edwinbcn's 2013 Books - Part 2
Dies ist die Fortführung des Themas edwinbcn's 2013 Books.
ForumClub Read 2013
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2edwinbcn
059. The delicate prey
Finished reading: 6 June 2013
From the Near, and Middle to the Far East, Asian people may distinguish between insiders and outsiders, a distinction which influences various levels of interpersonal interaction. Family or clan-centred “insider” relationships take precedence over contacts with strangers (i.e., outsiders). Loyalty is exclusively owned to the insider group, while disregard for outsiders can take gruesome forms. Lack of knowledge of this social principle may shock Westerners, who are brought up on very different social and cultural principles, which include friendliness and compassion for strangers.
The stories in The delicate prey by Paul Bowles relate brutal crimes, involving vengeance, cruelty, violence and abandonment, which can only be understood in the context of Arab culture. In the title story, a young unnamed boy becomes the victim of a clan feud. The names of the clans are mentioned, the boys face is covered throughout. The story is shockingly cruel, leaving a lasting impression on the reader. In the second story, a Professor is stripped of his status, and ability to reclaim his status, by cutting out his tongue, and then cruelly humiliated. Again, cruelty etch an unforgettable image of the poor man on the readers' mind, as the victim is made to hop and dance like a bear. The third story is a ghost story, in which the ghost, the Atlájala, acts as a projection screen to show the emotions and thoughts of the person it possesses.
The three short stories in this mini edition of Penguin Modern Classics are "The delicate prey", "A distant episode" and "The circular valley". They were selected from the Collected Stories. The Stories of Paul Bowles.
Other books I have read by Paul Bowles:
Let it come down
Finished reading: 6 June 2013
From the Near, and Middle to the Far East, Asian people may distinguish between insiders and outsiders, a distinction which influences various levels of interpersonal interaction. Family or clan-centred “insider” relationships take precedence over contacts with strangers (i.e., outsiders). Loyalty is exclusively owned to the insider group, while disregard for outsiders can take gruesome forms. Lack of knowledge of this social principle may shock Westerners, who are brought up on very different social and cultural principles, which include friendliness and compassion for strangers.
The stories in The delicate prey by Paul Bowles relate brutal crimes, involving vengeance, cruelty, violence and abandonment, which can only be understood in the context of Arab culture. In the title story, a young unnamed boy becomes the victim of a clan feud. The names of the clans are mentioned, the boys face is covered throughout. The story is shockingly cruel, leaving a lasting impression on the reader. In the second story, a Professor is stripped of his status, and ability to reclaim his status, by cutting out his tongue, and then cruelly humiliated. Again, cruelty etch an unforgettable image of the poor man on the readers' mind, as the victim is made to hop and dance like a bear. The third story is a ghost story, in which the ghost, the Atlájala, acts as a projection screen to show the emotions and thoughts of the person it possesses.
The three short stories in this mini edition of Penguin Modern Classics are "The delicate prey", "A distant episode" and "The circular valley". They were selected from the Collected Stories. The Stories of Paul Bowles.
Other books I have read by Paul Bowles:
Let it come down
3edwinbcn
060. The Book of Mercy
Finished reading: 10 June 2013
In chapters alternating between the story of Edmund, a retired fire fighter, and Anne, his daughter, The Book of Mercy by Kathleen Cambor tells the story of estrangement, as Edmund, the bravest fire fighter in his day tries to capture his lost love, mother of his children, Paul and Annie, Fanny, who has run off. Fanny's passion is dance, and she proves to be harder to capture than flames, Edmund's other passion. His love for flames and Fanny deepens into an interest in alchemy, and as Edmund cannot catch or keep hold of Fanny, he believes only the flames can. The lack of passion and caring in the family, leads to Paul and Anne to develop very different careers. Anne studies medicine, after which she spends a life long at home, caring for her father. Paul, whose life is hidden throughout the novel, only to resurface at the end has been educated at a seminary to become a priest, bestows his love on the needy in Africa, where, as a gay man he becomes infected with AIDS, which brings him home, to die.
The Book of Mercy is a book of passion, which consumes each of the main protagonists in its own way.
Finished reading: 10 June 2013
In chapters alternating between the story of Edmund, a retired fire fighter, and Anne, his daughter, The Book of Mercy by Kathleen Cambor tells the story of estrangement, as Edmund, the bravest fire fighter in his day tries to capture his lost love, mother of his children, Paul and Annie, Fanny, who has run off. Fanny's passion is dance, and she proves to be harder to capture than flames, Edmund's other passion. His love for flames and Fanny deepens into an interest in alchemy, and as Edmund cannot catch or keep hold of Fanny, he believes only the flames can. The lack of passion and caring in the family, leads to Paul and Anne to develop very different careers. Anne studies medicine, after which she spends a life long at home, caring for her father. Paul, whose life is hidden throughout the novel, only to resurface at the end has been educated at a seminary to become a priest, bestows his love on the needy in Africa, where, as a gay man he becomes infected with AIDS, which brings him home, to die.
The Book of Mercy is a book of passion, which consumes each of the main protagonists in its own way.
4edwinbcn
061. The Rotters' Club
Finished reading: 11 June 2013
The Rotters' Club humourously tells the story of a bunch of high school kids growing up during the 1970s in Britain.
A few years ago, I enjoyed reading What a carve up! which I liked because it was both descriptive and characteristic for the 1980s and 1990s in Britain. But books such as The House of Sleep and The Rotters' Club only describe the life of young people during their respective time settings, the 1980s and the 1970s. These books are of very little interest to me.
Other books I have read by Jonathan Coe:
The House of Sleep
What a carve up!
Finished reading: 11 June 2013
The Rotters' Club humourously tells the story of a bunch of high school kids growing up during the 1970s in Britain.
A few years ago, I enjoyed reading What a carve up! which I liked because it was both descriptive and characteristic for the 1980s and 1990s in Britain. But books such as The House of Sleep and The Rotters' Club only describe the life of young people during their respective time settings, the 1980s and the 1970s. These books are of very little interest to me.
Other books I have read by Jonathan Coe:
The House of Sleep
What a carve up!
5kidzdoc
I don't remember ever seeing a 5 star rating of a book by you, Edwin. The Delicate Prey sounds great, and I'll look for it the next time I go to a bookshop.
6edwinbcn
>5 kidzdoc:
Darryl, 5-star rating means the book caused a strong emotional response: compassion (tears), fear (nightmares), disgust, etc and usually keeps me thinking about the book for quite a while. The delicate prey is really quite shocking. Thinking about these stories bring in my mind's eye in a cinematic vision.
Earlier this year, I gave 5-star ratings to the following books:
Le colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac
Die Kirschen der Freiheit by Alfred Andersch
The Google Book by Vincent Cartwright Vickers
This means I gave 5-star ratings to 4 books out of 61, which is just under 7%.
I was pleasantly surprised, because I had read Bowles' Let it come down which I did not like at all.
Darryl, 5-star rating means the book caused a strong emotional response: compassion (tears), fear (nightmares), disgust, etc and usually keeps me thinking about the book for quite a while. The delicate prey is really quite shocking. Thinking about these stories bring in my mind's eye in a cinematic vision.
Earlier this year, I gave 5-star ratings to the following books:
Le colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac
Die Kirschen der Freiheit by Alfred Andersch
The Google Book by Vincent Cartwright Vickers
This means I gave 5-star ratings to 4 books out of 61, which is just under 7%.
I was pleasantly surprised, because I had read Bowles' Let it come down which I did not like at all.
7kidzdoc
>6 edwinbcn: Thanks for your reply, Edwin. Your comment about The Delicate Prey gives me even more read to want to read it soon, although I'm probably overcommitted for the remainder of this year. I clearly missed your 5 star rating of those other books!
8rebeccanyc
Interesting reviews, as always, Edwin. I have another book by Kathleen Cambor, In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden that's been on my TBR for years. Might have to look for it. I've never read any Bowles, but may have to remedy that.
9Linda92007
Enticing review of The Delicate Prey, Edwin. I loved The Sheltering Sky and own The Stories of Paul Bowles, which I have yet to read. Coincidentally, I am currently reading The Spider's House. I also gave one of his travel books (can't remember which) to my stepson, who read it while actually visiting Morocco and said it was great.
10edwinbcn
>8 rebeccanyc:
Apparently, Kathleen Cambor has published only two novels in 1996 and 2001. Nothing since then. The Book of Mercy is technically very well written, but the story it not very interesting. It seems the reception of In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden was a little bit better, so I hope you will enjoy reading that book by Cambor.
>9 Linda92007:
Those three stories, "The delicate prey", "A distant episode" and "The circular valley" are probably included in your copy of The Stories of Paul Bowles, Linda. I should have included the titles of the stories in my review.
Apparently, Kathleen Cambor has published only two novels in 1996 and 2001. Nothing since then. The Book of Mercy is technically very well written, but the story it not very interesting. It seems the reception of In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden was a little bit better, so I hope you will enjoy reading that book by Cambor.
>9 Linda92007:
Those three stories, "The delicate prey", "A distant episode" and "The circular valley" are probably included in your copy of The Stories of Paul Bowles, Linda. I should have included the titles of the stories in my review.
11NanaCC
>8 rebeccanyc: Rebecca, In Sunlight, In A Beautiful Garden is very good story. I would suggest reading it either before or after David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood. His account is riveting.
12rebeccanyc
Thanks, Colleen. It's one of those books that seemed intriguing when I bought it but has never quite risen to the top of the TBR. "Riveting" sounds good!
13edwinbcn
062. Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk'
Finished reading: 13 June 2013
To many contemporary readers narcotics and drug addicts are shrouded by an atmosphere of crime, danger and dirt, which will lead most people to shun heroin addicts, or "junkies" as they have become known. With Junky, also spelled Junkie, William S. Burroughs tries to clear that image, and would almost succeed.
Junky was published as an autobiographical novel telling an almost clinically cool history of how Burroughs became addicted, which is told in a very straightforward narrative, and seemingly based on a very innocent transaction, of a pal asking him to sell some morphine and Burroughs ending up trying some himself. Assuming that Burroughs' assertion that many facts, descriptions of feelings, etc are factual and truthful, Junky would be an excellent guide to better understand the world of "junk" and "junk users", as Burroughs calls it.
The Penguin Modern Classics edition of Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk' is published with a long introduction by Oliver Harris and includes various parts and appendixes which were cut from the original manuscript. According to the original introduction Burroughs had written Junky with the intention to enlighten readers about the true life of "junk user" and separating "junk" from the mystery surrounding it.
However, in the Prologue Burroughs gives an all but sketchy impression of his life leading up to his life as a "junk". Comparing these notes with the biographical information we now have, not just of Burroughs but also of the other writers of the Beat Generation, it is clear that the biographical sketch in the Prologue is incomplete and probably deliberately vague. To present Junky as a lifestyle choice it probably did not fit the bill to explain that despite his good education and relative carefree life, receiving a monthly allowance from a trust fund, Burroughs was attracted to criminal behaviour, and the Beat Generation started with a murder in which Kerouac was charged as an accessory and Burroughs as a material witness, in 1944. It was later that same year Burroughs developed his addiction.
Burroughs and Kerouac collaborated writing a novel together ("And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks"), and Burroughs completed the manuscript of another novel, but Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk' was Burroughs' official debut in 1953. The introduction by Oliver Harris provides many interesting details about the publication history of Junky including the various suggested titles and publishers' deliberations rejecting Burroughs' original title. The Penguin edition also includes an appreciation of Junky written by Alan Ginsberg, besides a glossary, letters and excerpts which were cut from the original manuscript, such as a long passage about Wilhelm Reich's theory of "orgones", etc in six appendices.
Unlike Burroughs' later work, Junky is written in a straightforward prose style, and linear plot development. It provides a fascinating account of the life of a junky, from the point of view of a junky, explaining how heroin changes their life.
Other books I have read by William S. Burroughs:
The Western lands
The wild boys. A book of the dead
Finished reading: 13 June 2013
To many contemporary readers narcotics and drug addicts are shrouded by an atmosphere of crime, danger and dirt, which will lead most people to shun heroin addicts, or "junkies" as they have become known. With Junky, also spelled Junkie, William S. Burroughs tries to clear that image, and would almost succeed.
Junky was published as an autobiographical novel telling an almost clinically cool history of how Burroughs became addicted, which is told in a very straightforward narrative, and seemingly based on a very innocent transaction, of a pal asking him to sell some morphine and Burroughs ending up trying some himself. Assuming that Burroughs' assertion that many facts, descriptions of feelings, etc are factual and truthful, Junky would be an excellent guide to better understand the world of "junk" and "junk users", as Burroughs calls it.
The Penguin Modern Classics edition of Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk' is published with a long introduction by Oliver Harris and includes various parts and appendixes which were cut from the original manuscript. According to the original introduction Burroughs had written Junky with the intention to enlighten readers about the true life of "junk user" and separating "junk" from the mystery surrounding it.
However, in the Prologue Burroughs gives an all but sketchy impression of his life leading up to his life as a "junk". Comparing these notes with the biographical information we now have, not just of Burroughs but also of the other writers of the Beat Generation, it is clear that the biographical sketch in the Prologue is incomplete and probably deliberately vague. To present Junky as a lifestyle choice it probably did not fit the bill to explain that despite his good education and relative carefree life, receiving a monthly allowance from a trust fund, Burroughs was attracted to criminal behaviour, and the Beat Generation started with a murder in which Kerouac was charged as an accessory and Burroughs as a material witness, in 1944. It was later that same year Burroughs developed his addiction.
Burroughs and Kerouac collaborated writing a novel together ("And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks"), and Burroughs completed the manuscript of another novel, but Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk' was Burroughs' official debut in 1953. The introduction by Oliver Harris provides many interesting details about the publication history of Junky including the various suggested titles and publishers' deliberations rejecting Burroughs' original title. The Penguin edition also includes an appreciation of Junky written by Alan Ginsberg, besides a glossary, letters and excerpts which were cut from the original manuscript, such as a long passage about Wilhelm Reich's theory of "orgones", etc in six appendices.
Unlike Burroughs' later work, Junky is written in a straightforward prose style, and linear plot development. It provides a fascinating account of the life of a junky, from the point of view of a junky, explaining how heroin changes their life.
Other books I have read by William S. Burroughs:
The Western lands
The wild boys. A book of the dead
14edwinbcn
063. De geruchten
Finished reading: 17 June 2013
De geruchten is one of the last novels by the Flemish author Hugo Claus. It is a book that is very inaccessible and difficult to read because of its multifocus perspective, which recreates the way "gossip" in a small community works. The novels consists of dozens of turns, each only a few pages long, of many villagers from a small village, many of whom frequent the local pub "De Doofpot". But while problems in this community have disappeared from official public discourse, problems are all but smothered in "De Doofpot" which is more like a "Pot au Feu" in which these issues keep simmering for ever.
The problems are all centred around one family, the Catrijsses, who collaborated with the nazis in World War II; later, their son, René Catrijsse, was involved in obscure, criminal activities, and fought in Belgium's colonial war in the Congo. Coming back wounded from the war as a deserter, in 1966, and returning to the village, where time seems to have stood still, René lounges and gets laid with some of the girls in the village, before disappearing to Amsterdam. As a mysterious illness afflicts the people in the village, suspicious eyes are turned to Catrijsse, and the gossip mills start turning. Gossip about the Catrijsse family has persisted for ever in Alegem, ever since World War II, through the 1960s, when René came back from the Congo and long after he has disappeared, as becomes clear from the talks with and around Noël, Renés younger brother.
The postmodern style and structure make De geruchten very difficult to read.
Other books I have read by Hugo Claus:
Een bruid in de morgen
De dans van de reiger
De koele minnaar
De zwaardvis
Finished reading: 17 June 2013
De geruchten is one of the last novels by the Flemish author Hugo Claus. It is a book that is very inaccessible and difficult to read because of its multifocus perspective, which recreates the way "gossip" in a small community works. The novels consists of dozens of turns, each only a few pages long, of many villagers from a small village, many of whom frequent the local pub "De Doofpot". But while problems in this community have disappeared from official public discourse, problems are all but smothered in "De Doofpot" which is more like a "Pot au Feu" in which these issues keep simmering for ever.
The problems are all centred around one family, the Catrijsses, who collaborated with the nazis in World War II; later, their son, René Catrijsse, was involved in obscure, criminal activities, and fought in Belgium's colonial war in the Congo. Coming back wounded from the war as a deserter, in 1966, and returning to the village, where time seems to have stood still, René lounges and gets laid with some of the girls in the village, before disappearing to Amsterdam. As a mysterious illness afflicts the people in the village, suspicious eyes are turned to Catrijsse, and the gossip mills start turning. Gossip about the Catrijsse family has persisted for ever in Alegem, ever since World War II, through the 1960s, when René came back from the Congo and long after he has disappeared, as becomes clear from the talks with and around Noël, Renés younger brother.
The postmodern style and structure make De geruchten very difficult to read.
Other books I have read by Hugo Claus:
Een bruid in de morgen
De dans van de reiger
De koele minnaar
De zwaardvis
15edwinbcn
064. Journal brut
Finished reading: 21 June 2013
Journal brut is a collection of three short stories, together no more than 40 pages, written in an early experimental narrative style, related to existentialism. In these stories a pervasive stench, disgust and general feeling of physical discomfort forms the expression of mental problems such as guilt and shame about the events, the resistance, collaboration and holocaust, during World War II.
Finished reading: 21 June 2013
Journal brut is a collection of three short stories, together no more than 40 pages, written in an early experimental narrative style, related to existentialism. In these stories a pervasive stench, disgust and general feeling of physical discomfort forms the expression of mental problems such as guilt and shame about the events, the resistance, collaboration and holocaust, during World War II.
16StevenTX
I've been catching up on your immensely varied recent reading. I see that we both had a similar response to Junky and gave it the same rating. Paul Bowles's novel The Sheltering Sky is one of my all-time favorites, but I haven't yet read anything else by him. I'm glad to see that his other fiction is of the same calibre.
17baswood
Nice to see all those pictures of book covers on your new thread and I really enjoyed your review of The Delicate Prey. I loved The Sheltering Sky and so I will add The stories of Paul Bowles to my to buy list.
Fascinating history to the William Burroughs book.
Fascinating history to the William Burroughs book.
18edwinbcn
065. Thomas Bernhard
Finished reading: 2 July 2013
Between 1957 and 1999, the Colloquium-Verlag in Berlin published the series "Köpfe des XX. Jahrhunderts" of writers, philosophers, and artists, sometimes obscure, who are deemed to have been influential or remarkable in the German-speaking world (Germany, Switzerland and Austria, mainly) during the Twentieth century. By 1999, when publication was halted, 137 volumes had appeared, while volumes 133 and 136 were never published. Between 1993 and 1996, publication of the series was temporarily taken over by the Morgenbuch-Verlag in Berlin. Thomas Bernhard by Nicholas J. Meyerhofer is the No. 104th biography in the series, and was originally published in 1985. In 1989, a second extended edition appeared after Thomas Bernhard had died, earlier that year.
Throughout his life, Thomas Bernhard was a remarkable, rebellious and controversial author. His mother gave birth in a convent in Heerlen (the Netherlands) because as a Catholic from Austria she could not have her child born out of wedlock in her hometown, Henndorf am Wallersee, without causing a major scandal. The first year of his life, Bernhard lived in Rotterdam, while his mother worked to pay for the expenses incurred by traveling to the Netherlands. The next two years were spent in Vienna, and after that in Seekirchen am Wallersee. From 1938 to 1943, he lived with his parents in Traunstein, in Upper-Bavaria, where he soon got his first impressions of Nazism, and the remaining years of the war were spent at a boarding school in Salzburg.
A lot is known about Thomas Bernhard's youth up until the age of 19, as he published his autobiography describing those years in five volumes. This autobiography also shows that much of his other work is autobiographical. Bernhard described his own youth as incredibly "chaotic, painful and lonely" while he described school as a "catastrophic dumb-down machinery".
In the years immediately after the war, Thomas Bernhard took up a job, and started attending music lessons. The hard work and poor living conditions brought him down with a pneumonia, which, when delivered to hospital, doctors thought would kill him. However, Thomas Bernhard made a resolution not to die, especially after his grandfather, who was in the same hospital with him, died there. Grafenhof was a hospital where most people died, and few were released cured. It was here that Thomas Bernhard started writing, initially only poetry.
Thomas Bernhard's five-volume autobiography is not merely a factual description of his youth, but was conceived as an "artful" literary biography, in which some events were exaggerated. This tendency to make generalizations and exaggerate would stay with Bernhard throughout his literary career, and it would often be the cause of controversy and aggression his plays, for instance, elicited from his audiences.
In subsequent chapters, this short biography of Thomas Bernhard describes his prose and dramatic works, each linked with the biographical sources and reception at the time.
Wikipedia described Thomas Bernard's early youth as follows:
The next year his mother returned to Austria, where Bernhard spent much of his early childhood with his maternal grandparents in Vienna and Seekirchen am Wallersee north of Salzburg. His mother's subsequent marriage in 1936 occasioned a move to Traunstein in Bavaria. (...)
(...) Bernhard went to elementary school in Seekirchen and later attended various schools in Salzburg including the Johanneum which he left in 1947.
A comparison with the biography by Nicholas J. Meyerhofer shows that the Wikipedia text is very vague and easily leads to misunderstandings, such as about the year he moved to Bavaria. Technically speaking, Wikipedia is not wrong, but the so vague and concise that it must lead to a wrong idea. It shows that there is still a need to well-researched biographies, such as these.
Thomas Bernhard by Nicholas J. Meyerhofer is a very short biography (only 102 pp.), which mainly focuses on the relation between biographical facts and the work and reception of Thomas Bernard.
Finished reading: 2 July 2013
Between 1957 and 1999, the Colloquium-Verlag in Berlin published the series "Köpfe des XX. Jahrhunderts" of writers, philosophers, and artists, sometimes obscure, who are deemed to have been influential or remarkable in the German-speaking world (Germany, Switzerland and Austria, mainly) during the Twentieth century. By 1999, when publication was halted, 137 volumes had appeared, while volumes 133 and 136 were never published. Between 1993 and 1996, publication of the series was temporarily taken over by the Morgenbuch-Verlag in Berlin. Thomas Bernhard by Nicholas J. Meyerhofer is the No. 104th biography in the series, and was originally published in 1985. In 1989, a second extended edition appeared after Thomas Bernhard had died, earlier that year.
Throughout his life, Thomas Bernhard was a remarkable, rebellious and controversial author. His mother gave birth in a convent in Heerlen (the Netherlands) because as a Catholic from Austria she could not have her child born out of wedlock in her hometown, Henndorf am Wallersee, without causing a major scandal. The first year of his life, Bernhard lived in Rotterdam, while his mother worked to pay for the expenses incurred by traveling to the Netherlands. The next two years were spent in Vienna, and after that in Seekirchen am Wallersee. From 1938 to 1943, he lived with his parents in Traunstein, in Upper-Bavaria, where he soon got his first impressions of Nazism, and the remaining years of the war were spent at a boarding school in Salzburg.
A lot is known about Thomas Bernhard's youth up until the age of 19, as he published his autobiography describing those years in five volumes. This autobiography also shows that much of his other work is autobiographical. Bernhard described his own youth as incredibly "chaotic, painful and lonely" while he described school as a "catastrophic dumb-down machinery".
In the years immediately after the war, Thomas Bernhard took up a job, and started attending music lessons. The hard work and poor living conditions brought him down with a pneumonia, which, when delivered to hospital, doctors thought would kill him. However, Thomas Bernhard made a resolution not to die, especially after his grandfather, who was in the same hospital with him, died there. Grafenhof was a hospital where most people died, and few were released cured. It was here that Thomas Bernhard started writing, initially only poetry.
Thomas Bernhard's five-volume autobiography is not merely a factual description of his youth, but was conceived as an "artful" literary biography, in which some events were exaggerated. This tendency to make generalizations and exaggerate would stay with Bernhard throughout his literary career, and it would often be the cause of controversy and aggression his plays, for instance, elicited from his audiences.
In subsequent chapters, this short biography of Thomas Bernhard describes his prose and dramatic works, each linked with the biographical sources and reception at the time.
Wikipedia described Thomas Bernard's early youth as follows:
The next year his mother returned to Austria, where Bernhard spent much of his early childhood with his maternal grandparents in Vienna and Seekirchen am Wallersee north of Salzburg. His mother's subsequent marriage in 1936 occasioned a move to Traunstein in Bavaria. (...)
(...) Bernhard went to elementary school in Seekirchen and later attended various schools in Salzburg including the Johanneum which he left in 1947.
A comparison with the biography by Nicholas J. Meyerhofer shows that the Wikipedia text is very vague and easily leads to misunderstandings, such as about the year he moved to Bavaria. Technically speaking, Wikipedia is not wrong, but the so vague and concise that it must lead to a wrong idea. It shows that there is still a need to well-researched biographies, such as these.
Thomas Bernhard by Nicholas J. Meyerhofer is a very short biography (only 102 pp.), which mainly focuses on the relation between biographical facts and the work and reception of Thomas Bernard.
19edwinbcn
066. De vrouw van de filosoof
Finished reading: 3 July 2013
Philibert Schogt (1960) is a Dutch author who possibly has more readers in Canada and the United States than in the Netherlands. From 1964 till 1977 he grew up in the US and Canada. Therefore, many of his novels are simultaneously written or published in English in these countries, as the author is fully bilingual.
In De vrouw van de filosoof, Schogt's third novel, the author returns to the academic environment of his debut novel De wilde getallen (Engl. "The Wild Numbers), of young academics working towards a PhD. Particularly as compared with his second novel, Daalder (Engl. "Daalder's Chocolates") the both the development of the characters and the plot are much stronger. Although the outcome of the plot is revealed early in the novel, the effect is no longer that of an anti-climax as in Daalder's Chocolates. Instead, there is a considerable arc of tension as the story develops, making the book exciting to read.
The story is about three students of philosophy, Vera, who is modest and insecure, Luuk, her (ex-) boyfriend and Ute, Luuk's new girl friend. Following a summer flirt in France, Vera buys "Le printemps de Priape" by the controversial French philosopher François Malmédy. The central tenet of Malmédy's later work, particularly "Grâce à l'ennemi" is that the individual can derive strength from enmity. Vera is completely devoted to Luuk, supporting him in every way and thus enabling him to complete his PhD thesis of more than 900 pages, which also appears in a commercial edition. However, before the book is finished, Luuk abandons Vera and their illegitimate child suddenly. As Luuk increasingly comes under the influence of Ute and Malmédy, Vera makes a startling discovery as it turns out that Luuk ruthlessly slanders her in his book.
The novel is an wonderful exploration of benevolence versus ruthlessness in social relations, against a quite possible philosophical underpinning, which can be read as a social critique of our time. De vrouw van de filosoof is definitely Philibert Schogt best novel so far.
Other books I have read by Philibert Schogt:
De wilde getallen
Daalder
Finished reading: 3 July 2013
Philibert Schogt (1960) is a Dutch author who possibly has more readers in Canada and the United States than in the Netherlands. From 1964 till 1977 he grew up in the US and Canada. Therefore, many of his novels are simultaneously written or published in English in these countries, as the author is fully bilingual.
In De vrouw van de filosoof, Schogt's third novel, the author returns to the academic environment of his debut novel De wilde getallen (Engl. "The Wild Numbers), of young academics working towards a PhD. Particularly as compared with his second novel, Daalder (Engl. "Daalder's Chocolates") the both the development of the characters and the plot are much stronger. Although the outcome of the plot is revealed early in the novel, the effect is no longer that of an anti-climax as in Daalder's Chocolates. Instead, there is a considerable arc of tension as the story develops, making the book exciting to read.
The story is about three students of philosophy, Vera, who is modest and insecure, Luuk, her (ex-) boyfriend and Ute, Luuk's new girl friend. Following a summer flirt in France, Vera buys "Le printemps de Priape" by the controversial French philosopher François Malmédy. The central tenet of Malmédy's later work, particularly "Grâce à l'ennemi" is that the individual can derive strength from enmity. Vera is completely devoted to Luuk, supporting him in every way and thus enabling him to complete his PhD thesis of more than 900 pages, which also appears in a commercial edition. However, before the book is finished, Luuk abandons Vera and their illegitimate child suddenly. As Luuk increasingly comes under the influence of Ute and Malmédy, Vera makes a startling discovery as it turns out that Luuk ruthlessly slanders her in his book.
The novel is an wonderful exploration of benevolence versus ruthlessness in social relations, against a quite possible philosophical underpinning, which can be read as a social critique of our time. De vrouw van de filosoof is definitely Philibert Schogt best novel so far.
Other books I have read by Philibert Schogt:
De wilde getallen
Daalder
20edwinbcn
067. Millemorti
Finished reading: 4 July 2013
Millemorti is a novel about coming to terms with one's frustration and adapting to the peaceful ways of nature. The Dutch art historian Anna Arents travels to the small village of Chiavalle in Italy to spend a half-year sabbatical there, working on her research. Her mood swings from anxiety to frustration and finally to peace, as the books which she needs for her work and which she had sent herself never arrive, but for the last moment. It means that throughout her six-month stay, she cannot work on her research, the reason why she had come to Chiavalle in the first place.
Instead of doing her work, she has nothing else to do but settle in the community with resignation. From the beginning, the somewhat eccentric postman, Daniele Puccio, who send himself letters, takes care of her well-being, helping her wherever he can. Anna becomes involved with a Dutch artist, Hans Hartog, a sculptor who seems to fit wonderfully well into the small Italian community. While Anna lives there for half a year, she observes various events in the life of the village community, a disappearance, a natural disaster (avalanche) which is probably malevolently triggered, arson in Hartog's studio, destroying all his wood sculptures, happiness and misery, and local politics, etc. Whatever befalls the members of this community, they solve their problems together. They seem to be endlessly patient and forgiving. While Hans Hartog fits in, and stays on, Anna Arents cannot, and leaves after her time is up.
Chiavalle is the birthplace of Maria Montessori. On the way to Chiavalle, Anna Arents meets a physically handicapped blind and deaf young man and his patient mother who guides him. Their passage through the Alps and a tunnel, represents Anna's transition from the world of the rational intellect to the world of sensation and intuition, a transition which, eventually, she cannot complete.
Finished reading: 4 July 2013
Millemorti is a novel about coming to terms with one's frustration and adapting to the peaceful ways of nature. The Dutch art historian Anna Arents travels to the small village of Chiavalle in Italy to spend a half-year sabbatical there, working on her research. Her mood swings from anxiety to frustration and finally to peace, as the books which she needs for her work and which she had sent herself never arrive, but for the last moment. It means that throughout her six-month stay, she cannot work on her research, the reason why she had come to Chiavalle in the first place.
Instead of doing her work, she has nothing else to do but settle in the community with resignation. From the beginning, the somewhat eccentric postman, Daniele Puccio, who send himself letters, takes care of her well-being, helping her wherever he can. Anna becomes involved with a Dutch artist, Hans Hartog, a sculptor who seems to fit wonderfully well into the small Italian community. While Anna lives there for half a year, she observes various events in the life of the village community, a disappearance, a natural disaster (avalanche) which is probably malevolently triggered, arson in Hartog's studio, destroying all his wood sculptures, happiness and misery, and local politics, etc. Whatever befalls the members of this community, they solve their problems together. They seem to be endlessly patient and forgiving. While Hans Hartog fits in, and stays on, Anna Arents cannot, and leaves after her time is up.
Chiavalle is the birthplace of Maria Montessori. On the way to Chiavalle, Anna Arents meets a physically handicapped blind and deaf young man and his patient mother who guides him. Their passage through the Alps and a tunnel, represents Anna's transition from the world of the rational intellect to the world of sensation and intuition, a transition which, eventually, she cannot complete.
23edwinbcn
068. Yvette et autres nouvelles
Finished reading: 5 July 2013
Yvette et autres nouvelles is a collection of short stories by Guy de Maupassant consisting of one novella or "long short story", Yvette and seven short stories. Like many other novellas by De Maupassant, Yvette is about the world of courtesans. The Marquise Obardi organises balls and soirees at her house, frequented by princes, marquesses and aristocrats. Some of these young men, particularly the Duke de Servigny and the Baron Saval eye the daughter of the Marquise, Yvette, who is pretty and voluptuous, and has just turned 18. Yvette speculates about her unknown father, thinking she might be the natural daughter of a prince or king, perhaps King Victor Emmanuel, or whether she is the child of some noble and illustrious family, but taken in and adopted by the Marquise Obardi. Her musings and dreams are thoroughly destroyed, when she discovers that Madame Obardi is a courtesan. This shatters Yvette's idea of herself and in the following identity crisis the drama of the novella unfolds.
The other short stories are quite varied and different. The short story "Le Retour" ("The Return") shows profound humanity and sincerity. This is a very impressive short tale, about a mariner who returns home after many years. The most surprising, perhaps, is the short story "Mohammed-Fripouille" set in French colonial Africa relating a story that reads like an anecdote about the capture of some bandits.
The short stories are mostly told in anecdotal fashion, remembered over decades involving remarkable, and stunning events in the life of common people living in the countryside.
Finished reading: 5 July 2013
Yvette et autres nouvelles is a collection of short stories by Guy de Maupassant consisting of one novella or "long short story", Yvette and seven short stories. Like many other novellas by De Maupassant, Yvette is about the world of courtesans. The Marquise Obardi organises balls and soirees at her house, frequented by princes, marquesses and aristocrats. Some of these young men, particularly the Duke de Servigny and the Baron Saval eye the daughter of the Marquise, Yvette, who is pretty and voluptuous, and has just turned 18. Yvette speculates about her unknown father, thinking she might be the natural daughter of a prince or king, perhaps King Victor Emmanuel, or whether she is the child of some noble and illustrious family, but taken in and adopted by the Marquise Obardi. Her musings and dreams are thoroughly destroyed, when she discovers that Madame Obardi is a courtesan. This shatters Yvette's idea of herself and in the following identity crisis the drama of the novella unfolds.
The other short stories are quite varied and different. The short story "Le Retour" ("The Return") shows profound humanity and sincerity. This is a very impressive short tale, about a mariner who returns home after many years. The most surprising, perhaps, is the short story "Mohammed-Fripouille" set in French colonial Africa relating a story that reads like an anecdote about the capture of some bandits.
The short stories are mostly told in anecdotal fashion, remembered over decades involving remarkable, and stunning events in the life of common people living in the countryside.
24RidgewayGirl
De vrouw van de filosoof sounds interesting. I'd read it if it's published in English.
25edwinbcn
069. La maladie de la mort
Finished reading: 6 July 2013
English: 
La maladie de la mort is a surrealistic short novel about a man who pays a woman to stay with him in a house near the sea. All day and all night, the young woman lies, sleeping or slumbering in bed. The man, who has never had a lover, cannot bring himself to love, to possess the woman. From unrecorded words she murmurs in her sleep, the man's condition is pronounced as La maladie de la mort.
La maladie de la mort is an enigmatic tale with the quality of an allegory. The story was almost conceived like the oracle in Delphi, as during the dictation Marguerite Duras was heavily intoxicated. The man, sometimes thought to be gay, may stand for all men, and his inability to love, not just for the act of love, but inability for true love. Elsewhere, Marguerite Duras has said that she sees herself as a woman who has always lived in houses near the sea, and that her writing, as the true writing of all women should be, about desire. The inaction of the man effectively shows him to be impotent, while the woman in her passivity seems to take control.
La maladie de la mort has a very poetic quality, and reads almost as much as a dramatic monologue.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
Finished reading: 6 July 2013
English: 
La maladie de la mort is a surrealistic short novel about a man who pays a woman to stay with him in a house near the sea. All day and all night, the young woman lies, sleeping or slumbering in bed. The man, who has never had a lover, cannot bring himself to love, to possess the woman. From unrecorded words she murmurs in her sleep, the man's condition is pronounced as La maladie de la mort.
La maladie de la mort is an enigmatic tale with the quality of an allegory. The story was almost conceived like the oracle in Delphi, as during the dictation Marguerite Duras was heavily intoxicated. The man, sometimes thought to be gay, may stand for all men, and his inability to love, not just for the act of love, but inability for true love. Elsewhere, Marguerite Duras has said that she sees herself as a woman who has always lived in houses near the sea, and that her writing, as the true writing of all women should be, about desire. The inaction of the man effectively shows him to be impotent, while the woman in her passivity seems to take control.
La maladie de la mort has a very poetic quality, and reads almost as much as a dramatic monologue.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
26dchaikin
Enjoying your reviews. Millemorte does sound quite interesting, but I would need a translation.
27edwinbcn
>24 RidgewayGirl:, 26
As far as I know, there is no English translation of De vrouw van de filosoof, and neither of Millemorte. I think it is quite possible that the book by Schogt may appear in translation, as apparently the author translates his own, and both previous novels appeared in English.
If known English translations exist, I usually try to include that information in my reviews. It happens quite regularly for Dutch literature that no English edition is available, but works may be translated in various other European languages, often including French, German or Italian.
As far as I know, there is no English translation of De vrouw van de filosoof, and neither of Millemorte. I think it is quite possible that the book by Schogt may appear in translation, as apparently the author translates his own, and both previous novels appeared in English.
If known English translations exist, I usually try to include that information in my reviews. It happens quite regularly for Dutch literature that no English edition is available, but works may be translated in various other European languages, often including French, German or Italian.
28edwinbcn
>24 RidgewayGirl:, 26
As far as I know, there is no English translation of De vrouw van de filosoof, and neither of Millemorti. I think it is quite possible that the book by Schogt may appear in translation, as apparently the author translates his own, and both previous novels appeared in English.
If known English translations exist, I usually try to include that information in my reviews. It happens quite regularly for Dutch literature that no English edition is available, but works may be translated in various other European languages, often including French, German or Italian.
As far as I know, there is no English translation of De vrouw van de filosoof, and neither of Millemorti. I think it is quite possible that the book by Schogt may appear in translation, as apparently the author translates his own, and both previous novels appeared in English.
If known English translations exist, I usually try to include that information in my reviews. It happens quite regularly for Dutch literature that no English edition is available, but works may be translated in various other European languages, often including French, German or Italian.
29edwinbcn
070. Bambusa
Finished reading: 8 July 2013
The seven short stories collected in Bambusa form the literary debut of the Dutch author Louise O. Fresco. These stories betray the wide and varied experience of their author. Fresco studied biology, and hold a PhD degree in tropical agriculture and food production. After a long professional career working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), spending much time overseas in places such as Papua New Guinea and Africa, she now lectures in sustainable development in international perspective at Amsterdam University. Since 1990, she published nine non-fiction books of short stories, novels (three) and essays.
Fresco's fiction brings an interest in biology, together with themes such as living abroad, particularly in developing countries. The story "Bambusa polymorpha" is about an old Boothby-type of gardener, who dies just before his realm, the hortus botanicus is dismanteled, a fate that nearly threatened the old Hortus of the University of Amsterdam a few years before the publication of Bambusa. Two stories, "Djitar de bouwer" and "Afrikaans paradijs" are set in Africa and deal with the reality of life there, that is sometimes so hard to grasp to people in the Western world. "Djitar de bouwer" is about an architect, who designs and builds a university, only to discover that the project was just a fraud in a game of political prestige and corruption, while the other story shows how internal political conflict impacts and destroys the life of a promising student. One of the stories is set in Latin America, "Een moment in Lima" and brings sectarian and guerrilla violence to the front. Two stories are about the lives of expats, showing how the extended time spent abroad estranges people from their friends and relatives in "Het leven in eigen hand" or the complete obliteration and denial of identity in "De kleur van tijd". "De muziekmeester" is a historical short story, which shows how people in the city can find inspiration and essence from people in the countryside.
The stories in Bambusa show how the institutional distance of large organizations and governments estranges and may crush common people. Each story blazes with authentic depth and colour. They are clearly the crystallization of the experience of Louise O. Fresco in these areas.
Finished reading: 8 July 2013
The seven short stories collected in Bambusa form the literary debut of the Dutch author Louise O. Fresco. These stories betray the wide and varied experience of their author. Fresco studied biology, and hold a PhD degree in tropical agriculture and food production. After a long professional career working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), spending much time overseas in places such as Papua New Guinea and Africa, she now lectures in sustainable development in international perspective at Amsterdam University. Since 1990, she published nine non-fiction books of short stories, novels (three) and essays.
Fresco's fiction brings an interest in biology, together with themes such as living abroad, particularly in developing countries. The story "Bambusa polymorpha" is about an old Boothby-type of gardener, who dies just before his realm, the hortus botanicus is dismanteled, a fate that nearly threatened the old Hortus of the University of Amsterdam a few years before the publication of Bambusa. Two stories, "Djitar de bouwer" and "Afrikaans paradijs" are set in Africa and deal with the reality of life there, that is sometimes so hard to grasp to people in the Western world. "Djitar de bouwer" is about an architect, who designs and builds a university, only to discover that the project was just a fraud in a game of political prestige and corruption, while the other story shows how internal political conflict impacts and destroys the life of a promising student. One of the stories is set in Latin America, "Een moment in Lima" and brings sectarian and guerrilla violence to the front. Two stories are about the lives of expats, showing how the extended time spent abroad estranges people from their friends and relatives in "Het leven in eigen hand" or the complete obliteration and denial of identity in "De kleur van tijd". "De muziekmeester" is a historical short story, which shows how people in the city can find inspiration and essence from people in the countryside.
The stories in Bambusa show how the institutional distance of large organizations and governments estranges and may crush common people. Each story blazes with authentic depth and colour. They are clearly the crystallization of the experience of Louise O. Fresco in these areas.
30edwinbcn
071. A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Finished reading: 9 July 2013
In 1839, Henry David Thoreau spent two weeks rowing with his brother on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. However, in A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers this two-week trip is represented as having occurred in just one week.
For lovers of Natural History writing A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers is a must-read. Thoreau are prose-poetry, and the dreamlike tranquility of the scene on the river comes through in full. The book is simply a pleasure to read.
Unfortunately, the Chinese edition I read is strongly abridged. I was a bit suspicious about that, but thought layout and closely printed pages could possible make the difference. However, comparison with online free editions shows that the Chinese edition is but a very short version of just over 100 pages of the original work. It means I will have to wait till I can pick up my other copy which is stored in my hometown in the Netherlands, before I can enjoy a complete reading of this wonderful book, which will then be a partial reread.
Finished reading: 9 July 2013
In 1839, Henry David Thoreau spent two weeks rowing with his brother on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. However, in A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers this two-week trip is represented as having occurred in just one week.
For lovers of Natural History writing A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers is a must-read. Thoreau are prose-poetry, and the dreamlike tranquility of the scene on the river comes through in full. The book is simply a pleasure to read.
Unfortunately, the Chinese edition I read is strongly abridged. I was a bit suspicious about that, but thought layout and closely printed pages could possible make the difference. However, comparison with online free editions shows that the Chinese edition is but a very short version of just over 100 pages of the original work. It means I will have to wait till I can pick up my other copy which is stored in my hometown in the Netherlands, before I can enjoy a complete reading of this wonderful book, which will then be a partial reread.
31baswood
Enjoyed your reviews of two great French books Edwin. Maupassant was a master of the short story and Yvette et autres nouvelles sounds like a goodie. I have been reading stevenTX's reviews of Marguerite Duras novels and The Malady of Death is another to add to my wish list.
32edwinbcn
072. On Booze
Finished reading: 10 July 2013
On Booze by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a small and messy publication, consisting of some essays which were previously published in Esquire magazine, together with some notes and letters. The booklet resembles The Crack-Up, which was first published in 1945. At the time, The Crack-Up was very poorly received, but these days the essays and (auto-)biographical notes and letters, etc are more appreciated as ego documents for the insight they give into Fitzgerald's final years.
The Crack-Up contained the following essays, letters and prose fragments:
"The Echoes Of The Jazz Age" (Essay) in Scribner's Magazine (1931)
"Ring" (Essay) in The New Republic (1933)
"Sleeping And Waking" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1934)
"Pasting It Together" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1936)
"The Crack-Up" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1936 )
"Handle With Care" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1936)
"Three Letters About 'The Great Gatsby'" (Letters) (1936)
"My Lost City" (Essay) (1936)
"Early Success" (Essay - Autobiographical) in American Cavalcade (1937 )
"The Note-Books" {21 Sections} (Notebooks / Book) (1936)
Notebooks (n.d.)
"Turkey Remains And How To Inter Them With Nunmerous Scarce Recipes" Prose/Parody/Humor/Satire (n.d.)
"The Way Of Purgation" (Poetry) (1917)
"A Letter From John Dos Passos" (Letters) John Dos Passos (1936)
"A Letter From Thomas Wolfe"(Letters) Thomas Wolfe ( 1936)
"Letters To Frances Scott Fitzgerald" (1936)
"Letters To Friends" (1936)
"The Moral Of Scott Fitzgerald" (Critical Study) Glenway Wescott, in "The New Republic" (1941)
However, On Booze only contains four essays, viz. "The Crack-up" (1936), "Show Mr. and Mrs. F. to number—” (1934), "Sleeping And Waking" (1934) and "My Lost City" (1936), "Selections from the Notebooks (only 3 sections), "Turkey Remains And How To Inter Them With Nunmerous Scarce Recipes" and "Selections from the Letters (only 3 letters !).
What is most disturbing is that Picador has published this dressed down edition of The Crack-Up without an introduction. The blurb text describes On Booze as "a newly compiled collection taken from The Crack-Up, and other works." Especially that last part is cynical, as the only piece of writing that is not taken from The Crack-Up is the essay "Show Mr. and Mrs. F. to number—”. This essay is sometimes ascribed to Zelda Fitzgerald and sometimes to joint authorship, but in On Booze Zelda's contribution is not acknowledged.
While the text materials in On Booze are possibly somewhat interesting to readers and students of F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is doubtful that a wider readership would be interested in this booklet. The title, On Booze, is quite misleading, most of the writing does not refer to alcohol or alcoholism at all.
Other books I have read by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
The curious case of Benjamin Button
Flappers and Philosophers
The diamond as big as the Ritz and other stories
The beautiful and the damned
Finished reading: 10 July 2013
On Booze by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a small and messy publication, consisting of some essays which were previously published in Esquire magazine, together with some notes and letters. The booklet resembles The Crack-Up, which was first published in 1945. At the time, The Crack-Up was very poorly received, but these days the essays and (auto-)biographical notes and letters, etc are more appreciated as ego documents for the insight they give into Fitzgerald's final years.
The Crack-Up contained the following essays, letters and prose fragments:
"The Echoes Of The Jazz Age" (Essay) in Scribner's Magazine (1931)
"Ring" (Essay) in The New Republic (1933)
"Sleeping And Waking" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1934)
"Pasting It Together" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1936)
"The Crack-Up" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1936 )
"Handle With Care" (Essay - Autobiographical) in Esquire (1936)
"Three Letters About 'The Great Gatsby'" (Letters) (1936)
"My Lost City" (Essay) (1936)
"Early Success" (Essay - Autobiographical) in American Cavalcade (1937 )
"The Note-Books" {21 Sections} (Notebooks / Book) (1936)
Notebooks (n.d.)
"Turkey Remains And How To Inter Them With Nunmerous Scarce Recipes" Prose/Parody/Humor/Satire (n.d.)
"The Way Of Purgation" (Poetry) (1917)
"A Letter From John Dos Passos" (Letters) John Dos Passos (1936)
"A Letter From Thomas Wolfe"(Letters) Thomas Wolfe ( 1936)
"Letters To Frances Scott Fitzgerald" (1936)
"Letters To Friends" (1936)
"The Moral Of Scott Fitzgerald" (Critical Study) Glenway Wescott, in "The New Republic" (1941)
However, On Booze only contains four essays, viz. "The Crack-up" (1936), "Show Mr. and Mrs. F. to number—” (1934), "Sleeping And Waking" (1934) and "My Lost City" (1936), "Selections from the Notebooks (only 3 sections), "Turkey Remains And How To Inter Them With Nunmerous Scarce Recipes" and "Selections from the Letters (only 3 letters !).
What is most disturbing is that Picador has published this dressed down edition of The Crack-Up without an introduction. The blurb text describes On Booze as "a newly compiled collection taken from The Crack-Up, and other works." Especially that last part is cynical, as the only piece of writing that is not taken from The Crack-Up is the essay "Show Mr. and Mrs. F. to number—”. This essay is sometimes ascribed to Zelda Fitzgerald and sometimes to joint authorship, but in On Booze Zelda's contribution is not acknowledged.
While the text materials in On Booze are possibly somewhat interesting to readers and students of F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is doubtful that a wider readership would be interested in this booklet. The title, On Booze, is quite misleading, most of the writing does not refer to alcohol or alcoholism at all.
Other books I have read by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
The curious case of Benjamin Button
Flappers and Philosophers
The diamond as big as the Ritz and other stories
The beautiful and the damned
34edwinbcn
>
Thanks, Barry. Before the summer holiday, I was extremely busy with my work and spent several weekends away with my students. I was still able to read a lot, but even now I still have a back-log books which I should still review.
During the remaining months of the year, I hope to complete reading more books as part of the reading for the Author Theme and Literary Centennial groups, but my reading in French is not as fast as in English. However, I still hope to finish reading some books by Albert Camus, Guy de Maupassant, Honore de Balzac, Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir, Dennis Diderot, and Emile Zola as I actually bought books at the beginning of this year. (As indeed last year I bought quite a stack of Steinbeck and wasn't able to finish them). I also still want to get on with Toilers of the Sea, The Salterton Trilogy, Tristram Shandy and Le Grand Meaulnes.
As you can see, no lack of ambition.
Thanks, Barry. Before the summer holiday, I was extremely busy with my work and spent several weekends away with my students. I was still able to read a lot, but even now I still have a back-log books which I should still review.
During the remaining months of the year, I hope to complete reading more books as part of the reading for the Author Theme and Literary Centennial groups, but my reading in French is not as fast as in English. However, I still hope to finish reading some books by Albert Camus, Guy de Maupassant, Honore de Balzac, Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir, Dennis Diderot, and Emile Zola as I actually bought books at the beginning of this year. (As indeed last year I bought quite a stack of Steinbeck and wasn't able to finish them). I also still want to get on with Toilers of the Sea, The Salterton Trilogy, Tristram Shandy and Le Grand Meaulnes.
As you can see, no lack of ambition.
36edwinbcn
073. Tristessa
Finished reading: 13 July 2013
Tristessa by Jack Kerouac is a fairly simple story, but just as a drunk is difficult to understand when speaking as with a swollen tongue while under the intoxication of alcohol, likewise the story-telling in Tristessa seems distorted, as if seen through infocused glasses, under the intoxication of morphine or heroin. Tristessa is about the hopeless love of the narrator for a Mexican young women called Tristessa, who is addicted to morphine. Life in Mexico is as much part of the narrative as the almost stream-of-conscious like descriptions of the place and ramblings about love, the world and everything. The first part of the novel is the development of the narrator's angelic love for Tristessa.
The second part of the novel, a year later, is about the devastating effect of drug abuse on in the life of Tristessa, and the narrator's wish to save her from that. William Burroughs makes an appearance in the novel as "the Old Bull", author of "Junkey" (p.64-65). Much of the effects of drug abuse are derived from "the Old Bull's" experience with morphine, and make for some gruesome descriptions. Otherwise, Tristessa is another book in which very little happens.
Tristessa is a very readable short novel, but readers should be open-minded about the ideas the authors of the Beat Generation had about narcotics. In their eyes, although they also experienced the negative side-effects of drug abuse, they still believed that a choice for narcotics was a voluntary choice, and that life of an addict was is fact an ideal form of life, and elevated experience.
Other books I have read by Jack Kerouac:
Doctor Sax. Faust part three
Big Sur
Finished reading: 13 July 2013
Tristessa by Jack Kerouac is a fairly simple story, but just as a drunk is difficult to understand when speaking as with a swollen tongue while under the intoxication of alcohol, likewise the story-telling in Tristessa seems distorted, as if seen through infocused glasses, under the intoxication of morphine or heroin. Tristessa is about the hopeless love of the narrator for a Mexican young women called Tristessa, who is addicted to morphine. Life in Mexico is as much part of the narrative as the almost stream-of-conscious like descriptions of the place and ramblings about love, the world and everything. The first part of the novel is the development of the narrator's angelic love for Tristessa.
The second part of the novel, a year later, is about the devastating effect of drug abuse on in the life of Tristessa, and the narrator's wish to save her from that. William Burroughs makes an appearance in the novel as "the Old Bull", author of "Junkey" (p.64-65). Much of the effects of drug abuse are derived from "the Old Bull's" experience with morphine, and make for some gruesome descriptions. Otherwise, Tristessa is another book in which very little happens.
Tristessa is a very readable short novel, but readers should be open-minded about the ideas the authors of the Beat Generation had about narcotics. In their eyes, although they also experienced the negative side-effects of drug abuse, they still believed that a choice for narcotics was a voluntary choice, and that life of an addict was is fact an ideal form of life, and elevated experience.
