What are we reading? 17/06/2024

[scarletnoir]

Robert wrote: "Don't know that one. I've enjoyed Portis' True Grit and The Dog of the South. This one sounds like a good read.."

I haven't liked it much so far - it's on a long pause, possibly permanent. I liked all Portis's other novels either very much, or a lot (that's slightly less!), but not really this one.

Why not? Well, the characters are deluded people who create a cult or religion... this sort of thing makes for such an easy target, it's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Too easy, so not very funny - IMO. So far, anyway - I'm paused on p.72.

If you want more Portis, I recommend 'Gringos' and 'Norwood'.

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "I think Macron's failings are outweighing his qualities, although mentally comparing him with recent British leaders has often made him look good.

Dissolving the Assemblée was a stupidly reckless act which I'm afraid is going to backfire spectacularly. The first round of voting is today — not for me as I don't have French nationality.."

Madame would agree with you. She thinks Macron is arrogant and doesn't listen to anyone. His gamble has led today to an estimated 34% for the extreme right, 28% for the (extreme-ish) left and only 20% for centre-right parties. It will be a disaster if Le Pen's gang win an overall majority in the second round next week.

[scarletnoir]

Francis wrote: "Re the discussion on political leaders as Authors, might Vaclav Havel be worth a mention?"

Most definitely. I can remember at least one play of his being televised (on BBC, I think) at a time when he was under house arrest. It was very good iirc. There was also a very funny interview/documentary, in which - from his garden - he pointed out the secret police who were keeping him under observation.

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "Why not? Well, the characters are deluded people who create a cult or religion... this sort of thing makes for such an easy target, it's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel."

I wouldn't say that Portis is shooting fish in a barrel because I don't think his attitude is hostile to the brotherhood of the Gnomons but rather a kind of bemused sympathy, as Lethem indicates.

I thought True Grit was far and away Portis' best and, though I read through all 5 novels, didn't especially care for the others. Of these I probably liked Masters of Atlantis best, maybe since I was an occasional reader of Fate magazine in my youth.

I copied out the following passage from the novel. which I found one of the more amusing things Portis wrote:

Through a friend at the big Chicago marketing firm of Targeted Sales, Inc., he got his hands on a mailing list titled “Odd Birds of Illinois and Indiana,” which, by no means exhaustive, contained the names of some seven hundred men who ordered strange merchandise through the mail, went to court often, wrote letters to the editor, wore unusual headgear, kept rooms that were filled with rocks or old newspapers. In short, independent thinkers, who might be more receptive to the Atlantean lore than the general run of men. Lamar was a little surprised to find his own name on the list. It was given as “Mr. Jimmerson.” His gossiping neighbors in Skokie, it seemed, had put him down for an odd bird. They had observed him going into his garage late at night in a pointed cap and had speculated that he was building a small flying machine behind those locked doors, or pottering around with a toy railroad or a giant ball of twine.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "My habit with unfamiliar literary terms is to associate them with specific authors or works once I have read several critics apply the term to them.

When teaching science, I found it incredibly useful to use examples when explaining stuff to pupils - for example, ask them where they'd find a 'transformer' in the house and they don't have a clue. Tell them their phone charger is one, and what it does... they get it.

I think the same can in principle work in arts subjects, but the problem is that the terms tend to be more loosely defined and understood. People can often 'disagree' because they use the terms in a different way. Science forces people to be very exact, though problems arise with new phenomena and areas of research - things end up with more than one name.

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I think Macron's failings are outweighing his qualities, although mentally comparing him with recent British leaders has often made him look good.

Dissolving the Assemblée was a stupi..."

looks like there is a chance for tactical voting by Melanchon and Macron candidates to lessen the right wing impact in the second stage of voting

[Gpfr]

Results at 22.48:
737 candidats qualifiés pour le second tour, 267 sont des candidats RN-LR, 215 du NFP, 158 d’Ensemble et 39 de LR.

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "Results at 22.48:
737 candidats qualifiés pour le second tour, 267 sont des candidats RN-LR, 215 du NFP, 158 d’Ensemble et 39 de LR."

tactical voting....fight the right...gotta be done now

[Berkley]

scarletnoir wrote: "I've read your interesting comments on autofiction... they tend to confirm my feeling that the term is somewhat slippery, and used in different ways by different people. I'm sympathetic, in that it...

...

There is also an interesting article by Brooke Warner, who denies that autofiction even exists as a genre:

"The term autofiction serves a purpose when it is applied in its original meaning—to describe a novel that draws from real life—but autofiction is not and has never been a genre. "

I'm beginning to wonder if the term serves any useful prupose. Perhaps it might be better viewed as a technique rather than a genre - one of the many tools available to any author of fiction to use or refrain from using as he or she sees fit.

It just occurred to me, where does the roman à clef fit into all this? It would appear to share a few of the characteristics of what some people seem to have in mind when they speak of autofiction.