#v. s. pritchett

[davidhudson]

V. S. Pritchett, December 16, 1900 – March 20, 1997.

[grandhotelabyss]

What are your favorite essays/collections of literary criticism?

Some favorite single essays:

Percy Bysshe Shelley, "A Defence of Poetry"

Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Poet"

Herman Melville, "Hawthorne and His Mosses"

Matthew Arnold, "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time"

Henry James, "The Art of Fiction"

Sigmund Freud, "The Uncanny"

Walter Benjamin, "Franz Kafka: On the Tenth Anniversary of His Death"

T. S. Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent"

Viktor Shklovsky, "Art as Technique"

Mikhail Bakhtin, "Epic and Novel"

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, "In Praise of Shadows"

G. Wilson Knight, "The Embassy of Death: An Essay on Hamlet"

Simone Weil, "The Iliad, or, The Poem of Force"

Jorge Luis Borges, "Kafka and His Precursors"

Ralph Ellison, "The World and the Jug"

James Baldwin, "Everybody's Protest Novel"

Leslie Fiedler, "The Middle Against Both Ends"

Iris Murdoch, "The Sublime and the Beautiful Revisited"

Flannery O'Connor, "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction"

Gilles Deleuze, "On the Superiority of Anglo-American Literature"

George Steiner, "A Reading Against Shakespeare"

Derek Walcott, "The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory"

Toni Morrison, "Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature"

Louise Glück, "Education of a Poet"

Camille Paglia, "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf"

Michael W. Clune, "Bernhard's Way"

Some favorite collections:

Samuel Johnson, Selected Essays

Oscar Wilde, Intentions

Virginia Woolf, The Common Reader

D. H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature

George Orwell, All Art Is Propaganda

Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation

Kenneth Rexroth, Classics Revisited

Guy Davenport, The Geography of the Imagination

Cynthia Ozick, Art and Ardor

V. S. Pritchett, Complete Collected Essays

Gore Vidal, United States

Joyce Carol Oates, The Faith of a Writer

Tom Paulin, Minotaur

J. M. Coetzee, Stranger Shores

Michael Wood, Children of Silence

James Wood, The Broken Estate

Edward Said, Reflections on Exile

Gabriel Josipovici, The Singer on the Shore

Clive James, Cultural Amnesia

William Giraldi, American Audacity

[icaroid]

are you willing to offer the sacrifice class syllabus to the masses?? or at least a book list?? it's just that the topic is v interesting.

Hi!! I did look up the old syllabus, I'm not going to put it up in its entirety, but here's a list of the readings that we did:

Articles/Excerpts:

Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World

Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth

Jukka Jouhki, "Orientalism and India"

J. van Baal, "Offering, Sacrifice and Gift" in Numen, Vol. 23, Fasc. 3 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3269590

Alan Morinis, "The Ritual Experience: Pain and the Transformation of Consciousness in Ordeals of Initiation" http://www.jstor.org/stable/639985

Lawrence Babb, "The Food of the Gods in Chhattisgarh…" http://www.jstor.org.remote.slc.edu/stable/pdf/3629382.pdf

Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo

C. G. Jung, “Transformation Symbolism in the Mass,” in Baum, Mannheim, Campbell et. al., eds., The Mysteries (Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, vol. 2)

Euripides, The Bacchae (Lattimore translation)

Abraham's "binding of Isaac" Genesis 22:1-19

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex https://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/sophocles/oedipustheking.htm

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. http://www.planetpublish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11The_Scarlet_Letter_T.pdf

Victor Rosner, "Fire-Walking the Tribal Way" in Anthropos http://www.jstor.org/stable/40458234

Jean Varenne, Yoga and the Hindu Tradition.

Yael Bentor, "Interiorized Fire Rituals in India and in Tibet" in JAOS http://www.jstor.org/stable/606619

Sati: A Review Article by Werner Menski, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ.of London, Vol. 61, No. 1 (1998), pp. 74-81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3107292

Wendy Doniger and Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, ed., Off With Her Head!: The Denial of Women's Identity in Myth, Religion, and Culture.

