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Обсуждение книг на английском языке, домашнее чтение, правила чтения на английском языке. Развитие письменной речи. Эссе, деловое письмо и другие виды письменных работ.

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#76

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Xander пишет: 13 авг 2019, 13:11 Yes, that's right, cliched. There's nothing new under the sun.
That'd be a bit too unnew, I'm afraid. :-) Dull as he is, I'm willing to give Roth more credit than that.

I'm wondering if his grudge against the perfect-American-boy Swede Levov is the latter's obsessive avoidance of conflict at all costs. The Ideal American turns sissy, which eventually leads him to lose his daughter, his wife, and his American dream.
A metaphor for the American society, perhaps?

Anyway, on to Faulkner.
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#77

Сообщение acapnotic »

Xander пишет: 12 авг 2019, 01:49 Light in August means 'p__________t'. It's a slang term for 'p___________y'.
Has anyone guessed the words? I can't. Actually, what is the point of masking words if you are not cursing? Especially on a language forum.
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#78

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

acapnotic, why are you so determined to leave nothing veiled? It's no fun this way. :-) Where's the intrigue, the mystery?
Anyway, it's pregnant/pregnancy. Care to say what you thought it was? :-)
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#79

Сообщение acapnotic »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 14 авг 2019, 17:48 Where's the intrigue, the mystery?
All is good in moderation. :)
Easy-Breezy English пишет: 14 авг 2019, 17:48 Anyway, it's pregnant/pregnancy.
But it can't be.
'p__________t' has 12 letters and the other word 13. I thought it could be 'pederast' and 'pederasty', but again, they are too short.
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#80

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

acapnotic пишет: 14 авг 2019, 18:08 'p__________t' has 12 letters and the other word 13.
Aren't you overcomplecating this? It seems to be just a line, not the number of letters.
acapnotic пишет: 14 авг 2019, 18:08 I thought it could be 'pederast' and 'pederasty'
Apparently, you are more of a prude than me. I originally thought worse. :-)
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#81

Сообщение Mermaid »

Some critics have speculated that the meaning of the title derives from a colloquial use of the word "light" to mean giving birth—typically used to describe when a cow will give birth and be "light" again—and connect this to Lena's pregnancy.[9] Speaking of his choice of title, Faulkner denied this interpretation and stated,

. . .in August in Mississippi there’s a few days somewhere about the middle of the month when suddenly there’s a foretaste of fall, it’s cool, there’s a lambence, a soft, a luminous quality to the light
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#82

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Mermaid пишет: 14 авг 2019, 18:44 Faulkner denied this interpretation
Faulkner was boring. But no worries - we'll fix things for him.

I can think of all kinds of excellent words that would fit the pattern Xander proposed.
Phragmoplast and pneumonectomy for starters.

Let me just try it out:
Light in August means 'phragmoplast'. It's a slang term for 'pneumonectomy'.
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#83

Сообщение QwestDay »

Прошло время, может кто встречал хороший качественный языковой стиль? Рекомендуйте!

Я пересмотрел всё доступное Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, он сочетает всё то что я люблю - юмор, проницательность и интересные слова.

Сейчас читаю The Book of General Ignorance: (основана на викторине QI). Считаю она очень круто написана и может быть полезна для совершенствования языка - словарь и грамматика там на очень высоком уровне, статьи короткие и в каждой цель - лаконично и точно передать суть события. Параллельно можно найти для себя массу неизвестного.
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#84

Сообщение Xander »

QwestDay пишет: 23 май 2020, 11:31 Прошло время, может кто встречал хороший качественный языковой стиль?
As always, David Foster Wallace is nothing but extraordinary; ever so insightful, plotting intricate discurses, jokingly challenging the readers' grey matter

Virginia Woolf never ceases to seize my attention with out of this world ease, manufacturing minituare syntactic masterpieces out of whatever mundane subject happens to be at hand

Thomas Pynchon is a well-known stylist

William Gaddis is this year's discovery

This bunch is top notch.



