tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.comments2022-03-13T17:24:01.744-07:00The Library of AiraC.D. Gutierrezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501441856447838751noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-47120750991530389652015-12-27T12:13:23.493-08:002015-12-27T12:13:23.493-08:00To the anonymous commenter, whose comment I neglec...To the anonymous commenter, whose comment I neglected to publish until just now, I just wanted to say: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, and I'm sorry I didn't notice this comment for so long. (As you can tell, I haven't done much with the blog in a while.)C.D. Gutierrezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02501441856447838751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-43984866383252745782015-02-05T18:42:15.906-08:002015-02-05T18:42:15.906-08:00Beautiful translation! Thank you!Beautiful translation! Thank you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-26500404622726919882013-08-17T16:00:50.306-07:002013-08-17T16:00:50.306-07:00PC Thug.PC Thug.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-8399571577044093572010-08-10T13:07:36.450-07:002010-08-10T13:07:36.450-07:00hi! i'm from Argentina!
first time i bump into...hi! i'm from Argentina!<br />first time i bump into ur blog! interesting comments you are making on Ocampo's narrative and plot. you know, we're dealing with Ocampo at uni. been dealing with her short stories ever since April this year and our teacher's so enthusiastic and passionate about it... I think Silvina Ocampo in particular is less widely-spread than her sister as an author, and that strikes me as unfair. Silvina's literature seems somewhat more thought-provoking!<br />just in case u might be interested, here's my blog!<br /><br />www.dearticulosyrevisiones.blogspot.comAnifled O'Fieldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-11645588367734923912009-09-03T13:11:20.013-07:002009-09-03T13:11:20.013-07:00We are reading this for one of the book clubs I be...We are reading this for one of the book clubs I belong to. I just started but am looking forward to lots of laughs.Babahttp://babasbookblog.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-63856958993118478212009-08-04T11:30:30.595-07:002009-08-04T11:30:30.595-07:00This may be my favorite book ever! I've read i...This may be my favorite book ever! I've read it so many times I nearly have it memorized :)Jenniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13543163004855484123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-2355066986621081672009-04-29T06:52:00.000-07:002009-04-29T06:52:00.000-07:00I read Anne McLean's translation a while ago and m...I read Anne McLean's translation a while ago and made the following notes: Authors often find themselves the center of other people's novels--or they would find themselves if they were still alive, because, generally, dead authors are chosen (for obvious reasons). So one can have a series of mysteries centering around the works of various classic authors (e.g., Edith Skom's) or a series with a famous author as the detective (e.g., Peter Heck with Mark Twain), or a book in which the main character is a graduate student working on a thesis centering around a particular author. The latter is the case with THE TANGO SINGER. The protagonist, Bruce Cadogan, is a graduate student in New York writing his dissertation on Jorge Luis Borges's essays on the origins of the tango. Cadogan goes to Buenos Aires in June 2001 for six months (this lets the author have an American protagonist while at the same time getting him thousands of miles from New York for 9/11 and three months after). Though a completely random set of events, Cadogan finds himself living in the rooming house that is also the home of Borges's "Aleph": that point from which the entire universe is visible. Cadogan, however, is more concerned with trying to find Julio Martel, a legendary but elusive tango singer.Evelynnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-24406261312882204572009-02-24T06:28:00.000-08:002009-02-24T06:28:00.000-08:00I assume you've read Edward Bleiler's anthology "T...I assume you've read Edward Bleiler's anthology "Three Gothic Novels [Castle of Otranto/Vathek/Vampire]" (also from Dover), Peter Haining's "Gothic Tales of Terror" (2 volumes), and Robert Spector's "7 Masterpieces of Gothic Horror [Castle of Otranto/Old English Baron/Mistrust/White Old Maid/Heir of Mondolfo/Fall of the House of Usher/Carmilla]".<BR/><BR/>And don't forget Jane Austen's take-off on all this: "Northanger Abbey".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-44463106098902296592009-02-12T12:07:00.000-08:002009-02-12T12:07:00.000-08:00Thanks for the mention. Another Argentine author ...Thanks for the mention. Another Argentine author you might find interesting is Santiago Dabove, who was a contemporary and friend of Borges and Bioy Casares. His few short stories have been published in the book La Muerte y su Traje. As far as I know, the only work of his in translations is "Being Dust," which shows up in The Book of Fantasy.C.D. Gutierrezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02501441856447838751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-5927675077760808002009-02-09T07:13:00.000-08:002009-02-09T07:13:00.000-08:00I have a fairly long review of STRANGE FORCES at h...I have a fairly long review of STRANGE FORCES at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/latin-am.htm#forces<BR/>in which you are mentioned.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-28974270352852527502008-08-03T20:45:00.000-07:002008-08-03T20:45:00.000-07:00Lovecraft, in terms of how we might relate his fic...Lovecraft, in terms of how we might relate his fiction to his own experience and lessons we might extrapolate into theory and practice of the real world, is intrinsically far less sexy than the academically-acknowledged definition of worthwhile horror. Lee points to something engaged with libido (which I'd like to extend to both sexes as desire for creation and for life), but Lovecraft steps out of sexuality, or onto the oposite extreme on another dimension — I'd put him firmly in the destrato camp.