Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everyone. Today did not go as planned! My internet went down this morning and it's taken hours to sort out, so in place of a more considered introduction you're going to get a free form stream of words.

I had been going to say that, like many others, I've been finding it really difficult to read, picking up any number of books and failing to make any connection with the written page. I'd then have gone on to say that finally I dug out of my brain two books recommended on e/regular TLS which, despite my deep rooted prejudice against novels about visual art, had provoked my curiosity. So it was then that I came to read Keeping the World Away by Margaret Forster (about Gwen John) and Headlong by Michael Frayn (about Pieter Bruegel the Elder). At this point there was to have been such a splendid analysis of both novels that you would all would have been gnashing your teeth in frothing frenzies of readerly/writerly jealousy. But that dream died sometime during the umpteenth phone call with the nice Scottish man at Virgin who was clearly wishing he'd called in sick today. Should anyone wish to know my thoughts on either, I will be available for opinions once I've recovered.

Whizzing through the last thread what struck me most was the number of translated books of all sorts being read. Impressive. I enjoyed any number of reviews, but the book that stuck most in my memory is Hunter with Harpoon by Markoosie Patsauq, which Andy reviewed. I also really enjoyed the discussion on The Radetzky March. I hope @Gpfr's daughter's exhibition drawings have been well received and that giveusaclue isn't suffering too badly (and anyone else here who has it. I think I remember seeing something about @CCC's daughter-in-law? Forgive me for not being sure.) Thank you to Mach for the tip on Biblio, new to me and I've just sent some business their way. Finally, in response to news from an earlier thread, I want to send my congratulations to Veufveuve on the completion of his book. Usually, here, completing a book refers to reading the darn thing. How marvellous to have amongst us one who writes them.

On a different note, I also want to let you all know that I have a lot going on at the moment and my presence here might be erratic.

And now over to you. Tell us about what you're reading.

Thanks Anne.
My presence will also be a bit less in the next couple of months. I'm headed off into Europe, through Germany to the Julian Alps to begin with I think. Blog at the usual address should anyone be bored enough to want to look... (safereturndoubtful.tumblr.com)

From the last few days.. (the least first)
Our Dead World by Liliana Colanzi translated from the Spanish (Bolivia) by Jessica Sequiera.
First published as a translation in 2017, this short book of Bolivian short stories addresses similar themes to Fantasmas: Puerto Rican Tales of the Dead, which I recently read.
The Puerto Rican book is a much better read though, consistently good, as opposed to here, where just the odd story stands out.
As well as being about ghosts of the past, Colanzi sets a couple of stories in the future also, though they were the weakest.

The strongest for me, was "Alfredito", which wrestled well with the trauma involved of the death of a child, particularly the effect on the peer group.

My biggest gripe though is at its slim 110 pages. It is a collection of short stories, and brief as it is, I don't think it represents reasonable value for its cost.

and Viy by Nikolai Gogol translated by Claud Field.

Gogol explains at the start of his novella, initially published in 1835, that..

The “Viy” is a monstrous creation of popular fancy. It is the name which the inhabitants of Little Russia give to the king of the gnomes, whose eyelashes reach to the ground. The following story is a specimen of such folk-lore. I have made no alterations, but reproduce it in the same simple form in which I heard it.

Little Russia, refers to today's Ukraine, and the story concerns three students, a philsopher, a theologian and a rhetorician, travelling on the way to summer break from the place of study at Bratsky Monastery in Kiev. Initially the problems the students encounter are due to meeting an old witch, but unfortunately for them, they are to get a whole lot worse.
The real interest here is in Ukranian life, at the College, and then rurally, in the early 1800s. Though Gogol sometimes does humour, that is almost absent here. Rather, it is a fine example of what nowadays we would call 'folk horror', with that trademark glorification of the Cossacks.
It is well worth the 90 minutes or so it takes to read.

and Paradais by Fernanda Melchor translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by Sophie Hughes

