Subject: (urth) Urth Digest, Vol 115, Issue 3

From: Eric Bourland <eb at hwaet.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:24:09 +0000

>>>Clearly island of doctor death and other stories is Wolfe's best 
collection.  
 I think so too.
  
 I'm almost done with... Middlemarch. =)  It's a discursive novel, very 
confident in its size, it strolls, and Eliot intrudes her voice in the text 
maybe a little too often, but the girlfriend suggests that Eliot's voice is 
really the voice of ... Middlemarch.
  
 The point of the novel seems to be, don't count too much on money or 
marriage. I think a beastie or two would liven things up. Zounds! The 
alzabo ate Ladislaw!
  
 It is really a lovely story -- slow, wise, smart. After awhile I don't 
mind that Eliot is showing off so much, since she does so with self-aware 
humor.
  
 Eric
  
 *******
Eric Bourland
eb at hwaet.com

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Subject: Urth Digest, Vol 115, Issue 3   
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Today's Topics:

1. What are you reading? (Antonin Scriabin)
2. Re: What are you reading? (Marc Aramini)
3. Re: What are you reading? (Daniel Otto Jack Petersen)
4. Re: What are you reading? (Antonin Scriabin)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 09:26:04 -0400
From: Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: (urth) What are you reading?
Message-ID:
<CAM0v-i5H28c4y8+3TC92famtubFKYMy25af-8XizBQS_VA-Y0Q at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello, Urthlings. What are you reading these days? I haven't been reading
much Wolfe lately, so nothing is fresh enough in my mind to participate in
some of the other ongoing discussions.

I am working my way through the Harvard Classics. I just finished the
fourth volume, the complete poems in English by John Milton. *Paradise
Lost *was a treat, as was Franklin's autobiography in the first volume and
the *New Atlantis *by Bacon in the third, which is an old favorite of mine
from my philosophy major days.

I've also recently read *The Sea, the Sea *by Iris Murdoch, which was
excellent, and *The City of Dreaming Books *by Moers, which was great,
silly fun*.* I also read the first 50 pages of *Lookout Cartridge* by
McElroy and decided to put it back on the shelf for the time being. It
wasn't particularly *bad, *it was just entirely unsuccessful in grabbing 
my
attention within a reasonable amount of time, together with being written
in a very disjointed, unique style. I will probably get back to it in the
near future.

Anyway, I am getting back on a Wolfe kick today by finishing the latter
half of *The Island of Doctor Death, and Other Stories, and Other 
Stories*.
Looking forward to it!
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 06:49:47 -0700
From: Marc Aramini <marcaramini at yahoo.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) What are you reading?
Message-ID: <CF35335F-750E-4E62-9C6B-FDE2F732D699 at yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 12, 2014, at 6:26 AM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> 
wrote:

> Hello, Urthlings. What are you reading these days? I haven't been reading 
much Wolfe lately, so nothing is fresh enough in my mind to participate in 
some of the other ongoing discussions.
>
> I am working my way through the Harvard Classics. I just finished the 
fourth volume, the complete poems in English by John Milton. Paradise Lost 
was a treat, as was Franklin's autobiography in the first volume and the 
New Atlantis by Bacon in the third, which is an old favorite of mine from 
my philosophy major days.
>
> I've also recently read The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch, which was 
excellent, and The City of Dreaming Books by Moers, which was great, silly 
fun. I also read the first 50 pages of Lookout Cartridge by McElroy and 
decided to put it back on the shelf for the time being. It wasn't 
particularly bad, it was just entirely unsuccessful in grabbing my 
attention within a reasonable amount of time, together with being written 
in a very disjointed, unique style. I will probably get back to it in the 
near future.
>
> Anyway, I am getting back on a Wolfe kick today by finishing the latter 
half of The Island of Doctor Death, and Other Stories, and Other Stories. 
Looking forward to it!
> _______________________________________________

Haven't read much lately but in the middle of Musil's Man of No Qualities, 
in about the fifth volume of Sturgeon's collected stories, Mishima's 
Forbidden Colors (Mishima's philosophy always interested me), Bolano's 2666 
which seems to me at its heart kind of a Twin Peaks urban fantasy. 
Surprised it got any literary attention. McElroy has always been one of 
those authors I feel I should like but in execution he seems rather boring. 
At least you have to pay attention when you read him.

My Peace write up is "done" but it is missing a connection I know that is 
lurking, between the devils of hell with misplaced limbs who are one with 
their victims and the carnival people and the dog boy whom Weer's father 
will take hunting in a dream and languishes across Weer's leg as he thinks 
of his picnic with Margeret Lorn, so I am waiting on that final edit to 
post it. After that I will be on Forleson. I have not abandoned my project 
but I have to be in the right frame of mind to do quality work on it.

Clearly island of doctor death and other stories is Wolfe's best 
collection.

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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:58:57 +0000
From: Daniel Otto Jack Petersen <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) What are you reading?
Message-ID:
<CAGB0RZ56ByLG-2dJU6VzjihtEdcrYLzsX2QgnBZ9Mt1mRsJ7aA at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Just finished R. A. Lafferty's late novel *Serpent's Egg* (1987) last week
- mad brilliance as always. (Read John Williams's *Butcher's Crossing* 
just
before that - existential buffalo hunting, ya can't beat that.) Reading
the stories in the new Centipede Press volume 1 of Lafferty's complete
short stories - whenever I have the chance to sit down and carefully 
handle
the book (as I usually have books thrust in a backpack getting bent up as 
I
read them all over the place in between everything). Have already read all
those stories, but hugely enjoying revisiting them, especially in a 
quality
physical format worthy of them.