Joseph S. Alter, Gandhi's Body: Sex, Diet, and the Politics of Nationalism

Mohandas Gandhi, My Experiments with Truth: Autobiography. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/gandhi/index.html

War poems of Wilfred Owen—see " The Parable of the Young Man and the Old" and "Strange Meeting" http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/abraham/abraham.html

Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery"

Kevin Rushby, Children of Kali: Through India in Search of Bandits, the Thug Cult, and the British Raj

Books:

Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss, Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions

Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred

C. Marvin and D. Ingle, ed., Blood Sacrifice & The Nation

Sakuntala Narasimhan, Sati - Widow Burning in India

there's a focus on India bc that was the professor's area of expertise! hope this is helpful (its gonna b helpful for me in my writing abt jellowpackets lol)

[the-worst-bracket]

The Worst Bracket Begins!

Polls are going up starting Wednesday, April 19th, 32 per day! Bracket and list under the cut.

Round 1

Bracket A (4/19-26)

Mineta Minoru (My Hero Academia) v  Anglerfish from Dark Bramble (Outer Wilds)

Iago (Othello) v Barbas (Skyrim)

Brendan (Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) v Mimic (Dark Souls)

Dan (Dan vs) v Pink Diamond (Steven Universe)

Jurgen Litner (The Magnus Archives) v Lily Tucker-Pritchett (Modern Family)

Lonnie Byers (Stranger Things) v Zeus (Greek Mythology)

Lemongrab (Adventure Time) v Steve Cobs (Inanimate Insanity)

Alex Eggleston (Yiik) v Larry Butz (Ace Attorney)

Jerry (Undertale) v Po (Teletubbies)

Billy Hargrove (Stranger Things) v Old Man Who Snitches on Haru (A:TLA)

Kai Winn (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) v Ashfur (Warrior Cats)

Mr. Burns (The Simpsons) v Boscha (The Owl House)

Octavian (Heroes of Olympus) v Makoto Teruhashi (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K)

 Robbie Valentino (Gravity Falls) v Gendo Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Walter White (Breaking Bad) v Guy Mortadello (Papa Louie)

Medusa Gorgon (Soul Eater) v Snowball (Pinky and The Brain)

Bracket B (4/19-26)

Rohan Kishibe (JJBA) v Jin Guangshan (The Untamed)

Agravaine (Merlin) v Michael (Wii Sports)

Scout (TF2) v Mitsuhiro Higa (Danganronpa)

Creek (Trolls) v Berdly (Deltarune)

Manfred Von Karma (Ace Attorney) v Jeff Winger (Community)

Nazeem (Skyrim) v David (Animorphs)

Simon Laurent (Infinity Train) v Mayuri Kurotsuchi (Bleach)

Kikimora (The Owl House) v Cronus Ampora (Homestuck)

Michael Tritter (House MD) v The Director (Red v Blue)

Eridan Ampora (Homestuck) v Lila Rossi (Miraculous Ladybug)

Skadge (Star Wars: The Old Republic) v Lord Henry Wotton (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

Claptrap (Borderlands) v Jodie Foster (Dungeons and Daddies)

Bill Hawks (Professor Layton) v Carcer (Discworld)

Bender Bending Rodríguez (Futurama) v Izaya Orihara (Durarara!!)

 Corrin (Fire Emblem) v The Dark Lord (Miitopia)

Cybelle (Carole and Tuesday) v Jasper (Steven Universe)

Bracket C (4/20-27)

Gul Dukat (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) v Admiral Zhao (A:TLA)

Hordak (She-Ra) v Rachel Berry (Glee)

Book (Battle for Dream Island) v Darth Maul (Star Wars)

Jessica (The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself) v Lester Papadopoulos (Trials of Apollo)

Pong Krell (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) v Aaron Burr (Hamilton)

Armand (Vampire Chronicles) v Gamzee Makara (Homestuck)

Dorodoron (Futari wa Precure Splash Star) v Weiss Schnee (RWBY)

Christopher Taub (House MD) v Tate Landon (America Horror Story: Murder House)

Izzy Hands (OFMD) v Princess Daisy (Super Mario Bros)

Spike (MLP:FIM) v Atlas May (Lackadaisy)

Clutch Powers (LEGO Ninjago) v Orin Scrivello (Little Shop of Horrors)

Thanos (MCU) v Minecraft Skeleton (Minecraft)

Frank Burns (M*A*S*H*) v Lieutenant Nolan (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)

Carter Pewterschmit (Family Guy) v Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars)

Miyo Takano (Higurashi When They Cry) v Borsolino (One Piece)

Hiyoko Saionji (Danganronpa) v Pennywise (IT)

Bracket D (4/20-27)

