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Post by Captain Hygiene on Sept 6, 2009 23:04:12 GMT -5
I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Vonnegut. He's hilarious and often enjoyably loony to read, but is also just as often depressing and sad. And [WEATHER JOKE] his brother Bernard's work is just as depressing, because cloud seeding is a doomed science.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Sept 7, 2009 13:25:12 GMT -5
And [WEATHER JOKE] his brother Bernard's work is just as depressing, because cloud seeding is a doomed science. Wow. That is NICHE comedy!
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Post by callipygias on Sept 7, 2009 15:01:10 GMT -5
#20 Lolita (1955) Vladimir Nabokov " Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta." Lolita is the first and the last word of the novel, and in between there are a hundred intricacies you'll catch and, if you're like me, thousands you'll miss, from biblical references to unknown words. That's where the annotated version comes in handy. So when Lolita tells Humbert he "kisses wrong," and he mixes his words when he asks her to show him the "wight ray," then calls her his "little spoonerette," you flip to the notes and see that a spoonerism is the transposition of sounds in a word or words, and you applaud his cleverness, like he wants you to. (Many people suggest reading it without notes the first time.) When the narrator, Humbert Humbert, was a boy he fell in love with a little girl named Annabel Leigh (referencing Poe's poem). She died soon after, and according to HH his obsession with her memory is what causes him to desire young girls, or nymphets. Humbert is a remarkably clever European intellectual who thinks little of Americans but much of America, and he uses his wit and intelligence to rationalize his pedophilia, to deny it, admit to it, excuse it, condemn it, and even celebrate it. Though it isn't very sexually graphic, the book does go into HH's deplorable plans to "seduce" Lolita, his thrill at using her body, and his indifference to her indifference while he uses her body -- he calls her his frigid princess (among many other things). Two things I love about Lolita, HH's relationship with (and to) Clare Quilty, his double (more prominent the second half, though he's alluded to throughout), and Nabokov's amazing, unending, irreverent word play. It's everywhere, in every part of Lolita. Rare words, portmanteau words, made-up words, anagrams, alliteration, allusions to... just about everything. It even (and often) references later parts of itself. Maybe that description makes it sound over-intellectual, but the irreverent part of the book fixes that. The cleverness of Humbert's name: umbra=shade (=Quilty) is made ridiculous by doubling it, just like the dramatic tone of the opening line is almost instantly destroyed by the "fire of my loins" part. He also seems proud of some pretty goofy puns. He once describes Lolita as a fool who would "plump for a hamburger over a Humburger." Vladimir Nabokov If nothing else he probably assured there will never be another girl named Lolita
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Post by solgroupie on Sept 8, 2009 16:18:35 GMT -5
i know i have an irritating ability to bring charlie chaplin into most conversations, but it was rumored that nabokov's inspiration for lolita came from chaplin's shotgun marriage to lita grey in 1924 when she was 16 and chaplin was 35. it was said that chaplin's fascination with lita began during the making of the kid, four years earlier when she was cast as an angel in the dream sequence. i was never sure if that was nabokov's true inspiration or not, though. i've never read the book, but i did see the movie and didn't really enjoy it.
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Post by callipygias on Sept 8, 2009 17:46:13 GMT -5
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if that was part of Nabokov's inspiration, especially with the name Lita involved. Nabokov drew on so much.
BUT, I found what I was looking for on wikipedia: German academic Michael Maar's book The Two Lolitas describes his recent discovery of a 1916 German short story titled "Lolita" about a middle-aged man travelling abroad who takes a room as a lodger and instantly becomes obsessed with the preteen girl (also named Lolita) who lives in the same house. Maar has speculated that Nabokov may have had cryptomnesia (a "hidden memory" of the story that Nabokov was unaware of) while he was composing Lolita during the 1950s. Maar says that until 1937 Nabokov lived in the same section of Berlin as the author, Heinz von Eschwege, and was most likely familiar with his work, which was widely available in Germany during Nabokov's time there. The Philadelphia Inquirer, in the article "Lolita at 50: Did Nabokov take literary liberties?" says that, according to Maar, accusations of plagiarism should not apply and quotes him as saying: "Literature has always been a huge crucible in which familiar themes are continually recast... Nothing of what we admire in Lolita is already to be found in the tale; the former is in no way deducible from the latter."
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Post by solgroupie on Sept 9, 2009 9:23:53 GMT -5
cryptomnesia? i'll have to try to remember that.
that sounds more plausible. i think it would have been easy to target chaplin for the inspiration, considering the time when the book came out. chaplin's history with younger women was still fresh in the minds of many. and of course, the whole "lita" thing. what's in a name?
