henk's reading

Everyone should have a reading list, so here's mine*:

At the moment progressing very slowly in au bonheur des dames. My French is too weak, but I still try to improve it by forcing my way through novels ... silly me.
I am mostly stunned by Zola's insight in the working of capitalist games. Well, hard for me to judge; my own insight is limited to 'if I spend this money I won't have it anymore'.

I have also started in the Makioka sisters and the quiet American, but those will only be read after finishing Zola. A little order, please.

Nice. It'll be good to get to know you better.

Well, the thread title is a first giveaway, isn't it? I thought about something punny, but then I realised I always tell my students that 'engineers have no imagination' (when introducing Yet Another Self-explanatory Term) and left it at that.

Zola rocks! I'll be following your thread with interest!

Punny anyway, henk.

We've got a Zola thread around here somewhere, Henk, still in its infancy, if you're interested. I'd like to read all of the Les Rougon-Macquart novels in my lifetime. Might make a good three-year long group read someday.

Thanks for the pointer EF, spent some time yesterday updating myself on the Dreyfus case. The footnotes in that J'accuse were definitely helpful. I trust this background will also come in handy when I continue my reading of the recherche.
Unfortunately my university library doesn't have all of the Les Rougon-Macquart novels, so if I want to read all of them I'd have to buy them in English translation.

Meanwhile, the big sale is over and our heroine is portrayed as both prudish and prudent. The hostile relations between the different departments are worked out nicely, leaving Denise hanging except for her one friend. I first met Jean in Germinal as a very serious young man, so I'm somewhat surprised to find his earlier incarnation to be something of a philanderer.

In related news: french dentelle has nothing to do with teeth...

Anytime, henk. And may I thank Murr for posting that Dreyfus case article. Your mentioning that your uni didn't have all the novels in French made me want to suddenly compile a French listing of all twenty! Here's a chronological ordering (see below) of the twenty novels. I've read somewhere awhile back that reading them in chronological order is not, however, the intended order for them to be read. Do you happen to know the intended order?

01. La Fortune des Rougon (1871)
02. La Curé (1871-2)
03. Le Ventre de Paris (1873)
04. La Conquête de Plassans (1874)
05. La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875)
06. Son Excellence Eugène Rougon (1876)
07. L'Assommoir (1877)
08. Une Page d'amour (1878)
09. Nana (1880)
10. Pot-Bouille (1882)
11. Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
12. La Joie de vivre (1884)
13. Germinal (1885)
14. L'Œuvre (1886)
15. La Terre (1887)
16. Le Rêve (1888)
17. La Bête humaine (1890)
18. L'Argent (1891)
19. La Débâcle (1892)
20. Le Docteur Pascal (1893)

According to Wikipedia, Zola gave a recommended reading order in an "Introduction" to the last novel (Wiki's quotes, not sure what they're for):

La Fortune des Rougon (1871)
Son Excellence Eugène Rougon (1876)
La Curée (1871-2)
L'Argent (1891)
Le Rêve (1888)
La Conquête de Plassans (1874)
Pot-Bouille (1882)
Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875)
Une Page d'amour (1878)
Le Ventre de Paris (1873)
La Joie de vivre (1884)
L'Assommoir (1877)
L'Œuvre (1886)
La Bête humaine (1890)
Germinal (1885)
Nana (1880)
La Terre (1887)
La Débâcle (1892)
Le Docteur Pascal (1893)

Also, I'm not sure how Germinal's Etienne came to be re-baptised Jean in my memory. I guess it's my reward for never taking notes when reading.

Henk,

Une petite dissertation sur les personnages des Rougon-Macquart et une liste sont ici:

http://www.as.wvu.edu/mlastinger/pers.htm

Je l'ai lu avec le dictionnaire au main! Douze cents personnages!

Thanks for the recommended reading order. Since I have only read two, and I have "La Fortune", maybe I should follow the recommendation.

Merci beaucoup pour le liens a la dissertation!

