Mala’s Reviews > Tests of Time > Status Update
Mala
is reading
"Make it new," Ezra Pound commanded, and "innovative" is a good name for some kinds of fiction; most newness is new in all the same old ways: falsely, as products are said to be new by virtue of minuscule and trivial additions; or vapidly, when the touted differences are pointless; or opportunistically, when alterations are made simply in order to profit from imaginary improvement; or differentially (contd in comment
— Jun 19, 2016 09:05AM
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Mala
is on page 217 of 320
…the initial response to The Tunnel has spoken of my narrator as a man so monstrous as to bear no resemblance to anyone they know, only to Nazis and other ancient historical figures. When he invents a political group… which he calls the Party of Disappointed People, his creation is taken as a sign of his crazed and cranky condition. And my precursors in the growing of sour grapes are said to be (Contd.)
— Jun 26, 2016 09:44AM
Mala
is on page 195 of 320
When I am owned by an ideology, I am going to favor its defense as if I were being defended, because that's what will be happening. The free mind can open its fingers and let fall ill-favored fruit. Other ideas are always welcome. What are not welcome are views which hinder sight, which are themselves fists,which possess our souls like a disease, which say—as Satan did to Faust after their bargain—"Now you are mine!"
— Jun 26, 2016 09:42AM
Mala
is reading
The only holy word is the free word. May they all be pronounced from every peak and steeple. The democracy of the word requires that all words be deemed equal. In any language, in any dialect, in any argot, in any slur or drawl or stammer. Good manners may suggest that in place of saying to a lady of doubtful character, "I see you are a slut," you should say," I see you have a free and easy spirit."(contd.)
— Jun 26, 2016 09:40AM
Mala
is on page 174 of 320
Tribalism, Identity, and Ideology:
Everyone who thinks as I do, feeds as I do, whistles the same tunes as I do, drives what I do, kneels as I do, hats his or her head as I do, votes or dances or loves as I do, confirms my mode of existence, validates the mess I have made of my life and makes it seem sensible and of value. (174)
— Jun 26, 2016 09:39AM
Everyone who thinks as I do, feeds as I do, whistles the same tunes as I do, drives what I do, kneels as I do, hats his or her head as I do, votes or dances or loves as I do, confirms my mode of existence, validates the mess I have made of my life and makes it seem sensible and of value. (174)
Mala
is on page 102 of 320
The Tests of Time — the kind of essay that would provide NR material for status posts for months on end!
"There can be no doubt that some works are felt to have stood the Test of Time better than others. The Test of Time is not simply pass/fail. One of the severest examiners is Time itself." (102)
— Jun 22, 2016 07:34AM
"There can be no doubt that some works are felt to have stood the Test of Time better than others. The Test of Time is not simply pass/fail. One of the severest examiners is Time itself." (102)
Mala
is reading
Among the more admirable kinds of lists is the menu, and among the many memorable moments in Robert Coover's novel Pinocchio in Venice is the meal which Professor Pinocchio nibbles at on the first evening of his arrival in Venice.
(97)
In The Sot-Weed Factor, when the whores go at it, two hundred twenty-nine nasty names are traded—English answered by French in increasingly hoarse howls. (99)
— Jun 22, 2016 07:33AM
(97)
In The Sot-Weed Factor, when the whores go at it, two hundred twenty-nine nasty names are traded—English answered by French in increasingly hoarse howls. (99)
Mala
is on page 95 of 320
The list is the fundamental rhetorical form for creating a sense of abundance, overflow, excess. We find it so used in writers with an appetite for life from Rabelais and Cervantes, or from Burton and Browne, to Barth and Elkin.(…) Desire is never dampened by its dampening, but only grows greater, and its object is not consumed by its consumption but is multiplied, and pleasure is not lessened by its (contd)
— Jun 22, 2016 07:30AM
Mala
is on page 92 of 320
Listing is a fundamental literary strategy. It occurs constantly, and only occasionally draws attention to itself. It can be so so brief as almost not to be there. "Alex went to the bank, to the casino, and to the dogs in one day." It can be so prominent it proclaims itself as some fictional reality's single ordering device. (92)
— Jun 22, 2016 07:28AM
Mala
is on page 78 of 320
'I've Got a Little List'— we all know who is a sucker for lists on GR ;)
Here are two examples: Roberta Coughlin's book The Gardener's Companion, which contains more than three hundred and fifty lists of practical and cultural information, and Juan Goytisolo's extraordinary novel, a novel made of lists, The Virtues of the Solitary Bird.
— Jun 22, 2016 07:27AM
Here are two examples: Roberta Coughlin's book The Gardener's Companion, which contains more than three hundred and fifty lists of practical and cultural information, and Juan Goytisolo's extraordinary novel, a novel made of lists, The Virtues of the Solitary Bird.
Mala
is on page 55 of 320
Ah, we do like to fancy our books are bombs, but bombs, we need to remember, in order to make a great show—to do their damage, prove a point, teach some slow wit a lesson—have to blow themselves to bits and pieces first. (34)
— Jun 19, 2016 09:11AM
