Read Some Real Literature: Anyway hail satantango

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mdemone: Mar 14, 2001

blue squares posted:

googled this. a George Saunders NOVEL? woooot

Well that's gonna either be real good or a trainwreck. He's so good at the short form, and for some reason people like that so often take a crack at a novel and fall flat.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 16:34

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 22:11

Eugene V. Dubstep: Oct 4, 2013; Can't post for 8 years!

mdemone posted:

Well that's gonna either be real good or a trainwreck. He's so good at the short form, and for some reason people like that so often take a crack at a novel and fall flat.

Well, one very good reason to attempt a novel is that short stories don't pay dick.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 16:37

Idiootti: Apr 11, 2012

End Of Worlds posted:

that happened to me at least twice in early college but not in the years since. i think most of those guys went on to read Into The Wild, imitated McCandless, and died in the forest somewhere

Into the Wild is my favourite feel good movie/book.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 17:04

thehoodie: Feb 8, 2011; "Eat something made with love and joy - and be forgiven"

I'm reading The Golden Notebook. It's rad. Anyone else read it?

# ? Aug 12, 2016 17:21

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

at the date posted:

Well, one very good reason to attempt a novel is that short stories don't pay dick.

collections dont usually sell for poo poo either

# ? Aug 12, 2016 18:07

rest his guts: Mar 3, 2013; ...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...

terrible 20s

rest his guts fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Jun 24, 2019

# ? Aug 12, 2016 19:05

DoctorG0nzo: May 28, 2014

I know I'm a bit late for the Mishima discussion from a few pages back, but what did people think of Death in Midsummer? I thought it was excellent. It's the second thing I read by him; the first was The Sound of Waves, and while that was good I wasn't fully sold until Death in Midsummer. Where should I go next with him?

Additionally; would anyone agree with my assessment that Mishima is comparable to Hemingway? Aside from being masculinity-focused authors who killed themselves. From what I've read by him and about him, I get the impression that Mishima framed Japanese culture from a viewpoint very similar to Hemingway's on American culture, and drew comparable conclusions about two very different lifestyles.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 20:17

Shibawanko: Feb 13, 2013

I don't really think they're very similar. Hemingway has a very different attitude towards death and just writes in a completely different style. There's a few small similarities maybe.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:17

david crosby: Mar 2, 2007

thehoodie posted:

I'm reading The Golden Notebook. It's rad. Anyone else read it?

I've.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:35

blue squares: Sep 28, 2007

I'm learning Spanish and it's coming along quite quickly (I have four semesters of college Spanish, and can have a decent conversation, but my still limited vocab is the #1 problem... but anyway). I want to start reading primarily latin american lit. The only truly well known book I've read is One Hundred Years of Solitude. What would be the best way to go about exploring latin american literture? I want to stay pretty recent. Should I pick a country and read a few books from there or should I bounce around? Is there a good list out there I can follow?

Oh, and I'll be reading in translation for now.
Thanks

blue squares fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Aug 12, 2016

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:41

Twerkteam Pizza: Sep 26, 2015; Grimey Drawer

blue squares posted:

I'm learning Spanish and it's coming along quite quickly (I have four semesters of college Spanish, and can have a decent conversation, but my still limited vocab is the #1 problem... but anyway). I want to start reading primarily latin american lit. The only truly well known book I've read is One Hundred Years of Solitude. What would be the best way to go about exploring latin american literture? I want to stay pretty recent. Should I pick a country and read a few books from there or should I bounce around? Is there a good list out there I can follow?

Thanks

Kinda weird to say in the Literature thread, but I had a TA last year that strongly recommended reading novels you've read previously translated into Spanish and looking for translations of comic books. Something about how comics as a medium make you dive in head first.

Hope that's useful? :/

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:45

DoctorG0nzo: May 28, 2014

Shibawanko posted:

I don't really think they're very similar. Hemingway has a very different attitude towards death and just writes in a completely different style. There's a few small similarities maybe.

