Let the women in your life spoil you untill you get better.

A disaster tourist; if he is not after a happy end, maybe. But a happy end is always conditional.
“Call no man happy until he is dead.” (Herodotus).

On the publishing house

Is there an explanation swapping one publishing house for another?

correction

Is there an explanation for swapping one publishing house for another?

Breng je een kopie mee??

personal questions

I already wondered why you were so mild. Next Wednesday evening we demand the sharp Grunberg!

Mieke

Never spoil a man too much. Most of them like to suffer.

disaster tourist

That implies, that only sad things are interesting for "those" readers......

But isn't a sad feeling much easyer to accomplish than a happy one?

Valentina & Marco

Yes.

Margot

Men don't like the act of suffering that much, at least that's what I think. What they do like, is that we, female, think they are in pain and that we show mercy for them. Men often fake pain so that we would spoil them.

Arnon

Don't you find it puzzling that no member of this circle of admirers that gathers around you, has found it in themselves to congratulate you on your new novel? So self-centered! And rude!

Not like me. I prepared a special toast for you. It is on my weblog. You don't have to read it yourself, and you may still call it whatever you like. How is that? I am easy!

Cheers! And goodbye!

@RH CdG
See calendar / announcements, September 10th, Onzeoom.nl : Dens !
(sorry I forgot)

Rutger

Thanks! Very kind of you.

Rutger

Actually I keep my congratulations untill I have read it. Question of sincerity.

Rutger

Nice toast you prepared for Arnon.
Keep up the slow reading, it certainly has its benefits.

rutger

You should be ashamed of yourself. Whoever or whatever someone is or pretends to be , treat things that are created with some respect please, not with frustration. This is just a terrible review, without even reading a whole book.

K S

Rutger allways made clear he wanted to be the critical note.
He's just living up to his promises.

Dear k s

Why should you treat everything that is created with respect?
Isn't respect something that comes with the quality of the created item?

yours,

Eric

Dear Mieke

is it a good critical note? or is it the last roar of a losing man?

yours,

Eric

Eric

You wrote: " Isn't respect something that comes with the quality of the created item?"

1. Does your question refer to human beings too, since they're also created?
2. Who decides if a creation has quality? If you value a creation and I don't, am I free to treat it without respect (f.i. destroy or damage it) or do I have to respect the fact that you (or others) might value it and restrain from violent action? In other words: what's the defenition of respect?

Pjötr

Yes.

erik

I think that you should have respect, even though something that is made doesn't have any quality. then you respect there's no quality., and you can say so. and yes, I think that if something is made by someone, you should show some respect. for the one who makes a debut, for the one who has an oevre. but someone who has proved he has a great oevre, I think you can't review like rutger did on two pages. this sloppy attitude makes me really angry.

eric

sorry I misspelled your name ,
yours ,
with lots of respect,
k

@Mieke
If I image RH CdG as a schoolteacher and Arnon as a pupil, the nightmare of those ancient lustful horrors revive.

Dear Jeanette,

To answer your questions:
***1. Does your question refer to human beings too, since they're also created?
Sure
***2. If you value a creation and I don't, am I free to treat it without respect.
Yes
***(f.i. destroy or damage it)
If you mean destroy or dammage a human being, then no; I'm not a fan of physical violence
##### Other people however think different on this.
Fans of the Cape Verde football club Desportivo da Calheta have little respect for the fans of São Lourenço FC -and visas versa.
They like to dammage each other. It seems to be a part of there game. A friend of mine calls this homo-erotic behaviour.

If you mean destroy or dammage f.i. a book: why not, a little bit of violence in burning a book in you kitchen is quite harmless.

yours,

Eric

Dear k s

You wrote: "I think that you should have respect, even though something that is made doesn't have any quality."
## But then how to criticize something or someone? And where should we draw a line?
Saying that someone has a big nose can be respectless for the one and flattering for the other.
you wrote: "but someone who has proved he has a great oevre, I think you can't review like rutger did on two pages."
## I didn't read Rusty Rudgers review, but that he shouldn't have done it because someone (just one?) has proved A.G. has a great oeuvre is not an argument.

your Eric (or Erik)

Jan

We have to keep in mind that Arnon takes a perverse pleasure in it.

Dear Mieke

Don't you want to answer my questions of
18/09/2008 13:58 ?

