Do you like Gaddis? Do you like Sebald?

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Then read this article...

http://www.villagevoice.com/vls/178/park.shtml

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 12:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks for that.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 23:07 (twenty-three years ago)

four months pass...

Mostly thanks to this article I got Sebald's "Vertigo" on sale today, it's as good as this makes it sound... and I really have to finish "JR", but it's dense, I'm at university, I have records to hear and really how do people manage to read so much?

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:18 (twenty-three years ago)

heh...I spent most of my spare time at university listening to records. I didn't read ONE bookd of fiction (only books on music).

now I'm reading fiction again and not listening to much music (only on friday night, saturdays or sundays).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd like to master reading tricky fiction along to records. Yr university time sounds like mine! I just read that "Velvets Voidoids" book w/no time problems (it's not that great though, not funny enough and kind of weird about commerciality) but there's about 20 fictional things I've "started". And I buy about 5 records a week.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:27 (twenty-three years ago)

What's worse I even listen to them. Grace Jones "Inside Story", it's not that great

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:30 (twenty-three years ago)

''I'd like to master reading tricky fiction along to records.''

Impossible! the rec I was getting into (avant garde stuff basically, which i really love) needed the attention. I can't get any 'meaning' out of them if I'm not concentrating.

I've tried it and i couldn't do it.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah I know, I need two brains... I mean I sometimes feel I'm neglecting say the B-52s cos I'm typing and so on simultaneously, let alone WHATEVER (maybe "Meditations" by John Coltrane but I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be clever!), so yeah READING as well, esp Gaddis etc, isn't about to happen.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Gaddis rulez.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 15:03 (twenty-three years ago)

We talked about this before, but as much as I hate to say it, I sympathize with Franzen re: Gaddis. I was reading A Frolic of His Own and abandoned it within 50 pages of the end because I realized I wasn't enjoying it at all. I realize this hardly makes me an expert, but there you go.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 15:06 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought the Franzen piece was more evidence of his crimes against humanity. Way to kick a guy when he's dead, Jonny!

― hstencil, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 15:19 (twenty-three years ago)

the franzen piece made me angry. gaddis is my favorite writers besides harry mathews, and my favorite novel of his was "JR" which franzen dismissed because he couldn't finish it. after reading that article i was all riled up and i decided to read "the corrections" just so i could dismiss it. unfortunately (well, not really), i loved "the corrections" and thought it was great, maybe even brilliant. goddam it.

― john fail (cenotaph), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 15:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Just picked up "The Rings of Saturn," and I'm very excited to read it. "The Emigrants" was my favourite book in a long, long time.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 16:46 (twenty-three years ago)

eight months pass...

So I'm halfway through "A Frolic" and I'm loving it, and kinda puzzled why I was having so much trouble w/"JR". I'm not listening to records at the same time, that's prob it

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Stephen Dixon told me that he swears by Carpenters Gothic, of all the Gaddis novels. Surprised me. My gf's reading Sebald's Rings of Saturn at the moment for class.

...yes.

Well, that's all I have to say about this topic. I own three Gaddis novels, all of which haven't been read (yet) and are sitting in boxes that are unlikely to be opened within the next two years, at least.

Have a good evening.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 5 December 2003 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

You too bro!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:36 (twenty-two years ago)

''I'm not listening to records at the same time, that's prob it''

that must be it.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 5 December 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

sebald rocks. it's amazing to me how much his name pops up everywhere and how many people dig him. i can't tell you how many people i know read that ww2 piece he had in the new yorker. it musta been those nice covers on the paperback reissues here in the states that cought people's attention. they are pretty.plus, everyone loves picture books!and having most of his stuff in print everywhere certainly helps. i had never heard of him until reading reviews in atlantic or new yorker or maybe both. it really is a shame that there will never be more.

― scott seward, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm on my second sebald novel now. i had mixed feelings abt the emigrants.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The only Sebald i have read is "Austerlitz" which seemed a bit joyless but interesting all the same, the thing is I dont think i could actually tell you what it was "about" which is refreshing in a way. Its a really puzzling book, you have absolutely no sense of where its going and after finishing it I had little sense of what it was. None of the meaning is made expicit. Even in translation it seemed Perfectly written though and the flow of it is incredible, it seems structureless, hypnotic.

― jed (jed_e_3), Saturday, 6 December 2003 00:27 (twenty-two years ago)

the rings of saturn is amazing!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 6 December 2003 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Well "Austerlitz" has a lot to do w/the holocaust which might explain its lack of joy, tho "Vertigo" wasn't a barrel of laughs either

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Saturday, 6 December 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

It has some funny pics tho!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Saturday, 6 December 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Sebald is like the driest read ever.

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Saturday, 6 December 2003 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

when i said joyless i didnt exactly mean "no laughs"!

― jed (jed_e_3), Saturday, 6 December 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i agree rockist, but im not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing, i cartainly admire the precision of the writing.

― jed (jed_e_3), Saturday, 6 December 2003 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I couldn't disagree more!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 6 December 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

whit what?

― jed (jed_e_3), Saturday, 6 December 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

that he is the driest read ever

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 6 December 2003 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

you'd prefer 'dryest'?

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 6 December 2003 17:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd prefer "juiciest"

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 6 December 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

see the prob. i had w/emigrants, and i'm still not sure if it's my own problem or the novel's, is that all the people he encountered...well two things...one, they all seemed to "speak" in a strangely similar, and almost preturnaturally eloquent, voice. two, the way he wrote of his wanderings made it really obvious when he was just about to make one of his encounters, it began to feel a little mannered.

otherwise i was quite impressed, especially by its oblique way of trying to capture something of the enormity of the holocaust.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 7 December 2003 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

the ending was puzzling, i should read it again but i returned the novel to the person i borrowed it from.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 7 December 2003 00:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry Jed that was a bit dickish of me

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 7 December 2003 09:42 (twenty-two years ago)

nah it wasn't dont be daft. i was being dickish.

― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 7 December 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...

What Gaddis book should i buy? Carpenters Gothic looks finishable, at least but so far no one has been able to tell me what its actually *about*. Cynthia Ozick's breathless review was no help either.

Should i read CG or JR?

― jed (jed_e_3), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

/bump/

― jed (jed_e_3), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

did you look at this colin:
gass/gaddis: rfi/s+d

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm reading A Frolic of His Own at the moment... finding it an easier time than JR. Enjoyed both of them though.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

what is the new sebald (an essay on the history of destruction) like?

I just picked up 'agapé agape' by gaddis. enjoying it thus far.

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm really enjoying "JR" right now and finding it easy enough cos otherwise I'd have no choice but to write an essay

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Monday, 10 May 2004 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

thirteen years pass...

1. This is a story about the most courteous act of hostility I've ever witnessed. This came from the author W.G. Sebald.
— Sandra Newman (@sannewman) September 5, 2017

this anecdote from Sebald is amazing

― mh, Tuesday, 5 September 2017 17:57 (eight years ago)

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