tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42205875029625399082024-03-05T11:43:58.896-08:00The Excerpt ReaderI'm the Excerpt Reader.
I read and review book excerpt for the Wired generation.
Drop me an email if you want to suggest a title for me to review.A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-18013661136138957392017-03-02T01:49:00.002-08:002017-03-02T01:57:37.434-08:00Excerpt: Teju Cole's Known and Stranger Things<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.tejucole.com/">Teju Cole</a> has a new book out. Whoope! Finally! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.de/">The Excerpt Reader</a> has been looking forward to reading something new from this young and (very) talented writer ever since reading his excellent debut novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Open-City-Novel-Teju-Cole-ebook/dp/B004C43GF6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488444963&sr=1-1&keywords=open+city+teju+cole&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969"><i>Open City</i></a>. Whilst waiting impatiently for a new book, I've also read <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Every-Day-Thief-Teju-Cole/dp/0812985850/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0812985850&pd_rd_r=ZTQHTQK9N03KRAK66C0Q&pd_rd_w=2DvfB&pd_rd_wg=CTwdm&psc=1&refRID=ZTQHTQK9N03KRAK66C0Q&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Every Day Is for the Thief</a></i>, a book which, to my eye, walks the border between Fiction and Non-Fiction. </span></span><br />
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</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hbhlexUrUiMvWOH6VREfIF2-C1sgaOoWAZhWfLpgKQ_mwdd7H5Lln9hEaPh7Md1T8L8Wz_GsUOjzxrNc75Lj4q9uYtAwjw-tOkZyTCjoOGlw1mMNz-5szDv9Bj3VMGPlHsmGFRghWmU/s1600/Known+and+Strange+Things+Teju+Cole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hbhlexUrUiMvWOH6VREfIF2-C1sgaOoWAZhWfLpgKQ_mwdd7H5Lln9hEaPh7Md1T8L8Wz_GsUOjzxrNc75Lj4q9uYtAwjw-tOkZyTCjoOGlw1mMNz-5szDv9Bj3VMGPlHsmGFRghWmU/s200/Known+and+Strange+Things+Teju+Cole.jpg" width="125" /></span></a><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So now we have a new book, after 4 years of waiting. It's a compilation of essays Cole has written in the past 8 years, some of which were published in <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/search?q=teju%20cole&start=11">The New Yorker</a>. The title is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Known-Strange-Things-Teju-Cole/dp/0812989783/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Known and Strange Things: Essays</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As a customer review on Amazon points out, <i>'This book of essays by Teju Cole aren’t always essays: they might be scraps of thought, well-digested and to an immediate point.' </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/black-body-re-reading-james-baldwins-stranger-village">Here's an excerpt</a> from the book. It's the opening chapter.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Judging by the excerpt, Cole's writing in this tome of essays is very intimate, pensive and revealing at times.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In this opening chapter, Cole writes about a visit to the town of Leuk, Switzerland, following the footsteps of renowned writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin">James Baldwin</a>, who also spent a while in this town, back in 1951. Baldwin recorded his experience of being the only black person in a small Swiss town in his essay, “<i>Stranger in the Village.</i>” </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Being a black man himself, Cole sympathizes with Baldwin:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkpegI9I5KYblD47Dd-5_0Ior39QGGpROWbWefoLVEsiy9Jo0p9PdVL_P607WZmzTIPn3XLEQP1hYJbYge85HxoYStp7zGGDHckcLnppzl9So8b_jFeZFcFOabHHeQNwosHxpUjpZR8Hk/s1600/teju+cole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkpegI9I5KYblD47Dd-5_0Ior39QGGpROWbWefoLVEsiy9Jo0p9PdVL_P607WZmzTIPn3XLEQP1hYJbYge85HxoYStp7zGGDHckcLnppzl9So8b_jFeZFcFOabHHeQNwosHxpUjpZR8Hk/s200/teju+cole.jpg" width="133" /></span></a><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span class="s1"><i>To be a stranger is to be looked at, but to be black is to be looked at especially [...] </i></span><i>To be black is to bear the brunt of selective enforcement of the law, and to inhabit a psychic unsteadiness in which there is no guarantee of personal safety. You are a black body first, before you are a kid walking down the street or a Harvard professor who has misplaced his keys.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>In 2013 as in 1951, to be black, indeed to be a person of color in a predominantly white environment, is to be singled out, pre-judged. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There is one huge difference, though. As Cole rightly points out, the cultural world Baldwin inhabited was still predominantly white. Black art - be it music, literature, or painting - was regarded with skepticism and suspicion during his years as a young writer. Cole inhabits a totally different world, wherein African Americans heritage is given its due place in American mainstream culture, and black people occupy influential positions in all echelons of society. </span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Still, there is a huge divide between white and black people, in the US and elsewhere: </span></div>
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<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Black American life is disposable from the point of view of policing, sentencing, economic policy, and countless terrifying forms of disregard.</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Which leads Cole to end his essay in a very pessimistic tone:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>Baldwin wrote “Stranger in the Village” more than sixty years ago. Now what?</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Indeed, what has changed?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111;"><br /></span></span></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-6635741725090632982010-10-23T06:53:00.000-07:002010-10-23T06:53:16.835-07:00Excerpt: Stephen Fry's The Fry Chronicles<i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">"</span></span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">That </span></span></b></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stephen Fry</span></b></i></a><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">needs no introduction is what he has always wanted."</span></span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So begins a recent</span> </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/19/the-fry-chronicles-stephen-fry"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Guardian Books</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">coverage of Fry's latest installement in what is shaping up to </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">be a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">multi-tome autobiography</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And yet, judging by Fry's relentless efforts to try and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">have himself explained </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">to his audience (while simultaneously avoiding any classification and throwing sand in everybody's eyes, as it were)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> it seems as if </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the 54 year old </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">actor, writer, journalist, comedian, television presenter, film director and director of Norwich City Football Club (is there anything Fry hasn't put his hand into? Oops! double meaning..) is doing </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">everything he can</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> in order to make that introduction a necessary factor of every (chance or not) encounter!</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Indeed, there's not much Fry </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">hasn't done </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">over the past 30 years or so.. The man isn't considered </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">a `National Treasure' in vain, after all..</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Though he's been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (Fry suffered a nervous breakdown in 1995 while appearing in a West End play..) Fry has managed to publish 10 books thus far (amongst which one can find four novels, several non-fiction works and two volumes of autobiography.) He's also narrated countless audiobooks (amongst which,</span> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.K.Rowling" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="J.K.Rowling"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">J.K.Rowling</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Harry Potter"></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-1-Audio-Collection/dp/0739352245?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Harry Potter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0739352245" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">series of audio books,</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Douglas Adams"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Douglas Adams</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_To_The_Galaxy" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/0739322206?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0739322206" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">audiobook, and, of course, his own novels' audiobooks..) His voice has been featured in a number of video games.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">All this without mentioning his rich acting career: Theatre, Radio, Film - these are no strangers to Stephen Fry..</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So much for the (elusive) intro. Let's cut to the chase..</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; line-height: normal;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1569472025&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Thirteen years after he's published</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Moab-My-Washpot-Stephen-Fry/dp/1569472025?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Moab is My Washpot</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">,<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1569472025" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> the first </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">chapter</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> in his </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Memoirs,</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> Stephen Fry returns with a sequel, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fry-Chronicles-Stephen/dp/0718157915?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Fry Chronicles</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0718157915" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Moab-My-Washpot-Stephen-Fry/dp/1569472025?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Moab is My Washpot</span></a></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(Excerpt Reader devotees can catch up with an excerpt from the book</span> </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/10/excerpt-stephen-frys-moab-is-my-washpot.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Fry covers</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> the first 20 years of his life, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">from cradle to college</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, so to speak.. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Moab</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> is a classic Black-Sheep story.. A dishonorable schoolboy who </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">can't help but</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> steal, cheat and lye, Fry is a terribly insecure yet highly intelligent little brat who finds himself entangled in one 'plot' after the other: One moment we find him manifesting his hatred for </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">P.E. lessons (non-Brits won't understand..), coming to terms with his sexuality, struggling to understand maths, etc.. & the next we see him coping with prison, having stolen some credit cards from some very nice people and forged their signatures..</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But don't worry (here comes a</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> spoiler</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">..) Everything is alright by book's end: the young Fry does everything he possibly can to catch up with his studies and makes it into Cambridge, where he will go on to meet fellow actors</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Hugh Laurie"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hugh Laurie</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Thompson" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Emma Thompson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Emma Thompson</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Slattery" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline;" title="Tony Slattery"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tony Slattery</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So now he's got the sequel out.. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">What's it about? </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0718157915&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Embracing a trio of publishing platforms, </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">combining the traditional with the modern</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (the book was simultaneously published as an iPhone App, iPad eBook and AudioBook, as well as the ever-so-traditional </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">book</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> form, paper and all - Mr Fry is well known for his passion for gadgetry,)</span> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fry-Chronicles-Stephen/dp/0718157915?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Fry Chronicles</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0718157915" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">tells us what Fry got up to after leaving gaol. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">After Cambridge, Fry goes into lengthy, amusing little stories of the TV shows he's made, the many articles he's written, and of course, how he'd trousered his first million by adapting a musical, ‘Me and My Girl’. The book ends in August 1987, his 30th birthday, at his agreeable six bedroom house in Norfolk, leaving ample room for a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">third</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, and perhaps even </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">fourth</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> tome of the Grand-Autobiography.. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Judging by his Twitter testimonials, Fry hasn't been working on the 448 pages which comprise</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fry-Chronicles-Stephen/dp/0718157915?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Fry Chronicles</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0718157915" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for too long (Fry's testified last April in his </span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/stephenfry"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">twitter</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> account to his 1,888,895 followers</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> that he'll be taking some time off to write the second tome of his memoir. He was back a couple of months later..) </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Still, there's no denying a polymath, prolific writer like Mr. Fry has the writing potency of 10 able writers, which makes the reading of The Fry Chronicles, well, any of his books for this matter, a considerable enjoyment on any reader's part.</span></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; white-space: pre;">Not convinced yet??</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Why don't you let Mr. Fry himself convince you:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3bdh8s_xTQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3bdh8s_xTQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-20935684460252561582010-10-16T01:27:00.000-07:002010-10-16T01:27:36.742-07:00Excerpt: Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">A lot has been written on </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">what draws us to books</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.. Their jacket cover, the buzz around town, the sexy or intellectual photo of the author on the back of the cover, whatever turns you on..</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">But what about what draws us </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">away</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> from books? Now, I don't mean that we're repelled or God forbid disgusted by these books. But we're reluctant to pick them up, for fear we'd disappoint them, or they disappoint us.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">We've all got at least one or more books or authors we </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">shy away</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> from..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">We're secretly drawn to them. Their names or their books' titles linger many a times on our tongues or journey amidst our brains. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I'm talking about Tolstoi's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199232768?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">War and Peace</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0199232768" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; cursor: move; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />; James Joyce's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-James-Joyce/dp/142093449X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Ulysses</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=142093449X" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; cursor: move; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> or </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Finnegans-Wake-Classic-20th-Century-Penguin/dp/0141181265?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Finnegans Wake</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0141181265" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; cursor: move; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />; Don Delilo's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Don-DeLillo/dp/1416548645?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Underworld</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1416548645" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; cursor: move; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (well, almost </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">anything</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> by Don Delilo) David Foster Wallace's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Infinite Jest</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316066524" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; cursor: move; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />; </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Thomas Pynchon</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">'s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gravitys-Rainbow-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143039946?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Gravity's Rainbow</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143039946" style="border-bottom: medium none; 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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">And this is just my 'list of 'awed' writers.. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Pynchon's led the list for a good decade or so.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">For some reason, I was always reluctant, or better yet, wary of and hesitant to pick any of his </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: 500; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">recalcitrant </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">books up and give them the old once over..</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I'd even bought a Penguin-Classics used copy of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gravitys-Rainbow-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143039946?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Gravity's Rainbow</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> some 2-3 years ago.. And I've had the hebrew edition of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crying-Lot-Perennial-Fiction-Library/dp/006091307X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The Crying of Lot 49</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=006091307X" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> sitting on my bookshelf for God knows how long, but I never really picked any of the up and dusted their jackets.. </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzx3ABz9PB3h_CZB1gTv6iemF37Pr0FIU55_4d9cT1LCSIw8-tB9HfDp7fKXyv-qwILQiM52aCSoI7ZTskcM2j4qkMU9TQfJ8WRkCO47ebcNahlABfRAt9zgVbBeBWQgSO3JVfagJGCUY/s1600/inherent_vice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzx3ABz9PB3h_CZB1gTv6iemF37Pr0FIU55_4d9cT1LCSIw8-tB9HfDp7fKXyv-qwILQiM52aCSoI7ZTskcM2j4qkMU9TQfJ8WRkCO47ebcNahlABfRAt9zgVbBeBWQgSO3JVfagJGCUY/s200/inherent_vice.jpg" width="131" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Now, when Pynchon published </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inherent-Vice-Novel-Thomas-Pynchon/dp/0143117564?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Inherent Vice</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143117564" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, a Sixties Rock N' Roll meets Private Dic'-Film Noir flic Novel - well, what sounds like a more accessible, easier read - I knew I had to pick a copy of the Novel at my local Steimatzky (what with 25% off all EnglishFiction and 2 brand new paperback novels for 100 NIS, I couldn't resist the temptation anyway, so..) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Right away, I knew I liked the cover, which is always a good start (I don't know about you, but 'good' covers lure me into reading!) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">What did I like about it? </span></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Well, the HUGE Station-wagon </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">for starters</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.. (is it a Cadillac?? Don't know why but it reminds me of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Future-Anniversary-Trilogy-Digital/dp/B00198X0UO?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Back to the Future</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00198X0UO" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />). </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0143117564&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Then</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> the fact that's it's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">under 400 pages, which basically promises it to be one of his 'lightest' reads.. Is Pynchon becoming soft in his hay days? (he </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">is</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> 77 after all..) </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Finally</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">, of course my Pynchon-Awe ;) Though you have to admire a (young) writer who starts out his (writing) career writing for Boeing and goes on to (write and) publish sprawling, geopolitical, postmodern farces in 1960's-70's USA: </span><em style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/V-Perennial-Classics-Thomas-Pynchon/dp/0060930217?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">V</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0060930217" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> (563 pages. Published in 1963), </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gravitys-Rainbow-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143039946?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Gravity's Rainbow</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">(784 pages. Published in 1973. Won the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">National Book Award</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">) & it goes on (and on) in the 1980's-90's: </span><em style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Mason & Dixon</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> (784 pages) and </span><em style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Against the Day</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> (1,104 pages!).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I then knew I had to look up 'Inherent Vice' on the internet (you know, that old' dusted library on your Mac'..) and, much to my surprise, this is what I found: </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">inherent vice: n. ~ The tendency of material to deteriorate due to the essential instability of the components or interaction among components.</span></span></span><br />
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<div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">* special thanks to </span><a href="http://www.inherentvice.net/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">http://www.inherentvice.net/</span></a></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">What's it about, you ask? </span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Well, it's a classic murder/suspense, private dic'/noir kind of novel, or as the jacket cover says: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><i>"</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><i>It's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists."</i></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWkz60wVdeYJSrpcIY6W4Ndq4BdOQToqVBlY-vEWTIqYvAeBiF0HBTohD757DDnb5K7bW1GMfSkJug1peXWYt3gGVepndKarw7lu0yZnSo56s4e7tMLo6HXb9Gk1KNlVgJYa-2YESlOY/s1600/thomas+pynchon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWkz60wVdeYJSrpcIY6W4Ndq4BdOQToqVBlY-vEWTIqYvAeBiF0HBTohD757DDnb5K7bW1GMfSkJug1peXWYt3gGVepndKarw7lu0yZnSo56s4e7tMLo6HXb9Gk1KNlVgJYa-2YESlOY/s200/thomas+pynchon.jpg" width="143" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">A </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">typical</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">boy (re)meets girl; girl asks boy to murder her (other) boy; boy grapples with</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> his conscience </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">story.</span><em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.</span></em></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Well, kinda.. Read a short excerpt </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/09/excerpt-thomas-pynchons-inherent-vice.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">As you can see, the narrative is very private-dic' film-noir'esque. The narrator and main protagonist, Doc the dic', seems to be taken right out of all that long American 20th century Hardboiled, Crime Fiction genre: kind of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Raymond Chandler</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> meets </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo_(TV_series)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Columbo</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Here's a little passage, a few pages on, where the narrator's 'stream of thought' runs wild: </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><i>"Shasta named a sum. Doc had outrun souped-up Rollses full of indignant smack dealers on the Pasadena Freeway, doing a hundred in the fog and trying to steer through all those crudely engineered curves, he'd walked up back alleys east of the L.A. River with nothing but a borrowed 'fro pick in his baggies for protection, been in and out of the Hall of Justice while holding a small fortune in Vietnamese weed, and these days had nearly convinced himself all that reckless era was over with, but now he was beginning to feel deeply nervous again. "This…" carefully now, "this isn't just a couple of X–rated Polaroids, then. Dope planted in the glove compartment, nothin like 'at…"</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">And if all this didn't turn you ON enough, here's a little promo Video for the book, narrated by your very own Thomas Pynchon:</span></span></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RjWKPdDk0_U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RjWKPdDk0_U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: BUY IT (cos' Pynchon might never be this 'easy' to read again..)</span></b></span></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-4614225329763738132010-10-11T08:56:00.000-07:002010-10-11T09:01:01.261-07:00Excerpt: Tom McCarthy's C<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Here's a book you won't be seeing on the </span><a href="http://www.oprah.com/book_club.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Oprah Book Club</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span style="color: white;">list anytime soon..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">& not because it's written bya Brit', mind you.. Oprah's recommended Ian McEwan's</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Ian-McEwan/dp/0385533411?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Solar</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385533411" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span style="color: white;">just this April, and I bet it wasn't the only Brit' Novel on her favorite books list.. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">No,</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_McCarthy_(writer)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Tom McCarthy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/C-Tom-McCarthy/dp/0307593339?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">C</a> <span style="color: white;">won't appear on Oprah's book club anytime soon because it's a challanging, postmodern'ish read!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">It did however make as one of the six finalists on the 42nd</span> </span><a href="http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1451"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Man Booker Prize shortlist</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span style="color: white;">- the leading literary award in the English speaking world. Which <i>is</i> saying much! </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">Indeed, the Brits are currenlty placing the</span> </span><a href="http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/news/18225471/Man+Booker+Prize+2010+Shortlist+And+Betting+Odds+Make+Tom+McCarthy+Favourite+With+C.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">highest betting odds</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span style="color: white;">with </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">C</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">, favouring it above all other books - and now that David Mitchell's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Autumns-Jacob-Zoet-Novel/dp/1400065453?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400065453" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span style="color: white;">and Christos Tsiolkas's </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slap-Novel-Christos-Tsiolkas/dp/B0040RMEE4?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The Slap</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0040RMEE4" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">are </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">out (the first was reviewed by the Excerpt Reader </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-david-mitchells-thousand.html">last July</a><span style="color: white;">; the latter will be reviewed in this blog very soon..) it may very well be the most favorite contender - yet I'm not sure how many people have heard of it so far (outside Great Britain that is..)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307593339" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtrNQY16VW4Gy0kg4AQ5Ygolwom021-kcDk2ikgLhH0wj41DDogg4b-GvQR2ooeCosQAiq-40FPO-raVqkcVitBPTIZMp0CoYtLnkznTf7odmGhnuWKtXsfPmAbkL9TSUbRGsAeQdueI8/s1600/c_tom_mccarthy_216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtrNQY16VW4Gy0kg4AQ5Ygolwom021-kcDk2ikgLhH0wj41DDogg4b-GvQR2ooeCosQAiq-40FPO-raVqkcVitBPTIZMp0CoYtLnkznTf7odmGhnuWKtXsfPmAbkL9TSUbRGsAeQdueI8/s200/c_tom_mccarthy_216.jpg" width="135" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">A well acclaimed novelist, literary critic (in </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tintin-Secret-Literature-Tom-McCarthy/dp/1582434050?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">Tintin</span> and the Secret of Literature</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1582434050" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span style="color: white;">he reads </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herg%C3%A9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Herge</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tintin-America-Pharaoh-Complete/dp/0316359408?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Tintin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316359408" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span style="color: white;">through the prism of structuralist and post-structuralist literary theory</span></span><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">) and conceptual artist, as well as "the most galling interviewee in Britain" - </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">C</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;"> is McCarthy's third novel, after</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Remainder-Tom-McCarthy/dp/0307278352?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Remainder</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307278352" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span style="color: white;">- a literary </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Memento-Guy-Pearce/dp/B00003CXZ4?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Memento</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span style="color: white;">of sorts, about the loss and recapture of identity </span></span><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> and </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Men-Space-Tom-McCarthy/dp/1846880335?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Men in Space</span></a><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">, a dystopian tale of social ruin. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">It may very well be his </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">easiest read </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">thus far; though, to be sure, it could just as easily be classified by most literary critics as an avantgarde, </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">postmodern novel</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">..</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br />
<span style="color: white;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: white;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Despite</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> the intriguing cover (and the </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">American</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> cover, just on your left, is no less beguiling than the </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">British </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">one, placed below;) and </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">albeit </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">its odd, </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">single-letter</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> title, </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">C</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> is, in essence, quite an 'esoteric' novel. </span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br />
<span style="color: white;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwpHe1UlA1SM1KKUdHfREGOFKWGsO1cynwDL4Y0xBtBRydi7_OOk7_Kxy7nGWALoGUiPXYGfI_axyVks07_HoEHNqlxfBbwJcF2kjQHwsUgM929yaaH4svZuTaNcLVZMv-R1YfE5pryo/s1600/c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwpHe1UlA1SM1KKUdHfREGOFKWGsO1cynwDL4Y0xBtBRydi7_OOk7_Kxy7nGWALoGUiPXYGfI_axyVks07_HoEHNqlxfBbwJcF2kjQHwsUgM929yaaH4svZuTaNcLVZMv-R1YfE5pryo/s200/c.jpg" width="138" /></span></a><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Above all, for the way it treats its </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">subjects</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">war, sickness and death and, of course, communication (that's what the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">C, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">amongst other things, stands for: good, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">old fashioned </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">communication between individuals, but also futuristic, cutting edge technological communication: wireless communication, the kind that will bring on, many decades later, the modem and then the World wide web..)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Set in early twentieth century pre-war Europe, </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">C</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> follows the short, intense life of one Serge Carrefax, who finds himself from an early age steeped in a weird world of technological developments (Serge's father is an aspiring scientist leading </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">experiments with electrical fields).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> When loss strikes him when his beloved sister dies, Serge embarks on an epic journey encompassing the prison camps of Germany, the drug-fuelled London of the roaring twenties and, finally, the ancient tombs of Egypt in what quickly shapes up to be a stunning tour de force of </span><span dir="ltr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">écriture</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br />