Eric

Eric

It's a toast written not without intelligence. It made me laugh. An it gives an insightfull look into Rutger's reading process. He thinks himself a slow reader, I think he's a hyperactive one.
Is this answering your question?

Dear Mieke

Thank you, it throws some light on this, but also raises questions, if I may:
*was it ment to laugh?
*not without intelligence sounds like there wasn't a lot of intelligence either....
and it made you laugh.
Do you take Restless Rudger serious?
Do you respect him for what he wrote?

Eric

eric

i don't think there's a line in treating people and things that are made with respect. unless, on a personal level, someone break's your trust. To say 'you have a big nose' in someones face looks to me like a bit of a strange thing to say to someone, but that is a social thing or handling form you can twist. What I was trying to say is that you should have respect for an auther who, f.a. makes his or her debut, to review it with the thought that it is a debut, and to review a book by someone who has prooved he has an oeuvre with quality, you should review this with respect and consideration of that oeuvre. rutger has read two pages (2!) of a book and reviews it. And someone who wrote a lot of books, I think deverse some more respect than that. But hey, this guy is not even worth talking about. It just makes me angry to handle artists like that. yours, ks (let's finish this now, i think i made my point)

In my humble opinion, Rutger has got to be bored out of his skull to even have the time to do what he did. Either that or he was simply wanting to show-off. It reminds me a little of aspiring authors who write a page of something (anything) and send it to all their friends (god help them - I certainly hope not to professionals, then again Ivo Victoria might claim differently) merely for wanting to hear how great a talent they are. Deep down though, most likely Rutger dreads the reactions as much as he dreams (even expects) to hear "my goodness, you're genius."

Eric

"Yes"
"No"
"Yes"
"Yes"

k s

Rutger reads everything from Arnon except for his novels. I look at it as a game. Arnon loves to play. He certainly knows how to handle criticism.

Dear k s

How should you review a crappy debut?
How should you review a crappy book of an established author?
Do you show respect by lying about it?
Do you like to lie ks?
Is that the point you want to make?
And what to expect from a book if the first to pages are crappy?

Eric

Eric

If I understand correctly you agree with disrespecting people based on their quality's. I'm not sure whether the disrespect you are talking about consist only of thoughts or acts too. In my opinion disrespecting people is harmfull (even to one-self). But maybe you can come up with an example that proves me wrong.

About burning a book: that doesn't destroy the creation in itself, unless it's a one-only. Your answer started me thinking about a book-BBQ. What book would you burn the first/last if you had to and why?

Dear Mieke

I asked three questions and you give four answers.

......and now it turns out that it was just a joke of Rusty-dusty Rudger.......

Eric

Dear Jeanette P

***If I understand correctly you agree with disrespecting people based on their quality's.
If a writer writes a book of poor quality;
why not say so?
Why not criticize it and help the writer.
Some call to criticize, disrespect.
Funny but true.
I still can have a amusing diner with this writer.
Especially when he/she pays (respect!).

***a book-BBQ
There are quite some books I would like to submit for a B-BBQ.
One of them is fore sure 'Austerlitz 'of W.G. Sebald; to start the fire.
Another one: 2004 Man Booker Prize winner 'The line of Beauty , Alan Hollinghurst, to increase the intensity of the flames.
And to enhance the snugness: 'Im Garten des Vaters ' of your Jan Siebelink. Also a prize winner.
yours,

Eric

eric

dear eric, thank you for all your questions. they are really intelligent and i have to think about it. hope you are doing fine in the meantime,
yours,
ks

Rutger's close reading

I thought Rutger's close reading was actually quite well argued and interesting. It made me think about how I would read those two pages. Which I hadn't yet done, at that point.

@Eric, "Why not criticize it and help the writer. "
Here's a dialogue for you that may enlighten things a little. It's between a painter and a self-appointed critic.
Critic: "I really think you should have used blue instead of red. That red makes my stomach turn. It's so so aggressive."
Painter: "Ah, now I see what you mean. Thank you so much for your criticism. That really helped me. You know what I'll do? I'll take the painting back to the studio, scrape the red off and replace it with blue in order to suit your taste. But you have to promise me you'lle buy it then."

Dear Noa

A clever, but probably not a very good painter.......

