Month: October 2010

SPANISH LITERATURE (A VERY SHORT INTRDUCTION) JO LABANYI

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Jo Labanyi is professor of spanish and a director of king Juan Carlos 1 of spain centre at New York university ,she founded the journal of Spanish culture .This is one of the OUP series of very short introduction ,I requested a copy from OUP ,as I thought it would give me some guidance and back ground information on Don Quixote and its writer Cervantes and also where to carry on my reading in Spanish literature ,The book is divide in to numerous chapters under 4 main headings  ,multilingualism and porous borders ,spanish literature and modernity ,gender and sexuality and culture patrimony .the first section deals with the moorish influence on the literature on spain,via epic poems like el Cid ,the rise Alfonso in the 13th century and his influence on the written word ,french ,jews influences .WE also find out about the post Franco rise of works in the various spanish languages ,such as Manuel Riva’s in Galician ,Basque with Bernardo Atxaga and Carmel Riera in Catalan ,under Franco these languages were suppressed .

The  second section deals with how spanish literature has fared through time ,been influenced and shaped by its writers and external writers .Also in places lead literature but was forgotten and other novels held up as the first .

Getrudis Gomez De Avellaneda “sab” (1841) ,the first spanish language anti-slavery novel , anticipates uncle tom’s cabin by ten years .

There is a focus on the 1920’s surrealism and writers of the time such as Federico Garcia Lorca .through to the new wave of spanish writers such as Zafon and Perez-Reverte ,the generation X influenced books of Ray Lorca .

The last two short sections deal firstly with female spanish writers ,Homosexual writings a focus on Monique Lange and her husband and probably the best Spanish writer in the 20th century Juan Goytisolo .the last section deals how Spain has dealt with its writing heritage and its history ,its reverence of Cervantes and his masterpiece Don Quixote .

I found this book a wonderful insight into spanish literature and gave me loads of background information on the writers and the history ,I certainly via this book have many years of Spanish literature to enjoy ,from Miguel De Unamo ,via Juan Goytisolo ,Lorca and the new spanish voice in america Ray Loriga ,Molina .

HAVE YOU READ ANY FROM THIS SERIES ?

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE BOOK FROM SPANISH ?

 

the read a myth challenge 2011

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Now two great bloggers jov of biblojunkie and Bina of if you can read this have come up with a wonderfull challenge for 2011 to read books based round and about myths now I love books based on myths so jumped at the chance to join in .Now I d love some suggestions for some books on myths got few ideas but recommendations more than welcome along usual books of my choice in translation especially African be welcome .You can sign up here ,hope so sounds great fun

 

THE BAD GIRL BY Mario Vargas Llosa

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Well I had this down to rea on my around the world in 52 books list .Having read a couple many years ago by him ,after seeing the aunt Julia film which had a great performance from Peter Falk .Well if you didn’t know Mario won this years Nobel prize being the first Nobel winner from south America since Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982 .Mario Vargas Llosa was born in the Peruvian provinces in late thirties ,he went to military academy the subject of his first novel ,his books are both historic and have modern-day setting he often uses his own life experiences in his books .

The bad girl follows the life of Ricardo ,we meet him as a teenager in the 50’s in lima a love affair with lily or as in the title the bad girl starts and ends due to the difference in class etc ,Ricardo does well in his studies and ends up in paris working as a translator in numerous languages ,this is in the sixties so there is a backdrop of the city in the sixties with its protests and bohemian atmosphere ,Ricardo meets Comrade Arlette ,this women reminds him of lily in so many ways they have a passionate affair ,the book continues on the same path him traveling to different cities and meet women with the spirit of Lilly and having increasingly passionate and kinky love affairs .this takes us through london ,Tokyo back to peru and ending up in paris ,all this with a sparkling cast of friends including a mute boy .We see the history of times hippies ,seventies and Japans rise .