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Post by callipygias on Sept 11, 2009 0:21:31 GMT -5
#19 The Catcher in the Rye (1951) J.D. Salinger One of the greatest characters in American literature is the guy who liked nobody, and whom nobody liked, in high school. Catcher is perfect first person narrative -- talk about striking a chord. It isn't just the perfect tone of the vernacular, it's the honest way it illustrates Holden's flaws without description. Reading Holden Caulfield reminds me of seeing a portrait of someone that fascinates me but is nobody I'd want to know in real life. Like, for me, for whatever reason, this: Unfortunately Catcher suffers from over-analysis, and maybe a little from over-enthusiasm by some young fans ("OMG ITS LYK HE WAS RYTING ABT ME!!") that makes it a little difficult for some people to take it seriously. Unfair but understandable. One of the images most cemented into my mind out of everything I've read is Holden in his stupid hat dancing like a fool in front of the bathroom mirror for attention. J.D. Salinger Wiki-Fact: "According to the american library association catcher was still in the top ten 'most challenged books' list as recently as 2005. because of the language, sexual references, blasphemy, general undermining of family values, holden's encouragement of rebellion, and promoting of drinking, smoking, lying, and promiscuity."
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Post by jkazoolien on Sept 11, 2009 10:06:05 GMT -5
I've always found Rye to be grossly overrated. Not that it's not a good read, it's just not this AMAZING book that people made it out to be to me. Of course, at the time, his writing style was truly revolutionary, to the point where he spawned countless imitators, so perhaps I had too much exposure to the imitators to truly appreciate what Salinger had to show me. As I pointed out in another form, it'll be like if kids were forced to study Chuck Palahniuk in high school in 2047: they'll likely be underwhelmed, as well.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Sept 11, 2009 11:03:48 GMT -5
Reading Holden Caulfield reminds me of seeing a portrait of someone that fascinates me but is nobody I'd want to know in real life. I don't think I've ever heard a better description. Maybe you just redeemed this book for me.
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Post by callipygias on Sept 11, 2009 21:21:43 GMT -5
#18 Light in August (1932) William Faulkner The first of the three connected storylines is the simplest in theme and style, as Lena Grove searches, on foot, for her unborn baby's father. This first section, as good as it is, is just warming up for two of Faulkner's most memorable characters, the Reverend Gail Hightower, who is haunted by the ghost of his Confederate grandfather to the point of including him in most of his sermons (which helps get him ostracized from his community), and the self-destructive, enigmatic Joe Christmas. Christmas is racially mixed--black and white--and he's unwilling or unable to belong to either. He is one of those characters that lives life ablaze, and if he seems a bit over the top it isn't an accident: Light in August is heavily influenced by the Bible, and Christmas specifically by Christ (his foster mother actually washes his feet after he is beaten by his foster father). Just about every character has a biblical precedent behind them. Unfortunately, I'm grossly ignorant of the Bible, so I had to be told all this after my first reading. Didn't appear to affect my appreciation for the book, though, and it's added another dimension to it since. William Faulkner
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Post by callipygias on Sept 14, 2009 14:16:30 GMT -5
#17 The Brothers Karamazov (1880) Fyodor Dostoevsky Last night I wondered what I could say about a novel that's been described as having within its pages the "sum total of the human experience," or something like that, while still keeping it short. I had nothing beyond, "Dmitri's my favorite!" so I'll describe the dream I had last night because of it. I was living a miserable life as a slave of the captain from Pan's Labyrinth until one day, as I was cleaning out the stables, one of the horses sort of... "spoke" to me, somehow. He became my only friend. It was one of those long dreams where it feels like each day takes as long as a real day. I was always sneaking away to talk to my friend, the horse. Then one day when the captain came to the stables to ride he saw that the horse and I were friends so he chose to ride him. Horsey didn't want to be rode, though, so the general started to beat him and he wouldn't stop. At first I wouldn't do anything, but when I finally went to stop him two guards grabbed me and made me watch as he "whipped the horse across its gentle eyes" until it was dead. It's from a simple line or two in Brothers. I guess it's a reference to a Russian poem that must've really affected Dostoyevsky, as he used it in more than one book. There are so many parts of this book that stick with me; that is the most unpleasant. (Until writing this I hadn't seen the connection to The Golden Ass, #22 on my list.) Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Sept 14, 2009 18:50:30 GMT -5
Reading Holden Caulfield reminds me of seeing a portrait of someone that fascinates me but is nobody I'd want to know in real life. I don't think I've ever heard a better description. Maybe you just redeemed this book for me. I tried making it through the book, but eventually gave up just because Caulfield frustrated me so much. I know he wasn't meant to be a typical, sympathetic protagonist, but he just annoyed the heck out of me, and I couldn't see much past that. I should probably try reading it again.