Pierce Hawthorne (Community) v Ren (Ren and Stimpy)

Whirlpool (Wings of Fire) v Cinder Falls (RWBY)

Thaddeus Campbell (Dishonored) v The Grabber (Black Phone)

Takumi Ichinose (Nana) v Heimskr (Skyrim)

Gale Weathers (Scream) v Lee Kiyoung (Regressor Instruction Manual)

Ianthe Tridentarius (The Locked Tomb) v Alvin Marsh (IT)

Director Ton (Aggretsuko) v Angelica Pickles (Rugrats)

Pencil (Battle for Dream Island) v Odalia Blight (The Owl House)

Kyubey (Madoka Magica) v Newman (Seinfeld)

Jacob Hill (Abbott Elementary) v Gregory House (House MD)

Rachel (Tower of God) v Monkey D Luffy (One Piece)

Dame Alina (Keeper of the Lost Cities) v Miki Kawai (A Silent Voice)

John Winchester (Supernatural) v Kyouichi Saionji (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Magikarp (Pokemon) v Hippeux (Animal Crossing)

Elmo (Sesame Street) v Saint Charlos (One Piece)

Melli (Pokemon Legends: Arceus) v Dr. Janet Lubelle (WTNV)

Bracket E (4/21-28)

Martin Blyndeff (Epithet Erased) v The Blue Border (Scott the Woz)

Calico Jack (OFMD) v B.E.N. (Treasure Planet)

Doogal (Doogal) v John Gaius (The Locked Tomb)

Crawlings (The Mysterious Benedict Society) v Liza Lotts (Scott the Woz)

Zolf J Kimblee (FMA) v Baron Draxum (Rise of The TMNT)

Kaito Momota (Danganronpa) v Nandor the Relentless (What We Do In the Shadows)

Logan Roy (Succescion) v Mike Wheeler (Stranger Things)

Fermet (Baccano!) v Seymour Krelborn (Little Shop of Horrors)

Emperor Belos (The Owl House) v Taylor Kelly (9-1-1)

AM (I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream) v Jar Jar Binks (Star Wars)

Stuart Little (Stuart Little) v Vinsmoke Sanji (One Piece)

Bibble (Barbie: Fairytopia) v Dennis Nedry (Jurassic Park)

Byakuya Togami (Danganronpa) v Grima Wormtongue (LOTR)

Moe (Calvin and Hobbes) v Balloon Boy (FNAF)

Felix (Red vs Blue) v Klorgbane the Destroyer (Regular Show)

Bro Strider (Homestuck) v Jughead Jones (Riverdale)

Bracket F (4/21-28)

Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events) v Mort (Madagascar)

Mantle (Dr Stone) v Phillip Anderson (Sherlock)

Eisuke Hondo (Detective Conan) v Drosselmeyer (Princess Tutu)

Hiram Burrows (Dishonored) v Chat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug)

Vriska Serket (Homestuck) v Prince Diamond (Sailor Moon)

Marty (Steven Universe) v Hibiki Shikyouin (PriPara)

White Diamond (Steven Universe) v Norman Osborn (Marvel)

Stregabor (The Witcher) v Cedric Jeanne Elmir (I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss)

Barney Stinson (HIMYM) v Charlie Bradbury (Supernatural)

Griffith (Beserk) v Chloe Valentine (Be More Chill)

Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim) v Lionel Luthor (Smallville)

Lydia (Skyrim) v Shadow Weaver (She-Ra)

Rand Ridley (Inside Job) v Jun Kawanakajima (Ultra Maniac)

Krusty the Clown (The Simpsons) v Fire Lord Ozai (A:TLA)

Joseph Sugarman (BoJack Horseman) v Huey Emmerich (Metal Gear)

Anti - Pops (Regular Show) v Kylo Ren (Star Wars)

Bracket G (4/22-29)

Ross Geller (Friends) v Akito Sohma (Fruits Basket)

Henry Bowers (IT) v Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa)

Winner Sinclair (Chibi Vampire) v Evil Do-er/Dark Blue (Animation vs Minecraft)

Clint (Stardew Valley) v Luke Castellan (Percy Jackson)

Kokichi Ouma (Danganronpa) v Colin Robinson (What We Do In The Shadows)

Spy (TF2) v Ghetsis (Pokemon)

Billy (The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) v Queen Vanessa (A Hat In Time)

Doofus Drake (Ducktales) v Servantis (Ben 10)

Elias Bouchard (The Magnus Archives) v Francisco Guerra (Paranatural)

Tingle (The Legend of Zelda) v Hawt Saus (Chikn Nuggit)

Trishna (Papa Louie) v Mark Brendanawicz (Parks and Recreation)

Unparalleled Innocence (Rain World) v Morgana (Persona 5)

Lady Gisela Sencen (Keeper of the Lost Cities) v Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts)

Suzy Johnston (Phineas and Ferb) v Kaidou Shun (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.)

