It's the best time of year, getting to order books with gift cards. Anyway, I'm in a dry spell of new things to get into. I was hoping you might be able to help me.
Some of my favorite authors are Gogol, Melville, Beckett, Krasznahorkai, Kafka, Walser, Bernhard, Schulz, Gombrowicz
I'm looking for recommendations of individual books not authors generally, so if there's something you think I might like, please let me know!
What really moves me are elaborate, flowing, effortless sentences, which I think Melville and Krasznahorkai do well, and a sense of humor that Gogol does well along with them, somewhat embittered. My interest in Bernhard is involved here, but a prefer slightly less bitterness.
I'm also into fantastic stories eg. Kafka, Anna Kavan's Ice, Pedro Paramo, and much of Can Xue (though some of it is beyond me).
And lastly, my interest in language is reflected in Beckett's tendency toward minimalism. I love the word games, the cataloging of references, the bare and baseness of it.
If something comes to mind, thank you.
>>7513749
Antal Szerb if you want more Hungarian stuff, Andrei Bely if you want obscure but good Russian. For Szerb I say start with Journey by Moonlight
Have you read Gaddis, Gass, or McElroy?
Also, check out Vollmann's Seven Dreams Series. Fits your description pretty well.
>>7513764
Gyula Krudy is great as well.
>>7513764
Thank you. I've read Petersburg, but haven't read Szerb.
>>7513770
I've read The Adventures of Sinbad, would you recommend anything else?
>>7513766
I've been meaning to check out Gass's Omensetter's Luck. I have The Tunnel, but I'm never in the mood to start something that massive. Maybe I will soon though. I've read McElroy's short stories, but it's been a long time. I've not read Gaddis.
I've also not read anything by Pynchon beside TCOL49. Would you recommend anything by him that you think would especially appeal to me? I really don't care for or care to read about 60's culture, which I've always thought would ruin him for me.
>>7513749
What's up with so many people on /lit/ mentioning Gombrowiczor is it you again
>>7513792
I don't know. I haven't been here in months. I like a lot of Gombrowicz, but sometimes it's too absurd for me, esp. in Ferdydurke. Pornografia and Cosmos are my favorites by him. Do people mention him a lot here?
>>7513794
They don't, but we've had maybe 3 or so threads full of random Gombroposting within past 3 days, which is really weird.
Also, is anyone familiar with The Obscene Bird of Night? If so, what did you think of it or know if it?
>>7513799
That's odd. I feel like interest in him is largely unspoken. Even if people are familiar, no one seems to say anything about him.
>>7513804there's not too much to say about him because he isn't that good
>>7513791
Gass's novellaa are amazing. Great place to get used to his style before The Tunnel.
Lookout Cartridge is where I started with McElroy, and then just chronologically. I don't really have any advice for reading him except that I really think he is worth the effort you have to put into reading.
Pynchon is pretty great. Based on your post, I think you can skip V., Inherent Vice, and Bleeding Edge. Just go straight to Gravity's Rainbow, then onto Mason and Dixon, which is amazingly good. Against the Day is supposed to be great as well, but I haven't had the time to read it yet.
>>7513807
I don't completely disagree. He irritates me in certain ways. I think his sense of paranoia is spot on and fairly unsettling. And his works are usually so terse that it doesn't take longer than a day to work through them. He's my least favorite of the authors listed, though.
>>7513819
In what way is McElroy difficult? Is it phrasing, vocabulary, structure? I'll have to look more into him. I've never really thought about giving him any more attention, especially since he's become somewhat of a meme. That's my fault though.
I was worried about that with Pynchon and V., but I had heard it was a good place to start. I'll give Gravity's Rainbow a chance sometime, maybe this summer. Thanks.
>>7513822
Yeah, it feels like they might all be a bit more complex than him. Think it's time for me to adjust to the latin cliche and stop talking ill of the dead though, so I'm not gonna elaborate on that.
>>7513839
You're not wrong.
>>7513831
McElroy's structure is mind blowing. I'm not sure why he is getting so much meme status lately, but I'm not complaining since he is one of my favorite authors.
A lot of people like V., but I thought it was really boring. Gravity's Rainbow was far superior, and Mason & Dixon was even better.
>>7513749
Based on the writers you have listed I would suggest Philip Roth, especially his book 'Sabbath's Theater'. Although this board doesn't really hold him in any great esteem - arguably because of his mainstream appeal and because he is not perceived as especially difficult to read - I think that this book, in particular, has everything you are looking for: Roth's prose is excellent and it is one of the few books that I have found very funny.
I agree with the other anons who are suggesting Pynchon's 'Mason and Dixon' as well.
>>7513889
Roth is a great suggestion, I would actually say American Pastoral would be great.
OP have you read any Updike, Bellow, or Malamud?
>>7513889
I like Roth a lot. I agree he's definitely under-appreciated, esp. in terms of Literaryness. I took a class in college where we read like 12 of his books. I've not read Sabbath's Theater though and that was one I've been thinking of reading recently. Operation Shylock and The Counterlife were my favorites at that time.
>>7513903
I've read The Adventures of Augie March. But maybe I could look more into him. I've not read the other two. What do you recommend of Updike? What makes you mention him?
>>7513903
I've only read Herzog by Bellow but really liked it. What other books by him do you recommend?
I agree that American Pastoral is good - although I think that The Human Stain is possibly the best of the America Trilogy (and possibly of all the Zuckerman books) - but I just didn't think it was the kind of thing OP was interested in from his list.
>>7513904
I totally agree that Roth is under appreciated but, beyond the most obvious answers - I.e. His perceived simplicity or people being unhappy with his attitudes to Jews and Women - I can't think why.
>>7513909
Updike's Rabbit series is pretty great honestly. Most of Updike is wankery, but the man knew how to craft a good sentence. Just try reading the first chapter or two of the first Rabbit book and you will know if you like it.
>>7513931
Henderson the Rain King is awesome, definitely would recommend.
>>7513931
OP here. I think it's mostly the things you've listed, coupled with the idea that his work is plainly vulgar. Simple things like that are enough to dissuade the reading public from accepting something as canonical. There are definitely some people who take him seriously in academia though.
>>7513799
You say that like it's a bad thing
>>7513987
It is a good book, and its being immediately misrepresented is what launched his career. So it's both a good and a bad thing that he is under-appreciated and misunderstood; his quality is derived somehow from his holding the position he does.
Bumping one time just to see if I can get some more responses, esp. to see if anyone has anything to say about The Obscene Bird of Night.
