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Welcome goonlings to the Awful Book of the Month! In this thread, we choose one work of Resources: Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org - A database of over 17000 books available online. If you can suggest books from here, that'd be the best. SparkNotes - http://www.sparknotes.com/ - A very helpful Cliffnotes-esque site, but much better, in my opinion. If you happen to come in late and need to catch-up, you can get great character/chapter/plot summaries here.  For recommendations on future material, suggestions on how to improve the club, or just a general rant, feel free to PM me. Past Books of the Month [for BOTM before 2016, refer to archives] 2016: January: Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the Dog!) by Jerome K. Jerome February:The March Up Country (The Anabasis) of Xenophon March: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco April: Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling May: Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima June:The Vegetarian by Han Kang July:Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees August: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov September:Siddhartha by Herman Hesse October:Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse November:Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain December: It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis 2017: January: Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut February: The Plague by Albert Camus March: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin April: The Conference of the Birds (مقامات الطیور) by Farid ud-Din Attar May: I, Claudius by Robert Graves June: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky July: Ficcionies by Jorge Luis Borges August: My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber September: The Peregrine by J.A. Baker October: Blackwater Vol. I: The Flood by Michael McDowell November: Aquarium by David Vann December: Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight [Author Unknown] 2018 January: Njal's Saga [Author Unknown] February: The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle March: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders April: Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio de Maria May: Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov June: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe July: Warlock by Oakley Hall August: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott September: The Magus by John Fowles October: I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara November: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard December: Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens 2019: January: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky February: BEAR by Marian Engel March: V. by Thomas Pynchon April: The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout May: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman June: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann July: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach August: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay September:Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay October: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado November: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett December: Moby Dick by Herman Melville 2020: January: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair February: WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin  Current: The Autobiography of Benevenuto Cellini by Benevenuto Cellini Book available in the following locations: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4028 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC1CHI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 About the book: cda posted:Please read my favorite nonfiction book of all time: The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. The dude was a world class narcissist who also happened to be a legitimately talented sculptor who rubbed elbows with many of Renaissance Italy's brightest political and artistic lights. Every sentence is a masterpiece of total self-absorbtion and there are also enough duels and battles and imprisonments to keep things lively. It is also a detailed and interesting description of the time and place. Tacky-rear end Rococco posted:After Casanova and Richard Feynman, his memoirs are the best I've ever read. They're so ridiculous that to attempt to summarize even the juicy bits would be doing them a disservice. Present posted:Cellinis autobiography is really good. Its basically this guy who is a paragon of virtue and a pillar of the community, etc, trying to get by and do right by everyone, but somehow there are all these evil people that hate him and try to screw him over for some reason. Poor Cellini. About the Author(s) BravestOfTheLamps posted:My favourite unlikable character is Benvenuto Cellini. Selachian posted:If you haven't tried The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini yet, you ought to. It's a great read, although be warned that Cellini is far from a reliable autobiographer. The North Tower posted:I saw him in Harold Bloom's list and read his wiki. Wild. Boardroom Jimmy posted:Well, Cellini was twice accused of sodomy and only avoided a lengthy prison sentence when the Medici family stepped in for him. He also killed at least two men and was also accused of stealing the papal jewels. He also once had an attack of malaria so severe that he ended up in a raving delirium and inadvertently offended the Duke of Mantua Oh, and he loved prostitutes. Themes   Pacing Read as thou wilt is the whole of the law. Please post after you read! Please bookmark the thread to encourage discussion. References and Further Materials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benvenuto_Cellini Suggestions for Future Months These threads aren't just for discussing the current BOTM; If you have a suggestion for next month's book, please feel free to post it in the thread below also. Generally what we're looking for in a BotM are works that have 1) accessibility -- either easy to read or easy to download a free copy of, ideally both 2) novelty -- something a significant fraction of the forum hasn't already read 3) discussability -- intellectual merit, controversiality, insight -- a book people will be able to talk about. Final Note: Thanks, and I hope everyone enjoys the book!
