Re: The Western Canon and more! from icindy, introduction
Hi heyyou!
I'm going to read "What is Man" thursday
I'm thrilled you like Kerouac and steinbeck... and yes, AGEE's work, it's a beautiful combination...it's raw and unfiltered passionate experience, yet set in a beautifully controlled framework...
I came upon HUNTING THE DECEITFUL TURKEY by accident, it was in : Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper's Magazine (American Retrospective Series) by Matthew Stevenson and Michael Martin (Apr 5, 2010) collection "
I couldn't believe i had never seen it!
digressing....
I had an interesting literary experience...I kept seeing DAVID FOSTER WALLACE'S name here and there,
he was chosen to edit one years :best essays, etc....so I picked up INFINITE JEST, considered his best by some...It was unreadable...it was tedious, it was irritating, my mind revolted at his overly lengthy sentences and some bizarrely arcane words because they seemed contrived and like an unnatural attempt to be complex but to no purpose (unlike Faulkner)...I threw his book across the room....But, a few days later, I thought I'd give him another shot, thought maybe the windup us awful, but the pitch will be good...I kept waiting for a
payoff that n e v e r came to justify any of the novel...I don't know why I tried so hard to like him, or why I wanted to like him...maybe it's just we are always hoping for the magic a great novel, or other writing gives us. Maybe it was because I knew a bit of his backstory and was hoping it would at least give him some comfort to have written something great...
Anyway...I was reading Zadie Smith's "Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith (Nov 12, 2009) " and she had the same exact reaction and feeling upon reading One of his works It was amazing,
I don't remember if she actually threw the book across the room or felt like it; anyway, her critical reaction was the same...his writing, those sentences...
The reason I'm so happy at this confirmation is that I fell in love with her mind, her thinking,
and her talent reading those essays on reading, writing, literature, culture, etc and was happy to have that in common her, someone i admired...(I haven't read any of her other works yet, she is well known but somehow I kinda resisted reading this as she came out with a group of other brits with a bit of hype...I guess it was well deserved!).
Anyway, like me, she decided to give him another chance and also finished the book. She did not like his writing, but liked his ambition and his attempt to write something profound and important even if it was not
successful, she thinks the attempt to greatness, the aspiration is worthy and merits consideration...i think her essay.
I think you would like her essays since it's always interesting to hear a writer's literary influences, evaluations, and education...
there are a few reviews of the book on amazon...look for the longest one...
happy reading!
cindy
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