Another examples, not as linguistically intimidating as Wallace or Pynchon, but still with rather engaging, clear and not-muddy-at-all distinct styles are
Joseph Mitchell
John Krakaeur
Truman Capote

all non-fiction writers whose stories are almost certainly bound to be read by generations to come.
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#85

Сообщение QwestDay »

Xander пишет: 23 май 2020, 12:48 David Foster Wallace
Yeah, I've read several times your previous message here where he was mentioned. I clearly remember one of the chapters in "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men", written in one sentence over few pages. It's so out of this world! But I didn't read much, I'm not ready to fully appreciate it. There seems to be too much to unravel.


So, I need to check other books, Thanks for future discoveries))
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#86

Сообщение Xander »

QwestDay пишет: 23 май 2020, 13:05 Thanks for future discoveries))
Enjoy!
Also you might wanna check goodreads for suggestions of all sorts. That's practically my single biggest go-to source when picking my next read.
QwestDay пишет: 23 май 2020, 13:05 I'm not ready to fully appreciate it.
That actually makes two of us.
"Infinite Jest" keeps playing a jest on my patience.
I haven't read "Brief Interviews ..." yet.

Here's some DFW's essays I found more approachable and reader-friendly than the rest of the pool:
  • getting away from already pretty much being away from it all
  • a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again
  • THE VIEW FROM MRS. THOMPSON’S
Probably,
  • UP, SIMBA
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#87

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 09 июл 2019, 01:27
Xander пишет: 09 июл 2019, 01:20 I hardly remember how many futile attempts it took me to start appreciating Faulkner.
Actually, I might just give him (yet) another try. Upon hearing this. :-)
Okay, I tried. And failed in the most miserable way. I dragged a copy of The Sound and the Fury everywhere for a while and honestly tried to force myself into appreciating it. After finally losing the book, I concluded that the universe is sending me a sign, and it’s time to swipe left. :-)

To me, the problem with Faulkner’s prose is this overwhelming, debilitating sense of degeneration and utter hopelessness that the text is drenched in. It’s literally sipping and oozing from every sentence in a very palpable way, as if Faulkner revels in this gloom and doom. I can appreciate the aesthetics of decadence, but it’s not even that. It’s just decay in its most unseemly form. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the style is tedious and unengaging.

That said, The Rose for Emily was kind of entertaining. At least it’s short, anyway. :-)
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#88

Сообщение Xander »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 23 май 2020, 18:59 I dragged a copy of The Sound and the Fury everywhere for a while and honestly tried to force myself into appreciating it.
My-my

I should've probably mentioned that I was talking about "Light in August". I flirted with it for quite a while, on and off, before making it to the 2nd or 3rd chapter, and then eventually getting through to the end. And believe it or not, I'm hoping to re-read it, put more attention to the intricate details I most definitely missed.

Another book of his, "As I Lay Dying" (no plans for re-reading)), which I actually had read way before "Light in August", appealed to me from the get-go because I'd guess of its unusuality. And even though events in both novels take place in roughly the same area and time and are penned by the same literary hand, they seem to be the worlds away in terms of devices used. Maybe, "The Sound and the Fury" is yet another universe which I might not necessarily enjoy and understand, who knows. ))) Read some reviews a while ago, and my memory has it, it quite likely might be a tough nut to crack.
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#89

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Xander, I admire your tenacity, but I'm definitely done with Faulkner. Dostoevsky seems like a stand-up comedian next to this guy. Besides, The Sound and the Fury is quite possibly the most reader-unfriendly book ever written. The first chapter is narrated by a mentally retarded character in Faulkner's legendary stream-of-consciousness style. That is, the story shifts back and forth between different points in time without warning or transition, and it is often no more than a nonsensical sequence of fleeting sensations. Is this supposed to add something to my reading experience? Make me see the world through the eyes of an intellectually disabled person? Well, it makes the reader confused and frustrated, is all it does. If Faulkner doesn't care about me, I don't care about him. Take this, you Faulkner! :-)

What did you think of Pynchon, btw? And ever tried Kerouac?
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#90

Сообщение Xander »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 23 май 2020, 23:08 I'm definitely done with Faulkner. Dostoevsky seems like a stand-up comedian next to this guy.
Hah, that's kind of what I felt when in the beginning of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. After the horrors of this book, which I gave up, Light-in-August Faulkner might come across as high-spirited Santa Claus at matinee. But I really enjoyed his All the Pretty Horses, and much less so, The Road.

