Cortázar
Given how flaky I am, I should probably be the last guy to post my reading plans for the rest of the year like this like your typical OCD blogger. Blogga, please! However, here's a preview in case any of you want a TV Guide-like listing of the probable "niche of despair" programming on the horizon here. By the way, please note that this post counts as one filler post + one list post toward meeting my contractual obligations for the year.
July
Julio Cortázar's Rayuela
Javier Marías' Tu rostro mañana. 2 Baile y sueño
Orhan Pamuk's Snow (E.L. Fay's pick for the Wolves)
Marcel Proust's In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
(Back-ups: Marguerite Duras' Hiroshima mon amour for Caroline's Literature and War Readalong and Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi for the recently concluded Anything Ubu Readalong Opportunity hosted by Amateur Reader and Nicole [I'll be late to the party, but it's too late to fix that now])
August
Lydia Davis' The End of the Story (Frances' pick for the Wolves)
Javier Marías' Tu rostro mañana. 3 Veneno y sombra y adios
Marcel Proust's The Guermantes Way
(Back-ups: Honoré de Balzac's The Girl with the Golden Eyes or Guy de Maupassant's Le Horla for Frances' Art of the Novella Reading Challenge and Elsa Morante's History for Caroline's Literature and War Readalong)
September
João Guimarães Rosa's Gran Sertón: Veredas
Marcel Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah (reread)
Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian (my pick for the Wolves)
October
Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves (Sarah's pick for the Wolves)
Javier Marías' Los enamoramientos
Marcel Proust's The Captive
November
Marcel Proust's The Fugitive
Augusto Roa Bastos' Yo el Supremo
Nathalie Sarraute's The Planetarium (Emily's pick for the Wolves)
December
Javier Marías' Negra espalda del tiempo
Marcel Proust's Time Regained
Gao Xingjian's Buying a Fishing Rod for My Father (Claire's pick for the Wolves)
I have lots of other books I'd like to try and squeeze in, of course, but I'm pretty sure that these will account for the lion's share of the priorities for the rest of the year despite all those lovely new pretties on my sidebar. Some notable exceptions: Anthony and Frances and I have agreed to man/woman/man up for a group read of Gustave Flaubert's Bouvard et Pécuchet sometime in October, November or December. I have some more Bolaños to read for Rise's 2011 Roberto Bolaño Reading Challenge. And I hope to finally start my reread of Herodotus' The Histories in that handsome The Landmark Herodotus edition I picked up a few years back. Etc., etc.
Ooh, several things.
ResponderBorrar1. Thanks for pointing me toward Caroline's group read of Hiroshiima mon amour, as that's one I picked up in France and it'll be good to have a schedule motivating me to get to it.
2. That's a pretty brisk Proust-reading schedule!
3. I noticed ol' Cortazar was back up in your header - are you re-starting Rayuela or just picking up where you left off? Have you gotten to the straightening-nails-in-the-hot-sun scene in Buenos Aires?
4. I will also be posting late on Ubu roi - we can have our own little Ubu week, perhaps. Though I admit that have no idea what I'm going to write about Jarry.
5. I'm jealous that you own The Landmark Herodotus! Those books are stunning.
That is quite a list, Richard. I'm hoping to join in with The House of Leaves in October. Otherwise I'm leaving myself wide open for the summer.
ResponderBorrarEmily - Proust can be read faster than that! I have proof. Whether he can be read well at a faster pace, well.
ResponderBorrarTime Regained is where I'm at on my Proust re-read. December is far enough away to seem like a good time to read along.
This post is a kind of invitation, yes?
The most tempting book, though, because it is, I presume, the most difficult, is the Rosa.
That Jarry party is one of those ongoing events, I think. Like a happening.
