catalog

Well-known member
Weird sync, I'm reading pynchons against the day and they are currently in ostend, for a conference about TIME.

One of the guys off the airship has met someone from the future who has taken him out cycling and told him that the same site is going to be a bloodbath in a few years (it's set before WW1).

Looks good Craner, I vaguely know the story but not in any depth, will have a read now.
 

catalog

Well-known member
Just read it, good stuff. It makes me want to listen to some Marvin gaye today.

When I think of "sexual healing", I think of the video, all red and out of focus.

For some reason, I have it in my mind that sebald mentions him living in ostend in rings of saturn, but maybe I've got that confused somewhere.
 

boxedjoy

Well-known member
thank you for this.

I've never been convinced by Sexual Healing as a punchline, to be honest - it always sounds too powerful to be reduced to a meme. I'm not familiar with much of his oeuvre... yet.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
This is outstanding.

After always being a big fan of his classic 60s stuff up to What's Going On, I still remember being quite shocked and depressed first reading about his decadent 70s and 80s life, and being repelled by these 'sickly' later albums for a long time. I still find them hardgoing to be honest, but they are fascinating, and you really capture why in this essay.
 

version

Well-known member
Really enjoyed that; makes writing and publishing sound like Hell. The kind of thing that makes you reassess how the writers you like actually got there, who was in their corner and why.
 

version

Well-known member
Nah, haven't read anything at all by Balzac. Sounds good though. That bit about him writing something in twenty days is absurd.
 

version

Well-known member
Other thing that came to mind reading this was how messy writing and publishing is. Until I read the publication history of Ulysses, I thought of it as this immaculate object. Was eyeopening to learn it was published in bits and pieces, Pound was doing his best to help him get it out there, Joyce was having to ask people for money etc etc.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
His work rate was staggering but then it basically killed him.

Read Balzac Version, but read a few of them. You'll thank me.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Other thing that came to mind reading this was how messy writing and publishing is. Until I read the publication history of Ulysses, I thought of it as this immaculate object. Was eyeopening to learn it was published in bits and pieces, Pound was doing his best to help him get it out there, Joyce was having to ask people for money etc etc.

It's less like this now, it's more streamlined but also, in different ways, just as difficult.
 

version

Well-known member
His work rate was staggering but then it basically killed him.

Read Balzac Version, but read a few of them. You'll thank me.
Should I start with 'Lost Illusions'? Also, are there particular translations to look for?
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Don't worry too much about translations. Balzac wasn't known as a great prose stylist and the ones available from Penguin and OUP are just fine.

You can start with 'Lost Illusions' but you should read these next:

A Harlot High and Low
Pere Goriot
Eugenie Grandet
Cousin Bette
Cousin Pons
Cesar Birotteau
The Black Sheep
 
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