There is an artist who said something like: what I produce on the toilet is by far more interesting then everything that is written about me.
I can't recollect who it was, but I believe that in his case it was true.

yours,

Eric

PS. I re-read the poem you wrote for me every now and then.

Dear ks,

well, they were not that intelligent....
you little fibber.

warm greetings,

Eric

Dear Jeanette P,

I forgot to ask: do you have any books for the B-BBQ?

Eric

@Eric, as you say the painter is clever but most likely not very good, I can rest my case.

Dear Noa

You can......

Eric

eric

I wrote: "If I understand correctly you agree with disrespecting people based on their quality's. "

You answered: "If a writer writes a book of poor quality;
why not say so Why not criticize it and help the writer. "

In your philosophy, when a writer writes a poor book, one can disrespect him, since he is of poor quality too. You confuse the quality of a book with the qualities of the writer.

Book-BBQ:
I sent your list to Mccain and asked him to forward the message to his running mate, as an input to develop a foreign policy on banning books.

Arnon

Did you ever experience the work of a literary critic as help? If so, can you give an example and explain in what way this help did benefit you?

Arnon

Other than economical, I mean...

Dear Jeanette P.

I would hardly call my thoughts a philosophy, but well, when I say that I still can have an amusing diner with a poor talented writer, I don't think I confuse books with writers.
I have to admit though that it's probably difficult for an artist to have diner, or even to be in the same room with somebody who thinks the work you make is inferior.
But *I* don't have a problem with that.
I can look the artist honestly in the eyes and say: "Hello my friend, would you like something to drink...."

Let me ask you something:
You know the local bus driver -a nice intelligent women- has an alcohol problem.
Would you take the bus she's driving?
Can you have a nice talk with her in a bar?

Then I understand you are close with McCain, since "you've asked him to forward the message to his running mate...".
I don't know how much you like John, but I don't think it will do his campaign much good.

always yours,

Eric

PS. B-BQ: Martin Walser - Tod eines Kritikers

PPS. : When I speak about criticizing a book I don't necessarily mean a literary critic. Rather my critic or yours or .....

Eric

Funny that you put forth this example: personal injury law is my game, my dear.

(You didn't state if the driver is drunk on duty. If so, my comment is as follows:)

Maybe I can "help" this driver with an alcohol problem and read her from police-reports about the way policemen have to scrape human flesh from the street with a certain spoon, (or the way an eye is pushed out of a childrens skull on the asphalt, etc.) as a result of a driver that couldn't control the urge to drink before or during driving. Or maybe she can accompany me one day to a nice rehabilitation-center. Come to think of it, she might be my best friend because people like her make sure I'll never be out of work! Cheers.

Jeanette

Critics are not there to help authors.

Dear Jeanette

If we understand each other then:
you criticize the bus-driver for driving drunk and help her with that
you criticize the writer for her poor talent and help her with that

she might be your best friend because people like her make sure you'll never be out of work!

yours,
Eric

@Arnon, it's funny you should say that. I once asked a critic (Elsbeth Etty - I threw my novel on her dinner table where she and her writer buddies including AFTh were seated? What a foolish thing to do!) Anyway, next time I saw her and she didn't remember my novel nor my heroicly desperate action, she herself had wriiten a novel. We were in the same panel. It was a discussion about debutants and literary criticism. I asked her whether her opinion had changed about critiquing other people's work as she was now a novelist herself. She said, "well, some people mistakenly think the role of a critic is to help writers. This isn't true. Our role is to create and document literary history." The conclusion hypothetically being, my novel does not exist in history and hers does, simply because it was reiewed by many of her friends. Would you agree to her analysis of the role of critics?

Arnon

Thank you, that's just my point.

Eric

Please, read Arnons latest entry here.

Noa

I hope to believe literary history isn't depending on Elsbeth Etty and her friends.
Two weeks ago I heard her complain that her students don't read criticism anymore...

@Jeanette, I'm glad she's complaining. To cimplain is a sign of old-age. Soon she and her friends will have to clear the road for a younger generation of critics who don't read criticism anymore. I don't care much, as long as they read my work.

@Jeanette, ps - by the way, I'm sure if any of Etty's friends read this blog, I've probably forever ruined my chances at being reviewed (positively). Apparently, that's simply the way the literary wolrd works, any world I suppose.

