tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261834677579395686.post4949491383119333452..comments2024-02-11T05:49:56.398+11:00Comments on A Strong Belief in Wicker: Flaubert's ParrotLouisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13187730620736345378noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261834677579395686.post-40239149208733087192010-05-26T21:36:18.355+10:002010-05-26T21:36:18.355+10:00Thanks for your generous and kind comments Hannah....Thanks for your generous and kind comments Hannah. It's interesting but I rarely (if ever) read literary biography. I should be interested in it, much more than I am really. Perhaps if I had more time.... I usually just google authors a bit and read some newspaper interviews too. I find that fascinating, and it seems to be enough to satisfy my curiosity- as long as I can find something interesting, sadly for more obscure authors information can be hard to find. Very often you can see where the story has come from by understanding the author's life and circumstance. Obviously that isn't always true, but often it is, it gives the book context. The last book that I finished was Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, an American childrens book published in 1961. There are great parallels between the authors childhood and that of Billy in the book, who spends much of his time hunting racoons, running through the forest at night with his two dogs. Also amazing to learn that Rawls only had a very basic education as a child. He was embarrassed by his lack of formal education, and actually burnt his copy of the book before it was published and then rewrote it in 3 weeks after encouragement from his wife. Now that's a great story in itself and just makes the book so much more fascinating to me.Louisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13187730620736345378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261834677579395686.post-92129147000213036982010-05-26T03:16:42.296+10:002010-05-26T03:16:42.296+10:00Louise - this is a wonderful post which I enjoyed ...Louise - this is a wonderful post which I enjoyed reading a lot. I am very interested in life writing and especially literary biography. Like you I think that half the time writers just seem to have had a really interesting time during their lives - but also I think that there is something so tempting about the idea that you can trace connections between how they lived, what they did and what they wrote. Now, this idea is very dangerous as well. It would be, I think, wrong to assume that all fiction was in some way a reflection of the author's life - but at the same time, these patterns are very obvious in some writers.... anyway - I enjoyed Flaubert's Parrot a few years ago - the strange structure helps to get you thinking I think. <br />Fabulous piece, thank you for posting!<br /><br />HannahHannah Stonehamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11139146341592918233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261834677579395686.post-58117310351977714842010-05-22T08:26:37.230+10:002010-05-22T08:26:37.230+10:00There are so many great books to read Lisa. I'...There are so many great books to read Lisa. I'm know that you've read tons more than I have. I was just really interested to read Madame Bovary last year when BGL did it. Because of my near total ignorance of such things I didn't know anything at all about the story, I merely wanted to read it because Flaubert was French. It's a good read, and a great contrast with the British writings of the same time. I borrowed Flaubert's Parrot from the library fully expecting to take it back unfinished, all because of the England, England terror. But it was so fantastic, it made me keen to try more Barnes at some stage. And I'm sure that both books would benefit from a rereading- at least for me. I didn't know anything about George Sand etc, so it was all very fascinating.Louisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13187730620736345378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261834677579395686.post-21493383950615860022010-05-21T23:35:01.976+10:002010-05-21T23:35:01.976+10:00Well here you have commented on two that I have ye...Well here you have commented on two that I have yet to read. I'm ashamed to admit that I still haven't read Madame Bovary and I bought Flaubert's Parrot not so long ago because I haven't read that either. Have to agree with you about England, England, I read this years ago and couldn't see what the Booker fuss was all about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com