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Mar 3, 2020 03:08
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Mar 3, 2020 03:42
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Any opinions on the translations? I would assume the modern one is preferable, but better safe than sorry.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Mar 3, 2020 |
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Mar 3, 2020 13:37
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Took a peek at the sample on Amazon and it made me giggle. I'm a few chapters(?) in and am enjoying it. Can't wait till my hour lunch to dig in a bit more.
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Mar 3, 2020 16:23
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This sounds fascinating. I've found a really old translation by John Addington Synods in the public domain, will this still be good or can I spring for a Penguin Classics copy?
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Mar 3, 2020 20:59
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anilEhilated posted:Any opinions on the translations? I would assume the modern one is preferable, but better safe than sorry. I can't find any guidance on that apart from a bunch of things in the 1800's saying Symonds is great. The language is fairly straightforward so the only real concern is bowdlerization I suspect. I will say that the version I have on my kindle has copious footnotes, which are very helpful because so much of his story references fairly esoteric details of then-contemporary Italian life. what I like about the experience of reading this book is you read it, you think "wtf, this dude must be bullshitting, this is all obvious bullshit, how good could his fuckin' art possibly be if he's hyping his own poo poo this much" and then you look his stuff up online and, like, whoa, ok, he actually was that good and suddenly all his bullshit is believable Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Mar 4, 2020 |
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Mar 3, 2020 23:58
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I like the way Cellini's smug style apparently managed to rub off on the annotations so we get footnotes like this:quote:Posterity has confirmed Cellini's opinion on Bandinello as an artist; for his works are coarse, pretentious and incapable of giving pleasure to any person of refined intelligence. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Mar 4, 2020 |
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Mar 4, 2020 09:10
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quote:I contracted close friendship with Signor Gabbriello Ceserino, at that time Gonfalonier of Rome, and executed many pieces for him. One, among the rest, is worthy of mention. It was a large golden medal to wear in the hat. I engraved upon it Leda with her swan; and being very well pleased with the workmanship, he said he should like to have it valued, in order that I might be properly paid. Now, since the medal was executed with consummate skill, the valuers of the trade set a far higher price on it than he had thought of. I therefore kept the medal, and got nothing for my pains. The same sort of adventures happened in this case as in that of Salamanca’s vase. But I shall pass such matters briefly by, lest they hinder me from telling things of greater importance. 
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Mar 4, 2020 13:03
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16th-century problems
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Mar 4, 2020 22:11
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The first copy I found was Symonds. I was trying to find an online book club and just about died that SA’s March book was V. Last year.  So toxxx me if I don’t report back on this one.
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Mar 5, 2020 11:02
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"I was visiting my friend and went for a ride when a bunch of pirates appeared and chased me to the top of a ravine but my pony, which by the way was the size of a bear, did a TOTALLY SWEET JUMP over it and the pirates were so amazed they ran for their ship and took off". I wish I had any idea of when he's recounting and when he's bullshitting. It feels that by the time he was writing, Cellini was firmly convinced his only problem was being too awesome. e: Benvenuto Cellini posted:In my enthusiasm I strove to achieve the impossible; let it suffice to say that it was I who saved the castle that morning. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Mar 6, 2020 |
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Mar 6, 2020 00:44
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Man, it says I'm only 20% through and I feel like I've experienced two lifetimes of drama and exploits already. What in the
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Mar 6, 2020 17:18
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I always liked the part where Benny modestly describes how he saved the Pope more or less singlehandedly while defending Castel Sant'Angelo. Also, nearly burning down his workshop while melting bronze for his statue of Perseus. Selachian fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Mar 6, 2020 |
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Mar 6, 2020 17:41
