Archive for the ‘Book I'm Reading Now’ Category

Pereira Declares. No. 8.5.2007. 157.

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

It adds context when reading Pereira Declares [Sostiene Pereira] by Antonio Tabucchi to know the writers and literature. [Librarian provides references .]

Luigi Pirandello(1867-1936).
Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872)
Federico García Lorca. La casa de Bernarda Alba (1936). [He was executed, shot by Falange militia on August 19, 1936], (1898-1936).
Georges Bernanos.Journal d’un curé de campagne; Grand Prix du Roman (1936). (1888–1948).
François Mauriac “for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life.” (1885 – 1970).
Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935).
Guy de Maupassant. Bel Ami .(1885). Le Horla. (1887). (1850-1893).
T.E. Lawrence. (1888-1935).
Thomas Mann. (1875-1955.)
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926).
Honoré de Balzac. Honorine (1843). (1799-1850).
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. (1844-1900).
Giambattista Vico. (1668-1774).
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. (1770-1831).
Karl Marx, 1818-1883.

Alphonse Daudet. Le petit Chose (1868). Contes du Lundi(1873).’La Derniere Classe.’ L’Arlésienne (1872).(1840-1897).
Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro.[He was involved in the opposition to António de Oliveira Salazar and the Estado Novo, whose government tried to censor or ban several of his books.] (1885-1963).
Bernardo Marques. (1898-1962).
Théodule Ribot. (1839-1916).
Pierre Marie Félix Janet.(1859-1947).
Jacques Maritain. 1882-1973.
CLICK IN THE MIDDLE.Vladimir Mayakovsky. (1893-1930.)
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein. (1898-1948).

Pereira’s rightist editor suggests:
José Maria de Eça de Queirós. (1845-1900).
Camilo Ferreira Botelho Castelo Branco. (1825-1890).
Luís Vaz de Camões.Os Lusíadas(1572). (1524-1580).
António Ferro. [The Portuguese Department of Propaganda-SPN, later called the Portuguese Information, Culture and Tourism Department - SNI, was created by Antonio Ferro to create strategies for ideological propaganda; see pdf file: 'The Poster of the New State' by Theresa Beco de Lobo]

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And those who fall.
Gabriele d’Annunzio [born Gaetano Rapagnetta; supporter of fascist political ideas. ], (1863-1938).
Paul Claudel Aux martyrs espagnols (19370.["Paroles au Marechal" commending Petain], (1868-1955).
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Futurist Manifesto (1909). Zang Tumb Tumb./Battle of Adrianople/ (1912-1914 [one of the first supporters and members of the Italian Fascist Party], (1876-1944).
Isidro Cardinal Goma y Tomas (1869-1940).

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Also the last film of Marcello Mastroianni

Who Cares if the Brits Don’t Question the Western Way of Life? No. 7.10.2007. 143.

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

And who cares? We have Jose Saramago.

Let the Brits give each other knighthoods.
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Terry Eagleton’s essay in The Guardian, “Only Pinter Remains,[July 7, 2007] observes:

For almost the first time in two centuries, there is no eminent British poet, playwright or novelist prepared to question the foundations of the western way of life.

Eagleton’s characterizes Christoper Hitchens– “who looked set to become the George Orwell de nos jours, is likely to be remembered as our Evelyn Waugh, having thrown in his lot with Washington’s neocons.

Others Eagleton discusses are Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie,David Hare.

Comments are a good antidote.

USAPeace syas:

Agreed. If you want leftist critique today, you have to go outside the Anglo-American tradition to people like Jose Saramago, Gabriel Garcia Marques, and Mahmoud Darwish.

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[Book I'm reading now: Fathers and Sons by A. Waugh]

IMPAC Shortlist for 2007. No. 5.2.2007.88.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007

Of the eight novels on the IMPAC shortlist only three were nominated by U.S. libraries:

A long long way

A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry

  • Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, USA
  • San Diego Public Library, San Diego, USA

extremely loud and incredibly close

foer

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

  • Jacksonville Public Library, Jacksonville, USA
  • New Hampshire State Library, Concord, USA
  • Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County, Cincinnat, USA
  • Richmond Public Library, Richmond, USA
  • New York Public Library, New York, USA


No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

  • Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, USA
  • Lincoln City Libraries, Lincoln, USA

Milan Kundera: Die Weltliteratur. No. 1.24.2007. No. 17.

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

Europe:
Linda Asher’s translation of Milan Kundera’s essay, Die Weltliteratur, in The New Yorker (8 Jan 07:28-35) is not online.

But try and obtain a copy. It’s a rip roar through European literature with Kundera’s characterization of the small –national–context versus the large–supranational– context.

Icelandic sagas, Munich, small nations versus big, why aren’t the heroes of the sagas known as well as Tristan or Don Quixote?
It generated comment at Words without Borders.

A fine essay for a library discussion.

Not much attention to women writers.

Book I’m Reading Now:

Books of 2006. No. 12.20.2006. 246.

Wednesday, December 20th, 2006

There are always a lot of wrap ups of the year’s best books at this time of year. Daniel Trilling’s survey includes Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Chicken with Plums.

Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She now lives in Paris, where she is a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. She is also the author of several children’s books, Embroideries, and the internationally best-selling and award-winning comic book autobiography in two parts, Persepolis and Persepolis 2. Persepolis is currently being made into an animated feature film, cowritten and codirected by Satrapi, which will be distributed by Sony Picture Classics in 2007.

Haruki Murakami Receives Franz Kafka Prize. No. 11.1. 2006. 223.

Wednesday, November 1st, 2006

Haruki Murakami has been awarded the Franz Kafka Prize.

Ryszard Kapuściński

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

Ryszard Kapuściński. The Emperor.

Suppose we were to launch a spacecraft with the intention of establishing literary contact with the residents of some remote part of the galaxy. If we had room for only one contemporary writer, whom would we send? I’d vote for Ryszard Kapuscinski, because he has given the truest, least partial, most comprehensive and vivid account of what life is like on our planet. 

John McGahern

Sunday, October 22nd, 2006

John McGahern , writer, born November 12 1934; died March 30 2006.

Amongst Women (1990)

[ Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literary Award (1991), GPA Award (1992), nominated for the Booker Prize (1990). ]

2003 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction

Hear him here.

Cormac McCarthy

Sunday, October 22nd, 2006

The Road.

For discussion.

Claudio Magris

Friday, October 20th, 2006

Claudio Magris, Microcosms.

In a region known for shifting national identity, Magris mines a deeper vein running through the countryside, and through the long memory of its inhabitants.