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

Wed Feb 2 20:17:19 UTC 2022

this is a lovely and pertinent article by the Irish ambassador to the US:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/02/01/ulysses-james-joyce-100th-irish-ambassador/

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 2:24 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>>>>
>>>>