THE ATLAS by William T. Vollmann
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
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Published 1996 by Viking Books
Hardcover, 459 pages
ISBN 9780670865789
www.penguinran...
Here's a playlist of all my other Vollmann videos:
• Playlist
#leafbyleaf #booktube #bookreview #literature #williamtvollmann #theatlas
The more I learn about Vollmann and the more I read of him, the more I wonder why he isn't consistently considered for the Nobel prize. The quality is obviously there, but the sheer diversity of qualitiative work is seriously unbelievable.
Amen!
Two things: the seven volume McSweeney’s edition of Rising Up and Rising Down weighs 18 pounds, is selling on Amazon in “acceptable condition” for $2111, and McSweeney’s made the books look like the yearly Lakeside Press publications which makes me want that edition even more. 2. Hearing you say out loud all the countries written about in The Atlas really put Vollmann’s humanity in perspective for me. As I read the book, I kept thinking, “Okay, so what country is in the next section?” like a kid getting used to being in a candy store. But when you listed all the countries off my jaw just dropped at the reality of where Vollmann went just to write and explore life. He actually freaking did that. He actually went to all those countries and explored all those cultures and here I am reading about it like, “Wow that sentence was written really interestingly.” I wonder how Jack London would react to him.
I was keeping my eye on a set of RURD (without slipcase, but that is fine with me) on eBay for $400 buy it disappeared right when I was mustering up the courage to pull the trigger. There was one on Amazon for around a thousand but it’s gone now too. This set of books is slowly becoming my white whale!
Great points about The Atlas. I didn’t even name ALL the countries covered in that book either! Thinking of all the decades of Vollmann putting himself in precarious situations, trotting the globe, with his notepads and pens-and then, as you say, we readers sitting in our cozy chairs enjoying the art, the literariness of it all-is a striking perspective. What would Jack London think indeed!
Fantastic review - your Vollmann videos are always my favorite!
Thank you! Glad you like ‘em!
I could hear you talk about Vollmann for hours. Your passion for literature always makes me spring to my bookcase and read more haha just finished the recognitions!
So kind of you! Glad you find the videos inspiring. I can’t wait to revisit JR and Recognitions this fall for the NYRB reissues.
The Atlas is my favorite book by Vollmann so far. Thanks for this presentation. Very insightful.
Thanks! It is indeed a solid book.
Thanks again for getting me hip to Vollmann, i got all i could, some on the way in the mail, and am finding The Atlas a great introduction, plus that Conversations book too.
You Bright and Risen Angels - 1987
The Rainbow Stories - 1989
The Ice-Shirt - 1990
13 Stories and 13 Epitaphs - 1991
Whores for Gloria - 1991
Fathers and Crows - 1992
An Afghanistan Picture Show - 1992
Butterfly Stories - 1993
The Rifles - 1994
The Atlas - 1996
The Royal Family - 2000
Argall - 2001
Rising Up and Rising Down - 2004 (abridged)
Europe Central - 2005
Uncentering the Earth - 2006
Poor People - 2007
Riding Toward Everywhere - 2008
Imperial - 2009
Kissing the Mask - 2010
The Book of Dolores - 2013
Last Stories and Other Stories - 2014
The Dying Grass - 2015
Carbon Ideologies - 2018
The Lucky Star - 2020
My pleasure! Thrilled to introduce people to his work. What a mind! I’m reading The Royal Family in tandem with my trip to San Francisco this autumn.
You should read the book Antkind, it’s the debut novel of Charlie Kaufman. It’s a great 700 page book. I think you would enjoy it. Also I’ve been interested in reading Ducks, Newburyport and wondered if you would recommend it, I highly regard and value your opinion on novels and authors to read. Thank you. Keep up the great work!
You’re not the first person to recommend that-I’m putting it on the list! I really liked Ducks, Newburyport and reviewed it in this edition of Rain Taxi (print only): www.raintaxi.com/volume-24-number-4-winter-2019-96/
Bought this one because of the kawabata influence, and i've been reading this slowly.
Vollmann is an incredible writer. Just grabbed europe central and fathers and crows.
Thanks for getting me into this one. Really unlocks a ton of creative possibilities and rewards rerererereading.
My pleasure! Glad you’re enjoying Vollmann’s delights.
It's always great to see your enthusiasm for works of art. I am eager and excited to read this! Thanks //
Thanks, Harul!
I don't think I'm smart enough to read those book😅 but your intro is so cool! 😎🙌🏼
Thanks so much for saying so! And I am certain you smart enough!
Man, you read more than anyone I watch or know. Out of interest, how many pages do you read in an hour on average? Fantastic review as always. Happy to have found the place.
Approximately 20-25pp/hour; on average, I get 3-4 hours/day in for reading. Glad to have you here!
Nice. The Atlas is a great first Vollmann!
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Excellent review as always, already waiting for the next one.
Thanks, Lalit! I’ve got a nice little treat scheduled for Friday.
Leaf by Leaf Thanks 😊
Hi Leaf!, I hope you can answer me
I've been really intrigued by Vollman since your first video and I've finally decided that I'll begin reading his work starting with the Atlas.
I'm not an English native speaker so I'm wondering, is it too difficult to read language-wise?. The passages you read in this review sound extremely beautiful and regardless of how good the translation is (not to discredit the work of the translators ) some of it will be inevitably lost. So I wanna read it in English, but I'm a bit scared.
Thanks for the amazing review, as always
Excellent choice, Esteban! I’m of course not in tune with your level of English reading, but based on your messages to me I don’t think you’ll have a problem. Vollmann’s diction is clear resorting more to imagery than big words.
