Read Some Real Literature: Anyway hail satantango

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Read Some Real Literature: Anyway hail satantango

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the_homemaster: Dec 7, 2015

A human heart posted:

This guy is really cool

I like to think so.

# ? Sep 18, 2016 20:30

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# ? May 27, 2024 08:26

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

Like Paul Auster, Ingo Schulze uses complex narratives without any stylistic or intellectual backbone, but while Auster’s work is like a reader’s digest of postmodern theory, amusing and quite harmless, and mostly not particularly political, Schulze’s purview is larger–he aims for both the political and the historical, which makes him much more insufferable than his contemporaries.

# ? Sep 18, 2016 23:02

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

Smoking Crow posted:

Gas

You have the power to close the thread

# ? Sep 19, 2016 12:19

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

don't, this is the only thread on this wretched subforum not dedicated to garbage

# ? Sep 19, 2016 13:42

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

the_homemaster posted:

I like to think so.

rip

# ? Sep 19, 2016 18:41

The Belgian: Oct 28, 2008

I've started readring 'de Kappelekesbaan' by Louis Paul Boon, which is considered one of the greatest Flemish novels and it's extremely pro.

I just checked and there's also an English translation as 'Chapel Lane'. While the translation can't capture all the fuckery with language going on it still seems like a good translation from the quick look I took at and y'all should read it.

https://www.amazon.com/Chapel-Road-Louis-Paul-Boon/dp/1564782859

quote:

According to the author, Chapel Road is the book about the childhood of Ondine [. . .] about her brother Valeer-Traleer with his monstrous head wobbling through life this way and that. But the book is about a lot more than that. It is also the story of Louis Paul Boon, an author working on a novel entitled Chapel Road, surrounded by his colorful group of friends. His readers and companions include the painter Tippetotje, who habitually works a naked woman into her paintings, and Johan Janssens, the journalist and poet who is fired from the paper for refusing to agree with the Capitalists, the Socialists or the Ultra-Marxists. Beyond that, Chapel Road includes a retelling of the myth of Reynard the fox and Isengrinus the wolf, a tale that underscores the greed, stupidity, hypocrisy, pride and lust motivating the other characters of the book. Chapel Road is a pool, a sea, a chaos: it is the book of all that can be heard and seen in Chapel Road, from the year 1800-and-something until today.

# ? Sep 19, 2016 19:02

Cloks: Feb 1, 2013; by Azathoth

I read Hot Milk over the weekend and it's really good. Interesting exploration of how a person defines themselves in relation to their parents and their romances with other people. Deborah Levy is a masterful writer and accomplishes a lot with precise writing.

# ? Sep 19, 2016 20:10

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

idk whether or not this is behind a paywall but i enjoyed this

The Chronicle of Higher Ed posted:

My small act of countercultural scholarly agency has been to refuse to continue reading or assigning the work of David Foster Wallace. The machine of his celebrity masks, I have argued, the limited benefits of spending the time required to read his work. Our time is better spent elsewhere. I make this assessment given the evidence I have so far accumulated � I have read and taught some of his stories and nonfiction, have read some critical essays on Wallace�s work, and have read D.T. Max�s biography of Wallace � and without feeling professionally obligated to spend a month reading Infinite Jest in order to be absolutely sure I�m right. If I did spend a month reading the book, I would be adding my professional investment to the load of others� investments, which � if we track it back � are the result of a particular marketing campaign that appealed to a Jurassic vision of literary genius.

The book�s marketers were smart. They knew their audience and what kind of dare would provoke them: Are you smart enough and strong enough � indeed, are you man enough � to read a genius�s thousand-page novel? Of course they said yes. Having committed the time, those initial readers had then to prove, in writing, that they had something equally smart to say about it. And those yeses were the first of many in the self-perpetuating machine of literary celebrity. Before "Wallace studies" could take a hold on my field, it seemed worth raising the question: Why should we turn the podium over to this author among so many others, to invite him to stand at the microphone of literary culture for a thousand pages and more if it�s not pretty clear to a moderately well-informed person that his work is worth our attention?