Your better than me Richard I don't know what I m reading next half the time ,I missed Marias as unable to get copy in time will try and catch up at some point if chance ,some mouthwatering titles you've lined up ,all the best stu
ResponderBorrarNow I know how Emily found me... I'm glad she did. Thanks Richard for putting me on your list, although seeing how both books are back-ups... I'm really intimidated by the size of Elsa Morante's book but I guess I will have to do it.
ResponderBorrarI could never plan thismuch ahead like you do but I'm sure you will squeeze in a few titles you don't even think about right now.
*Emily: Cool, a list! 1. No problem! 2. I was sort of forced into this schedule after failing to maintain my earlier plan to read a Proust every other month earlier in the year. Want to finish the entirety of In Search of Lost Time this year, so hopefully Marcel won't reject being treated as just one more readalong author (only on a grander scale) in a one volume per month progression. And it's not like he's unpleasant to read or anything like that, as you already know. :D 3. I started over from scratch with both the Cortázar and the Proust titles this month since both had been interrupted too long ago for me to feel I'd be doing them justice otherwise. And I actually just finished reading that Cortázar scene you mentioned last night! Great stuff throughout, but I'll want to revisit your posts on the book once I finish it. 4. I think being late on Ubu is more in keeping with his spirit! 5. Don't be jealous, but I have the Thucydides one too and will be picking up the Arrian (and prob. the Xenophon at some point) once it comes out in paperback. "Stunning," indeed--those volumes remind me of those deluxe jazz CDs you sometimes see where you just can't beat the details and the packaging of the accompanying material.
ResponderBorrar*Gavin: Great, it'll be like old times to have join us for one of the Wolves reads! Leaving oneself wide open for summer sounds like a much more sensible plan than mine, ha ha.
*Amateur Reader: Yes, this was a kind of invitation at heart, I suppose. And Time Regained in December sounds great to me! Not entirely sure how challenging the Guimarães Rosa book will turn out to be, but I'm hoping my Spanish translation will be more readable than the much maligned English one from a while back. And having had great success with Brazilian-themed reads by Vargas Llosa and da Cunha two Septembers in a row, naturally I'm going to keep going to that well until it's dry, completely dry.
*Stu: Sorry you missed the Marías as it's been great fun so far--think everybody but one person from the group has enjoyed it to this point, although that person gave up on it so who knows? By the way, the goofy plan I laid out with such apparent order all started out as an attempt to make sure I found a way to not miss out on some titles I really want to get to before the end of the year. I'm usually not particularly organized with my reading more than a week or two in advance.
*Caroline: You're very welcome about mentioning your readalong, of course, and I have every intention of reading those two "back-ups" as long as time permits (esp. the Morante, which--as long as it is--I've been looking forward to for months). As I told Stu, I don't normally map out my reading like this, but I was getting worried about how to finish all the Cortázars and the Prousts and the Roa Bastoses this year without some sort of "visual structure" in place since I'm not one of those bloggers who can read a book every other day. Not these books anyway!
Yay, lists. I love lists!
ResponderBorrarI'm really REALLY eager to see what you think of I, the Supreme. Probably the hardest book I read during my year-long South American lit immersion, but one that I still think of fairly often. Interesting stuff.
My original Proust schedule was a volume a month...two years ago! I am about half way through Time Regained at least, and I am hoping to finish it this month although I find that I am still in no hurry. And I am inclined to think that I will start again at the beginning before the year is out.
I will be continuing to read Marías with you this month (and will post my thoughts on the 1st volume soon, promise!)
Can't wait to see what you (and Emily) think of Ubu. :)
As Emily said, "several things":
ResponderBorrar1. "your typical OCD blogger": Do I detect a slur upon one of your faithful readers?!!! And anyway, "OCD blogger" suggests, from a grammatical point of view, that the OCD-ness only applies to blogging. HA HA!
2. A preview? A TOC for the rest of the year? Do I detect a MEME?!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!
3. Love that you have accepted your niche. You're on your way to a twelve-step cure!
My father (75) is reading Proust (for the first time). He's read half of it in 2 months. Mind you, it's not like he has anything else to do with his life.