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 23 май 2020, 23:08 What did you think of Pynchon, btw?
Diligently doing my best to unpuzzle his Gravity's Rainbow, very slowly; more or less enjoying it, humor, style, syntax, though still struggling to grasp the plot idea. Such books call for re-reading, you know, like some non-mainstream music albums require numerous re-listening.

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 23 май 2020, 23:08 And ever tried Kerouac?
Yep, but his On the Road ended up on my not-gonna-finish shelf ... Don't quite remember why, probably because I was highly unimpressed ...
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#91

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Xander пишет: 24 май 2020, 15:42 Yep, but his On the Road ended up on my not-gonna-finish shelf ... Don't quite remember why, probably because I was highly unimpressed ...
You have to put Kerouac’s writing in perspective of what was going on in the literary world at the time. The Beats were passionately trying to break away from the kind of decorous and affected language used by their predecessors. They were, of course, continuing with the modernist tradition of Virginia Woolf and the like – that is, their goal was to put raw experience on paper, to make you feel what they felt. I think Kerouac does a pretty good balancing job - his works are fresh and engaging, and at the same time they don't deteriorate into total rambling, like so many modernist pieces do.

Even though I’m not a great fan, I enjoyed On the Road quite a bit. Kerouac most definitely succeeded in transmitting this sense of searching, restlessness, and adventure that are so typical of the American tradition. And he did it in a kind of visceral and potent way. The book really is about the American mythology and identity – this eternal travel westward and hunger for adventure.

Just to give you some sense of the novel, I'll quote this little bit:
So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old, broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable, huge bulge over the West Coast and all that road going, all the people dreaming and the immensity of it…

So, here’s my little ode to Kerouac. )) Maybe give it another shot?
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#92

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Xander пишет: 24 май 2020, 15:42 that's kind of what I felt when in the beginning of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.
I hear you on that one. :-) Definitely not for tender souls. However, the whole violence act starts to lose its oomph effect as you get further into the book. Yeah-yeah, another slaughter, yawn. It gets quite monotonous in parts. However, it's not at all depressing in the way The Sound and the Fury is. There is certain vitality and even beauty in it, and I like the general premise, too.

As for Pynchon, I'm undecided. The Crying of Lot 49 had so many unfamiliar cultural references that it did little for me. I might give it another go. I don't have your propensity for unpuzzling, though, so I'm likely to fail again. :-)
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#93

Сообщение Xander »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 24 май 2020, 20:50 So, here’s my little ode to Kerouac. )) Maybe give it another shot?
You never know ... My reading mind sometimes works unpredictably. )) (last two days it's Dostoevsky. In Russian, 'cause in English it's almost unbearable ... more like Engsian)
The incentive was yet another piece with praise to Dostoevsky & Tolstoy who were placed by the author as second only to each other in the literary world. As you can see I was practically forced into giving this writer one more shot. )))

To give my mind some sense of direction now I try by-trial-and-error to pick a novel which has throth great storyline, fresh style, and about half a handful (a good single one would do) of non-trivial lessons scattered over it. The bar is more than a little bit too high. Not even sure that I can name more than half a dozen books meeting these criteria. Recognitions by William Gaddis, and ... well, most of my favorites usually hit two, two and a half points out of three. And while good and even great stories are in long, I even dare say near endless supply, catchy and unconventional style is still a relatively rare find these days.

Must also say that Kerouac is in a good company. :) Theodore Dreiser, Philip Roth, Paolo Coelho, Don DeLillo, Joseph Conrad, John Fowles, Martin Amis, the last two I hope being there temporarily, on the way to my mental get-back-to-list.

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 24 май 2020, 21:47 I might give it another go. I don't have your propensity for unpuzzling, though, so I'm likely to fail again. :-)
It's not actually that big of a propensity, more like occassional curiosity. And rest assured that my list of 'failures' is much longer than yours; almost knee-high, probably, pushing two? three? dozens of names.
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#94

Сообщение someone »

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#95

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Xander пишет: 29 май 2020, 01:39 last two days it's Dostoevsky
Funny you should mention Dostoevsky – I’ve just finished rereading Бесы. ) Also, watched this unexpectedly outstanding miniseries. Have you noticed that just like there are cat people and dog people, there are also Tolstoy people and Dostoevsky people? Funny how that is.