I definitely wouldn't say the style is similar at all. More the themes and the relation that each author has to their culture if that makes sense?

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:48

thehoodie: Feb 8, 2011; "Eat something made with love and joy - and be forgiven"

blue squares posted:

I'm learning Spanish and it's coming along quite quickly (I have four semesters of college Spanish, and can have a decent conversation, but my still limited vocab is the #1 problem... but anyway). I want to start reading primarily latin american lit. The only truly well known book I've read is One Hundred Years of Solitude. What would be the best way to go about exploring latin american literture? I want to stay pretty recent. Should I pick a country and read a few books from there or should I bounce around? Is there a good list out there I can follow?

Oh, and I'll be reading in translation for now.
Thanks

I recommend Zambra and Bolano and Fuentes and Alvaro Enrigue, but I would also like to know some more good Latin America authors because all those guys are rad. Since they're all guys, maybe some women Latin American authors??

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:49

blue squares: Sep 28, 2007

Twerkteam Pizza posted:

Kinda weird to say in the Literature thread, but I had a TA last year that strongly recommended reading novels you've read previously translated into Spanish and looking for translations of comic books. Something about how comics as a medium make you dive in head first.

Hope that's useful? :/

I have Old Man and the Sea in Spanish since I have read it before in English, and it's simple story with a relatively simple vocabulary. But I still have to look words up nearly every other sentence. I also have Maus in Spanish, which is easier to read but much more dialogue heavy than most comics.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 22:52

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

blue squares posted:

But I still have to look words up nearly every other sentence.

The thing is, you'll pick up more if you just ignore isolated words you don't understand, and only start looking things up when you absolutely have to. Gives you more contextual understanding.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 23:25

doug fuckey: Jun 7, 2007; hella greenbacks

I'm reading Bolano's By Night in Chile now, I don't think I completely understand it and it begs to be read all at once since it's just a long stream of thought.

Eduardo Galeano is incredible, the one I like most so far is Days and Nights of Love and War, although I'm reading Mirrors right now and it's also excellent. I'd also like to know more s. american authors who are good.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 23:30

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Read Machado de Assis.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 23:47

Tree Goat: May 24, 2009; argania spinosa

Three bits of (mutually contradictory) advice on stuff to read:

1) Stuff you've read in translation. Gives you a grounding for the plot so you can just ignore words you don't understand for now without it breaking your stride too much. I think being able to infer meaning from context is one of the most important parts for building fluency.

2) Poetry. There are a lot of versions with facing pages (especially the biggies like Neruda and Lorca and Borges). The vocabulary is varied enough that you are learning a lot on each page, and if you are tempted to look stuff up you can just glance to the right, which is less flow-breaking than hauling out the dictionary each time.

3) Middlebrow mass market lit. It's easier to find copies of it in Spanish, and you don't have the feel of missing out that you get when you're banging your head against an "important" work and not making headway. Carlos Ruiz Zafon I remember being in airport bookstores next to the Coelho and the Albom, that's the sort of level I mean.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 00:25

Jrbg: May 20, 2014

Tree Goat posted:

2) Poetry. There are a lot of versions with facing pages (especially the biggies like Neruda and Lorca and Borges). The vocabulary is varied enough that you are learning a lot on each page, and if you are tempted to look stuff up you can just glance to the right, which is less flow-breaking than hauling out the dictionary each time.

Seconding this, I read Neruda facing page, and Salinas who was a contemporary of his. The vocab of the latter especially was not too complicated and it really helped me with my still limited Spanish. And good thing is you can do it a poem at a time.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 00:58

blue squares: Sep 28, 2007

They didn't have most of the authors recommended here, but I got:

The Sound of Things Falling by Gabriel Vazquez
My Documents by Zambra
The Story of My Teeth by Luiselli

# ? Aug 13, 2016 03:50

A human heart: Oct 10, 2012

DoctorG0nzo posted:

I know I'm a bit late for the Mishima discussion from a few pages back, but what did people think of Death in Midsummer? I thought it was excellent. It's the second thing I read by him; the first was The Sound of Waves, and while that was good I wasn't fully sold until Death in Midsummer. Where should I go next with him?

