Nathan "N.R."’s
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(group member since Oct 28, 2012)
Nathan "N.R."’s
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from the William T Vollmann Central group.
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biblioklept posted an image from Expelled from Eden, Vollmann's Writers Manifesto of sorts ::1. We should never write without feeling
2. http://biblioklept.org/2014/07/27/we-...
I don't believe I've seen this one yet. From his 2006 visit to Norway. "Destination: Norway ;; The Eddas -- epic sagas that form the core of Norse religion -- are best read under the ash trees in this Land of the Midnight Sun." Salon 11sept2006
http://www.salon.com/2006/09/11/norwa...
Lisa wrote: "http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R20140724...An interview of Vollmann on public radio."
Thanks thanks!!
Another review ::
"William T. Vollmann’s 'Last Stories and Other Stories': Super stories of the supernatural
His new volume is challenging, dense and rewarding for those who persevere" By Mona Moraru July 27, 2014
'“Last Stories and Other Stories” is an exercise in perseverance. It is intricately constructed, providing that source of entertainment for people who like to dissect as they read. It would best be read slowly, with longer breaks between stories and sections, rather than all at once. It is dense, sometimes unyielding, but does, through its sheer size, provide enough variety that many people who undertake the challenge will find something to appreciate.'
http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/...
Greg wrote: "I have to agree that too many books are written with the idea that the pages should be turned quickly and the story race forward"That's what I'm finding I like here ; slow reading, the story itself not being in any hurry to get anywhere. We're dead after all!
But too I'd have to confess that some of these stories reverberate more for me having a larger context of Vollmann's world in my head ; and unfortunately, a lot of that world is only accessible via RURD, like the Cortez stuff and much of the ex-Yugoslavia stuff.
more engaging not reading the book as a whole - like a novel - but in parts over time.
That's one of the similarities I've sensed with Rainbow Stories -- almost organized as a novelistic whole, but not quite. I do like the thing he does weaving together the stories within each major section. But those several sections don't quite seem to come together into one whole.
Greg wrote: "I finished it yesterday; it's not bad, not his best; 3.99 stars. I wouldn't recommend it as an entry book for readers new to Vollmann."I almost agree with you except that a) I'm digging it more and more the more I get accustomed to the tone and b) I did meet someone who dipped into this and said it looks like a more promising Vollmann entry point than his experience with EC had been thereto. But, I can't argue with a healthy 3.99 stars. So, yes.
Anyone other than Greg spot Bill at some undisclosed or disclosed location this week?
And ::'What the Great Soviet Encyclopedia Said
'“As a whole, Heidegger’s irrational philosophy is one of the acute manifestations of the crises of modern bourgeois social consciousness.”'
Larissa wrote: "Found an excerpt from Violet Hair: A Heideggerian Tragedy whilst looking through the online archives of Bomb Magazine"For Geoff ::
'"How to Study Heidegger
'Catherine lay on her bed, ankles crossed, white arms behind her neck, and her long hair hanging down. She seemed imprisoned in some summer reverie about whether sunlight is essentially present-at-hand because it is there in itself or whether it is ready-to-hand6 because Catherine discovered it and felt it on her through the window and related it to her on her bedspread; and meanwhile the morning and the afternoon passed in such pleasure that the sunlight itself, the proximal cause of Catherine’s pleasure, became subordinated to that pleasure, because Catherine had been existentially thrown into the sunlight and could take it for granted, so that for her it became present at hand simply by creating the climate for her to have this idle argument with herself; so the poor sunlight lost out. And Catherine’s summer mornings rushed into those summer afternoons, rushing, rushing into the violet as the earth turned away from the sun.
'“The organization is there,” said Catherine to herself, “but it’s not something you want to schematize.”'
Larissa wrote: "I love the picture of WTV's studio"I totally missed that ! Must be cuz I printed the damn thing. But yes indeed it's not the hurricane disaster area I had assumed.
Ashley wrote: "NR--Where's the difference, pray tell?"You mean between the living and the dead? Likely there is none outside of the question as such. Beyond that I'm depending on Vollmann to guide me.
Anyone who can't make it to see Bill read this week, Bissell's article is a distant second. But a pretty damn sweet second.
Geoff wrote: "Nathan "N.R." wrote: "You mean for the Living ; or for the Dead?"You've obviously been reading Last Stories..."
