RussellinVT’s Comments (group member since Apr 11, 2024)

RussellinVT’s comments from the Ersatz TLS group.

Robert wrote: "Years ago, I read the autobiography of a journalist named Danilov, who was accused of espionage and imprisoned in Brezhnev's time. Danilov devotes much of his book to the story of an ancestor of his, an officer named Frolov, who was sent into Siberian exile as a Decembrist. ..."

I think there's probably a book waiting to be written on the almost mythic status of the Decembrists down the decades. The literary references alone would fill up several chapters, and there can't be a single figure among the progressives and the revolutionary left who didn't ponder the lessons of that episode.

AB76 wrote: "As i said when i was reading it, actually for me the bits in Russia and then home near Hanover were the best,..."

I'm just coming on to the section in the Caucasus. What an utter disaster it was, the Eastern Front, a death-posting for most. I'll be interested to see how he was able to make the return to Paris.

Tam wrote: "No it is a different Emily Wilson. 'The Odyssey' translator is British-American, and a classicist. Though the other one seems to have an interest in archeological digs, and the Sumerians and 'the world's oldest recorded myth's' so some overlap I think....."

Thanks. It didn't seem likely she was the classicist, but the overlap as you say got me wondering.

A literary morning out (and then I’m done for the day):

- A germanophile retired professor, who lives over the bookshop, recommends another book by Junger, The Glass Bees.

- My order for La Légende de Mélusine was almost immediately "annulée" – already sold, it seems – and the next available copy was 18 times more expensive, but happily the village library are able to get me the exact same thing through the ILL.

- The librarian is keen to read The Ministry of Time – and is herself 48th in line for the audio version.

- A well-known poet, at a recent event for friends of the library, asked us all to write something about our library experiences, and today I found that my little effort, done quickly that night, has been printed in a fund-raising flyer. I’m a published author!

Claudine en ménage – Willy et Colette

I’m glad that’s over with, and not just because she goes on and on about her cat. I found previous W-et-C tales quite entertaining for their light comedy of manners. This one was a nothing of a book. Claudine is recently married to an indulgent older man of wit and good manners. She becomes friendly with the delectable wife of a boorish Englishman. That lady is evidently bisexual, and makes advances. Claudine is not repulsed. Claudine’s easy-going husband facilitates the affair. Claudine, the simpleton, too taken up with the seductive allure of her friend, cannot sense un grand trahison in front of her nose. That’s it. Was it daring for France in 1902? I guess not. Still, it ends with a rather fine letter offering hope; and I was delighted to learn that there is an aromatic bush rose called Cuisse-de-nymphe.

Tam wrote: "I have finished 'The Ministry of Time' by Kaliane Bradley. It started off well and I was enjoying the light inquisitions into political identity and race. But as the main twist in the plot hove into view..."

Three out of five is a bit of a warning, though 43 people in line is quite impressive. I see it’s described as a “fabulous” time travel novel by Emily Wilson in New Scientist. Is this the same Emily Wilson I wonder who did the fabulous translation of The Odyssey?

RussellinVT wrote: "Well that is very fascinating about Melusine... I must look around for an original telling of the Melusine tale in French.."

For $1.83 plus postage I’ve found a 1927 re-telling of the classic 1393 version by Jean d’Arras - on abebooks.fr – “bon état.” It was buried among a zillion copies of a cartoon magazine called Mélusine which looked as though it was modelled on Tintin and Astérix.

AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "One surprise in Junger's Paris diary is his fascination with dreams. Freud and Jung would have loved this... are you and Russ reading Junger now, or was it you all along Robert?"

Me as well. Yes, lots of dreams. Vivid dreaming must have been the experience of millions. He recalls his very beautifully.

On the reality of war-time it’s difficult to think his comments on the insanity of it all, guarded as they are, wouldn’t have got him into serious trouble had they become known.

I was also surprised that, passing through Cologne in Oct 1942, he records devastation from the bombing. In Hannover he shelters in a house that is shaken to its foundations during a raid. I had somehow always thought of the destruction of the cities as happening much later in the war.

Tam wrote: "RussellinVT wrote: "Tam - Let me return the favour by giving you this link to a lovely youtube video on the Ashmolean, which we were discussing in the last thread. The Vice-Chancellor of the Univer..."

