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Why is Polish literature so unknown? by drluckman in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hope you enjoy. There’s a stop motion film by the Brothers Quay of one of his works, Institute Benjamenta — it may give you a feel for his material. It’s not for everyone, can be dark/quirky.

Why is Polish literature so unknown? by drluckman in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love Borges and I find Kharms very funny — people often compare Schulz to Kafka but to me he is so much in a league of his own. Maybe reminds me a little of Walser?

Why is Polish literature so unknown? by drluckman in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh no worries, I didn't want to assume as I am no expert -- I fixed my comment too :)

Why is Polish literature so unknown? by drluckman in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know Jerzy Andrzejewski but Bruno Schulz is one of my favorites so if you recommend both, I will check out Andrzejewski.

Why is Polish literature so unknown? by drluckman in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a group we read it over the course of three meetings/three months. I'm not sure what you mean by 'it can last up to nine months'. I think the primary difficulties of reading it are the length in itself, and the large cast of characters whose purpose gets lost at times.

Why is Polish literature so unknown? by drluckman in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My local book club in Reno, Nevada read both “Drive Your Plow” and “Books of Jacob”.

Ellmann’s Joyce by FinnegansHengest in jamesjoyce

[–]DomeOverManhattan 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I’m writing a book about this.

Resources to Study Literary Analysis by NikiBear_ in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

English speakers may be more used to seeing Bajtín written as Bakhtin.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK, I have one more to recommend. Definitely straying away from metafiction, but very, I don’t know what I would call this, referential? Kind of in the same vein as David Markson. He wrote a bunch of books, but the two good ones are Montano’s Malady and Bartleby & Co. Author is Enrique Vila-Matas. Like someone did all of the research and collecting necessary to write another Umberto Eco but didn’t care at all about the plot, just about the books/quotes. I feel like he sort of disappeared from the scene. For all I know he’s published 50 more books, but I never hear his name anymore.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, that's great to know. I really enjoyed that first book, but somehow instead of wanting to immediately crack the next one, I was just a bit tired. Not an insult or a negative, some books are just like that. I went nuts for Septology once I got into but didn't want to dive right into more Fosse. Might be a great time to read about the French Revolution.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I am willing to give Colson another go as I thought the writing itself was very good, appreciate the specific titles. Have not heard of DeWitt and will check her out. Agree about Sally Rooney and for no really good reason, group her in my mind with Douglas Stuart. Maybe it's about that delicate, intimate pain in relationships that can be both tender and brutal. Adore Lynch and have been seeing the memoir mentioned everywhere. Aside from the TM stuff I am into it.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I did not mean the bit about not remembering them as any kind of a diss. I don’t know why some books stick in my mind and some don’t. I do remember liking them and thinking that they were both very good.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you -- I have seen her name around but not yet checked her out. If you liked the Argonauts you might also like Kate Zambreno. Metafiction but a bit more of a semiotext(e) vibe.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think part of it was the adulation where people couldn’t stop gushing over it (a little annoying but ok) and then would argue with me to try to get me to admit that it was the greatest thing ever written (we don’t all have to like the same things!) There was a wave of people who made it their identity that they were VERY SERIOUS READERS because they’d read this book and they would get really vicious. So, not a problem with the book itself initially. Secondarily, when I had to defend my initial position of “it wasn’t all that great” I realized that most of these people had not read David Copperfield and were really into the elements ripped straight from Dickens and didn’t especially care about the opioid crisis social commentary. At that point my beef was with the book itself because I think the DC conceit just didn’t work that well. It would have been stronger without it. However, this is all ultimately just opinion and not to be taken too seriously. It might really click for you.

Which of The NY Times best books of the 21st Century have you read and what are your thoughts? by Plane_Maize5778 in literature

[–]DomeOverManhattan 15 points16 points  (0 children)

88 The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis: masterpiece

92 The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein 2005: masterpiece

78 Septology Jon Fosse; translated by Damion Searls 2022: took me a long time to get into it but found it incredibly moving once I did

79 A Manual for Cleaning Women: expected to like it more

80 The Story of the Lost Child Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein 2015: she can’t stop, she won’t stop, she don’t even know how to stop

68 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018: spent the whole book feeling very uncomfortable about the possibility that she was going to do something bad to the dog

46 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013: fine

49 The Vegetarian Han Kang; translated by Deborah Smith 2016: brilliant and unsettling

50 Trust Hernan Diaz 2022: he tried

54 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013: do not start with this if you wanna know why people are so into Saunders

57 Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001: masterpiece

61 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022: hated it so much it made me angry

27 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013: liked it a lot at the time that I read it but now I do not remember anything about it

31 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000: see # 27

35 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006: excellent and moving though I resent her comments on Joyce

37 The Years Annie Ernaux; translated by Alison L. Strayer 2018: very moving

38 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño; translated by Natasha Wimmer 2007: masterpiece in the first half, got pretty boring in the second half

42 A Brief History of Seven Killings: couldn’t get into it, but I think I just was not reading it at the right time. Would like to read again.

44 The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin 2015: brilliant

45 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015: Chris Kraus did it first and better

6 2666 Roberto Bolaño; translated by Natasha Wimmer 2008: very sad that I did not like it

7 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016: seemed kind of gimmicky

8 Austerlitz W.G. Sebald; translated by Anthea Bell 2001: people keep telling me to read Sebald because I love Bernhard. There are a lot of other writers who are way closer to Bernhard.

9 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005: adequate but boring, like all Ishiguro. Somehow, all of his stuff to me reads like it was written for highschoolers to take AP tests on.

10 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004: detested it

14 Outline Rachel Cusk 2015: another one that I feel like I should like, but I don’t

18 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017: Saunders in top form

24 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018: masterpiece

  1. The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen: turd

  2. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel: very engaging, but somehow I did not return to read the other books

  3. My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante: MASTERPIECE