[Ulalume!Ulalume!]

Hamsun: Mysteries

A very eccentric stranger decides to disembark from a boat at the last minute. He is attracted by the festivities in the town. The novel becomes the tale of his interactions with and his effect on the locals in the town. However, the novel focuses on the psychology of the main protagonist. The inhabitants are shocked and disturbed by his speech as he continually endeavours to convince them that he is a genuine person. I found it interesting but odd. It reminded me of how I felt when reading Kafka.

I consider it a sequel to Hunger, which ends with the main character embarking on a boat and leaving Oslo. Reading his later books this same character—under a myriad of different names and guises—reappears but as Hamsun's career progresses, this outcast character becomes less and less the focal point yet remains an important part of the story. I'm very fond of his later, less manic, more muted and melancholic works like the Wanderer novels and the Segelfoss Town novels, as well as the charming and light-hearted novella Dreamers.

 

[aligreto]

I consider it a sequel to Hunger, which ends with the main character embarking on a boat and leaving Oslo. Reading his later books this same character—under a myriad of different names and guises—reappears but as Hamsun's career progresses, this outcast character becomes less and less the focal point yet remains an important part of the story. I'm very fond of his later, less manic, more muted and melancholic works like the Wanderer novels and the Segelfoss Town novels, as well as the charming and light-hearted novella Dreamers.

Thank you for your interesting comments. I have read Hunger but I never thought to make the same connection that you did. I will read more of Hamsun's works so thank you for the pointers above.

 

[Kreisler jr]

"Hunger" is one of these "terrifyingly great" books, I get a queasy feeling even thinking about it and I am not sure I want to re-read. But I don't think I read anything else by Hamsun, so I might try one of the other ones mentioned.

 

[FrankE]

I finished The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail last night. Heavy going when using a text to speech reader for a pdf copy but I couldn't find a used copy under £100, let alone affordable.
Started:
Hayek 😍- The Road to Serfdom

 

[bipbop13]

Deviant-The biography of Ed Gein

 

[Blancrocher]

Anthony Trollope, The Barchester Chronicles - I'm not sure that I'm more entertained so consistently by any other novelist: these are such a delight (despite the lack of happy resolutions). I may take a break from Trollope after this solely to ensure that I've got more "sure things" waiting for me when I'm desperate.

 

[SanAntone]

Sound Within Sound: Radical Composers of the Twentieth Century
by Kate Molleson

An alternative history of 20th-century composers—nearly all of them women or composers of color—by a leading international music critic

Think of a composer right now. Was it a white man? Perhaps in old-fashioned clothing and wild hair? The music history we're told is one dominated by men, and even then, only a select few enter the zeitgeist. This conventional history perpetuates the myth of "great works" created by "genius" artists. Men who enjoyed institutional privilege during their lifetimes and have since been enshrined by an industry of publishers and record labels. But just because we haven't heard of spectacular female composers, doesn't mean they weren't creating music all the same. (blurb)

But more importantly she devotes long overdue attention to composers working in what has been perceived as "the margins" because of the sound of their music; i.e. their style.

 

[FrankE]

Another foreign fiction novel, I'm re-reading
Nicholson Baker - The Mezzanine

Fantastic. I really loved the detail and descriptiveness.

 

[bipbop13]

 

[aligreto]

Salinger: Catcher In The Rye

This is my third time to read this novel over a span of a number of decades. I know that this is regarded as a cult American classic but I have to admit that I have never seen it thus, even as a young man reading it initially. I have never understood the appeal of the work. However, I decided, in my more mature years, to give it another read in order to see if my understanding and appreciation of the novel had changed.
My ultimate finding was that my opinion of the novel had deteriorated with the passage of time. I find both the writing and the pretext of the novel to be puerile. I fully understand that it is written from the point of view of a young man. However, I do not even see it as one of those “rite of passage” novels. For me, it does not have the depth or insight to be regarded thus. I honestly felt that the protagonist was very immature in his thinking, analysis and outlook. Perhaps the protagonist’s cynical, sardonic and contemptuous view of the then current values is the appeal. I, however, this time around in my latter years, found it to be so boring that I had to force myself to finish it.
No doubt, someone will enlighten me as to the error of my ways.
Perhaps it is just a cultural issue on my part.

