tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post7916379882367922334..comments2024-03-25T22:38:46.822+08:00Comments on in lieu of a field guide: On the telling of a tale and the singing of versesRisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-7065309114960501172013-06-15T23:50:23.538+08:002013-06-15T23:50:23.538+08:00That may be the case, Scott. Borges would probably...That may be the case, <b>Scott</b>. Borges would probably have liked the novel. For its plot alone, it's obvious JGR is a teller of a tale. Because--what a tale it is! JGR was also first a poet before a novelist, so the poetic tendencies in his fiction must have come from the "maker" of verse in him. Borges also predicted that this novel will come from America. And maybe there are Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-64010708487578691652013-06-14T09:47:54.437+08:002013-06-14T09:47:54.437+08:00Rise, you--and Scott's recent arrival at the p...Rise, you--and Scott's recent arrival at the party--have encouraged me to stay and pull another beer out of the fridge and write at least one more post on the pseudo-question of whether <em>GS:V</em> is a Boom or pre-Boom novel or not. Hopefully, I'll find some time for that this weekend because I've found just the criticism foil for it.<br /><br />Scott, I think many of these pointsRichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-13414368279067052972013-06-14T06:29:15.322+08:002013-06-14T06:29:15.322+08:00Well, he gets a whole maelstom of knives near the ...Well, he gets a whole maelstom of knives near the end of GS:V. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-15508546444469779542013-06-14T06:27:17.265+08:002013-06-14T06:27:17.265+08:00My familiarity with Borges is far more limited tha...My familiarity with Borges is far more limited than yours (both of you), but I'd argue that JGR manages to take these experimental elements Borges might not have liked and managed to make them likable. I actually didn't find much "novelistic trickery" in GS:V. The shifting times, for instance, aren't some abstract narrative experiment, but a completely believable portrait ofseraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-85381729836338542712013-06-13T15:35:46.870+08:002013-06-13T15:35:46.870+08:00"Primal" is the word, yes. Borges would ..."Primal" is the word, yes. Borges would go all-out for the courageous hero, he would be skeptical of anti-heroes. And weapons like knives would be more exciting. No guns for him.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-56400521569129461372013-06-13T15:24:16.938+08:002013-06-13T15:24:16.938+08:00Richard, that would be a very good question to pon...Richard, that would be a very good question to ponder, <i>GS:V</i> as part of the Boom (or pre-Boom?) tradition. The party is still in full swing, I think.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-77867818580139892022013-06-12T06:23:51.010+08:002013-06-12T06:23:51.010+08:00Interesting, in Jorge Amado's Showdown the peo...Interesting, in Jorge Amado's <i>Showdown</i> the people of Tocaia Grande also live on as heroes in songs and folktales after they're exterminated by the authorities.<br /><br />It doesn't surprise me Borges prefer epic poems to novels. The epic doesn't deal with the messy, grimy aspects of human life that aren't found in his short-stories either. At the same time he had a LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-67144498929515138672013-06-11T10:39:57.029+08:002013-06-11T10:39:57.029+08:00Whether Borges would have enjoyed GS:V or not is a...Whether Borges would have enjoyed <em>GS:V</em> or not is a wonderful question to take up. It has so many things Borges would seem to like: epic storytelling, Dante references, a delight in language. And yet so many things he wouldn't: experimentation with form, shifting times, novelistic trickery. I also wanted to take up the question of whether <em>GS:V</em> should be considered a Boom Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.com