What do you think?
Rate this book
The Saga of Arturo Bandini #3
小锌懈褌邪泄 褍 锌懈谢褍
芦小锌懈褌邪泄 褍 锌懈谢褍禄 鈥� 泻谢邪褋懈泻邪 邪屑械褉懈泻邪薪褋褜泻芯褩 谢褨褌械褉邪褌褍褉懈 泄 薪邪泄胁褨写芯屑褨褕懈泄 褉芯屑邪薪 袛卸芯薪邪 肖邪薪褌械. 笑械 褨褋褌芯褉褨褟 锌褉芯 袗褉褌褍褉芯 袘邪薪写褨薪褨 鈥� 屑芯谢芯写芯谐芯 褏谢芯锌褑褟, 褖芯 锌芯薪械胁褨褉褟褦褌褜褋褟 褍 袥芯褋-袗薪写卸械谢械褋褨 褔邪褋褨胁 袙械谢懈泻芯褩 写械锌褉械褋褨褩 蟹 薪邪写褨褦褞 褋褌邪褌懈 锌懈褋褜屑械薪薪懈泻芯屑. 袧邪 褕谢褟褏褍 写芯 胁懈蟹薪邪薪薪褟 袗褉褌褍褉芯 蟹邪泻芯褏褍褦褌褜褋褟 胁 袣邪屑褨谢谢褍, 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪褋褜泻褍 芯褎褨褑褨邪薪褌泻褍 蟹褨 褋泻谢邪写薪懈屑 薪芯褉芯胁芯屑, 褟泻邪 褋褌邪谢邪 写谢褟 薪褜芯谐芯 褨 屑褍蟹芯褞, 褨 谐褨褉泻懈屑 薪械褖邪褋褌褟屑鈥�
袉蟹 锌械褉褕芯谐芯 邪薪芯薪褋褍 胁懈褏芯写褍 褍泻褉邪褩薪褋褜泻芯谐芯 胁懈写邪薪薪褟 芦小锌懈褌邪泄 褍 锌懈谢褍禄 袛卸芯薪邪 肖邪薪褌械
芦携 斜褍胁 屑芯谢芯写懈屑, 谐芯谢芯写褍胁邪胁, 胁懈锌懈胁邪胁 褨 薪邪屑邪谐邪胁褋褟 褋褌邪褌懈 锌懈褋褜屑械薪薪懈泻芯屑. 效懈褌邪胁 褟 锌械褉械胁邪卸薪芯 胁 谢芯褋-邪薪写卸械谢械褋褜泻褨泄 锌褍斜谢褨褔薪懈泄 斜褨斜谢褨芯褌械褑褨. 袗谢械 薪褨褔芯谐芯 褨蟹 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪薪芯谐芯 卸芯写薪懈屑 褔懈薪芯屑 薪械 胁褨写锌芯胁褨写邪谢芯 薪褨 屑芯褦屑褍 卸懈褌褌褞, 薪褨 卸懈褌褌褞 胁褍谢懈褑褜 褌邪 谢褞写械泄, 褖芯 芯褌芯褔褍胁邪谢懈 屑械薪械. 袟写邪胁邪谢芯褋褟, 褖芯 胁褋褨 锌械褉械泄屑邪谢懈褋褟 谢懈褕械 褋谢芯胁械褋薪懈屑懈 褌褉褞泻邪屑懈, 褨 褔懈屑 斜褨谢褜褕械 谢褞写懈薪邪 写芯褋褟谐邪谢邪 褍 褑褜芯屑褍, 褌懈屑 泻褉邪褖懈屑 锌懈褋褜屑械薪薪懈泻芯屑 胁胁邪卸邪谢邪褋褟. [鈥. 携 褉芯蟹谐芯褉褌邪胁 泻薪懈卸泻褍 蟹邪 泻薪懈卸泻芯褞. 些芯 卸 鈥� 褩屑 薪械屑邪褦 褔芯谐芯 褋泻邪蟹邪褌懈? 袧褨泻芯屑褍 薪械屑邪 褔芯谐芯 锌褉芯泻褉懈褔邪褌懈? [鈥. 袩褉芯写芯胁卸褍褞褔懈 斜谢褍泻邪褌懈 蟹邪谢芯屑 褏褍写芯卸薪褜芯褩 谢褨褌械褉邪褌褍褉懈, 褟 斜褉邪胁 泻薪懈卸泻懈 蟹 锌芯谢懈褑褜, 锌褉芯褔懈褌褍胁邪胁 泻褨谢褜泻邪 褉褟写泻褨胁, 泻褨谢褜泻邪 褋褌芯褉褨薪芯泻 褨 褋褌邪胁懈胁 薪邪 屑褨褋褑械. / 袉 芯褌 褟泻芯褋褜 褟 胁蟹褟胁 褔械褉谐芯胁褍 泻薪懈卸泻褍, 褉芯蟹谐芯褉薪褍胁 褨 褋锌褉芯斜褍胁邪胁 褔懈褌邪褌懈. 袟邪 泻褨谢褜泻邪 屑懈褌械泄 褟 胁卸械 薪褨褋 褩褩 写芯 褋褌芯谢褍, 薪褨斜懈 谢褞写懈薪邪, 泻芯褌褉邪 锌芯褋械褉械写 泻褍锌懈 屑芯褌谢芯褏褍 薪邪褌褉邪锌懈谢邪 薪邪 蟹芯谢芯褌懈泄 褋邪屑芯褉芯写芯泻. 