tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post92262435147500956..comments2024-03-28T15:01:12.582+00:00Comments on The little white attic : Reading Light in AugustHai Di Nguyenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-90621734104247140192023-01-03T11:10:33.667+00:002023-01-03T11:10:33.667+00:00Yeah. After the past few years, I think I'm ju...Yeah. After the past few years, I think I'm just fed up with American issues, especially American race issues.<br />I have wanted to go back to Toni Morrison at some point, having read quite a few of her novels before, but now I don't think I want to. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-28457261649547287392023-01-02T17:46:01.553+00:002023-01-02T17:46:01.553+00:00OK, I can definitely see just not being in the moo...OK, I can definitely see just not being in the mood for this. And it doesn't get any less dark, despite Tom's comment above. (I think you have to read that ending ironically.) Of the ones I've read (7 or 8?) it's the most race-haunted, excepting maybe Absalom Absalom. But as an American with partial Southern roots (Alabama by way of Texas, more Snopes than Sartoris) I do care about the subject and as you note, his prose can be pretty amazing.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-73162111604232815532022-01-10T22:00:18.333+00:002022-01-10T22:00:18.333+00:00Speaking of James, have you seen Jack Clayton'...Speaking of James, have you seen Jack Clayton's <i>The Innocents</i>? Sorry if I've asked you before. <br />"Tolstoy sees the future as open wide for good people. There's none of that in O'Connor." <br />I have to think more about this. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-68281513456515715882022-01-10T21:21:55.862+00:002022-01-10T21:21:55.862+00:00Yes to Melville. Is James an American novelist? I ...Yes to Melville. Is James an American novelist? I guess so, and I've read most of what he wrote and I intend to read the rest. I like him a lot. <i>The Ambassadors</i> is a masterpiece. I looked through wikipedia's "American Novelists" page and, of the male authors listed there, I can say I'm willing to read more by James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, Christopher Isherwood, and Nabokov (if James is American, I guess so is VN?). I'm curious about Denis Johnson, Thomas Pynchon, and William Gaddis but haven't read any of them. My pal Layne Maheu's second novel came out last year; I like his work plenty though nobody's heard of him. My wife reads a lot of Steinbeck, so I'm becoming interested in Steinbeck. And though I'm sure I have on my shelves some books I like by other American male writers, I can't think of them now.<br /><br />Yeah, <i>Wise Blood</i> is partly about personal faith, or really the loss of it, and how Hazel has filled that loss with anger and resentment. The guy in the gorilla suit who steals the doll from the museum is also trying to fill a psychic hole. So from one angle, the novel is about misusing religion to compensate for our own character flaws and weaknesses. I think everything O'Connor wrote is murky and often self-contradictory. O'Connor chastises her readers, makes them do penance. Tolstoy sees the future as open wide for good people. There's none of that in O'Connor. I admit that my temperament is closer to hers than to his.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-16023827470756975362022-01-10T21:16:24.915+00:002022-01-10T21:16:24.915+00:00I never noticed that. Now that I've checked, I...I never noticed that. Now that I've checked, I'd never heard of those two. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-47727318987816701692022-01-10T21:11:15.805+00:002022-01-10T21:11:15.805+00:00I didn't know any better. Faulkner's great...I didn't know any better. Faulkner's greatest catastrophe won a Pulitzer.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-81268434402627790362022-01-10T21:04:40.132+00:002022-01-10T21:04:40.132+00:00You've read everything, Tom.
Why did you read ...You've read everything, Tom.<br />Why did you read the total stinkers though?Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-33634005528280745392022-01-10T20:44:32.093+00:002022-01-10T20:44:32.093+00:00Yeah, I read them all, even the total stinkers.Yeah, I read them all, even the total stinkers.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-90513265990305058982022-01-10T20:36:16.290+00:002022-01-10T20:36:16.290+00:00Yeah, I've only read five of Faulkner's ni...Yeah, I've only read five of Faulkner's nineteen novels! What do I know? A small sampling.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-70750913193148117462022-01-10T20:30:10.465+00:002022-01-10T20:30:10.465+00:00Right. Okay. Right. Okay. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-25237945679628581122022-01-10T20:24:17.939+00:002022-01-10T20:24:17.939+00:00Yes, enormous. The "why" needs a book, b...Yes, enormous. The "why" needs a book, but stated simply Rulfo and GarcĂa Marquez and so many others read Faulkner and thought, "Hey, this is just like where I am from!" And many conceptual problems were solved, and many books were written.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-76700698640226729462022-01-10T20:22:07.091+00:002022-01-10T20:22:07.091+00:00Yeah, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is good, and su...Yeah, <i>The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter</i> is good, and surprising considering how young she was.<br />Male American novelists, I assume you like Melville. And James?<br />I think faith in Tolstoy's novels is mostly about the meaning of life and the question about how to live. Faith in <i>Wise Blood</i> is more about, I don't know, God? But what you say makes sense too. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-42340715862223823032022-01-10T20:16:32.226+00:002022-01-10T20:16:32.226+00:00This is off-topic, but I've heard that Faulkne...This is off-topic, but I've heard that Faulkner has huge influence on Latin American writers. Why so? Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-77075530676919165272022-01-10T19:51:57.232+00:002022-01-10T19:51:57.232+00:00I've read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and I ...I've read <i>The Heart is a Lonely Hunter</i>, and I think it's a pretty good book. A pretty weird book, too. I read it when I was 25ish and then again about 20 years later. I haven't read anything else by McCullers though I keep meaning to.<br /><br />It just struck me that I like very few male American novelists, but I like quite a few female American novelists. I don't know what that says.<br /><br />Maybe the religion in O'Connor is more foregrounded and concentrated, more urgent, than it is in Tolstoy, where it's presented as part of a larger moral vision? O'Connor certainly thought of herself as a Catholic writer, as an evangelist. Chekhov had the same moral message as O'Connor, but he skipped directly to human causes and effects and ignored religion as a psychological phenomenon, I think. O'Connor's psychology is deeply Catholic and pessimistic about the world. The Russians, on the other hand, believed in progress.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-44532474869618438482022-01-10T19:05:08.077+00:002022-01-10T19:05:08.077+00:00Light in August has a happy ending! For that one c...<i>Light in August</i> has a happy ending! For that one character anyway. It has a very jolly last line. I should have included it in my "great last lines" post from a hundred years ago.<br /><br />Surprisingly few Faulkner novels are more than obliquely about race. Many not at all.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-82933468269258570792022-01-10T19:00:04.384+00:002022-01-10T19:00:04.384+00:00Ah.