I use here the metaphor for public attention that the Mexican poet and critic Gabriel Zaid uses in his delightful little book, So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance (2003). Zaid argues that excessively long books are a form of undemocratic dominance that impoverishes the public discourse by reducing the airtime shared among others. The idea rings true when one reads D.T. Max�s account of Wallace�s resistance to his editor�s suggestion that he streamline Infinite Jest: Wallace defended its length and its obscurities by indicating that he expected people to read it twice. If this was not a form of arrogance, I�m not sure what would be.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 03:46

1969 baby: Apr 29, 2013

I visited City Lights bookstore in San Francisco last week and there was so much loving literature that I got scared and bought a book about movies.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 05:53

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

End Of Worlds posted:

idk whether or not this is behind a paywall but i enjoyed this

Haha she's afraid of Infinite Jest and a tool to boot.

I mean, we do make conscious decisions not to read books for one reason or another but to wrap that up in some sort of badge of honor and to call DFW arrogant for writing a long book is dumb. It makes as much sense as Mikey refusing to eat Life cereal.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 12:51

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.

I'm not gonna read the 1 500 page book set in futuristic Adidas-Diaperville and apparently also includes bits about tennis

# ? Sep 20, 2016 13:03

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:

Haha she's afraid of Infinite Jest and a tool to boot.

I mean, we do make conscious decisions not to read books for one reason or another but to wrap that up in some sort of badge of honor and to call DFW arrogant for writing a long book is dumb. It makes as much sense as Mikey refusing to eat Life cereal.

yeah I love people dunking on Infinite Jest as much as anyone, I got like 400 pages in and hated it, but this is a really lengthy (ironically) and convoluted way to say "I don't want to read it because it's long"

# ? Sep 20, 2016 13:05

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

Ras Het posted:

I'm not gonna read the 1 500 page book set in futuristic Adidas-Diaperville and apparently also includes bits about tennis

Why don't you go read some critical essays about it and a biography of DFW and talk a lot about how you don't read it and then write an article about not reading it all in the name of saving time instead of spending the smaller amount of time it would take to read a book that a lot of people really like and think is great.

I get the idea of being able to read everything though I probably can't come up with a book I would categorically reject if close friends, relatives, or the preponderance of people I trust recommended it. Maybe Finnegan's Wake though I've tried it several times and can't get through more than 100 pages so it's not for not trying.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 14:41

doug fuckey: Jun 7, 2007; hella greenbacks

your first novel has to be exactly 300 pages, and only after you've written a collection of short fiction. then the council decides if you are allowed to write a longer book, because time is money see, and we can't have everyone writing thousand page tomes that clog up the intellectual bandwidth

# ? Sep 20, 2016 14:45

CestMoi: Sep 16, 2011

Everyone should just write poetry, as it is the purest most distilled form of words

# ? Sep 20, 2016 14:54

Abalieno: Apr 3, 2011

End Of Worlds posted:

excessively long books are a form of undemocratic dominance that impoverishes the public discourse by reducing the airtime shared among others.

OH OH OH OH, I so love this.

I got my copies of both Jerusalem and Bottom's Dream.

If you can choose, avoid the UK version of Jerusalem, because the US seems to be much better. For some reason the UK version is 100 pages shorter and they decided to use huge rear end white margins, meaning all the text is crammed in the center of the page and they use a super tiny font that is actually hard to read. Looking at Amazon scans it seems the US version completely fixes the problem (it has saner margins AND 100 pages longer to accommodate).

The UK version has better cover blurbs, though:
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5195...edd66e8f83398c3

""Makes Ulysses look like a primer."

