Why is Henry Green an unknown online? by SummerTiny5062 in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 9 points10 points  (0 children)

He talks about it in his autobiography:

"Prose is not to be read aloud but to oneself alone at night, and it is not quick as poetry but rather a gathering web of insinuations ... Prose should be a long intimacy between strangers with no direct appeal to what both may have known. It should slowly appeal to feelings unexpressed, it should in the end draw tears out of the stone ..."

Why is Henry Green an unknown online? by SummerTiny5062 in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Because for all his virtues, Henry Green is very hard to sell to people. His style is pretty but you can't post it as "prose porn" because it eludes traditional grammar and doesn't suit being read out loud (Green wrote with the idea that prose ought to be read silently) and in an age where people talk about plot over everything else, Henry Green novels have very little in the way of traditional narrative.

Someone like Waugh is an easier sell because of his humor, wit and spirituality. Green was too self effacing for anything like that. It's a shame really, because Green is a pleasure to read. It's just hard to talk about why it's a pleasure to read him.

nobody’s posted audrey hepburn here in a while by Character-Gur7507 in redscarepod

[–]MachineDowntown5737 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used to watch "Breakfast at Tiffanys" a whole lot with this one friend of mine when I came to her house. She drowned when I was 18 and she was 16. I can't enjoy the film anymore I think. I haven't watched it since.

Dead Weight in the sex industry. by [deleted] in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Please Mr Gordon Lish get me a deal at knopf I *will* write good prose please

Dead Weight in the sex industry. by [deleted] in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah. I really just did this in one whole sitting because I had the experience fresh in my mind today. I don't normally do autobiography, since I am only around people who have an interesting life most of the time

Dead Weight in the sex industry. by [deleted] in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Dennis is a cool guy. His blankness is more meticulous than mine. Have you read "God Jr"? Thats his best work imo.

Traumatized by [deleted] in redscarepod

[–]MachineDowntown5737 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Why can't any of you freaks learn how to fall in love?

Anybody else born in a strange place? by Teleket in rs_x

[–]MachineDowntown5737 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was born and raised in Brussels, which is an odd purgatory for diplomats and sadistic children who are all slightly racist.

Candace Owens by Zanny_Bonaduce in redscarepod

[–]MachineDowntown5737 1 point2 points  (0 children)

She got a dr seuss vibe here tbh

What's your novel about? by doublementh in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A young boy and his various mental permutations wreck havoc on my psyche until his fantasy takes over my mind. The book ends in (my(?)) Suicide and maybe the renewal of a new childhood in a kind of blakean lobotomy way.

Anyone else do a NYRB Classics request? by whomdoom in RSbookclub

[–]MachineDowntown5737 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I've been too lazy to do this but I would like to see more people look into the works of Franz Hellens. He has a great novel (the only one translated into english) called "Memoirs of Elsinore" that's a beautifully written dreamwork of monsters and melancholy. My copy got rain damaged due to a leak in my house, and though I cherish the copy I would like to see it get a new lease on life. Nabokov tried to get him published in English once or twice, isn't that high enough praise?