Comments on: Bartleby & Co. – A Verdict http://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/?p=1414 "the greatest obloquy i' th' world" William Shakespeare Thu, 23 May 2013 04:45:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 By: obooki http://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/?p=1414&cpage=1#comment-2441 obooki Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:11:29 +0000 http://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/?p=1414#comment-2441 Certain people, I suppose, like a certain kind of book very much; and then there are other people, like me, who don't. People like books which says the things they want books to say. And I really don't like books about books. (I picked up Josefina Vicens' <em>The Empty Book</em> shortly after finishing this, but just had to give up after ten or so pages and read something different, something where the narrator isn't always going on about their process of narration. What could be more tedious?). The avant-garde I am very fond of really - <em>Petersburg</em> was my favourite book of last year, and things don't get more avant-garde than that. But the avant-garde can also lead to great failure and disinterest for the reader: I just don't think <em>Bartleby & Co.</em> works as a novel. On the other hand, I hear Vila-Matas' later works (those perhaps not yet in English) display quite a change of direction, and that kind of interests me. Why and what kind of change it is, and what sort of work it's led to. Certain people, I suppose, like a certain kind of book very much; and then there are other people, like me, who don’t. People like books which says the things they want books to say. And I really don’t like books about books. (I picked up Josefina Vicens’ The Empty Book shortly after finishing this, but just had to give up after ten or so pages and read something different, something where the narrator isn’t always going on about their process of narration. What could be more tedious?).

The avant-garde I am very fond of really – Petersburg was my favourite book of last year, and things don’t get more avant-garde than that. But the avant-garde can also lead to great failure and disinterest for the reader: I just don’t think Bartleby & Co. works as a novel. On the other hand, I hear Vila-Matas’ later works (those perhaps not yet in English) display quite a change of direction, and that kind of interests me. Why and what kind of change it is, and what sort of work it’s led to.

]]> By: leroyhunter http://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/?p=1414&cpage=1#comment-2438 leroyhunter Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:33:18 +0000 http://www.mjiles.com/obookispage/?p=1414#comment-2438 Your discussion of aspects of the book and ultimate verdict (not a surprise, so apologies for insisting you spell it out) makes me wonder what those who enthusiastically recommended it (in the Gruan Book pages, I think) were on about. It sounds like if you knew (or were told) a little about the book, but hadn't yourself read it, then someone who had read it and liked it might appear a very clever chap. Your discussion of aspects of the book and ultimate verdict (not a surprise, so apologies for insisting you spell it out) makes me wonder what those who enthusiastically recommended it (in the Gruan Book pages, I think) were on about.

It sounds like if you knew (or were told) a little about the book, but hadn’t yourself read it, then someone who had read it and liked it might appear a very clever chap.

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