hayden
Well-known member
For the record, this is my favourite book.
Glad to hear it struck a chord. It's beautiful work.
Recently finished books?
- Thread starter Mirabell
- Start date
For the record, this is my favourite book.
Glad to hear it struck a chord. It's beautiful work.
Leseratte
Well-known member
Lima Barreto - The Decline and Fall of Policarpo Quaresma : 2014 translation of Francis Johnson, available only in Kindle format. Last decade of 19th century Brazil, around the period of navy revolt, Barreto writes about the 'neo republican, strong patriotic, all things Brazilian' , your typical modern day traditionalist in Quaresma. Despite his notions of nation and society and the regular set backs, he carries his life and his surroundings in his way. I get a feeling that Lima Barreto is attempting in ridiculing the present state of the country in his 'satirical', mocking way of depiction of his characters. Interesting book, impressed too.
is the realistic context where Policarpo´s visionary idealism gets sistematically broken down.
Thank you for the context and back ground. Yes, that is the feeling I get, when I read.
Leseratte
Well-known member
Sorry Jayan. My reply got mixed up with your evaluation of the book. I tried to delete it but didn´t succeed.
Phil D
Well-known member
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Dany Laferrière - Comment faire l'amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer (How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired) - (++)Two poor young bohemian Black men – Vieux, our narrator, budding novelist, and Bouba, Freudian-Muslim-mystique – share a tiny apartment during a stifling Montreal summer, picking up women, listening to jazz, theorising about sex and race, and reading and writing.
The characters are all, quite deliberately, not unique individuals but types, de-individuated in a cultural milieu where skin colour and gender determine the way people relate to each other. The writing is witty, stylish, ironic and self-conscious, and the result is both amusing and insightful. Highly recommended; I look forward to reading more by the same author.
hayden
Well-known member
Two poor young bohemian Black men – Vieux, our narrator, budding novelist, and Bouba, Freudian-Muslim-mystique – share a tiny apartment during a stifling Montreal summer, picking up women, listening to jazz, theorising about sex and race, and reading and writing.
The characters are all, quite deliberately, not unique individuals but types, de-individuated in a cultural milieu where skin colour and gender determine the way people relate to each other. The writing is witty, stylish, ironic and self-conscious, and the result is both amusing and insightful. Highly recommended; I look forward to reading more by the same author.
Can't quite remember if I did, but I think I nominated Laferriere for our Wolfie at somepoint or another. As much as I recommend How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired (which became his most popular most likely because of the title, which he later analyzes in later writings), The Return and A Drifting Year are probably my favourites by him. Has that crude blunt poeticness of Bukowski.
Phil D
Well-known member
Would be more than happy to read him as a Wolfie nominee
Ben Jackson
Well-known member
Anytime I want to go poetic, I usually pick up this book that you just reviewed. I love the language so much.
Ben Jackson
Well-known member
Anytime I want to go poetic, I usually pick up this book that you just reviewed. I love the language so much
Everything about Jimenez is astonishing. I haven't read Platero and I yet, but you're a big fan of 20th Century European Poetry, Jimenez's one unforgettable poet. Have you read his other poems, Hayden?
SpaceCadet
Quiet Reader
My latest reads:
Marie-Claire Blais, Soifs.
This novel has been translated into English as : These Festive Nights ; into Spanish as : Sed ; and into German as Drei Nächte, drei Tage
It is said that when she started writing this novel although Marie-Claire Blais expected that it would eventually grow into a trilogy or something like that, she definitely had not foreseen that it would turn into a decalogy and that it would keep her busy for more than 25 years.
Although it is the first part of this monumental piece of literature, Soifs can be read on its own. But since it does not recount a particular story and does not really develop around a givent plot, it is quite hard to summarize. The action takes place in the 1990’s, on an island located somewhere between the Atlantic ocean and the Caribean sea and introduces us to a pléiade of mostly non native people living or staying on this island. Narrated at the third person singular, yet espousing a form akin to stream of consciousness, the whole novel is written in one go (no paragraph, no chapter, and with just the occasional period to pause). Deployed along a somewhat circular narrative line and alternating point of views, it provides a sort of kaleidoscopic entry into each character inner thoughts. As the French title indicates Soifs is about thirst, longing, or dying, in their many variations. It gently takes us into a whirlpool of lives at a given time and place and leaves us with an intuitive perception of how transient things are. Remarquably well done and well written.
In the mean time, I have been breakfasting with Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.
The story takes place in the 5th century BC and tells of a Roman general named Gaius Marcius (later renamed Coriolanus), whose longstanding exploits and service to the nation pave the way for him to endorse a career in politics. It is obvious from the start that he is no politician, and he does not seem to crave power. Nevertheless, even if Coriolanus does not possess the skills for the job being pressed by his peers and family to embark on that journey, he goes for it. Of course he does the wrong things, and soon he finds himself in trouble. In a reverse situation, after befriending his formal foes, he becomes their ally and turns against Rome. Of course, all this ends tragically, but the play ends quite abruptly, leaving us to wonder what would come next. Overall, this play left me rather confused. Thinking about it over and over again, it is clear that my reading was greatly impacted by the ambivalent behavior of the main character. I could not make up my mind about his motivations, about why he did this or that, etc. One of the consequence to this is that there are many ways to interpret this play. I don’t know which I would prefer, but one thing is certain; once again dear Shakespeare has manage to feed my thoughts about humankind.
Marie-Claire Blais, Soifs.
This novel has been translated into English as : These Festive Nights ; into Spanish as : Sed ; and into German as Drei Nächte, drei Tage
It is said that when she started writing this novel although Marie-Claire Blais expected that it would eventually grow into a trilogy or something like that, she definitely had not foreseen that it would turn into a decalogy and that it would keep her busy for more than 25 years.
Although it is the first part of this monumental piece of literature, Soifs can be read on its own. But since it does not recount a particular story and does not really develop around a givent plot, it is quite hard to summarize. The action takes place in the 1990’s, on an island located somewhere between the Atlantic ocean and the Caribean sea and introduces us to a pléiade of mostly non native people living or staying on this island. Narrated at the third person singular, yet espousing a form akin to stream of consciousness, the whole novel is written in one go (no paragraph, no chapter, and with just the occasional period to pause). Deployed along a somewhat circular narrative line and alternating point of views, it provides a sort of kaleidoscopic entry into each character inner thoughts. As the French title indicates Soifs is about thirst, longing, or dying, in their many variations. It gently takes us into a whirlpool of lives at a given time and place and leaves us with an intuitive perception of how transient things are. Remarquably well done and well written.
In the mean time, I have been breakfasting with Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.
The story takes place in the 5th century BC and tells of a Roman general named Gaius Marcius (later renamed Coriolanus), whose longstanding exploits and service to the nation pave the way for him to endorse a career in politics. It is obvious from the start that he is no politician, and he does not seem to crave power. Nevertheless, even if Coriolanus does not possess the skills for the job being pressed by his peers and family to embark on that journey, he goes for it. Of course he does the wrong things, and soon he finds himself in trouble. In a reverse situation, after befriending his formal foes, he becomes their ally and turns against Rome. Of course, all this ends tragically, but the play ends quite abruptly, leaving us to wonder what would come next. Overall, this play left me rather confused. Thinking about it over and over again, it is clear that my reading was greatly impacted by the ambivalent behavior of the main character. I could not make up my mind about his motivations, about why he did this or that, etc. One of the consequence to this is that there are many ways to interpret this play. I don’t know which I would prefer, but one thing is certain; once again dear Shakespeare has manage to feed my thoughts about humankind.