Thursday, December 31, 2015

Wrapping Up 2015


Unopened bottle of Mumm champagne, 
found and displayed by artist Jenny Odell
 at the Recology Artist-in-Residence program
 of the San Francisco City garbage dump. 


Seraillon’s fifth year of existence, 2015, has been something like a Christmas panettone: delicious Italian (mostly Neapolitan) ingredients, but with a few domestic and exotic fruits and a very, very few rancid walnuts thrown into the mix. For another year, I’ve been awestruck by the works I’ve read; each succeeding year-end wrap-up serves to underscore how the universe of literary marvels is ever-expanding, and how my sense of getting a grip on it all seems ever-receding.

Here are a few notes from this year of reading:

Best Work Consisting of 2,279 Sonnets

The year began with the joyful discovery of the Roman sonnets of Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, who used dialect to create, in sonnet form, a raw, ribald and not infrequently moving portrait of the Eternal City. The enthusiasm and different approaches taken by Belli’s several translators - perhaps most notably Anthony Burgess in his literary novella ABBA ABBA - helped to ramp up my own enthusiasm. Belli is a poet to read and re-read.

Best Work in which All The Characters End Up Enclosed in a Pumpkin

Going back a bit further in time, Teofilo Folengo’s Baldo may well rank as my favorite book of the year, a hugely entertaining, bawdy and inventive tale that served as a chief inspiration for Rabelais but which offers up a free-wheeling innocence unmatched by its offspring.

Five Exceptional 20th Century Italian Novels (and a Note About Four 21st Century Italian Novels)

Raffaele La Capria’s The Mortal Wound, which inspired Paolo Sorrentino’s film La Grande Bellezza, beautifully captures the paralysis of an entire generation of Neapolitans.

Guido Morselli’s “alternate history” novel Divertimento 1889 I found charming, funny, and subtly disturbing.

J. Rudolfo Wilcock’s catalogue of mostly fictional artists and dreamers in The Temple of Iconoclasts stood out by virtue of its incredibly wry humor.

Ennio Flaiano’s riveting The Short Cut, exploring an episode during Fascist Italy’s misadventure in East Africa, ranked up there with the best of Graham Greene.

Finally, a late contender, Daniele del Giudice’s surprising Lines of Light counts among the most inventive contemporary novels I’ve read in a long time, an almost plotless story concerning two men, a novel writer and a particle physicist, briefly intersecting and diverging amid love’s lines, angles and rhymes in their approaches to the exploration of knowledge.

Before leaving off the Italians, I feel obliged here to say something about Elena Ferrante’s “Neapolitan Quartet,” which I chomped down in a gulp. I intend to write about these books in early 2016, after having written around them in 2015 by noting some of Ferrante’s obvious influences.

Best Travelogue/Anti-Clerical Parody for Showing Up Gustave Flaubert

José Maria Eça de Queiroz’s The Relic proved an unexpected and utterly charming, funny and irreverent novel, one so different from his The Maias that I have trouble deciding which, between these two, is my favorite among the several of Eça’s works that I’ve now read. But I can easily say that The Relic is among my favorite works read in 2015, a novel I’m already pushing on other readers unfamiliar with this terrific writer.

Best Modern Poetry Discovery

A terrific discovery in poetry this year, thanks to a kind friend who sent along a recently translated selection – The Perfect Hour - is Portuguese poet Sophia Mello de Breyner Andresen. Here’s a book I’ve kept on the night table for frequent reading of delicate poems which prove that sometimes a limited palette is all that’s needed to create marvelous poetry. It’s a short book one can read in an hour – a perfect hour.

Probably the Best Novel Ever Set Anywhere Near Bakersfield, California

I owe thanks to Jacqui of Jacquiwine’s Journal for turning me on to Dorothy Baker’s Cassandra at The Wedding, a comic psychological novel of two sisters whose complex relationship is tested by the impending marriage of one. Why this isn’t a better-known American classic I do not know. 

