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However that article does make one key mistake, in assuming that there is, in fact, Canadian Literature.
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Mar 25, 2017 14:05
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When was the implied golden age when everyone was reading literature?
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Mar 25, 2017 14:37
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Irony Be My Shield posted:When was the implied golden age when everyone was reading literature? some time before now, always
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Mar 25, 2017 15:32
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Nanomashoes posted:However that article does make one key mistake, in assuming that there is, in fact, Canadian Literature. Best not be forgetting about Stephen Leacock there 
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Mar 25, 2017 15:44
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Stephen Leacock is great
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Mar 25, 2017 20:37
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Powaqoatse posted:I only read part of it but lol quote:yeah this is what every reader has done since the dawn of time I'm sure... Read a bit here read a bit there, pretend you read everything? The article opened on a panel of people who were supposed to talk about books they hadn't read at all. You wouldn't have had to read much to get there. quote:also the "aliteracy" part annoys me cause to me the wilfulness and the declaration of it are the "important" parts. "I don't read & I'm proud of it." Otherwise Aliteracy is just a smugger way to say Illiteracy "Illiteracy" has always meant the inability to read, not the refusal to.
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Mar 25, 2017 21:43
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Irony Be My Shield posted:When was the implied golden age when everyone was reading literature? I hope this doesn't come as a surprise to you: reading books, even if it was sometimes just the Bible, was a really popular pastime before film (caveat: among the literate). Alexander Pope made bank off of little booklets of original poetry, and his translation of Homer sold only behind the Bible. In other words, The Iliad was The Da Vinci Code of 1720. Jonathan Swift, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and on and on, all commonly read in their own day.
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Mar 25, 2017 21:51
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before denmark got a public library system, there were a lot of reading societies, p much book clubs but in the 18th century it was awesome imo
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Mar 25, 2017 22:02
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Safety Biscuits posted:Best not be forgetting about Stephen Leacock there How can I forget what I've never heard of?
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Mar 25, 2017 22:57
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Nanomashoes posted:How can I forget what I've never heard of? but now you can though
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Mar 25, 2017 23:13
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From about the 1850s into the 1930s or so there was this guy in England, Charles Edward Mudie, who ran what was essentially Netflix but for books: he had a mail order private circulating library that let people rent out unlimited books one book at a time all across England via post for a yearly fee. Mudie's Select Library had a huge influence on the publishing industry because it was so popular and he had deals to buy hundreds and hundreds of copies of whatever books he decided to pick up. He was able to force many novels that were released in England to be split into 3 parts, making them much more expensive to buy outside of his system while also ensuring that there would be less of a wait for anyone looking to read through his library. The library also presented was kinda the first bestseller list--books that were popular and that Mudie himself wanted to highlight. Worth noting that he censored the poo poo out of the industry by refusing to carry books he considered "immoral", which was a death sentence for most authors. But yeah it was a huge deal for its time. I've read one estimate that put subscriptions at around 25,000 in 1890, with 7.5 million books purchased by the library in its lifetime.
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Mar 26, 2017 00:05
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Mover posted:. He was able to force many novels that were released in England to be split into 3 parts, making them much more expensive to buy outside of his system while also ensuring that there would be less of a wait for anyone looking to read through his library. Oh THATS why so many old editions are like that
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Mar 26, 2017 00:08
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Mover posted:From about the 1850s into the 1930s or so there was this guy in England, Charles Edward Mudie, who ran what was essentially Netflix but for books: he had a mail order private circulating library that let people rent out unlimited books one book at a time all across England via post for a yearly fee. This is an interesting tidibit that explains a ton of references in British novels from the time, thank you!
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Mar 26, 2017 00:53
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Mover posted:From about the 1850s into the 1930s or so there was this guy in England, Charles Edward Mudie, who ran what was essentially Netflix but for books: he had a mail order private circulating library that let people rent out unlimited books one book at a time all across England via post for a yearly fee. ~*the more you know*~
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Mar 26, 2017 02:08
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Is there a preferred translation for Proust? I've read Lydia Davis' translation of Swann's Way, but I see that all of the newer Penguin editions are translated by different people. Davis' translation is excellent and I would be disappointed if the next one didn't live up to it.
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Mar 26, 2017 09:45
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Heath posted:Is there a preferred translation for Proust? I've read Lydia Davis' translation of Swann's Way, but I see that all of the newer Penguin editions are translated by different people. Davis' translation is excellent and I would be disappointed if the next one didn't live up to it. Yes, it's called 'the original French'.
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Mar 26, 2017 10:26
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Heath posted:Is there a preferred translation for Proust? I've read Lydia Davis' translation of Swann's Way, but I see that all of the newer Penguin editions are translated by different people. Davis' translation is excellent and I would be disappointed if the next one didn't live up to it. The original translation by C. K. Scott Moncrieff is really good. I think he died somewhere along the line and maybe the last 1 or two books were translated by someone trying to maintain the style of Moncrieff's translation, which works just fine imo. Does Lydia Davis plan to translate the rest of ISOLT? it'd be kool to read it in 20 years when she finishes.
