Tropic of Cancer

Finished reading it, but is there anything left unsaid about it?

 

http://www.henrymiller.info/

Not Absent

Books on my radar, yet abandoned to a certain extent:

The Black Book of Communism – a never ending reading not because of the page count, but due to the negative state it inflicts after just a few pages. I was only eleven when the communist regime fell. Readings on this subject help me attach proper tags to my memories, but they are not very healthy. Still, I prefer to know.

Dear Theo – a poor edition. I certainly hope to be constantly drawn back to reading the book by the complexity within.

The Noonday Demon – although there is doubt on why I purchased this book. These sort of subjects are scrutinized either for the need to cement my beliefs, either for the opposite. They stand against my theories and the need to scrutinize the other side  is pushing me towards such a lecture.

Report on Solitude – this one is an unfinished reading and will, most likely, stay this way.

The culture sections of The Economist, or Slate, don’t count here, do they?

 

I am still to form an opinion on all of the above.

 

It would be good to hear from you on your literary endeavors, being them reading or writing. Email me at: anca@literaryagenda.com

The Complete Flowers of Mapplethorpe

After a considerably long wait, Mapplethorpe Complete Flowers is in my hands. A highly charged and rhythmic collection of flower photographs.

One can observe the continuous search for isolating a subject, or the sudden, unexpected entrance of a flower in the focus zone, like and intruder, or an assessor of the shooting space. The flowers are actors in a drama so carefully constructed by Mapplethorpe.

Amazingly dynamic for a subject referred to as still life.

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You can preview some of the photographer’s work at The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

Another great source on masters of photography is Photography Now. Watch here the Mapplethorpe portfolio.

Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca

This is not say that I am ignorant with respect to the Gypsy culture or to the historic facts that contributed to impeding the evolution of their group in a manner that would mould into the host culture, keep their identity intact and not projecting itself as dangerous to the host values. Yet, Isabel Fonseca’s tourist in Europe book, charming, well written and informative on many levels, takes a hard to swallow, strong stand against the European nations for failing to integrate the Gypsy group and, in quite a naive manner, strips the Gypsies of any wrongdoing by always attaching a reason behind the actions they are usually blamed for.  Stealing and laziness translate into entrepreneurship, while the persistence of filth, of slums wherever they decide to settle, are countered by the simple statement that in their culture one should not clean outside their house hold. It’s other people’s job to do so.

The most difficult to swallow finding seems to be the acknowledgment that Gypsies do resist integration, but it is the host country’s only fault for failing at this aim.

I wouldn’t recommend the book to someone who has never lived long enough within European borders or who hasn’t documented thorougly on the subject, because they would not have means to counter-balance this lovely, yet highly subjective and judgemental book

Only stripped of its accusatory tone I could enjoy it.

Reading Americans Talk About Love.

The Romanian by Bruce Benderson

‘The Romanian’ idles now by my side with crumpled pages, not long after reading Bruce Benderson’s interview in The Rumpus. Must be the longing for connection with a space I know too well, the space of a post communist Romania whose youth are struggling to come to terms with the endless material possibilities that the western world lavishes on its people, but which are out of reach for easterners.

My state evolved during the lecture from being unimpressed, or better said, slightly edgy regarding the author’s [what it seemed at that stage] exclusive contact with the underground Romania, to being bemused and feeling superior towards the American’s naiveté who lacks the basics notions of street smartness and who gullible engages in potentially dangerous situations, even bursting at one point ‘he’s so lucky. Romulus could have robbed him so many times’, traversing sadness towards the most likely sorrowful end the story will unroll, finally settling in genuine joy when faced with the improbable, yet real finale of this modern day, gay Lolita novel.

An appealing reading.

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The nerve.com article that drove the adventure.

Dropped Three Trapped Tigers , reading The Black Book of Communism and Small Wars.

The Loss of Sadness by Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield

The belief that one should always be happy, smile and act social is against human nature, unbalanced and extremely idiotic.

‘The Loss of Sadness’ came to cement the above. Yes, there exist real cases of depressive disorder caused by chemical imbalances. But about prescribing serotonin busters to someone who is experiencing a melancholic period caused by losses in its life, robs that person of a magnificent solitary state that one can experience during that time. It also leads to stigmatization and numbness.

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The cover reminds me of Norman Manea’s novel  ‘The Hooligan’s Return‘, briefly reviewed here.  The banner Depression is a flaw in chemistry, not in character stands for an interdiction of sadness in the US paradise, in Manea’s book.

You can go through a preview on Google Books.

Waiting for: Three Trapped Tigers , reading The Black Book of Communism and Understanding Close-up Photography.

The Real Gaze: Film Theory After Lacan

Here the author develops a psychoanalytic theory of the movie, which took the movie as a starting point. Avoids telling about historical context of film production as well as it`s reception.

When McGowan says about the audience he doesn’t mean the empirical spectator, but the one which is expected by movie text himself. Of course none of the movies ignores its historical context as well as context of those who watch it, but neither the context nor the spectator don`t exist out of the movie text.

Every movie, developed esthetically, brings with itself its own context, builds up it`s own spectators, turns to them in specific way. It`s worth to get to know how, by McGowan, Kubrik`s, Spike Lee`s, Michael Mann`s or Fellini`s movies turn to us.

Summarised by Fusinha

Gary Shteyngart – Absurdistan

This edition starts with three pages of appraisals. Additionally, both the front and the back covers are filled with similar quotes from Time, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, you name it. I hope everybody can do like me and cunningly skip all these and dive into the book itself.

The synopsis is surely intriguing and whoever gets a glimpse of it would like to know more, ending up by picking the book off the shelf and throwing it in the basket case.

It’s all about the humor and, whether it is terribly dark, burlesque, satiric or ironic, Gary succeeds in putting together a storytelling that will keep your fingers turning the pages until you realize you reached the end. Obviously this won’t actually happen, but you get the idea. It’s catchy, funny, witty, and while I personally think it has its flaws, it all glues together quite nicely. The kind of a best selling book that is pretty good, despite its commercial success. Sometimes there are too many divagations, too many metaphors, too many descriptive scenes. The momentum is somehow pushed and pulled sideways, cause there’s drama and subtle existentialist issues inside as well, which are not always welcome. But if your critic eye is not in a bad mood that day, you’ll just enjoy the reading and fall in love – or at least sympathize, c’mon – with the central character. And that will do.