Dear Jeanette,

Thank you for asking me to read A.G last entry.
I did.
And I understand your point.
But my point is a very different one.

Do you show respect to an author by lying about a novel that (you think) is trashy?
Or do you help her/him by criticizing the novel and maybe burn it?
**And I don't mean a literary critic.**

The question now could be: how does criticism help the author?
Will he/she become a better writer? Probably not.
Does the author want to be helped? Probably not.
But as it is:
there are people who want to help, even if you don't want to be helped;
there are people who want to be honest, even if the other rather hears a lie.

yours,

Eric

Eric

Are you suggesting that the people you are reffering to in the last part of your comment have to be respected? Is it a good quality to be helpfull or honest when nobody asks for it?
Or do you consider those persons as facts of life others simply have to put up with?

Noa

I heard that world is about publishers buying a percentage of space at bookshelves in bookshops too.

@Jeanette: the topic at hand was criticism.

***J.P.: Are you suggesting that the people you are reffering to in the last part of your comment have to be respected?
***E.W.: After everything we have gone through, you ask me this question! Are you an idiot? Shall I hit you on your nose? Of course I'm not suggesting this.
***J.P. (holding her nose): Is it a good quality to be helpfull or honest when nobody asks for it?
***E.W. (with sudden regret): Sorry I hit you, that wasn't....I mean.... shall I hold you? Please, let me hold you. Yes, like this.... just... trust me ok? And no, it isn't necessarily a good quality, you don't need to respect them either if you don't want to.
***J.P. (overwhelmed with so much unexpected love, bursts into tears) : Or do you consider those persons as facts of life others simply have to put up with?
***E.W. (crying along with her): I'm afraid so.....

Eric

E.W.: "If you mean destroy or dammage a human being, then no; I'm not a fan of physical violence."

Of course "not being a fan" doesn't mean you'll hesitate to use it...
well, good luck with that. By the way, it's damage, one m. Just to help you.

Dear Jeanette,

Thanks for helping me, it's nice to know that somebody does......
I hope your were not that upset about what happend yesterday.

still yours,

Eric

Eric

Your concern is touching.
I even like the fact that you're giving me a sentence with two mistakes on purpose, only to correct: you're so generous! You must be living abroad (and have a manicure once in a while.....)

Dear Jeanette,

You forgive my mistakes, I'm so happy Jeanette.

But how did you come to the conclusion that I *must* live abroad
and
have a manicure once in a while?

can't wait to read your answer
your Eric

Jeanette.......

Eric

The more generous men I know do.....

Come to think of it, the most generous offer I experienced, came from two little Syrian girls who lived as refugees in an almost empty house in the Netherlands. While visiting them, they showed me two peacock feathers, the only decoration in their room. After admiring the feathers, they insisted that I took the feathers home, as a gift....

Well, do (or did) you live abroad?

Dear Jeanette,

Ah, it was a question.... I suppose you mean by abroad, not in the Netherlands. Yes I do, I travel around. But does this automatically mean that I should have a manicure? Is that how the Dutch see foreigners? Men taking a manicure once in a while?

Did you visit to the two Syrian girls because of your profession?

yours, Eric

Eric

To answer your first question:
I was refering to the more generous men I know. Do you consider yourself a generous man? Are you having a manicure every now and then or do you prefer to use your own nailclippers?

To answer the second two:
what "the Dutch" think: don't know , don't care.
Your way of twisting words is interesting though, I was having a deja-vu and it made me smile...

The Syrian sisters were introduced to me by a lady who worked for "Vluchtelingenwerk". She asked me to participate in helping their grandfather into Germany. Later, some schoolfirends and me met with them and other refugees to go swimming in the lake together, play soccer, listen to the radio, bake food, whatever. We had a great summer together, the word "allochtoon" or "inburgering" wasn't invented yet, at least so it seems when I look back.

What's your favourite place in the world uptill now, and why?

Dear Jeanette P.

I don't quite get the connection between being generous and having a manicure every now and then.
Do you have to have a manicure every now and then to be generous?
And if *I'm* generous?........in what sense? Do you want money?
Maybe I just don't understand it and would it become clearer if you could put some light on your deja-vu.
Would you like to share it with me in this hidden niche of this blog?

