What are we reading? 3rd August 2021

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I wish i could embrace modern fiction"

With older texts, quite a bit of the hard work has been done to sort the special ones from the not-so special. In theory, standa..."

one other factor with hyper-modern fiction i forgot to mention is the "hardback" problem, where you need to wait to buy the modern novel at £10 rather than £20. With classic novels, as long as you avoid the special editions, you can buy them for around a tenner. Only exception is the university presses which can be a bit more costly

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "As for John Banville, he has done a good job of trying to kill the novel, judging by the one book of his I have read.."

Which one, just out of interest? He has become increasin..."

whats Banville been saying?

[Robert]

The eye of the beholder, noted by artist Tom Mosser.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

[Hushpuppy]

scarletnoir wrote: "Last night I settled down to watch a film adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm - a title I know, but not a book I have ever read. The cast was excellent, and I was looking forward to a treat."

I've been considering reading the book for a while now, but it's been stuck in the lab for 16 months now. And so, eventually, I decided when the film was on one or two weeks ago to watch it first, and read the book - some day - second.

I was disappointed too, despite the amazing cast. Not as much as you; I watched the whole thing. But it had such a strong whiff of one posh person educating the backward farmers of the countryside... Her redeeming feature was that she was not afraid to get stuck in herself.

I wonder if this snobbery is more nuanced in the novel.

[CCCubbon]

MK wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "This is a reply to MK ‘s post at the end of last week’s thread.



Chary Is an interesting word dating back at least 500 years.
It has four meanings:

Maybe he had not heard the word before.

Interested I went back and found this Hamlet quote, consulted my Shakespeare but could not find it at the given reference - ( just found ‘Frailty thy name is woman’). Later found it comes in scene 3.


‘. 1599–1602, William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, OCLC 84758312, [Act I, scene ii], lines 35–36:
The Charieſt maide is prodigall enough, / If ſhe vnmaske hir beautie to the
Moone.’

The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon

Here chariest is being used to mean chaste, modest (virgin) so that maybe fits with being careful, not sure. But then Laertes seems to be saying that she’s not so modest really if she shows her body to the moon ( female sexuality).
Maybe one of our English specialists can put me right. Interesting.

[SydneyH]

AB76 wrote: "I try to be open minded about modern fiction but the "ughhh" factor is so common"

I think you value the exposure to different cultures really highly as a critic, so it could be that you just get a sense of cultural cringe from contemporary lit. Australians are pretty notorious for having a strong sense of cultural cringe about their own literature, but I see hints of it in Americans and Brits too.

[scarletnoir]

Robert wrote: "A "bird colonel" wears metal eagles as insignia. He outranks anyone below the rank of general."

Thank you - quite a big shot, then - and that explains the name!

[Miri]

I didn't realise Bond spent so much of his time seducing communist beauties! (I've never read any of the Bond books and have only watched the Daniel Craig films).

I like modern books and I have quite a few authors whose new releases I look forward to. Off the top of my head, the main ones include: Elena Ferrante, Donna Tartt, Colm Toibin, Anne Enright, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie).

That said, I went to Foyles the other day and was browsing the new releases and it felt like every blurb talked about #MeToo, Trump, the love affairs of Sally Rooney-esque young middle class twenty-somethings etc. Normally I never leave Foyles without buying at least one new thing but I felt pretty uninspired by the samey-ness of seemingly most of the new releases on offer. (Maybe just bad luck as I know there are a lot of good new books around as well).

I love modern American fiction, but I have noticed lately that young American authors seem rather timid about risking being disliked or having an "unorthodox" view. You can kind of see this in the slightly deranged attacks on authors like Adichie who really don't care if their views are "popular" or not. Well... I find I am much more interested in authors who are willing to be disliked, or who have something to say.

