Traveller’s
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(group member since Jan 14, 2015)
Traveller’s
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from the On Paths Unknown group.
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I would love to get Linda's take on the ending of this story, which still doesn't quite gel for me. Like with Emma Zunz, I can't help feeling that though entertaining to the reader, of course, the means that the protagonist (if one can call him that) employed in attaining a specific end, seems unnecessarily convoluted....and how could he be certain that Germans would be able to put 2 and 2 together and realize what he had meant by his "message" or that it even was designed as a message to them?
To summarize: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino - November 5
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - November 25
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson - December 15
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - January 1
and for those who would prefer a more straightforward crime mystery to New Weird we can do
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg on January 20.
Poll for March/April transgressive fic (Exact date still to be decided) here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
People, } here { is our rough schedule for the next few months - would you like me to make any alterations to it before I send it out as a newsletter?
Just to make sure we are on track for November: We will start our If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino on November 5 - the few people who would like to read it later, can still join in at a later date, since our threads never close. Remember, the goal of this group is for us to enrich one another's experience of literature, and there is no date stamp on that - we don't all have to be reading everything at exactly the same time.Then, roughly scheduled for November 25 at this point, we have had a few takers for Fahrenheit 451 which won the following awards: (view spoiler) and which deals with the theme of censorship, which has been a hot topic since Amazon bought Goodreads, and since the Charlie Hebdo shootings and similar censures such as the Bangladesh blogger beheadings, and the Raif Badawi controversy.
Other reads that members have suggested/requested, which we will try to slot in during December and January:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a dark, bizzare, intriguing novel by Shirley Jackson;
Then we also have on the horizon Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer.
Change of scenery to a crime thriller in icy Greenland with Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg.
In addition, our members have been talking about trying out the trangressive works of JG Ballard, Ian Banks, and maybe some of the beat-generation authors, which we can do a poll on.
*Poll has been added here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
Please vote!
Then, for a yet another change of scenery to Japan, Mark Monday recommended an interesting-looking set of novellas by Kenzaburo Oe: Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels; moving and grotesque and morbid and heart-warming - we can make a poll for which Japanese author members would want to read most - excluding Haruki Murakami who will have his own poll all to himself.
Alex and others drew our attention to The Chimes , a runner up in this years MAN Booker prize, and based on a charming concept.
Nate suggested Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, which we can perhaps look at for our speculative fiction for February or March.
A book about Vietnam that I would really like to get into, is Novel Without a Name by Dương Thu Hương
And finally, a few of us have decided that, for our very first fantasy/Sf postmodern mind-tickler, The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe will make excellent fodder for discussion.
There you go - I hope that if any of you have been stuck in a one-genre reading rut, that we have managed to provide you with enough variety here to break out of it! :)
In that case, we need to set a date for Book of the New Sun! ^_^
Maybe Jill Levine then, is the "other" translator I had mentioned, whose work I really liked.
Oh yes - Gregory Rabassa - I've read quite a bit t/lated by him - can't remember- didn't he do a lot of GG Marquez?Speaking of which -GGM should also go onto the bookshelf here... too many books, too little time...
Linda wrote: "Oooh.....what was that, pray tell?!In future, if there's a debate over which translation to use, I can give my druthers, if they're well-known. I know who the biggies are, in Spanish American stuff."
Well, they got hold of the published translations, and re-wrote those but with purposeful added mistakes, to cover up and make it look like their own work, heh.
Thanks, Linda! I am sure we'll get around to more Spanish works again once we've done a few others from around the world. I've noticed the main names WRT Borges seem to be Paul Bowles, Ruth Simms, Andrew Hurley, Norman Thomas di Giovanni and one other person that I'm not sure of. I mostly prefer the Hurley and the 'other person', I'd say.
Linda wrote: "Well, they're supposed to! :) Technology being what it is, many will find things translated online and then re-read in Spanish (or not! But those always get busted, when the time comes to write t..."
I don't know if you have browsed through any of the other Borges threads here, but if you have, you will see how much I've been going on and on about the various qualities of the several translations of Borges's work - I'm pretty sure when the others see me coming, they already roll their eyes, and I'm sure they must be saying - hey, did you notice Trav didn't say anything about the translations of Emma Zunz! Oh happy day! :D
But anyway, your anecdote in the post above reminds me of what the protagonist of The Blind Assassin and her little sister did with their Latin lessons! ^_^
Ah, so your students get to read Borges in the original Spanish - how cool! B-)
Linda wrote: "Maybe part of her revenge is sullying his name.......damaging his reputation the way he damaged her father's name. Everyone knew he was stingy and greedy, but nothing that they could hang on him. But this, this would really mess with his rep. ..."Yes, this is exactly what I thought about too - maybe she wanted to sully his name in a similar way that her father's name had been sullied - which ruined the poor man.