@@LeafbyLeaf thank you so much for answering :). I need to change my mindset when it comes to reading, sometimes pausing when lots of new words come up can be fun and a way to be more of an active reader. So I'll stop being so lazy and read in English!
Also, I was lucky enough to find an used copy (in my country!) of "Last Stories and other stories" by Vollman, have you read it? Can you tell me anything about it? The price is very tempting!
That is one of his books that I have not read. But I do have a copy. I’ll flip through it this afternoon and get back to you!
Because of your previous videos, I read _Into the Forbidden Zone,_ which I found online for free. I suppose you know it. I really enjoyed his perspective and prose. I was thinking of following it with the Seven Dreams series, but this sounds like a good proper introduction, as you said (and the Seven Dreams books are awfully expensive). It will be on the top of my list for when I can afford to buy books again (and pay for international shipping). Thanks.
Awesome! His Carbon Ideologies take the material from what you read into great detail (and go beyond just nuclear). The Seven Dreams books are the best of his bibliography in my opinion. Hope you can get your hands on something reasonable soon.
This was my introduction to Vollmann a while back. To be honest, I wasn't invested and had to put it down. I'm currently reading Europe Central and I'm loving it, perhaps I should give Atlas another go...
Or perhaps continue with some of his other historical fiction.
@@LeafbyLeaf Maybe, the thing is I got into Vollmann by being interested in his travel/adventure feats, I saw him as someone in the vein of Anthony Bourdain, that type of traveller.
Ahhh, gotcha. I know who Bourdain is (was), but I’ve never seen or read anything to be able to make a comparison. I will say that there is a great piece of WTV’s recent journalism at the US-MX border in Harper’s you may like.
@@LeafbyLeaf I'll check it out, thx man!
Now you have to respect an author who the FBI have a file on that they're only prepared to release a fraction of. I too haven't read him and will go with your recommendation to Tina. Many thanks.
Exactly! Happy reading!
@@LeafbyLeaf Thanks, opted for The Royal Family
Enjoy!
I think I’ve heard of this one.
Hii! I’m very intrigued by this author! Could you recommend one novel or work by him to begin with? I have tried to get a copy of Carbon Ideologies from my library with no luck.
Hello! He definitely has a lot from which to choose. Here’s my two cents’ worth:
1. THE ATLAS is probably the best starting point to get a wide-ranging grasp of his work.
2. EUROPE CENTRAL for alternative history/wwii.
3. The ICE-SHIRT for historical novel (Vikings discovering America).
4. CARBON IDEOLOGIES is fantastic journalism as only WTV does it, but note that volume one sets up a lot of material for the thrust of volume two.
5. For something that is more like a contemporary novel feel, go ROYAL FAMILY. For the same, but in more short story form, go RAINBOW STORIES.
Hope this helps!
Leaf by Leaf that’s amazing! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome!
greetings from germany! i like your videos so much. but unforfunetly the majority of the books are not available in a german translation. i wonder why only such a little part of the publications are translated. i could try to read more often the original version, but it takes me so much time that i would read no more than 6 books a year.
Danke shön! That’s really unfortunate and I sympathize. Are there any English books with a German translation you haven’t read but are interested in?
Is there a book you've reread more than any other?
Yes. Moby-Dick!
Do you often quit reading a book if you don't find it interesting or entertaining?
I’m pretty selective, so chances are always pretty high I’m going to find a given book interesting. There have been cases where I’ve given up, but I usually feel compelled to stick it out. One instance I always remember is that I gave up on Look Homeward, Angel about 175pp in, but then I went back to it years later, read it through, and loved it. They say I see it, though: if you aren’t getting anything out of a book, move on!
You should do a video on argall
It's coming! (Coincidentally, I just finished reading Barth's Sot-Weed Factor.)
Brilliant
Grazie, Rick!
Great book
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Sounds like a great quarantine book, seeing as I can't even travel to the park down the road.
As for his newest novel, I haven't read it but it seems that Vollmann's obsession with sex workers has come to a point beyond saturation, especially considering he could be finishing his Seven Dreams project or anything else for that matter. Did you read it yet?
In My Back Pages, Steve was already tired of the topic decades ago lol.
Definitely a great quarantine book!
I have his newest but haven't read it (pre-ordered it the moment I could). Like Steve, though, I'm a little over that whole scene with Vollmann, but I get that (1) he has a bit of an obsession and I shall give him room to explore it; and (2) from the publisher's POV anything about LGBTQ+ is going to sell better than mystical historicism about the Hopi Nation, the U. S. government, and Peabody Coal (THE CLOUD-SHIRT). I mean, seriously, I am DYING (grass) for the next installment of Seven Dreams and was disappointed that this wasn't it--but I will wait patiently.
@@LeafbyLeaf True! And I guess Vollmann likes beating a dead...whorse. ; )
We need to hang out more.
@@LeafbyLeaf lol There's a 50/50 possibility I'll be moving to NC sometime next year. I'll of course let you know.
Whoa. No way.
Video link below
?
@7:44
Thanks for pointing that out! I need to fix that!
@@LeafbyLeaf but you do have the video link below. Nothing to change. Just loved the repetition of the phrase in the video.
I do, but that link is busted!
Re: repetition: haha, thanks!
I'm gonna take a gander and go out on a whim here and suggest that your daughter is gonna be the next Virginia Woolf.
Haha! Hopefully with a less tumultuous life and a happier ending than Virginia’s, of course.