I'm probably overgeneralising and being a bit unfair :/

Anyway, I got really angry about something the other day, and I decided to read a book by Mario Vargas Llosa which was really great but far too funny and light-hearted for my mood of absolite hair-tearing rage. So I switched to one of the Ferrantes I haven't read ("The Days of Abandonment") because her characters are constantly furious about everything all the time and its cathartic. Have you ever noticed how in her books she always writed, "so and so joked" or "we joked and laughed" rather than actually write a joke or a funny line? I adore Ferrante with all of my little nerdy heart but I'm convinced it's because her constant state is furious psychological introspection and she doesn't actually know how to write jokes.

[scarletnoir]

Hushpuppy wrote: "I was disappointed too, despite the amazing cast. Not as much as you; I watched the whole thing. But it had such a strong whiff of one posh person educating the backward farmers of the countryside... Her redeeming feature was that she was not afraid to get stuck in herself.

I wonder if this snobbery is more nuanced in the novel."

It wasn't the condescension of the character towards the yokels that bothered me (since it may be that the intention was to satirise that, too), but the fact that the portrayal of the farmers was supposed to be funny. And it wasn't, at all - it was pathetic... IMO of course. (I know how personal perceptions of humour can be.)

[scarletnoir]

Miri wrote: "I didn't realise Bond spent so much of his time seducing communist beauties! (I've never read any of the Bond books and have only watched the Daniel Craig films)."

He absolutely did! It was Bond's 'get out of jail free card' - whenever in great jeopardy, he'd seduce the baddie's woman and get her to release his shackles (or whatever). The women in question invariably ended up dead...

"I like modern books and I have quite a few authors whose new releases I look forward to. Off the top of my head, the main ones include: Elena Ferrante, Donna Tartt, Colm Toibin, Anne Enright, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)."

Some good calls there, which I forgot to mention - but TBF, Tartt and Adichie have only written three novels each (that I know of), and I have read them all - so who knows when another will appear? I sort of like Ferrante, but am not bowled over. I haven't tried the other two. (We are currently watching the second series based on Ferrante's 'Brilliant Friend' series on French TV... I don't remember it ever being on free-to-air in the UK. I rather prefer the TV series to the book.)

[SydneyH]

AB76 wrote: "whats Banville been saying?"

All sorts of things. Including scoffing at Detective Fiction (which he writes) and saying that Salman Rushdie isn't a 'serious writer'.

[[deleted user]]

I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, not just because the content isn't my sort of thing (it isn't my sort of thing), but also because it really really needs an editor. There are over 500 pages of this non-event tosh!

[scarletnoir]

SydneyH wrote: "I believe a writer can't really succeed in a genre they don't respect."

Indeed - all the more reason to avoid making a fool of yourself by trying to cash in, I'd have thought!

[Hushpuppy]

Anne wrote: "I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, (...) because it really really needs an editor. There are over 500 pages of this non-event tosh!"

Oh dear MsC. That is one long road ahead! And judging by some Q&As on the book, a bumpy one...

"More generally, this book needed an editor."
"I agree with your answer, Tracy. I have loved this series by Tana French, but The Secret Place has been a disappointment. It's the worst book in the series."

And if that was not bad enough, it apparently takes a nosedive halfway through with some ill choice from the writer.

I am not encouraging you much, am I?

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I try to be open minded about modern fiction but the "ughhh" factor is so common"

I think you value the exposure to different cultures really highly as a critic, so it could be that y..."

spot on in that i almost loathe contempary british lit, i just cannot identify with it, although ive always loved the indie british music scene and never found a similar "cringe" there.

the fact i cannot identify with it is not linked to my politics or cultural sense, its just that 95% of it really jars and i dont really recognise the country being depicted. Modern non-British fiction is better, European stuff especially, North American less so.

The canon of Ishiguro, McEwan,Barnes and even Mcgregor, Garland and Smith is not for me and never has been. Mcgregor, Garland and Smith are same generation and i expected them, in the early 2000s to reveal a country i recognised, like the indie music of the time did but instead, i just found nothing to like

Trying to think of the best modern writer for me, is probably an 80 something Peruvian (Vargas Llosa) or Iraqi writer Sinan Antoon

[AB76]

Miri wrote: "I didn't realise Bond spent so much of his time seducing communist beauties! (I've never read any of the Bond books and have only watched the Daniel Craig films).

