luka
Well-known member
yeah that reminds me i was going to copy out a chunk, more for corpsey than for tea, who wont appreciate it anyway
what are you reading now?
yeah that reminds me i was going to copy out a chunk, more for corpsey than for tea, who wont appreciate it anyway
luka
Well-known member
just use the index in that case.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Maybe you can do it for everyone else
luka
Well-known member
"...an impish deferring and deferring of climax: the lifting, after an intent showman's pause, of some unforeseen syntactic shell to disclose not the pea last glimpsed but an auk's egg on the point of hatching (with patience) yet further wonders. To what Keatonian risks did James not commit himself, risks of immobilization in mid-chaos, as he essayed for the thousandth time yet one more construction; and with what wit each impasse becomes a node, as the arrested line strikes out of it in an unforeseen direction, seeking new points of suspension! Suitably paced, after such hints, with hesitations and onrushes, how alive a Jamesian text becomes."
Keatonian referring to Buster Keaton, a hero of Kenners
Keatonian referring to Buster Keaton, a hero of Kenners
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Well that's a very long and meandering sentence but it's not at all difficult. It's just a sequence of clauses, each of which is easy to understand to anyone with a decent grasp of written English. Now compare that to the much shorter but infinitely more opaque sentence I quoted a few posts ago.
Haven't read the article yet, might take a look in a mo.
I guess it could be, although another arch-master of Very Literary Literature who was all about the most minute nuances of meaning and feeling was Conrad, whom I find much more readable than James. (Or, I should say, than James at his most convoluted and affected, because his style is by no means uniform.)
No, just TTotS and a bunch of other shorter stories in a collection just called 'Ghost Stories'.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Another James tic, which I've found amusing rather than annoying, is his tendency to put totally normal English words or short phrases in inverted commas, as if they were highly recherché or cutting-edge slang (when they obviously were not, even when he was writing). Sometimes there's even a little parenthetical explanation or apology immediately afterwards, too. Thus a character might eat a piece of 'toast', as it were, before 'heading up' to 'town', so to speak, and going to a 'pub' to 'drink' a pint of 'beer', if you'll forgive the expression.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I'm probably being a bit over-critical. I maintain some passages would be better for being somewhat untangled and some of the dialogue made less stagey and affected, but not to the point of preventing me from enjoying of it and I expect I'll look into some of his full-length novels at some point.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Obviously don't know which passage/s you're referring to, but if he's putting in a parenthetical explanation/apology afterwards - this seems like something he'd do to convey something of the narrator's character?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
The bits I'm thinking of are told in the voice of an impersonal narrator, rather than a character - though he probably does what you're suggesting, too. But it was mainly the inverted commas that amused me. I might copy out a few examples if I can be arsed later.
Could I appeal to Dissensus recommend me some fiction that is very engaging, while still having a rich vocabulary? I am looking for something to read in English just before bedtime. Something that will enrichen my vocabulary, but without being too burdening. It might be worn out classics, even the ones you read at school in the UK/US. Even fiction for children might do, if exceptionally well written. The goal is to improve my English writing skills by reading more native stuff untranslated, but it shouldn't feel like a chore. Any advice?
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
I'm currently reading Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, which is, I suppose, aimed at 'young adults' (teenagers). It's a very imaginative and gripping trilogy, not a chore to read by any means, and very well written, for the most part. It's easy to read but it employs a quite rich vocabulary that draws subtly on Blake and Milton.
Read some of it here, perhaps you'll find yourself intrigued:
Amazon product ASIN 1407130226
Read some of it here, perhaps you'll find yourself intrigued:
Amazon product ASIN 1407130226
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, I read these an age ago and really enjoyed them. Don't tell craner though, he might explode, lol.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Yeah, I was wondering about that.
My favourite ever fictions are Chekhov's short stories, but these are of course translated, so I'm not sure as to how enriching they will be for your vocabulary. Vocabulary-wise, there's Shakespeare, of course, but then there's also Nabokov. I suppose whether or not 'Lolita' is a chore depends upon your tastes (Luka hates him afaik), but I didn't find it to be one - and it's full of words that the most fluent English speaker will need to look up.
Interesting to ponder whether a non-native English speaker would find lessons in Nabokov and Conrad, two non-native speakers who became master stylists in English.
My favourite ever fictions are Chekhov's short stories, but these are of course translated, so I'm not sure as to how enriching they will be for your vocabulary. Vocabulary-wise, there's Shakespeare, of course, but then there's also Nabokov. I suppose whether or not 'Lolita' is a chore depends upon your tastes (Luka hates him afaik), but I didn't find it to be one - and it's full of words that the most fluent English speaker will need to look up.
Interesting to ponder whether a non-native English speaker would find lessons in Nabokov and Conrad, two non-native speakers who became master stylists in English.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Presumably that connotation wasn't alive to Nabokov...
Urban dictionary informs me that the epithet comes from prison guards:
'Not On Normal Communal Excercise'
'Lolita' is one of the only Nabokov novels where he can be excused for being a haughty grandiloquent windbag of a writer, because Humbert Humbert is a haughty grandiloquent windbag of a narrator.
Urban dictionary informs me that the epithet comes from prison guards:
'Not On Normal Communal Excercise'
'Lolita' is one of the only Nabokov novels where he can be excused for being a haughty grandiloquent windbag of a writer, because Humbert Humbert is a haughty grandiloquent windbag of a narrator.