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Post by callipygias on Sept 17, 2009 0:34:57 GMT -5
Honorable Mention Omensetter's Luck (1966) William H. Gass A reviewer on Amazon said this, "...a story about perceptions of good and evil, envy, and suspicion narrated in an impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness style that rivals Faulkner at his most experimental, combining uniquely poetic prose, Joycean wordplay, an ominous mood, and multiple focuses, voices, and perspectives...." Now you don't have to read my far less focused ramblings below. Set around the end of the 19th century in Gilead, Ohio, a "wide and happy man" named Bracket Omensetter arrives with his family and all their possessions in an uncovered coach. It had been pouring rain for days and it stopped just long enough for Omensetter's trip. The town is instantly talking about his luck. The story isn't about Omensetter as much as it's about others' reactions to him. It starts with Israbestis Tott ( awesome old man name) remembering old times and telling people about them, whether they're listening or not. That section is only about 30 pages long, which is unfortunate, as it has some great dialogue between Tott and a young boy. When Tott tells the boy he has a story about a cat the boy says, Tell me the story, then. I like cats--soft ones anyway, that don't scratch. Here was no soft cat, boy. No sir. Leather fur he had, and as for scratching, why he could leave his mark on a brick as easy, well, as a rake makes ruts in the spring dirt. Boy, I knew it. I know you did. Please--tell me the story then, if he had leather for fur--boy. I like that.There's a creepy undertone to Omensetter's luck in the beginning. When he shows up to rent a house from Henry Pimber, Henry is surprised to find flies on the screen door so early in the year. When a blacksmith hammer accidentally smashes Omensetter's infected finger, spraying pus across the room, he apparently feels no pain--he even laughs. When a fox gets stuck down Omensetter's well Pimber wants to put it out of its misery, Omensetter doesn't. The way Pimber sees and fears the fox is like the way he sees and fears Omensetter. Pimber describes himself as having lived his life fearfully compared to the fox, who "fills up the edges of his body like a lake," and when he shakes hands with Omensetter he is ashamed of his small, comparatively lifeless hand. Most of the book--the last 3/4, even--is about the bizarre, blasphemous preacher, Jethro Thurber, and his hatred for Omensetter and his "luck." This is already way too long, though. William H. Gass sort of... he's less ugly this way
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Post by callipygias on Sept 19, 2009 2:45:47 GMT -5
#16 Faust (1806-1832) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Lord wagers Mephistopheles he won't be able to lead the dissatisfied Dr. Faust permanently astray, and Mephistopheles wagers Faust about the attainability of a moment of perfect happiness. The suicidally disaffected Faust tries for ultimate fulfillment scholastically, by trying to amass all knowledge; emotionally, through the love of Gretchen; and physically, through complete physical abandon, including the orgies of the witches' Sabbath: Goethe worked on Faust for more than sixty years. It can be extremely difficult (it is for me, anyway), but it is also extremely rewarding. Goethe's language, even through a translator, is epic. I remember reading about someone who learned German specifically so he could read Faust in Goethe's own words. It will stand up to endless analysis, if that's your thing, but it can also be read the way a great impressionistic painting is seen, it succeeds perfectly either way. To me that's the ultimate compliment for a book.
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Post by callipygias on Sept 22, 2009 1:51:23 GMT -5
#15 Suttree (1979) Cormac McCarthy Cornelius Suttree abandons his family and his easy, luxurious life to be a semi-degenerate fisherman on the Tennessee River. The story's filled with bizarre, socially unacceptable characters that do bizarre, socially unacceptable things. Some reviewers call it a comedy, and there is a lot of dark humor, but it's also bone-crushingly sad, like just about everything by McCarthy. Set in the town where McCarthy grew up, Knoxville, TN, some people consider Suttree to be McCarthy's masterpiece (Roger Ebert included, so there), but most think it's just one of his masterpieces (me included). If you've ever enjoyed anything by Faulkner, Steinbeck, Algren, or even Hemingway, read this; if you haven't, read this. Cormac McCarthy
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