My buddy princeofcairo is pretty sceptical about the authentication (not to mention the Shakespeare Trust's motives) and makes a fairly compelling case against it here.
It's ironic: I've read four Rushdie novels (Shalimar, The ground beneath her feet, The moor's last sigh, Haroun and the Sea of Stories), but neither the one which made him famous or the one which made him infamous. To some extant, I think I've been saving them, since it's hard to imagine anything he goes on to write comparing to the reputation those two have garnered.
"The Satanic Verses " is brilliant, but once again takes a bit of getting into. I had to have two attempts to get into both novels. You're in for a treat ... of the four you've read, only "The Moor's Last Sigh" approaches the stature oF "Midnight's Children" and "The Satanic Verses".
I thought this was a real misstep, for two reasons. Sir Ahmed explained that he wrote it because he wanted to address the contemporary fascination with celebrity. But everyone does that all the time already and, personally, I could give a rat's ass about the subject. I want him to do what not enough people are doing and write about politics; there are passages in Shalimar about the savage atrocities in Kashmir that left me shaken.
The second curious choice was implying, as he does toward the end of the novel, that his alternative reality is but a shadowy copy of our real world. Frankly, I don't know why a writer would belittle his creations in that way; it makes me wonder why I should invest any belief in them when he seems to lack conviction himself.
Re: Yiddish Policemen's UnioncurrawongFebruary 21 2010, 19:38:14 UTC
Gosh ... I haven't been active on LiveJournal for ages ... Yes, the announcement about the Coen Bros. doing a film version was made a couple of years ago, but so far it's still "in development", with no news about further action for a long time ... maybe now that they have the small "A Simple Man" out of the way we might hear something further.
Script and casting will be a challenge.
I didn't like their film of "No Country For Old Men" ... I thought they missed the heart of the book by truncating the exchange between Chigurth and the protagonist's wife.
The assassin became just another "immoveable force" threat like Arnie in "The Terminator" without that full dialogue. I always thought the Sheriff's rambling monologue went nowhere.
As a book, I liked "The Road" much better, and look forward to eventually seeing it on DVD.
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It's ironic: I've read four Rushdie novels (Shalimar, The ground beneath her feet, The moor's last sigh, Haroun and the Sea of Stories), but neither the one which made him famous or the one which made him infamous. To some extant, I think I've been saving them, since it's hard to imagine anything he goes on to write comparing to the reputation those two have garnered.
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The second curious choice was implying, as he does toward the end of the novel, that his alternative reality is but a shadowy copy of our real world. Frankly, I don't know why a writer would belittle his creations in that way; it makes me wonder why I should invest any belief in them when he seems to lack conviction himself.
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I understand that the Cohen brothers will be making the film version of Yiddish Policeman's union.
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Sacha and Erran? Wouldn't that be something!
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Script and casting will be a challenge.
I didn't like their film of "No Country For Old Men" ... I thought they missed the heart of the book by truncating the exchange between Chigurth and the protagonist's wife.
The assassin became just another "immoveable force" threat like Arnie in "The Terminator" without that full dialogue. I always thought the Sheriff's rambling monologue went nowhere.
As a book, I liked "The Road" much better, and look forward to eventually
seeing it on DVD.
"Burn After Reading" was a real hoot though.
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