The Magus

[arghreality]

Could anyone help me with the book I'm reading - The Magus? It does not seem like a good book to me, and yet it has fairly high renown etc. Basically the main character appears quite juvenile and annoying, the dialogue between him and the old man is quite pretentious and annoying, not to mention imperfect, and alot of the intellectually creative

Comments

[currente_calamo]

I've read (at least part) of The Magus. It was so good I don't remember any of it ;-)

Personally I don't believe in forcing yourself to get through something you don't enjoy for the sake of crossing out books on the 'classics' list. There's always plot summaries, etc, you can read if you disliked the book but want to understand continual references to it everywhere (ie Holden Caulfield in the context of teen angst).

[arghreality]

But if something is regarded as a classic, then it is regarded thus for a reason - intelligent people have seen things in it that are awesome. And I don't go in for this personal taste thing very deeply; if one intellectual sees something in a book, it is there also for other intellectuals...

[lordsluk]

trust your own intelligence. it doesn't matter what intellectuals say. your own perceptions tell you the book sucks, so it does.

[currente_calamo]

But at the same time, the Western Canon that Harold Bloom always goes on about is composed of intellectuals raised on styles of the past. Nothing new is able to break through this whole idea of 'the classics' because it is overshadowed by what used to be regarded as 'good'.

Society has changed to the point where disjointed narrative and paranoid characters are relevant.

Having said that, I can easily see your point of view because I used to heartily argue it not long ago, hah, until I realised I was reading for somebody else instead of myself... and if literature is about making an impact, it wasn't doing that at all.

Still, my bookshelves employ a ratio of about 50:1 classics to contemporary novels. I just have issues with the whole being told what is good thing.

[renideo]

would like to be able to comment, but, despite the impulse to comment on the quoted paragraph, really would need to know more of the context.

Not being a reader overmuch myself, I probably would not provide a greatly useful view in any case.

[arghreality]

Actually you'd like this book simon! it is about an upper class english guy. He meets more upper class people and they talk about elitist things with a great smattering of french and latin in their sentences. Some of the upper class people he meets are females. They are enchanting.

[renideo]

Ha awesome.

Though, mostly I'd rather meet the enchanting females. Curse my predictable nature.

[onieros]

throw tea in there and that could be simon?

(yes...i went there, badum tish)