Traveller’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2015)

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

Right, since nobody has stated any preferences, how much do you guys know about the "Ur-Hamlet"?

"The Ur-Hamlet (the German prefix Ur- means "primordial") is the name given to a play by an unknown author mentioned as early as 1589, a decade before most scholars believe Shakespeare composed Hamlet, but also involving the character of Hamlet. Several surviving references indicate that such a play was well known throughout the decade of the 1590s, some time before the first published texts of Shakespeare's play (1603, 1604). "
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Hamlet

Let me quote Harold Bloom on the subject:

... an earlier, missing play, the so-called Ur-Hamlet. Most scholars, on inadequate grounds, ascribe that lost drama to Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanih Traged y. I continue to follow the late Peter Alexander in believing that Shakespeare wrote both Hamlets, so that he is revising himself in the great play of 16oo.

I can well understand it becoming an obsession with him; I've come across many people who obsess over the authorship of Shakespeare's plays; and here there are actually two trains of controversy; one dealing with how much Shakespeare's plays were fiddled with by other authors - and which of the extant copies are still "pure" and/or only updated by Shakespeare himself; and the other, dealing with the very identity of our bard himself.

Here are some articles dealing with the identity of the bard : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakesp...
and
http://content.time.com/time/arts/art...
and https://doubtaboutwill.org/declaration

Quite the conspiracy theory!

Oh, and to add to the conspiratorial flavor of this post: Shakespeare had a son called Hamnet who died at a young age (I think around 13), and there are those who claim that much of Hamlet was based on Hamnet. (view spoiler)[ ...or perhaps Shakespeare just liked Ham-my names? (hide spoiler)]

Sorry, the spoiler was a really ham-handed attempt at levity on my part. :P

The problem with bathtub reading, is that it gets awfully cold in there before you really notice it, and then it's hell getting out when you're all cooled down. The only solution is to let more hot water in and read some more. ;)

Oh, and... a friend had a dream about me that my Kindle electrocuted me to death in the bath, so, no electronic devices in baths for me, thank you very much!

:)
Yes, and since we're a group of friends - we would (hopefully) have similar reading tastes...
Anyway, thanks again, it's always nice to see ranked lists like this one.

Yep, welcome, Mike, and good luck with Don Quixote, heh heh.

Mike wrote: "I don't know if this is a brag or a shame... I've been reading Don Quixote for over a year (yes, you read that correctly). I only read it in the bath and only one (tiny) chapter at a time... and on..."

That's not a shame at all, I have been reading Don Quixote for about 4 years now, and I'm scarcely beyond the first chapter! XD

No, but seriously, it is an awfully thick book in its unabridged form. :)

Wonderful! Now we need to make sure our members see this excellent list. As I mentioned elsewhere, we already have quite a few of these books on our group shelves, and I have pretty much all of them on my personal "read" or TBR shelves.

Will be browsing the list to see which ones I might have missed. ;)

Btw, just in case anybody had not noticed, Jan has posted an awesome list which is well worth checking out, as well as his commentary thereon, here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

EDIT: On my suggestion, Jan moved his list, so I edited the link above accordingly. :)

Jan wrote: "Traveler
Thank you for providing the list of books. I always enjoy examining lists of best books, however, I enjoy the lists with a ranking (so I know whether the interests of the person or persons..."

Thank you so much for the list, Jan, it's an awesome list, and you may have noticed that the group has lots of books on the list! In fact, our Hamlet discussion is starting right now! ..and as for Franz Kafka's The Trial, we are reading a slightly later book by him, The Castle, which deals with similar political and existential issues; plus we read Borges last year as well, and in fact, a lot of the group's and/or my own personal reading seems to be included in your list!

Ruth, you're right, it's worthy!

Just a note for future reference on an admin point: The idea is actually that members start a new thread for each list, in order for your list to receive the attention it deserves.

Starting off here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... , you then click on the little green script in the top right-hand corner that reads "start new topic" and then start a brand new thread for your list. If it doesn't have a name, you could give it your own name, (for example: "Books that Goodreaders consider necessary to be well-read", or something like that) and just explain in the first comment box how and why the list was compiled.
No worries about having put your list in this thread however - it's just that I'm hoping it will get the attention it deserves down here below the comments of another list, especially after all the hard work you have done on it. It certainly looks like the kind of list that this group would find of value!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I promise to be more selective in my choice of words! "

You have to count your words around here, Amy! :D If it makes you feel any better, Derek apparently manages to catch every mis-step I make as well. He keeps us up to standard, he does! As long as he doesn't start charging editing fees, I'm ok with that, thanks Derek. XD

I had said I thought about 3 cups of coffee was the recommended daily dose and Linda said she thought one; you pointed out that US 'cups' most probably are larger; and therefore the amount of coffee evens out to something similar.