I like modern books and I have qu..."

i hope that rage has subsided, was it a post-Montefiore hangover?

[Hushpuppy]

scarletnoir wrote: "It wasn't the condescension of the character towards the yokels that bothered me (since it may be that the intention was to satirise that, too), but the fact that the portrayal of the farmers was supposed to be funny. "

As you say, humour is such an individual (and cultural) thing. I didn't find it particularly funny, although mildly entertaining. If there was any satire about her own attitude and views - I would have rated the film much higher if so - I've entirely missed it.

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: "whats Banville been saying?"

All sorts of things. Including scoffing at Detective Fiction (which he writes) and saying that Salman Rushdie isn't a 'serious writer'."

absurd, i dont like Rushdie's fiction but i can see he is a giant of his generation and a always a voice to be listened to

i hope it doesnt seem i'm dismissing the writer itself when i pile critcism on Barnes, Ishiguro,McEewan and co. Am always, always interested in their views on life, non-fiction writing and their position as modern thinkers and authors

[AB76]

Hushpuppy wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "It wasn't the condescension of the character towards the yokels that bothered me (since it may be that the intention was to satirise that, too), but the fact that the portrayal ..."

that novel was talking tape fave in the car on long journeys as a kid , in the distant 80s (my mother was a Gibbons fan)

[CCCubbon]

Anne wrote: "I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, not just because the content isn't my sort of thing (it isn't my sort of..."

Can’t you just dump it, Anne? Or just read the end and pretend? I’ve never belonged to a book group so I am not up on the etiquette but saying that you found it unreadable is a point of view then you can sit back and enjoy the refreshments quietly!

[AB76]

CCCubbon wrote: "Anne wrote: "I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, not just because the content isn't my sort of thing (it isn't..."

aha CCC....i can sense the veteran book club tactician here, tea and scones quietly consumed when a book you disliked is being discussed.

was glad to see my mothers book group survived 2020 as a zoom group, sadly a few didnt want to do it on zoom but the majority managed to maintain the important function of book groups up and down the country, via the internet.

[Miri]

That's true about the infrequency of Tartt and Adichie's novels, although Adichie recently published some nonfiction and will often post essays (it's Tartt who goes into full Boo Radley mode for years and then surfaces with a 10,000 page brick before disappearing again. Going by her rate, her next one is due around 2023).

Ferrante I adore but she's not for everyone. I do love the TV adaptation though. I'm so used to being disappointed by TV or film adaptations (don't get me started on "His Dark Materials") but the Naples books were done perfectly.

Ohh Ishiguro, I forgot. He's another modern author I have time for. I really liked "Klara and the Sun". I don't tend to read a lot of recent British fiction though.

Unrelated to Montefiore rage (it was boring real life stuff combined with PMS). Montefiore I feel more annoyed bemusement with rather than rage, I think!

[Miri]

I do think there is a problem with the timidity of modern Anglophone literature, an unwillingness to let newer authors be caustic or heterodox (older established authors are permitted to get away with it as long as the reviews are published with lots of caveats and handwringing - see many of the reviews for Ellroy's new book), and a trend towards going over the same subjects in boring ways. I think the Booker opening to Americans was a bad sign in this regard as it further diluted the idea of British, Irish, Australian etc literature as distinct voices and sort of contributed to everything feeling samey. America has so many brilliant literature prizes but what does the UK have? I read books from Japan and I find new books based on Japanese prizes. The Booker now just feels so... characterless. The bizarre decision to force Evaristo and Atwood to share a prize was the final nail in the coffin. "The books are all wonderful it's impossible to pick!" said one of the judges (paraphrasing). Well, tough. You're a judge, this is a literature competition. Pick one.

[Robert]

Anne wrote: "I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, not just because the content isn't my sort of thing (it isn't my sort of..."

In that situation, I've tried skipping 50 pages ahead to see if the book gets any better....

