What are we reading? 9th November 2021

[Lljones]

For @Bill: Just heard an interview with Portlander Douglas Wolk and thought of you...

All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told

[Slawkenbergius]

After Anna Karenina I felt like taking something lighter, and was tempted by a campus novel. Since someone mentioned Bernard Malamud some time ago, I dived into reading A New Life

Seymour Levin was accepted as an English lecturer in a small college in the Pacific Northwest (fictional Cascadia state, standing for Oregon) where he assumes the role of a comp(osition) instructor. As a thirty-year old New Yorker he feels at once amazed by the luxuriant landscape of the West coast and like a fish out of water as regards the mores and antics of a small town. He has a somewhat shady past, whose details are unveiled halfway through the narrative, and he feels mostly lonesome, slightly depressed and deeply unsatisfied. The whole novel is then the narrative of his daily life and adventures in the course of a full year, from Fall to Summer, in which the reader is confronted with the politics of a conservative department, the rivalries and cliques of the English lecturer group, the resistance to teaching innovations (especially where it concerns curricula and textbooks) and the nest of intrigues in this very closed milieu. As expected there's a fair amount of humour, but perhaps less overtly than in David Lodge's trilogy, my only point of reference as regards campus novels. In any case, the narrative revolves almost episodically as Levin becomes acquainted with his colleagues, their families and the Northwestern way of life. We're in 1950, at the zenith of Cold War, leftwingers are being spotted and “hunted down” in university campuses; every liberal influence is mistrusted by the college authorities and there's a story of a former lecturer who was forced to leave the institution because, among other things, failed to fit the Cascadia college mould and only got enemies, which intrigues Levin. At the end of the novel we see how much this antecedent haunts our (anti-)hero's mind and moral drive. Besides the very compelling portrait of the English department of a small town college in mid-twentieth century America, A New Life delivers a good solid story about a man's failed ambitions, remorse and the overwhelming need to belong. There's a nice love story too.

The narrative is very straightforward and fluid – not much of language fireworks here – but I believe Malamud's classic style really fits the narrative and the campus fiction sub-genre. There are frequent beautiful descriptions of nature's changing look across the seasons and that complements perfectly the story of a city-dweller discovering a new place, a new life, and love. Moreover, we get a good illustration of American life in the post-WWII era, the social role of the average nuclear family in the community (and the crushing social stigma of adultery) and, at the end of the book, a fairly impressive assessment of the woman's place in traditional society and how every wife was expected to act a certain way (and correspondingly, the oppressive expression of a very male-oriented take on marriage).

Just one more comment. We can see some parallels with Saul Bellow's fiction – the elegant structure, the multiple referrences to literature and cultural highlights –, but unlike the latter's Malamud's style appears less intricate and consequently lighter, and in this particular novel there are not many obvious links to Jewish heritage and background, except for a few details that hint at Levin's origin: his Russian surname, the use of a Yiddish slang word to characterise his father, and the fact that the photo Levin included in his application form reminds Pauline Gilley, the wife of one of his colleagues, of a Jewish boy she used to know.

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: were you the Tucholsky fan Georg?

Is that AD, AB?

Not 2 weeks ago (Oct 31) you asked me who my favourite German author was -> you'll find the answer in my answer :-D
(not that I hadn'..."

AOK Georg....sorted. I must read some of his books

might start with this

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Dispatches...

[Bill]

Lljones wrote: "For @Bill: Just heard an interview with Portlander Douglas Wolk and thought of you...

All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told"

I was thinking of reading this if it turns up at one of my local libraries - I'm not sure it will hold my interest once it gets past the early years.

[Lljones]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "After Anna Karenina I felt like taking something lighter, and was tempted by a campus novel. Since someone mentioned Bernard Malamud some time ago, I dived into reading A New Life [bookcover:Novels..."

Malamud was still teaching at Oregon State College (now University) when my brother started his college career in the English Dept. at nearby Univ. of Oregon. He always seemed like one of the family. I brought several of his books, including A New Life, from my bro's library. Haven't read him for years but thanks for this review, I'll revisit him soon.

[Bill]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "After Anna Karenina I felt like taking something lighter, and was tempted by a campus novel. Since someone mentioned Bernard Malamud some time ago, I dived into reading A New Life ..."