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Mar 26, 2017 14:41
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david crosby posted:Does Lydia Davis plan to translate the rest of ISOLT? it'd be kool to read it in 20 years when she finishes. As far as I know, she was commissioned to translate Swann's Way as part of that fancy Penguin Classics edition of Proust that came out several years back. Each volume had a different translator doing a new translation. At least that's my understanding of it. IIRC she talks about the project in her Preface, but I can't find my copy right now to confirm that.
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Mar 26, 2017 14:46
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I read the Modern Library edition with the Moncrieff translation as updated by Kilmartin and Enright and it was really cool. It's about time for a reread, so I'll check out the Lydia Davis and see how it compares. Michael Wood makes it sound pretty cool: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n01/michael-wood/the-thing (hopefully this isn't behind a paywall).
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Mar 26, 2017 18:17
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Obviously choose the updated Moncrieff if you go that route. His original translation is dry as hell, you would never believe it was written in the 20th century.
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Mar 26, 2017 18:51
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I found a copy today and picked it up. I really enjoyed the Davis translation, which (in spite of my very limited knowledge of French language or aristocratic culture) seemed to preserve a lot of the subtle humor and the deeply personal observations of the narrator. I have a hard time explaining to people what's appealing about Swann's Way without citing specific passages out of context as just being examples of beautiful writing. People ask me what it's about and it comes out sounding miserably boring.
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Mar 26, 2017 23:55
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Heath posted:I found a copy today and picked it up. I really enjoyed the Davis translation, which (in spite of my very limited knowledge of French language or aristocratic culture) seemed to preserve a lot of the subtle humor and the deeply personal observations of the narrator. I fall asleep every time I try to read it. I have beautiful dreams. Farthest I've ever made it is about page 400.
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Mar 27, 2017 01:55
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It's not a book you read to be excited. It's one you read to see the deep colors of the mundane. Or to reflect on how miserable and stupid love is.
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Mar 27, 2017 01:58
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I fall asleep every time I try to read it. I have beautiful dreams. Farthest I've ever made it is about page 400. You are weak and puny
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Mar 27, 2017 02:19
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A human heart posted:You are weak and puny I am elephant ! but Proust is the carfentanil of books edit: To be clear I am not at all claiming that Proust is boring, rather the opposite I mean that he literally puts me to sleep I love reading him, but the prose is so beautiful that I just. . . drift. . . away . . and then when I wake up I've lost my place because the book fell from my hands Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Mar 27, 2017 |
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Mar 27, 2017 02:47
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Proust isn't boring, its just a long novel. If you don't find his descriptions of society hilarious, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe too many long passages describing flowers, but flowers meant something to Marcel, and he wanted us to feel something in common, which is extremely touching, even if the gap is probably unbridgeable.
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Mar 27, 2017 05:04
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I read Genesis. It was good. I read The Gospel in Brief. It was good. I read Death of Ivan Ilyich. It was good. I read Shogun. It was bad. I read The One-Straw Revolution. It was not literature, but good. I read Essays by Montaigne. See above. hog fat fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Mar 27, 2017 |
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Mar 27, 2017 17:53
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I read The Stranger. It was good.
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Mar 27, 2017 17:55
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Ras Het posted:yes I know that, I'm not an idiot, but I've read Heike Monogatari and Genji Monogatari and got some other old Japanese stuff lined up, and I feel like I need some context outside of long dead medieval theologies if you liked it and want to see it applied/have any interest in sustainable farming, there's a book called The One-Straw Revolution that's also a very fast read with some interesting philosophy in it. probably more Buddhist than taoist, but there's definitely some aspects of Tao
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Mar 27, 2017 19:04
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I'm reading the Evenings by Gérald Reve. The main character just stuck a whole, unpeeled hard-boiled egg in his mouth and clucked like a chicken to make fun of his dad. It's a good book.
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Mar 27, 2017 19:19
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thehoodie posted:I'm reading the Evenings by Gérald Reve. The main character just stuck a whole, unpeeled hard-boiled egg in his mouth and clucked like a chicken to make fun of his dad. The recurring thing where he keeps telling his friends, in the most ruthless way possible, that they're going bald is really funny.
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Mar 27, 2017 20:14
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reading a regicide by alain robbe-grillet. the book opened with a very beautiful desrcription of someone shaving, which was cool
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Mar 28, 2017 11:26
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I mean that he literally puts me to sleep Do you wake up in a dark room and use all of your senses to figure out where you are even though it's not where you expected to be? I made it half way through the second book when I realized that at the pace I was going it would take me a full year and a half of reading Proust to finish and didn't think it was worth the time.
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Mar 28, 2017 12:22
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Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:Do you wake up in a dark room and use all of your senses to figure out where you are even though it's not where you expected to be? It took me about a year, on and off, and was absolutely worth the time. I can think of few things in my life that were more worth the time.
