what to read next that isn't pynchon

[Lawrence Bryan]

 From the paperback back cover of "The Master of Petersburg"

"In this fascinating novel, J.M. Coetzee dares to imagine the life of  
Dostoevsky, the great nineteenth-century novelist. Set in 1869, when  
Dostoevsky was summoned from Germany to St. Petersburg by the sudden  
death of his stepson, The Master of Petersburg is at once a compelling  
mystery steeped in the atmosphere of pre-revolutionary Russia and a  
brilliant and courageous meditation on authority and rebellion, art  
and imagination. Dostoevsky is seen obsessively following his  
stepson's ghost, trying to ascertain whether he was a suicide or a  
murder victim and whether he loved or despised his stepfather. As he  
becomes entangled in the violent dreams of the same political  
activists who may have claimed the boy, Dostoevsky reveals himself as  
a figure of unfathomable contradictions: naive and calculating, pious  
and perverse, compassionate and cruel."

Twenty chapters, 250 pages, no strain on the wrists while reading it.

Lawrence



On Aug 3, 2008, at 10:38 AM, grladams at teleport.com wrote:

> Coetzee, yeah, I am ashamed to say I haven't read any of his works  
> yet and
> would welcome that idea
>
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Lawrence Bryan lebryan at speakeasy.net
> Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 17:22:15 -0700
> To: braam.vanbruggen at bigpond.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: what to read next that isn't pynchon
>
>
>
> Hmmmm.... Is that three votes for Coetzee??? <smile>
>
> Lawrence
>
> On Aug 2, 2008, at 3:31 PM, braam van bruggen wrote:
>
>> I liked those first two the most, and "Waiting for the Barbarians"
>> They had an immediacy, a vividness, that I thought his later, more
>> introspective work lacked. In fact, I read "Elizabeth Costello" twice
>> because it did so little for me that I completely forgot that I had
>> read it already, and grew more and more annoyed as it became
>> increasingly familiar. It's probably early onset dementia.
>>
>> Braam
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lawrence Bryan"
> <lebryan at speakeasy.net
>>>
>> To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 9:40 AM
>> Subject: Re: what to read next that isn't pynchon
>>
>>
>>> What about a shorter book, perhaps one of Coetzee's little gems? I
>>> just bought "Slow Man", but any of the others would be fine. Given
>>> the  literary level of the list, a reading of "The Master of
>>> Petersburg"  might be interesting or we could read one of his early
>>> novels and one  of his latest as a comparison of changing style and
>>> politics. No, I am  not writing a paper on Coetzee and looking for
>>> help. <smile> I haven't  read either of his first two, "Dusklands"
>>> or "In the Heart of the  Country".
>>> Lawrence
>>>
>>
>
>
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