I am reading snatches of "A History of the Modern World" by the English historian Paul Johnson.
An excellent and well-argued book by a truly excellent historian.
Another excellent book by him is "The Offshore Islanders: A History of the English People." But a discussion of that is for another post.
One thing I can't keep myself from splurting out a post on is this.
Joyce and Proust actually met.
Yes these two archetypal modernist writers actually briefly met.
Yes. These two wordy, long-winded generators of hefty rambling tomes - the two writers that you are supposed to have read but that maybe you haven't really - the foremost French one and the foremost one in English - actually met!
This event is related by Johnson. It took place in Paris on May 18th 1922.
It sounds almost like a fantasy but apparently something like the following happened.
Joyce blandly proclaimed that he hadn't read a single word of Proust's voluminous work and that - to put it mildly - this did not concern him in the slightest.
Proust was very offended by this. He didn't know what to say. So he shot back that neither had he read a single word of Joyce's work.
LOL!!! - as they say.
In another work Joyce dismisses Proust's work - which is supposed to be quite philosophical - with the (German) pun "Prost bitte".
Well I am rejoicing at not having either Joyce or Proust on my reading list.
.........
In the interests of balance the event is recounted somewhat differently here:
http://westrow.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/proust-and-joyce-meet/
An excellent and well-argued book by a truly excellent historian.
Another excellent book by him is "The Offshore Islanders: A History of the English People." But a discussion of that is for another post.
One thing I can't keep myself from splurting out a post on is this.
Joyce and Proust actually met.
Yes these two archetypal modernist writers actually briefly met.
Yes. These two wordy, long-winded generators of hefty rambling tomes - the two writers that you are supposed to have read but that maybe you haven't really - the foremost French one and the foremost one in English - actually met!
This event is related by Johnson. It took place in Paris on May 18th 1922.
It sounds almost like a fantasy but apparently something like the following happened.
Joyce blandly proclaimed that he hadn't read a single word of Proust's voluminous work and that - to put it mildly - this did not concern him in the slightest.
Proust was very offended by this. He didn't know what to say. So he shot back that neither had he read a single word of Joyce's work.
LOL!!! - as they say.
In another work Joyce dismisses Proust's work - which is supposed to be quite philosophical - with the (German) pun "Prost bitte".
Well I am rejoicing at not having either Joyce or Proust on my reading list.
.........
In the interests of balance the event is recounted somewhat differently here:
http://westrow.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/proust-and-joyce-meet/