Flann O'Brien's At Swim Two Birds

There is something really exciting about reading a novel that defies the standard expectations of form. Flann O'Brien begins his novel, At Swim-Two-Birds, under the premise that "A good book may have three openings entirely dissimilar and inter-related only in the presence of the author, or for that matter one hundred times as many endings." That is precisely how this novel begins...and ends. The narrative is written in layers with the actual author writing a story about a writer writing a story about another writer writing a story. In some odd way, it reminds me of the movie Inception, not by any means in content, but in form. You know, the dream within a dream within a dream?

I like the narration and humor. The narrator is a wonderfully odd man. The humor is subtle, a little dry, but hilarious. The story that the narrator writes is entertaining as well. I can't say that I always understand what's going on in this story within a story. It requires a little bit of effort of my behalf. Well worth it though. What's particularly nice about this novel, and what generates a sense of confusion as well, is the manner in which O'Brien's layers begin to overlap.

Check out this link: http://www2.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=15434

Graham Greene's Brighton Rock

A murderer is regarded by the conventional world as something almost monstrous, but a murderer to himself is only an ordinary man. It is only if the murderer is a good man that he can be regarded as monstrous. Graham Greene

What a bloody brilliant novel! I'm completely captivated by the plot, the characters, the dialogue. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and I can't stop reading. Presumably, this novel is set in England, but it has this very "Brooklyn" feel about it.

In any case, I found this song by Queen, "Brighton Rock," affirming that yes, yes, this is British, very British:

Queen - Brighton rock

Evelyn Waugh's Handful of Dust

I spent Thanksgiving break in Los Angeles, California this year. On the flight to L.A., I began reading Waugh's novel Handful of Dust. I was pretty amazed at how quickly I read this book. One three hour flight and a couple hours later, I had finished it.

It was certainly humorous...in a way that reminds me of Jonathon Swift's A Modest Proposal. I'd venture to say that this was Waugh's attempt at satirizing the institution of marriage. Brenda and Tony's marriage seems pretty decent initially. Nothing to write home about, for sure, but they have a sort of routinized, comfortable life together, planning their diets and such. It was pretty amazing to me how quickly their marriage evaporated. Okay. I take it back. I'm not.

What was absolutely hilarious to me about this novel was Waugh's use of irony to illustrate the hypocrisy and manipulation of Tony and Brenda's social reality. For instance, Brenda initiates the divorce because she is having an affair with Beavers, but by the end she has convinced everyone, including herself, that Tony had been in the wrong and was the cause for the divorce. It was his drinking, of course.

I genuinely liked this novel. I'm starting to open up a bit more to this Brit. Lit. business. :)

D.H. Lawrence

So, I am now reading D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chattereley's Lover...and I absolutely love it. I keep asking myself 'What took me so long to get around to reading this?!' And then I remember that I've had sort of a negative attitude toward British Literature for some time, which I am now realizing is pretty foolish. Fortunately, I learn from my mistakes.

In any case, I'm a big fan of Henry Miller. Aside from my own personal interest in Mr. Miller, I spent a considerable amount of time researching the trial of his novel Tropic of Cancer last spring semester for a class. In my research, several references were made to LCL for it's sexual explicitness and it having been the landmark case which made it possible for Miller to publish in the U.S. Also, Miller and his circle of writer friends were also big fans of Lawrence's work. It was not only intellectual, but represented a seemingly unprecedented freedom of expression. At some point, Miller endeavored to write a piece on Lawrence's work, but it became an uncontrollable project and was therefore abandoned. The idea was that by proving his literary/intellectual merits, critics would take Miller's work more seriously. Would it have worked? Who knows?

I marvel at the reasoning behind book banning. If one doesn't like something, one should simply avoid exposing his or herself to it! Geez. It's not that difficult. Or better yet, read the damn book and at least understand why it is deemed undesirable. (My apologies. I tend to go on tangents, but I'm getting better about catching myself.) Granted, Miller is often pretty crass in his novels, but I fail to see how can one not see beyond the sex. I imagine sex is one of those hush-hush topics, but man, what I love about both Miller and Lawrence are all of the ideas and thoughts on art, intellect, relations between men and women, how one relates to the world, and, of course, sex and desire. When I read these novels, I often imagine I am sitting in some smokey parlor listening to close friends ramble. Ha. I am not really sure how well that reflects upon me.

Nevertheless, I often find that certain novels find me at the most appropriate of times. Right or wrong, I tend to personalize my reading experience. I think we all do - at least to an extent. Several passages grabbed me, but there was one in particular I had to share with a friend of mine because it applied to both of us and our understanding of the social world:

"The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few in most personal experience. There's lot of good fish in the sea...maybe...but the vast masses seem to be mackeral or herring, and if you're not mackeral or herring yourself, you are likely to find very few good fish in the sea."

So, I sent this quote to my friend via text and got the response "Well, you're not half-shad yourself." I'm easily amused. : )

A Passage To India Trailer

Passage to India by E.M. Forester

It seems this novel was adapted to film. This blog was pretty neat: http://www.mapability.com/travel/p2i/chandrapore.html

Patti Smith - A Reading Of Virginia Woolf

Ford Madox Ford

"Ford’s talent for confabulation and benign sarcasm has led to him being doubted when he told the truth, especially when the truth is more astonishing than his many fictions." -Kenneth Rexroth, 1968

This was a pretty good article. To read the rest, go here: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/bps/rexroth/essays/ford-madox-ford.htm.

Ford Madox Ford's "The Good Soldier"

"THIS is the saddest story I have ever heard. We had known the Ashburnhams for nine seasons of the town of Nauheim with an extreme intimacy--or, rather with an acquaintanceship as loose and easy and yet as close as a good glove's with your hand. My wife and I knew Captain and Mrs Ashburnham as well as it was possible to know anybody, and yet, in another sense, we knew nothing at all about them. This is, I believe, a state of things only possible with English people of whom, till today, when I sit down to puzzle out what I know of this sad affair, I knew nothing whatever. Six months ago I had never been to England, and, certainly, I had never sounded the depths of an English heart. I had known the shallows."

James Joyce

“Love (understood as the desire of good for another) is in fact so unnatural a phenomenon that it can scarcely repeat itself, the soul being unable to become virgin again and not having energy enough to cast itself out again into the ocean of another's soul.”