Comment on Zone, by Mathias Enard by Max Cairnduff
Very interesting. It’s not possible is it that Enard intends the facile contrast you mention, but undermines his own intent by use of an over-competent narrator and a fondness for plot-assisting...
View ArticleComment on The House of Exile by Evelyn Juers by Max Cairnduff
Hm. Blending fact and fiction can of course be done to tremendous effect. You cite several such examples. Where it’s biography though the question starts to arise as to the point. Is it intended to be...
View ArticleComment on The House of Exile by Evelyn Juers by dannysbyrne
Hi Max, good point – there is certainly an issue surrounding how far the overt blurring of fact and fiction is helpful in the context of something that purports to be a biography. Juers’ book gets less...
View ArticleComment on The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick by dannysbyrne
I think it’s probably a film that needs to be seen on a big screen. Given that there is very little dialogue, it depends on visual impact more than most films. And the cod-mysticism aspect is...
View ArticleComment on The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick by Max Cairnduff
Sorry for the belated reply. I had feared it was a widescreen film. I’ve not seen Badlands which I may try first Malickwise. Part of why I may try that first is what you refer to in your second para....
View ArticleComment on The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick by dannysbyrne
Apparently Mark Kermode’s new book argues that mainstream audiences will put up with a lot more mould-breaking and experimentation than producers give them credit for – his main example was Inception,...
View ArticleComment on The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick by Max Cairnduff
I read an article by Kermode which was extracted or adapted from the book. Memento and I understand Inception (I’ve not seen it) do have strong plots but all that shows is that audiences want something...
View ArticleComment on Badlands by Max Cairnduff
Very nice review, and you make a good case for the film. This sounds much cleverer frankly than Tree of Life. Easier to take on surface level perhaps, but more subversive underneath.
View ArticleComment on What ever happened to Victorian realism? by ian darling
If you take a look at Orwell’s essays (Everyman selected) there is at least one piece that looks at the State of the Novel question and it is clear that the weekly trumpeting of masterpieces by...
View ArticleComment on The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre by Journey by Moonlight, by...
[...] to Moonlight is a novel laced with unreconstructed existential menace. Like Jean-Paul Sartre’s The Age of Reason, it examines the clash between unconscious desires and the arbitrary mores of...
View ArticleComment on Journey by Moonlight, by Antal Szerb by Max Cairnduff
This is one of my wife’s favourite books. I reviewed his The Pendragon Legend at mine (http://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/antal-szerb-the-pendragon-legend/) and found it spectac ular....
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by cauchemardegras
I’d say The Road is my least favorite novel. I don’t mind his writing too much, and I find his occupying a uniquely American genre refreshing. His lack of identified narrator gives him a lot of room to...
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by dannysbyrne
Hi, thanks for taking the time to comment, but I’m afraid I don’t really understand much of what you’ve written. “To say McCarthy’s a gifted writer in defense of his own opinion as a fulcrum for the...
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by cauchemardegras
I was referring to Wood’s piece, sorry. Lol. Thank you for that quotation, agree to disagree I suppose. I enjoy writings like that, I’m reading a lot of existentialist philosophy right now, and I guess...
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by Max Cairnduff
“What discordant vespers do the tinker’s goods chime through the long twilight and over the brindled forest road, him stooped and hounded through the windy recrements of day like those old exiles who...
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by dannysbyrne
No, amazingly it’s for real – from Outer Dark, his second novel. Which is terrible, probably his worst. There are bits of McCarthy that are great – most of Suttree and Blood Meridian, a decent amount...
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by dannysbyrne
By the way speaking of Mccarthy, this is a goldmine: http://yelpingwithcormac.tumblr.com/
View ArticleComment on The Road by Cormac McCarthy by Max Cairnduff
I’ll look closer at those ones then. The Road is Oprah-fiction in some respects. Evident profundity, but not too difficult to follow. What I find odd is not that McCarthy has his fans, some fervent,...
View ArticleComment on Journey by Moonlight, by Antal Szerb by Volley and Thunder «...
[...] Byrne Blog Journey by Moonlight, by Antal Szerb Zone, by Mathias Enard Ferdydurke by Witold [...]
View ArticleComment on Zone, by Mathias Enard by Volley and Thunder « Time's Flow Stemmed
[...] Byrne Blog Journey by Moonlight, by Antal Szerb Zone, by Mathias Enard Ferdydurke by Witold [...]
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