tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post1620678033876729731..comments2023-11-22T04:10:49.266-05:00Comments on Dispatches from Zembla: Machado de AssisAlokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-17500118986106073602008-09-17T18:46:00.000-05:002008-09-17T18:46:00.000-05:00DMoE: thanks, and I am glad you found the blog int...DMoE: thanks, and I am glad you found the blog interesting and useful. <BR/><BR/>I was also struck by that comment in the nyt article. I think there are potential pitfalls on both sides. Reducing fiction to its universal elements and stripping it of cultural specifics impoverishes it but great work of art always manages to transcend cultural boundaries and in the process can act as our window to a different culture. I can't understand what is the idea behind claiming a writer for one's own culture exclusively. Just pathetic isolationism and provincialism, really can't think of anything else. <BR/><BR/>I was actually very surprised to see just how cosmopolitan Assis was in his references and influences. And this was back in 19th century! General discussions of latin american literature for some reason exclude Brazilian literature...my own general impression was that pre-"boom" literature in latin american was very provincial, culture-specific and "primitive" (as Mario Vargas Llosa calls it) in style.<BR/><BR/>I have read a few short stories by Saki. I remember one called "The storyteller". Very lightweight, can be read for diversion I guess but not much more - a few of his stories were part of our english text book in lower high school.<BR/><BR/>also thanks for the links. That Ghose guy is indeed from India...It makes me feel less of a freak!! Also You have got a great name for yourself. I have thought quite a few times changing my own name to same.<BR/><BR/>kubla: Yeah, Just saw the entry on that blog and agree about the name.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-8265876485523022512008-09-17T18:29:00.000-05:002008-09-17T18:29:00.000-05:00Also, the Telegraph has this review of a short sto...Also, the Telegraph has this review of a short story collection that is being published in the UK with a translation by proeminent Machado scholar John Gledson (my own copy of Machado's short stories, in portuguese, was edited by him). It left me curious about english writter Saki, have you read anything he wrote?<BR/><BR/>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/09/13/boass113.xmlO Menino Mais Esperto do Mundohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14665854391712519700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-73848278043565872022008-09-17T18:12:00.000-05:002008-09-17T18:12:00.000-05:00I've come across your blog serching for informatio...I've come across your blog serching for information regarding Nabokov's Pale Fire, which I'm currently beginning to read. I see that you have a wonderful taste in literature, very close to mine, actually, for instance when it comes to hungarian writers (whose works I'm also just starting to get into) and general mittleuropean ones, e.g. Thomas Bernhard.<BR/><BR/>But the reason I'm posting here is because I write from Brazil, land of Machado de Assis and a few other generaly neglected masters, and to say that I'm pleased you have found about his work, which means he's not totally overseen abroad after all.<BR/><BR/>I read in this NYTimes piece a most unfortunate comment by a critic, Antônio Gonçalves Filho, who says "Actually, they are making the writer white, like Michael Jackson. All of a sudden, he's become 'universal.'"<BR/><BR/>Machado <I>is</I> the most universal brazilian writer. He's one of the few who managed to transcend our provincialism, gathering from the works of Sterne, Shakespeare and the greeks to explore the human condition in its essence. A contemporary critic of his used to call him "our most greek writer". And not for one moment that meant he forgot about his origins or the place he lived. That is very much reflected in all of his novels, short stories and chronicles with much verve and zest.<BR/><BR/>But I digress. Here is a nice account of Machado's oeuvre and place in the literary tradition. It's by a fellow countryman of yours, I believe, and it's a must read:<BR/><BR/>http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/article/show/252O Menino Mais Esperto do Mundohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14665854391712519700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-35027627548433567922008-09-17T16:18:00.000-05:002008-09-17T16:18:00.000-05:00there is something on him on Three percent. relate...there is something on him on Three percent. related to his name. it is a beautiful name really.<BR/><BR/>btw, as you say, it is quite a hilarious book, more so because the narrator does not think so.Kubla Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11973223751363547679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-29627133771558436332008-09-17T10:36:00.000-05:002008-09-17T10:36:00.000-05:00Thanks for the tip. Will try to find it. I don't t...Thanks for the tip. Will try to find it. I don't think it is in The Temple of Text though, but will need to look again.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-51789427919570295952008-09-17T10:02:00.000-05:002008-09-17T10:02:00.000-05:00There's a lovely essay on him by William Gass some...There's a lovely essay on him by William Gass somewhere - is it in A Temple of Text? not sure, but I suspect you'd like it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com