Cool! thanks! that helps a lot with closure about the story. :)
Yes, but I still don't understand why she could not simply call him and ask for a secret meeting, then at the meeting, ask for water, and when he comes back, shoot him while wearing gloves, put down the gun and run off?In case someone hears the shot and she runs the risk of getting caught, perhaps?
Linda wrote: "She almost seems to be his counterpart in her inexperience with/fear of the opposite sex. And she definitely wanted it to be horrible, so that she could summon the memories for later, to provoke tears and thus, sympathy. That's why she almost went for the young one, but opted not to, "because he inspired too much compassion"...Oh yes, that is true! Thanks Linda! I had reacted too immediately to the story - hadn't thought it through, but this is why I adore discussion groups.... I was going from the assumption though, that she could just kill him without anybody knowing in the first place.
Linda wrote: "I'm one of those who thinks she didn't truly get revenge. She could have killed him in a myriad of ways, but she really wanted him to know why she was doing it, maybe even beg for mercy..."
Yes, I was wondering if that was what was referred to when the narrator said that it didn't happen as she had expected. If she had expected to be able to rub his nose in his wrongs first, and make him regret his actions, most importantly.
Okay, I managed to get a hold of a copy and read it.Lots to comment on here:
Firstly, this is the most morality-laden work of Borges I have read so far, and it appears to be teeming with subjective judgements about a variety of things; sex, religion, justice, to name a few broad areas.
Borges seems to assume a woman would (should?) find the sexual act repugnant, although of course it is so the way it takes place in the story.
Then, assumption: cheating deserves death.
I found Emma's reasoning a bit contorted: she wants to punish Loewenthal for the indignity she "had" to suffer; but why did she have to? Why couldn't she simply have pretended to want to snitch, and then killed him at the meeting, but while wearing gloves and then just run away afterward? In case he told somebody that he was going to meet with her?
Also, I find it interesting that the judicial system would find it enough cause to kill someone for having raped you - I imagine Latin-American "honor-culture" might have something to do with that?
I forgot my Borges treebook at work, and my PC that has my e-books on it, is temporarily out of order, so I feel a bit stuck...
Lori (Hellian) wrote: "I read it so long ago and still have clear images from it. Agree, it is a cycle worthy of discussion!"Very happy to hear that indeed! How fortunate that you joined the group, Lori! :D
Linda wrote: "Everyone's a right to their opinion, Trav! .."Yeah - i just don't want anyone thinking I'm a cat hater or anything, because I'm not. The thing is, that i have had cats kill other little pets i have had, and that really p'd me off. I have personally found that you can train most breeds of dogs to not kill or hurt other creatures - but it's much harder with cats - maybe it's that cats manage to kill more easily while 'playing' what with claws and extra sharp teeth?
..and now you mention disease - indeed, cats are much worse for human health than dogs are - they carry more disease that affect humans and are more allergenic. I have had personal experience of this. I used to take in all the waifs and strays until I caught a rare form of 'the plague' called yersinia enteroclitica (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yersini... ) from a dying stray cat that I tried to nurse back to health. :S
Ooops, I should perhaps keep my mouth shut, because I know these are rather contentious issues. I don't feel strongly about one side or the other, and I have had some dearly-loved cats.
Linda wrote: "I think you could be right....as a friend's boyfriend (Bio prof) says, "The worst thing we ever did as humans was to domesticate cats to the point where they're dependent upon us for food." Persona..."I'm quite happy about dogs, but cats? Not so sure. I loved them until a few years ago when I saw how destructive they are. Cats will kill anything they can, just because they can. Even when they are quite well-fed. So yeah, I am not exactly happy with the destruction that an over-supply of cats can cause to small wildlife - not that it's not a good thing to zonk them onto rats and mice in a city... so yeah, I suppose it depends.
I know people keep them indoors and have them declawed, but I personally feel that to be a bit cruel, especially in small apartments... :P
Sumant wrote: "Here is my review of shadow of torturer one of the most complex books in fantasy/sci fi."Whoooo! I am so glad someone mentioned that! The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe has been one of my fave story cycles for the longest time, and I would sell my pinkie nail to have us do a discussion of that! ;)
