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Postby Plainsong » Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:22 am

I have a Frida Kahlo bookmark that I use frequently.
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Postby rushedbehind » Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:58 am

just read delany's babel-17 and loved it. i've tried dhalgren a couple of times.. both times i was moved by the opening but then ran out of steam around page 200 -- any words of advice?
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Postby winj » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:47 am

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Postby Dead_Wizard » Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:50 am

The Jewel Hinged Jaw is a great book on the craft of sci fi by Sam Delany. Excellent essay on The Disposessed in there. Pretty sure it's OOP.

I tabled Berlin Alexanderplatz; just kinda super stressful read.

About to start a bio of Jun Tsuji some Dadaist anarcho shakahuchi dude who translated Stirner into JP.

Got a bunch of stuff on he way...Ernst Junger's Eumeswil, the new Vollman, an ARC of the new Tao Lin, Jason Louv's book on John Dee...excited to dip in!
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Postby abs » Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:47 am

rushedbehind wrote:just read delany's babel-17 and loved it. i've tried dhalgren a couple of times.. both times i was moved by the opening but then ran out of steam around page 200 -- any words of advice?



Dig in and try again. I think I needed 2-3 false starts before I got there.
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Postby Kenny » Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:50 am

yeah, I did a false start on Dhalgren and this thread has me thinking about trying again
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Postby walt whitman » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:01 pm

rushedbehind wrote:just read delany's babel-17 and loved it. i've tried dhalgren a couple of times.. both times i was moved by the opening but then ran out of steam around page 200 -- any words of advice?

think im in the minority here but,

for me, the first half of dhalgren was thrilling and loses steam as it goes on

re advice- i would say accept that it will not resolve into anything resembling conventional sci-fi storytelling, in case you were seeking that

also, maybe read DWB's thesis on Dhalgren
“Short film, Long film, It’s ALL film!” - Walt Whitman
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Postby walt whitman » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:03 pm

mactheo wrote:
vivian darko wrote:moby-dick is one of the best books ever

I have no idea how people write about this book and I have little interest in reading any criticism or interpretation.

there's an insane amount of things one could potentially write about w/r/t moby dick
i similarly have no interest in that, for some reason
“Short film, Long film, It’s ALL film!” - Walt Whitman
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Postby walt whitman » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:04 pm

sort of like rushdie's midnight's children, i feel like moby dick stands as its own work of criticism/literary theory, as much as it is a 'story'
“Short film, Long film, It’s ALL film!” - Walt Whitman
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Postby rushedbehind » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:23 pm

walt whitman wrote:
rushedbehind wrote:just read delany's babel-17 and loved it. i've tried dhalgren a couple of times.. both times i was moved by the opening but then ran out of steam around page 200 -- any words of advice?

think im in the minority here but,

for me, the first half of dhalgren was thrilling and loses steam as it goes on

re advice- i would say accept that it will not resolve into anything resembling conventional sci-fi storytelling, in case you were seeking that

also, maybe read DWB's thesis on Dhalgren


i went into it expecting something more like pynchon than philip k dick, i guess. but what i found disappointing was that the first 50 pages set it up to be this dark, post-anthropocene type epic, and then there's like a 50 page passage where the protagonist is moving furniture around. i could be missing the point, but the style wasn't enough to make me push through
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Postby dmitry » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:52 pm

it's so bizarre to me that dhalgren is described as particularly postmodernist. it doesn't seem any more postmodernist or "unexplained" than anything from magical realism

i think if you get stuck on part 3 just skip it, the book most definitely picks up steam after that
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Postby iacus » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:00 pm

dmitry wrote:it doesn't seem any more postmodernist or "unexplained" than anything from magical realism


I think it's mostly the more obviously metafictional elements in the back part with the notebook, but yeah, Delany was a genre writer, not a post-modernist
(there was a hyperbole)
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Postby dmitry » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:34 pm

he posts a lot on Facebook
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Postby Seamus » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:57 pm

moby dick absolutely rips, maybe i'll reread it this year
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Postby Kenny » Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:33 pm

Just finished Rudyard Kipling's Kim which I think is the book to beat so far this year. Kipling obviously has problems with race but I was pretty astounded by how complex they are.

