What is there except 1984 and Animal Farm?Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
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What is there except 1984 and Animal Farm?Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
I think he wrote another short book called "Keep the Aspidistra (sp?) Flying".Quote:
Originally Posted by bazarov
I saw a film based on the novel. I like the film very much and would like to read the novel, actually. I am guilty of not really reading Orwell, just seeing films based on his novel - oh, wait --- I did read "Animal Farm" in high school....that was many moons ago.
Yep, just looked it up on Amazon and there it was - http://www.amazon.com/Aspidistra-Fly...6542422&sr=1-1 - check it out. I think I did spell that right - amazing! Anyway, if you check the Orwell listings there are many more books he wrote.
Virgil, dude, look what you've done. You've started yet another string on Orwell. Take your thundrous hammer and smiteth mightily your bits and bytes. :crash: Or at least ignore this thread until we find the next goat.
And the charm of Animal Farm is simply this. Pigs in pants...Dude!!...PIGS IN PANTS!!!:lol:
And will someone please take the bait and try to defend Henry James. I'm wandering around his field of crap looking for the pony. I'm looking for the key that will allow me to be as impressed with his writing as Mr. James seems to be.
I would like to nominate for most over-rated poet, our own Lit Net superstar poet, Virgil - he wins too many picture poetry contests! :lol:
sorry Virg - just kidding with you......
I would have to say "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" is my favorite Orwell novel....A perfect mix of idealism and reality....However, the ending isn't necessarily an unhappy one as capitalism temporarily triumphs over the goals of the protagonist....Also the relationship between the male and female leads is the best of any of Orwell's books.Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
"Coming Up for Air" is also excellent and a worthy addition to the British tradition of the little man fighting against his gray repetative 9 to 5 life.
"Homage to Catalonia" is well-written and interesting....The part where Orwell is severly injured is compelling.
"Down and Out in London and Paris" is a short book that makes an interesting comparison about two types of working poverty....A minor book but an entertaining one.
Actually "Animal Farm" is my least favorite book of his....It's ham fisted allegory and obvious message doesn't make for a very good read IMO.
Orwell's personal reputation has taken a bit of beating recently with the revelation he may have been an informer on some of his communist/socialist colleague for the government....In some of the biogrpahies I have read he comes across as a total ******* but I say trust the art and not the artist!
Wow, rgdmalaysia - thanks for all that information. It is good to know about the other books Orwell wrote and I bet they are actually better reads than "Animal Farm" - I think that book's popularity was based on the fact that no one had done a book quite like that before. I have been intending for a long time to read "KTAF" - I read that that this book is basically autobiographical and that interested me. Also, I saw the film based on the book and I found it witty and very amusing and 'touching', as well. In the film the male and female leads had great chemistry and were so witty together.Quote:
Originally Posted by rgdmalaysia
Given this new list (thanks again) I think these all sound interesting and a bit more true to life - maybe (?).
At the time "1984" was written, it is true that it was quite 'unique', and now we have been over-exposed to this 'mind-control' concept in films and books, so that I think it has lost it's original impact. I am sure it was a brilliant novel in it's day, and still is considering it's place in time.
Ars Gratia Artis. Hail Caesar. Long live Virgil.
quasi, at least you got the joke!:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by quasimodo1
:lol: :lol: :lol: Pigs in pants! I guess that is something. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by PabloQ
It's hard to defend Henry James, especially with Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl. They are inpenetrable for no apparent reason. But then there is the great Henry James too, Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Miller, The Ambassadors, and The Beast In the Jungle, which in my opinion may the best short novel ever written. So I don't know. There is some truely great Henry James too.Quote:
And will someone please take the bait and try to defend Henry James. I'm wandering around his field of crap looking for the pony. I'm looking for the key that will allow me to be as impressed with his writing as Mr. James seems to be.
Pigs wearing pants could only be improved by pigs on the wing.
How about pigs on a barbecue? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by quasimodo1
We definately didn't say that we don't like Orwell. Check out Virgil's post ;) :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexei
:lol: :lol: I almost fell off my chair :lol: :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Virgil
Mark Twain.
It's a matter of preference. I can't stand his writing style.
manolia :lol: :lol: :lol: absolutely - hysterical! Good one, Virgil:thumbs_upQuote:
Originally Posted by manolia
Hey, V, did you see that I nominated you as 'over-rated' poet, cause you win all those poetry contests.....I was just kidding of course!:D
This thread is certainly a fun one!;)
Yeah, let me expand the phrase - 'pigs on a barbie' - is that how Australia's spell that? Wait how can one put a pig on a barbeque? Is it like ribs?
Pink Floyd are gods.Quote:
Originally Posted by quasimodo1
Pink Floyd!!! alright!:thumbs_up Love them.....:DQuote:
Originally Posted by metal134
Hmm, lessee.
I thought I covered the russians?
All of 'em are overrated.
Orwell's best work isn't his fiction but his essays/travelogues.
What do you mean all of them? I mean I don't think that in general they are considered better than, let's say english or french in general, it all comes down to individuals. So do you mean to say that they are inferior to english or french writer as a whole? I'm not sure saying russians are overrated really means anything, no? What have you read and what did you find overrated among what you read? I'm just curious.Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
I also agree with Orwell, I've only read 1984, it was a very good book, but when I look at it's popularity, I'm puzzled.
I'd go so far as to say that Russia itself is totally overrated. I mean, what have they got going for them anyway? Vodka? Snow? The Hermitage? When it was still the U.S.S.R it was okay, but its later work has really disappointed me.
All of 'em.Quote:
What do you mean all of them?
Yes.Quote:
So do you mean to say that they are inferior to english or french writer as a whole?