[Robert]

AB76 wrote: "Miri wrote: "I didn't realise Bond spent so much of his time seducing communist beauties! (I've never read any of the Bond books and have only watched the Daniel Craig films).

I like modern books ..."

Vargas Llosa mischief is usually a morale booster. If you want Vargas Llosa angry (but at his narrative best) try The Feast of the Goat.

[Tam]

scarletnoir wrote: "Last night I settled down to watch a film adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm - a title I know, but not a book I have ever read. The cast was excellent, and I was looking forward to a trea..."

I do think you missed the whole point of the book, Scarlett it was a send up, a satire no less, written by a journalist, (who lived just off the north circular, in North London) of the sort of popular romantic fiction books that were being churned out at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb with her book 'Gone to Earth'. I watched the same film adaption, it was fairly faithful to the plot, but missed out on a lot of the little intricacies that make it a favourite of mine. Perhaps its a marmite book though, you either get it, or you don't.. Kate Bekinsale wasn't really my idea of Flora Poste either.

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Miri wrote: "I didn't realise Bond spent so much of his time seducing communist beauties! (I've never read any of the Bond books and have only watched the Daniel Craig films).

I like ..."

my introduction to VL was The Feast of the Goat, 16 years ago and still my fave

[AB76]

Miri wrote: "I do think there is a problem with the timidity of modern Anglophone literature, an unwillingness to let newer authors be caustic or heterodox (older established authors are permitted to get away w..."

yes, all publishers lie in the shadow of a conformity clause, which while nothing like the USSR or modern China, does tend to mean that a controversial book(fiction or non-fiction) can be tossed about until a brave publisher takes hold of the text. That tendency in the anglophone world has always fustrated me.

[Georg]

AB76 wrote: spot on in that i almost loathe contempary british lit, i just cannot identify with it

AB, I think that is our secret connection ;-)
I could have written that sentence substituting "German" for "British".
Maybe you should try some recent German fiction? You might like what I dislike after all.

Must admit that my love for British contemporary fiction is not unconditional. Not a fan of Hornby, not tempted to read another McEwan after I've read "Atonement",
Garland (is that the one who wrote "The Beach"?) on the "canon"??? Surely not?

But: "The Remains of the Day" and McGregors "If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things": why did you not like them?

[giveusaclue]

Anne wrote: "I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, not just because the content isn't my sort of thing (it isn't my sort of..."

There have been quite a few books I have (attempted to) read where I have been convinced the author is being paid by the word!

[Francis]

Anne wrote: "I have to read The Secret Place by Tana French for a book group. I'm at page 50 and finding it unreadable, not just because the content isn't my sort of thing (it isn't..."

Is there a reason the group choose book 5 in a series?
I would flick to the ending or read a review and wing it myself

[CCCubbon]

Francis

Glad you like the Yeats poem and for posting the choppy water photo. I looked at some photos of the Isle of Innisfree and wished I could be whisked there. Here it is again in case others missed it.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

[Miri]

The point about the girlish ineptitude is very interesting to me and how the USSR is portrayed compared to Nazi Germany. Because recently I re-watched (twice!) "The Death of Stalin", which is an Iannucci film and as with all his work delights in skewering the incompetence, pomposity and doltish humanity of its self-important subjects (whether they be USSR officials in the fifties, modern American politicans, or the British Cabinet).

I then read some articles on the controversy over the film - some people (notably Hitchens) disliked the laughter at the comically ridiculous actions of the lead figures juxtaposed with the depictions of some really brutal stuff (round-ups, torture etc and I would probably pompously argue that the execution scene of Simon Russell Beale's Beria is one of the greatest disturbing execution scenes I've seen in capturing the chaos and the terror and the banality of it all). For me, that uncomfortbale juxtaposition (compared to the comic maneuverings of Khruschev et al the tortures and round-ups are treated with deadly seriousness) is what made the film special. I like also skewering pompous, cruel people, showing them as ridiculous humans. But Hitchens argued the Nazis would not be treated the same way, to which people brought up the numerous times Hitler and his group are: the Hitler ranting memes on YouTube, German comedies such as "Look Who's Back", American/British comedies like "The Great Dictator" or "The Producers".

