Confronting the Canon
A recent article on tackling Ulysses put me in mind of my own reading gaps - Don Quixote, War and Peace, Moby Dick - don't worry, there are plenty more.Back in 2001, I read Swann's Way, the first volume of Proust's À la Recherche du Temps Perdu. Captivated by its brilliance, I bought the complete six-volume box set, determined to devour the epic in one continuous swallow. But that didn't happen. To make matters worse, I now barely remember volume one.
Luckily, contrition loves company: writers and critics confess their gravest sins of literary omission.
posted by Pants at 12:12 PM|
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4 Comments:
Oh God, too true! I am ditto with the Proust. Also THE GREAT GATSBY, which is really embarrassing considering most people have read it by the time they've lost their virginity. Kinda gets me thinking, too, how nothing makes me blank-out faster than the question: what's your favourite book? Say wha'!? Who the hell has a favourite book, anyway? Oh yeah, George W. does. It's FINNEGAN'S WAKE.
Shut UP. Dubya & Finnegan's Wake? I'm sorry, that is a big ol' lie.
I relate to these admissions, but have also found that as the years went on and I was less likely to be a fiction writer (or continue on in academia as I'd once planned) it became easier and easier to admit things. Like never finishing Mill on the Floss, despite having written an essay about it. I love having taken myself off the hook (given up?) and reading what the hell I want to read (David Mitchell, WHEN will the new book be done?!)
I have a lot of guilt in film, though. I remember having to admit in a class that I hadn't seen Scarface. (The horrified student I was responding to brought in the special edition DVD for me the next day.)
Ah, but the question is: were you going around asking people to say hello to your little friend?
I recall standing around with a bunch of English majors at a reception at Jim Munro's. The aim was to name a great work you hadn't read and that everyone else had. When I pulled out King Lear, I won!
I later went on to teach high school Shakespeare.
I still haven't read King Lear.
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