What They Were Reading: Clive James

“After Shakespeare, my favorite poet is Dante. My favorite novelists are Proust and Tolstoy, closely followed by Scott Fitzgerald, and perhaps Hemingway when he isn’t beating his chest. But in all my life I never enjoyed anything more than the first pieces I read by S. J. Perelman.”

“I don’t do much rereading anymore because I’ve been ill and feel that I’m running out of time. But recently I did reread all of Evelyn Waugh’s novels, and was pleased to find that he was almost as thoughtful as, say, Olivia Manning, although his snobbery sometimes grates. Also, I enjoyed “Lucky Jim,” by Kingsley Amis, all over again: the funniest novel I have ever read. Is there some Bulgarian equivalent, languishing untranslated? Probably not.”

“In Australia 60 years ago, when I was an adolescent, nobody was reading the American author Booth Tarkington except me. His character Penrod Schofield — awkward, disobedient, adventurous — was the beginning of my love affair with America. Today, my friend P. J. O’Rourke is a big fan of Tarkington, but I wonder if anybody else is. Still, my real plan is to make P. J. a fan of Dante.”

-From the New York Times Sunday Book Review, April 11^th, 2013

Tolstoy, in moving pictures

First Line Friday: Axioms

Last week we covered first lines that set settings. This week, we pay tribute to the axiomatic opening. Here’s a well-known example that many will recognize:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” — from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Want another? How about this one- equally as famous as the first:

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” —from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

These adages can be sarcastic, like Austen’s, or introduce a kind of a farcical situation, like Tolstoy’s. Or they can be whistful observations::

“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board.” (Zora Neals Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God )

And even wisecracking laments:

“The moment one learns English, complications set in.” (Felipe Alfau’s  Chromos)

You could almost say that The Great Gatsby   begins with an aphorism, too: “…my father gave me some advice…” (Though the adage is only teed up in the first line, and it’s the second line that delivers the punch of wisdom.) Still, it gives the reader a filter through which they are to understand the entire book.

Anyway, I think axiomatic openings are pretty effective. They push you to start asking questions immediately. Do I agree with that axiom? Is it bunk? Why does the narrator lead off with it? What kind of story is going to prove that statement out? And on and on.

Do you agree? Disagree? (As the old adage says, you cannot do both.)

Russian Rumble

We haven’t forgotten about you, Literary Death Match fans. We’ve simply had to postpone our next match a couple of weeks while ringside reporter Kelly Wallace continues to recover from injuries sustained in the last title bout. 

But while you wait for the highly-anticipated Bronte sister beat-down, we thought we’d point you to another head-to-head match up playing out over at the Millions. They asked the experts who’s greater, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. It's definitely worth a read.

First Line Friday!

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. 

-Leo Tolstoy, from Anna Karenina

If it’s the second part of Tolstoy’s famous opening that resonates with you on this long, holiday weekend with family, you may want to find a quiet place and bury your nose in a good book. Last weekend HTMLGIANT asked readers for their favorite short novels (120 pages or less), and their favorite long novels (500 pages or more).

Here are my suggestions short:

·         The Old Man and The Sea, by Hemingway

·         Candide, by Voltaire

·         Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck

·         The Stranger, by Camus

…And long:

·         Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck

·         Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky

·         2666, by Bolano

What are yours?