Souichi (Junji Ito) v Dr Hotti (Ace Attorney)

Morgoth (LOTR) v Sarah (Ed, Edd, and Eddy)

Bracket H (4/22-29)

Han Sooyoung (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint) v Barney the Purple Dinosaur (Barney)

Andy Bernard (The Office) v Lars Barriga (Steven Universe)

Dio (Zero Escape) v Caillou (Caillou)

Gideon Gleeful (Gravity Falls) v Balgo (Burn the Witch)

Joshu Higashikata (JJBA) v Toby Flenderson (The Office)

Touga Kiryuu (Revolutionary Girl Utena) v Teledji Adeledji (FFXIV)

Chairman Rose (Pokemon) v Donnel Udina (Mass Effect)

Father (FMA) v Harumi (LEGO Ninjago)

Akio Ohtori (Revolutionary Girl Utena) v Richard (Requiem of the Rose King)

Miranjo (Ranking of Kings) v Kray Foresight (Promare)

Xander Harris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) v The Worst (Ben 10)

Hisoka Morrow (Hunter x Hunter) v Doc Scratch (Homestuck)

Tony Stark (MCU) v Sakura Horuna (Naruto)

Sir Tristan the Cold (Penumbra Podcast) v Clay Puppington (Morel Orel)

Bling Bling Boy (Johnny Test) v George Constanza (Seinfeld)

Quiche (Tokyo Mew Mew) v Enji Todoroki (My Hero Academia)

[scriptwriters-network]

Short stories can be rather stark and bare unless you put in the right details. Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better.

- V. S. Pritchett

[onenakedfarmer]

V. S. PRITCHETT Myth Malers

What Chekhov saw in our failure to communicate was something positive and precious: the private silence in which we live, and which enables us to endure our own solitude. We live, as his characters do, beyond any tale we happen to enact.

[alrederedmixedmedia]

Alredered Remembers Sir V.S. Pritchett, prolific British author and literary critic, on his birthday.

"It is exciting and emancipating to believe we are one of nature's latest experiments, but what if the experiment is unsuccessful?"

-V. S. Pritchett

[lilithsaintcrow]

“So it was that on 1 November 1959, George met with Nabokov and his wife at the White Tower restaurant in Bloomsbury. Also present were Nigel Nicolson, the critic V. S. Pritchett and the Labour politician Roy Jenkins. Nobody argued for delay, they were too committed now. It was full speed ahead."

[scriniumplenum]

Flappers and Philosophers: the Collected Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I have not read all of these but have noted how they are quite variable. Some, like ‘The Sensible Thing’, hit the spot in that they strike a particular chord in the soul – perhaps what V S Pritchett means when he says a short story should be like something glimpsed in the corner of the eye – and give the sensation of something true clicking into place. Others don’t. And some, dare I say, seem…

[ireneworth]

Frank Marcus's Notes On His Love Affair

By Frank Marcus

Plays & Players Magazine, July 1972

THE WRITING OF IT WAS THE EASIEST PART. I took as my text Robert Frost's 'You don't take notes during a love affair', amplified in Dora's opening speech with a quote from V S Pritchett's auto-biography. Cyril Connolly's words (on Thomas Mann) would have served equally well: '... one must be content to remain an observer of life and of one's own life, often deprived of the experiences which render more rounded and full those of other human beings.'

The tragi-comical predicaments of a writer's life (any writer's life), not untinged perhaps with a degree of self-disgust, were naturally close to me, and the creative pot was kept effortlessly on the due us is dices lie weeks it look to write the plastlessly end product—as is often the case with me was inordinately long but all of it seemed to me essential.