Melchor's title is an ironic one, as the reasonably affluent housing complex that serves as the setting for her novella is anything but paradise.
This is a brutal tale of disaffected youth, with apathetic and largely abesnt, adults. Outcast teenagers Polo, and Fatboy, shape the novel’s battleground. Told in the third person, we are gradually drawn closer into Polo's world, as he travels his neighboring village, and Paradais, where he is a gardener. He is “dark skinned and ugly as sin,” according to his mother. Caught between his dominating mother’s control and the menacing drug cartels, Polo spends his days with Fatboy, trying to outdo each other with adolescent fantasies.
Fatboy meanwhile, “blond curls that made him look ridiculous, like an overfed cherubin; a monstrous manchild whose soulless eyes lit up”, steals money from his grandparents to buy cheap alcohol and cheesy snacks, and shares his considerable collection of porn.
Their relationship is rooted in loneliness and desparation, and as their behaviour spirals out of control, it soon becomes evident they are headed for catastrophe.

I appreciate this far more after finishing it than while reading it, and that is a huge compliment to Melchor and her translator, Sophie Hughes. The descriptions of the boys' behaviour and habits are graphic and not easy to read. There is that strange complusion though, to see just how badly it is going to end, as momentum gathers to the inevitable climax.
It is deeply unsettling, and extremely bravely done.

Evening all, hope we are all ok?

Current reading is going well, with a lot of variety as usual:

The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist by Breyten Breytenbach(1985), is a tense, sometimes unsettling but lyrical study of incarceration in apartheid South Africa.

In Danger: Essays and Poems by Pier Paolo Pasolini is an intellectual journey into the soul of the playwright and author, he is always thinking and suggesting, wherever he goes. His poetry is less interesting but readable

Lastly i havent started Mr Love and Justice by Colin MacInnes(1960) but intend to tommorow.

Thanks Anne, for your hard work

Andy wrote: "Thanks Anne.
My presence will also be a bit less in the next couple of months. I'm headed off into Europe, through Germany to the Julian Alps to begin with I think. Blog at the usual address shoul..."

bon voyage Andy, enjoy

Anne wrote: "Hello, everyone. Today did not go as planned! "

Thanks Anne.

Andy wrote: "and Viy by Nikolai Gogol translated by Claud Field.

Thanks for this - it's on my radar, but I've been disappointed that the Christopher English translation is out of print. I really enjoyed his translation of Dead Souls and the Petersburg tales for Oxford University Press.

Thanks, and and for your good wishes. Technology is wonderful, until it isn't.

Just finished reading

I have enjoyed this series. It starts with the nervous anthropologist leaving his lab after studying bones found improperly buried in a churchyard. It is soon obvious that the bones are recent, and someone else has realised he knows this.....

Now I am about to move onto real life (dead?) bones:



I have done a few of the forensic archaeology courses on Future Learn and enjoyed them very much.

Andy wrote: "and Viy by Nikolai Gogol translated by Claud Field.

Gogol explains at the start of his novella, initially published in 1835, that..
The “Vi..."

i havent heard of this Gogol, must look it up....i loved "dead souls", maybe the best unfinished novel in history?

Why Is Everyone Suddenly Reading Cassandra at the Wedding? A forensic investigation.
https://nymag.com/strategist/article/...

... over the past year, seemingly every screenwriter, editor, and Ph.D. candidate from New York to L.A. has picked it up. We set out to find patient zero, the person at the very top of the Cassandra chain, by interviewing every single person we know who’s read it.

Machenbach wrote: "Ha! Don’t make me try to recall who or what put me on to it. Probably someone here in the TLS strain. Or stain."

I got a copy after I enjoyed Young Man with a Horn, but of course have never gotten around to reading it.

AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "and Viy by Nikolai Gogol translated by Claud Field. ..."

i havent heard of this Gogol, must look it up....i loved "dead souls", maybe the best unfinished novel in history?"