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So much of this book is about artwork that it's really worthwhile to hunt down photos of the works in question; the problem is most of the editions I've seen aren't illustrated or are only sparsely so, so we have to do that work ourselves.quote:After a few days I finished my model, and took it to the Pope one morning, when Messer Traiano made me wait till he had sent for Micheletto and Pompeo, bidding them make haste and bring their drawings. On their arrival we were introduced, and Micheletto and Pompeo immediately unrolled their papers, which the Pope inspected. The draughtsmen who had been employed were not in the jeweller’s trade, and therefore, knew nothing about giving their right place to precious stones; and the jewellers, on their side, had not shown them how; for I ought to say that a jeweller, when he has to work with figures, must of necessity understand design, else he cannot produce anything worth looking at: and so it turned out that all of them had stuck that famous diamond in the middle of the breast of God the Father. The Pope, who was an excellent connoisseur, observing this mistake, approved of none of them; and when he had looked at about ten, he flung the rest down, and said to me, who was standing at a distance: “Now show me your model, Benvenuto, so that I may see if you have made the same mistake as those fellows.” I came forward, and opened a little round box; whereupon one would have thought that a light from heaven had struck the Pope’s eyes. He cried aloud: “If you had been in my own body, you could not have done it better, as this proves. Those men there have found the right way to bring shame upon themselves!” A crowd of great lords pressing round, the Pope pointed out the difference between my model and the drawings. When he had sufficiently commended it, the others standing terrified and stupid before him, he turned to me and said: “I am only afraid of one thing, and that is of the utmost consequence. Friend Benvenuto, wax is easy to work in; the real difficulty is to execute this in gold.” To those words I answered without moment’s hesitation: “Most blessed Father, if I do not work it ten times better than the model, let it be agreed beforehand that you pay me nothing.” When they heard this, the noblemen made a great stir, crying out that I was promising too much. Among them was an eminent philosopher, who spoke out in my favour: “From the fine physiognomy and bodily symmetry which I observed in this young man, I predict that he will accomplish what he says, and think that he will even go beyond it.” The Pope put in: “And this is my opinion also.” Then he called his chamberlain, Messer Traiano, and bade him bring five hundred golden ducats of the Camera. This "button" was apparently melted down to pay a ransom to Napoleon, but a precise drawing exists in the British Museum:  quote:Meanwhile, I laboured assiduously at the work I was doing for the Pope, and also in the service of the Mint; for his Holiness had ordered another coin, of the value of two carlins, on which his own portrait was stamped, while the reverse bore a figure of Christ upon the waters, holding out his hand to S. Peter, with this inscription 'Quare dubitasti?' My design won such applause that a certain secretary of the Pope, a man of the greatest talent, called Il Sanga, was moved to this remark: Your Holiness can boast of having a currency superior to any of the ancients in all their glory. The Pope replied: Benvenuto, for his part, can boast of serving an emperor like me, who is able to discern his merit.  Lengthy article here on Cellini's coin-craft with quotes from other works beside the autobiography: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-coins-of-benvenuto-cellini-not-ancient-but.309743/ Some others of his coins and medals here:  https://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/cellini/2/index.html https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...rder=0&company= quote:After he had put affairs of greater consequence in order, the new Pope sent for me, saying that he did not wish any one else to strike his coins. To these words of his Holiness a gentleman very privately acquainted with him, named Messer Latino Juvinale, made answer that I was in hiding for a murder committed on the person of one Pompeo of Milan, and set forth what could be argued for my justification in the most favourable terms. [4] The Pope replied: “I knew nothing of Pompeo’s death, but plenty of Benvenuto’s provocation; so let a safe-conduct be at once made out for him, in order that he may be placed in perfect security.” A great friend of Pompeo’s, who was also intimate with the Pope, happened to be there; he was a Milanese, called Messer Ambrogio. [5] This man said: “In the first days of your papacy it were not well to grant-pardons of this kind.” The Pope turned to him and answered: “You know less about such matters than I do. Know then that men like Benvenuto, unique in their profession, stand above the law; and how far more he, then, who received the provocation I have heard of?” When my safe conduct had been drawn out, I began at once to serve him, and was treated with the utmost favour. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Mar 7, 2020 |
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Mar 7, 2020 14:59
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:So much of this book is about artwork that it's really worthwhile to hunt down photos of the works in question; the problem is most of the editions I've seen aren't illustrated or are only sparsely so, so we have to do that work ourselves.  ...And it honestly feels like desecration to think of someone actually putting salt in it. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Mar 7, 2020 |
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Mar 7, 2020 16:15
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Kangxi posted:This sounds fascinating. Hieronymous Alloy posted:
The version I'm reading with the lolsmug footnotes seems to be the Gutenberg free version so yeah that seems to be the general consensus choice. It might be good for folks to read other translations though just for alternate takes / footnotes / etc.
