Nathan "N.R."’s
Comments
(group member since Oct 28, 2012)
Nathan "N.R."’s
comments
from the William T Vollmann Central group.
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Jeff wrote: "The TLS for 10 October 2014, p. 19, has a full page review of this book, by Rob Turner, called "Anatomy of the underworld." Haven't read it yet. (Or the book.)"Thanks for the heads up. (I strongly dislike paywalls in cases like these.) There's also a thing up of his 13 Stories book (and for me, a review of a Hegel thing). Thanks.
Anyone get a chance to glimpse at Turner's review?
Greg wrote: "I must be fortunate. I bought the original seven volume set from McSweeny. My v4 has no blank pages, the slipcase is in good condition, and all of them are signed.I'm not selling."
Fortunate, yes. But also, wise way before our times!!! Do you have any RURD porn to share with us?
Getting this updated from Joshua's rec for the Memories of Fire trilogy by Eduardo Galeano ::Genesis
Faces and Masks
Century of the Wind
One should also take note of Galeano's non-fic book:: Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent which ruffled some Empire Feathers a little while back -- ....
........
Wait. So there's been a change in this story. The first thing I was going to mention was that Hugo Chavez presented Mr Obama with a copy of Open Veins. Now, apparently, Galeano has "disavowed" the book. More specifically he thinks he was not qualified to write it and its prose sucks ::
"Author Changes His Mind on ’70s Manifesto: Eduardo Galeano Disavows His Book ‘The Open Veins’" --
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/24/boo...
But that is the NYT, official record of Empire, etc. Make up your own mind ; if you don't want to read stilted Leftist prose -- he's got a Trilogy to read instead.
amazon's saying the 24th. But it might be a thing where a small academic press isn't very good at dealing with consumer markets like amazon and b&N ;; I just experienced a similar thing with a Dalkey book waiting to arrive at the amazon
Zadignose wrote: "The ideal situation is probably to be respected without one definitive "best,""I'm just going to generally skip out on the obligation of picking The One Without Qualification because I want to say "Conceptual Continuity". I have to take Bill's whole work as a whole. Of sorts. What makes him totally Hype-able is the totality of what he's done. It's like asking for The Best Zappa Record -- it does rather miss the point, don't it?
But lack of consensus as to The Best Vollmann -- is this due perhaps to the fact that we readers and critics etc haven't read him long enough to figure out which criteria etc according which to make determinations such as good-better-best? I mean, what's the criteria? Mass, page-count, number of interviewees? Years-in-writing? Profundity? Sales figures? Ratings and Reviews on gr? [of course those are all facetious criteria....]
Just to say that in order to make the judgement, The Best, we have to know enough about the work in order to decide upon the appropriate method/criteria of making that judgement.
But too like I said for me the fundamental unit is not The One Book, but The Whole Damn'd Corpus.
Jeff wrote: "Venturing an opinion, perhaps the completion of the 7 Dreams will help decide that question, and we might want to consider the fiction aside from the non-fiction. Just two minor thoughts, Nathan."But I'm ready to crown the Dreams now! Or, rather, when we get The Dying Grass next summer I think all hesitation in my mind will cease. (but I'm forever prejudiced toward the Dreams because it was the Ice-Shirt which turned me V-manniac within the first dozen pages)
The non-fic/fic distinction, yes, should be fruitfully made. I'm almost entirely ready to give that crown to RURD, even if within its own area of research it hasn't even made the slightest echo --- but I'm not sure that over all and as to form and undertaking etc that perhaps it might be Imperial which gets to wear The Purple.
The Atlas Q in the Atlas thread ::https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Meanwhile, by retitling this thread, I found a way to both preserve the integrity of Z's post and my own anal=ness about organization.
So, is it too soon to state in an unqualified manner which exactly is Vollmann's best work?
I tend to think that he's not read widely enough and critically enough yet for any kind of consensus to be formed. I mean, I say that I suspect his Dreams will be what he's remembered for, but then I've gotta stop and recall the other great stuff too.
Accessibility? I've no clue.