Good question, what would be some other candidates? Dickens's Edwin Drood is the first one that comes to mind. And there's Byron's vampire story fragment - forget if that was meant to be the start of a short story or of a novel. I have the feeling I'm forgetting some obvious ones. Weren't some of Kafka's books unfinished, or considered as such by himself?

Machenbach wrote: "Bill wrote: "Why Is Everyone Suddenly Reading Cassandra at the Wedding? A forensic investigation.
https://nymag.com/strategist/article/...
... over the past year, se..."

I haven't read 'Cassandra at the Wedding', but after reading one of the more recent books on the siege of Troy, written by a woman, (alas, I forget which one at the moment), but the phrase "and Athene cried" has left an indelible imprint on my mind somehow. This was in response to the horrific account of Cassandra being raped by Ajax, (as a right of the spoils of war?) in the temple of Athene, after the fall of Troy... Which also alas brings me back to several current accounts of the war in Ukraine... we are indeed living in sad times for some... or indeed many...

Berkley wrote: "Good question, what would be some other candidates? Dickens's Edwin Drood is the first one that comes to mind."

Yeah, I think I would have to go for Edwin Drood. Flaubert's Bouvard et Pecuchet is good, and I'm also a fan of The Ivory Tower by Henry James.

Thanks for the intro as always, Anne - and yes, my daughter's drawings were well-received, thank you.

Berkley wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "and Viy by Nikolai Gogol translated by Claud Field. ..."

i havent heard of this Gogol, must look it up....i loved..."

this could be the start of a long thread, not sure any of Kafka's were unfinished though, lets see what the TLS can throw up

Just watched some of the Shane Warne State Memorial Service from the MCG, a few tears shed by me, i'm not an aussie and he tormented us poms on the cricket field with his deliveries but 52 is no age, no age at all

RIP Warney

Anne wrote: "Hello, everyone...."

And hello to you, Anne. We missed you.

Machenbach wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Good question, what would be some other candidates? Dickens's Edwin Drood is the first one that comes to mind."

Yeah, I think I would have to go for Edwin Drood. Fl..."

good picks....wasnt Amerika unfinished? i had forgotten about Svejk being unfinished, i loved that novel and am yet to read The First Man

Re Cassandra at The Wedding

I listened to this book by Dorothy Parker because it was the focus of the discussion on the Backlisted podcast Episode 148 (October 18th 2021). Simon Thomas (an identical twin) of the “Tea and Books” podcast and the “Stuck in a Book” blog was a guest. He is the series consultant for British Library Women Writers. Whatever he enjoys reading or writing about is usually my cup of tea.
Why Backlisted chose it I can’t remember but I certainly enjoyed listening to it - and reading Machenbach’s review above..

After greatly enjoying a selection of JK Huysmans writing on art and the french salon in 2020, i am about to order Baudelaire's writing on the 1846 salon (pre-impressionism), from david zwirner books

https://www.davidzwirnerbooks.com/pro...

Thanks Anne for the new thread, it's good to see you back around these parts.

I've gotten a ton of reading done lately, but I haven't had the energy to post much lately. I'll go ahead and cut and paste the two reviews I posted over in the Guardian page and I'll try to take some magnesium and fish oil and power through my backlog..


