Cyclonopedia

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I've got to say that if there were two books between which I would never have drawn a link it's Cyclonopedia and A Passage To India. I do remember that scene that you're on about though and I guess I can kind of see the resonance now you say it - and also, there is all that weird ceremony stuff near the end which could back you up, although it's obviously from a totally different angle to the way similar things are treated in Cyclonopedia.
 
empty mirror

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
i found a strategy that worked for me was to let the book read me: the reader as player-piano. it is easy to get bogged down in this one, especially when you are sent scrambling to google, or your dusty books on the occult, at every other paragraph to read up on some other fantastic evil gem that reza drops on us.
 
empty mirror

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
i read HP Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu this weekend and it explains ERRYTING!
the whole shape of Cyclonopedia is an echo of that story. TCoC is presented as a found document that is itself an excavation of a dead professors's carefully hidden works; just as Cyclonopedia is a russian nesting doll of narratives/invented research papers of the dead/missing.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
empty mirror said:
i read HP Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu this weekend and it explains ERRYTING!
the whole shape of Cyclonopedia is an echo of that story. TCoC is presented as a found document that is itself an excavation of a dead professors's carefully hidden works; just as Cyclonopedia is a russian nesting doll of narratives/invented research papers of the dead/missing.
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Shit, I'm now really embarrassed that I didn't spot that, being one of the forum's designated Lovecraft-nerds as I am.
 
empty mirror

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
man, i am so into that lovecraft story. i fear that nothing else by the good man will match it. what to read next?
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
empty mirror said:
man, i am so into that lovecraft story. i fear that nothing else by the good man will match it. what to read next?
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At The Mountains Of Madness, Dreams In The Witch-house, The Silver Key and Through The Gates Of The Silver Key, The Shunned House and The Colour Out Of Space. Especially the last one, it's amazing.
 
empty mirror

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
jenks said:
Saul Bellow;)
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ha thanks! i actually took out (from the library) that one you recommended----something Hoagie something wiley guy many jobs and diversions something mumble mumble. haven't read it yet but i will.

Mr. Tea said:
At The Mountains Of Madness, Dreams In The Witch-house, The Silver Key and Through The Gates Of The Silver Key, The Shunned House and The Colour Out Of Space. Especially the last one, it's amazing.
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cool thanks! i want to read the good stuff only
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
empty mirror said:
cool thanks! i want to read the good stuff only
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Yeah, he was pretty prolific, and there's not many people as can be both prolific and consistently good (and he wasn't one of them). But his good stuff is really good, and his OK stuff is still entertaining enough.
 
empty mirror

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
what's funny is that in call of cthulhu, the titular beast has a middle-east connection. from the stars, to middle east, to submerged island in the middle of the ocean.
:slanted:
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
empty mirror said:
what's funny is that in call of cthulhu, the titular beast has a middle-east connection. from the stars, to middle east, to submerged island in the middle of the ocean.
:slanted:
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I don't remember that bit, just the refs to the 'mad Arab' Abdul Alhazred, who wrote the Necronomicon - and is said to have been devoured in broad daylight by an invsible monster in 8th-century Damascus. :cool:
 
O

Octopus?

Well-known member
...just saw a $2.99 copy of this on the cut-out 'Bargain Books' display at local (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) retailer McNally Robinsons. A single copy, sandwiched between teetering piles of Paula Coehlo (!) and Dennis Johnson. Makes a sort of bizarre sense.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I've nearly finished it for the second time, and I think it's kind of book you can get more out of on repeated reading - mainly on account of being used to the language, which is very different from anything else I've ever read. This may not apply to some others here who are more used to this style of academic writing from the cultural-theory or psychoanalytic end of modern philosophy, I guess.

I looked on amazon.com earlier to see what the reviews are like - in a way disappointed to see they're all five stars, seems kind of fanboy-ish. I mean, it's not like the book is without its flaws...but I guess it's so different from everything else there's not really anything to compare it to.
 
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Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
I've just started reading this. Interesting stuff... it sort of provides a focus for the sort of question that I always find myself asking wrt Deleuzian theory though, to wit: in the first chapter, is all the stuff about trisons / feedback spirals meant to be a theoretical model for the certain aspects of how middle eastern politics / culture / history works? And if so, what are examples that illustrate these ideas / processes in action? Or is that The Wrong Sort Of Question?
 
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