tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post116632866776726766..comments2024-01-06T00:28:45.062+08:00Comments on Bibliobibuli: Snow Driftbibliobibulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166537056957127402006-12-19T22:04:00.000+08:002006-12-19T22:04:00.000+08:00great - look forward to it!great - look forward to it!bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166521109790747432006-12-19T17:38:00.000+08:002006-12-19T17:38:00.000+08:00tell you later on saturday.tell you later on saturday.Burhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05582444270077430405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166520062330356752006-12-19T17:21:00.000+08:002006-12-19T17:21:00.000+08:00can see the academic *LOL*what area did you specia...can see the academic *LOL*<BR/><BR/>what area did you specialise in?bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166504913438383872006-12-19T13:08:00.000+08:002006-12-19T13:08:00.000+08:00ok no problem.ok no problem.Burhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05582444270077430405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166490533921065412006-12-19T09:08:00.000+08:002006-12-19T09:08:00.000+08:00i still think that the point that atwood makes in ...i still think that the point that atwood makes in this little bit i picked out is a valid one, burhan. maybe we have to agree to disagree.bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166434355811448032006-12-18T17:32:00.000+08:002006-12-18T17:32:00.000+08:00There are a lot of female drifters and adventurers...There are a lot of female drifters and adventurers out there and I cannot say how many times I had heard my female friends complain on how meaningless they find their lives (but that probably says a lot about the kind of people I used to hang out with). Questions about the purpose of life afflicts all humans.<BR/><BR/>And there are a lot of male writers who are in the conventional sense ‘less masculine’ -- whatever that means: effeminate, weakling, gay, transgendered -- and who write the kind of literature you mentioned: Jean Genet, Mishima, etc.<BR/><BR/>The point for me is not how many examples or counterexamples I can supply. The point is whether writing those novel is a direct function of masculinity, and whether femininity leads one way from such works. My answer is: ultimately, no.Burhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05582444270077430405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166434264466385392006-12-18T17:31:00.000+08:002006-12-18T17:31:00.000+08:00I can see some of the truth in: Being preoccupied ...I can see some of the truth in: Being preoccupied with masculinity => writing gritty war or cowboy novels, or spy thrillers starring Sean Connery. <BR/><BR/>But I can see no real truth in: Being preoccupied with masculinity => writing philosophical novels of drifters who are obsessed with finding meaning.<BR/><BR/>(‘Masculinity’ is not the same as being a man. It’s probably closer to the opposite of being effete)<BR/><BR/>‘Philosophical’ is highly relative, not sure how to make sense of what a ‘philosophical novel’ is. Still, today there are many great female philosophers and many female writers who write these existentialist novels of ideas (Susan Sontag, Beauvoir, Assia Djebar, Angela Carter, Marguerite Yourcenar) and their doing so does not or should not make them any less ‘feminine’ or ladylike (if such a concept really makes sense). <BR/><BR/>But this is a highly problematic topic. It’s the same with the issue on whether a female becomes more butch when she ventures into science, or whether science itself is gender neutral. If you recall, even the President of Harvard University had to resign after something he said about it.Burhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05582444270077430405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166425675612484922006-12-18T15:07:00.000+08:002006-12-18T15:07:00.000+08:00i want! i want!but after i return Hawksmoor.i want! i want!<BR/><BR/>but after i return Hawksmoor.Allan Koay 郭少樺https://www.blogger.com/profile/06520221332029467739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166418737115742342006-12-18T13:12:00.000+08:002006-12-18T13:12:00.000+08:00i agree with atwood i'm afraid. the drifting philo...i agree with atwood i'm afraid. the drifting philosophical character in search of a meaning is ... and please correct me if i'm wrong by giving me specific instances ... always (or nearly always) male and created by a male mind.<BR/><BR/>c'mon ... prove me wrong ...bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166416275917396332006-12-18T12:31:00.000+08:002006-12-18T12:31:00.000+08:00atwood's review contains some rather naive and out...atwood's review contains some rather naive and outdated feminist ideas. <BR/><BR/>i see no essential connection between writing a labyrinth novel and the contemporary cultural view of masculinity. certainly the main players of today's literary landscape, modern and postmodern, are from both genders. even the concept of the rootless hero is, to me, very gender-neutral (there are angsty men and women, aren't they?), even though there seems to be a strong American tradition of conceiving the masculine condition as a lonesome state (Hemmingway, Kerouac, etc).<BR/><BR/>but i would agree to atwood's complaint against the treatment of women in pamuk's work: as only idealized objects of desire (snow suffers from this too). relationships are always overly-romantic there. this as a complaint in much of arab and turkish literature. their poetry (e.g gibran), for example, has always had a very strong romantic tradition.Burhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05582444270077430405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166411181661069012006-12-18T11:06:00.000+08:002006-12-18T11:06:00.000+08:00i am so enjoying "the brooklyn follies" (was just ...i am so enjoying "the brooklyn follies" (was just "working" i.e. sitting on the verandah in my favourite chair, reading it - hard life!) and it is very different from "new york trilogy" - a lot less murakamiesque, much more human ... and much more like the auster i encountered in his film scripts. <BR/><BR/>chet sent me an e-mail yesterday to say that she was bowled ovr by auster's writing - and she has gone much further than i have.<BR/><BR/>visitor - you may well love "snow". wanna borrow?bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166408609737433032006-12-18T10:23:00.000+08:002006-12-18T10:23:00.000+08:00I read some good comments over at the American boo...I read some good comments over at the American book-blogging scene earlier this year about The Brooklyn Follies, and recently, on this Murakami forum I frequent, some people were asking about Murakami-esque writers and Auster's name kept cropping up (I hear Swifty groaning already ^_^). And the paperback cover looks mighty interesting...<BR/><BR/>...so naturally I'd be interested to hear (or read also can lah) what's your take on him (even though I already know what you think of the NY Trilogy).Ted Mahsunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13555225524434639998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166407468549825972006-12-18T10:04:00.000+08:002006-12-18T10:04:00.000+08:00shit! now you make me really REALLY want to read S...shit! now you make me really REALLY want to read Snow!Allan Koay 郭少樺https://www.blogger.com/profile/06520221332029467739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166403269586842962006-12-18T08:54:00.000+08:002006-12-18T08:54:00.000+08:00why particuarly that book? declare your interest ...why particuarly that book? declare your interest young ted!bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1166398294044895372006-12-18T07:31:00.000+08:002006-12-18T07:31:00.000+08:00A good reason to start podcasting would be to talk...A good reason to start podcasting would be to talk about The Brooklyn Follies... or Paul Auster in general.<BR/><BR/>*cough cough hint hint*Ted Mahsunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13555225524434639998noreply@blogger.com