Bottom's Dream is even sexier in person, it's just a marvel and a book object to worship, you have to see it to believe. But in the meantime I have more book porn scoured from twitter:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsqP91LXYAA-TU6.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsqRNUNXgAADQJW.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrtTLokUsAAEXGS.jpg:large

A quote from the two-pages afterword at the end from the translator:

quote:

For the translator, however, there was really only one strategy available, the same one most readers will at least attempt: Start to finish � drat the torpedoes and full speed ahead. Well, perhaps �speed� is the wrong word, it did take me some six years (spread over twelve) of labor, an arduous task to be sure � with sporadic moments of either elation or gloom, the latter due mostly to my sense of inadequacy to the task.

Wilma is right, it does take a �fool� to enter fully into this topsy-turvy linguistic world. And so I set on my fool�s cap, and sang and danced, took pratfalls and belly flops � and occasionally, taking a deep breath, I launched into the Neith-time sky to soar with the bats. The judgement as to whether or not I succeeded in capturing at least something of the aesthetic and intellectual enjoyments of the original (that being, after all, the nirvana of every translator), lies with you, the reader.

And another completely random one from the book itself:

quote:

pag. 213
: � � � � -. (Alone with the kid in the ficket : cave!). � : �FirSt off hold all supercilia quiet : snaring with lids & snatching with slick lips aren�t alloweD here! � Prick ope your ears : When talk turns to Your cares, Y� immuddytely b�have �sif Y� had just gobbled up ev�ry evil kno�n since the Creation : surely You overestimaiD Your crim�nall abilities.� / (And still She had not raised her beFringl�d lids ?) /

Repeat for 1500 pages. It's fun.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 15:39

Officer Sandvich: Feb 14, 2010

Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:

and to call DFW arrogant for writing a long book is dumb.

well she actually called him arrogant for expecting people to read it twice but we can't let any criticism of dead author man go unanswered

# ? Sep 20, 2016 15:41

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

I loving knew long book talk would summon Abalieno

god dammit

# ? Sep 20, 2016 15:42

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

It rules.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 15:47

Abalieno: Apr 3, 2011

Officer Sandvich posted:

well she actually called him arrogant for expecting people to read it twice but we can't let any criticism of dead author man go unanswered

I wonder if she'd call kids dumb for watching Disney movies over and over and over and over.

Btw, since we are at it: http://jillmyles.com/2009/06/09/a-rant-on-word-count/

quote:

Bloated word count costs your publisher money. I�m sorry, but there it is. You can fit three fat books on a shelf where six slimmer ones might fit. You get paid the same for both. Would you rather sell three or six? Would you rather B&N or Borders order 3 copies of your book or six? What about Wal-Mart?

Abalieno fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Sep 20, 2016

# ? Sep 20, 2016 15:48

Brinstar Brew: Aug 8, 2007; Who's the guy in the Victorian diving apparatus?

I liked this article about not reading things: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/08/31/on-the-pleasures-of-not-reading/

# ? Sep 20, 2016 15:49

Bandiet: Dec 31, 2015

"Literary" readers are all corporate hogs, and novels are capitalism, and long novels are trusts. IMHO.

# ? Sep 20, 2016 16:51

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

Brinstar Brew posted:

I liked this article about not reading things: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/08/31/on-the-pleasures-of-not-reading/

That is a pro-not-reading article that I agree with

# ? Sep 21, 2016 01:52

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

Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:

That is a pro-not-reading article that I agree with

how would you know... unless you... read it??

# ? Sep 21, 2016 02:03

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

I still say DFW's not-going-on-cruises article is excellent

because I hate cruises

# ? Sep 21, 2016 02:54

Nanomashoes: Aug 18, 2012

I'm reading a lot of Warlock right now because that book is really good, and I have to say, reading this book is a lot better than not reading this book.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 03:02

doug fuckey: Jun 7, 2007; hella greenbacks

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I still say DFW's not-going-on-cruises article is excellent

because I hate cruises

DFW has a lot of good things, the county fair report and the thing about amateur tennis too. He and vollmann both have that "alien with a large vocabulary" voice that is somehow not insufferable to me, the only difference is that dfw slips in some "cool" phrases once in a while to remind you he's a person, man, while vollmann just sticks in even more obscure literary references/made up science.