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Mar 7, 2020 18:02
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An illustrated version of this book would be wonderful. Wow...I know this isn't what we were talking about bc it's not pictures of Cellini's artwork but Salvador Dali??? https://www.abebooks.com/Autobiography-Benvenuto-Cellini-John-Addington-Symonds/12473271141/bd
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Mar 8, 2020 21:41
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cda posted:An illustrated version of this book would be wonderful. Hahah, that looks amazing One thing I love is how Cellini describes his hallucinations as clear facts that everyone else was just too goddam blind and stupid to acknowledge.
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Mar 8, 2020 22:01
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Hahah, that looks amazing yeah no kidding, it really demonstrates the intersection between extreme narcissism and magical realism that also get mined by don quixote, baron munchausen etc
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Mar 9, 2020 02:01
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Thanks for posting those photos. I keep meaning to go back and do a search on everything he keeps describing. Every single time when I see the real thing it's ten times better looking than I had imagined. This dude has every right to hold himself in such high regard. He writes himself as entirely selfless but he is so loving smug when he wins a challenge.
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Mar 9, 2020 04:41
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It works both ways: his descriptions of the stuff he made, while mostly matter-of-fact (with an obligatory "it was the most remarkable objects of its kind in Rome/Florenze/Mantua" or three), really make you wish to actually see the pieces. Especially ones that didn't survive, like the Atlas medal he so lovingly describes in the early parts of the book.Philthy posted:He writes himself as entirely selfless but he is so loving smug when he wins a challenge. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Mar 9, 2020 |
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Mar 9, 2020 14:02
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Speaking of Cellini’s ego-disguised-as-selflessness, I think it's hilarious and totally in line with his personality that the way he finds religion and takes comfort in his situation at the end of Part 1 is to compare his imprisonment and coming execution to Jesus's.quote:Christ, the glorious and divine, elects me to the company of His disciples and friends, who, like Himself, were condemned to die unjustly. I too am sentenced to an unjust death, and I thank God with humility for this sign of grace. And quote:“Oh, just God, Thou paidest all our debts upon that high-raised cross of Thine; wherefore then must my innocence be made to pay the debts of whom I do not even know? Nevertheless, Thy will be done.”
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Mar 11, 2020 22:04
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Is no one going to mention how Cellini attacks people at the drop of a hat, then calls on Jesus and the reader to acknowledge that he was totally right to do so?
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Mar 12, 2020 05:59
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Is no one going to mention how Cellini attacks people at the drop of a hat, then calls on Jesus and the reader to acknowledge that he was totally right to do so? I mean, he was obviously right, so what's to even discuss sometimes dudes just need killing, like they look at you funny, or call you gay, or your brother tries to kill them and they successfully defend themselves
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Mar 13, 2020 00:13
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And then there's the part when he's exiled from Rome after applying a rock to someone's head and blames it all on the demons he summoned the other night.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Mar 13, 2020 |
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Mar 13, 2020 00:23
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anilEhilated posted:And then there's the part when he's exiled from Rome after applying a rock to someone's had and blames it all on the demons he summoned the other night. Yeah it's funny how people tend to just skip over the demon summoning, like, ok, how else was he gonna hook up with his out of town prostitute girlfriend (also that priest was totally trying to scam him it just didn't work because Cellini was too bugfuck to consistently go along with anybody's plan for any reason) I also really like the part where he's traveling with a friend and the friend is constantly "hey maybe we should NOT fight everybody" and he's like "dude, you're making us look bad! Step up! *waves sword at an entire inn-full of innocent people*"
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Mar 13, 2020 00:27
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Is no one going to mention how Cellini attacks people at the drop of a hat, then calls on Jesus and the reader to acknowledge that he was totally right to do so? More seriously, the really interesting thing to me is how many people seem to agree with him. Like, of course he's embellishing, but he clearly did get pardons on a regular basis and part of it has to have been because he was admired. There's a real sense that as crazy as he is, he's following acknowledged cultural norms and ideals -- what he's doing isn't legal, but it appears to be culturally acceptable, and even somewhat lionized.
