Member: thorold

Yeah, I knew I had left some anachronicisms. I had not said that to make you read this d— old review. You are too curious! ;-) Speaking of Queneau, have you ever frequented the Oulipo's Virtual Headquarters group? (Although it isn't very active, actually.)

posted by Pepys at 4:21 am (EST) on Nov 4, 2009

I once wrote a review on Pride & Prejudice, trying to mimic Jane Austen's style, & I was quite proud of it. I got absolutely no 'thumb up'...

I found yours on Exercices de style really funny. Just one question: have you read it in French (as I can presume from your title) or in English? I wonder how the chapter entitled Pooh leze Onglais—or something like that—has been translated to English. If you read this book in French, did you appreciate the flavor of this particular chapter? If you read it in English, how did the translator proceed? A chapter dedicated to the French?

posted by Pepys at 2:50 am (EST) on Nov 3, 2009

Nice review on "Exercises in Style"! Congratulations!

posted by Pepys at 7:45 am (EST) on Oct 29, 2009

thorold, thank you for taking a minute to respond to my question on finding my ideal book. I'm excited to try your recommendations!

best,
Caroline, myidealbook

posted by myidealbook at 9:55 am (EST) on Sep 28, 2009

Hi! Thanks for responding to my post on Book clubs this morning. I'm still pretty new at librarything (Joined a couple years back - started actively using the site a couple weeks back) and am loving all the fellow booklovers I'm meeting out there.

Taking a quick look over your profile I see you're big into English (UK) mysteries. The only series of thoes I read were the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters, which I actually liked a lot!

Past that I'm about to start a book called 'The Father Brown Mysteries' by GK Chesterton, but as I haven't started it, I can't really comment yet.

Anyway, thanks again for the comment!

posted by bookmonkey00k at 4:08 pm (EST) on Sep 16, 2009

Just wrote a short review on Queneau's 'Exercises in Style' then came across yours. Like it!

posted by blackhornet at 3:38 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2009

Hi thorold:

Iʻm trained in Classical Greek, and I have no objection to "the hoi polloi" as an English phrase, any more than to "EL alcalde" as a Spanish phrase (It just means "the mayor" now, even though, literally, it originally "meant" "THE the judge".)

posted by rolandperkins at 5:11 pm (EST) on Jul 22, 2009

Never thought I'd find someone on LT who reads Pym, Ugresic, Chabon, and Wodehouse with a healthy smattering of poetry -- and have already found more in your collection to explore: viz. Krleza.

posted by andreajorgensen at 8:58 pm (EST) on Jul 16, 2009

It was very amusing. I thought it made a good joke out of a sunny yesteryear, though it might've got a bit thin over a quite long (fat med.) novel.
I was searching for another good Victorian read; having finished Gissing's, good, "New Grub Street" and recently a not so very enjoyable Trollope "Dr Wortle's School". I started a Dickens story, one I don't know, "The Old Curiosity Shop", it might not be for me, we'll see.

posted by armandine2 at 3:47 pm (EST) on Jul 12, 2009

I found your comments on Surtee's "Mr. Sponge's Sporting tour" most informative. I was surprised that you hadn't scored him higher, not that I have read the novel, although I was very tempted after hearing a lively dramaticisation on R4 recently. The dwindling stock of gentleman might be where we are heading.

posted by armandine2 at 12:54 pm (EST) on Jul 10, 2009

How approachable is Krleža?

Weeeelll... it depends much on who's asking. :) First, I have to mention that I have never read him in translation, and the unique mix of languages and dialects he employs probably suffers in "foreign representation". He was fully fluent in Hungarian, German and French, knew Italian and Russian, and dozens of dialects (languages in their own right). He had (and wrote as if he assumed in the reader) a tremendous erudition, and all his novels are informed by knowledge and curiosity about things most people nowadays ignore, from classics to 19th century histories, literature and politics of small obscure countries. Stylistically, he's straightforward, he was no modernist experimenter, if you discount a certain idiosyncratic verbal baroquishness which can fascinate or fatigue. It's his themes and contexts that present the biggest hurdle to a reader, and yet, I'd say he's essential to anyone interested in, for example, a rounded view of Austro-Hungary (including the literary Slavic counterparts to the more famous German ones), fin de siecle, the rise of Communism (he was a sympathiser from the inception of the Yugoslav Communist party in 1919), or, naturally, just generally in Slav and Balkan literature.

