Talking to Myself

Invisible Man

2012-01-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'm tired as i write this but i want to right/write away my reaction to this book and then tomorrow add or maybe, subtract.
First another Paris' review apology: one word, three letters -- THE; If anyone read The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells -- sorry!
But we're reviewing Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

Profound was the first word that came to mind. A profound book. A black man in the 1930's searching for his identity, his place in the world. And after intense, difficult and troubling passages comes to know that, for sure, he is alive -- human... just-like-you.
The Epilogue, though unnecessary, but so poignant; leaving you with a satisfying, almost cleansing experience and after-taste. A connaisseur wrote this... an American Masterpiece. Mr. Ellison has several bullets in his pistol -- introspection, action, dreams, dialogue and more all rolled together in this cohesive and very unique Bildungsroman.

LATER:
Why is it an American masterpiece? Because Mr. Ellison shows all that texture in writing this American story. Capital A because it's a story that has been sometimes on the fringes(therefore invisible) and sometimes center stage, but part of the big picture, the sometimes violent, tense and problematic experience of different cultures trying to live together.
Mr. Ellison tells his story of a young black man searching for his place in the world but he says his intention was not to speak just for the black man's experience but for the universal man -- how generous!
What does he do, you ask: gets inside the mind of a rural uneducated black man, using colloquial speech and timing; a prose poem seemingly out of nowhere; portrayal of a Rev. Homer Barbee from big city, Chicago and his grand sermon; a semi-fantasy/post treatment experience in a factory hospital; description of the narrator's big night giving a speech in an arena and the crowd's response or the bizarre "Battle Royal" staged by a bunch of mean-spirited white men for their humiliating amusement.
It's all there folks, even a race riot at the end, sadly believable and understandable from another's point of view. Perhaps this is why this book is not more well know in the dominant culture, though he won the 1952 National Book Award.
Invisible, identity, blindness, illusion -- these are the key words throughout -- throughout the Great American Novel.

Respectfully submitted,

Felix

Thank you Felix. Yes, i agree quite a book!
Another hiatus approaches! That's right yours truly is going to begin some serious study so we will be dark for the next two months at least.
On our return I'll re-reading and reviewing As I Lay Dying, by Wm. Faulkner. Followed by... not sure, probably a piece of world literature like either Midnight's Children, Kim or The Joke. As soon as i decide i'll announce it so i don't throw you off this time. Keep reading the good stuff... i remain, Timothy Paris

Du cote de chez Swann

2011-12-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

For a long time I would go to bed early... and so begins Marcel Proust's Swann's Way.The opening of Swann's Way is impressive. Dream states and "gusts of memory" wash over the narrator remembering, remembering while he gradually awakens from sleep.This sets the stage for the novel of memories and the theme.
Proust certainly has to be known as the author who has an inexhaustible cornucopia of descriptions and nuances of people, places, thoughts and events and of course memories. Early on he takes us on a charming and humorous scene where he tries to cajole his mother to come up to his bedroom and give him one more kiss goodnight(the torture of going to bed!). He states: "My sole consolation when I went upstairs for the night was that Mamma would come in and kiss me after I was in bed." Page 15(TML edition) and beyond almost pay for the price of admission as he describes his efforts to retain her.

And then there is the mention of this young man, Monsieur Swann-- an occasional guest at the house in Combray, the narrator's grandparents' house. Swann's father and the narrator's grandfather were dear friends and Swann continues the relationship but we only hear about him, at first. The family had no idea Swann had been accepted in high social circles but this gradually becomes apparent.

The book is divided into three sections: The House of Combray, Swann in Love, and Place-Names--The Name. House at Combray is concerned mainly with the family members and their relationships. The larger section, Swann in Love contains the extended reportage of the love affair between M. Swann and Odette, Mme de Crecy. Perhaps your Franco-American reviewer has seen one too many Rambo films for he became restless in this section-- wishing for more, dare i say, ACTION. Love's doubts, jealousies, and absurdities repeated endlessly did begin to wear.

But then just like a great composer, Proust's short last section saves it for me as he brings all the events back to that theme of memory and memories in the
autumn--autumn of a year and a life. And "the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas, as the years."

The Modern Library Edition has some great notes and synopsis in the back.

Yours truly and back from the City of Lights, i remain,

Monsieur Earl Camembert

Thank you Earl, and our next review will be by Felix who will be doing The Invisible Man. See you then and enjoy the eclipse wherever you are!