<span style="color: white;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; color: black; display: block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 718px;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: white;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Once, he picked up a CQD: a distress signal. It came from the Atlantic, two hundred or so miles off Greenland. The</span></i><span style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Pachitea</span></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">, merchant vessel of the Peruvian Steamship Company, had hit an object—maybe whale, maybe iceberg—and was breaking up. The nearest vessel was another South American, </span></i><span style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Acania,</span></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> but it was fifty miles away. Galway had picked the call up; so had Le Havre, Malin, Poldhu and just about every ship between Southampton and New York. Fifteen minutes after Serge had locked onto the signal half the radio bugs in Europe had tuned into it as well. The Admiralty put a message out instructing amateurs to stop blocking the air. Serge ignored the order, but lost the signal beneath general interference: the atmospherics were atrocious that night. He listened to the whine and crackle, though, right through till morning—and heard, or thought he heard, among its breaks and flecks, the sound of people treading cold, black water, their hands beating small disturbances into waves that had come to bury them.</span></i></span></div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLo-48QX1jsp0BouAk8gleq6i-ajWIPiHrGgFOd9Yh4rjadsYcGGol6kLxb4CI3jEB5x4vaDacyOEc-YSIMwXE1P9pnhc0QT_QybMT5smGdYDvxKhlL1jG3cEEWGCRbrJd_1xjUflVszU/s1600/novelist-tom-mccarthy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLo-48QX1jsp0BouAk8gleq6i-ajWIPiHrGgFOd9Yh4rjadsYcGGol6kLxb4CI3jEB5x4vaDacyOEc-YSIMwXE1P9pnhc0QT_QybMT5smGdYDvxKhlL1jG3cEEWGCRbrJd_1xjUflVszU/s200/novelist-tom-mccarthy.jpg" width="133" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: white;">* You can read the rest of the excerpt</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/10/excerpt-tom-mccarthys-c.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.</span></span></span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br />
<span style="color: white;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Yes, it all sounds very adventure-novel'esque, but the writing itself, (McCarthy's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">elegant prose is</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> often dense with emotion, information and constant interruption - very </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">stream of thought.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">.) is quite challenging. Luckily, like any challenging read, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">C</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> is also a highly rewarding read. </span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLo-48QX1jsp0BouAk8gleq6i-ajWIPiHrGgFOd9Yh4rjadsYcGGol6kLxb4CI3jEB5x4vaDacyOEc-YSIMwXE1P9pnhc0QT_QybMT5smGdYDvxKhlL1jG3cEEWGCRbrJd_1xjUflVszU/s1600/novelist-tom-mccarthy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></a></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><b>VERDICT: BUY IT (If only to walk about town with the alluring hard-cover, single-letter cover under your arm)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwpHe1UlA1SM1KKUdHfREGOFKWGsO1cynwDL4Y0xBtBRydi7_OOk7_Kxy7nGWALoGUiPXYGfI_axyVks07_HoEHNqlxfBbwJcF2kjQHwsUgM929yaaH4svZuTaNcLVZMv-R1YfE5pryo/s1600/c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></a></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-51594779422463415632010-10-09T14:31:00.000-07:002010-10-10T09:36:38.206-07:00Special Excerpt: 3 Young Translators & their Works<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Most people </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">read.</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Some people </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">write</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. Very few people </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">translate</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Voilà a truism I'd like you to keep in mind when reading the following post, a special Excerpt Reader feature about </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">translators</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">translations</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">***</span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On 'normal' days, the Excerpt Reader consecrates its posts towards the reading and reviewing of works & </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">oeuvres</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> of well known (and lesser known) writers.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">However, having made his share of attempts at translation (the </span></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Reader </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">has delved into translations from the English and French languages alike, trying - in vain - to render their 'inner-speech' into Hebrew many-a-times..) it has long since given up and would therefore like now to 'give it up' to 3 'young' translators making their way in the world, helping us read and discover other cultures in this babylonian world..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">***</span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They didn't come up the saying</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untranslatability"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">traduttore, traditore</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">by mistake..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Translation is a work of alchemy, a task whose</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">mere </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untranslatability"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">impossibility</span></em></a><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">is inherent in its very-own core.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The following three translators battle heroically with translations on a daily basis. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They are:</span></span></b></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><div style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3Rqtj5N52BgL0WEDFW0P-0_I8syiYO6uu6NgueCWFK8gjmNKCj2Xo-1EulHUNu8UmkRDev_uq-trIz7NwBew-dI_wabq1yTdicZPfOlobrqRBlxglunVd1u2319ftKm0LWtloAP3uRA/s1600/dens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3Rqtj5N52BgL0WEDFW0P-0_I8syiYO6uu6NgueCWFK8gjmNKCj2Xo-1EulHUNu8UmkRDev_uq-trIz7NwBew-dI_wabq1yTdicZPfOlobrqRBlxglunVd1u2319ftKm0LWtloAP3uRA/s200/dens.jpg" width="133" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* 35 year old Dens Dimiņš, a Latvian translator. Dens has</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> published numerous translations from the French, Islandic, English, and what not :)</span></span></div></div><div style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium;"></div></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* 33 year old</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=783752207&v=wall&ref=search"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pierre Troullier</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, a French play-writer, poe</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">t and translator. His translations from the English vary from poet </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #584e42; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">John Skelton (1460-1529), to D.H. Lawrence, and most recently James Joyce, He is </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">published by the French publishing house,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/?GCOI=22510100310440"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Les Belles Lettres</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* 35 year old</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/lee.evron?ref=search#!/lee.evron?v=wall&ref=search"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lee Evron-vaknin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, an Israeli poet, children's </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fiction writer and translator. Her translations from the French </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(Emmanuel Tod, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-Empire-Breakdown-Perspectives-Criticism/dp/0231131038?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">) and from the English (</span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crash-Novel-J-G-Ballard/dp/0312420331?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Crash</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312420331" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">by J. G. Ballard) have been published by renowned Israeli publishing houses.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Reader </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">has interviewed them to in order to offer you a glimpse into their arduous tasks.</span></span></div></b><b><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A few words about yourself.. </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dens:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I am translator and interpreter from Riga, Latvia. I studied Classics, French and Icelandic. I like working with languages and transferring messages betwen them. It makes me feel like a messenger and messengers usually don’t get killed. I also like editing, at times it can be really creative.. I don’t like applied texts, contracts and all the soulless legal crap because mostly it is not based on any real emotion or intention to communicate. The mind behind it is often calculating and unimaginative. The result is, metaphorically and literally, dead letter... </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pierre:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> I’m 32, I teach literature at the French Naval Academy, within the department of human sciences, and at the same time, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I write and translate poetry. My main work of translation so far was published in 2008 by </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Les Belles Lettres</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. It’s a satirical trilogy entitled Speak, Parrot, by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Skelton"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">John Skelton</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, a very witty and bitter Tudor poet who was Henry VIII’s tutor. The challenge was to follow the poems line by line, rhyme after rhyme, so that the translation would be as poetic as the original. Lee: I have been reading and writing ever since I could, and having spent a few years in England as a child I read in English as much as hebrew. In my teens I fell in love with the songs of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1284921470_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Brel"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jacques Brel</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and started learning french and translating from it.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Why do you translate? </span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dens:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Translating has its music for me. It's like painting. Editing is softer, subtler, is like drawing (unless you have to bulldoze). I translate because I want to bridge the gap between various nations. Between my own and that of my choice. In a way it’s like rebellion against God’s plan. I mostly translate books I like and I always think of some people I’d like to share this liking with. I am now all in the exciting process of discovering Dutch literature. I find authors like </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Hertmans"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stefan Hertmans</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Wolkers"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jan Wolkers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">or</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Bordewijk"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ferdinand Boderwijk</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sadly neglected and absolutely translatable! </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pierre:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> I don’t see translation as a substitution, but more as a duplication. Where there was one work, there are two of them afterwards. For example, I love the fact that I can read both </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Poe</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and Poe translated by </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Baudelaire</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. Baudelaire explains very well that Poe had written the books that he had himself dreamt of, before he knew Poe. So Baudelaire didn’t translate Poe in my opinion, he duplicated Poe’s works as if they had been his own.</span></span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lee: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I think first and foremost it's the desire to share something I love (for example, a french poem) with people who don't have access to it. Also it's one of the most creative activities that can still be regarded as work.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Is translation possible, in your view? </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dens:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Albeit approximative by its very nature, it is certainly possible and quite a few people are earning their daily bread with it. There are some things that are deliberately meaningless or funny and can be hard or even impossible to transfer. However, by some stretch of the imagination you can always create and compensate. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pierre:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> More than possible, I really think it’s vital. For a translator, it’s vital to work as a true author, not just as an epigone, but as an alter ego. Baudelaire thought of himself as</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Poe</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">’s brother. For an author, it’s vital, through translation, to confront and to match his elders or his contemporaries. </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chateaubriand</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">translated</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Milton</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">during his exile in England;</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Larbaud"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Larbaud</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">translated</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Joyce</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">so that</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-James-Joyce/dp/0679722769?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ulysses</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0679722769" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">might be read and known.</span></span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lee: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you are willing to compromise, and realize the translated work will not be identical to the original, yes.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What is your ideal book/writer? </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dens:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I don’t know, frankly, I have many. I like writers whose language conveys more than the sum of the mere meaning of the words. I like </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Proust"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Proust</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Ferdinand_C%C3%A9line"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Céline</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yourcenar"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Yourcenar</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bernhard"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bernhard</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6blin"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Döblin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Littell"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Littell</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Vilhj%C3%A1lmsson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thor Vilhjálmsson</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%B0bergur_Bergsson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Guðbergur Bergsson</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Ishiguro"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ishiguro</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostoyevsky"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dostoyevsky</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bulgakov"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bulgakov</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Nabokov"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nabokov</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osip_Mandelstam"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mandelshtam</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brodsky"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Brodsky</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">... </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pierre:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Satin-Slipper-Worst-Not-Surest/dp/B000NKPTV2?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Le Soulier de satin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000NKPTV2" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">by</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Claudel"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Paul Claudel</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, or</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Don-DeLillo/dp/1416548645?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Underworld</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1416548645" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">by</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_DeLillo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Don DeLillo</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, or</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Dalloway-Annotated-Virginia-Woolf/dp/0156030357?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mrs Dalloway</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0156030357" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">are close to it, because the whole world is in these books, which are total artworks. My ideal writer looks like these books. I love writers with many abilities.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Montaigne</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and Milton,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Byron</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and Chateaubriand, Claudel and</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Woolf</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, they all have something in common : they were non only huge writers, but also diplomats, warriors, concerned with politics and history. They were accomplished.</span></span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lee: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yehuda_Amichai"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Yehuda Amichai</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s poems have been widely translated and I understand why. He managed to be wise and deep and use interesting metaphores and still be very communicative in a way that transcends language and culture barriers.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">How do you bridge between cultures? </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dens:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">When confronted with a cultural gap, for instance, bad swearing which doesn’t fit with the target language patterns, you just close your eyes and think, 'err, what would a really angry Latvian say when in a mess of the kind?' This helped me a lot with</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Houellebecq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Houellebecq</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. But generally – trite as this might sound – every instance of translation is like a section in a long bridge... </span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pierre:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Maybe the answer is in the question. Because translation could be that bridge precisely. I think that a culture is contained in its language and shaped by it. The first task of the translator is to embrace the language he translates ; it’s the door to its culture. If through his own language, he manages to import the subtlety of the foreign language, he will import its culture as well. The translator is therefore a courier.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lee: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The keyword is compromise.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1284921470_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Almagor"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dan Almagor</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">translated Jacques Brel's </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1284921470_2"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vesoul</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> using hebrew town names and referring to the Israeli custom of public singing. That was a little bit too much. But on the other hand I don't want to feel like I'm reading a transcript - the translator should take some liberties at adapting the work to his or her own culture.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Well, you've read their inter(views). Now see their work:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">First up, an excerpt from a still unpublished </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dens is working on from Jonatha Littel's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bienveillantes-French-Jonathan-Littell/dp/2070350894?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Les Bienveillantes</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2070350894" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (better known as </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindly-Ones-Novel-Jonathan-Littell/dp/0061353469?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Kindly Ones</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061353469" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> to English readers.) The Original text is in French, and the translation, in Latvian:</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Pour les morts</span></span></i></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">TOCCATA</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Frères humains, laissez-moi vous raconter comment ça s'est passé. On n'est pas votre frère, rétorquerez-vous, et on ne veut pas le savoir. Et c'est bien vrai qu'il s'agit d'une sombre histoire, mais édifiante aussi, un véritable conte moral, je vous l'assure. Ça risque d'être un peu long, après tout il s'est passé beaucoup de choses, mais si ça se trouve vous n'êtes pas trop pressés, avec un peu de chance vous avez le temps. Et puis ça vous concerne : vous verrez bien que ça vous concerne. Ne pensez pas que je cherche à vous convaincre de quoi que ce soit ; après tout, vos opinions vous regardent. Si je me suis résolu à écrire, après toutes ces années, c'est pour mettre les choses au point pour moi-même, pas pour vous. Longtemps, on rampe sur cette terre comme une chenille, dans l'attente du papillon splendide et diaphane que l'on porte en soi. Et puis le temps passe, la nymphose ne vient pas, on reste larve, constat affligeant, qu'en faire ? Le suicide, bien entendu, reste une option. Mais à vrai dire, le suicide me tente peu. J'y ai, cela va de soi, longuement songé ; et si je devais y avoir recours, voici comment je m'y prendrais : je placerais une grenade tout contre mon cœur et partirais dans un vif éclat de joie. Une petite grenade ronde que je dégoupillerais avec délicatesse avant de lâcher la cuiller, en souriant au petit bruit métallique du ressort, le dernier que j'entendrais, à part les battements de mon cœur dans mes oreilles. Et puis le bonheur enfin, ou en tout cas la paix, et les murs de mon bureau décorés de lambeaux. Aux femmes de ménage de nettoyer, elles sont payées pour ça, tant pis pour elles. Mais comme je l'ai dit le suicide ne me tente pas. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, d'ailleurs, un vieux fond de morale philosophique peut-être, qui me fait dire qu'après tout on n'est pas là pour s'amuser. Pour faire quoi, alors ? Je n'en ai pas idée, pour durer, sans doute, pour tuer le temps avant qu'il ne vous tue. Et dans ce cas, comme occupation, aux heures perdues, écrire en vaut bien une autre. Non que j'aie tant d'heures que ça à perdre, je suis un homme occupé; j'ai ce qu'on appelle une famille, un travail, des responsabilités donc, tout cela prend du temps, ça n'en laisse pas beaucoup pour raconter ses souvenirs. D'autant que des souvenirs, j'en ai, et une quantité considérable même. Je suis une véritable usine à souvenirs. J'aurai passé ma vie à me manufacturer des souvenirs, même si l'on me paye plutôt, maintenant, pour manufacturer de la dentelle. En fait, j'aurais tout aussi bien pu ne pas écrire. Après tout, ce n'est pas une obligation. Depuis la guerre, je suis resté un homme discret ; grâce à Dieu, je n'ai jamais eu besoin, comme certains de mes anciens collègues, d'écrire mes Mémoires à fin de justification, car je n'ai rien à justifier, ni dans un but lucratif, car je gagne assez bien ma vie comme ça. Une fois, j'étais en Allemagne, en voyage d'affaires, je discutais avec le directeur d'une grande maison de sous-vêtements, à qui je voulais vendre de la dentelle. Je lui avais été recommandé par d'anciens amis; ainsi, sans poser de questions, nous savions tous les deux à quoi nous en tenir, l'un envers l'autre. Après notre entretien, qui s'était d'ailleurs déroulé de manière fort positive, il se leva pour tirer un volume de sa bibliothèque et me l'offrit. Il s'agissait des mémoires posthumes de Hans Frank, le General-Gouverneur de Pologne; cela s'intitulait </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Face à l'échafaud</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. « J'ai reçu une lettre de sa veuve, m'expliqua mon interlocuteur. Elle a fait éditer le manuscrit, qu'il a rédigé après son procès, à ses propres frais, et elle vend le livre pour subvenir aux besoins de ses enfants. Vous vous imaginez, en arriver là ? La veuve du General-Gouverneur. Je lui en ai commandé vingt exemplaires, pour les offrir. J'ai aussi proposé à tous mes chefs de départements d'en acheter un. Elle m'a écrit une émouvante lettre de remerciements. Vous l'avez connu ? » Je lui assurai que non, mais que je lirais le livre avec intérêt. En fait si, je l'avais brièvement croisé, je vous le raconterai peut-être plus tard, si j'en ai le courage ou la patience. Mais là, ça n'aurait eu aucun sens d'en parler. Le livre, d'ailleurs, était fort mauvais, confus, geignard, baigné d'une curieuse hypocrisie religieuse. Ces notes-ci seront peut-être confuses et mauvaises aussi, mais je ferai de mon mieux pour rester clair ; je peux vous assurer qu'au moins elles demeureront libres de toute contrition. Je ne regrette rien : j'ai fait mon travail, voilà tout; quant à mes histoires de famille, que je raconterai peut-être aussi, elles ne concernent que moi; et pour le reste, vers la fin, j'ai sans doute forcé la limite, mais là je n'étais plus tout à fait moi-même, je vacillais et d'ailleurs autour de moi le monde entier basculait, je ne fus pas le seul à perdre la tête, reconnaissez-le. Et puis, je n'écris pas pour nourrir ma veuve et mes enfants, moi, je suis tout à fait capable de subvenir à leurs besoins. Non, si j'ai enfin décidé d'écrire, c'est bien sans doute pour passer le temps, et aussi, c'est possible, pour éclaircir un ou deux points obscurs, pour vous peut-être et pour moi-même. En outre je pense que cela me fera du bien. C'est vrai que mon humeur est plutôt terne. La constipation, sans doute. Problème navrant et douloureux, d'ailleurs nouveau pour moi; autrefois, c'était bien le contraire. Longtemps, j'ai dû passer aux cabinets trois, quatre fois par jour ; maintenant, une fois par semaine serait un bonheur. J'en suis réduit à des lavements, procédure désagréable au possible, mais efficace. Pardonnez-moi de vous entretenir de détails aussi scabreux : j'ai bien le droit de me plaindre un peu. Et puis si vous ne supportez pas ça vous feriez mieux de vous arrêter ici. Je ne suis pas Hans Frank, moi, je n'aime pas les façons. Je veux être précis, dans la mesure de mes moyens. Malgré mes travers, et ils ont été nombreux, je suis resté de ceux qui pensent que les seules choses indispensables à la vie humaine sont l'air, le manger, le boire et l'excrétion, et la recherche de la vérité. Le reste est facultatif.</span></span></div><div><br />
</div><div>& in Latvian:</div><div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mirušajiem</span></span></i></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">TOKĀTA</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Brāļi līdzcilvēki, ļaujiet jel pastāstīt, kā tas notika. Kas mēs tev par brāļiem, jūs attrauksiet, mēs nemaz negribam to zināt. Jā nudien, tas ir drūms stāsts, bet arī pamācošs, viena kārtīga fabula, ticiet man. Tas var ieilgt, galu galā daudz kas ir noticis, bet ja tā gadās, gan jau jums nekas nedeg, varbūt jums pat ir tik daudz laika. Turklāt šis stāsts attiecas uz jums – jūs redzēsiet, es nemeloju. Nedomājiet, ka mēģinu jums to par visām varēm iesmērēt, kaut ko jums iestāstīt – galu galā, jūs viedokļi ir jūsu problēma. Ja pēc visiem šiem gadiem esmu izlēmis rakstīt, tad tāpēc, lai saliktu visu pa plauktiņiem, es daru to priekš sevis, ne jums. Mēs ilgi rāpojam pa šo zemi kā kāpuri un ceram kādudien izšķilties apburoša, caurspīdīga tauriņa veidolā, ko nesam sevī. Bet laiks rit, kūņošanās nesākas, mēs aizvien vēl esam kāpuri – bēdīgs secinājums, bet ko lai dara? Vienmēr, protams, atliek pašnāvība, bet, patiesību sakot, tā mani īpaši nevilina. Skaidrs, ka esmu par to ilgi domājis; ja man būtu jādodas nāvē, tad es rīkotos šādi: es pieliktu tieši pie sirds granātu un laimīgi uzsprāgtu. Apaļu granātiņu, iedomājieties, es atbrīvotu drošinātāju un maigi pavilktu gredzenu, es smaidītu, noklikšķot atsperei, tas būtu pēdējais troksnis, ko es dzirdētu līdz ar sirdspukstiem deniņos. Pēc tam laime vai vismaz miers, un miesas lēveriem rotātas biroja sienas. Apkopējām nāktos tīrīt, bet par to jau viņām naudu maksā, man ļoti žēl. Bet, kā jau teicu, pašnāvība mani diez ko nevilina. Starp citu, nezinu, kāpēc, varbūt kādas morāles filozofijas atliekas manī teic, ka galu galā dzīve nav nekāda spēlīte. Bet kas tā ir? Nav ne jausmas, vienkārši jādzīvo, nositot laiku, pirms tas nosit jūs. Katrā ziņā brīvajā laikā rakstīt nav tā sliktākā nodarbošanās, turklāt man nemaz nav tik daudz brīvā laika, esmu aizņemts vīrs; man ir t.s. ģimene, darbs, atbildība, tātad tas viss prasa laiku, un atmiņu cilāšanai daudz nesanāk. Jo vairāk tāpēc, ka atmiņu man ir čupu čupām. Esmu īsts atmiņu ģenerators, es varētu pavadīt turpat visu mūžu, krāmējoties ar tām, lai gan īstenībā es pelnu iztiku ar mežģīnēm. Nudien, tikpat labi es būtu varējis arī neko nerakstīt, galu galā, tas nav nekāds pienākums. Pēc kara es dzīvoju neuzkrītoši; paldies Dievam, atšķirībā no dažiem bijušajiem kolēģiem man nenācās rakstīt memuārus un taisnoties, jo man nav par ko taisnoties, arī peļņas nolūkos ne, jo es tāpat tīri pieklājīgi nopelnu. Reiz darījumu braucienā uz Vāciju es runāju ar lielas apakšveļas rūpnīcas direktoru, kam es gribēju pārdot mežģīnes; mani bija ieteikuši veci draugi; tāpēc bez liekiem jautājumiem mēs zinājām, kā vienam pret otru izturēties. Pēc sarunas, kas turklāt noritēja visnotaļ pozitīvā gaisotnē, viņš piecēlās un, izvilcis no grāmatplaukta kādu sējumu, pasniedza to man. Tie bija Polijas ģenerālgubernatora Hansa Franka pēcnāves memuāri „Uz ešafota“. „Saņēmu vēstuli no viņa atraitnes,“ rūpnieks skaidroja. „Viņa par savu naudu lika izrediģēt manuskriptu, ko viņš uzrakstīja pēc tiesas procesa, un pārdod šo grāmatu, lai varētu uzturēt bērnus. Iedomājieties, cik zemu nolaidusies! Ģenerālgubernatora atraitne! Pasūtīju divdesmit eksemplārus dāvināšanai. Ieteicu iegādāties pa eksemplāram arī visiem nodaļu vadītājiem. Viņa uzrakstīja man aizkustinošu pateicības vēstuli. Vai bijāt pazīstams ar Franku?“ Teicu, ka nebiju vis, bet ar interesi izlasīšu grāmatu. Īstenībā biju gan, mūsu ceļi īslaicīgi krustojās, varbūt vēlāk pastāstīšu, ja man pietiks drosmes vai pacietības. Tobrīd nebija nekādas jēgas to pieminēt. Grāmata turklāt bija izcili slikta, haotiska, gaudena, dīvainas reliģiskas liekulības pārpilna. Arī manas piezīmes varbūt sanāks haotiskas un sliktas, tomēr es pielikšu visas pūles, lai rakstītu skaidri; varu likt roku uz sirds, ka tajās no nožēlas nebūs ne vēsts. Es neko nenožēloju – es darīju savu darbu, un viss; arī ģimenes lietas es varbūt izstāstīšu, tās attiecas tikai uz mani; runājot par pārējo, uz beigām, protams, es pārkāpju dažas robežas, bet tobrīd es vairs nebiju es pats, es biju iedragāts un visa pasaule bija sašķobījusies, neba es viens biju zaudējis saprašanu, tur nu jums jāpiekrīt. Turklāt es nerakstu, lai uzturētu savu atraitni un bērnus – esmu pilnīgi spējīgs viņus apgādāt. Nē, ja esmu izlēmis rakstīt, tad katrā ziņā ar nodomu pavadīt laiku, kā arī, iespējams, šo to noskaidrot gan priekš jums, gan pašam sev. Bez tam domāju, ka tas nāks man par labu. Jāatzīst, ka man ir diezgan nomākts garastāvoklis. Pie vainas ir vēdera aizcietējums, bez šaubām. Satraucoša, sāpīga liksta, kas mani piemeklējusi nesen; senāk man bija gluži pretēja rakstura veselības problēmas. Ilgu laiku man nācās apmeklēt tualeti reizes trīs, četras dienā. Tagad esmu nolaidies līdz klizmai, tā ir maksimāli nepatīkama procedūra, tomēr palīdz. Piedodiet, ka dalos ar jums šādos nepatīkamos sīkumos – man taču ir tiesības mazliet pavaimanāt, vai ne? Turklāt ja jūs nespējat sagremot kaut ko tādu, tad varat tālāk nemaz nelasīt. Es neesmu Hanss Franks, man nepatīk ārišķības. Gribu būt precīzs, cik vien to spēju. Par spīti saviem trūkumiem, kuru nav mazums, neesmu zaudējis pārliecību, ka cilvēkam reāli vajag tikai elpot, ēst, dzert un čurāt un kakāt. Viss pārējais nav obligāti.</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">***</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The second excerpt is called </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Sylvia’s Ghost</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, and it's a </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">bilingual poem by Pierre Troullier (not sure which is the original and which is the translation.. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">there's</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> room for a whole new post for you.. ;)</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Ghost is here to stay</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">No matter how you’re sane</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It can’t be chased away</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And will bring you more pain</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Ghost is here to stay</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Ghost is here to hurt</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I hope you’ve cried before</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Tears often turn to dirt</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You’ll suffer to the core</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Ghost is here to hurt</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Ghost is here to kill</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If you hope for the best</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You will run down the hill</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">No matter how you’re blessed</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Ghost is here to kill</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Beware this Ghost descending like a dove</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Whose lethal dart’s pointed at you it’s Love</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">& in French:</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Son Spectre restera</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ta raison ne peut rien</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ni ne le chassera</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Et comme ton chagrin</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Son Spectre restera</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Son Spectre vient en armes</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">De tes pleurs retiens l’onde</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Poussière que les larmes</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ta plaie sera profonde</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Son Spectre vient en armes</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Son Spectre tire à vue</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Qu’espères-tu de mieux</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Que dévaler la rue</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Même béni des cieux</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Son Spectre tire à vue</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ce Spectre qui descend prends-y garde en plein jour</span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 15.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Et dont le dard mortel te vise est ton Amour</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10px;"><div style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">***</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div></span></span></span></div></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The third and final excerpt is Lee's translation of Tim Hardin's poem, </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/If-I-Were-A-Carpenter/dp/B001NS05TO?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If I were a Carpenter</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (first is the original, English, version; second, the Hebrew translation):</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font: 10.0px Verdana; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"If I Were A Carpenter"</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> If I were a carpenter<br />
And you were a lady,<br />
Would you marry me anyway?<br />
Would you have my baby?<br />
<br />
If a tinker were my trade<br />
would you still find me,<br />
Carrying the pots I made,<br />
Following behind me.<br />
<br />
Save my love through loneliness,<br />
Save my love for sorrow,<br />
I'm given you my onliness,<br />
Come give your tomorrow.<br />
<br />
If I worked my hands in wood,<br />
Would you still love me?<br />
Answer me babe, "Yes I would,<br />
I'll put you above me."<br />
<br />
If I were a miller<br />
at a mill wheel grinding,<br />
would you miss your color box,<br />
and your soft shoe shining?<br />
<br />
If I were a carpenter<br />
