Picked up any good reads at the bookstore?

[mango]

thanks lala - my mission is to Blog
sod scrapbooking

[slartibartfarst]

Jun 4, 2010 1:02:37 GMT lala said:

achingly pretentious

Succinct description of yourself there. Well done.

[voice]

blogging is very gay it has to said, most bloggers are so far up them selves its not funny.

[Scooby Do]

Jun 4, 2010 4:25:58 GMT voice said:

blogging is very gay it has to said, most bloggers are so far up them selves its not funny.

How very homophobic.

[lala]

Ooops. Missed a day, so I'll do the second and third lines of Nostromo, with commentary. Are we up to where you are, Ming?

LINE 2: The clumsy deep-sea galleons of the conquerors that, needing a brisk gale to move at all, would lie becalmed, where your modern ship built on clipper lines forges ahead by the mere flapping of her sails, had been barred out of Sulaco by the prevailing calms of its vast gulf.

This seemingly innocuous line actually encapsulates one of the major themes of the book - colonization and colonial exploitation. The first two lines of the novel inform us that Costaguana - a country that hasn't even been mentioned yet - has been colonized by the Spanish, and this colonization has given way, in the fullness of time, not to independence but to colonization by other powers using other means. Of course, it is arguable if this is a worse fate for the country than the horrors of its years of ill-fated independence (when it was simply neglected by the powers of Europe as Too Hard, Too Isolated and Too Bloody Mindedly Recalcitrant), but that is another of Conrad's points. Power - whether exercised by a colonizing country or a bloody handed domestic tyrant - seems to be inimically opposed to humanity and human decencies. Which is something I think we can all agree is Very True.

It also suggests the opposition that Conrad seems to posit between human ambition, activity and achievement, and the implacable (if not placid) order of the natural world. The old lumbering wind-driven Spanish galleons of a previous era of conquest and colonizations, were baffled by the calmness of the gulf (more of which - a lot more - in about 400 pages time).

Finally, it hints at the essential bleakness of Conrad's vision, the rejection of the naive idea that better technologies will lead to a better world. As we will see, better technologies only lead to more effective exploitation, or destruction, because the people who wield these technologies are fundamentally the same, or perhaps worse as their natural unpleasantness has been amplified by their increased ability to enforce their will, another theme that I'm sure we can all see was prescient.

LINE 3: Some harbours of the earth are made difficult of access by the treachery of sunken rocks and the tempests of their shores.

Obviously, this line is incomplete - the full stop should really be a comma. The reference to treachery is ironic - as the novel will demonstrate, treachery is an entirely human quality. These rocks and tempests are more akin to a shield, protecting the Sulaco seaboard from the rapacity of colonial conquest and exploitation.

[And since it is now tommorrow, albeit it only just - thank you la jnr #2 - I'll continue my enthralling and insightful commentary:

LINE FOUR: Sulaco had found an inviolable sanctuary from the temptations of a trading world in the solemn hush of the deep Golfo Placido as if within an enormous semi-circular and unroofed temple open to the ocean, with its walls of lofty mountains hung with the mourning draperies of cloud.

Again, the contrast between natural 'sanctuary' from human activity and commerce is repeated. The language in this sentence is deeply religious - 'inviolable sanctuary,' 'temptations,' 'solemn hush,' 'temple,' 'hung with mourning draperies.'

As the novel progresses, a contrast will be established between calmness and noise - the latter being presented as a human activity, alien to the natural order. Venality, falseness and wickedness are associated with noise - from Decoud's rather strained oration on the history of 'noises' outside Sulaco, to the incoherent gibberings of Gamacho, or the preposterous patriotic slogans screamed by Mrs Gould's parrot.

Further, humans confronted by this natural silence will find it alien and unbearable, as we shall see in due course. It seems to be a human need to disrupt and fill up quiet with noise, project our perception of our humanity on to it, and when this proves impossible, humanity crumbles in the face of natural implacability.

[wetkingcanute]

Can't you guys just read The Nigger of the Narcissus by Conrad instead?
It's a much better and shorter book.

[lala]

It's good, but Nostromo is better.

[lala]

LINE FIVE: On one side of this broad curve in the straight seaboard of the Republic of Costaguana, the last spur of the coast range forms an insignificant cape whose name is Punta Mala.

This line is comparatively unimportant. It conveys some geographical information, and the naming of the promentary as Punta Mala ("Bad Point") reinforces the idea of opposition between man and nature.

[voice]

I just found a free copy of Ministry of Fear by Grahan Green and Men at arms by Evelyn Waugh so they are next on the reading list, never read anything by either, but always open to new books.

[Repat Van]

I am struggling my way through The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf (part of the 'Classics series' at the library) and am tempted to just stop.

Good in parts, it's not helped by the fact that no it's outdated, and it has an unbearable 'blame men' attitude and refuses to look at things objectively.

But I hate stopping books half way...

[lala]

The Beauty Myth is a classic already? I'm certain it was published about 5 minutes ago. Ye gods, how fleeting is time, that something published earlier on this evening is already a classic.

Graham Greene is a writer I used to like but have since grown to despise. I started reading The Ministry of Fear, but didn't finish it. Don't let that put you off, however, as I did enjoy the portion I read - very different from his other work, superior to the banal thrillers, and without the enervating Catholic pseudery that blighted most of his 'serious' work. I think he wrote the whole book while high on benzedrine, which might explain it's slightly bizarre atmosphere.

[Repat Van]

Jun 8, 2010 9:03:12 GMT lala said:

The Beauty Myth is a classic already? I'm certain it was published about 5 minutes ago. Ye gods, how fleeting is time, that something published earlier on this evening is already a classic.

Graham Greene is a writer I used to like but have since grown to despise. I started reading The Ministry of Fear, but didn't finish it. Don't let that put you off, however, as I did enjoy the portion I read - very different from his other work, superior to the banal thrillers, and without the enervating Catholic pseudery that blighted most of his 'serious' work. I think he wrote the whole book while high on benzedrine, which might explain it's slightly bizarre atmosphere.

I don't think there is a time limit on a 'classic'. Although I am not sure what measure they are using, maybe 'must reads from over a decade ago/caused an uproar/great degree of interest upon release'

I dunno, either way I am not too impressed with my choice. I think I may just quit and move onto my Andrea Levy.

[lala]

Used to be a book became a classic 25 years after the author died - because that was when copyright lapsed, or summat. f**k**g Hell, I can remember the 'controversy' surrounding The Beauty Myth. I feel old.

[Deleted]

50 years coyright lapse. I've just read Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, by Torday, and it's crap, IMO.

[feral]

One of my punters sent me a DVD of him salmon fishing in Canada . I think it lasts hours and hours .
I bet that it's on a par with that book for crapness .

Funny thing was , was that he asked me if I wanted it and I tactfully said "no ta,cos I dont own a DVD player ". So he sent me a DVD player as well .

[Deleted]

'your punters'?

[feral]

Jun 9, 2010 9:21:37 GMT @oneofthelessergods said:

'your punters'?

This is what happens when you mix it with geordies .
My customers . Buyers .

<Buyers of my goods -not services >

[mids]

Pizzas?

[Minge är en jävla besserwisser]

One of my punters sent me a DVD of him salmon fishing in Canada

Was he wearing rubber waders a lot, by any chance?

[feral]

naaaa, Mids. I don't make or sell pizzas anymore .