Additionally; would anyone agree with my assessment that Mishima is comparable to Hemingway? Aside from being masculinity-focused authors who killed themselves. From what I've read by him and about him, I get the impression that Mishima framed Japanese culture from a viewpoint very similar to Hemingway's on American culture, and drew comparable conclusions about two very different lifestyles.

A cool author to read with Mishima is Jean Genet, lots of similar themes there

# ? Aug 13, 2016 06:33

Burning Rain: Jul 17, 2006; What's happening?!?!

blue squares posted:

They didn't have most of the authors recommended here, but I got:

The Sound of Things Falling by Gabriel Vazquez

My Documents by Zambra

The Story of My Teeth by Luiselli

I finished the Vasquez book yesterday! Let me know what you think of it. I'll keep my judgment to myself for now.

Also, when trying to read in a foreign language, don't be afraid to jump from book to book if the first and second one don't gel with you. Hopefully you have access to Spanish books in the library or something. I've had much better luck with books translated to the foreign language, tho. The first grown-up book I read in Catalan was Tabucchi's Pereira Maintains. Now I'm reading Modiano. Both of them write in quite straightforward manner, without abusing thesaurus

# ? Aug 13, 2016 11:10

Arrrthritis: May 31, 2007; I don't care if you're a star, the moon, or the whole damn sky, you need to come back down to earth and remember where you came from

I want to read Journey to the West. Anybody got a version they recommend?

# ? Aug 13, 2016 20:34

Smoking Crow: Feb 14, 2012; *laughs at u*

For any classic Asian novel you want to pick up either the Harvard or Yale translations

# ? Aug 13, 2016 20:59

Safety Biscuits: Oct 21, 2010

Arrrthritis posted:

I want to read Journey to the West. Anybody got a version they recommend?

Anthony Yu's translation is the only complete English version, I think. Waley's only translates a fraction of the text.

# ? Aug 14, 2016 02:24

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Arrrthritis posted:

I want to read Journey to the West. Anybody got a version they recommend?

Akira Toriyama has a pretty popular translation

# ? Aug 14, 2016 06:43

Twerkteam Pizza: Sep 26, 2015; Grimey Drawer

Mel Mudkiper posted:

Akira Toriyama has a pretty popular translation

# ? Aug 14, 2016 15:33

Twerkteam Pizza: Sep 26, 2015; Grimey Drawer

Got If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Calvino. Really liked invisible cities

# ? Aug 14, 2016 21:51

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

Twerkteam Pizza posted:

Got If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Calvino. Really liked invisible cities

I have a weird attitude towards IoaWnaT in that I really appreciate it but I don't really, strictly speaking, enjoy reading it

# ? Aug 14, 2016 23:52

Mover: Jun 30, 2008

End Of Worlds posted:

I have a weird attitude towards IoaWnaT in that I really appreciate it but I don't really, strictly speaking, enjoy reading it

100% agree.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 00:54

Heath: Apr 30, 2008; 🍂🎃🏞️💦

End Of Worlds posted:

I have a weird attitude towards IoaWnaT in that I really appreciate it but I don't really, strictly speaking, enjoy reading it

I finished it about a month ago and came away with this exact feeling but I couldn't enunciate it.

Edit: that said, I really enjoy trying to describe it to people.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 08:12

CestMoi: Sep 16, 2011

If on a winter's night a traveler is weird in that I came out of it wishing the stories did more to deliberately frsutrate the reader. The stories all work too well, they never feel as truncated as they should do, given the main thrust of the book.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 10:58

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

It's not that great of a book imo, and I don't think the conceit is very good. Some of the substories are super wonderful, but the frame narrative is a really uninteresting parody of European adventure lit.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 11:26