Father Sergius is a good short one of Tolstoy's.
A friend said to me recently that Anna Karenina was much better. he said that the last 100 or so pages of W&P are basically Tolstoy outlining his own system of thought, rather than a denouement as such.Has anyone read War and peace. Bloke at work who reads a lot, it's his favourite novel. On my list, but not with much degree of seriousness
I think the disagreement over American Psycho here has sprung up in part because of different expectations around what a novel is, and what the pleasures of reading novels are. I think it's a great work of art (I was blown away when I read it years ago, a few of the passages just seemed to throw the whole thing into counterpoint - Version has quoted one of them above) but does it deliver the usual satisfactions I'd associate with a novel - identification with characters, the satisfaction of plot resolution etc? I'd say no. Does it offer deep insight into the time it was written, even the "human condition" (or perhaps the white male American condition)? I'd say yes.
I will defend myself here, as Djuna Barnes, Jane Austen, Mina Loy, Renata Adler, Elaine Dundy, Olivia Manning and Jean Rhys are among my favorite writers and I wrote a 50,000 word thesis on Nancy Cunard. But point taken.
This thread, though, is a bit like the movie thread. It is hard to engage with because it is not really about anything specific, but every now and then something pops up (like Blade Runner 2049) that engages or annoys enough people to get a conversation going on. But nobody can force it.
Where does one start with Cunard - i only really know her via Pound.
I don't think it's that. I think there are specific things about that particular novel Jeks and Catalog just don't like, e.g. Jenks mentioning the emphasis on surface. I didn't get the impression it was because they were only interested in traditional storytelling and neat plots or anything like that.
Happy to accept I'm wrong on that - was an idle thought. Probably related to reflecting on my own (lack of) reading of novels.I don't think it's that. I think there are specific things about that particular novel Jeks and Catalog just don't like, e.g. Jenks mentioning the emphasis on surface. I didn't get the impression it was because they were only interested in traditional storytelling and neat plots or anything like that.
To me, there's really no way you can compare it some other novels I've read eg Moby Dick, Quixote, Gravity's rainbow.