I read A New Life in my ongoing project of reading campus novel. I found the almost complete absence of references to Levin’s fairly obvious Jewishness disconcerting, especially insofar as the reader was given access to Levin’s own thoughts – it seemed like the elephant in the room when it came to his relationship with everyone around him.

I also found the regular mentions of Pauline’s large feet kind of odd.

[Slawkenbergius]

Bill wrote: "I found the almost complete absence of references to Levin’s fairly obvious Jewishness disconcerting, especially insofar as the reader was given access to Levin’s own thoughts – it seemed like the elephant in the room"

Elephant in the room indeed. Other Jewish-related themes - albeit utterly implicit and understated - are his quest for a new home and forget his past (counterbalanced by his love-hate relationship with NY), the constant feeling of guilt, the inner tension with the idea of a "regular" goy American life, the sensation he doesn't fit anywhere. There's absolutely no reference to immigration in his family history, but in more ways than one he is an exile from the East arriving in a new land of opportunities and boundless expectation.

I think Malamud intentionally wrote a story where Jewishness wouldn't be clearly evoked in the text, maybe so as to render his character's experience more universal. Do you think you would be able to detect Levin's ethnic/religious background if you didn't know beforehand the book was written by a Jewish author?

That might also have been a device for Malamud to accentuate the rebirth of a man - symbolised by the removal of his obtrusive beard -, shedding little by little his previous skin and become a renewed entity, without any previous identity attachment.

I also found the regular mentions of Pauline’s large feet kind of odd.

It's true but I also found the incessant mentions to her being flat-chested a bit unnerving, although that could have been a manner of emphasizing Pauline's sexiness against the grain of the time's conventional idea of female beauty.

[Bill]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "Do you think you would be able to detect Levin's ethnic/religious background if you didn't know beforehand the book was written by a Jewish author?"

Well, his name is Levin … speaking of which, I also read Ira Levin’s Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives as symbolic representations of being Jewish in an overwhelmingly Gentile environment.

(Referring back to the comic book thread, I recall someone saying that, if your name ends in "-man" you're either Jewish or a superhero.)

[SydneyH]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "Since someone mentioned Bernard Malamud some time ago, I dived into reading A New Life"

Thanks for this. I was investigating Malamud recently. The texts I had in mind were The Fixer and The Assistant - one of which came with an endorsement from Bellow on the cover.

[Slawkenbergius]

Bill wrote: "Well, his name is Levin ..."

So is Kostya in Anna Karenina...

(Referring back to the comic book thread, I recall someone saying that, if your name ends in "-man" you're either Jewish or a superhero.)

Ah, Magneto is a notable exception!

[Slawkenbergius]

SydneyH wrote: "I was investigating Malamud recently. The texts I had in mind were The Fixer and The Assistant - one of which came with an endorsement from Bellow on the cover"

That makes sense. There really is something akin to Bellow in his writing.

[giveusaclue]

Had my booster jab yesterday, absolutely no reaction at all. Pleased to say my neighbours have now recovered from their bouts of covid. Strangely, the lady with no underlying health conditions suffered more than husband (she needed antibiotics for sinus infection) who has three stents and lung issues.

[Bill]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "Ah, Magneto is a notable exception!"

That bit of backstory came along well after I'd moved on from Marvel, but arguably the whole concept of the X-Men as a group forced into a superficial assimilation to the dominant society while keeping their true natures secret to avoid that society's fear and hostility suggests an encoded version of Jewish experience, while Magneto offered an aggressive non-assimilationist alternative.

[SydneyH]

Has anyone read The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin?

[Lljones]

SydneyH wrote: "Has anyone read The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin?"

Wish I could say yes, always intended to read it. My brother's catalog included it along with over 30 titles by or about or related to Darwin and Darwinism. I couldn't find 'The Voyage...' but I packed up this one instead: Darwin and the Beagle.

Reminds me - have you read Tony Horwitz - Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before?

[SydneyH]

Lljones wrote: "have you read Tony Horwitz - Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before?"

I can't say that I have. As a matter of fact, I haven't read much non-fiction at all as an adult. I'm reading Banville's Kepler, which is about a famous astronomer, which got me thinking about other great scientists. It occurred to me that some of Darwin's island-hopping journeys could be a welcome addition to my island-related reading.