and you were a lady,<br />
Would you marry me anyway?<br />
Would you have my baby?<br />
Would you marry anyway?<br />
Would you have my baby?</span></span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">& in Hebrew:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Courier, monospace;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Courier, monospace;"><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לוּ</span></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">נגר</span></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">הייתי</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לוּ</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">נגר</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">הייתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ואת</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">גבירה</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">נכבדת</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">האם</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">גם</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אז</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">היית</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">שלי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ואותי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אוהבת</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לו</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">כדים</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">כיירתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">האם</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">עוד</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">היית</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">הולכת</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אחריי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ולצדי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ואת</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">בני</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">יולדת</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">את</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אהבתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">שמרי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לבדידות</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">וצער</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">נתתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לך</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">את</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לבדי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">תני</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">את</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">מחר</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לו</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">טוחן</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">הייתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אותי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">היית</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">מלטפת</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">?</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">כן</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אהוב</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">," </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אמרי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">נא</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">,</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">בחיבוק</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">עוטפת</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לוּ</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">בסיד</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ומלט</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ידיי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">כל</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">היום</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">טבלתי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">העוד</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">היית</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">בזרועותיי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">בלילה</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">עת</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">חלמתי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">את</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">אהבתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">שמרי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לבדידות</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">וצער</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">נתתי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לך</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">את</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לבדי</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Lucida Grande; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">תני</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">לי</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">את</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">מחר</span></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Courier, monospace; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div></span></div></div></span></span></div></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-92144440172981521622010-10-04T07:39:00.000-07:002010-10-04T07:39:26.747-07:00Excerpt: Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Shteyngart"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1573229881&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gary Shteyngart</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacha_Baron_Cohen"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sasha Baron Cohen</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> of the literary world (though his voice</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> sounds a lot like a younger version of Bill Murray & his profile looks more like a worn-out Salman Rushdie..)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shteyngart's published his debut novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Debutantes-Handbook-Gary-Shteyngart/dp/1573229881?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Russian Debutante's Handbook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1573229881" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, in 2003. The novel relates the exploits of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vladimir Girshkin, a Jewish </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">émigré</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> from Russia who settles in New York and is approached by Aleksander Rybakov, another russian immigrant with ties to the mafia, who asks for Vladimir's assistance in obtaining full citizenship to the United States.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book is hilariously funny, though it does have a tendency to drag for a little bit too long and go over the same subjects and dialogue more than once, but that's the price you (sometimes) pay for reading debut novels. Oh well..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Novels dealing with 'Russian' or 'Eastern European' characters (often colorful, drunk and speaking fractured English) have been all the rage for the past 10 years or so. Suffice it to mention </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Safran_Foer"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jonathan Safran Foer</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Illuminated-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0141008253?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everything is Illuminated</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (2002); </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Lewycka"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Marina Lewycka</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/SHORT-HISTORY-TRACTOR-UKRAINIAN/dp/B002EIT5MA?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002EIT5MA" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2006) & </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBC_Pierre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">DBC Pierre</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ludmilas-Broken-English-DBC-Pierre/dp/0393329674?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ludmila's Broken English</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393329674" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2007)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and you begin to recognize a well planned trend here. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shteyngart followed the success of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Handbook </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">with</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Absurdistan-Novel-Gary-Shteyngart/dp/0812971671?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Absurdistan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0812971671" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2006), </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a sequel and parody of the charcters described in his debut novel as well as of the author himself (In t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">he novel, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Handbook</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and its author are parodied: the novel's renamed as </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Russian Arriviste's Handjob</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, the work of one "Jerry Shteynfarb")</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></span></span></i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book was met (again) with great critical success: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Absurdistan</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review and Time Magazine. </span></span></span></span></i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1400066409&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Now (well, 2 months ago :) Shteyngart brings us </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_752565375"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Super</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_752565375"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_752565375"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sad True Love Story: A Novel</span></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Super-True-Love-Story-ebook/dp/B0036S4BSA?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0036S4BSA" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, a novel which, well at least according to his editor in </span><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Random House</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, "easily outshines his last two novels". The title itself seems to have been ripped from the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Rogen"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Seth Rogan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 'future films I want to shoot' sketch-book (if such a sketch book does indeed exist.. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What's it about, you ask?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Well, one </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">could</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> read it as a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">near-future Dystopia.</span></span></span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sad-True-Love-Story/dp/1400066409?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Amazon interview</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Shteyngart's held with </span><a href="http://www.omnivoracious.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Omnivoracious</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> podcast editor makes you understand, this is a William Gibson (though he's not writing any SF novels anymore..) meets Lev Tolstoy (though he's never really written any love novels..) meets Jonathan Lethem's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chronic-Vintage-Contemporaries-Jonathan-Lethem/dp/0307277526?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chronic City</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307277526" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (not another NY Semi-SF novel!!) sort of novel.. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkd_IySn_rRfyEHwH8SE_xqF16YenQNSCt6YHfBNbTPQHQ5SPM_UJZWl67ihtp6euCATvXZN1Vemnq1rdfbmeoiNp0SLvklGqRiNZFJY0PDXqQ3eszOLKjkzXPo9ttz_zxvKEM4BD9PmY/s1600/gary+Shteyngart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkd_IySn_rRfyEHwH8SE_xqF16YenQNSCt6YHfBNbTPQHQ5SPM_UJZWl67ihtp6euCATvXZN1Vemnq1rdfbmeoiNp0SLvklGqRiNZFJY0PDXqQ3eszOLKjkzXPo9ttz_zxvKEM4BD9PmY/s200/gary+Shteyngart.jpg" width="181" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Set in '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the day after tomorrow' </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">New York (a city which, at least according to Shteyngart, "has nothing to do with this country") when "semi-illiterate America completely collapses" & where "the dollar has been pegged to the yuan, the American Restoration Authority is on high security alert, and Lenny Abramov, the middle-aged possessor of a decent credit score but an absurdly low--and embarrassingly public--Male Hotness rating, is in love with the young Eunice Park" </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sad-True-Love-Story/dp/1400066409?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Super Sad True Love Story</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is, in essence, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">also</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> a love story, as the title suggests (though, as Shteyngart attests, "It's hard to write about love cos' that's all that's been written since the beginning of time".) </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's also </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Super sad</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, which makes it even more susceptive to cynics.. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But it's Shteyngart's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">emotional sincerity, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">nicely cooped up with a rare Academic-Speech weird appeal that saves this book from total hipster'ness.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: BUY IT (cos' it </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sounds like</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> so much fun!) </span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">P.S.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">More (well, not really.. but still!!) on the subject: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nick Bilton's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Live-Future-Heres-How-Works/dp/0307591115?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I Live in the Future & Here's How It Works</span></a></span></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-63166748853137381322010-09-28T15:27:00.000-07:002010-09-28T15:27:55.679-07:00Excerpt: Michael Cunningham's By Nightfall<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0312243022&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Live most of the people who ever read anything of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cunningham"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Michael Cunningham</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s, the Excerpt Reader's read his </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pulitzer-winning</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 4th novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hours-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0312243022?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Hours</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312243022" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, back in 1999 and went to see </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hours-Meryl-Streep/dp/B00005JKTI?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the movie</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, directed by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Daldry" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: underline;" title="Stephen Daldry"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stephen Daldry</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, when it made its appearance in 2002.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The 2003 film won the Oscar for </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Kidman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nicole Kidman</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> of all actresses (ER thought </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julianne_Moore"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Julianne Moore</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> did a better job at her role than Nicole, but there you go..) On a side note, Daldry later on directed The Reader (2008), which was also an impressing film, especially due to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Fiennes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ralph Feinnes</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">' acting, and he is intended to direct Michael Chabon's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Adventures-Kavalier-Clay/dp/0312282990?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312282990" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> in the very near future, if the film ever escapes '</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_hell"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">development hell</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">') </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hours-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0312243022?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Hours</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> was a very good read, even if not revolutionary in any way. The inspiration for the novel, as well as one of the strongest motifs therein, is Virgiania Wolfe's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Dalloway-Annotated-Virginia-Woolf/dp/0156030357?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mrs. Dalloway</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0156030357" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm not sure whether </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cunningham had anything 'new' to say in it (as all 'great' novels should do) but the writing and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">tempo</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (a very important parameter in a novel that's presuming to talk about any aspect in Time) were quite good, and almost all 3 interwoven & intertwined stories (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mrs. Dalloway, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Wolf</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">) were exceptionally moving in their ways. </span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hours-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0312243022?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0312425023&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Hours</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> basically established Cunningham as a "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">major American writer." He waited a good 7 years before releasing </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Specimen-Days-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0312425023?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Specimen Days</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312425023" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> in 2005 yet another novel featuring three stories: one that takes place in the past, one in the present and one in the future (well, in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hours-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0312243022?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Hours</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, two stories took place in the past, one in the present..) As in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hours</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, so in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Specimen-Days-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0312425023?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Specimen Days</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312425023" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, a famous literary persona and its work catalyze the different narratives and intersect between them. This time it's </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Walt Whitman</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (the book's title is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">borrowed</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> from Whitman..) </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So much for similarities.. Other than the above-mentioned traits, the books are quite different: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hours</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> basically follows the events transpiring in during a single day in 3 women's lives. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Days </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">tracks 3 stories quite different from each other, all transpiring in New York: the first takes place in during the Industrial Revolution, as human beings confront the alienating realities of the new machine age; the second is set in early twenty-first century as it tracks the pursuit of a terrorist band that is detonating bombs, seemingly at random, around the city; the third is a futuristic Science Fiction story, set 150 years into the future, wherein New York City is overwhelmed with refugees from the first inhabited planet to be contacted by the people of Earth.</span></span></i></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDPutlvfuBfI4cVPX0WTu1upT_1gUC8SyBFrM8rXM6T6kaJFSyvmX2NgiPN8j3qiHCUXO0vBxzAaE6E0gcvk8zvamm8FEtOLMMI2La3KqDYm-sHYFThSLCrRmqaLI5wsbZ1KOK4wbUB1I/s1600/by_nightfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDPutlvfuBfI4cVPX0WTu1upT_1gUC8SyBFrM8rXM6T6kaJFSyvmX2NgiPN8j3qiHCUXO0vBxzAaE6E0gcvk8zvamm8FEtOLMMI2La3KqDYm-sHYFThSLCrRmqaLI5wsbZ1KOK4wbUB1I/s200/by_nightfall.jpg" width="133" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book was met with good critique but I'm not sure how it was liked by readers.. I know </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> felt </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">like Cunningham thought was ‘on to’ something here and was taking us for a ride along with him..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But back to the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">present</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This week Cunningham's releasing </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nightfall-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0374299080?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">By Nightfall</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0374299080" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, "a bittersweet paean to human creativity," a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">crepuscular</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> tale of Marriage & Boredom which relates the lives of Peter Rebecca, SoHo art dealer & mid-level art magazine editor. In comes Rebecca's younger brother, Ethan, 20 something recovering drug addict and ruins everything, so to speak.. Or does he??</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciEzJsnudj2jTpEeBg75aZWCLjTBgnYU1Hw1Xy4oGFNz8v6mL4AeLeDB498j6lSgVivkUHQF00PnsLYzNgV9PXNqeniXlpOqS-mO_dV8URQ6aIBTg9POcgijBXr1vxDDVRGtYX197WJI/s1600/by+nightfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciEzJsnudj2jTpEeBg75aZWCLjTBgnYU1Hw1Xy4oGFNz8v6mL4AeLeDB498j6lSgVivkUHQF00PnsLYzNgV9PXNqeniXlpOqS-mO_dV8URQ6aIBTg9POcgijBXr1vxDDVRGtYX197WJI/s200/by+nightfall.jpg" width="125" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'Hailed' as "emotionally static and drearily conventional" by Amazon editors (aren't these people supposed to promote </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">every </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">book and pray to sell as many copies of it as they possibly can?? And on it goes: "Cunningham's sentences are, individually, something to behold, but they're unfortunately pressed into the service of a dud story about a well-off New Yorker's existential crisis.") the Excerpt Reader should automatically be inclined to warn his readers lest they befall such a dreary read as well..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But I will do no such thing. For, having read </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nightfall-Novel-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0374299080?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">an excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0374299080" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> of the aforementioned novel, I am inclined to decree that I deem this cery readable, page-turner-of-a-novel a worthy read.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: BUY IT (But only because, deep inside, you're not too amorous with your </span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">own </span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">condition and are constantly looking for the way out.. Hence you are reading!)</span></b>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-13598349969650974872010-09-24T16:09:00.000-07:002010-09-24T16:25:28.339-07:00Excerpt: Brin Friesen's Sic. and The Domino Diaries<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Excerpt Reader met Brin Friesen </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">par hasard</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, as the French say.. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">A chance encounter in</span> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/brinicio"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Facebook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">set me mail-to-mail with this young and audacious writer.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><b></b></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Friesen (self proclaimed '</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">a lumbering soul but trying to fly..' & 'The greatest looking author since Byron,') is the first ever and, to date, perhaps the only writer able to boast the seemingly-dubious title 'Author/Boxing Coach'( Self employed, that is).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But on a more 'serious' note..</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Friesen </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: black; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(b.1979) grew up in Vancouver and later lived in Madrid and Havana. He </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: #333333; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">debuted in 2006 with a novel named </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Sic.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (from the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Latin. Meaning "thus," "so," "as such," or "in such a manner..." The book was </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">published </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">by</span> </span><a href="http://www.andorpress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and/or Press</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, an anonymous publishing house which has published, to date, Friesen's novel and the novel of one D.R. Haney,</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781427624994-2"></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Banned-Life-D-R-Haney/dp/1427624992?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Banned for Life</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1427624992" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, relating the story of Jim Cassady, the quasi-legendary punk-rock frontman who disappeared without a trace shortly after his girlfriend’s apparent suicide. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Sic</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> tells the story of a young boy, Jasper Finch, and his vicious junior high school years. The book </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">was optioned for film the year it was published. It also </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">won Friesen the Eric Hoffer Award 2009 for "Legacy Fiction," and was shortlisted for the Grand Award Prize. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">To get the average reader better acquainted with Friesen's </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">world</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">work</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, the Excerpt Reader has held a brief interview with him. Here it is:</span></span></span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> ***</span></span></b><br />
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</span></span></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* Who is Brin Friesen?</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I flunked out of high school and decided to hustle speed chess and teach people how to box while working on my first novel. I traveled around a lot. I lived in New York, Spain, and Havana off and on since 2000. In Havana I trained under Olympic boxing coaching and hatched an idea about a book on the role of boxing in Cuba and how the boxer's struggle has always been a metaphor in that society for the Cuban struggle. Still working on it. </span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* Why do you write?</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUful54JJaa8DLiZ1RhXHmYce3ApHr8uQ9bCb-OA0prJS8QpzYod9fXdwND9rHgq_QZCNBZhB9K9mOmxSzfl_BtMLX_mk900X7gam60Jj6u-SFQwqd4mKRjWPKDd-ylr0_VvA89bD8IuY/s1600/friesen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUful54JJaa8DLiZ1RhXHmYce3ApHr8uQ9bCb-OA0prJS8QpzYod9fXdwND9rHgq_QZCNBZhB9K9mOmxSzfl_BtMLX_mk900X7gam60Jj6u-SFQwqd4mKRjWPKDd-ylr0_VvA89bD8IuY/s200/friesen.jpg" width="148" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Literature is my favorite company. I get lonely pretty easy. I like trying to get even with places and people that have my number. I always felt a little double-parked where I was born, so I had to try and shipwreck into strange places and people to see if I could do any better and feel at home. </span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* How would you best describe your books?</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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I'd describe my fiction as my best attempt to make sense of things that never made any sense to me in real life. My first book was about the best and worst day of my life happening on the *same* day: first kiss, first beating. The Cuba stuff is just an extension of the most fascinating place and people I've ever met and a lot of the work of George Orwell holding a candle in the dark about how to organize what I set it down. </span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* Who is your ideal reader?</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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My ideal reader is someone who brings all their prejudices and personal biases to my work intact as much as possible. Salinger was onto something when he dedicated one of his books to amateur readers. Individuals are the only people I've ever cared for or been interested in. The less they've been fucked around with, the better. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* Who is your ideal writer?</span></span></b><br />
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My ideal writers are probably the ones I dismissed at one stage only to find them waiting for me with a smirk when I came around. To me that's where the real loot is with literature: you have to come to it when you're ready. It's always waiting for you. By and large they go even further, too. Every time you return to their books they've changed along with you. If you've grown and brought more to it, it can offer a little more as well. I'm very greedy for anything in the world that the more time you spend with it the less you understand.</span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* How much of your fiction is autobiographic?</span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Plenty of my fiction is autobiographical. I think it's mainly a case of those moments that really shape you or disintegrate your reality - most of which you can't accept or really deal and maintain your identity - that necessitates exploring them in a fictional or fantasy realm. I fall victim to this all the time in fiction. Mainly I write about kids at an age where what scars them scars them for life and what compasses they find support them for life also. Both become a kind of fetish in a way, like the tune fairy tale girls hum or whistle when they find themselves alone in the darkness of a forest. I'm not convinced people walk away from much. We just look for new things to cope.</span></span></span></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIhM-SUX1sccMRAlOc88wlNYzYLUEe5x0nVvJ1jAFaI3C7zM6l-fil2dvRPADK4Zz_52YCG9sGZAc9v-m3JBA1zb-hMgzOM1UlTaEGU59yLXlpsmU-HC0wdUeFWHUiSDtajVwB5f4KR0/s1600/sic..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIhM-SUX1sccMRAlOc88wlNYzYLUEe5x0nVvJ1jAFaI3C7zM6l-fil2dvRPADK4Zz_52YCG9sGZAc9v-m3JBA1zb-hMgzOM1UlTaEGU59yLXlpsmU-HC0wdUeFWHUiSDtajVwB5f4KR0/s320/sic..jpg" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Friesen's provided the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Reader</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s followers with an excerpt from his debut novel, Sic. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The opening of the book reminds one of 'youth culture' movies (well, filmed from a more 'elderly' point of view) such as</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Van_Sant"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gus Van Sant</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Film-Gus-Van-Sant/dp/B0001EFUFK?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Elephant</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0001EFUFK" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and his</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Paranoid-Park-Gabe-Nevins/dp/B001CDFY7S?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Paranoid Park</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001CDFY7S" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. The life therein described is a 'normal', day-to-day life. But you know there's catastrophe around the corner, lurking..</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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At the moment, Friesen's preoccupied with a new book, "The Domino Diaries", that's intended to be published soon, and which will also be released as a documentary film called "Hero, Traitor, Madness" (Friesen's filmed most of the interviews for the book and he intends to use them for this documentary.)</span></span><br />
