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Fw: Fw: Martin Amis on Bellow , VN, et al
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Date
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Howell" <fanshaw@123mail.org>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (67
lines) ------------------
I can't see what all the fuss is about. I haven't quite got a handle on
Bellow yet but I am enjoying his Collected Stories right now and especially
his sublime metaphors and similes as well as his general observations of
character and his wisdom. I find him harder to read than Nabokov, as I did
Gaddis. Don writes, "I am a compulsive reader who can't bear not to finish a
book I start." I know that he posted a reaction to my Gaddis post. I just
hope that that applied to _The Recognitions_ too!
Btw, when I was studying Guenther Grass at university, a friend of mine
(who was specialising in Mann) had a similar reaction to The Tin Drum as
Don to Augie, whereas I couldn't stop re-reading it with admiration.
>
>
> Brian Howell
>
> Japan
>
> Author of The Dance of Geometry and The Sound of White Ants
>
>
>
> I only wish that
> On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 14:57:46 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> said:
> > From: "Michael Donohue" <michaeldonohue@hotmail.com>
> > > ---------------- Message requiring your approval (265
> > lines) ------------------
> > > There's something interesting about the seemingly uniform reaction of
list
> > > people to the Bellow post. It would appear that many Nabokovians have
an
> > > aversion for the Bellovian. (Of course, this could be a complete
> > illusion;
> > > perhaps the Bellow people are just quiet.) I wonder if, Amis
> > > notwithstanding, there's something inherently different about VN and
SB
> > that
> > > makes so many of us VN types react to SB with such puzzlement and
> > > indifference. Something along the lines of the old "Tolstoy vs.
> > Dostoevsky"
> > > debate.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. I suspect you are right, although Ellen Pifer has done admiring
> > books on both writers--so there are exceptions to the dichotomy. As for
> > myself---- I remember reading Augie in the late 50s. I am a compulsive
> > reader who can't bear not to finish a book I start. However I found the
> > book
> > so annoying that I started tearing out and throwing away each page as I
> > finished it. The only Bellow book I look back at with any affection is
> > Humbolt's Gift. which I vaguely recall is based on Delmore Schwartz whom
> > VN
> > did admire. VN expressed his opinion of Bellow in ADA.
> > Letters from Terra, by Voltemand, came out in 1891 on Van's twenty-first
> > birthday, under the imprint of two bogus houses, 'Abencerage' in
> > Manhattan,
> > and 'Zegris' in London........ [Van] had little experience in the
> > intricacies of book-publishing matters, and ... was an absolute
ignoramus
> > there, not knowing, for example, that 'review copies' were supposed to
go
> > to
> > the editors of various periodicals or that advertisements should be
> > purchased and not be expected to appear by spontaneous generation in
> > full-page adulthood between similar blurbs boosting The Possessed by
Miss
> > Love and The Puffer by Mr Dukes.
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
> > >
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - Access your email from home and the web
>
From: "Brian Howell" <fanshaw@123mail.org>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (67
lines) ------------------
I can't see what all the fuss is about. I haven't quite got a handle on
Bellow yet but I am enjoying his Collected Stories right now and especially
his sublime metaphors and similes as well as his general observations of
character and his wisdom. I find him harder to read than Nabokov, as I did
Gaddis. Don writes, "I am a compulsive reader who can't bear not to finish a
book I start." I know that he posted a reaction to my Gaddis post. I just
hope that that applied to _The Recognitions_ too!
Btw, when I was studying Guenther Grass at university, a friend of mine
(who was specialising in Mann) had a similar reaction to The Tin Drum as
Don to Augie, whereas I couldn't stop re-reading it with admiration.
>
>
> Brian Howell
>
> Japan
>
> Author of The Dance of Geometry and The Sound of White Ants
>
>
>
> I only wish that
> On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 14:57:46 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> said:
> > From: "Michael Donohue" <michaeldonohue@hotmail.com>
> > > ---------------- Message requiring your approval (265
> > lines) ------------------
> > > There's something interesting about the seemingly uniform reaction of
list
> > > people to the Bellow post. It would appear that many Nabokovians have
an
> > > aversion for the Bellovian. (Of course, this could be a complete
> > illusion;
> > > perhaps the Bellow people are just quiet.) I wonder if, Amis
> > > notwithstanding, there's something inherently different about VN and
SB
> > that
> > > makes so many of us VN types react to SB with such puzzlement and
> > > indifference. Something along the lines of the old "Tolstoy vs.
> > Dostoevsky"
> > > debate.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. I suspect you are right, although Ellen Pifer has done admiring
> > books on both writers--so there are exceptions to the dichotomy. As for
> > myself---- I remember reading Augie in the late 50s. I am a compulsive
> > reader who can't bear not to finish a book I start. However I found the
> > book
> > so annoying that I started tearing out and throwing away each page as I
> > finished it. The only Bellow book I look back at with any affection is
> > Humbolt's Gift. which I vaguely recall is based on Delmore Schwartz whom
> > VN
> > did admire. VN expressed his opinion of Bellow in ADA.
> > Letters from Terra, by Voltemand, came out in 1891 on Van's twenty-first
> > birthday, under the imprint of two bogus houses, 'Abencerage' in
> > Manhattan,
> > and 'Zegris' in London........ [Van] had little experience in the
> > intricacies of book-publishing matters, and ... was an absolute
ignoramus
> > there, not knowing, for example, that 'review copies' were supposed to
go
> > to
> > the editors of various periodicals or that advertisements should be
> > purchased and not be expected to appear by spontaneous generation in
> > full-page adulthood between similar blurbs boosting The Possessed by
Miss
> > Love and The Puffer by Mr Dukes.
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
> > >
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - Access your email from home and the web
>