I really enjoyed Stuart Dybek's collection of short stories, The Coast Of Chicago, it's a book that was clearly written in the beginning of the 1990s when American optimism had started a resurgence and baby boomer nostalgia was as yet unjaundiced and undesirable. Set in the the ethnic slums of Chicago where the melting pot was starting to slowly melt away. Where skinny chinless girls could fall in love with jazz pianists and Puerto Rican conga players could viscerally remember their dead girlfriends from the sway of a subway car. Characters drunkely crawl into Edward Hopper paintings, mythic blonds frozen into blocks of ice people an abandoned brewery overlooking the county jail where brothers slowly rock themselves to silence.
Dybek is a name I wouldn't have discovered had it not been for Chris Power's excellent column going in depth into the masters of the short story, so thanks be to him for putting Dybek on my radar screen. Dybek has recently been a name mentioned as a comapnion to Lucia Berlin's writings, focused upon the marginalized, the bored drunks, the martyred teachers, the dry cleaners and street sweepers. The comparison was an apt one, but I think Dybek writes from a point of positivism and nostalgia that Berlin could not have managed. Nor does he upraise the downtrodden like Bukowski. He's almost like a short form Richard Ford, a writer that can pick out the spirit amongst the empty beer cans and used condoms. Bukowski and Fante would really only see the condoms.

Another book that impressed me lately was Robert Kolker's Hidden Valley Road, which sought to bring the treatment and diagnosis of schizophrenia to a modern light by centering the narrative around the Galvin family in which 6 of the 12 children all struggle with varying iterations of schizophrenia. Kolker did a really fantastic job with the science and talked to some real experts. The genetic implications of family study in such a nebulous disease are enormous, but the outcome of genetic studies (GWAS) has been almost across the board (from cancer to intelligence) hugely over-stated and largely disappointing. While Kolker excoriates the false starts in psychology, the schizophrogenic mother, the kidney destroying drugs, he remains very carefully consistent in his criticism. In so doing, he doesn't fall victim to the same trap as Rebecca Skloot, who contradicted her own assertions half a dozen times in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

This was a book that i picked up on a whim and found myself unable to disengage. Particularly as I found my story intertwining with Kolker's narrative. Having occurred largely on Colorado's Front Range, I certainly knew two of the brothers. One was the manager at a bookstore I haunted during high school and the other... i remember vividly being chased by a clearly disturbed man with a recorder in front of the courthouse on Pearl Street. That was almost certainly Peter, his picture in the book was a bit of a shock (he was combed). Now, I know why he was so clearly disturbed. I thought he wanted my Quiznos sub.
I was really impressed with this one, science writing donw well and balanced

Book selling algorithms baffle me, despite the amount of books i have purchased over 20 years on amazon, duff mills and boon crap keeps surfacing as a "recommendation"

Veuf mentioned the Kristensen novel that i have now got in my posession, despite searching danish literature over a dozen times in last 2 years, it never matched me to that novel or many others, how duff is that, where is the logic in a search that cannot isolate the small canon of translated danish literature?

Considering the frightening way google and others seem to sync my browsing, if i search on a shopping site(not via google) for something, it usually pops up on my next google search but amazon remains very, very poor at doing the same thing....

Bill wrote: "Why Is Everyone Suddenly Reading Cassandra at the Wedding? A forensic investigation.
https://nymag.com/strategist/article/...
... over the past year, seemingly every..."

An interesting idea... though for me, it's more interesting to know whether the book is actually worth the effort of reading it, than why it is suddenly a 'topic of conversation'.

Berkley wrote: "maybe the best unfinished novel in history?"

Good question, what would be some other candidates?"

No question: it is 'The Brothers Karamazov: part 2'. Unfortunately, FD died before he had time to write it.

Gpfr wrote: "....my daughter's drawings were well-received, thank you...."

Good! Glad to know this.

A campaigning friend of my wife's (to do with WASPI... https://www.waspi.co.uk/ ) has invited us to a sale of her husband's artwork, proceeds to go to DEC Ukraine fund. We hope to be able to attend.

Machenbach wrote: "The Good Soldier Švejk"

Really?

I know we disagree (not infrequently!) but I do respect your views. I tried to read this once, but for a so-called 'funny' book, I found it crude and repetitive, and gave up after 100 pages or so (I was very patient, I thought). It seemed to me that there was just one joke - done to death - and not subtly.
(I do like several other Czech authors...)

As for Kafka - I don't know if his books were ever considered 'unfinished', but didn't he ask for the manuscripts to be burnt - a wish disrespected by the person he entrusted with the task?