<div class="GBThreadMessageRow_Body_Content"></div><div class="GBThreadMessageRow_Body_Content"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The book is an essay of sorts about Cuba, written through Friesen's highly individual and exceptional prism of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Boxing,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> though it could well be read as a diary as well, or as a </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">carnet de voyage</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, as the French like to call them. </span></span></div><div class="GBThreadMessageRow_Body_Content"></div><div class="GBThreadMessageRow_Body_Content"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">You can get acquainted with some chapters from the book</span> </span><a href="http://thedominodiaries.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: BUY IT (because Boxing isn't only for dummies. & Brin Friesen is a living example of it.)</span></b></span></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-22714627730283438232010-09-23T05:58:00.000-07:002010-09-23T05:58:16.695-07:00Special Excerpt: Great Jewish Movies for the 'High Holidays'<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The High Holiday season can arouse strange feelings in an 'ever-wondering' and often soul-searching soul.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">No matter the Age, Sex or Creed; No matter the orientation or Origin: Jew, Gentile, Hindu or Muslim may find themselves all of the sudden, and with no prior warning, emitting a silent '</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">oy</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">' to themselves during these troubled days!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">It could happen to you anywhere: on the train or on the bus on your way to work; Between the supermarket isles, whilst wondering which <em>detergent </em>you should buy; Or when you're all alone in the comfort of your well made bed, warmly tucked between the clean crispy sheets and your favorite </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">down-comforter</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">..</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The Excerpt Reader, being the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Schmuck, Klutz</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> & </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Putz</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> that </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">it</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> is, has rounded up a selection of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">movie</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> excerpts, celebrating - well, perhaps 'celebrating' is too strong a word.. -</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 5px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 5px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">ceremonializing</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">, or better yet </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">sermonizing</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> Judaism in the modern era.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Why movie excerpts? Why not <em>book </em>excerpts? Blame it on all the rich food and cheap wine one obliged to consume during these holiest of days (or blame God.. whatever works better for you).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">These are the Excerpt's favorite Jewish directors, performing their greatest tributes to Judaism in film:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">First runner-up,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Charlie Chaplin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">'s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Dictator-Disc-Special/dp/B000096IBH?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The Great Dictator</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000096IBH" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">(1940). This movie is without a doubt a crucial specimen within the 20th century Culture heritage (if anyone were to make such a 'list' , as testimony for later generations.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Courier New;">The selected scene is, naturally, Hinkel's speech:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aq8fDBASyyY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aq8fDBASyyY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Second runner-up, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Lubitsch"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Ernst Lubitsch</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">'s To Be or Not to Be, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">a 1942 comedy about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">(This genius film was later on re-directed by the no-less-talented Mel Brooks). </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Here's a hilarious little scene which proves that even at the height of the 'days of atrocity' Jews knew how to laugh at their tormentors and, most importantly, at themselves:</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7NnognNifY0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7NnognNifY0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">A little excursion down memory lane might also bump you right-smack with</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Monty Python</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">'s 'Hitler in Somerset,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> Minehead' (well, England)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> Sketch (shot sometime in the 1970's, couldn't find the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">exact</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> date..). </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I think the quote "Oooh! I don't like the sound of these Boncerntration Bamps!" summarizes the sketch quite fairly.. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XQkcP0olmQY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XQkcP0olmQY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">A 'little' later on, and we're in 1987, in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen">Woody Allen</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Radio-Days-Leah-Carrey/dp/B00005O06M?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Radio Days</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005O06M" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; cursor: move; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, another great cinematic achievement which retrospects back to the 1940's and celebrates the American (well, Jewish) family life during the Golden Age of Radio. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This scene gives you the typical 1940's (well, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">any time</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> perhaps) Jewish family life portrayal: </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xioICtn1a4I?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xioICtn1a4I?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But let's get serious! It's not all Hitler & Comedy for the Jews! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, perhaps there's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">little</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">else</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> for the Jews for, even when they're </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">dead serious</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, Jews tend to think (again) of Hitler and the dreadful holocaust.. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Directed in the same year as <i>Radio Days</i>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Malle">Louis Malle</a>'s <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Revoir-Enfants-French-Louis-Malle/dp/2070388735?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Au Revoir, Les Enfants</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2070388735" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, is a touchingly humane movie, recounting events in the childhood of the French new-wave director when he attended, at the age of 11, a Roman Catholic boarding school near Nazi-occupied 1943 Fontainebleau. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Here's the movie's trailer, harboring the 'little' secret Malle the boy had to keep in order to survive: </span></span></span></span><br />
</div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rtgRL2RIhXg?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rtgRL2RIhXg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span></div><div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But as serious as it gets (and it gets <i>serious</i>..), it doesn't get as <i>serious</i> as</span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski">Roman Polanski</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pianist-Adrien-Brody/dp/B000FVQLRA?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Pianist</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000FVQLRA" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(2002), an</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> adaptation of Jewish-Polish musician </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Szpilman" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Władysław Szpilman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Władysław Szpilman</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s autobiography. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span">overwhelming-at-times but nevertheless highly-important <em>testimony for Humanity in its entirety</em>, if not for Jews everywhere, performed by a great director at the height of his genius, should be a must-see on everyone's list, no matter the Age, Origin or Religion:</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Here's a somewhat tacky but quite 'resuming' selection of scenes from the movie, accompanied by a recording of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Władysław Szpilman's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">piano:</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g0kb5_nkc0w?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g0kb5_nkc0w?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">P.S.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I'm sorry, but there's absolutely NO</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Schindlers-List-Widescreen-Liam-Neeson/dp/B00012QM8G?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Schindler's List</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00012QM8G" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for you! Strict doctor's orders! Nor should thou have any</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ben-Hur-Charlton-Heston/dp/B000056BP4?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Ben-Hur</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000056BP4" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Commandments-50th-Anniversary-Collection/dp/B000CNESNA?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Ten Commandments</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000CNESNA" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chariots-Fire-Two-Disc-Special-Cross/dp/B0006HBLUA?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Chariots of Fire</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0006HBLUA" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">! This Hollywood'ization of Jewish life has gone too far! Someone should put a stop too it.. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">P.S.2</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I think you understand by now that a little</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cabaret-Joel-Grey/dp/B0010DRYSM?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Cabaret</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0010DRYSM" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s out of the question as well, thank you very much..</span></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-67705154185720125342010-09-18T15:53:00.000-07:002010-09-18T15:53:13.031-07:00Excerpt: Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Excerpt Reader isn't BIG on women writers.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Maybe because </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">it</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> is a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">he. </span></span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><i></i>This is not to imply any sexism (well, maybe some </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">inherent </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">sexism.. but that's not my fault, is it? Surely </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">mankind</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> can take the blame for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">a few</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> on my faults..)</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But seriously. It's not that I don't LIKE women writers. I don't know why it is, really.. I'm at a loss.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I think I can count on one hand female writers I've thoroughly read, from cover to cover, in the past 5 years. Going over the books in my library (there are </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">more</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> than a 1000..) I can spot out </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Marisha Pessl's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Special-Topics-Calamity-Physics-Marisha/dp/0143112120?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Special Topics in Calamity Physics</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143112120" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, Sylvai Plath's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Jar-Sylvia-Plath/dp/0061148512?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Bell Jar</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061148512" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Irene Nemirovsky's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Suite-Francaise-Irene-Nemirovsky/dp/1400096278?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Suite Francaise</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400096278" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, Nicole Krauss'</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Love-Novel-Nicole-Krauss/dp/0393328627?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The History of Love: A Novel</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393328627" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">& Susan Sontag's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reborn-Notebooks-1947-1963-Susan-Sontag/dp/0312428502?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Reborn: Journals & Notebooks, 1947--1963</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312428502" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(the last one doesn't really count as a novel, but </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">all's fair in love and war</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">..)Anyway, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">you </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">try to find the linking thread between these women authors (or books), I sure as hell can't find any..</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This is quite appalling, I know. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But I guess I'm just a sucker for the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Mainspeak</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, if I am to invent an pseudo-</span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwellian"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Orwellian</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">term: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The speech of Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Main Speech</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I like to read outside this </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Main Speech</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, sometimes. Some </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">queer</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> literature, some </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">junky</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> narratives, some </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">psychotic</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> thrillers.. But that's all within the norm, isn't it? </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Mainspeak</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s devoured every speech and made it its own, hasn't it? Even women's..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Is there any difference, then, between literature written by women and literature written by men? </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">To be continued..</span></span></i><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> ***</span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I've stumbled upon </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_McCullers"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Carson McCullers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">' </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Lonely-Hunter-Carson-McCullers/dp/0141185228?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0141185228" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in my local bookshop. I can't say I heard much of Carson McCullers before.. I </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">have</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> heard </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, though.. Well, at least I think I have..</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This book has one of these catchy 1960's novel titles, like </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ken Kesey</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flew-Over-Cuckoos-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141181222?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1962),</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Harper Lee</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Mockingbird-50th-Anniversary/dp/0061743526?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">To Kill a Mockingbird</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1960),</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Maya Angelou"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Maya Angelou</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Know-Why-Caged-Bird-Sings/dp/0345514408?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0345514408" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. Some 1960's films have them as well: </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Pollack"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sydney Pollack</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/They-Shoot-Horses-Dont/dp/B0002KPHZQ?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They Shoot Horses, Don't They?</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Richardson" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: underline;" title="Tony Richardson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tony Richardson</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Loneliness-Long-Distance-Runner/dp/B000JYW5E6?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000JYW5E6" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1962)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0002KPHZQ" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, etc.. So much so that you'll rightly feel</span> </span><a href="http://theasylum.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/carson-mccullers-the-member-of-the-wedding/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">that you've already read them</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or seen them, before you've actually laid a hand on them..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0141185228&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So, what drew me to this book of all books, you ask? </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">cover,</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> for starters (have you ever bought a book </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">solely</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> for its cover?). It features a fragment from a very beautiful picture by the American photographer, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Delano"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jack Delano</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">entitled '</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: black; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11sVdehpmt9YWqPV4Wp3nlwA5s8Ti-Za8wY42NW3AfLSc0XTxk50UtFzUUFVPf7oGQe1BPDtTgNMmb5sAxu-YHMeHlVHL4QJus9XqWPlG3BPGQHuz48xKLIkAglre7cOwWyV5uvZbaUmb/s1600/statefairweb.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">At the Vermont state fair</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And then the vague notion that I knew this title from somewhere (that must have happened to you more than once..)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This specific edition is a Penguin Classics (you know, those silver covers; they used to come in horrid-green, but they don't do anymore.. thank God!)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The back cover is also appealing. It features the image of a young woman, very liberated but somewhat troubled. It could have been taken anywhere since the 1930's, perhaps, but it seems highly-contemporaneous.</span></span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4Flk0DFkP4z_d0shhEQ4somE7SFkxIRW2cV54R05PRGqlPZ2GttbsMz44TNlyza5bsqpkyCprJjJIY0cRcbJqYh29797uJtyDXgqfKGHNuBVJN-MRlR4BxgxItxorW23UYDx7vhuhGo/s1600/carson_mccullers.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4Flk0DFkP4z_d0shhEQ4somE7SFkxIRW2cV54R05PRGqlPZ2GttbsMz44TNlyza5bsqpkyCprJjJIY0cRcbJqYh29797uJtyDXgqfKGHNuBVJN-MRlR4BxgxItxorW23UYDx7vhuhGo/s200/carson_mccullers.gif" width="156" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So much for the cover, what about the book??</span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Carson McCullers wrote </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Heart</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> when she was only 23. The </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">book, her first novel, is set in the 'deep south', in a 1930smill town in the U.S. state of Georgia, and it relates the </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">tales of a deaf man named John Singer and the people he </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">encounters: Mick Kelly, a young girl who loves music and dreams of buying a piano; Jake Blount, an alcoholic labor agitator; Biff Brannon, the observant owner of a diner; and Dr. Benedict Copeland, an idealistic African-American doctor. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">A small-town novel. Is is it??</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, having read </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/09/excerpt-carson-mccullers-heart-is.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">an excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">from it, I think I can write a few words about it.. But first of all I would like to share a few insights about the time it was </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">written and published in</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> with the Excerpt's readers..</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The 1960's mark a dramatic climate change in American culture. This change is also apparent in the literature written </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">before, during and after</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> this </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">cultural revolution</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. Grossly speaking, one can mark American literature written </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">before</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (and in some cases </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">during)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> the 1960's as highly idealistic and naive, often too-pragmatic and much less subversive than the literature written </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">afterwards</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Naturally, there are a few distinguishable exceptions to this rule: </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Joseph Heller</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Catch-22-Joseph-Heller/dp/0684833395?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Catch-22</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0684833395" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1961),</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: black; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ken Kesey</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flew-Over-Cuckoos-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141181222?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1962),</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Kurt Vonnegut</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Cradle-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/038533348X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cat's Cradle</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=038533348X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Cradle" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Cat's Cradle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=038533348X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Thomas Pynchon"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thomas Pynchon</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V." style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: underline;" title="V."></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/V-Perennial-Classics-Thomas-Pynchon/dp/0060930217?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">V</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1963), were all written and published the 1960's and remain, to this day, pillars of (post-)modernity, innovativeness & revolutionariness..</span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And what about </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Heart</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">? Here's a little piece of it. You be the judge:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together. Early every morning they would come out from the house where they lived and walk arm in arm down the street to work. The two friends were very different. The one who always steered the way was an obese and dreamy Greek. In the summer he would come out wearing a yellow or green polo shirt stuffed sloppily into his trousers in front and hanging loose behind. When it was colder he wore over this a shapeless gray sweater. His face was round and oily, with half-closed eyelids and lips that curved in a gentle, stupid smile. The other mute was tall. His eyes had a quick, intelligent expression. He was always immaculate and very soberly dressed. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; white-space: normal;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Every morning the two friends walked silently together until they reached the main street of the town. Then when they came to a certain fruit and candy store they paused for a moment on the sidewalk outside. The Greek, Spiros Antonapoulos, worked for his cousin, who owned this fruit store. His job was to make candies and sweets, uncrate the fruits, and to keep the place clean. The thin mute, John Singer, nearly always put his hand on his friends arm and looked for a second into his face before leaving him. Then after this good-bye Singer crossed the street and walked on alone to the jewelry store where he worked as a silverware engraver.<br />
<br />
In the late afternoon the friends would meet again. Singer came back to the fruit store and waited until Antonapoulos was ready to go home. The Greek would be lazily unpacking a case of peaches or melons, or perhaps looking at the funny paper in the kitchen behind the store where he cooked. Before their departure Antonapoulos always opened a paper sack he kept hidden during the day on one of the kitchen shelves. Inside were stored various bits of food he had collected—a piece of fruit, samples of candy, or the butt-end of a liverwurst. Usually before leaving Antonapoulos waddled gently to the glassed case in the front of the store where some meats and cheeses were kept. He glided open the back of the case and his fat hand groped lovingly for some particular dainty inside which he had wanted. Sometimes his cousin who owned the place did not see him. But if he noticed he stared at his cousin with a warning in his tight, pale face. Sadly Antonapoulos would shuffle the morsel from one corner of the case to the other. During these times Singer stood very straight with his hands in his pockets and looked in another direction. He did not like to watch this little scene between the two Greeks. For, excepting drinking and a certain solitary secret pleasure, Antonapoulos loved to eat more than anything else in the world."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Now this is just fine if you like your novels small-town, small-people, idealistic and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">moralistic</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">..</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In the Excerpt Reader's view</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> McCullers' </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">novel</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> belongs to the post-1960's stream </span></span></span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">of thought and writing..</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But not to worry.. This does not make it a 'lesser reading' in any way, for alongside this novel one can find wonderful novels such as </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Sylvia Plath"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Sylvia Plath</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Jar-Sylvia-Plath/dp/0061148512?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Bell Jar</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061148512" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1963), </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bellow" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Saul Bellow"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Saul Bellow</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Herzog-Penguin-Classics-Saul-Bellow/dp/0142437298?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Herzog</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0142437298" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, </span></span></span></span></i></span></span></i></span></span></span></div></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Why the title, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">? I have no freakin' clue! And I'm not going to Google it either! You read the book and you let me know, how's that for abargain??</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: DON'T BUY A BOOK BY IT'S COVER</span></span></b></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-17744261092216651342010-09-14T14:38:00.000-07:002010-09-14T14:38:51.010-07:00Excerpt: Lisa Birnbach & Chip Kidd's True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Needless to say, the Excerpt Reader adores book excerpts.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So it should come as no surprise at all if, upon a chance encounter with such an excerpt (and in his </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">favorite non-literary magazine</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, of all places! - I'm referring to</span> </span><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vanity Fair</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">naturellement </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">- 'The average Wasp's guide to every day life'), the </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Reader</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> should be obliged to run and tell its readers all about it.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, what is it about this time, you ask?!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Oh </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">hang on</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">! I'm just about to tell you all about it.. But first read </span></span><a href="http://markwinburn.com/the-preppy-handbook-is-back-buffy-hilarious-a"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the excerpt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> yourself!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> ***</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0307593983&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Some 31 years after publishing</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Official-Preppy-Handbook-Jonathan-Roberts/dp/0894801406?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Official Preppy Handbook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0894801406" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in 1980 (gosh, has it been </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">that </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">long since the eighties??) - a book that 'cracked the Wasp code-and went on to become a huge best-seller' (did it? the </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Reader </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">has never heard of it! Then again, it </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">was </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">born in 1979..) - editor and co-author Lisa Birnbach let's us have a glimpse at an excerpt from the update, entitled </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">True Prep.</span></span></em><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The new book,</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/True-Prep-Its-Whole-World/dp/0307593983?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307593983" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (as the excerpt makes us understand) helps redefine</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'</span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preppy"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">preppy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">' and covers "the inevitable changes that are piercing blissful </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">bubbles from Deer Isle to Jackson Hole" (with a short stop at such inventions as </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Internet</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Facebook</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Mp3</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - inventions that might seem today </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">obvious</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> to today's average </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Shmoe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">joe-shmoe</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">but to the average 1980's Prep are </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">quite not, </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I'm sure.</span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So what </span></span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is</span></span></b></i><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">preppy??</span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, I'm glad you asked! </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Preppy is what preppy does</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (and wears, of course!) </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">It is at once a 'lifestyle' and a vocation.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">You can be born 'preppy' or turn into one as you grow older and acquire good taste, but be the circumstances as they may, you shouldn't ever </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">ever </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">fake it, as Birnbach makes it quite clear, in the following 'rule': </span></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">You may wear a Harvard sweatshirt if: you attended Harvard, your spouse attended Harvard, or your children attend Harvard. Otherwise, you are inviting an uncomfortable question.</span></span></i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinkZqNF0HWv2DvmU-ISc8sZYn4HvLbt1qhq21pjzQFNz4MtcdImmeLz34g9-lEqrusBhJiilsNdGQ7xD7soJCWNQ0ntcwUW90dQ8HwmhKmhmPw7RD8ZSeQGVKAJ7Cm6asq1zVGkRRHyfY/s1600/preppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinkZqNF0HWv2DvmU-ISc8sZYn4HvLbt1qhq21pjzQFNz4MtcdImmeLz34g9-lEqrusBhJiilsNdGQ7xD7soJCWNQ0ntcwUW90dQ8HwmhKmhmPw7RD8ZSeQGVKAJ7Cm6asq1zVGkRRHyfY/s200/preppy.jpg" width="163" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, enough </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">prep-talk</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">! Let's talk turkey!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Here are some preppy rules every average private-school Wasp, or any other </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">preppy-wannabe</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> should follow:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - No drinking at lunch.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, that's a nice one. And very hard to follow if you belong to that whole </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">New England</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> social scene, or own a summer house in the Hamptons, but actually live there all year round..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">O.K so how about some </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Fashion Rules</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> ('preppy' is all about personal appearances, if you haven't understood by now..):</span></span></span></em><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Your underwear must not show! Wear a nude-colored strapless bra. Pull up your pants. Wear a belt. Do something. Use a tie! </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - We do not display our wit through T-shirt slogans.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Nose rings are never preppy.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Neither (shudder) are belly-button piercings.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Nor are (two shudders) tongue studs.. </span></span><br />
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And that goes for ankle bracelets as well!</span></span></em><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But wait, there's more:</span></span><br />
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</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Every preppy woman has a friend who is a jewelry designer.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">No man bags.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Preppies don't perm their hair.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Preppy men do not believe that comb-overs disguise anything.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">You can never go wrong with a trench coat.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Sweat suits are for sweating. You can try to get away with wearing sweats to carpool, to pick up the newspaper, or to drive to the dump, but last time you were at the dump, the drop-dead-attractive widower from Maple Lane was there, too.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or how about </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Tattoos: </span></span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><i></i> - Men who have been in a war have them, and that's one thing. (Gang wars don't count.) </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjp_ihyphenhyphenzMxAmxk-nvd2Sc4kn0hXX5cJ1XYg59rtXpq-wDfcg4ishHpqq5XTBsItl3wxDu3mWsD91ZLwOZVgpRmXwR602b1Pmoy3gaL15msavk9Lrnw1MVQL2DMjM8NWYGflVNu5NzMSjY/s1600/preppy-baby-boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjp_ihyphenhyphenzMxAmxk-nvd2Sc4kn0hXX5cJ1XYg59rtXpq-wDfcg4ishHpqq5XTBsItl3wxDu3mWsD91ZLwOZVgpRmXwR602b1Pmoy3gaL15msavk9Lrnw1MVQL2DMjM8NWYGflVNu5NzMSjY/s200/preppy-baby-boy.jpg" width="133" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Some more 'rules':</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Women over the age of 15 may wear a simple black dress. Women over the age of 21 must have several in rotation.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - High-heel rule: You must be able to run in them—on cobblestones, on a dock, in case of a spontaneous foot race.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Real suspenders are attached with buttons. We do not wear the clip versions.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Learn how to tie your bow tie. Do not invest in clip-ons.</span></span><br />