If anything I think my experience has been the opposite, where I see Stalin, Mao et al treated with deadly seriousness, while the Nazis are mocked ceaselessly. I think this is a lot to do with the fact that I'm more exposed to Nazi history (the British obsession) - although I did have to study modern Chinese history at least as part of my degree, and I like Russian novels very much. I wonder if it is because China and Russia will still censor a lot of mockery (whereas a lot of Nazi parodies come out of Germany!). Or if it is because Stalin was an ally in the war. Or if it is because the ideals of communism (if not the practice) are less abhorrent in principle compared to the complete obvious evil of Nazi ideology. ...I'm not an historian so I really don't know! I should read more non-fiction on Russian, Ukrainian etc communism, rather than just about East Germany or China or North Korea (what I tend to read about).

It was interesting to see the comments here about the tropes in literature of capitalism being portrayed as rugged and masculine compared to somehow effete communism. It's not really my generation (I was born two months after the Berlin Wall fell). I would like to read more about that!

I like what you said about the implied reader, although I'm worried I was far too harsh on Montefiore seeing as his occasional references to women aren't as frequent as maybe I implied!

Thank you AB76 and Robert for the Llosa recommendations! I was really enjoying "Aunt Julia" but just far too grumpy for a book that affectionately good-natured. I'm going to pick it up again when I'm in a good mood!

[Miri]

...I really wish I had been able to study Russian history at school, although I know we can't study everything and I was lucky I got to study really fascinating stuff about America, India, Ireland etc. And I did German A-Level so I was able to study a lot of German history (Nazi Germany and East Germany) on my own stean, which was a dream. We had complete freedom to pick our own topics for oral exams (I chose The White Rose) and coursework (I chose the depiction of the Stasi in the film "The Lives of Others"). If anyone ever questions the validity of a language A-Level point out that you can use it as an opportunity to study anyhing you like! My only other classmate chose the "Economic and Business Strategies of Haribo" as her topic!

...anyway, I rambled off-topic. But I've always found Russia fascinating but I know so little about Russian history beyond novels. And Russian! I wish I could speak Russian. There's so many languages, I want to know them all but that's impossible.

[[deleted user]]

Thank you to shelflife and nosuchzone for providing the link to pictures of people reading - https://readingandart.blogspot.com. It is really lovely. There must be hundreds. I keep going back to dot around some more. One thing that strikes me is that they are all women! (Two figures in a Salvador Dali might have been men but you can’t quite tell.) This rather fits with an idea that I have had for a long time, that the most beautiful woman is more beautiful than the most beautiful man. Not that every reader there is “beautiful” in an obvious sense. The artists however wanted to paint or draw this person in this position. It seems to be the collective view of artists that in a reflective, relaxed, absorbed, inward, intent state of elsewhereness (good word, MB), women just look better.

[scarletnoir]

Hushpuppy wrote: ".If there was any satire about her own attitude and views - I would have rated the film much higher if so - I've entirely missed it."

I didn't see any of that in the film, but from reading a review of the book I thought that may have been part of what was intended... of course, not having read it myself, I have no opinion on that.

My comment was a bit of an arse-covering exercise, in case...!

[scarletnoir]

Miri wrote: "That's true about the infrequency of Tartt and Adichie's novels, although Adichie recently published some nonfiction and will often post essays (it's Tartt who goes into full Boo Radley mode for ye..."

I have read some of Adichie's non-fiction, including Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions and the short story collection The Thing Around Your Neck - all excellent. (The only one I liked a bit less than the others was 'Americanah', where I felt the parallel being drawn between African hair styles and other broader issues was over-stretched).

As for Ishiguro, I read one of his books A Pale View of Hills without being overly impressed - it seemed a bit too 'East Anglia school of creative writing' for my taste. (I am, however, fascinated to discover just now that he worked as a grouse beater for the Queen Mother at Balmoral.)