<BR/><BR/>Let's not forget that for one thing, Lovecraft's visions of the fantastic came from crippling nightmares; and secondly that he was a depressed severe neurotic unengaged with any scene contemporary to his own, and in fact not critical but simply hateful of the then modern world and eventually a complete recluse.<BR/><BR/>Like Nietzsche, he's hard to take critically (well, he's utterly panned by critics) because apart from his latent racism and classism, he is simply disgusted by almost everything. As you point to in your example, he may empathise with certain horrific entities; but he can never sympathise: for him, there is no visible redeeming feature in society — he cannot visualise a betterment for any individual because he sees virtues (where and when he does see them) as begetting horror in a world inextricably suffuse with fatally crippling unpleasantness.<BR/><BR/>First thing on my agenda on pay-day evening is to get my hands on a copy of Michel Houellebecque's <I>H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life</I> — the title says it all! If we are to take lessons from Lovecraft, they might be that the mind is a terrible thing to taste... Or — if I were ever to recommend Lovecraft as reading for personal enrichment — that the saving mercy of the human mind is its inability to correlate its contents. :)Barney Carrollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16109536537300993921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-31653192153902530852008-02-21T14:58:00.000-08:002008-02-21T14:58:00.000-08:00I'm curious if you think "The Horses of Abderra" i...I'm curious if you think "The Horses of Abderra" is meant as political analogy, or am I reading too much into it? <BR/><BR/>I think my favorite stories were "The Firestorm" and "The Origins of the Flood." "Flood" had some really fascinating imagery, which was reminiscent of Lovecraft. I have to admit, I also kind of liked "Psychon" which I thought was pretty funny.<BR/><BR/>I find it interesting that Lugones is borrowing from authors such as Poe, Wells and Verne. I think this makes his fiction something of a predecessor to Borges and Cortazar. The science talk is interesting, partially because he takes it so seriously. (Even when it's incredibly wrong.)<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the web site. Luckily my parents travel to Argentina at least once a year, and can bring me back books. I currently have plenty of books to tackle.C.D. Gutierrezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02501441856447838751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-63201260294195842292008-02-06T12:18:00.000-08:002008-02-06T12:18:00.000-08:00Sorry Carlos for not answering before, but I went ...Sorry Carlos for not answering before, but I went on holidays and no internet for 20 days!!!<BR/>I consider “Las Fuerzas Extrañas” a good book, in a general appreciation, though, some short stories were quite dense, as you comment, (for example “The metamusic” or “The omega force” with those pseudo scientific descriptions, maybe too long). But on the other hand, “Yzur” is one of the best short stories I’ve read. It really amazed me.<BR/><BR/>In your comment to “The horses…” you wander about Lugones politics…..Well buddy, that’s a really mess. He was a very contradictory person…..He was socialist (A/KA communist???), then he turned into nationalism (but not with the usual nationalist combo in Argentina –that is close to the Roman Catholic religion-), militarism of Spartan inspiration and finally fascism……as you can see a controversial guy….<BR/><BR/>And finally, try this: www.cuspide.com It's a book shop on line in Argentina. If you're interested you can get some books in their original language at a fair price (the problem may be the shipping costs from $ 22 -a 2 pound package- to $ 37 -a 10 pound package-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02028697335516176496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-9074838748665601162008-01-17T16:01:00.000-08:002008-01-17T16:01:00.000-08:00I read the book in translation. I can read in Spa...I read the book in translation. I can read in Spanish (pero leo mejor en ingles) but the copy I had available (at the library) was in English. It's funny that I completely forgot that the city was Gomorrah. I think I actually sort of prefer the ambiguity presented by a nameless city meeting a mysterious fate. <BR/> <BR/>The translation did have some problems. I remember one of the stories has a character whose name seems to switch between Juan and John a couple of times. I hope to get ahold of the original work soon. How did you like the rest of "Las Fuerzas Extrañas"?C.D. Gutierrezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02501441856447838751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7524396754198537996.post-11870340743349962612008-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:002008-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:00Carlos. By the same time, I'm reading the same boo...Carlos. By the same time, I'm reading the same book ("Las Fuerzas Extrañas") by Lugones. "The Firestorm" is the story of the destruction of Gomorrah, (Sodom's "twin city"). Of course we know the source of the cataclysm....and the narrator is one of the last inhabitans of the city (and that is the science fiction point). I don't know if you read the original book (in spanish) or a translation, but what I found marvelous was the description of the lions arriving to the city.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02028697335516176496noreply@blogger.com