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    The End of the Canon

    I believe in literature and the arts. I know some people argue that literature doesn't (and shouldn't) seek to improve civilization, morality, etc, but I believe it does. In general, I find literary...
  2. Harold Bloom's 'The Western Canon'. I love...

    Harold Bloom's 'The Western Canon'. I love everything by Bloom, especially his great book on Shakespeare, but 'The Western Canon' is my favorite.
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    I'm sticking to Harold Bloom's reading list. I...

    I'm sticking to Harold Bloom's reading list. I don't entirely agree with it, but it's the best guide I know.
  4. It's happening here in the UK as well. A...

    It's happening here in the UK as well. A University recently cut Chaucer from their reading list. Apparently, they are 'de-colonising' their curriculum (a sinister policy like that could have been...
  5. Thread: Do you write?

    by WICKES
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    Yes, I have just started writing seriously. Why...

    Yes, I have just started writing seriously. Why do I do it? It's an interesting question, and one every writer should ask himself. Deep down, many writers (and painters, musicians, singers, actors,...
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    If you mean which writer creates the most...

    If you mean which writer creates the most plausible/realistic dialogue (where you feel "ah, yes, this is just how people talk") I couldn't say. But for brilliant, witty, urbane dialogue, where people...
  7. I'm English-British, not American, so this is an...

    I'm English-British, not American, so this is an outsider perspective. I guess the first question is what does it mean to write 'the great American novel'? What is it you have to capture? Presumably,...
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    RIP. I don't know who is going to replace him....

    RIP. I don't know who is going to replace him. Academia is now dominated by left-leaning bullies. Bloom firmly believed we should judge a work on its merits, ignoring gender, ethnicity, politics,...
  9. Thread: Julian Barnes

    by WICKES
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    Agreed. And it's getting worse. They now seem to...

    Agreed. And it's getting worse. They now seem to award them based on ethnicity, politics, gender, etc. If you are a straight, white, conservative male, god help you. The T. S. Eliot prize, for...
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    What do you plan to read in 2020?

    My list for the coming year (I am going to try and mix fiction with popular science).

    1) Listen to the Sherlock Holmes books on audio (someone bought me the boxset of Stephen Fry reading them all...
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    I love this list

    I love this list
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    D H Lawrence: Women In Love Many critics consider...

    D H Lawrence: Women In Love Many critics consider this the greatest novel written in English in the 20th-century, second only to Ulysses.

    George Orwell: 1984 You have to read it. No excuses....
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    Agreed. Jude the Obscure is also incredibly...

    Agreed. Jude the Obscure is also incredibly bleak. Oddly, though, I don't find Hardy depressing. Maybe it's because, though he did have a bleak view of life, he was himself relatively cheerful. Other...
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    Agreed. Jude the Obscure is also incredibly...

    Agreed. Jude the Obscure is also incredibly bleak. Oddly, though, I don't find Hardy depressing. Maybe it's because, though he did have a bleak view of existence he was himself relatively cheerful....
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    Chaucer: 'The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales'....

    Chaucer: 'The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales'. I re-read this every Spring, and it never fails to lift me. Chaucer writes with a glorious, joyful, life-affirming warmth. I have even taken him with...
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    the wor.

    the wor.
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    Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose novels might...

    Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose novels might qualify. The central character is a heroin addict who is cheated out of his inheritance and then wrecks his marriage. Personally, I think they are...
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    You mention essayists, yet don't include George...

    You mention essayists, yet don't include George Orwell! Some consider him the greatest essayist in the English language. And his literary criticism is superb. His essay on Dickens, for example, is a...
  19. He is an interesting and entertaining writer. But...

    He is an interesting and entertaining writer. But he also holds fairly conservative views, and many people love him for it. Bloom believes in, and defends, 'the canon'. Unfortunately, just because...
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    Right Ho Jeeves is a near perfect piece of comic...

    Right Ho Jeeves is a near perfect piece of comic writing.
  21. Has anyone read Alan Moore's new novel Jerusalem?

    I didn't even know it had been released until I saw it in my local bookstore this morning. I looked up a few reviews and they were generally positive. But it is a monster of a book – longer than the...
  22. Is literary talent inborn or can it be learnt?

    I remember watching an interview with Christopher Hitchens once in which the interviewer said something about everyone having a novel inside them. Hitchens replied "yes, and in the vast majority of...
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    No, I think it is a boy's grammar school. Some...

    No, I think it is a boy's grammar school. Some people have called that chapter the single greatest piece of comic writing in the English language.
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    I can't think of specific passages, but it might...

    I can't think of specific passages, but it might be worth stressing the difference between London and rest of Victorian Britain. London was a dark, monstrous place by the middle of the 19th century –...
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    God, yes, that is hilarious (but not as hilarious...

    God, yes, that is hilarious (but not as hilarious as the actual biography!!)
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