tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post402324323300556881..comments2023-11-22T04:10:49.266-05:00Comments on Dispatches from Zembla: Juicy Literary NewsAlokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-698816318705750272007-03-15T22:32:00.000-05:002007-03-15T22:32:00.000-05:00I am not so familiar with latin american authors i...I am not so familiar with latin american authors in general, but cortazar is great.*https://www.blogger.com/profile/05680450955867041830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-24759853646545430692007-03-15T17:40:00.000-05:002007-03-15T17:40:00.000-05:00alok: you are right about magic realism. this seem...alok: you are right about magic realism. this seems a fancy term for what most middle eastern literature, and other asian literature had already achieved.<BR/>antonia:by other brilliant writers i meant....Manuel puig, Mempo giardenelli, Julio cortazar and so on. i have had the good fortune of reading them all....and even great writing seems a cheap term to signify their work.<BR/>bhupinder:Llosa's work lacks verve. but to be fair to him, he takes sides in politics, making his position quite apparent. i forget the novel about the shining path movement. there is no allegory in that book. well written and taut, it is like a piece of journalism.<BR/>yes, taut is the word for his prose.it lacks music. political fiction without music supported by words is like a lifeless heart. dead.Kubla Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11973223751363547679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-61749249347206113912007-03-15T17:14:00.000-05:002007-03-15T17:14:00.000-05:00Kubla Khan: I'd say that Llosa's quality is rather...Kubla Khan: I'd say that Llosa's quality is rather uneven. His experimentalism is superb, and I just have to give him 10 out of 10 at places- The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta, The Storyteller. The War of the End of the World has very little technical innovation but still is a great novel in the tradition of the 19th century novel.<BR/><BR/>Some others, like, Aunt Julia, Feast of the Goat, The Way to Paradise, A Time of the Hero, in Praise of Stepmother are reasonably good. Captain Pantoja is passable. Who Killed Palomino Molero? and is ridiculous. I found Diaries of Rigoberto unreadable.<BR/><BR/>I have admired Llosa despite his ideas, as Sub Commandante Marcos once put it in an interview with Gabo. <BR/><BR/>I am not too sure if Llosa's political ideas are complicated, or just confused. Sometimes I feel it is just his ego and his desire to be different from Garcia Marquez.readerswordshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536082441634566406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-7046435105488364132007-03-15T16:31:00.000-05:002007-03-15T16:31:00.000-05:00what other brilliant latin american writes do you ...what other brilliant latin american writes do you mean, Kubla? (I entirely agree with your judgement on Llosa, he is way overestimated.)*https://www.blogger.com/profile/05680450955867041830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-10130549966850734592007-03-15T14:58:00.000-05:002007-03-15T14:58:00.000-05:00It is also about the difference between modern and...It is also about the difference between modern and pre-modern societies. Unlike the west, in the third world the traditions and the community still have a strong hold on individual psyche (in general) and it is reflected in their literature too. In fact magical realism is nothing but an expression of this "mythical" consciousness. This is also why it is comparatively rare to encounter alienation, existential angst, isolation (and other by-products of modernity) which are the main themes of modern western literature, in literatures of the third world.<BR/><BR/>Of course this is a broad generalization and things are changing a lot too...Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-55321888169546042572007-03-15T14:40:00.000-05:002007-03-15T14:40:00.000-05:00YES, you are right about the psychology thing in ...YES, you are right about the psychology thing in latin american fiction.in contemporary or recent and past so called western lit., there is a shadow of too much id, oedipus etc....as if this sort of thing cd not have existed before.<BR/>there is too much emphasis on things freudian, which in an unfreudian age like this seems boring.the emphasis on everything greek , with too much Homerian and less and less existential has shaded good literature into poor babble. and even most philosophy but NOT french(with exceptions) has been plagued with this malaise.<BR/>latin american fiction thrives on not the psyche but the action, which is uplifting.Kubla Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11973223751363547679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-52255075300178472752007-03-15T12:40:00.000-05:002007-03-15T12:40:00.000-05:00I will generally agree with you that Llosa's langu...I will generally agree with you that Llosa's language is pretty straightforward, though he does play around with narrative, time sequence and plot a lot and manages to bring in multiple perspectives in the same novel. I love his War of the End of the World very much. It sure is a little old fashioned in its style and structure -- those big nineteenth century novels -- but it also creates a fantastic sense of place and brings an obscure (at least for people not from that place) historical event alive with an analysis which has a lot of contemporary significance, specially the way we think about religion and progress.<BR/><BR/>What I like most of latin american writers is this sense of place, sense of a shared culture, beliefs, past and history and not so much a concern with the individual and his psychology. even when they write about individual characters, it is only in a wider cultural context. some may call it ethnography and not literature but I don't agree. again my reading has been very limited and they may not reflect the complexities of latin american literature but this is what I feel.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-17256749687900925142007-03-15T12:02:00.000-05:002007-03-15T12:02:00.000-05:00alok: havent you felt that the prose works of llos...alok: havent you felt that the prose works of llosa lack the beauty and subtleness of other more contemporary writers?<BR/>i have read two of his novels.....the end of the world and some other book.....i liked them but felt that they were quite tedious.....<BR/>on the other hand, marquez writes lilting prose, the beginning of love in the time of cholera for instance.<BR/>perhaps, the styles reflect the men, their views etc....i think they both are famous, perhaps too famous than other brilliant latin american writers worldwide...is it the reflection of a bias, a critical one on the part of critics.....<BR/>i get such thoughts often, but.....Kubla Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11973223751363547679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-64429055522913586942007-03-15T10:59:00.000-05:002007-03-15T10:59:00.000-05:00Feast of the Goat is quite good though brutal and ...Feast of the Goat is quite good though brutal and disturbing at places. One of my favourite of his book is Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, very romantic and very, very funny.<BR/><BR/>reg politics, I think both of them are more complex in their politics than is generally reported in the media. I was just reading somewhere Marquez saved the life of many dissidents and artists in Cuba through his influence and Llosa also has complicated views on Iraq war for example.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-38301079609996946292007-03-15T10:37:00.000-05:002007-03-15T10:37:00.000-05:00I knew about the feud, but the articles provides i...I knew about the feud, but the articles provides interesting details. <BR/>I haven't read Llosa. Have The Feast of the Goat on my table, so hopefully will start on that soon. <BR/>I don't agree with his politics though. But then again I don't agree with all of Marquez's either.Szerelemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17911190230851186924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-24202314336504895162007-03-14T21:21:00.000-05:002007-03-14T21:21:00.000-05:00Haha. Yes, but still nobody knows what really happ...Haha. Yes, but still nobody knows what really happened between Marquez and Llosa's wife :)Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-90033517369255550532007-03-14T18:21:00.000-05:002007-03-14T18:21:00.000-05:00Thanks for the news. I think it only strengthens t...Thanks for the news. I think it only strengthens the image of Gabo- as an innocently steadfast man, and Llosa, more intelligent, but opportunistic.readerswordshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536082441634566406noreply@blogger.com