So I went to the bookstore determined to pick up something by Wallace as per your recommendation, but ended up with a copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Pinker’s The Blank Slate. I don't know how things like that even happen to me, and yet they do all the time. :-)

What do you think is the best intro to Wallace? Infinite Jest?
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#96

Сообщение Xander »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 30 май 2020, 10:50 Have you noticed that just like there are cat people and dog people, there are also Tolstoy people and Dostoevsky people?
Not yet. Have to admit that I haven't even read a single novel by either of them. )) While you obviously have. Which story impressed you the most?
Easy-Breezy English пишет: 30 май 2020, 10:50 What do you think is the best intro to Wallace? Infinite Jest?
You might be giving me too much credit here. ))
I read a couple of his non-fiction books. Must say Wallace is hell of a syntax weaver, top notch stylist who can bring life to virtually any subject he comes upon, accidentally or not.
And I'm only in the beginning of Infinite Jest; go for it if you have a lot of time to spare. If not - then he had a lot of essays published, one to two hour reads each, which can bring some sense of accomplishment with not much effort.
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#97

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Xander пишет: 30 май 2020, 16:46 Have to admit that I haven't even read a single novel by either of them.
Oh come on, you are putting me on. How did you manage to graduate from high school? It was required reading.
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#98

Сообщение Xander »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 30 май 2020, 20:49 How did you manage to graduate from high school?
I'm dead serious.
It still puzzles me a little how on earth I having ignored Russian literature curriculum almost completely at the same time by the teacher's own admission knew Russian language better than any even straight-A 11th grader in my school. Can't recall willingly opening a Russian language coursebook either ... Such stuff bored me out of my skull back then.

Must also add that I spent an enormous lot of time reading when in elementary school. Not sure about middle school though. Anyway, such pastime might have contributed to development of the language department of my brain, and bore fruit later on. )))

So, the question still stands. )
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#99

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

Xander пишет: 30 май 2020, 22:27 I having ignored Russian literature curriculum almost completely at the same time by the teacher's own admission knew Russian language better than any even straight-A 11th grader in my school
So, does that make you a straight-A+ student? Or a super-straight-A student? :-)
And anyway, what an ingenious way to excel in Russian! I know many a high school student who'd be only too happy to burn their required reading books. :-)
Which story impressed you the most?
I'm not sure I can refer to something like War and Peace as a story. But it used to be my favorite until I got my hands on Anna Karenina. (And doesn't that sound nice and suggestive.) Tolstoy is awesome when he's doing what he does best - that is, when he's writing about people. However, he's totally unbearable when he gets into his proselytizing and moralizing fits. An absolutely unmatched literary artist and psychologist, and a very, very mediocre philosopher.

As for Dostoyevsky, it seems to me that he was much smarter than Tolstoy but didn't have quite the same smoothness and versatility as a writer. He's incredibly funny and witty in places, though - something Tolstoy is definitely missing. I actually think Бесы IS my favorite book by D, although it's probably one of his less popular works. But I love the overarching feeling of insanity in it. Basically, he's ridiculing everyone - every character is nuts. It's kind of surreal and extremely realistic at the same time. Nicely done, Федя!
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#100

Сообщение Xander »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 30 май 2020, 23:57 Or a super-straight-A student?
'f course not. I was just showing off a little bit; reminiscing about the good old days. )

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 30 май 2020, 23:57 I know many a high school student who'd be only too happy to burn their required reading books. :-)
That would be win-win. For students - no need to waste time on reading all these strange dust-covered books. For teachers - no need to check the homework extracted by twisting teenage arms. :)


Speaking of schooling, I think the Russian language standards need to be raised, not for all but for a certain proportion of schools and colleges, because we are lagging way behind of American and British language requirements for English as far as I can see. My high school native language awareness is a joke comparing to what is expected of an average American teen.
Easy-Breezy English пишет: 30 май 2020, 23:57 didn't have the smoothness as a writer
That's what I noticed as well.
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