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</span> </span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">...but MOST important: </span></span></em></strong><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">We do not wear our cell phones or BlackBerrys suspended from our belts. (That includes you, President Obama.)</span></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span></span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Thinking of going on holiday? Don't forgert to take your preppy handbook with you, and adhere to the following </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">commandments</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Thou shalt not fly first-class. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Thou shalt use thy frequent-flier miles whenever possible. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Thou mayest fly business class if thy destination is more than five hours away. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - On board, the wine will not be fine; therefore drinkest beer or spirits. - - </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - Naturellement, thou never wearest shorts, sweatpants, or flip-flops on an airplane, and thou shalt attempt not to sit next to a miscreant in such garments. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> - If thou takest a sleeping pill, thou must try not to snore, Pookie. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">on and on it</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> goes..</span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: DON'T BUY (Unless you've ever had a VF article written about you ..)</span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">P.S. Haven't had enough?! </span></span><a href="http://www.unabashedlyprep.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Read on</span></a>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-82106018905220104372010-09-11T15:43:00.000-07:002010-09-14T13:09:48.482-07:00Excerpt: Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On 'normal days', the </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Excerpt Reader</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> consider itself a right </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">expert</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> in everything literary, especially when it comes to fiction..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There are are a few cases, though, when the Excerpt chooses to stick to the ninth amendment, and opt for </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the right to remain silent</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, rather than blabber on about literary works adhering to genres relatively obscure to the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Reader</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Those genres may vary from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">science</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">science fiction</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, say (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fantasy</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> included), </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">thrillers</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (espionage or crime novels, the Reader can do without reading most of them..) or Historical novels, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">baah</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The novels of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jasper Fforde</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, versatile as they may be, adhere to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">none</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> of the above genres, yet they would still featured high on the Reader's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">reading-priority list</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">if it had one</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So much so, that the Reader has actually purchased, a few years back and on a half-whim, Fforde's third published novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Well-Lost-Plots-Thursday-Next/dp/0143034359?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Well of Lost Plots</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143034359" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2003), placed it in its library, and has almost completely forgotten all about it since, let alone read it. It stand there ever-since, lonely, a living monument of the Reader's inability to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">think outside the box, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">or </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">read outside the box</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, for that matter.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">When news of a 'new' Fforde novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Grey-Novel-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0670019631?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shades of Grey</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0670019631" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, published late last year, came to its ears, the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Reader</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> had to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">call in the experts</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jesper-Excerpt</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> came immediately to my rescue, in the form of a </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/lee.evron?ref=ts"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">dear friend</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%A7%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9F"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">writer</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and </span><a href="http://israblog.nana10.co.il/tblogread.asp?blog=168381"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">blogger</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Here's what she thought of Fforde's novel:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> ***</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">First some background.. </span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">When I heard there was a book about a literary detective called </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Next"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thursday Next</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, where people move freely between </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">our world</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fiction</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, and where fictional characters like </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jane Eyre</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> are kidnapped from her book, I simply had to get my hands on it at once and read it.. </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I love English literature, and the world created by Jasper Fforde, where </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shakespearians</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> have fist-fights with </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Marlovians</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> on the street, and "Richard the 3rd" is a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">cult</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> show with audience participation, made a lot of sense to me. </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Coming from a '</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">decorous'</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> yet at-most-times informal cultural background, I also think that what people refer to as 'high-culture' should not be something revered and admired from afar, but rather something to love, have fun with and enjoy. </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And Fforde sure knows how to do that..</span></span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0670019631&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There is a wonderful world to be found in Fforde's writings. For example, in the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thursday Next</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> quadrilogy one discovers that Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Great Expectations</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is addicted to car racing and that </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Copperfield_(novel)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">David Copperfield</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> killed his first wife Dora, and was arrested and replaced by a clone – which, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">as literary criticism</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, is actually very much to the point! </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The fourth Thursday Next book appealed to me less than the first three, maybe because – although it has some </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hamlet</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> in it – it is more about politics than about literature. </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I haven't read the second series by Fforde, the one featuring Jack Spratt solving nursery crimes. Maybe it was my laziness and maybe </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Humpty Dumpty</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and other nursery characters didn't appeal to me as much as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mr. Rochester</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And now to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the chase</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">..</span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">At the Excerpt Reader's request, I have read a few of the opening pages of Fforde's new book, </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Grey-Novel-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0670019631?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shades Of Grey</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0670019631" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> which "imagines a screwball future in which social castes and protocols are rigidly defined by acuteness of personal color perception. Centuries after the cryptically cataclysmic Something That Happened, a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Colortocracy</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, founded on the inflexible absolutes of the chromatic scale, rules the world. Amiable Eddie Russett, a young </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Red</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, is looking forward to marrying a notch up on the palette and settling down to a complacent bourgeois life. But after meeting Jane G-23, a rebellious working-class </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Grey</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, and a discredited, invisible historian known as the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Apocryphal man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Eddie finds himself questioning the hitherto sacred foundations of the status quo". </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCURfUiHf0r1QbSETr-FufumWJl-zvyMlaPCanUfZp__6xMXuiHVidN2vukB9jnngoujWaEfMo1djoqGMF0rP3-zroWtVgKEmqtI_bpZ_iNV3O7aGgB94XHi8WR5FkWHehbo6o25RTSGY/s1600/greyscale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCURfUiHf0r1QbSETr-FufumWJl-zvyMlaPCanUfZp__6xMXuiHVidN2vukB9jnngoujWaEfMo1djoqGMF0rP3-zroWtVgKEmqtI_bpZ_iNV3O7aGgB94XHi8WR5FkWHehbo6o25RTSGY/s320/greyscale.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sounds witty and brilliant, but didn't it make you a little bit dizzy? </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And as for the excerpt, it was very vivid, starting </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">in medias res</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, piling up adventures and then going back to relate the circumstances, and it was apparent that Fforde is no less brilliant than he ever was, but I guess for me the Ffordian </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ffun</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ffrolic</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> are a little too much when they're not directly connected to my favourite subject.</span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Instead of reading </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Grey-Novel-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0670019631?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shades of Grey</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0670019631" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, I might just take a candle to my bedside and read some </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_literature"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Victorian literature</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, fondly remembering Heathcliff's bad behaviour during group therapy in </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Wuthering Heights</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> ***</span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>VERDICT: BUY IT (because every book by Fforde is loads of Ffun)</b></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">& Tx again, </span></span><a href="http://israblog.nana10.co.il/tblogread.asp?blog=168381"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span id="goog_466459091"></span>Lee</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span id="goog_466459092"></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, for this insightful reading.</span></span></div></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-78502959201236820102010-09-09T14:01:00.000-07:002010-09-09T15:31:37.153-07:00What should the Excerpt Reader read??<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Please help the Excerpt Reader decide what excerpt it should read and review next.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Tell me which book should be next, or suggest a title of your own:</span></span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0316066524&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">David Foster Wallace's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Infinite Jest</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316066524" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">THE BIG ONE</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. The BIG Kahuna. You know those HUGE-ASS novels (not to be confused with those BIG-ASS novels that are </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">only</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> 500-700 pages long..) I'm talking about the </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">DOORSTOPPERS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">.. I mean the ones you buy knowing you'll never finish; let alone get to their middle; let alone get through their first 100 pages; let lone even bother to open them..</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I'm talking about Tolstoy's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/1400079985?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">War and Peace</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">; Jonathan Little's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindly-Ones-Novel-Jonathan-Littell/dp/0061353469?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Kindly Ones</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">; </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Victor Hugo's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Victor-Hugo/dp/0449300021?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Les Miserables</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0449300021" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">;</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> J.R.R Tolkien's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618574999?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lord of the Rings</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0618574999" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (well, if you're nerdy enough, you </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">did</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">get through that one, and most probably more than once..); Almost any book by </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Under-Dome-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1439149038?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stephen King</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1439149038" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(again, unless if you're a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">nerd</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">..)</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, I bought this one, and I won't ever open it unless you ask me to. And that's a promise!!</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0670022241&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">John Le Carré's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Our-Kind-Traitor-John-Carre/dp/0670022241?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Our Kind of Traitor</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. His 22nd novel.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">He's been keeping espionage-novel addicts busy </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for nearly half a century and this October he's got another one out. A true celebration for </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Le Carré's enthusiasts. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Excerpt Reader has found itself more than once delving into Le Carré's novels, only to come out a much more paranoid, skeptic individual..</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Though most of his greatest novels</span> (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Who-Came-Cold/dp/0802714544?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Spy Who Came in from the Cold</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0802714544" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />; </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Smileys-People-John-Carre/dp/0743455800?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Smiley's People</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">; </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Spy-John-Carre/dp/0743457927?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A Perfect Spy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0743457927" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0743455800" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">have a touch of the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">autobiographic in them, the Reader's still waiting for that ultimate Autobiography. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">He might not make it!</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Le Carré's almost 79..</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002MLEDRQ&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Frédéric Beigbeder's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Un-roman-fran%C3%A7ais-Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-Beigbeder/dp/B002MLEDRQ?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Un roman français</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002MLEDRQ" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">It's true what they say.. If you've read one of Beigbeder's novels (say</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/99-Francs-French-Beigbeder/dp/2246567610?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">99 francs</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2246567610" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />; </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/LAmour-Dure-Trois-Ans-French/dp/2070414574?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">L'Amour Dure Trois Ans (French Edition)</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2070414574" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">) then you've read the whole lot.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And yet, with every one of his novels you find yourself reading, you find out he has a little more to say, after all..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">About what, you ask? Well, about nothing much.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Love, sex, money.. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The whole </span></b></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">enchilada</span></b></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">..</span></span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0805092862&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Paul-Auster's </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sunset-Park-Novel-Paul-Auster/dp/0805092862?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sunset Park</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I'd lost faith in Paul Auster a long time ago.. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Say after reading</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Chance-Paul-Auster/dp/0140154078?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Music of Chance</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140154078" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and losing interest in it midway..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But I am willing to do the Excerpt's readers the complimentary service of reading this new book's (out November) excerpt and reviewing it here.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Who knows?! It might just make me want to go back to reading him..</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifwzke_tJzo48tVJv2c_yUcXOyKQqfJBa4z-pw5QCjGDjF63jGITkdCyT92Czsv3LZGo5mOI62vJbV1SpBLGeShTTuw_y-GKyT8SJxFsJd7h6AIcAj5HzQdyeFnRtBJHltsW10x9JrJg/s320/question_mark.jpg" /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Gabriel García Márquez' </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">next</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> novel. Or autobiography. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Really, anything will do. </span></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Excerpt Reader doesn't mean to sound too </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">demanding, but hey, we </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">were </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">promised</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">a "novel of love" in 2008.. and what about two other volumes in his autobiography, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vivir-para-contarla-Garcia-Marquez/dp/1400034531?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vivir-para-contarla-Garcia-Marquez/dp/1400034531?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vivir para contarla</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400034531" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400034531" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">? So what if he's 83?! We want BEEF! </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Well, that's me for now.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And YES, I know it's only 5 books but hey, if you've found nothing interesting here, you're welcome to leave a comment OR drop me an email at </span><a href="mailto:excerpt_reader@yahoo.com">excerpt_reader@yahoo.com</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">SO LONG (and thanks for all the fish!)</span></span></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-50662722362473301242010-09-04T16:20:00.000-07:002010-09-04T16:20:26.972-07:00Excerpt: Michel Houellebecq's La carte et le territoire<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Excerpt Reader has recently been doing more French than usual.. Not </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">girls</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, fiction..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">First with an up-and-rising French novelist, </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-stephanie-hochets-combat-de.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stephanie Hochet</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, now with the french writer and celebrity, the literature francaises's </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">agent provocateur </span></em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Houellebecq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Michel Houellebecq</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Every country should have its own Houellebecq, a bad-boy writer or </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">poète maudit</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> to stir things up and pull the dormant literary (and non-literary) institures out of their habitual slumber.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">England has its </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Amis"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Martin Amis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (and side-kicks </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Self"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Will Self</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Hornby"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nick Hornby</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, perhaps), the U.S its </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_easton_ellis"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bret Easton Ellis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (and side-kick </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Palahniuk"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chuck Palahniuk</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">). France has Houellebecq (and side-kick </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Beigbeder"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Frederic Beigbeder</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">).</span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0099283360&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Houellebecq entered the public sphere in 1998, when he published his second novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Particules-Elementaires-French-Michel-Houellebecq/dp/2290351717?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Les Particules Elementaires</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2290351717" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (duly translated as </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Atomised-Michel-Houellebecq/dp/0099283360?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Atomised</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0099283360" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> in English), a manifest-novel of sorts, 'accurately' depicting the thoughts and feelings of the children of the 'lost generation', the ones brought up by 1960's beatnicks and feminists, lost between the declarations and self-absorption chcracterizing the lives their parents led.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The novel won a few international prizes and was translated into dozens of languages worldwide.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Houllebecq took the success in strides, and in 2001 he published a third novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Platform-Michel-Houellebecq/dp/1400030269?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Platform</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400030269" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (between novels, Houellebecq published </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lanzarote-Michel-Houellebecq/dp/009944836X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lanzarote</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=009944836X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">,</span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> a short novella relating one man's typical french Sex & booze vacation </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400030269" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />on a Spanish island.) </span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Platform</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> can be read as Atomised-II of sorts.. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno, are all 'grown-up' and fed-up and, in their stupor and indifference they wish to leave this world of offices, supermarkets, nightclubs and psychiatrists and leave on that covoted vacation (the book's main plot is its protagonist's, Michel, parting on a vacation to Thailand..)</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Here as well, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Houellebecq takes the French vacation as its so commonly represented by the bourgeois cinema and turns it on its head. No more familial gatherings, no more ideal scenery and hidden </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">angoisse</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> - the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">bourgeois</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is a monster in-which lurks boredom, violence towards the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">other</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and self-deprecation.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But the novel was not only harsh on 'white' institutions. It also criticized and denigrated Islam, so much so that subsequently to its publishing, and following </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">an interview its author gave to the magazine </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lire, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Houellebecq was brought to trial</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">provoking racial hatred. He was acquitted, but the criticism and provocations this affair led to in the French media caused a scar in this his cynic heart and Houellebecq left France to live with his wife and his favorite dog, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Clément</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, in a secluded spot in Ireland in 2002. </span></span></span></i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Decreed a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">public enemy</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">persona-non-grata</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Houellebecq published </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_504323824"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">La </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_504323824"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">possibilité</span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_504323824"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> d'une </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_504323824"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Île</span></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Possibilite-Une-Ile-French/dp/2253115525?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2253115525" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Possibility-Island-Vintage-International/dp/0307275213?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Possibility of an Island</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307275213" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />) from 'exile' in 2005. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book was received with what might be regarded in retrospect as Harry-Potter-mass-hysteria and was printed and pre-sold to book distributors in France in more than 400,000 copies before it was even published. It was also nominated that year for the pillar of French literary awards, the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_Goncourt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Goncourt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> prize.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But the higher you aim, the harder the miss..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Going on and on about a futuristic a cult of clones for almost 500 pages (in the French version) the book dissected the state of current society and there was nothing left of it, and philosophized about the nature of sex and love for endless pages, leaving the average reader dumbfounded. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book aimed too high and was subsequently reviled by readers and critiques alike. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Needless to say, it did not receive the Goncourt prize.. (the prize went to the Belgian writer </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Weyergans"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">François Weyergans</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> for his novel, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trois-Jours-Chez-MA-Mere/dp/2246545919?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Trois jours chez ma mère</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2246545919" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (Three days with my mother).</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ra9klRGPcZInVfm42ZI4cOkimZKCfhqXylLHoFv1VbFx0q3GEsFYkQHSnfAHmpCObw9hAQmkU9BdtXyd8HwDj_D2XuvZ5daoeiVfGKM1IsfEVtSeZ4NQFp-DwpgL4mq4KdP_WUrICxU/s1600/carte_houellebecq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ra9klRGPcZInVfm42ZI4cOkimZKCfhqXylLHoFv1VbFx0q3GEsFYkQHSnfAHmpCObw9hAQmkU9BdtXyd8HwDj_D2XuvZ5daoeiVfGKM1IsfEVtSeZ4NQFp-DwpgL4mq4KdP_WUrICxU/s320/carte_houellebecq.jpg" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But that's enough of ancient history. Let's talk a little about the present.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The British have their 'yearly' cultural events: the </span><a href="http://www.themanbookerprize.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Man Booker Prize</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">; the </span><a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Turner Prize</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, the </span><a href="http://www.brits.co.uk/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Brit Awards</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. The Americans have their </span><a href="http://www.emmys.tv/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Emmy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s, their </span><a href="http://oscar.go.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oscar</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s and </span><a href="http://www.goldenglobes.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Golden Globe award</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s. The french have their </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rentr%C3%A9e_litt%C3%A9raire"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Rentrée littéraire</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, a period of roughly two months between the end of August and the beginning of November when the majority of the calendar year's important and influential novels will have been published. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This period is culminated</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> by the distribution of a plethora of literary awards, ranging from the somewhat limiting </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_Femina"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Prix Femina</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (handed out, as its name suggests, to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">women</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> writers only), on to the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_M%C3%A9dicis"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Prix Médicis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, passing through the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_Renaudot"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Prix Renaudot</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, and finalized by the most prestigious literary award of them all, the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_Goncourt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Goncourt</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This is how an cultural institutions functions (</span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">backward</span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> civilizations, pay heed!)</span></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In four days, Houellebecq will publish his fifth novel to date, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/carte-territoire-Michel-Houellebecq/dp/2081246333"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">La carte et le territoire</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Map and the Territory</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">). Although its similar in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gargantuan </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">girth and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Balzacian</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> ambitions to Houellebecq's last novel, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The possibility of an Island</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, it is promised nevertheless, perhaps in an effort to appease readers and critics alike, to mark a return to the premisses of Houellebecq's first two novels, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extension-Du-Domaine-Lutte-French/dp/2290349526?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Extension du domaine de la lutte</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2290349526" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (his first) and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Particules élémentaires </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(his second).</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The novel's plot (roughly): Jed Martin, (the '</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=761268974"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">real</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">' one must be pissed at Houellebecq's choice of name..) is a young artist who turns into a celebrated rival to infamous artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons after making artworks out of road maps and painting portraits of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, among others. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">At one point in the novel Martin runs into the book's author, Houellebecq, who, jokig at his own expense, is self-portrayed as</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> a smelly, friendless, alcoholic misanthropist who can't wait to settle old scores with the 'media' </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"></span></span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book ends in the 'future', when France has lost its industry and turned into an agricultural and tourist nation, and the Chinese have replaced the impoverished British in the Dordogne.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Having spoiled my share of the novel for you, I think I'll move right on to the point of this post, namely to present the excerpt from the book to you..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well, </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/09/excerpt-michel-houellebecq-la-carte-et.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> it is..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The book starts off in a hotel room, somewhere in Dubai or Qatar (again, Islamic states are 'accused' of their wealth, arrogance and hedonistic lifestyle), where world-renowned artists Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst (do they </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">really</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> hang out together?? what kind of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">fantasy</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> is Houellebecq nurturing here?!) pose for our novel's main protagonist, Jed, for an artistic photo-shoot. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The setting is artificial, inescapably commercial: "inspired from an advertisement photo, from some German commercial for the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Emirates hotel in Abu-Dhabi" (Beigbeder's </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/99-Francs-French-Beigbeder/dp/2246567610?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">99 francs</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2246567610" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> anyone?!)</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hirst is apparently easy to portray. But Koons proves a real problem for Jed, who is doing his best to portray a 'new' Jeff Koons. Exasperted by this impossible task, he gives up all too quickly and laments on the cliche nature of his task: confronted by the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">inutility</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> of his work, Jed is reluctant to admit that the photographer's job is as futile as that of the automatic </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photomaton.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>That's it!</b> The <a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/09/excerpt-michel-houellebecq-la-carte-et.html">excerpt</a>, as you can see for yourself (whether you read French or not..) is rather short.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is the way it goes with BIG novels. The publishers are reluctant to let any of the 'honey' drip out so they keep it entirely (well, almost) to themselves until it's yours for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">99 francs</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">..</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As for my </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">VERDICT: DON'T BUY (because it sounds like a bad </span></span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Platforme</span></span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> & </span></span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Possibility of an Island</span></span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> combo')</span></span></b></span></div></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-31294507383906400572010-08-31T15:24:00.000-07:002010-09-01T01:52:15.532-07:00Excerpt: Stéphanie Hochet's Combat de l’amour et de la faim<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We live in an ever-growing multi-cultural world. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Every country is a microcosmos of culture, comprising literature, music, culinary traditions, etc..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sure, this was always the case. Since the dawn of 'nations' or 'empires', every region cultivated its own culture. The totality of this human endeavor is what sociologists and anthropologists insist on calling 'civilization'. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But in today's world, heavily characterized by globalization and fast-communication, most of the artists who 'make it' in a given constituency, never make it outside the realms of recognition of their fellow cultural brethren; the struggle to break through the barriers of one's immediate surroundings is even greater today than it ever was.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Using the internet (Social networks, web2 ) as a platform for this desired act of transgression can help be effective in accomplishing the mission. But this is only a partial succcess, echoing </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2069006464"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Andy </span></a><em style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Warhol</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1968 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">prophecy</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> that "In the future, everyone will be </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_minutes_of_fame"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">world-famous for 15 minutes</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">" </span></span></span></span></span></span></em><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">To make it through you need to be able to 'speak the language of the other'. Musicians and film makers can achieve this by earning a new crowd outside their country of origin; Writers do it by getting translated..</span></span><br />