I'm reading madame bovary now. I dunno anything about it but I haven't read much french authors before, or really ever.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 03:10

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

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I still say DFW's not-going-on-cruises article is excellent

because I hate cruises

DFW was a legit brilliant Non-fiction writer and I do not join as passionately in the hatred of Infinite Jest

IJ is definitely a relic of 90's era late stage post-modernism, but I still stand by several of its parts being excellent.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 03:19

Franchescanado: Feb 23, 2013; If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment; Grimey Drawer

DFW is fine.

Broom of the System is a fun read and I enjoyed his use of dialogue. The philosophical rants in the last fourth get redundant.

If you skip the dictionary essay, Consider The Lobster is great. Big Red Son, the porn industry essay, had me laughing out loud regularly by the end.

I haven't read IJ yet, but I'm getting an new e-reader, so I might attempt it soon.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 03:50

Twerkteam Pizza: Sep 26, 2015; Grimey Drawer

Hey nerds I'm looking for fiction (or non-fiction too) about ghostwriters. Not ghostwriting, just people who get shafted for a living

# ? Sep 21, 2016 06:57

1969 baby: Apr 29, 2013

Twerkteam Pizza posted:

Hey nerds I'm looking for fiction (or non-fiction too) about ghostwriters. Not ghostwriting, just people who get shafted for a living

I'm not sure it's some real literature, but Robin Moore wrote The Happy Hooker: My Own Story about getting shafted for a living.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Moore

# ? Sep 21, 2016 07:23

Abalieno: Apr 3, 2011

A quote:

quote:

She kinstill hear the song beyonder, but she dizzn�t surey fit�s the when she thawtit was. Detune streems differrant and pseudo the words, doshy slushpects that she�s not herein� thereal worlds at all. She�s proverbly trancestating the inudibelle and dustant leerics into her roam lingwish, the seam way she daz with reveriething.

It�s anuntellagibble jabberish, off course, nonposed of comsense sillyballs and nutterly devader meanink, though she fonds that she injoyce the squirling museek avid.

Lucy�s dancing in the language,
Shares a marble sandwich
With a Mr. Finnegan from several headstones down
And no more how�s-your-father now.
She�s a cockeyed optimist
Who can�t resist
This final white parade.

She found she inJOYCE the squirling museek avid.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 10:27

Franchescanado: Feb 23, 2013; If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment; Grimey Drawer

Abalieno posted:

A quote:

She found she inJOYCE the squirling museek avid.

This is bad, especially everything you emphasized.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 12:14

A human heart: Oct 10, 2012

Abalieno posted:

A quote:

She found she inJOYCE the squirling museek avid.

There's some guy on goodreads who reads generally cool books but types like this sometimes and it's really annoying to read.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 12:31

Jrbg: May 20, 2014

Abalieno posted:

A quote:

She found she inJOYCE the squirling museek avid.

Imagining a guy in a Guy Fawkes mask typing like "weir noneamouse, wheel eachun, aspect us"

# ? Sep 21, 2016 12:39

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

Abalieno posted:

A quote:

She found she inJOYCE the squirling museek avid.

This is the literary equivalent of dangling keys in front of your cat

# ? Sep 21, 2016 13:44

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

A human heart posted:

There's some guy on goodreads who reads generally cool books but types like this sometimes and it's really annoying to read.

Getting drunk and logging onto goodreads.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 14:02

Franchescanado: Feb 23, 2013; If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment; Grimey Drawer

Mel Mudkiper posted:

This is the literary equivalent of dangling keys in front of your cat

Dingle-eEn keez ifrun tov a katten

# ? Sep 21, 2016 14:02

Bandiet: Dec 31, 2015

It's fun because of the malapropisms and double meanings, not because of random wacky spellings for words.

# ? Sep 21, 2016 15:01

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# ? May 27, 2024 08:26

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

Bandiet posted:

It's fun because of the malapropisms and double meanings, not because of random wacky spellings for words.

My head hurts when i read it

# ? Sep 21, 2016 15:02

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