Other books I have read by Jack Kerouac:
Doctor Sax. Faust part three
Big Sur
37edwinbcn
074. Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981
Finished reading: 13 July 2013
Marga Minco is a Dutch Jewish writer who survived World War II and the Holocaust, while her family was murdered. Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981 is a collection of her shorter fiction, which appeared during that period between 1951 and 1981. However, a selection has been made. Eleven short stories from the 1950s, and sketches from the 1960s and 1970s are left out. The novella Het huis hiernaast is not included, because it was later extended and rewritten as the novel Een leeg huis. However, all stories which appeared in the collection De andere kant are included, besides various stories which are known from publication in magazines and anthologies. Some of the stories in this collection have appeared in English translations, notably:
"Iets anders" translated as "Something different" in Delta, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1961); and Short Story International Vol. 1, No. 8 (1964) (New York). Translator: Elisabeth Eybers. From De andere kant (1959).
"De vriend" translated as "The Friend" in Trends Vol. 2, No. 4. (1979) (Paisly, Scotland). Translator: Anne Pool. From De andere kant (1959).
"Het dorp van mijn moeder" translated as "My Mother's Village" in Jewish Affairs, Vol. 16, No. 11 (1961) (Johannesburg). Translator: Elisabeth Eybers. From De andere kant (1959).
Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981 starts with seven very short stories written in the 1950s. These short stories each relate an absurdity. They are short surrealistic tales which bear no relation to the major concerns of Minco's later work. The short stories which all appeared in De andere kant (1959) all deal with aspects of the Jewish experience shortly before, during and shortly after the war. "Bomen" tells about the symbolic power of trees as witnesses and monuments to history. In "Het adres" the narrator returns to the address from which their family was deported to find that other people have taken possession not only of the house, but all possessions in it, not expecting and regretting the return of the original Jewish owners. "Het dorp van mijn moeder" is about the deportation of Jewish families. "De terugkeer" is about the return of Jewish people who survived the war hidden in farms in the countryside. However, eight years after the war, they are not the only people who have returned, as they listen to their neighbour whistling Nazi march music in his garden. "De dag dat mijn zuster trouwde" reminisces the last day the whole family came together to celebrate the sister's wedding. The precious bouquet of Japanese orchids symbolizes the fragility and transience of the moment, as the flowers whither in a few hours but their fragrance still hovers in the box.
The stories in De andere kant, all included here, are very strong. They often refer to the hostility and coldness with which Jewish survivors were met when they returned to their "homes" although they often found their homes were re-possessed, demolished and their possessions were taken by Dutch people who never expected the Jewish owners to return, while deep shame and embarrassment prevented the Jewish survivors to press their ownership claims more strongly.
Selected short stories, added to the collection deal with aspects of Jewish life during the same period as the stories above. "De mexicaanse hond" about the rise of Hitler, whose maniacal speeches were listened to on the wireless. "De stoep" proves that before the War Jewish people were not too feeble to stand up for their rights. "Het scherm" is a story about collaborators. "Van geluk spreken" is a very short story which shows how thoughtless and stupid it must have sounded to survivors whose whole family had perished and were told after the war that "they had been lucky".
The last story in the collection is a travelogue about the author's visit to Israel, after the war.
The oevre of Marga Minco is relatively modest. She is not a very productive author. However, her stories and thin novels are very carefully composed, very beautifully written and brimful of very careful observations.
The experience of Jewish writers in the Netherlands is varied, despite the fact that there are relatively few who survived the Holocaust. Beside the works of Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum who wrote during the war but perished in concentration camps, the work of other Jewish writers deals with various perspectives on the Holocaust and life in the Netherlands before, during and after the war. Marga Minco was born in 1920. Thus, she was 20 - 25 as she lived through the occupation, and was very conscious and impressionable as she observed the coldness and lack of compassion with which the Dutch population regarded the return of Jewish survivors.
Other books I have read by Marga Minco:
Nagelaten dagen
De glazen brug
Finished reading: 13 July 2013
Marga Minco is a Dutch Jewish writer who survived World War II and the Holocaust, while her family was murdered. Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981 is a collection of her shorter fiction, which appeared during that period between 1951 and 1981. However, a selection has been made. Eleven short stories from the 1950s, and sketches from the 1960s and 1970s are left out. The novella Het huis hiernaast is not included, because it was later extended and rewritten as the novel Een leeg huis. However, all stories which appeared in the collection De andere kant are included, besides various stories which are known from publication in magazines and anthologies. Some of the stories in this collection have appeared in English translations, notably:
"Iets anders" translated as "Something different" in Delta, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1961); and Short Story International Vol. 1, No. 8 (1964) (New York). Translator: Elisabeth Eybers. From De andere kant (1959).
"De vriend" translated as "The Friend" in Trends Vol. 2, No. 4. (1979) (Paisly, Scotland). Translator: Anne Pool. From De andere kant (1959).
"Het dorp van mijn moeder" translated as "My Mother's Village" in Jewish Affairs, Vol. 16, No. 11 (1961) (Johannesburg). Translator: Elisabeth Eybers. From De andere kant (1959).
Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981 starts with seven very short stories written in the 1950s. These short stories each relate an absurdity. They are short surrealistic tales which bear no relation to the major concerns of Minco's later work. The short stories which all appeared in De andere kant (1959) all deal with aspects of the Jewish experience shortly before, during and shortly after the war. "Bomen" tells about the symbolic power of trees as witnesses and monuments to history. In "Het adres" the narrator returns to the address from which their family was deported to find that other people have taken possession not only of the house, but all possessions in it, not expecting and regretting the return of the original Jewish owners. "Het dorp van mijn moeder" is about the deportation of Jewish families. "De terugkeer" is about the return of Jewish people who survived the war hidden in farms in the countryside. However, eight years after the war, they are not the only people who have returned, as they listen to their neighbour whistling Nazi march music in his garden. "De dag dat mijn zuster trouwde" reminisces the last day the whole family came together to celebrate the sister's wedding. The precious bouquet of Japanese orchids symbolizes the fragility and transience of the moment, as the flowers whither in a few hours but their fragrance still hovers in the box.
The stories in De andere kant, all included here, are very strong. They often refer to the hostility and coldness with which Jewish survivors were met when they returned to their "homes" although they often found their homes were re-possessed, demolished and their possessions were taken by Dutch people who never expected the Jewish owners to return, while deep shame and embarrassment prevented the Jewish survivors to press their ownership claims more strongly.
Selected short stories, added to the collection deal with aspects of Jewish life during the same period as the stories above. "De mexicaanse hond" about the rise of Hitler, whose maniacal speeches were listened to on the wireless. "De stoep" proves that before the War Jewish people were not too feeble to stand up for their rights. "Het scherm" is a story about collaborators. "Van geluk spreken" is a very short story which shows how thoughtless and stupid it must have sounded to survivors whose whole family had perished and were told after the war that "they had been lucky".
The last story in the collection is a travelogue about the author's visit to Israel, after the war.
The oevre of Marga Minco is relatively modest. She is not a very productive author. However, her stories and thin novels are very carefully composed, very beautifully written and brimful of very careful observations.
The experience of Jewish writers in the Netherlands is varied, despite the fact that there are relatively few who survived the Holocaust. Beside the works of Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum who wrote during the war but perished in concentration camps, the work of other Jewish writers deals with various perspectives on the Holocaust and life in the Netherlands before, during and after the war. Marga Minco was born in 1920. Thus, she was 20 - 25 as she lived through the occupation, and was very conscious and impressionable as she observed the coldness and lack of compassion with which the Dutch population regarded the return of Jewish survivors.
Other books I have read by Marga Minco:
Nagelaten dagen
De glazen brug
38edwinbcn
075. Miró
Finished reading: 24 July 2013
Many people are familiar with the paintings, sculpture and images of the Spanish artist Joan Miró, whose work has become one of the emblems of the city of Barcelona. Miró's unique style is either immediately liked or rejected.
In the first 31 pages of the book the author shows how Joan Miró developed his style from figurative to abstract painting. The remainder of the book describes the further development of variations of his unique style, and the composition of his paintings and sculpture, which is mainly based on abstraction and primitivism.
The book is richly illustrated, and the illustrations support the explanatory text. At only 216 pages, this book form an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the work of Joan Miro, as readers familiar with publisher Thames and Hudson's series "World of Art" are used to.
Finished reading: 24 July 2013
Many people are familiar with the paintings, sculpture and images of the Spanish artist Joan Miró, whose work has become one of the emblems of the city of Barcelona. Miró's unique style is either immediately liked or rejected.
In the first 31 pages of the book the author shows how Joan Miró developed his style from figurative to abstract painting. The remainder of the book describes the further development of variations of his unique style, and the composition of his paintings and sculpture, which is mainly based on abstraction and primitivism.
The book is richly illustrated, and the illustrations support the explanatory text. At only 216 pages, this book form an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the work of Joan Miro, as readers familiar with publisher Thames and Hudson's series "World of Art" are used to.
39edwinbcn
076. Einfügen in die Gemeinschaft der Völker
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and anticipating the reunification of the two Germanies, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote eight essays about the unification of Germany and the further ramifications for European and international politics. These eight essays, which were originally published in major German newspapers are published here, together with a pamphlet jointly written with Marion Grafin Donhoff.
Most of these essays are now terribly post-factum, and can be read with admiration with regard to the then insight of the author as to how Germany and Europe would develop. Politics center on the expected further development of glasnost in the USSR. Remarkably accurate and relevant to world politics today are Schmidt's descriptions of the world economic system.
Published in 1990, this publication is mostly, merely interesting for historians, now.
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and anticipating the reunification of the two Germanies, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote eight essays about the unification of Germany and the further ramifications for European and international politics. These eight essays, which were originally published in major German newspapers are published here, together with a pamphlet jointly written with Marion Grafin Donhoff.
Most of these essays are now terribly post-factum, and can be read with admiration with regard to the then insight of the author as to how Germany and Europe would develop. Politics center on the expected further development of glasnost in the USSR. Remarkably accurate and relevant to world politics today are Schmidt's descriptions of the world economic system.
Published in 1990, this publication is mostly, merely interesting for historians, now.
40edwinbcn
077. Ich bin gern in Venedig warum
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
As blurry as the photo on the cover page of the first edition are Wolfgang Koeppen's descriptions in the haze of memory. Koeppen describes his impressions, memories, thoughts and feelings about Venice in short vignettes. Meanwhile, he takes the reader on a leisurely stroll through Venice, past famous palaces, churches and towers. A wonderfully light read to dream away and revel in the beauty of Venice for a very short while, as the book has only a mere 63 pages.
Other books I have read by Wolfgang Koeppen:
Die Jawang-Gesellschaft
Amerikafahrt
Der Tod in Rom
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
As blurry as the photo on the cover page of the first edition are Wolfgang Koeppen's descriptions in the haze of memory. Koeppen describes his impressions, memories, thoughts and feelings about Venice in short vignettes. Meanwhile, he takes the reader on a leisurely stroll through Venice, past famous palaces, churches and towers. A wonderfully light read to dream away and revel in the beauty of Venice for a very short while, as the book has only a mere 63 pages.
Other books I have read by Wolfgang Koeppen:
Die Jawang-Gesellschaft
Amerikafahrt
Der Tod in Rom
41edwinbcn
078. De val
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
In English: 
De val (English: "The Fall") by Marga Minco is a novella about coincidence and misfortune. A Jewish woman escapes deportation during the Holocaust because she trips and falls over a carpet at the time when her relatives are arrested after apparently having been betrayed. She never saw the man who supposedly betrayed her family, until he shows up on the day before her 85th birthday. As she ventures to visit a bakery she is killed as she falls into a manhole. In subsequent pages it is revealed that the man did not betray her family. The arrest was most likely the result of a coincidence.
In the Dutch language, the words "fall" (val), "trip" (val), "trap" (val) and "coincidence" (toeval) are all related. Possibly a wider semantic net can be discovered in this simple, but interesting tale.
The structure of the story with alternating chapters seems modern for this author.
Other books I have read by Marga Minco:
De glazen brug
Nagelaten dagen
Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
In English: 
De val (English: "The Fall") by Marga Minco is a novella about coincidence and misfortune. A Jewish woman escapes deportation during the Holocaust because she trips and falls over a carpet at the time when her relatives are arrested after apparently having been betrayed. She never saw the man who supposedly betrayed her family, until he shows up on the day before her 85th birthday. As she ventures to visit a bakery she is killed as she falls into a manhole. In subsequent pages it is revealed that the man did not betray her family. The arrest was most likely the result of a coincidence.
In the Dutch language, the words "fall" (val), "trip" (val), "trap" (val) and "coincidence" (toeval) are all related. Possibly a wider semantic net can be discovered in this simple, but interesting tale.
The structure of the story with alternating chapters seems modern for this author.
Other books I have read by Marga Minco:
De glazen brug
Nagelaten dagen
Verzamelde verhalen, 1951-1981
42edwinbcn
079. About Chinese
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
About Chinese by Richard Newnham belongs to the best introductions to the Chinese language. The book is particularly useful to people who want to gain some insight into the Chinese language before deciding whether or not to learn Chinese.
The book is written in an accessible style, introducing many facts about the Chinese language often omitted in books used to learn Chinese, such as the difference between written language and the vernacular. Knowledge of general linguistics may make reading of the book more interesting, but is nor required. For beginning learners there are explanations of basic principles of word morphology and grammar.
The biggest disadvantage of the book is that the publisher did not have or use Chinese fonts to print Chinese characters. All Chinese characters, both simplified and traditional Chinese characters are drawn in pen hand writing. While the pen writings are drawn to resemble print (it isn't Chinese normal handwriting), these representations of Chinese characters are not as clear as print. On the other hand, readers might try to write and come close to such written characters, which they would never if they were presented with printed form of characters only.
Finished reading: 26 July 2013
About Chinese by Richard Newnham belongs to the best introductions to the Chinese language. The book is particularly useful to people who want to gain some insight into the Chinese language before deciding whether or not to learn Chinese.
The book is written in an accessible style, introducing many facts about the Chinese language often omitted in books used to learn Chinese, such as the difference between written language and the vernacular. Knowledge of general linguistics may make reading of the book more interesting, but is nor required. For beginning learners there are explanations of basic principles of word morphology and grammar.
The biggest disadvantage of the book is that the publisher did not have or use Chinese fonts to print Chinese characters. All Chinese characters, both simplified and traditional Chinese characters are drawn in pen hand writing. While the pen writings are drawn to resemble print (it isn't Chinese normal handwriting), these representations of Chinese characters are not as clear as print. On the other hand, readers might try to write and come close to such written characters, which they would never if they were presented with printed form of characters only.
43edwinbcn
080. I came, I saw. An autobiography
Finished reading: 28 July 2013
Norman Lewis is an author famous for travel literature, but his autobiography is not much about travel. Perhaps I came, I saw. An autobiography can best be characterized as the story behind Lewis''s later travels. This impression is strengthened by the last pages of Chapter 22 (pp. 329 - 337) are all short references to future travels and books written by Lewis. In the older (pre-1996) edition these were the last pages of the book.
As the book is not about his travels, it relates episodes of the authors life and formative years. The choice of material is rather uneven. The first 150 pages are about the author's youth growing up in England. There are no direct references to dates or time, but indirect clues suggest that this episode is situated in the 1920s and 30s. This part of the book is rather boring.
The next 45 pages (Chaps 9 - 13) cover some of Lewis earliest travels with Ernestina, a friend, to Spain, a few weeks before the outbreak of the Civil War and a trip to Aden. Obviously, the coverage of these chapters is far too short.
The rest of the book, Part 4, from p. 205 to p. 237, is about World War II. Having learnt Arabic during and after the trip to Aden, Lewis is stationed in Algeria during the largest part of the war. He described Algeria, particularly Philipsville {sic!} (Philippeville, now Skikda) as a thoughrouly decadent city in the 1940s, with a strong resentment in the local population against the French colonial rulers. Thus, Lewis sketches Algeria as follows: "This was a country where ripe fruit hung for the picking on every tree and if a man wanted a woman there was always an unpaid Arab girl around about the house to be pulled into a quiet corner. The Algerian had grown to expect the instant satisfaction of his slightest desire" (p.222).
In the original edition, the book ended after the war. In the new edition of 1996, 50 pages were added to describe the author's time spent in southern Italy in the 1960s and 70s. These chapters are bland and uninspiring.
Altogether, the book is rather uninspiring and boring.
Finished reading: 28 July 2013
Norman Lewis is an author famous for travel literature, but his autobiography is not much about travel. Perhaps I came, I saw. An autobiography can best be characterized as the story behind Lewis''s later travels. This impression is strengthened by the last pages of Chapter 22 (pp. 329 - 337) are all short references to future travels and books written by Lewis. In the older (pre-1996) edition these were the last pages of the book.
As the book is not about his travels, it relates episodes of the authors life and formative years. The choice of material is rather uneven. The first 150 pages are about the author's youth growing up in England. There are no direct references to dates or time, but indirect clues suggest that this episode is situated in the 1920s and 30s. This part of the book is rather boring.
The next 45 pages (Chaps 9 - 13) cover some of Lewis earliest travels with Ernestina, a friend, to Spain, a few weeks before the outbreak of the Civil War and a trip to Aden. Obviously, the coverage of these chapters is far too short.
The rest of the book, Part 4, from p. 205 to p. 237, is about World War II. Having learnt Arabic during and after the trip to Aden, Lewis is stationed in Algeria during the largest part of the war. He described Algeria, particularly Philipsville {sic!} (Philippeville, now Skikda) as a thoughrouly decadent city in the 1940s, with a strong resentment in the local population against the French colonial rulers. Thus, Lewis sketches Algeria as follows: "This was a country where ripe fruit hung for the picking on every tree and if a man wanted a woman there was always an unpaid Arab girl around about the house to be pulled into a quiet corner. The Algerian had grown to expect the instant satisfaction of his slightest desire" (p.222).
In the original edition, the book ended after the war. In the new edition of 1996, 50 pages were added to describe the author's time spent in southern Italy in the 1960s and 70s. These chapters are bland and uninspiring.
Altogether, the book is rather uninspiring and boring.
44edwinbcn
081. The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and other stories
Finished reading: 1 August 2013
The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios is a collection of four rather long short stories. The structure and typography of three of these stories is experimental ("blah-blah-blah-blah") and irritating to read. "Manners of Dying" consists of nine letters by a prison warden to the mother of an inmate telling her how her son died. The letters suggest that there are at least 96, the number of the last letter is 96, ways of dying.
The longest and most interesting story is the title story The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. "I'm not going to talk about what AIDS does to a human body." (p.10) is what the narrator tells us at the beginning of the story. However, that is what the story is all about, and that is also what the narrator tells us. The narrator and his friend tell each other stories about the imaginary Roccamatio family from Helsinki, and the history of the family throughout the Twentieth Century. However, these stories are not included in the narrative. The reader will only find the facts behind the story, which are plain historical facts from the 20th century, such as the rise of Hitler. Since these facts are so familiar and boring, the reader has no other choice but to concentrate on the declining health and the progressive stages of the AIDS patient, i.e. the other character in the story.
The author goes to great length to emphasize that the character is the story contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion after an accident, and that he is not gay.
The experimental structure and programmatic nature of particularly the title story make for a weak and uninteresting collection.
Finished reading: 1 August 2013
The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios is a collection of four rather long short stories. The structure and typography of three of these stories is experimental ("blah-blah-blah-blah") and irritating to read. "Manners of Dying" consists of nine letters by a prison warden to the mother of an inmate telling her how her son died. The letters suggest that there are at least 96, the number of the last letter is 96, ways of dying.
The longest and most interesting story is the title story The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. "I'm not going to talk about what AIDS does to a human body." (p.10) is what the narrator tells us at the beginning of the story. However, that is what the story is all about, and that is also what the narrator tells us. The narrator and his friend tell each other stories about the imaginary Roccamatio family from Helsinki, and the history of the family throughout the Twentieth Century. However, these stories are not included in the narrative. The reader will only find the facts behind the story, which are plain historical facts from the 20th century, such as the rise of Hitler. Since these facts are so familiar and boring, the reader has no other choice but to concentrate on the declining health and the progressive stages of the AIDS patient, i.e. the other character in the story.
The author goes to great length to emphasize that the character is the story contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion after an accident, and that he is not gay.
The experimental structure and programmatic nature of particularly the title story make for a weak and uninteresting collection.
45NanaCC
I just caught up on your interesting thread. You have given much food for thought, and possibly a few additions to my wishlist.
46rebeccanyc
I'm enjoying -- and getting an education! -- catching up with your extremely varied reading! As for your ambitious plans in #34, I can highly recommend both Toilers of the Sea and The Salterton Trilogy.
48edwinbcn
> 46
I have already started reading Les Travailleurs de la mer ( Toilers of the Sea) on my Kindle and I am about what would probably be the equivalent of about 200 pages in. But I am not yet used to reading on the Kindle, so as it powered down in April or May, I never recharged. I just have to pick it up and get on with it.
I have already started reading Les Travailleurs de la mer ( Toilers of the Sea) on my Kindle and I am about what would probably be the equivalent of about 200 pages in. But I am not yet used to reading on the Kindle, so as it powered down in April or May, I never recharged. I just have to pick it up and get on with it.
49edwinbcn
082. De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
Ward Ruyslinck is a Flemish author His earliest novels are understood as a protest against World War II, the event which eventually destroyed his youth. In his later novels, Ruyslinck remained critical of repression and power systems in society, such as the (Catholic) Church, Capitalism and the Military-Industrial Complex. Many of his novels now seem very dated.
De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen, published in 1970 is strongly influenced by the prevalent hippie culture at the time. It is a science-fiction story, involving (the possibility of) intergalactic travel, although the science-fiction elements are not foregrounded. The story is about Galax Niksen, a name which signifies as much as "galactic lethargy". Various encounters with seductive try to persuade him to have sex and copulate, but throughout the story Galax Niksen proves to be impotent. All are just waiting for a new era, in which a new man will stand up (or Galax Niksen can get ("it") up. An era of new-born man, immanent in the near future.
The novel seems to be written under the intoxication of marihuana, exemplified through the mood of lethargy, lechery and ambiguous hippie-style humour, such as symbolic names, including Galax Niksen, Rino Ceros and Maria Huana. The theme, the ideas and the hippie-style of writing make this novel seem very dated.
The title of the novel, De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen, points directly to the theme and meaning of the novel. In bible exegesis and related criticism the term apokatastasis has a long history and various shades of meaning have been pointed out throughout the 2000 years of history. apokatastasis is usually taken to mean "a restitution of all things of which God spoke" which can be taken to signify the restoration of the Garden of Eden, to the situation before the Fall.
While the ideas in the novel are interesting, and the novel can still be read as exemplary for the hippie culture of the 1960s, the execution of the story seemed strained, and the novel is rather difficult to read.
Ward Ruyslinck is a writer known to have often changed his style of writing. De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen is very different from work written in the 1950s and early 1960s, such as Wierook en tranen or De stille zomer.
Other books I have read by Ward Ruyslinck:
Wierook en tranen
De stille zomer
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
Ward Ruyslinck is a Flemish author His earliest novels are understood as a protest against World War II, the event which eventually destroyed his youth. In his later novels, Ruyslinck remained critical of repression and power systems in society, such as the (Catholic) Church, Capitalism and the Military-Industrial Complex. Many of his novels now seem very dated.
De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen, published in 1970 is strongly influenced by the prevalent hippie culture at the time. It is a science-fiction story, involving (the possibility of) intergalactic travel, although the science-fiction elements are not foregrounded. The story is about Galax Niksen, a name which signifies as much as "galactic lethargy". Various encounters with seductive try to persuade him to have sex and copulate, but throughout the story Galax Niksen proves to be impotent. All are just waiting for a new era, in which a new man will stand up (or Galax Niksen can get ("it") up. An era of new-born man, immanent in the near future.
The novel seems to be written under the intoxication of marihuana, exemplified through the mood of lethargy, lechery and ambiguous hippie-style humour, such as symbolic names, including Galax Niksen, Rino Ceros and Maria Huana. The theme, the ideas and the hippie-style of writing make this novel seem very dated.
The title of the novel, De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen, points directly to the theme and meaning of the novel. In bible exegesis and related criticism the term apokatastasis has a long history and various shades of meaning have been pointed out throughout the 2000 years of history. apokatastasis is usually taken to mean "a restitution of all things of which God spoke" which can be taken to signify the restoration of the Garden of Eden, to the situation before the Fall.
While the ideas in the novel are interesting, and the novel can still be read as exemplary for the hippie culture of the 1960s, the execution of the story seemed strained, and the novel is rather difficult to read.
Ward Ruyslinck is a writer known to have often changed his style of writing. De apokatastasis, of Het apocriefe boek van Galax Niksen is very different from work written in the 1950s and early 1960s, such as Wierook en tranen or De stille zomer.
Other books I have read by Ward Ruyslinck:
Wierook en tranen
De stille zomer
50edwinbcn
083. An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game by James Lipton is presented as a book of poetry, which is really a bit of a misnomer. The book is much more like a poorly executed dictionary.
Language itself is poetic, and the author introduces the reader to a class of nouns known as "collective nouns", also referred to as "nouns of assembly" or "terms of venery", hence the title, The venereal game. The "nouns of assembly" are words for groups of animals originating from the English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. The Book of Saint Albans compiled in 1486, lists 165 of such collective nouns.
James Lipton has divided An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game into four parts: Part 1, collective nouns commonly known and still regularly used, Part 2, collective nouns known by well-educated people, but occasionally used, Part 3, collective nouns now rarely used and generally not known, and Part 4, new collective nouns invented by the author. In the introduction the author explains that his choice of terms in all three first parts of the book that his choices are fairly random, taken from the known sources. The very few terms of the author's own invention are not very imaginative or creative. They apply to animals and have been extended to "nouns of assembly" of groups of people, of which many examples can already be found in Book of Saint Albans.
Examples of "terms of venery" are:
A congregation of alligators.
A herd of asses.
A swarm of bees.
A troop of apes.
A flock of birds.
A pack of dogs.
A team of horses.
A pride of lions
A shoal of mackerel.
or less well known
A sounder of boars (12 or more !)
A bellowing of bullfinches.
A clowder of cats.
A drunkenship of cobblers.
A convocation of eagles.
A gaggle of geese. (on land)
A gaggle of geese. (in flight)
A charm of goldfinches.
An array of hedgehogs.
A bloat of hippopotamuses.
A fluther of jellyfish.
An exaltation of larks.
A superfluity of nuns.
A parliament of owls.
An ostentation of peacocks.
A bouquet of pheasants.
A bevy of quail.
A crash of rhinoceroses.
A bank of swans (on land)
A wedge of swans (in flight)
A lamentation of swans (fanciful)
Regarding the author's selection in the first three parts, he claims never to have aimed to present a complete collection, which given the limited scope of the total number of words would actually have been a more logical choice. The book is illustrated with wood cuts.
It seems An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game could potentially be a very interesting book, more likely as a work of reference with poetical quality. However, the author did not realize that potential, and his creative contribution is limp and minimal. A missed chance, but still a very interesting book for lexicographers, albeit incomplete.
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game by James Lipton is presented as a book of poetry, which is really a bit of a misnomer. The book is much more like a poorly executed dictionary.
Language itself is poetic, and the author introduces the reader to a class of nouns known as "collective nouns", also referred to as "nouns of assembly" or "terms of venery", hence the title, The venereal game. The "nouns of assembly" are words for groups of animals originating from the English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. The Book of Saint Albans compiled in 1486, lists 165 of such collective nouns.
James Lipton has divided An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game into four parts: Part 1, collective nouns commonly known and still regularly used, Part 2, collective nouns known by well-educated people, but occasionally used, Part 3, collective nouns now rarely used and generally not known, and Part 4, new collective nouns invented by the author. In the introduction the author explains that his choice of terms in all three first parts of the book that his choices are fairly random, taken from the known sources. The very few terms of the author's own invention are not very imaginative or creative. They apply to animals and have been extended to "nouns of assembly" of groups of people, of which many examples can already be found in Book of Saint Albans.
Examples of "terms of venery" are:
A congregation of alligators.
A herd of asses.
A swarm of bees.
A troop of apes.
A flock of birds.
A pack of dogs.
A team of horses.
A pride of lions
A shoal of mackerel.
or less well known
A sounder of boars (12 or more !)
A bellowing of bullfinches.
A clowder of cats.
A drunkenship of cobblers.
A convocation of eagles.
A gaggle of geese. (on land)
A gaggle of geese. (in flight)
A charm of goldfinches.
An array of hedgehogs.
A bloat of hippopotamuses.
A fluther of jellyfish.
An exaltation of larks.
A superfluity of nuns.
A parliament of owls.
An ostentation of peacocks.
A bouquet of pheasants.
A bevy of quail.
A crash of rhinoceroses.
A bank of swans (on land)
A wedge of swans (in flight)
A lamentation of swans (fanciful)
Regarding the author's selection in the first three parts, he claims never to have aimed to present a complete collection, which given the limited scope of the total number of words would actually have been a more logical choice. The book is illustrated with wood cuts.
It seems An exaltation of larks, or, The venereal game could potentially be a very interesting book, more likely as a work of reference with poetical quality. However, the author did not realize that potential, and his creative contribution is limp and minimal. A missed chance, but still a very interesting book for lexicographers, albeit incomplete.
51rebeccanyc
When I was a child, we had a book called A Gaggle of Geese that, with illustrations, depicted "terms of venery," although of course it didn't call them that. It was a lot more fun than An Exaltation of Larks sounds from your review, and it seems to still be in print.
53edwinbcn
>52 baswood:
Yes, the impression I got was that it was written to avoid overlap with the travel books and to promote those travel books.
Yes, the impression I got was that it was written to avoid overlap with the travel books and to promote those travel books.
54edwinbcn
084. Het theater, de brief en de waarheid
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
Of the Twentieth Century Dutch writers, Harry Mulisch is probably the best known. Although in the Dutch-speaking world there were some contenders, retrospectively Mulisch' work has emerged as the most impressive. Several of Mulisch' novels have been translated into English and various other languages.
Not all of Harry Mulisch' are all that accessible. He has been accused more than once of megalomania, inventing philosophical systems to encompass all that is known and unknown under and in heaven. Some of his novels are easy to read. Het theater, de brief en de waarheid belongs the the category of complicated novels, proposing multiple hypothetical realities in an attempt to understand a mystery.
The mystery consists of a bizarre event which occurred in the Netherlands in 1987. In that year, Jules Croiset, a Dutch actor, tried to prevent the performance of the German play Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod (literally "Garbage, the City, and Death") by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder's plays and films elicited a lot of criticism often considered racist, homophobic, or, as in the case of Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod, anti-semitic. To stop the performance of this play in the Netherlands, Jules Croiset wrote a threat letter to himself, followed by the enactment of his (own) kidnap. The non-crime was soon discovered, leaving many people baffled about Croiset's motive and train of thought to conceive and act out this bizarre scheme. Croiset explains himself in the book Met stomheid geslagen, while Mulisch picked up the idea to explore it in Het theater, de brief en de waarheid, which translates literally as "The theatre, the letter and the truth".
Het theater, de brief en de waarheid is a short novel which presents two apparently complementary stories based on the events of 1987. The stories are mirror images of each other, but in the good old (Dutch) tradition of the work of graphic artist M. C. Escher the two versions of the story are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be true at the same time.
Both the link to reality (in as far as needed) and unraveling the two mirror images is difficult and confusing. Het theater, de brief en de waarheid is not a book that will release its secret to the reader easily. It probably needs to be read with some foreknowledge of the background, and or multiple re-readings to figure it out.
Other books I have read by Harry Mulisch:
De aanslag
Siegfried. Een zwarte idylle
De procedure
De pupil
Hoogste tijd
Het stenen bruidsbed
Twee vrouwen
Het zwarte licht
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
Of the Twentieth Century Dutch writers, Harry Mulisch is probably the best known. Although in the Dutch-speaking world there were some contenders, retrospectively Mulisch' work has emerged as the most impressive. Several of Mulisch' novels have been translated into English and various other languages.
Not all of Harry Mulisch' are all that accessible. He has been accused more than once of megalomania, inventing philosophical systems to encompass all that is known and unknown under and in heaven. Some of his novels are easy to read. Het theater, de brief en de waarheid belongs the the category of complicated novels, proposing multiple hypothetical realities in an attempt to understand a mystery.
The mystery consists of a bizarre event which occurred in the Netherlands in 1987. In that year, Jules Croiset, a Dutch actor, tried to prevent the performance of the German play Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod (literally "Garbage, the City, and Death") by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder's plays and films elicited a lot of criticism often considered racist, homophobic, or, as in the case of Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod, anti-semitic. To stop the performance of this play in the Netherlands, Jules Croiset wrote a threat letter to himself, followed by the enactment of his (own) kidnap. The non-crime was soon discovered, leaving many people baffled about Croiset's motive and train of thought to conceive and act out this bizarre scheme. Croiset explains himself in the book Met stomheid geslagen, while Mulisch picked up the idea to explore it in Het theater, de brief en de waarheid, which translates literally as "The theatre, the letter and the truth".
Het theater, de brief en de waarheid is a short novel which presents two apparently complementary stories based on the events of 1987. The stories are mirror images of each other, but in the good old (Dutch) tradition of the work of graphic artist M. C. Escher the two versions of the story are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be true at the same time.
Both the link to reality (in as far as needed) and unraveling the two mirror images is difficult and confusing. Het theater, de brief en de waarheid is not a book that will release its secret to the reader easily. It probably needs to be read with some foreknowledge of the background, and or multiple re-readings to figure it out.
Other books I have read by Harry Mulisch:
De aanslag
Siegfried. Een zwarte idylle
De procedure
De pupil
Hoogste tijd
Het stenen bruidsbed
Twee vrouwen
Het zwarte licht
55edwinbcn
085. Denkwijzen, Vol. 7. Een inleiding in het denken van R.G. Collingwood, Ch. Hartshorne, M. Merleau-Ponty en J. Derrida
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
Between 1986 and 1999, under the general editorship of Harry Berghs Acco Publishers brought out Denk-wijzen, a series of twelve volumes about the history of philosophy. Each volume contains four introductions of each about 30 pages introducing four philosophers. Each introduction is written by a specialist in the field, usually a university professor. Denkwijzen, Vol. 7. Een inleiding in het denken van R.G. Collingwood, Ch. Hartshorne, M. Merleau-Ponty en J. Derrida is the seventh volume in a series, introducing R.G. Collingwood, written by Guido Vanheeswijck Ch. Hartshorne, written by Luc Braeckmans M. Merleau-Ponty written by Peter Reynaert en J. Derrida written by Erik Oger.
Perhaps as a result of the extreme brevity, the introductions are very difficult to understand, and the books in these series are definitely not suitable for the idle reader or beginner to the field of philosophy. More likely, these volumes are quick introductions for students who already have a good grounding in philosophy, and are interested to extend their knowledge or explore other philosophers. The series as a whole, as well as each volume should probably more be seen as belonging to the reference section.
Each biography presents a comprehensive overview of the philosophers' biography, followed by a synopsis of their most important work, discussed in the context of their development and the broader context of philosophy of that period. At the end of each section there is a comprehensive reference to primary and secondary sources.
Finished reading: 2 August 2013
Between 1986 and 1999, under the general editorship of Harry Berghs Acco Publishers brought out Denk-wijzen, a series of twelve volumes about the history of philosophy. Each volume contains four introductions of each about 30 pages introducing four philosophers. Each introduction is written by a specialist in the field, usually a university professor. Denkwijzen, Vol. 7. Een inleiding in het denken van R.G. Collingwood, Ch. Hartshorne, M. Merleau-Ponty en J. Derrida is the seventh volume in a series, introducing R.G. Collingwood, written by Guido Vanheeswijck Ch. Hartshorne, written by Luc Braeckmans M. Merleau-Ponty written by Peter Reynaert en J. Derrida written by Erik Oger.
Perhaps as a result of the extreme brevity, the introductions are very difficult to understand, and the books in these series are definitely not suitable for the idle reader or beginner to the field of philosophy. More likely, these volumes are quick introductions for students who already have a good grounding in philosophy, and are interested to extend their knowledge or explore other philosophers. The series as a whole, as well as each volume should probably more be seen as belonging to the reference section.
Each biography presents a comprehensive overview of the philosophers' biography, followed by a synopsis of their most important work, discussed in the context of their development and the broader context of philosophy of that period. At the end of each section there is a comprehensive reference to primary and secondary sources.
56edwinbcn
086. Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties
Finished reading: 3 August 2013
Stephan Sanders is a Dutch author, who writes for various media and also presents television programmes. Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties he travels to destinations to explore his roots. Thus, Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties contains about 100 pages of longer essays, followed by another 100 pages of short columns of travelogues and introspection.
Stephan Sanders has spent extended periods of time in South Africa and Surinam. His essays are well-informed about the political situation, but always seek a personal edge. Almost all essays and columns refer to the author on the prowl in an attempt to find handsome men to get laid. In many cases Sanders makes these occasional gay lovers his informers or uses them to assess the advance of the human rights situation or the general level of freedom. This, inevitably, leads to difficult situations engendered by cultural differences, or blurred by other issues such as differences in material wealth between the author and his lovers. For readers wondering what the value of such observations then might be, there seems to be just one answer. The value is determined just only by the value derived from the situation by the author. Therefore, the essays and prose in this collection are on the edge of a fine balance between hedonism and very personal essays.
Other works I have read by Stephan Sanders:
Connie Francis, of De onschuld van Amerika
De grote woede van M.
Liefde is voor vrouwen
Ai, Jamaica! Over de zucht naar exotica in Europa
Finished reading: 3 August 2013
Stephan Sanders is a Dutch author, who writes for various media and also presents television programmes. Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties he travels to destinations to explore his roots. Thus, Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties contains about 100 pages of longer essays, followed by another 100 pages of short columns of travelogues and introspection.
Stephan Sanders has spent extended periods of time in South Africa and Surinam. His essays are well-informed about the political situation, but always seek a personal edge. Almost all essays and columns refer to the author on the prowl in an attempt to find handsome men to get laid. In many cases Sanders makes these occasional gay lovers his informers or uses them to assess the advance of the human rights situation or the general level of freedom. This, inevitably, leads to difficult situations engendered by cultural differences, or blurred by other issues such as differences in material wealth between the author and his lovers. For readers wondering what the value of such observations then might be, there seems to be just one answer. The value is determined just only by the value derived from the situation by the author. Therefore, the essays and prose in this collection are on the edge of a fine balance between hedonism and very personal essays.
Other works I have read by Stephan Sanders:
Connie Francis, of De onschuld van Amerika
De grote woede van M.
Liefde is voor vrouwen
Ai, Jamaica! Over de zucht naar exotica in Europa
57PimPhilipse
>54 edwinbcn:: I distinctly remenber the 1987 events. At the time, I was really upset about a number of things:
- How on earth could people call Fassbinders play antisemitic just because the main character was a "rich jew"? To me it was obvious that Fassbinder was really citicising german society in the way it was dealing with its past. The garbage producers were, if I recall correctly, presented as thinking: "if we dump the garbage, we'll be sued, but if we let the jew dump it, no-one'll dare to sue him."
- What evils would be prevented by prohibiting the performance of the play by legal or illegal means?
I was seriously doubting the sanity of my compatriots (or at least those who were voicing their intolerant opinions on the matter).
- How on earth could people call Fassbinders play antisemitic just because the main character was a "rich jew"? To me it was obvious that Fassbinder was really citicising german society in the way it was dealing with its past. The garbage producers were, if I recall correctly, presented as thinking: "if we dump the garbage, we'll be sued, but if we let the jew dump it, no-one'll dare to sue him."
- What evils would be prevented by prohibiting the performance of the play by legal or illegal means?
I was seriously doubting the sanity of my compatriots (or at least those who were voicing their intolerant opinions on the matter).
58edwinbcn
>57 PimPhilipse:
I have not read Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod, nor seen the play performed or seen the movie. I remember the commotion around Jules Croiset, but at the time it did not interest me much. Since Croiset's actions were aimed to prevent a performance, and not a reaction to the performance, it must be assumed that most people simply followed or sympathized with the resistance against the play in the Jewish community in Germany at the time.
I have not read Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod, nor seen the play performed or seen the movie. I remember the commotion around Jules Croiset, but at the time it did not interest me much. Since Croiset's actions were aimed to prevent a performance, and not a reaction to the performance, it must be assumed that most people simply followed or sympathized with the resistance against the play in the Jewish community in Germany at the time.
59edwinbcn
087. De handelsreiziger van de Nederlandsche Cocaïne fabriek
Finished reading: 5 August 2013
In English: 
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Century saw the introduction of narcotics in Western society, where previously no indigenous tradition existed in the use of opiates and cocaine. Initially, narcotics were welcomed, first in medical circles and then spread to wide usage within the population, originally believing that the use of such substances was quite innocent. Thomas DeQuincy experimented with and described the effects of morphine in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. The use of morphine continued uninterrupted for more than a century until in 1914 the United States passed the "Harrison Narcotics Tax Act" which made possession of morphine without medical prescription illegal. Shortly before that, Heroine was introduced, initially with the same naivete as that surrounding morphine about the addictive qualities, heroine was introduced in cough sirup for children. Experimenting with heroine and becoming addict to it in the 1950s, William S. Burroughs was not among the first users, but perhaps among the first users introducing widespread use in the population.
The introduction and use of cocaine ran almost parallel to that of opium. However, while morphine was mostly used as a painkiller, cocaine was noted for its stimulating and invigorating properties. In the United States it was given to the (African-American) work force to improve its performance and endurance. Explorers took Forced March cocaine tablets on their expeditions to the poles.
In 1878, the Dutch transplanted coca shrubs to their colonies in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia) and started the large-scale production of coca leaves, a crop which was at first exported to Germany. In 1900 the Dutch Colonial bank invested in setting up the Dutch Cocaine Factory (NCF) (now part of Akzo Nobel), which soon grew to be one of the world's largest producers of cocaine, morphine, heroine, and later novocain and efedrine.
The historical novel De handelsreiziger van de Nederlandsche Cocaïne fabriek (English: The Cocaine Salesman) is based on historical facts and describes the history of the widespread addiction to cocaine in Europe and the role of the Dutch Cocaine Factory in it.
The main character in the novel is the dandy-ish Lucien Hirschland, the very successful dealer of the Dutch Cocaine Factory (NCF). Especially during the First World War, enjoying the neutrality of the Netherlands the NCF supplied cocaine to both the British pharmaceutical industry (Forced March) and the German army, who gave it to their soldiers to improve their endurance and performance on the battle field. Hirschland can afford a comfortable life-style on the commission he earns. During the interbellum while international law with regard to narcotics is tightened, the sale and distribution of cocaine goes underground, as both in the Netherlands and Germany privately owned enterprises are set up by Hirschland's former colleagues, and the production, distribution and use of cocaine increasingly takes place in a shady and criminal environment, with sinister connections to the rise of fascism.
The strength of the novel De handelsreiziger van de Nederlandsche Cocaïne fabriek is that the whole story is seen through the eyes of the naive dealer for the factory, who is completely oblivious to political developments, history and the effect of cocaine on people around him. While he is not a user, Hirschland barely seems aware of the addictive properties of the product he sells. He is unaware how his cousin Pola becomes increasingly addicted, as he keeps giving her cocaine. The British war veteran Robin Ryder, who Swaantje, Hirschland's sister, has taken into their home, is addicted as a result of the Forced March tablets, he was given in the trenches. His stay increasingly leads to problems, as Hirschland realizes that Ryder is addicted. However, Hirschland never really seems to grasp how his former colleague Olyrook, and his friend Palacky, and the German Biedermann are getting involved in the illegal production and distribution of cocaine, and without scruples try to manipulate him. Hirschland may not be aware, but the reader gradually realizes the role of the management of the factory and the Dutch government in the prolongation of the production and distribution of narcotics.
Finished reading: 5 August 2013
In English: 
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Century saw the introduction of narcotics in Western society, where previously no indigenous tradition existed in the use of opiates and cocaine. Initially, narcotics were welcomed, first in medical circles and then spread to wide usage within the population, originally believing that the use of such substances was quite innocent. Thomas DeQuincy experimented with and described the effects of morphine in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. The use of morphine continued uninterrupted for more than a century until in 1914 the United States passed the "Harrison Narcotics Tax Act" which made possession of morphine without medical prescription illegal. Shortly before that, Heroine was introduced, initially with the same naivete as that surrounding morphine about the addictive qualities, heroine was introduced in cough sirup for children. Experimenting with heroine and becoming addict to it in the 1950s, William S. Burroughs was not among the first users, but perhaps among the first users introducing widespread use in the population.
The introduction and use of cocaine ran almost parallel to that of opium. However, while morphine was mostly used as a painkiller, cocaine was noted for its stimulating and invigorating properties. In the United States it was given to the (African-American) work force to improve its performance and endurance. Explorers took Forced March cocaine tablets on their expeditions to the poles.
In 1878, the Dutch transplanted coca shrubs to their colonies in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia) and started the large-scale production of coca leaves, a crop which was at first exported to Germany. In 1900 the Dutch Colonial bank invested in setting up the Dutch Cocaine Factory (NCF) (now part of Akzo Nobel), which soon grew to be one of the world's largest producers of cocaine, morphine, heroine, and later novocain and efedrine.
The historical novel De handelsreiziger van de Nederlandsche Cocaïne fabriek (English: The Cocaine Salesman) is based on historical facts and describes the history of the widespread addiction to cocaine in Europe and the role of the Dutch Cocaine Factory in it.
The main character in the novel is the dandy-ish Lucien Hirschland, the very successful dealer of the Dutch Cocaine Factory (NCF). Especially during the First World War, enjoying the neutrality of the Netherlands the NCF supplied cocaine to both the British pharmaceutical industry (Forced March) and the German army, who gave it to their soldiers to improve their endurance and performance on the battle field. Hirschland can afford a comfortable life-style on the commission he earns. During the interbellum while international law with regard to narcotics is tightened, the sale and distribution of cocaine goes underground, as both in the Netherlands and Germany privately owned enterprises are set up by Hirschland's former colleagues, and the production, distribution and use of cocaine increasingly takes place in a shady and criminal environment, with sinister connections to the rise of fascism.
The strength of the novel De handelsreiziger van de Nederlandsche Cocaïne fabriek is that the whole story is seen through the eyes of the naive dealer for the factory, who is completely oblivious to political developments, history and the effect of cocaine on people around him. While he is not a user, Hirschland barely seems aware of the addictive properties of the product he sells. He is unaware how his cousin Pola becomes increasingly addicted, as he keeps giving her cocaine. The British war veteran Robin Ryder, who Swaantje, Hirschland's sister, has taken into their home, is addicted as a result of the Forced March tablets, he was given in the trenches. His stay increasingly leads to problems, as Hirschland realizes that Ryder is addicted. However, Hirschland never really seems to grasp how his former colleague Olyrook, and his friend Palacky, and the German Biedermann are getting involved in the illegal production and distribution of cocaine, and without scruples try to manipulate him. Hirschland may not be aware, but the reader gradually realizes the role of the management of the factory and the Dutch government in the prolongation of the production and distribution of narcotics.
60RidgewayGirl
I'm going to keep an eye out for Ich bin gern in Venedig warum. It gives me a good excuse to wander into all the bookstores I've been walking by. And I'm sure we'll end up in Venice a few times while we're here.
Your short history of narcotics use in the western world was very interesting.
Also, plug your kindle in. It won't replace real books, but it is useful when you need a specific book at 2 am and it's not on your shelves. And for the more substantial books; it can make them wonderfully portable.
Your short history of narcotics use in the western world was very interesting.
Also, plug your kindle in. It won't replace real books, but it is useful when you need a specific book at 2 am and it's not on your shelves. And for the more substantial books; it can make them wonderfully portable.
61edwinbcn
088. Alles over Tristan
Finished reading: 7 August 2013
Alles over Tristan (English: "Everything about Tristan" is Dutch author Tommy Wieringa's third novel. This short novel has an elegant plot, with a surprising end. The ambitious scholar Jakob Keller wants to write the ultimate biography of the celebrated poet Viktor Anselm Tristan, whose life is shrouded in secrecy. Keller pursues every trace, particularly the trail followed by his professor, who was the authority on Tristan, but never published the biography he worked on. A visit to his widow leaves Keller stunned by the outburst of her anger.
Keller receives a lot of support from the librarian in Mercedal, and as his research progresses, the moment arrives when he has to travel to the overseas territory, Lago, where Tristan spent his final years. He follows the trail to visit the nunnery where Inés Tristan, Viktor's sister lived till her death. There he finds two pieces to complete the puzzle formed by the life of Tristan. However, this information comes at a price. The price paid by his professor, before him. Now Keller knows "everything about Tristan", but he cannot do anything with that information.
The novel is set in the fictitious location of Mercedal, the capital of an unnamed country, and its overseas territory, Lago. Oblique, references to Hildegard (Von Bingen) and Sor (Juana) Inés are undoubtedly meaningful and relevant, however, the names of many other characters evoke echos to Dutch authors and people, which distract, such as (Eduard) Edgar Cairo and Professor Wertheim.
Finished reading: 7 August 2013
Alles over Tristan (English: "Everything about Tristan" is Dutch author Tommy Wieringa's third novel. This short novel has an elegant plot, with a surprising end. The ambitious scholar Jakob Keller wants to write the ultimate biography of the celebrated poet Viktor Anselm Tristan, whose life is shrouded in secrecy. Keller pursues every trace, particularly the trail followed by his professor, who was the authority on Tristan, but never published the biography he worked on. A visit to his widow leaves Keller stunned by the outburst of her anger.
Keller receives a lot of support from the librarian in Mercedal, and as his research progresses, the moment arrives when he has to travel to the overseas territory, Lago, where Tristan spent his final years. He follows the trail to visit the nunnery where Inés Tristan, Viktor's sister lived till her death. There he finds two pieces to complete the puzzle formed by the life of Tristan. However, this information comes at a price. The price paid by his professor, before him. Now Keller knows "everything about Tristan", but he cannot do anything with that information.
The novel is set in the fictitious location of Mercedal, the capital of an unnamed country, and its overseas territory, Lago. Oblique, references to Hildegard (Von Bingen) and Sor (Juana) Inés are undoubtedly meaningful and relevant, however, the names of many other characters evoke echos to Dutch authors and people, which distract, such as (Eduard) Edgar Cairo and Professor Wertheim.
62edwinbcn
089. Buitenstaanders
Finished reading: 9 August 2013
In 1971, the Dutch psychologist Jan Foudraine published Wie is van hout... Een gang door de psychiatrie (English: Not Made of Wood), the culmination of many years of work, observation and experimentation in psychiatric institutions. Foudraine broke through the traditional view of seeing and treating the clients as, and thereby institutionalising them as untreatable patients. Instead of continuing treatment as it had been for sometimes more than 20 or 30 years, for some of the schizophrenic patients at the clinic, Foudraine started treating them as individual and responsible people, aimed at returning them to some form of independent life in society. The novel Buitenstaanders (English: "Outsiders" seems inspired by Foudraine's ideas.
At the beginning of Buitenstaanders, a couple with their two children suffers and accident causing their car to land in a ditch. Seeking shelter and help, they knock at the door of a villa situated is a small copse, and are taken in by the family living there. The family is very peculiar, a bit like Pippi Longstocking. All members of the family have peculiar names, such as Ebbe, Biba, Agrippina and Lupo. Their dog is called Evertje Polder. The family prides itself to have taken in Wibbe, whom they believe to be feeble-minded.
Staying at the villa is an outrageously bewildering experience. Max, Laurie and their children stay with them for several days, during which the family prepares the birthday of Sterre. Very gradually, barely noticeable, the story takes a grim turn, as towards the end of the story characters increasingly run amok, Max is locked up, Ebbe threatens to jump of the roof, Sterre turns out to have been dead all along, and the role of Wibbe is revealed.
Buitenstaanders is a very ingenious exploration of madness.
Other books I have read by Renate Dorrestein:
Het hemelse gerecht
Het perpetuum mobile van de liefde
Finished reading: 9 August 2013
In 1971, the Dutch psychologist Jan Foudraine published Wie is van hout... Een gang door de psychiatrie (English: Not Made of Wood), the culmination of many years of work, observation and experimentation in psychiatric institutions. Foudraine broke through the traditional view of seeing and treating the clients as, and thereby institutionalising them as untreatable patients. Instead of continuing treatment as it had been for sometimes more than 20 or 30 years, for some of the schizophrenic patients at the clinic, Foudraine started treating them as individual and responsible people, aimed at returning them to some form of independent life in society. The novel Buitenstaanders (English: "Outsiders" seems inspired by Foudraine's ideas.