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Mar 13, 2020 00:33
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That or most of the people (haven't finished the book yet but it seems so about halway through) move in similar circles as he does so they don't want to piss off his patrons. I mean, if you're working for a di Medici and the di Medici run the city guard, it's rather unlikely you get called out on public disorder and violence. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 11:07 on Mar 13, 2020 |
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Mar 13, 2020 11:03
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:More seriously, the really interesting thing to me is how many people seem to agree with him. Like, of course he's embellishing, but he clearly did get pardons on a regular basis and part of it has to have been because he was admired. There's a real sense that as crazy as he is, he's following acknowledged cultural norms and ideals -- what he's doing isn't legal, but it appears to be culturally acceptable, and even somewhat lionized. Yeah, part of what makes the whole book work is the unsettling feeling that as arrogant, self-centered, and biased as he is, he wasn't the only one who thought he was a genius and a total bad rear end. If he was just deluded it would be pathetic but every time you ask yourself "is this guy for real?" you can't quite shake the possibility that the answer might be yes.
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Mar 13, 2020 21:42
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Oh poo poo, I'm ordering this now. It's on my list as I'm working through THE CANON like a dumbfuck, and just finished the 2 Orlando books in Aristocratic-Italy.
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Mar 13, 2020 22:47
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cda posted:Yeah, part of what makes the whole book work is the unsettling feeling that as arrogant, self-centered, and biased as he is, he wasn't the only one who thought he was a genius and a total bad rear end. If he was just deluded it would be pathetic but every time you ask yourself "is this guy for real?" you can't quite shake the possibility that the answer might be yes. It is interesting that Michelangelo praises him, and Michelangelo is the one guy Cellini actually respects. Pope? rear end in a top hat. Kings? Assholes. Michelangelo? A pretty cool guy who might actually be better than Cellini.
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Mar 14, 2020 02:36
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I can only imagine the randos who went home to their wives at night. "Lisabetta! You would NOT believe what Benevenuto did TODAY. OH. MAH. GAWD."
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Mar 14, 2020 06:33
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"No matter what sort he is, everyone who has to his credit what are or really seem great achievements, 1 if he cares for truth and goodness, ought to write the story of his own life in his own hand; but no one should venture on such a splendid undertaking before he is over forty." Well, now I know where Moominpappa heard that.
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Mar 15, 2020 04:17
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quote:Renaissance Florence isn’t an alien world, but it might as well be. Cellini is charming and talented, and yet the way he treats women is appalling and he doesn’t even think there’s anything wrong with it. He doesn’t grieve at his father’s death, although he its clear that he loves his father and cares very much about him. He’s also unfailingly violent and revengeful, and his feelings towards the church and the afterlife are not at all what you might expect—and with the necromancy, there’s no acknowledgement that it was wrong, and he just does it because it seems interesting. There are ways in which he makes me recoil—he will justify himself even when what he does is completely unjustifiable—but then he always charms me again. There’s something completely disarming about his vanity and boasting and the way he writes. He’s trying to get around me, and he succeeds. I like him despite myself. https://www.tor.com/2011/08/18/art-duels-necromancy-the-autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini/comment-page-1/ This is the Ganymede Jo Walton talks about there, that he did the sculptural restoration on and has the big rap battle with Bandinello about :  His other ganymede is a bronze, I believe done after the time period of the Autobiography:  This is the statue of Hercules by Bandinello that Cellini poo poo-talks:  There's a pretty marked stylistic difference going on, interestingly. Cellini isn't just talking poo poo; he has a genuine difference of artistic opinion here. Bandinello is spending a lot more work on extremely realistic depiction of musculature etc., but his posing is relatively simple, and as a result his work, while skilled, has a certain brute quality. Cellini has that detailed anatomical accuracy when he wants it - we see it in his Perseus -- but he's spending a lot more effort on graceful posing and the like. quote:Where High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant.[4] The style is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.[5] This artistic style privileges compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting. Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and intellectual sophistication.[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannerism Another valuable concept to keep in mind is "Sprezzatura": quote:Sprezzatura ([sprettsaˈtuːra]) is an Italian word that first appears in Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 The Book of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author as "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it".[1] It is the ability of the courtier to display "an easy facility in accomplishing difficult actions which hides the conscious effort that went into them".[2] Sprezzatura has also been described "as a form of defensive irony: the ability to disguise what one really desires, feels, thinks, and means or intends behind a mask of apparent reticence and nonchalance".[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzatura Cellini's statues have sprezzatura, they have elegance. Bandinello's doesn't. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Mar 16, 2020 |
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Mar 16, 2020 13:00
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I just finished the book, and definitely identify with Walton's Tor article. Through the book Cellini brags about utterly reprehensible behavior by today's standards, but when I look at his art, I have to think that his awfulness as a human is matched by his totally awesome skill and talent in art. Just when I'm completely disgusted by his whole Caterina story, he goes into the next story of how to finish his statue of Perseus and Medusa, he had to get up from what he thought was his deathbed, restoke his furnace, and salvage his ruined bronze all in a workshop that's partially ON FIRE because a storm blew flames from the furnace into the roof. It's larger than life and insane. Cellini was clearly a menace, but if even just half of what he writes is true, I can kind of see how he was able to get away with it in that social world.
