tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.comments2024-03-17T06:47:15.292+00:00The BrooknerianThe Brooknerianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comBlogger217125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-5529566956438426162024-03-16T17:44:59.966+00:002024-03-16T17:44:59.966+00:00I'm looking forward to seeing this film on BBC...I'm looking forward to seeing this film on BBC4 on 20 March 2024 - I didn't see it when it was originally screened. The film is followed by "Anita Brookner on Art: 100 Great Paintings", which I did see originally and which will be well worth a repeat viewing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-26887242710031630242023-10-13T05:41:16.254+01:002023-10-13T05:41:16.254+01:00Yes, I agree that some of Brookner's novels ca...Yes, I agree that some of Brookner's novels can become tangled in too much plot. Her best are those where she remembers Woolf's comment about plot, and her own about true novels solving moral problems and all the rest being mere literature.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-29323872121853528222023-10-13T00:37:41.969+01:002023-10-13T00:37:41.969+01:00I read Latecomers recently and was rather disappoi...I read Latecomers recently and was rather disappointed. Shock-horror, I thought it was more like a soap opera than a novel and the anguish of the individuals didn't have scope to distil. It started with me though after I finished .. and i certainly do remember that moment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-43990775086862816162022-12-16T15:23:25.878+00:002022-12-16T15:23:25.878+00:00I can report not the slightest urge to return to M...I can report not the slightest urge to return to Murdochland in the years since.The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-57195447703670044142022-12-16T14:37:44.962+00:002022-12-16T14:37:44.962+00:00More extreme now for sure, and possibly for market...More extreme now for sure, and possibly for marketing purposes.<br />Alice Munro interestingly says that while she was growing up in 1930s and 40s Canada, writing and reading were only acceptable as feminine occupations, as men had real work to do. Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-42759236230861728962022-12-16T14:33:49.401+00:002022-12-16T14:33:49.401+00:00It will be a long time, if that time ever comes th...It will be a long time, if that time ever comes that is, before I am compelled to read another Iris Murdoch novel. When I was younger I read four of them and, as I recall, liked them. (But I read indiscriminately then, reading anything I could get my hands on, without truly comprehending what I was reading, as perhaps is the only way to read when one is young.)<br /><br />A few months ago I read The Sea, the Sea. No doubt my reading is neither wide nor varied enough (I seem to be unintentionally stuck in a loop of British female mid-century novelists, Victorian and French literature) I cannot recall ever hating a book this much, except perhaps some of Yukio Mishima's works. I inexplicably drudged through all 500 pages of it, but nothing. No revelations, no insights, no magic, nothing. My reaction undoubtedly speaks more about me than about either the book or Iris Murdoch, as these things always do, but I just couldn't see the point at all. I don't mind implausibility or unpleasant people. Muriel Spark writes implausible plots with unpleasant people and I adore her writings. I do not need 500 pages of verbose prose to divine that someone is a pompous ass with an urgent need of a paradigm shift, if that indeed is what it was all about, as the last two pages of the book attest. But worst of all was the authorial smirk, felt by me on every single page. It is never there in Brookner, however awful the situation or indeed however stupidly her characters behave. For me that is perhaps the one unforgivable thing in an author. This violent a dislike undoubtedly requires further investigation, but it certainly will not be happening any time soon.Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-71265886268000489632022-12-14T19:42:27.350+00:002022-12-14T19:42:27.350+00:00The tyranny of these categories - a woman's bo...The tyranny of these categories - a woman's book, a man's book, and others. It's a modern insistence, possibly, or more extreme now. Though of course EB must have felt it, writing as she did under a man's name - Ellis Bell, wasn't it?The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-83373395414921977572022-12-14T14:07:30.639+00:002022-12-14T14:07:30.639+00:00Ah, Wuthering Heights! On the rare occasions when ...Ah, Wuthering Heights! On the rare occasions when I am asked what my favourite book is, this is the one I pick. Reactions vary. On one occasion a lady asked me what I was reading. I said I was rereading Wuthering Heights. She turned to her son, saying "You hear that? When are <i>you</i> going to read it?" Otherwise, I believe that in my country it has the ridiculous reputation of being a "woman's book", whatever that may be. My own grandfather admonished me when he saw me reading Jane Eyre. Not a book a boy should be reading! I don't believe he would have been more permissive towards Wuthering Heights either. <br /><br />I first read it when I was 13. Immediately I was in its thrall. I reread it far too many times, every winter and sometimes multiple times a year. When I open it now I find I know passages by heart. I am still waiting for my Heathcliff though...Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-76914075983713843032022-12-10T14:51:09.537+00:002022-12-10T14:51:09.537+00:00Both suitably spartan treats. I'm particularly...Both suitably spartan treats. I'm particularly fond of the latter, not least because I don't find them too popular.The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-47756736985097959432022-12-10T13:29:29.656+00:002022-12-10T13:29:29.656+00:00Not really about fandom, but another slightly inco...Not really about fandom, but another slightly incongruous overlap: I cannot look at a KitKat, let alone eat one, or, to a slightly lesser extent, a digestive biscuit, without thinking of Anita Brookner. And I am not complaining! Anything that makes one think of Anita Brookner is a good thing.Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-73407662967629588562022-12-07T18:25:05.733+00:002022-12-07T18:25:05.733+00:00Nothing indeed.Nothing indeed.The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-27722281874051405042022-12-07T09:07:41.601+00:002022-12-07T09:07:41.601+00:00How drearily unimaginative for such a supposedly i...How drearily unimaginative for such a supposedly imaginative person as Winterson. Anita Brookner tells us we should play Russian roulette with our lives! Nothing insipid or compliant about that. Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-87567528063426018202022-11-30T17:04:54.368+00:002022-11-30T17:04:54.368+00:00One can but hope.One can but hope.The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-77113429503040222312022-11-30T17:04:03.014+00:002022-11-30T17:04:03.014+00:00How nice to hear from you and that you are enjoyin...How nice to hear from you and that you are enjoying the book. Nice too for me to challenge myself to read French!The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-21843109794198143132022-11-30T09:15:50.734+00:002022-11-30T09:15:50.734+00:00Je suis en train de le lire en ce moment avec bonh...Je suis en train de le lire en ce moment avec bonheur. Vert Céladonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688561541227871418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-37896935664781602222022-11-30T09:12:51.544+00:002022-11-30T09:12:51.544+00:00Bonjour Cher Brooknerian, Heureuse d'apprendre...Bonjour Cher Brooknerian, Heureuse d'apprendre qu'une biographie de Anita Brookner est en préparation. Il ne me reste qu'à souhaiter qu'elle sera traduite en français, mais hélas rien n'est moins sûr, les éditeurs français étant de plus en plus frileux ...Vert Céladonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688561541227871418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-78734627377325274342022-11-12T16:13:02.028+00:002022-11-12T16:13:02.028+00:00Or, in the words of another great writer and great...Or, in the words of another great writer and great favourite of mine, Alice Munro:<br /><br />"She was outraged at having to sit there and listen to people's opinions of her. Everyone was wrong. She was not timid or acquiescent or natural or pure.<br />When you died, of course, these wrong opinions were all there was left."<br /><br />From "Floating Bridge", a story ostensibly about a woman who might be facing a terminal diagnosis.Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-15907409830529840822022-11-12T15:23:01.729+00:002022-11-12T15:23:01.729+00:00Kitty Maule smokes!Kitty Maule smokes!Sadmouthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162707980323774513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-18845777103881299362022-11-06T09:34:53.471+00:002022-11-06T09:34:53.471+00:00That was indeed a surprise to see and hear one of ...That was indeed a surprise to see and hear one of my heroes,thank you so much.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-41276246710493564522022-10-06T18:59:33.233+01:002022-10-06T18:59:33.233+01:00She was a genius! She was a genius! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-46548913703705945402022-08-25T06:40:06.810+01:002022-08-25T06:40:06.810+01:00Thank you for your comment. No news as yet, though...Thank you for your comment. No news as yet, though she is prolific.The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-16217489055765147322022-08-24T22:00:25.733+01:002022-08-24T22:00:25.733+01:00Fantastic. My very favourite writer. And excellen...Fantastic. My very favourite writer. And excellent biographer ! When is it expected to be published?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-59882568553309817782022-06-17T06:22:25.020+01:002022-06-17T06:22:25.020+01:00Thank you, thank you, for posting this.Thank you, thank you, for posting this.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07359221554583727271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-17581412562238740142022-05-29T04:52:52.768+01:002022-05-29T04:52:52.768+01:00A truly authentic modesty.A truly authentic modesty.The Brooknerianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15396427983022927448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704237975096102484.post-28933564860816759672022-05-29T00:32:35.883+01:002022-05-29T00:32:35.883+01:00This made me weep… lovely to see her face when she...This made me weep… lovely to see her face when she won.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com