[Lljones]

SydneyH wrote: "I can't say that I have. As a matter of fact, I haven't read much non-fiction at all It occurred to me that some of Darwin's island-hopping journeys could be a welcome addition to my island-related reading...."

Are island-hopping journeys separate from jungle-hopping journeys, or interconnected?

I think you'd enjoy Horwitz, but I'm now going to focus on some island fiction for you. Let me just start with Sweetland.

[Lljones]

SydneyH wrote: "I haven't read much non-fiction at all as an adult ..."

Ooh, Ooh, you must read The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf for your jungle-hopping reading - you must! (Writing this makes me miss @nilpferd)

[SydneyH]

Lljones wrote: "Are island-hopping journeys separate from jungle-hopping journeys, or interconnected?"

I think vaguely interconnected. In both cases I get a sense of escapism. I think that I've been more successful in finding island-related texts. Thanks for the tip.

[Robert]

Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "I'm working on a needlepoint piece, a detail from Rousseau's "The Dream", that will probably take the rest of my life to complete. Maybe Shattuck's study will inspire me to pick up ..."

Djuna Barnes?

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "It’s a pretty good crime novel, too, well, I’m hooked."

Thanks for the recommendation - I must give it a try.

[CCCubbon]

I raced through the book, It gets a bit silly at the end but maybe I was just in need of something a bit daft - been a tough week. I did enjoy learning about Aberystwyth and following on a map. Now I am going back to 'When we Cease to understand the World' and deep thoughts on quantum mechanics!

Stuart MacBride is one of the authors that I follow. His books are usually set in Edinburgh. Inspector Maclean and then there is this Constance Fairchild series - this is the third. There are some links between the series. He's quite readable.

[Veufveuve]

Lljones wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "I haven't read much non-fiction at all as an adult ..."

Ooh, Ooh, you must read The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf for your ..."

I was about to say exactly the same thing.

[scarletnoir]

@CCC - I have read around six books by MacBride in his Logan McRae series - the last one was a bit too much in some ways, but I may give him another go sometime.

As for quantum mechanics - I think I understood that for about a fortnight, around the time of my finals, but it's hard to keep a grasp of the concepts for much longer! Rather than read about it nowadays (I admire your ability to do so), I take the lazy route and enjoy the explanations provided by my favourite science presenter, Prof. Jameel "Jim" Al-Khalili. He gives an intriguing presentation of the debate between Einstein and Bohr regarding the nature of reality and quantum entanglement in this programme (from about 38 min onwards):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISdBA...

(This shows the connection between science and philosophy at the highest level... it is regrettable that most science courses in the UK don't even include a module on the philosophy of science!)

His programme on energy and Boltzmann is also worth a look:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeaQp...

Now to get ready for a bike ride when it gets light!

[CCCubbon]

Thanks scarlet. I have seen the first but a long time ago, quantum entanglement is intriguing - be good to watch it again and I will have a look at the second clip.
I am going to mix my Christmas puddings this morning.

[Gpfr]

giveusaclue wrote: "Had my booster jab yesterday, absolutely no reaction at all. Pleased to say my neighbours have now recovered from their bouts of covid..."

That's good to hear. I've got mine tomorrow. They're advising us to get the flu jab at the same time.

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Had my booster jab yesterday, absolutely no reaction at all. Pleased to say my neighbours have now recovered from their bouts of covid..."

That's good to hear. I've got mine to..."

i'm still waiting for mine, at 45 i'm too young to be on the priority list but i should get mine expedited a little as i volunteer at an old folks day centre. i dont get a flu jab but thats ok

[FrancesBurgundy]

SydneyH wrote: "Has anyone read The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin?"

Yes, I've read it and it's wonderful. I reviewed it on TLS on 14 May 2018, here's the link - https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo... though it doesn't seem to link to the comment itself. But dated 14 May and 8 upticks.

I later found an older copy which was called Journal of Researches, pub 1839. It's the same book and just as wonderful.

[Robert]

AB76 wrote: "Stefan Wolle on the DDR is a great balance of observation and analysis in his book on the DDR from 1971-1989.

I'm in the early 70s right now, as Erich Honecker becomes the party leader. Honecker h..."

Anyone who rises as a cog in such a machine has little contact with the unfamiliar or with people generally. The result is an inability to converse.