My only contact with Peru ,for by now I rarely saw Peruvians in paris ,continued to be the increasingly desperate letters from uncle Ataulfo and Aunt Delores always sent me regards in her own hand ,and from time to time I would send her scores for playing the piano was great diversion in her invalid life .

Ricardo family struggles at home in Peru unde General Alvarado’s dictatorship  .

Now I loved this Llosa has a real flow to his writing that draws you in bit by bit ,there is a lot of sex in this book but it is well written and helps the plot also gives you the true scope of the affair or affairs there is a question whether it is the same women or different women with the same spirit this isn’t answered but I felt form a man falls for the same spirit in different bodies ,the affair is a life long passion the encompasses the world ,these part the cities and times they were written really feel like they are from Llosa own life and that he’d been in paris and in London and Tokyo during the periods described in the book .Worthy nobel winner yes his books are always readable and  meaningful .Like Aunt Julia that was made into a film I could see this novel-making the move into a great film .The book is translated by Edith Grossman ,she has previously tranlated 5 of his books previously as you’d expect is perfection from the best translator of Latin American fiction

Have you read him ?

have you seen the films made of his books ?

THE BOOKER WINNER IS ….

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Well the telegraph light up a minute ago and with a dash ,dash and a dot dot the 1910 booker winner was announced and sent to Winston towers down the wires .well shock of shocks the favourite the history of mr Polly by Wells has lost ,and the winner is Howard’s end ,a wonderful book about class ,this new group in the capital called Bloomsbury based round the Bloomsbury area of london ,centre on the Woolf’s .The book follows three families and there different social standings .A great and worthy winner for booker 1910 .

Also in the club on the paper table I read the Manchester Guardians Not the booker winner for 1910 ,their young feature chap Samuel Jordison runs this the readers write in with a book that missed the cut and the chaps at the guardin=an add it up and make a shortlist and announce the winner the same day as the booker winner and this time it is a truly worthy winner clayhanger by Arnold Bennett ,this story and coming of age of Edwin Clayhanger set in Arnold’s hometown of stoke and the five towns around it ,he was quoted as saying well at least my northern friends recognise me ,having missed booker cut this time .

now I look a hundred years hence and may see a book called C by Tom Mccarhthy winning maybe .

What do you read when trapped underground?

~ winstonsdad ~ 22 Comments

As the Chilean miners are on the verge of a Thunderbird like rescue after 65 days underground in a small area .yesterday I wondered on Twitter if one of the great Latin American novelist would right this story ,the miners have been visited by Isabel Allende and she donate some of her books for the miners to read .so I wondered what books would be best for them to read ? For me I thought of life of pi by Yann Martell maybe a tale of survival at sea would be a way to escape to a wide open space ?

A comedy novel by Wodehouse maybe ?

Ones of those epic novels 2666 ,moby dick , Ulysses ,Proust  ,the man without qualities ?

What book would you want to keep you company ?

I hope and pray they reach there families safe and sound soon

Second half of readathon

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image

Well 13th hour its nearly 2am here in Chesterfield ,just about to finish book one of readathon the bad girl .

Pages read 350
Time reading 360 minutes
Try to do every challenge first half might be hard now as posting via mobile phone app

How is everyone finding it ?

15th hour
Pages read 430
Books finished 1
Time reading 410

Half way through short novel ,loved the bad girl ,have had to do some work last couple of hours .

19th

pages read 570

books finished 2

time reading 490 minutes

well second book finished traveller to east thomas molofo it is only 88 pages long ,had to do some bits at work then walk home ,walk winston so have lost a far bit of reading time

currently reading -along came dylan a guilty pleasure I love books about dogs being a dog owner myself

20 th hour ,I m bowing out ,I m reall ytired and back at work tonight ,MANY THANKS FOR CHEERS HAVE MADE MY NIGHT

