by Alan Dean Foster
The second Spellsinger book.
Not the most well-written or consistent series, but great fun.
[read twice]
three stars
Thursday, August 18, 1994
Tuesday, August 16, 1994
Spellsinger
by Alan Dean Foster
A young musician finds himself in a rough sword-and-sorcery world of anthropomorphic animals. I'm not used to books with narrators that, while hooking to one character's perception (Jon-Tom's) in general, are omniscient; so that bothered me a bit. And it was redundant in a few places. But it was very well crafted, if not incredibly brilliantly written, and inspiringly imaginative. A good series to get into.
[read twice]
four stars
A young musician finds himself in a rough sword-and-sorcery world of anthropomorphic animals. I'm not used to books with narrators that, while hooking to one character's perception (Jon-Tom's) in general, are omniscient; so that bothered me a bit. And it was redundant in a few places. But it was very well crafted, if not incredibly brilliantly written, and inspiringly imaginative. A good series to get into.
[read twice]
four stars
Thursday, August 4, 1994
Sweet Myth-tery Of Life
by Robert Asprin
The tenth Myth Adventures book. It wasn't richly comic, but it had the same great cast of characters, same impending-doom plot, and same examination of real life, as the other nine books. Enjoyable, and made me look forward to reading the next one as well.
three stars
The tenth Myth Adventures book. It wasn't richly comic, but it had the same great cast of characters, same impending-doom plot, and same examination of real life, as the other nine books. Enjoyable, and made me look forward to reading the next one as well.
three stars
Monday, August 1, 1994
The Devil And the Good Lord And Two Other Plays
by Jean-Paul Sartre
"The Devil and the Good Lord," translated by Kitty Black. I loved it. Goetz is one of the inscrutable characters of literature: why does he act the way he does? Is he pretending to be Good just to do Evil more? But though the play is enigmatic, the message is clear. It doesn't matter if God is alive or dead, if we try to do absolute Good or total Evil. No matter what, we're all equal in that we're buffeted by the winds of fate regardless of what we might want to bring about.
"Kean," translated by Kitty Black. Apparently based on a Dumas play. I don't really know what to make of it. It's a fine comedy and refreshingly (for Sartre) non-communist, with a happy ending. It seems to be a satire of class relations and antiquated gender relations, with a little bit of Shakespearean object-of-desire switching thrown in for comedy. On top of that, it's a comment on the artificiality of almost all relations in life.
"Nekrasov," translated by Sylvia & George Leeson. It was a very cunning and biting farce on politics, journalism and the nature of man. A swindler pretends to be a Soviet official/defector: the consequences are far-reaching, realistic, and work to further the causes of the powers that be, despite what Georges, the crook, wants. Another great play.
four stars
"The Devil and the Good Lord," translated by Kitty Black. I loved it. Goetz is one of the inscrutable characters of literature: why does he act the way he does? Is he pretending to be Good just to do Evil more? But though the play is enigmatic, the message is clear. It doesn't matter if God is alive or dead, if we try to do absolute Good or total Evil. No matter what, we're all equal in that we're buffeted by the winds of fate regardless of what we might want to bring about.
"Kean," translated by Kitty Black. Apparently based on a Dumas play. I don't really know what to make of it. It's a fine comedy and refreshingly (for Sartre) non-communist, with a happy ending. It seems to be a satire of class relations and antiquated gender relations, with a little bit of Shakespearean object-of-desire switching thrown in for comedy. On top of that, it's a comment on the artificiality of almost all relations in life.
"Nekrasov," translated by Sylvia & George Leeson. It was a very cunning and biting farce on politics, journalism and the nature of man. A swindler pretends to be a Soviet official/defector: the consequences are far-reaching, realistic, and work to further the causes of the powers that be, despite what Georges, the crook, wants. Another great play.
four stars
Tuesday, July 19, 1994
Life/Situations
by Jean-Paul Sartre
translated by Paul Aster & Lydia Davis
A collection of philosophical essays. I came away with a split opinion: either I was awed by Sartre's brilliance & clear vision, or turned off by his faux "arguments" (simply laying down a few comments & then pretending the issue had been established). And then, there's the fact that most of the references went over my head. It contained:
"Self Portrait at Seventy," an interview, taking up almost half the volume. What I understood, I really liked.
"Simone de Beauvoir Interviews Sartre," a conversation about feminism & the struggle.
"On The Idiot Of the Family," a good academic analysis of his work on Flaubert.
"The Burgos Trial," a strong argument for Basque independence.
"The Maoists in France," just what it says.
"Justice and the State," an essay repeating much of the previous one, on Marxist, or popular, justice, what he calls the only true justice. Here, he says he's a contradiction because he writes bourgeois books but urges Marxist revolution. I think one sees a contradiction only if one sees everything in such black and white, bourgeois-popular, either-or terms. There are gems of brilliance in this essay.