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "i dont get a flu jab but thats ok"

I take this to mean that you don't qualify by age for a free NHS flu jab - I think that you could still pay for one at your local pharmacy or GP surgery - it's not that expensive (my wife used to do that to protect herself and me).

[scarletnoir]

I haven't read this, but there is a very interesting review in the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

Quite a character, as I'm sure many of us knew already. I like many of her novels, though the Ripley series deteriorated badly as time went on (IMO, of course) - probably due to deteriorating health and increasing alcohol dependence.

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Stefan Wolle on the DDR is a great balance of observation and analysis in his book on the DDR from 1971-1989.

I'm in the early 70s right now, as Erich Honecker becomes the party leade..."

Honecker in that gestapo cell was a revelation to me in 1999, the powerful in position of total powerlessness, of course back then he was a Saarlander agitator and communist, not leader of the DDR

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i dont get a flu jab but thats ok"

I take this to mean that you don't qualify by age for a free NHS flu jab - I think that you could still pay for one at your local pharmacy or GP sur..."

i dont mind, when i'm over 50, when i'll take up the free jab, if i'm still around!

[Lljones]

scarletnoir wrote: "

I haven't read this, but there is a very interesting review in the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202......"

I read a similarly very interesting review of this, along with a new biography - Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith - in the NYRB Review:

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021...

(I think there's a firewall here...A few months ago, I fell for a "One year for practically nothing and a free gift of some sort or another" subscription. I've enjoyed every issue so far, and it's nice to read book reviews on paper now and then.)

[Bill]

Lljones wrote: "I read a similarly very interesting review of this, along with a new biography - Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith"

It's hard to believe that a biography as bad as the NYRB suggests it is was published by Bloomsbury. The Guardian isn't very favorable, either
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

Dwight Garner rave-reviewed the diaries in the NY Times.

The whole book is excellent. Highsmith is pointed and dry about herself and everything else. But the early chapters are special. They comprise one of the most observant and ecstatic accounts I’ve read — and it’s a crowded field! — about being young and alive in New York City.

He also mentions her work in comic books and the fact that she knew Stan Lee.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/bo...

[MK]

If any here are also interested in gardens (and history), I recommend https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/

They have a weekly email which has been known to send me off to other places. This week I went for a snippet from the Windrush exhibit (2018) at the British Library.

[Lljones]

MK wrote: "If any here are also interested in gardens (and history), I recommend https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/

They have a weekly email which has been known to send me off to other places. This week I went f..."

Thanks for that link, MK. Saw several items at the upcoming Beautiful & Useful Craft Fair I'm now lusting for!

[SydneyH]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Yes, I've read it and it's wonderful."

Marvellous - thank you very much. I'm also tempted by Pubbore's suggestion of This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson.

[MK]

You know you've seen something about something before but you can't remember who? Well, that's me.

Here's a link about a Marvel book for someone - https://www.wweek.com/arts/books/2021...

[Bill]

MK wrote: "You know you've seen something about something before but you can't remember who? Well, that's me.

Here's a link about a Marvel book for someone - https://www.wweek.com/arts/books/2021......"

For some reason the job description of "A comics history professor at Portland State University" made me think of the Cohen brothers title, A Serious Man.

At any rate, everything I've read about Wolk's book describes his reading "the 27,000 comic books that Marvel published between 1961 and today"*, so it seems a bit tendentious to cite "Captain America punched out Hitler a year before the U.S. entered World War II," as being relevant to his project, even if his reading included - which I haven't seen clarified -the many reprint projects undertaken by Marvel during that time.

*Junot Diaz' NY Times review:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/bo...
I loved the reader comment, "My mom said reading comic books would ruin my mind. Instead they ruined the movie business."

[FrancesBurgundy]

SydneyH wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Yes, I've read it and it's wonderful."

Marvellous - thank you very much. I'm also tempted by Pubbore's suggestion of This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson."

Yes, This Thing of Darkness is good, but Darwin's own writings are the tops IMHO.

[[deleted user]]

Never read any NG, but you are encouraging me. I met someone once who for a couple of years doubled as a research assistant for NG and as a post-graduate student doing her doctoral thesis on NG (is that allowed?), so I've had her in mind for decades, just never done anything about it, not knowing where to start.