My favorite place...... there are more, but to name only two Ndende and Yakushima. Why?... difficult to say: I like islands, I like the nature, the people are puzzling.

yours,

Eric

Eric

Yes, being generous comes in different shapes. Most of the time money's got nothing to do with it, at least in my opinion.
Would you tell me, why don't you answer my questions relating this topic? You like it when other visitors to this blog answer yours, in fact you specifically ask them to.
Is there a relation between the two? I haven't found any proof of that, but I wasn't searching either: I only shared an observation. Well, Eric, can you answer my questions now?
By the way: I never had a manicure myself, my nails are a mess.

Interesting Japanese island you mentioned. Will you bring some pictures tomorrow-evening?

Dear Jeanette

It's a pity that it isn't money your after.
It would have made things easy.
And don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to avoid your questions.
In fact I'm answering your questions.
Since 22/09/2008 23:51 you asked me six questions.
I answered five.
So if you don't like the answers, don't blame me.
The one question about my generosity needs a bit more clarification:
you don't want money.
Ok,
would you like to be saved?

Now, there is one question your not answering......

Eric

PS. If you want to see pictures of Yakushima look on the internet. I don't have a camera, I have no pictures.

Eric,

Is that an offer?
Maybe you can try your luck with Lindsay de Paul:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji8jetd3sKA or

Dear Jeanette P.

I hope your taste for literature is better than your taste for music.
But well, obviously you don't want to be saved either.
Should I keep on guessing what you actually mean with: Do you consider yourself a generous man?
Or are you going to help me on this?
Or are you not *really* interested in the answer?
And since your keeping your deja-vu to yourself -for whatever reason- I ask you something more safe:
If you could save a book from a book BBQ, which book would it be?

yours truly,

Eric

Eric

Who said Linsey de Paul is my taste of music? The song is a childhood memory. I remember admiring her looks. In fact I still think she looks amazing in that clip.
Don't you?
If you have any offer to save me, please don't hesitate to put it forward. I can give you my emailaddress if you want to.... would that make things easier?
I don't ask questions if I'm not interested in the answer, that would be a waste of time (for both).
The deja-vu concerns the sentences you sort of repeat out of Arnons previous entries.
I don't understand your problem with the generosity question. Do you mistrust me? There's no need, I'm as sweet as sugar.
I'll answer your book-BBQ question after you've saved me or maybe after Ms. Palin has become vice-president and she has set out her foreign policy on banning books.

Dear J. P.

The problem with your generosity question is that I don't know what kind of generosity your talking about. Is that so hard to get?
Is it about 'magnanimous', or 'benefaction', about 'mildness' like 'softness' or 'mildness' like 'kindness'; or about 'big-hearted'?
What is it?
I don't have to mistrust you for not understanding a delicate question.
To give it an other shot: I'm quite capricious. I can be mild, soft and kind (I get postcards with Woody Allen on the cover instead of a muscular types), but also explosive. In general I'm not vindictive.....
And I'm sorry to say: I have no offer to save you. You have to keep your email adress for somebody else.
I'm also afraid your B-BBQ rescue will stay a secret. *If* your friend John and his running mate Ms. Palin win the forthcoming elections, I don't think they will burn their hands on banning books.

Your the second person in this blog who mentions Blogger A.G. in relation with me. Strange....
If I come to a bookstore where they sell one of his books, which will not be very likely for the coming months, I will surly buy one.

Yours,

Eric

PS.

What is your taste of music?

Eric

Eric

Maybe now we're getting somewhere. What about generous as in bounteousness?
I'm sad you won't be trying to safe me. Now I will not find out if I'm eligible for salvation. You don't want me to be sad, do you? Maybe you can make it up with a nice (real) postcard...
Why not buy Arnons book through the internet? I'm sure you will find a bookstore that will send it to you wherever you are (although: if you are staying at Pitcairn you might be back before one of the two boats a year arrives).
About the secret book-BBQ: do you want to be on the guest-list?

Music: Maybe it's a strange combination: Kathleen Ferrier's Lied von der Erde, P.J. Harvey, Joy Division, the (old) Cult (i.e. Dreamtime) and Chuck Berry.
I must confess I looked up some old performances of Kiss this week on Youtube. When I was about 11 or 12 I played their double album Alive every day. (No, it wasn't the only record in the house). The "I was made for loving you"- shit was not my cup of tea though. 100.000 years and rock-bottom are. My father infected me with Fado by playing fado-music in or car trips, year in year out. Ever heard of Dulce Pontes (Cancao do mar ) or Mariza?
And what about you?