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</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A9phanie_Hochet"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stéphanie Hochet</span><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=2234055431&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">is a 36 year old French writer who has been publishing since the age of 26. She's also a </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/stephanie.hochet"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Facebook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> friend :)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hochet's published six novels so far. T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">he last three of which were released in the reputable Publishing house,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2069006488"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Librairie Arthème </span></a><em style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.editions-fayard.fr/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fayard</span></a></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Her seventh,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/distribution-lumi%C3%A8res-St%C3%A9phanie-Hochet/dp/2081242524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283118695&sr=8-1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">La distribution des lumières</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The distribution of lights</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">) is due to be released this October</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">by</span> </span><a href="http://editions.flammarion.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Flammarion</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">a French publishing house no less distinguished.. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The themes of her novels are quite diverse and almost evolve around personages from the extremities of everyday life: a 15 year old who discovers he has brain cancer in </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/connais-pas-force-St%C3%A9phanie-Hochet/dp/2213633959/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283283097&sr=1-2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Je ne connais pas ma force</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I don't know my own Power</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">), an Italian translator who flees Berlusconi's regime to France in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">La</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Distribution</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">,</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Her last novel, </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Combat-lamour-faim-St%C3%A9phanie-Hochet/dp/2213638454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283118079&sr=8-1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Combat de l’amour et de la faim</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">('The struggles of love and hunger'), won the prestigious</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://prixlilasblog.over-blog.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Prix Lilas</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">2009, reserved for outstanding literature written by women, as well as the praises of fellow francophone writer, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3c3d06;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie_Nothomb"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Amélie Nothomb</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">whose novels</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Trembling-Novel-Amelie-Nothomb/dp/0312288573?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fear and Trembling</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312288573" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Hunger-Amelie-Nothomb/dp/0571229549?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Life of Hunger</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0571229549" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">have gained worldwide success and recognition (Nothomb keeps publishing novels at a rate of almost more than 1 each year - she's published almost 30 so far. Why do successful authors insist on feeding their devout lectors with so many titles to devour?!)</span></span></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[Let it be said in double brackets that this somewhat annoying tendency 'famous' and well-to-do authors have of publishing novels at a pace of one or more a year is, at most times, both degrading to their </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">oeuvre</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> - if they have one, indeed - and to their readers. This tendency seems to have invaded 'high' literature in 1st world countries like the United States and France (England seems to have remained untouched, as of yet) for obvious commercial reasons and readers are now infested with swarms of novels to buy and read. It is the Excerpt's opinion that Readers should </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">long</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> for their favorite authors' word-of-mouth and not be confronted by it whither they go].</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Having said that and got that rant out of the way, let us return to the original subject of this post: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stéphanie Hochet's last novel.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">None of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stéphanie's</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> novels were translated into English, or, as far as I know, into any other European language, let alone non-European.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stéphanie's agreed to let the Excerpt Reader read and review </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-stephanie-hochets-combat-de.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">an excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">from her last novel. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfqaYd_Kk71C2Oo6QfEM-DxxtuJUDcfTK31clQXxTTAAiNq3yEqG2fn4W1ZG3ZW2_d1LxZoFlAgltxfc1B0EsuL6wHfBvP6_pnDfR08Gvo6qUYrSvdkw1O8Z1_6bm4k2-mbqky_-O8zoo/s1600/hochet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfqaYd_Kk71C2Oo6QfEM-DxxtuJUDcfTK31clQXxTTAAiNq3yEqG2fn4W1ZG3ZW2_d1LxZoFlAgltxfc1B0EsuL6wHfBvP6_pnDfR08Gvo6qUYrSvdkw1O8Z1_6bm4k2-mbqky_-O8zoo/s320/hochet.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The struggles</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">has all the ingredients of an international best seller, but will it make it beyond the</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Iron Curtain</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Well, that's a different question..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Set in the puritan south of the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, it relates the adventures of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Marie Shortfellow, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a fortune hunter set on surviving while all around him hatred and racism, misery and financial ruin threaten to bring him down along with the rest of all those 'miserable, unfortunate souls'.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Taking the reader through his life's story, from childhood to adolescence and then to manhood, Hochet chronicles the story of one hungry man's animal-like revolt and</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> violence against injustice. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-stephanie-hochets-combat-de.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">excerpt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> provided by Stéphanie, relates a reading experience (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">it is always fun to read about the sensation of reading.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.) The narrator (is it Marie?) relates his reading from an erotic poem in a very vivid and sensual, graphic yet quite lyrical and poetic narrative.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Confronted by terotic descriptions of a very imaginative nature, the narrator can't help but wonder: "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Où l’auteur avait-il puisé une telle métaphore?" (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">"Where did the author draw such metaphors from?"</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'Reality' and fiction slowly intermingle and intertwine as the narrator describes his conquest of a woman named Heather, in a very sensuous and sweeping prose.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The excerpt doesn't reveal a lot of the book's plot. It does give us a very good glimpse of Hochet's style of prose and range of writing which are inarguably rich.</span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: BUY IT (If and when it is translated. And if you read French, do it now).</span></span></b></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-27052460524306323102010-08-28T12:02:00.000-07:002010-08-28T12:02:10.630-07:00Excerpt: Philip Roth's The Humbling<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Up till 2004, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Roth"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Philip Roth</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> used to publish new novels at a pace of one every two to three years. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ever since </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Against-America-Philip-Roth/dp/1400079497?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Plot Against America</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400079497" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, though, he's been publishing a-novel-a-year, in a frenzy characterizing a writer confronting his mortality (Roth is almost 78 after all; he'll celebrate his birthday 78'th birthday next March, 4 days after mine); or competing in a race to gain the </span><a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nobel prize for literature</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> he's been contending for for a long time now..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Amongst the novels Roth published since </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Plot</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> are </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everyman-Philip-Roth/dp/0307277712?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everyman</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307277712" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2006), </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exit-Ghost-Philip-Roth/dp/0143055836?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Exit Ghost</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143055836" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2007), </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Indignation-Vintage-International-Philip-Roth/dp/0307388913?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Indignation</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307388913" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2008), </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Humbling-Philip-Roth/dp/0547239696?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Humbling</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0547239696" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2009).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Of Roth's last 6 novels, I'd read only two, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everyman-Philip-Roth/dp/0307277712?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everyman</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307277712" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> and </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exit-Ghost-Philip-Roth/dp/0143055836?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Exit Ghost</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143055836" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (the first, Roth's 'debut' in a series short, Nemeses, novels; the latter the last installment, to date, in his Zuckerman novels). </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everyman</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, a semi-autobiographical novel, had read to me as a 'confession' of sorts, one man's coming-to-terms with his life and with his own mortality. All in all, this was a very good read, even if dealing with somewhat 'heavy' subjects and themes. As for </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Exit Ghost, </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">well, much like</span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Everyman, heck, like most of Roth's novels, </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">this novel too, deals with the subject of human moratlity, and is in a way a brief soul-searching journey (more in the </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">metaphysical</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> than in the </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">physical</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> way) Zuckerman, in his twilight days.</span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This October, he is intended to publish his twenty eighth novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nemesis-Philip-Roth/dp/0547318359?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nemesis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0547318359" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, relating the tale of Bucky Cantor, a young playground director in 1944 Newark, who contends with a polio outbreak which ravages the kids at the playground. Seven years later, he is still (like any classic, need we say </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jewish?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Roth'ian (anti) hero), filled with guilt and remorse and is haunted by bad luck, </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">lackluster </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">protagonist that he is.. (again, it is uncleaar whether the </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">archenemy </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">eluded to in the novel's title is the protagonist himself or someone from the outside, lurking.. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hence, upon a chance encounter with a cheap, paperback edition of his last novel, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Humbling-Philip-Roth/dp/0547239696?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Humbling</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to catch up on my Roth-Reading, before Roth goes ahead and leaves me behind..</span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0547239696&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The decision was not short-lived. Many-a-book I've bought on the whim of a momentary self-persuasion; an attractive book cover; or over-hyped media.. but this will not be the case with </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Humbling</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, for, as I was soon to find out, Roth's last novel is every bit as interesting as it is a short, page-turning novella of</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> heartbreaking, staggering genius</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and beauty, if I am to borrow another author's coinage.</span><br />
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<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Humbling</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is laid out as a greek or Shakespearian tragedy, with a a three-act structure and a . The tragedy's (anti) hero, Simon Axler, almost 70 years old, is an actor who finds himself confronted one day with an </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">actor's block. </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Despaired, he</span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">slowly withdraws from an active life of acting in theaters into a nightmarish world of self-estrangement and insignificance. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The story related in the </span><em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first chapter</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, 'Into Thin Air', is that of Axler's demise. We find him at his lowest possible point. Without any apparent reason, he stops acting and becomes pray to morbid thoughts of suicide. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This is a story of a man's fall. The novel's title, at least at this point in the narrative, is a bit misleading: If </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">humbling</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> be "meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful", then Axler's behavior is more that of self-effacement, and possibly rage at his predicament, a classic tragic hero's reaction to the fate that's befallen on him. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But the gods of <i>Humbling </i>are not very responsive ones. In fact, they are practically inexistent. In their stead, there's friends, and there's modern psychiatry (Axler admits himself into a psychiatric hospital after his wife, Victoria, leaves him). </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3voZmqIg1TU8_d2bwabgFe7VvDB4lQCnc-hew_jPUiLXGBOUTov2zygfoLQbTqBZJPmrf0IGLEwU-83iTtwrHgdZuhG2KabiJ_6A7YeBtCgMZmdmdCJU2re04ZQVwEOQIcMpgBRGHSg/s1600/philip_roth_the_humbling_Size4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3voZmqIg1TU8_d2bwabgFe7VvDB4lQCnc-hew_jPUiLXGBOUTov2zygfoLQbTqBZJPmrf0IGLEwU-83iTtwrHgdZuhG2KabiJ_6A7YeBtCgMZmdmdCJU2re04ZQVwEOQIcMpgBRGHSg/s320/philip_roth_the_humbling_Size4.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Even there Axler is denied any particularity and case is diagnosed with an acute case of 'universal nightmare', as his psychiatrist, Dr. Farr explains: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>"Going out on the stage and being unable to perform was among the sock set of dreams that most every patient reported at one time or another. That and walking naked down a busy city street or being unprepared for a crucial exam or falling off a cliff or finding on the highway that your brakes don't work."</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Generally speaking, the first part of <i>Humbling </i>could easily be read as a speech in defense of suicide (Albert Camus' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Myth of Sisyphus</a> comes to mind a few times).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This could have been quite depressing, if it were not for Roth's exceptional, beautifully insightful writing. Here's a typical Roth'ian paragraph, relating the inception of Axler and Virginia's love:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>"[He] used to go to the City Center to see her dance, not because he loved ballet but because of his youthful susceptibility to the capacity she she had to stir him to lust through the pathway of the tenderest emotions: she remained in his memory for years afterward as the very incarnation of erotic pathos."</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What a wonderful passage. It could well serve as a short story or poem in itself. Ample work for linguistics and literary scholars alike.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On the other hand, Roth tends to overdo it at times, and get his narrative entangled around semi-tautological sentences like this one:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>"You can get very good at getting by on what you get by on when you don't have anything else" </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But than again, this is Roth for you, publishing a novel a year, mostly genius, partly blurred..</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>VERDICT: BUY IT (because it merits a read, Nobel prize or no Nobel prize..)</b></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-48259181873465481282010-08-24T14:42:00.000-07:002010-08-24T14:42:45.928-07:00Excerpt: David Bellos' Romain Gary: A Tall Story<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-derek-hainess-milo-moon.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Excerpt Reader</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is used to reading and reviewing well-to-do or much-spoken-of novelty-novels for its crowd of devotees, ocasionally lending out a hand to a </span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/derek_haines"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Twitter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or</span> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713591175&ref=ts"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Facebook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">buddy in need of a break, usually in the form of a quick book excerpt review (for what else can the Excerpt Reader do?!)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But from time to time, the Excerpt likes to do something for the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">soul.</span></span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><i></i>Forget all those high-profile and much-hyped novelists and devote a reading & review to a long appreciated scholar/writer.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">David Bellos is one of these </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">writers. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">English-born translator and biographer, Bellos teaches French literature at Princeton University in the United States. He has published numerous translations of french writers, such as</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Perec"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Georges Perec</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Vargas" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: underline;" title="Fred Vargas"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fred Vargas</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, and has translated Albanian writer</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Kadare" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: underline;" title="Ismail Kadare"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ismail Kadare</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s novels from previous French translations (a practice I believed was already extinct within the field of professional literary translation, but there you go..)</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Translations aside, Bellos' undisputed </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">forte</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> are his award-winning literary biographies</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> of great French figures:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0879239808" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> So far he's written</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Perec-Life-Words-Biography/dp/0879239808?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Georges Perec: A Life in Words</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">1993)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0879239808" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />; </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-Tati-His-Life-Art/dp/1860466516?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jacques Tati. His Life and Art</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1860466516" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(1999).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I've been wanting to buy Bellos' </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Perec-Life-Words-Biography/dp/0879239808?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Georges Perec: A Life in Words</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">ever since I read an excerpt from it in 2004 (I am an </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">excerpt reader</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> after all..). The excerpt was very insightful and learned, providing new information and original perspectives into this enigmatic and wonderful French writer of Jewish decent. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Since the book has been out of print for a few years now, there are only a handful of second hand volumes trotting the world, and these are hard to come by today (the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Reader </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">would appreciate any information about the whereabouts of a decent copy of this biography).</span></span><br />
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<div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This November, Random House will publish Bellos' latest installment,</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Romain-Gary-Story-David-Bellos/dp/184343170X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Romain Gary. A Tall Story</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">another literary biography, of a great French writer, no less monumental than Perec as he is enigmatic.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">You can read an excerpt from the book</span> <a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-david-bellos-romain-gary-tall.html">here</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexNI9O-ri0zqRkStmJPye5KRQHuoT50arYk2Qvzm2KjeTNX9q2ccFeIhAR6wQmxyWWcn7E0YSn_mtemIxjDdT3b8OvkvNr1usRg6pdo_4Boglv9-F4KVNCMtthgcmCIXz4v8NmOfINgY/s1600/gary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexNI9O-ri0zqRkStmJPye5KRQHuoT50arYk2Qvzm2KjeTNX9q2ccFeIhAR6wQmxyWWcn7E0YSn_mtemIxjDdT3b8OvkvNr1usRg6pdo_4Boglv9-F4KVNCMtthgcmCIXz4v8NmOfINgY/s200/gary.jpg" width="138" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Born Roman Kacew in Russia, and immigrated to France at the age of fourteen, Gary wrote most of his oeuvre in French, until he decided, almost as a whim, to start writing in English, a language he had only begun to acquire at the age of 30.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Quite as versatile as he was profilic (he published almost 40 novels, memoirs and screenplays), Gary lived a life as rich as no other: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">he was a French diplomat, novelist, film director and screenwriter, World War II aviator, and is to-date the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice; once, in 1956 for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Les racines du ciel</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/roots-heaven-Romain-Gary/dp/0856178926?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Roots of Heaven</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0856178926" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in </span></span><em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">English)</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> published under his own name; and another, in 1975, for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">La vie devant soi</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Before-Us-Madame-Rosa/dp/081120961X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Life Before Us</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=081120961X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in English) published under the pseudonym Émile Ajar. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Funnily enough, Gary was never awarded the nobel prize for literature.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Bellos' 'calling' in writing this biography, as well as to introduce this at-times enigmatic writer to the average 21st century reader, is, it seems, to rectify this wrong and explain "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">how close he [Gary] came to</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">being the twentieth century’s Victor Hugo.</span></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=184343170X&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Reading Bellos' biography and getting acquainted with Gary's life and oeuvre, one can easily appreciate the appeal this great writer had on Bellos, for, like Perec, Gary wrote under a few pseudonyms, toying with different literary genres, often 'inventing' a life for himself (Though a great deal of their writings were of an 'autobiographical' nature - well at least to a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">certain</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> extent - both Perec and Gary </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">invented</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> their lives time and agai</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">n in their works</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">: Perec in </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/W-Memory-Childhood-Georges-Perec/dp/1860461662?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">W or the Memory of Childhood</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1860461662" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />; <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Gary in</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Dawn-Memoir-Revived-Classic/dp/0811210162?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Promise at Dawn</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for both were "skillful liars" who obsessively reinvented their lives time and again, if only to enjoy "the experience of</span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> being someone else," or to remake themselves as someone else.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Focusing on the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">works </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">as well as on the life of the person who wrote them, Bellos' task in this biography, as it must have been when writing Perec's biography, is doubly frustrating, as he confesses: </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Nothing can be recovered of Gary’s life as a child save for</span></i></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">a few possibly flawed documents, a couple of photographs,</span></i></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">and the memories – but are t</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">hey memories? that Gary retails</span></i></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in Promise at Dawn"</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Life or fiction, which comes first? Sometimes it's hard to tell:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><i></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"Such was the intensity of Gary’s commitment to the shaping</span></i></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">of the world by the imag</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">ination that his own work occasion</span></i></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">ally seems to be prophetic of his life, rather than dependent</span></i></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">on it. [...] </span></span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In these instances, experience must have seemed to Gary</span></span></span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">to vindicate his underlying belief that imagination can pattern</span></span></span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> events..."</span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The biographer's job then is to '</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">separate the wheat from the chaff', to tell the </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">right</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> from </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">wrong, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">if such a thing is possible..</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I love that Bellos is not recoiled by this arduous task. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Challenge is his </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">elixir</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, and his readers are all but damaged by this.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: BUY IT (but only if </span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">culture </span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">isn't some dirty word you like bringing up </span></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in cocktail parties)</span></b></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-67854237861289787312010-08-19T13:55:00.000-07:002010-08-19T13:55:15.776-07:00Excerpt: Paul Kennedy's The Carpet King of Texas<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-derek-hainess-milo-moon.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Excerpt Reader</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">occasionally snoops outside its haughty literary realm of high-and-fine literature and lends a hand to a fellow</span> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/derek_haines"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Twitter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or</span> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713591175&ref=ts"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Facebook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">buddy in need of a break, usually in the form of a quick book excerpt review (for what else does the Excerpt Reader know to do?!)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Thus it was with Derek Haines' </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-derek-hainess-milo-moon.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Milo Moon</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">; & so it shall be with </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Paul Kennedy's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carpet-King-Texas-Drugs-Rugs/dp/1901746666?