The character of Dora I modelled closely on the artistic persona of the great Swiss actress Maria Becker, and I hoped I might lure her to London. Hence the original Dora was given a German origin and there was a flashback scene, just before her final destructive rage, which showed Jim rescuing her from the post war holocaust, with both of them embodying a spirit of vouth, passion, and untainted love. In Ronald Bryden's opinion. the fact of my own German origin gave these scenes a deeper and integral significance.

As is my usual practice, the completed script was shown first to a varied kind of panel of readers (friends, but by no means sychophants) and their reactions were overwhelmingly favourable.

Not so the managements. The play's length, added to my wish to import an actress totally unknown in England, brought a sheaf of rejections. My stated willingness to make cuts, preferably in cooperation with the director, made little difference. The script gathered dust, and was shown occasionally to friends in the theatre. As these included actresses, I made the mistake of forgetting that they would assume I was offering them a part in the play. I shall not make that particular mistake again.

At this time—roughly a year ago—the impresario Marvin Liebman made some tentative moves to bring the immensely successful revival of my earlier play, The Formation Dancers, given at the Hampstead Theatre Club, to the West End. When these plans collapsed, he read my new play, liked it, and showed it to Robin Phillips. Robin reacted positively, and for the first time the project showed signs of getting off the ground.

The organisation of the German theatre, which compels actors to plan as long as two years ahead (and in the process turns them into civil servants), ruled out Maria Becker. To my mind, the only English actress with the necessary quality for Dora was Irene Worth.

Irene had just returned after a year with Peter Brook's experimental company in Paris and Persia. I handed her the script with trembling hands in the foyer of the Cambridge on the first night of West of Suez and watched her with horror starting to read it, sitting alone in the auditorium during the interval. I should add that, by now, I had cut more than 500 lines of dialogue from the play and reduced it to manageable proportions.

She studied the text with enormous care—in fact, she took herself off to Aldeburgh for a week to do so. She returned with six pages of notes, and I can honestly say that they were among the most stimulating, challenging, and intelligent comments any play of mine has received.

I assented to nearly all her suggestions for alterations. The only point of contention concerned the status of Dora as a writer. I had meant her to be a competent but run-of-the-mill novelist; I didn't want her to have the alibi of genius. It's easy (posthumously) to forgive the outrageous behaviour of a Strindberg or a Rimbaud, and Ibsen, Tolstoy, and Joyce—among many others—regarded their lives with icy disillusion. Irene wanted to use Dora to convey some of her own thoughts and emotions. With a star of that magnitude you don't argue, you comply. I rewrote totally the opening cadenza and tried to accommodate Irene's wishes as best I could. The original Dora was imprisoned in her room and addressed an imaginary audience: Irene stretched out her hands.

The rest followed smoothly. Nigel Davenport was Irene's first choice for Jim: we all concurred and were delighted when he accepted. Contrary to speculation, Jennie was not written for Julia Foster. I had written a play for her, shortly after she appeared in my first television play in 1966. It was called Studies of the Nude, produced at Hampstead, but Julia—alas—was held up on a film and could not play in it. I shall never cease to regret it. Ever since, I have been acting as her career adviser (unpaid). I implored her to go after Lulu and thought that Jennie in Notes, who is the exact opposite of the theatre's greatest sex symbol, might enable her to demonstrate her versatility as an actress.

As is my custom, I stayed away from the early rehearsals. When I rejoined them, I was struck by Robin's brilliant and unorthodox methods, but sensed that the tremendous rapport between him and Irene, which had proved so successful with the RCS's Tiny Alice, was somehow lacking. Marvin Liebman, as ever the epitome of kindness and generosity, hovered in the background, giving us total artistic freedom. Dora, by the way, had by now become English and the flashback scene, while retaining some of its intensity, had been transposed to a house near an airfield during the Battle of Britain. We tried it during our first week out-of-town in Southsea, but decided to cut it. as it came too late and seemed redundant.

Our second (and final) try-out week was in Brighton: a notoriously unreliable venue for a new play. We were triumphant. By the end of the week performances were sold out; the actors were cheered; the press was wonderful. The resident theatrical contingent turned out in force and were most complimentary. I was particularly pleased by a personal letter from T C Worsley: until his retirement a few years ago one of the most respected theatre critics in London. He wrote: 'Just a line to tell you how much I both enjoyed and admired your play on Saturday. It has great ingenuity, great elegance of form, and much human feeling. And how delightful for once to see a play that is really written and neatly constructed. I don't see how it can fail to be a great success: it certainly deserves to be.'

