Posted by Guillermo Maynez
on 5/6/2011, 12:53:13, in reply to "Re: The Bad Girl"
189.178.41.36
Well, I'm ready to start reading "The Bad Girl". I'm perfectly aware that it's more an "entertainment" than a serious novel, just like Graham Greene used to divide his own works. That means that it's not intended to be there with "The War of the End of the World", or "The Feast of the Goat", but it's more a lighthearted narrative.
As for XIXth Century's cat novels, I loved Murr. All differences regarded, it belongs right there with the Quixote, Jacques the Fatalist, and of course Tristram Shandy. It was a delightful read, I wanted to know everything about Kreisler, the court, the Princesses, Master Abraham, Murr and his adventures. It is witty, ironic, deals with serious subject in a most enchanting manner.
Two other things: although I was always conscious that the novel was written around 1820, I kept imagining the action in the Middle Ages. Plus, I tended to imagine it sometimes in the flesh and sometimes in cartoons. I love that kind of interactive novel, like the ones already mentioned: literary artifices which talk to the reader, ponder their options, reflect on the act of writing, and peel layers of stories, inserting digressions which are frequently the most memorable parts. Anyone else liked it?
--Previous Message--
: No, I haven't read it yet, but that's soon remedied. I'm
: still waiting for someone else to finish our May
: selection. See if I nominate any more 19th century
: German cat books!
:
: In honor of MVL's Nobel Prize and leading up to The
: Bad Girl, I've been reading several of his other
: works. Previously I had read only Aunt Julia and the
: Scriptwriter, which we read together a couple of years
: ago. So far this year I have read:
:
: The Cubs and Other Stories,
: The Time of the Hero,
: The War of the End of the World,
: Death in the Andes,
: The Feast of the Goat, and
: In Praise of the Stepmother.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Well, it's June. Has anyone else read this yet? I
: confess that I was somewhat disappointed, but I'd love
: to hear what the rest of you thought.
:
:
:
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