tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post6370911103434870248..comments2023-12-24T17:41:42.989-08:00Comments on seraillon: The Stories of Haroldseraillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-32051403007806970692018-10-15T16:55:47.797-07:002018-10-15T16:55:47.797-07:00John, for whatever reason, I missed this comment -...John, for whatever reason, I missed this comment - left over a year ago! Ugh. I am so sorry. I'm really grateful for your kind comment and for the suggestion to NYRB that they try to reprint the book. I think a number of publishers have tried, but there appears to be some hang up. <br /><br />Funny - I also buy SOH whenever I run across a copy, knowing that I'm sure to find someone who will appreciate it - and knowing too that there's an ever-decreasing number of available copies out there. <br /><br />Best,<br />Scottseraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-19498562548599802662018-10-15T16:52:20.040-07:002018-10-15T16:52:20.040-07:00Dear Steven - thanks very much for your comment (m...Dear Steven - thanks very much for your comment (my apologizes for this tardy response - I only saw the comment today). How great that you are writing about the book! I would be most grateful if you could share your essay; I'd love to read it.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-16137814652053650962018-09-18T21:33:03.088-07:002018-09-18T21:33:03.088-07:00This is a beautiful review, Scott. I'm current...This is a beautiful review, Scott. I'm currently working on an essay about The Story of Harold and what it's meant to me, and I appreciate your insights.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06026038305264555239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-10275868043009727772017-08-24T08:43:34.540-07:002017-08-24T08:43:34.540-07:00Scott: I first read The Story of Harold in 1974, ...Scott: I first read The Story of Harold in 1974, and found it mesmerizing, moving, and shocking. Now in retirement, I reread the book last week and was again astonished. It's a wonderful book. Whenever I come across a copy (at a reasonable price) I buy it, as I'm not willing to lend my copy to friends. <br /> Your essay about Harold seemed deeply-felt and accurate.<br /> I have been impressed with many of the titles that New York Review Books has brought back into print. Today I emailed NYRB and suggested they reprint The Story of Harold. I took the liberty of quoting the third paragraph of your essay, citing both the blog title and your name, and also sent a link to Seraillon. <br /> I'm very pleased to have come upon your blog this morning, and look forward to reading more of your writing.<br /><br />John Barrow John Barrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05175452398111482321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-52152632763811060982015-07-13T09:24:58.097-07:002015-07-13T09:24:58.097-07:00Thanks, Jacqui - I had not thought of a thematic c...Thanks, Jacqui - I had not thought of a thematic connection with <i>Beautiful Days</i> but I think you're right: similar portraits of vulnerable people who carry a remarkable inner strength, an astute moral indignation and an ability to use their own stories as a means of survival. I know <i>The Story of Harold</i> has something of a cult following, but find it unfortunate that the book is not more widely recognized.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-65020902204838703182015-07-12T04:14:45.035-07:002015-07-12T04:14:45.035-07:00This is such a passionate, heartfelt review, Scott...This is such a passionate, heartfelt review, Scott. It makes me want to read the book, which is always a good thing. I like what you say about the importance of storytelling: the importance of stories, their life-affirming and life-preserving power. That's so true - as adults, it's very easy to forget this.<br /><br />Your closing paragraph struck a chord with me too, especially your comments on the importance of protecting and nurturing young hearts and minds. It's a very different novel, but I couldn't help but think of your review of Beautiful Days... JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-4916626767085306552012-06-30T10:30:43.494-07:002012-06-30T10:30:43.494-07:00Dear Librarians - Your comment posted the same day...Dear Librarians - Your comment posted the same day I left for nine days on the road, so I apologize for just getting around to a response now. Thanks, first, for your very kind words about the review, but also for your invaluable insight into some of the biographical aspects of <i>The Story of Harold</i>. I'm particularly grateful for your having illuminated at last what to me was perhaps the most puzzling element in the novel, the sudden appearance of "Teddy" towards the novel's end, a character only tangentially mentioned earlier and so clearly drawn from Selden's own life as to be an almost entirely gratuitous intrusion into the fictive world of the book. I know the passage on p. 377 well, and had mused over it each of the three or four times I've read <i>The Story of Harold</i>. I'm very happy to now have some explanation. By the way, the page numbers in my original hardcover match up to your Edward Gorey-designed paperback edition. <br /><br />I'm wracking my brain trying to remember why the name Edward Czerwinski seems so familiar; I'm certain I ran across it quite recently, but can't recall in what context. In any case, it appears you were fortunate to have had him as a professor. I'm surprised and elated that <i>The Story of Harold</i> actually appeared on a university class syllabus; may it not be the last time.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-89334167421466920892012-06-25T20:32:59.803-07:002012-06-25T20:32:59.803-07:00I thoroughly enjoyed, and agreed with, your very b...I thoroughly enjoyed, and agreed with, your very beautiful and lyrical review of Harold. I read it in college, it was assigned by my professor, and so I think I can answer your question, is it at all biographical? My professor clearly assigned it because he was mentioned in it. His name was Edward Czerwinski, and he taught Russian Lit, Slavic lit at SUNY Stony Brook - and in 1980 or 81, Harold was on our syllabus, along with Conrad and Dostoyevsky and Chekov! Of course Teddy is a diminutive for Edward, and he is very tenderly mentioned on pgs 296 and 377 where there is no mistaking his identity. While cruising the waterfront gay bar (no doubt the Ramrod) Andrews mentions meeting a "Polish looking" young man who reminds him of "Teddy", mentions that Teddy speaks Polish (Prof. C was a Polish speaker, from childhood), his crewcut (yes), and on 377 "Teddy" cancels a Russian Lit class to go stereo shopping with Terry. He is barely disguised, no, really not disguised at all. Czerwinski never revealed that Selden was the author and I wondered for years who it could be (Sendak? for his violent stores. Crockett Johnson for his Harold?) <br />I hadn't re-read Harold since college, where despite being a pretty hip young NY woman with gay friends,who hung out in the Village, I found it rather shocking. That is not a book for the young, you just don't have life experience of that magnitude at that age and the S&M sex put up a barrier for me. Now that I am much older (and a children's librarian to boot!) the evocative, sexual, world weary, abused and abusive Terry's writing is such a pellucid account of a tortured soul, so willing to share the darkest places, it's a revelation. Just in case you'd like to match the pages to the copy I have, my paperback has the black cover with the burning man, anatomical man, Harold and Anne within a circle on the cover.Librarianshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18108472921321379262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-10684045444401775632012-06-25T20:28:59.639-07:002012-06-25T20:28:59.639-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Librarianshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18108472921321379262noreply@blogger.com