T. Paris

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler

2011-08-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

First, an apology: I'm late and second: I'm not done! I'll explain.

What a journey! Reading Italo Calvino's, If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, is not a story but an Experience. An experience in reading, reading looked at from different angles, Mr. Calvino's angles to be sure.
It's about many things: the process of reading, the writer's imagination and the reader's involvement with that imagination, how about: what makes you read?? and what keeps you reading?
Each chapter is a separate experience unrelated to the next yet the characters bleed over into the next chapter even though it is a completely different story or theme. And I'm only on page 149, that's right! I have not finished but in the spirit of IOAWNAT, it's all a process so stay tuned. Maybe I'll write another chapter later... who knows when or what? Just keep reading and traveling through the mind of Italo Calvino. Calvino, because it is he, yes Italo Calvino who is taking us on this incredible journey and now(page 161) he mentions "the virtue of mirrors" that the ancient books discussed... the mirrors of Pharos, Alexandria, the mirror Porphyry writes "God allows himself to be contemplated". From mirror to mirror or perhaps the knowledge of everything is buried in the soul and a system of mirrors would multiply "my image" to infinity and reflect its essence in a single image and would then reveal to me the soul of the universe which is hidden in mine!
Another Wow moment! As I write this I can't help to think if someone tried to read this book on marijuana they would never finish!! But I digress.
Calvino has plenty of ammunition. And on it goes and I'm only at page 165.
Yes, I haven't finished you see, because we have been distracted, the staff and I.
We are planning an exciting visit to Paris where we will be studying, guess... french and cinema in the city of lights, Beaujoulais Nouveau, literature and Moliere
and so now you see why I am late and not finished. I hope you'll understand.
But please read on, I assure you it's a fascinating book and maybe when we get back, ou bien, from Paris I will have the pleasure of giving you a second installment!
Also as to our next review, Monsieur Earl Camembert has told me he will be happy to report on Swann's Way by M. Marcel Proust for our next lunar occurence but that will be December's full moon. Keep reading and A Bientot.

T. Paris

The Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote

2011-06-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

Why would a 50 year old man leave behind his life in a small town to seek
unknown, idealistic, fantasy adventures? Hmmm. Yes, indeed.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, the original Laurel and Hardy..."another fine mess you've gotten us into!"
Someone once said Don Quixote has a cumulative effect and i have to agree. Sometimes in the middle of the book it was tough going -- episodes and the erratic behavior of the Don seemed to be somewhat repetitive. But as one goes on these events have a purpose, and late in the book a fondness for Don Quixote and Sancho Panza surfaces in the reader as well as a fondness between Don Quixote and Sancho becomes more and more apparent. No longer thinking about resolution or ending the reader is caught up, enchanted even, in this world of Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha and his loyal squire. I found i just wanted to keep going, more adventures, stories, crusades, more, more!

Maybe it comes down to comraderie. Having gone through so many adventures the two are bonded... what, who, where isn't that important..."Wherever we go, whatever we do, we're going to go through it together."

The book is a treasure trove of satire of the period of waning chivalric codes, historical references, clever mention of the fictious Moorish author(Cervantes is merely the translator) and characters in the novel who have already read the First Part and stories... great stories by the storyteller Cervantes. Stories like The Captive's Tale, Don Quixote's Dream, Cardenio's Tale or The Sage Conversation between Don Quixote and Sancho are marvels of the great Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Don Quixote is like a giant mirror held up to all the characters in the book. They recognize his crazimess yet interact with him anyway, showing us their flaws, misinterpretations, etc.
His style is formal, distancing the reader from the narrator and the story and THE STORIES... Quelle histoire!
An alternative title might be "Journey to Everywhere and Nowhere or You Can't Escape Yourself." For this reviewer Don Quixote is the ultimate reference book; i will keep him on my shelf so i can periodically refer to various chapters of delight.
The Knight never ends!!

Respectfully Submitted,

Beau

Thank you Beau and TTMParis will be dark the month of July (gone fishin') but we will be back for August and Paris will be reviewing Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveler"

Don Quixote

2011-04-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Beauregarde has been working steadly on the Man of La Mancha but alas, his review will not be ready at this lunar fullness. Therefore on to the next month's full moon and The Knight of the Lions! Thank you for your patience.