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Mar 17, 2020 00:24
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clamcake posted:I just finished the book, and definitely identify with Walton's Tor article. Through the book Cellini brags about utterly reprehensible behavior by today's standards, but when I look at his art, I have to think that his awfulness as a human is matched by his totally awesome skill and talent in art. Thread title &c
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Mar 17, 2020 00:27
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cda posted:An illustrated version of this book would be wonderful. The Phaidon paperback edition (with the purple cover) has almost 100 plates, both Cellini's work and portraits and work by other people he mentions. Only black-and-white, though, but it's quite nice.
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Mar 17, 2020 01:21
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:https://www.tor.com/2011/08/18/art-duels-necromancy-the-autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini/comment-page-1/ Some more plebeian thoughts: I'm amazed how much fun a 16th century book of this length was. The man's life was crazy, the way he tells it is crazy and it is written in a surprisingly likeable manner and I found myself nodding along with Cellini and agreeing with his excuses - until the next unapologetically horrible thing commited, that is. At the same time, I think I would have given up on reading if he wasn't such a smug bastard, as his justifications for his acts are some of the most entertaining parts of the book (it was the demons!). All in all, I'm really glad I read this book and have already recommended it a couple of people. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Mar 17, 2020 |
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Mar 17, 2020 12:18
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Oh, other books that might be worth reading if you liked this: The Agony and the Ecstasy is a biography of Michelangelo that's very well done and was on al the bestseller lists when it came out back in the day. quote:The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961) is a biographical novel of Michelangelo Buonarroti written by American author Irving Stone. Stone lived in Italy for years visiting many of the locations in Rome and Florence, worked in marble quarries, and apprenticed himself to a marble sculptor. A primary source for the novel is Michelangelo's correspondence, all 495 letters of which Stone had translated from Italian by Charles Speroni and published in 1962 as I, Michelangelo, Sculptor. Stone also collaborated with Canadian sculptor Stanley Lewis, who researched Michelangelo's carving technique and tools.[2] The Italian government lauded Stone with several honorary awards for his cultural achievements highlighting Italian history. Lois McMaster Bujold's The Spirit Ring is a sanitized, kid-friendly fantasy novel that draws heavily on Cellini and the autobiography for inspiration. Jo Walton writes about it here: https://www.tor.com/2013/02/13/magical-goldsmithing-lois-mcmaster-bujolds-the-spirit-ring/
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Mar 17, 2020 12:46
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I am late as always, but I have really been enjoying this, great pick! I would have disliked the man had I met him, his lack of introspection or humility is mindboggling but I am charmed by the stories anyway. Like, when his enemies wears coats of mail it is "villainous defences", but when he wears mail it is... fine? This reads like something out of the Conan stories, or perhaps the three musketeers. Edit: of course, why not spend some time on some reasonable necromancy instead of finishing up that drat piece for the pope ovenboy fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Mar 22, 2020 |
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Mar 19, 2020 18:14
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