I always thought JRR Tolkien invented the fantasy novel, but turns out it was Victor Hugo. This New Yorker piece, which is actually about some famous but now widely unread Italian epic literary novel, starts off with a shout-out to Norman Denny, the translator of Hugo’s
If you want a novel that regularly meanders into arcane points that are not needed by the plot, then it’s hard to top Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). There are 135 chapters in the book. It has been worked out that you can get the full doomed narrative of Captain Ahab and the crew of the Pequod’s pursuit of the white whale by reading just 35 chapters and ignoring the other 100.
The less necessary 100 includes chapters like
CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes.
CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View.
Moby Dick was on the reading list for one of the American Lit subjects back in the early '90s at UQ and the convenor had a list of chapters like that *not* to read because they were only of interest if you wanted boring, unnecessary information about whaling at the time...
Damn it as an author yourself I thought you would have realised. If as the good Victor Hugo had spent weeks learning about the form and nature of the Paris sewer system just so he could lend authenticity to his 2 sentence descriptions as Jean Valjean carries Marius then the reader can jolly well enjoy the other 8 pages of exposition on what he has learned.
Far From The Madding Crowd is another meandering piece of bullshit. Every chapter could have been reduced to a paragraph there was so little action of any persuasion.
almost as good as the review I read of jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice on amazon "one star. Just a bunch of people going into and out of each others houses"
I just got halfway through the movie adaption of it for this very reason, and gave up even though I was watching it solely for the magnificent Michael Sheen.
Yes I thought I was on a winner with Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge in it, but I stumbled across a synopsis of the novel and knowing what happened really put a damper on my Saturday night movie watching. I'll go back and finish it when I'm in the right mood 😊
I like Peter F. Hamilton, and the Night's Dawn trilogy is great, but my fuck does he like to waffle sometimes. I have some issues with that work, like the prevalence of old men and young women in relationships, and the use of deus ex machina. But overall, it was my introduction to his work and I enjoyed it.
He's even guiltier with his Commonwealth Saga. It was meant to be 2 books, and then he started the Dreamer stuff and I lost interest.
For what it's worth, pretty sure I dropped the middle third of Tom Brown's Schooldays with no regrets whatsoever. Just turned page after pager until I found dialogue again.
If you want a novel that regularly meanders into arcane points that are not needed by the plot, then it’s hard to top Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). There are 135 chapters in the book. It has been worked out that you can get the full doomed narrative of Captain Ahab and the crew of the Pequod’s pursuit of the white whale by reading just 35 chapters and ignoring the other 100.
The less necessary 100 includes chapters like
CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes.
CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View.
CHAPTER 77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun.
Maybe it’s time to admit that 19th century literature is mostly just cold garbage
I've tried several times, but have never even got through the first chapter.
Moby Dick was on the reading list for one of the American Lit subjects back in the early '90s at UQ and the convenor had a list of chapters like that *not* to read because they were only of interest if you wanted boring, unnecessary information about whaling at the time...
Damn it as an author yourself I thought you would have realised. If as the good Victor Hugo had spent weeks learning about the form and nature of the Paris sewer system just so he could lend authenticity to his 2 sentence descriptions as Jean Valjean carries Marius then the reader can jolly well enjoy the other 8 pages of exposition on what he has learned.
Sorry, sir, the dog ate my homework, sir.
Far From The Madding Crowd is another meandering piece of bullshit. Every chapter could have been reduced to a paragraph there was so little action of any persuasion.
almost as good as the review I read of jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice on amazon "one star. Just a bunch of people going into and out of each others houses"
I just got halfway through the movie adaption of it for this very reason, and gave up even though I was watching it solely for the magnificent Michael Sheen.
Not a Hardy fan - they are all just so fucking miserable! but I quite liked this film. Then again, I'd watch Carey Mulligan in anything.
Yes I thought I was on a winner with Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge in it, but I stumbled across a synopsis of the novel and knowing what happened really put a damper on my Saturday night movie watching. I'll go back and finish it when I'm in the right mood 😊
I thought that Tolkien wrote the Rings so that the Germans didn't have all of the good epics. So there must be some precedence there?
And didn't Beowulf get there first anyway?
This makes me wonder, with novels of Hugo's time serialised, did it not reward the author to pad it out forever to keep the story rolling?
Ooh I like this theory. It confirms all my priors.
I like Peter F. Hamilton, and the Night's Dawn trilogy is great, but my fuck does he like to waffle sometimes. I have some issues with that work, like the prevalence of old men and young women in relationships, and the use of deus ex machina. But overall, it was my introduction to his work and I enjoyed it.
He's even guiltier with his Commonwealth Saga. It was meant to be 2 books, and then he started the Dreamer stuff and I lost interest.
For what it's worth, pretty sure I dropped the middle third of Tom Brown's Schooldays with no regrets whatsoever. Just turned page after pager until I found dialogue again.