Dammit, North Star beat me to the post and ruined the joke.
I don't find Wodehouse uproarious, but he's still good for a grin. Like Saki.
How about Saki?
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Dammit, North Star beat me to the post and ruined the joke.
I don't find Wodehouse uproarious, but he's still good for a grin. Like Saki.
How about Saki?
I haven't read Saki, I might have to give him a go, though.
Whose writing do you find uproarious?
Philip Roth
Whom do you consider an unrecognized genius?
Wu Cheng-en, or whoever the actual author of Journey to the West was.Quote:
Originally Posted by North Star
What is the most significant work of history in the Western tradition?
Also Thomas Pynchon at times.Quote:
Originally Posted by North Star
What philosopher/theorist's work is most compatible to literary criticism?
The Recherche and then Ulysses, heh heh. What a century that was!Quote:
Originally Posted by Pompey Bum
Same question.
EDIT: Oh, history. I have no clue. Herodotus for getting their first?
Hahaha, does anyone here read Hark, a Vagrant!
http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=30
Yeah maybe, although Thucydides is a better critical thinker (and writer); and Gibbon's prose is next to God. In terms of his influence on secular ideas, I'd probably say Gibbon.
Would you rather read by the fire on a crisp autumn night or read on a beach in summer, stealing glances at the mermaids?
Crisp autumn evening, I get distracted and uncomfortable reading out of doors.
Swimming in the cold ocean or in a heated pool?
I prefer reading in a climate controlled room in an easy chair. My eyes are not what they used to be and I'd be pressed trying to read by firelight, and my medications make me very sensitive to heat.
Sorry I was slow. It doesn't really matter as I cannot swim all that well anyhow.
Would you rather read classic or modern fiction?
I'll have to read Gibbon someday then.
EDIT: Modern probably.
EDIT: Also heated pool by far.
Would the glances lead to other things? But they're mermaids right? Plus I have a problem with sand. Crisp autumn night, though I don't know what might be crisp about it.
How reliable is your memory? Not how good is it at pulling up random facts at random times, but how well can you manage it, so that you get what you want when you want it?
Hilarious, Clopin. Actually Herodotus is more important than Thucydides (even though Thucydides is a better historian), not exactly because he was first in line, but because he proposed the then radical view (that we and Thucydides have been able to take for granted) that history can be understood as a critical system, in the way that his contemporaries were developing critical systems for understanding things like ethics and aesthetics. Unfortunately his approach was marred by some notorious credulity. He repeats a story he picked up that in India, giant ants mine for gold in giant anthills, for example; and another that Sennacherib had to lift the siege of Jerusalem (famed of the the Bible and Lord Byron) because an army of field mice stole into the Assyrian camp and chewed up their bowstrings. As the comic suggests, Thucydides was more careful about his sources.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
Anyway, the bracing sting of salt seawater is eminently preferable to chlorine and little kid urine; I prefer classic to modern fiction (although I enjoy both); and my memory's okay.
Can everything be understood in empirical terms?
id say no---there are mysteries beyond the human senses.
do you know all the words to meatloaf's paradise by the dashboard light?
Modern FictionQuote:
Originally Posted by Pendragon
If someone made you listen to all their horrid music on a road trip because it was their car, would you put in some music you knew they hated on your music list, when it was your turn to drive on your road trip driving turn?
E: do you know all the words to meatloaf's paradise by the dashboard light?
No.
E: If someone made you listen to all their horrid music on a road trip because it was their car, would you put in some music you knew they hated on your music list, when it was your turn to drive on your road trip driving turn?
Some perhaps, but certainly not all of it - I'd try to find a common ground.
Things that can't be demonstrated experimentally are awfully hard to understand empirically.
What is your favourite era of literature? (50-100 years)
Never mind. :)
1890-1940--The core years of Modernist literatureQuote:
Originally Posted by North Star
If you could marry one literary character, whom would it be?
Yes, but not the Phil Rizzuto part.Quote:
Originally Posted by bounty
Actually, I really like the 18th century for English lit (and 19th century for Russian).
If Jesus and the Buddha had a boxing match, who would you bet on?