At the beginning of Buitenstaanders, a couple with their two children suffers and accident causing their car to land in a ditch. Seeking shelter and help, they knock at the door of a villa situated is a small copse, and are taken in by the family living there. The family is very peculiar, a bit like Pippi Longstocking. All members of the family have peculiar names, such as Ebbe, Biba, Agrippina and Lupo. Their dog is called Evertje Polder. The family prides itself to have taken in Wibbe, whom they believe to be feeble-minded.
Staying at the villa is an outrageously bewildering experience. Max, Laurie and their children stay with them for several days, during which the family prepares the birthday of Sterre. Very gradually, barely noticeable, the story takes a grim turn, as towards the end of the story characters increasingly run amok, Max is locked up, Ebbe threatens to jump of the roof, Sterre turns out to have been dead all along, and the role of Wibbe is revealed.
Buitenstaanders is a very ingenious exploration of madness.
Other books I have read by Renate Dorrestein:
Het hemelse gerecht
Het perpetuum mobile van de liefde
63edwinbcn
>60 RidgewayGirl:
Thanks, Alison. I know I should get on with my Kindle, and finish reading The Toilers of the Sea.
Thanks, Alison. I know I should get on with my Kindle, and finish reading The Toilers of the Sea.
65janeajones
Intriguing reviews of cocaine, a poet and madness -- somehow there should be a link among them.
66StevenTX
Interesting reviews as always. I hope Buitenstaanders comes out in English translation. I have another work by Dorrestein but haven't gotten to it yet.
Regarding cocaine, in his novel C Tom McCarthy talks about the military's use of it in WWI and says that British aviators even rubbed it directly onto their eyeballs to improve their vision. His protagonist comes home from the war with a serious drug addiction. (Though William S. Burroughs insists in Junky that cocaine is not addictive.)
Regarding cocaine, in his novel C Tom McCarthy talks about the military's use of it in WWI and says that British aviators even rubbed it directly onto their eyeballs to improve their vision. His protagonist comes home from the war with a serious drug addiction. (Though William S. Burroughs insists in Junky that cocaine is not addictive.)
67edwinbcn
>66 StevenTX:
I have only read two other books by Dorrestein (not the one you have), but found Buitenstaanders outstanding by far. Dorrestein seems to have a very, very personal theme, which is linked to her personal family history, particularly the suicide of her sister, which plays a minor role in Buitenstaanders, that is the scenes about jumping off the roof, and the "absent" sister Sterre. After Buitenstaanders, I wondered whether I should re-read Het perpetuum mobile van de liefde, to see whether I could make more of it in the light of the author's personal history.
I have already started Tom McCarthy's novel C, but did not like it much. I'll have to pick it up and finish reading it some time. Earlier this year, I read Junkie by William S. Burroughs. I think the development of the story in The Cocaine Salesman also implies that cocaine is not very addictive, in the sense that people are not hooked rightaway. Regarding Burroughs, I would surmise that he had already been using so many different kinds of drugs that he developed some kind of higher tolerance to narcotics.
I have only read two other books by Dorrestein (not the one you have), but found Buitenstaanders outstanding by far. Dorrestein seems to have a very, very personal theme, which is linked to her personal family history, particularly the suicide of her sister, which plays a minor role in Buitenstaanders, that is the scenes about jumping off the roof, and the "absent" sister Sterre. After Buitenstaanders, I wondered whether I should re-read Het perpetuum mobile van de liefde, to see whether I could make more of it in the light of the author's personal history.
I have already started Tom McCarthy's novel C, but did not like it much. I'll have to pick it up and finish reading it some time. Earlier this year, I read Junkie by William S. Burroughs. I think the development of the story in The Cocaine Salesman also implies that cocaine is not very addictive, in the sense that people are not hooked rightaway. Regarding Burroughs, I would surmise that he had already been using so many different kinds of drugs that he developed some kind of higher tolerance to narcotics.
68edwinbcn
090. VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid
Finished reading: 16 August 2013
VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid by Leon de Winter is a thriller, based on a possible but unlikely scenario, combined with a metaphysical plot line. To begin with the latter, the novel suggests that some souls of the recently deceased do not immediately go to Heaven, but remain in a dwelling place before going on to Heaven. These souls can still roam the earth, and even, though with great difficulty, interact with the living. There presence on earth is described as spirits; the dwelling place is described as a "waiting room" or "limbo". In this state, the soul can become a guardian angel. Souls and angels "in limbo" must perform an act of benevolence, before being admitted to Heaven.
Throughout the novel the "in limbo" plot involves the Dutch author Theo van Gogh who was murdered by a moslem extremist. Theo van Gogh was considered rude and insensitive, not just with moslem immigrants, but with anyone in Dutch society. His soul is "coached" by another soul "in limbo", namely that of an African-American priest, Jimmy Davis, who broke the celibacy, and needs to make up for that "sin". The "in limbo"-episodes are sufficiently light and humourous, suggesting both "in limbo" and Heaven are based on an extensive bureaucracy. The subtitle of the novel is Daden van onbaatzuchtigheid ("Acts of Benevolence"). Soul are not free, but assigned a target, and Theo van Gogh's target is to protect Max Kohn.
The novel VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid has a by Dutch standards unusually intricate plot, involving many characters based on the jet-set of Amsterdam. Max Kohn is a Jewish retiree, who lives on the capital he hoarded ten years earlier as the big boss of a criminal organization selling narcotics. He owes his life to a heart transplantation, in which he received the heart of the African-American priest, Jimmy Davis. Through Davis' family, he discovers that Davis had an amorous affair with Sonja. Sonja is Max' ex-girlfriend. They separated ten years earlier, after Max was arrested and sent in exile. Since then, Sonja has avoided Max, and knowing that he is in Amsterdam, she tries to leave the country as soon as possible. Above all, she tries to protect her son, about whom Max knows nothing, however, the kid has found out that Max Kohn is his father.
During his criminal career, Max Kohn had a right-hand assistant, who protected him. This Moroccan associate was tried and convicted for the murder of two men who tried to murder Kohn. Before being locked up, he was able to stash away a large amount of money and weapons, which is discovered by his son, who uses the money and weapons to plan a series of terrorist attacks. Thus, Sonja is unable to leave Amsterdam, as in quick succession a bomb explodes under the Amsterdam town hall, and moslem extremists kidnap an airplane at Amsterdam Airport. As the crisis unfolds, various members of the jet-set make their appearance in the novel, each with ties to the main characters.
The kidnapped airplane leaves taking a number of hostages, but makes a U-turn and returns the following morning. As tensions rise and the plane's flight path is ascertained, the next part of the terrorist attack is unfolded, consisting of the kidnap of an elite school, "VSV" in the Amsterdam south district. This situation is resolved involving all characters in the book, including the Act of Benevolence by guardian angel Theo van Gogh.
VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid is a very high-paced thriller, displaying a great deal of humour and irony. The novel is very well written, providing a kaleidoscopic view of Amsterdam high society, in which everyone has ties to everyone, suggesting many illicit affairs. The intricate and possible but unlikely plot, mirrors the typical post-9/11 thriller involving a multiple target terrorist attack, blending reality and fiction.
Very well done and highly recommended.
Other books I have read by Leon de Winter:
Vertraagde roman
Supertex
Serenade
Finished reading: 16 August 2013
VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid by Leon de Winter is a thriller, based on a possible but unlikely scenario, combined with a metaphysical plot line. To begin with the latter, the novel suggests that some souls of the recently deceased do not immediately go to Heaven, but remain in a dwelling place before going on to Heaven. These souls can still roam the earth, and even, though with great difficulty, interact with the living. There presence on earth is described as spirits; the dwelling place is described as a "waiting room" or "limbo". In this state, the soul can become a guardian angel. Souls and angels "in limbo" must perform an act of benevolence, before being admitted to Heaven.
Throughout the novel the "in limbo" plot involves the Dutch author Theo van Gogh who was murdered by a moslem extremist. Theo van Gogh was considered rude and insensitive, not just with moslem immigrants, but with anyone in Dutch society. His soul is "coached" by another soul "in limbo", namely that of an African-American priest, Jimmy Davis, who broke the celibacy, and needs to make up for that "sin". The "in limbo"-episodes are sufficiently light and humourous, suggesting both "in limbo" and Heaven are based on an extensive bureaucracy. The subtitle of the novel is Daden van onbaatzuchtigheid ("Acts of Benevolence"). Soul are not free, but assigned a target, and Theo van Gogh's target is to protect Max Kohn.
The novel VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid has a by Dutch standards unusually intricate plot, involving many characters based on the jet-set of Amsterdam. Max Kohn is a Jewish retiree, who lives on the capital he hoarded ten years earlier as the big boss of a criminal organization selling narcotics. He owes his life to a heart transplantation, in which he received the heart of the African-American priest, Jimmy Davis. Through Davis' family, he discovers that Davis had an amorous affair with Sonja. Sonja is Max' ex-girlfriend. They separated ten years earlier, after Max was arrested and sent in exile. Since then, Sonja has avoided Max, and knowing that he is in Amsterdam, she tries to leave the country as soon as possible. Above all, she tries to protect her son, about whom Max knows nothing, however, the kid has found out that Max Kohn is his father.
During his criminal career, Max Kohn had a right-hand assistant, who protected him. This Moroccan associate was tried and convicted for the murder of two men who tried to murder Kohn. Before being locked up, he was able to stash away a large amount of money and weapons, which is discovered by his son, who uses the money and weapons to plan a series of terrorist attacks. Thus, Sonja is unable to leave Amsterdam, as in quick succession a bomb explodes under the Amsterdam town hall, and moslem extremists kidnap an airplane at Amsterdam Airport. As the crisis unfolds, various members of the jet-set make their appearance in the novel, each with ties to the main characters.
The kidnapped airplane leaves taking a number of hostages, but makes a U-turn and returns the following morning. As tensions rise and the plane's flight path is ascertained, the next part of the terrorist attack is unfolded, consisting of the kidnap of an elite school, "VSV" in the Amsterdam south district. This situation is resolved involving all characters in the book, including the Act of Benevolence by guardian angel Theo van Gogh.
VSV of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid is a very high-paced thriller, displaying a great deal of humour and irony. The novel is very well written, providing a kaleidoscopic view of Amsterdam high society, in which everyone has ties to everyone, suggesting many illicit affairs. The intricate and possible but unlikely plot, mirrors the typical post-9/11 thriller involving a multiple target terrorist attack, blending reality and fiction.
Very well done and highly recommended.
Other books I have read by Leon de Winter:
Vertraagde roman
Supertex
Serenade
69edwinbcn
091. De laatkomer
Finished reading: 17 August 2013
De laatkomer is a very lame story. It purports to relate the story of Désiré Cordier who pretends to be demented, pulling the whole act off for reasons that never become very clear in the book. One possible reason could be to escape his wife, but if that is so, then the scheme seems rather overdone. No other benefit becomes apparent, while no climax is developed. Instead, the plot mounts to a kind of anti-climax, in which another character who is apparently also pretending to be demented, tells Cordier that his act is obvious and easy to see through.
De laatkomer is a comedy about Alzheimer's Disease. It never rises above the level of an improvised sketch, a very, very bad play, and hence and very bad novel.
Finished reading: 17 August 2013
De laatkomer is a very lame story. It purports to relate the story of Désiré Cordier who pretends to be demented, pulling the whole act off for reasons that never become very clear in the book. One possible reason could be to escape his wife, but if that is so, then the scheme seems rather overdone. No other benefit becomes apparent, while no climax is developed. Instead, the plot mounts to a kind of anti-climax, in which another character who is apparently also pretending to be demented, tells Cordier that his act is obvious and easy to see through.
De laatkomer is a comedy about Alzheimer's Disease. It never rises above the level of an improvised sketch, a very, very bad play, and hence and very bad novel.
70rebeccanyc
Fascinating about the commercial/military history of cocaine, and interesting to catch up on your varied reading.
71mkboylan
Phew! Somehow I missed this continuation thread so boy did I have some catching up to do. Educational as always.
72edwinbcn
92. En dan nog iets
Finished reading: 18 August 2013
In 2009, Paulien Cornelisse published Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, which soon dominated the best seller lists. It was a book which explored idiomatic expressions and trends in language usage in Dutch, and was written with a great deal of humour. Examples were very regognizable and the book as a whole was very entertaining. Shortly after the publication of Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, the author started on a new career on the stage. Within the tradition of Dutch cabaret, her shows take a niche position of humourous (stand up) comedy, however, unlike most comedians she focusses on humour and language, rather than politics. The first volume, Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding was tremendously popular, and had me laughing out loud every couple of pages.
Unfortunately, En dan nog iets, a second volume written following the same muster, does not match up to its predecessor. En dan nog iets reads like a scrap book for the theatre shows, and may either contain items which did not it onto the stage, or seemingly, the most successful items have been omitted. Some items in En dan nog iets might work very well on the stage, but are a bit lame in book form. For example, the item about Michael Jackson's little yells on stage is probably very funny in the theatre, but the item in the book seems far-fetched and rather irrelevant in the context of Dutch language usage.
En dan nog iets being only marginally thinner than Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, it is obvious that there are still many language phenomena left to explore. However, it seems the author did not invest as much time and effort, to work out the items. Thus, for example the author states that the word "huisvrouw" (house wife) is the only lexical item which identifies an occupation for women, which would be a great punch line, if it weren't that it isn't true. With little effort any native speaker can at least come up with the word "vroedvrouw" (midwife). Surely, if the author would consult a retrograde dictionary she would probably find more examples. It is clear that in En dan nog iets the author has made linguistics second to theatrical effect.
Other books I have read by Paulien Cornelisse:
Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
Finished reading: 18 August 2013
In 2009, Paulien Cornelisse published Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, which soon dominated the best seller lists. It was a book which explored idiomatic expressions and trends in language usage in Dutch, and was written with a great deal of humour. Examples were very regognizable and the book as a whole was very entertaining. Shortly after the publication of Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, the author started on a new career on the stage. Within the tradition of Dutch cabaret, her shows take a niche position of humourous (stand up) comedy, however, unlike most comedians she focusses on humour and language, rather than politics. The first volume, Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding was tremendously popular, and had me laughing out loud every couple of pages.
Unfortunately, En dan nog iets, a second volume written following the same muster, does not match up to its predecessor. En dan nog iets reads like a scrap book for the theatre shows, and may either contain items which did not it onto the stage, or seemingly, the most successful items have been omitted. Some items in En dan nog iets might work very well on the stage, but are a bit lame in book form. For example, the item about Michael Jackson's little yells on stage is probably very funny in the theatre, but the item in the book seems far-fetched and rather irrelevant in the context of Dutch language usage.
En dan nog iets being only marginally thinner than Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, it is obvious that there are still many language phenomena left to explore. However, it seems the author did not invest as much time and effort, to work out the items. Thus, for example the author states that the word "huisvrouw" (house wife) is the only lexical item which identifies an occupation for women, which would be a great punch line, if it weren't that it isn't true. With little effort any native speaker can at least come up with the word "vroedvrouw" (midwife). Surely, if the author would consult a retrograde dictionary she would probably find more examples. It is clear that in En dan nog iets the author has made linguistics second to theatrical effect.
Other books I have read by Paulien Cornelisse:
Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
73edwinbcn
93. Isabelle
Finished reading: 21 August 2013
Isabelle by the Dutch author Tessa de Loo is a novella about a kidnapping. One day, the beautiful actress Isabelle Amable goes for a walk and disappears without a trace. The reader soon learns that she is kidnapped by Jeanne Bitor, who keeps Isabelle hidden in her cellar, stripped of her clothes and feeding her like an animal. Jeanne, who works as a barmaid in the local pub, is a painter. She is obsessed by the idea of decay. She paints Isabelle every day, while starving her, aiming to capture the process of withering beauty, decay and death on her large canvasses. Jeanne believes that she herself is very ugly, and envies Isabelle's beauty. Following Isabelle's spectacular escape and rescue, Jeanne disappears.
While a few weeks into Isabelle's disappearance the authorities gave up looking for her, the local school master Bernard Buffon kept searching for her, his persistence apparently a mixture of kindness and longing. He is the one who finds Isabelle. After Isabelle's departure, Bernard starts looking and keeps looking for Jeanne Bitor, with the same kindness, and perhaps sympathy.
Isabelle is a real page turner and the mystery is quite enticing. The story is set in a French village, and descriptions of the pub, the villagers, the mountains and Jeanne's farm house are very imaginative.
Tessa de Loo is a successful Dutch author. Since the early 1980s she has published a considerable oevre consisting of seven novels, three novellas and two collections of short stories.
Other books I have read by Tessa de Loo :
Het rookoffer
Finished reading: 21 August 2013
Isabelle by the Dutch author Tessa de Loo is a novella about a kidnapping. One day, the beautiful actress Isabelle Amable goes for a walk and disappears without a trace. The reader soon learns that she is kidnapped by Jeanne Bitor, who keeps Isabelle hidden in her cellar, stripped of her clothes and feeding her like an animal. Jeanne, who works as a barmaid in the local pub, is a painter. She is obsessed by the idea of decay. She paints Isabelle every day, while starving her, aiming to capture the process of withering beauty, decay and death on her large canvasses. Jeanne believes that she herself is very ugly, and envies Isabelle's beauty. Following Isabelle's spectacular escape and rescue, Jeanne disappears.
While a few weeks into Isabelle's disappearance the authorities gave up looking for her, the local school master Bernard Buffon kept searching for her, his persistence apparently a mixture of kindness and longing. He is the one who finds Isabelle. After Isabelle's departure, Bernard starts looking and keeps looking for Jeanne Bitor, with the same kindness, and perhaps sympathy.
Isabelle is a real page turner and the mystery is quite enticing. The story is set in a French village, and descriptions of the pub, the villagers, the mountains and Jeanne's farm house are very imaginative.
Tessa de Loo is a successful Dutch author. Since the early 1980s she has published a considerable oevre consisting of seven novels, three novellas and two collections of short stories.
Other books I have read by Tessa de Loo :
Het rookoffer
74RidgewayGirl
Isabelle sounds interesting. Hopefully it will be published in English.
75edwinbcn
>74 RidgewayGirl:
I am not aware on any translations in English, at the moment. But there is a German translation.
and in 2011, Isabelle was made into a film:
Isabelle: the movie
You can find comprehensive information on Tessa de Loo and her work in English, including lists of translations of all works in various languages on the following website:
Tessa de Loo Information
I am not aware on any translations in English, at the moment. But there is a German translation.
and in 2011, Isabelle was made into a film:
Isabelle: the movie
You can find comprehensive information on Tessa de Loo and her work in English, including lists of translations of all works in various languages on the following website:
Tessa de Loo Information
76edwinbcn
094. Écrire
Finished reading: 24 August 2013
In English: 
Écrire by Marguerite Duras consists of three film scripts and two short prose texts. Écrire is a short autobiographical film by Sylvie Blum and Claude Guisard. It is a documentary filmed in Duras' house in Neauphle-le-Château in which Marguerite Duras talks about writing.
In Écrire, Marguerite Duras speaks about the importance of her houses and the places where she has stayed for her writing. It is in a house that one is alone (p.1). She talks about the house, and the garden of her home in Neauphle-le-Château where she wrote some of her novels, as well as her house in Paris. She describes at length how she undertook an investigation about other people who had lived in her Paris home throughout the ages, and was surprised to find that among them there had never been anyone who wrote. The style of Écrire is contemplative, autobiographical memoires, and philosophical. It is probably not a good text for readers new to the author as it refers to several of her novels. The text does not give the reader many clues to Duras' writing, other than the prominence and importance of places, both as the setting for the work, the location where the work was written, and the way the house affects the author. It is obvious that at the time the film was made, Marguerite Duras was an author at the height of her career, aware that she could say or write anything and that all and anything would be recorded as if she were the oracle of Dephi. There is a long and sentimental passage about the death of a mouse: a passage which is clearly too long, and too sentimental. Seemingly, the author wants to point out how important her eye for detail, and small events, or petit drama is, but it verges on the ridiculous. On the other hand, some of Duras' novels are characterised by drawn out episodes. It is a pity that Écrire is not illustrated with photos of her homes.
The text is the script of a film with the title La mort du jeune aviateur anglais, a film by Benoît Jacquot. In the film Marguerite Duras tells the story of a young, 20-years old British pilot who died an agonizing death in a tree top after his plain was shot down over Vauville during the later days of World War II. It is remarkable and touching how the villagers bury and keep memorial services for the young soldier for many decades. The beauty of the piece is that in La mort du jeune aviateur anglais Marguerite Duras has touched on a small, personal story about World War II. Too often, the War is commemorated in large, official and impersonal narrative.
Third in this collection is a text called Roma, which is the script of a short film with the title La dialogue de Rome. This is a somewhat peculiar script, which reads more than anything like an off-stage recording of an irritated actress. While the text of Écrire consists of narrative monologue, and La mort du jeune aviateur anglais the telling of a story, Roma consists of dialogues. It can perhaps be read as a short, experimental play.
Added to the three scripts are two short prose compositions. Without a critical introduction it is hard to understand the significance or origin of these texts. The first, Le nombre pur seems to be about a project consisting of people recording all the names of people, places, etc which have occurred in their lives. These names together would then form a condense snap shot of their lives, or collectively of history. The last text, L'Exposition de la peinture is a descriptive piece of an exhibition of paintings.
Écrire consists of very varied types of text, autobiographical and experimental. Écrire is beautiful and interesting, but many other books, notable interviews such as Les lieux de Marguerite Duras (which is referred to in the text) exist which essentially cover the same material, with minor differences.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras :
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
La maladie de la mort
Finished reading: 24 August 2013
In English: 
Écrire by Marguerite Duras consists of three film scripts and two short prose texts. Écrire is a short autobiographical film by Sylvie Blum and Claude Guisard. It is a documentary filmed in Duras' house in Neauphle-le-Château in which Marguerite Duras talks about writing.
In Écrire, Marguerite Duras speaks about the importance of her houses and the places where she has stayed for her writing. It is in a house that one is alone (p.1). She talks about the house, and the garden of her home in Neauphle-le-Château where she wrote some of her novels, as well as her house in Paris. She describes at length how she undertook an investigation about other people who had lived in her Paris home throughout the ages, and was surprised to find that among them there had never been anyone who wrote. The style of Écrire is contemplative, autobiographical memoires, and philosophical. It is probably not a good text for readers new to the author as it refers to several of her novels. The text does not give the reader many clues to Duras' writing, other than the prominence and importance of places, both as the setting for the work, the location where the work was written, and the way the house affects the author. It is obvious that at the time the film was made, Marguerite Duras was an author at the height of her career, aware that she could say or write anything and that all and anything would be recorded as if she were the oracle of Dephi. There is a long and sentimental passage about the death of a mouse: a passage which is clearly too long, and too sentimental. Seemingly, the author wants to point out how important her eye for detail, and small events, or petit drama is, but it verges on the ridiculous. On the other hand, some of Duras' novels are characterised by drawn out episodes. It is a pity that Écrire is not illustrated with photos of her homes.
The text is the script of a film with the title La mort du jeune aviateur anglais, a film by Benoît Jacquot. In the film Marguerite Duras tells the story of a young, 20-years old British pilot who died an agonizing death in a tree top after his plain was shot down over Vauville during the later days of World War II. It is remarkable and touching how the villagers bury and keep memorial services for the young soldier for many decades. The beauty of the piece is that in La mort du jeune aviateur anglais Marguerite Duras has touched on a small, personal story about World War II. Too often, the War is commemorated in large, official and impersonal narrative.
Third in this collection is a text called Roma, which is the script of a short film with the title La dialogue de Rome. This is a somewhat peculiar script, which reads more than anything like an off-stage recording of an irritated actress. While the text of Écrire consists of narrative monologue, and La mort du jeune aviateur anglais the telling of a story, Roma consists of dialogues. It can perhaps be read as a short, experimental play.
Added to the three scripts are two short prose compositions. Without a critical introduction it is hard to understand the significance or origin of these texts. The first, Le nombre pur seems to be about a project consisting of people recording all the names of people, places, etc which have occurred in their lives. These names together would then form a condense snap shot of their lives, or collectively of history. The last text, L'Exposition de la peinture is a descriptive piece of an exhibition of paintings.
Écrire consists of very varied types of text, autobiographical and experimental. Écrire is beautiful and interesting, but many other books, notable interviews such as Les lieux de Marguerite Duras (which is referred to in the text) exist which essentially cover the same material, with minor differences.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras :
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
La maladie de la mort
77edwinbcn
095. Bali, Java, en rêvant
Finished reading: 25 August 2013
In English: 
Bali, Java, en rêvant is a travelogue of the author's travels to Bali and Java with her husband. The book is based on two trips to the Indonesian archipelage, undertaken by the author, within a few months. While the author initially describes how the Far East has inspired a number of Western authors, such as Flaubert, Jules Renard, Loti, Victor Segalen, Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville, her own travelogue begins as a rather mechanical report of departure, arrival and the first steps on a pre-planned trail. While Christine Jordis writes that she is not like other tourists (note the tone of disdain), in fact, she is just that, and initially her story differs little from the average Lonely Planet traveller, including visits to all of the most common tourist haunts on Bali. The author offers the reader just about the most banal observations, and although she has a relative who lives in Jakarta (who doesn't, these days?), the Jordis does not visit or meet any remarkable people.
The tourist doesn't have time to listen and barely to have a proper look: they make photos. They frantically replace the organic eye by the mechanic camera, taking photos rather than memories. (p. 92)
However, about a hundred pages into the book, the dreamlike quality, the magic of the islands manifests itself through the historic and biographical narrative blended in with the author's travelogue. Thus, she includes portraits of, for instance. Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, painters who lived in Indonesia during the 1920 and 1930s. As a French author, Christine Jordis offers an interesting perspective on the history of the Dutch in Indonesia. She describes the court and royalty of the islands, and their culture, as observed in performances of shadow puppet theatre, dance and the gamelan music.
Christine Jordis uses her trip to Bali and Java as a vehicle to attach her readings to create a journey in the imagination, with particular interest for Indonesian aristocracy. Thus, there is a short chapter about Raden Ajeng Kartini's Door duisternis tot licht : gedachten over en voor het Javaansche volk (1911) (English: Letters of a Javanese princess.
However, in some cases Christine Jordis French perspective and lack of wider view is embarrassing, such as in the chapter À la recherche de Rimbaud (pp. 227 - 144). Jordis spends considerable time tracing the steps of the French poet, who is known to have visited Indonesia. Visiting the barracks where Rimbaud was quartered, she asks the Indonesians of any traces or monuments commemorating Rimbaud, Jordis seems to expect at least a commemorative plaque. This whole episode just shows her ignorance. If the author had just spent a little bit of time, she would have known that Rimbaud enrolled as a soldier in the Dutch colonial army. Recruits were paid half of their pay upon embarkation in the Netherlands, and the other half upon arrival in Batavia. Rimbaud made the journey, collected his pay and immediately deserted. Had he been caught he would have had to face a Dutch firing squad as deserter.
Bali, Java, en rêvant does not quite live up to expectation, then, again, contains many interesting materials and stories, while the beauty and interest engendered by the culture and nature of Bali and java are indefatigable.
Finished reading: 25 August 2013
In English: 
Bali, Java, en rêvant is a travelogue of the author's travels to Bali and Java with her husband. The book is based on two trips to the Indonesian archipelage, undertaken by the author, within a few months. While the author initially describes how the Far East has inspired a number of Western authors, such as Flaubert, Jules Renard, Loti, Victor Segalen, Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville, her own travelogue begins as a rather mechanical report of departure, arrival and the first steps on a pre-planned trail. While Christine Jordis writes that she is not like other tourists (note the tone of disdain), in fact, she is just that, and initially her story differs little from the average Lonely Planet traveller, including visits to all of the most common tourist haunts on Bali. The author offers the reader just about the most banal observations, and although she has a relative who lives in Jakarta (who doesn't, these days?), the Jordis does not visit or meet any remarkable people.
The tourist doesn't have time to listen and barely to have a proper look: they make photos. They frantically replace the organic eye by the mechanic camera, taking photos rather than memories. (p. 92)
However, about a hundred pages into the book, the dreamlike quality, the magic of the islands manifests itself through the historic and biographical narrative blended in with the author's travelogue. Thus, she includes portraits of, for instance. Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, painters who lived in Indonesia during the 1920 and 1930s. As a French author, Christine Jordis offers an interesting perspective on the history of the Dutch in Indonesia. She describes the court and royalty of the islands, and their culture, as observed in performances of shadow puppet theatre, dance and the gamelan music.
Christine Jordis uses her trip to Bali and Java as a vehicle to attach her readings to create a journey in the imagination, with particular interest for Indonesian aristocracy. Thus, there is a short chapter about Raden Ajeng Kartini's Door duisternis tot licht : gedachten over en voor het Javaansche volk (1911) (English: Letters of a Javanese princess.
However, in some cases Christine Jordis French perspective and lack of wider view is embarrassing, such as in the chapter À la recherche de Rimbaud (pp. 227 - 144). Jordis spends considerable time tracing the steps of the French poet, who is known to have visited Indonesia. Visiting the barracks where Rimbaud was quartered, she asks the Indonesians of any traces or monuments commemorating Rimbaud, Jordis seems to expect at least a commemorative plaque. This whole episode just shows her ignorance. If the author had just spent a little bit of time, she would have known that Rimbaud enrolled as a soldier in the Dutch colonial army. Recruits were paid half of their pay upon embarkation in the Netherlands, and the other half upon arrival in Batavia. Rimbaud made the journey, collected his pay and immediately deserted. Had he been caught he would have had to face a Dutch firing squad as deserter.
Bali, Java, en rêvant does not quite live up to expectation, then, again, contains many interesting materials and stories, while the beauty and interest engendered by the culture and nature of Bali and java are indefatigable.
78edwinbcn
096. L'été
Finished reading: 25 August 2013
In English: 
L'été (Summer) is a collection of essays by Albert Camus, which is recommended reading for readers who are new to the critical work of Camus. The pieces in this collection are considered to be less difficult and accessible than some of his other essays.
L'été contains several essays describing cities in Algeria, such as Oran and Tipasa. Tracing their history back to the Phoenicians and Romans, Camus rich descriptions reveal a wondeful portrait of these cities much like other great cities around the Mediterranean Sea.
More challenging are short essays about the Greek civilisation, in essays such as about Prometheus and the Exile of Helen.
For the largest part, these essays make for a few hours of pleasant reading, and enough of tickle to reread the more difficult pieces.
Other books I have read by Albert Camus:
Jonas ou l'artiste au travail, suivi de "La pierre qui pousse"
Finished reading: 25 August 2013
In English: 
L'été (Summer) is a collection of essays by Albert Camus, which is recommended reading for readers who are new to the critical work of Camus. The pieces in this collection are considered to be less difficult and accessible than some of his other essays.
L'été contains several essays describing cities in Algeria, such as Oran and Tipasa. Tracing their history back to the Phoenicians and Romans, Camus rich descriptions reveal a wondeful portrait of these cities much like other great cities around the Mediterranean Sea.
More challenging are short essays about the Greek civilisation, in essays such as about Prometheus and the Exile of Helen.
For the largest part, these essays make for a few hours of pleasant reading, and enough of tickle to reread the more difficult pieces.
Other books I have read by Albert Camus:
Jonas ou l'artiste au travail, suivi de "La pierre qui pousse"
79StevenTX
I've enjoyed your latest reviews. You're always coming up with books like your recent selections by Duras and Camus that I'm unfamiliar with, even though I have a large collection of both authors' works.
80baswood
Oh those impossible French! They never really want to leave France. Great reviews Edwin that have taken us down some little known byways of literature. Absolutely fascinating.
I think I have most of those Camus essays in Lyrical and critical Essays. Such wonderful prose.
I think I have most of those Camus essays in Lyrical and critical Essays. Such wonderful prose.
81RidgewayGirl
Thanks, Edwin. I've noted the German title for when I'm next near a bookshop.
82edwinbcn
097. Crimson China
Finished reading: 25 August 2013
In the early morning hours of 5 February 2004, 23 illegal Chinese immigrant cockle pickers died in Morecombe Bay along the northwestern coastline of England forming the shoreline of the counties of Lancashire and Cumbria, a few miles south of the Lake District.The cockle pickers drowned in the freezing waters after being cut off by the tides. Their death, and how they came to be working their, including their illegal entry into the United Kingdom made the international headlines. Twenty-one bodies were retrieved, the remaining two believed to have perished like the others. In the summer of 2013 a skull of one of these was recovered.
Betsy Tobin (1961) is an American author who has lived in the UK since 1989. In 2007 she started working on the novel Crimson China which contains a fictionalization of the drama in Morecombe Bay.
The novel focuses on the story of the three main Chinese characters, Wen, Lili and Jin. Wen and Lili are orphans following the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976. They grew up together. Jin is a young Chinese woman who lives independently in London. For many Chinese new arrivals, she is the first contact, offering shelter and guidance to finding jobs. The triangle relationship between these characters is gradually revealed, and forms the basis of the novel.
Wen is an illegal immigrant who paid a large amount of money to Chinese criminal organization to take him to the UK. This sum must be paid off through illegal labour. Having worked at several jobs, Wen becomes a cockle picker. On the night in February, when his comrades die off Morecombe Bay, he is rescued by a local English woman. This woman, named Angie, is a depressive alcoholic who had wanted to drown herself. Instead she saves Wen's life. She takes him into her house. In the relation that develops between them it seems Wen takes more care of Angie, as he cooks for her every night and takes care of her garden. Wen obviously has green fingers.
Lili travels from China to the UK believing Wen to have died. She tries to trace his life in London. Jin helps her find a job, but it gradually becomes clear that Jin cannot be trusted. What is it that Jin conceals? The friction over trust creates a tug-and-pull in their relationship, of which Lili cannot free herself completely. The dependence and danger that comes with it is cleverly woven into the structure of the plot.
Crimson China has an ingenious plot, laid out in alternating chapters, as the story-lines of Wen and Lili converge, the chapters about Wen starting from February 2004, and the chapters about Lili from September 2004, to the final chapters in November 2004.
Besides Lili's search for Wen, Wen is sought for by the Chinese crooks whom he owes his "immigration fee". This dimension of the story adds to the tension, especially Wen's capture and the final resolution to the story. These two search elements, all the while dodging the police, the fragile balance between dependence and danger, and the difficulties of making a living and finding happiness living in a foreign country, make Crimson China an enticing read, a page turner which is difficult to put down.
Betsy Tobin has written a very convincing novel. Having worked in China for a while, she gets all the subtle intricacies of Chinese culture, relationships and the use of Chinese language right, without over-doing it. The novel Crimson China is a true link between China and England, and a valuable interpretation and record of the life of Chinese immigrants in the UK. The Crimson China of the title is a wonderful find, showing the skill of the author in crafting the novel.
Finished reading: 25 August 2013
In the early morning hours of 5 February 2004, 23 illegal Chinese immigrant cockle pickers died in Morecombe Bay along the northwestern coastline of England forming the shoreline of the counties of Lancashire and Cumbria, a few miles south of the Lake District.The cockle pickers drowned in the freezing waters after being cut off by the tides. Their death, and how they came to be working their, including their illegal entry into the United Kingdom made the international headlines. Twenty-one bodies were retrieved, the remaining two believed to have perished like the others. In the summer of 2013 a skull of one of these was recovered.
Betsy Tobin (1961) is an American author who has lived in the UK since 1989. In 2007 she started working on the novel Crimson China which contains a fictionalization of the drama in Morecombe Bay.
The novel focuses on the story of the three main Chinese characters, Wen, Lili and Jin. Wen and Lili are orphans following the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976. They grew up together. Jin is a young Chinese woman who lives independently in London. For many Chinese new arrivals, she is the first contact, offering shelter and guidance to finding jobs. The triangle relationship between these characters is gradually revealed, and forms the basis of the novel.
Wen is an illegal immigrant who paid a large amount of money to Chinese criminal organization to take him to the UK. This sum must be paid off through illegal labour. Having worked at several jobs, Wen becomes a cockle picker. On the night in February, when his comrades die off Morecombe Bay, he is rescued by a local English woman. This woman, named Angie, is a depressive alcoholic who had wanted to drown herself. Instead she saves Wen's life. She takes him into her house. In the relation that develops between them it seems Wen takes more care of Angie, as he cooks for her every night and takes care of her garden. Wen obviously has green fingers.
Lili travels from China to the UK believing Wen to have died. She tries to trace his life in London. Jin helps her find a job, but it gradually becomes clear that Jin cannot be trusted. What is it that Jin conceals? The friction over trust creates a tug-and-pull in their relationship, of which Lili cannot free herself completely. The dependence and danger that comes with it is cleverly woven into the structure of the plot.
Crimson China has an ingenious plot, laid out in alternating chapters, as the story-lines of Wen and Lili converge, the chapters about Wen starting from February 2004, and the chapters about Lili from September 2004, to the final chapters in November 2004.
Besides Lili's search for Wen, Wen is sought for by the Chinese crooks whom he owes his "immigration fee". This dimension of the story adds to the tension, especially Wen's capture and the final resolution to the story. These two search elements, all the while dodging the police, the fragile balance between dependence and danger, and the difficulties of making a living and finding happiness living in a foreign country, make Crimson China an enticing read, a page turner which is difficult to put down.
Betsy Tobin has written a very convincing novel. Having worked in China for a while, she gets all the subtle intricacies of Chinese culture, relationships and the use of Chinese language right, without over-doing it. The novel Crimson China is a true link between China and England, and a valuable interpretation and record of the life of Chinese immigrants in the UK. The Crimson China of the title is a wonderful find, showing the skill of the author in crafting the novel.
83NanaCC
Edwin, Crimson China sounds quite good.
84RidgewayGirl
It does sound good. I'm always wary of books written by Americans about other nationalities, but if you think she got the tone right, I'll keep my eye out for the book.
85edwinbcn
>83 NanaCC:, 84
I agree. To avoid spoilers, I left quite a bit of the plot out of my review, but Crimson China is one of the few books that really kept the curious about how the plot would unfold, and I read it with excitement. Both the plot and the characters have many dimensions, making the development of the story seemingly effortless. Besides, the story suggests a number of side plots and motives, such as loss and redemption, trust and betrayal, etc. The writing is beautiful, so the reader can experience some of Wen's friendship picking apples in an orchard, or Lili's (and Wen's) loneliness on the middle of the bridge spanning the Thames. Another interesting motive, mirrored throughout the story is that of orphans, and what it means to be Chinese (or any nationality) far from home.
Betsy Tobin is the author of three other novels. Crimson China was featured and read on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.
I agree. To avoid spoilers, I left quite a bit of the plot out of my review, but Crimson China is one of the few books that really kept the curious about how the plot would unfold, and I read it with excitement. Both the plot and the characters have many dimensions, making the development of the story seemingly effortless. Besides, the story suggests a number of side plots and motives, such as loss and redemption, trust and betrayal, etc. The writing is beautiful, so the reader can experience some of Wen's friendship picking apples in an orchard, or Lili's (and Wen's) loneliness on the middle of the bridge spanning the Thames. Another interesting motive, mirrored throughout the story is that of orphans, and what it means to be Chinese (or any nationality) far from home.
Betsy Tobin is the author of three other novels. Crimson China was featured and read on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.
86baswood
Great review of Crimson China. One that I will look out for.
87edwinbcn
098. Intimacy
Finished reading: 28 August 2013
While there are many books about love and romance, there are but few books about the end of a love affair, and even if, not with such intimate detail. Such a book is Intimacy.
Jay and Susan were not married, but together since their student days, some 20-odd years, raising two children. For Jay, their relationship is nothing but a drag. There are quarrels, and there is no longer any sexual attraction, probably mutually, as Jay is quite aghast looking at himself in the mirror, viewing his big, hairy belly and the shrimp below it.
Jay has been pondering to leave Susan, and move into a friend's place for a while, but is clearly hesitating. Over the course of a day he evaluates his relation with Susan, going over many intimate details.
Not being married, walking out on Susan is a damned easy thing to do. Jay's agony is all rather self-indulgent. The story is entirely told from Jay's point of view, but readers will find it easy to sympathize with Susan and the children.
Other books I have read by Hanif Kureishi:
Midnight all day
Finished reading: 28 August 2013
While there are many books about love and romance, there are but few books about the end of a love affair, and even if, not with such intimate detail. Such a book is Intimacy.
Jay and Susan were not married, but together since their student days, some 20-odd years, raising two children. For Jay, their relationship is nothing but a drag. There are quarrels, and there is no longer any sexual attraction, probably mutually, as Jay is quite aghast looking at himself in the mirror, viewing his big, hairy belly and the shrimp below it.
Jay has been pondering to leave Susan, and move into a friend's place for a while, but is clearly hesitating. Over the course of a day he evaluates his relation with Susan, going over many intimate details.
Not being married, walking out on Susan is a damned easy thing to do. Jay's agony is all rather self-indulgent. The story is entirely told from Jay's point of view, but readers will find it easy to sympathize with Susan and the children.
Other books I have read by Hanif Kureishi:
Midnight all day
88edwinbcn
099. Lettres à un ami allemand
Finished reading: 28 August 2013
Translated and included in: 
Lettres à un ami allemand (English; Letters to a German friend) is a collection of four letters, written during the occupation and published clandestinely. The first of these letters was published in 1943, the second in 1944 and the final two were written in 1944, but published in 1945. After the war, the collection appeared is a small, numbered edition. Camus was opposed to translation of the work and circulation among foreign readers, although he did consent to an Italian translation. The reason for this is that, according to Camus the letters were written with the singular purpose of informing people about and re-invigorating the resistance.
The letters are addressed to an imaginary "German friend," but when addressed in plural vous Nazis are indicated. The letters are polemical, criticizing Germany's striving for dominance in Europe. They are a plea for justice, worded as a struggle against violence. The ends cannot justify the means. The letters are replete with descriptions and images of transports of prisoners and Jews, and speaks of the millions of deaths caused by the war. Fierce language is used to condemn the German cause, which must sway to the allied cause.
Beside the horrible descriptions, and fierce denouncements of the Nazi cause, the letters contain some beautiful and poetic images, such as the reminder that happiness should not be forgotten. Against the German-dominated Europe of fields of smoking corpses, Camus poses the finest traditions of a united Europe, from the castle in Prague to the stones of Venice. At this point Camus pointed at more than just a united struggle against fascism, towards a united Europe.
An English translation of Lettres à un ami allemand is included in Resistance, Rebellion, and Death.
Other books I have read by Albert Camus:
L'été
Jonas ou l'artiste au travail, suivi de "La pierre qui pousse"
Finished reading: 28 August 2013
Translated and included in: 
Lettres à un ami allemand (English; Letters to a German friend) is a collection of four letters, written during the occupation and published clandestinely. The first of these letters was published in 1943, the second in 1944 and the final two were written in 1944, but published in 1945. After the war, the collection appeared is a small, numbered edition. Camus was opposed to translation of the work and circulation among foreign readers, although he did consent to an Italian translation. The reason for this is that, according to Camus the letters were written with the singular purpose of informing people about and re-invigorating the resistance.
The letters are addressed to an imaginary "German friend," but when addressed in plural vous Nazis are indicated. The letters are polemical, criticizing Germany's striving for dominance in Europe. They are a plea for justice, worded as a struggle against violence. The ends cannot justify the means. The letters are replete with descriptions and images of transports of prisoners and Jews, and speaks of the millions of deaths caused by the war. Fierce language is used to condemn the German cause, which must sway to the allied cause.
Beside the horrible descriptions, and fierce denouncements of the Nazi cause, the letters contain some beautiful and poetic images, such as the reminder that happiness should not be forgotten. Against the German-dominated Europe of fields of smoking corpses, Camus poses the finest traditions of a united Europe, from the castle in Prague to the stones of Venice. At this point Camus pointed at more than just a united struggle against fascism, towards a united Europe.
An English translation of Lettres à un ami allemand is included in Resistance, Rebellion, and Death.
Other books I have read by Albert Camus:
L'été
Jonas ou l'artiste au travail, suivi de "La pierre qui pousse"
90rebeccanyc
I'm glad I finally had a chance to catch up with your always interesting reading and always interesting reviews. I find many of these books extremely intriguing.
91edwinbcn
100. De ziekte van Lodesteijn
Finished reading: 29 August 2013
The setting of the short novel De ziekte van Lodesteijn is that of a high school in the Netherlands. Lodesteijn is a teacher of classical languages. At first, it seems that Lodesteijn is a very eccentric teacher, but as the story unfolds, his behavior can be understood as a mild rebellion against the dictatorial headmaster. The story describes how Lodesteijn's behavior becomes increasingly erratic after the transition to a new school building.
The style of the novel is hyperbolic. While recognizable, the characters and their behavior are exaggerated. This has a comic effect, but also makes the novel as a whole less serious, as if it was written by a high school students, rather than a former teacher. The novel is successful at ridiculing developments in Dutch education, and the general trend of putting new and fashionable conceptualization in the place of traditional craftsmanship, in the exemplified by the architecture of the new school building. The story ends with Lodesteijn being laid off.
Lévi Weemoedt, the author of De ziekte van Lodesteijn used to work as a teacher, until he gave up on that career out of disillusionment. De ziekte van Lodesteijn, was followed by two sequels, Het nut van Lodesteijn and De nadagen van Lodesteijn.
Finished reading: 29 August 2013
The setting of the short novel De ziekte van Lodesteijn is that of a high school in the Netherlands. Lodesteijn is a teacher of classical languages. At first, it seems that Lodesteijn is a very eccentric teacher, but as the story unfolds, his behavior can be understood as a mild rebellion against the dictatorial headmaster. The story describes how Lodesteijn's behavior becomes increasingly erratic after the transition to a new school building.
The style of the novel is hyperbolic. While recognizable, the characters and their behavior are exaggerated. This has a comic effect, but also makes the novel as a whole less serious, as if it was written by a high school students, rather than a former teacher. The novel is successful at ridiculing developments in Dutch education, and the general trend of putting new and fashionable conceptualization in the place of traditional craftsmanship, in the exemplified by the architecture of the new school building. The story ends with Lodesteijn being laid off.
Lévi Weemoedt, the author of De ziekte van Lodesteijn used to work as a teacher, until he gave up on that career out of disillusionment. De ziekte van Lodesteijn, was followed by two sequels, Het nut van Lodesteijn and De nadagen van Lodesteijn.
92baswood
I have Resistance Rebellion and Death on my kindle and I am really looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the excellent review Edwin.
93edwinbcn
My review is only for Letters to a German friend, which was published separately in French, and has appeared in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese translations. An English translation is included in Resistance Rebellion and Death among various other essays and papers.
94wandering_star
Re: Crimson China; like RidgewayGirl I am usually wary of books where a Western author tries to narrate from a developing-country point of view, and the book's cover would normally put me off (not the one in your post, which I like, but the one from the book's work page and amazon listing, which is the back of a woman's head). But with your recommendation I will look out for this.
95edwinbcn
>94 wandering_star:
Crimson China is not written from a developing-country point of view. Most characters are Chinese people living in the UK, while two characters are British. The characterization of the Chinese characters is much better and rounded than the British characters, although all characters would benefit from a more in-depth description.
Hardly any biographical information is available on the Internet about the author, Betsy Tobin, but apparently she has lived and worked in China. Her characterizations of the Chinese characters and many details are spot on.
Crimson China is not written from a developing-country point of view. Most characters are Chinese people living in the UK, while two characters are British. The characterization of the Chinese characters is much better and rounded than the British characters, although all characters would benefit from a more in-depth description.
Hardly any biographical information is available on the Internet about the author, Betsy Tobin, but apparently she has lived and worked in China. Her characterizations of the Chinese characters and many details are spot on.
96wandering_star
Fair point, developing country is not exactly what I meant, I should have said writing about cultures which are often exoticised. In any case, I know from your other reviews and comments that you are quite alert to portrayals of China/Chinese people not ringing true, so I trust your review of this more than I would trust another reviewers.
97dchaikin
Catching up from September, some 30 reviews. That's quite a collection of books read and reviewed. Much of interest, very intrigued by Marga Minco.
98edwinbcn
101. Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent. Biografie van Jan Hanlo
Finished reading: 30 August 2013
Jan Hanlo was a minor poet in the post-war Dutch literary world. Nonetheless, Hans Renders has undertaken to write a large biography in 677 pages (523 pages in 14 chapters, plus 154 pages of notes, etc.). Despite Hanlo's overall limited impact, he is famous and canonized because of the first line of one of his absurd poems.
Renders extensively describes Hanlo's passion for Jazz music, motor cycles and ... young boys. Hanlo was born in the Dutch Far East, but grew up in a rural part of the Netherlands, as his parents were repatriated and divorced. Throughout his life, Hanlo was financially independents, eking a modest living out of the earnings on family capital invested in stock. Thus, he was able to subsist while living the life of a mostly unsuccessful poet.
After his youth in Brabant, Hanlo settled in rural Valkenburg, in the south of the Netherlands. Devoutly Catholic, he suffered much over his sexual orientation, being solely interested in young boys. Himself appearing youthful, somewhat oddly dressed in colourful clothes, sporting a reddish short beard, Hanlo is described as resembling a garden gnome, and various witnesses told the biographer that their initial feeling about Hanlo was a sense of repulsion. Hanlo is repeatedly described as "a weirdo".
Hanlo was an outsider in many respects. His peculiar appearance, combined with his early interest in jazz an motor cycles set him apart in rural Valkenburg. Living far from the urban centres, Hanlo missed the connection to the literary scene there, although he often visited Amsterdam. He was too young to connect with the pre-war Catholic traditional writers, and too old to belong to the movement of the Vijftigers (Generation of the Fifties), although his absurdist poetry stylistically most fit with their work. It was only through his persistence that Hanlo got his poetry published, often in minor periodicals, or the vanity press.
The biography offers interesting clues to the creation and reading of Hanlo's most famous poem Oote, oote, boe, suggesting that the poem should be read with a jazz rhythm, and making considerable contributions to possible interpretations of this odd poem.
Many of Hanlo's major poems are reprinted in the text of the biography. According to the author, Hanlo's poetry cannot be well understood without taking his pedosexual interest into account. Thus, most poems should be read as laments, odes or love poems to young boys Hanlo adored.
However, Hanlo's adoration was not merely platonic. Besides, or along with his peadophilia, Hanlo had a history of recurring madness. Arrest, castration and an early, experimental psychiatric treatment were a life-long cause of fear, and Hanlo would be locked up in mental hospitals various other times. Some of these fear-induced experiences are described in his (autobiographical) prose.
Hanlo shunned contact with people of his own age, and was always on the prowl, looking for pre-pubescent boys. He had several long-term correspondences going with young high school students, who contacted him, often on behalf of school newspapers they edited. The most famous of these was the young Ronald Dietz, who later became a major Dutch publisher.
Often against people's will, Hanlo's stubbornness and perseverance led to his success in renting a small lodge within the grounds of a boarding school. He seduced the children of his friends right under their nose, causing rage and disgust on their part. The biography does not reveal or describe cases where Hanlo went beyond fondling and reclining on his bed with the boys, although the overall atmosphere of the biography is such that he might, and perhaps simply did not because there was no opportunity. More opportunity presented itself in North Africa, where other writers flocked in the eraly 1960s. In his later years, Hanlo all but abducted a young boy from Morocco. However, as Hanlo failed to follow proper immigration procedures the child was extradited within three months.
Hanlo's biographer has done a thorough job, locating manuscripts, biographical sources and contacting people who have known Jan Hanlo. The now grown-up "boys" almost invariably describe Hanlo with tenderness, while most people in his surroundings keep their suspicions.
Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent. Biografie van Jan Hanlo was researched in the early 1990s and published in 1998, at a time when, perhaps, tolerance for pedophilia in the Netherlands stood at a relatively high point.
Finished reading: 30 August 2013
Jan Hanlo was a minor poet in the post-war Dutch literary world. Nonetheless, Hans Renders has undertaken to write a large biography in 677 pages (523 pages in 14 chapters, plus 154 pages of notes, etc.). Despite Hanlo's overall limited impact, he is famous and canonized because of the first line of one of his absurd poems.
Renders extensively describes Hanlo's passion for Jazz music, motor cycles and ... young boys. Hanlo was born in the Dutch Far East, but grew up in a rural part of the Netherlands, as his parents were repatriated and divorced. Throughout his life, Hanlo was financially independents, eking a modest living out of the earnings on family capital invested in stock. Thus, he was able to subsist while living the life of a mostly unsuccessful poet.
After his youth in Brabant, Hanlo settled in rural Valkenburg, in the south of the Netherlands. Devoutly Catholic, he suffered much over his sexual orientation, being solely interested in young boys. Himself appearing youthful, somewhat oddly dressed in colourful clothes, sporting a reddish short beard, Hanlo is described as resembling a garden gnome, and various witnesses told the biographer that their initial feeling about Hanlo was a sense of repulsion. Hanlo is repeatedly described as "a weirdo".