La fortune est le premier dans chaque ordre ;)

Somethings wrong with my computer. This threads in French.

>12 baswood:: Non, c'est le fruit de votre imagination.

Henk, à La Fortune!

oh la la! c'ette liste c'est tres helpful!

I'm itching for a Zola read. Itching.

I finally, finally finished au bonheur des dames I'd summarise it as greed, gratification and the grave. That, and long pages detailing the different silks. And satins. And linens. And laces. Oh, and ready made clothes as well.

I'd summarise it as greed, gratification and the grave. That, and long pages detailing the different silks. And satins. And linens. And laces. Oh, and ready made clothes as well.

Sounds like you nut shelled it! Why not make it your first review? I'd thumb it. It's quite witty and word playful too.

I'll expand on it a bit when I get home tonight. As for review ... the book isn't on my shelf and until I pay up I can't add anymore.

Thanks for the virtual thumb!

***
greed, gratification and the grave. That, and long pages detailing the different silks. And satins. And linens. And laces. Oh, and ready made clothes as well.

The family of Rougon-Macquart all have a 'deficiency' in their character as their inheritance from the first matre Rougon; such apparently was Zola's understanding of Darwinism. In this novel that would would be Octave Mouret, who has a bit of a problem with women: if he's interested in one, he will pursue her until he gets her. No matter what the costs (to himself or, presumably, to the woman).

However, Mouret is also a highly intelligent and ambitious man and he understands that the impulse that causes him to satisfy his desire for women is quite similar to the impulse that causes (many) women to satisfy the desire that is brought about in them by seeing cloths and clothes. It is no wonder that this brings him in a headlong collision with the old fashioned artisan shops that cater for the needs of people, selling few items but with a profit margin that allows them to live. Mouret's shop, the eponymial "Au bonheur des dames", by contrast, is laid out and decorated to spur his customers to buy lots of things, thereby keeping turnover rates high and prices low, which in turn attracts the customers. The description of this mechanism struck me as extremely relevant today. I was amazed at how 19th century writer can expose the tactics that govern department stores in 2011!

The heroine of the book, Denise Baudu is the niece of an artisan cloth seller across from the Bonheur but she is quick to realise the potential of the new commerce and applies to be a salesgirl. She piques Mouret's interest when he first hires her. She is as of yet too young, but his interest becomes clear when Denise is fired after a misunderstanding. He slips her a note asking her to meet him after hours, and, what probably never happened before happens: she turns him down...

At a few key times his shop organises grand sales that are widely advertised, another of his innovations. During these sales we are treated to pages full of descriptions of cloth that I could frankly have done without. We are also treated to the different reactions of women to the temptations; from a shopping frenzy that leaves the husband ruined to shop lifting to buying and bringing back for a refund ... all women fall for Mouret in some way or other ... except for Denise.

Meanwhile, the artisans find their business in decline and one by one has to close shop, nicely symbolised by the funerals of first Denise's cousin, then her aunt.

Zola has been criticised for his `naturalist' writing style but I find it works very well for what he intends to tell us where he is talking about economy or relations between people. As mentioned before, his descriptions of cloth and, to a lesser extend, the building, didn't do much for me. All in all, a strong reminder that I should be looking for more Zola!

Well, it so happened that the misses and miniature had to buy new clothes for the upcoming Eid (end of muslim fasting month) and they parked me in a bookshop. Of course I have more books than I can finish in a month and planned not to buy anything, but who could resist 2666 for only a few bucks? And then, to qualify for the 5% rebate, I filled up the bill with some Gabriel Garcia Marquez ... now, let me reread my own review and rethink my relation to commercialism ...

You decadent consumerist, henk!

A thought: if you were to add au bonheur des dames to, say, your wishlist, or catalog it as "Read, But Unowned," in your library, you'd then have the option of pasting your incisive review in post 17 into the review box of your book and, voila, you'll have a review that others can literally click on and literally "thumb".

