Two Month Review discussion
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The Invented Part
The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresan
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Chad
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Apr 04, 2017 12:00PM
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The first podcast (covering pages 1-45) will go live on June 1st.
In the meantime, copies of the book will start shipping to better bookstores everywhere later this month. If you want one now, you can buy it directly from Open Letter and we'll ship it out ASAP (https://www.openletterbooks.org/produ...).
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Translator Will Vanderhyden joined us for this one to talk about Fresán's work in general, and to provide some useful information about how to approach "The Invented Part."
Next week we'll be posting a few things about the book, including part of an interview with Fresán, and a short introduction to the first section of novel entitled "The Real Character."
And the podcast will be back on 6/1 with an episode covering the first 45 pages.
Copies of the book are available at better bookstores everywhere, and if you order through the Open Letter site (https://www.openletterbooks.org/produ...) you can use the code 2MONTH to get 20% off.
I'm loving this book so far. June 1 can't get here fast enough!
Excited for the podcast. The first 45 pages were great. Loved the detail.
In yesterday's podcast, Jeremy stated that he kept a list of references from the first 45 pages (and plans to maintain that list throughout the book). Will that list be available on the Three Percent website?
Chad, when y'all conclude with your favorite quotes from each section, can you provide the page numbers as well? I think Jeremy did, but you and Brian didn't.
I think I'm reading references that may not be there. When I first encountered "The Boy" I immediately thought "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Then I thought "maybe that's not the reference. He's talking about some other bad marriage." But, then again, in the Albee play "The Boy" was The Invented Part. So even if it wasn't there for Fresan, it's there for me. And that's one reason I'm finding this book so much fun to read.
I liked these two:"Thumb: the one with the guy who, in the living room of his apartment, had a punching bag with a photograph of Hemingway on it that he punched and punched, while sweating and talking constantly, but between pants about courage and grace under pressure and recalling that one time he'd charged at the bulls in Pamplona, because the bulls never charged him." - p. 87
"...and who, it's rumored, also wrote up his own obituary, with a first line that reads, 'I knew Constance Tiempos...'" - p. 95
The discussion in the second podcast episode about the two versions of TENDER IS THE NIGHT made me think of a similar situation with Theodore Dreiser's SISTER CARRIE (1900). Two versions of that also exist (for various reasons) and are actually both in circulation even now. I realized this only when my mother and I were discussing the novel years ago and realized that we had read very different endings. There's info online about these two versions, and it's pretty fascinating, especially because SC was basically quashed by its own publisher because some readers thought the novel was too scandalous.
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Definitely! He's still working on it, but I'll ask him if we can get what he has so far and let him update it along the way.
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Will do!
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"Some Notes on 'The Real Character'": http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
"Interview with Rodrigo Fresán (Part I)": http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
"Three Openings": http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
"The Real Character Podcast Discussion": http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
"Reflections and Mirrors": http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
The Vollmer/Burroughs segment (p 181-189) is brilliant. The final sentence is perfect, but I'll remember this digression by a few words in the middle of p 188--"...full bottles. And empty tortillas."
Hilarious podcast posted today; Chad and Brian are having way too much fun!
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Glad you liked it! I'm enjoying myself more and more as we record these. Helps that Brian is incredibly funny.
From today's podcast: "This isn't like space opera from Japan." I can't tell you how relieved I am.
Mamagrandma in the long section on the Karmas had me thinking of Gramma Ugdal/Solivyei from Radiant Terminus, in how she exercises matriarchal control in some weird unspecified way. Then I thought about Solovyei again, and his control of his daughters, with the allusions to how The Writer is floating in whatever particulate state and Penelope can't be free of him.
Justin wrote: "Mamagrandma in the long section on the Karmas had me thinking of Gramma Ugdal/Solivyei from Radiant Terminus, in how she exercises matriarchal control in some weird unspecified way. Then I thought ..."Good catch, Justin!
Hi everyone. I'm several pages into Many Fetes, more than halfway through the book. The blurb on the back is kind of a spoiler, as there hasn't been much mention more than a hint or two (might have passed me by completely if not for the blurb) of particles. Loving the book, thanks for elevating it with this review.
Wonderful paragraph on p. 324 about time, "Times when the past takes on new meaning....". I love the way this novel deals with time, including the cultural references that are part of my life as much as Fresan's. For example, the repeated references to Wish You Were Here (soundtrack to the MRI in the hospital chapter -- brilliant!) establish points of intersection with my memories, like "living more lives, all at the same time." This kaleidoscopic view of life, matched stylistically in the different sections (at least so far), is a powerful recurring thread.
You've mentioned that Fresan added about 60 pages to the english translation. Just curious what those 60 are. Was it a few large chunks? Interspersed smaller parts throughout? Will they be added to any future pressings in Spanish?That asked, I want to mention how beautifully written/translated the book is. Mad props to Will Vanderhyden, yo! You have my permission to blurb that on Fresan's next book, by the way. And congrats to Open Letter for this receiving the 2018 BTBA (repeat!).
Eric wrote: "You've mentioned that Fresan added about 60 pages to the english translation. Just curious what those 60 are. Was it a few large chunks? Interspersed smaller parts throughout?"More excerpts of Fitzgerald's letters in their original language?
