{"id":1754,"date":"2007-10-30T17:20:59","date_gmt":"2007-10-30T22:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/better-read-than-dead-or-vice-versa-i-think\/"},"modified":"2007-10-30T17:23:36","modified_gmt":"2007-10-30T22:23:36","slug":"better-read-than-dead-or-vice-versa-i-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/better-read-than-dead-or-vice-versa-i-think","title":{"rendered":"Better read than dead. Or vice versa. I think."},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe I’m misreading the signs, but it looks like we’re due for a round of worlds-enough-and-time! In this case, the publication of Pierre Bayard’s How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read<\/a> opens the door for literary types to name the “great books” that they’ve never read (and likely will never get around to).<\/p>\n

In this case, Slate<\/em> has followed up 2001’s Literary Critic’s Shelf of Shame<\/a> with a new piece: The Great Novel I Never Read<\/a>. While the former canvassed critics (duh), this new feature garners responses from contemporary authors.<\/p>\n

I’m usually leery of this sort of exercise, as it can degenerate into people disparaging some legitimately great novels because<\/em> they’ve never gotten around to reading them. I used to think that I keep that gigantic list of all the books I’ve finished since I began college in 1989<\/a> just to scare people out of asking my opinion about any particular book. After looking over this article, I’m starting to think that my real reason is to justify not having read some of those great books, myself: “Ferchrissakes! Look at how many other<\/em> books I’ve read! There are only so many hours in a day!”<\/p>\n

(Of course, I’m guilty of disparaging great books on flimsy grounds, most recently in my rant about the immediate sense of alienness (not alienation) I got when starting Middlemarch<\/a> earlier this month. Of course, now that I’m around 500 pages in, I’m wondering how I managed to get this far in life without reading it. And, sure, maybe I felt more sympathy for Casaubon than the average Middlemarch reader, but I’m a sucker for a classically trained scholar who can’t bring himself to start writing his great work. Go figure.)<\/p>\n

Fortunately, that snide attitude isn’t on display in the new Slate<\/em> piece. Instead, I noticed something funnier: while I’ve read a number of the books cited in this article, I’ve actually read only one book by any of these contemporary authors (Little, Big<\/a> by John Crowley).<\/p>\n

Now back to Raffles & Bulstrode! (which means I’m just about to finish book five)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe I’m misreading the signs, but it looks like we’re due for a round of worlds-enough-and-time! In this case, the publication of Pierre Bayard’s How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read opens the door for literary types to name the “great books” that they’ve never read (and likely will never get around to). In … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Better read than dead. Or vice versa. I think.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-si","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1930,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/this-and-that","url_meta":{"origin":1754,"position":0},"title":"This and that","author":"Gil","date":"March 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"While finishing Love & Sleep, the second novel in John Crowley's \u00c3\u2020gypt cycle, this week, I came across the word, \"rufous.\" I checked with my dog Rufus to see if he knew what it meant, but he was as clueless as I was. Probably moreso, since he's just a dog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1590200152","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11587,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-277-nathaniel-popkin","url_meta":{"origin":1754,"position":1},"title":"Episode 277 – Nathaniel Popkin","author":"Gil","date":"July 8, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 277: Nathaniel Popkin \"A city, like a book, can be read.\" For a guy who calls himself a master of nothing, Nathaniel Popkin does a pretty good job for himself as a novelist, literary editor, critic, journalist, and urban historian. Nathaniel joins the show to talk about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8923,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-127-the-meandering-reflections-of-a-literary-sybarite","url_meta":{"origin":1754,"position":2},"title":"Episode 127 – The Meandering Reflections of a Literary Sybarite","author":"Gil","date":"July 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #127: Michael Dirda - The Meandering Reflections of a Literary Sybarite \"I enjoy going back to Lorain, Ohio because I'm reminded that the world of Washington and the East Coast literary establishment is a very narrow, special one that's parochial in its own way. The rest of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"browsingscover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/browsingscover-294x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3104,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/great-guns-great-books","url_meta":{"origin":1754,"position":3},"title":"Great Guns, Great Books","author":"Gil","date":"December 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I think it's great that this article on how the discipline of literary studies has killed student interest in literature is by a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Annapolis, [my students] tell me, is the place dreams come to die in the daily grind of shining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":631,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/compositions-for-the-young-and-old","url_meta":{"origin":1754,"position":4},"title":"Compositions for the Young and Old","author":"Gil","date":"August 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year, I built a library in the rec room downstairs in my house. In the process, I developed my only handyman skill: handling a powered drywall screwdriver and stud-finder. I can do nothing else of use in the home, but I can put up wall-mounted shelves. Unfortunately, I can't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1627,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/miss-thing","url_meta":{"origin":1754,"position":5},"title":"Miss Thing","author":"Gil","date":"August 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I noticed in college that the more books I had in my dorm room, the fewer questions visitors would ask me about literature. So, in the never-ending quest to cover up my intellectual inadequacies, I keep lots and lots of books around. Since I get far fewer visitors at home\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}