tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post7644767920258927242..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: I like my reading just a little on the Spergy side *Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-40453262633370281142013-10-13T10:36:27.634-07:002013-10-13T10:36:27.634-07:00"Start with Old Masters and Wittgensein´s Nep..."Start with Old Masters and Wittgensein´s Nephew. If you manage to keep your sanity after reading Correction however, you´ll thank me later.<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bernhard"<br /><br />On your recommendation, I've read Wittgensein's Nephew, and, because Old Masters isn't in kindle version, The Loser (I held off from Correction since you implied that it should be the finale).<br />Bernhard's style is pure Celine but I haven't seen a reviewer mention it. The major difference is that Celine writes from the perspective of someone who has always been up-against-it. Bernhard's tragic characters are for the most part from a privileged class but cannot distinguish themselves, they are pathetic second-stringers. The saddest and, I think, the most HBD, theme in The Loser is that when you've lost your status, there is no retreat to the lower class - there is no reception or kinship or culture for you there. <br />The material doesn't require any esoteric prerequisites, which suits me just fine, since my middle-aged, weary self just isn't up to getting re-educated to read a novel, but I knew I had to read Bernhard when I looked up his quotes, which is now my filtering method for every prospective read, and his first was this: “Instead of committing suicide, people go to work.” - if this isn't your preferred flavor of insight-porn, his stuff isn't for you.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-70979635910816996212013-10-07T22:55:24.048-07:002013-10-07T22:55:24.048-07:00http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2013/10...http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2013/10/jonathan-franzen-slams-social-media-as-%E2%80%98a-coercive-development%E2%80%99Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-84234986418324510572013-10-07T17:47:17.255-07:002013-10-07T17:47:17.255-07:00http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114887/stanley-...http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114887/stanley-kauffmann-truman-capotes-cold-bloodAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-57827061981390270842013-10-07T07:45:56.428-07:002013-10-07T07:45:56.428-07:00http://www.thedaysofyore.com/molly_haskell/
She g...http://www.thedaysofyore.com/molly_haskell/<br /><br />She got sooooooo angry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-11485392805077495012013-10-07T05:44:15.536-07:002013-10-07T05:44:15.536-07:00I just made a longish comment plugging Austrian au...I just made a longish comment plugging Austrian author Thomas Bernhard, and lamenting Céline´s fall from grace after WWII, just in time to have an influence on Arthur Miller and Jack Kerouac (who read it in the origina French).<br />After all, we still read Stendhal even though he was as compromised with Napoleon as Céline was with Pétain.<br />As for Bernhard, I can´t believe <br />he´s less popular than Houellebecq in the USA!<br />Start with Old Masters and Wittgensein´s Nephew. If you manage to keep your sanity after reading Correction however, you´ll thank me later.<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bernhard<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />BB753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-74907500245409516562013-10-07T02:14:21.383-07:002013-10-07T02:14:21.383-07:00"Anonymous said...
Cassavetes's HUSBANDS..."Anonymous said...<br /><br />Cassavetes's HUSBANDS isn't an happy experience but it said so much about his generation of men."<br /><br />Cassavetes specialized in those depressing, cinema-verite, slice-of-life movies. Another good one of his (by which I mean a depressing, grim, soul-crushing movie) is "Faces" (1968):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYAnXkEOah0" rel="nofollow">Faces</a><br /><br />And if you're really looking for a reason to slit your wrists, try watching "Wanda" (1970), by Barbara Loden:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcsdHaPa2M" rel="nofollow">Wanda</a><br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br /><br /><br />Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-76687307215528291242013-10-07T00:23:19.428-07:002013-10-07T00:23:19.428-07:00"I seriously doubt reading a few minutes of l..."I seriously doubt reading a few minutes of literature, or even a few hours, has a meaningful impact on Theory of Mind."<br /><br />Yeah, few minutes are dubious. But even a little of something can alter one's view of life and world. <br /><br />I remember in high school film class, we were shown snippets of foreign films, but they did leave an impression on me. <br /><br />A few passages from the Bible or Greek mythology can be illuminating. <br />It's like to a hungry person, even a spoonful can be very nourishing.