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I do think you missed the whole point of the book..."

Maybe you didn't read what I wrote... I have NEVER read the book. My comments applied to the film adaptation alone, which failed, disastrously, to be even slightly funny - in my purely subjective opinion.

Is the book better? I have no idea, of course!

[[deleted user]]

L’Oeuvre – Emile Zola

The 14th in the cycle and one of the best so far. It features a group of young artists in Paris who like to approach their subject impressionistically, and a young writer who is an early promoter of their style against the academic dogmas of line and finish, just as Zola was. There is the believableness of their early friendship, the alternating exuberance and gloom, their relations with the vividly drawn women in their circle, and their differing fortunes as ambition and obsession push them on.

At the centre is a Cézanne-like figure and a Manet-like painting: in the woods, three people repose on the grass, two fashionably dressed young men and one naked young woman, in a grouping copied entirely by Manet from Raphael, except that in the Raphael the men are naked too.

Then comes the driven effort to create another such plein air work on a colossal scale, 5m x 10m, with a similar eye-capturing female presence. The painter neglects his model-wife, because he is now in thrall to his own creation. Will he recover, or will it be another case of the fatal taint in the blood? We learn only in the final pages.

Zola, lightly fictionalizing his close friendship with Cézanne from school in Aix, seems to write freely, you would almost say excitedly, and with a freshness matching the new style. He is wholly at his ease describing the life of the ateliers and the competitive tumult of the Salon. The book is well-wrought, even a page-turner, with a great gathering climax.

Many have written about the relationship of Zola and Cézanne. I’m looking forward to Anka Muhlstein’s The Pen and the Brush (2017), subtitled How Passion for Art Shaped Nineteenth-Century French Novels, which I have been delaying until I had read this one. She did a fine job in Monsieur Proust’s Library.

[Paul]

Russell wrote: "L’Oeuvre – Emile Zola

The 14th in the cycle and one of the best so far. It features a group of young artists in Paris who like to approach their subject impressionistically, and a young writer who..."


I think The Masterpiece is right up there with Germinal in terms of achievement. I found Zola's explication to be almost impressionistic, and notably different from the rest of the cycle. Or at least those set in more workday settings.

[Miri]

I very much like Adichie's non-fiction. She is very ferocious and articulate - she doesn't hold back or equivocate and doesn't seem to be anxious about expressing views that are "unpopular" with her peers. I suppose that's a luxury her level of success affords her, but when I see other established authors crumbling slightly in front of internet puritanicalism (a problem on the left and the right) it does mark her out as rather brave. I have a lot of time for her opinions, even when we don't agree. I think she's very thoughtful and when she's angry or passionate she can be razor sharp. Her essay on the flattening of debate online was wonderful.

As for Ishiguro, I don't like everything he writes and it does make me laugh how almost every interview with him appears to be his being confused about people taking his novels in a different way than anticipated. And he is ripe for parody in a lot of ways - his novels can come across a very "Eddie Izzard parodying 'A Room With a View'". But he writes with an unfussy, clean style that I really like and I love a writer who doesn't bludgeon you around the head with how they want you to feel or react. He's very good at capturing ambiguity - both in his deceptively simple prose and in his characters. His lead characters get all the attention (and he has created some astonishing ones) but I have a fondness for some of his background players. Ruth in "Never Let Me Go", for example, could have been a panto villain but is sketched with empathy, ambiguity and complexity.

I also like his approach to sci-fi and dystopias. He's less hung up on explaining how everything works and more involved in treating things as a philosophical exercise. "Never Let Me Go" and "Klara and the Sun" were more interesting to me than Atwood's recent dystopias.

I saw him speak once at the Oxford Union (I was not a member) and he had a lot of interesting things to say about how both the Japanese and British press were eager to "claim" him when he achieved success and how people will try to box him in as a terribly "British" or terribly "Japanese" writer depending on their POV. I find this trend of treating artists as if they were athletes representing their nation very interesting (like when "British successes" are tallied at the Oscars!). Like his ambiguous characters, Ishiguro is hard to box in but people like to "flatten" complexity (as Adichie might say) and try very hard to pin him down.

