Posted on 02/17/2006 8:31:22 AM PST by Borges
'Tis my favorite novel of all time, that. A 1,000+ page page-turner.
Come on now which ones do you think are overrated? That's what this thread is for. :-)
Ullysses sucks. It's a classic example of the "all about me" attitude that started with modernism and came to marvelous fruition in postmodernism.
But if you want to read about the mental masturbation of a middleaged guy who can't get his act together, really, then read it.
And then I'll be ready to fight everyone!
Elaine: (to the phone)Yeah. Oh! What? He is! Oh! this is so fantastic! I'm so excited! Yes I'm excited, OK I'll be in soon! OK, OK, I'm coming, yeah, yeah I'm coming, I'm coming! (Elaine jumps up and dances around) Yuri Testikov, the Russian writer!
Jerry: The guy in the gulag!
Elaine: Yeah! Pendant's publishing his new book, and I'm working on it! Lippman and I are going to the airport to pick him up Thursday in a limousine!
Jerry: You wanna barrow Golden Boy!
Elaine: Oh! Don't you know what this means, it's like working with Tolstoy!
Jerry: Hey ya know what I read the most unbelievable thing about Tolstoy the other day, did you know the original title for "War and Peace" was "War--What Is It Good For?"!
Elaine: Ha ha.
Jerry: No, no.. I'm not kidding Elaine it's true, his mistress didn't like the title and insisted him change it to "War and Peace"!
Elaine: But it's a line from that song!
Jerry: That's were they got it from!
Elaine: Really?
Jerry: I'm not joking!
One critic said it was the ultimate culmination of the Romantic movement and its ethos of the Self. A novel that could only be understood by its writer.
Finnegan's Wake is fun.
It's best experienced by having a small group in a room, and having a reader read short segments.
In some ways, it's like the largest literary pun ever attempted, and the fun is in the cross-referencing.
Half a page with the right reader and you feel like you've had a quick hit of scotch. Good scotch.
I've read at least big selections of 40 or so of them.
Bah!
Just call me Ishmael....(Ishmael knitting? That's an interesting picture....)
I think he ecluded works that are complete fantasy (Gulliver's Travels, Gargantua and Pantagruel).
Dos Passos, while I like his work a bit, shouldn't be on this list. I think the gothics are under-represented, too. Matthew Lewis' The Monk deserves a look, and so does James Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justifiable Sinner.
I think it's more like haggis.
I read Magic Mountain one Christmas break when I had a nasty bronchitis...Interesting experience...
BOOKMAN: Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y'know that little stamp, the one that says "New York Public Library"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's this guy making such a big stink about old library books? Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers? Doesn't HE deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to read a book without getting his mind warped! Or: maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over. Y'got seven days, Seinfeld. That is one week!
Romantics did get rather self-centered.
I do like Joyce's use of language. I just disliked his characters enough to decide it isn't worth it in Ullysses.
Buddenbrooks is a much better novel, IMO.
50 YARDS TO THE OUTHOUSE - by Willie Makeit
BROKEBACK IRISHMEN - by Michael Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitzmichael
I'M AN AMERICAN, I'M SORRY - by Jimmy Carter
Only the Clouds? One MUST read Lysistrata. One should read the Frogs. One must read Aristophanes with Euripides or else you miss why he picked on him so often.
But I have a sneaking, slightly wicked fondness for the Thesmophoriazusae (In the Penguin editions called the Poet and the Women.) I have a certain fondness for the Wasps as well.
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