Mid event meme

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1current read the bad girl by mario vargas llosa
2book finished none start with 400page book
3 looking forward to the weekend Bernard schlink his new masterpiece about red army faction and its aftermath .
4 no was on a night shift as it runs through night wrong suited readathon perfectly .
5 interruptions eating ,walking Winston ,work and time with Amanda my darling wife.
6 maybe a slow start to much fluster maybe .
7 perfect as is the readathon .
8 I d choose shorter books maybe and a be more organized .
9 not yet used to staying up all night for work may flag near end of readathon .
10 pace yourself be my tip

Sorry post got no image posting via mobile phone as at work  ,hope every one doing well !

readathon ,I m off the blocks

~ winstonsdad ~ 26 Comments

well been busy all morning its just gon half one in chesterfield where I live this is first of a few posts –

3 facts  about me –

I m tall 6 foot 4 inches

I lived in germany in my early twenties ,near the dutch border ,worked in a factory there

I love pasta ,having it later mmmmmmmmm .

location

chesterfield derbyshire  famous for its crooked spire

aims to finish a book and start a couple be happy

books start – the bad girl  by Maro Vargas LLosa

pages read – 15

time reading 15 mins

A slow start back later

TWO HOURS IN –

PAGES READ SO FAR 60

BOOKS FINISHED – NONE

time reading 70 mins

I ve entered the mini challenges ,put some comments up on opther blogs .

5 hours in

pages read 130

time reading – 125 mins

well I vbe picked my wife up from work and walk winston so not read as much as I want this last couple of hours .but well into bad girl find paris and london in the 60’s and a passionate affair very compelling .

8 hours in

pages read 150

I ve made amanda and mines evening meal of pasta ,had a bath ,and taken winston out again ,ready for work at 11 here under two hours away ,will update via my wordpress app for the night ,hope to get some more don haven’t got a lot done so far .

9 hours in

pages read 220

book finish 0

time reading 220 mins

well read for nearly hour before work in last this of the bad girl which is longest of books I ve chosen so it is onwards and up wards

11 hours in
I am at work on night shift –
Pages read so far. 270
Have nearly finished first book yeah yeah !

my readaton 2010

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I m taking part in my first readaton tomorrow ,I m starting on saturday morning and reading through the day and night luckily .I m on one of my night shifts so have to stay awake all night here are my choices ,for tomorrow .

THE BOOKS –

current read -the bad girl by Mario Vargas Llosa  ,the new Nobel laureates latest novel ,a retelling of sorts of madame Bovary story  ,I m 50 pages in and am enjoying him ,I had already intend to read this a some point before end of year ,it has been over ten years since I read him ,I remember how I liked his style in other books I ve read .

OTHER BOOKS –

I ve two short African Novellas ,travellers to the east by  Thomas Mofolo ,considered the first African novel by the writer from Lesotho follows a mans pilgrimage ,So long the letter by Mariama ba follows women as she writes a letter on how she dealt with her husband taking a second wife .

Tobias wolff ‘s old school is first of two novels follows schoolchildren in 1960 at a private school as a Hemingway is due to visit the school competion and turmoil crop up .

The weekend Bernhard Schlink a novel that follows a group meeting after 20years one of them has been in prison for there involvement in the red army faction in germany ,secrets are revealed and memories stirred .

I hope to visit some blogs tomorrow and get as much as I can read and do some short post through the day .

WHAT ARE YOUR READATHON PLANS ?

HOW DO YOU COPE  WITH READING ALL-DAY  ?