Dear J

I consider 'bounteousness' more or less the same as 'magnanimous'.
And Jeanette, I'm sure there will be others who are willing to give your salvation a try.
And if I can make it up with a *nice* (real) postcard.......to where shall I send it?
Have you been to Pitcairn? Probably not, but It's high on my wish-list!
(One of) my problem(s) with internet bookstores is that you have to wait for the delivery.
I don't like to wait if I have to.

Then there is so much music I like, to make a shortlist:
*Bach, I think every note he wrote, but especially the Goldberg variations in Glenn Goulds version, the violin-sonata's and partita's in Rachel Podgers version, St-Johns passion.....
*Beethoven, Waldstein sonata, Stringquartet op. 132, Symf. no. 7
*Mahler, sure Das lied von der Erde, Symf. no. 5, Kindertotenlieder (if you like Das lied....)
*Schoenberg - Verklarte Nacht, Pierrot Lunaire
*Bartok - Miraculous Mandrin, Stringquartet no. 4
*Ravel - pianoconcerto in G, L'Enfant et les sortilèges
*Ligeti - Lontano, Lux Aeterna, Piano etudes, Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedűvel, Le grand marcabre
*Machaut, Ockeghem, Obrecht, Josquin, Monteverdi (Lamento della Ninfa!!)
*Miles Davis, Johnny Guitar Watson, Ted Nash, Winston Marsalis, Tom Waits (!!!), Red Hot Chilli Pepers (Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic; Stadium Arcadium).........

I don't know Dulce Pontes or Mariza, but heard Fado in Portugal...

Eric

Eric

I was wondering where our drifting raft on the wide open ocean would lead us. Pitcairn it is! I haven't visited it yet, but it sure is very high on my wish list, as is Hiva Oa and Easter Island. I've been to Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands and Tahiti so far. Did you hapen to visit some isles overthere?

Well Pitcairn, what a bummer to read the true story of the end of Fletcher Christian (as opposed to the end of the movie with M. Brando). I guess I'm still not over it. You're welcome to look into a book by Rosalind Amelia Young (a native daughter) from 1894, with a lot of pictures/photographs of the early settling, whenever you'll be close to Amsterdam.
Contact me on jeanette.p@live.com for the postcard-address.
I know Kindertotenlieder, but can't listen to it anymore for personal reasons, and of course the Peppers. Did you see the documentary about John?
Where are you staying right now and for what reason?

Eric

Sorry: jeanette.p@live.nl

Dear Jeanette

if you can't listen to the Kindertotenlieder anymore, you must have met a nightmare in your life.
If this is so, I'm sorry to hear that.
Thank you for inviting me to Amsterdam.
I imagine us two sitting on your couch, pretending its a drifting raft, looking into a book with pictures about Pitcairn...... some Kathleen Ferrier on the background.
Feels like being fifteen again.
I haven't seen the Brando film..... but the Bounty/Pitcairn story is fascinating. What happend with a few people on Pitcairn is a micro version of what happens in the world.
Over and over again.
We humans are such impossible creatures.
Have you read Houellebecqs "La Possibilité d'une île"?
(Its a book that I would rescue from a B-BBQ).
I'm at Pulau Pangkor at the moment, one of the Malaysian Islands. (It has some Dutch connections)
My stay doesn't really have a reason: my ways are partly coincidental
and driven by curiosity and financial necessity.
Were you for a special reason on one of the Islands?
Recently I've been on some Cook Islands and Samoa.

yours,

Eric

Eric

(Just a quick note, for I'm leaving for a family reunion.)

My couch is a bit crowded, but there's always room for one more.
Are you in any way connected to P.I.T. at de Herengracht(!)? Have I met you before?
While you're in the region, you might want to check out if there is still this absurd little resort at Hapai'i, Tonga with two Germans on it, where you can choose your evening meal out of two courses and you are obliged to listen to classical music....day in day out.
The book you mentioned: I read and studied it for 4 months last year. There are a lot of things to be said about it, negative and positive. It's very very interesting.
I must leave now. To be continued.......