<br /> <br />Maybe the Chekhov piece left such an impression on the participants because they were so starved for meaning and depth in a culture that slams us with the obvious, puerile, vulgar, and sensational. <br /><br />In a more literary era, maybe it wouldn't have been so impressionable. But to today's kids who are so used to violence, gore, and fast-furious-flashy stuff, it might have struck a chord as something different and special. <br />It's like to someone living under communism, a single rock song can feel like a life-changing event.<br /><br />Btw, one of the snippets of foreign films shown in the cinema class was this one:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijs1SoOlgho<br /><br />Maybe nothing special to someone familiar with French cinema, but it opened my eyes as something so different from what I'd grown accustomed from Hollywood and TV. <br /><br />I'm not a fan of poetry--and I find most of it rather intimidating--, but when I come upon some poetic passages(mostly by accident in movies), they can make me see the world with new eyes. <br /><br />I don't like Hannah and Her Sisters, but the ee cummings poem quoted in the film availed nuances of imagery and emotions I didn't know existed. <br />It was something more than roses are red, violets are blue... <br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieoFkuu_aNM<br /><br />-------<br /><br />Batman good.<br /><br />http://youtu.be/JoXY69YMeUA?t=1h27m11s<br /><br />Don Quixote better(though I don't know how he read it in one afternoon).<br /><br />http://youtu.be/JoXY69YMeUA?t=1h41m59s<br /><br />---------<br /><br />But here's a problem. What if empathy turns into identification where the reader/viewer comes to embrace the character as his/her alter ego? <br />Immersion-empathy or immerthy. Instead of understanding other people, one might lose oneself in the other person, as the woman faces the danger of doing so in PERSONA. <br /><br />And think of Chapman who fused into one with Holden Caulfield.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-13444562233147319512013-10-06T18:22:07.566-07:002013-10-06T18:22:07.566-07:00An alternative explanation is that three to five m...<i>An alternative explanation is that three to five minutes of Chekhov doesn't raise these capabilities meaningfully, it just primes people into making the effort to respond well on the test. Chekhov is such a striking reminder of how psychologically perceptive a member of the human race can be that he encourages you to up your game, at least for a little while.</i><br /><br />Bingo. I seriously doubt reading a few minutes of literature, or even a few hours, has a meaningful impact on Theory of Mind. Far more likely is that one intellectual challenge helps motivate and discipline you for another. It's not unlike the studies that find that kids perform better on IQ tests during the school year and scores decline in the summer holidays.<br /><br />Did this study have any kind of control test that didn't measure ToM, to see if the effect was limited to just social cognition?Bottledwaternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10175137898912042082013-10-06T18:07:15.931-07:002013-10-06T18:07:15.931-07:00Theoretically, wouldn't visual media (TV, movi...<i>Theoretically, wouldn't visual media (TV, movies) be at least at good at priming social perceptiveness as written fiction is? After all, the viewer, unlike the reader, sees the characters' (actors') faces, hears their voices, etc. Written fiction offers inner soliloquies but seems relatively clumsy or roundabout when it comes to visual reproduction (no matter how clever the writing style may be). For seeing a laughing or tear-stained face or observing emotional dialogue, nothing beats seeing/hearing same IMO. Both the movie and the novel have strengths and weaknesses, so absorbing only either one of these media isn't a bad deal.</i><br /><br />Perhaps watching reality TV would be the best of all, because not only do you have visual AND verbal cues ,but you're observing the behavior of real people (though in contrived situations), not some autistic writer's idea of how real people behave and some actors interpretation of the emotion and facial expressionBottledwaternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-11728282936644759822013-10-06T12:09:06.435-07:002013-10-06T12:09:06.435-07:00sunbeam said...
I like fantasy and science fiction...sunbeam said...<br /><i>I like fantasy and science fiction. It's really the only form of literature I've ever read for fun and enjoyment.</i><br /><br />I also prefer Ensign Pavel Chekov to Anton Chekhov.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-62423767169217669372013-10-06T12:03:23.661-07:002013-10-06T12:03:23.661-07:00"Silver said...