Coconut Unlimited by Nikesh Shukla

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Nikesh Shukla is a writer poet and film-maker ,coconut unlimited is his debut novel ,Nikesh is well-known in London LIT circles due to his involvement in numerous events .coconut unlimited is the story of three school friends

I ve decide to review this intertwine my own life ,this coming of age tale and its humour made me smile and remember my own teen years in a similar way to black swan green by David Mitchell and rotters club by Jonathan Coe ,this story c=starts at the start of a new school term and Amit ,Ananad and Nishant  they discover hip hop and get dragged into the culture and finding records ,in my life it was Billy Bragg and the smiths ,listening too John Peel buying the NME ,the lads have a collection of oddball and helpful teachers a bit like my own school ,at home parents struggle to grasp this new love ,memories of my own mother saying what is this music ,why you got your hair like that echoed in my head as I read the book .They decided to form a crew and become budding hip hop stars ,dearly needed at the time uk hip hop being mc tunes and Derek b ,I briefly try to rap myself for 5 minutes at the back of a local school with a lad called Mike Hurst this last all of twenty Minutes as I realised I am on of the most tone-deaf out of tune rappers that has ever been lol .but the guys in the group coconut unlimited  and title of the book give it a real go  ,starting with small gigs and a visit to a studio ,one of my favourite passages is the first trip to a real record shop ,and its Knowledgeable owner this remind me of the shop in Congleton where I grew up Beat route run by a man also called Stu like me this guy seemed to know everything and like the guys in the book really shocked me at times .

I did Eddy .They moaned ,though .They couldn’t believe you’d sell stuff like Tupac and Snoop just cos you have all that metal stuff in your window .

Well he said looking over his pince-nez glasses at Anand and me ,you boys how much stuff sells to the disenfranchised white youths with a middle class amount of pocket-money in his wallet .I ‘m a Beatles man myself but I’ve got to make money somehow and ,face it suburban school children love goth and heavy metal – it’s like a club tuneless ,I’d say not like Lennon .He was the last of the greats ,so you guys in a band ,eh ?

meeting the shop owner .

A fresh talent for sure ,this is my book of the year so far and shows yet again Quartet’s great taste .a wonderful insight into growing up in the london suburbs and being asian at same time ,this book will touch you if you read it  .I was left wanting to hear John Peel’s dulced tones saying here are a new group whose debut EP  I m playing coconut unlimited ,then it’s but on at wrong speed to start with .there is also a mix done by Nikesh to accompany the book here is a link .

disclosure I got this from Quartet for review .

national poetry day – the book of things by Ilhan Berk

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Ilhan Berk was turkey’s foremost poet a member of the post modernist ,he was a leading light in the second new genration of Turkish poets ,Salt publishing has published a number of his works in translation including this one translated by the Aanglo Turkish poet George Messo,his style is sparce ,visual using ppictures and photos ,avant grade but approachable ,he lived most of his life in Bodrum and Died in 2008 ,as the theme for National poetry day is Home ,I thought of Ilhan Berks long Poem – House

A GRAND METAPHOR :HOSE II

House rings instantly at the door of the world’s rich images.

*

House:privileged existence.

*

House is a grand metaphor :both right beside us.and at the end of the earth .

*

The house is you.

*

House is your homeland

*

Our name ,house

*

The house has no one.

*

Everything talks at home .

*

Stairs either go up,or down

*

At home the door is either opeen or closed.

*

The house is tight lipped.

*

Language is the house.

House stores time and lives.

*

Narrow paths feed the house.

*

A great dream: to be at home .

*

House :throne of the unconscious.

*

House is the world .

this is the first part of long poem called House .

love  clever Typography ,his use of language ,which has been wonderfully brought alive in English by George Messo ,simple at times but like a magic eye picture full of depth and hidden meanings the more you read theem ,if you want a collection that will stick with you to next National poetry day and beyond try this one .

Winstons books new and old

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Some recent arrivals at Winston’s towers –

second-hand book sale –

The rendezvous and other stories by Daphne Du Maurier I ve read a couple of her novels Rebecca being my favourite ,saw this collection of haunting stories and thought they’d make perfect winter evening reading stories focus on husbands breaking loose ,a married women committing suicide and a steamer being saved by a mysterious ship ,sounds wonderful .

Agents and Patients by Anthony Powell –

Now this book is from his dance to the music of time cycle ,it flows another young man Blore-smith from Oxford via paris and Berlin in the thirties with a large chunk of humour ,should be interesting Simon at inside books recently reviewed another Powell here and found his humour had dated slightly ,so be interested to see if this is still fresh .