It's a really beautiful book.
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Postby pablito » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:50 am

looking for a rec from any art history heads here - i'm really interested in learning more about woodcuts and printmaking in general. any leads on some good books to start checkin out some rad renaissance and early modern prints?
*Offer temporarily suspended in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for understanding
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Postby Kenny » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:13 am

Now reading:
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I just bought it randomly when I heard from one of the Backlisted guys it was a good post-apocalyptic book and I don't know anything else about it... haven't read a book as randomly as this in a while.
[PEACE] [LOVE] [UNITY] [RESPECT] (stay posi)

You are a sacred being of light projected into reality for a purpose. Demand the right to your moment in this holographic gift with no rules, no borders, except for those you choose to accept and live by.

Without Labour there is no Rest; nor without Fighting can the Victory be Won ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

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Postby tanaka » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:07 am

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this is really funny, plenty of neat observations about post-war vietnam too

i can never love a book that lacks a comedic element, because life is hilarious, a total shitshow
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Postby walt whitman » Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:58 am

pablito wrote:looking for a rec from any art history heads here - i'm really interested in learning more about woodcuts and printmaking in general. any leads on some good books to start checkin out some rad renaissance and early modern prints?

not really my period/format, but maybe start by googling 'Albrecht Durer'...
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Postby rich uncle skeleton » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:15 am

walt whitman wrote:
pablito wrote:looking for a rec from any art history heads here - i'm really interested in learning more about woodcuts and printmaking in general. any leads on some good books to start checkin out some rad renaissance and early modern prints?

not really my period/format, but maybe start by googling 'Albrecht Durer'...


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I'm pretty sure the Story of Art has a big thing about Durer but idk how recommended that book is these days
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Postby bongo » Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:07 am

yeaaaaaaaaaaaa american nostalgia love it suburban living civilized families this could be my life
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Postby Plainsong » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:05 pm

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Postby Barthes Starr » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:07 pm

bongo wrote:


:shock:
:ahuh:
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Postby David Lobster Wallets » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:39 pm

Just finished lighthousekeeping by jeanette winterson, the two books I've read by her are so twee, reading them feels like a guilty pleasure, i love it.

now onto:
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Postby David Lobster Wallets » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:50 pm

Barthes Starr wrote:
bongo wrote:


:shock:
:ahuh:


:ryan:
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Postby fresco painter » Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:42 pm

Just started reading that first lispector book and the ray monk’s biography of wittgenstein
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Postby Seamus » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:06 pm

While I like it being my little secret and all, I really wish the board would hurry up and read Arabia Felix so we can collectively love it
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Postby Dead_Wizard » Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:14 pm

that Wittgenstein bio is great!
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Postby rich uncle skeleton » Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:22 pm

Yeah the Duty of Genius affected me more deeply than maybe any other book ever
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Postby dmitry » Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:51 pm

pablito wrote:looking for a rec from any art history heads here - i'm really interested in learning more about woodcuts and printmaking in general. any leads on some good books to start checkin out some rad renaissance and early modern prints?


i havent read the book but i went to a super awesome exhibition based on The Print before Photography

He divides his book into three main sections: print production, the European print trade, and the use and understanding of the print. The first, and longest, covers not just technology and the capacity of copper plates, but also lettering, copying, censorship, colouring, book illustration, and the survival and loss of prints. The second deals with financing, patronage, state and private publication, marketing, buyers, and cheap prints and the itinerant trade. The final main section deals with views on the utility of the print, display and storage, collecting, early literature on prints, their use in the art world, and the heirarchy of techniques. A brief coda looks at the print since 1820.


actually maybe it's too specific on the details rather than the art. well, meggs' chapters on printmaking are definitely good and you can easily find PDFs online


this has nothing to do with anything but fun fact printmakers used to be trained as goldsmiths! also, rembrandt and goya were both fine printmakers, as were a surprising amount of master painters even in modernity. though i saw some of durers paintings and i dont think he should have done those.

and because it wasn't custom to sign your work for a long time, yet styles are discernible, we end up with cool anonymous printmakers like "Master of the Playing Cards"
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