You're too kind, EF. This trick doesn't work; I'll have to be even more decadent and fork the $25.

Finished england made me. A comic novel about a number of Brits living in Sweden where each is a caricature of Britness in their own special way.

Started in The Makioka Sisters. It will never cease to amaze me how fussy Japanese culture can be about things that would mean absolutely nothing to me (they must think me an absolute boor in return, I don't doubt). Hiring a detective agency to check the antecedents of a prospective marriage partner (and their family, not being able to ask your sister a question because there is no pretext for it etcetera.

22 Sounds like the world of Ploust

Interesting comparison and yes, social standing is important in both cases. But here it's all the characters that fuss over everything, by Plroust it's mostly the writer/alter ego thereof that does the fussing.

Everybody fusses !
I am thinking about the scene where the aunts of the narrator cannot thank Swann for the wine he gave them. Because it is not appropriate or so.

Hadn't really noticed but I concede the point. Ploust he will be known as!

Still in The Makioka Sisters. Set closely before WWII and it struck me that the otherwise very nice German children say some things that suggest they're bred into nationalism (in the ugly sense of the word). I wonder whether I'll meet them again and how their move to Germany will have changed them. The Japanese are somewhat involved in the 'China incident' but on the whole that seems to be a faraway thing. Probably beneath the notice of the Makiokas even though Sakochi is said to be following the newspapers about it.

I must thank Mac again for opening a new level of understanding. There is a scene where the Makiokas (rich merchant family in decline, kinda upper middle class? Or lower upper middle class?) fuss as usual because they're meeting some old landed gentry (cf nobility in Proust). These last people are completely unconcerned about 'the proper form' and simply look down on them. A bit like the Guermanteses, I thought. I really got a mental image of Saint Loup with his feet on the table...

Something completely different. There's frequent mention of the Osaka dialect vs the Tokyo dialect. E.g. in this passage:

O-haru had used the word mambō, an old dialect word that survived only in the Osaka district. It describes a short tunnel, a sort of underpass, and it is believed to have come originally from the Dutch.

In such passages I always find myself trying to decide whether I'm listening to the authorial voice or a translatorial voice. In this case I'd say authorial but nonetheless it breaks the flow of reading. I have no clue which Dutch word might possibly have been responsible for mambō, by the way, the Dutch for tunnel being *drumroll* ... tunnel

Finished the Makioka sisters, but still not sure what to make off it, so I'm holding off on writing a review for now/forever.

Went on a short trip and brough assassin's apprentice as light reading material after recommendation by I-forgot-who. Some things in the book do indeed stand out in a positive sense (there's some political intrigue and, most important, the prose is palatable) but the plot is not very original (young boy grows up to save the day/kingdom/world is a stock-in-trade of fantasy), it's highly annoying that the baddies are recognizable at first whiff and that none the goodies dies, one even surviving a 'lethal' stab wound on two different occasions. The pacing of the story is skilful --- but the short chapters with a new element introduced in each make that too obvious as well. I guess it's above the average level of the fantasy genre but all in all it left me with rather mixed feelings. I may pick up part 2 if I stumble upon it cheap but I'm definitely not going to go out of my way for it.

Next up: the Malayan trilogy, finally, just two weeks shy of my tenth anniversary here in Malaysia. Even though it's not even 60 years old, it's obvious how radically society has changed here (though some things remain the same...). There are some really funny descriptions in there, such as, for toddy: `If it wasn't for the smell and the taste, it would be a damned good drink.', or, after a quarrel scene: `Swing doors can't be slammed.' I'm going to like this book; I feel it!

Just been reading some reviews of The Makioka Sisters. It sounds quite intriguing for all the insights and idiosyncrasies. Thanks to your discussion here, I may give it a try — eventually! My TBR is listing precariously to starboard!

I really enjoyed The Malayan Trilogy, one of AB's best.

