Zweig, Merimee, Goncourt

Since my last post, I've read one issue of OK Magazine.

I've read the journals of Stefan Zweig, short stories by Prosper Merimee, Manette Salomon, a novel by the Goncourts, Renee Mauperin, another novel, and the first volume of the Goncourt diaries. Look out, there are 19 more volumes of those. Merimee had some interesting short stories, but they were not all good. The novels by the Goncourt were forgettable, I hate to say. I imagine the journals will get better as time goes on, but I already find them critical enough of some figures of the Parisian literati of the 1850s...As for Merime, I'm hoping his novels are better. I've ordered his novels from interlibrary loan.

Zweig, Downey, Brookfield, Collins et al.

Since my last post, I've read two issues of The Economist, two issues of Eclectic Reading, the latest encyclical Caritas in Veritate, which contained some explosive statements about unions that no one has picked up on as yet, and an issue of The New Scientist.

And, of course, I've been reading Zweig,The Tide of Fortune; Conflicts; biographies of Romain Rolland and Emile Verhaeven; Jeremiah (a play)which sold 20 000 copies(!); Les heures etoiles de l'humanite; Passion and Pain, more short stories; The world of Yesterday, his memoirs; in the collection Romans, theatre, et nouvelles, Clarissa and a play based on Kleist's Penthesilea; the essay Mysteres de la creation artistique; and his book on Brazil. I have his journals and perhaps one or two books left to read, and I am therefore almost at the close of his works, and I have concluded, shockingly enough, that he was a lightweight. The stuff is not profound, and he managed not to be a profound man, it would appear.

I also read a book by Stephen Brookfield, Discussion as a Way of Teaching. There was much here that is helpful, and of course his previous book on reflective teaching changed my professional life; a biography of Frances Perkins, Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, which was also superficial, by Kirstin Downey; and a fascinating book on the Portfolios of the Poor, by Collins and Murdoch, about how very poor people in developing countries manage their finances. There is a lot of very smart thinking going on in these ultimate underdogs.

Zweig

Well, didn't I get 34 books on interlibrary loan yesterday, so I've being mowing down the quick easy reads as fast as I can, by fear of being overwhelmed.

I read a number of short stories: Laponella, Le bouquiniste Mendel, The Runaway, Virata, The Governess, The Buried Candelabra, Buchmendel, Moonbeam Alley, Rachel Arraigns God, Impromptu Study of a Handicraft, Amok, La femme et le paysage, The Star Above the Forest, The invisible Collection,Twilight, Fantastic Night, The Fowler Snared, The Chess Story, and Letter From an Unknown Woman. Twilight is eerie, it is the story of woman who carefully plans her own suicide, written by a man who also planned his own, and carried it out.

I also read Amerigo, Paul Verlaine, Marcelline Desbordes-Valmore, biographies; and the essay Right to Heresy, about Calvin and one of his opponents.I had never hear of Desbordes-Valmore, so I was happy to find out about her. I knew only some of Verlaine's life, and was also happy to read his Art poetique.

Zweig, Zweig and more Zweig

Since my last post i have read a number of books by Zweig. There were two novels, Confusion and the Post Office Girl. I liked Confusion, it's a little known academic noel, but the other was heavy handed. I then read Zweig's biography of Balzac, which I liked but didn't find particularly informative as I had read another before. Then I read a slew of essays on Casanova, Tolstoy, Dickens, Holderlin, Nietzsche, Kleist, Balzac, Montaigne, Dostoevsky, and Stendhal. There were all interesting and structured in the same way: a physical description taking up a whole chapter, 2 or 3 chapters of biography with a psychological slant, and then 2-3 chapters discussing their work and their work methods.

Goncourts, Merimee, Soyinka

Since my last post, I've read the last of the Morand novels. His range impresses me, but I think I'd like to read his book-length essays. I also read Octave Mirbeau's Journal d'une femme de chambre, which was incredibly daring for its day. It recounts the sex life (without explicit details of any kind, it all happens off-stage) of a chamber maid pursued by men of her own and other classes. Then I read two biographies of the Goncourt brothers, one by Billy in French and one in English by Robert Baldick. Both were so enthralling I ran off and got all their novels and five of the twenty volumes of their journals. I must say, however, that I couldn't tell it was the same people the two authors were talking about. I also read a four volume biography of Prosper Merimee, in preparation for reading his novels and short stories, by Trahard. Four volumes -- that's a lot. I read Soeur Philomene by the Goncourts. Finally, I read Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka

Kleist, Soyinka, Novalis, Zweig

Since my last post, I've read an issue of The Globe and an issue of The New Scientist.

I read Soyinka's childhood memoir, Ake/The Years o Childhood. I liked it, but I am starting to see a pattern in the memoirs of early life by writers from developing countries -- the sincere joys and simple pleasures, etc. Ake avoids all the cliches, but there is something of a trope here.

I read Kleist's short stories Betrothal on Santo Domingo, Michael Kohlhaas, Beggarwoman of Locarno, Saint Cecilia and The Duel, as well as his three essays on speaking, reflection and puppet theatre. Then I read Novalis' notes on Fichte and various philosophical topics. I found this very hard to read, as it is not systematic. I don't usually read any unpublished material, as I want to capture an author's finished thoughts, so this was hard, although easier than, say, course notes from Heidegger. Finally I read essays on Casanova, Tolstoy, Stendhal, Mary Baker Eddy, Messmer and Freud by Stefan Zweig. I enjoyed the essays on the writers the most, since he was looking at how they made poetry out of their lives.

McCourt, Updike, Theroux

I read Theroux's Mosquito Coast, which I liked in general, but whose ending was gruesome -- made me wonder what he had against fathers. Updike's satirical Witches of Eastwick worn thin awfully quickly. McCourt's novel Time Remaining had some stream-of-consciousness stuff which also wore thin. I also started the complete novels of the Vichy supporter Paul Morand. I liked it in general, although I agree with the critics that there are points where descriptions are overdone.