"Elections: A Trap for Fools," in which he argues that universal suffrage serializes us and gives us a false sense of power. It is true, voting delegates no authority: we are choosing people with authority, but we have no power to give (we couldn't represent ourselves, for example). This was the feeblest essay, in my opinion: anyone can work for any case he wants, and if he can't convince others to vote his way, that means they have their own causes. I just don't think voting is as serialized as he says.
three stars
translated by Paul Aster & Lydia Davis
A collection of philosophical essays. I came away with a split opinion: either I was awed by Sartre's brilliance & clear vision, or turned off by his faux "arguments" (simply laying down a few comments & then pretending the issue had been established). And then, there's the fact that most of the references went over my head. It contained:
"Self Portrait at Seventy," an interview, taking up almost half the volume. What I understood, I really liked.
"Simone de Beauvoir Interviews Sartre," a conversation about feminism & the struggle.
"On The Idiot Of the Family," a good academic analysis of his work on Flaubert.
"The Burgos Trial," a strong argument for Basque independence.
"The Maoists in France," just what it says.
"Justice and the State," an essay repeating much of the previous one, on Marxist, or popular, justice, what he calls the only true justice. Here, he says he's a contradiction because he writes bourgeois books but urges Marxist revolution. I think one sees a contradiction only if one sees everything in such black and white, bourgeois-popular, either-or terms. There are gems of brilliance in this essay.
"Elections: A Trap for Fools," in which he argues that universal suffrage serializes us and gives us a false sense of power. It is true, voting delegates no authority: we are choosing people with authority, but we have no power to give (we couldn't represent ourselves, for example). This was the feeblest essay, in my opinion: anyone can work for any case he wants, and if he can't convince others to vote his way, that means they have their own causes. I just don't think voting is as serialized as he says.
three stars
Tuesday, July 5, 1994
Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae
by Euripides
405-410 BC
translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule, Elizabeth Wyckoff, William Arrowsmith
"Electra": Very good, though not as good as Sophocles' work. I thought Electra was a self-pitying, hypocritical whiner, and apparently that's just what Euripides wanted me to think. Orestes wasn't so bright either. The intro really clued me in to Electra's sexual frustrations, envy of Clytemnestra and jealousy/hatred of her mother's lover Aegisthus. Electra & Orestes' shock at everything still being bad, even after killing their mother, was well done – it brought the point home dramatically: No one's in the right, no one's all bad or good, and violence rarely solves things, even in god-sanctioned "justice." A powerful piece.
"The Phoenecian Women": It was very good, holding my interest despite my familiarity with the plot. The character development, again, didn't quite hold up to Sophoclean standards, but the drama and dialogue were superb. The ending (when Creon takes charge) was especially gripping. Oedipus played a minor role, but his lines were pure poetry, with quite a bit of clever use of "light" and "dark" metaphor (he being blind and all).
"The Bacchae": Before I read the insightful intro by W. Arrowsmith, I was going to pan the play, but now I see the meaning and message of the play that I missed (although I still think character development is lacking). I now see the conflict between Pentheus and Dionysius is central as person vs. person, not merely hubris vs. a god. And what I thought was disorder and sloppiness – Dionysius' transformation from the traditional Olympian in disguise to something like a force of nature – I now see is intentional. I did like the way, minutes after the reader's sympathy has shifted from Dionysius to the torn-apart Pentheus and Agave, the Chorus also shows its humanity by ceasing its ecstatic reveling at Pentheus' death and pitying Agave, gently helping her regain her sanity. A good play, and even though this is my second read, perhaps it bears even further investigation.
[read twice]
four stars
405-410 BC
translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule, Elizabeth Wyckoff, William Arrowsmith
"Electra": Very good, though not as good as Sophocles' work. I thought Electra was a self-pitying, hypocritical whiner, and apparently that's just what Euripides wanted me to think. Orestes wasn't so bright either. The intro really clued me in to Electra's sexual frustrations, envy of Clytemnestra and jealousy/hatred of her mother's lover Aegisthus. Electra & Orestes' shock at everything still being bad, even after killing their mother, was well done – it brought the point home dramatically: No one's in the right, no one's all bad or good, and violence rarely solves things, even in god-sanctioned "justice." A powerful piece.
"The Phoenecian Women": It was very good, holding my interest despite my familiarity with the plot. The character development, again, didn't quite hold up to Sophoclean standards, but the drama and dialogue were superb. The ending (when Creon takes charge) was especially gripping. Oedipus played a minor role, but his lines were pure poetry, with quite a bit of clever use of "light" and "dark" metaphor (he being blind and all).
"The Bacchae": Before I read the insightful intro by W. Arrowsmith, I was going to pan the play, but now I see the meaning and message of the play that I missed (although I still think character development is lacking). I now see the conflict between Pentheus and Dionysius is central as person vs. person, not merely hubris vs. a god. And what I thought was disorder and sloppiness – Dionysius' transformation from the traditional Olympian in disguise to something like a force of nature – I now see is intentional. I did like the way, minutes after the reader's sympathy has shifted from Dionysius to the torn-apart Pentheus and Agave, the Chorus also shows its humanity by ceasing its ecstatic reveling at Pentheus' death and pitying Agave, gently helping her regain her sanity. A good play, and even though this is my second read, perhaps it bears even further investigation.
[read twice]
four stars
Tuesday, May 31, 1994
Thank You, Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse
1934
In which Jeeves leaves Bertie because the latter insists on playing the banjolele. Rifts between two couples and a pair of kids ensue, and a business deal crumbles, all with B. in the middle and blamed for a good half — but it all turns out right in the end. A comic gem.
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