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May. 12th, 2011 11:38 amI don't know why I thought it was a good idea to read Stuart Kelly's The Book of Lost Books. It is basically an entire book full of "here are some nice things! That you can NEVER HAVE." And it's not like it doesn't say this right on the label, so I can only conclude that I was in a super masochistic mood when I picked it up or something. Anyway: thanks, Stuart Kelly, for explaining to me all the reasons we can't have nice things, I APPRECIATE IT.
. . . anyway, if you too are feeling masochistic and would like to read about all the nice things you can't have, the book is entertaining enough even if its methodology is a bit weird. I would not count books that the authors never actually got around to writing as 'lost books' personally, but Kelly disagrees with me. (Sometimes I sort of feel like he's making a stretch regarding lost books just because he wants to talk about Dante or whoever, or because he's heard an interesting story even if it didn't really end up in the book being lost. On the other hand it's not like I'm sad to now know the story of how Dante's panic-stricken sons attempted to forge the Paradiso when they thought they'd lost Dad's first draft.)
The list is predictably dominated by Western authors, mostly male, but Kelly has made at least some kind of effort to research Chinese and Japanese and Indian literature, which I appreciate. (He and I are both very sad not to have the 23,500 haiku that Japanese poet Saikaku once reportedly composed IN THE COURSE OF TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. I - what - how - !!! Though I mean I understand how this would be difficult to record for posterity.) Occasionally he'll get very enthusiastic and attempt to pastiche an author in his little segment about them, which can be hit or miss. So there are pros and there are cons, but you'll probably like this if you're a literature geek, except in the way where it will also pain your soul.
. . . anyway, if you too are feeling masochistic and would like to read about all the nice things you can't have, the book is entertaining enough even if its methodology is a bit weird. I would not count books that the authors never actually got around to writing as 'lost books' personally, but Kelly disagrees with me. (Sometimes I sort of feel like he's making a stretch regarding lost books just because he wants to talk about Dante or whoever, or because he's heard an interesting story even if it didn't really end up in the book being lost. On the other hand it's not like I'm sad to now know the story of how Dante's panic-stricken sons attempted to forge the Paradiso when they thought they'd lost Dad's first draft.)
The list is predictably dominated by Western authors, mostly male, but Kelly has made at least some kind of effort to research Chinese and Japanese and Indian literature, which I appreciate. (He and I are both very sad not to have the 23,500 haiku that Japanese poet Saikaku once reportedly composed IN THE COURSE OF TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. I - what - how - !!! Though I mean I understand how this would be difficult to record for posterity.) Occasionally he'll get very enthusiastic and attempt to pastiche an author in his little segment about them, which can be hit or miss. So there are pros and there are cons, but you'll probably like this if you're a literature geek, except in the way where it will also pain your soul.