Hanlo was an outsider in many respects. His peculiar appearance, combined with his early interest in jazz an motor cycles set him apart in rural Valkenburg. Living far from the urban centres, Hanlo missed the connection to the literary scene there, although he often visited Amsterdam. He was too young to connect with the pre-war Catholic traditional writers, and too old to belong to the movement of the Vijftigers (Generation of the Fifties), although his absurdist poetry stylistically most fit with their work. It was only through his persistence that Hanlo got his poetry published, often in minor periodicals, or the vanity press.
The biography offers interesting clues to the creation and reading of Hanlo's most famous poem Oote, oote, boe, suggesting that the poem should be read with a jazz rhythm, and making considerable contributions to possible interpretations of this odd poem.
Many of Hanlo's major poems are reprinted in the text of the biography. According to the author, Hanlo's poetry cannot be well understood without taking his pedosexual interest into account. Thus, most poems should be read as laments, odes or love poems to young boys Hanlo adored.
However, Hanlo's adoration was not merely platonic. Besides, or along with his peadophilia, Hanlo had a history of recurring madness. Arrest, castration and an early, experimental psychiatric treatment were a life-long cause of fear, and Hanlo would be locked up in mental hospitals various other times. Some of these fear-induced experiences are described in his (autobiographical) prose.
Hanlo shunned contact with people of his own age, and was always on the prowl, looking for pre-pubescent boys. He had several long-term correspondences going with young high school students, who contacted him, often on behalf of school newspapers they edited. The most famous of these was the young Ronald Dietz, who later became a major Dutch publisher.
Often against people's will, Hanlo's stubbornness and perseverance led to his success in renting a small lodge within the grounds of a boarding school. He seduced the children of his friends right under their nose, causing rage and disgust on their part. The biography does not reveal or describe cases where Hanlo went beyond fondling and reclining on his bed with the boys, although the overall atmosphere of the biography is such that he might, and perhaps simply did not because there was no opportunity. More opportunity presented itself in North Africa, where other writers flocked in the eraly 1960s. In his later years, Hanlo all but abducted a young boy from Morocco. However, as Hanlo failed to follow proper immigration procedures the child was extradited within three months.
Hanlo's biographer has done a thorough job, locating manuscripts, biographical sources and contacting people who have known Jan Hanlo. The now grown-up "boys" almost invariably describe Hanlo with tenderness, while most people in his surroundings keep their suspicions.
Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent. Biografie van Jan Hanlo was researched in the early 1990s and published in 1998, at a time when, perhaps, tolerance for pedophilia in the Netherlands stood at a relatively high point.
99edwinbcn
102. Under the sign of Saturn. Essays
Finished reading: 30 August 2013
If you like reading a quality newspaper, and particularly like reading the longer contributions about art, and cultural background, then the essays collected in Under the sign of Saturn by Susan Sontag will probably interest you.
Susan Sontag's essays are characterized by a very broad spectrum erudition. The essays in Under the sign of Saturn mainly focus on France and Germany, the two countries Sontag has a particular interest in. Sontag lived in Paris for two years, where she studied at the University of Paris, and, although she did not speak German, Sontag was a German Studies expert and wrote many essays on various German authors, and German history and culture. The first, short essay, reminiscences on Sontag's time in Paris where she knew Paul Goodman.
Whether a reader will enjoy reading Under the sign of Saturn seems to depend on the interest in the topic of the essays and the ability to maintain an interest in reading them all the way through. Thus, the second essay introduces the relatively unknown French author Antonin Artaud in an essays of 57 pages.
The third essay is on Leni Riefenstahl, but rather than discussing the artistic merits of Riefenstahl's cinematographic works during the Nazi period, the essay's main focus is on a book of photographs, The Last of the Nuba, in which Riefenstahl apparently persists celebrating the fascist aesthetic ideals, suggesting she never came clear of fascism.
The most fascinating essays is the title essay "Under the Sign of Saturn" about Walter Benjamin. The essay is a superb synthesis of the cultural world just before the Second World War in Vienna and Paris, as Benjamin sought a way to escape the doom of fascism that was increasingly asserting itself. The essays describes various authors and painters in the surroundings of Walter Benjamin, including references to Paul Klee's painting "Angelus Novus".
The next essays, from 1979, is a review of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film Hitler, a Film from Germany.
These three essays, make Under the sign of Saturn an essay collection of particular interest to readers in German history and culture during the 1930s - 1940s, and the reception of its digest.
They are followed by an essays remembering Roland Barthes and an essay about Elias Canetti.
Other books I have read by Susan Sontag:
Where the stress falls
Illness as metaphor
AIDS and its metaphors
Finished reading: 30 August 2013
If you like reading a quality newspaper, and particularly like reading the longer contributions about art, and cultural background, then the essays collected in Under the sign of Saturn by Susan Sontag will probably interest you.
Susan Sontag's essays are characterized by a very broad spectrum erudition. The essays in Under the sign of Saturn mainly focus on France and Germany, the two countries Sontag has a particular interest in. Sontag lived in Paris for two years, where she studied at the University of Paris, and, although she did not speak German, Sontag was a German Studies expert and wrote many essays on various German authors, and German history and culture. The first, short essay, reminiscences on Sontag's time in Paris where she knew Paul Goodman.
Whether a reader will enjoy reading Under the sign of Saturn seems to depend on the interest in the topic of the essays and the ability to maintain an interest in reading them all the way through. Thus, the second essay introduces the relatively unknown French author Antonin Artaud in an essays of 57 pages.
The third essay is on Leni Riefenstahl, but rather than discussing the artistic merits of Riefenstahl's cinematographic works during the Nazi period, the essay's main focus is on a book of photographs, The Last of the Nuba, in which Riefenstahl apparently persists celebrating the fascist aesthetic ideals, suggesting she never came clear of fascism.
The most fascinating essays is the title essay "Under the Sign of Saturn" about Walter Benjamin. The essay is a superb synthesis of the cultural world just before the Second World War in Vienna and Paris, as Benjamin sought a way to escape the doom of fascism that was increasingly asserting itself. The essays describes various authors and painters in the surroundings of Walter Benjamin, including references to Paul Klee's painting "Angelus Novus".
The next essays, from 1979, is a review of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film Hitler, a Film from Germany.
These three essays, make Under the sign of Saturn an essay collection of particular interest to readers in German history and culture during the 1930s - 1940s, and the reception of its digest.
They are followed by an essays remembering Roland Barthes and an essay about Elias Canetti.
Other books I have read by Susan Sontag:
Where the stress falls
Illness as metaphor
AIDS and its metaphors
100baswood
Thanks for telling us about the essays in Under the sign of Saturn Sontag is usually worth reading.
101edwinbcn
Thanks, Barry. I am currently reading the first volume of Sontag's diaries, Reborn: Early Diaries, 1947-1963.
In the introduction, her son, David Rieff, who edited the journals for publication, that the essays on "Walter Benjamin" and on "Elias Canetti" are among Susan Sontag's most autobiographical essays. Both these essays are included in Under the sign of Saturn, as the in memoriam for Paul Goodman, which is another reference to her time in Paris.
Perhaps that's why I liked this collection so much.
In the introduction, her son, David Rieff, who edited the journals for publication, that the essays on "Walter Benjamin" and on "Elias Canetti" are among Susan Sontag's most autobiographical essays. Both these essays are included in Under the sign of Saturn, as the in memoriam for Paul Goodman, which is another reference to her time in Paris.
Perhaps that's why I liked this collection so much.
102edwinbcn
103. High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never
Finished reading: 31 August 2013
Stephen Jay Gould, the renowned writer in the field of natural history had the irritating habit of including two or three short essays, usually around 30 pages, on baseball in his books about natural history. Whether it was the editor or the author (more likely), many of his books contain such a small, unrelated section, even though in the case of Gould the title of many of his books specifically refers to "natural history".
Barbara Kingsolver takes up this trend, and pushes it a little further. High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never, her first published collection of essays, is a rather hybrid work. The book is a medley of essays, some about Natural History, and some about very down-to-earth, everyday occurrences in the life of the author and her family.
The author, and editor, make attempts to reconcile this choice by suggesting that the essay collection is on "issues around family, community and ecology." However, this merely seems an example of inventive packaging, an oblique excuse to say that the collection lacks focus.
To be sure, Barbara Kingsolver earned an MA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and has worked as a science writer for a number of years. Still, High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never is characterized by a paucity in content about Natural History, and the contributions which are about nature or natural science are superficial, and not very specific. However, the natural history essays in this collection are more characterized by literary style, often starting with references to classical authors such as Aristotle, Pliny the Elder or Thoreau. They are interspersed with essays about the most banal topics occurring in the author's family life and local community.
What makes the collection as a whole most readable is its down-to-earth style and being free from pretentiousness. Perhaps High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never is meant to illustrate that is every scientist, there is also a house wife or house husband.
High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never is perhaps interesting for readers who enjoy reading weekly columns, and the lighter style essays. Readers expecting to discover the naturalist in Barbara Kingsolver better move on.
Finished reading: 31 August 2013
Stephen Jay Gould, the renowned writer in the field of natural history had the irritating habit of including two or three short essays, usually around 30 pages, on baseball in his books about natural history. Whether it was the editor or the author (more likely), many of his books contain such a small, unrelated section, even though in the case of Gould the title of many of his books specifically refers to "natural history".
Barbara Kingsolver takes up this trend, and pushes it a little further. High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never, her first published collection of essays, is a rather hybrid work. The book is a medley of essays, some about Natural History, and some about very down-to-earth, everyday occurrences in the life of the author and her family.
The author, and editor, make attempts to reconcile this choice by suggesting that the essay collection is on "issues around family, community and ecology." However, this merely seems an example of inventive packaging, an oblique excuse to say that the collection lacks focus.
To be sure, Barbara Kingsolver earned an MA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and has worked as a science writer for a number of years. Still, High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never is characterized by a paucity in content about Natural History, and the contributions which are about nature or natural science are superficial, and not very specific. However, the natural history essays in this collection are more characterized by literary style, often starting with references to classical authors such as Aristotle, Pliny the Elder or Thoreau. They are interspersed with essays about the most banal topics occurring in the author's family life and local community.
What makes the collection as a whole most readable is its down-to-earth style and being free from pretentiousness. Perhaps High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never is meant to illustrate that is every scientist, there is also a house wife or house husband.
High tide in Tucson. Essays from now or never is perhaps interesting for readers who enjoy reading weekly columns, and the lighter style essays. Readers expecting to discover the naturalist in Barbara Kingsolver better move on.
103rebeccanyc
I don't think Barbara Kingsolver ever worked as a scientist, despite her degree. I'm more familiar with her as a novelist and short story writer, a little on the didactic side. Interesting to read about her essays.
104mkboylan
High Tides on my shelf. Now I don't know what to do with it! Perhaps I'll have to fall back on my own judgement.
105edwinbcn
104. The bookshop
Finished reading: 31 August 2013
The bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald describes and experience and sentiment of xenophobia and narrowmindedness, which is now hard to recognize. The short novel, or novella, is based on the author's own experience of setting up a bookshop in the English countryside in the late 1950s.
In the novel, Florence Green, whose name suggests innocence and inexperience, moves from London to set up a bookstore in a small town in the English countryside. She is happy to find that even in such a rural community, there is apparently room for a successful bookstore, that more people than expected have an interest in reading, and that particularly the more aristocratic part of the community would be the most liberal-minded. However, Florence may have been a little too optimistic about introducing the fresh, new wind from London. While there is an apparent massive interest in her attempt to introduce Nabokov's Lolita to her readership, this also marks the turning point in her success.
From the start Florence had met with opposition against her enterprise, notably from the locally most influential Mrs Gamart. She tried to thwart Florence's plans, by claiming to have had plans of starting a cultural centre in the building Florence purchases for the bookstore, a derelict building, shunned by the local community for fear of it being haunted.
However, what really haunts the villagers is an innate xenophobia, and aversion of strangers or new-comers, with their new ideas from the big city. Following the initially enthusiastic reception of Lolita, the community turns against Florence, who is seen to subvert or exploit Christine, the 10-year old girl who helps her in the bookshop. As her patrons turn away from her, Florence finds herself cornered as the community seems to conspire against her, leading to her demise.
Written in the late 1970s, describing a particular sentiment borne out in the 1950s, the theme of The Bookshop may be a little difficult for contemporary readers to understand.
Finished reading: 31 August 2013
The bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald describes and experience and sentiment of xenophobia and narrowmindedness, which is now hard to recognize. The short novel, or novella, is based on the author's own experience of setting up a bookshop in the English countryside in the late 1950s.
In the novel, Florence Green, whose name suggests innocence and inexperience, moves from London to set up a bookstore in a small town in the English countryside. She is happy to find that even in such a rural community, there is apparently room for a successful bookstore, that more people than expected have an interest in reading, and that particularly the more aristocratic part of the community would be the most liberal-minded. However, Florence may have been a little too optimistic about introducing the fresh, new wind from London. While there is an apparent massive interest in her attempt to introduce Nabokov's Lolita to her readership, this also marks the turning point in her success.
From the start Florence had met with opposition against her enterprise, notably from the locally most influential Mrs Gamart. She tried to thwart Florence's plans, by claiming to have had plans of starting a cultural centre in the building Florence purchases for the bookstore, a derelict building, shunned by the local community for fear of it being haunted.
However, what really haunts the villagers is an innate xenophobia, and aversion of strangers or new-comers, with their new ideas from the big city. Following the initially enthusiastic reception of Lolita, the community turns against Florence, who is seen to subvert or exploit Christine, the 10-year old girl who helps her in the bookshop. As her patrons turn away from her, Florence finds herself cornered as the community seems to conspire against her, leading to her demise.
Written in the late 1970s, describing a particular sentiment borne out in the 1950s, the theme of The Bookshop may be a little difficult for contemporary readers to understand.
106edwinbcn
105. Arcadie... Arcadie
Finished reading: 31 August 2013
Arcadie... Arcadie by the French novelist Jean Giono is a collection of two longish essays. In the title essays, "Arcadie... Arcadie" Giono describes the age-old tradition of growing olives. It is a marvelous piece of writing, referring to classical literature, while describing the growth of the olive trees, the harvest, processing of the olives and local anecdotes from the author's own experience. Many readers will be familiar with, and may be inspired by descriptions of vineyards, the harvest of grapes and the making of wine, thus, Giono pays glorious tribute to the olive.
The essays about the olives is preceded by the essays bearing the title "La piere", which is a full length exploration of the cultural significance of stone, particularly in Western culture.
Other books I have read by Jean Giono:
Voyage en Italie
Finished reading: 31 August 2013
Arcadie... Arcadie by the French novelist Jean Giono is a collection of two longish essays. In the title essays, "Arcadie... Arcadie" Giono describes the age-old tradition of growing olives. It is a marvelous piece of writing, referring to classical literature, while describing the growth of the olive trees, the harvest, processing of the olives and local anecdotes from the author's own experience. Many readers will be familiar with, and may be inspired by descriptions of vineyards, the harvest of grapes and the making of wine, thus, Giono pays glorious tribute to the olive.
The essays about the olives is preceded by the essays bearing the title "La piere", which is a full length exploration of the cultural significance of stone, particularly in Western culture.
Other books I have read by Jean Giono:
Voyage en Italie
107janeajones
The Bookshop sounds intriguing, Edwin -- I'll keep an eye out for it.
108edwinbcn
106. Phoenix
Finished reading: 1 september 2013
While the hey-days of hippies may have been the 1960s, when the movement spread to include an increasing number of people, the lifestyle persists and has morphed into the contemporary hipster. Phoenix by Melissa Pritchard, published in 1991, is a novel which describes the typical, alternative lifestyle of the hippies through the 1970s and 80s.
The novel offers a peek into the life of Phoenix, a woman, seemingly in her late thirties, who roams the country, traveling typically by means of hitch-hiking. Phoenix is shown to lead a free, unbound lifestyle, staying with friends, at times, dodging the dangers of a woman traveling alone. There are rich descriptions of the culture of flower-power, colourful dress, interest in Indian religion and mysticism, and the books by Tolkien and Hermann Hesse, while topological references such as Big Sur create cross references to the Beat Generation.
The story is told in alternating chapters, consisting of prose descriptions, followed by "journeybook entries" written in the first person singular.
Phoenix is a very evocative novel, which may bring readers strong memories of the hippie culture as it existed, and partly still exists in the United States. The book is particularly interesting from the sociological point of view.
Its author, Melissa Pritchard is perhaps relatively unknown, but is still active as an author. Her most recent work, a novel based on life of Vernon Lee, the pen name and male persona of Englishwoman Violet Paget, may prove that Pritchard will eventually enter mainstream publishing. The novel, Palmerino is scheduled to appear in March 2014.
Finished reading: 1 september 2013
While the hey-days of hippies may have been the 1960s, when the movement spread to include an increasing number of people, the lifestyle persists and has morphed into the contemporary hipster. Phoenix by Melissa Pritchard, published in 1991, is a novel which describes the typical, alternative lifestyle of the hippies through the 1970s and 80s.
The novel offers a peek into the life of Phoenix, a woman, seemingly in her late thirties, who roams the country, traveling typically by means of hitch-hiking. Phoenix is shown to lead a free, unbound lifestyle, staying with friends, at times, dodging the dangers of a woman traveling alone. There are rich descriptions of the culture of flower-power, colourful dress, interest in Indian religion and mysticism, and the books by Tolkien and Hermann Hesse, while topological references such as Big Sur create cross references to the Beat Generation.
The story is told in alternating chapters, consisting of prose descriptions, followed by "journeybook entries" written in the first person singular.
Phoenix is a very evocative novel, which may bring readers strong memories of the hippie culture as it existed, and partly still exists in the United States. The book is particularly interesting from the sociological point of view.
Its author, Melissa Pritchard is perhaps relatively unknown, but is still active as an author. Her most recent work, a novel based on life of Vernon Lee, the pen name and male persona of Englishwoman Violet Paget, may prove that Pritchard will eventually enter mainstream publishing. The novel, Palmerino is scheduled to appear in March 2014.
109rebeccanyc
A lot of interesting reading!
110baswood
All your recent books "spoke" to me Edwin
The Bookshop because I moved from London to a small village in the midlands and would understand the suspicions that outsiders can generate.
Phoenix, Melissa Pritchard because I was involved in the hippie scene in the 1960's and often wonder what happened to all those counter culture people.
Arcadie....Arcadie because I have a couple of olive trees and some vines here in the South West of France.
The Bookshop because I moved from London to a small village in the midlands and would understand the suspicions that outsiders can generate.
Phoenix, Melissa Pritchard because I was involved in the hippie scene in the 1960's and often wonder what happened to all those counter culture people.
Arcadie....Arcadie because I have a couple of olive trees and some vines here in the South West of France.
111edwinbcn
Thanks, Jane, Rebecca and Barry.
I did think of you, Barry, while reading Arcadie....Arcadie. I am not sure, or rather do not expect there will be an English translation, but the essay about olives was just about 60 pages, so it might be do-able in French...
Phoenix is partly based on the author's own experience. I am too young, but some of my friends, and particularly the parents of quite a number of my friends were steeped deeply in hippie culture, so the book was still very recognizable to me as "a very true portrait". It is one of Melissa Pritchard's early works, and came out with a small, local publisher (hence the clumsy cover), and the low presence on LT).
The Bookshop has been read by several members of Club Read. I picked it up after reading other members' reviews.
I did think of you, Barry, while reading Arcadie....Arcadie. I am not sure, or rather do not expect there will be an English translation, but the essay about olives was just about 60 pages, so it might be do-able in French...
Phoenix is partly based on the author's own experience. I am too young, but some of my friends, and particularly the parents of quite a number of my friends were steeped deeply in hippie culture, so the book was still very recognizable to me as "a very true portrait". It is one of Melissa Pritchard's early works, and came out with a small, local publisher (hence the clumsy cover), and the low presence on LT).
The Bookshop has been read by several members of Club Read. I picked it up after reading other members' reviews.
113edwinbcn
107. Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Finished reading: 1 september 2013
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras or "The Places of Marguerite Duras" is a fascinating book about places which were important in the life and work of Marguerite Duras. Seemingly more than in other languages, French publishers publish books consisting of interviews with authors and other public personae. Thus, Les lieux de Marguerite Duras is based on two television programmes of the same title broadcast in 1976, in which Duras was interviewed by Michelle Porte while visiting places that are dear to her.
In the first part Marguerite Duras describes her farm house in Neauphle-le-Château, where she wrote many books, such as Lol Stein and Nathalie Granger. There is some overlap with Écrire as Duras refers to the story of the mouse. As in Écrire Duras described how investigated her Paris home and was surprised to find that among them there had never been anyone who wrote, in Les lieux de Marguerite Duras she relates how she meticulously combed the farm house for any writings, and found none but a year, 1875, scribbled on a wall in the attic.
Reflections on the forest, remind Duras of her brother and lead to reminiscences about her life in Vietnam and the writing of Un barrage contre le Pacifique. From there, follow descriptions of places in India, and places of importances for the writing of Ravishing of Lol Stein and India Song. Duras gaily explains that the location S. Thala is an error and that she had the name Thalassa is mind. As she discovered the mistake later, she decided to leave it unchanged (p.85).
The interview text is interspersed with fragments from films, and richly illustrated with historical photo materials and stills from films based on books by Marguerite Duras.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
Finished reading: 1 september 2013
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras or "The Places of Marguerite Duras" is a fascinating book about places which were important in the life and work of Marguerite Duras. Seemingly more than in other languages, French publishers publish books consisting of interviews with authors and other public personae. Thus, Les lieux de Marguerite Duras is based on two television programmes of the same title broadcast in 1976, in which Duras was interviewed by Michelle Porte while visiting places that are dear to her.
In the first part Marguerite Duras describes her farm house in Neauphle-le-Château, where she wrote many books, such as Lol Stein and Nathalie Granger. There is some overlap with Écrire as Duras refers to the story of the mouse. As in Écrire Duras described how investigated her Paris home and was surprised to find that among them there had never been anyone who wrote, in Les lieux de Marguerite Duras she relates how she meticulously combed the farm house for any writings, and found none but a year, 1875, scribbled on a wall in the attic.
Reflections on the forest, remind Duras of her brother and lead to reminiscences about her life in Vietnam and the writing of Un barrage contre le Pacifique. From there, follow descriptions of places in India, and places of importances for the writing of Ravishing of Lol Stein and India Song. Duras gaily explains that the location S. Thala is an error and that she had the name Thalassa is mind. As she discovered the mistake later, she decided to leave it unchanged (p.85).
The interview text is interspersed with fragments from films, and richly illustrated with historical photo materials and stills from films based on books by Marguerite Duras.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
114edwinbcn
108. Winnie en de onschuld
Finished reading: 4 September 2013
Winnie en de onschuld contains two short stories which were originally published in Het Jongensmeisje by the Dutch author Joost Zwagerman. The title story "Winnie en de onschuld" tells an episode out of the life of a students in the Amsterdam of the 1980s. "White Palace" is a similar story about life of the wild side in Amsterdam in the 1990s.
The two stories offer entertaining reading, but little in the sense of depth or theme.
Other books I have read by Joost Zwagerman:
Duel
Gimmick!
Vals licht
Finished reading: 4 September 2013
Winnie en de onschuld contains two short stories which were originally published in Het Jongensmeisje by the Dutch author Joost Zwagerman. The title story "Winnie en de onschuld" tells an episode out of the life of a students in the Amsterdam of the 1980s. "White Palace" is a similar story about life of the wild side in Amsterdam in the 1990s.
The two stories offer entertaining reading, but little in the sense of depth or theme.
Other books I have read by Joost Zwagerman:
Duel
Gimmick!
Vals licht
115edwinbcn
109. Otto's oorlog
Finished reading: 4 September 2013
Otto's oorlog is a novel by the Dutch author Koos van Zomeren, which marked a turn in the author's style, moving away from writing detective and murder mysteries to embrace the genre of literary fiction. The novel seems to be the embodiment of a mental crossroads. Much of Dutch literary output is dominated by the Second World War. The psychological background of the main character in Otto's oorlog is formed by a speaking crow which his father possessed during the war, a crow which mocked the occupier by saying "Hitler is dead". Otto has a similar streak of rebellious nature, as he breaks with his former life and embarks of travels around the world while financially supporting an expedition to photograph birds in as various places as Turkey, Senegal and Mauritania.
Otto's choice can be seen as a tribute to the original bird in his life, his father's crow. During his travels, he is clearly seen as a confused, and weak character, easily dominated by Wessel and Simon, whose travels he sponsors. While the photographers try to capture birds with the lense of their cameras, Otto tries to capture memories and fragments of the memory of his father.
Other books I have read by Koos van Zomeren:
De lente, een veldslag. Voorjaar in Grindelwald
Het verhaal
Een jaar in scherven
Finished reading: 4 September 2013
Otto's oorlog is a novel by the Dutch author Koos van Zomeren, which marked a turn in the author's style, moving away from writing detective and murder mysteries to embrace the genre of literary fiction. The novel seems to be the embodiment of a mental crossroads. Much of Dutch literary output is dominated by the Second World War. The psychological background of the main character in Otto's oorlog is formed by a speaking crow which his father possessed during the war, a crow which mocked the occupier by saying "Hitler is dead". Otto has a similar streak of rebellious nature, as he breaks with his former life and embarks of travels around the world while financially supporting an expedition to photograph birds in as various places as Turkey, Senegal and Mauritania.
Otto's choice can be seen as a tribute to the original bird in his life, his father's crow. During his travels, he is clearly seen as a confused, and weak character, easily dominated by Wessel and Simon, whose travels he sponsors. While the photographers try to capture birds with the lense of their cameras, Otto tries to capture memories and fragments of the memory of his father.
Other books I have read by Koos van Zomeren:
De lente, een veldslag. Voorjaar in Grindelwald
Het verhaal
Een jaar in scherven
116edwinbcn
110. The Pink Hotel
Finished reading: 5 September 2013
The Pink Hotel by the young author Anna Stothard is just one rung up from a YA novel. A young woman arrives from London to attend the funeral of her mother whom she has hardly known, and begins a search for her father and people who can tell her more about her mother. This search, and the structure of the story, is conveniently facilitated by her theft of a suitcase which contains some of her mothers' personal belongings and letters. Each item or letter is the peg for another adventure. The setting of the story, and the backdrop of her search is the wild, lawless scene of Los Angeles of the US, as the story unfolds beginning with a sex-and-drugs lecherous party in her mother's the private apartment at the Pink Hotel.
The novel has all the characteristics of a badly written, style and thoughtless bravura by an adolescent author discovered by an editor who needs to score with a talent-in-the-bud. It is a stir-fry of sex, drugs, expletives and brainless story.
Finished reading: 5 September 2013
The Pink Hotel by the young author Anna Stothard is just one rung up from a YA novel. A young woman arrives from London to attend the funeral of her mother whom she has hardly known, and begins a search for her father and people who can tell her more about her mother. This search, and the structure of the story, is conveniently facilitated by her theft of a suitcase which contains some of her mothers' personal belongings and letters. Each item or letter is the peg for another adventure. The setting of the story, and the backdrop of her search is the wild, lawless scene of Los Angeles of the US, as the story unfolds beginning with a sex-and-drugs lecherous party in her mother's the private apartment at the Pink Hotel.
The novel has all the characteristics of a badly written, style and thoughtless bravura by an adolescent author discovered by an editor who needs to score with a talent-in-the-bud. It is a stir-fry of sex, drugs, expletives and brainless story.
117edwinbcn
111. The small hand
Finished reading: 5 September 2013
The small hand is a beautiful, spooky story that, unlike much of Susan Hill's writing in the past two decades reaches the high levels of mystery and suspense in her earlier novel The woman in black. Unlike The woman in black, which strongly evoked the atmosphere of Dickens, The small hand is firmly set in the present, but no less dreamy and haunted.
The small hand should particularly appeal to book lovers, as the main character is an antiquarian book dealer who buys and sells old and rare books. The framework of the story is his hunt for a first edition Shakespeare folio, which takes him to a monastery hidden away in the French Alps. The short novel has beautiful descriptions of English county houses, landscapes and the visit of the monastery.
Throughout the novel, the main character is drawn to a derelict garden, a once famous garden now not only forgotten by most people, but also buried deep in the main characters memories. As memories and visions blur and get mixed, doom is near at hand.
The small hand is a gorgeous story for readers who love subtle suspense.
Other books I have read by Susan Hill:
I'm the King of the Castle
The woman in black
The bird of night
The Beacon
Finished reading: 5 September 2013
The small hand is a beautiful, spooky story that, unlike much of Susan Hill's writing in the past two decades reaches the high levels of mystery and suspense in her earlier novel The woman in black. Unlike The woman in black, which strongly evoked the atmosphere of Dickens, The small hand is firmly set in the present, but no less dreamy and haunted.
The small hand should particularly appeal to book lovers, as the main character is an antiquarian book dealer who buys and sells old and rare books. The framework of the story is his hunt for a first edition Shakespeare folio, which takes him to a monastery hidden away in the French Alps. The short novel has beautiful descriptions of English county houses, landscapes and the visit of the monastery.
Throughout the novel, the main character is drawn to a derelict garden, a once famous garden now not only forgotten by most people, but also buried deep in the main characters memories. As memories and visions blur and get mixed, doom is near at hand.
The small hand is a gorgeous story for readers who love subtle suspense.
Other books I have read by Susan Hill:
I'm the King of the Castle
The woman in black
The bird of night
The Beacon
118edwinbcn
112. The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers
Finished reading: 7 September 2013
To write about China, particularly, to write about the political culture of China, and the organs of its political system, which is far less transparent than any organization in the West, one would assume the author to have a thorough and long-time knowledge and interest of China, an academic in Sinology or at least Asian studies, knowledge of the Chinese language, and possibly many years of dwelling in China. However, Richard McGregor, author of The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers has none of these qualities and qualifications. His only other book publication, Japan Swings: Politics, Culture and Sex in the New Japan (1996) suggests an flippant interest in the spectacular, and popular, cheap effect.
Knowledge of China's political system and the Communist Party of China (CPC) is widely available in the public domain to readers of Chinese. The merit of McGregor's book is that it brings a lot of facts and knowledge about China's political system and the CPC in particular together from many non-Chinese sources. The bibliography, at the back of the book, suggests that the author does not have a working knowledge of Chinese, and the book is based on a not even very impressive body of sources written in English, only.
The fundamental problem of The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers is that the author's writing is based upon the idea that there is only one, unified ideology of Communism. However, while Mao Zedong and other early Chinese communists were certainly inspired by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and subsequently influenced by Russian Communism, the roots of Chinese Communist ideology are much less based in class struggle, and more in China's effort to free itself from foreign incursion and foreign powers trying to subvert China to a semi-colonial position. The strength and hold that the CPC has over China is its success in unifying and holding together China's territorial integrity, while successfully keeping foreign powers and influence at bay.
McGregor rarely attempts to analyze or describe the ideological substrate of Chinese politics. Rather, his book merely describes events and symptoms, brought together from other sources. As with many other publications by non-academic authors, McGregor is negatively biased toward China, trying to find fault more than anything else.
The description of the milk scandal in 2008 shows up some curious holes and inconsistencies. While the author writes that he lived in China at the time, it is peculiar how he sketches the impression that Sanlu Company was the only company that had problems with its milk during the 2008 melamine milk scandal (chapter 6). While Sanlu was the only company singled out to take the blame for the milk scandal, it was clear at the time that all other milk producing companies were involved and had similar problems on a comparable scale.
Obviously, the author feels compelled to stir the pot of political dissent and refer to incidents and actions of Chinese political leadership which have been broadly meted out in other publications. It is a pity that publications like these, in their hunger and greed for sales and success, rather repeat the old stories rather than point out that Chinese people and leadership are also deeply saddened by such events, but that Chinese culture forms an obstacle to admit and face reality. It takes every nation time, at its own pace, to come to terms with its own history.
Finished reading: 7 September 2013
To write about China, particularly, to write about the political culture of China, and the organs of its political system, which is far less transparent than any organization in the West, one would assume the author to have a thorough and long-time knowledge and interest of China, an academic in Sinology or at least Asian studies, knowledge of the Chinese language, and possibly many years of dwelling in China. However, Richard McGregor, author of The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers has none of these qualities and qualifications. His only other book publication, Japan Swings: Politics, Culture and Sex in the New Japan (1996) suggests an flippant interest in the spectacular, and popular, cheap effect.
Knowledge of China's political system and the Communist Party of China (CPC) is widely available in the public domain to readers of Chinese. The merit of McGregor's book is that it brings a lot of facts and knowledge about China's political system and the CPC in particular together from many non-Chinese sources. The bibliography, at the back of the book, suggests that the author does not have a working knowledge of Chinese, and the book is based on a not even very impressive body of sources written in English, only.
The fundamental problem of The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers is that the author's writing is based upon the idea that there is only one, unified ideology of Communism. However, while Mao Zedong and other early Chinese communists were certainly inspired by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and subsequently influenced by Russian Communism, the roots of Chinese Communist ideology are much less based in class struggle, and more in China's effort to free itself from foreign incursion and foreign powers trying to subvert China to a semi-colonial position. The strength and hold that the CPC has over China is its success in unifying and holding together China's territorial integrity, while successfully keeping foreign powers and influence at bay.
McGregor rarely attempts to analyze or describe the ideological substrate of Chinese politics. Rather, his book merely describes events and symptoms, brought together from other sources. As with many other publications by non-academic authors, McGregor is negatively biased toward China, trying to find fault more than anything else.
The description of the milk scandal in 2008 shows up some curious holes and inconsistencies. While the author writes that he lived in China at the time, it is peculiar how he sketches the impression that Sanlu Company was the only company that had problems with its milk during the 2008 melamine milk scandal (chapter 6). While Sanlu was the only company singled out to take the blame for the milk scandal, it was clear at the time that all other milk producing companies were involved and had similar problems on a comparable scale.
Obviously, the author feels compelled to stir the pot of political dissent and refer to incidents and actions of Chinese political leadership which have been broadly meted out in other publications. It is a pity that publications like these, in their hunger and greed for sales and success, rather repeat the old stories rather than point out that Chinese people and leadership are also deeply saddened by such events, but that Chinese culture forms an obstacle to admit and face reality. It takes every nation time, at its own pace, to come to terms with its own history.
119edwinbcn
113. Fables of the Irish intelligentsia
Finished reading: 7 September 2013
Unfortunately, only the first story of Nina Fitzpatrick's story collection Fables of the Irish intelligentsia is brilliant and humourous.
Humour is based on a subtle balance or recognition and expectation, and sufficient banter in the margin. While Fables of the Irish intelligentsia is a short story collection, characters from the first stories re-appear in later stories, creating a sense of unity. This is badly needed in a collection which sweeps broad and wildly through ideas and world views which no one would associate with Ireland. The result are hilarious stories, with very few points of recognition, while the readers falls from one unexpected situation to the next. Incoherent, and ultimately, of little true interest. Very disappointing.
Finished reading: 7 September 2013
Unfortunately, only the first story of Nina Fitzpatrick's story collection Fables of the Irish intelligentsia is brilliant and humourous.
Humour is based on a subtle balance or recognition and expectation, and sufficient banter in the margin. While Fables of the Irish intelligentsia is a short story collection, characters from the first stories re-appear in later stories, creating a sense of unity. This is badly needed in a collection which sweeps broad and wildly through ideas and world views which no one would associate with Ireland. The result are hilarious stories, with very few points of recognition, while the readers falls from one unexpected situation to the next. Incoherent, and ultimately, of little true interest. Very disappointing.
120edwinbcn
114. Mortality
Finished reading: 8 September 2013
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens is a wonderful contemporary memento mori. While many of Hitchens's books are polemic, Mortality breathes the spirit of humanism, as it forms a quiet reflection on the authors' last months of life, in which contemplation of religion finds its place alongside literature.
The final chapters of unedited notes,give an insight in the process of writing, as they sharply contrast with the eloquence of the composition of the previous chapters.
Mortality is a dignified coda to a life of writing.
Other books I have read by Christopher Hitchens:
Blaming the victims. Spurious scholarship and the Palestinian question (ed.)
Finished reading: 8 September 2013
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens is a wonderful contemporary memento mori. While many of Hitchens's books are polemic, Mortality breathes the spirit of humanism, as it forms a quiet reflection on the authors' last months of life, in which contemplation of religion finds its place alongside literature.
The final chapters of unedited notes,give an insight in the process of writing, as they sharply contrast with the eloquence of the composition of the previous chapters.
Mortality is a dignified coda to a life of writing.
Other books I have read by Christopher Hitchens:
Blaming the victims. Spurious scholarship and the Palestinian question (ed.)
121edwinbcn
115. And the hippos were boiled in their tanks
Finished reading: 8 September 2013
Written in 1945, And the hippos were boiled in their tanks was not published until 1997. Alternating chapters were written in a collaboration between William S. Burroughs, who wrote the Will Dennison chapters, and the young Jack Kerouac, who wrote the Mike Ryko chapters. It is obvious, that at this early stage in their careers, Burroughs is the better writer of the two co-authors.
To readers who are averse of the style of Burroughs and Kerouac, despite its quirky title, And the hippos were boiled in their tanks is remarkably "normal" and atypical of the two authors' later work. Its main interest lies in the fact that it is an early work by these authors, and is based on a real murder case in lieu of which the authors were arrested as accessories. The novel is a reasonably enjoyable read, if your interest in the authors and the real murder case, are combined with an interest in reading regular crime and detective stories of the 1940s.
The novel begins with the four friends lounching in Dennison's apartment, and the sexy description of Phillip Tourian, seventeen years old, half Turkish and half American, " the kind of boy literary fags write sonnets to, which start out, “O raven-haired Grecian lad . . .” (p.4). The members of the little group hang out discussing poetry, while living a life in semi-poverty. Forty-ish Ramsey Allen follows Phillip around hoping to develop a lasting relationship with the young man, both in love and sexually.
The murder comes relatively late, towards the end of the novel (p.165), and the story barely handles the consequences. Obviously, the lounging lifestyle of the main characters with its subliminal (homo) sexuality is the mainstay of the novel. Relatively little happens in terms of plot, and the overall atmosphere is brooding, as the characters do not seem to know how to shape their lives.
The novel seems mainly of interest to a small readership that is either interested in the origins of the Beat Generation, or the beginnings of gay literature and its setting in Christopher Street in the New York of the mid-1940s.
In the Penguin Modern Classics edition (2008 / 9), the novel is followed by a long and informative afterword by James Grauerholtz.
Other books I have read by William S. Burroughs:
Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk'
The wild boys. A book of the dead
The Western lands
Finished reading: 8 September 2013
Written in 1945, And the hippos were boiled in their tanks was not published until 1997. Alternating chapters were written in a collaboration between William S. Burroughs, who wrote the Will Dennison chapters, and the young Jack Kerouac, who wrote the Mike Ryko chapters. It is obvious, that at this early stage in their careers, Burroughs is the better writer of the two co-authors.
To readers who are averse of the style of Burroughs and Kerouac, despite its quirky title, And the hippos were boiled in their tanks is remarkably "normal" and atypical of the two authors' later work. Its main interest lies in the fact that it is an early work by these authors, and is based on a real murder case in lieu of which the authors were arrested as accessories. The novel is a reasonably enjoyable read, if your interest in the authors and the real murder case, are combined with an interest in reading regular crime and detective stories of the 1940s.
The novel begins with the four friends lounching in Dennison's apartment, and the sexy description of Phillip Tourian, seventeen years old, half Turkish and half American, " the kind of boy literary fags write sonnets to, which start out, “O raven-haired Grecian lad . . .” (p.4). The members of the little group hang out discussing poetry, while living a life in semi-poverty. Forty-ish Ramsey Allen follows Phillip around hoping to develop a lasting relationship with the young man, both in love and sexually.
The murder comes relatively late, towards the end of the novel (p.165), and the story barely handles the consequences. Obviously, the lounging lifestyle of the main characters with its subliminal (homo) sexuality is the mainstay of the novel. Relatively little happens in terms of plot, and the overall atmosphere is brooding, as the characters do not seem to know how to shape their lives.
The novel seems mainly of interest to a small readership that is either interested in the origins of the Beat Generation, or the beginnings of gay literature and its setting in Christopher Street in the New York of the mid-1940s.
In the Penguin Modern Classics edition (2008 / 9), the novel is followed by a long and informative afterword by James Grauerholtz.
Other books I have read by William S. Burroughs:
Junky. The definitive text of 'Junk'
The wild boys. A book of the dead
The Western lands
122mkboylan
Oh God sounds interesting but I don't think I could get past the title!!!
referring to the poor hippos.
referring to the poor hippos.
123rebeccanyc
Great to catch up with all your reading!
124mkboylan
I'd sure like to read the China one, keeping your critique in mind.
I really enjoyed Mortality and keep thinking I hope I can die as well as he did, but watching my mom and knowing there's no telling where the brain will go in illness......
It sounds like the Palestinian one would be good even just for the intro.
ETA: I recently watched the two Hitchens brothers debate on youtube. That was fun. Probably not for the other brother though.
I really enjoyed Mortality and keep thinking I hope I can die as well as he did, but watching my mom and knowing there's no telling where the brain will go in illness......
It sounds like the Palestinian one would be good even just for the intro.
ETA: I recently watched the two Hitchens brothers debate on youtube. That was fun. Probably not for the other brother though.
125edwinbcn
Indeed, Merrikay, Blaming the victims. Spurious scholarship and the Palestinian question by Edward. W. Said & Christopher Hitchens (eds) was an interesting read, containing a lot of insightful information and statistics. However, as the developments in that region go very fast, I already had the feeling the book, published in 2001 was slightly out of date when I read it in 2006.
The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers is not a bad book, I gave it 3 stars. It does bring together a lot of information about the Party from a number of sources, and you will probably consider it insightful. Part of my lament, which I did not make explicit in the review, is that these days so many books are authored by journalists, rather than scholars, probably because the journalists are thought to be better writers for readability. However, many of such authors do lack the depth and critical skills of the academic authors, whom I would prefer.
I enjoyed reading And the hippos were boiled in their tanks, which I would give 3 or 3.5 stars for the story, but an added half star making four stars for the literary interest.
The party. The secret world of China's Communist rulers is not a bad book, I gave it 3 stars. It does bring together a lot of information about the Party from a number of sources, and you will probably consider it insightful. Part of my lament, which I did not make explicit in the review, is that these days so many books are authored by journalists, rather than scholars, probably because the journalists are thought to be better writers for readability. However, many of such authors do lack the depth and critical skills of the academic authors, whom I would prefer.
I enjoyed reading And the hippos were boiled in their tanks, which I would give 3 or 3.5 stars for the story, but an added half star making four stars for the literary interest.
126baswood
You have been busy Edwin.
Small Hand by Susan Hill sounds like something I might like.
I read with interest what you said about the French publishing books that are interview transcriptions etc.
Small Hand by Susan Hill sounds like something I might like.
I read with interest what you said about the French publishing books that are interview transcriptions etc.
127edwinbcn
The small hand was a jewel, and I am surprised there aren't more readers (only 313) on LT, perhaps because it was published in 2010, and the hardcover first edition was a bit dear, for such a small book.
It could easily be read in one sitting.
It could easily be read in one sitting.
128edwinbcn
116. A kestrel for a knave
Finished reading: 10 September 2013
A kestrel for a knave is a very harsh story, that offers a glimmer of hope, which is then ruthlessly dashed. The drama of the story brings out the hopelessness of growing up in poverty and the lower working class.
The setting of the novel is bleak, a grey, colourless indefinite miner's town northern England's Yorkshire. Billy Casper is on the verge of becoming a school drop-out, grown up in an anti-social broken-up family, neglected by his mother and bullied by his older brother, with whom he shares a bed. Billy drifts from petty theft, to a future of hopelessness.
In an act of thoughtlessness, more as a prank, he pulls a young kestrel hawk out of a nest, and decides to tame it.
Training a hawk is no mean feat. The first step is for Billy to take his responsibility, having taken down the young kestrel. Unable to find the books he needs in the library, he steals a book about falconry from the bookstore. Training the kestrel involves knowledge, skill, courage, self-confidence and perseverance. Unknown to himself, the young Billy experiences incredible personal growth, noticed by one of his teachers who comes out to observe Billy's mastery in falconry.
The novels ends with a drama, as his envious and mean brother, finds a way to hurt Billy deeply over a trivial matter, weighing a small amount of money more than immaterial culture and achievement.
A kestrel for a knave will inspire educators. It is nowadays classified as a YA novel, which epithet however should not withhold adult readers from picking it up and reading it, as it is a very moving story.
Penguin Books has included A kestrel for a knave, originally published in 1968, in its series of Modern Classics, with a new afterword by the author, Barry Hines, written in 1999. The afterword discusses the background to the novel, its reception and success, and the very successful film adaptation.
Finished reading: 10 September 2013
A kestrel for a knave is a very harsh story, that offers a glimmer of hope, which is then ruthlessly dashed. The drama of the story brings out the hopelessness of growing up in poverty and the lower working class.
The setting of the novel is bleak, a grey, colourless indefinite miner's town northern England's Yorkshire. Billy Casper is on the verge of becoming a school drop-out, grown up in an anti-social broken-up family, neglected by his mother and bullied by his older brother, with whom he shares a bed. Billy drifts from petty theft, to a future of hopelessness.
In an act of thoughtlessness, more as a prank, he pulls a young kestrel hawk out of a nest, and decides to tame it.
Training a hawk is no mean feat. The first step is for Billy to take his responsibility, having taken down the young kestrel. Unable to find the books he needs in the library, he steals a book about falconry from the bookstore. Training the kestrel involves knowledge, skill, courage, self-confidence and perseverance. Unknown to himself, the young Billy experiences incredible personal growth, noticed by one of his teachers who comes out to observe Billy's mastery in falconry.
The novels ends with a drama, as his envious and mean brother, finds a way to hurt Billy deeply over a trivial matter, weighing a small amount of money more than immaterial culture and achievement.
A kestrel for a knave will inspire educators. It is nowadays classified as a YA novel, which epithet however should not withhold adult readers from picking it up and reading it, as it is a very moving story.
Penguin Books has included A kestrel for a knave, originally published in 1968, in its series of Modern Classics, with a new afterword by the author, Barry Hines, written in 1999. The afterword discusses the background to the novel, its reception and success, and the very successful film adaptation.
129baswood
A kestrel for a knave was almost immediately made into a very well regarded film directed by Ken Loach and titled Kes:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064541/?ref_=nv_sr_2
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064541/?ref_=nv_sr_2
130edwinbcn
117. Maggie Cassidy
Finished reading: 18 September 2013
Maggie Cassidy is another very bland boy-loves-girl novel. Reading the broader range of works, it is remarkable how many of Jack Kerouac are described as a-typical for his so-called style.
Maggie Cassidy is largely autobiographical. Interference by the publisher's editors resulted in renaming some of the characters and separating the work from the unity Kerouac had envisioned for the work to form with his major novels, a move resented by the author.
Other books I have read by Jack Kerouac:
Big Sur
Doctor Sax. Faust part three
Tristessa
Finished reading: 18 September 2013
Maggie Cassidy is another very bland boy-loves-girl novel. Reading the broader range of works, it is remarkable how many of Jack Kerouac are described as a-typical for his so-called style.
Maggie Cassidy is largely autobiographical. Interference by the publisher's editors resulted in renaming some of the characters and separating the work from the unity Kerouac had envisioned for the work to form with his major novels, a move resented by the author.
Other books I have read by Jack Kerouac:
Big Sur
Doctor Sax. Faust part three
Tristessa
131edwinbcn
>Thanks, Barry.
I do not consciously recall having the film, but while reading the book it brought such vivid memories to my mind, that I suspect I must have seen the film televised, probably many, many years ago.
I do not consciously recall having the film, but while reading the book it brought such vivid memories to my mind, that I suspect I must have seen the film televised, probably many, many years ago.
132SassyLassy
Always amazed by your reading edwin. I thought I had added a comment somewhere after 105, but I probably didn't wait long enough for it to "take". I have ordered Arcadie...Arcadie. Unlike bas, I can only dream of having olives in my garden.
Also amazed by the idea that anyone could try to write a book like The Party without a basic understanding at least of the major ideological factions involved.
The Woman in Black also sounds like it has the right sound for me. What a thread!
Also amazed by the idea that anyone could try to write a book like The Party without a basic understanding at least of the major ideological factions involved.
The Woman in Black also sounds like it has the right sound for me. What a thread!
134edwinbcn
>132 SassyLassy:
I once read that Susan Hill could be considered the typical illustration to the idea that a successful marriage ruins a writer's career.
I am a great fan of her early work, published in the period between 1961 and 1977, when almost every year a book came out. I have loved the reading of books such as I'm the King of the Castle, Strange Meeting and The Bird of Night.
Susan Hill married in 1975. No books were published between 1977 and 1991, and the books published from then onwards are very different, not of the same quality of the earlier work.
The Woman in Black is the exception. It was published in 1983, a small volume, in which she apparently first discovers how to write a creepy ghost story, full of suspense.
Without having read any biography, I can only surmise that the conception of this work is related to the premature death of her second daughter, who was born during that period and died after only five weeks.
I once read that Susan Hill could be considered the typical illustration to the idea that a successful marriage ruins a writer's career.
I am a great fan of her early work, published in the period between 1961 and 1977, when almost every year a book came out. I have loved the reading of books such as I'm the King of the Castle, Strange Meeting and The Bird of Night.
Susan Hill married in 1975. No books were published between 1977 and 1991, and the books published from then onwards are very different, not of the same quality of the earlier work.
The Woman in Black is the exception. It was published in 1983, a small volume, in which she apparently first discovers how to write a creepy ghost story, full of suspense.
Without having read any biography, I can only surmise that the conception of this work is related to the premature death of her second daughter, who was born during that period and died after only five weeks.
135edwinbcn
118. Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir
Finished reading: 20 September 2013
Self-respecting Dutch intellectuals live in Amsterdam, a city with a long history and renowned for its liberal and free-thinking policies. Almere City, the youngest city in the Netherlands, created in 1976 in the Flevoland Polder, the newest Dutch land reclaiming projects, is usually looked down upon, as are its inhabitants, who are mostly believed to be low-class. Thus, Almere City is believed to be a fourth-rate city, a cultural desert lacking style and hopelessly provincial.
From February through June 2010, Stephan Sanders accepted the invitation of the city council of Almere to live there as a writer in residence. So, Sanders took up residence there at a distance of just 33.7 kilometers from his home in Amsterdam (p.26).
Stephan Sanders is a cosmopolitan Dutch citizen, openly gay, and deeply involved in the Dutch cultural scene as an author, freelance journalist, and TV & Radio host. Having suffered from a serious depression, Sanders' writings in the past three years seem more than previously concerned with looking for identity. Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir already belongs to his best writing.
Apparently very comfortable with his identity as a gay man, Sanders' writing shows that his reflections on identity are more focused on his ethnic background, as already became clear, in Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties (reviewed here). Of mixed parentage his biological father being a South African Coloured, Stephan Sanders was adopted and raised in the Netherlands by Dutch foster parents. In Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties (2007), Sanders explored his ethnic roots in South Africa and Surinam.
In Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir Stephan Sanders search for his own identity is contrasted with reflections on the life of his close friend Anil Ramdas, who settled in the Netherlands in 1977, shortly after the independence of Surinam. Anil Ramdas, born in Paramaribo, was a Dutch-Surinam essayist, journalist and TV host, with whom Sanders often worked together. Ramdas' took his own life on 16 February 2012.
Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir described the hopes and dreams of Anil Ramdas with respect to racial integration and the emancipation of the Surinam ethnic minority in the Netherlands. The cultural and political climate in the Netherlands was very positive and optimistic throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. As friends, Sanders and Ramdas traveled together to the Dutch Antilles and Surinam. They shared many ideas and dreams, by their shared ethnic and cultural background.
In Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir, the three story-lines, the development of the city of Almere, the life of Anil Ramdas and the life of Stephan Sanders are brought together, and cleverly entwined. The book is a profound reflection on the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. Highly recommended.
Finished reading: 20 September 2013
Self-respecting Dutch intellectuals live in Amsterdam, a city with a long history and renowned for its liberal and free-thinking policies. Almere City, the youngest city in the Netherlands, created in 1976 in the Flevoland Polder, the newest Dutch land reclaiming projects, is usually looked down upon, as are its inhabitants, who are mostly believed to be low-class. Thus, Almere City is believed to be a fourth-rate city, a cultural desert lacking style and hopelessly provincial.
From February through June 2010, Stephan Sanders accepted the invitation of the city council of Almere to live there as a writer in residence. So, Sanders took up residence there at a distance of just 33.7 kilometers from his home in Amsterdam (p.26).
