NP: A spontaneous exhortation to read a new great book just published in the US. But available in Europe earlier.

[Mark Kohut]

I see what you did there.....NICE...

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 9:18 AM Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:

> if I were to answer in the positive it would be a spoiler for those who
> haven't
>
> On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 2:11 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I read a small chunk this morning as I quote....
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 9:03 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Ok, but have you READ it yet?
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 8:10 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> looks like I lost the line in this THAT SAID THAT, LOL....(self-editing
>>>> is
>>>> like cutting your own hair)
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 8:01 AM Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Koincidentally 2/2/22 is the 100th anniversary of the publication of
>>>> > *Ulysses*.
>>>> >
>>>> > To celebrate one hundred years since Sylvia Beach, publisher and
>>>> > bookseller, published James Joyce’s ULYSSES, Hay Festival is
>>>> partnering the
>>>> > iconic bookshop Shakespeare and Company, Paris, on a global
>>>> read-along of
>>>> > the complete text to be released as a free podcast between the 100th
>>>> > anniversary of the publication on 2 February 2022 and Bloomsday on 16
>>>> June
>>>> > 2022. https://www.hayfestival.com/ulysses100
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 12:35 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >> On The Books of Jacob on pub day, in which Ulysses plays a role
>>>> >>
>>>> >> That great modern, modernist, novel Ulysses created and rode a
>>>> change of
>>>> >>
>>>> >> human awareness in a myriad of ways. A humanly felt single day in
>>>> Dublin
>>>> >>
>>>> >> full of cooking smells and shitting and female desire and all kinds
>>>> of
>>>> >> thoughts, high and low
>>>> >>
>>>> >> it contains wonders precisely but over-the-toply, newly, expressed.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Every time I hear the kids at the Montessori school two doors away
>>>> play
>>>> >> noisily in their playground,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I think of a famous line. Those who know, know (and it loses almost
>>>> >> everything just being flatly repeated here)
>>>> >>
>>>> >> "Round about 1910 human nature changed", wrote Virginia Woolf,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> no fan of Ulysses but another artist who worked the change of
>>>> >> consciousness
>>>> >> in the culture and in her work fully.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Art can do that. Art does that. (He says pretentiously. Swaggering
>>>> >> Swaggadocia, as a friend said of this streak. Or was it Staggering
>>>> >> Swaggadocia? )
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Ever since I learned of Ulysses and its publication, my fantasy life
>>>> >> contained the fantasy of being
>>>> >>
>>>> >> part of the publishing, the whole Surround, someway,  as it happened.
>>>> >> Stuart Gilbert's pony* for reading it was
>>>> >>
>>>> >> being written while Joyce was writing and publishing parts of it.
>>>> There
>>>> >> was
>>>> >> a circle; there were
>>>> >>
>>>> >> thousands of waiting interested outsiders to the circle game.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Today, Feb 2, it seems that another writer of genius (with her
>>>> translator
>>>> >> as they are getting more recognition
>>>> >>
>>>> >> in recent years; as partial co-authors in some sense)  with, maybe,
>>>> the
>>>> >> planning of her American publisher has had
>>>> >>
>>>> >> another masterpiece purposely published on Ulysses' birthday.  That
>>>> rumor
>>>> >> is circulating; I haven't confirmed
>>>> >>
>>>> >> that that is why Feb 2 was chosen but….. The rumor has circumstantial
>>>> >> plausibility since this work, The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk,
>>>> >> Nobelist,
>>>> >> was published in English in England late last fall. I almost ordered
>>>> one
>>>> >> from England but indie store concerns in this country took over.
>>>> That no
>>>> >> longer matters, the book is out in this country.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> The opening teems with Joycean, Bosch-Bruegel-like life
>>>> >>
>>>> >> in a small village and its market in Poland in 1759: all the sights
>>>> and
>>>> >> smells, all levels of society; themes and characters brought forth to
>>>> >> capture our attention thematically. With viscerality. "Nerves and
>>>> endless
>>>> >> intrigues. Politics."
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Books themselves permeate the opening; the worlds they open; a lousy
>>>> >> translator scene makes one laugh ...there is this line amidst that
>>>> talk:
>>>> >> "Perhaps it also has to do with the alphabet---that there isn't only
>>>> one,
>>>> >> that there are lots of them; each produces its own type of
>>>> >> thinking.".....The Tower of Babel is invoked as are the Tigris and
>>>> >> Euphrates. Ms. Tokarczuk is fearlessly ambitious, yes?; who can't
>>>> love
>>>> >> that? ....of a character, "people say ..she has the soul of a man".
>>>> But
>>>> >> another woman "doesn't see that supposed masculinity. All she sees
>>>> is a
>>>> >> woman who likes to be in charge." A woman punctures the gender
>>>> stereotype,
>>>> >> quietly fine, no?
>>>> >>
>>>> >> And for one of Ms Tokarczuk's grand important subjects, the meanings
>>>> of
>>>> >> women (I know an earlier-published novel) there is THIS:...."the
>>>> science
>>>> >> of
>>>> >> coaxing out bloodstains [women helping a woman during a heavy
>>>> >> menstruation]. For centuries it has been taught to future wives and
>>>> >> mothers. If a university for women ever came about, it would be the
>>>> most
>>>> >> important subject. Childbirth, menstruation, war, fights, forays,
>>>> pogroms,
>>>> >> raids---all of it sheds blood, ever at the ready, just beneath the
>>>> skin."
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Another book as rich as life itself. "If books are not life, then
>>>> what
>>>> >> is?"--as someone once wrote. (If you are on Facebook, like the Group
>>>> page
>>>> >> entitled this for occasional miscellaneous publishing  and bookstore
>>>> news)
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I urge, beseech you to read this book. I would like a secret
>>>> society, a
>>>> >> growing circle, that can allude to it together, openly. Make time
>>>> when you
>>>> >> have time to make. It will change your mind. You will live longer,
>>>> old
>>>> >> neurons newly aglow. Gut bacteria improved. (But I won't ask)
>>>> >>
>>>> >> And, since you won't believe me, ex-salesman, please read Ron
>>>> Charles's
>>>> >> wonderfully appreciative and over-the-top review below.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/02/01/olga-tokarczuk-books-of-jacob-review/
>>>> >>
>>>> >> *Also, a "pony" could be a cheat sheet or other material used in a
>>>> test by
>>>> >> students
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> --
>>>> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>> >>
>>>> >
>>>> --
>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>>
>>>