After the first night in Brighton, we were offered the Globe, and we returned to London confident, if not euphoric.

The two preview performances were also encouraging. I should like to believe that it was not accidental that the three critics who attended a preview as well as the opening night responded to the play with enthusiasm.

On the first night, I sat in a box, well hidden behind a curtain. The audience looked fashionable, a trifle elderly, with a sprinkling of ageing film stars. That curious and (I had hoped) defunct phenomenon, a West End audience, had descended on my play, hoping to see—I should guess—an amusing Shaftesbury Avenue comedy. Neil Simon would have served them excellently.

I knew within seconds that the play was misfiring. I'm not searching for alibis, but this audience refused to 'meet' the play. They sat back, elegantly attired, daring the actors to entertain them. The evening was not a calamity, but it was equally clearly not a smash hit.

In the circumstances, the notices were better than expected. The critics were split clean down the middle; there was praise as well as stricture. I was saddened only by Irving Wardle, who failed totally to connect with the play, mistook parody for imitation (Anouilh), and credited the deliberate clichés to me instead of to the characters who uttered them (ditto Jim's lame attempts at epigrams).

The experience certainly put paid to the myth that dog doesn't eat dog. There were examples of venom, a gleeful desire to insert the knife where it hurts and, in one case, near-libellous innuendo. As a practising theatre critic, I can't say that I was surprised.

Irene Worth bore the brunt of the attack. Her fortitude and kindness to her fellow actors increased my huge admiration for her. But, far more significantly, she proceeded to develop her performance, turning each occasion into a 'happening'. With Irene Worth in the cast, no play could be less than vibrantly alive. I'm glad to say that it didn't take long before she received the praise that she deserved.

As for myself, I have once again been privileged to see my fantasy embodied on the stage. I can proceed now to new fan-tasies. Irrespective of applause or abuse, there is only one road open to me. It leads back to the typewriter.

[cherylmmbookblog]

#Blogtour From Far Around They Saw Us Burn by Alice Jolly

‘The highly anticipated first short story collection from the author of the Folio Prize-shortlisted Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile.’ It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour From Far Around They Saw Us Burn by Alice Jolly. About the Author Alice Jolly is a novelist and playwright. She won the 2014 V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize with one of her short stories, ‘Ray the Rottweiler’, and her memoir…

[davidhudson]

V. S. Pritchett, December 16, 1900 – March 20, 1997.

[grandhotelabyss]

Thoughts on the writer's writer's writer, Henry Green?

Never read him, partly due to your epithet. All one ever hears about is his technique. Is technique enough? I don't like the "writer's writer" phenomenon. This article on writer's writers—with a list of examples pretty evenly divided between people I haven't read and people I don't like, plus a handful to whom I don't think the term applies, since they're obviously major, popular, or both (Sebald, Bolaño, Knausgaard, Munro, Angela Carter)— quotes someone on Green saying,

W. H. Auden, Eudora Welty, V. S. Pritchett, Rebecca West, and John Updike have all described him, at various times, and in various ways, as the finest novelist of his generation, yet he never enjoyed either the commercial success or the literary fame of contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Christopher Isherwood

But e.g. Christopher Isherwood, whose technique is impeccable anyway, created Sally Bowles, both a well-rounded fictional character and almost a new archetype of her century. To me, as both writer and reader, that is impressive! I'm probably being unfair and should just read Green, but, since you ask, this is why I haven't so far.

[miladythewinter]

also the edition i read has an introduction by v. s. pritchett (i guess from the english edition as well) not just about "first love" but turgenev in general. really interesting! will definitely read more of his works. "fathers and sons" has actually been on my tbr list since forever

i finished reading the novella "first love" by turgenev (loved it!) and it was an older portuguese translation from an english one of the original. it's a fine translation. but then i checked a newer edition of this book with a translation straight from the russian, i read the available excerpt, and it's so fascinating how different it is. i mean, the difference is mostly in the chosen words and how the sentences are structured and the subsequent mood it creates and.... what if i said the first translation was far better? cause it was. even though it's from the english, the wording chosen by the translator, and the way all of it is written, is so much more engaging and flowing and dare i say approppriate for a 19th century book. it's beautiful

[writerswritecompany]

Quotable – V. S. Pritchett

Find out more about the author here

[scriptwriters-network]

Short stories can be rather stark and bare unless you put in the right details. Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better.

V. S. Pritchett