Master of Petersburg: Speculatively Misc.

[Lawrence Bryan]

Interesting thought. When he was at Stanford for a semester as a  
visiting something or other, I went to a reading at San Jose State. He  
read from is book, "Youth". He writes better than he reads but it was  
still a pleasure to hear him read. Despite the amusing content of some  
of his readings, his voice never betrayed an acknowledgement of the  
humor.

(Reminds me of a letter from the great 18th Century Irish tenor,  
Michael Kelly, about an evening of quartets at someone's home. He was  
critical of the technique but admitted that the performers did bring a  
certain artistic flare to their playing. Then he listed the  
performers, Johann Vonhall, Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Joseph  
Haydn, and Wolfgang Mozart)

After the reading I spoke with him briefly, got his autograph on the  
only hardback of his works I have, Age of Iron. His manner could well  
have been that of a character in one of his books. I asked him how he  
pronounced his name. I tried it to see if I could mimic the German  
umlauted O . He just repeated the name and then looked past me to the  
next person.

Oh well. I still like his books very much.

Lawrence

On Aug 15, 2008, at 2:43 PM, Mark Kohut wrote:

> Ever since I read Eliz Costello and the latest by Mr. Coetzee, I  
> have believed BASED ON NOTHING that he and TRP may be 'friends'---- 
> one of TRPs
> unknown (to us) writer-friends, as we--I--recently learned Ian  
> McEwan is.
>
>
> --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Richard Ryan <richardryannyc at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Richard Ryan <richardryannyc at yahoo.com>
>> Subject: Re: Master of Petersburg
>> To: "Lawrence Bryan" <lebryan at speakeasy.net>
>> Cc: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Date: Friday, August 15, 2008, 5:21 PM
>> It seems to me that one of Coetzee's persistent themes
>> is just the interiority or subjectivity you describe
>> Lawrence  - and the extent to which acknowledging that
>> internal reality, especially in the face of oppression and
>> social convention, - is the process that defines us.
>> It's also a theme of Dostoevsky's - hence the rather
>> obvious affiliation.
>>
>> Perhaps the most frequent criticism of TRP - it's
>> certainly Wood's criticism - is that his characters lack
>> that interior reality.
>>
>> --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Lawrence Bryan
>> <lebryan at speakeasy.net> wrote:
>> From: Lawrence Bryan <lebryan at speakeasy.net>
>> Subject: Re: Master of Petersburg
>> To: "Richard Ryan"
>> <richardryannyc at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Date: Friday, August 15, 2008, 4:46 PM
>>
>>
>> Sounds good to me, but I'm intimidated by the erudition
>> shown by so many list members; a bit like an amateur
>> violinist invited to play with the Julliard Quartet. So
>> I'd prefer to listen/read.
>> I'm not sure why I like Coetzee so much. On the other
>> hand I'm not sure that it is important to me to answer
>> that why. But if pressed, I suppose his approach to the
>> human condition strikes an empathetic nerve within me on a
>> very personal level. TRP is external, national, global,
>> universal. Coetzee deeply inward. I like looking both ways,
>> and the view is very satisfying either
>> direction.  Lawrence
>> On Aug 15, 2008, at 12:27 PM, Richard Ryan wrote:
>> There were several list members who expressed enthusiasm
>> for Coetzee's Master of Petersburg as a quick
>> "NP" read before we start off with "V"
>> or "Vineland."  I've begun reading it - and
>> can report that it's beautifully written (as one would
>> expect of JMC), and a vivid re-imagining of a great figure
>> in the history of world literature.  Fun for the entire
>> list, in other words....
>>
>> If there is still sufficient interest - and no widespread
>> objections - I can start off a MoP reading in a week or two
>> - whenever the AtD readers feel that they've had ample
>> time to wrap things up.  Conveniently, MoP is divided into
>> twenty chapters - so if we had, say, four other hosts we
>> could each take four chapters and get through the book in
>> about four weeks (give or take a week or so depending on how
>> interested and involved the audience was.)
>>
>> Thoughts?
>> RR
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