 

[Kreisler jr]

We had to read Catcher in the Rye in 12th grade English (as a second/third language in a German school) around 1990. IMO it had aged badly even then. It was so strongly located and rooted in late 1940s/early 1950s US that 1980s West German teenagers could only superficially relate to Holden's plight.
(Other stuff we read in school, such as Animal farm, 1984, Of Mice and Men, even Death of a Salesman fared better, despite having often quite obvious, sometimes political, messages.)
There was wisdom in the practice that for centuries "Classics" read in school were usually >1000 years old and in Greek and Latin. A 30-70 years old book is often neither fish nor fowl. It's too old to be contemporary (although that depends on the setting and content) but almost never "timeless".

 

[aligreto]

We had to read Catcher in the Rye in 12th grade English (as a second/third language in a German school) around 1990. IMO it had aged badly even then. It was so strongly located and rooted in late 1940s/early 1950s US that 1980s West German teenagers could only superficially relate to Holden's plight.
(Other stuff we read in school, such as Animal farm, 1984, Of Mice and Men, even Death of a Salesman fared better, despite having often quite obvious, sometimes political, messages.)
There was wisdom in the practice that for centuries "Classics" read in school were usually >1000 years old and in Greek and Latin. A 30-70 years old book is often neither fish nor fowl. It's too old to be contemporary (although that depends on the setting and content) but almost never "timeless".

Thank you for those interesting comments.

 

[Blancrocher]

John Sutherland, Who Is Dracula's Father?: And Other Puzzles in Bram Stoker's Gothic Masterpiece. I enjoyed this collection of informally witty speculations and interpretations regarding Dracula. And now I'm rereading the novel.

 

[alinkner1]

a very entertaining collection of short stories by Sara Lippmann - -

 

[SanAntone]

Salinger: Catcher In The Rye

This is my third time to read this novel over a span of a number of decades. I know that this is regarded as a cult American classic but I have to admit that I have never seen it thus, even as a young man reading it initially. I have never understood the appeal of the work. However, I decided, in my more mature years, to give it another read in order to see if my understanding and appreciation of the novel had changed.

My ultimate finding was that my opinion of the novel had deteriorated with the passage of time. I find both the writing and the pretext of the novel to be puerile.

I too first encountered the book in high school and have probably read it three or four more times in the ensuing years.

I have never thought it to be dated, or puerile, or to have lost its appeal. I consider it one of the best American novels ever written, capturing the zeitgeist between WWII and the '60s. I am a fan of Salinger and regularly re-read his entire group of novels and short stories.

I just began the Nine Stories a couple of weeks ago.

I can't imagine having your response. But then again our responses are individual and subjective. Still it saddens me to read such negative comments about one of my most treasured books.

 

[Bwv 1080]

 

[bipbop13]

I too first encountered the book in high school and have probably read it three or four more times in the ensuing years.

I have never thought it to be dated, or puerile, or to have lost its appeal. I consider it one of the best American novels ever written, capturing the zeitgeist between WWII and the '60s. I am a fan of Salinger and regularly re-read his entire group of novels and short stories.

I just began the Nine Stories a couple of weeks ago.

I can't imagine having your response. But then again our responses are individual and subjective. Still it saddens me to read such negative comments about one of my most treasured books.

It's Mark David Chapman's favorite book as well.

 

[aligreto]

I too first encountered the book in high school and have probably read it three or four more times in the ensuing years.

I have never thought it to be dated, or puerile, or to have lost its appeal. I consider it one of the best American novels ever written, capturing the zeitgeist between WWII and the '60s. I am a fan of Salinger and regularly re-read his entire group of novels and short stories.

I just began the Nine Stories a couple of weeks ago.

I can't imagine having your response. But then again our responses are individual and subjective. Still it saddens me to read such negative comments about one of my most treasured books.

Thank you for your comments. It was inevitable that my post would eventually induce a response such as yours from someone and I totally respect that. Yes we all see and interpret things differently. As already stated, I do feel that cultural differences are at play here in my having no sympathy for the protagonist. I could be nothing but honest here.

 

[aligreto]

It's Mark David Chapman's favorite book as well.

I am not quite sure what to make of that post

 

[SanAntone]

It's Mark David Chapman's favorite book as well.

I suppose if someone had said they liked strawberries, and you knew that Mark David Chapman also liked strawberries, you would point that out. As if it were somehow important.