Don't hold your breath.
Oliver Craner
- Thread starter vimothy
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Don't hold your breath.
IdleRich
IdleRich
He did look a bit like Fassbinder I guess, who similarly worked himself to death.
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Well-known member
Depends how into it I end up getting. Something happened with Pynchon where I became obsessed. I've never put that much time and effort into reading or reading around anyone else. He's also much easier to read than these older writers, imo. I remember Corpse saying something about me easily reading something because I "read Pynchon for breakfast", but it doesn't work like that in my experience.
I'm looking at copies of 'Lost Illusions' now and it's like £3 on eBay, so will probably pick it up soon.
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Keep reading. There are yet more sentences.
It's also good to know a bit about French history before starting -- it is not essential, but it does make the experience more rewarding.
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Any history books you'd recommend?
They're not very fashionable but I would recommend the first two volumes of Alfred Cobban's History of Modern France. That takes you from 1715 to 1871 so covers all the relevant regimes.
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Well-known member
Cheers.
I'm increasingly drawn to the idea of older, unfashionable nonfiction as it seems a bit more rigorous. I ended up picking up that book on the Incas I was on about in the 'what are you reading now?' thread after considering reading 'The Lost City of Z' then seeing Hemming (who wrote the Inca book) saying it was a load of shit then looking into him and seeing he was a bloke in his 80s who'd spent his whole life studying and writing about the stuff.
Yes. I mean, I don't know a lot about the historiography of France, a lot of which revolves around interpretations of 1789, but the Cobban books are detailed, meticulous and beautifully written. But for the sin of being written by a postwar liberal, I guess, they remain out of print.
woops
is not like other people
Nah, hate history, what could be more boring
jenks
thread death
Very good @craner - I am a big fan of the 19thC French novel - and Lost Illusions is one of my favourites. I remember first hearing about him in a Tom Wolfe interview for Bonfire of the Vanities when it first came out. You can see how he sets Stendhal, Flaubert, Zola, Hugo and Maupassant, among others on their way, staking out the territory of the costs of creativity and how precarious life is financially for those who have grand illusions - nature's aristocrats with empty pockets.
Thanks Jenks