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Carpet King of Texas</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(See, also, the </span></span><a href="http://www.thecarpetkingoftexas.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Official Site</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">). </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Hailed as a </span>"</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trainspotting-Irvine-Welsh/dp/0393057240?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Trainspotting</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393057240" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for the Viagra generation" (not sure what it means except for the illusion to drugs, Irvine Welsh and foul mouthed Scots), <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: black; font-family: Times; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Paul Kennedy's is a "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">shocking debut novel from an award-winning journalist" from Liverpool (the novel's title actually reminds me more of DBC Pierre's choice of titles - Pierre's new novel</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-dbc-pierres-lights-out-in.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lights out in Wonderland</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">was reviewed by the Excerpt Reader not long ago - than anything of </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2075528874"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Irvine </span></a><em style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine_Welsh"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Welsh</span></a></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s)</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0iN7Cnc04C5ep9oIbwxabJGGk8whRFV4Y1B6Bnf6Kp8EaQCZ6lx69duujwO2H_75VxRtrNe6ikHfoXjgGd-HBLl3gKrhaeo0Ts9lVTCQHePglzY9kl8ZTmDnrZOXcKD8Lut9OvmHVA0/s1600/carpet_king.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0iN7Cnc04C5ep9oIbwxabJGGk8whRFV4Y1B6Bnf6Kp8EaQCZ6lx69duujwO2H_75VxRtrNe6ikHfoXjgGd-HBLl3gKrhaeo0Ts9lVTCQHePglzY9kl8ZTmDnrZOXcKD8Lut9OvmHVA0/s1600/carpet_king.gif" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_173565605"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carpet-King-Texas-Drugs-Rugs/dp/1901746666?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Car</span></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carpet-King-Texas-Drugs-Rugs/dp/1901746666?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">pet King of Texas</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">tells the twisted tales of "three lives a million miles apart as they come crashing together with disastrous consequences:" Drug-addicted-teenager Jade Thompson who prostitutes for her 'fixes'; Self proclaimed "Carpet King of Texas" Dirk McVee, who "prowls Liverpool's underbelly to quench his thirst for sexual kicks;" and finally John Jones Junior, small-boy-with-a-grown-up-face who, "with a drug addicted father, no motherly love, no hope and no future, has no chance at all."</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #23c3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The novel's</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-paul-kennedys-carpet-king-of.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first chapter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is basically a long (too-long) description of Jade's endeavors as a drug-addict/prostitute on a typical 'night out/in", and it starts thus:</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The needle on</span></span></i></span><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> the floor wasn’t really that dirty. And any dirt in it, belonged to Jade in the first place. It was her dirt. Without giving it much thought, she picked it up and rinsed it under the tap, not bothering to clean the dishes in the sink. Blood, her blood, washed away down the plug hole along with the remains of a Chinese take-away she couldn’t remember ordering or for that matter eating.</span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Jade didn’t eat much anyway. Her tiny frame was testimony to that. She had always been a slim girl but never this slim, never six stone. She was probably less, it had been a while since she last weighed herself. It was one of the drawbacks of heroin abuse, not eating, along with not remembering.</span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">There was no tea-towel in the flat. Maybe at some point there had been one, but Jade couldn’t remember owning a tea-towel, or ever buying one. She used her tee shirt to dry the syringe before sitting back down on a scruffy red couch.</span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Her room was sparse, there was nothing in it of value. A television, DVD and stereo system had long been pawned, along with her collection of CDs. She didn’t really miss any of them, except maybe Take That’s Greatest Hits, the first one. Her mother bought her that when she passed six GCSEs three years before.</span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"You’ll go to University one day, luv,” her mum told her and anyone who would listen. “She’s a bright girl, our Jade.”</span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The wallpaper in the flat was tired, stained with years of cigarette smoke by previous tenants and worn out at the corners but Jade didn’t care too much for the decor, it was a place to sleep, get her head down. A place to bring punters back to."</span></span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">* You can read the first chapter in its entirety</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-paul-kennedys-carpet-king-of.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">.</span></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1901746666&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">As an</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Excerpt Reader</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">(well, as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">any</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> reader for that matter), I have a general problem with novels starting out in this manner. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Readers should not be bored to death with long and repetitive Balzacian descriptive passages right smack in the beginning of a novel, where the voice of the narrator (or is it the writer?) is heard over too loudly, mopping away all hope of a genuine character, with stereotyped and cliched protagonists.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This goes on to even worser places; the tedious narrative tone hastily makes way to a gruesome description of Jade's affliction:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Jade lifted her left leg up, bringing her knee to her chin. Her left leg was the better of the two. Although she only had three of her five toes on her left foot, at least she had a left foot. Her right one had been amputated after the gangrene had set in. Then she lost the bottom of her right leg below the knee. She had tried injecting into the stump, but it didn’t work.</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The veins on her arms were well and truly out of bounds. Constant abuse had taken its toll, leaving Jade to resort to her legs to get the desired kick. She took off her faux-leather boot and tapped away at one of the three remaining toes.</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">[...]</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Truth of the matter was there was no right foot and most of her right leg was missing. Her prosthetic one was hidden by the thigh high boots she wore every time she went out on the block. Most of the time she got away with it. No one really noticed that she was an amputee when she was sucking them off and calling them “daddy”."</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">O.K. You might justly point out that this </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the serious topic of drug addiction we're dealing with here, and that these types of afflictions ought to be discussed in length, and I'd totally agree with you in most cases.. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Exposing the potential reader to the perils of drug addiction (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">even</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> today; </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">even</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> after </span></span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112461/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Basketball Diaries</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Trainspotting</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or</span> </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Requiem for a Dream</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for that matter) </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">important.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">However, I seem to lack any sympathy or what-have-you from Kennedy, and this lack of 'engagement' makes the narration in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Carpet King</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> very dry and pale. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">All this is not to say that </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Carpet King </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">displays bad writing. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The topic discussed, as well as the way its presented are interesting enough to make you want to flip the old page and turn over to read the next, but the techniques employed by Kennedy to make your reading 'enjoyable' (as reading Welsh's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trainspotting-Irvine-Welsh/dp/0393057240?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Trainspotting</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393057240" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is, for that matter, quite enjoyable) are not advanced enough. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The reader is hence 'stuck' with a dragging story which seems to prance back and forward (in time, as well as in themes) between one stream-of-thought to the other. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The second chapter leaves poor old Jade and jumps right off to tell the tale of Dirk McVee, the Carpet King of Texas.</span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I've had enough at this stage, sorry.. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">If you feel like reading some more you're welcome to it right</span> </span><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/18995/8/the-carpet-king-of-texas"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: DON'T BUY (unless you're a drug addict, from Liverpool or just plain bored)</span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-5418544810493446792010-08-17T15:01:00.000-07:002010-08-17T15:03:05.728-07:00Excerpt: Haruki Murakami's 1Q84<em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">First word of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Haruki Murakami</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> magnum opus</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/1Q84-Book-Japanese-Haruki-Murakami/dp/4103534222?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1Q84</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=4103534222" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (pronounced </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'ichi kyū hachi yon' in Japanese)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> only came to me today, a year or so after its publication in Japanese.</span></span></span></span></span></span></em><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This might be partly due to the fact that the book was never translated to English (</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the first and second volumes of</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/1Q84-Book-Japanese-Haruki-Murakami/dp/4103534222?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1Q84</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=4103534222" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">are available in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. There is still no official word as to when the English versions would be available.) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Or it might be because of the h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">efty, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">two-volume length</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> of the novel: </span></span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">1,055 pages.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></em><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span></span><br />
<em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Not that the Japanese are easily intimidated by this... the book sold nearly 500,000 copies before it was even published and it occupied the top two spots on Amazon Japan's book rankings for a few weeks after it finally was, in June 2009.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></em><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8uUVwEjlsOOs7oocgYzCQGCwCkgweMLxYJP2SgEiVyezKeohpfRludBA_guToOE9Cvw395QacHysUC65fSgpz0_klTKeHyn1oyDY4IUKUv-BKFgbjJL6P4B91XyiK7ctHX3G6aQD3Sws/s1600/1q84.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8uUVwEjlsOOs7oocgYzCQGCwCkgweMLxYJP2SgEiVyezKeohpfRludBA_guToOE9Cvw395QacHysUC65fSgpz0_klTKeHyn1oyDY4IUKUv-BKFgbjJL6P4B91XyiK7ctHX3G6aQD3Sws/s320/1q84.jpg" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Hailed as a contemporary version of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">George Orwell</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">'s</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Eighty-Four-George-Orwell/dp/0452284236?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1984</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0452284236" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">1Q84 (Q is pronounced the same as 9 in Japanese, hence the word-play) is a dystopian novel; an alternative-reality story; an 'Alice in Wonderland' of of sorts, wherein a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">female </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">sports instructor</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> called Aomame accidentally descends an emergency staircase to a 'similar-but-different' world wherein she quickly becomes a serial killer for no apparent reason.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">More on the menu is the story of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Tengo, a passive-aggressive university entrance-exam math prep instructor whose lack of experience as a published author leads him to secretly rewrite a 17-year-old girl's surreal novel about a commune of little people, a girl and a blind goat, leaving the by-now-much-confused-reader with a novel-inside-a-novel micronarrative wherein crucial issues such as the writing process, cultism</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, sex, love, violence, loss, and murder</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> are discussed in length.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The events </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">elaborated in</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/1q84-Book-Japanese-Haruki-Murakami/dp/4103534230?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1Q84</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=4103534230" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">take place (not too surprisingly) in 1984 (the 'real' one, not Orwell's). </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=4103534222&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But this isn't the 1984 we're used to; though </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Michael Jackson's hits flow out of car radios, Princess Diana is still alive, and Iran-Iraq war news is broadcast in CNN, little details painfully spotted by Aomame slowly lead us to understand that this is not 1984 after all, but rather a counterpart point in time (the</span> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oulipians</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">would have loved this novel, that much is sure by now).</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I'm afraid thats all I have to say of this ambiguous novel at the moment. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The</span> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-haruki-murakamis-1q84.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">from the book is in Japanese so there's not much I can make from it (I still don't trust Google translator enough to guide me through my literary decisions).</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">You'll have to make up your own mind when the book's finally published in English (if it ever will..)</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: DON'T BUY IT (until its published in English, duh..)</span></span></b></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-20068831949805627792010-08-14T01:17:00.000-07:002010-08-14T01:17:08.193-07:00Excerpt: William Manchester's A World Lit Only Only by Fire<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My first encounter with </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Manchester"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">William Manchester</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s work had been purely coincidental: I'd stumbled upon a volume of his work, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Krupp-Industrial-Dynasty-Germany/dp/0316529400?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316529400" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> in the 'bargains' section of a local bookstore.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Apparently there isn't much want these days for 'old-fashioned', learned and somewhat 'conservative' historians (The Wikipedia article on Manchester is quite poor in this sense, briefly summarising his life and work, without delaying too much on his 'ideology' or political inclinations as a writer). Manchester's writing however, is in no way poorly conceived: Carefully articulated, well formed and meticulous, his 'popular histories' are at most times the fruit of an exhaustive research.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Krupp-Industrial-Dynasty-Germany/dp/0316529400?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Arms of Krupp</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316529400" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> had turned out to be a fascinating read from its first pages to its last, recounting the strange and turmoiled history of one powerful German (originally Teutonic) family and, through it, the history of an Empire from its haydays to its days of ruin.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Since finishing </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Krupp,</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> I'd been intrigued by another work of Manchester's, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only-Fire-Renaissance/dp/0316545562?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A World Lit Only by Fire</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316545562" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> first by its suggestive name, and second by its subject matter, the Middle Ages, a 'dark' and mostly hard-judged age often inciting controversy and polemic amongst historians and researchers.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'd recently ordered the book from </span><a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Strand</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> online bookstore, alongside two contemporary novels and, having read its first chapter, would like to share my reading of this interesting book with </span><a href="http://www.the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Excerpt Reader</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s lectors.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0316545562&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Manchester wrote </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only-Fire-Renaissance/dp/0316545562?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316545562" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">in 1992, a relatively late period in his life, when the historian, author and biographer was in the midst of work on the third volume of his monumental biography of Winston Churchill's life and times, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lion-Winston-Spencer-Churchill/dp/0316545031?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316545031" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, and then only 'by mistake': he intended to write a forward for his fellow historian and friend Tim Joyner's work on </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magellan-Tim-Joyner/dp/087742263X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Magellan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=087742263X" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />, but had found himself drawn to the times which brought about and 'permitted' the great cultural and historical leap that led to the discovery of new realms and to the 'opening' of the European mind. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The result is an "informal history of the European Middle Ages", a summary of 10 or so centuries in roughly 300 pages, most of which are devoted to "One Man Alone", Ferdianand Magellan, the original reason for this work.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>A Clash of Civilizations</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Manchester's Middle Ages are, first and foremost, a byproduct of a clash of civilizations: The perish of the Roman empire in the fifth century at the hands of the Germanic tribes leaves the spoils of the empire at the mercy of a handful of powerful tribes, ranging from the "Goths, Alans, Burgundians, Thuringians, Frisians, Gepidae, Suevi, Alemanni, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Lombards, Heruli, Quadi, and Magyars". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But this clash, like most 'big-bangs', does not bring about the creation of a new civilization, for, as Manchester states, "if by civilization one means a society which has reached a relatively high level of cultural and technological development, the answer is no." And indeed there is little progress during the Middle Ages. Everything seems to reach a standstill: the Roman imperial infrastructure (roads, drainage systems, masonry) is slowly collapsing, giving way to "famines and plagues [...] culminating in the Black Death", constantly thinning the populating; commerce is nearly extinct as the seas are laden with Vandal and Muslim pirates; the death penalty is a commonplace solution for any transgression against 'the law'; and violence, random or 'institutionalized', is an everyday habit.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk16s9GHNxYuoFfGq2w_pvCvQYFfXj_OietLf6IizFMK49zeQAPWr5Ytpo9F4YGPJyjkeYJYLtwFrqKuyji-5NpwAcQgQBkOD0m10LhBpnmO_uO7qM2T-NhyphenhyphentmildoMQ-4WDizfhboI7g/s1600/worldlit.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk16s9GHNxYuoFfGq2w_pvCvQYFfXj_OietLf6IizFMK49zeQAPWr5Ytpo9F4YGPJyjkeYJYLtwFrqKuyji-5NpwAcQgQBkOD0m10LhBpnmO_uO7qM2T-NhyphenhyphentmildoMQ-4WDizfhboI7g/s320/worldlit.gif" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In the midst of all this we witness the rise and flourishing of the Christian church as an almighty entity, massively converting whole tribes and peoples as it expands. In turn, this same church nourishes its customs and rites from pagan traditions and ceremonies, often overturning them and 'christening' them for reuse, for, as Manchester points out, "Medieval Christianity had more in common with paganism than its worshipers would acknowledge", so much so that "Christianity was in turn infiltrated, and to a considerable extent subverted, by the paganism it was supposed to destroy". </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sociologically speaking, these were no 'fun times' either.. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Due to the unexpected perils, people gathered in small villages where they spent most if not all of their lived, huddles together, often marrying within their own family or immediate surroundings. Beyond these villages there lurked "the vast, menacing, and at times impassable, Hercynian forest, infested by boars; by bears," by mugs and other medieval mythological creatures.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Illiteracy and ignorance were common amongst kings and emperors as it was amongst the lowest-ranked farmer, and the only way out of this system of was if you joined the clerical order or you became a knight, which most of the times meant a land owner, a direct-beneficiary of the king and the feudal system. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But the Middle Ages are not all grim, for out of these bleak depictions rises a colorful picture of the era as an age of growth and opportunity (well, at least for some): An époque of injustice and cruelty, "born in the decaying ruins of a senile and impotent empire", it is also a period of flourishing for "the strong, the healthy, the shrewd, the handsome, the beautiful - and the lucky" (no wonder the Middle Ages appealed so much to the Nazi and pre-Nazi, Wagnerian imagination, a perfect image of a world where 'Survival of the fittest' is an everyday motto). </span><br />
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</span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-75184906599754945542010-08-11T06:24:00.000-07:002010-08-11T12:44:24.090-07:00Excerpt: Christopher Hitchens' Hitch-22, A Memoir<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The English are famous drunks, or drinkers, if you prefer to use a euphemism.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Many an English author have (and still do, I suspect) written whilst under the influence, and some have even boldly gone to write about the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Influence (Kingsley Amis's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Drinking-Distilled-Kingsley-Amis/dp/1596916281?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596916281" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">comes to mind first, though I'm sure there are many other cases. If you want to know more about the history of the affliction, I suggest you read</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Drinking-England-Great-English-Drinkers/dp/1906217165?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">this book</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1906217165" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Christopher Hitchens</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">is no exception to this malediction. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">English-American author, journalist, social and political commentator (and hence, almost by default, a Historian of our times), essayist and public intellectual, he has bravely held his drinking fort impenetrable for more than four decades whilst publishing more than 15 books, appearing in around 40 documentary/films and contributing to top-tier journals and newspapers such as at </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Atlantic</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vanity Fair</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Slate</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">World Affairs</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Nation</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Free Inquiry</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> - making him a solid pillar for all those young writers and aspirers who would like to follow in his footsteps (in 2003 he wrote that his daily intake of alcohol was enough "to kill or stun the average mule", and yet he's still around, but only for so long - more on the issue of mortality to follow..).</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0446540331&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Last June Hitchens published</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitch-22-Memoir-Christopher-Hitchens/dp/0446540331?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hitch-22, A Memoir</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0446540331" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, a coming-to-terms autobiography for a public figure looking to close a circle and enter into another one: Turning into his seventh decade, Hitchens conducts a soul search of sorts, as befits a man reaching his </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">second</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> midlife-crisis (isn't sixty the new forty? The previous crisis had been in 1989, when Hitchens was 41, the year communism gave out its final cry and</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Ayatollah Khomeini issued a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fatwā</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie, following the latter's publication of</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Satanic-Verses-Novel-Salman-Rushdie/dp/0812976711?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Satanic Verses</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">). </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The book conquered the top of International non-fiction best-selling charts within a few days of its publication. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In defense of Drinking</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In the</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-i-christopher-hitchens-hitch-22.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A short footnote on the grape and the grain</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Hitchens delivers a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">statement of defense of sorts, the old </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Why I drink and why you shouldn't </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">prep-talk. The author's stand is a little didactic, as befits a man of his age and social stature, but it doesn't by any mean lack a good deal of self-reproach and critique (Hitchens even goes far enough as to refer to himself as </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a "piss-artist," fully aware that the drink is "the professional deformation of many writers, and has ruined not a few," though not enough to fully quit it as "making rules about drinking can be the sign of an alcoholic"...) </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">All this is naturally wittily-equilibrated with not a little bit of self-esteem and grandiosity: "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Publicity means that actions are judged by reputations and not the other way about: I never wonder how it happens that mythical figures in religious history come to have fantastic rumors credited to their names." </span></span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In defense of Martin</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-ii-christopher-hitchens-hitch.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">second excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Martin</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Maggie, and Me</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, recounts the author's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 1970's frenzy with fellow celebrated writers Martin Amis and James Fenton, alongside chance encounters with Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Thomas Pynchon and even the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first lady</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Margaret Thatcher.</span></span></span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The excerpt is mostly concerned with Martin Amis though, and the friendship the latter and the author of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hitch-22 </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">have held since the early 1970's. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This close friendship ("</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a love whose month is ever May" according to Amis; "the most </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">hetero</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sexual relationship that one young man could conceivably have with another", according to Hitchens), </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">is announced right away as a strong and mutual bond between two literary giants (though Hitchens rather modestly testifies: "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I would love to be able to give the impression that it was a relationship between equals but, if represented in cartoon form, the true picture would be closer to one of those great white sharks that evolution has fitted out with an accompanying but rather smaller fish.") </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This excerpt quickly becomes an argument of sorts, wherein Hitchens does his best to defend and glorify his friend and author, Martin Amis. Hitchens admiration for Amis can be a trifle embarrassing at times, with its oftern suggesting tone, but for the most it does sound deserving...</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfG57ji_dwKkmMmgWBPSl-PMaKLpxvs5ct5KCfusFJt-OIQmSpJwVRODiAaeR8gfpgpEGHN7XK_LtZC81UX-mFmBH1qZ52-GyRlEDmUqmDzJKAm9fqmIc8TIABzEQCistj-bU4tr8Jm8/s1600/Hitch-22-A-Memoir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfG57ji_dwKkmMmgWBPSl-PMaKLpxvs5ct5KCfusFJt-OIQmSpJwVRODiAaeR8gfpgpEGHN7XK_LtZC81UX-mFmBH1qZ52-GyRlEDmUqmDzJKAm9fqmIc8TIABzEQCistj-bU4tr8Jm8/s320/Hitch-22-A-Memoir.jpg" /></span></a><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Besides the habitual '</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Martin is great, he's so fab</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">' soliloquy, Hitchens also shares a few amusing notes from his past with the reader: First an odd visit to a New York brothel with Amis, whilst the latter was 'researching' for his soon-to-be-published-most-known-novel, </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Money-Suicide-Note-Penguin-Ink/dp/0143116959?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Money</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">; </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Second a brief relaying of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143116959" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />the circumstances that brought about the unison of a second Bloomsbury literary brat pack, "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a sort of end-of-the-week clearinghouse for gossip and jokes" where poets, writers, illustrators, critics (almost all literary editors, and almost all men: "There were no women, or no regular ones, and nothing was ever said, or explicitly resolved, about this fact") would meet once a week and form the "nightmare of a conspiratorial London literary establishment."</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">little Bohemia, though </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">united in profession, vocation and ideology (mostly opposing the up and coming Iron Lady, whose strength and influence rose by the day during the 1980's), nevertheless experienced a "deep divide between left and, if not exactly right, yet increasingly anti-left" (as is often the case in intellectual circles). Good thing they had some fatherly figures around, to put some order in their youthful spirits, first in the form and flesh of Kingsley Amis, then in the presence of Philip Larkin, for whom almost all shared a "common admiration [...] as a poet if not as a man".</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But what a brat pack it is. Philip Larkin, Clive James, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes and of course Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens.. An extraordinary group of talented and colorful individuals who continue to roam our planet to this day and infest it with their newspaper columns and publications (well, most of them)</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And then there was Maggie</span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-ii-christopher-hitchens-hitch.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">second excerpt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">from</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitch-22-Memoir-Christopher-Hitchens/dp/0446540331?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hitch-22</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ends with an amusing little story (hard to believe its true, but Hitchens testifies: "I had and have eyewitnesses to this."</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Invited by a friend to the House of Lords, for a cocktail celebrating the publication of "a crusty old book by a crusty old peer named Lord Butler," and aware that Lady Thatcher might make an appearance in this event, Hitchens finds himself face to face with 'the Milk Snatcher'. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Long story short, Hitchens inevitably gets himself into an argument with the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">First Lady</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> and, after teasingly being asked by her to bow down lower and lower (the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Iron Lady </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is well known of her fondness of submissive subjects. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The life thereafter</span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">A few weeks after the publication of Hitch-22, Hitchens collapsed in his New York hotel, in the very midst of his book-selling tour. He was shortly diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. In a recent 'confession' published in</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vanity-Fair-1-year/dp/B00005NIPX?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vanity Fair</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005NIPX" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">he relates the abruptness of this discovery: "The previous evening, I had been launching my latest book at a successful event in New Haven. The night of the terrible morning, I was supposed to go on The DailyShow with Jon Stewart and then appear at a sold-out event at the 92nd Street Y, on the Upper East Side, in conversation with Salman Rushdie. My very short-lived campaign of denial took this form: I would not cancel these appearances or let down my friends or miss the chance of selling a stack of books [...] My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a “race” life may be, I have every abruptly become a finalist." </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">This 'warning sign' life has given Hitchens, an individual that (like so many power-people) often seems like an unstoppable force, does not come with too ill a spirit, as he avows: "In one way, I suppose, I have been “in denial” for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light. But for precisely that reason, I can’t see myself smiting my brow with shock or hear myself whining about how it’s all so unfair: I have been taunting the Reaper into taking a free scythe in my direction and have now succumbed to something so predictable and banal that it bores even me. Rage would be beside the point for the same reason [...] To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?" </span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But even the strongest of wills succumbs to a note of self-pity: "I had real plans for my next decade and felt I’d worked hard enough to earn it [...] would it be less poignant to get cancer on the day that my memoirs were remaindered as a box-office turkey?"</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Ironic or not, Hitchens'</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitch-22-Memoir-Christopher-Hitchens/dp/0446540331?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Hitch-22</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0446540331" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is an interesting read from a prominent second-half-of-the-20th-century figure. At times a trifle gossipy but mostly </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">unapologetic, it is without a doubt a very recommended Excerpt Reader read.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #666666; line-height: 19px;">.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span><br />