Best Second Visit with a Writer I’ve Wanted to Read Again

Thanks to another suggestion from Jacqui, I returned for a second time to Elizabeth Taylor, this time her novel Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont – delicate, funny, moving, among the most affecting works about aging that I can recall having read.

Best Discovery of a Writer I’d Resisted Reading Before

Arnold Bennett. I loved his Anna of the Five Towns, and quickly followed it with his delightful The Card.

Best Fulfillment of a Decades-Long Reading Project

Finally this year I succeeded in finishing a goal I started at age 17: reading all of Virginia Woolf’s novels. The Voyage Out, her first novel, was the only one remaining, and what surprises it provided! Perhaps reading everything else before reading this one was a good thing, for in The Voyage Out one sees the germs of almost everything else Woolf wrote, including the introduction of Clarissa Dalloway. The Voyage Out also possesses a liveliness and humor that seems somewhat diminished in Woolf’s later writing, and contains one of my favorite scenes from all of my reading this year, in which two of the characters, braving a storm at sea, sequester themselves in a cabin on the boat and drink champagne from a glass that's still holding a toothbrush.

Most Moving Short Novel about Approaching the End of Life

Little Songs in the Shade of Tamaara, by Egyptian writer Mohammed Afifi. A simple idea: a man catalogues everything in his garden. But through attentiveness and reminiscence he manages to recall and evaluate an entire life of tragedy and triumph as he approaches the end of it. This small, beautifully structured book resonated profoundly; would that any of us could express the feelings of facing life’s end with such courage, grace and beauty.

A Great Novel About the Sahara

New Waw is the second novel I’ve read by Taureg writer Ibrahim Al-Koni, who creates poetic gems through merging ethnography and a profound appreciation of the desert in exploring the lives of Taureg nomads.

A Bad But Entertaining Novel About The Sahara

Pierre Benoit’s L’Atlantide was a colossal success in France when it appeared in 1919. I read it in an English translation under the kitsch title Queen of Atlantis, one I found entirely appropriate to the B-film quality of this story of French explorers discovering a lost civilization in the furthest reaches of the desert (it’s Atlantis – surprise!). A hoot from start to finish.

Best Historical Fiction

This award must go to Jean-Noel Schifano’s Chroniques Napolitaines – beautifully written, filled with love affairs and violence stemming from the same addiction to passion that characterized baroque Naples.  

Best Short Story Collection That Involves the Paint on the Mona Lisa’s Canvas Suddenly Deciding to Fly Off and Explore the World

To be fair, I only read a handful of short story collections this year, but César Aira’s The Musical Brain, a long-anticipated translation of the Argentine novelist’s shorter works, ranked for me among the best of the books I’ve read by Aira, with one deliriously inventive story succeeding another. The New Directions hardcover edition also gets kudos for its terrific cover.

Two Novels I Intend to Re-Read Before Writing About Them

Long on my list of novels to be read, and now read at last for the first, but surely not the last time, is Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier. I flagged so many lines on so many pages that in the end I decided I’d just have to read it again.

Effi Briest, by Theodor Fontane. I am still haunted by the Chinese figure in Fontane’s novel, as well as by the quick eclipse of youth that occurs in its opening pages. Though I read Effi Briest early this year, it has rested in my head as perhaps the novel I am most eager to re-visit. 

Best Work I’m Still Reading, and Other Projects for 2016

I am thrilled to be halfway through a re-read of Don Quixote. This coming year I’ll likely still keep exploring Italian literature, but look forward to pursuing many other writers I’ve yet to discover as well as re-reading authors I want to revisit (perhaps especially Arnold Bennett and his The Old Wives’ Tale). One of the writers I intend to revisit, for the umpteenth time, is Jane Bowles and her novel Two Serious Ladies. Please see this announcement of a proposed group read with the Dolce Bellezza blog.


Finally, a huge thanks to all of you who have visited Seraillon this year and to all of you who have pointed the way to so many wonderful paths to explore in literature. I wish you a joyful and peaceful 2016 - wherever you might get your champagne. 



