Julian Barnes: Nothing to be Frightened of

  Julian Barnes says in his unclassifiable book called "Nothing to be Frightened of", which as its name doesn't suggest is dedicated to the theme of death, that when he began to write fiction he set two rules: “Neither dreams nor climate." "As a long term reader, a significant meteorology has always irritated me, storm clouds, rainbows, thunder in the distance, and I was also tired of significant dreams, premonitions, and appearances and other". He even thought about calling his first novel "Without climate."
 

  I read Barnes for the first time when I was about eighteen. "Flaubert's Parrot". I still have the volume. This was the moment I decided to become a writer. I was marveled by his sense of humor, erudition and tenderness with which he treated his characters. Then the laziness and lack of ideas made me stop my project, ridding the world of a handful of printed pieces of paper.  So at least I've avoided a comment like his mother once made: "I have two sons, one (the philosopher Jonathan Barnes) who writes books I read and do not understand and the other (Julian) who writes books that I understand and do not read."

 

  Barnes shares with fellow British professional colleagues some more or less contemporary features. It's as funny as Nick Hornby, but his humor is more subtle and is not intended to be as "cool". It may be ironic as Martin Amis, but is far more compassionate and less smug. Instead of pulling his teeth he would drink a bottle of Burgundy. It is no coincidence that he abides by the reminder of Flaubert: "be methodical and orderly in your life, like a bourgeois, to be violent and original in your life”. He is so capable of expressing the world of small things like Paul Auster, but not as pretentious or "serious" as the American, which is why the latter is more popular in Spain, where if a writer is not stupendous, he or she will not be taken seriously. His books are just too fun to deserve the Prince of Asturias Award. Perhaps they could give it to his alter ego, crime novel writers.

  Even though he is such a Francophile guy, Barnes has always seemed the quintessence of British virtues to me, although not having sympathy for the French is precisely the least of the English virtues. A feature of exquisite extravagance. Barnes is for all audiences. Being as erudite as he is, you can read it as easily as John LeCarré. You will never have shove in your face that he was educated in Oxford. I bet you didn´t know? I bet it never crossed your mind? It is obvious that it terrifies him to be a literary celebrity as Somerset Maugham or Arthur Conan Doyle, who he dedicates one of his finest novels. He really proposes a "this has occurred to me, what do you think?”

 

But, on he has a ten year old picture hung on his website. We will investigate this dark side.

  

  I give a series titles of Barnes. I have not used a particular criteria, just used my memory and taste.
 

• Flaubert's Parrot
• Engand, England
• Talking in over
• Love Etc
• Arthur & George
• The sense of an ending

 

For more information I enclose some links:

• Bibliography
• New York Times: Julian Barnes and the Emotions of Englishmen
• NewYorker: The Sense of and Ending

 

El Señor Gordo

El humor está aquí, en alguna parte

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Translation by Amanda Perri

Ten reason not to read Singer in the summer (or never)

  Isaac Bashevis Singer (Leoncin - Poland 1904 - Florida, 1991) is the most universal Yiddish writer known (all his work that we have read, for those of us who don´t speak Yiddish, are “translations” to English that he did himself). As you can see the guy was everything but simple. He won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. However, this fact should not lead us to mistakenly thinking that it will be harmless or even beneficial to read his work. Here are ten reasons for not reading his work:

1. When reading Singer you enter in a dangerous treatise on the soul of the Jewish people. If you are Jewish you will find that the author can fuel some of the most ingrained anti-Semitic criticisms. Needless to say, the Zionists don´t get better treatment. Instead, if you are anti-Semitic, it goes without saying that your ideas will be exposed and starkly portrayed.
2. Progressive, rightists (sorry neoliberal), and in general all those who embrace any ideology, will be shaken by a discharge of skepticism at the same level. It is true that Singer did not look over his shoulder with his enlightening political or moral wisdom "on the way of the truth" but, of course, do not expect a pat on the back of their most deeply-held convictions.
3. If you are someone who reads to raise your spirit, get rid of doubts and find certainties in exemplary characters, you must avoid Singer at all costs. His characters live lives that are convulsive like currents and if anything lacking certainty.
4. Sex and passion seeps from every pore on every page of Singer. A spanking for the Puritans. But don’t sing victory yet. Refrain romantics and fans of "Pretty Woman". Although the desire constantly shakes, like a gale to Singer's characters, you will not find any erotic scenes that writers of "erotic novels" like.
5. People that are Politically correct, please refrain. Extending the previously stated. The relationships between men and women in his writings are very complicated. You could say the same about family relationships. The passion is often so stark that the characters in his novels would, if they lived in Spain nowadays, spend their days in court.
6. If you are someone who thinks that everything that is written and told should have a special prevention. Singer is a story teller. Stories that advance furiously live raging waves. The dialogues are so witty and dry, like the best of Chandler. Refrain all who like reading ten pages that describe a worm crossing a carpet.
7. If you are someone who loves to "identify" himself/herself with the characters, you must take particular care, because, although you probably will not be a Polish Jew or American, passions, trials and tribulations of the characters will seem sometimes extracted from your deep secrets. In that case, sometimes what you discover is not very nice.
8. As a devious Jew, Singer wrote delicious stories for children. He generally hated them. Nothing to say about them. They are delicious and fun, without being childish or violent. Even the most radical psychologists against popular tales would approve them. But be careful. They are hooks. From here, the small reader could continue to the novels.
9. The reflection, religion, spirituality and even the hidden forces and spirits is present in many pages. If you think these issues have been overcome, you should not be exposed to being a skeptic or a believer. Stay away from Singer!
10. Finally, a generic recommendation. Regular readers of Ruiz Zafón, Almudena Grandes or Paulo Coelho, my recommendation is to stay away from Singer´s books. Instead, Woody Allen and the Coen brother’s fans will find happy coincidences.

If, despite all these recommendations you insist on the crazy idea of reading and entering the stormy world of Isaac Bashevis Singer, here are some tips and recommendations warning that its use can lead to addiction.

 

• “Shadows over Hudson”
• “The slave”
• “The certificate”
• “The magician from Lublin”
• “Jewish tales of the village Chelm” (Children’s)
• “Enemies, a love story”
• “A life”. Florence Noiville. Biography

PS: The fiction begins in the books inner cover, which gives significant biographical information, but wrong about his life. Which one?

 

 

 

El Señor Gordo

El humor está aquí, en alguna parte

Síguenos en Facebook y Twitter
 

Translation by Amanda Perri