And because Zadignose is too lazy to refile his Questions, I'll happily and moderately do it!Zadignose asks ::
True or False? The review, titled "Empathy for the Devil" would have it that The Atlas is Vollmann's most accessible work. Vrai edo Valse?
My answer :: I'm not very useful for id'ing accessibility.
A recent book :: Leningrad: Siege and Symphony. Review'd by Peter Finn @ The Washington Post ::"Book review: ‘Leningrad: Siege and Symphony,’ by Brian Moynahan"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinion...
'The Siege of Leningrad, the pitiless epic of the Nazis’ 900-day encirclement of the Soviet Union’s second city, is a story that has drawn many chroniclers — each with a special kind of bravery to attempt a fresh recounting. Brian Moynahan’s entry point is the performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony in the starving and brutalized city on Aug. 9, 1942, Day 335 of the siege and “perhaps the most magnificent, and certainly the most moving, moment ever to be found in music.” '
Vollmanniac=Shostakovichians take note!
EDIT -- nevermind.
Geoff wrote: "I had an old gift certificate some lovely being gave me to Barnes and Noble, I ordered it online from them, with a whole big chunk taken outta that pricey price tag..."That all sounds like a very fine situation! Especially about the part where you are receiving the book in a punctual manner(!)
Geoff wrote: "Just got the notification that my copy of this is getting ready to be shipped... "you baschtard!!! amazon's telling me "October 24"! But they did slice my price to a cool US$$67.08 ; so there is in fact that. Who'd ya order from?
Jpablobr wrote: "I'm new to the group, hi! This is the first thread I'm looking and while skimming over it, it seems like this link hasn't been shared yet:"It did get posted once. Now twice. Which is twice as nice!! Thanks and welcome to Central.
okay so I do a google=shopping search for RURD. and then over there on the left where you can click boxes to narrow your search and stuff like that, I find the following under "Category" --::Step Stools
Toilet & Bidet Accessories
Books
Pants
Bicycle Handlebars
More
At least three of these would be appropriate.
file under :: RURD humour.
Nathan "N.R." wrote: "A short interview ::"The Renegade : William T. Vollmann on love, violence and why the FBI thought he might be the Unabomber" by E.J. Iannelli"
A longer version of this interview ::
http://www.iannelli.us/diderot/?p=203
If you missed Bill reading from Last Stories, here's something from his LA appearance ::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijkk_...
amazon just took 25% off the cover price.
abe currently has two affordable copies of RURD.US$328.45+shipping from Netherlands (clarify those costs before ordering!) in 'good' condition.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookD...
US$475+shipping (ditto!) in 'fine' condition, "A new and unread set".
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookD...
Whatever the slipcase condition is, you can be fairly certain that it will deteriorate in shipping. If you really want it intact, request that it be packed and shipped separately from the books.
Also, a copy for US$585.95+ship. Condition "New. Beautiful condition".
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookD...
Seems like amazon is listing a few. ~US$350. Not sure how reliable some of those listings are.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listin...
There have also been some printing issues with v4 which you might want to inquire about ; my copy has several blank pages near the beginning, for instance. This accounts for the missing v4's in some sets, and the free-floating v4's some sellers are offering.
Get your RURD sign'd and it'll double in $$$$.
Jim wrote: "Amazon.fr has it for 73 € which is about $93... I think I'll wait for the paperback!"For what it's worth, I'm sceptical about any kind of second printing. This'll go into institutional libraries and collect dust, mostly. William T. Vollmann: A Critical Study and Seven Interviews was also steeply priced and didn't see a second printing ( not to mention the William T. Vollmann: An Annotated Bibliography ) On the other hand, perhaps an e- edition will show up shortly.
Geoff wrote: "Aaaand I just happen to have a pretty nice sum on a gift certificate that would take a big chunk outta the hefty price of this here book-- methinks I'll be employing that--"I'm pretty excited about this. The three previous Vollmann scholarship pieces were a little blah (The Reader, the McCaffery/Hemmingson thing, and the Bibliography). What we need is some good scholar=love for Vollmann!