Dear Jeanette,

When I was reading the Houellebecq-book, several times I had the thought that I was reading a truly modern novel.
Not just book number xx with a nice -or not a nice- story.
The book touched in an unprecedented way the tragedy of being human.
I'm curious to hear what you think of the book.

yours,
Eric

Eric

I have this thing about islands (as so many have). I only read "Elementaire Deeltjes" before I started reading this book. I love utopia/distopia novels.

Having read the book the first time, I really felt I had to write about it, to express why I 'hated' the way H. portrays the decay of women past 40 (I was 39 then) , the poor stylistics and also about the illogical gaps in the story. While working on that (which was boring), I read something about memory and the way humans try to create a continuity in their lives through the narrative. I read the book again in that light and I was amazed about the richness. I started reading more and more about the subject and every day I saw other connections/lines in the book in a different way. Besides that, I liked the critique on the way modern society treats elderly people and the differnet light H. spreads on the "right"of euthanasia. Of course the last part of the book is simply beautiful.

So what started out as a negative plan turned out to be a very interesting (and delightful) journey...of course this doesn't take away the negative points, but the positive outweigh them by far! The book was poorly received by critics. Poor critics, to pass out on so many interesting things!
I don't know if the movie about the book is going to be released or has been, but I expect it to be terrible, the "plaatsvervangende schaamte" is likely to come around I guess.

Well, are you connected to P.I.T. and do you take a manicure every now and then? What book to read next?

Dear J.P.

Dear J.P

What did you read about "memory and the way humans try to create a continuity in their lives through the narrative"?

What I found fascinating about LA POSSIBILITÉ D’UNE ÎLE was the simultaneous development of presence and future, which creates a specific kind of trap.
A trap called humanity of which we -of course- can not escape.
We are imperfect -which by itself is ok, but the tragedy is that we can reflect on this.
Therefore we look for a way out.
But there is no way out; not in the hedonistic extravaganza of Daniel 1, nor in the pure almost ideal, self containing world of the latter Daniel.
I also found these Raelian believers, with there extra terrestrial gods, fascinating.
I really would like to know what an intelligent outer space specie would think when seeing our world today?
If they excist.

The movie was released in september this year, and got a lot of negative respond.

I'm not connected to P.I.T.
In an earlier stage of my life, my nails where a daily occupation.
But I was my own manicure at that time.

Now you propose a book.

Eric

Eric

(When you call me J.P. it sounds as addressing our prime minister..... ;-) )

I agree with what you write. Maybe the fact that there's no way out, is our escape.
I've sent my explanation to your private mailbox, because it might block the accessability of this blog...
Yesterday-evening, I reread parts of "Island "(A. Huxley). Have you ever read Huxley? Maybe Fahrenheit 451 would be a good follow-up? I've never read it...
Currently I'm reading the new Arden edition of Hamlet, and you?

Dear Jeanette P.

Your prime minister....
I thought J.P. sounded tough.

Your remark about our escape sounds like scant comfort.
But I'm afraid your wright.
Maybe the best remedy is to see it as one big joke.

I haven't read the "Island" Huxley, nor "Fahrenheit 451".
I'm already curious, so a good follow-up.

I'm reading Knut Hamsun's "Pan" for the second time. Not that I think it's that good, but it's puzzling ....

Eric

Dear Jeanette,

I'm not sure if I'm getting paranoia, but I can't get into this website via my normal browser.
Am I thrown out?
Did I offend somebody?
Is somebody getting jealous?

Eric

Eric

Or was it your companion saying you spent much too much time at this blog???

Jeanette P.

are you asking me if I'm single?

Eric

Eric

No.

Dear Jeanette,

ok, well then.... I have no companion.

Eric

Eric

Then it's paranoia....

(one of my old time favorites is W.F. Hermans "Preambule" in Paranoia)

Dear J.

I came to the same conclusion....
Do you consider W.F. Hermans one of the best post-W.O II Dutch authors? (Or maybe even the best)?

Eric

Hermans the best postwar author? I really don't know. But somehow (mostly foreign) writers with their last names starting with an "H" are taking up a lot of space in my house....
I guess it also depends on the point where you are in your live, what literature you value most.
Almost a year before Wolkers died I read Kort Amerikaans for the first time. The passage(s) where the brother has just died and the artwork is made in the field really blew my mind.
Why is Mulisch suriviving all?