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A magical current of story telling...

Chapter 3 brings back the fire and magic of the first chapter, moving back from biology to philosophy!

Second chapter wasn't quite as engaging as first because I felt Bergson got bogged down in biological explanations that might be outdated by now with MRI and MEG imaging of brains. Curious to see where he goes next...

Just so... BEAUTIFUL so far.

The first chapter of this detonated mind explosions on almost every page, both with ideas I have had before but could never quite find words for and also explanations for those ideas that were clearly written and fascinating to follow.

Penny arcade fortune telling machines are a brilliant gag.

This is just just so much fun I honestly can't wait to re-read.

Effing great.
Better than The Woodcutters.

Similar, but better than The Woodcutters, for me at least. More depth into the artistic dementia. For anyone who has tried to create this is shattering.

Very good...

I honestly don't know why I always feel surprised by how much I adore Roth's writing every time I come back to him. It's like I remember on this abstract level - "Yeah, He's great." - but then I find myself back into the middle of one of his novels and I am just completely taken over by his ability to 100% flesh out all the complexity of being human. Whatever kind of human that is. Just completely inhabited space.

Simultaneously completely different from all Krasznahorkai I have read before and yet very much the same. As if the same thread was not only used to make two different fabrics but also two completely different articles of clothing. Or maybe a jacket and an tablecloth. Yet you can feel that same thread winding through each...

Chapter 3 kicked my brain's butt up and down the block.
May need to take a short break before diving back in to up my mental strength levels.

This may be one of the most difficult to grok books I've ever read...

My oh my this is some beautiful writing that is an absolute pleasure to read.

OK. Finished the second chapter which felt foggier than the first. Still, what I was able to grok was pretty damn interesting. The first two chapters are supposed to be his review of the existing literature on the subject of Difference and Repetition. Coming up next is the "hinge" chapter and then his original thoughts on these topics. Going to put this one down for a little while to give my brain a break.

Oof this second chapter on past/present/future and time/memory/repetition is fricken' hard to grok.

Seems like an entirely fitting read for these times.

In my review of The Hermetic Deleuze I mentioned it made me feel confident enough to tackle this work. But after 50 or so pages felt overwhelmed and put it aside. But then, I looked, and it looked back. I said "let's see." And then the fog turned to clearing, and I I was groking more than before. It still feels like starting Lacan. Moments of beguiling fog and startling clarity. The clarity is sticking.

I am embarrassed to admit that I was almost halfway through this book before I realized I had already read it. Has that happened to anyone else?? Maybe I should check GR first before I start any new book to see if I've already read it? Am I really at that stage of old? Embarrassing fer sure...

Endlessly fascinating...

About 70 pages in and absolutely fantastic so far (although the chapter on hermetic tradition was a little hard to understand and follow in some places).

I'm a bit sad that I'm not enjoying this more.

"Distant coffin overtakes me"
"Remember i was the cotton flesh lying there"
"ghost voices calling false human hosts"

Only reading small sections of this at a time but it is really amazing and very well written.

Silent ebony eyes turned toward a horizon of always, waiting with a patience born of a million years, for the dawn that never rises.

Utterly engrossing.

Worth the read for the "do you love me?" section alone - an absolutely superb bit of cut-up. A passage I recently enjoyed: "There are no good relationships - There are no good words - I wrote silences - a storm leaving his brain centers - evening faces into the ponds - I wept in a land of black lagoons and skies - crumbling stone villas..." "ghost hands at paneless windows"

Ooh Wee this second part is firing up my brain and heart.
Reminding me of things I've forgotten or neglected for 30+ years.
Not to mention lengthening my reading list.

While I'm not sure I'm buying all of Campagna's arguments, wish he could reference some thinkers that have covered similar ground (Wittgenstein and Lacan come to mind), and could use more examples, I am thoroughly enjoying this work so far. Finished the first half on Technnic and now moving on to the second half on Magic. As my goal for 2025 is to crawl out of my own nihilism, I am looking forward to what comes next.