tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post8634020419946802576..comments2024-03-14T13:06:38.883+00:00Comments on cultural snow: In defence of stylish exclusionTim Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681067872556519250noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-14876334376706611442012-08-29T07:12:05.600+01:002012-08-29T07:12:05.600+01:00Thanks for the BSJ tip. Yes, that was my experienc...Thanks for the BSJ tip. Yes, that was my experience with Joyce: half-way through Ulysses I thought him the most arrogant and annoying writer who'd ever drawn breath, but I'm glad I continued with what then became my favourite of all novels.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-63194664231123944452012-08-27T16:23:23.314+01:002012-08-27T16:23:23.314+01:00I read James Herriot's All Creatures Great and...I read James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small as a teenager and it changed my life. Coming from small-town Minnesota, it didn't take long for me to fall into the vernacular of Yorkshire, even if it did sometimes take me several readings of a word before I had a grasp of its meaning.<br /><br />From there I went to Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and the deep south of the U.S. I can still recall the thrill of realizing that "shug" was the shortened endearment of "sugar".<br /><br />PearlPearlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05261369905176088917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-61743280068233291612012-08-26T21:52:11.918+01:002012-08-26T21:52:11.918+01:00Tim, you are totally correct about the perspective...Tim, you are totally correct about the perspectives; I've encountered both visiting Sheffield and Corpus Christi at Cambridge. As for <a href="http://www.indigoroth.com/2010/08/eyeing-beer-suspiciously.html" rel="nofollow">Elephant God Noir</a>, you can come to your own conclusions. Click. IndigoIndigo Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03957870121933442627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-2363897023081497612012-08-26T05:16:17.673+01:002012-08-26T05:16:17.673+01:00Both a) and b) are entirely sound points, LC, and ...Both a) and b) are entirely sound points, LC, and there's some truth in what Bissett and Welsh are saying. So long as they can accept that their own work is just as exclusive, in its own way, as something middle-class and/or post-colonial that does win the Booker. And a good thing too. Imagine a novel that sought to be as inclusive as possible. Paulo Coelho, or something?<br /><br />Well, that's what I thought, Archie. A good chunk of literary appreciation depends on knowing what words mean, in a Gradgrindian, dictionary sense - denotation comes before connotation.<br /><br />BSJ can be tough going, Gadjo but (like Joyce) you find a rhythm after a while. Try House Mother Normal for starters.<br /><br />I think a lot of it depends on perspective, Indigo. If you're middle-class and from Luton, you might find that the school of Welsh, Kelman etc see you as a posh southern softy; whereas to the Hampstead set you're a bit below the salt. Elephant God Noir should transcend such pettifogging distinctions, though.<br /><br />Hi Savannah. Regional fiction may be cherished on your side of the Pond, but there are still big prizes (the Pulitzer comes to mind) that would aim to set Faulkner and Updike and McCarthy and Toni Morrison against each other. In Britain we're having one of our periodic bouts of self-analysis over national identity, much of it involving whether Scotland wants to go it alone. I think the brouhaha above is a symptom of that.<br /><br />BWT: Hughes could disentangle elitism from class because he wasn't British.Tim Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14681067872556519250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-28162282855855532372012-08-25T18:52:40.989+01:002012-08-25T18:52:40.989+01:00Yes to your - not Roddy surely - dissuade and McEw...Yes to your - not Roddy surely - dissuade and McEwan/James/eh?.<br /><br />On accessibility/exclusivity etc - (the late great) Robert Hughes comes to mind:<br /><br />"Some things do strike us as better than others – more articulate, more radiant with consciousness. We may have difficulty saying why, but the experience remains."<br /><br />And - A Guardian editorial continues... Democracy's task, in the field of art, he believed, was to make the world safe for elitism, not to outlaw it. He believed passionately – in Hughes's case the adverb is redundant – in an elitism that was not based on class, wealth or race, but on skill, imagination, high ability and intense visionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-24629651198150206832012-08-25T14:30:04.194+01:002012-08-25T14:30:04.194+01:00Seems that the Booker award has had a history of c...Seems that the Booker award has had a history of controversy, sugar! (I had to do a quick backstory history search, sad little American that I am.) Regional fiction is cherished and, to my mind, encouraged here in the states. I've not done a study of how awards are given here, but I do know that they've made the national best seller lists. Well done on your essay! I know more about the award and also, a bit more about you. xoxosavannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04310843901371718758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-10232879983491176622012-08-25T09:15:12.309+01:002012-08-25T09:15:12.309+01:00Hi Tim, well damn you, you've made me think. C...Hi Tim, well damn you, you've made me think. Coming from a nice, white, affluent, Home Counties background (albeit it from Luton), I've never spared this much thought. I'm confident that my own written voice can be read by anyone, but my favourite genres and concepts have proven to be equally elusive or unappealing. I can only hope that Elephant God Noir and Surrealist Technobabble will help me find my way onto the Booker shortlist, even if my accent doesn't. Thanks again for this great piece. IndigoIndigo Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03957870121933442627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-9892453365575622242012-08-25T08:28:34.137+01:002012-08-25T08:28:34.137+01:00Excellent analysis, Tim. (Wow, you've read B. ...Excellent analysis, Tim. (Wow, you've read B. S. Johnson - is he readable?) 'Celtic quotas in the Booker shortlist' - ha! How about about quotas also for books that f**k*n' use f**k*n' swear words all the f**k*n' time - they try so hard not to be ignored and yet it still sometimes happens.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-69434110748267599902012-08-24T10:55:00.004+01:002012-08-24T10:55:00.004+01:00GCSE English candidates aren't expected to be ...GCSE English candidates aren't expected to be able to work out what <i>chide</i> and <i>gibber</i> mean? I can't imagine any context in which those words could be couched that wouldn't make their meaning clear enough to have a decent stab at answering the question. Isn't extrapolation from context - i.e. educated guesswork - a part of reading comprehension any more?<br /><br /><i>couched</i> (p.p.) flanked or surrounded. <br /><i>stab</i> (n): approximation, rough attempt.<br /><br /><i>handcart</i> (n. fig.)....Archie_Vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04582569974503175543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18775356.post-8357227751978309682012-08-24T10:36:04.034+01:002012-08-24T10:36:04.034+01:00I first read Welsh's Trainspotting when I was ...I first read Welsh's Trainspotting when I was young, poor and a bit stupid - it really opened my eyes in a couple of ways because before then I had no idea that:<br /><br />a) You didn't have to talk/write posh to be a proper writer<br /><br />b) People who lived in council estates were allowed to be proper writers<br /><br />It inspired me to dedicate the rest of my life to talking about how I'd maybe like to write a book one day, you know, if I ever have the time, maybe. LChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13796019564156060962noreply@blogger.com