Category > Pretentious Book Reviews
The beginning of the 19th century found Russian literature a stagnant and State-controlled pursuit. Dissident writers and radical members of the intelligentsia were usually arrested and condemned to hard labor in Siberia. Influenced by the French realism of Gustav Flaubert and Honoré de Balzac, emerging Russian authors of the mid-century found new subjects for their own stories: Peasants.
| A person might leave their homeland for many reasons, economic opportunity or political persecution being chief among them. Disillusionment and a guest professorship at the University in Rennes at Bretagne, France led writer Milan Kundera to leave his native Czechoslovakia in 1975. They revoked his citizenship while we was gone.
It’s been almost 200 years since the era of Jane Austen, yet her novels spawn movie remakes every other year and weeklong BBC miniseries events. Students of English literature dissect and scrutinize her novels now more than ever, but Austen’s work did not earn her any notoriety during her lifetime. She published her novels anonymously, reaped the monetary rewards, and died in relative obscurity. Her last two novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously. She rewrote the final two …
This amateur guide to James Joyce is intended to do two things: First, to introduce this Modernist literary master to the Philistines out there who have either never read or never heard of him and, secondly, to delineate the books into four levels of increasing pain and frustration.
This amateur guide to James Joyce is intended to do two things: First, to introduce this modernist literary master to the philistines who have either never read or never heard of him and second, to delineate the books according to level of Joyce enthusiast you aspire to be. In other words, instead of doing these four books piecemeal, I've decided to lump them all together into four levels of increasing pain and frustration.
This amateur guide to James Joyce is intended to do two things: First, to introduce this modernist master to the philistines out there who have either never read or never heard of him, and second, to delineate the books according to the level of Joyce enthusiast you aspire to be. In other words, instead of doing these four books piecemeal, I've decided to lump them all together into four levels of increasing pain and frustration.
This amateur guide to James Joyce is intended to do two things: First, to introduce this modernist master to the philistines out there who have either never read or never heard of him and second, to designate the work according to level of Joyce enthusiast you aspire to be. In other words, instead of doing these four books piecemeal, I've decided to lump them all together into four levels of increasing pain and frustration.
Ah, to be alive in the '50s: the wonders of the new interstate highway system, the convenience of modern appliances, the crippling need to conform. Sure, being a rebel without a cause was cool, but there were limits. Certain cultural "inversions" were either never discussed or dismissed with a sneer. The 1948 New York Times review of Gore Vidal's novel, The City and the Pillar, rejected the work, calling it a "case history of the standard homosexual," and further insulted …
If you've heard of the philosophical theory of Absurdism, you may have run across Albert Camus. Often strung together with Existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Camus rejected any connection with Sartre's theories, or that of Nihilism, in favor of the idea that man's quest for clarity and meaning within a disinterested universe was the ultimate absurdity. I would go on, but would it really matter?
In the classic era of the author, career paths for young writers did not stray far from a list of five or six possibilities. Their formative years were usually spent teaching, writing for a newspaper, witnessing the carnage of war as a soldier, sailing the high seas, performing odd jobs for food money or attending college as an independently wealthy upper-class twit. Before Gabriel García Márquez became an acclaimed author with a Nobel Prize, he was a perfectly respectable journalist. …
Most Recent Arts Comments
Karen Vaccaro is a remarkable person as well as a dedicated performer. I couldn’t imagine a better night at theater!
The director should’ve added the wrinkle that the ban on dancing’s the only thing keeping Bomont from attracting the green/tech/jobs of the future!
Now that’s Class!
I have read several of her books and liked them. I guess because I’m not an overweight, lesbian, intersexed Jewish amputee with divorced parents I can’t comment on the offensiveness of some of her jokes.
You forgot to mention fat people. She made fun of obesity. And divorce. Children of divorce were lampooned, too. Jewish people. She hit on a lot of “groups.“ I fit into a number of them. If you didn’t like her speech you won’t like her books. If…
Lesbians: Anecdote about her mom being a lesbian, and getting her mom introduced to Rosie O’Donnell, and mom and Rosie talking about oral sex, and Weiner acting disgusted. She probably meant the disgust in a “don’t wanna hear about my mom’s vag” kind of way, but all…
Oh. Wow. What exactly did she say, Emma? Do you remember?
I went to this. In the first 5 minutes of her talk, she made fun of lesbians, intersexed children, and amputees. I was honestly surprised at how offensve she was—it was like she thought the Champaign Public Library was a venue for Last Comic Standing. I…
Theresa—are you speaking generally about that monologue, or did you attend the Friday night showing at UIUC?
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Most Recent Comments
Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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The main character’s name is actually Lisbeth, in case you want to correct.