What are you reading now?

[Jonathan]

Hi FF, oddly not! I'm a Wizard!!

[Mal]

Yes ..one of the most sinister figures in Conrad and that’s saying something. I don’t think James does “evil” as well.

Yes, Conrad is very good on the subject of "evil". Ricardo in "Victory" is another sinister figure that springs to mind:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44861555?read-now=1&oauth_data=eyJlbWFpbCI6Im1kbWFjZ3JAZ21haWwuY29tIiwiaW5zdGl0dXRpb25JZHMiOltdfQ#page_scan_tab_contents

P.S. JSTOR now offering 100 free articles a month with a simple registration! The opposite of evil... unless their aim is to get you hooked on scholarship and then charge you £££ a month...

[french frank]

I ploughed through Tolstoy's (short) Kreutzer Sonata and one thought struck me. Perhaps someone who read the story with more enjoyment (and insight) than me could enlighten me? I was reading R3's BaL blurb on Janáček's SQ where it said: 'Composed in only nine days in 1923, Janáček's compact, emotionally supercharged String Quartet No 1 takes its title from Leo Tolstoy’s 1889 novella where a wife and her violinist lover play Beethoven’s 'Kreutzer' Sonata together before the jealous husband murders his adulterous wife.'

But, in Tolstoy the story of the suspicious, jealous husband is recounted to the hearers by - the suspicious, jealous husband. I didn't feel that even in his telling it was clear that there had been an adulterous affair between his wife and the violinist. He burst in on them and found them sitting at the piano talking. Did I miss something subtle? Janáček's 'retelling' might indeed have been deliberately clearer on the point.

[vinteuil]

.

... 'adultery' in the sense of Matthew 5 -

27 Audistis quia dictum est antiquis: Non moechaberis. 28 Ego autem dico vobis: quia omnis qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, jam moechatus est eam in corde suo.

"27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

[french frank]

Good reply. It might fit with Tolstoy's own brand of Christianity too, though Pozdnyshev was perhaps lucky to get away with an acquittal on the basis of Matthew 5 in Russia.

.

... 'adultery' in the sense of Matthew 5 -

27 Audistis quia dictum est antiquis: Non moechaberis. 28 Ego autem dico vobis: quia omnis qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, jam moechatus est eam in corde suo.

"27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

[JasonPalmer]

Got given some interesting books for my recent birthday and just ordered a book theorising that adhd is a trait which would be usefull in hunter gatherer societies, being neurodivergant i am interested in such things.

[smittims]

Good for you,Jason; I have a mild form of ADHD and it does have its advantages.

[JasonPalmer]

I seem to have some of the traits, the book was fascinating.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ADHD-Hunter-Farmers-Thom-Hartmann/dp/162055898X

[smittims]

Approaching the end of a re-read of 'The Spoils of Poynton' following the recent posts on Henry James.

Next, I really must get on with the Barchester Chronicles. 'Doctor Thorne' is next.

[eighthobstruction]

....very good Kurt Vonnegut definitive documentary ....Kurt Vonnegut : Unstuck in Time....it was on Sky thurs 27.4.23....ver very good

[Petrushka]

Picked up last week at the neighbourhood book stall:

Headlong by Michael Frayn

[smittims]

I'm just getting into 'Doctor Thorne' for the third time, as I'm re-reading the Barchester Chronicles this year.

[Historian]

Just finished 'The Last of the Wine', Mary Renault, 1956. The first of her novels set in Ancient Greece, in this case the Athens of Socrates. Would recommend, as I believe the dying now is.

Currently 'The Kreutzer Sonata' following the discussion above.

[Tevot]

Just started "The Second Sleep" by Robert Harris, which has received mixed reviews. The Guardian considered it contemplative & thought provoking whilst the New York Times considered it lacking in tension and purpose - Ouch!! I wonder what camp I will be in once I've finished it

[richardfinegold]

Just started "The Second Sleep" by Robert Harris, which has received mixed reviews. The Guardian considered it contemplative & thought provoking whilst the New York Times considered it lacking in tension and purpose - Ouch!! I wonder what camp I will be in once I've finished it

I’m also reading a Harris book, An Act Of Oblivion. I find the story interesting but his writing style a bit turgid.