Interestingly, today I wonde..."Silver said...<br /><br />Interestingly, today I wondered whether I didn't perhaps somehow - say, subconsciously - get something out of my reading. I'm not at all keen to repeat the experience, so I guess I'll never know. But whereas yesterday I was adamant that it was completely and utterly worthless today I'm not so sure."<br /><br />Your first impression was the sound one. Pynchon is garbage. Fetid, reeking garbage.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-56461503491862954772013-10-06T09:47:36.758-07:002013-10-06T09:47:36.758-07:00"It found that after reading literary fiction..."It found that after reading literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction, people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence — skills that come in especially handy when you are trying to read someone’s body language or gauge what they might be thinking."<br /><br />The virtue of serious non-fiction is it has to stick to facts, data, and record, but this obligation restrains speculative-ness on the part of the writer. When biographers like Albert Goldman veer into speculation territory, they are generally condemned. <br /><br />The other kind of serious non-fiction is political, opinionated or ideological, and this type usually offers a b/w view of the world. Agree or disagree. So many books yammering about 'racism', 'sexism', 'homophobia', etc. <br /><br />Serious fiction, in contrast, requires the artist to, at the very least, mold even the characters he loathes with some degree of empathy and understanding. <br />So, Stone's Untold History is just dreary ideological yammering and sermonizing, but his NIXON tries to understand the character from underneath his skin. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4790530148991593462013-10-06T09:34:01.757-07:002013-10-06T09:34:01.757-07:00Art challenges one's convictions and tastes wi...Art challenges one's convictions and tastes with the prickly 'truth', entertainment confirms them with soothing fantasies. One forces the reader out of the comfort zone, the other erects barriers around them. Platoon: grappling with ugly truth. Rambo: war porn fantasy.<br /><br />But when art becomes 'art' controlled by academia, it becomes just another comfort zone formula with its self-referentiality. <br /><br />PS. Jews cannot even accept the truth of their power. They are living in some kind of Zardozian comfort zone. And people who speak the truth are exiled from the Vortex. Look at Rick Sanchez. Richwine.<br /><br />The Lib Jewish idea of 'reality'?<br />KKK at Oberlin. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-12788497216709321682013-10-06T09:16:28.436-07:002013-10-06T09:16:28.436-07:00http://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2013/10/why...http://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-teach-great-literature.html<br /><br />One main difference between entertainment and art is the former gives the audience what they want. It panders to them, coddles them, flatters them, etc. So, there is no pressure on the audience to think and feel beyond conventions. <br /><br />The latter try to explore and convey some kind of truth that goes against the grain of our fantasies and expectations. Therefore, they can be challenging and even upsetting. But they help you break out of the shell. It makes you broaden your palate away from just the sweet and creamy stuff. <br /><br />Liberalism(at its best and truest) has this advantage over conservatism. It has the will to break out of the shell of comfort. <br /><br />Cassavetes's HUSBANDS isn't an happy experience but it said so much about his generation of men. <br /><br />And <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EC1VKmTDss" rel="nofollow">this film was upsetting, even tiring, but it seemed true to life and did affect me.</a> <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-91758517080394174542013-10-05T19:05:47.977-07:002013-10-05T19:05:47.977-07:00Anthony, did he? I have never read Tolstoy. There ...Anthony, did he? I have never read Tolstoy. There are plenty of cultural items that imply women's desire to be dominated, which used to be in the middlebrow culture and in the public arena. These have mostly been forced out of the public square in recent years, although they have lately resurfaced on the Internet and in Fifty Shades of Grey, as guilty a female secret as a tray of bonbons.<br /><br />Having said that, the rapelike scene in Blade Runner might have been female "fan service". A scene I discussed at length at my blog recently. So, it still tends to sneak through even in the mainstream sometimes.Julian O'Deahttp://davidcollard.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81821451254368660192013-10-05T12:37:59.795-07:002013-10-05T12:37:59.795-07:00"On the contrary, a good writer is usually in..."On the contrary, a good writer is usually intensely absorbed in the personalities of other people. They seem to see outward better than most people."<br /><br />There are all kinds of good writers with different attitudes, approaches, temperaments, and etc. I would say a good writer just finds his own voice, and it can be whatever. A totally self-absorbed person can be a good writer or a bad one. A totally socially minded writer can be good or bad. <br /><br />"see outward better than most people"<br /><br />This is tricky. In some ways, each person is most himself/herself and least himself/herself. He or she sees through his/her own eyes and thinks with his/her own brains. But unless one is facing a mirror--usually not the case--, one is looking at OTHER people. So, one almost never sees oneself--and one's own voice sounds different to oneself than to others. <br /><br />So, what often happens is people see through their eyes and feel through their hearts but identify with what they are seeing. <br />So, you got all these plainfaced or ugly fat chicks at Comicon for Twilight, and they are so busy looking at the big stars that they don't see themselves. <br />This has long been the weird thing about movies. All those women in the audience looking at Hollywood stars and identifying with them. Women love Gone with the Wind not because of the history but the Scarlett O'Hara character as their idealized mirror of ego, vanity, and looks. <br /><br />I think that maybe the finer writers have a way of seeing not so much 'outward' as passing through the spaces between themselves and others and seeing through the eyes of others, but this also means the power to see oneself through the eyes of others, and this is something most people are loathe to do. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-46121961586400457592013-10-05T10:26:03.575-07:002013-10-05T10:26:03.575-07:00What need for empathy in a culture like this?<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY" rel="nofollow"> What need for empathy in a culture like this?</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-79399780402167833692013-10-05T08:55:16.728-07:002013-10-05T08:55:16.728-07:00I'll be looking up stuff on comparisons betwee...I'll be looking up stuff on comparisons between pre and post Darwin literature. I image the differences will be profound.<br />I, being a post-er, am very partial to writers like, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7869.Louis_Ferdinand_C_line?page=1" rel="nofollow">Louis Ferdinand Celine</a> who certainly accepts that man is an animal, but doesn't pretend to cherish the knowledge.<br />I would guess that pre Darwin, many an author would describe a character as he compared to the image and likeness of God, or the Devil; post Darwin, don't be surprised if man is often viewed as a gorilla, or a slug, driven only by appetites and aversion to pain.<br />I haven't read any Chekhov, but I find it interesting that both he and Celine were doctors who were sympathetic to the poor and both partial to a dark view.<br /><br />P.S. Have all the literary readers abandoned here - there was a time, not too long ago, when if you even mentioned a book, you were guaranteed > 100 very eloquent comments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-80791014065587635842013-10-05T08:34:44.096-07:002013-10-05T08:34:44.096-07:00http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2013/10/04/6-things-...http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2013/10/04/6-things-to-do-in-your-20s-to-make-your-30s-good/#more-12758Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4075446767517154222013-10-05T08:00:50.993-07:002013-10-05T08:00:50.993-07:00Julian O'Dea asks one could learn more about ...Julian O'Dea asks <i> one could learn more about human nature from War and Peace than from 50 Shades of Grey. Really? Which is read more by women?</i><br /><br />While I haven't read <i>War and Peace</i>, I suspect Tolstoy understood women's desire to be dominated, and maybe even to be roughed up sexually, and wrote at least about the former in his books. But he understood so much more, too, so his novel wasn't an S&M instruction manual, because he had other things to say.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12389602137217799305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41508220003247526312013-10-05T06:48:08.831-07:002013-10-05T06:48:08.831-07:00Sunbeam,
"I like fantasy and science fiction....Sunbeam,<br />"I like fantasy and science fiction. It's really the only form of literature I've ever read for fun and enjoyment.<br />There have been a select few books like Huckleberry Finn, Robinson Crusoe, The Three Musketeers, Journal of the Plague Year (for some reason) that I've read and enjoyed outside those genres. But not many."<br /><br />I've enjoyed all the "classics" I've read (some much more than others, of course), but for me the best sci-fi and fantasy I've read is easily the equal of these classic works in terms of the enjoyment I've gotten. <br /><br />That said, while I'd be the first to agree that a lot of "Serious Literature" is seriously overrated - and I'm not even talking about the postmodern stuff; those people are on another galaxy - some of it really is outstanding. Reading it is one of the most effective ways to grow as a person I know of. I would definitely regard myself a less complete person had I not been exposed to this literature. And the best is thing is that I'm by no means done yet. The literary treasure trove out there is as close to a "free" lunch we're likely to get. It's nigh on criminal to neglect it. Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8736649909952304322013-10-05T06:37:23.090-07:002013-10-05T06:37:23.090-07:00David,
"Anyone have this experience? You'...David,<br />"Anyone have this experience? You're reading a novel and become impatient with how silly it seems, but you maintain your interest by shifting focus to the writing quality: the aptness of the style, the effectiveness of the plot, etc.?"<br /><br />Oh boy, have I ever had that experience. I tried yesterday for the third time in my life to read Thomas Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow). I made a really determined effort, going over the more difficult sentences multiple times (there are plenty). The writing is so nonsensical it's virtually unreadable, so I had little choice but to try to focus on the esthetic effect of the word flow. Two or three hours of this but, nope, nothing there. I again gave up in disgust. I googled up some internet discussions to see if anyone else hated it as much as I did. Goddam that man has legions of nauseating raving fans. Nothing I've ever read on the internet has made me want to reach through the screen and punch someone's lights out as much as a Thomas Pynchon fan (and given my familiarity with the intellectual far right that's really saying something). <br /><br />Interestingly, today I wondered whether I didn't perhaps somehow - say, subconsciously - get something out of my reading. I'm not at all keen to repeat the experience, so I guess I'll never know. But whereas yesterday I was adamant that it was completely and utterly worthless today I'm not so sure.<br /><br /><br />-----------------<br />*I just listened to that Tequila/clothes song on YT. Good God, what total rubbish. I can't believe how many views it has. The only country music I like (or at least can stand) is from the the 50s and 60s. (And Achy Breaky Heart, that's always great for drunken a singalong.)Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-59420604556352298212013-10-05T01:33:08.554-07:002013-10-05T01:33:08.554-07:00Reading Chekov teaches you to notice situations wh...Reading Chekov teaches you to notice situations where a gun is definitely going to be used eventuallyDiederik Stapelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3126846289373263112013-10-04T23:03:26.099-07:002013-10-04T23:03:26.099-07:00burnt by the sun is chekhovianburnt by the sun is chekhovianAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-65482162582394657122013-10-04T19:15:47.747-07:002013-10-04T19:15:47.747-07:00It's about writers going on and on about '...<i>It's about writers going on and on about 'my personal problem' than about showing much interest in the larger world</i><br /><br />On the contrary, a good writer is usually intensely absorbed in the personalities of other people. They seem to see outward better than most people.carolnoreply@blogger.com