Stephan Sanders is a cosmopolitan Dutch citizen, openly gay, and deeply involved in the Dutch cultural scene as an author, freelance journalist, and TV & Radio host. Having suffered from a serious depression, Sanders' writings in the past three years seem more than previously concerned with looking for identity. Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir already belongs to his best writing.
Apparently very comfortable with his identity as a gay man, Sanders' writing shows that his reflections on identity are more focused on his ethnic background, as already became clear, in Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties (reviewed here). Of mixed parentage his biological father being a South African Coloured, Stephan Sanders was adopted and raised in the Netherlands by Dutch foster parents. In Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties (2007), Sanders explored his ethnic roots in South Africa and Surinam.
In Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir Stephan Sanders search for his own identity is contrasted with reflections on the life of his close friend Anil Ramdas, who settled in the Netherlands in 1977, shortly after the independence of Surinam. Anil Ramdas, born in Paramaribo, was a Dutch-Surinam essayist, journalist and TV host, with whom Sanders often worked together. Ramdas' took his own life on 16 February 2012.
Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir described the hopes and dreams of Anil Ramdas with respect to racial integration and the emancipation of the Surinam ethnic minority in the Netherlands. The cultural and political climate in the Netherlands was very positive and optimistic throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. As friends, Sanders and Ramdas traveled together to the Dutch Antilles and Surinam. They shared many ideas and dreams, by their shared ethnic and cultural background.
In Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir, the three story-lines, the development of the city of Almere, the life of Anil Ramdas and the life of Stephan Sanders are brought together, and cleverly entwined. The book is a profound reflection on the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. Highly recommended.
137edwinbcn
119. The power of Babel. A natural history of language
Finished reading: 20 September 2013
The power of Babel. A natural history of language is an extended introduction to historical linguistics, particularly addressing the phenomenon on language change. The main idea proposed in the book is frightfully simple: there is no such thing as "a language", i.e. there is so much variation and language change going on at the same time, that it is hard to pin-point any language in a "finished" or fully-realized state.
Despite the very simple main idea of the book, The power of Babel. A natural history of language is hard to read, and, actually, rather boring. The author really goes over-board in giving examples. It seems the author's intention in writing the book was to include examples from as many languages as possible. Other authors, notably Jean Aitchinson's Language Change: Progress or Decay, explain the theory giving a limited number of examples. Thus, McWhorter's book includes all classic examples, such as Tok Pisin, in addition to a very large selection of other languages, pidgins, creoles and dialects.
The author repeatedly draws comparisons between the evolution of languages and evolution in the natural world, including concepts such as fossilization, survival and language death. Particularly the last chapter, about language death, attempts to preserve and document languages and the call to make efforts to rescue languages, closely resembles David Crystal's book Language Death.
McWhorter's fascination with the multitude of languages and the chaos in development is best expressed through the titles of his chapters, as they are, for instance, "The First Language Morphs into Six Thousand New Ones" (Chapter 1), "The Six Thousand Languages Develop into Clusters of Sublanguages" (Chapter 2), "The Thousands of Dialects Mix with One Another" (Chapter 3) and "The Thousands of Dialects of Thousands of Languages All Develop Far Beyond the Call of Duty" (Chapter 5).
Readers who share a fascination for language variety may enjoy the multiple upon multiple examples from many well-known and many exotic languages. However, for the reader interested in a good introduction into the subject, it may be advisable to read a book that is clear, without offering an over-kill of examples. There any many similar books about this subject available.
Finished reading: 20 September 2013
The power of Babel. A natural history of language is an extended introduction to historical linguistics, particularly addressing the phenomenon on language change. The main idea proposed in the book is frightfully simple: there is no such thing as "a language", i.e. there is so much variation and language change going on at the same time, that it is hard to pin-point any language in a "finished" or fully-realized state.
Despite the very simple main idea of the book, The power of Babel. A natural history of language is hard to read, and, actually, rather boring. The author really goes over-board in giving examples. It seems the author's intention in writing the book was to include examples from as many languages as possible. Other authors, notably Jean Aitchinson's Language Change: Progress or Decay, explain the theory giving a limited number of examples. Thus, McWhorter's book includes all classic examples, such as Tok Pisin, in addition to a very large selection of other languages, pidgins, creoles and dialects.
The author repeatedly draws comparisons between the evolution of languages and evolution in the natural world, including concepts such as fossilization, survival and language death. Particularly the last chapter, about language death, attempts to preserve and document languages and the call to make efforts to rescue languages, closely resembles David Crystal's book Language Death.
McWhorter's fascination with the multitude of languages and the chaos in development is best expressed through the titles of his chapters, as they are, for instance, "The First Language Morphs into Six Thousand New Ones" (Chapter 1), "The Six Thousand Languages Develop into Clusters of Sublanguages" (Chapter 2), "The Thousands of Dialects Mix with One Another" (Chapter 3) and "The Thousands of Dialects of Thousands of Languages All Develop Far Beyond the Call of Duty" (Chapter 5).
Readers who share a fascination for language variety may enjoy the multiple upon multiple examples from many well-known and many exotic languages. However, for the reader interested in a good introduction into the subject, it may be advisable to read a book that is clear, without offering an over-kill of examples. There any many similar books about this subject available.
138edwinbcn
120. Points of view
Finished reading: 22 September 2013
In his life time W. Somerset Maugham was celebrated for his plays, while posterity mainly remembers him for his novels and short stories. Maugham is not specifically remembered for his essays. Indeed, he wrote but few, and these were mainly written and published in his later life.
His success as a novelist had brought W. Somerset Maugham considerable personal wealth, so that in 1926 he bought a villa in the south of France. Conceived while he was in his late seventies, the essays in Points of view were written as diversions, or as the author put it "{i}t has given me pleasure to do so". The Vintage edition does not mention whether the essays were published in magazines or newspapers. The essays are characterized by a highly personal style, as it seems, less with publication in mind, and more to satisfy the author's personal needs.
In the first essay "The Three Novels of a Poet" Maugham reminiscences on his youth in Europe when he learnt German at school, and came to love Heidelberg and the novels of Goethe. The essays is a very personal reception of Goethe's life and work, described as characteristic for its time and describing the movement of Romanticism and the literary and cultural scene of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, discussing Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (English: The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (English:Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship) (1796) and Die Wahlverwandtschaften) (English:The Elective Affinities) (1809).
The next essay "The Saint" is based on experience gathered during Maugham's visit to India in 1936. It describes the religious culture of India, based in a description of a holy man, the Maharshi Venkataraman. While Indian religion has entered the cultural awareness of many well-educated Westerners since the 1970s, Maugham's experience in the 1930s must have been exotic, while his description of the essay in Points of view in 1958, must have been at least as refreshing. Nonetheless, the piece stands out somewhat awkwardly in a collection of essays that is mainly focused on the reception of Western literature.
The most interesting essay seems to be the third, entitled "Prose and Dr. Tillotson". The essay deals with the life and works of John Tillotson who worked and lived as a clergyman during the English Civil War period and the Restoration. The essay is somewhat muddled, beginning with a false start, and the third part being the most readable. On the whole, however, this essay, while somewhat difficult, is most rewarding.
Himself a successful author in the genre of the short story, the next essay, "The Short Story" describes the work of a number of masters of the genre, who were already famous in Maugham's time, such as Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant and Katherine Mansfield. In the final essay, Maugham ponders on "Three Journalists" and their work, that is to says authors who journalise, i.e. "keep a journal". The authors described in detail in this essays are Edmund de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt, Jules Renard and Paul Léautaud. There are asides to other literary figures during that period in French literature, such as Alphonse Daudet and André Gide.
Points of view offers a very mixed lot of essays, which readers are invited to enjoy as the author did while writing them, viz. leisurely, as a diversion. The organisation of this collection of essays seems to have exactly that reader in mind, starting with a light course on German literature, for entremeses a short piece of something exotic, a substantial main course in the form of the essay about John Tillotson. If the essay on "The Short Story" is a vintage wine, then "Three Journalists" can be taken as a cheese board, with three chunks and some lighter crumbs.
Other books I have read by W. Somerset Maugham:
The moon and sixpence
Up at the villa
The painted veil
Of human bondage
Finished reading: 22 September 2013
In his life time W. Somerset Maugham was celebrated for his plays, while posterity mainly remembers him for his novels and short stories. Maugham is not specifically remembered for his essays. Indeed, he wrote but few, and these were mainly written and published in his later life.
His success as a novelist had brought W. Somerset Maugham considerable personal wealth, so that in 1926 he bought a villa in the south of France. Conceived while he was in his late seventies, the essays in Points of view were written as diversions, or as the author put it "{i}t has given me pleasure to do so". The Vintage edition does not mention whether the essays were published in magazines or newspapers. The essays are characterized by a highly personal style, as it seems, less with publication in mind, and more to satisfy the author's personal needs.
In the first essay "The Three Novels of a Poet" Maugham reminiscences on his youth in Europe when he learnt German at school, and came to love Heidelberg and the novels of Goethe. The essays is a very personal reception of Goethe's life and work, described as characteristic for its time and describing the movement of Romanticism and the literary and cultural scene of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, discussing Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (English: The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (English:Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship) (1796) and Die Wahlverwandtschaften) (English:The Elective Affinities) (1809).
The next essay "The Saint" is based on experience gathered during Maugham's visit to India in 1936. It describes the religious culture of India, based in a description of a holy man, the Maharshi Venkataraman. While Indian religion has entered the cultural awareness of many well-educated Westerners since the 1970s, Maugham's experience in the 1930s must have been exotic, while his description of the essay in Points of view in 1958, must have been at least as refreshing. Nonetheless, the piece stands out somewhat awkwardly in a collection of essays that is mainly focused on the reception of Western literature.
The most interesting essay seems to be the third, entitled "Prose and Dr. Tillotson". The essay deals with the life and works of John Tillotson who worked and lived as a clergyman during the English Civil War period and the Restoration. The essay is somewhat muddled, beginning with a false start, and the third part being the most readable. On the whole, however, this essay, while somewhat difficult, is most rewarding.
Himself a successful author in the genre of the short story, the next essay, "The Short Story" describes the work of a number of masters of the genre, who were already famous in Maugham's time, such as Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant and Katherine Mansfield. In the final essay, Maugham ponders on "Three Journalists" and their work, that is to says authors who journalise, i.e. "keep a journal". The authors described in detail in this essays are Edmund de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt, Jules Renard and Paul Léautaud. There are asides to other literary figures during that period in French literature, such as Alphonse Daudet and André Gide.
Points of view offers a very mixed lot of essays, which readers are invited to enjoy as the author did while writing them, viz. leisurely, as a diversion. The organisation of this collection of essays seems to have exactly that reader in mind, starting with a light course on German literature, for entremeses a short piece of something exotic, a substantial main course in the form of the essay about John Tillotson. If the essay on "The Short Story" is a vintage wine, then "Three Journalists" can be taken as a cheese board, with three chunks and some lighter crumbs.
Other books I have read by W. Somerset Maugham:
The moon and sixpence
Up at the villa
The painted veil
Of human bondage
139edwinbcn
121. The vagrant mood
Finished reading: 23 September 2013
Like the essays in Points of view (1958), the essays in The vagrant mood were written in W. Somerset Maugham later life, and bear characteristics of being written leisurely, based on reminiscences of an author who is looking back on a long and interesting life.
In the first essay, "Augustus", Maugham describes the life and fate of Augustus Hare, "the last Victorian" who appears as quite a dandy. Maugham had met and befriended Augustus Hare as a young man and was obviously fascinated by this peculiar descendant of pedigree.
In a similar vein, the last essay "Some Novelists I Have Known" describes authors Maugham met in his life time, particularly in his later life. There are some very enjoyable anecdotes about Henry James, H.G. Wells and Arnold Bennett.
The second essay in the collection describes Maugham's appreciation and the life of the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán. The next three essays are about letters, "The Decline and Fall of the Detective Story", "After Reading Burke" and "Reflections on a Certain Book".
The vagrant mood seems particularly interesting for readers with an interest in the late Victorian and Edwardian period, the epoch W. Somerset Maugham himself was active, as it contains his observations and reflections of the literary and cultural scene at that time.
Other books I have read by W. Somerset Maugham:
Points of view
The moon and sixpence
Up at the villa
The painted veil
Of human bondage
Finished reading: 23 September 2013
Like the essays in Points of view (1958), the essays in The vagrant mood were written in W. Somerset Maugham later life, and bear characteristics of being written leisurely, based on reminiscences of an author who is looking back on a long and interesting life.
In the first essay, "Augustus", Maugham describes the life and fate of Augustus Hare, "the last Victorian" who appears as quite a dandy. Maugham had met and befriended Augustus Hare as a young man and was obviously fascinated by this peculiar descendant of pedigree.
In a similar vein, the last essay "Some Novelists I Have Known" describes authors Maugham met in his life time, particularly in his later life. There are some very enjoyable anecdotes about Henry James, H.G. Wells and Arnold Bennett.
The second essay in the collection describes Maugham's appreciation and the life of the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán. The next three essays are about letters, "The Decline and Fall of the Detective Story", "After Reading Burke" and "Reflections on a Certain Book".
The vagrant mood seems particularly interesting for readers with an interest in the late Victorian and Edwardian period, the epoch W. Somerset Maugham himself was active, as it contains his observations and reflections of the literary and cultural scene at that time.
Other books I have read by W. Somerset Maugham:
Points of view
The moon and sixpence
Up at the villa
The painted veil
Of human bondage
140edwinbcn
122. The old religion
Finished reading: 25 September 2013
The old religion by the American author David Mamet picks up an interesting theme, which is dealt with lacking passion. The opening chapters create a strong and lasting impression of the history of antisemitism in the United States, which keeps hovering as a dark cloud over the story. However, to Leo Frank, the main character, economic success in the second decade of the Twentieth Century has made those memories of his grand-parents in the 1860s seem far away. When Frank is falsely accused of murder, he is fully confident that he will be acquitted. The novel describes his mental states throughout the stages of the trial and his imprisonment. It shows Frank's disdain about the Gentiles who put him through this chore, which he seems sure will soon end. However, Frank is sentenced to life imprisonment, and toward the end of the book he is mobbed and lynched.
While the theme of the novel is interesting, the understated way of telling the story, makes for rather bloodless descriptions, and ultimately a rather uninteresting book.
Other books I have read by David Mamet:
The village
Finished reading: 25 September 2013
The old religion by the American author David Mamet picks up an interesting theme, which is dealt with lacking passion. The opening chapters create a strong and lasting impression of the history of antisemitism in the United States, which keeps hovering as a dark cloud over the story. However, to Leo Frank, the main character, economic success in the second decade of the Twentieth Century has made those memories of his grand-parents in the 1860s seem far away. When Frank is falsely accused of murder, he is fully confident that he will be acquitted. The novel describes his mental states throughout the stages of the trial and his imprisonment. It shows Frank's disdain about the Gentiles who put him through this chore, which he seems sure will soon end. However, Frank is sentenced to life imprisonment, and toward the end of the book he is mobbed and lynched.
While the theme of the novel is interesting, the understated way of telling the story, makes for rather bloodless descriptions, and ultimately a rather uninteresting book.
Other books I have read by David Mamet:
The village
141rebeccanyc
Too bad about the McWhorter, as I enjoy books about language.
143edwinbcn
123. Un barrage contre le Pacifique
Finished reading: 30 September 2013
In English: 
Un barrage contre le Pacifique (English: The Sea Wall) is essential reading for readers interested in Marguerite Duras. It is an autobiographical novel about the author's youth in French Indo-China, particularly that part of Cambodia, now part of Vietnam. The author appears in the novel as Suzanne, who lives on a concession with her Mother and older brother Joseph.
From the earliest parts of the novel, the theme of decay dominates the story. Everything around the family is old, or broken or flawed. The books opens with Joseph's purchase of an old horse. The animal is so old and weak that it dies in a matter of days. This episode is followed by episodes about the family's ancient car, and, most importantly, the concession which Mother had leased, which turned out to be the worst plot of land in the district, as it is inundated most of the year. Only the bungalow, where they live remains dry. Mother was assigned to this useless plot of land by corrupt officials.
The economic decay surrounding the family lowers their status, and makes them vulnerable. The son of a wealthy Chinese merchant, Mr Jo, makes use of this weakness by approaching the family, and showing his interest in the young Suzanne. He gives her expensive presents, but wants something in return:
"Demain vous aurez votre phonographe, dit M. Jo. Dès demain. Un magnifique VOIX DE SON MAÎTRE. Ma petite Suzanne chérie, ouvrez une seconde et vous aurez votre phono."
The novel dwells upon the final days of colonial power in French Indo-China, as decay and corruption spread, while the status of the white colonists erodes, and wealthy Asians, particularly the Chinese begin to manisfest themselves. In autobiographical writing, published many years after the novel, Duras declared that the nationality of Mr Jo was Chinese. Likely, "Jo" is the francophone form of the Chinese name Zhou.
Despite the air of decay in colonial society, Suzanne and Joseph find freedom and release in the lush wilderness of the forest that surrounds their concession.
The novel build up slowly, and dwells long on a limited number of motives, to bring each to full bearing upon the story.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
Finished reading: 30 September 2013
In English: 
Un barrage contre le Pacifique (English: The Sea Wall) is essential reading for readers interested in Marguerite Duras. It is an autobiographical novel about the author's youth in French Indo-China, particularly that part of Cambodia, now part of Vietnam. The author appears in the novel as Suzanne, who lives on a concession with her Mother and older brother Joseph.
From the earliest parts of the novel, the theme of decay dominates the story. Everything around the family is old, or broken or flawed. The books opens with Joseph's purchase of an old horse. The animal is so old and weak that it dies in a matter of days. This episode is followed by episodes about the family's ancient car, and, most importantly, the concession which Mother had leased, which turned out to be the worst plot of land in the district, as it is inundated most of the year. Only the bungalow, where they live remains dry. Mother was assigned to this useless plot of land by corrupt officials.
The economic decay surrounding the family lowers their status, and makes them vulnerable. The son of a wealthy Chinese merchant, Mr Jo, makes use of this weakness by approaching the family, and showing his interest in the young Suzanne. He gives her expensive presents, but wants something in return:
"Demain vous aurez votre phonographe, dit M. Jo. Dès demain. Un magnifique VOIX DE SON MAÎTRE. Ma petite Suzanne chérie, ouvrez une seconde et vous aurez votre phono."
The novel dwells upon the final days of colonial power in French Indo-China, as decay and corruption spread, while the status of the white colonists erodes, and wealthy Asians, particularly the Chinese begin to manisfest themselves. In autobiographical writing, published many years after the novel, Duras declared that the nationality of Mr Jo was Chinese. Likely, "Jo" is the francophone form of the Chinese name Zhou.
Despite the air of decay in colonial society, Suzanne and Joseph find freedom and release in the lush wilderness of the forest that surrounds their concession.
The novel build up slowly, and dwells long on a limited number of motives, to bring each to full bearing upon the story.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
144edwinbcn
124. Academic graffiti (In memoriam Ogden Nash)
Finished reading: 1 October 2013
Academic graffiti (In memoriam Ogden Nash) is a collection of very light, playful verse by W.H. Auden. Much of it is nonsense, some quite funny. A booklet which can be read in less than an hour.
Martin Buber
Never said "Thou" to a tuber:
Despite his creed,
He did not feel the need.
Lord Byron
Once succumbed to a Siren:
His flesh was weak,
Hers Greek.
Charles Dickens
Could find nothing to say to chickens,
But gossipping with rabbits
Became one of his habits.
Sir Rider Haggard,
Was completely staggered
When his bride-to-be
Announced "I AM SHE!"
Joseph Haydn
Never read Dryden
Nor did John Dryden
Ever hear Haydn.
Other books I have read by W.H. Auden:
Journey to a war
Finished reading: 1 October 2013
Academic graffiti (In memoriam Ogden Nash) is a collection of very light, playful verse by W.H. Auden. Much of it is nonsense, some quite funny. A booklet which can be read in less than an hour.
Martin Buber
Never said "Thou" to a tuber:
Despite his creed,
He did not feel the need.
Lord Byron
Once succumbed to a Siren:
His flesh was weak,
Hers Greek.
Charles Dickens
Could find nothing to say to chickens,
But gossipping with rabbits
Became one of his habits.
Sir Rider Haggard,
Was completely staggered
When his bride-to-be
Announced "I AM SHE!"
Joseph Haydn
Never read Dryden
Nor did John Dryden
Ever hear Haydn.
Other books I have read by W.H. Auden:
Journey to a war
145edwinbcn
126. A message to Garcia
Finished reading: 2 October 2013
A message to Garcia is nothing more than a short inspirational essays of not much more than six pages. The self-published author created a hype which made the essay extremely popular. It is claimed to have sold over 40 million copies. The content of the essay is derived from a heroic mission undertaken by Captain Andrew Rowan to convey a message to the Cuban rebels in Spanish-controlled Cuba to establish contact and form an alliance with the United States against Spain.
Elbert Hubbard essay, published in 1899, was based on a report he had heard about Andrew Rowan brave mission. Many years later, Andrew Rowan, who was a published author, wrote a short story based on his experience, entitled "How I carried the message to Garcia". While this story is apparently based on Rowan's experience, he has also sometimes asserted that the story is entirely fictional.
While A message to Garcia may have had its function in its day, the essay is of no particular value to readers today. It is written in an old-fashioned style, by a boastful and over-self confident author. As the essay is so extremely short, it is now usually printed together with a number of supplementary materials. In the edition by Shanghai Joint Publishing (2010), Andrew Rowan's short story How I carried the message to Garcia is one of the appendices. This is somewhat awkward, because Rowan's story has much more merit, and deserves much more to be read than Hubbard's essay. Rowan's story is a fairly well-written adventurous story of about 40 pages. It would make much more sense to publish Rowan's story and add Hubbard's essay as an appendix.
The Chinese edition also includes two further contributions inspired on the theme and related to the aforementioned materials. These contributions are however of a shamefully low quality.
The historical background of How I carried the message to Garcia is definitely interesting, and the short story might well be read by a wider audience. Hopefully, the story can be accessed through anthologies.
125 - How I carried the message to Garcia -
126 - A message to Garcia -
Four stars for Rowan's short story, and 1.5 stars for the publication on Hubbard's name which included various documents.
Finished reading: 2 October 2013
A message to Garcia is nothing more than a short inspirational essays of not much more than six pages. The self-published author created a hype which made the essay extremely popular. It is claimed to have sold over 40 million copies. The content of the essay is derived from a heroic mission undertaken by Captain Andrew Rowan to convey a message to the Cuban rebels in Spanish-controlled Cuba to establish contact and form an alliance with the United States against Spain.
Elbert Hubbard essay, published in 1899, was based on a report he had heard about Andrew Rowan brave mission. Many years later, Andrew Rowan, who was a published author, wrote a short story based on his experience, entitled "How I carried the message to Garcia". While this story is apparently based on Rowan's experience, he has also sometimes asserted that the story is entirely fictional.
While A message to Garcia may have had its function in its day, the essay is of no particular value to readers today. It is written in an old-fashioned style, by a boastful and over-self confident author. As the essay is so extremely short, it is now usually printed together with a number of supplementary materials. In the edition by Shanghai Joint Publishing (2010), Andrew Rowan's short story How I carried the message to Garcia is one of the appendices. This is somewhat awkward, because Rowan's story has much more merit, and deserves much more to be read than Hubbard's essay. Rowan's story is a fairly well-written adventurous story of about 40 pages. It would make much more sense to publish Rowan's story and add Hubbard's essay as an appendix.
The Chinese edition also includes two further contributions inspired on the theme and related to the aforementioned materials. These contributions are however of a shamefully low quality.
The historical background of How I carried the message to Garcia is definitely interesting, and the short story might well be read by a wider audience. Hopefully, the story can be accessed through anthologies.
125 - How I carried the message to Garcia -
126 - A message to Garcia -
Four stars for Rowan's short story, and 1.5 stars for the publication on Hubbard's name which included various documents.
146rebeccanyc
Your #144 reminds me that somewhere I have The Oxford Book of Light Verse, which Auden edited. It's good to know that someone whose more serious poetry I admire also has a lighter side.
147edwinbcn
127. Midnight in the garden of good and evil. A Savannah story
Finished reading: 3 October 2013
Europeans are divided about the attraction of American cities. Some are fascinated by the modernity of large cities, while others lament the lack of historical awareness and the cosiness of a historical city centre.
The picture that emerges from Midnight in the garden of good and evil. A Savannah story puts Savannah in the same category of cities as New Orleans and San Francisco, in which Europeans who cannot be charmed by America's large sprawling metropolises.
The author, John Berendt, makes quite an effort to explain how citizens of Savannah realized early in the 1960s that the preservation of the historical city centre was something worth to fight for. Not all parties involved in that effort acted out of pure altruism, and the author shows how conflicts and jarring interests in that development have led to entrenched political interests that would still be important for the story in the book.
A large part of the book is spent painting up the individual characters who are either involved as primary characters in the story or on the side. The effect of these descriptions is quaint. The city centre emerges as a show-box, filled with peculiar people who are almost as quaint and old-fashioned as the historical building around them, ranging from old and fragile to the wildly exotic Chablis. The glamour of celebrity and Hollywood are sprinkled in to add to the magic.
The life and career of Jim Williams, the main character are just as illustrious, and slowly Williams appears as the main focus of the story. His extravagant lifestyle, and the entourage of his house, Mercer House, filled with the exquisite antiques he deals in, set the stage for the drama to unfold. His eccentric lifestyle paves the way for readers to view his unusual relationship. Not the fact that it is a gay relationship, but the details of this somewhat peculiar relationship with Danny Hansford. While Jim Williams is described as having a relationship of a kind with Hansford, neither is specifically or exclusively described as being gay. With Williams, there seems to be a certain degree of disinterest, while Hansford is described as a more or less bisexual hustler, a victim of circumstances.
The description of the murder investigation and trial are as unreal as anything, much like a farce, and all tainted by the hues of antiquity, as if it is set in the 1950s, or even further back, in the 1870s.
Midnight in the garden of good and evil is based on a true murder case, but the author has transposed the story in a fairlyland setting of hyperreality or magic realism. This effect is enhanced by the voice of the gossipy omniscient narrator. The book is sometimes compared with In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, but the dreamlike quality of Midnight in the garden of good and evil has very little in common with the harsh realism of Capote's novel. In fact, the book has much more in common with another work by Berendt, namely The city of falling angels. What both books have in common is a highly personalized style in which the imagination of the author runs away with facts and conversations, transforming reality into an imagined story inside the head of the author.
Other books I have read by John Berendt:
The city of falling angels
Finished reading: 3 October 2013
Europeans are divided about the attraction of American cities. Some are fascinated by the modernity of large cities, while others lament the lack of historical awareness and the cosiness of a historical city centre.
The picture that emerges from Midnight in the garden of good and evil. A Savannah story puts Savannah in the same category of cities as New Orleans and San Francisco, in which Europeans who cannot be charmed by America's large sprawling metropolises.
The author, John Berendt, makes quite an effort to explain how citizens of Savannah realized early in the 1960s that the preservation of the historical city centre was something worth to fight for. Not all parties involved in that effort acted out of pure altruism, and the author shows how conflicts and jarring interests in that development have led to entrenched political interests that would still be important for the story in the book.
A large part of the book is spent painting up the individual characters who are either involved as primary characters in the story or on the side. The effect of these descriptions is quaint. The city centre emerges as a show-box, filled with peculiar people who are almost as quaint and old-fashioned as the historical building around them, ranging from old and fragile to the wildly exotic Chablis. The glamour of celebrity and Hollywood are sprinkled in to add to the magic.
The life and career of Jim Williams, the main character are just as illustrious, and slowly Williams appears as the main focus of the story. His extravagant lifestyle, and the entourage of his house, Mercer House, filled with the exquisite antiques he deals in, set the stage for the drama to unfold. His eccentric lifestyle paves the way for readers to view his unusual relationship. Not the fact that it is a gay relationship, but the details of this somewhat peculiar relationship with Danny Hansford. While Jim Williams is described as having a relationship of a kind with Hansford, neither is specifically or exclusively described as being gay. With Williams, there seems to be a certain degree of disinterest, while Hansford is described as a more or less bisexual hustler, a victim of circumstances.
The description of the murder investigation and trial are as unreal as anything, much like a farce, and all tainted by the hues of antiquity, as if it is set in the 1950s, or even further back, in the 1870s.
Midnight in the garden of good and evil is based on a true murder case, but the author has transposed the story in a fairlyland setting of hyperreality or magic realism. This effect is enhanced by the voice of the gossipy omniscient narrator. The book is sometimes compared with In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, but the dreamlike quality of Midnight in the garden of good and evil has very little in common with the harsh realism of Capote's novel. In fact, the book has much more in common with another work by Berendt, namely The city of falling angels. What both books have in common is a highly personalized style in which the imagination of the author runs away with facts and conversations, transforming reality into an imagined story inside the head of the author.
Other books I have read by John Berendt:
The city of falling angels
148NanaCC
Very nice review of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I remember enjoying it very much years ago when I read it. What did you think of his other book? I haven't read that one.
149edwinbcn
128. The Testament of Mary
Finished reading: 3 October 2013
As earlier book titles show, e.g. Mothers and sons, or New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families, Colm Tóibín has an interest writing about mothers, and thus, The Testament of Mary is about a mother, the mother of Jesus.
The story of the life of Jesus is familiar, and the attentive reader may at first suspect that The Testament of Mary might be a fictional apocryphal bible book. In this respect, the title is cleverly chosen as it is not presented as a apocryphal gospel, but a testament, which should somehow be placed besides the Old, and the New Testament. While the canonized gospels are part of the New Testament, and the Old and New Testaments are religious works, The Testament of Mary appears to be a secular eye-witness report of the life and death of Jesus.
The Testament of Mary is a very humanistic, or human approach to the story of Christ. Firstly, Mary is not a Christian. She is described as going to the Temple of the goddess Artemis (p. 103). Her veneration of the pagan gods underscores that she is not a believer. In fact, she takes most 'miracles' performed by her son Jesus with a great deal of skepsis. She is his mother, and views Jesus from her perspective as a worried mother.
From Mary's reminiscences on various miracles, such as the wedding in Cana, and the resurrection of Lazarus, it becomes clear that the way these stories are canonized in the Bible, they must have been exaggerated, distorted or incomplete if not outright misleading. The miracles did not exactly happen the way they are described, or the way they are remembered is not the way it happened.
The novel is entirely narrated by Mary, and all events are seen through her eyes. As a result, Jesus life and death have nothing heroic. As his mother, Mary can only see the horror of the crucifixion. Mary also appears in the novel as a fairly innocent person, who fails to see what turn events take, and must be persuaded to seek shelter and worry about her own safety, as the people around Jesus, and people in the wider political context churn the life of Jesus and his death into a myth.
The Testament of Mary is a very short novel, but surely well worth reading.
Other books I have read by Colm Tóibín:
The south
The story of the night
The Heather Blazing
Finished reading: 3 October 2013
As earlier book titles show, e.g. Mothers and sons, or New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families, Colm Tóibín has an interest writing about mothers, and thus, The Testament of Mary is about a mother, the mother of Jesus.
The story of the life of Jesus is familiar, and the attentive reader may at first suspect that The Testament of Mary might be a fictional apocryphal bible book. In this respect, the title is cleverly chosen as it is not presented as a apocryphal gospel, but a testament, which should somehow be placed besides the Old, and the New Testament. While the canonized gospels are part of the New Testament, and the Old and New Testaments are religious works, The Testament of Mary appears to be a secular eye-witness report of the life and death of Jesus.
The Testament of Mary is a very humanistic, or human approach to the story of Christ. Firstly, Mary is not a Christian. She is described as going to the Temple of the goddess Artemis (p. 103). Her veneration of the pagan gods underscores that she is not a believer. In fact, she takes most 'miracles' performed by her son Jesus with a great deal of skepsis. She is his mother, and views Jesus from her perspective as a worried mother.
From Mary's reminiscences on various miracles, such as the wedding in Cana, and the resurrection of Lazarus, it becomes clear that the way these stories are canonized in the Bible, they must have been exaggerated, distorted or incomplete if not outright misleading. The miracles did not exactly happen the way they are described, or the way they are remembered is not the way it happened.
The novel is entirely narrated by Mary, and all events are seen through her eyes. As a result, Jesus life and death have nothing heroic. As his mother, Mary can only see the horror of the crucifixion. Mary also appears in the novel as a fairly innocent person, who fails to see what turn events take, and must be persuaded to seek shelter and worry about her own safety, as the people around Jesus, and people in the wider political context churn the life of Jesus and his death into a myth.
The Testament of Mary is a very short novel, but surely well worth reading.
Other books I have read by Colm Tóibín:
The south
The story of the night
The Heather Blazing
150edwinbcn
》148
Thanks, Colleen. I read The City of Falling Angels in 2008, and did not write a review at that time, but retrospectively the two books are very similar. As in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, there is an event which is shrouded in mystery, in the case of The City of Falling Angels, the burning down of the Opera House of Venice, called La Fenice, or "The Phoenix". In both books an omniscient narrator connects with a cast of eccentric people, who all share connections with "The Phoenix". Similarly, the story takes the shape of a detective story against the backdrop of a mysterious city, and in like ways, the author takes a lot of poetic license to speculate and propose possible scenarios, while his imagination is running wild.
If you liked the style of writing of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you will probably like The City of Falling Angels. Personally, I am glad I read the book about Venice first, and came quite fresh to Midnight. If I had known that both books have a very similar style, I might not have picked them both up (although, of course, I already had bought both of them, by the time I started reading).
Thanks, Colleen. I read The City of Falling Angels in 2008, and did not write a review at that time, but retrospectively the two books are very similar. As in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, there is an event which is shrouded in mystery, in the case of The City of Falling Angels, the burning down of the Opera House of Venice, called La Fenice, or "The Phoenix". In both books an omniscient narrator connects with a cast of eccentric people, who all share connections with "The Phoenix". Similarly, the story takes the shape of a detective story against the backdrop of a mysterious city, and in like ways, the author takes a lot of poetic license to speculate and propose possible scenarios, while his imagination is running wild.
If you liked the style of writing of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you will probably like The City of Falling Angels. Personally, I am glad I read the book about Venice first, and came quite fresh to Midnight. If I had known that both books have a very similar style, I might not have picked them both up (although, of course, I already had bought both of them, by the time I started reading).
151NanaCC
Edwin, Thank you. I may try The City of Falling Angels. I did really enjoy Midnight.
152edwinbcn
129. Faulks on fiction
Finished reading: 4 October 2013
Faulks on fiction is a rather difficult, and overall rather dis-satisfactory book. It is a companion volume with a television series about great novels, which was presented by Sebastian Faulks. However, it is not made clear how the book should be read. Does the book repeat and expand on ideas presented in the TV series? Are readers supposed to have read the novels? How much did the TV series tell about the novels? Without answers to these questions, reading the book is rather difficult.
Faulks on fiction can hardly be read on its own. The author moves much too fast, and seems to expect that readers of the book are entirely familiar with each novel. In his explanations, Faulks gives away the plot, so the book is supposedly not for readers new to these novels.
Few readers will feel comfortable with Faulks on this excursion through English literature. Faulks repeatedly states that he has read each of the novels multiple times, referring to readings in his youth, his student days, or subsequently. It is obvious that Faulks must have re-read each book in preparation for the TV series and the writing of this book. His complete familiarity with the characters of the novels contrasts sharply with that of the readers.
Faulks does not explain much. He recapitulates, but expects his readers to be grosso modo familiar with the plot and characters of the novels. Whether this is justified, for example because such things were explained in the TV series, remains unclear. The themes and motives Faulks picks up to contemplate do not seem to be chosen with the reader in mind. The overall impression is that Faulks takes the reader where Faulks wants to go. This would be quite acceptable if the book is seen as a collection of essays, but not if the function of the book is to introduce readers to literature.
Faulks disregard for the reader is even stronger in the chapters about contemporary authors. Obviously, Faulks personally knows many of the contemporary, living authors, and this familiarity leads to a strong feeling of in-crowd. He also frequently refers to his own work.
Faulks on fiction deals with a dazzling number of authors, novels and characters. The staccato structure of the book, four parts, each part preceded by an introduction, each essay of a similar structure for 28 characters. And since the organization is thematic, the book bounces through the centuries like a pinball. The effect is that the book is boring, and very difficult to read.
Other books I have read by Sebastian Faulks:
A week in December
Engleby
Charlotte Gray
Birdsong
The fatal Englishman. Three short lives
Finished reading: 4 October 2013
Faulks on fiction is a rather difficult, and overall rather dis-satisfactory book. It is a companion volume with a television series about great novels, which was presented by Sebastian Faulks. However, it is not made clear how the book should be read. Does the book repeat and expand on ideas presented in the TV series? Are readers supposed to have read the novels? How much did the TV series tell about the novels? Without answers to these questions, reading the book is rather difficult.
Faulks on fiction can hardly be read on its own. The author moves much too fast, and seems to expect that readers of the book are entirely familiar with each novel. In his explanations, Faulks gives away the plot, so the book is supposedly not for readers new to these novels.
Few readers will feel comfortable with Faulks on this excursion through English literature. Faulks repeatedly states that he has read each of the novels multiple times, referring to readings in his youth, his student days, or subsequently. It is obvious that Faulks must have re-read each book in preparation for the TV series and the writing of this book. His complete familiarity with the characters of the novels contrasts sharply with that of the readers.
Faulks does not explain much. He recapitulates, but expects his readers to be grosso modo familiar with the plot and characters of the novels. Whether this is justified, for example because such things were explained in the TV series, remains unclear. The themes and motives Faulks picks up to contemplate do not seem to be chosen with the reader in mind. The overall impression is that Faulks takes the reader where Faulks wants to go. This would be quite acceptable if the book is seen as a collection of essays, but not if the function of the book is to introduce readers to literature.
Faulks disregard for the reader is even stronger in the chapters about contemporary authors. Obviously, Faulks personally knows many of the contemporary, living authors, and this familiarity leads to a strong feeling of in-crowd. He also frequently refers to his own work.
Faulks on fiction deals with a dazzling number of authors, novels and characters. The staccato structure of the book, four parts, each part preceded by an introduction, each essay of a similar structure for 28 characters. And since the organization is thematic, the book bounces through the centuries like a pinball. The effect is that the book is boring, and very difficult to read.
Other books I have read by Sebastian Faulks:
A week in December
Engleby
Charlotte Gray
Birdsong
The fatal Englishman. Three short lives
153edwinbcn
Supplément au voyage de Bougainville
Finished reading: 5 October 2013
The French were not the first to circumvent the globe, nor were they the first to discover Tahiti, in the eighteenth century referred to as Taïti or Otaïti. However, in April 1768, the French admiral and explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, a contemporary of James Cook, landed on Tahiti and made contact with the islanders. The sighting of the islands and the adventures therein are described in Bougainville's journal Voyage autour du monde (English: A Voyage Around the World). Bougainville's is a very detailed and dry report of all facts and details pertaining to his voyage of discovery.
Bougainville describes Tahiti as a new Garden of Eden, where the people are uncorrupted by civilization. Free of shame, the inhabitants had a culture of free sexuality, without restraints imposed by culture. Bougainville 400 sailors did not only suffer from scurvy, which was quickly cured on Tahiti, they also found fast relief from their six months of deprivation of women. One of his men, was jumped at by a group of Tahitians who tore of "his / her" clothes. While captain and crew were deceived for more than a year, the Tahitians immediately saw through a young woman's deception: she had served aboard the ship dressed up as a young man. After ten days, Bougainville left Tahiti, taking a man from Tahiti with him. This man, named Aotourou, became the sight of the Parisian salons, upon their return to France.
Less than a year later, in 1772, Denis Diderot published his Supplément au voyage de Bougainville (English: Addendum to the Journey of Bougainville, or dialogue between A and B on the drawback to binding moral ideas to certain physical actions which bear none).
The Supplément au voyage de Bougainville is structured as dialogues within a dialogue. The dialogue of two Frenchmen, simply A & B, is the framework for shorter dialogues between a cleric and a native from Tahiti. The first part discusses a number of facts from Bougainville's journal, as well as a characterization of the Admiral. These facts come straight from the journal. It is possible that the dialogues between the cleric and Orou, the Tahitian, are reported dialogues which Diderot may have observed in Paris. The dialogues focus on the free and natural state of the people in Tahiti versus the corrupted and unnatural state of civilized man, particularly the clerics. In the context of the dialogues, Diderot also questions the right of colonization, suggesting how odd Europeans would find it if any foreign power would arrive on the coast of France and claim the territory in the name of an overseas ruler.
The significance of Supplément au voyage de Bougainville lies in the fact that it was written at that particular time in France, known now as the Enlightenment. Diderot and Rousseau had been friends for many years, although later Diderot cursed Rousseau for stealing his ideas. Whether they arrived at their ideas together or separately, Diderot's Supplément is one of the first book of that period to focus on the natural state of man.
Supplément au voyage de Bougainville also laid the foundation for the myth of the earthly paradise in the South Seas, which would attracts scores of writers, painters and others to Tahiti.
Finished reading: 5 October 2013
The French were not the first to circumvent the globe, nor were they the first to discover Tahiti, in the eighteenth century referred to as Taïti or Otaïti. However, in April 1768, the French admiral and explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, a contemporary of James Cook, landed on Tahiti and made contact with the islanders. The sighting of the islands and the adventures therein are described in Bougainville's journal Voyage autour du monde (English: A Voyage Around the World). Bougainville's is a very detailed and dry report of all facts and details pertaining to his voyage of discovery.
Bougainville describes Tahiti as a new Garden of Eden, where the people are uncorrupted by civilization. Free of shame, the inhabitants had a culture of free sexuality, without restraints imposed by culture. Bougainville 400 sailors did not only suffer from scurvy, which was quickly cured on Tahiti, they also found fast relief from their six months of deprivation of women. One of his men, was jumped at by a group of Tahitians who tore of "his / her" clothes. While captain and crew were deceived for more than a year, the Tahitians immediately saw through a young woman's deception: she had served aboard the ship dressed up as a young man. After ten days, Bougainville left Tahiti, taking a man from Tahiti with him. This man, named Aotourou, became the sight of the Parisian salons, upon their return to France.
Less than a year later, in 1772, Denis Diderot published his Supplément au voyage de Bougainville (English: Addendum to the Journey of Bougainville, or dialogue between A and B on the drawback to binding moral ideas to certain physical actions which bear none).
The Supplément au voyage de Bougainville is structured as dialogues within a dialogue. The dialogue of two Frenchmen, simply A & B, is the framework for shorter dialogues between a cleric and a native from Tahiti. The first part discusses a number of facts from Bougainville's journal, as well as a characterization of the Admiral. These facts come straight from the journal. It is possible that the dialogues between the cleric and Orou, the Tahitian, are reported dialogues which Diderot may have observed in Paris. The dialogues focus on the free and natural state of the people in Tahiti versus the corrupted and unnatural state of civilized man, particularly the clerics. In the context of the dialogues, Diderot also questions the right of colonization, suggesting how odd Europeans would find it if any foreign power would arrive on the coast of France and claim the territory in the name of an overseas ruler.
The significance of Supplément au voyage de Bougainville lies in the fact that it was written at that particular time in France, known now as the Enlightenment. Diderot and Rousseau had been friends for many years, although later Diderot cursed Rousseau for stealing his ideas. Whether they arrived at their ideas together or separately, Diderot's Supplément is one of the first book of that period to focus on the natural state of man.
Supplément au voyage de Bougainville also laid the foundation for the myth of the earthly paradise in the South Seas, which would attracts scores of writers, painters and others to Tahiti.
154SassyLassy
Great reviews as usual. I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil when it first came out and agree with you about the hyperreality aspects. I didn't know of Berendt's other book though and will look for it.
The Tóibín also sounds intriguing, as does the Diderot. As a side comment, de Bougainville's party included a naturalist who brought back the Bougainvillea to France, where luckily for Europeans, it was able to survive. It was fairly widespread in the southern hemisphere.
I guess with these, the letdown by Faulks would be only a minor setback. I have only read The Fatal Englishman, which I did enjoy, but trying to picture it revved up with multiple examples, I can see how the book on fiction would disappoint.
The Tóibín also sounds intriguing, as does the Diderot. As a side comment, de Bougainville's party included a naturalist who brought back the Bougainvillea to France, where luckily for Europeans, it was able to survive. It was fairly widespread in the southern hemisphere.
I guess with these, the letdown by Faulks would be only a minor setback. I have only read The Fatal Englishman, which I did enjoy, but trying to picture it revved up with multiple examples, I can see how the book on fiction would disappoint.
155baswood
Excellent review of the Diderot Edwin; one of your centennial reads perhaps.
I am assuming that Faulks choice of books contained no surprises.
I like the premise behind the Testament of Mary and so I will grab that one if I see it lying around.
I am assuming that Faulks choice of books contained no surprises.
I like the premise behind the Testament of Mary and so I will grab that one if I see it lying around.
156edwinbcn
》154, 155
Thanks Sassy and Barry.
I read The Fatal Englishman, which I only liked more or less. There was nothing really wrong with it, but what's the use of reading three biographies of rather obscure people. I remember I somewhat enjoyed reading the biography of at least one, but the names of all three have now completely slipped from my mind.
I suspected the Bougainvillea to be connected with Bougainville's voyage of exploration. I have a strong interest in reading about Natural History and Exploration, but oddly enough authors rarely make such connections. I still feel it is weird that many plants which my mother keeps as chamber pot plants and some from her garden in the Netherlands, grow in the public parks or even as weeds in Nanning, the city in South China where I bought my apartment.
Recent scholarship points out that the female ship mate on Bougainville's was the servant and lover of Philibert Commerçon, the botanist attached to Bougainville's expedition. Although the couple was able to fool the crew and captain of the ship, the Tahitians immediately saw through the deception. While my edition did not make much of that, recent scholarship has looked into the story, and described Jeanne Baré, for that was her name, as one of the world's first female explorers, as that domain was then an exclusively male affair. Jeanne is actually said to have collected the first specimen of the Bougainvillea.
I am currently reading For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. The book is effectively a biography about Robert Fortune (1812–1880). It relies heavily of Fortune's own publications about his travels and exploration in China. Robert Fortune was a botanist. During his travels to China he discovered many plants. 13 plants where named after him, while he introduced hundreds of plants to Europe. A complete list, compiled by his descendant in 1997, can be found on Wikipedia: Introductions by Robert Fortune
Although seemingly completist, the list on Wikipedia omits the Kumquat, which was introduced to Europe by Robert Fortune in 1846. The whole genus was named after him: Fortunella.
Right, Barry. I read Supplément au voyage de Bougainville for the Literary Centennials Group, for its author Denis Diderot being born 5 October 1713.
Faulks on Fiction does not contain many surprises, but Faulks is very well-read, and discusses both classics and modern literature from the past 200 years. Regarding the classics, I am sure many people will have read them, but the gap between what the average reader is likely to know or remember from their previous reading and the detail with which Faulks discusses them in the book is simply too great. For instance, I read Vanity Fair by Thackeray 22 years ago, and retain an image of the main character Becky as kind of flippant, jolly, somewhat unreliable, etc. But it is obvious that Faulks may have re-read the novel before writing that section or at least consulted some other sources of criticism. He has Becky at his fingertips while readers, like me, have a faint afterglow. On the other hand, Faulks on Fiction requires recent reading or re-reading of the novel, to be able to follow Faulks argument. What I more or less suspect is that the TV series gave viewers visual impressions which closed those gaps.
Thanks Sassy and Barry.
I read The Fatal Englishman, which I only liked more or less. There was nothing really wrong with it, but what's the use of reading three biographies of rather obscure people. I remember I somewhat enjoyed reading the biography of at least one, but the names of all three have now completely slipped from my mind.
I suspected the Bougainvillea to be connected with Bougainville's voyage of exploration. I have a strong interest in reading about Natural History and Exploration, but oddly enough authors rarely make such connections. I still feel it is weird that many plants which my mother keeps as chamber pot plants and some from her garden in the Netherlands, grow in the public parks or even as weeds in Nanning, the city in South China where I bought my apartment.
Recent scholarship points out that the female ship mate on Bougainville's was the servant and lover of Philibert Commerçon, the botanist attached to Bougainville's expedition. Although the couple was able to fool the crew and captain of the ship, the Tahitians immediately saw through the deception. While my edition did not make much of that, recent scholarship has looked into the story, and described Jeanne Baré, for that was her name, as one of the world's first female explorers, as that domain was then an exclusively male affair. Jeanne is actually said to have collected the first specimen of the Bougainvillea.
I am currently reading For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. The book is effectively a biography about Robert Fortune (1812–1880). It relies heavily of Fortune's own publications about his travels and exploration in China. Robert Fortune was a botanist. During his travels to China he discovered many plants. 13 plants where named after him, while he introduced hundreds of plants to Europe. A complete list, compiled by his descendant in 1997, can be found on Wikipedia: Introductions by Robert Fortune
Although seemingly completist, the list on Wikipedia omits the Kumquat, which was introduced to Europe by Robert Fortune in 1846. The whole genus was named after him: Fortunella.
Right, Barry. I read Supplément au voyage de Bougainville for the Literary Centennials Group, for its author Denis Diderot being born 5 October 1713.
Faulks on Fiction does not contain many surprises, but Faulks is very well-read, and discusses both classics and modern literature from the past 200 years. Regarding the classics, I am sure many people will have read them, but the gap between what the average reader is likely to know or remember from their previous reading and the detail with which Faulks discusses them in the book is simply too great. For instance, I read Vanity Fair by Thackeray 22 years ago, and retain an image of the main character Becky as kind of flippant, jolly, somewhat unreliable, etc. But it is obvious that Faulks may have re-read the novel before writing that section or at least consulted some other sources of criticism. He has Becky at his fingertips while readers, like me, have a faint afterglow. On the other hand, Faulks on Fiction requires recent reading or re-reading of the novel, to be able to follow Faulks argument. What I more or less suspect is that the TV series gave viewers visual impressions which closed those gaps.
157baswood
Interesting about Bougainvillea, one of the most spectacular climbing plants, brings back memories for me of holidays on Greek Islands. I can't grow it here in South West France.
158rebeccanyc
Very interesting about the botanical explorers.
159mkboylan
Edwin, so how was Journey to a War? There's only one review on Amazon and none on LT.
160edwinbcn
》159
Hi, Merrikay. I gave Journey to a War four stars when I read it in 1994. I do not have the book here in Beijing, so there is very little I could say about it off-hand.
You can find some information on Wikipedia: Journey to a War.
I read Journey to a War at that time, because throughout my student years I read a lot (mainly prose) by Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender. From 1993, I became interested in China.
Joining LT, I soon realized it would be unrealistic to write reviews for the 2 000 books I had already read. However, I have always kept records of what I read (including bibliographical references) and how I valued the books.
It would be interesting to have a look at Journey to a War again, because I now know much more about China than I did when I read the book in 1994.
The Japanese has already launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937, but as China is a huge country, they were never able to occupy it completely, although by the end of 1939 they had either occupied or heavily damaged most Chinese cities. Throughout 1938, the Chinese government had set up the provisional capital in Chongqing, which then saw more that 5,000 air raids with incendiary bombs by the Japanese air force.
As Auden and Isherwood traveled through China in 1938, China was at war with Japan, but supposedly they visited the unoccupied areas, and the war capital Chongqing.
I would have to re-read Journey to a War to say more about it.
1st US edition Random House, 1938.
Faber and Faber edition, 1986
Hi, Merrikay. I gave Journey to a War four stars when I read it in 1994. I do not have the book here in Beijing, so there is very little I could say about it off-hand.
You can find some information on Wikipedia: Journey to a War.
I read Journey to a War at that time, because throughout my student years I read a lot (mainly prose) by Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender. From 1993, I became interested in China.
Joining LT, I soon realized it would be unrealistic to write reviews for the 2 000 books I had already read. However, I have always kept records of what I read (including bibliographical references) and how I valued the books.
It would be interesting to have a look at Journey to a War again, because I now know much more about China than I did when I read the book in 1994.
The Japanese has already launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937, but as China is a huge country, they were never able to occupy it completely, although by the end of 1939 they had either occupied or heavily damaged most Chinese cities. Throughout 1938, the Chinese government had set up the provisional capital in Chongqing, which then saw more that 5,000 air raids with incendiary bombs by the Japanese air force.
As Auden and Isherwood traveled through China in 1938, China was at war with Japan, but supposedly they visited the unoccupied areas, and the war capital Chongqing.
I would have to re-read Journey to a War to say more about it.
1st US edition Random House, 1938.
Faber and Faber edition, 1986161edwinbcn
131. Factory girls. Voices from the heart of modern China
Finished reading: 7 October 2013
Factory girls. Voices from the heart of modern China is a sociological study into the lives of young female migrant workers in China. The book is interesting because so few books are written about the topic. However, the author is no sociologist and the scope of the book seems limited.
