(Untitled)

[cacophonesque]

o1. Absalom, Absalom!, William Faulkner
o2. The America Play and Other Works, Suzan-Lori Parks
o3. The Arabian Nights, trans. Husain Haddawy
o4. The Bacchae of Euripides, Wole Soyinka
o5. Cloud Nine, Caryl Churchill
o6. Complete Plays, Sarah Kane
o7. The End of It, Mitchell Goodman
o8. The House of Incest, Anais Nin
o9. House of Leaves, Mark Z.

Comments

[indigopurple]

Not terrible, but not OH FUCK YES IN YOU COME. Tell me what you like about Sappho. Found her kind of like Homer: hard to feel strongly about in the original and a bit of a let-down in translation. I've not read Barnard's, tho'. And: your top five Greek and Roman lit picks, please!

[cacophonesque]

This collection of translated fragments is full of amazing imagery and ambiguity. It leaves me wanting more, and wondering what is missing. This is the only full translation that I've read of Sappho, although I've read single poems/fragments translated by others. My problem with those other translations, and actually a problem that I have with a lot of translations in general (particularly of poetry), is that the author sacrifices the elegance of language in favor of pre-conceived notions of poetic form. Barnard does not try to translate the fragments into "poetry." She understands that part of what makes Sappho fresh and exciting is her direct and simple language--the idea that sometimes less is more. Instead of trying to impose contemporary views of meter, rhyme, or flowery language, Barnard focuses on trying to capture the meanings, tone, and spirit of the original language

Yars

[indigopurple]

I love translations that take a lot of liberties to fit into English poetic forms: Dryden's Aeneid, say, or even All Day Permanent Red! But I understand your point, and there is a lot to be said for laying a text bare. Like your picks. Yes, sure.

Re: Yars

[cacophonesque]

I know that the FitzGerald translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is supposed to be one of the "Great Literary Translations" but I didn't enjoy it at all. The language feels more forced than ecstatic, and when I try to read it, I keep hearing Bottom rehearsing in the woods or Sir Topas. So, I think that I need to seek out a different translation, and try it on for size.

But I do understand that some people enjoy the craftsmanship of well written meter and verse. It just seems that in the case of translation, it's not my thing.

And thanks.

[mlknchz]

Please to explain what you think is good about "House of Leaves"? You may NOT use the words/phrases "deconstruction", "meta-ANYTHING", "bold", or "outside-the box".

[cacophonesque]

At the core is the story of the Navidson Record. The story was captivating, terrifying and horrific. I love the house on Ash Tree Lane, and how it exists as a character in its own right. One of the reasons that I picked up the book was because my friend had spoken so eloquently about the idea of spaces taking on traits based on our personal relationships with them and how Danielewski interprets this idea in the Navidson record. The house is a space that actually reacts to its occupants and has a psychology of its own. So, when I decided to read the book, I was interested in this investigation of space, and the reinterpretation of the haunted house story. And on those fronts, it delivered

YES

[mlknchz]

No, actually, that's by far the BEST defence of that book I've heard. While it doesn't persuade me to change my opinion of the book - which I dislike - it does show me that you are a thoughtful and intelligent reader.

We need more of those.

You get a "Yes", my friend.

Re: YES

[cacophonesque]

Thank you.

[cacophonesque]

It's been a while since I read it, but the things that stand out the most in my memory are

[cacophonesque]

Thanks.

[murdermystery]

convince me to give you a yes (hint: it is going to be hard)

[cacophonesque]

Yes, particularly so, as I don't know you at all, let alone well enough to begin to construct a compelling argument.

[murdermystery]

okay then. i like your defense of HoL (which I happen to like already), so I will do this.

plz answer the following

top five post-1940 french

&

top five experimental

(I suppose there can be overlap)

[cacophonesque]

Top Five Experimental:

The Bacchae 2.1, Charles Mee
Antigone, Mac Wellman
Four Saints in Three Acts, Gertrude Stein
Act Without Words I, Samuel Beckett
The Good Person of Szechwan, Bertold Brecht

I like you & your list

[trachea]

but I'm not going to vote yet because applicants usually blow off my questions after I vote.

This list is a BALM soothing the BOREDOM that infuses my SOUL. (Please imagine that sentence said with lots of stressful-looking eye-popping.)

You said you're getting "really interested in folklore transmission and how tales keep getting retold through the years--how tales evolve and get reimagined to remain relevent to modern audiences." Who have you been reading and what are your thoughts on this? Fairy tale and folk tale studies are a bit of an obsession of mine so it's exciting to run across someone else who shares them as an interest.

Re: I like you & your list

[cacophonesque]

Have not been feeling well at all tonight, but did not want you to think I'm ignoring your question.

Re: I like you & your list

[cacophonesque]

The whole idea of retelling of stories was a theme that came up frequently when I was studying a lot of pre-Rennaissance literature. It was something that interested me, because the idea of borrowing from previous "authorities" seemed in opposition to later notions of the individual and copyright law. Pre-Rennaissance texts are often Palimpsestic--both literally and figuratively. So, you end up with works like the Lucian "A True Story" which is refigured in the Pseudo-Lucian "The Ass" which is again refigured in Apuleius' The Golden Ass (the latter of which I've only read in excerpts and is sitting in my large pile of things to complete). Or, you end up with an author like Chaucer borrows heavily from Boccaccio, who in turn collected a lot of folk stories, but in each transmission, things are changed depending on the author's sense of aesthetic and the cultural values of the period. While I know that this topic was covered in articles and other readings I completed for class, damned if I can actually remember any of them

Yes! Definitely!

[trachea]

This is a really interesting response and I feel guilty not providing a longer answer but I have to go to bed now so I can get up and attend a conference about contemporary fairy tales(!). Oh, I am so excited.

I promise to respond when I return.

I love Jack Zipes, even though his middle name seems to be "discursive." Jesus, Jack, another tangent about "the culture industry" and Marxist scholarship?