a lot for the most part, so if there's a significantly better translation that would be pretty cool.
All Nines fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jul 22, 2014 |
# ? Jul 22, 2014 18:04 |
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Cloks posted:If people are looking for something modern and reminiscent of Calvino, you could do worse than read "The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards" by Kristopher Jansma. It's an old recommendation, but I also read and enjoyed this. Thanks!
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# ? Jul 22, 2014 20:12 |
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Fun question I've always wondered and this is the best thread I can see to do it in: who do you think will be regarded as our generation's literary stars one hundred years from now? Who will be our Hemingway, our Faulkner? Will we even have one or has the ease of publication ended the era of literary greats and instead started a new one of the literary "mediocre-to-good"? Usually when I ask this question, I get a whole lot of "X author who like ten people have heard of". Which isn't answering the question at all. e: for frame of reference, here's what the readers of 1936 said when asked the same question. I can think of a few I'm certain will be remembered, but while they are some of my favorite writers, none of them are particularly "literary" (Neil Gaiman & Margaret Atwood excepted). Also I don't know what it says about our society, but I can definitely think of more modern TV shows that could be called literature than I can modern books. Captain Mog fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Jul 24, 2014 |
# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:03 |
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Captain Mog posted:Fun question I've always wondered and this is the best thread I can see to do it in: who do you think will be regarded as our generation's literary stars one hundred years from now? Who will be our Hemingway, our Faulkner? Will we even have one or has the ease of publication ended the era of literary greats and instead started a new one of the literary "mediocre-to-good"? I've honestly got no idea, and I don't think we'll know until the next generation rolls around and we've forgotten the mediocre stuff and the good stuff's stuck in the collective minds of the public.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:06 |
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Captain Mog posted:Fun question I've always wondered and this is the best thread I can see to do it in: who do you think will be regarded as our generation's literary stars one hundred years from now? Who will be our Hemingway, our Faulkner? Will we even have one or has the ease of publication ended the era of literary greats and instead started a new one of the literary "mediocre-to-good"? No idea. People forget, but probably the best reviewed writer of that day, Franz Kafka was just a crazy guy in Prague. It'll probably be someone like that.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:09 |
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Smoking Crow posted:No idea. People forget, but probably the best reviewed writer of that day, Franz Kafka was just a crazy guy in Prague. It'll probably be someone like that.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:24 |
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Thomas Pynchon for sure
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:57 |
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It surprises me that Jorge Luis Borges hasn't been mentioned in this thread. I picked up Collected Fictions a while back and it continues to blow my mind. His stories are like literary brain-teasers, with plenty of things to decipher, piece together and puzzle out for yourself. If you're looking for a good place to start, I'd recommend the story The Garden of Forking Paths. Ostensibly, it's about a spy, but don't read anything else about it ahead of time, just jump in and discover the trippy mind-fuckery for yourself.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 04:22 |
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tonytheshoes posted:It surprises me that Jorge Luis Borges hasn't been mentioned in this thread. I picked up Collected Fictions a while back and it continues to blow my mind. His stories are like literary brain-teasers, with plenty of things to decipher, piece together and puzzle out for yourself. Borges poetry is also quite worthwhile. The Penguin Books edition is nice because it has the Spanish original alongside the English translations. I used to use that book to practice my Spanish.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 07:55 |
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Captain Mog posted:Fun question I've always wondered and this is the best thread I can see to do it in: who do you think will be regarded as our generation's literary stars one hundred years from now? Who will be our Hemingway, our Faulkner? Will we even have one or has the ease of publication ended the era of literary greats and instead started a new one of the literary "mediocre-to-good"? This question was asked once in that A/T thread by the English professor. The answer was pretty interesting: Powered Descent posted:Here's a strange one for you. Brainworm posted:If I were betting, I'd split two ways:
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 08:51 |
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tonytheshoes posted:It surprises me that Jorge Luis Borges hasn't been mentioned in this thread. I picked up Collected Fictions a while back and it continues to blow my mind. His stories are like literary brain-teasers, with plenty of things to decipher, piece together and puzzle out for yourself. Borges' essays are all really well informed investigtions of interesting topics and occasionally he just makes up funny references to prove a point http://www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.html
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 10:07 |
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The Booker Prize long list is out. Now with American Authors! http://www.themillions.com/2014/07/here-come-the-americans-the-2014-booker-prize-longlist.html
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 15:40 |
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blue squares posted:Thomas Pynchon for sure
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 15:46 |
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All literary long-lists make me depressed because not only have I read none of them, I've not heard of any of them either.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 15:56 |
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CestMoi posted:Borges' essays are all really well informed investigtions of interesting topics and occasionally he just makes up funny references to prove a point http://www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.html Barlow posted:Borges poetry is also quite worthwhile. The Penguin Books edition is nice because it has the Spanish original alongside the English translations. I used to use that book to practice my Spanish. I've only read his fiction, but I'll definitely check these out. Thanks!
