What are you reading?

[MJRH]

yes, sade's whirlwind of gratuitous sensation does, quite literally, dis-gust a fella. one comes away sapped. as for the style, the tumidity contrasts nicely with the tumescence, no? ;)

[Macro]

I can give you a proper answer when i'm done reading it. :)

[galia]

I only read Justine, but I thought the writing more interesting than the material. but then I find erotic art in general quite boring, so...

[MJRH]

^agreed, mostly. certainly wouldn't recommend de sade as a turn-on (and would keep a sharp eye on anyone who did), he's more about philosophy rendered in smut for me. can you tell me what he reads like in french? in english, well, macro's "tumid" is pretty apt.

[viv1984viv]

^agreed, mostly. certainly wouldn't recommend de sade as a turn-on (and would keep a sharp eye on anyone who did), he's more about philosophy rendered in smut for me. can you tell me what he reads like in french? in english, well, macro's "tumid" is pretty apt.

I'm going to read Julliette soon as a primer for the chapter about it in Dialectics of Enlightenment.

MJRH - got any comments on that or some nice tips on secondary literature that would synch well???

[MJRH]

but, of course... masoch!

viv, i am a dilettante and poorly read in secondary literature. haven't read adorno. if you find something worthwhile then please lemme know.

oh, and on the (persistent) subject of french badasses, read rabelais before you read de sade, y'all. he's better.

[galia]

I read it like 10 years ago, I seem to recall it was quite well written and funny, for the French 18th century (but then I don't think very much of most 18th century French authors' style... It's mostly boring demonstrative bullshit)

Edit: I just looked up the definition of "tumid", and I guess it's an apt description, but like tumid in a good way? Some bits are good anyway. I'd have to read it again. Sorry my answer is quite useless

[MJRH]

yes, it is very well written in the translation, just weighty. dense to the point it could be a dealbreaker for some. thanks, i just wanted to know if it was the same in french or one of those shambling english translations that butcher the original spirit.

[galia]

They probably did, English and French aren't the most compatible languages. Still, after rereading a few pages, it's quite heavy-handed

[Macro]

Well, Justine done. He's the closest read to Shakespeare i've experienced, both in his construction of words and his subject matter. Yeah, it's a parable, but it's a damned one. The 'erotic' scenes challenge my ability to endure them, and for that, taking the reader on an emotional experience that engines his philosophical argument makes for a fuckin read.

Now, onto The Trial.

[galia]

I didn't find Justine that hard to cope with, but I was reading a lot of smut at the time, I may have been a bit desensitized.

Also, I would personnaly not recommend reading Masoch, Venus in furs is a supremely boring book and once the premise of the story is understood there is really nothing of interest going on. It's a psychological novelty, rather than proper litterature.

Now Tanizaki is much more rewarding, if one is interested in cruelty and eroticism (very little actual sex, which is the best way to tackle such things imo, since sex itself it the least interesting part of such relationships - one of his stories about a group of children is gorgeous). And actually a very good writer, unlike Masoch

[LOVE]

just finished pattern recognition by william gibson, anyone read it?

starting in cold blood by capote.

[Macro]

LOVE, it's in the queue... just started Neuromancer.

galia, i'll look into those two for my future excursions... i'm not sure we will ever agree on anything concerning literature, but i'll always give it a try :P

[galia]

The Tanizaki story I mentioned earlier is called "The Children", and apparently you can find it in a collection called "The Gourmet Club"

[Faust]

Just finished Harry Potter with my daughter. Took us 1 year and 8 months and it's been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Sad that it's over. It's quite an achievement on Rowling's part, not only to write an immensely complicated book where everything falls into place over 5,000 pages but also to have the books mature - in plot, scope, breadth, sentence structure and lexicon - just as the main characters do. Hats off.