Member: DavidX

Thank you very much! And yes, please do.

posted by alysian_fields at 7:04 am (EST) on Nov 10, 2009

Hey, I appreciate that. Truth be told, I actually read the book at least 15 years ago. It left its mark (as you can attest). I started thinking about it yesterday and decided to just write a short synopsis, but then noticed that you had already done an excellent review which I could hardly improve upon. I figured the best thing would be to just give a taste of it, and an awareness of Kubin's artistic achievements, for benefit of the uninitiated.

We seem to have a remarkable similarity of taste in books. I'm currently reading Shelley's St. Irvine/Zastrozzi in the Oxford pb edition. But I've just receive Pamuk's new one, and another Gracq in the mail today, so Percy might just have to wait.

By the way, my edition of Kubin is the version in the old Penguin Modern Classics series. This is the same series as published my beloved volumes of Peake's Gormenghast.

posted by Makifat at 9:34 pm (EST) on Nov 7, 2009

This thread is now dead.

You don't know how tempted I am to respond that the thread is now undead, but I shall let it stand as is. Thanks for a fun time.

posted by Makifat at 6:53 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2009

Yo david !! what a superb idea !!

Please add following link to your thread :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTcZbVV8y...

posted by Macumbeira at 2:50 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2009

Thank you my friend, unfortunately, I have no effing idea how to upload a picture.

Sad, isn't it?

posted by Makifat at 10:39 pm (EST) on Oct 25, 2009

Hi David,

I found the complete electronic version of "Varney the vampire"

Check here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng...

posted by castel15 at 10:30 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2009

Hi David,

I found the complete electronic version of "Varney the vampire"

Check here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng...

posted by castel15 at 10:30 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2009

Hi David,

I found the complete electronic version of "Varney the vampire"

Check here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng...

posted by castel15 at 10:30 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2009

impressed by your AZAZEL point!

posted by Macumbeira at 3:20 am (EST) on Sep 17, 2009

when will get more about schalken and le fanu ?

posted by Macumbeira at 1:31 am (EST) on Sep 14, 2009

Tell me about it !
I'm off to the office where they will grill me that I haven't prepared the ISO 9000 meeting this weekend !

Ofcourse I didn't, I went windsurfing ! WOOHOO

posted by Macumbeira at 1:30 am (EST) on Sep 14, 2009

Human Condition is 9 hrs long! Gorgeous black and white cinemascope! Probably
Nakadai's best.
Incidentally, I recommended "Beckett on Film" to Ben; recent films of all the plays
also available from netflix.

posted by tros at 12:50 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

I'm looking foraward to seeing it again. It's been 35 yrs or so. Still favorite film of all-time with Harakiri and Kwaidan.

posted by tros at 5:08 pm (EST) on Aug 16, 2009

"Human Condition" will be available next month on netflix. Hurray! ;-)

posted by tros at 10:21 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

Thanks David for that awesome recommendation! What a perfect gift for Valentine's Day!

Babye

posted by thenaughtyhottie at 12:10 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2009

Not at all, thank you. You said everything I would have said if I'd been around. That old "paid by the word" canard makes my blood boil.
It's so unfair that an artist who cared so passionately about his craft and its dignity should be labelled a hack by people with tin ears.
Thanks
AC

posted by AuntieCatherine at 12:01 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2009

Thank you for your gracious note and for making me a LibraryThing "friend". Look forward to discussing great writing with you for a LONG tome to come.

posted by CliffBurns at 5:04 pm (EST) on Jun 23, 2009

Dave: slide me the name of the best English translation of THIEF'S JOURNAL, will you? There are a couple I'm considering, one the Grove Press edition (1991) and the other is the 2004 edition from Olympia Press (which I'm partial to because of the "glorious" history of that press).

posted by CliffBurns at 11:52 am (EST) on Jun 23, 2009

Hi David,

Thanks for the compliment! I love Twilight, totally, ya know? How'd you know? What bookstore do you work at? Maybe I'll have to drop by sometime. I'd love to take a look at your books! I thought you might enjoy this clip I linked - it makes me think of me too! Woohoo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVE3UTIg...