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Mar 28, 2017 15:22
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david crosby posted:It took me about a year, on and off, and was absolutely worth the time. I can think of few things in my life that were more worth the time. I've been reading Proust on and off for the past year or so; I think I made a bit of a mistake in buying the third volume instead of borrowing it form the library. Without the pressure of a due date, I keep picking it up and reading it a bit at a time for a while, then get distracted by life happening, other books, etc., and by the time I pick it up again, I find I have to start over again because of the lack of good long-term stopping points--while I remember the rough outline of what's happened so far, I keep finding I've lost the context and the "flow" of the narrative. Which is a shame, because it's drat good reading. If somebody finds the task of reading all the way through Proust daunting and uses that as an excuse not to, all I can say is not to be intimidated: the language and the actual reading through of the text is not difficult in and of itself, the way, for instance, Ulysses is; it's just very dense, and you may find yourself rereading a passage or parts of one just to make sure you understand the idea he's conveying. Speaking of other books, I also picked up Finnegan's Wake after reading that tweet from a few pages back. It's absolutely wonderful and amazing, and I haven't even finished with the introductory chapter. Meaty Ore fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Mar 29, 2017 |
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Mar 29, 2017 04:01
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Meaty Ore posted:I've been reading Proust on and off for the past year or so; I think I made a bit of a mistake in buying the third volume instead of borrowing it form the library. Without the pressure of a due date, I keep picking it up and reading it a bit at a time for a while, then get distracted by life happening, other books, etc., and by the time I pick it up again, I find I have to start over again because of the lack of good long-term stopping points--while I remember the rough outline of what's happened so far, I keep finding I've lost the context and the "flow" of the narrative. Which is a shame, because it's drat good reading. Yeah, this is basically what I was getting at earlier. Proust has been on my to-read table for literally decades; every few years I pick it up, it's wonderful, but then I fall asleep / lose my place / get distracted. It's not the length at all ( I've read everything from all of Samuel Pepy's diaries to the entire 1917 unabridged Golden Bough), it's just that Proust's prose is like the goddam Orphean lyre. Meaty Ore posted:
On the other hand that honestly scares me. I have this fear that the process of reading it will warp my mind. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Mar 29, 2017 |
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Mar 29, 2017 04:30
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So I know it's science fiction but has anyone read Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney? It feels real Joyce-like and I'm having trouble with it at certain points. Good prose Also I should read Swann's Way probably
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Mar 29, 2017 05:15
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:On the other hand that honestly scares me. I have this fear that the process of reading it will warp my mind. im permabanned poster earwickerstomper58. i first started reading finnegans wake when i was about 12. by 14 i got really obsessed with the concept of "modernism" and tried to channel it constantly, until my thought process got really bizarre and i would repeat things like "swimswamswum" and "bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!" in my head for hours, and i would get really paranoid, start seeing things in the corners of my eyes etc, basically prodromal schizophrenia. im now on antipsychotics. i always wondered what the kind of "modernist" style of finnegans wake was all about; i think it's the unconscious leaking in to the conscious, what jungian theory considered to be the cause of schizophrenic and schizotypal syptoms. i would advise all people who "get" finnegans wake to be careful because that likely means you have a predisposition to a mental illness. peace.
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Mar 29, 2017 07:01
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I'd just like to pop in and say that months ago, I asked the thread for books like Naked Lunch in A) goriness and B) technical prose quality. The only recommendation I remember receiving that attempted a similar atmosphere is Carlton Mellick, who if you'll note is not exactly a Burroughs-level author. I was thankful for the fantastic unrelated recs I received, like At Swim-Two-Birds, but secretly disappointed that what was I imagined would be a well-trod style bursting with undreamt-of masterpieces was in fact a mode unto itself to the snootiest and therefore most knowledgeable circle of readers I could find. Well I just decided to catch up on this thread and a few pages after I had stopped reading, you all casually discussed Blood Meridian. It turns out this book is also an abstract but intense exploration of human wickedness conveyed with arcane words and direct content. I guess it just plum slipped your big egghead brains when I was asking for that. See, I only knew McCarthy for the apocalypse film I didn't watch, and so foolishly assumed that all his books were the sort of thing that would become an apocalypse film I didn't watch. Anyway I'd like to refloat my thank you with newfound legitimacy. What a loving cool book. I've already learned like twenty words I can use to describe unpleasant struggles in Tex-Mex deserts.
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Mar 29, 2017 07:31
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:On the other hand that honestly scares me. I have this fear that the process of reading it will warp my mind. It's a weird book because, since it's so readable (only in the sense that it accommodates so many different readings at once), it feels like your life is one of the topics of the book. It began rather accurately describing my life. I was spooked 2 say the least I'm still picking my way through it on and off, I find that a lot more interesting than trying to read straight through. At the moment I'm reading Joel Relihan's translation of The Golden rear end and it's pretty good. Some nice anachronisms which are cool
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Mar 29, 2017 08:38
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