The author follows three young women during three years. There are no explanations as to how she decided on these three women, or whether other women were interviewed during the same period. The interviews themselves are not included. Still, a fairly comprehensive picture emerges.
The style of the book is that of journalism (the author is a journalist), so very readable with little attention to methodological encumbrance. A more serious problem with the book is that the author is selective in the information she presents to the effect of misleading. Regarding the salaries of the migrant workers she pipes the common Western view that the salaries are extremely low, and the workers are exploited. The author insufficiently makes clear what the meaning of poverty is, and that many Chinese people will take any opportunity to get away from the countryside to work in the city. The problem with a word such as "poverty" is that everyone thinks they know what it means while most Western people haven't seen any real poverty in their entire life.
Another flaw in the book is that the wages of the migrant workers are systematically incorrectly presented, and that deductions for food and accommodation are presented in a negative light. The reality in China is that China has a very high percentage of house ownership, and rental accommodation is very, very expensive. It is not unusual that migrant workers pay 130 US dollars for a bed per month: all the room they get for that is less than two square meters, and to prevent theft of their property, their part of the bunk bed is turned into a cage, which they can lock while they go out. Although communal kitchens in private home compounds were abolished decades ago, Chinese people are used to eating in canteens, where food is spooned out to them. These arrangements, while leaving little freedom, individuality or privacy are very common to China, where these terms have but a shade of the meaning they have in a country such as the United States.
A peculiar feature of the book is that more than 25% of it is devoted to telling the author's life story. There is absolutely no excuse for that other than amateurism and vanity.
Finished reading: 7 October 2013
Factory girls. Voices from the heart of modern China is a sociological study into the lives of young female migrant workers in China. The book is interesting because so few books are written about the topic. However, the author is no sociologist and the scope of the book seems limited.
The author follows three young women during three years. There are no explanations as to how she decided on these three women, or whether other women were interviewed during the same period. The interviews themselves are not included. Still, a fairly comprehensive picture emerges.
The style of the book is that of journalism (the author is a journalist), so very readable with little attention to methodological encumbrance. A more serious problem with the book is that the author is selective in the information she presents to the effect of misleading. Regarding the salaries of the migrant workers she pipes the common Western view that the salaries are extremely low, and the workers are exploited. The author insufficiently makes clear what the meaning of poverty is, and that many Chinese people will take any opportunity to get away from the countryside to work in the city. The problem with a word such as "poverty" is that everyone thinks they know what it means while most Western people haven't seen any real poverty in their entire life.
Another flaw in the book is that the wages of the migrant workers are systematically incorrectly presented, and that deductions for food and accommodation are presented in a negative light. The reality in China is that China has a very high percentage of house ownership, and rental accommodation is very, very expensive. It is not unusual that migrant workers pay 130 US dollars for a bed per month: all the room they get for that is less than two square meters, and to prevent theft of their property, their part of the bunk bed is turned into a cage, which they can lock while they go out. Although communal kitchens in private home compounds were abolished decades ago, Chinese people are used to eating in canteens, where food is spooned out to them. These arrangements, while leaving little freedom, individuality or privacy are very common to China, where these terms have but a shade of the meaning they have in a country such as the United States.
A peculiar feature of the book is that more than 25% of it is devoted to telling the author's life story. There is absolutely no excuse for that other than amateurism and vanity.
162edwinbcn
132. The railway station man
Finished reading: 22 October 2013
Jennifer Johnston is an Irish author, whose work is characterized by her inimical and fine style, with a great attention to detail. Particularly, her eye for the natural world makes her books a pleasure to read.
A feature of non-mainstream authors is possibly that their style of writing is more difficult, and that it takes more effort on the part of the reader to get into the world and the characters they portray in their books. While some of the work of Jennifer Johnston could be said to be experimental in narrative structure, The railway station man is a fairly conventional novel.
Like The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald, The railway station man is set in a remote village in the countryside, some time in the 1976. The novel begins with a chapter describing Helen Cuffe's youth. The chapter ends with the tragic death of her husband, making Helen a young widow with a child, their son Jack. As her marriage had been happy, Helen resigns to the death of her husband, which leaves her in a state of permanent depression. Part of the bleak effect of the novel is that the story is seen through Helen's eyes. When Roger Hawthorne settles into the village, he is at first viewed with suspicion. Because of his hobby, putting derelict railway stations into order, he is nicknamed the railway man. Roger woes Helen, who gradually thaws to his warmth and love. While Roger, Helen and many villagers are locked into traditional life in the village, the younger generation is keen to get away from that Manus, who regularly goes to Dublin, Jack and Damian, hang in the pub and pull pranks. Until one day the two worlds violently collide.
The railway station man is a beautifully written novel, but somewhat difficult to get into. The inaccessibility into the minds of the character is thus reflected in the novel. Both Helen and Roger hold onto the life of old, for each of them 1944 was the year when their ordinary happy lives took a dark turn. The story unfolds against the background of the natural scene, the seasons and weather that creates a sense of permanence. Roger's hobby suggests passion, but his passion is focused on obsolete and useless objects, an attempt to recreate the past in the present. The derelict rail road also symbolizes the insulation of their existence in the countryside, and in time.
Other books I have read by Jennifer Johnston:
This is not a novel
How many miles to Babylon?
Finished reading: 22 October 2013
Jennifer Johnston is an Irish author, whose work is characterized by her inimical and fine style, with a great attention to detail. Particularly, her eye for the natural world makes her books a pleasure to read.
A feature of non-mainstream authors is possibly that their style of writing is more difficult, and that it takes more effort on the part of the reader to get into the world and the characters they portray in their books. While some of the work of Jennifer Johnston could be said to be experimental in narrative structure, The railway station man is a fairly conventional novel.
Like The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald, The railway station man is set in a remote village in the countryside, some time in the 1976. The novel begins with a chapter describing Helen Cuffe's youth. The chapter ends with the tragic death of her husband, making Helen a young widow with a child, their son Jack. As her marriage had been happy, Helen resigns to the death of her husband, which leaves her in a state of permanent depression. Part of the bleak effect of the novel is that the story is seen through Helen's eyes. When Roger Hawthorne settles into the village, he is at first viewed with suspicion. Because of his hobby, putting derelict railway stations into order, he is nicknamed the railway man. Roger woes Helen, who gradually thaws to his warmth and love. While Roger, Helen and many villagers are locked into traditional life in the village, the younger generation is keen to get away from that Manus, who regularly goes to Dublin, Jack and Damian, hang in the pub and pull pranks. Until one day the two worlds violently collide.
The railway station man is a beautifully written novel, but somewhat difficult to get into. The inaccessibility into the minds of the character is thus reflected in the novel. Both Helen and Roger hold onto the life of old, for each of them 1944 was the year when their ordinary happy lives took a dark turn. The story unfolds against the background of the natural scene, the seasons and weather that creates a sense of permanence. Roger's hobby suggests passion, but his passion is focused on obsolete and useless objects, an attempt to recreate the past in the present. The derelict rail road also symbolizes the insulation of their existence in the countryside, and in time.
Other books I have read by Jennifer Johnston:
This is not a novel
How many miles to Babylon?
163edwinbcn
133. Train dreams
Finished reading: 23 October 2013
Train dreams is a long short story by the American author Denis Johnson. It deals with the sense of great personal loss.
Train dreams begins with a scene in which a Chinese worker is nearly killed, an incident laughed off, but imprinted onto Robert Grainer's mind. The apparent lightness about the value of the life of the Chinese immigrant is contrasted sharply with the loss of Robert's wife Gladys and his baby daughter Kate. Throughout the remainder of his life, he keeps mourning their deaths.
Train dreams seems a kind of retro-style prairy novel. While the story is set in the early 20th century, the feel of the story is that of the mid-nineteenth century, when the bulk of the railroads was built, and racial conflicts with especially Chinese immigrants, particularly those working on the railroads was more strongly pronounced.
The novella has some strong moments, such as when Robert discovers the charred remains of his homestead, but subsequent chapters are too short to bear out his grief in psychological depth. The short chapters only indicate the stages of his depression through iconic scenes, such as the idea that Robert might recognize his lost child in a stray wolf-girl.
Finished reading: 23 October 2013
Train dreams is a long short story by the American author Denis Johnson. It deals with the sense of great personal loss.
Train dreams begins with a scene in which a Chinese worker is nearly killed, an incident laughed off, but imprinted onto Robert Grainer's mind. The apparent lightness about the value of the life of the Chinese immigrant is contrasted sharply with the loss of Robert's wife Gladys and his baby daughter Kate. Throughout the remainder of his life, he keeps mourning their deaths.
Train dreams seems a kind of retro-style prairy novel. While the story is set in the early 20th century, the feel of the story is that of the mid-nineteenth century, when the bulk of the railroads was built, and racial conflicts with especially Chinese immigrants, particularly those working on the railroads was more strongly pronounced.
The novella has some strong moments, such as when Robert discovers the charred remains of his homestead, but subsequent chapters are too short to bear out his grief in psychological depth. The short chapters only indicate the stages of his depression through iconic scenes, such as the idea that Robert might recognize his lost child in a stray wolf-girl.
164rebeccanyc
I liked Train Dreams better than you did, and I'm glad to learn about Jennifer Johnston. Journey to a War sounds intriguing too, principally because of the authors.
165edwinbcn
>Thanks, Rebecca. I looked up your review. Apparently your's is the first to review Train Dreams on LT, then. From your review, I also get that sense of nostalgia. When I wrote " retro-style prairy novel", I had the "Neo-Victorian" style in mind, as we encounter in the works of e.g. Sarah Waters. I think the retro-style elements are very strong, but I guess I was disappointed by the short length of the work.
I think Jennifer Johnston is an interesting author. Some of her books still appear in new editions. I loved How many miles to Babylon?, which is very accessible. I did not like This is not a novel at all. The railway station man kind of grew on me, especially when I started looking for style elements it has in common with How many miles to Babylon?, to find it is the wonderful integration of the Irish landscape, and the meticulous detail. But the author does not have many readers on LT.
I think Jennifer Johnston is an interesting author. Some of her books still appear in new editions. I loved How many miles to Babylon?, which is very accessible. I did not like This is not a novel at all. The railway station man kind of grew on me, especially when I started looking for style elements it has in common with How many miles to Babylon?, to find it is the wonderful integration of the Irish landscape, and the meticulous detail. But the author does not have many readers on LT.
166edwinbcn
134. The monk and the hangman's daughter
Finished reading: 27 October 2013
The monk and the hangman's daughter is a short novella by Ambrose Bierce, written in 1892. It is a fairly simple story of impending doom, which is quite easy to predict. Nonetheless, the story takes some interesting turns, which keep the reader interested to go on reading.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the story is its peculiar, somewhat simplistic style. In the "Preface", by Bierce it is suggested that the story has German origins. This "Preface" is a playful artifice, a parody on the introductions in other nineteenth century novels, suggesting obscure origins of the story, long ago, 1680, and in a faraway place such as the Bavarian Alps. I do not know whether Bierce is the first to set this ploy up in a separate Preface, as opposed to the first pages of the novel.
While the story has its interesting moments, it is particularly the style that should draw the readers' attention. The story has something unreal to it. It is obviously very contrived, as it imitates and incorporates many style elements of German Fairy Tales: an innocent maiden / disgraceful wench, the doomed aspect of the gallows, the dark forest, a blond giant, an old, weak father, and many smaller emblems, such the way the characters behave.
At the same time, there are style characteristics of a much more modern type of story-telling. It is obvious, that the main character, Brother Ambrosius is an unreliable narrator: he views the world in a delusion, his delusion being love. As a priest, Brother Ambrosius must remain celibate, but from the time he first saw Benedicta, he has been in love, and makes it the mission of his life to rescue her. However, in his eagerness to do good, he misinterprets many things going on around him, and misunderstands the advice of his Superior. This leads to his inevitable doom.
The novella is very easy to read, with mostly short sentences, and short chapters, to emulate the style of the Fairy tales. The mixture of simplicity and irony make the story feel unreal, something not all readers may appreciate.
Finished reading: 27 October 2013
The monk and the hangman's daughter is a short novella by Ambrose Bierce, written in 1892. It is a fairly simple story of impending doom, which is quite easy to predict. Nonetheless, the story takes some interesting turns, which keep the reader interested to go on reading.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the story is its peculiar, somewhat simplistic style. In the "Preface", by Bierce it is suggested that the story has German origins. This "Preface" is a playful artifice, a parody on the introductions in other nineteenth century novels, suggesting obscure origins of the story, long ago, 1680, and in a faraway place such as the Bavarian Alps. I do not know whether Bierce is the first to set this ploy up in a separate Preface, as opposed to the first pages of the novel.
While the story has its interesting moments, it is particularly the style that should draw the readers' attention. The story has something unreal to it. It is obviously very contrived, as it imitates and incorporates many style elements of German Fairy Tales: an innocent maiden / disgraceful wench, the doomed aspect of the gallows, the dark forest, a blond giant, an old, weak father, and many smaller emblems, such the way the characters behave.
At the same time, there are style characteristics of a much more modern type of story-telling. It is obvious, that the main character, Brother Ambrosius is an unreliable narrator: he views the world in a delusion, his delusion being love. As a priest, Brother Ambrosius must remain celibate, but from the time he first saw Benedicta, he has been in love, and makes it the mission of his life to rescue her. However, in his eagerness to do good, he misinterprets many things going on around him, and misunderstands the advice of his Superior. This leads to his inevitable doom.
The novella is very easy to read, with mostly short sentences, and short chapters, to emulate the style of the Fairy tales. The mixture of simplicity and irony make the story feel unreal, something not all readers may appreciate.
167edwinbcn
135. The London train
Finished reading: 29 October 2013
The London train is an unattractive novel, because it holds up a mirror to contemporary British society, and the image it reflects is unattractive. Part One of the novel is fairly clear. Contemporary society is a bric-a-brac of broken relationships. Actually, even the word "relationship" is to big to explain the loose ties between people. The main character is has gone through three marriages, none of which apparently very happy. His search for his daughter, Pia, run away from home, described as a really low-class drop-out, is successful, as he finds her in a vague set-up, pregnant with the child of a Polish immigrant, Marek, without marriage plans. Pauls moves in with them, camping on the sofa. No-one in Part One of the novel seems to have a "normal", traditional relationship. Most characters have had (multiple) divorces, or live together by loose affiliation, with non-committal affinity. Even Marek's parents in Poland have divorced, and Marek has never been to visit his father, since the father was diagnosed with cancer more than a year earlier. In Part One, the strongest, traditional connection, is the London train. Regular, reliable and as of old.
Part Two of the novel paints a similar picture, but less clearly than Part One. In Part Two, not only family relations have broken down, but relations with neighbours and community members are also strained or downright spiteful and nasty. While Part One shows the devastation of relationships between people in the big city, Part Two illustrates that the sense of belonging and community has completely eroded. Part One and Two are connected through the character Paul, who plays a role in both parts.
The story-telling has little description, and there is no moral comment by a narrator. The scarce plot consists of living though, and the picture only gradually emerges before the eye of the reader. The scarcity of plot, and the central place of the character's experience, revealed slowly in dialogue, make the book a rather boring read.
Finished reading: 29 October 2013
The London train is an unattractive novel, because it holds up a mirror to contemporary British society, and the image it reflects is unattractive. Part One of the novel is fairly clear. Contemporary society is a bric-a-brac of broken relationships. Actually, even the word "relationship" is to big to explain the loose ties between people. The main character is has gone through three marriages, none of which apparently very happy. His search for his daughter, Pia, run away from home, described as a really low-class drop-out, is successful, as he finds her in a vague set-up, pregnant with the child of a Polish immigrant, Marek, without marriage plans. Pauls moves in with them, camping on the sofa. No-one in Part One of the novel seems to have a "normal", traditional relationship. Most characters have had (multiple) divorces, or live together by loose affiliation, with non-committal affinity. Even Marek's parents in Poland have divorced, and Marek has never been to visit his father, since the father was diagnosed with cancer more than a year earlier. In Part One, the strongest, traditional connection, is the London train. Regular, reliable and as of old.
Part Two of the novel paints a similar picture, but less clearly than Part One. In Part Two, not only family relations have broken down, but relations with neighbours and community members are also strained or downright spiteful and nasty. While Part One shows the devastation of relationships between people in the big city, Part Two illustrates that the sense of belonging and community has completely eroded. Part One and Two are connected through the character Paul, who plays a role in both parts.
The story-telling has little description, and there is no moral comment by a narrator. The scarce plot consists of living though, and the picture only gradually emerges before the eye of the reader. The scarcity of plot, and the central place of the character's experience, revealed slowly in dialogue, make the book a rather boring read.
168rebeccanyc
I see you haven't read anything else by Denis Johnson, but I originally read Train Dreams because I loved Tree of Smoke. They are completely different, except for the quality or the writing, but I found that intriguing. For me, Train Dreams was poetic, and I wouldn't have wanted it longer, but I can see how a longer book would have been interesting.
It's hard not to love the title of The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter, and I enjoyed your review, but I think I'll skip the book. And I gave up on Tessa Hadley after reading her first, much praised book -- can't remember what it was called.
It's hard not to love the title of The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter, and I enjoyed your review, but I think I'll skip the book. And I gave up on Tessa Hadley after reading her first, much praised book -- can't remember what it was called.
169baswood
Very interesting review of Factory Girls: Voices from the heart of China I think that you are correct in saying that many Western people have not seen any real poverty in their lives and so if the picture that emerges is on the lines of "how scandalous it all is" then the whole book will be a little skewed.
Trains seem to be a feature of your reading at the moment.
Trains seem to be a feature of your reading at the moment.
170RidgewayGirl
A few years ago, I read another book by Tessa Hadley (The Master Bedroom) and was equally unimpressed.
171edwinbcn
Right, Barry: three books about trains in a row: The railway station man, Train dreams and The London train.
The London train was a book I had wishlisted on LT, probably after reading reviews by Kidzdoc or Cariola. I do not write much on Club Read which or how many books I wish list following reviews on the threads, but they are a considerable number (I do not always regret that books are not available, and I am intentionally not ordering books on line).
Many books about China are skewed, often intentionally. For decades the Western press has been dominated by an attitude aimed at bashing China. I also suspect that the "traditionally negative" way of writing about China simply sells better in the West.
Thanks, Alison. I guess that may have been the book Rebecca was referring to. I do not regret having read The London train, despite the disappointment. The overall appreciation by other members on LT points very much in the same direction.
The London train was a book I had wishlisted on LT, probably after reading reviews by Kidzdoc or Cariola. I do not write much on Club Read which or how many books I wish list following reviews on the threads, but they are a considerable number (I do not always regret that books are not available, and I am intentionally not ordering books on line).
Many books about China are skewed, often intentionally. For decades the Western press has been dominated by an attitude aimed at bashing China. I also suspect that the "traditionally negative" way of writing about China simply sells better in the West.
Thanks, Alison. I guess that may have been the book Rebecca was referring to. I do not regret having read The London train, despite the disappointment. The overall appreciation by other members on LT points very much in the same direction.
172SassyLassy
Thanks for the info on Jeanne Baré. I love reading about plant explorers.
Too bad about Denis Johnson. Since you usually do a "Other books I have read by...", it looks like this is your first book by him. He is a writer I really like, although I haven't read Train Dreams. The three books I have read by him are more contemporary and I wonder if he had difficulty with sustaining the feel of the era in this book.
Think I will definitely have to read Journey to a War. I see Auden also has a book with Louis MacNiece, Letters from Iceland which might be worthwhile.
Too bad about Denis Johnson. Since you usually do a "Other books I have read by...", it looks like this is your first book by him. He is a writer I really like, although I haven't read Train Dreams. The three books I have read by him are more contemporary and I wonder if he had difficulty with sustaining the feel of the era in this book.
Think I will definitely have to read Journey to a War. I see Auden also has a book with Louis MacNiece, Letters from Iceland which might be worthwhile.
173edwinbcn
136. Joe Speedboot
Finished reading: 30 October 2013
In English 
Tommy Wieringa is one of the Dutch authors who has been doing very well recently, and found their books published with a great deal of success in English and other languages, in several editions. Part of that success comes on account of the fact that they write their books in a very different way from authors before them. Their books tend to be less ponderous, and written in an altogether freer style than much of Dutch books before them. While authors such as Tommy Wieringa, Herman Koch (author of The Dinner) and Dimitri Verhulst also have wide readership in the Dutch language community, serious readers find that their work is popularized and of a lower quality.
Joe Speedboot by Tommy Wieringa is a coming of age novel, that tells the story of two friends growing up, in the fictional village Lomark in the Netherlands. The plot is a fantastic roller-coaster of unlikely events. The story, which resembles books like Tom Sayer and Huckleberry Finn, is told in the form of the reminiscences of the main character. It opens as the main character, Fransje Hermans, aged 14, wakes from a coma of nearly 200 days. A new boy has moved to the village, and Fransje is impressed by this youngster who changes his name to Joe Speedboot. There are numerous unlikely plot elements, including the building of an airplane from scratch.
The novel is clearly influenced by other mainstream Dutch authors such as A. F. Th. van der Heijden, but the story is more superficial. The story is not entirely chronological, that is to say, the development over time is not even; in fact, the story is merely a string of unlikely, spectacular plot elements, that have no other function than being just simply spectacular, as they impress Fransje. As in previous novels novels by Tommy Wieringa, characters naming seems clumsy, often creating cross-references to historical characters, or of disconcerting clumsiness. Critics have suggested that the names of main characters are opportunistically chosen to facilitate translation of the novel into English: Fransje easily translates as Frankie, and Joe Speedboot as Joe Speedboat. In fact, the English forms of the names are more natural than the Dutch forms.
Other books that I have read by Tommy Wieringa:
Alles over Tristan
Finished reading: 30 October 2013
In English 
Tommy Wieringa is one of the Dutch authors who has been doing very well recently, and found their books published with a great deal of success in English and other languages, in several editions. Part of that success comes on account of the fact that they write their books in a very different way from authors before them. Their books tend to be less ponderous, and written in an altogether freer style than much of Dutch books before them. While authors such as Tommy Wieringa, Herman Koch (author of The Dinner) and Dimitri Verhulst also have wide readership in the Dutch language community, serious readers find that their work is popularized and of a lower quality.
Joe Speedboot by Tommy Wieringa is a coming of age novel, that tells the story of two friends growing up, in the fictional village Lomark in the Netherlands. The plot is a fantastic roller-coaster of unlikely events. The story, which resembles books like Tom Sayer and Huckleberry Finn, is told in the form of the reminiscences of the main character. It opens as the main character, Fransje Hermans, aged 14, wakes from a coma of nearly 200 days. A new boy has moved to the village, and Fransje is impressed by this youngster who changes his name to Joe Speedboot. There are numerous unlikely plot elements, including the building of an airplane from scratch.
The novel is clearly influenced by other mainstream Dutch authors such as A. F. Th. van der Heijden, but the story is more superficial. The story is not entirely chronological, that is to say, the development over time is not even; in fact, the story is merely a string of unlikely, spectacular plot elements, that have no other function than being just simply spectacular, as they impress Fransje. As in previous novels novels by Tommy Wieringa, characters naming seems clumsy, often creating cross-references to historical characters, or of disconcerting clumsiness. Critics have suggested that the names of main characters are opportunistically chosen to facilitate translation of the novel into English: Fransje easily translates as Frankie, and Joe Speedboot as Joe Speedboat. In fact, the English forms of the names are more natural than the Dutch forms.
Other books that I have read by Tommy Wieringa:
Alles over Tristan
174edwinbcn
137. La chute
Finished reading: 30 October 2013
In English: 
La chute ((English: The Fall) is a short novel by the Nobel Prize winning author Albert Camus. The novel can be read at several levels, obviously the deeper levels are difficult and less accessible, depending on the knowledge and experience of the reader. The excellence of The Fall is that the novel, although short, has so much more depth to offer.
The form of the novel is interesting, as the story is told in the form of a monologue of the narrator Jean-Baptiste Clemence. This monologue is not a confession to a priest, but a bar conversation. Not at the bar in a court of law, Clemence is a barrister, but in a pub in the Amsterdam city centre. The monologue is written in the typical type of conversation people sometimes have in such places, when they can unburden themselves to a stranger without limitations.
Thus, Jean-Baptiste Clemence tells the reader the story of his life. The essence of his life is what many people would consider the essence of their lives. Everyone believes that they are a nice person. This remarkable fact should be recognizable to any reader. No matter how deep the conflict in any human relation, each party always feels right. We learn that Clemence has lived the larger part of his life with the snug belief and image of himself as a good man, with a good heart, always willing to help others, by supporting the weak. But ,metaphorically extending a helpful hand is a very different matter from extending a literal helping hand. One day as a woman falls of a bridge, Clemence hesitates, and does not rush to help. The scene is sufficiently clever constructed, with a delay between the fall, the realization of what happened for Clemence to make the confrontation easy to neglect. The urgency is finely balanced at that edge where man has to decide to rush into action on the instant and the realization that one is probably (already) too late. This event makes Clemence doubt his ability to truly help people.
A second event Clemence tells his listener was pivotal in shattering his self-image. In a traffic quarrel Clemence appears as fairly reasonable, when suddenly the other hits him and rushes off. Dazed Clemence is left standing there, unable to get into action, and react. His failure to take appropriate action, that is to say what would be appropriate is his eyes, makes him feel impotent. Again, the situation, which involves another person is sufficiently complicated to make it psychologically entirely convincing, resulting in a total feeling of humiliation on the part of Clemence.
The power of the novel is to make the reader see that, while we generally have negative associations with the word "humiliation, it is generally felt that "humility" is a virtue. The Fall takes the form of penance, in which Jean-Baptiste Clemence falls from an elevated position to a lower position, in his own esteem. This humiliation enables him to see a much truer image of himself.
The novel contains a lot of material and many images and references that enable readers to extend the basic theme, and explore this theme at deeper levels. For instance, the novel is set in a bar in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, both in English and French alternatively known as "the Low Lands" (les Pays-Bas), to emphasize the descend from high to low. During World War II, the Netherlands was the country most co-operative with the Nazis in the deportation of Jewish citizens to the death camps. The pub in which Clemence tells his story is located in that historical quarter that used to house the largest number of Jewish people, and that was turned into a ghetto during the occupation. While the Dutch were least helpful, the French in Vichy-France were not very helpful to their Jewish compatriots either.
The admirable quality of The Fall is that the main theme is accessible to all readers who are interested and willing to spend their time reading literary fiction, unlike some fiction which is so inaccessible that all but professional literary critics can make any sense of it. In the case of Camus novel The Fall is may definitely interest some readers to read some additional literary criticism on this novel to deepen their understanding, and reveal other, beautiful and interesting dimensions of the book.
Other books I have read by Albert Camus:
Lettres à un ami allemand
L'été
Jonas ou l'artiste au travail, suivi de "La pierre qui pousse"
Finished reading: 30 October 2013
In English: 
La chute ((English: The Fall) is a short novel by the Nobel Prize winning author Albert Camus. The novel can be read at several levels, obviously the deeper levels are difficult and less accessible, depending on the knowledge and experience of the reader. The excellence of The Fall is that the novel, although short, has so much more depth to offer.
The form of the novel is interesting, as the story is told in the form of a monologue of the narrator Jean-Baptiste Clemence. This monologue is not a confession to a priest, but a bar conversation. Not at the bar in a court of law, Clemence is a barrister, but in a pub in the Amsterdam city centre. The monologue is written in the typical type of conversation people sometimes have in such places, when they can unburden themselves to a stranger without limitations.
Thus, Jean-Baptiste Clemence tells the reader the story of his life. The essence of his life is what many people would consider the essence of their lives. Everyone believes that they are a nice person. This remarkable fact should be recognizable to any reader. No matter how deep the conflict in any human relation, each party always feels right. We learn that Clemence has lived the larger part of his life with the snug belief and image of himself as a good man, with a good heart, always willing to help others, by supporting the weak. But ,metaphorically extending a helpful hand is a very different matter from extending a literal helping hand. One day as a woman falls of a bridge, Clemence hesitates, and does not rush to help. The scene is sufficiently clever constructed, with a delay between the fall, the realization of what happened for Clemence to make the confrontation easy to neglect. The urgency is finely balanced at that edge where man has to decide to rush into action on the instant and the realization that one is probably (already) too late. This event makes Clemence doubt his ability to truly help people.
A second event Clemence tells his listener was pivotal in shattering his self-image. In a traffic quarrel Clemence appears as fairly reasonable, when suddenly the other hits him and rushes off. Dazed Clemence is left standing there, unable to get into action, and react. His failure to take appropriate action, that is to say what would be appropriate is his eyes, makes him feel impotent. Again, the situation, which involves another person is sufficiently complicated to make it psychologically entirely convincing, resulting in a total feeling of humiliation on the part of Clemence.
The power of the novel is to make the reader see that, while we generally have negative associations with the word "humiliation, it is generally felt that "humility" is a virtue. The Fall takes the form of penance, in which Jean-Baptiste Clemence falls from an elevated position to a lower position, in his own esteem. This humiliation enables him to see a much truer image of himself.
The novel contains a lot of material and many images and references that enable readers to extend the basic theme, and explore this theme at deeper levels. For instance, the novel is set in a bar in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, both in English and French alternatively known as "the Low Lands" (les Pays-Bas), to emphasize the descend from high to low. During World War II, the Netherlands was the country most co-operative with the Nazis in the deportation of Jewish citizens to the death camps. The pub in which Clemence tells his story is located in that historical quarter that used to house the largest number of Jewish people, and that was turned into a ghetto during the occupation. While the Dutch were least helpful, the French in Vichy-France were not very helpful to their Jewish compatriots either.
The admirable quality of The Fall is that the main theme is accessible to all readers who are interested and willing to spend their time reading literary fiction, unlike some fiction which is so inaccessible that all but professional literary critics can make any sense of it. In the case of Camus novel The Fall is may definitely interest some readers to read some additional literary criticism on this novel to deepen their understanding, and reveal other, beautiful and interesting dimensions of the book.
Other books I have read by Albert Camus:
Lettres à un ami allemand
L'été
Jonas ou l'artiste au travail, suivi de "La pierre qui pousse"
175edwinbcn
138. Falling leaves. The memoir of an unwanted Chinese daughter
Finished reading: 4 November 2013
The Chinese-American author Adeline Yen Mah is best known for her two books of memoirs, Watching the tree. A Chinese daughter reflects on happiness, traditions, and spiritual wisdom and Falling leaves. The memoir of an unwanted Chinese daughter, the latter of which has also appeared in a Young Adult version as Chinese Cinderella. The true story of an unwanted daughter. These two (or three) books all deal with the same issues.
From a historical point of view, any person's memoirs can be very interesting, and given the fact that Adeline Yen Mah comes from a wealthy family makes her autobiographical work of more significance. Her work may be of interest to historians who study Chinese history, the history of immigrants into Hong Kong or Chinese-Americans, particularly in the first half on the 20th century. However, the dual editions of Falling leaves indicate that the author does not specifically have that audience in mind.
The picture that emerges from her memoirs, shows that the author comes from an incredibly privileged background. However, throughout the book the reader is struck by her portrayal of her family members, who are all exposed as extremely selfish. Her father, and especially her step-mother, most of her brothers, and Lydia, the family member left behind in Communist China. This selfishness reaches its pivot in the final chapters when the inheritance is to be divided.
Throughout the book the author describes herself as the great pacifier, the angelic daughter who studies medicine to become a doctor and thus a helper of mankind. While the emancipatory novelty is a fact, the author tends to make more of her own effort, and downplay the role of her wealthy family background of privilege.
The subtitle of the book indicates very clearly what the author's real preoccupations are: The memoir of an unwanted Chinese daughter. Throughout the book she keeps raising her wining voice, calling for pity with her, for being an unwanted daughter, unwanted, unloved and denied what? Oh, yes... her share of the inheritance. In essence, the book is not much more than a vain attempt by a narcissistic and spoilt woman to have the last say.
.
The book is a perfect illustration of the decadent, privileged life of the upper-class Chinese that the Communist Revolution in China so successfully got rid of. The book is very well-written, and the historical transitions from Tianjin to Shanghai, on to Hong Kong and her life in other parts around the world are of historical interest. Above all, the book is of interest because it exposes the degrees of greed and hatred of wealthy Chinese families, in as far as we can separate those facts from the self-pity of the author.
Other books I have read by Adeline Yen Mah:
Watching the tree. A Chinese daughter reflects on happiness, traditions, and spiritual wisdom
Finished reading: 4 November 2013
The Chinese-American author Adeline Yen Mah is best known for her two books of memoirs, Watching the tree. A Chinese daughter reflects on happiness, traditions, and spiritual wisdom and Falling leaves. The memoir of an unwanted Chinese daughter, the latter of which has also appeared in a Young Adult version as Chinese Cinderella. The true story of an unwanted daughter. These two (or three) books all deal with the same issues.
From a historical point of view, any person's memoirs can be very interesting, and given the fact that Adeline Yen Mah comes from a wealthy family makes her autobiographical work of more significance. Her work may be of interest to historians who study Chinese history, the history of immigrants into Hong Kong or Chinese-Americans, particularly in the first half on the 20th century. However, the dual editions of Falling leaves indicate that the author does not specifically have that audience in mind.
The picture that emerges from her memoirs, shows that the author comes from an incredibly privileged background. However, throughout the book the reader is struck by her portrayal of her family members, who are all exposed as extremely selfish. Her father, and especially her step-mother, most of her brothers, and Lydia, the family member left behind in Communist China. This selfishness reaches its pivot in the final chapters when the inheritance is to be divided.
Throughout the book the author describes herself as the great pacifier, the angelic daughter who studies medicine to become a doctor and thus a helper of mankind. While the emancipatory novelty is a fact, the author tends to make more of her own effort, and downplay the role of her wealthy family background of privilege.
The subtitle of the book indicates very clearly what the author's real preoccupations are: The memoir of an unwanted Chinese daughter. Throughout the book she keeps raising her wining voice, calling for pity with her, for being an unwanted daughter, unwanted, unloved and denied what? Oh, yes... her share of the inheritance. In essence, the book is not much more than a vain attempt by a narcissistic and spoilt woman to have the last say.
.
The book is a perfect illustration of the decadent, privileged life of the upper-class Chinese that the Communist Revolution in China so successfully got rid of. The book is very well-written, and the historical transitions from Tianjin to Shanghai, on to Hong Kong and her life in other parts around the world are of historical interest. Above all, the book is of interest because it exposes the degrees of greed and hatred of wealthy Chinese families, in as far as we can separate those facts from the self-pity of the author.
Other books I have read by Adeline Yen Mah:
Watching the tree. A Chinese daughter reflects on happiness, traditions, and spiritual wisdom
176LolaWalser
Apologies for a bit of randomness (it's about China at least!), I thought first of you as someone who might be interested in this, or comment usefully:
Maoist Death-Cult Economics
It jibes with what several of my Chinese colleagues tell me about the irritations of Western misconceptions about China's socialist past.
P.S. Forgot to say: was curious about your take, and if you can recommend some respectable source discussing the famine statistics?
Maoist Death-Cult Economics
It jibes with what several of my Chinese colleagues tell me about the irritations of Western misconceptions about China's socialist past.
P.S. Forgot to say: was curious about your take, and if you can recommend some respectable source discussing the famine statistics?
177mkboylan
Thanks for that link Lola. SO interesting. Stats are so fun and so easily manipulated or even simply misinterpreted. It was great hearing about the political manipulations described.
Come on Edwin - talk to us!
Come on Edwin - talk to us!
178edwinbcn
Thanks, Lola and Merrikay.
Firstly, I do not have any statistics myself, and would not be interested to look for any, although the library of the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences where I work (no not in the library) would be a good place to start.
However, I guess if one were to do any research into contemporary newspapers at the time, one would get a picture. Many sinologists capitalize and exploit their ability to reveal or conceal sources, because the wider audience cannot verify facts. Simon Leys, an author highly critical of China, wrote that there was nothing mysterious or obscure about the Cultural Revolution, and that when he wrote his book he had mainly used contemporary Chinese newspapers as his source material.
I must say that I have never heard anyone mention the great famine. I do not solicit people's opinions, but I have many friends in the age category who would have an impression of a disaster on such a scale. I have heard Chinese friends talk about and refer to the other mishaps in recent Chinese history.
In those years China had a population of about 650 million people. However, China is a very large country, and problems may have been worse in one region on another, which was also suggested in the books on this issue Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker (which I read) and Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962 by Frank Dikötter, which I have not read. At least the former suggested that the situation was worst in some south-central provinces such as Anhui (I do not exactly recall what Becker wrote.
I have been reading (but not finished) The Man on Mao's Right. From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square. My Life inside China's Foreign Ministry by Ji Chaozhu, published in 2008. This book gives a very balanced, apparently rather objective, but possible positively skewed view of the situation at the time. The author, Ji Chaozhu, worked as an interpreter for the Central government throughout the period between the foundation of the PRC till early 1980s.
One significant point to look at is the dates. The publications citing high numbers of casualties tend to stretch the period from 1958 - 1962, making it look like four full years, while in fact the period of real food shortage was from late 1959 (i.e. the harvest season of 1959) till 1962 (the harvest season of 1966). Ji Chaozhu writes: the country went through three years of brutal deprivation that ultimately affected everyone. During the "three difficult years" between late 1959 and 1962, there were no fat people in China, not even in government. (p. 199)
Xiangtong and I, and everyone we knew, were always hungry. (...) office workers were entitled to 30 pounds of grain per person per month, labourers slightly more (...) the only vegetable was cabbage, also rationed (..) we could buy just 3 ounces of meat (...) and two ounces of cooking oil. (ibid.) (These amounts are per person per month on a rationing system.)
Ji Chaozhu includes the following statistic:
Malnutrition leading to edema was common in many areas, and deaths among the rural population increased. According to official statistics, the country's total population in 1960 dropped by 10 million over the previous year.. (p. 198)
The author does not give any other or sum total statistics. This figure clearly only relates to the first year.
I must say that I am on the whole not such a number fetishist. 1 million deaths is worse enough, and any number above that does not make it worse. Is it Hannah Arendt who said that suffering is not scalable?
The number discussion is also too much driven by the motivation to blame someone. In the holocaust discussion the numbers are significant, because the holocaust was an act of intentional mass murder. In the case of the famine in China, there was mismanagement on the part of various local and the national government.
Firstly, I do not have any statistics myself, and would not be interested to look for any, although the library of the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences where I work (no not in the library) would be a good place to start.
However, I guess if one were to do any research into contemporary newspapers at the time, one would get a picture. Many sinologists capitalize and exploit their ability to reveal or conceal sources, because the wider audience cannot verify facts. Simon Leys, an author highly critical of China, wrote that there was nothing mysterious or obscure about the Cultural Revolution, and that when he wrote his book he had mainly used contemporary Chinese newspapers as his source material.
I must say that I have never heard anyone mention the great famine. I do not solicit people's opinions, but I have many friends in the age category who would have an impression of a disaster on such a scale. I have heard Chinese friends talk about and refer to the other mishaps in recent Chinese history.
In those years China had a population of about 650 million people. However, China is a very large country, and problems may have been worse in one region on another, which was also suggested in the books on this issue Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker (which I read) and Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962 by Frank Dikötter, which I have not read. At least the former suggested that the situation was worst in some south-central provinces such as Anhui (I do not exactly recall what Becker wrote.
I have been reading (but not finished) The Man on Mao's Right. From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square. My Life inside China's Foreign Ministry by Ji Chaozhu, published in 2008. This book gives a very balanced, apparently rather objective, but possible positively skewed view of the situation at the time. The author, Ji Chaozhu, worked as an interpreter for the Central government throughout the period between the foundation of the PRC till early 1980s.
One significant point to look at is the dates. The publications citing high numbers of casualties tend to stretch the period from 1958 - 1962, making it look like four full years, while in fact the period of real food shortage was from late 1959 (i.e. the harvest season of 1959) till 1962 (the harvest season of 1966). Ji Chaozhu writes: the country went through three years of brutal deprivation that ultimately affected everyone. During the "three difficult years" between late 1959 and 1962, there were no fat people in China, not even in government. (p. 199)
Xiangtong and I, and everyone we knew, were always hungry. (...) office workers were entitled to 30 pounds of grain per person per month, labourers slightly more (...) the only vegetable was cabbage, also rationed (..) we could buy just 3 ounces of meat (...) and two ounces of cooking oil. (ibid.) (These amounts are per person per month on a rationing system.)
Ji Chaozhu includes the following statistic:
Malnutrition leading to edema was common in many areas, and deaths among the rural population increased. According to official statistics, the country's total population in 1960 dropped by 10 million over the previous year.. (p. 198)
The author does not give any other or sum total statistics. This figure clearly only relates to the first year.
I must say that I am on the whole not such a number fetishist. 1 million deaths is worse enough, and any number above that does not make it worse. Is it Hannah Arendt who said that suffering is not scalable?
The number discussion is also too much driven by the motivation to blame someone. In the holocaust discussion the numbers are significant, because the holocaust was an act of intentional mass murder. In the case of the famine in China, there was mismanagement on the part of various local and the national government.
179LolaWalser
Thank you VERY much, Edwin, most interesting, great points! I wish to know so much more about China but the idea of relying on nothing but (mostly foreign) commentary, because of the language barrier, makes me feel extremely uncertain about drawing conclusions.
Curious that Leys would think Chinese newspapers an acceptable source.
It seems that, whatever the proportions of the famine, its significance is less historical than mediatic. It is a symbol in the West of the failure and horrors of Chinese Communism, similar to the 1930s staged trials and gulags in USSR. These events get projected onto the entire history, obscuring everything else.
Curious that Leys would think Chinese newspapers an acceptable source.
It seems that, whatever the proportions of the famine, its significance is less historical than mediatic. It is a symbol in the West of the failure and horrors of Chinese Communism, similar to the 1930s staged trials and gulags in USSR. These events get projected onto the entire history, obscuring everything else.
180mkboylan
Oh lord the more I learn the more I learn I know nothing. I so appreciate your taking the time to answer. I DO like numbers but also agree with your comments about that.
Even though I know better, I still find myself getting stuck in binary thinking, either this or that, and try to remind myself that is a signal to look for a third position. And I too play the blame game too often, telling myself I'm just trying to figure things out.
Even though I know better, I still find myself getting stuck in binary thinking, either this or that, and try to remind myself that is a signal to look for a third position. And I too play the blame game too often, telling myself I'm just trying to figure things out.
181SassyLassy
>179 LolaWalser: Lola, I've read both Hungry Ghosts and Mao's Great Famine. They are both significant works, but given the time difference between them and so the amount of information available to the respective authors, there are some differences. Dikotter does explain his methodology in obtaining the information quite well. He also spends more time on the flow of agricultural products from the PRC to Eastern Europe, in particular East Germany, and the effects of these exports.
There is another book, published last year, which I bought after a recommendation from dmsteyn, but haven't read yet. The effects of the Dikotter were just too brutal to dive into another work right away. The book is Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962 by Jisheng Yang. It is on my 2014 list.
If you're interested, here is a link to my review of the Dikotter: http://www.librarything.com/topic/140064 post 121.
Edwin, the Ji Chaozhu sounds really interesting. I read Falling Leaves and had the same reaction to the author that you describe. As you say, The book is a perfect illustration of the decadent, privileged life of the upper-class Chinese that the Communist Revolution in China so successfully got rid of.... Her upbringing was typical of her time and class, and she certainly knew the rules and the players, so I found her self pity and self serving complaints tiresome, although her portrayal of the events was intriguing.
There is another book, published last year, which I bought after a recommendation from dmsteyn, but haven't read yet. The effects of the Dikotter were just too brutal to dive into another work right away. The book is Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962 by Jisheng Yang. It is on my 2014 list.
If you're interested, here is a link to my review of the Dikotter: http://www.librarything.com/topic/140064 post 121.
Edwin, the Ji Chaozhu sounds really interesting. I read Falling Leaves and had the same reaction to the author that you describe. As you say, The book is a perfect illustration of the decadent, privileged life of the upper-class Chinese that the Communist Revolution in China so successfully got rid of.... Her upbringing was typical of her time and class, and she certainly knew the rules and the players, so I found her self pity and self serving complaints tiresome, although her portrayal of the events was intriguing.
182rebeccanyc
I have Mao's Great Famine on the TBR, but haven't worked up my courage to get to it yet. I'd be interested in Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962 also.
183mkboylan
182 Sending you lots of thoughts of courage so you can read and report and I can learn from your review while you do the work. :)
184rebeccanyc
Well, you can read Sassy's review in the meantime -- she links to it in post 181.
185edwinbcn
>179 LolaWalser:
Chinese newspapers an acceptable source
I do not think Leys used Chinese newspaper as a source for statistics. My reference comes from Leys book Les habits neufs du président Mao (There is no English language edition on this book which translates as "The Chairman's New Clothes: Mao and the Cultural Revolution" (1971) (Not to be confused with the film "The Emperor's New Clothes"). Leys book was published in 1971 when many other China experts claimed that they did not know what was going on in China, which was refuted by Leys saying that much, at least the basic facts and chronology, could be learnt from reading Chinese newspapers. I would surmise that it is likely that Chinese newspapers from the period 1959 to 1962 would give some image of the situation in China.
There is some enthusiasm among members on LT to read all (three) books about the famine at that time. I doubt whether that is very useful, it is more likely a waste of time and money. The three books mentioned above all came out within a few years. Most likely they are all based on roughly the same sources.
It is obvious that the Chinese government, in casu the CPC does not want to publicise details about that part of recent Chinese history. They motivate that decision by saying that open discussion would endanger (political) stability of the country. This decision mars with the interests of historians, who claim that (ongoing) data collection and discussion should come first, at the risk that such data later cannot be gathered. It is the task of the government in this case to prioritize, to protect national stability. Posterity can merely hope that data have been collected and are kept, so that historical records can be compiled at a later date. It is also likely that autobiographical manuscripts will eventually survive and surface, although one may wonder why that has not yet happened.
Chinese newspapers an acceptable source
I do not think Leys used Chinese newspaper as a source for statistics. My reference comes from Leys book Les habits neufs du président Mao (There is no English language edition on this book which translates as "The Chairman's New Clothes: Mao and the Cultural Revolution" (1971) (Not to be confused with the film "The Emperor's New Clothes"). Leys book was published in 1971 when many other China experts claimed that they did not know what was going on in China, which was refuted by Leys saying that much, at least the basic facts and chronology, could be learnt from reading Chinese newspapers. I would surmise that it is likely that Chinese newspapers from the period 1959 to 1962 would give some image of the situation in China.
There is some enthusiasm among members on LT to read all (three) books about the famine at that time. I doubt whether that is very useful, it is more likely a waste of time and money. The three books mentioned above all came out within a few years. Most likely they are all based on roughly the same sources.
It is obvious that the Chinese government, in casu the CPC does not want to publicise details about that part of recent Chinese history. They motivate that decision by saying that open discussion would endanger (political) stability of the country. This decision mars with the interests of historians, who claim that (ongoing) data collection and discussion should come first, at the risk that such data later cannot be gathered. It is the task of the government in this case to prioritize, to protect national stability. Posterity can merely hope that data have been collected and are kept, so that historical records can be compiled at a later date. It is also likely that autobiographical manuscripts will eventually survive and surface, although one may wonder why that has not yet happened.
186edwinbcn
139. The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals
Finished reading: 6 November 2013
Michael Pollan came relatively late to publishing, at first appearing as an author in search of a topic, writing an autobiographical work, A place of my own. The architecture of daydreams, followed by The botany of desire. A plant's-eye view of the world, which follows Dawkins popular idea of "self-promoting genes". Having apparently struck gold, Pollan is now the author of several books and spin-offs of books about the food industry.
Pollan is not a botanist, and neither does he have a professional background in nutrition. His books are researched with the generic skill of a journalist. The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals tends to be a bit too detailed, with some overlap between the chapters. The book does not provide a theoretical underpinning for his subsequent work, such as In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto or Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, which are spin-offs of The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals, but the latter does form the basis of his activism. By focusing on a single culprit, the High-Fructose Corn Syrup Pollan has been able to catch the attention of mass media and the mass audience, to stir a movement opposing the industrial production of food, and promoting small-scale food production. In this movement, Pollan takes the role of a guru, complete with the notion that the lifestyle that goes with this advanced insight is possible only attainable to an intellectual and affluent elite.
While the focus in The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals is on food and the effects on humans of this type of food production, the book warns of another large looming economic disaster that could easily trigger a world-wide famine, if, for instance as a result of insolvency of the American government the super-structure of the agribusiness in the US should collapse.
The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals is perhaps one of the few books of which it is truly interesting to read the references at the end of the book, which do not only refer to books but also to web sites with interesting information and initiatives related to themes in the book.
Other books I have read by Michael Pollan:
The botany of desire. A plant's-eye view of the world
A place of my own. The architecture of daydreams
In defense of food. An eater's manifesto
Finished reading: 6 November 2013
Michael Pollan came relatively late to publishing, at first appearing as an author in search of a topic, writing an autobiographical work, A place of my own. The architecture of daydreams, followed by The botany of desire. A plant's-eye view of the world, which follows Dawkins popular idea of "self-promoting genes". Having apparently struck gold, Pollan is now the author of several books and spin-offs of books about the food industry.
Pollan is not a botanist, and neither does he have a professional background in nutrition. His books are researched with the generic skill of a journalist. The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals tends to be a bit too detailed, with some overlap between the chapters. The book does not provide a theoretical underpinning for his subsequent work, such as In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto or Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, which are spin-offs of The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals, but the latter does form the basis of his activism. By focusing on a single culprit, the High-Fructose Corn Syrup Pollan has been able to catch the attention of mass media and the mass audience, to stir a movement opposing the industrial production of food, and promoting small-scale food production. In this movement, Pollan takes the role of a guru, complete with the notion that the lifestyle that goes with this advanced insight is possible only attainable to an intellectual and affluent elite.
While the focus in The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals is on food and the effects on humans of this type of food production, the book warns of another large looming economic disaster that could easily trigger a world-wide famine, if, for instance as a result of insolvency of the American government the super-structure of the agribusiness in the US should collapse.
The omnivore's dilemma. A natural history of four meals is perhaps one of the few books of which it is truly interesting to read the references at the end of the book, which do not only refer to books but also to web sites with interesting information and initiatives related to themes in the book.
Other books I have read by Michael Pollan:
The botany of desire. A plant's-eye view of the world
A place of my own. The architecture of daydreams
In defense of food. An eater's manifesto
187rebeccanyc
After I read The Omnivore's Dilemma it put me off eating beef 99% of the time!
188edwinbcn
140. Het teruggevonden kind
Finished reading: 6 November 2013
The series of six books that started of with Aan zee: taferelen uit de kinderjaren (English: By the Sea: Scenes from a Childhood) take a central place in the work of the Belgian author Eric de Kuyper. In these books, presented as fictionalized autobiographies, he explores the time of his youth.
Het teruggevonden kind (English: Childhood regained) is a collection of essays about childhood. The title is a direct reference to the work of Marcel Proust whose Le Temps retrouvé has been translated into English under titles as varied as Time Regained Finding Time Again and The Past Recaptured (1927). The essays in Het teruggevonden kind are grouped into three sections; Part 1 which deals with various aspects of Proust's seminal work À la recherche du temps perdu published in seven volumes, translated as In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past (1913 - 1927), followed by an Intermezzo consisting of two essays about sleep and strolling, and Part 2 about Childhood biographies.
Marcel Proust in À la recherche du temps perdu is the author par excellence to write about childhood memories. De Kuyper explores this theme in Proust's work extensively. In Part 2, several authors who are known to have used their childhood memories in their work are discussed, notably Rumer Godden, Roland Barthes, Walther Benjamin, Colette, Andre Gide, Imre Kertesz, Michel Leiris, Jean-jacques Rousseau, George Sand, Georges Simenon, and Stendhal among many others. At the end of the book, an annotated bibliography to authors discussed in the book is added.
The essays in Het teruggevonden kind are characterized by a heavy, laden, very literate style, with many references to literature. Various essays are repetitive, coming back each time to aspects of memories, childhood, etc. It seems De Kuyper is much more interesting than his fictional work.
Other books I have read by Eric de Kuyper:
Aantekeningen van een voyeur
Mowgli's tranen
Bruxelles, here I come. Nieuwe taferelen uit de Antwerpse en Brusselse tijd
Aan zee. Taferelen uit de kinderjaren
De hoed van tante Jeannot. Taferelen uit de kinderjaren in Brussel
In de zon uit de schaduw
Grand Hotel Solitude. Taferelen uit de adolescentiejaren
Finished reading: 6 November 2013
The series of six books that started of with Aan zee: taferelen uit de kinderjaren (English: By the Sea: Scenes from a Childhood) take a central place in the work of the Belgian author Eric de Kuyper. In these books, presented as fictionalized autobiographies, he explores the time of his youth.