Are you single?

posted by thenaughtyhottie at 12:34 am (EST) on Jun 12, 2009

Thanks again for that link! It's on my profile page as "my personal philosophy and mission statement". Btw, I have a daughter with Down Syndrom & autism so I'm especially sensitive to the idea that the real "freaks" among us in society are the ones masquerading as "normal" - whatever "normal" is - the ones who don't look so "freakish" on the outside, but inside, they're wacko Jacko! Well, maybe wacko jacko's not a good example.

;-)

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 12:43 am (EST) on Jun 9, 2009

Thanks for your kind words. If I had read a couple of the excellent reviews of Bulgakov on LT (yours in particular) prior to posting, I might not have bothered! (I'm still looking for a nice cheap copy of Zanoni, per your wonderful review.)

I'm hoping that the Baudelaire excerpt on Poe will stimulate some discussion on that thread. After several years lapse, I'm reading Les Fleurs du Mal again and realizing why I fell in love with "decadent" literature in the first place. Beautiful stuff!

You may have noticed that I've begun another blog, Tijuana Bible, which I had originally envisioned as a private group on LT (but there are quite enough of those already). The emphasis, I expect, will be on visual and aural arts. I have a mania for macabre animation of the 20's and 30's, which I'm enjoying sharing with my children.

Regards,
Maki

posted by Makifat at 1:58 am (EST) on Jun 8, 2009

I love that link! I've meant to see that movie for years but for whatever foolish reason have yet to do so. I've got to see that soon! I may take your link and put it on my profile page. Thanks!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 12:16 am (EST) on Jun 8, 2009

Are you trying to say you don't like my library?

Well let me tell you something, Mister, you say I should read Shopaholic & Sister? Puhleez. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan is so much superior - a smarter man might've known that. I'm beginning to have second thoughts about you, you meanie-weenie you....

posted by thenaughtyhottie at 3:52 pm (EST) on Jun 7, 2009

Thanks David!

Just been going through your blog. Fascinating stuff! Need to get my hands on some Meyrink immediately. It's funny how we've seemed to move in very similar circles and yet until recently had not become acquainted with one another. Better late than never!

Best,
Brent

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 11:23 pm (EST) on Jun 6, 2009

Just read your review of Melmoth. Excellent.
Budelaire turned me on to Maturin back in the 60's. He mentions Melmoth in one of his essays. Not sure if it was "The Essence of Laughter".
How's "The Evil Guest"? LeFanu is another old favorite.

posted by tros at 1:19 am (EST) on May 28, 2009

Thanks. Sadly, I'm currently sans internet, so I may be a ghost for a while. I have to rely on others (or their absence ) to get online. Arg, as Chuck would say.

posted by ShanLizLuv at 1:04 am (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

I think I am going to Kilmt, perhaps this one

posted by urania1 at 10:02 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2009

My kitty is even prettier when she's awake. Of course, to see that rare phenomenon you have to have a good chunk of time and the ability to sit, staring, for hours on end. Even then, if you blink you could miss it.

posted by ShanLizLuv at 7:30 pm (EST) on Apr 12, 2009

Hmm, demonstrating it, I did it in bold rather than explaining.

one of these < then b then > your text to be bolded, < then /b and close with >

posted by polutropos at 3:00 pm (EST) on Mar 24, 2009

OK, italics and bolding:

for italics one of these < , then no space and the letter i, then no space and one of these > . Then the text you want italicized. To end the italics, one of these < , then no space /i ,then no space one of these >

bolding same thing, except with the letter b. So it is your text and then

posted by polutropos at 2:58 pm (EST) on Mar 24, 2009

David,

Sorry for the lapse. Thank you for note.

What can give a better recommendation for Sologub than such a rejection!

"These stories give further evidence of his rather unpleasant and overly sensual attitude towards life... The day for this type of story is passed."

I love finding odds and ends in old books - postcards, letters... luckily I have a bookstore near my home which is an old house (and several large storage sheds) filled with very old books. I spend my weekends spelunking in the stacks, breathing in dust, boric acid and aerosolized rodent dung - and more often than not I come up with a pearl (found a book on flagellants and another on bibliophilia which contains a chapter on books bound in "man-skin"). O depraved cruel world that has such pleasures in it!

posted by benwaugh at 8:28 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2009

What a dandy library! I can't believe, though, that it's in Oklahoma. It could only be housed in an ornate ivy covered crypt in Pere Lachaise or a locked storage shed in N.O.'s St. Louis Cemetery #1. Do you suppose that if I passed through Oklahoma and swung a bottle of absinthe on a thurible chain, it could locate your books, like a lodestone? I'm taking notes from your blog for my next Amazon binge.

posted by Ganeshaka at 1:21 am (EST) on Mar 21, 2009

Forgot to tell you I finished Melmoth. I was wondering how on Earth Maturin was going to find his way back up from the four or five layers of narrative. Anyhow, I loved it!

