Jonathan’s Reviews > The Bath Fugues > Status Update
Jonathan
is on page 100 of 350
"Indeed, he belonged to a secret society of bicyclists….Thomas Hardy, Mircea Eliade, Bohumil Hrabal, Eugene Ionesco, Eddy Merckx, Slobodan Milosevic, Gavrilo Princip, Jozef Skvorecki, Tzvetan Todorov, Samuel Beckett, Marcel Duchamp, George Dwyer and the philosopher De Selby. "
That list from p69 should tell you everything you need to know about this book and who it will appeal to. Especially the last name.
— Apr 15, 2020 03:41AM
That list from p69 should tell you everything you need to know about this book and who it will appeal to. Especially the last name.
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Jonathan’s Previous Updates
Jonathan
is on page 280 of 350
Yup. Still excellent. Incredibly tightly structured
— Apr 24, 2020 03:34AM
Jonathan
is on page 180 of 350
...in the end stories are fanatical lighthouses without light and appear only during the day, possibly in fair weather, but they are nothing to cling to in the deepest of nights, for we only have ourselves, the controls are in our hands alone, as we glide towards danger, suicide or resurrection. Snake-charmers do not have the well-being of cobras in mind. I have never tried to tell stories.
— Apr 18, 2020 07:15AM
Jonathan
is on page 160 of 350
Reading the transcript of this interview with the author should be sufficient to get some of you (you know who you are!) interested in his work: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/...
— Apr 17, 2020 10:24AM
Jonathan
is on page 50 of 350
Fans of Alexander Theroux, Gaddis and all the rest need to get on the Castro-train. This is my third of his and all have been excellent. This little review should be sufficient to catch your attention for this one: https://www.perilousadventures.net/10...
— Apr 13, 2020 03:48AM
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Wastrel
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Apr 15, 2020 08:22AM
Well, the absence of Krabbé from that list certainly puts it in context...
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well the only ones I had to look up were Merckx and Dwyer and I remain at a loss re the inclusion of the latter in the list...and the former just shows I have no knowledge of the actual sport and therefore had to google Krabbe too...
Indeed, it evidently works well as a list of slightly obscure names we can feel proud of recognising...But yeah, among the secret society of bicyclists, De Renner is essentially the Bible. bicycling.com describes it as being "passed like samizdat among a clandestine tribe". According to one pro, "every Dutch guy who’s a little into cycling knows the first five sentences of the book." Some cycling-related companies literally have it as required reading for all employees.
Wastrel wrote: "Indeed, it evidently works well as a list of slightly obscure names we can feel proud of recognising......"well that is a little unfair. The list is a joke, as was my comment. The reference to de Selby makes clear that this is our narrator is making shit up (if the absurd names in the list did not already make that clear). I quoted it because I think fans of O'Brien will like the book, as well as people like Gilbert Sorrentino who do similar sorts of silly things,
Though I did google out of curiosity and was led to this article, which I am glad for, for the Hardy picture if nothing else:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