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 16:01 |
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Mr. Squishy posted:All literary long-lists make me depressed because not only have I read none of them, I've not heard of any of them either. I've surprised myself this year by having a copy of 4 of these books and actually having heard of a couple of others. I've heard especially good things about the Joshua Ferris book.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 16:56 |
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Poutling posted:The Booker Prize long list is out. Now with American Authors! I'm generally crap at knowing such athors too, but I am actually reading a Siri Hustvedt book right now (The Summer Without Men, it is very good!) and if it is the David Mitchell, then I've seen a large number of skits featuring him.
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 17:15 |
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There's David Mitchell the British comedian (of Peep Show fame) and there's David Mitchell the British author, who's written Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green. I'm really excited for his new one, and its nomination just whets my appetite. He also just shared a related short story on twitter: http://www.themillions.com/2014/07/exclusive-david-mitchells-twitter-story-the-right-sort-collected.html
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# ? Jul 24, 2014 18:15 |
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I'm very very slowly reading Gravity's Rainbow and relishing it. I'd like having some concordance, or discussion spot, or some kind of companion to it as I'm reading. Just started the third section, and would prefer to avoid major spoilers. Any ideas, Real Literature folks?
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# ? Jul 25, 2014 02:03 |
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Mescal posted:I'm very very slowly reading Gravity's Rainbow and relishing it. I'd like having some concordance, or discussion spot, or some kind of companion to it as I'm reading. Just started the third section, and would prefer to avoid major spoilers. Any ideas, Real Literature folks? You could make a let's read thread about it here and try to read a certain length as a group per week and discuss it, I'd post in it because I'm going through the book myself as well
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# ? Jul 25, 2014 02:05 |
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mango gay touchies posted:You could make a let's read thread about it here and try to read a certain length as a group per week and discuss it, I'd post in it because I'm going through the book myself as well Do you think? If I did, it couldn't really be a certain length per week just because of the nature of the book. It'll take you either a few days or a year to read it--I bought my copy three years ago, actually. Anyway, there's no way to keep a group on the same page. If TBB isn't picky about OPs I could throw one up real quick for general discussion.
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# ? Jul 25, 2014 02:12 |
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If you're worried about spoilers I don't think a general discussion thread would do you too much good, but maybe that's just me
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# ? Jul 25, 2014 02:15 |
Mescal posted:Do you think? If I did, it couldn't really be a certain length per week just because of the nature of the book. It'll take you either a few days or a year to read it--I bought my copy three years ago, actually. Anyway, there's no way to keep a group on the same page. If TBB isn't picky about OPs I could throw one up real quick for general discussion. TBB is not picky about OP's.
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# ? Jul 25, 2014 02:32 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2024 06:00 |
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I'd participate. I finished GR recently and it was one the most amazing books I've ever read. Plus, I don't understand enough of it to spoiler anyone! I'd keep up with a thread and post my own stuff while closely monitoring everything to avoid giving anything away. I did start a Postmodern Lit thread, but it has pretty much died. Probably because I suck at OPs. Anyway, maybe you're better at it, so post away and I'll see you there!
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# ? Jul 25, 2014 04:44 |