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</div></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">VERDICT: BUY IT (because a lifetime of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">experience</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> doesn't often come at such a feeble price)</span></b></span></div></div></span></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-51750441873015148042010-08-06T23:46:00.000-07:002010-08-09T07:35:19.519-07:00Excerpt: Dave Eggers' What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">If pressed upon to tell </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Truth and nothing but the Truth</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, The Excerpt Reader will avow, like most Western readers I guess, to a strong abstention from any non-western literature. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">That will include the odd African, Eastern or at times even North American novel that might make it through the cultural barrier separating between </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">this world</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> and the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Other.</span></span></i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">This, even when taking into account that, if pried upon a little, The Excerpt Reader's lineage would burst with Baltic and Oriental remnants upon the slightest touch. </span></span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0307385906&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Thus, even if a novel like Chinua Achebe's</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_Fall_Apart" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-image: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: underline;" title="Things Fall Apart"></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Apart-Chinua-Achebe/dp/0385474547?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Things Fall Apart</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385474547" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">or Aravind Adiga's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/White-Tiger-Novel-Booker-Prize/dp/1416562605?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">The White Tiger</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1416562605" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">were to miraculously land on my book-shelf (I actually received the latter as a birthday present some two years ago)</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">; </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Even if Zadie Smith's</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/White-Teeth-Novel-Zadie-Smith/dp/0375703861?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">White Teeth</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0375703861" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">were to be televised and screened on my TV (it actually was, but I didn't make it through the first chapter of the British series; What's more, I actually bought the book myself, in free will and good mind, about 10 years ago in Heathrow airport at a bargain price, along with some 2-3 other paperbacks); Even then I am ashamed to say I would be reluctant to pick any of these books up and actually give them the reading they deserve.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">It would have to take a "miracle", hence, something like incidentally stumbling upon an odd remark from a</span> </span></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=674309714"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">fellow Facebook user</span></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, claiming: "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span id="id_4c5945a91453e7f40bfb7"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Reading</span> </span><span class="highlight" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vernon-God-Little-VERNON-LITTLE/dp/B001TICB90?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Vernon God Little</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001TICB90" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in the car and</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Vintage-Dave-Eggers/dp/0307385906?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">What Is The What</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307385906" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">at home. Some contrast!" to make The Excerpt Reader pop out of its shell and give this 'African' novel's excerpt a good rummaging-through before giving it its just verdict.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">True, you might justly claim that Dave Eggers'</span> </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Vintage-Dave-Eggers/dp/0307385906?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307385906" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is not a 'proper' African novel, in that it was written by an American writer and not by Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee, as the oxymoronic title suggests (was 'Biography' not enough? Are we to believe that Eggers embodies Achak-Deng so thoroughly in this narrative that he can claim to be speaking as/for him?!), but the book is after all based on the real life story of Achak-Deng, so there is some 'justice' in Eggers' endeavors here, as well as in my reading it, i guess (If it weren't for the Western transcription of the 'African' events and emotions described here, I sadly confess I most likely would not have been tempted enough to read the excerpt at all).</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The</span> </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-dave-eggers-what-is-what.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">first excerpt</span></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is taken from the book's first chapter. Chronologically speaking, we're starting from the 'end', when Sudanese refugee </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Valen</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Deng is living in the US, after over ten years of wondering from one country to the other, seeking shelter.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The US is no haven, as we are quickly led to understand: shortly after settling in, Deng is mugged by two african-americans, probably junkies, who take his money and beat him up, while repeatedly referring to him as 'Africa', or 'Nigerian' ("</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In America I have been called Nigerian before-it must be the most familiar of African countries", write Eggers/Deng, as if protecting the readers from the other 'truth', or prejudice: that all black people look the same..).</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Thus, even in the midst of the 'white' world; amidst all the wealth and opportunity, Deng is confronted with the same type of cruelty, the same type of ignorance he has fled from in his motherland: " I have the fortune of having seen more suffering than I have suffered myself [...] I suppose there is little in the way of violence that I have not seen in Sudan, in Kenya," making the suffering he has had to endure in Sudan relatively bearable, as cruel as that sounds: "[...] Strewn across the couch and my hand is wet with blood, I find myself missing all of Africa. I miss Sudan, I miss the howling grey desert of northwest Kenya. I miss the yellow nothing of Ethiopia."</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Deng's conclusion is inevitable, even if somewhat 'softened' by Eggers, who still owes his American identity its due defense: "I am tired of this country. I am thankful for it, yes, I have cherished many aspects of it for the three years I have been here, but I am tired of the promises."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The</span> </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-ii-dave-eggers-what-is-what.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">second excerpt</span></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is finds us a little bit further up the road (or </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">down</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> the road, if you prefer, as it is set a few years before the first chapter). </span></span></span></div></div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Thirteen years old </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Achak Deng (</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">known simply as Achak at this point) is on the road, together with some 80,000 other Sudanese refugees, on the look for a permanent resting place.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Again, Achak is confronted with existential thoughts: "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">After my walk to Kenya, when Maria found me on the road wanting to be lifted back </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">to God, I spent many months thinking about why I should have been born at all."</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Intentionally or </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">un-, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Eggers seems to </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">transcribe Achak-Deng's narrative into a simple and 'childish' stream, either because Deng was a still child at the time of the told events, or in order to make the events described 'simpler' and more easily accessible to the western mind. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But there's nothing 'simple' or easily comprehended about the life Achak-Deng has had to endure: "[...] </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I grew up in refugee camps. I lived in Pinyudo for almost three years, Golkur</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">for almost one year, and Kakuma for ten. In Kakuma, a small community of tents</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">grew to a vast patchwork of shanties and buildings constructed from poles and sisal</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">bags and mud, and this is where we lived and worked and went to school from 1992</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> to 2001. It is not the worst place on the continent of Africa, but it is among them."</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Living on one meal a day (a concept almost unfathomable to the average western citizen, living amidst all the plenty), Achak-Deng (or is it Eggers?) strives to display 'normality' nevertheless: "we ate and talked and laughed and grew. Goods were traded, men mar</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">ried women, babies were born, the sick were healed and, just as often, went to Zone</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Eight and then to the sweet hereafter. We young people went to school" but the refugee camp and the life of want is threatening to become a permanent solution for the sea of refugees inhabiting it: "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">we came to accept that Kakuma would exist</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> forever, and that we might always live within its borders."</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">All this is delivered unto the reader as in retribution, either for 'our' inability to understand or for our lack of basic care for fellow human beings and the conditions they have to endure: "There is a perception in the West that refugee camps are temporary. When images of</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the earthquakes in Pakistan are shown, and the survivors seen in their vast cities of</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">shale-colored tents, waiting for food or rescue before the coming of winter, most</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Westerners believe that these refugees will soon be returned to their homes, that the</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> camps will be dismantled inside of six months, perhaps a year."</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">There is no escape from the truth, which is repeated in various forms, a few hundred times no-doubt, throughout this 'Autobiography': "Kakuma was a terrible place for people to</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">live, for children to grow."</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">All this retribution, I am led to understand, is coming in much too late. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The events described in Achak-Deng's narrative passed some ten to twenty years ago, as </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.valentinoachakdeng.org/">Valentino Achak Deng Foundation</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">makes very clear:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Between May 16, 1983 and January 9, 2005 over two and one-half million people died of war and war-related causes in Sudan, over four million people were internally displaced in southern Sudan and nearly two million southern Sudanese took refuge in foreign countries."</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Transcribed by Eggers and published in 2006 to great critical and public acclaim, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Vintage-Dave-Eggers/dp/0307385906?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">What is the What</span></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307385906" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">is a perfect example of the western flirtation with dementia. Catastrophes only become 'relevant' once they're gift-wrapped, neatly packaged and delivered to our doorsteps (wasn't the erection of the </span></span><a href="http://www.ushmm.org/"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">United States Holocaust </span>Memorial Museum</span></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in 1993 a similar western 'gesture' towards a significant event of human suffering, coming in some 50 years too late?! Aren't the</span> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vanity-Fair-1-year/dp/B00005NIPX?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Vanity Fair</span></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005NIPX" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">pieces about the Haiti earthquake's aftermath, beautifully laid out with Sean Penn and Bill Clinton photo shoots, coming in about 6 months too late?!)</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Blessedly ignorant and willingly blindfolded we wrap our western guilt with paperbacks and magazine prints.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; line-height: 18px;"><b>VERDICT: BUT IT (If only to subdue that western conscience of yours)</b></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
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<div style="font: 11px Times; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: small;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: small;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-22697939366006293352010-08-03T14:53:00.000-07:002010-08-03T14:53:42.857-07:00Excerpt: DBC Pierre's Lights Out in Wonderland<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"><h1 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've read both of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBC_Pierre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">DBC Pierre</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s novel to date, first </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vernon-God-Little-VERNON-LITTLE/dp/B001TICB90?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vernon God Little</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001TICB90" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, which won Pierre the 2003 Booker winner as well as the 2004 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Whitbread First Novel Award winner -</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> a light and amusing read (not sure it deserved the prestigious prizes, though), and then in 2006, </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ludmilas-Broken-English-DBC-Pierre/dp/0393329674?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ludmila's Broken English</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, which was less fun to read, being multi-focal, boring most of the time and downright tedious the rest of the time...</span></span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBi8jaf4j0depIwwZG26rDhEU_6-zMojl0gWfQ-4LbPddONi80YCB9P3DVNBopOWdbrNmJm4do92hdVcOxQVjRpOQrnernLAEAHd-w2W9RIIwCVZfzDcblIwEJHBL_r2DtO4Jm3IAUDE/s1600/lights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBi8jaf4j0depIwwZG26rDhEU_6-zMojl0gWfQ-4LbPddONi80YCB9P3DVNBopOWdbrNmJm4do92hdVcOxQVjRpOQrnernLAEAHd-w2W9RIIwCVZfzDcblIwEJHBL_r2DtO4Jm3IAUDE/s320/lights.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><h1 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lights-Out-Wonderland-DBC-Pierre/dp/0571228895"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lights Out in Wonderland</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is Pierre's third novel to date (he's published a short story for children, entitled </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Suddenly Doctor Cox</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> in 2009)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and it is due to be published next month by Faber & Faber.</span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">tells the story of one man's odyssey through the world's grand </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">metropolises</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> (</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">taking in London, Tokyo, Berlin and the even the Galapagos Islands).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This man is twenty-something </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gabriel Brockwell ("</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A microwave chef. A writer of pamphlets. A product of our time. A failed student. A faulty man. A bad poet. An activist in two minds. A drinker of chocolate milk, and when there’s no chocolate, of strawberry").</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Brockwell </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">wonders these places in search of his '</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Wonderland', his redemption.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The title of Pierre's novel suggests, naturally, apocalypse and decay, but also "fun times" and decadence, as befits an "end times" sort of novel. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And, lo and behold, right-smack in the novel's </span></span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/08/excerpt-dbc-pierres-lights-out-in.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first sentence</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> we are declared that our main protagonist is about to kill himself, but not right away... "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Because nothing matters anymore", and also, possibly, because someone needs to fill in those </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">336 pages before we do actually get to the END. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The reason for all this morbidity coming from a twenty-something year old ? Quite vague... "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everyone regrets leaving a party early, hearing laughter from a salon behind them. Death must feel that way. But I don’t feel it at all; because this party’s over. "</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Morbidity aside, what we're left with is a never-ending monologue delivered in the first person (why do authors continue to write in first person? So few of them actually get away with it..), a half-witty, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">stream-of-consciousness</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> type of narrative, which makes it very hard to flap from one page to the other without stifling a serious yawn or avoiding a faint roll of the eyelids (and to top it all we're also over-burdened with multiple footnotes on almost every page of the novel).</span></span><br />
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In short, not a very recommended read.. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: DON'T BUY (Because </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ludmilas-Broken-English-DBC-Pierre/dp/0393329674?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ludmila's Broken English</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393329674" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> was bad enough..)</span></span></b></div></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-90032631849305945872010-08-02T21:47:00.000-07:002010-08-03T03:25:46.642-07:00Excerpt: Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaNXBJ2VPFoKa414yDQGkLadpLS4zZGOYCCHpi_RId9m1Vj1hS92rR8rEs9j7FkSPDNLIkob21UH5HW7k-bM6eHFfHRCnpxiG75_fciU5ZPSooleyh9yd1-7jpzVfcweCQfIjqWfrxVs/s1600/Union-Atlantic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaNXBJ2VPFoKa414yDQGkLadpLS4zZGOYCCHpi_RId9m1Vj1hS92rR8rEs9j7FkSPDNLIkob21UH5HW7k-bM6eHFfHRCnpxiG75_fciU5ZPSooleyh9yd1-7jpzVfcweCQfIjqWfrxVs/s320/Union-Atlantic.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Haslett"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Adam Haslett</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s literary </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">debut was a short story collection entitled </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Stranger-Here/dp/0385720726?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You are not a stranger here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385720726" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (2003).</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Considering this was a collection of stories which deals mostly with the '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">mentally ill, closeted homosexuals, boys discovering their sexuality, and men who have never come to terms with it' (no doubt Haslett has read his share of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Closer-Novel-Cooper-Dennis/dp/080213212X?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Denis Cooper</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=080213212X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> short stories), saying it was a success is saying a lot (the book </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">was a finalist for the 2002 </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="National Book Award"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">National Book Award</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and the 2003 Pulitzer Prize</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and spent some time on The </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Times/dp/B000GFK7L6?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">New York Times</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000GFK7L6" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> Best Seller list. It was also named one of the five best books of the year by </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/TIME-1-year/dp/B00007BK3L?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Time</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, and to top it off Haslett was declared </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Magazine/dp/B00008GT1Z?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">New York Magazine</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00008GT1Z" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />'s writer of the year).</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So much for institutional reception and public acclaim.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Haslett has used the time since 2003, the year he graduated from Yale Law school, to write </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Union-Atlantic-Novel-Adam-Haslett/dp/0385524471?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Union Atlantic</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385524471" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">released earlier this year,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> a "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fictionalised retrospective of the economic climate in 2002", post 9/11 (The Twin towers), pre september 2008 (The economic fall)...</span></span><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0385524471&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For the </span><a href="http://an-average-reader.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">average</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> excerpt reader, Haslett's vantage point as a short story writer can only be beneficial: writers who know their short stories usually excel in the way they build the chapters of their novels; and indeed, Haslett provides very readable and plot-wholesome excerpts (if you're too lazy to read the excerpts, you can always watch the </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Union-Atlantic-Novel-Adam-Haslett/dp/0385524471?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Amazon</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385524471" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> trailer </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m3LY69Y7LHKBL1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, though i don't really see how a 2 minute video is going to make you read a 300 page book you're reluctant to go through...)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-i-adam-hasletts-union-atlantic.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first excerpt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">July 1988</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, is set in Iraq, during the first Gulf War, where Doug Fanning is in charge of air defense on </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1566644845"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the </span></span></a></span><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Vincennes_(CG-49)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Vincennes</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">one of the US navy's most important guide missiles cruisers, a ship which was involved in the s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">hooting-down of an Iranian commercial air-flight, killing all 290 civilian passengers on board. </span></span></span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Doug is a part of the 'erroneous' team of soldiers who sent the innocent Iranians to their death, but he is also, in a way, described as a bystander, a sort of ghost, a commentator on all things occurring around him as well as, reluctantly, a part of them. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">More than anything he is anxious for his 3 year period of duty to end, and is mentally preparing himself for the life-to-come, back in the States, "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">figuring in his head how long it would take for the letters he'd mailed in Manila to make their way into the offices of the brokerages and the banks." </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-i-adam-hasletts-union-atlantic.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This excerpt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is taken from the book's epilogue which, read outside the book's super-structure (single-chapters form), could be read as a sort of 'warning'; an explanation for 'the fall', as financial analysts and cultural critics will call the September 2008 stocks chute.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Life doesn't wait too long to move on and we're quickly in </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-ii-adam-hasletts-union-atlantic.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">excerpt two</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, taken from the second chapter of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Union-Atlantic-Novel-Adam-Haslett/dp/0385524471?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Union Atlantic</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385524471" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, circa 2002 in Finden, Massachusetts, where Fanning's neighbor, Charlotte Graves (an homage to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wolfe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tom Wolfe</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Charlotte-Simmons-Novel/dp/0312424442?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Charlotte Simmons</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312424442" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />? More on the similarities between Haslett's and Wolfe's characters and plots in my </span><a href="http://a-2da-z.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">other blog</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, Hebrew readers invited..), an 'anti-modernist' in essence (if modernism be SUV's, mansion houses and shopping malls), is scheming to bring Fanning's monstrosity of a house down (Fanning built his 'Greek Revival château' on top of a hill laden with trees Graves's grandfather had donated to the town).</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The two foes, Graves and Fanning, can be described as specimens of the 'old' and 'new' America. The 'old' being hard working, family values, high moral and opposition to change, and the new - opportunism, self indulgence, individuality and hedonistic self-pleasuring). </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It doesn't look like these two ends are going to meet.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But to make sure I'm right you're going to have to read the whole book..</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: BUY IT (I know I already did...)</span></b></span>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4220587502962539908.post-11721071979712659072010-07-30T10:56:00.000-07:002010-07-30T10:56:26.148-07:00Excerpt: David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Although he's been around for more than ten years now, </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; white-space: normal;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(as a published writer that is), and as a celebrated one </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">since 2004, the year he published </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375507256/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=01YJ54K6S3X6CME5WGMB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846"></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Novel-David-Mitchell/dp/0375507256?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cloud Atlas</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0375507256" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, i've never </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">read anything of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mitchell_(author)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">David Mitchell</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theex06-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1400065453&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This situation most likely would not have been changed in the near future, if it weren't for the new vocation i've recently taken upon myself, to read and review new and upcoming novels' excerpts and deliver my verdict upon them. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mitchell's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400065453/ref=s9_newr_gw_ir03?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0KFYPRK91B361AVSH76D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846"></a></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Autumns-Jacob-Zoet-Novel/dp/1400065453?ie=UTF8&tag=theex06-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400065453" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a historic novel set in Japan at the turn into the 19th century, where </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span></a><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dutch East India Company</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">rules large and local and foreign population intermix in vice and corruption, despite a strict prohibition against any contact between locals and 'foreigners' (indeed, dutch clerks are not allowed to learn or speak any japanese, and bringing in bibles or christian artifacts through the local customs is forbidden).</span></span></b></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Two excerpts are currently available to read, one from the </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-david-mitchels-thousand-autumns_27.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first chapter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, the other from the </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-ii-david-mitchels-thousand.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">second</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-david-mitchels-thousand-autumns_27.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">first excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The House of Kawasemi the concubine, above Nagasaki (</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">subtitled </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The night night of the fifth month) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">is taken from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chapter 1 of the book and is </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">set in </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">18th century Japan where Dutch Dr. Maeno and midwife Orito Aibagawa try to deliver the dead child of Kawasemi, </span><em style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">concubine to </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Uragami</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Gyokudo, japanese artist.</span></span></span></span></i></div><div><div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The delivery is doomed to fail as the child is stillborn, until a moth enters the room and with one flap of its wing - the child is rewarded its life back.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But don't get too attached to the mother and baby as we're swiftly moving on..</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span><a href="http://the-excerpt-source.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-ii-david-mitchels-thousand.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">second excerpt</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Captain Lacy's cabin on the Shenandoah, anchored in Nagasaki harbor </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(subtitled, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Evening of July 20, 1799</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> finds us on a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">dutch east indies</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> cargo ship sailing the Nakasaki run on its way to the port of Batavia, now known as </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jakarta</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, the capital of Indonesia.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On the ship is Jacob de Zoet, a dutiful clerk in charge of 'cleaning the corruption' at his new post, the man-made island of Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, Japan, where "every arrival [...] is a particular death".</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cannily enough, Zoet's first act as 'moral supervisor' is to smuggle his Psalters through local customs.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But he cunningly escapes punishment and we're off to a speed trial where </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">chief elect of the of the trading factory</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> of Dejoma Unico Vorstenbosch sentences the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">acting-chief</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> of the above-mentioned factory, Daniel Snitker (yes, the titles are endless in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">beaurocratic</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> world of the East Indies company) for 'gross dereliction of duty', which basically means romping 'with strumpets in a brothel' whilst the unobserved company warehouses were put to fire by vandals and looters, and we are exposed to the politically and morally corrupt world of the colonial entities invested in the far east.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This goes on, in minute details and a trifle tediousness at times, but it these nuances that make for what the french call</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-style: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vraisemblance">vraisemblance</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">', without which there <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">could be no 'historic' novel.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-style: italic; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theex06-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400065453" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">VERDICT: BUY (if you're into the whole historic novel scene)</span></b></div></div></div></span></span></span></div>A-Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16627288803415842462noreply@blogger.com0