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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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# ¿ May 21, 2024 07:07 |
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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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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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It's almost the end of the month so I can bring up my favorite part of this book without worrying about anyone not getting the chance to encounter it without warning. Chapter 107. quote:THE CASTELLAN was subject to a certain sickness, which came upon him every year and deprived him of his wits. The sign of its approach was that he kept continually talking, or rather jabbering, to no purpose. These humours took a different shape each year; one time he thought he was an oiljar; another time he thought he was a frog, and hopped about as frogs do; another time he thought he was dead, and then they had to bury him; not a year passed but he got some such hypochondriac notions into his head. At this season he imagined that he was a bat, and when he went abroad to take the air, he used to scream like bats in a high thin tone; and then he would flap his hands and body as though he were about to fly. The doctors, when they saw the fit coming on him, and his old servants, gave him all the distractions they could think of; and since they had noticed that he derived much pleasure from my conversation, they were always fetching me to keep him company. At times the poor man detained me for four or five stricken hours without ever letting me cease talking. He used to keep me at his table, eating opposite to him, and never stopped chatting and making me chat; but during those discourses I contrived to make a good meal. He, poor man, could neither eat nor sleep; so that at last he wore me out. I was at the end of my strength; and sometimes when I looked at him, I noticed that his eyeballs were rolling in a frightful manner, one looking one way and the other in another. Overall the part where Cellini is imprisoned and then stages a prison break is my favorite part of the whole book, but the fact that it happens because the jailer goes nuts and thinks he's a bat is my favorite part of my favorite part. And it comes out of loving nowhere and Cellini never acknowledges how totally insane it is.
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# ¿ Mar 29, 2020 10:26 |
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I also love that the guy asks him whether he's ever considered flying and Cellini is like "I'm better are running and jumping than most people, so if anyone could do it, I can do it"
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# ¿ Mar 29, 2020 10:29 |
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Terry Gilliam is kind of a poo poo person and it's been a while since he's been on his directing game but I will forever wonder what he could have made of this book in his prime.
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# ¿ Mar 30, 2020 17:30 |
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 07:07 |
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L.H.O.O.Q. posted:Thread necromancy sorry. I was idly browsing here and loved this book when I read it ages ago. ... There's an opera? Of course there's a opera. Such an operatic book. Thanks for bringing this up, I am gonna listen to it now.
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# ¿ Aug 23, 2020 15:24 |