Well that is very fascinating about Melusine, and it sent me off to read again the ten-page fragment of The Fairy Melusine deep in the middle of AS Byatt’s Possession. It starts with an image of the Fairy, with vans (webbed wings like sails, very Miltonic) and sinewy tail and leather pinions, flying around the castle keep – ASB must have been looking at the same picture in Les Très Riches Heures – but later she takes a much less threatening form, a lady singing sweetly to herself seated on a rounded rock in a secret pool. A draggled knight, Raimondin of Lusignan, watches in wonder, having come upon her unexpectedly through a cleft. And so on. It’s a pastiche of course, in rather loose blank verse, but I think worth reading for itself, for the imagery, quite apart from the (outstanding) novel. I must look around for an original telling of the Melusine tale in French.

Yes, Xa, very fluttery! He knew his stuff.

Tam - Let me return the favour by giving you this link to a lovely youtube video on the Ashmolean, which we were discussing in the last thread. The Vice-Chancellor of the University and the Director of the Museum excitedly discuss five amazing objects:

https://youtu.be/F3NyuYfHTRc?si=lSmY5...

AB76 wrote: "The last decades of Tsarism are a fascinating time to read about..."

I made the same assumption when I saw the title. The book’s actually about the events of 1825.

Tam wrote: "I have fond memories of going to a concert in London many years ago, of 'the Decemberists', who I think were a Seattle based band..."

Good one. I was hearing about them on the radio not long ago, but had forgotten. It seems they’re a cult band over here. Lovely songs. Lucky you to have seen them.

The Decembrists are an intriguing point of reference in 19C novels – as idealistic, rather romantic, officer-class figures, large numbers killed or executed or sent for hard labour - so a review of The First Russian Revolution, a new book by Susanna Rabow-Edling, caught my eye. One for the longer term list.

And with all that, only 1/4" thick.

AB76 wrote: "how small is the print?"

I can’t figure out point sizes, so I’ll just say that an upper case letter is 2 mm and lower case 1 mm. It’s small but perfectly readable. The complete book measures 3 ¼” wide by 4” high, and the text itself measures 2 1/4” wide by 2 5/8” high (less than the width of a credit card), with 130 pages and 24 lines to a page, so it looks not dissimilar to a normal paperback text, only a bit squarer and in miniature. There were 101 titles in the series and, apparently, from 1916 to 1925, some 25 million were sold. You could buy a box of 30 for $2.98. The books were ideal gifts for American soldiers and sailors away in the war, because they fit easily inside a breast pocket. I never saw one before. If you look up Little Leather Library on the net there is a picture of Lady Windermere’s Fan. The link wouldn’t copy.

Robert wrote: "A Chekhov fan told me that he got his start writing very short stories-- a great many of them. I suspect that most haven't been translated."

Fascinating. Something to look out for.

AB76 wrote: "O Henry is someone i have yet to explore and yes some brief tales can be brilliant.."

Another I forgot to mention is Balzac. I didn’t really care for his faux-medieval Droll Tales – perhaps I should try them again – but he wrote quite a lot of others that are more or less contemporary. Recently I was given a tiny leather-bound book, not much larger than a credit card, with several of his shorter ones, including two I’ve never seen before, and they go to show that length really doesn’t matter when you’re a great master – they’re all excellent reads, just right for when you’re sitting in a café.

AB76 wrote: "on short stories: i must admit that i get fustrated with the short story collections where every story is about 10-15 pages, this places a lot on every story selected leaving a mark ..."

I think you may be right. While anthologies can be wonderful - recently read collections of Scottish and Italian stories were very satisfying, many of them fab - they will naturally favour brevity. With the greats, I find generally that longer is better. Maupassant, DH Lawrence, Hemingway come to mind, and I’m not sure that Chekhov wrote much at all on the really short side. But the field is vast, and some short ones are memorable, e.g. Smeddum, discussed briefly over on WWR; and Katherine Mansfield’s are all exquisite (in my recollection) no matter how short. Is O Henry another? Everything he did seems to be very short, and yet he has a great reputation.

AB76 wrote: "hoping a post on the G makes it past the gates...

it was about the Holmboe book which is magnificent, such a balance of humour, absurdity, customs and culture from the Maghreb..."

They let you in. Nice post.

Does Holmboe explain why he converted? Sounds bizarre for a Dane in the 1920s.

For fiction, I’ve picked up a Penguin collection of short stories by Thomas Hardy called The Distracted Preacher and Other Tales, in particular to read one called On the Western Circuit, mentioned favourably by John Bayley in his memoir of Iris Murdoch.

It was everything a lively short story should be. In 25 pages we see a social setting, a meeting of a country girl and a young barrister, an immediate connection, and a neat love story that ends badly for everyone concerned, as we knew it would. There’s a well-worked Cyrano-type angle. (The story came out several years before the play.)

Apparently Hardy wrote 49 short stories. The editor, Susan Hill, has chosen what she thinks are eleven of the best. Working through the other ten I’m wondering if a single one of them will end happily.