I've seen several of his books available in English (he is better represented in German, and in fact, if pressed to choose, I'd prefer to read him in German than English, assuming good translations into both). If you are interested in WWI, the collection of stories in Croatian god Mars is a must (I always regret that a hack like Remarque enjoys such recognition as a WWI writer, whereas the same audience doesn't even know Krleza's name). Then there's The return of Filip Latinowicz, The banquet in Blitva and On the edge of reason. I love them all. The Banquet is a satirical look at two quibbling neighbouring statelets--Krleza situates them in a carelessly fictional Baltic, but the references are clear (although, I wouldn't be surprised if the mechanisms he describes applied well to Estonia and Latvia; Norway and Sweden, and so on). Filip and Reason are two "Zagreb" novels--the Gotterdammerung of the Empire in the provinces, Krleza's grand theme.

My, my, I certainly went on... I could say tons more about him, but I hope I didn't miss answering your question in this prattle!

posted by LolaWalser at 8:26 am (EST) on Jul 10, 2009

Ah, I see--polyglot heaven! I must say you're probably in much better position to hear about translations from Croatian than I am! I look at Perlentaucher fairly regularly, and it's striking how much more is available in German, for instance.

Speaking of Italian, and seeing you're reading Baricco (whose Iliad retelling I liked a lot, but nothing else he wrote, in fact I actively disliked the rest), there IS one remarkable fairly recent Italian author I feel compelled to advertise: Elena Ferrante, especially I giorni dell'abbandono (translated as Days of abandonment). An amazing voice, searingly frank and original--there is nothing else like her in Italian lit (and wider).

By the way, if your Croatian-extracted friend is interested in Croatian Jews, I'd have other recs to make--none too many, but some.

posted by LolaWalser at 11:00 am (EST) on Jul 9, 2009

Hi! I'm afraid I won't be much help--literature is my escape, and I'm serious about escaping time as well as place, so I read, mostly, old and older stuff. (Add to that the usual difficulties of finding books in translation...) That said, I CAN make one recommendation for a recent Croatian book--Baba Yaga laid an egg by Dubravka Ugresic. It consists of two unequal parts, one a semi-autobiographical, novelistic treatment of the myth of Baba Yaga, involving the problems of author's ageing mother, and the exploits of three friends who go on a holiday to a Czech spa, folloowed by a shorter, scholarly exposition of the myth, delivered by one of the characters from the first part.

If you happen to have read (or perhaps seen filmed) some Russian stories about Baba Yaga, the witch who lives deep in a forest, in a house on hen's feet, you'll get an extra kick out of Ugresic's variation and such details (lost on the majority of the reading public, I fear) as her rhyming finales to chapters--a common Russian fairy tale device.

The tone is one of wry comedy, light satire, knowing irony, and even resilient joy--very much like Ugresic's pre-war novels. Would make an interesting "compare & contrast" study with your Pyms. If you do pick this book, I'd love to hear comments.

As for German, Dutch, French--nothing recent, I'm afraid. Well--I AM currently reading Littel's hefty Goncourt-winning Nazi saga, but that one needs a support group more than a book club... If your group goes for mysteries, I give a qualified nod to Fred Vargas, although I doubt she needs introducing...

I hope this helps at least a little bit!

posted by LolaWalser at 9:46 am (EST) on Jul 9, 2009

LOOK at all your Wodehouse! ---- and not in ratty paperbacks like mine!! And LOOK at the wonderful books that we both own. I'm not overly proud of my Flashman collection, but otherwise you have a number of my favorites. Well-met!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 9:24 pm (EST) on Jul 7, 2009

Hey, we both posted reviews of Right Ho, Jeeves today! Good stuff, eh wot? :)

posted by wisewoman at 4:21 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2009