Timothy Paris

MOO

2011-03-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

i doubt Ms. Smiley would consider MOO her literary masterpiece but it was a thoroughly enjoyable journey of life on a midwestern campus... a roman a clef of Iowa State University where she taught creative writing for a number of years.
Her characters were all believable; situations and conflicts understandable, while she kept enough tension in the story to give the reader a "fly on the wall" experience of campus life with the students, their parents and especially the professors who struggle through their personal lives which sometimes get enmeshed in their professional ones.
A particularly memorable scene was with an animal-- Earl Butz was his name, a Landrace hog who was being kept secretly by a staff member in animal husbandry. During a break at Christmas from his routine with Bob, his caretaker, Earl Butz had been unattended for a long period in darkness and "with his brain the size of a grapefruit" he began to remember! He remembered his youth at the farm when he was outdoors with his litter running on the good earth and he "gave himself up to his memories" Wow! Animal consciousness amidst all this human striving-- what a scream.
And of course, conflict between departments, staff and department luminaries all added to a complete and satisfying storytelling of life at MOO U.
Ms. Smiley definitely knows how to spin a yarn. It would be interesting to read her 1000 Acres, a reimagining of King Lear in an American farm family and community in the 20th century. Maybe Earl Butz will be there!

Paris

We're back!!!

2011-02-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

After a humungous hiatus WE ARE BACK. Many great french films were seen by all. We didn't expect to be gone this long but nevertheless we did not lose our way.
Stay tuned for our next lunar post on Moo, by Jane Smiley.
Whew! It's good to be back.

Paris signing out.

Film Festival

2010-02-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

My staff and i are going to a French Film Festival! We will see you when we get back. In the meantime good reading, a bientot!

Timothy Paris

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

2010-01-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

Surprising... not what was expected--- Tom Jones in Paris. But this had more weight than that. From the start i could sense this was an artist who is writing a book, not necessarily a writer. It's an autobiography of his experiences, reflections and fantasies while living in Paris(on almost nothing). He's an autodidact(read the Harvard Classics), a good German, Catholic boy from Brooklyn who sees life as instructive. "Everyman with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race."
Miller vascillates. And woman may find his frank descriptions of sex and female references as offensive; at times, i found it boring. So he goes from boring to reflective to interesting to fantastic and back again. He seems at times like an adult Holden Caulfield, then a savant!
His perceptions are untouched by world events... it's 1934: world depression, Hitler and his boys are making waves right next door while back in America, John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde are robbing headlines and banks.
But this is really about Miller's internal world: surrealism and stream of consciousness segments interwoven with his daily adventures and misadventures. Cancer is a theme throughout, "The cancer of time is eating us away", he begins and later: "The world is a cancer eating itself away." It is an era of the dangers of cancer and syphilis and yet he is going to sing..."sing a gleeful song over the corpse of the 20th century." His anti-materialism spouts out in his rant against Production: "more nuts and bolts, more lawn-mowers, more, more..."
And in the end he helps a friend, Fillmore, flee Paris and an ill-advised relationship. Before leaving, Fillmore gives Miller some guilt money for his jilted lover and the money..."weighed heavily in my pocket." A cab ride and a walk and Miller asks himself "Do you want to go to America?" He doesn't answer. Instead he walks down to the river Seine where he finds peace.
Surely this is an obscene book or as Ezra Pound would say, "Here's a dirty book worth reading". T.Paris

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-14T12:15:00.000-08:00

No Post this December and on behalf of myself and Beau, Earl, Felix and Needles
We all wish you a Joyeux Noel and a Happy New Year!

Next Post will be by yours truly, Paris on Tropic of Cancer, due January 30th.

Until then, PEACE ON EARTH

2009-10-27T14:36:00.001-07:00

Having read Rabbit,Run by John Updike, his first in the rabbit series, one comes through it with the feeling of a complete work. Oh early on there may be a few too many literary puffings with similes but it settles down and engages you. Dear Rabbit how is this going to work out for you? You are comfortably engaged and then a surprise heightens the drama and in the end Rabbit...runs, what else. If this is his second novel, i have to say John Updike got it right from the very start.

Respectfully submitted,

The one and only Felix Frankfurter(not the judge)

First Rabbit

2009-10-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

Felix has requested to take on his "first rabbit" an American classic, Rabbit,Run by the prolific, departed Mr. John Updike. Good reading, Felix.

Au claire de la Lune

2009-10-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

The moon has set
and the Pleiades:
it is the middle of the night
and time passes, time passes-
and i lie alone.