Clochemerle by Gabriel Chevaller

This is a satire from a french writer ,has been reprint a number of times last time 2004 ,this is a 50’s penguin thou my main reason for buying it as I love the old orange and white covers ,set in a french village follows the struggle as they try to build public toilets in the village ,sounds funny .

Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb –

A real find a Pushkin press book ,from a Hungarian writer ,it is the story of follow Milahy on his honeymoon in Italy as he struggles with his past and marriage  considered on of the best novels from Hungary .

FROM A BLOGGER

from Annabel at Gaskell ,the Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning ,I was reading about this after remember the tv series a few weeks ago and had marked it down as a book to get the a few day later Annabel was want to get rid of some books and this was one ,I was lucky to be sent it thank her greatly ,the books follow Guy and Harriet a couple through the Balkans during the second world war .

received for review –

Urn Burial by SIR Thomas Browne

Thomas Browne was a writer ,Physician among other things ,a look at Kevin’s site aquarium of vulcan will tell you loads about him ,this slim volume a new edition by New Directions in the pearl series ,is a discussion musing on the discovery of roman urns in the 17th century and to mans experience on this mortal coil and struggle with mortality ,there is a forward by W G Sebald from rings of saturn were he talks about Browne and seeing his skull .

what are we missing ? Ulrich Holbein

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

A flick through the nobel prize odds ,showed the German writer Ulrich Holbein shooting up the odds ,this made me, go who? So a quick twitter chat to a German friend and a look for him on web turned up some information ,he is experimental ,avant grade writer ,lives like a hermit in  a small town near Kassel in the centre of Germany ,in a house full of books .His most famous book is Isis Entscheiert (Isis Unveiled ) a work assembled from other works ,in a clever variation on the cut up technique used by William S Burroughs  .he has won a number of awards and has yet to be translated to English .I’m  puzzled why a successful writer with at least 20 plus books written has yet to reach us in English ? Like the German book prize it shows how blotchy translation of works from German to English are .

This is a new feature were occasionally I ll highlight writers yet to reach english or need highlighting more

POEM STRIP BY DINO BUZZATI

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

source – own copy purchased from amazon

publisher –  NYRB CLASSICS

Dino Buzzati was one of italys leading writers ,he work all his life as a journalist in Milan for the corrierie della sera,during the war he served as a journalist in Africa attached to an Italian marine troop ,he had his first novel published in 1933 ,he is best known for his 1940 novel The Tatar steppes the story of an officer stuck at an old fort in the desert as time passes .Poem strip was his last book  published in 1969 and was his only graphic Novel .

The book follows Orfi a young  brooding musician who falls for a women who is already dead  but up on the surface from the underworld Eura ,he follows her to a door on the viva saterna in Milan ,this door leads to the underworld ,eventually Orfi enters this underworld he wants to bring Eura to the real world again and has a day to find her ,he avoids the temptation of the underworld where he is offered different women to try out  and also sees the chaos of the underworld  .but sticks to his guns .It combines music ,sex and the dark side of life wonderfully .

A sample of the artwork the story itself is a modern retelling of the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice myth the descent to the underworld if you aren’t keen on reading the original greek  myths this is one of the best modern retelling of this myth .The book is very graphic in places ,you can tell Dino Buzzati liked the female form ,it is compelling and obviously was a real passion for Buzzati who also did a number of actual paintings connected to the story ,these were exhibited in Milan in 2007 .This book is a real find as ever by NYRB they keep turn these wonderful books up .A warped take on the sixties from an  Italian perspective from a philosophical and thoughtful writer ,this has made me want to read Tatar steppe that has been on my wish list for ages .The story was translated by Mairna Harss who has translated a number of the best known Italian writers ,she did a great job of making Orfis songs still seem poetic in translation .