ResponderBorrarI might join the group read for Sarraute's The Planetarium. I've got it somewhere.
The niche of despair tour. Excellent. I will meet up with you for Proust at The Captive. You and Anthony make the call on Flaubert. I will woman up for any month you select. But I thought you would be reading all the Art of the Novella offerings with me in August? Don't make me cry, Richard. You know how sensitive I am.
ResponderBorrarExhilarating list. The rest of the year looks like a descent into the poetic style. The coupling of Marías and Proust is particularly impressive.
ResponderBorrar*Sarah: Yay for you saying "yay" to lists! The Cortázar and the Roa Bastos have been two of my must read books for the year for multiple years in a row now, so now that the Cortázar is almost done it will be great to focus my sights on I the Supreme and end my big, difficult Latin American classics guilt for the time being. Luckily for me, the Guimarães Rosa book on the list for September was supposed to have been a big influence on Roa Bastos if I remember the reports correctly. So everything's connected. Looking forward to your Marías posts and more on Marcel when you finish him.
ResponderBorrar*Jill: Oh no, another list?!? 2. I already admitted this was a filler post, but a meme? I must say I'm a little hurt. Besides, there's not even any alliteration in the title. 1. You should know by now that my slurs tend to take on many bloggers at once rather than just one in particular (i.e. the indiscriminate approach if you will). To wit, please note that you could have also taken me to task for referring to "OCD bloggers" as somewhat redundant! 3. Yes, the despairing niche you conferred is growing on me. I hope to be a panelist at one of next year's conventions, so I can deliver street knowledge from my blogging bully pulpit. (I apologize for responding outside the traditional numerical sequence, but I'm heavily under the spell of Cortázar's Hopscotch right now.)
*Obooki: Good for your father for reading Proust. That sounds like an excellent use of retirement time to me. And it'd be awesome if you could join us for the Sarraute since I'm pretty sure that you have way more of a nouveau roman background than any of us Wolves.
*Frances: My Proust dance card is looking better and better by the minute, and I'm very much looking forward to good old grumpy, bourgeois-hating Flaubert! Thanks, too, for the reminder about your Art of the Novella challenge--I edited my August selections to reflect that so we can all maintain the even emotional keel so prized by more polite bloggers everywhere.
*Rise: Thanks, I'm pretty excited by the Proust/Marías combination myself--now if I can only live up to the pressure of reading everything I said I would and not get distracted by all those shiny new copies of the Twilight franchise, you know? Hope I can count on you for moral support of some kind if the Guimarães Rosa cuffs me around a bit, though (I think you're the only blogger I know who's read it before). Cheers!
Richard, eagerly awaiting your take on the Spanish Grande Sertão. If there is a language that could come near to the complexity of the original, then it's most likely its sister language. Crossing fingers you don't get waylaid by The Captive New Moon or Twilight Regained. Hehe.
ResponderBorrarI'll join you in de Maupassant's novella in August (I plan on reading his short stories in July). Also, I love Snow by Pamuk. What a great read! Looking forward to discussing those with you.
ResponderBorrarRise: Those titles make Twilight sound almost Proustian--hope I can resist, ha ha! Thanks for the well wishes, and I hope you're right about the Spanish (I'd guess that's true, but you never know till you crack open the book).
ResponderBorrar*Bellezza: Wonderful--but I thought I was practically the last person not to have read Le Horla! Glad to hear that you liked Snow as much as you did, too. Cheers!
I'm with Emily, that is a brisk Proust reading rate especially since I have been reading - or not reading is more like it - Guermantes Way for the past three years. I was about to return the Ubu plays to the library since I missed Ubu week but now I think I will keep them and read them after all.
ResponderBorrarHave you read Duras's The Sailor from Gibraltar? (I feel like I might've already asked you that.) It's a very lovely book.