33 comments:

  1. What a pleasure it is to blog with you and discover books of which I'd never heard, nor read, before. Part of the joy of blogging for me is not only sharing great reads, but learning of new ones.

    You introduced me to the film La Grande Bellezza, which was a feast for the eyes and imagination. I loved reading Contempt with you and the others, and now I look forward to Two Serious Ladies in January.

    Happy New Year, seraillon, and may 2016 bring you much joy and happiness.

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    1. In my rush to post this before the final hours of 2015 ran down, I neglected to mention the immensely rewarding group reads of Contempt and Pinocchio. What a pleasure to read those with others! I too am looking forward to the next group read, thanks to your instigation, of Two Serious Ladies.

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    2. Yes, and now there's future promise of La Regenta with Tom and others! I've already downloaded it on my kindle and can hardly wait for July!
      And, Frances is thinking about Frankenstein in June. Such wonderful opportunities to read together. I'm greatly looking forward to our Two Serious Ladies!

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    3. How timely - I've been itching to reread Frankenstein for several months now, so "wonderful opportunities" indeed.

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  2. I would absolutely read that Bennett with you. Maybe others would too.

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    1. Hey, okay, another group read idea! I'm game. Perhaps early summer? I'll throw out the idea sometime this spring.

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  3. What a wonderful year of reading, Scott. I love the categories in your list - you must have had fun putting them together!

    I'm so glad you enjoyed Cassandra at the Wedding - that novel really does deserve to be better known. Will you read Baker's Young Man with a Horn at some point? It's somewhat different to Cassandra, but the writing is just as good.

    Delighted to see a mention for Mrs Palfrey, too. Elizabeth Taylor is fast becoming one of my fave writers - I've recently finished another of her novels which I'll be reviewing in the next week or two.

    Finally, I must echo Bellezza's comments. Thank you for introducing me to a wealth of new books and writers - I have the Morselli, which I'm looking forward to immensely.

    Wishing you all the very best for the year ahead, Scott - I can't wait to read your post on Ferrante's Neapolitans!

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    1. Thanks, Jacqui - I'm indebted to you for quite a few of the books I read this year. I'll no doubt be poaching from your recommendations again this year. Funny you should mention Young Man With a Horn, as I've been digging through bookshops in Paris to find the French translation (by Boris Vian, no less), only to find that it's mysteriously gone out of print.

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  4. Terrific list of books, Scott, and I couldn't agree more about The Voyage Out: so satisfying to see her later work prefigured. I've got Effie Brest on my list for next year, mostly because Beckett thought so much of it. Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks, Anthony - and what a pleasure to have your thoughts about The Voyage Out come along at the same time I'd contemplated finally getting to it - that was the push I needed, and I'm grateful for it. Let me know when you get to Effi Briest - I may well take the opportunity to read it again along with you.

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  5. Happy New Year Scott.

    Your list was both amusing and informative. I always love your book choices.

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    1. Thanks Brian - I'm looking forward to another year of exchanging book ideas!

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  6. Effi Briest. The Temple of Iconoclasts. I think those are the only two books I've read from all the books on your terrific recap, and yet Fontane's and Wilcock's works are so juicy and dissimilar that I'm getting all excited thinking about your picks I've yet to read. In short, thanks for your great blogging year that was 2015 and thanks in advance for carrying on again in 2016. Looking forward to it, Scott. Happy New Year to you and your special lady friend!

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    1. Many thanks, Richard, for the kind comment as well as for facilitating so many of my choices through your infectious energy and willingness to keep hosting group reads (like the one that got me reading Wilcock right away when I had the chance - what a treasure!). I'm happy to see that the interruption of your "Blog, Interrupted" has lifted, as I'm depending on you to keep instigating these rewarding group reads. I'm already gearing up for Spanish Lit Month and Doom.