Realised I hadn't finished the last 30 or so pages of King's *Salem's 
Lot*,
so gonna round that out.

Recently read a 200 page poem from the Middle Ages called *Piers
Plowman*(14th c.) - it was for a course I'm in. *Paradise
Lost* is one of my all time fave long poems and *Piers *has probably shot
right up there with it. The latter actually makes a very interesting
contrast to the former in just about every respect. (And to be reductively
categorical, I'd say Wolfe is more Milton while Lafferty is more *Piers* -
the former 'high' and the latter 'low', both genius and both
all-encompassing and stretching imagination to its limits, each in its
respective way).

Really torn about what novel to get into next. Thinking of another King
just for simple fun. Maybe Wolfe's *The Sorcerer's House* - that's the
next one up for me in the post-2000 novels I haven't read. Maybe McCarthy,
maybe Michael Bishop, maybe Dan Simmons... I dunno.

-DOJP

On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 1:26 PM, Antonin Scriabin
<kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello, Urthlings. What are you reading these days? I haven't been 
reading
> much Wolfe lately, so nothing is fresh enough in my mind to participate 
in
> some of the other ongoing discussions.
>
> I am working my way through the Harvard Classics. I just finished the
> fourth volume, the complete poems in English by John Milton. *Paradise
> Lost *was a treat, as was Franklin's autobiography in the first volume
> and the *New Atlantis *by Bacon in the third, which is an old favorite 
of
> mine from my philosophy major days.
>
> I've also recently read *The Sea, the Sea *by Iris Murdoch, which was
> excellent, and *The City of Dreaming Books *by Moers, which was great,
> silly fun*.* I also read the first 50 pages of *Lookout Cartridge* by
> McElroy and decided to put it back on the shelf for the time being. It
> wasn't particularly *bad, *it was just entirely unsuccessful in grabbing
> my attention within a reasonable amount of time, together with being
> written in a very disjointed, unique style. I will probably get back to 
it
> in the near future.
>
> Anyway, I am getting back on a Wolfe kick today by finishing the latter
> half of *The Island of Doctor Death, and Other Stories, and Other 
Stories*.
> Looking forward to it!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>

--
Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 10:03:10 -0400
From: Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) What are you reading?
Message-ID:
<CAM0v-i4n2hrh2igw0Fa_Wn6a3E1CyQ2OYM_R9ZGR55+JvGodWw at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

"Bolano's 2666 which seems to me at its heart kind of a Twin Peaks urban
fantasy."

Well, now I kind of want to read it!

"McElroy has always been one of those authors I feel I should like but in
execution he seems rather boring. At least you have to pay attention when
you read him."

Have you read *Lookout Cartridge*? I also lucked out and found a copy of 
*Women
and Men* for $3 a few months ago, I would be willing to try that one if it
is better. I adore Pynchon, Gaddis, and Barth (with whom McElroy is so
often mentioned) so I was surprised to be so turned off right away.

"Clearly island of doctor death and other stories is Wolfe's best
collection."

"The Hero as Werewolf" and "Alien Stones" are really outstanding stories.
So far I am enjoying the collection at least as much as *Endangered
Species.*

On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 9:49 AM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at yahoo.com> 
wrote:

>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 12, 2014, at 6:26 AM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hello, Urthlings. What are you reading these days? I haven't been 
reading
> much Wolfe lately, so nothing is fresh enough in my mind to participate 
in
> some of the other ongoing discussions.
>
> I am working my way through the Harvard Classics. I just finished the
> fourth volume, the complete poems in English by John Milton. *Paradise
> Lost *was a treat, as was Franklin's autobiography in the first volume
> and the *New Atlantis *by Bacon in the third, which is an old favorite 
of
> mine from my philosophy major days.
>
> I've also recently read *The Sea, the Sea *by Iris Murdoch, which was
> excellent, and *The City of Dreaming Books *by Moers, which was great,
> silly fun*.* I also read the first 50 pages of *Lookout Cartridge* by
> McElroy and decided to put it back on the shelf for the time being. It
> wasn't particularly *bad, *it was just entirely unsuccessful in grabbing
> my attention within a reasonable amount of time, together with being
> written in a very disjointed, unique style. I will probably get back to 
it
> in the near future.
>
> Anyway, I am getting back on a Wolfe kick today by finishing the latter
> half of *The Island of Doctor Death, and Other Stories, and Other 
Stories*.
> Looking forward to it!
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> Haven't read much lately but in the middle of Musil's Man of No 
Qualities,
> in about the fifth volume of Sturgeon's collected stories, Mishima's
> Forbidden Colors (Mishima's philosophy always interested me), Bolano's 
2666
> which seems to me at its heart kind of a Twin Peaks urban fantasy.
> Surprised it got any literary attention. McElroy has always been one of
> those authors I feel I should like but in execution he seems rather 
boring.
> At least you have to pay attention when you read him.
>
> My Peace write up is "done" but it is missing a connection I know that 
is
> lurking, between the devils of hell with misplaced limbs who are one 
with
> their victims and the carnival people and the dog boy whom Weer's father
> will take hunting in a dream and languishes across Weer's leg as he 
thinks
> of his picnic with Margeret Lorn, so I am waiting on that final edit to
> post it. After that I will be on Forleson. I have not abandoned my
> project but I have to be in the right frame of mind to do quality work 
on
> it.
>
> Clearly island of doctor death and other stories is Wolfe's best
> collection.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>
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End of Urth Digest, Vol 115, Issue 3
************************************

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