Het teruggevonden kind (English: Childhood regained) is a collection of essays about childhood. The title is a direct reference to the work of Marcel Proust whose Le Temps retrouvé has been translated into English under titles as varied as Time Regained Finding Time Again and The Past Recaptured (1927). The essays in Het teruggevonden kind are grouped into three sections; Part 1 which deals with various aspects of Proust's seminal work À la recherche du temps perdu published in seven volumes, translated as In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past (1913 - 1927), followed by an Intermezzo consisting of two essays about sleep and strolling, and Part 2 about Childhood biographies.
Marcel Proust in À la recherche du temps perdu is the author par excellence to write about childhood memories. De Kuyper explores this theme in Proust's work extensively. In Part 2, several authors who are known to have used their childhood memories in their work are discussed, notably Rumer Godden, Roland Barthes, Walther Benjamin, Colette, Andre Gide, Imre Kertesz, Michel Leiris, Jean-jacques Rousseau, George Sand, Georges Simenon, and Stendhal among many others. At the end of the book, an annotated bibliography to authors discussed in the book is added.
The essays in Het teruggevonden kind are characterized by a heavy, laden, very literate style, with many references to literature. Various essays are repetitive, coming back each time to aspects of memories, childhood, etc. It seems De Kuyper is much more interesting than his fictional work.
Other books I have read by Eric de Kuyper:
Aantekeningen van een voyeur
Mowgli's tranen
Bruxelles, here I come. Nieuwe taferelen uit de Antwerpse en Brusselse tijd
Aan zee. Taferelen uit de kinderjaren
De hoed van tante Jeannot. Taferelen uit de kinderjaren in Brussel
In de zon uit de schaduw
Grand Hotel Solitude. Taferelen uit de adolescentiejaren
189edwinbcn
141. The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer
Finished reading: 10 November 2013
The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer belongs to the genre of history of medicine. Its popularity can only be explained by the fact that cancer is one of the most prominent causes of death. While in many other books sheer size of the book and the density of detail would scare readers away, these features are essential to The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer as "cancer" is an topic which most readers will have an over-average amount of knowledge, due to long-term exposure to writing about cancer and cancer research in the media. However, that does not really prepare readers for the many (unknown) names of scores of doctors and researchers who paved the way in the theory and practice of cancer treatment.
The book is written in a very readable and accessible style, which mixes just the right degree of involvement and distance to make the book an enjoyable read to many. The author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, being relatively young, has an excellent grip on his topic, and skill to write about it engagingly. The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer never feels like an academic history of cancer, although that is probably how the book got started. While the book is mostly written is the third personal (singular / plural), there are several sections in the first person singular, which add considerably to the engaging personal style of the book, although insertion of such sections did sometimes seem strange where the author describes cases he has seen, which are chronologically placed in time periods during which the author could not have worked in the field, seen his age.
Finished reading: 10 November 2013
The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer belongs to the genre of history of medicine. Its popularity can only be explained by the fact that cancer is one of the most prominent causes of death. While in many other books sheer size of the book and the density of detail would scare readers away, these features are essential to The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer as "cancer" is an topic which most readers will have an over-average amount of knowledge, due to long-term exposure to writing about cancer and cancer research in the media. However, that does not really prepare readers for the many (unknown) names of scores of doctors and researchers who paved the way in the theory and practice of cancer treatment.
The book is written in a very readable and accessible style, which mixes just the right degree of involvement and distance to make the book an enjoyable read to many. The author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, being relatively young, has an excellent grip on his topic, and skill to write about it engagingly. The emperor of all maladies. A biography of cancer never feels like an academic history of cancer, although that is probably how the book got started. While the book is mostly written is the third personal (singular / plural), there are several sections in the first person singular, which add considerably to the engaging personal style of the book, although insertion of such sections did sometimes seem strange where the author describes cases he has seen, which are chronologically placed in time periods during which the author could not have worked in the field, seen his age.
190edwinbcn
142. Levels of life
Finished reading: 10 November 2013
Levels of life consists of a small collection on essays and prose (fiction) by Julian Barnes. The first two pieces deal with Barnes passions, France, photography and Ballooning. These parts are written with gusto, and they are exhilarating. The stories touch on many themes and motives that are known to have fascinated Barnes, and can be found throughout his life and work.
These light-footed parts are juxtaposed by a very depressing description of the loss of his wife. The grief and sorrow is perhaps felt deeper as it follows the hilarious first part of the book. This volte also symbolises the change in the author's mood.
An impressive Requiem for his wife.
Other books I have read by Julian Barnes:
Love, etc.
The lemon table
Flaubert's parrot
Metroland
Finished reading: 10 November 2013
Levels of life consists of a small collection on essays and prose (fiction) by Julian Barnes. The first two pieces deal with Barnes passions, France, photography and Ballooning. These parts are written with gusto, and they are exhilarating. The stories touch on many themes and motives that are known to have fascinated Barnes, and can be found throughout his life and work.
These light-footed parts are juxtaposed by a very depressing description of the loss of his wife. The grief and sorrow is perhaps felt deeper as it follows the hilarious first part of the book. This volte also symbolises the change in the author's mood.
An impressive Requiem for his wife.
Other books I have read by Julian Barnes:
Love, etc.
The lemon table
Flaubert's parrot
Metroland
191edwinbcn
143. Franny and Zooey
Finished reading: 11 November 2013
As Franny and Zooey is generally considered contemporary literature, most editions of this work by J.D. Salinger are published without an introduction. That is a pity, because the title of the book is sufficiently confusing to believe that the work forms a unity, whereas in fact Franny is a short story, and Zooey is a separate novella, although both deal with members of the same family and both Franny and Zooey appear as characters in the novella.
As a short story, Franny is magnificent, and very humourous, as Franny's boyfriend Lane holds his pretentious monologue, while Franny is apparently bored to death. It is a great short story.
The novella Zooey, on the other hand, is an obscure story with oblique meaning, which is made more difficult when attempting to see the two pieces as a unity.
Both stories seem to explore the theme of veneration, Lane who is driven by his ideals of pursuing a career in literature, Zooey, by the admiration for his elder brother, whose (four-year old) letter he keeps reading, and Franny in her adoration of the spiritual guidebook, she carries with her. Their forms of devotion all seem very typical of adolescents growing up, and finding their own way.
Other books I have read by J.D. Salinger:
The catcher in the rye
Finished reading: 11 November 2013
As Franny and Zooey is generally considered contemporary literature, most editions of this work by J.D. Salinger are published without an introduction. That is a pity, because the title of the book is sufficiently confusing to believe that the work forms a unity, whereas in fact Franny is a short story, and Zooey is a separate novella, although both deal with members of the same family and both Franny and Zooey appear as characters in the novella.
As a short story, Franny is magnificent, and very humourous, as Franny's boyfriend Lane holds his pretentious monologue, while Franny is apparently bored to death. It is a great short story.
The novella Zooey, on the other hand, is an obscure story with oblique meaning, which is made more difficult when attempting to see the two pieces as a unity.
Both stories seem to explore the theme of veneration, Lane who is driven by his ideals of pursuing a career in literature, Zooey, by the admiration for his elder brother, whose (four-year old) letter he keeps reading, and Franny in her adoration of the spiritual guidebook, she carries with her. Their forms of devotion all seem very typical of adolescents growing up, and finding their own way.
Other books I have read by J.D. Salinger:
The catcher in the rye
192baswood
I was underwhelmed by Julian Barne's Sense of an Ending, maybe because of all the hype surrounding it, but I think I would like to read a selection of his short stories.
Nice to have that information about Franny and Zooey
Nice to have that information about Franny and Zooey
193edwinbcn
》192
I must say that over the years, I have bought quite a large number of books by Julian Barnes, and read less than half of them. Most of his books were disappointing, with the exception of a collection of essays, Flaubert's parrot, which tickled my imagination.
I have several of his novels and collections of short stories, still to be read, including Sense of an ending.
I must say that over the years, I have bought quite a large number of books by Julian Barnes, and read less than half of them. Most of his books were disappointing, with the exception of a collection of essays, Flaubert's parrot, which tickled my imagination.
I have several of his novels and collections of short stories, still to be read, including Sense of an ending.
194edwinbcn
144. Green hills of Africa
Finished reading: 14 November 2013
Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway second book of non-fiction, consisting of a memoir of his hunting trip to East Africa. The book opens with a long description of a meeting with an Austrian expat, whose car broke down. They talk about literature, American literature in particular. Subsequent chapters are about hunting big game.
Hemingway's unique style of writing is extremely apt for this type of story. His short sentences, and crisp observations seem to be just fit for the life of a hunter, constantly on the look out for animals to shoot.
While the book starts of fairly interesting enough, the story becomes repetitive and somewhat boring in the later chapters, as story elements are repeated: looking out for an animal, and attempting to shoot it.
Other books I have read by Ernest Hemingway:
The snows of Kilimanjaro, and other stories
A farewell to arms
Men without women
For whom the bell tolls
Death in the afternoon
Fiesta. The sun also rises
The old man and the sea
A moveable feast
Finished reading: 14 November 2013
Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway second book of non-fiction, consisting of a memoir of his hunting trip to East Africa. The book opens with a long description of a meeting with an Austrian expat, whose car broke down. They talk about literature, American literature in particular. Subsequent chapters are about hunting big game.
Hemingway's unique style of writing is extremely apt for this type of story. His short sentences, and crisp observations seem to be just fit for the life of a hunter, constantly on the look out for animals to shoot.
While the book starts of fairly interesting enough, the story becomes repetitive and somewhat boring in the later chapters, as story elements are repeated: looking out for an animal, and attempting to shoot it.
Other books I have read by Ernest Hemingway:
The snows of Kilimanjaro, and other stories
A farewell to arms
Men without women
For whom the bell tolls
Death in the afternoon
Fiesta. The sun also rises
The old man and the sea
A moveable feast
195edwinbcn
145. Love poems
Finished reading: 17 November 2013
Although some readers may perhaps appreciate poetry for its technical mastery, to many readers the quality of poetry will largely depend on the sympathy and emotion evoked by the poems. Love poems by Carol Ann Duffy may not be so attractive to readers who are looking for a sensible celebration of love, unless the reader is willing to accept adultery as a legitimate form of love.
Most poems in this collection are written in free verse.
Finished reading: 17 November 2013
Although some readers may perhaps appreciate poetry for its technical mastery, to many readers the quality of poetry will largely depend on the sympathy and emotion evoked by the poems. Love poems by Carol Ann Duffy may not be so attractive to readers who are looking for a sensible celebration of love, unless the reader is willing to accept adultery as a legitimate form of love.
Most poems in this collection are written in free verse.
196edwinbcn
146. My lives. An autobiography
Finished reading: 23 November 2013
Of all writers, Edmund White should know that for many authors it is hard to escape their destiny. Some gay writers feel that there is more to write about than being gay, but unfortunately, for many such writers writing about various themes while deliberately excluding the gay theme, results in literary works which are not successful, because either their readers intuitively feel that the author's true heart is not in it, or simply because their readership expects them to write a different kind of book. Edmund White's novel Caracole is perhaps one of the best examples of that.
Most novels of Edmund White are explicitly, openly and proudly gay, making him a beacon in the gay liberation movement. White has written many novels with gay themes, of which a number are autobiographical. As a critic, he has reviewed many gay-themed books, reviews collected and published as The Burning Library: Writings on Art, Politics and Sexuality 1969-1993 and written a biography of Jean Genet.
Born in 1940, White spent much of his younger years discovering his sexuality in repressive circumstances, before the gay liberation took off in the 1970s.
My lives. An autobiography is a big book in which White tries to bring the various strands of his life together, covering his entire life time from his earliest youth till the present, i.e. the first decade of the 21st century. While the autobiography is arranged in thematic chapters, a chronological order is still largely discernible. Within the framework of the thematic chapters, White creates some chapters which are very explicitly gay, while other chapters apparently omit references to the gay life style. As a result, some chapters are downright boring, and it is also obvious that the chosen framework is strained at times, showing the author had difficulty coming up with enough chapter headings to fit the categories. Thus, the reader has to work his way through chapters with extraordinary headings, viz. "My shrinks", "My father", "My mother", "My hustlers", "My women", "My Europe", "My master", "My blonds", "My Genet", and "My friends". At an average length of 30 pages for each chapter, the reader is asked to patiently spend one third of reading the book about the author's parents and other women in his life (about 100 pages out of 355 pages).
Fiction is different from autobiography, and in My lives. An autobiography Edmund White has chosen to be very honest. This honesty comes with a degree of explicitness in his descriptions that is perhaps interesting to a gay readership, but would be a bit over the top for other readers. (One could surmise that neither the author nor the publisher have any other readership in mind.) Gradually it becomes clear that in his personal life Edmund White has rather kinky tastes.
The thematic structure of the book may be novel, it also has marked disadvantages. In this form, the book focuses on a very limited number of topics, while undoubtedly large parts of the life, including travels, work, and the wider circle of social events is lost. Some of this comes is captured in the chapters "My Europe" and "My friends", but particularly in that last chapter the focus is so much on the friends that it becomes more like names-dropping than a description of friendship and the influence of the friends on the personal growth of the author.
While it could be argued that anyone's life is to some extant interesting, Edmund White at first glance might be a bit more interesting than average, given the time he grew up and his involvement and work as an author in the gay scene. However, this interest is rather localized to the gay scene. Although White's life is interesting, he is not a great man, whereas Jean Genet, for instance was.
In My lives. An autobiography White seems to make a quite wrong estimate about his own significance. Particularly, the thematic structure of the book puts too much emphasis on less interesting topics, while more interesting parts of the life are not developed properly in context. It is obvious that the AIDS epidemic is downplayed: it is there, but none of the impact it must have had is described in any detail, except in relation to White's friend Michel Foucault. White's ex-lovers are really not all that interesting, especially not if they are grouped in one chapter ("My blonds") and the focus is more on them than on the author. Likewise, it seems authorial whim to dedicate a whole chapter ("My master") to a very recent fling of the author. This chapter also typifies White's inability to see things in the right perspective in My lives. An autobiography. Why spend 10% of the book on a short and failed gay relationship of the 60 year-old author with a young man only referred to as "T" or his master in a kinky S&M relationship. The author is smugly aware of that as he writes:
"I can imagine some of my friends reading this and muttering 'T M I - Too Much Information,' or 'Are we to be spared nothing? Must we have every detail about these tiresome senile shenanigans?' (p. 228).
Other books I have read by Edmund White:
Chaos. A novella and stories
The married man
The Farewell Symphony
Nocturnes for the King of Naples
The beautiful room is empty
Finished reading: 23 November 2013
Of all writers, Edmund White should know that for many authors it is hard to escape their destiny. Some gay writers feel that there is more to write about than being gay, but unfortunately, for many such writers writing about various themes while deliberately excluding the gay theme, results in literary works which are not successful, because either their readers intuitively feel that the author's true heart is not in it, or simply because their readership expects them to write a different kind of book. Edmund White's novel Caracole is perhaps one of the best examples of that.
Most novels of Edmund White are explicitly, openly and proudly gay, making him a beacon in the gay liberation movement. White has written many novels with gay themes, of which a number are autobiographical. As a critic, he has reviewed many gay-themed books, reviews collected and published as The Burning Library: Writings on Art, Politics and Sexuality 1969-1993 and written a biography of Jean Genet.
Born in 1940, White spent much of his younger years discovering his sexuality in repressive circumstances, before the gay liberation took off in the 1970s.
My lives. An autobiography is a big book in which White tries to bring the various strands of his life together, covering his entire life time from his earliest youth till the present, i.e. the first decade of the 21st century. While the autobiography is arranged in thematic chapters, a chronological order is still largely discernible. Within the framework of the thematic chapters, White creates some chapters which are very explicitly gay, while other chapters apparently omit references to the gay life style. As a result, some chapters are downright boring, and it is also obvious that the chosen framework is strained at times, showing the author had difficulty coming up with enough chapter headings to fit the categories. Thus, the reader has to work his way through chapters with extraordinary headings, viz. "My shrinks", "My father", "My mother", "My hustlers", "My women", "My Europe", "My master", "My blonds", "My Genet", and "My friends". At an average length of 30 pages for each chapter, the reader is asked to patiently spend one third of reading the book about the author's parents and other women in his life (about 100 pages out of 355 pages).
Fiction is different from autobiography, and in My lives. An autobiography Edmund White has chosen to be very honest. This honesty comes with a degree of explicitness in his descriptions that is perhaps interesting to a gay readership, but would be a bit over the top for other readers. (One could surmise that neither the author nor the publisher have any other readership in mind.) Gradually it becomes clear that in his personal life Edmund White has rather kinky tastes.
The thematic structure of the book may be novel, it also has marked disadvantages. In this form, the book focuses on a very limited number of topics, while undoubtedly large parts of the life, including travels, work, and the wider circle of social events is lost. Some of this comes is captured in the chapters "My Europe" and "My friends", but particularly in that last chapter the focus is so much on the friends that it becomes more like names-dropping than a description of friendship and the influence of the friends on the personal growth of the author.
While it could be argued that anyone's life is to some extant interesting, Edmund White at first glance might be a bit more interesting than average, given the time he grew up and his involvement and work as an author in the gay scene. However, this interest is rather localized to the gay scene. Although White's life is interesting, he is not a great man, whereas Jean Genet, for instance was.
In My lives. An autobiography White seems to make a quite wrong estimate about his own significance. Particularly, the thematic structure of the book puts too much emphasis on less interesting topics, while more interesting parts of the life are not developed properly in context. It is obvious that the AIDS epidemic is downplayed: it is there, but none of the impact it must have had is described in any detail, except in relation to White's friend Michel Foucault. White's ex-lovers are really not all that interesting, especially not if they are grouped in one chapter ("My blonds") and the focus is more on them than on the author. Likewise, it seems authorial whim to dedicate a whole chapter ("My master") to a very recent fling of the author. This chapter also typifies White's inability to see things in the right perspective in My lives. An autobiography. Why spend 10% of the book on a short and failed gay relationship of the 60 year-old author with a young man only referred to as "T" or his master in a kinky S&M relationship. The author is smugly aware of that as he writes:
"I can imagine some of my friends reading this and muttering 'T M I - Too Much Information,' or 'Are we to be spared nothing? Must we have every detail about these tiresome senile shenanigans?' (p. 228).
Other books I have read by Edmund White:
Chaos. A novella and stories
The married man
The Farewell Symphony
Nocturnes for the King of Naples
The beautiful room is empty
197edwinbcn
147. Slecht zicht
Finished reading:
Slecht zicht (1986) is a novella belonging to the later work of the Dutch author Alfred Kossmann. The story opens with the coy story told by Aunt Sophie about picking up a coin from the floor, while watching herself in the mirror. This story leads to a discussion about misinterpretation and the question whether one can really see one-self. This theme is spun further throughout the novella.
In Slecht zicht all characters are pre-occupied with their own identity, i.e. how they see themselves, but in the present and in the past, and how others see them. They are all advanced in years, Alexander Kievoet is middle-aged, like his ex-wife, Alice, while his aunt Sophie is much older. Old Mr Theo Kievoet cannot speak; only his thoughts are articulated. All characters have their best time behind them, but their glorious past still dominates the way they see themselves, except Alexander, who is mostly depressed, and unable to see himself, which is mirrored by the omniscient narrator's ability to create an image of this character, often asking the reader whether suggested features are imaginable. After his father's death, Alexander goes to Greece. There he meets a photographer whom he has known from a previous period in his life, Dirk Bovendracht. Dirk sees Alexander largely with the admiration he had for him, 15 years ago. In Greece, Alexander falls ill, and dies.
Recurrent themes in the later work of Alfred Kossmann are alcoholism, and the inability of characters to fully realize themselves to former glory. Instead, characters are frozen in a state of impotence and depression.
Other books I have read by Alfred Kossmann:
Weerzien van een eiland
Studies in paniek
De bekering
De hondenplaag
De linkerhand
De wind en de lichten der schepen
Reislust
Hoogmoed en dronkenschap
Finished reading:
Slecht zicht (1986) is a novella belonging to the later work of the Dutch author Alfred Kossmann. The story opens with the coy story told by Aunt Sophie about picking up a coin from the floor, while watching herself in the mirror. This story leads to a discussion about misinterpretation and the question whether one can really see one-self. This theme is spun further throughout the novella.
In Slecht zicht all characters are pre-occupied with their own identity, i.e. how they see themselves, but in the present and in the past, and how others see them. They are all advanced in years, Alexander Kievoet is middle-aged, like his ex-wife, Alice, while his aunt Sophie is much older. Old Mr Theo Kievoet cannot speak; only his thoughts are articulated. All characters have their best time behind them, but their glorious past still dominates the way they see themselves, except Alexander, who is mostly depressed, and unable to see himself, which is mirrored by the omniscient narrator's ability to create an image of this character, often asking the reader whether suggested features are imaginable. After his father's death, Alexander goes to Greece. There he meets a photographer whom he has known from a previous period in his life, Dirk Bovendracht. Dirk sees Alexander largely with the admiration he had for him, 15 years ago. In Greece, Alexander falls ill, and dies.
Recurrent themes in the later work of Alfred Kossmann are alcoholism, and the inability of characters to fully realize themselves to former glory. Instead, characters are frozen in a state of impotence and depression.
Other books I have read by Alfred Kossmann:
Weerzien van een eiland
Studies in paniek
De bekering
De hondenplaag
De linkerhand
De wind en de lichten der schepen
Reislust
Hoogmoed en dronkenschap
198edwinbcn
148. Winter notes on summer impressions
Finished reading: 28 November 2013
In June 1862, while the American Civil War raged, and France aimed to expand its colonial power both in Central America and in the Far East, forming Cochinchina in Vietnam, Fyodor Dostoevsky undertook his first trip to Western Europe, a visit he had long looked forward to. Dostoevsky traveled to London, various German cities, including Cologne, Berlin and Dresden, Northern Italy, visiting Florence and Milan, and spent considerable time in Paris. He spent exactly two-and-a-half months traveling around Europe.
In the first chapter of Winter notes on summer impressions, Dostoevsky declines describing his trip, and referring to the short travel time modestly suggests that he has little factual to report about Europe, believing that most cosmopolitan Russians would know at least as much about Europe merely from reading the newspapers. Within the short time given to him, the author suggests he has merely collected a number of impressions. Therefore, there are no travel descriptions.
Rather, the essay, consisting of eight chapters almost exclusively deals with the ideas Dostoevsky formed on the French after his return to Russia. These notes, were written down in winter. The juxtaposition of the light impressions versus the moody winter notes, perhaps explain the stern tone of the essay.
It is obvious that as a result of his trip to Europe, Dostoevsky idealized idea of France changed to relentless criticism of France, and the realization that Russia had nothing to learn from France. In Winter notes on summer impressions Dostoevsky mainly criticises the French. In the essays Dostoevsky gradually builds his argument referring to domestic authors and critics whose attitudes toward France were known to his readers. Dostoevsky himself had served a prison sentence, as he was arrested as a member of a group that proposed reform in Russia, but was feared for potential revolutionary aspirations, particularly shortly after the revolutionary year 1848.
In 2008, Winter notes on summer impressions appeared in a new edition published by OneWorld Classics. This edition has a very useful preface, written by the translator, footnotes and extra materials, as well as biographical materials on Dostoevsky. Without the notes and the preface, Winter notes on summer impressions would be very difficult to understand. To modern readers, the essay would merely be a criticism of France, which appears most clearly in the final chapters. Unfortunately, neither the critical apparatus attached to this edition, nor the work itself bears out what made Dostoevsky change his mind about France and the role of France as an example for Russia. Winter notes on summer impressions shows that this change took place, but does not explain how that happened.
According to the translator, Kyril Fitzlyon, Winter notes on summer impressions is essential reading for the understanding of Dostoevsky's later works. While that opinion may be justified for professional readers of Dostoevsky's literary work, the argument does not seem to hold for all readers alike.
Other books I have read by Fyodor Dostoevsky:
Notes from underground
The double
Netochka Nezvanova
Crime and punishment
Finished reading: 28 November 2013
In June 1862, while the American Civil War raged, and France aimed to expand its colonial power both in Central America and in the Far East, forming Cochinchina in Vietnam, Fyodor Dostoevsky undertook his first trip to Western Europe, a visit he had long looked forward to. Dostoevsky traveled to London, various German cities, including Cologne, Berlin and Dresden, Northern Italy, visiting Florence and Milan, and spent considerable time in Paris. He spent exactly two-and-a-half months traveling around Europe.
In the first chapter of Winter notes on summer impressions, Dostoevsky declines describing his trip, and referring to the short travel time modestly suggests that he has little factual to report about Europe, believing that most cosmopolitan Russians would know at least as much about Europe merely from reading the newspapers. Within the short time given to him, the author suggests he has merely collected a number of impressions. Therefore, there are no travel descriptions.
Rather, the essay, consisting of eight chapters almost exclusively deals with the ideas Dostoevsky formed on the French after his return to Russia. These notes, were written down in winter. The juxtaposition of the light impressions versus the moody winter notes, perhaps explain the stern tone of the essay.
It is obvious that as a result of his trip to Europe, Dostoevsky idealized idea of France changed to relentless criticism of France, and the realization that Russia had nothing to learn from France. In Winter notes on summer impressions Dostoevsky mainly criticises the French. In the essays Dostoevsky gradually builds his argument referring to domestic authors and critics whose attitudes toward France were known to his readers. Dostoevsky himself had served a prison sentence, as he was arrested as a member of a group that proposed reform in Russia, but was feared for potential revolutionary aspirations, particularly shortly after the revolutionary year 1848.
In 2008, Winter notes on summer impressions appeared in a new edition published by OneWorld Classics. This edition has a very useful preface, written by the translator, footnotes and extra materials, as well as biographical materials on Dostoevsky. Without the notes and the preface, Winter notes on summer impressions would be very difficult to understand. To modern readers, the essay would merely be a criticism of France, which appears most clearly in the final chapters. Unfortunately, neither the critical apparatus attached to this edition, nor the work itself bears out what made Dostoevsky change his mind about France and the role of France as an example for Russia. Winter notes on summer impressions shows that this change took place, but does not explain how that happened.
According to the translator, Kyril Fitzlyon, Winter notes on summer impressions is essential reading for the understanding of Dostoevsky's later works. While that opinion may be justified for professional readers of Dostoevsky's literary work, the argument does not seem to hold for all readers alike.
Other books I have read by Fyodor Dostoevsky:
Notes from underground
The double
Netochka Nezvanova
Crime and punishment
199edwinbcn
149. Travels with my aunt
Finished reading: 1 December 2013
At the funeral of his mother, his aunt Augusta, aged 75, appears in the life of the stodgy nerd and retired banker Henry Pulling. From the earliest moments of their involvement, Henry's life changes from quiet and boring to a roller-coaster of adventure, in which no cliche of slap-stick is left unused. Aunt Augusta develops as a kind of diametric personality to James Bond. She is adventurous, eccentric, practical and pragmatic, and very, very unconventional. Up to a high age, she has been having a sexual relationship with an African servant, Wordsworth, who is completely devoted to her. She cannot see any wickedness in Wordsworth's smoking of marijuana. Aunt Augusta herself regularly engages in illicit trade, smuggling currency, gold and art to finance her trips and secure financial independence. She is under constant vigilance by the police, but is clever at eluding them, and leading her extravagant, international lifestyle.
Aunt Augusta's interest in Henry is far from coincidental, as suggested at the beginning of the book. Her influence shows, as Henry is persuaded to marry a 14-year-old girl, tat the end of the novel, as he settles with Aunt Augusta and her life-long criminal lover, Mr Visconti in Paraguay.
Travels with my aunt is an unexpectedly funny novel by Graham Greene.
Other novels I have read by Graham Greene:
Ways of escape
Dr. Fischer of Geneva or the bomb party
The Ministry of Fear. An entertainment
May we borrow your husband? and Other comedies of the sexual life
The quiet American
The end of the affair
A sort of life
A sense of reality
The tenth man
The honorary consul
Finished reading: 1 December 2013
At the funeral of his mother, his aunt Augusta, aged 75, appears in the life of the stodgy nerd and retired banker Henry Pulling. From the earliest moments of their involvement, Henry's life changes from quiet and boring to a roller-coaster of adventure, in which no cliche of slap-stick is left unused. Aunt Augusta develops as a kind of diametric personality to James Bond. She is adventurous, eccentric, practical and pragmatic, and very, very unconventional. Up to a high age, she has been having a sexual relationship with an African servant, Wordsworth, who is completely devoted to her. She cannot see any wickedness in Wordsworth's smoking of marijuana. Aunt Augusta herself regularly engages in illicit trade, smuggling currency, gold and art to finance her trips and secure financial independence. She is under constant vigilance by the police, but is clever at eluding them, and leading her extravagant, international lifestyle.
Aunt Augusta's interest in Henry is far from coincidental, as suggested at the beginning of the book. Her influence shows, as Henry is persuaded to marry a 14-year-old girl, tat the end of the novel, as he settles with Aunt Augusta and her life-long criminal lover, Mr Visconti in Paraguay.
Travels with my aunt is an unexpectedly funny novel by Graham Greene.
Other novels I have read by Graham Greene:
Ways of escape
Dr. Fischer of Geneva or the bomb party
The Ministry of Fear. An entertainment
May we borrow your husband? and Other comedies of the sexual life
The quiet American
The end of the affair
A sort of life
A sense of reality
The tenth man
The honorary consul
200edwinbcn
150. A sentimental journey
Finished reading: 2 December 2013
Within the genre of travelogues, two approaches can be distinguished. There are those authors who describe fore-mostly the places, and the habits of the people they visit, from an anthropological point of view, and there are those who describe the people they meet on their travels from a more humanistic point of view, as equals, so to speak. An example of the first type of travelogue would be Daniel Defoe's A tour through the whole island of Great Britain, which was published in 1724. Laurence Sterne's fictional A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy was published a few decades later in 1768. By this time, travel to the continent had become fashionable.
In Sterne's A sentimental journey, his alter ego Yorick, which contemporary readers would know as a clergyman, travels to Paris, supposedly on his way to Italy. However, the story develops very slowly, and for the larger part the story is set in the environs of Paris, indicated but scantily.
If the book is humourous or witty, it is not clear in which way. Supposedly, various sketches or situation would be humourous to contemporaries of Sterne but the humour is lost on contemporary readers. In fact, A sentimental journey seems a rather boring little book, and all pleasure to be had from it can only be found by studying the introduction carefully which explains where to look for it. Even then, the notes in the annotated Penguin edition merely clarified what should already be clear to the educated reader, while leaving many possible clues unexplained.
Finished reading: 2 December 2013
Within the genre of travelogues, two approaches can be distinguished. There are those authors who describe fore-mostly the places, and the habits of the people they visit, from an anthropological point of view, and there are those who describe the people they meet on their travels from a more humanistic point of view, as equals, so to speak. An example of the first type of travelogue would be Daniel Defoe's A tour through the whole island of Great Britain, which was published in 1724. Laurence Sterne's fictional A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy was published a few decades later in 1768. By this time, travel to the continent had become fashionable.
In Sterne's A sentimental journey, his alter ego Yorick, which contemporary readers would know as a clergyman, travels to Paris, supposedly on his way to Italy. However, the story develops very slowly, and for the larger part the story is set in the environs of Paris, indicated but scantily.
If the book is humourous or witty, it is not clear in which way. Supposedly, various sketches or situation would be humourous to contemporaries of Sterne but the humour is lost on contemporary readers. In fact, A sentimental journey seems a rather boring little book, and all pleasure to be had from it can only be found by studying the introduction carefully which explains where to look for it. Even then, the notes in the annotated Penguin edition merely clarified what should already be clear to the educated reader, while leaving many possible clues unexplained.
201baswood
Excellent review of My Lives: An autobiography. Perhaps Edmund White was most concerned with writing about what he wanted to write about and so it came out differently to the majority of autobiographical books. It strikes me that if you are into kinky sex then you might enjoy writing about it - me I am into reading books, but I am usually fascinated by other peoples curiosities.
Oh and I loved Graham Green's Travels with my Aunt but I read it a long time ago.
Oh and I loved Graham Green's Travels with my Aunt but I read it a long time ago.
202StevenTX
Great batch of reviews.
#196 - I haven't read anything by Edmund White, but several are waiting.
for many authors it is hard to escape their destiny
That's an interesting point, and it is true of racial minorities as well. We are all expected to be race and gender blind in our treatment of others, but we don't always allow them to be so in their self-expression.
#198 - I had not heard of this work of Dostoevsky. I'm only familiar with his second European trip through such works as The Gambler and Summer in Baden Baden. Did he do any gambling on the first trip?
#199 - Travels with My Aunt does sound like a lot of fun. I'll keep it in mind for when I'm in need of cheering up.
#200 - I have to disagree with you on A Sentimental Journey. It's one of my favorites of the era. It's been several years since I read it, but I recall its being a wonderful lesson in humanism (once you realize it's not the travelogue you expect it to be).
#196 - I haven't read anything by Edmund White, but several are waiting.
for many authors it is hard to escape their destiny
That's an interesting point, and it is true of racial minorities as well. We are all expected to be race and gender blind in our treatment of others, but we don't always allow them to be so in their self-expression.
#198 - I had not heard of this work of Dostoevsky. I'm only familiar with his second European trip through such works as The Gambler and Summer in Baden Baden. Did he do any gambling on the first trip?
#199 - Travels with My Aunt does sound like a lot of fun. I'll keep it in mind for when I'm in need of cheering up.
#200 - I have to disagree with you on A Sentimental Journey. It's one of my favorites of the era. It's been several years since I read it, but I recall its being a wonderful lesson in humanism (once you realize it's not the travelogue you expect it to be).
203RidgewayGirl
I agree with Steven--a great bunch of reviews. I'll have to keep an eye out for Travels with My Aunt.
In related news, Utah has now lifted the ban on same-sex marriages. I wonder how quickly the things White endured will be seen as oddities of history.
In related news, Utah has now lifted the ban on same-sex marriages. I wonder how quickly the things White endured will be seen as oddities of history.
204edwinbcn
>202 StevenTX:
You are probably right about A Sentimental Journey, Steven, but I did not see the greatness of the work myself. I read the book in early December, but postponed writing the review by two weeks, so that I had time to read some literary criticism and see whether that could elucidate. However, the (one single) essay on A Sentimental Journey in The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne gave me no clue about the interpretation of the work itself. It mainly discussed the significance of the work in the wider context of English literature at the time.
I did a quick re-read while writing the review, but it did not convince me. I did not want to give the book a higher appreciation based on the opinion of others, so I just stuck with what I made of the book when I read it. I have not flunked the book, but stored it, and may re-read it some time in the future, but not now. I am enjoying The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, which I am currently reading, a lot more.
You are probably right about A Sentimental Journey, Steven, but I did not see the greatness of the work myself. I read the book in early December, but postponed writing the review by two weeks, so that I had time to read some literary criticism and see whether that could elucidate. However, the (one single) essay on A Sentimental Journey in The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne gave me no clue about the interpretation of the work itself. It mainly discussed the significance of the work in the wider context of English literature at the time.
I did a quick re-read while writing the review, but it did not convince me. I did not want to give the book a higher appreciation based on the opinion of others, so I just stuck with what I made of the book when I read it. I have not flunked the book, but stored it, and may re-read it some time in the future, but not now. I am enjoying The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, which I am currently reading, a lot more.
205edwinbcn
>201 baswood:, 202, 203
Edmund White happened to live at just the right time to develop his talent in writing at the time when the arc of gay liberation started. I have read many of his books, but looking back consistent appreciations of 3 stars mostly would not justify continued reading, except that he was one of the first "gay writers", i.e. proponents of a recognizable and explicit gay genre of writing, and still one of the few who is producing literary fiction.
White, however, was not one of the forefront activists of the gay liberation movement. His first openly-gay novel was written and published in 1978, preceded by an allegorical novel in 1973. Most of Edmund White gay novels were written during the late 1980s and 1990s, when gay culture was already blooming.
If is had not been for the structure, My lives. An autobiography could have been a much more interesting book, or not. White's remark in an interview following the publication of My lives. An autobiography that he had written a gay novel when in was 15 (i.e. in 1955), and that he, thus, invented the genre, is very self-serving, as by 2006 sufficient scholarship existed to indicate the development of gay writing in history. It is so easy to make such claims, and hypocritical at that, since White's first novel was just the type of hidden allegory as of old, while works, fiction and non-fiction, with which he openly asserted his gay orientation did not appear until the late 1970s.
My lives. An autobiography seems a very personal autobiography, focused on the author's own person, and less on the interaction between his persona and the context of the world that shaped him. It is possible that later autobiographical non-fiction sets some of that right.
Edmund White happened to live at just the right time to develop his talent in writing at the time when the arc of gay liberation started. I have read many of his books, but looking back consistent appreciations of 3 stars mostly would not justify continued reading, except that he was one of the first "gay writers", i.e. proponents of a recognizable and explicit gay genre of writing, and still one of the few who is producing literary fiction.
White, however, was not one of the forefront activists of the gay liberation movement. His first openly-gay novel was written and published in 1978, preceded by an allegorical novel in 1973. Most of Edmund White gay novels were written during the late 1980s and 1990s, when gay culture was already blooming.
If is had not been for the structure, My lives. An autobiography could have been a much more interesting book, or not. White's remark in an interview following the publication of My lives. An autobiography that he had written a gay novel when in was 15 (i.e. in 1955), and that he, thus, invented the genre, is very self-serving, as by 2006 sufficient scholarship existed to indicate the development of gay writing in history. It is so easy to make such claims, and hypocritical at that, since White's first novel was just the type of hidden allegory as of old, while works, fiction and non-fiction, with which he openly asserted his gay orientation did not appear until the late 1970s.
My lives. An autobiography seems a very personal autobiography, focused on the author's own person, and less on the interaction between his persona and the context of the world that shaped him. It is possible that later autobiographical non-fiction sets some of that right.
206edwinbcn
151. The outsiders
Finished reading: 2 December 2013
The outsiders was written by Susan E. Hinton when she was still a high school students. As a novel, it certainly has all the qualities of very good literature, although there are some features which betray the inexperienced hand of its author. For instance, the story is slightly melodramatic and largely predictable, while the main character's interest in literature, reading Gone with the Wind, and the outcome of the novel seem contrived.
The outsiders is about two rival gangs, "the Greasers" and "the Socs", divided by social class, and each with a distinct group culture. Some of the members of both gangs attend a local high school, and there are fights and skirmishes between the rival gangs in the neighbourhood. Predictable, one of "the Greasers", Ponyboy softens and falls one of the girls belonging to "the Socs", but before any real romance can develop the gang has a violent clash in which one of "the Socs" is killed. Ponyboy and Johnny go into hiding, as the police will be looking for them. Their shelter, and abandoned church burns down, and Ponyboy and Johnny are the heroes of the day when they rescue a bunch of young children from the burning building. However, the subsequent media attention blows their cover, and the police soon arrive at the hospital where they were taken. Johnny, who shot "the Socs" gang member dies of his injuries, while Ponyboy lives, and starts upon a new life.
The outsiders provides an interesting portrayal of gang culture in the 1960s, and is included in the series of Modern Classics of Penguin Books.
Finished reading: 2 December 2013
The outsiders was written by Susan E. Hinton when she was still a high school students. As a novel, it certainly has all the qualities of very good literature, although there are some features which betray the inexperienced hand of its author. For instance, the story is slightly melodramatic and largely predictable, while the main character's interest in literature, reading Gone with the Wind, and the outcome of the novel seem contrived.
The outsiders is about two rival gangs, "the Greasers" and "the Socs", divided by social class, and each with a distinct group culture. Some of the members of both gangs attend a local high school, and there are fights and skirmishes between the rival gangs in the neighbourhood. Predictable, one of "the Greasers", Ponyboy softens and falls one of the girls belonging to "the Socs", but before any real romance can develop the gang has a violent clash in which one of "the Socs" is killed. Ponyboy and Johnny go into hiding, as the police will be looking for them. Their shelter, and abandoned church burns down, and Ponyboy and Johnny are the heroes of the day when they rescue a bunch of young children from the burning building. However, the subsequent media attention blows their cover, and the police soon arrive at the hospital where they were taken. Johnny, who shot "the Socs" gang member dies of his injuries, while Ponyboy lives, and starts upon a new life.
The outsiders provides an interesting portrayal of gang culture in the 1960s, and is included in the series of Modern Classics of Penguin Books.
207baswood
Excellent review of The Outsiders. How good is that to have written a modern classic while still in high school.
208NanaCC
Agreeing with Barry, very nice review. Have you ever seen the movie, and if so what did you think of it? I think my hubby has seen it at least a dozen times.
209edwinbcn
>208 NanaCC:
No, Colleen, I am not a man for the cinema, and neither for photography. I have always preferred the theatre or concerts over the cinema, and painting over photography.
Actually, I was not so aware of the existence of The Outsiders. I now know that it is widely read at schools in the US, but coming from Europe, we are not so aware of that.
No, Colleen, I am not a man for the cinema, and neither for photography. I have always preferred the theatre or concerts over the cinema, and painting over photography.
Actually, I was not so aware of the existence of The Outsiders. I now know that it is widely read at schools in the US, but coming from Europe, we are not so aware of that.
210NanaCC
>209 edwinbcn: Edwin, I live in the US, and have never read the book. I admit that I had no idea that it was widely read in schools. My only knowledge of it comes from hearing the movie playing in the tv room. One of the reasons I love this site, is that I learn so much while reading these threads. Yours is always a wealth of information.
211avaland
Interesting to read your comments on the Verhulst, your #91 book. I enjoyed his Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill and have tried to keep my eye out for something else. The only thing I've found is something called The Misfortunates, is this the same thing. The story didn't sound very appealing, so I didn't chase it down.
Oh, and I've made note of the Tessa de Loo (book#93) as I've read her before also.
Oh, and I've made note of the Tessa de Loo (book#93) as I've read her before also.
212edwinbcn
152. Regarding the pain of others
Finished reading: 5 December 2013
Much in the way AIDS and its metaphors is an update of Illness as metaphor, likewise Regarding the pain of others (2004) is an update of On Photography (1977). Unfortunately, the follow-up books are not as original and well-written as the first-conceived editions. Perhaps avoiding a repetition of earlier ideas or arguments, the follow-up books, they are not as sparkling, a mere shadow of the original works.
The title of Regarding the pain of others is ambiguous, based on the possible double meaning of the word "regarding". The essay is therefore as much, but not solely about "pain", but much more about "viewing suffering," i.e. the pain of others.
The essay deals with various types of images, starting with Sixteenth century etchings by Goltzius, and moves on to discuss the graphic work of Hans Ulrich Frank of soldiers killing peasants, dated to 1652 or the end of the Thirty Years' War, and Francisco Goya's early Nineteenth century work, a series of 83 etchings under the title Los Desastres de la Guerra. However, Sontag's essay does not convincingly bear out that these etchings are works of art, and cannot be regarded as the equivalent of journalistic photography. The essay is largely concerned with journalistic and war photography and filmography.
Regarding the pain of others does touch upon the satisfaction derived from watching the suffering of others, or at least images thereof. But the work is far more focused on describing the medium of photography than exploring man's fascination with the images of suffering. This is regrettable, as the ambiguous title gave an outlook on a broad spectrum of interest, which in this essay is only interpreted in the narrow sense of photography.
Other books I have read by Susan Sontag:
Under the sign of Saturn. Essays
Where the stress falls
Illness as metaphor
AIDS and its metaphors
Finished reading: 5 December 2013
Much in the way AIDS and its metaphors is an update of Illness as metaphor, likewise Regarding the pain of others (2004) is an update of On Photography (1977). Unfortunately, the follow-up books are not as original and well-written as the first-conceived editions. Perhaps avoiding a repetition of earlier ideas or arguments, the follow-up books, they are not as sparkling, a mere shadow of the original works.
The title of Regarding the pain of others is ambiguous, based on the possible double meaning of the word "regarding". The essay is therefore as much, but not solely about "pain", but much more about "viewing suffering," i.e. the pain of others.
The essay deals with various types of images, starting with Sixteenth century etchings by Goltzius, and moves on to discuss the graphic work of Hans Ulrich Frank of soldiers killing peasants, dated to 1652 or the end of the Thirty Years' War, and Francisco Goya's early Nineteenth century work, a series of 83 etchings under the title Los Desastres de la Guerra. However, Sontag's essay does not convincingly bear out that these etchings are works of art, and cannot be regarded as the equivalent of journalistic photography. The essay is largely concerned with journalistic and war photography and filmography.
Regarding the pain of others does touch upon the satisfaction derived from watching the suffering of others, or at least images thereof. But the work is far more focused on describing the medium of photography than exploring man's fascination with the images of suffering. This is regrettable, as the ambiguous title gave an outlook on a broad spectrum of interest, which in this essay is only interpreted in the narrow sense of photography.
Other books I have read by Susan Sontag:
Under the sign of Saturn. Essays
Where the stress falls
Illness as metaphor
AIDS and its metaphors
213akeela
> 211 Thanks for pointing me here. Amazing thread!
Pity about Faulks on Fiction - it was one I had in my eye on; had now being the operative word ")
Pity about Faulks on Fiction - it was one I had in my eye on; had now being the operative word ")
214edwinbcn
>213 akeela:
Indeed, akeela, I would not recommend Faulks on Fiction to any reader.
However, you may try Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill and / or The Misfortunates. I have not read these books.
I do not read much by this author, as I intuitively shun Dimitri Verhulst. He belongs to a generation of Belgian and Dutch authors' whose books I will most probably not like. Herman Koch whose novel The Dinner was translated with much acclaim belongs to the same "group". (they do not form a "group").
To be honest, I am abhorred by their domestic success as well as their success in translation. In my perception (not just mine), the works of these authors is populist, and not of much worth from a literary point of view. Joe Speedboat by Tommy Wieringa belongs to that same genre.
It wry to see that especially these get so much attention, as they are not representative for the quality of Dutch literature. Of course, the irony is that so-called serious Dutch literature does not do very well abroad. I guess it is the workings of the 'free market'.
Indeed, akeela, I would not recommend Faulks on Fiction to any reader.
However, you may try Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill and / or The Misfortunates. I have not read these books.
I do not read much by this author, as I intuitively shun Dimitri Verhulst. He belongs to a generation of Belgian and Dutch authors' whose books I will most probably not like. Herman Koch whose novel The Dinner was translated with much acclaim belongs to the same "group". (they do not form a "group").
To be honest, I am abhorred by their domestic success as well as their success in translation. In my perception (not just mine), the works of these authors is populist, and not of much worth from a literary point of view. Joe Speedboat by Tommy Wieringa belongs to that same genre.
It wry to see that especially these get so much attention, as they are not representative for the quality of Dutch literature. Of course, the irony is that so-called serious Dutch literature does not do very well abroad. I guess it is the workings of the 'free market'.
215edwinbcn
153. For Esme, with love and squalor
Finished reading: 5 December 2013
I did not make much of this book, so will postpone reviewing it while pending a re-read.
Finished reading: 5 December 2013
I did not make much of this book, so will postpone reviewing it while pending a re-read.
216akeela
I am currently reading Madame Verona - it must be taken in a very lighthearted spirit, else it just won't work!
Thank you for your response. I tend to read on the fringes, in a manner of speaking - finding excellent material that speaks to me rather than popular fiction, which gets enough attention as it is!
I have one favorite Dutch book by Piet Bakker called Ciske. Have you read it? It was prescribed in primary school in South Africa, and I have reread it periodically. I read it in translation, in an excellent standard of Afrikaans. The Afrikaans in current publications mostly lack the original, expressive language and contain innumerable anglicisms, which I don't much enjoy. I may be a purist in this regard! :D
Thank you for your response. I tend to read on the fringes, in a manner of speaking - finding excellent material that speaks to me rather than popular fiction, which gets enough attention as it is!
I have one favorite Dutch book by Piet Bakker called Ciske. Have you read it? It was prescribed in primary school in South Africa, and I have reread it periodically. I read it in translation, in an excellent standard of Afrikaans. The Afrikaans in current publications mostly lack the original, expressive language and contain innumerable anglicisms, which I don't much enjoy. I may be a purist in this regard! :D
217baswood
#212 Excellent review of the Sontag essays, which reminds me that her On Photography is due for a re-read
218edwinbcn
Hi akeela,
Sorry for my late reply. Work before the year's end is just madly busy.
No, I haven't read any books in the Ciske-trilogy by the Dutch author Piet Bakker. I think, nowadays, many people regard that as Young Adult literature (please note that I hate that designation!).
However, the three books in the Ciske-trilogy were not written with a purpose like that; I think the style of writing during the first quarter of the previous century just was what we now call a bit "sappy" (for want of "saucy" -- 's what Jane would say), just a bit like Pollyanna, so people think it was written for kids. Ciske was very popular as a romance about lower-class people's life in Amsterdam around the (previous) turn of the century. It was filmed twice, during the 1950s and again during the 1980s.
I have never seen a contemporary edition of the book(s), and never thought of looking for one. Actually, writing this reply (and the reading up preparing for the answer) has been quite elucidating, and I might enjoy having a look at those books, some day.
Well, as you can see there aren't that many members on LT who have the book (61 in December 2013), and the first and only review was posted by you!
I suppose you can read the Dutch language. Reading Afrikaans is kind of interesting for me. It has the freshness of poetry, because in Afrikaans many things are said in different, very original ways, which are immediately recognizable to Dutch readers. It is like reading Chaucer's or Dunbar's Middle English.
Sorry for my late reply. Work before the year's end is just madly busy.
No, I haven't read any books in the Ciske-trilogy by the Dutch author Piet Bakker. I think, nowadays, many people regard that as Young Adult literature (please note that I hate that designation!).
However, the three books in the Ciske-trilogy were not written with a purpose like that; I think the style of writing during the first quarter of the previous century just was what we now call a bit "sappy" (for want of "saucy" -- 's what Jane would say), just a bit like Pollyanna, so people think it was written for kids. Ciske was very popular as a romance about lower-class people's life in Amsterdam around the (previous) turn of the century. It was filmed twice, during the 1950s and again during the 1980s.
I have never seen a contemporary edition of the book(s), and never thought of looking for one. Actually, writing this reply (and the reading up preparing for the answer) has been quite elucidating, and I might enjoy having a look at those books, some day.
Well, as you can see there aren't that many members on LT who have the book (61 in December 2013), and the first and only review was posted by you!
I suppose you can read the Dutch language. Reading Afrikaans is kind of interesting for me. It has the freshness of poetry, because in Afrikaans many things are said in different, very original ways, which are immediately recognizable to Dutch readers. It is like reading Chaucer's or Dunbar's Middle English.
219edwinbcn
154. Cold Comfort Farm
Finished reading: 8 December 2013
Cold Comfort Farm has stood the wear of time well, and can still be read with pleasure, and while it's humour may no longer be hilarious (for some it may still be), it is midly and wryly funny. This is quite remarkable, and shows the intrinsic quality of writing. The style of writing is somewhat similar to that of Rosamond Lehmann, whose Invitation to the waltz touches on some similar themes, such as "life in the countryside". Incidentally, both books were published in the year 1932.
While just two decades earlier, people were all excited about the novelty of automobiles, Stella Gibbons pokes mild fun at the popularity of aviation, suggestion planes might soon be as common as a brougham or taxi, as characters in the book come and take off. The image of the Flora's cousin Charles flying in from London, landing in a meadow will nicely tune your mind to the setting of the novel.
A bit more difficult for contemporary readers to see is the way in which Cold Comfort Farm parodies 'rural family sagas' -- that is to say the type of novels written about and set in the countryside, featuring "authentic" characters speaking a strong rural vernacular, incestuous relationships, and broody and dark descriptions of nature and the countryside. Such writing had its literary predecessors in novels such as Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and the novels of Thomas Hardy and the young D.H. Lawrence. Unfamiliarity with the parodied genre is no problem, because to drive her point home Gibbons marked such passages with a triple asterisk, for example, the following description of Amos Starkadder:
***His huge body, rude as a wind-tortured thorn, was printed darkly against the thin mild flame of the dclining winter sun that throbbed like a sallow lemon on the westering lip of Mockuncle Hill, and sent its pale, sharp rays into the kitchen through the open door. The brittle air, on which the fans of the trees were etched like aging skeletons, seemed thronged by the bright, invisible ghosts of a million dead summers. The cold beat in glassy waves against the eyelids of anybody who happened to be out in it. High up, a few chalky clouds doubtfully wavered in the pale sky that curved over against the rim of the Downs like a vast inverted pot-de-chambre. Huddled in the hollow, like an exhausted brute, the frosted roofs of Howling, crisp and purple as broccoli leaves, were like beasts about to spring.