L'Assommoir

2009-08-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

Je m'excuse mes enfants but i have been, how you say, "goofing off". But
enfin, i have read the novel by Monsieur Emile Zola and it was wonderful!
Imagine the ambition and daring to plan and then execute a series of
20 novels! - All related to the Rougon-Macquart family. As a writer i'm
completely humbled.
Well, first thing to remember is this is written around the time of
the 2nd Empire(1852-1870)preceding the Belle Epoque. A time when Baron
Haussmann was doing his utmost to clean up and establish order to the
great city of Paris.
But i digress un peu, that is to say that the first thing to keep in mind
is that the novel is written BEFORE cinema so of course a writer will go
to great lengths to describe in detail scenes, characters, events, neigh-
borhoods, etc. so his audience, the dear readers, can see - you see, n'est
pas?!
And O la la that Lantier, that devil having all that fun with the ladies.
So you see there is everything: sex, scandal, celebration, violence, births,
deaths and sadly tragedy -- alas no Hollywood ending.
I especially enjoyed M. Zola's description (Chapter 7) of Gervaise's
Feast. All the preparations of the woman getting an elaborate meal together
guests arriving, the presentation of the "plats", the fellowship and after
many bottles of wine - songs! Songs funny and sad, songs baudy and ... well
you get the idea. It made me wish i was there with them. Tant pis!
M. Zola's novel climbs the elevation of happiness, hard work and some
comforts followed by the descent into degradation, misfortune and tragedy.
So well written and thought out and with the very sympathetic heroine,
Gervaise. Ah Gervaise! There are those that say it's his masterpiece,
M. Zola's.
Phew! There you have it, mes amis, bonne chance, a la prochaine.

Monsieur Earl Camembert is "a la plage".

Next Book

2009-08-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Finally we have been able to locate Earl Camembert and he "says" he has his review
already for us. Soooo he's hoping we'll have a new posting very shortly, indeed.

Timothy Paris

"Pictures in My Head"

2009-08-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

"Pictures in My Head" by Gabriel Byrne is a memoir of when he made the biggest mistake of his
life... and then moved on. Obviously he has the soul of a poet, not that Ireland had anything to
do with it! He reminisces about his Irish upbringing, his parents, brothers and sisters, as well as
his years of schooling. Always around the corner is a storyteller, a poet, a musician to enchant
him and inspire.
Movies and the theatre become his regular entertainment and gradually it becomes apparent
to him that "it's the actor's life for me!". Off to the theatre and eventually he joins a progressive theatre group and then later comes an agent and casting in the movies. Oh boy! He meets celebs
like Richard Burton and Movie Star "A" and Movie Star "B" (can't say, you've got to read about it).
Then Hollywood , movies, fame and finally to a friend's cottage in Ireland to decompress. Ah
the good life! He eventually marries and sires two children, a boy and a girl and finishes this story
with a lovely poem to his new born daughter.
Oh and when he tells everyone that he's leaving his teaching job to become an actor, one of his
fellow teachers tells him "You're making the biggest mistake of your life".
Pictures in my head is a pleasant read and with pictures too!(not like the Atlantic Monthly)

Respectfully Submitted,

Beauregarde the Goode (Beau)

Next Book

2008-05-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Beauregarde Goode will be taking the next assignment, Gabriel Byrne's "Pictures in My Head".
Read it and stay tuned!

Nobody's Fool, Richard Russo

2008-05-07T11:39:00.002-07:00

Well, and it was a very deep well as it turned out -- a tour de force by Mr. Russo.
What was a very delightful story of small town America - Upstate New York
to be exact,finished with a powerful and emotional ending - a contemporary
master-work!
Each day i looked forward to the events and habits of Sully, Rub, Mrs Beryl,
Carl, Wirf, Clive, Jr. et al. A cast of characters all too real, to me especially
having lived in Rochester, New York for many years and met people who grew
up in towns such as North Bath, New York. A town that was destined to never
prosper... and never go away, without a fight that is.
It's a story to savour over the nuances and relationships of these people and
the minidramas that unfold each day and all neatly wedged in between
Thanksgiving and New Years to add its own poignancy! Mr. Russo maintains
the same tone of dry humor and great sympathy for these characters
throughout this epic story of how small can sometimes be really Big.

Timothy Paris

Nobody's Fool,

2008-05-07T11:39:00.001-07:00