The color organization of the books on your shelves is so satisfying. I recently read this book for a class, and I’m always stunned and outraged when I encounter narratives of slavery despite being familiar with the history. Douglass especially attacks the institution of slavery in a way that’s so biting that his writing really exposes how it just makes no sense.
I attended a creative writing course in LA where the “teacher” told us at the beginning: “here we will work only on literary fiction!” without ever being able to explain what it meant... I have a vague understanding of what literary fiction is, but I would dare anyone to find a scientific method to distinguish all the books that belong to it from the ones that don’t!
I think of it more as a genre among many, one that tends to use a set of tropes (recurring mechanisms/motifs) and techniques. Say, very generally speaking - science fiction has spaceships and aliens, literary fiction has adultery and misplaced letters :)
Awww yissss, my favorite non-American American literature enthusiast read the first memoir of the (IMHO) greatest American ever to live! ETA: If you're curious about Douglass's rhetorical influences, I don't remember if he mentions it in the Narrative or one of his other books, but one of the first books he bought for himself (while still a slave, no less!) was a book called The Colombian Orator. It's a collection of mostly speeches collected and published in the early days of the United States as an independent country, when people were still very much discussing what an American identity was or should be. The speeches come from throughout history, but the idea behind their selection was that they all reflected values that Americans should being instilled with, while also just being excellent pieces of oratory. It's in the public domain of course, so you could find it online, but there's also more modern edition that was edited and has an introduction by David W. Blight, who recently published an excellent monster of a biography of Douglass (which won the Pulitzer for History in 2019). Either way I think it's worth checking out!
You are correct in that the process of scholarship removes comfortable layers of fiction from our own personal view of the world and generates discomfort and pain. The genie does not go back into the bottle.
Hey! This isn't related to this specific video, but I'd be interested to hear you talk a bit about something you mentioned in a video about Hemingway which you made a fairly long time ago, which is the stylistic differences between British and American literature. You mentioned that certain discrepancies in style and technique are more apparent to non-native English-speakers, and being a native speaker myself (as well as one who doesn't have any background in studying literature in a formal setting), this has never really been something all too noticeable to me. I'd love to hear more of your insight about this and, if you have any reading material related to the subject that you'd recommend, I'd be all ears. As a mostly unrelated side note: the fact that you, a non-native speaker, always have such great observations to make about lots of books that are considered extremely challenging even to native Anglophones is something that I've always found very inspiring (and sometimes even intimidating) about your channel. If I didn't speak English as my mother tongue, I sure as fuck wouldn't even dream of touching stuff like _Infinite Jest_ or _Gravity's Rainbow!_
It's a very tricky and very extensive topic, and I'm sure I'd be flooded with objections in the comments (not that there's anything wrong with that!) - but I might film it one day, when I feel like I'm up to the challenge :) thanks for the comment!
Very good review 👍 I’m curious how much you can read in a sitting? Do you put down a book if it’s not interesting for you, if so, how many pages in before you call it quits. If I can recommend a book, “Stoner”, by John Williams, I think is a masterpiece. Thank you for the channel.
Hello bookchemist! Have you read something from the romanian author Mircea Cartarescu? He is considered by some to be the king of european postmodernism. His work pushes the boundaries of literature to incredible new resolutions, ideas and landscapes. His short story "The ruletist" is an amazing door to enter to his work. It is about a man who, against all fortune, starts to never lose on secret deadly sessions of russian roulette. I have been following your channel for a long time and I think you will love it. I would love to hear your opinion about this short story or anything about Cartarescu ;) have a nice day bro
I appreciate your graceful and enthusiastic mind.
The color organization of the books on your shelves is so satisfying. I recently read this book for a class, and I’m always stunned and outraged when I encounter narratives of slavery despite being familiar with the history. Douglass especially attacks the institution of slavery in a way that’s so biting that his writing really exposes how it just makes no sense.
I attended a creative writing course in LA where the “teacher” told us at the beginning: “here we will work only on literary fiction!” without ever being able to explain what it meant... I have a vague understanding of what literary fiction is, but I would dare anyone to find a scientific method to distinguish all the books that belong to it from the ones that don’t!
I think of it more as a genre among many, one that tends to use a set of tropes (recurring mechanisms/motifs) and techniques. Say, very generally speaking - science fiction has spaceships and aliens, literary fiction has adultery and misplaced letters :)
@@TheBookchemist I just started Infinite Jest so I know what you mean when you say “misplaced letters” !! : )
Awww yissss, my favorite non-American American literature enthusiast read the first memoir of the (IMHO) greatest American ever to live!
ETA: If you're curious about Douglass's rhetorical influences, I don't remember if he mentions it in the Narrative or one of his other books, but one of the first books he bought for himself (while still a slave, no less!) was a book called The Colombian Orator. It's a collection of mostly speeches collected and published in the early days of the United States as an independent country, when people were still very much discussing what an American identity was or should be. The speeches come from throughout history, but the idea behind their selection was that they all reflected values that Americans should being instilled with, while also just being excellent pieces of oratory. It's in the public domain of course, so you could find it online, but there's also more modern edition that was edited and has an introduction by David W. Blight, who recently published an excellent monster of a biography of Douglass (which won the Pulitzer for History in 2019). Either way I think it's worth checking out!
Thank you for the heads-up - and for mentioning Blight's biography, of which I wasn't aware! One day it will certainly make for a great read :)
You are correct in that the process of scholarship removes comfortable layers of fiction from our own personal view of the world and generates discomfort and pain. The genie does not go back into the bottle.
Wonderful discussion of the book and relevant ideas! Thank you!
Hey! This isn't related to this specific video, but I'd be interested to hear you talk a bit about something you mentioned in a video about Hemingway which you made a fairly long time ago, which is the stylistic differences between British and American literature. You mentioned that certain discrepancies in style and technique are more apparent to non-native English-speakers, and being a native speaker myself (as well as one who doesn't have any background in studying literature in a formal setting), this has never really been something all too noticeable to me. I'd love to hear more of your insight about this and, if you have any reading material related to the subject that you'd recommend, I'd be all ears.
As a mostly unrelated side note: the fact that you, a non-native speaker, always have such great observations to make about lots of books that are considered extremely challenging even to native Anglophones is something that I've always found very inspiring (and sometimes even intimidating) about your channel. If I didn't speak English as my mother tongue, I sure as fuck wouldn't even dream of touching stuff like _Infinite Jest_ or _Gravity's Rainbow!_
It's a very tricky and very extensive topic, and I'm sure I'd be flooded with objections in the comments (not that there's anything wrong with that!) - but I might film it one day, when I feel like I'm up to the challenge :) thanks for the comment!
Really cool analysis and cool topics talked about, you got my like and sub :D
Great review and thoughts!
Very good review 👍 I’m curious how much you can read in a sitting? Do you put down a book if it’s not interesting for you, if so, how many pages in before you call it quits. If I can recommend a book, “Stoner”, by John Williams, I think is a masterpiece. Thank you for the channel.
Hello bookchemist!
Have you read something from the romanian author Mircea Cartarescu? He is considered by some to be the king of european postmodernism. His work pushes the boundaries of literature to incredible new resolutions, ideas and landscapes.
His short story "The ruletist" is an amazing door to enter to his work.
It is about a man who, against all fortune, starts to never lose on secret deadly sessions of russian roulette.
I have been following your channel for a long time and I think you will love it.
I would love to hear your opinion about this short story or anything about Cartarescu ;)
have a nice day bro
Sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation 👍
I have never heard of him I must confess, but he sounds very interesting! Thanks for the recommendation :)
GReat video, thank you
Hey After so long 😍😍