No.Quote:
I'm not sure saying russians are overrated really means anything, no?
Everything.Quote:
What have you read and what did you find overrated among what you read?
QFT.Quote:
I'd go so far as to say that Russia itself is totally overrated. I mean, what have they got going for them anyway? Vodka? Snow? The Hermitage? When it was still the U.S.S.R it was okay, but its later work has really disappointed me.
Dude I checked your posts and you seem to post only useless crap. Why don't you tell us which one you read and found overrated exactly?
Be nice now ~
Will you stop that? You're one of those always jumping around and saying "be nice" while there's no reason for it this is really annoying, honestly. I've not been rude at all, look at the guy's posts he just seems to be trolling around. Why post at all if all if he's not going to discuss constructively?Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
General Mod note to all.
Refrain from nit picking and personal insults and return to the topic at hand. If it continues, posts may be edited or the thread will be closed.
Russian lit seems to me to be underrated. I have not a met a person in real life who has read anything that Russia has produced with the exception of my English teacher. Even on online forums, the amount of people I encounter which have read a substantial amount of Russian lit (enough to form a justifiable opinion on it) are minimal at best.
It's a good idea. "Overrated Authors" and "Underrated Authors" (and variations on that theme) are pretty standard recurring threads at LitNet. I'm sure you'd be able to dig up an "Underrated Authors" thread just by flipping back a few pages in the "General Literature" forum. Naturally, the "Underrated Authors" threads often turn into "My Favorite Obscure Authors" threads in essence, and the current thread is pretty typical of the "Overrated Authors" threads -- consisting of complaints about "great" authors together with indignant defenses of the greatness of those authors (cf. the "Worst books you ever read" thread). I pretty much consider this activity the official sport of the LitNet. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
You know, I said that I wasn't going to comment on current or contemporary authors, but --
("Do I contradict myself?
Then, I contradict myself" --Walt Whitman) but--
why the popularity of Pat Conroy (not to be confused with Frank Conroy, under-rated author of Stop Time.)
Pat Conroy's novels have been filmed as movies -- one about a schoolteacher starring Jon Voight and one that
starred Barbra Streisand. But a few years ago I started reading the actual novel of Prince of Tides and I couldn't account for the author's success. So I couldn't/wouldn't finish, but I had read enough to think that the emotional content was maudlin and his prose style seemed amateurish to me. I could almost picture him at his desk with the thesaurus open!
And what was most disappointing was the author's inability to take artistic risks.
I totally endorse your opinion of Prince of Tides, the scenes in New York were particularly embarrassing: cliche'd plot and behaviour, an insult to the critical reader. It may be the problem moderate writers encounter when they try to go beyond their native soil.
Most overrated Writer....
Hmm.... I would have to say shakespear!
I don't think any writer rises to sustained prominence without giving something meaningful. Even though I dislike their achievements (i'm thinking of d.h.lawrence right now) I'll acknowledge their contributions. Third rate writers are overrated, by ignorant readers.
Most overrated Writer....
Hmm.... I would have to say shakespear!
Uhhh... yeah... and that Michelangelo... what an overrated artist. Couldn't paint a lick.:rolleyes:
For those who don't like Kerouac and continue to follow a day in day out existence, he was railing against you, against society and norms. Try the Darma Bums, Kerouac deserves a second chance.
Ah yes... an artist railing against the norms of bourgeois society. How original. That's never been done before.:rolleyes: I now see the error of my ways.
Agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by mickeymack
Quote:
Originally Posted by B-Mental
Ahhh, when the hell is America going to add Kerouac to Mount Rushmore?! :lol: B-Mental, you and me need to team up on StLuke, he's at it bad mouthing Kerouac again!
Why is it that I imagine you as a bathrobe, pipe-smoking type? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
From my personal experiences... Coelho. Quasi-spiritual kitsch written by a quasi-spiritual wannabe. I cannot even understand why, oh why was I torturing myself by giving him a second chance, and then a third, despite knowing somewhere in the bottom of everything that he would not get any better (that is the fact you can realise in the first ten pages), and that his popularity at the time was not due to the quality of the written material, but to something else, maybe that typical mass effect, suddenly everybody was talking about him, so it turned out that everybody was reading him, if for nothing else than for the sake of curiosity. (On the side note, a similar phenomenon is happening now with Beigbeder, whom I have not read yet, only skimmed once in library, so I will not comment... But every year or two some popular author ends up in that position.)
I can think of several other authors who were literary disappointments for me (e.g. Salinger, or Pamuk), but I doubt anyone could compete Coelho in this.
Why is it that I imagine you as a bathrobe, pipe-smoking type?
Nope... no bathrobes, I sleep in the nude.:brow: Drives the wife nuts, though. She always wants to know what I'd do if there was a fire. (I'd probably be saving the books:eek2:). No pipe either. I don't smoke smoke at all. But I do drink:D I'll take a good dark British beer (Samuel Smith Imperial Stout... Young's Double Chocolate Malt) or something Belgian.
So what are the habits of a Kerouac lover? Hmmm... I somehow imagine those skinny French cigarette, wine coolers, and speedos.:goof:
That is good. Everyone should be willing to recognize one's own errors.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I don't dislike the works of Sylvia Plath, but I wonder if her reputation comes from our romantic sentiment about the details of her life.
Flannery O'Connor -- just ok, but some see her as God's gift to American literature.
(Okay, auntie, now you're getting catty.)
--"That's not writing. It's typing."
Truman Capote's response to a question about what he thinks of On the Road.
I'm inclined to agree Mr. Capote. I'm inclined to agree.