[scarletnoir]

I know many of us like maps, but what to make of maps and locations which are imaginary? I became aware from a piece in the local rag that Aberystwyth-based author Rhys B. Davies and Matt Brown have recently published an ... an interesting idea.

I don't know either author and can't comment on the book as I haven't read it, but it seems to me that many books where geographical features matter in the narrative should include maps - too often, they don't.

How could my younger self have possibly understood the goings on on Treasure Island, without this?

https://digital.nls.uk/rlstevenson/pi...

The BBC carried a report and interview with Mr Davies here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-5...

[CCCubbon]

Yesterday we made the Christmas puddings. MrC stirred as I added ingredients. Mine has a few more than the traditional thirteen and the mixture has been steeping in a bowl overnight prior to the long boiling today.

it will go into a basin for this rather than the old way of boiling in a
cloth to make a 'speckled cannon ball' as Mrs Cratchit might describe it.

The origins of the pudding with its suet, fruit and spices go way back to the twelfth century but it wasn't until Victorian times that it became so associated with Christmas. I believe that's when the cards and trees really became popular too. The pudding used to be called plum pudding because raisins were known as plums then and 'figgy pudding’ was another name which predates both. I found this

Figgy pudding dates back to the 14th century and was a much different dish ‘than what we refer to as figgy pudding today.  It was more of a wet, sticky, thick porridge consisting of boiled figs, water, wine, ground almonds, raisins and honey.  It later evolved into incorporating ground meat and grains and then later still evolved into a steamed pudding that was made with raisins.’

I used to put silver coins into the mixture when the family were young but have only a solitary silver threepenny bit left now and have squirrelled it away. I shall make a few extras puddings for my children and their families

[AB76]

Russell wrote: "Never read any NG, but you are encouraging me. I met someone once who for a couple of years doubled as a research assistant for NG and as a post-graduate student doing her doctoral thesis on NG (is..."

i would suggest her second novel "World of Strangers" is a good starting point, with the mixing of society in the early decades of apartheid as a topic, a theme than runs through the early novels

[AB76]

On style: Erpenbeck vs Gordimer

Hard to directly compare as one is in translation but its interesting to switch between the pared down and precise style of Erpenbeck in "Visitation" and the more "busy", intense approach of Gordimer. While Eprenbeck may carefully set a scene with economy, Gordimer lets the metaphors and sentences wind and retract, both styles appeal, though being very different,

I notice similarities to Gordimer in a lot of 1950s and 1960s female fiction, not sure if there were influences here in the english speaking literary world but less is more was not part of the deal.

Interestingly Raymond WIlliams in his essay collection, laments the publishing world of the 1950s and 60s in that 80,000 word limits were imposed and longer novels rejected, i think he may mean a coterie of publishers perhaps not the whole system but i must explore this

[Lljones]

scarletnoir wrote: "I know many of us like maps, but what to make of maps and locations which are imaginary? I became aware from a piece in the local rag that Aberystwyth-based author Rhys B. Davies and Matt Brown hav..."

I have a similar title stashed away in a storage box. Hoping mb will come along and remind me of the title.

[[deleted user]]

AB76 wrote: "...World of Strangers ..." Thanks, AB. I'm asking the library if they can find a copy.

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "I know many of us like maps, but what to make of maps and locations which are imaginary? I became aware from a piece in the local rag that Aberystwyth-based author Rhys B. Davies and Matt Brown hav..."

My shelves hold both An Atlas Of Fantasy and The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic, and I suspect that neither of these are the volume our moderator refers to in her post.

[Georg]

A story about a 72yo woman, who has recently been widowed, acquired an abandoned puppy, sold the marital home (in some neck of the woods) to move to a more modest home (in another neck of the woods) hundreds of miles away. Taking the dog, the ashes of her late husband and enough money to last her the rest of her life.

This could be an exploration of grief. Or of a marriage that wasn't entirely happy. Or a mystery, after she found a strange note on a path in the forest: "Her name was Magda. No one will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. "

I'll never find out. And I am convinced that there is nothing whatsoever to find if I were to continue.

I should have abandoned it around p30. I made it to 80. There is no story, there is no character development. 80 pages of such relentless mindnumbing dullness that I'd rather re-read Erpenbeck's "Visitation" from beginning to end than another two pages of this.