These are religious duties. They cannot be put off until such time as.... because by that time the corpse may not smell as sweet.
Ashley wrote: "Following this whole debacle sometimes makes me think the world is engineered for maximum torment..."You mean for the Living ; or for the Dead?
Greg wrote: "His publisher, Viking, put a clause in his contract that his books would be less than 700 pages, and Dying Grass was delivered at 1200. They sent it back for corrections and the new length was 1300."That's how!!!
But do tell, How was the reading? I hear he takes folks out for drinks afterward......
Article in The New Atlantic by Tom Bissell ::"You Are Now Entering the Demented Kingdom of William T. Vollmann :: Home to goddesses, dreams, and a dangerously uncorrupted literary mind"
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/11...
I'm printing it atm for my reading pleasure.
This looks like a long feature article kind of thing, so therefore we get a whole thread! Don't miss the piece Bill wrote recently, also in this Folder, about his Assassins Credo, pub's in The Atlantic.
Meanwhile, you Vollmanniacs should get inoculated, if you're not already, against the scarey kinds of things people say Bill says and says he shouldn't say (or do, etc). There's this reactionary piece which was pub'd just in the Wake of Bissell's piece ::
"Among the Sex Workers" by Peter J. Leithart, 23July2014 ::
"Tom Bissell’s New Republic profile of William T. Vollmann, journalist, author of legendarily gargantuan novels, painter of nudes and vaginas, is supportive, not to say fawning (though, on second thought, yes, to say fawning). For readers, it will be disquieting."
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leit...
Also, this interview ::Bookforum talks with William T. Vollmann
Jul 10 2014
http://www.bookforum.com/interview/13467
"I’m trying to learn about the culture of mining and the whole debate over coal versus nuclear, as well as people’s opinions on climate change. I haven’t been able to get into a coal mine yet. The big guys have no incentive to let me in, since I might cause them trouble, and the little guys run these dangerous fly-by-night operations.
"I had my pancake frisker [a type of Geiger counter] with me and it turned out that the most radioactive thing I could find on the ground there was a huge granite slab in front of the courthouse with the ten commandments on it. So that made me happy."
With the release of Last Stories we've been getting word that Bill has been working on a book about coal and nuclear energy. I am guessing that his Into the Forbidden Zone: A Trip through Hell and High Water in Post-earthquake Japan will be folded into it so I won't have to read it as an ebook. But that's just a guess but why wouldn't he include it. At any rate, a few links which have been posted elsewhere which tell us what we know about this current project.
"On and off over the past few years, he has shuttled between West Virginia (“It’s like a third-world country”) and the hot zone around Fukushima, Japan, site of the nuclear-meltdown disaster in March 2011. At those disparate locales, he’s been gathering material for his next Big Project, a nonfiction book that will examine and compare fossil fuel and nuclear energy, and their relationships to climate change and what he sees as the coming apocalypse."
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/21/6572...
"About a year ago I started working on a nonfiction book about coal versus nuclear power. Not so much about which is better or worse—they’re probably both awful—but what ordinary people think about them. I’ve found that so many Americans, especially in the coal counties of West Virginia, really don’t believe in global warming. But I suspect that a lot of the political leaders who say that they don't believe in it, actually might think that it’s possible. They’re acting like nothing is true, and all is permissible. To take this stance, and behave as though all forms of rhetoric are justified in the pursuit of power, is harmful and irresponsible."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainm...
Note too that there is a relevant section in RURD, Defense of the Environment, which will certainly play a role.
An interview/article"Between the Lines: William T. Vollmann on ‘Last Stories’" By Allen Pierleoni
Jul. 21, 2014
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/21/6572...
“Thoreau always said that it’s important not to let our knowledge get in the way of what’s more important, which is our ignorance. I want to always keep my ignorance so I can be open to what people are saying.”
Regarding the SF reading on Thursday, this ::'William T. Vollmann will autograph books and read from “Last Stories and Other Stories” in an “undisclosed historic San Francisco location” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The event is sponsored by City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco; (415) 362-8193, www.citylights.com. The free event is open to the public, but an “invitation” is required. Get one on a first-come basis by appearing in person at the front counter of the bookstore; the venue will be revealed on the “invitation.” Details are at www.citylights.com; click on “Events and Readings.”'
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/21/6572...
