tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post7034192537609889634..comments2024-03-18T16:41:34.785+00:00Comments on Vapour Trails: Miss LonelyheartsSéamus Dugganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-26642578174501197472015-06-14T11:06:58.688+01:002015-06-14T11:06:58.688+01:00Thanks for visiting, and commenting. I have got fu...Thanks for visiting, and commenting. I have got further into FW than ever before but set it aside and there it has stood for quite a while. I aim to start again soon. I find myself amused and entertained but also baffled and bemused at times. The feeling still persists, which came from dipping into it many years ago, that it has many brilliant sentences, and paragraphs, but that the close attention required leaves me struggling with the whole book. I was reading it slowly, and relatively successfully, but having stopped I find myself leaving it for another week, again and again.Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-74323191718106509952015-06-14T10:29:03.905+01:002015-06-14T10:29:03.905+01:00"Vapour Trails is currently reading Finnegans..."Vapour Trails is currently reading Finnegans Wake at a (Dead) snail's (cara)pace. Show a human has visited.Leave a comment."<br /><br />Thank you for setting a bar low enough for me to clear, as I make no higher claim than to be a visiting human. Enough reading about Finnegans Wake made me feel comfortably prepared, and Anthony Burgess' advice (to include the expectation of laughter in that preparation) dispelled any intimidation, and I finally pulled it off my shelf, where it had stood for two decades, waiting for the right moment. <br /><br />If you've made it far, you see how the story as such keeps getting repeated, as the narrative voice is a whole crowd endlessly belaboring it; thus you never really lose the thread. I dispensed with any hope of penetrating more than a jot of the multilingual puns and deep mythopoetic/historical allusions and echoes on a first read, and HUGELY relished the surface, laughing often, and even out loud. If I live long enough, I'll read it again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-76315051905050257942015-04-12T07:51:52.531+01:002015-04-12T07:51:52.531+01:00I loved the 'soiled eraser' line too, such...I loved the 'soiled eraser' line too, such a terrific image. JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-35844714047258620942015-04-12T07:48:07.509+01:002015-04-12T07:48:07.509+01:00Haha! Well, between the two of us, we've certa...Haha! Well, between the two of us, we've certainly generated (and rekindled) some interest in Miss Lonelyhearts. ;)JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-56594560932946377212015-04-10T17:26:40.160+01:002015-04-10T17:26:40.160+01:00There are very few books I have read more than Mis...There are very few books I have read more than Miss L, even if there was a break of twenty years plus since the last time. It rewards re-reads and the Jay Martin biography, in particular, is very readable. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it. Dostoevsky is hugely present in this one and I mean to return to him soon as well, maybe Notes from the Underground. It's also reminded me that I have yet to read William Carlos Williams apart from the odd snippet. <br />The book is full of great lines, IMHO. I could hardly miss. We have soiled eraser days here, too.Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-24776883829636271532015-04-10T15:40:39.436+01:002015-04-10T15:40:39.436+01:00Tremendous, Seamus - your post makes me eager to r...Tremendous, Seamus - your post makes me eager to read the book again, despite my having not been a great fan of West before. That may well change! Fascinating, the additional biographical/critical material you bring in regarding the origins of the book, the Dostoyevsky elements, Shrike, etc. <br /><br />I was glad to see that "soiled eraser" line. I read <i>ML</i> years ago when I lived in L.A., and still think of that line whenever I'm down there on one of the many, many days when that's <i>exactly</i> what the sky looks like. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-74303888138293079632015-04-09T22:24:59.621+01:002015-04-09T22:24:59.621+01:00Thanks Brendan, glad you liked it. A Cool Million ...Thanks Brendan, glad you liked it. A Cool Million is probably my next favourite too. Must read them all again now that I've started. I actually read this one a good while ago, finishing it just before I went to the eye and ear hospital to be told I couldn't read for a month... I might also finish the West biography which I just started reading to get some background as I wrote this. Another fact I learned was that West was a notoriously bad driver who was lucky to have lived as long as he did. Tormented seems likely.Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-89452364018889775092015-04-09T21:39:50.648+01:002015-04-09T21:39:50.648+01:00This post contains multitudes, Seamus. Hats off to...This post contains multitudes, Seamus. Hats off to you. I'd gladly read a follow up post on what you left out.<br /><br />From the inside page of my copy of the Complete Works: "West spent the last years of his life in Hollywood , a sexually solitary and perhaps tormented man until he met and married Eileen McKenney in 1940. A few months later they were both killed in a road accident." Life imitating art? <br /><br />I loved A Cool Million. For some reason, I mistakenly had the idea he wrote it before Miss Lonelyhearts - it seems a more logical progression.<br /><br />Brendan<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-46663508149951327082015-04-09T19:39:21.225+01:002015-04-09T19:39:21.225+01:00That was supposed to read reaction, not faction. S...That was supposed to read reaction, not faction. Sounds like I'm trying to start a fight...Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-85751089850988309212015-04-09T12:45:49.729+01:002015-04-09T12:45:49.729+01:00In a strange way your faction is as much of a test...In a strange way your faction is as much of a testament to the novel's power as mine. West was exploring the idea that some 'horror' was unassimilable into most philosophies of life. We create sense and meaning in life by ignoring much of what life is. Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-82801436771679903562015-04-09T09:39:24.197+01:002015-04-09T09:39:24.197+01:00I applaud your write-up and analysis, Seamus. Fasc...I applaud your write-up and analysis, Seamus. Fascinating background on West and the Susan Chester letters (I wasn't aware that the letters were edited versions of real-life examples). As you know, I struggled to get beyond the brutality in order to connect with this book, but I respect what you're saying here. Right, I really need to try again with this one...JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-73743860489126656702015-04-09T08:40:50.312+01:002015-04-09T08:40:50.312+01:00"maestro', hmm, one's head could grow..."maestro', hmm, one's head could grow. I can walk on my water, you know. Have you heard of Séamus' Temptation by the Laptop? Thanks Richard. West was friends with Hammett, I think, and I can certainly see the similarities too. Shrike is about as hard-boiled as they come, although Miss L has a tender shell...<br /><br />Chapters that end with the lead character having a chair broken over their head and being knocked out seem typical of Hammett and Chandler, and West describes him/her as a detective at one point - actually quoted above.<br /><br />I'm just realising that I left out a planned digression on Miss L as Tiresias and the parallels with Eliot's Waste Land.. Also no mention of WW1, the Spanish Flu epidemic and their spiritual aftermath. Should have stayed up ALL night.Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-409932301541703722015-04-09T06:07:08.983+01:002015-04-09T06:07:08.983+01:00I loved this and The Day of the Locust back when I...I loved this and <em>The Day of the Locust</em> back when I was a young James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler reading guppy (for some reason, I've always thought of these three as kindred spirits despite West's differences with the other two hard-nosed and/or hard-boiled big fish), but your vivid description of this novel's unrepentant bleakness brings back memories I had, ahem, long forgotten. Must reread this soon but not if I'm already feeling too blue! Can't remember whether I ever read <em>The Dream Life of Balso Snell</em> oddly enough, but this is coming from a guy who somehow forgot that he ever read <em>The Master and Margarita</em> until a couple of chapters into the reread (how could I forget a novel where the devil shows up in Moscow?). Anyway, like Tom, I commend you for a "fantástico" writing performance here. Excellent post, maestro! P.S. Thanks for the pointer to/reminder about Jacqui's post. I look forward to the debate.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-10985190200145162862015-04-09T02:19:55.026+01:002015-04-09T02:19:55.026+01:00I love his dedication on a copy of Balso Snell he ...I love his dedication on a copy of Balso Snell he sent to a friend - "from one horse's ass to another" (Balso climbs into the trojan horse via its back passage) and the book has its moments. But yes, fully agree with you. Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-11141169283153167872015-04-09T02:06:05.280+01:002015-04-09T02:06:05.280+01:00You made me think what a good break it was that he...You made me think what a good break it was that he got that imitative French Surrealism out of his system right away so he could go on to create something truly original.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-15767193565620197892015-04-09T02:02:09.761+01:002015-04-09T02:02:09.761+01:00Thanks Tom. I didn't even get on to H.L.Menken...Thanks Tom. I didn't even get on to H.L.Menken, or William James's Varieties of Religious Experience or the fact that West was Jewish and came from a background that would confuse anyone as to their true identity. <br />Nor did I get on to his dying in a car crash with his wife the day after his friend F Scott Fitzgerald and four days before a play about his wife (by her sister) opened on Broadway. And the quotes - I considered cutting and pasting each chapter in turn from http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0608851h.html <br />I probably read this a dozen times in my late teens, early twenties but it still managed to surprise me, albeit the guts of thirty years later. None of his other three novels are nearly as good but they all have their strong points. i may reread all of them now I'm started.Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-500794647428701667.post-63138791224284089572015-04-09T01:31:39.737+01:002015-04-09T01:31:39.737+01:00Ha ha ha! Fantastico! What a writeup. What mate...Ha ha ha! Fantastico! What a writeup. What material to work with. I have only read passages of the book before; always meant to go back; blah blah blah. Someday. I had no idea that the letters were more or less real. How horrible.<br /><br />I love the "dead-pan" joke. Someone had been reading <i>The Golden Bough</i>. Actually, at that time it seems like everyone was reading <i>The Golden Bough</i>, looking for some myth they could call Modern.<br /><br />I'm reading along thinking "I had no idea Flannery O'Connor" had so much West in her books, and then you write about O'Connor; all right, good for me.<br /><br />A triumph, is what I am trying to say.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.com