Anne wrote: "I also want to let you all know that I have a lot going on at the moment and my presence here might be erratic."

Thank you for the introduction and your work... anyone who is struggling to cope in the 'time of COVID' will identify with the sentence I've quoted.

My own version might be: "My own comments here might display a degree of lack of patience!" I am fine about exchanging views, but not at inordinate length, as I have a lot of other stuff to deal with.

(Apologies if I inadvertently offend anyone, though.)

@Georg wrote: "Radetzky March starts with the story of Joseph Trotta, the hero of Solferino. This takes up about 20 of 400 pages. Within these 20 pages he lives, dies and is buried. He is no major player in the novel. Rather a spectre."

Fair enough - I believe you.

In my experience, most authors try to write an opening which will draw the prospective reader into a book. I only downloaded a Kindle sample of the Razedsky March, to see if it was worth reading or not.

The ludicrous nature of the battle scenes and Trotta's somewhat absurd response to the textbook convinced me that it was not a book for me.

Would I have felt differently if the author had chosen to open the book in another way? I have no idea - but he didn't, so I won't read it.

Machenbach wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: " It seemed to me that there was just one joke - done to death - and not subtly.
(I do like several other Czech authors...)"
Incidentally, this reminds me that I never really got..."

On Czech lit:
i liked Svejk and the War With The Newts. Czech fiction until 1960ish always goes down well with me but i cant stand Kundera or Klima, always dissapointed me, Skoverecky is better but again, the classic czech novels i find superb

Short mention should go to Gods Rainbow by Jarsoslav Durych,written in the 1950s, a superb Czech novel i read last autumn

scarletnoir wrote: "@Georg wrote: "Radetzky March starts with the story of Joseph Trotta, the hero of Solferino. This takes up about 20 of 400 pages. Within these 20 pages he lives, dies and is buried. He is no major ..."

i have zero negatives comments about The Radetsky March....i loved it...not overblown at all

scarletnoir wrote: "@Georg wrote: "Radetzky March starts with the story of Joseph Trotta, the hero of Solferino. This takes up about 20 of 400 pages. Within these 20 pages he lives, dies and is buried. He is no major ..."

I hope I haven't come over as somebody trying to persuade you to give the Radetzky March another go.

I have been at the receiving (Thomas Bernhard eg.) as well as the giving (Coetzee) end of such recommendations to know better.

Although: when it comes to Dickens I am still tempted..... ;-)

Machenbach wrote: "Yes, Brod was asked to burn everything but didn't..."

Thank Brod, to coin a phrase.

Berkley wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "Yes, Brod was asked to burn everything but didn't..."

Thank Brod, to coin a phrase."

did Brod ever explain in detail why he didnt(i really should know the ansa, having read all of Kafka), he reminds me of Seelig and his relation to Walser, in that both men kept the authors works in the public eye after death

AB76 wrote: "Just watched some of the Shane Warne State Memorial Service from the MCG, a few tears shed by me, i'm not an aussie and he tormented us poms on the cricket field with his deliveries but 52 is no ag..."

Blofeld spoke well about him the day he died.
Life in the fast lane.

I met him in 2003 at the airport in Melbourne when everyone was travelling to Sydney for the next test. He had just injured his shoulder and was thought to be out for months.
He did of course return to play very much sooner, with the likely aid of illegal substances, which he claimed, and if you recall his mother backed him up, were dietary.
When I say met, I mean we shouted some abuse at him..
I’m with you though AB. A one-off, brought us such entertainment. Thankfully he never captained his country or else or defeats would have been so much worse…
RIP.

Paul wrote: "Thanks Anne for the new thread, it's good to see you back around these parts.

I've gotten a ton of reading done lately, but I haven't had the energy to post much lately. I'll go ahead and cut and..."