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I'll bring this up on the podcast we record today (which won't be out for a bit, so hold tight), but basically it was a paragraph here and there, or a couple new sentences. Not a standalone section, but new jokes and riffs added to the various lists and rants throughout the book.
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Chad wrote: "Eric wrote: "You've mentioned that Fresan added about 60 pages to the english translation. Just curious what those 60 are. Was it a few large chunks? Interspersed smaller parts throughout? Will the..."Awesome, thanks. It's pretty great that Fresan is currently working on the huge third book of the trilogy and still finding ways to work on the also huge book he wrote a few years ago. I can't even find a way to get two loads of laundry done in a day.
Chad wrote: "If anyone has any questions or other comments, let me know! We're recording the new episode this afternoon, and would love to incorporate more of your thoughts and reactions!"Parallels between Fitzgerald and Burroughs?
You know what would be a useful and interesting project, is compiling all the references/definitions of "the invented part" throughout the book. Maybe a good task for someone with an e-copy.
Justin wrote: "You know what would be a useful and interesting project, is compiling all the references/definitions of "the invented part" throughout the book. Maybe a good task for someone with an e-copy."I have this all marked if you want pages.
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That's amazing! When you finish, if you send me the list, I can post them all on the Three Percent site.
That Fresan Part 4 interview answer is amazing! So many things I have recently been thinking that caused me to drastically wind down my social media/phone use.
Chad, I'll send them over sometime before the end of the weekend. I apologize -- got sidetracked by this summer class I'm teaching.
"Today, thanks to Jobs, we're a little like Job."
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If you have any comments or questions for the two of them, post them here, or email them to me at chad.post@rochester.edu.
I don't think Fresan references Laurence Durrell but this writer writing a writer writing a writer is making me want to reread The Avignon Quintet. (I see that you, Chad, have marked it as "to read." I hope you can find the time.)
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M wrote: "I don't think Fresan references Laurence Durrell but this writer writing a writer writing a writer is making me want to reread The Avignon Quintet.
(I see that you, Chad, have marked it as "to re..."
Some brief (but not Twitter brief) thoughts on how the Two Month reading influenced, or was influenced by, the other books I was reading concurrently.What Else I Read Whilst Reading "The Invented Part"
Chad, today's podcast with Rodrigo & Will is a delightful way to wrap up a terrific reading experience. Best laughs I've had since finishing the book itself. Thank you for doing the Two Month Review project.
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I was away for the summer and I'm playing catch-up. But oh my God this is a fantastic book. I'm loving it so far.
I had to take a break from the relentlessly depressing Rodoreda short stories for a minute, and decided to circle back to this. What a delight this has been! Just finished the podcast with Lethem and have enjoyed the insanity of the green cow and IKEA.
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Awesome! That was one of my favorite episodes ever to record. And just wait, the green cow is brilliant, but this book just gets better and better as you go. It's so fulfilling.
(And Death in Spring, though intense, is somehow less depressing than the stories. Possibly because instead of marriages falling apart, it's filled with bizarre rituals and beliefs.)
Late to the party -- I read *The Remembered Part* first, following Chad's not-inaccurate-but-possibly insane advice when he kicked off season 19 of TMR; now I'm circling back. Here's a quote I absolutely loved: "Who knows, he responds; and at the other end of his story, decades later, he'll say yes, when he realizes the most transcendent events *take place* in the past but only *happen* in the future, when we're truly cognizant of their importance, of the influence and weight they've had on everything that has and will come to pass." --"The Invented Part," p. 41.
To me, that goes to the heart of the way he handles time throughout the trilogy.
And -- in the unlikely event anyone will ever return to this thread -- I wanted to share an example of the type of echo that Fresàn excels at. As I noted above, I read the third volume, *The Remembered Part* first, and then started the first volume, *The Invented Part.* Almost immediately, I noticed and appreciated the repetition of a passage that also appears at the very end of the trilogy:"Like running children who are pure knee: their own knees the most important part of their body (always moving, always scraped), in an adult world, known fundamentally from the height of those loving and loving giants' knees. Like enlightened children who run, not yet thinking that someone is watching them run. Children who run, unaware that, unfortunately, for a total lack of fortune, there will soon be a uniform and a proper and respectable and harmonious way of running, for they'll know themselves watched and judged and compared to other runners" (The Invented Part, 13).
vs.
"Then he runs like he once ran almost for the first time, when he was a boy, on another beach, like children who are pure knee, and who run not yet thinking that someone is watching them run. Like a boy who runs, unaware that unfortunately, for a total lack of fortune, there will soon be a uniform and a proper and respectable and harmonious way of running, for he'll know himself watched and judged and compared to other runners" (The Remembered Part, 747).
I never would've caught that if I hadn't read the third volume before the first one.
Okay, here's a question (though I realize it's unlikely anyone will ever see this): What does Fresàn mean by "competitive fiction" in this sentence?"But these are the mysteries of an always-defiant reality ... that competitive fiction feeds on" (The Invented Part, 202).
Competitive in the never-ceasing gladiatorial bouts of what constitutes Great Literature? I dunno. After reading almost 1-1/2 books of this trilogy, the term struck me as odd. Although Fresàn's narrator clearly has his/her pantheon of Greats in multiple genres and media, there's never a sense that his/her authors/creators strove or competed for that honor -- merely that their work appeared, indisputable and ineluctable; obvious to anyone sufficiently perspicacious.
Thoughts?