In any case, Amy did say 'controversy', just for the record. ;) If she had perhaps (which my sharp eye missed) originally said debacle, she had obviously realized that it might be too strong a description of the "sudden and ignominious failure" that befell the work; indeed, it did come out with a lot of hype and fanfare, and then fell a bit flat; and indeed, if one guy said one thing and others disagreed, then I'd say it still qualifies as controversy, but ok, we're hitting a dead horse by now. :) We could have been discussing The Castle with this energy. Or Hamlet! Or TS Eliot! ;)

I wouldn't exactly say that it's incorrect to say there had been a debacle or controversy (or at the very least, a kerfuffle ;) ) around GSAW; as you yourself aptly quipped WRT the relative sizes of coffee cups on either side of the Atlantic, Derek, size is a relative thing.

A storm in a tiny teacup can still count as a storm in a teacup. :D

I personally don't remember much about TKAM myself. So perhaps one day...

It came highly recommended, and I realized I really would like to know more about the subject and to hear a viewpoint from that specific angle.

Ronald wrote: "Oh, and not sure what way that latest poll is going, but I'd certainly be down for Nightwood if that ends up on the schedule. I just finished up my third read of that and it remains a personal favo..."

That poll actually drew a bigger response than expected, so I think we should definitely do at least read the top 4 choices there, if not 5.

Nightwood is in the running, certainly, though I think Orlando is currently winning. I personally am a bit sad that nobody is interested in Novel Without a Name, which I have STILL not read. I'll just have to write a review when I finally get to reading it. ;)

Yeah, Go Set a Watchman came out after many years of relative silence, eh? ...and you're right, it hurts much more when a person has still been recently active - and not just that, like Terry Pratchett, Eco had been consistently prolific throughout most of his life.

Derek wrote: "Yes. I've heard him reading, and remember saying to my wife "some people shouldn't read their own work." (like Atwood) ..."

LOL, I haven't heard Atwood read, but now you have me curious...

I didn't even know he had cancer.....

..and I see that Harper Lee also passed away now, although she was Eco's senior by only 5 years at 89, she feels a lot older to me because she had not been very active recently, and Eco had been still writing and doing interviews as recently as 2015. See here for Eco: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016...

..and here's a nice obituary: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016...

Hi Ronald! Nice to hear from you.
Wow, awesome and awe-inpsiring as usual... (especially the 4 volume novel, I'd say) .

Must look into Leon Forrest.

Btw, you might find it fun to discuss stuff that you'd already read. The more separate viewpoints come together, the more it enriches all of us! :)

OMG, I am still reeling from the news of Umberto Eco's death.

This man was huge. Not only was he a novelist, but he was a professor of aesthetics who also contributed to studies of semiotics (study of symbols) and other intellectual avenues.

I can't think what a fitting tribute for such a giant would be. If anybody wants to, we could schedule a discussion for one of his works, such as for example The Name of the Rose, one of his earliest and most popular works, (btw. we've already got a discussion of his work Foucault's Pendulum, here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ) but I also have enormous regard for his work in semiology and have been aiming to read his works on literature and aesthetics. Well, I suppose I could make 2016 my personal year of reading Eco.

Yolande wrote: "
Wow, that is awesome! I love old book illustrations."
Glad you like it Yolande! Nice to see you popping up. :)

You people must help me out with the planning for this discussion, please. There's just too much around Shakespeare and Hamlet for one person to decide what a group should discuss.

Some people are interested in Shakespeare as an historical person, and some in the debacle around his authorship and in his literary persona. I think for that, we should perhaps set up at least one separate thread, but I don't know if anybody around here would be interested in discussing that?

I'll edit this post soon with a link to such a thread.

Then, Hamlet. Let me come clean from the start. Hamlet as a literary construct and as a psychological literary construct; and as a character in all possible aspects of 'character' fascinates me, as well as that he repels me on a personal level.

I discovered the latter on my last reading. Initially I had thought the character Hamlet was noble and tortured, but lately I have started to think of him as... - well ... I'd love to discuss that with any of you who are interested, with closer reference to the play, which I will get into as soon as anybody clocks in with some interest in discussing any aspect of Hamlet - the play, the person - whatever tickles your fancy, come and say so here! :)

I have Bloom on Hamlet, and I've been searching everywhere for my Norton's Critical Edition. (Or maybe I can't find it because I actually have the Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series copy rather... :P )
And.. but oh, before we chatter too much Hamlet here, let's do it on the appropriate thread, being here :
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I should have sent out a notification, I guess, but I'm very tired today.... :(