The Logogryph: A Bibliography of Imaginary Books

A bibliography of imaginary books and "a sort of a riddle" as defined on one of the first pages of the book. I could end my review here, and state that enough is said already. Maybe adding that the book was lovely, enjoyable and thoughtful, even though I'd understand if someone said it is merely annoying.

Logogryph consists of stories or passages of text that mostly seem to be unrelated - they mostly are about stories or books, though - even though there always is a feeling of the presence of the big plan, that there is something that puts the writings together.

In the beginning a boy gets lost, and ends up in a big garden of a big house where he befriends with the family that lives there, an English lady and her two children who are show more slightly older than the boy, an mostly absent father. He returns there time after time - until something happens in the family and things start to change.

On one his last visits to the family he is presented a big old suitcase full of old books, English classics & some historical texts.

This storyline is dropped for a while, and other kind of stories follow: the story of the inventor of paper, one about a travelling fransiscan who collects stories of the Mexican indigenous people soon after the conquest, an essay on Atlantean literary fashions, story of two avid readers who wage a verbal war in the margins of second-hand books, there are lists, stories about stories (in a very Borgesian way), stories about more books, and once in a while a short passage about the later life of the boy, who has become a writer, a father, an ex-husband, a dreamer... and then you get it: there is a big picture. show less

I kept bouncing back and forth between feeling that the Logogryph was transcendent, and the feeling that it never quite lived up to its potential.

I think I will like it better on a second read, where I can leave my expectations behind and just experience the narrative.

The Logogryph reminds me quite a bit of Calvino's Cities and various Borges stories, but has its own form and feel.

Recommended only for readers who don't mind a narrative that wanders like a river, or hops about like a frog. Wharton's prose is lovely and his ideas very inventive. If you don't mind riding the winds, check this out.

Perhaps not as good as the first two books of Mr. Wharton. But still and engrossing read.

Original Content and Plot

Ho scovato questo libro per caso, come spesso accade, e sono rimasta molto intrigata dalla trama. Un libro che parla di libri che vanno oltre i loro limiti: prometteva davvero di essere avvincente.

La prima metà lo è stata davvero. Ogni personaggio è così peculiare da far divorare una pagina dopo l'altra per saperne di più su di lui. Il castello del conte, poi, pieno di misteri, ingranaggi e libri rari è affascinante e promette sviluppi interessanti. Già pregustavo scenari pieni di significato quando sono arrivata alla seconda metà e il mio entusiasmo si è bruscamente raffreddato.

Qui, infatti, il romanzo perde il fascino del mistero e assume uno sconfortante guazzabuglio di azioni che vorrebbero essere avventure, ma hanno il show more solo merito di confondere il lettore, di fargli perdere il senso delle vicende (oltre che annoiarlo in alcuni punti). Un vero peccato, perché era un libro pieno di potenziale: a quale lettore non piacerebbe leggere la storia del libro infinito? show less

Ni un essai, ni un roman, l'idée de ce livre était peut-être plus séduisante que sa réalisation. En fait, la quatrième de couverture et quelques entrevues et critiques promettaient tellement plus. J'ai aimé toutefois quelques-uns des passages, quelques-unes des idées, quelques-unes des élucubrations bibliophiles, plusieurs des livres impossibles. Je demeure sur ma faim, mais l'auteur et son imagination débridée m'ont mis en appétit de ces livres dignes de la bibliothèque de Borges.

[http://rivesderives.blogspot.ca/2017/03/logogryphe-une-bibliographie-de-livres.html]