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A selection of grotesque and supernaturally inspired stories by E.T.A. Hoffman, perfect for Christmas.
Lots of notes made and googling to be done afterwards, his stories, both comical, thrilling (after the fashion of Shelley), Ghost Stories filled with sleepwalkers, psychics, odd characters that seem to exist between worlds, the Wandering Jew, for example, capturing in turns the implacable remembrance of love, those moments one knows will never be repeated, of true-love generally thwarted, of fashions and news of his day, for example he spins the tale of a miner who was found perfectly preserved in Copper Sulfate, only to be identified by his widow of 50 years, a true tale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fet-Mats), then embellishes upon it to create a story of a sailor drawn to the Mine at Falun by a supernatural agent, not that the events at Falun were by the fashion of the day not fantastic enough, expositions that rely upon unknown circumstance and incredible coincidence, both fantastic and yet relatable, The character, for example of Chancellery Private Secretary Tusmann, whose taste in books somewhat reflects mine own, for example: 1720 "Cicero Presented as a Great Windbag and Pettifogger in Ten Orations" and from whose varied list of recommendations of books long out of fashion I'm led on to:
Wiegleb's - Natural Magic (a practical book on conjuring, or Magic as practiced by Penn & Teller, written in the late 1700's)
Nudow's "Theory of Sleep",
Frankfurt Dream book
Artemidorus - on dreams & Excerpts Here
Anyways, a light but suitable holiday read. Now off to do some work...
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This was a discovery. French Modernist, he writes, well, brilliantly, genius even. Rhythm, style, cadence, pacing, the plot, characters, situations, the balance of narrative, philosophizing, an author I'd seen referred to by Henry Miller (and you can see his influence), as well as influencing Modigliani, (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Blaise_Cendrars), Picasso, Chagall and others. Discovering him is a little like discovering Celine - and - fortunately for me, he has quite a number of other books in translation.
Unfortunately they're pretty rare and often very expensive.
I'll get to them.
The cover art - a Penguin Paperback with Thomas Hafner's "Lucifer" (an AI Hallucination before AI, actually conceived and painted by the artist) - this is the original "Fight Club", "Apocalypse Now", I could go on.
And his writing - trying to discern what is factual - within his experience, vs fiction - what he's making up - is in points night on impossible, he paints perfect, vivid strokes, in the general and then perfectly again in the specific, make it impossible to differentiate...
An absolutely brilliant author but poorly represented in English Translation.
5/5 Stars.
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And so I'm diving down rabbit hole after rabbit hole looking for next reads tangent to the one I've just finished.
Of course, I enjoyed it greatly and would be curious as to the literary milieu that birthed some of my favorite books, there are undoubtedly a few new favorite books that I haven't read yet, and I'd like to get them on the list....
(I'd started the "Marquise of O and other tales" by Kleist only to have it ruined in the introduction by a translator that presumed I was familiar with the plot, outcome and themes of each of the stories. I am now, you asshole, but you've rather ruined my discovery of it!!!)
So far:
Red Spectres - An Anthology of Gothic Russian Tales, Translated by Muiriann Maguire, authors include: Valery Bryusov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Aleksandr Chayanov, Aleksandr Grin, Sigizmund Krzhishanovsky, Pavel Perov & Georgy Peskov. Title is linked to excellent reviews, you can find others online.
Now this would be a good start, I'd love the introduction to authors I might want to follow a little more closely. A quick tour of town and all the bookstores turns me up empty-handed.
Online, well, prices are expensive and I'm not in a mood to wait. Although I might have to.
Alexander Vasilievich Chayanov - whose short story “Venediktov” directly inspired Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita". But that's available in the above anthology. Worth clicking on the link though, for the illustrations are perfect.
Then there's Lyubov Belozerskaya, who wrote "My Life with Mikhail Bulgakov", which would give some background but again is ridiculously priced for a used book...
Anyways, a brief look at what I'm keeping my eyes peeled for...fingers crossed, but stranger things have happened. Maybe time to make a trip to Kaslo and check their bookstore? Or maybe just call...
Oh, and a good website devoted to "The Master and Margarita" - https://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/index.html & the discovery that there's yet another film version to be coming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita_(2024_film). Note the list of adaptations at the bottom of the Wiki Page, there's a few I have yet to see...
Although I'd need a wife connection, as the library and cafe aren't letting me pirate shit...
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This was a beautiful book, purportedly by an anonymous author around 1535, about the adventures of a certain Rupprecht, who following a campaign in Italy and years in "New Spain" returns to the Old World and meets all manner of historical (and otherwise) figures in his adventures about Germany, including Agrippa of Nettesheim, Iohann Weier, Doctor Faustus, Mephistopheles, amongst many others.
It is beautifully written (criticisms would include: although I noted, on the second reading, a few clumsy turns of phrase that could be better addressed or corrected in a new edition, without affecting the quality of prose or style, and translations for the Italian, German and Latin would be appreciated, footnotes or an appendix to seperate the invention of the author from real people, places and events -eg. the many hostels he names, personages he references, etc, etc. While I knew quite a few it is presumptive to expect the reader know them all. And perhaps a map to guide us on his travels.).
IN any event it tells of the various adventures of our narrator, Rupprecht, who exists in a sort of spiritual limbo, accepting at once the Catholic Faith, A humanist who while denouncing the Inquisition yet himself attempts to subdue demons, who believes in a Kind, Just and Merciful God yet bears witness to and narrates the most improbable and impossible of miracles, all narrated as if these were the most ordinary things in the world...
And this is the trick, to provide the reader with a variety of ways to interpret his story - and no one solution, which - in a nutshell, captures his ambiguity about everything that he experiences.
Formidably well researched, Briusov has taken great pains to explore the struggle of the protagonist, this person exists, or existed in the character of the author himself, the tortuous romantic triangle depicting reflecting his own relationship with Andrei Bely and their shared lover, the nineteen-year-old Nina Petrovskaya.
It reminds me of nothing so much as one of those more contemporary war movies, where it becomes impossible to sort out the heroes from the villains and you follow an inadvertent spectator or participant through a perpetually shifting moral and spiritual landscape. Liminal Spaces.
In finishing it - even upon the second reading, I am cast into the slough of despond, afflicted with a profound melancholy. It is odd that it is so out of print, and doubly odd that the translation available has not been better proofed. Still a masterpiece, one that directly inspired "The Master and Margarita", and completely up my alley. A great book that recommends me to a thousand others...
And a happenstance, a lucky find at "The Wee Book Inn" on Whyte in Edmonton.
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A mercifully short (perhaps an hour all in) book, about a group of murderous brothers bent on recovering their stolen bowling trophies.
Humorous, lyrical, after "The Fiery Angel" all I could perhaps stand.
On that note, my review for that is pending, but 5 stars surely...