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  7. What venturesome reading year you've had, Scott. Reminds me to read more of Woolf and look out for Wilcock. The unfamiliar titles are also welcome as they highlight for me the buried riches. Looking forward to the set of goodies you'll be picking next to highlight in seraillon. Wishing you a good year ahead!

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    1. Thank you, Rise. That Wilcock is right up your alley, I think. And yes, more Woolf; I suppose I now need to go back and start her all over again!

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  8. Scott, another great list. I've already ordered copies of Baldo and New Waw! My copy of Effi Briest keeps getting closer to the top of my TBR stack; hopefully this year I'll actually read it.

    Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks, Scott. With the interest being expressed in Effi Briest in the comments here, perhaps a group read of it is in order. I can't believe you actually picked up Baldo! I held off since my library had it, and since those i Tatti editions are a bit pricy, but I may have to give in as it's something I'd relish turning to regularly. I very much look forward to reading your responses to it.

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    2. I confess I've ordered just the first volume of Baldo, so I'm only spending the equivalent cost of a pizza and a six pack of beer for what looks like a pretty good book. We'll see if I buy a copy of the second volume. If I was smart, I'd just check them out from the university library, but I always regret having to return those books. It's a sickness.

      Yes, an Effi Briest group read is a fantastic idea.

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    3. The second volume is the wild one. You'll pretty much have to get both. And by avoiding a pizza and a six pack, you'll be healthier for having done so!

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  9. Your Italian reading was very helpful for me this year. From my perspective, we could hardly have planned it better.

    How have you gotten along with Al-Koni? I read The Puppet last month and found it quite difficult. I don't know what I would have thought if I had not been to Mali and visited the Tuareg.

    The Chinese figure is the key to Effi Briest, the key, I say, the key!

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  10. An interesting list, as always.
    I love Elizabeth Taylor and need to read Cassandra at the Wedding.
    I also really should read from my piles as I have a huge book by Al-Koni that should be very good.
    Effi Briest is a favourite of mine and I hope to read The God Soldier soon as well.
    Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks, Caroline. A "huge book" by Ibrahim Al-Koni? I didn't know there was such a thing! Anyway, yes, read Cassandra, a small gem of a modern American novel. I proposed a group read of Effi Briest to Amateur Reader below, and now I'm determined to make it happen.

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    2. Yes, I've got that one. And as a hard back. I can hardly hold it or I would have read it years ago.
      You know, we had an Effi Briest group read during the first German Literature Month?

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    3. I just went back to my copy and it's actually bizarre that this one hasn't been translated as it's said to be his most importnat novel. But huge it is at over 800 pages.

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    4. Too bad the "huge Al-Koni" isn't available in English. I suspect that it will be one day.

      I missed the first Effi Briest group read. It sounds as though quite a few people would be up for another, though.

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    5. Caroline, Tom, anyone, in case anyone's still out there and interested, William Hutchins - who translated Al-Koni's New Waw, is about two-thirds of the way through translating the Al-Koni magnum opus you've referenced above. For the moment he's going with the English title The Fetishists. No idea if/when it might appear on the shelves.

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  11. Well, likewise - what a pleasure to read the Italians with you this year, Tom, and how quickly that year went by (I haven't even gotten to Ippolito Nievo yet, darn it!).

    Al-Koni is indeed difficult, at least that latest one. I got along better with his Gold Dust a couple years ago. How lucky you are to have visited the Tuareg! I have a somewhat unusual Tuareg connection thanks to a friend who opened a school in Niger for Tuareg children, but have yet to make a visit. But yes, even a tiny bit of familiarity helps with reading Al-Koni.

    Look at all these comments above from readers wanting to tackle Effi Briest! You turned my attention to it, so how about a group read of it later this year?

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  12. A group read of Effi Briest is a good idea. Many American readers have trouble with its alien referents, just as I do with Al-Koni.

    I urge anyone following Beckett to Effi Briest to read this short conversation between Beckett and his Polish translator Antoni Libera.

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    1. Thanks for that link. I'm going to launch that group read, probably sooner than later. Now I'm especially keen to re-read the novel.

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