Finished with The Malayan Trilogy. It's a very enjoyable book. On the whole, while Malaya is definitely present in the books it is ultimately about the Englishmen living there, Victor Crabbe in particular. The first two books seem to concentrate more on the business of being funny against an oriental backdrop but the third book gets some poignancy when we realise that the place is full of racial mistrust and self-serving people. The only Westerners thriving there are disaffected military and likewise disaffected 'researchers' who view Malaya as simply another place to work and, on the other hand, the odd man gone native. For the rather engaged Crabbe, who wants to effect conciliation between the races there is no place. Even tropical nature turns against him when a scorpion cripples him.

The caricatures are funny, especially if you're familiar with the country and it's inhabitants. It seems as if AB assumes that a dowry is paid by the father of the bride. In Malay culture, however, it is the groom who pays the bride's father. It's odd that such a howler could slip through.

All in all it's an enjoyable book.

Forgot to update here ... Read Service with a Smile, quite enjoyable of course as are all things Wodehouse. Now nearly through with Joe Speedboat, picked up because it's written in my native Dutch (though I'm reading an English translation ...) The tone is a bit odd, switching between catcher-in-the-rye style juvenile cynicism and 'normal' writing (which please define). Apparently we're all supposed to be intimate with The book of five rings, which I'm curious to read now. After all, nothing fascinates a pacifist like discussions of war.

I think I'll pass on The Book of Five Rings although it would be nice to read a literate LT review of the book. I'll let you do that Henk.

Joe Speedboat sounds like a fun book - something light to break up muddling through History while trying to climb The Magic Mountain.

It's quite a fun book, though to understand the setting you should probably know some Dutch. The translator has mercifully refrained from any attempt at explaining/translating names, street names etc. so it may be a bit awkward when their literal meaning is referred to.

I'm a bit puzzled also by so many names seeming to be from the protestant north while the setting is the catholic south.

Otherwise, it's a typical gloomy dutch novel in which, when all is said and done and the hero has gone through a phase of the 'brush' and the 'sword' nothing is left but fucking on the sly.

henk,

One of my neighbours is Dutch- one of those damned European researchers coming over and taking jobs from well-deserving, creation-believing Amuricun scientists ;-). His expertise is bear research, but I am sure he will help me out with place names.

Whoever heard of doing research in the nude.

Contrary to public belief, not all Europeans are in the nude all the time. Not even the researchers.

Ohhhh: BEAR research. Sorry, reading too fast.

>40 RickHarsch: Well Rick your were almost correct; the bears were wearing their birthday suits.

I thought bears always wore tutus...

Tuirgin,

Some bears do, but we prefer not to talk about it.

I was actually thinking that that bear looks like she's about to take a bite or of whoever is making her stand there like that. Very skinny bear. She looks hungry.

She looks like a svelte diva. She'd never survive in the wilds of Tennessee.

Bears aside, I've started in Pierre et Jean, prefaced by 'Roman', a critique of critics. After three pages I fell into a reverie about the daft criticisms on 'dancer in the dark'; I guess Guy would have had something to say about those!

I didn't post here for a while, sorry.

Anyway, just finished Heinrich Mann's Young Henry IV. It's a historical novel, it's a coming of age novel but at the same time it's also tremendously involved with 20th century issues even while the story is set in the 16th century. The theme that binds the two eras together is the humanism (or the lack thereof). I admire Mann's wit that shines in single-line comments on the scenes, either authorial or sometimes tagged on to a dialogue.

I found it a thoroughly enjoyable, educating and, well, humanising read. Now searching for Montaigne's essays...

I started reading in the map and the territory. Bought it at a book dump last month.
First observation: I never like it when writers give themselves a role in their own novel. There are a few exceptions to that but this isn't one.
Second: Not entirely sure whether it's the writer, the translator or the (apparently complete) absence of an editing process but it's not a fun read with all the broken grammar.

It's my first Houellebecq and, by the look of things halfway through, probably also my last one.