ResponderBorrarGreat list (and glad to see I'm not the only one falling into list-making filler this week--what is it with July?). But I'm not sure your despair levels are high enough. I want the niche of despair, and I think I deserve it! Maybe I'll just have to find some really, really depressing reading for the rest of the year to prove myself...
ResponderBorrarI think you are very discipline to be able to stick to a reading plan. I can't and it's bad. Here's wishing you a great 2nd half of the year!!! Where's Pamuk? :)
ResponderBorrarSorry about that, saw Pamuk on your list now!
ResponderBorrarYou're too easy. Caved too fast. Think you are becoming more "bloggy, bloggerish,etc." Somehow plugging into the collective consciousness. This post alone proves how taped in you really are.
ResponderBorrarI wish that I could stick to a reading plan. I like yours though. I would like to join in on your reading of Bastos' I Supreme in November, if you don't mind. The book has been on my shelf for ages.
ResponderBorrar*Stefanie: People like to take their time with Proust all right (inc. me in the recent past!), but you can easily read even one of his longer books in a month by reading 25 pages a day. Sorry--don't mean to sound like an infomercial! And yes, more late Ubu entries, please. Cheers!
ResponderBorrar*E.L. Fay: Hiroshima will be my first Duras, but I'll keep the other one in mind if I end up enjoying Duras as much as I hope to. Have heard so many good things about her oeuvre.
*Nicole: While I'm happy to share the niche of despair crown--esp. with someone who assures me they deserve it--you'll have to work out the details with Jill from Rhapsody in Books who sort of bestowed the title on me. In the meantime, gloomy list-making and reading to you, my friend!
*JoV: Thanks for the well wishes! However, I need to make clear that I've only drawn up a plan at this point and am not entirely sure I will be able to keep up with it. I'm easily distracted. Look forward to discussing the Pamuk with you, though!
*Frances: Yes, I caved rather easily, but please don't underestimate the power of your own blogging feminine wiles over me. I am practically one of your minions, you know!
*Kinna: I would love to have your reading and discussion company for I the Supreme in November! Not sure how much sense my reading plan will make in the long run, but reading Roa Bastos' novel has been one of my unrealized goals the last two or three years. Hopefully, this will be the year it finally happens. Anyway, thanks for the visit. Cheers!
I'm up for the Yourcenar and the Sarraute with the Wolves, and Hiroshima mon amour with Caroline. I'm loving this rush of French authors to the blogosphere of late - really nice to discuss them with others. I don't dare list my blogging for the rest of the year, though; I have a bad tendency to go off books if I signal them too loudly to myself!
ResponderBorrar*Litlove: Time will tell whether my experiment in listing out my future reads was just silly or plain boneheaded, but in the meantime I'm glad to hear that you'll be joining us for those two Wolves titles and the Hiroshima mon amour party that Caroline's organizing. I'm excited about all three myself and would be delighted to see French lit replace Anglo-American lit in prominence in the blog world!
ResponderBorrarI'm impressed by your pace for In Search of Lost Time.
ResponderBorrarI'll be reading Sodome et Gomorrhe in August or September.
Good luck with The Girl With Golden Eyes, I'll be curious to read your review. If I were you, I'd choose the audio version of Le Horla told by Michael Lonsdale. It is chilling, fantastic and the audio version really gives an additional dimension to the text.
*Emma: I just finished rereading the end of the first half of À l'ombre de jeunes filles en fleurs (in translation) yesterday and was reminded once again of why making Proust a reading priority is such a no-brainer. Such a sweet, wonderful, sensitive, soulful writer! I'm prepared to potentially dislike that Balzac and love that Maupassant, but thanks for the suggestion about the audio version of Le Horla. I don't think I ever would have considered that (I don't really understand the appeal of audio books for people who aren't stuck in traffic for hours on end), but you make it sound so appealing. Merci!
ResponderBorrar