A lot of popular music is art music, and vice versa, and they will continue to flourish, change, and stay the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by North Star
What will be the genre of the next great television series, and what will be new about the series?
Jesus, who was lean and mean.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pompey Bum
Proust wrote of "the impossibility of finding pleasure when one is always searching for it;" what's your take on this?
It sounds like a concept from Zen: seek a thing and it flies from you; fly from it and it seeks you. In short, Jesus could have kicked either of their butts.
What is the longest period of time you have spent without seeing another person?
Probably one night's sleep.
Same question.
I used to spend up to a week at a time alone at a remote cabin in the White Mountains (in New Hamlshire). I loved it, being a misanthropic recluse at heart.
What is the biggest crowd you've ever been in?
Obama's 1st inauguration!
What's the quickest you've made friends?
I picked up a guy hitchhiking back in the 70s, and we were friends from that point for about 10 years (when he moved to Mexico and we lost touch).
How many friends (not girlfriends) have you intentionally and permanently broken off with?
None.
Same Q
Three, including one I knew from Middle School until we were in our forties. I've never regretted the decisions in the least.
Is Brett Easton Ellis a good writer?
I read a little of American Psycho and didn't like it, so no? I know you like him though.
Do we place undue moral dignity on those who adopt maltreated pets, but not human children?
Not necessarily. Adopting needy children is the more worthy goal, but that doesn't mean patronizing the arts isn't important, too.
Ellis is a too nihilistic for me. Or more to the point, I find him upsetting. I actually don't enjoy reading his books, but later, reflecting on the moral implications (these vapid, narcissistic, sadomasochistic kids are no damned different than their socially acceptable parents, for example) I sometimes find myself saying: Yup.
Should people keep wild animals like ferrets as pets?
I said pets not arts but I guess your answer fits both.
I don't know about wild animals, but probably not?
Do you keep drinking a cup of tea after it gets cold?
Yes, good tea is better at room temperature. Coffee, too, although I like hot coffee on cold mornings.
Would you feel less guilty about eating bacon than wearing fur?
Yes, I'm not trained to feel guilty about eating bacon :/
But my tea right now is like, really cold for some reason!
If you were born in, say, some period in Ancient Egypt, how much of your personality do you think you would retain?
Hard to say, it also depends on the class I were born into. From very little to quite a lot depending on whether I were a slave or a prince, etc.
Would you marry a wealthy woman you weren't totally in love with, knowing that if it came to divorce you would end up rich anyway?
If I wasn't in love at all, no, but if I knew we could at least be friends, probably.
Friendship is part of romantic love, right?
Same question.
Not if I wasn't in love with her in the first place.
Yes, friendship is part of it, but they are not to be confused. And becoming lovers almost always. means you can't be friends again.
If you were transported back to ancient times (with the same personality), and had enough money to get by, would you buy slaves?
I bet I would. I hear 'slaves' in ye olde days were often more like servants, or am I hopelessly naive, Pompey?
Do you enjoy dressing up formally?
Not for field slaves, no. Life was hell for them. And domestic slaves of either sex could be freely raped by one free family member or another. You weren't supposed to have sex with slaves, people would look down on you if you did, but that wasn't because of rape, it was because of the stigma of having someone so low and unlucky as a sexual partner. That bad luck, for example, is what drives the plot of The Golden As s, which starts with an illicit (though consensual) affair between a slave and a houseguest, who is also the narrator. Anyway, being a slave was no fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lykren
On rare occasions, sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lykren
Are women more attractive dressed down or dressed up?
Ah okay. No then.
Down usually.
How much caffeine do you drink a day?
I can't say if you're hopelessly naive or not, but no, by any reasonable standard servants who are owned by a master are indeed slaves. Under no circumstances would I own another human being, and no matter how rich would I keep servants about... I would however have several concubines, and perhaps I could get them to tidy up the palace.:)
I hate dressing up... give me the day, and my cargo shorts, t-shirt with sleeves cutoff, and my trusty Timberland hiking shoes. I will perhaps dress respectfully for my own funeral, but perhaps not.
And I don't consume anything with caffeine in it, gives me the jitters...
Do you enjoy costume parties?
I doubt I would, but I've never been.
How much caffeine/day?