I didn't know he worked for the Queen Mother? Is a grouse beater something to do with grouse shooting? I really don't like grouse shooting :( (softie wild bird and nature loving loser that I am).

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: spot on in that i almost loathe contempary british lit, i just cannot identify with it

AB, I think that is our secret connection ;-)
I could have written that sentence substituting "Ge..."

hi georg, i do read as much german fiction as i can, modern and classic, i find very little lets me down from your nation. The catch is translations, waiting for the editions of the newer books to emerge on this septic island, as you are bi-lingual at a very high standard, you have a lot more flexbility than me

With Ishiguro, i find it all very mannered and pedestrian, he was all the rave when i was at uni and later, which made me loathe him more. Mcgregor just made me feel we didnt share the same country, now Ishiguro is 22 years older than me but McGregor is a contempary, yet i couldnt even begin to see my country through his lens. I must re-read "Remains of the Day" though...give it a chance in my 40s

re modern german fiction or modern i've read, written since 1945:
The Wall Jumper (Schneider)
Willenbrock(Hein)
Berlin Blues(Regener)
Crabwalk(Grass)
Dance by the Canal (Hensel)

Plus older but post war novels from Heym(The Archiects), Christa Wolf, Anna Seghers and of course Boll, Andersch, Lenz and Koeppen

[Miri]

What I would be interested in (cos I wasn't posting here when I read it) is what people thought of the ending of "Klara and the Sun". I thought it was incredibly sad and I felt gloomy for hours after I finished it. My close friend was surprised and said she didn't find the ending sad, she found it more positive than she anticipated.

It's not quite as sad as that heart-obliterating ending of "Never Let Me Go", but it left me more upset than the sad ending of "Remains of the Day".

[AB76]

Russell wrote: "L’Oeuvre – Emile Zola

The 14th in the cycle and one of the best so far. It features a group of young artists in Paris who like to approach their subject impressionistically, and a young writer who..."

Good to see you enjoying the master of french realism, i was a Zola fanatic in my late teens, even before i read that much, though i need to return to him 21 yrs later as more of his cycle is now available in translation

[Miri]

re the possibly obscure Izzard Room with a View reference, this is what I always think of re Ishiguro's style: https://youtu.be/N0onquIv89g

I think AB76's description of it as "mannered" is accurate.

[MK]

scarletnoir wrote: "Robert wrote: "A "bird colonel" wears metal eagles as insignia. He outranks anyone below the rank of general."

Thank you - quite a big shot, then - and that explains the name!"

I posted a photo on page 10 of photos which shows the rank insignia from Second Lieutenant to General of the Army. To me, Bird Colonel was used to differentiate between a lieutenant colonel (also called O5) and (full) Colonel (O6).

I expect every group has its own sub-language. For the US military this often ends up being in the form of acronyms.

Today (being an old person) I sometimes have to rely on Google to keep me up-to-date on new internet ones.

[AB76]

Miri wrote: "re the possibly obscure Izzard Room with a View reference, this is what I always think of re Ishiguro's style: https://youtu.be/N0onquIv89g

I think AB76's description of it as "mannered" is accurate."

i always enjoy hearing him talk and reading articles he writes, though am also wary of the East Anglia School of Creative Writing

[Miri]

Does it have a bad reputation? I have been interested in their translation programmes in the past.

To be frank, I'm surprised I'm so lenient re Ishiguro's style myself because normally I'm quite impatient with those posh British stiff-upper-lip styles (because I was exposed to too much brash American and Irish and Russian literature at a formative age and know what I like ;) )

[Miri]

If people aren't gnashing their teeth and rendering their garments (Russian novels), setting out a string of expletives re their emotions (American), or making incredibly depressing jokes (Irish) then I don't want to hear it!

...have I offensively generalised the literature of enough countries today?

[Miri]

rending*!! hahaha it would be quite funny to picture an agitated Raskolnikov "rendering" his garments.