I was thinking about writing a post and also i...Ah.<br />I was thinking about writing a post and also inviting other bloggers to write a post about what's important when we read.<br />I don't think I care that much about the subject matter as such, though I care about characters and the author's vision (apart from the stuff I usually write about, like images and metaphors). Prose is important, certainly, but what it conveys is more important. <br />In the case of <i>Wise Blood</i>, you're right that it's about identity, but I still think religion and faith are a big part of it, and I just didn't care. I did try, not only to care about Hazel Motes but also to care about what Flannery O'Connor was doing, but it didn't work. <br />The interesting thing is that the stuff about religion and faith in Tolstoy doesn't bother me at all. Some people complain about the ending of <i>Anna Karenina</i>, but I loved it.<br />Do you like Carson McCullers? Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-86613122172694712352022-01-10T18:45:28.588+00:002022-01-10T18:45:28.588+00:00I almost never care about the subject matter of a ...I almost never care about the subject matter of a novel. I just care about the prose, the structure, the figurative language, the characterization, that sort of thing. Craft, mostly, though I still want to be bedazzled and pulled away from myself.<br /><br />I thought <i>Wise Blood</i> was really about disillusionment and identity, and religion was more a narrative device than a theme. O'Connor would disagree, but I don't think writers necessarily are the best readers of their own work. I've read <i>Wise Blood</i> a bunch of times. I have all of O'Connor's stuff on the shelf. It's creepy southern Gothic, just like Faulkner. scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-36283404409530547262022-01-10T18:35:27.172+00:002022-01-10T18:35:27.172+00:00Oh yeah, true.
You should read The Sound and the F...Oh yeah, true.<br />You should read <i>The Sound and the Fury</i> this year then. And <i>Anna Karenina</i>.<br />I picked up Flannery O'Connor last year, and quit, but again it's not about the book, it's about me. It was <i>Wise Blood</i> and I couldn't get interested in religion and faith. My interests just become narrower and narrower over time hahahaa.<br />I will come back to <i>Light in August</i> though. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-33516132203407660562022-01-10T18:24:44.326+00:002022-01-10T18:24:44.326+00:00I have not read The Sound and the Fury. I think I ...I have not read <i>The Sound and the Fury</i>. I think I started reading it around 1987 and then lost the book. I was reading Faulkner in the late 80s. Faulkner and Camus and O'Connor. And Jung, I think. So long ago. Anyway, no opinion on <i>S&F</i>. One doesn't go to Faulkner to get cheered up, I'll say that.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-41277203871174648702022-01-10T18:18:34.127+00:002022-01-10T18:18:34.127+00:00What about The Sound and the Fury? I loved that bo...What about <i>The Sound and the Fury</i>? I loved that book.<br />Himadri thinks very highly of <i>Light in August</i> and has read it twice, but yeah, it is grim. Where I stopped, Joe Christmass's adopted father told him about a diner that he was not allowed to go to. Christmas hates the soft kindness of his adopted mother than the hardness and injustice of his adopted father. I understand it, but at the same time it's just depressing. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-35062374462686524892022-01-10T17:53:47.495+00:002022-01-10T17:53:47.495+00:00I love As I Lay Dying. A beautiful, perfectly craf...I love <i>As I Lay Dying</i>. A beautiful, perfectly crafted book. I've read it several times. Aside from some of the short stories, it's the only Faulkner I've read that isn't aimed at racial issues. No, that's wrong: there's <i>Sanctuary</i>, which is a crime novel. A potboiler, Faulkner called it.<br /><br />I really liked <i>Light in August</i> when I read it a couple of years ago, but there's no denying that it's grim. And it just gets more grim as it goes along.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-8797615449510059192022-01-10T13:11:21.817+00:002022-01-10T13:11:21.817+00:00I couldn't decide on anything so ended up read...I couldn't decide on anything so ended up reading Wodehouse. When in doubt, read Wodehouse, as a friend of mine often says. Haha. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-33103500143110893832022-01-10T06:44:39.221+00:002022-01-10T06:44:39.221+00:00Also agree with the sentiment at books needing to ...Also agree with the sentiment at books needing to come at the right time. Looking forward to seeing where you land nextAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15423577573236597607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-18046189767548122632022-01-10T06:43:43.170+00:002022-01-10T06:43:43.170+00:00I love Faulkner, but have never read Light in Augu...I love Faulkner, but have never read Light in August. Agree with you that Sound and Fury is far more memorable than As I Lay Dying.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15423577573236597607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-82010750701351277302022-01-08T16:38:09.916+00:002022-01-08T16:38:09.916+00:00I think I see what you mean, or at least I don'...I think I see what you mean, or at least I don't remember <i>As I Lay Dying</i> at all. But <i>The Sound and the Fury</i> I do remember, especially the characters.<br />But yeah, <i>Light in August</i> is very heavy, so now I'm reading some literary criticism by James Wood. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.com