Cold Comfort Farm has a rather large number of characters, mainly the various family members of the Starkadders, two farm hands, and a fairly large number of characters around them, in the nearby village.
Possible, but not mentioned, as a result of the Great Depression, Flora Poste's allowance dwindles to a mere 100 Pounds a year, and she looks for family members who can take her in. While she is rebuffed by most, old Aunt Ada Doom feels under obligation to do Flora a good turn in return for a wrong which is never disclosed, done to her father. Throughout the novel, the Starkadders and their farm hands keep referring to Flora never by her first name but always addressing her as Robert Poste's child.
Upon her arrival, Flora finds the old farmhouse literally stuck in the mud. Everything is dirty, old, decrepit or out-of-date. Flora, of course, makes it her mission to clear things up. The backwardness of life on the farm is perhaps best symbolized by the miserable life of the farm's bull Big Business, permanently locked up and in the dark in the barn. Flora sets him free by releasing the miserable animal into the meadow.
Once Flora has settled upon her mission, the plot takes off like a fly wheel, and in the course of a remarkably short time, Flora changes the age-old lifestyle of the family members for ever.Unscrupulously she breaks up relationships and goes about changing the farm folk's way of life. Typically, that is achieved by modernization and getting people off the farm and out of the countryside. Seth Starkadder gets into the film business, off to Hollywood, Amos Starkadder, hellfire preacher, makes it to the Bible Belt to preach in the US, Elfine, the Ariel-like beauty, is writhed out of her destined marriage with Urk and betrothed to the local squire, as Flora spends her annual allowance of 100 Pounds to dress Elfine up for a coming-out ball in the countryside. The most spectacular conversion is the transformation old Aunt Ada Doom from a brooding, evil matriarch into a slick, cosmopolitan granny, off to have the time-of-her-life in Paris. When Flora is done, mission accomplished in about three months, she returns to London.
Finished reading: 8 December 2013
Cold Comfort Farm has stood the wear of time well, and can still be read with pleasure, and while it's humour may no longer be hilarious (for some it may still be), it is midly and wryly funny. This is quite remarkable, and shows the intrinsic quality of writing. The style of writing is somewhat similar to that of Rosamond Lehmann, whose Invitation to the waltz touches on some similar themes, such as "life in the countryside". Incidentally, both books were published in the year 1932.
While just two decades earlier, people were all excited about the novelty of automobiles, Stella Gibbons pokes mild fun at the popularity of aviation, suggestion planes might soon be as common as a brougham or taxi, as characters in the book come and take off. The image of the Flora's cousin Charles flying in from London, landing in a meadow will nicely tune your mind to the setting of the novel.
A bit more difficult for contemporary readers to see is the way in which Cold Comfort Farm parodies 'rural family sagas' -- that is to say the type of novels written about and set in the countryside, featuring "authentic" characters speaking a strong rural vernacular, incestuous relationships, and broody and dark descriptions of nature and the countryside. Such writing had its literary predecessors in novels such as Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and the novels of Thomas Hardy and the young D.H. Lawrence. Unfamiliarity with the parodied genre is no problem, because to drive her point home Gibbons marked such passages with a triple asterisk, for example, the following description of Amos Starkadder:
***His huge body, rude as a wind-tortured thorn, was printed darkly against the thin mild flame of the dclining winter sun that throbbed like a sallow lemon on the westering lip of Mockuncle Hill, and sent its pale, sharp rays into the kitchen through the open door. The brittle air, on which the fans of the trees were etched like aging skeletons, seemed thronged by the bright, invisible ghosts of a million dead summers. The cold beat in glassy waves against the eyelids of anybody who happened to be out in it. High up, a few chalky clouds doubtfully wavered in the pale sky that curved over against the rim of the Downs like a vast inverted pot-de-chambre. Huddled in the hollow, like an exhausted brute, the frosted roofs of Howling, crisp and purple as broccoli leaves, were like beasts about to spring.
Cold Comfort Farm has a rather large number of characters, mainly the various family members of the Starkadders, two farm hands, and a fairly large number of characters around them, in the nearby village.
Possible, but not mentioned, as a result of the Great Depression, Flora Poste's allowance dwindles to a mere 100 Pounds a year, and she looks for family members who can take her in. While she is rebuffed by most, old Aunt Ada Doom feels under obligation to do Flora a good turn in return for a wrong which is never disclosed, done to her father. Throughout the novel, the Starkadders and their farm hands keep referring to Flora never by her first name but always addressing her as Robert Poste's child.
Upon her arrival, Flora finds the old farmhouse literally stuck in the mud. Everything is dirty, old, decrepit or out-of-date. Flora, of course, makes it her mission to clear things up. The backwardness of life on the farm is perhaps best symbolized by the miserable life of the farm's bull Big Business, permanently locked up and in the dark in the barn. Flora sets him free by releasing the miserable animal into the meadow.
Once Flora has settled upon her mission, the plot takes off like a fly wheel, and in the course of a remarkably short time, Flora changes the age-old lifestyle of the family members for ever.Unscrupulously she breaks up relationships and goes about changing the farm folk's way of life. Typically, that is achieved by modernization and getting people off the farm and out of the countryside. Seth Starkadder gets into the film business, off to Hollywood, Amos Starkadder, hellfire preacher, makes it to the Bible Belt to preach in the US, Elfine, the Ariel-like beauty, is writhed out of her destined marriage with Urk and betrothed to the local squire, as Flora spends her annual allowance of 100 Pounds to dress Elfine up for a coming-out ball in the countryside. The most spectacular conversion is the transformation old Aunt Ada Doom from a brooding, evil matriarch into a slick, cosmopolitan granny, off to have the time-of-her-life in Paris. When Flora is done, mission accomplished in about three months, she returns to London.
220edwinbcn
155. The narrow corner
Finished reading: 9 December 2013
Published in 1932, W.Somerset Maugham novel The narrow corner harks back to the author's experiences in the Far East. The novel features some remarkably beautiful and sensuous descriptions of life in China, the beauty of the land and the people, and the purity and devotion of the main character's Chinese boy. In those days, having a "Chinese boy" was a very standard part of the expat's lifesyle, and the "boy" referred to a young male manservant, who would serve the Master from sun-up to late night, preparing tea, cooking meals, boiling water for shaving and preparing opium pipes, etc. For Somerset Maugham who was extremely discrete regarding his own personal life and privacy, it has been suggested that the tender descriptions of the "Chinese boy" in The narrow corner are a reflection of his interest in Asian men.
The plot of The narrow corner are reminiscent of novels by Jack London while the setting, cruising the Malayan archipelago, where the Dutch were the colonial masters, may remind readers of the novels of Joseph Conrad.
The narrow corner starts out slowly, with Dr. Saunders being called upon by an old Chinese relation to leave Fuzhou and come to operate on his eyes offering to pay him extremely well. After the operation, Dr. Saunders is stuck on the island, and when Captain Nichols, with the young Australian Fred Blake in tow arrives, he is tempted to offer for passage on their vessel. Captain Nichols is a bit of a boastful character, and unreliable at not just that, while Fred hides a dark secret. When the three of them put in at another island. On the island, under Dutch rule, Dr Saunders will wait for the Dutch packet boat Princess Jualiana , which can take him to a larger island. They mix with the local resident foreigners, a mixed bag of oddballs, and the handsome Blake falls in love with the daughter of an eccentric Englishman called Frith. Their presence and Blake's involvement with Louise leads to the suicide of the Danish Erik Christessen.
While not spectacular, and the plot development in the second part of the novel being a bit obscure, The narrow corner is a beautifully written novel, that might interest quite a few readers.
All the novels and short stories, as well as essays by W.Somerset Maugham were re-issued in new editions by Vintage in 2001. All book covers are styled in the art deco style of the Roaring Twenties, which unfortunately means that the cover for The narrow corner would give interested readers a completely wrong idea about the content and style of the novel.
Other books I have read by W.Somerset Maugham:
The vagrant mood
Points of view
The moon and sixpence
Up at the villa
The painted veil
Of human bondage
Finished reading: 9 December 2013
Published in 1932, W.Somerset Maugham novel The narrow corner harks back to the author's experiences in the Far East. The novel features some remarkably beautiful and sensuous descriptions of life in China, the beauty of the land and the people, and the purity and devotion of the main character's Chinese boy. In those days, having a "Chinese boy" was a very standard part of the expat's lifesyle, and the "boy" referred to a young male manservant, who would serve the Master from sun-up to late night, preparing tea, cooking meals, boiling water for shaving and preparing opium pipes, etc. For Somerset Maugham who was extremely discrete regarding his own personal life and privacy, it has been suggested that the tender descriptions of the "Chinese boy" in The narrow corner are a reflection of his interest in Asian men.
The plot of The narrow corner are reminiscent of novels by Jack London while the setting, cruising the Malayan archipelago, where the Dutch were the colonial masters, may remind readers of the novels of Joseph Conrad.
The narrow corner starts out slowly, with Dr. Saunders being called upon by an old Chinese relation to leave Fuzhou and come to operate on his eyes offering to pay him extremely well. After the operation, Dr. Saunders is stuck on the island, and when Captain Nichols, with the young Australian Fred Blake in tow arrives, he is tempted to offer for passage on their vessel. Captain Nichols is a bit of a boastful character, and unreliable at not just that, while Fred hides a dark secret. When the three of them put in at another island. On the island, under Dutch rule, Dr Saunders will wait for the Dutch packet boat Princess Jualiana , which can take him to a larger island. They mix with the local resident foreigners, a mixed bag of oddballs, and the handsome Blake falls in love with the daughter of an eccentric Englishman called Frith. Their presence and Blake's involvement with Louise leads to the suicide of the Danish Erik Christessen.
While not spectacular, and the plot development in the second part of the novel being a bit obscure, The narrow corner is a beautifully written novel, that might interest quite a few readers.
All the novels and short stories, as well as essays by W.Somerset Maugham were re-issued in new editions by Vintage in 2001. All book covers are styled in the art deco style of the Roaring Twenties, which unfortunately means that the cover for The narrow corner would give interested readers a completely wrong idea about the content and style of the novel.
Other books I have read by W.Somerset Maugham:
The vagrant mood
Points of view
The moon and sixpence
Up at the villa
The painted veil
Of human bondage
221NanaCC
Very nice review of The Narrow Corner. I've only read one by Maugham, Of Human Bondage, and that was many years ago. I remember very little about it, but I am pretty sure that I enjoyed it.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
222edwinbcn
156. Sons and Lovers
Finished reading: 13 December 2013
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence was published a hundred years ago, in 1913. As many see Lawrence as one of the exponents of modernism, the lapse of time of a century allows for a more balanced appreciation, which may show that Lawrence early work still had many characteristics of the traditional novel, so much so that Stella Gibbons also particularly targeted Lawrence in her parody Cold Comfort Farm.
In Sons and Lovers Lawrence explores various sides of human love relationships, particularly in the social setting of the backward rural-industrial proletariat. While apparently Mrs Morel hold her husband, who works as a collier in the mines, in contempt, their bonds of love are at least as strong as their bond of marriage, and the view that Mrs Morel might not love her husband, are the result of the way Paul Morel views that relation.
Paul Morel, the main character in the novel, grows up in poverty. The story of the novel is seen through his eyes. This perspective creates the raw, apparently loveless view of the relationship between his parents, and Paul's relation to his mother gradually takes the form of Paul being his mother's eye-apple while Paul grows up as a protective "mother-lover".
As Paul grows up and benefits from getting an education, under his mother's care he is able to develop his artistic talent as a painter. The education and his talent enable him to literally "open his eyes" and see new possibilities, and other ways of life. This is reflected in the novel's writing which becomes increasingly lyrical and beautiful, as the reader sees the world through Paul's eyes.
Paul's first love is a farm girl whom he has known for a long time. Their relationship evolves out of Miriam's shared love for books, and Paul's admiration for her attempts to learn French. However, when Paul meets the much more emancipated Clara Dawes he passionately falls in love with her. Clara is older than Paul, and has a husband. Baxter Dawes is a lowly character, but very jealous, and he comes after Paul attempting to kill him as they fight. Their struggle is a powerful description of the opposing powers of Baxter's brute and primitive love versus Paul's agility and spiritual love. However, Clara's love for Paul is adulterous, and like the deep and mysterious love that kept Mrs Morel married to her husband, the paradox of love-hate keeps Clara and Baxter together, which means she cannot leave Baxter for Paul. In the meantime, Paul has dropped Miriam. Their separation is described with all the cruelty on Paul's part to create a rough separation, hurting Miriam's feelings deeply to sever their love-relation, while later on Paul attempts to mold their relationship into one of Platonic love. Paul wants Miriam to remain a friend, but not a lover.
At the end of the novel, Paul Morel is alone. His mother has died, and neither of his two lovers, Miriam and Clara, are what he wants. The end of the novel, while dark, shows that Paul is, barely, able to turn away from his background, the love of his mother, and the land, and turn towards the light, moving to the city where a new lifestyle beckons, and, probably, new chances.
Written more than a hundred years ago, Sons and Lovers, a bulky novel, has many characteristics of modern novels, especially a lot of Freudian symbolism. Restored editions give the reader the full sense of the modern character of the novel, and the open, realistic way relationships are described.
Other books I have read by D.H. Lawrence:
The trespasser
The virgin and the gipsy
Finished reading: 13 December 2013
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence was published a hundred years ago, in 1913. As many see Lawrence as one of the exponents of modernism, the lapse of time of a century allows for a more balanced appreciation, which may show that Lawrence early work still had many characteristics of the traditional novel, so much so that Stella Gibbons also particularly targeted Lawrence in her parody Cold Comfort Farm.
In Sons and Lovers Lawrence explores various sides of human love relationships, particularly in the social setting of the backward rural-industrial proletariat. While apparently Mrs Morel hold her husband, who works as a collier in the mines, in contempt, their bonds of love are at least as strong as their bond of marriage, and the view that Mrs Morel might not love her husband, are the result of the way Paul Morel views that relation.
Paul Morel, the main character in the novel, grows up in poverty. The story of the novel is seen through his eyes. This perspective creates the raw, apparently loveless view of the relationship between his parents, and Paul's relation to his mother gradually takes the form of Paul being his mother's eye-apple while Paul grows up as a protective "mother-lover".
As Paul grows up and benefits from getting an education, under his mother's care he is able to develop his artistic talent as a painter. The education and his talent enable him to literally "open his eyes" and see new possibilities, and other ways of life. This is reflected in the novel's writing which becomes increasingly lyrical and beautiful, as the reader sees the world through Paul's eyes.
Paul's first love is a farm girl whom he has known for a long time. Their relationship evolves out of Miriam's shared love for books, and Paul's admiration for her attempts to learn French. However, when Paul meets the much more emancipated Clara Dawes he passionately falls in love with her. Clara is older than Paul, and has a husband. Baxter Dawes is a lowly character, but very jealous, and he comes after Paul attempting to kill him as they fight. Their struggle is a powerful description of the opposing powers of Baxter's brute and primitive love versus Paul's agility and spiritual love. However, Clara's love for Paul is adulterous, and like the deep and mysterious love that kept Mrs Morel married to her husband, the paradox of love-hate keeps Clara and Baxter together, which means she cannot leave Baxter for Paul. In the meantime, Paul has dropped Miriam. Their separation is described with all the cruelty on Paul's part to create a rough separation, hurting Miriam's feelings deeply to sever their love-relation, while later on Paul attempts to mold their relationship into one of Platonic love. Paul wants Miriam to remain a friend, but not a lover.
At the end of the novel, Paul Morel is alone. His mother has died, and neither of his two lovers, Miriam and Clara, are what he wants. The end of the novel, while dark, shows that Paul is, barely, able to turn away from his background, the love of his mother, and the land, and turn towards the light, moving to the city where a new lifestyle beckons, and, probably, new chances.
Written more than a hundred years ago, Sons and Lovers, a bulky novel, has many characteristics of modern novels, especially a lot of Freudian symbolism. Restored editions give the reader the full sense of the modern character of the novel, and the open, realistic way relationships are described.
Other books I have read by D.H. Lawrence:
The trespasser
The virgin and the gipsy
223edwinbcn
157. Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma
Finished reading: 16 December 2013
A.F.Th. van der Heijden is the undisputed "great man" of Dutch letters of the new generation. That generation is not so very new, but refers to writers that came after "the great three", i.e. Reve, Mulish and Hermans, although they had contenders, such as Wolkers and Haasse. Van der Heijden ambitiously writes huge tomes in an exuberant style, which are still very, very readable, and literate. Around his opus magnum consisting of two multi-volume novel series, each in progress, Van der Heijden has written a few smaller novels, which are often still related to the main series.
Another part of his work are the so-called requiems, literary tributes to various of his family members. Unique in Dutch literature, they are fictionalized forms to mourn. Originally, the novels De sandwich and Asbestemming were published with this designation. 2013 saw the publication of Tonio : een requiemroman mourning the death of the author's son. This huge book was preceded by a slim volume, Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma.
De sandwich commemorates the death of a youth love and youth friend of the author. Asbestemming is presented as a requiem for his father, Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma for his mother, and Tonio : een requiemroman for his son. It is tempting, but probably unfair to suggest that the requiem for his sone is so bulky as it grew out of immeasurably profound grief, but Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma is a very slim booklet, that criticizes the family as much as it praises the mother. However, the fact remains that Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma is a very small, little book, that does not represent the work of the author very much, and is of little interest, except, perhaps to devoted fans of the author's work.
Other books I have read by A.F.Th. van der Heijden:
Doodverf
De gazellejongen. Het verzameld werk van Patrizio Canaponi
De draaideur
Een gondel in de Herengracht en andere verhalen
Gentse lente
Voetstampwijnen zijn tandknarswijnen
Kruis en kraai. De romankunst na James Joyce
Drijfzand koloniseren
MIM, of De doorstoken globe
Het leven uit een dag
Hier viel Van Gogh flauw
Ik heb je nog veel te melden. De briefwisseling tussen Jean-Paul Franssens en A.F.Th. van der Heijden
Gevouwen woorden
Engelenplaque
De Movo tapes. Een carriere als ander
De sandwich
Advocaat van de hanen. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 4
Onder het plaveisel het moeras. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 3, Tweede boek
Het hof van barmhartigheid. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 3, Eerste Boek
Weerborstels. De Tandeloze Tijd. Een intermezzo
De gevarendriehoek. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 2
Vallende ouders. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 1
De slag om de Blauwbrug. De Tandeloze Tijd. Proloog
Een gondel in de Herengracht en andere verhalen
Finished reading: 16 December 2013
A.F.Th. van der Heijden is the undisputed "great man" of Dutch letters of the new generation. That generation is not so very new, but refers to writers that came after "the great three", i.e. Reve, Mulish and Hermans, although they had contenders, such as Wolkers and Haasse. Van der Heijden ambitiously writes huge tomes in an exuberant style, which are still very, very readable, and literate. Around his opus magnum consisting of two multi-volume novel series, each in progress, Van der Heijden has written a few smaller novels, which are often still related to the main series.
Another part of his work are the so-called requiems, literary tributes to various of his family members. Unique in Dutch literature, they are fictionalized forms to mourn. Originally, the novels De sandwich and Asbestemming were published with this designation. 2013 saw the publication of Tonio : een requiemroman mourning the death of the author's son. This huge book was preceded by a slim volume, Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma.
De sandwich commemorates the death of a youth love and youth friend of the author. Asbestemming is presented as a requiem for his father, Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma for his mother, and Tonio : een requiemroman for his son. It is tempting, but probably unfair to suggest that the requiem for his sone is so bulky as it grew out of immeasurably profound grief, but Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma is a very slim booklet, that criticizes the family as much as it praises the mother. However, the fact remains that Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma is a very small, little book, that does not represent the work of the author very much, and is of little interest, except, perhaps to devoted fans of the author's work.
Other books I have read by A.F.Th. van der Heijden:
Doodverf
De gazellejongen. Het verzameld werk van Patrizio Canaponi
De draaideur
Een gondel in de Herengracht en andere verhalen
Gentse lente
Voetstampwijnen zijn tandknarswijnen
Kruis en kraai. De romankunst na James Joyce
Drijfzand koloniseren
MIM, of De doorstoken globe
Het leven uit een dag
Hier viel Van Gogh flauw
Ik heb je nog veel te melden. De briefwisseling tussen Jean-Paul Franssens en A.F.Th. van der Heijden
Gevouwen woorden
Engelenplaque
De Movo tapes. Een carriere als ander
De sandwich
Advocaat van de hanen. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 4
Onder het plaveisel het moeras. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 3, Tweede boek
Het hof van barmhartigheid. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 3, Eerste Boek
Weerborstels. De Tandeloze Tijd. Een intermezzo
De gevarendriehoek. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 2
Vallende ouders. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 1
De slag om de Blauwbrug. De Tandeloze Tijd. Proloog
Een gondel in de Herengracht en andere verhalen
224edwinbcn
158. A selection of prose pieces
Finished reading: 22 December 2013
Yang Shuo 杨朔 is an almost completely forgotten Chinese author, barely known to readers outside China. Born in 1913, Yang Shuo met a tragic death, killing himself with an overdose of sleeping tablets in 1968, at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Born in Penglai, in Shandong Province, Yang Shuo studied English Language and Literature in Harbin, which brought him into contact with Western literature, and subsequently studied Law and Political Science, while simultaneously studying classical Chinese Literature. His early poetry was written in traditional style, but during the 1930s he enthusiastically embraced communism, joining the Eighth Route Army and settling to work at Mao Zedong's revolutionary base in Yan'an. Starting from 1937, he wrote a number of novels describing the soldiers and the people in Yan'an, celebrating the glorious Chinese revolution, in novels such as The Spur of the Pamirs, Scars and Wounds, The Red Stone Hill, a novel about Chinese miner's struggle against the Japanese invaders. In just about three decades, and very harsh circumstances, Yang Shuo wrote 11 novels, besides short stories, prose and poetry.
A selection of prose pieces collects 14 short stories and pieces of prose, all written between 1949 and 1963.
The prose pieces written in the 1950s are almost all very positive, celebrating the glorious achievement of the Chinese revolution. "March on, Army of Steel!" (1949) is a jubilant description of the Red Army entering and taking possession of Beiping (now Beijing). Later stories, describe life in the first Communist decade, during which China developed at a high speed, approaching some of the utopian ideals, which were so brutally smashed during the following decade. This leads to some curious passages, as for example the following fragment from "The Fairyland of Penglai" (1959):
At the end of our casual chat, my sister found out that I was being put up at the office of the county Party committee and asked me to come to dinner the next day. I did not want to come because I was afraid that she might not have enough food. But she said, "You must come. What are you afraid of?" Then, pointing to the dry wheat in her basket, she continued with a smile, "Look, this is what we just got. Isn't it enough for you? Last year we did fairly well because of the success of the Great Leap Forward. This year the wheat harvest is better than ever. Do you think you could still eat enough to make me poor?"
I had to agree to come. On the next day, contrary to what I thought would be an ordinary family dinner, my sister treated me as an honored guest with the most extravagant four dishes of our hometown: fish sauteed with soy sauce, scrambled eggs, pan-fried potato strips and vermicelli made from bean-starch. Noodles were served as the last dish with shrimp that had been newly sun-dried.
"You live pretty well," I could not help saying.
My sister replied, smiling nonchalantly: "We do. We have whatever we want." (p. 50-51).
A description like that seems very representative for the success of the early years of Communism in China, as people might have felt and experienced life in 1952-1957, but the odd reference to the Great Leap Forward makes one wonder whether the story is not actually more than a piece of propaganda.
However, during the mid-1950s, Yang Shuo prose increasingly incorporates beautiful descriptions of scenes of natural beauty around Beijing, such as in "Red Leaves on Xiangshan" (1956) and "Baihuashan" (1957), but these stories still mostly take the achievements and anecdotes of soldiers of the People's Liberation Army as their main focus, against the backdrop of beautiful descriptions. In the early 60s, the stories become even lyrical, while the focus shifts to describing common people, and natural beauty in its own right, such as in the prose pieces "Lychee Honey" (1960), and "Ode to the Camellia" (1961).
The last two pieces in the collections bear the sub-title "A Series od Lyrical Essays on the Jinggang Mountains". The first of these stories, "The Hai Luo Fir" records anecdotes about Chaiman Mao's residence at the heart of the Jinggang Mountains, as told by an old local, and observed by an old fir tree. The second piece "Xi Jiang Yue" is an essay which ties the poetry of Mao Zedong to the age-old tradition of Chinese poetry.
The lyrical style of A selection of prose pieces present a style of writing in post-revolutionary Chinese writing which is quite unique. Written before China's dark decade, it describes the achievements of Chinese communism with a heart-felt optimism, while attempting to create a new style of writing, mixing traditional lyrical elements with a revolutionary style of writing.
A selection of prose pieces was translated and published in 1980, by the Foreign Languages Press.
Finished reading: 22 December 2013
Yang Shuo 杨朔 is an almost completely forgotten Chinese author, barely known to readers outside China. Born in 1913, Yang Shuo met a tragic death, killing himself with an overdose of sleeping tablets in 1968, at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Born in Penglai, in Shandong Province, Yang Shuo studied English Language and Literature in Harbin, which brought him into contact with Western literature, and subsequently studied Law and Political Science, while simultaneously studying classical Chinese Literature. His early poetry was written in traditional style, but during the 1930s he enthusiastically embraced communism, joining the Eighth Route Army and settling to work at Mao Zedong's revolutionary base in Yan'an. Starting from 1937, he wrote a number of novels describing the soldiers and the people in Yan'an, celebrating the glorious Chinese revolution, in novels such as The Spur of the Pamirs, Scars and Wounds, The Red Stone Hill, a novel about Chinese miner's struggle against the Japanese invaders. In just about three decades, and very harsh circumstances, Yang Shuo wrote 11 novels, besides short stories, prose and poetry.
A selection of prose pieces collects 14 short stories and pieces of prose, all written between 1949 and 1963.
The prose pieces written in the 1950s are almost all very positive, celebrating the glorious achievement of the Chinese revolution. "March on, Army of Steel!" (1949) is a jubilant description of the Red Army entering and taking possession of Beiping (now Beijing). Later stories, describe life in the first Communist decade, during which China developed at a high speed, approaching some of the utopian ideals, which were so brutally smashed during the following decade. This leads to some curious passages, as for example the following fragment from "The Fairyland of Penglai" (1959):
At the end of our casual chat, my sister found out that I was being put up at the office of the county Party committee and asked me to come to dinner the next day. I did not want to come because I was afraid that she might not have enough food. But she said, "You must come. What are you afraid of?" Then, pointing to the dry wheat in her basket, she continued with a smile, "Look, this is what we just got. Isn't it enough for you? Last year we did fairly well because of the success of the Great Leap Forward. This year the wheat harvest is better than ever. Do you think you could still eat enough to make me poor?"
I had to agree to come. On the next day, contrary to what I thought would be an ordinary family dinner, my sister treated me as an honored guest with the most extravagant four dishes of our hometown: fish sauteed with soy sauce, scrambled eggs, pan-fried potato strips and vermicelli made from bean-starch. Noodles were served as the last dish with shrimp that had been newly sun-dried.
"You live pretty well," I could not help saying.
My sister replied, smiling nonchalantly: "We do. We have whatever we want." (p. 50-51).
A description like that seems very representative for the success of the early years of Communism in China, as people might have felt and experienced life in 1952-1957, but the odd reference to the Great Leap Forward makes one wonder whether the story is not actually more than a piece of propaganda.
However, during the mid-1950s, Yang Shuo prose increasingly incorporates beautiful descriptions of scenes of natural beauty around Beijing, such as in "Red Leaves on Xiangshan" (1956) and "Baihuashan" (1957), but these stories still mostly take the achievements and anecdotes of soldiers of the People's Liberation Army as their main focus, against the backdrop of beautiful descriptions. In the early 60s, the stories become even lyrical, while the focus shifts to describing common people, and natural beauty in its own right, such as in the prose pieces "Lychee Honey" (1960), and "Ode to the Camellia" (1961).
The last two pieces in the collections bear the sub-title "A Series od Lyrical Essays on the Jinggang Mountains". The first of these stories, "The Hai Luo Fir" records anecdotes about Chaiman Mao's residence at the heart of the Jinggang Mountains, as told by an old local, and observed by an old fir tree. The second piece "Xi Jiang Yue" is an essay which ties the poetry of Mao Zedong to the age-old tradition of Chinese poetry.
The lyrical style of A selection of prose pieces present a style of writing in post-revolutionary Chinese writing which is quite unique. Written before China's dark decade, it describes the achievements of Chinese communism with a heart-felt optimism, while attempting to create a new style of writing, mixing traditional lyrical elements with a revolutionary style of writing.
A selection of prose pieces was translated and published in 1980, by the Foreign Languages Press.
225edwinbcn
159. Erzählungen (Die grosse Erzähler-Bibliothek der Weltliteratur)
Finished reading: 22 December 2013
When Christian Friedrich Hebbel was born in 1813, his hometown was part of Denmark, now Germany, but all of his works are written in the German language. Hebbel grew up in poverty, and his existence remained difficult throughout most of his life. In his youth he often witnessed violent rows between his parents.
Hebbel is mainy remembered for his drama. The volume Erzählungen (Die grosse Erzähler-Bibliothek der Weltliteratur) ("Stories") offers a representative selection of his prose works.
In "Meine Kindheit" (My Youth) Hebbel describes how he grew up, but this prose fragment omits any references to violent scenes, as Hebbel wrote it down in the spirit of Goethe like an idyll "Wer sein Leben darstellt, der sollte (...) nur das Liebliche, Schöne, das Beschwichtigende und Ausgleichende, das sich auch noch in den dunkelsten Verhältnissen auffinden läßt, hervorheben und das Übrige auf sich beruhen lassen." Thus, "Meine Kindheit" is a very calm and balanced description of growing up in a village during the first quarter of the Nineteenth century.
However, the violence which so much must have impressed Hebbel's young mind found a place in his short stories. While the work of other authors of that period in Germany are dominated by descriptions of love and finer sensibilities, the short stories of Hebbel are dominated by violent emotions, such as hatred, envy, suspicion and anger. In "Barbier Zitterlein" the conflict between a father and his daughter's lover leads to the father's madness, while in "Anna' envy leads to a violent death. In the short story "Eine nacht im Jägerhause" the false impression of evil and mutual suspicion are the ingredients of the story. These oddly aggressive story elements make Hebbel's short stories unique among the literature of the Age of Sentiment.
In his early years, Hebbel worked on a novel, which he later reduced and edited, to be published as a novella in 1848, here included as "Schnock", also known as "Meister Schnock" or "Schnock: ein niederländisches Gemälde". The sub-title of the novel "A Dutch Painting" suggests the reader to imagine a scene in a public house such as by such as (Gerard) Douw or Jan Steen, paintings usually displaying a chaotic tableau of details. The story is not set in the Netherlands, but in a non-descript German town. It is a frame narrative in which the main character Schnock tells about his life, which is full of capricious events and details. Hebbel's novella is of interest, as it form a literary equivalent of Kunstkammer or "Cabinet of curiosities" reflecting the capricious style of taste in the early Nineteenth Century all over Europe.
Included in this collection is also the fairy-tale "Der Rubin" (The Ruby), in which the style of Wilhelm Hauff can be recognized, a contemporary of Hebbel whom he met in Stuttgart on the way to Munich. Biographers have pointed out Hebbel's obsession with gemstones from his prolonged poverty, as the find or the loss of a single stone could alter a life's destiny. Hebbel later transformed this story into a play "Der Rubin" (The Ruby) (1851), and has written another play with the title "Der Diamant" (The Diamond) (1841).
Hebbel's stories have a medieval feel to them, probably because of their focus on poverty, and the capricious violence.
Finished reading: 22 December 2013
When Christian Friedrich Hebbel was born in 1813, his hometown was part of Denmark, now Germany, but all of his works are written in the German language. Hebbel grew up in poverty, and his existence remained difficult throughout most of his life. In his youth he often witnessed violent rows between his parents.
Hebbel is mainy remembered for his drama. The volume Erzählungen (Die grosse Erzähler-Bibliothek der Weltliteratur) ("Stories") offers a representative selection of his prose works.
In "Meine Kindheit" (My Youth) Hebbel describes how he grew up, but this prose fragment omits any references to violent scenes, as Hebbel wrote it down in the spirit of Goethe like an idyll "Wer sein Leben darstellt, der sollte (...) nur das Liebliche, Schöne, das Beschwichtigende und Ausgleichende, das sich auch noch in den dunkelsten Verhältnissen auffinden läßt, hervorheben und das Übrige auf sich beruhen lassen." Thus, "Meine Kindheit" is a very calm and balanced description of growing up in a village during the first quarter of the Nineteenth century.
However, the violence which so much must have impressed Hebbel's young mind found a place in his short stories. While the work of other authors of that period in Germany are dominated by descriptions of love and finer sensibilities, the short stories of Hebbel are dominated by violent emotions, such as hatred, envy, suspicion and anger. In "Barbier Zitterlein" the conflict between a father and his daughter's lover leads to the father's madness, while in "Anna' envy leads to a violent death. In the short story "Eine nacht im Jägerhause" the false impression of evil and mutual suspicion are the ingredients of the story. These oddly aggressive story elements make Hebbel's short stories unique among the literature of the Age of Sentiment.
In his early years, Hebbel worked on a novel, which he later reduced and edited, to be published as a novella in 1848, here included as "Schnock", also known as "Meister Schnock" or "Schnock: ein niederländisches Gemälde". The sub-title of the novel "A Dutch Painting" suggests the reader to imagine a scene in a public house such as by such as (Gerard) Douw or Jan Steen, paintings usually displaying a chaotic tableau of details. The story is not set in the Netherlands, but in a non-descript German town. It is a frame narrative in which the main character Schnock tells about his life, which is full of capricious events and details. Hebbel's novella is of interest, as it form a literary equivalent of Kunstkammer or "Cabinet of curiosities" reflecting the capricious style of taste in the early Nineteenth Century all over Europe.
Included in this collection is also the fairy-tale "Der Rubin" (The Ruby), in which the style of Wilhelm Hauff can be recognized, a contemporary of Hebbel whom he met in Stuttgart on the way to Munich. Biographers have pointed out Hebbel's obsession with gemstones from his prolonged poverty, as the find or the loss of a single stone could alter a life's destiny. Hebbel later transformed this story into a play "Der Rubin" (The Ruby) (1851), and has written another play with the title "Der Diamant" (The Diamond) (1841).
Hebbel's stories have a medieval feel to them, probably because of their focus on poverty, and the capricious violence.
226rebeccanyc
I too feel Cold Comfort Farm has stood the test of time and, in fact, I reread it every couple of years when I need a comfort read! And I read Sons and Lovers back when I was in high school, so of course I don't remember it at all, but I've pretty much avoided D. H. Lawrence since then.
Very interesting reviews of the other books, especially the Somerset Maugham and the Yang Shuo.
Very interesting reviews of the other books, especially the Somerset Maugham and the Yang Shuo.
227baswood
Catching up with your final tranche of reviews Edwin.
Rebecca, you might be surprised if you stopped avoiding Lawrence.
Rebecca, you might be surprised if you stopped avoiding Lawrence.
228edwinbcn
》226 I've pretty much avoided D. H. Lawrence
I have always more or less avoided reading D. H. Lawrence, but was positively surprised when reading Sons and Lovers. However, the prose seems "belabored" and a bit too cerebral. A touch of Freudian psychology can make books very interesting, but in Lawrence there is so much of it. I also did not want to "analyze" the book at that level, but keep my review relatively light.
I do own several other books by D. H. Lawrence and am now more inclined to reading those.
I have always more or less avoided reading D. H. Lawrence, but was positively surprised when reading Sons and Lovers. However, the prose seems "belabored" and a bit too cerebral. A touch of Freudian psychology can make books very interesting, but in Lawrence there is so much of it. I also did not want to "analyze" the book at that level, but keep my review relatively light.
I do own several other books by D. H. Lawrence and am now more inclined to reading those.
229edwinbcn
>227 baswood: you might be surprised if you stopped avoiding Lawrence.
That's a great way of putting it, Barry. I love it.
That's a great way of putting it, Barry. I love it.
230edwinbcn
Not quite the lasts batch. I have two more books to review that were read in 2013. I just did not make it reviewing them last night. I' glad, I am not stuck with a long backlog, as I was in the previous two years.
231rebeccanyc
I might . . . where would you recommend I start? (I confess it was his attitude towards women I found irritating, but I might be more tolerant now.)
232baswood
Rebecca, The short stories are wonderful as is his novella St Mawr. Great places to start (or finish)
233rebeccanyc
Hmm, maybe short stories would be more palatable.
234edwinbcn
160. The lighthouse
Finished reading: 23 December 2013
The lighthouse by Alison Moore is a short, mysterious novel. The story told in the novel is clear, and the symbolism in the novel is functional and connects elements in the intricate plot. But the novel is literally studded with symbolism and references, and not all those references add up. It is as if the author is guiding and misleading the reader at the same time.
The main character, Futh, sets out to on a hiking tour of a week in Germany. His motive is to get away from his situation at home, with his wife packing, as she is leaving him. Germany is Futh''s ancestral homeland. His fitness condition does not seem optimal, but he is sure he can make it, which suggests that Futh is a rather average type of person. On the ferry, he meets a Dutchman, and is persuaded to give this man a ride to his hometown in Utrecht. Less than a week later, this man has already forgotten most about Futh, and cannot quite recall his name, which he barely recalls as moth, or something unremarkable as that.
People do not seem to like Futh. The Dutchman's mother is very rude to him, and wants him to move on; she won't have him staying. Later on, at the hotel, the hotelier eyes Futh with suspicion and refuses him his breakfast. The rude behavior of these people to Furth remains puzzling and unexplained, although the hotelier is later found to be an extremely jealous husband. The hotel's name, Hellhouse suggests that not all is well, but the German name can also be simply translated as "light house"
A clear theme in the novel are broken up marriages. Futh's parent have divorced. A scene from Futh's youth, picnicking in the dunes comes back and again, always ending with his mother telling his father that he is so boring. The reiteration of this scene and repetition of this sentence are like the revolving light of a lighthouse. A signal of impending shipwreck, i.e. the wreckage of the marriage.
Boredom and violence are observed in other marriages as well. As in The London train, the novel describes various domestic horrors and dysfunctional marriages. Futh's parents, Futh's own wife, some of his friends, and clearly, but not known to Futh, the marriage between hotelier Bernard and his young wife, Ester.
The story creates the sense that the coming together of Futh and Ester is determined by destiny. Futh seems to have what Ester is missing (i.e. the letter "H"), and they are close as the letters "E" and "F" in the alphabet. In Futh's luggage, Ester, who is a bit of a kleptomaniac, finds a small silver casket that hold a small vial of perfume. The silver casket is modeled as a lighthouse. Ester already has one, made of wood, which makes a complementary set with the silver deluxe edition that she finds in Futh's lugage.
The perfume bottles are engraved with the brand name Dralle's Illusion, a luxury brand that was popular during the first four decades of the Twentieth Century. Each year, Hamburg-based Dralle released a new fragrance on the market. Thus, Dralle's Illusion Veilchen (Violets), can be exactly dated as marketed and sold in 1908.
Ester moves the small glass vial from the wooden lighthouse casket to the silver casket. The readers already knows that as a young boy Futh had broken the glass vial in the silver lighthouse casket that belonged to his mother, spilling the perfume, the essence of violets over his hands. It was probably this experience that set Futh on a career in fragrances. For many years, Futh worked in the manufacturing of artificial flavours and fragrances, and his olfactory sense is very highly developed. The smell of violets ties him to his mother, but there are various other smells that remind him of his youth as well, such as stewed apples or oranges. The attentive reader will have noticed that Ester's name misses the letter "h", and that an "ester" is an artificial fragrance, usually fruity, such as apples, etc.
Another clue which seems to tie Ester and Futh together is that both Ester and Futh's neighbour keep a Venus Fly trap plant, which catches and kills moths and flies. Ester also has a moth collection. She catches the moths as they fly to the light of the lamp. What both lights and fragrances have in common is that they may attract and repel. The light of the lamp attracts moths to their deaths, while the light of the lighthouse should warn and repel ships, signal sailors to stay away from the coast, although ponderous young Futh has often wondered why so many shipwrecks occur near the lighthouse, as if the sailors misread the signal, and come to the lighthouse rather than go. The fragrance of flowers and fruit is attractive, while the smell of camphor is a repellant, for instance to preserve keep moths out of the wardrobe.
Alison Moore's novel The Lighthouse most of the over-abundant clues add up to a coherent picture. However, a few pieces of the puzzle seemingly do not fit. It is not entirely clear why Futh's background is so strongly linked to Germany, and why Futh's Great Uncle, Ernst Futh seemed so anxious to get the lighthouse casket back. Although the novel does not mention its dimensions, the Dralle's silver lighthouses are small and even the silver ones are of no great value, although Futh's failure to give the casket to his uncle seems to be the cause of shame. Originally, the casket belonged to Futh's Great Grand Father, but Futh's father took it when he went to England and gave it to his wife. Uncle Ernst's insistence on the recovery of the item seems irrational, unless he might be a collector striving to complete a collection.
Still, the lighthouse does connect all the men in the Futh family, as the Great Grandfather must have selected the item for purchase, Futh's father pocketed the item when he went to England, and Futh carries it around with him as a reminder of his mother. Incidentally, both Futh and his father are deserted by their wives, which strongly suggests a sense of impotence in the male line of the Futh family. While the lighthouse can be seen as a potent phallic symbol, the Dralle's Illusion silver lighthouse casket is tiny, just a few milimeters.
It is obvious that Futh has a very strong mother fixation, which originates from the age of five or six, when he broke the vial of perfume. Futh's Oedipus complex may further explain his neurosis, the fixation on fragrances, and his general inability to adapt to his environment, change existing life patterns and develop a more rounded personality.
The Lighthouse is Alison Moore's debut novel, and caused quite a sensation in its year of publication as it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2012. The novel could do with a bit more subtlety, and less symbolism. Nonetheless, The Lighthouse is a towering achievement of a clearly very promising new author.
Finished reading: 23 December 2013
The lighthouse by Alison Moore is a short, mysterious novel. The story told in the novel is clear, and the symbolism in the novel is functional and connects elements in the intricate plot. But the novel is literally studded with symbolism and references, and not all those references add up. It is as if the author is guiding and misleading the reader at the same time.
The main character, Futh, sets out to on a hiking tour of a week in Germany. His motive is to get away from his situation at home, with his wife packing, as she is leaving him. Germany is Futh''s ancestral homeland. His fitness condition does not seem optimal, but he is sure he can make it, which suggests that Futh is a rather average type of person. On the ferry, he meets a Dutchman, and is persuaded to give this man a ride to his hometown in Utrecht. Less than a week later, this man has already forgotten most about Futh, and cannot quite recall his name, which he barely recalls as moth, or something unremarkable as that.
People do not seem to like Futh. The Dutchman's mother is very rude to him, and wants him to move on; she won't have him staying. Later on, at the hotel, the hotelier eyes Futh with suspicion and refuses him his breakfast. The rude behavior of these people to Furth remains puzzling and unexplained, although the hotelier is later found to be an extremely jealous husband. The hotel's name, Hellhouse suggests that not all is well, but the German name can also be simply translated as "light house"
A clear theme in the novel are broken up marriages. Futh's parent have divorced. A scene from Futh's youth, picnicking in the dunes comes back and again, always ending with his mother telling his father that he is so boring. The reiteration of this scene and repetition of this sentence are like the revolving light of a lighthouse. A signal of impending shipwreck, i.e. the wreckage of the marriage.
Boredom and violence are observed in other marriages as well. As in The London train, the novel describes various domestic horrors and dysfunctional marriages. Futh's parents, Futh's own wife, some of his friends, and clearly, but not known to Futh, the marriage between hotelier Bernard and his young wife, Ester.
The story creates the sense that the coming together of Futh and Ester is determined by destiny. Futh seems to have what Ester is missing (i.e. the letter "H"), and they are close as the letters "E" and "F" in the alphabet. In Futh's luggage, Ester, who is a bit of a kleptomaniac, finds a small silver casket that hold a small vial of perfume. The silver casket is modeled as a lighthouse. Ester already has one, made of wood, which makes a complementary set with the silver deluxe edition that she finds in Futh's lugage.
The perfume bottles are engraved with the brand name Dralle's Illusion, a luxury brand that was popular during the first four decades of the Twentieth Century. Each year, Hamburg-based Dralle released a new fragrance on the market. Thus, Dralle's Illusion Veilchen (Violets), can be exactly dated as marketed and sold in 1908.
Ester moves the small glass vial from the wooden lighthouse casket to the silver casket. The readers already knows that as a young boy Futh had broken the glass vial in the silver lighthouse casket that belonged to his mother, spilling the perfume, the essence of violets over his hands. It was probably this experience that set Futh on a career in fragrances. For many years, Futh worked in the manufacturing of artificial flavours and fragrances, and his olfactory sense is very highly developed. The smell of violets ties him to his mother, but there are various other smells that remind him of his youth as well, such as stewed apples or oranges. The attentive reader will have noticed that Ester's name misses the letter "h", and that an "ester" is an artificial fragrance, usually fruity, such as apples, etc.
Another clue which seems to tie Ester and Futh together is that both Ester and Futh's neighbour keep a Venus Fly trap plant, which catches and kills moths and flies. Ester also has a moth collection. She catches the moths as they fly to the light of the lamp. What both lights and fragrances have in common is that they may attract and repel. The light of the lamp attracts moths to their deaths, while the light of the lighthouse should warn and repel ships, signal sailors to stay away from the coast, although ponderous young Futh has often wondered why so many shipwrecks occur near the lighthouse, as if the sailors misread the signal, and come to the lighthouse rather than go. The fragrance of flowers and fruit is attractive, while the smell of camphor is a repellant, for instance to preserve keep moths out of the wardrobe.
Alison Moore's novel The Lighthouse most of the over-abundant clues add up to a coherent picture. However, a few pieces of the puzzle seemingly do not fit. It is not entirely clear why Futh's background is so strongly linked to Germany, and why Futh's Great Uncle, Ernst Futh seemed so anxious to get the lighthouse casket back. Although the novel does not mention its dimensions, the Dralle's silver lighthouses are small and even the silver ones are of no great value, although Futh's failure to give the casket to his uncle seems to be the cause of shame. Originally, the casket belonged to Futh's Great Grand Father, but Futh's father took it when he went to England and gave it to his wife. Uncle Ernst's insistence on the recovery of the item seems irrational, unless he might be a collector striving to complete a collection.
Still, the lighthouse does connect all the men in the Futh family, as the Great Grandfather must have selected the item for purchase, Futh's father pocketed the item when he went to England, and Futh carries it around with him as a reminder of his mother. Incidentally, both Futh and his father are deserted by their wives, which strongly suggests a sense of impotence in the male line of the Futh family. While the lighthouse can be seen as a potent phallic symbol, the Dralle's Illusion silver lighthouse casket is tiny, just a few milimeters.
It is obvious that Futh has a very strong mother fixation, which originates from the age of five or six, when he broke the vial of perfume. Futh's Oedipus complex may further explain his neurosis, the fixation on fragrances, and his general inability to adapt to his environment, change existing life patterns and develop a more rounded personality.
The Lighthouse is Alison Moore's debut novel, and caused quite a sensation in its year of publication as it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2012. The novel could do with a bit more subtlety, and less symbolism. Nonetheless, The Lighthouse is a towering achievement of a clearly very promising new author.
235baswood
Excellent review of The Lighthouse, Alison Moore Edwin.
Good to know that there are some good new literary authors out there.
Good to know that there are some good new literary authors out there.
236edwinbcn
161. Winter journal
Finished reading: 27 December 2013
Paul Auster's Winter journal is more like a note-book than a journal. In the book, author writes that he began this journal when he was 64 years old. The Winter journal is neither chronological, nor does it have dated entries.
The Winter journal is a contemplative autobiography. Auster goes over his life, step by step, creating lists of, for example, all the addresses he has lived at, all illnesses he had and all near-misses with death. The book is a bit morbid in the sense that it contemplates life as much as it contemplates death. It is a modern memento mori, as seemingly so many are published these days.
While the Winter journal has some boring parts, there are also some very impressive sections, with outstanding prose; for instance, the episode about the swallowed fish bone is captivating, while Auster's description of his visit to the site of the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen is chilling.
Reiteration and parallels, as in one's own life, and comparison with other lives, reveals the element of chance in one's survival. Diseases, a car accident, the famous "small accidents around the house", they all occur when one least expects it. The solid oak leg of the table can be the banal cause of death of the one, or a near miss to another.
While many books on this theme are pessimistic or mainly appeal to an older readership, Auster's Winter Journal offers as much to older as to younger readers. Firstly, the Winter Journal gives readers an peek from an unusual perspective into the author's life. The many described details are of the kind usually left out of official biographies. Not much autobiographical material has been published about Auster so far. It is actually interesting to discover through reading the Winter Journal that some of Auster's novels which seem so totally fictional do include references to real life which caused irritation on the part of his relatives.
Another optimistic outlook Winter Journal permits is the sense that 64 is not that very old, and although the author tends to see 64 as a high age, there are several suggestions that at 64 one is just at the threshold of a next stage in life, and that the contemplative, brooding mood is something like a mini-"mid"-life crisis, which marks the transition to the next stage. This optimism should appeal to readers of all ages, as does the book.
Other books I have read by Paul Auster:
Sunset Park
The music of chance
Oracle night
The book of illusions
Leviathan
In the country of last things
Hand to mouth. A chronicle of early failure
Moon Palace
The New York trilogy
The locked room
Ghosts
City of Glass
The red notebook. True stories, prefaces and interviews
Finished reading: 27 December 2013
Paul Auster's Winter journal is more like a note-book than a journal. In the book, author writes that he began this journal when he was 64 years old. The Winter journal is neither chronological, nor does it have dated entries.
The Winter journal is a contemplative autobiography. Auster goes over his life, step by step, creating lists of, for example, all the addresses he has lived at, all illnesses he had and all near-misses with death. The book is a bit morbid in the sense that it contemplates life as much as it contemplates death. It is a modern memento mori, as seemingly so many are published these days.
While the Winter journal has some boring parts, there are also some very impressive sections, with outstanding prose; for instance, the episode about the swallowed fish bone is captivating, while Auster's description of his visit to the site of the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen is chilling.
Reiteration and parallels, as in one's own life, and comparison with other lives, reveals the element of chance in one's survival. Diseases, a car accident, the famous "small accidents around the house", they all occur when one least expects it. The solid oak leg of the table can be the banal cause of death of the one, or a near miss to another.
While many books on this theme are pessimistic or mainly appeal to an older readership, Auster's Winter Journal offers as much to older as to younger readers. Firstly, the Winter Journal gives readers an peek from an unusual perspective into the author's life. The many described details are of the kind usually left out of official biographies. Not much autobiographical material has been published about Auster so far. It is actually interesting to discover through reading the Winter Journal that some of Auster's novels which seem so totally fictional do include references to real life which caused irritation on the part of his relatives.
Another optimistic outlook Winter Journal permits is the sense that 64 is not that very old, and although the author tends to see 64 as a high age, there are several suggestions that at 64 one is just at the threshold of a next stage in life, and that the contemplative, brooding mood is something like a mini-"mid"-life crisis, which marks the transition to the next stage. This optimism should appeal to readers of all ages, as does the book.
Other books I have read by Paul Auster:
Sunset Park
The music of chance
Oracle night
The book of illusions
Leviathan
In the country of last things
Hand to mouth. A chronicle of early failure
Moon Palace
The New York trilogy
The locked room
Ghosts
City of Glass
The red notebook. True stories, prefaces and interviews
237edwinbcn
That's all for 2013. Winter Journal by Paul Auster was my last book in 2013.
Despite a slow start I was able to catch up and read the satisfactory number of 161 books.
I bought 185 books over the course of the year, though, most in the final months of the year.
I am glad I was able to avoid a huge backlog of books to review by the year-end.
As a result of a particularly large amount of work in the final 10 days of December, spilling over into January, I missed my traditional winter spurt, when I am usually able to finish are relatively large number of books that I have been reading.
I made a special point of reading one book on New Year's Day, but unfortunately had very little time to get a good start into the new year.
See you at Club Read 2014.
Despite a slow start I was able to catch up and read the satisfactory number of 161 books.
I bought 185 books over the course of the year, though, most in the final months of the year.
I am glad I was able to avoid a huge backlog of books to review by the year-end.
As a result of a particularly large amount of work in the final 10 days of December, spilling over into January, I missed my traditional winter spurt, when I am usually able to finish are relatively large number of books that I have been reading.
I made a special point of reading one book on New Year's Day, but unfortunately had very little time to get a good start into the new year.
See you at Club Read 2014.