Three Drops of Blood is quite nice.

posted by slickdpdx at 12:13 am (EST) on Mar 3, 2009

David,

What a gorgeous poem! Just let me know when you are ready to read the Gracq.

posted by urania1 at 10:48 am (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

David,

You are pretty cool too. And it's not fair. I want to go to New York and see you and Paola. It's not fair!!!!

posted by urania1 at 7:10 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Tell Dennis to be good, then!
;-)

posted by aluvalibri at 4:28 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Meeting in Manhattan would be great! Let's make it happen, then.
:-))

posted by aluvalibri at 3:43 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

I work in NYC, but I don't live there.
The Strand is fantastic. Last time I was there was November, and I went with our friend Mary (urania1). It was lots of fun!
Where are you?

posted by aluvalibri at 3:13 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Ha ha ha!!!!
The painting is marvelous indeed! I also wish I looked so pretty when I recline on the couch to read and, since that is not the case, I wish at least I had a cushion as beautiful as that.
Thanks for the comments on my library. To tell you the truth, many of my books are, alas, in boxes. Their number keeps increasing, also because I have a fantastic used bookstore at about ten minutes from my house and, since it is one of the local libraries' bookstore, the prices are increadibly cheap and the stuff I have found at times, simply amazing. This is due to the fact that they also accept donations from privates. I go every Saturday morning, and never come home without a few books.
You also have a very impressive library. So far I have taken a cursory glance, but I will come back when I have more time.
By the way, I greatly enjoy reading your posts!

Paola :-))

posted by aluvalibri at 2:51 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Juan is now in the apartment of Adonijah...

Voyage is a clever diversion. The Nocturnal Expedition is meatier and more rewarding. Each is made of tiny chapters with big margins. The Voyage is worth picking up as long as you get an edition with both of them. My edition has a foreward by older brother Joseph De Maistre (at the end of the volume!) and a play about lepers as well. I haven't gotten to those yet.

posted by slickdpdx at 12:17 pm (EST) on Feb 3, 2009

I picked up Melmoth a few month ago after reading your review on superpremium. I started it last weekend. Wow! How did I miss this book? Thanks for pointing it out. Someday I may have to pick up that cool folio society edition.

posted by slickdpdx at 12:44 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2009

Thanks for commenting on my pre-raphaelite books. I'm a big fan of the movement and European Decadence in general. Good stuff.

posted by kswolff at 11:05 am (EST) on Jan 23, 2009

Regarding the Carl Larsson room. It already looks pretty cool. When it is finished it will be gorgeous or gloriously tacky.

posted by urania1 at 11:37 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2009

Slowly, very slowly getting better.

And Odysseus indeed.

posted by polutropos at 3:30 pm (EST) on Jan 6, 2009

The Dedalus 19th cent. French Horror was great. Just ordered
the Dedalus Decadents. Should be interesting. I'm going to have to work my way through more of them.

posted by tros at 10:03 am (EST) on Jan 4, 2009

Seraphita sounds good. A beautiful edition of it would be even better. I wonder if that's been done?

posted by urania1 at 3:32 pm (EST) on Dec 27, 2008

Davushka,

Have you read Eugenie Grandet? I noticed Dodo translated it early in his career. My conscience is now nudging me Balzac's way, although I'm digging in my heels. If you have read it, into which category does it fall: drudgery or delight? Further, can you recommend a god translation?

