Gabriel Garcia Marquez is another example of a writer who lived outside their country of birth but whose writing was still set there (born and raised in Colombia but lived in Mexico City for most of their adult life). Others?
James Joyce was a complicated man
31–40 of 53 posts
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#32The entertainment value of James Joyce’s letters to Nora cannot be overstated.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/james-joyce-love-letters-nor...
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#33A) Great article, thanks for posting! I would say the headline is a little bit of clickbait (the "complication" implied there is that he had complicated feelings about Ireland, plus maybe some sexual kink stuff), but in 2024 I can't complain. After all, as an ex-Adsense employee, it's more my fault than theirs! B) "From then on, Joyce lived in Europe." Isn't Ireland in Europe...? C) “Just as ancient Egypt is dead,” h…
B) "From then on, Joyce lived in Europe." Isn't Ireland in Europe...? -- technically yes, of course. In reality? Eh, it's complicated. There's probably a few reasons, but if you told an Irish person they were European, people would be bemused, at least.
I don’t think we would be bemused. We generally consider ourselves European
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#34Ezra Pound worried his high art had become “arsthitic”. Is this a misspelling? I can not find a definition of "arsthitic".
Probably a Poundism for arse and aesthetic?
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#35Excellent essay! Really loved it. For Finnegan's Wake - I find it's best to open it up at random and shout it out as you pace around. Maybe peer at yourself now and again in a mirror. If you can work it up to a roar, then you'll really be flying, but it'd depend on what you had for breakfast.
All joking aside, there is a lot of literature that really needs to be spoken to be grasped.
I learned this in college taking a middle English literature course. The Canterbury tales really need to be read out loud. They have a cadence that needs to be spoken.
I would actually argue that Joyce is in the same category. His work isn't meant to be internal. It's storytelling in a group and meant to be spoken. It helps understand the DENSE writing.
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#36Excellent essay! Really loved it. For Finnegan's Wake - I find it's best to open it up at random and shout it out as you pace around. Maybe peer at yourself now and again in a mirror. If you can work it up to a roar, then you'll really be flying, but it'd depend on what you had for breakfast.
All joking aside, there is a lot of literature that really needs to be spoken to be grasped. I learned this in college taking a middle English literature course. The Canterbury tales really need to be read out loud. They have a cadence that needs to be spoken. I would actually argue that Joyce is in the same category. His work isn't meant to be internal. It's storytelling in a group and meant to be spoken. It helps u…
So many (snooty) people treat audiobooks like a cheap substitute for reading, when in reality, reading is the cheap substitute for oral storytelling. Sure, you've got Infinite Jest where page structure and end notes are part of the aesthetic design, but I think more people would consume more literature if audiobooks were more normalized.
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#37Ezra Pound worried his high art had become “arsthitic”. Is this a misspelling? I can not find a definition of "arsthitic".
Mentioned in another article:
the 'arsthitic' tendency of Ulysses, as Pound called it, suggesting in his pun that Joyce's artistic integrity was being compromised by his attention to lower matters.Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#38Excellent essay! Really loved it. For Finnegan's Wake - I find it's best to open it up at random and shout it out as you pace around. Maybe peer at yourself now and again in a mirror. If you can work it up to a roar, then you'll really be flying, but it'd depend on what you had for breakfast.
All joking aside, there is a lot of literature that really needs to be spoken to be grasped. I learned this in college taking a middle English literature course. The Canterbury tales really need to be read out loud. They have a cadence that needs to be spoken. I would actually argue that Joyce is in the same category. His work isn't meant to be internal. It's storytelling in a group and meant to be spoken. It helps u…
A lot of literature and pretty much all poetry imo.
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
All joking aside, there is a lot of literature that really needs to be spoken to be grasped. I learned this in college taking a middle English literature course. The Canterbury tales really need to be read out loud. They have a cadence that needs to be spoken. I would actually argue that Joyce is in the same category. His work isn't meant to be internal. It's storytelling in a group and meant to be spoken. It helps u…
So many (snooty) people treat audiobooks like a cheap substitute for reading, when in reality, reading is the cheap substitute for oral storytelling. Sure, you've got Infinite Jest where page structure and end notes are part of the aesthetic design, but I think more people would consume more literature if audiobooks were more normalized.
Most literature we have today was written with a reader in mind, not a listener.
I don't even think audiobooks are necessarily bad, it's people consuming them like a hamburger while they multitask so they aren't even really engaging with the text. Let alone not really having the ability to stop, think and relisten very easily. With a text you do it basically automatically if necessary, with an audiobook you've got to fumble around for your device and hope you get back to the right spot and not break your train of thought in the process.
Re: James Joyce was a complicated man
#40The entertainment value of James Joyce’s letters to Nora cannot be overstated. https://allthatsinteresting.com/james-joyce-love-letters-nor...
I didn't have to click the link to know that it would immediately go to the farts. But I clicked, and it did.