Dan’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Dan’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

I'm still up for it but have a serious case of reader's block (four books started! argh). I'll be ready to start ST by the 25th.

I know, that event would be so cool to attend.

I am about 50 pages into the book but having a hard time focusing on any reading. Hopefully I'll get my focus back and get reading again...

Patty wrote: "http://www.360cities.net/gigapixel/st..."

Holy crap! This is awesome!

Chris wrote: "This just looks all kinds of awesome:

http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?i...

Maybe even better than that Lee Majors movie "The Norsemen" back on the "Long Ships" thread. I mean, it's got Bar..."


Holy crap! how'd that get produced?

Great post Chris. Let's see if I can take a shot at some of the questions you raised.

The tangents add overall to your knowledge of the time and the experience of the people on the Pequod. I feel like at it's best it can better draw you into the time and the environment. So I think that adds quite a bit of value to it for me and maybe anyone else who sees it in the same light. I am also a fan of learning weird and esoteric shit so it works on that level as well. That being said it can sometime seem tedious, but I am going to try to more often think of it as I have stated above.

I have also found the return of humor somewhere in chapters 64 or 65. The interaction between the Cook and Stubb. For those not that far it involves a sermon given to sharks because they were being to loud. The cook's manner of speaking reminded me on the chapter in Infinite Jest that was entirely in slang/ebonics or whatever you want to call it.

Yup, it'll work for me.

I'm still reading it, I've made it to chapter 65 so far. I am finding it hard to believe that someone had studied this text and concluded that there is no humor in the book. The biggest surprise for me so far is the humor I've seen.

It really is as you say Chris about Ishmael's narration fading into the background which is not something you tend to openly acknowledge until you stop to think about it.

I'd say the thing that bothers, intrigues and challenges me the most is the number of related tangents present that take us off track from the main narrative. Sometimes I just want them to end so we can return to the story, but at the same time I don't find them uninteresting.

Since this is my first time reading the novel I feel that most of the allusions and references are completely lost on me. Luckily I have you guys to clue me into some (all?) that I am missing.

I too am a fan of Roth. when he's on he's on but when he's off, everything from Everyman on he's mediocre. American Pastoral was my first exposure to Roth and also my favorite (that often seems to happen to me).

I am definitely down to read Sabbath's Theater at some point in the near future with anyone interested. I am still slogging through Moby Dick and a few others though so I might need a couple of weeks before getting to it.

I think that week would work fine for me, as does the location.

If we somehow drift towards the middle of August I won't be able to attend as the fall semester will start and work will be too busy.

And don't worry Les, with this bunch of people it's never too late.

I just finished WOH for a second time and I gotta tell you I somehow see both side of the arguments on hearing JE's voice. I agree that it was easier to sense JE in the modern half than the 1890s portions but the JE-ness doesn't pervade as it did in Lulu.

I snagged a public domain copy and I am going to try out the Kindle which I have had sitting here collecting dust since christmas.

Kerry wrote: "I'll try. Let's leave it at that. "

ditto.

Wasn't Jim a runaway slave or a freed slave? So wouldn't calling him slave be less accurate to his situation?

awesome post Chris!

Believe it or not I have actually finished part one on time which has got to be some kind of record. Thus far what I have enjoyed to most are Flaubert's descriptions of the events in the novel, namely the wedding and the ball at the rich guys mansion or castle.

It is interesting to me that Emma grows bored of her city life and gets annoyed at Charles for being unsophisticated or inelegant at the ball. Yet she is the one unfamiliar with (or, new to the) urban life.

Shel wrote: "This first section seems to me to be about what is on the outside and what is on the inside, at a variety of levels. What is considered acceptable, or fashionable, and what actually happens in day-to-day life as it's really lived. How decisions get made. Love lost, love gained. The disappointment."

I definitely think you are right about this Shel. Expectations were high and the reality of life was unable to meet them. It, so far, seems to illustrate that which many novels illustrate: Humans are creatures that make mistakes and miscalculations. It's what we do, we fuck things up for ourselves and others all the time.

I also like your description Shel of the camera zooming in and out and it may be helpful for me to keep that in mind as I continue reading.

As for how I feel about the characters Charles seems somewhat aloof and not really seeing the signs of Emma's unhappiness too well. As for Emma, I am not quite sure what to think at this point but I get the sense that she's going to get annoyinh and I am going to dislike her by the end of the novel.

I am actually reading the Aveling and Man translation right now. I am not very far in but so far have found it pleasant going.

There's a great description of the 19th century equivalent to drunk driving!

Yeah! Evan you are back. You will be able to deal just fine once you get used to the format. After all it's still the same "us" and some smart new folks too! We just need to get MM back over here too.

Adrian wrote: "This book is soooooooooooo boring. No car chases or explosions. It doesn't get good & creepy until halfway through, when they make the deformed kid stick his leg in a box and he starts screaming af..."

I was walking past the town's movie theatre and it's marquee said it was Saw 7 that was out. There's seven of these pieces of shit?!

Also, despite Adrian's kind words I think I am going to attempt this one. Though I can't promise I'll finish it or stay on schedule! Right now I am weighing the option of buying the Davis translation or just checking out the Steegmuller translation we have here in the library.

Kerry wrote: "Adrian! The Cthulhu Mythos Blowfish is BRILLIANT!"

I agree w/Kerry!

This is a lovely thread, there's even some excellent name calling!

That does look like it'll be interesting. I haven't read any Rushdie yet but I did get to meet him and get a proof of his new book at a conference this summer. Interesting guy to hear speak too.