Hug,
Mamushka

posted by urania1 at 2:18 pm (EST) on Dec 27, 2008

I just read The Idiot. I was surprised to find it so much like a play. The Epanchin mom was my favorite character. I was constantly thinking about how if I was forced to write for TV I would cannibalize, update and bastardize it for characters, plot lines and dialogue. "If I wrote for Gossip Girl, how would I use this?" If anyone noticed, I would reluctantly confess and I'd be the intellectual toast of Tinseltown. For a day. Wheeeee!

posted by slickdpdx at 12:24 am (EST) on Dec 20, 2008

How is Marius?

posted by slickdpdx at 6:25 pm (EST) on Dec 19, 2008

I've seen The Read Shoes. I haven't seen [The Tales of Hoffman].

posted by urania1 at 6:18 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2008

Happy reading today :)

posted by urania1 at 10:34 am (EST) on Dec 10, 2008

Hey, I love your blog, especially the art blog. You introduced me to some artists with whom I was not familiar. I loved the Jean Delville "L'ecole de Platon," and the article on Sargent (with whom I am familiar) was definitely interesting. The pictures you showed of Simeon Solomon hit all of my pleasure buttons.

posted by urania1 at 10:42 pm (EST) on Dec 5, 2008

By the way, Hermit of Peking is an excellent bio of a fascinating character.

posted by Makifat at 12:08 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2008

Absolutely agree with you about Gore Vidal. The greatest living writer in the language period. No one else has his breadth, his range of style, his wit or intellectual power. I'm hoping against hope that the Nobel committee will do another Lessing and give the award to Vidal this year. It could be their last chance to award it to him, and he should have received it long ago. However, I think Myra's shade has a long reach, and that book probably scuppered his chances of getting it.

Alas, there was something wrong with the youtube link....

posted by tomcatMurr at 10:01 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2008

Thanks for getting in touch: I'm extremely excited!
You have a really interesting library and we have many interests in common, besides dissolution. (why wait until you grow up? Start immediately, say I!)
I notice that you have The Quest for Corvo. I had no idea this book was in print! Corvo was connected to the hermit of Peking, Edmund Backhouse, a notorious forger and pornographer. I have long wanted to read the Quest to learn more about this connection. off to amazon now! Backhouse wrote two scatalogical novels (both unpublished) about his sexual shennanigans with the Last Empress of China and her Eunuchs. Needless to say they are must reads, right?!

I notice you also have Steiner's Knowledge of the Higher Worlds (they appear to have changed the translation of your edition). I was brought up as an anthroposophist, both my parents are active anthros, I went to a waldorf school and read widely in Steiner's works when I was young and experimental (before I became a dandy).

Excellent blog! I'm enjoying reading your reviews. Do please stay in touch!
Murr

posted by tomcatMurr at 9:01 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2008

Thanks for the link to the Meyrink exhibition, some awesome images! Let us know how those Kubin translations differ when you're able to compare them.

posted by ajourneyroundmyskull at 10:51 am (EST) on Aug 20, 2008

I support that verdict on The Blind Owl - one of my favorites!

posted by benwaugh at 8:39 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2008

I'm glad you are enjoying The Blind Owl. It is such an absolutely unique work that it would be tough to think of anything comparable. For an author like Hedayat, the prospect of ever coming up with anything as complete and total as a work of art must have been a dismal thought.

In short - yes, a masterpiece...

posted by Makifat at 6:02 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2008

Also "Harakiri" is another all-time great film by Kobayashi
with Nakadai.

posted by tros at 11:43 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2008

Human Condition has been in my netflix queue for a long time.
I'm not holding my breath. ;-)HC is a tour-de-force performance
by Nakadai.

posted by tros at 11:39 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2008

"Human Condition" is 10 hrs long in 3 parts. From the
novel by Jumpei Gomikawa, which I've never found a trans.,
so it remains elusive.

posted by tros at 12:58 am (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

Hi Davidx,

Kwaidan is an old favorite; the book and the movie. There was a
shortened version with only 3 of the 4 stories. I think I've seen all
of Kobayashi. He's one of my all-time favorite directors. I'd recommend
"Human Condition"; four, three hour films, if I remember correctly.
Good luck finding it, though. ;-)

posted by tros at 11:55 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

"... a bootleg vhs of a japanese laser disc..."

The ONLY way to watch a film, as far as I'm concerned!

I appreciate your kind comments re my notes on Junger, et al. I always feel dreadfully inadequate about these little pieces, usually written and posted with little reflection as a 3 year old tugs my leg, or late at night, after a hard day of said leg tugging.

posted by Makifat at 1:28 pm (EST) on May 21, 2008

If you care, I've posted a short item about "The Holy Mountain" on my blog. If my review is too ambiguous, I'll say for the record that I liked it, for the occult elements as much as for the early 1970's wardrobe choices...

posted by Makifat at 11:26 am (EST) on May 21, 2008