Another shout for Dybek from me.
Tom Mooney persuaded me to Childhood and Other Neighborhoods: Stories which was a 5 star read for me.
And I’ve just scored an almost new copy of The Start of Something: The Selected Stories of Stuart Dybek for a couple of pounds, so looking forward to that.
I will look out for Chicago also.
There’s one particular short story of his I have heard great things about, Hot Ice, just not sure which book it’s in..

Machenbach wrote: "Andy wrote: "and Paradais by Fernanda Melchor translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by Sophie Hughes

Melchor's title is an ironic one, ..."

I think this is even more unsettling.

AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "Yes, Brod was asked to burn everything but didn't..."

Thank Brod, to coin a phrase."

did Brod ever explain in detail why he didnt(i really should know the ansa,..."

Why should Brod want to explain the bleeding obvious? He was Kafka's best friend for over 20 years, he was convinced of Kafka's genius very early on (and so was Tucholsky btw), he did everything he could to help him getting published during his lifetime. That is very much self-explanatory, isn't it?

As ever, Anne, thank you for the intro.

The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati (1938), trans Stuart Hood, Canongate (2018)

The garrison of a distant fort succumb to torpor and seclusion. Routines, drills, guard duty, the days unrolling, the enervation crushing, the enemy never appearing. To adapt a recent comment on Oblomov, this is a book about boredom and loss that is the opposite of boring. A supreme novel of extraordinary art and finesse.

The translation is a thing of beauty.

Thank you to AB and Paul for recommending this.

Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Just watched some of the Shane Warne State Memorial Service from the MCG, a few tears shed by me, i'm not an aussie and he tormented us poms on the cricket field with his deliveries bu..."

i remember the dietary aid scandal! i loved him as commentator too, the cheeky, boozy larrikan image was only one part of his character, he was a smart, intelligent analyst of the game

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "did Brod ever explain in detail why he didnt(i really should know the ansa, having read all of Kafka), he reminds me of Seelig and his relation to Walser, in that both men kept the aut..."

thanks mach, i knew you would have a helpful response to my query

Russell wrote: "As ever, Anne, thank you for the intro.

The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati (1938), trans Stuart Hood, Canongate (2018)

The garrison of a distant fort succumb to torpor and seclusion. Routines, dril..."

a pleasure Russ, glad you liked it

Machenbach wrote: "Tam wrote: "the phrase "and Athene cried" has left an indelible imprint on my mind somehow.."
Isn't there also a version where the statue of Athene turns her face away from the rape?"

Yes. There's a good book that interprets the Odyssey in terms of this incident, The Wrath Of Athena: Gods And Men In The Odyssey - or at least, without recalling too many details now, I remember being impressed with it when I read it back in the '90s

Andy wrote: "
Another shout for Dybek from me.
Tom Mooney persuaded me to Childhood and Other Neighborhoods: Stories which was a 5 star read for me. ..."

I dunno, one of the readers' comments says he "just didn't vibe with it", so how good can it be?

Sorry, I just wanted to pass on that malapropism as it's a new one on me: more often than not, it's "jive" that you see people using by mistake.

Anne wrote: "Hello, everyone. Today did not go as planned! My internet went down this morning and it's taken hours to sort out, so in place of a more considered introduction you're going to get a free form stre..."

Even professional writers, like Isak Dinesen, found times of war spiritually draining. I feel this too.

Machenbach wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Good question, what would be some other candidates? Dickens's Edwin Drood is the first one that comes to mind."

Yeah, I think I would have to go for Edwin Drood. Fl..."

Jack London's The Assassination Bureau was left unfinished.

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "wasnt Amerika unfinished?"

I recall that as being the most obviously unfinished one, but I think The Trial and The Castle were also unfinished. He's literat..."

I think that Kafka's executor, Max Brod, found chapters of The Trial written, but not assembled into a novel. (If Kafka really wanted his unpublished works destroyed, he shouldn't have assigned his loyal admirer to do it.)