I have read none of these books - and, having heard this young woman's brief explication of the works, I have no intention of ever doing so. They have been called "great" by experts other than myself, and, not having read them, I do not have the authority to speak about them at length; however, I think I've seen and heard enough to know that there is a substantial amount of presumptuousness, pretentiousness and sheer bunkum at the heart of each of these novels; more than enough, in fact, to undermine whatever genuine merit they may possess (if any). Your mileage may vary.
I'll grant Faulkner, at least, a partial indulgence, since he has written books that I have actually read and enjoyed (the Snopes trilogy and Old Man, to name two off the top of my head).
I haven't read any of these books, either. From the lady's description, I'm glad I haven't either.
ReplyDeleteThat said, from the video, it seems that the authors were writing more for themselves than any readers. And I don't mean for money; all self-respecting authors write for money. I mean for their egos.
Ach! That was me.
DeleteMe smirt! Me so smirt dat nobunny unnerstands me stirtitude! Evvybunny too stoopid 2 reed my buks!
ReplyDeleteCripes. There's no rule against literary masturbation, but there's also no rule that requires anyone to read it.
Back when I thought I was an intellectual, I attempted a James Joyce book, but now I don't remember which one it was. All I know is, I couldn't get past the first couple of pages. I'm convinced that guy was schizophrenic.
ReplyDeleteThe closest I've come to any title on that list was a Bloomsday celebration at the State Library some years ago. Not at all to my surprise I found only one person who had actually read Ulysses through from start to end. Listening to all those Irish accents real and fake praising Joyce for his literary wonder, I couldn't help thinking that these same people would have been howling for the book to be banned when it was originally published.
ReplyDeleteConfession: back when I was in my 20s I did see the 1960s film adaptation. It inspired no interest in me at all to read the book.
I took a world lit class in school and re-read the whole collection, not just the required ones and then Hemingway's works when I retired; some good, some not so good; I have listened to some difficult books on tape during long drives, but...
ReplyDeleteSo you're not a literature buff Gregory? My high school days in inner Sydney were like the Dead Poets movie, only better. One girl from our class won a Pulitzer for her novel. Even classmates who went on to become tradies knew their Shakespeare. Of course they're mad about Bloomsday and one friend went to Ireland for the real thing. No one reads Finnegan's Wake though.
ReplyDeleteI was mad about Samuel Beckett in high school ('Imagination Dead Imagine...'). I've mentioned I saw Mel Gibson performing Waiting for Godot in a rehearsal room at NIDA for a small audience. He was brilliant, as he was in everything. About the same time he filmed Mad Max! (Which I've never sat through).
- Bruce
I like few things more than curling up with a book, Bruce, but 'literature' has rarely impressed me. I tried reading Oliver Twist at some point, didn't get far. When I was 18 I read Patrick White's Tree of Man, wondered what all the fuss was about, and thought maybe I was too young an inexperienced to appreciate it. I tried again several years later with The Vivisector and decided I was fine, but White was full of it.
DeleteI think it was G K Chesterton who said that literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice. Here's a few from my twice-read list:
Foucault's Pendulum
The Hawkline Monster
The Glass Bead Game