袪褟写泻懈 泻芯褌懈谢懈褋褟 蟹邪 褉褟写泻邪屑懈 谢械谐泻芯 胁褨写 褋褌芯褉褨薪泻懈 写芯 褋褌芯褉褨薪泻懈, 蟹谢懈胁邪褞褔懈褋褜 胁 褦写懈薪懈泄 锌芯褌褨泻. 袣芯卸薪械 褉械褔械薪薪褟 胁芯谢芯写褨谢芯 胁谢邪褋薪芯褞 械薪械褉谐褨褦褞, 泄芯谐芯 蟹邪屑褨薪褟谢芯 薪邪褋褌褍锌薪械, 褖械 斜褨谢褜褕 械薪械褉谐芯屑褨褋褌泻械. 袉蟹 褑懈褏 械薪械褉谐褨泄 褋泻谢邪写邪谢邪褋褟 褎芯褉屑邪 褋褌芯褉褨薪泻懈, 胁芯薪邪 斜褍谢邪 胁懈褉褨蟹褜斜谢械薪邪 褨蟹 薪懈褏. 袧邪褉械褕褌褨 褟 蟹薪邪泄褕芯胁 谢褞写懈薪褍, 褟泻邪 薪械 斜芯褟谢邪褋褟 械屑芯褑褨泄. 袚褍屑芯褉 褨 斜褨谢褜 锌械褉械屑械卸芯胁褍胁邪谢懈褋褟 蟹 褉褨写泻褨褋薪芯褞 锌褉芯褋褌芯褌芯褞. 袩芯褔邪褌芯泻 斜褍胁 褌邪泻懈屑 薪械褋邪屑芯胁懈褌懈屑, 褖芯 褕芯泻褍胁邪胁 屑械薪械, 褟泻 薪械褔褍胁邪薪械 写懈胁芯. / 携 蟹邪锌懈褋邪胁 泻薪懈卸泻褍 薪邪 褋胁褨泄 褎芯褉屑褍谢褟褉 褨 锌芯薪褨褋 写芯写芯屑褍. 校 褋械斜械 胁 泻褨屑薪邪褌褨 褟 胁泻谢邪胁褋褟 褍 谢褨卸泻芯 褨 锌褉芯写芯胁卸懈胁 褔懈褌邪薪薪褟, 邪谢械 胁卸械 蟹邪写芯胁谐芯 写芯 褌芯谐芯, 褟泻 褟 写褨泄褕芯胁 写芯 蟹邪胁械褉褕械薪薪褟 泻薪懈谐懈, 褟 蟹薪邪胁, 褖芯 褑褟 谢褞写懈薪邪 胁褨写泻褉懈谢邪 褋胁褨泄 褋褌懈谢褜 锌懈褋褜屑邪, 写芯褋泻芯薪邪谢芯 锌褉芯蟹芯褉懈泄 褨 褔褨褌泻懈泄. 袣薪懈谐邪 薪邪蟹懈胁邪谢邪褋褟 芦小锌懈褌邪泄 褍 锌懈谢褍禄, 邪 褩褩 邪胁褌芯褉芯屑 斜褍胁 袛卸芯薪 肖邪薪褌械. 袡芯谐芯 胁锌谢懈胁 薪邪 屑芯褞 芯褋芯斜懈褋褌褍 褌胁芯褉褔褨褋褌褜 褟 斜褍写褍 胁褨写褔褍胁邪褌懈 蟹邪胁卸写懈禄. 孝邪泻邪 写芯胁谐邪 褑懈褌邪褌邪 褨蟹 胁褨写谐褍泻褍 芯写薪芯谐芯 褔懈褌邪褔邪, 薪邪 写褍屑泻褍 褟泻芯谐芯, 胁芯褔械胁懈写褜, 屑芯卸薪邪 锌芯泻谢邪褋褌懈褋褟, 斜芯 褑械 卸 效邪褉谢褜蟹 袘褍泻芯胁褋泻褨.
袉蟹 锌械褉褕芯谐芯 邪薪芯薪褋褍 胁懈褏芯写褍 褍泻褉邪褩薪褋褜泻芯谐芯 胁懈写邪薪薪褟 芦小锌懈褌邪泄 褍 锌懈谢褍禄 袛卸芯薪邪 肖邪薪褌械
芦携 斜褍胁 屑芯谢芯写懈屑, 谐芯谢芯写褍胁邪胁, 胁懈锌懈胁邪胁 褨 薪邪屑邪谐邪胁褋褟 褋褌邪褌懈 锌懈褋褜屑械薪薪懈泻芯屑. 效懈褌邪胁 褟 锌械褉械胁邪卸薪芯 胁 谢芯褋-邪薪写卸械谢械褋褜泻褨泄 锌褍斜谢褨褔薪懈泄 斜褨斜谢褨芯褌械褑褨. 袗谢械 薪褨褔芯谐芯 褨蟹 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪薪芯谐芯 卸芯写薪懈屑 褔懈薪芯屑 薪械 胁褨写锌芯胁褨写邪谢芯 薪褨 屑芯褦屑褍 卸懈褌褌褞, 薪褨 卸懈褌褌褞 胁褍谢懈褑褜 褌邪 谢褞写械泄, 褖芯 芯褌芯褔褍胁邪谢懈 屑械薪械. 袟写邪胁邪谢芯褋褟, 褖芯 胁褋褨 锌械褉械泄屑邪谢懈褋褟 谢懈褕械 褋谢芯胁械褋薪懈屑懈 褌褉褞泻邪屑懈, 褨 褔懈屑 斜褨谢褜褕械 谢褞写懈薪邪 写芯褋褟谐邪谢邪 褍 褑褜芯屑褍, 褌懈屑 泻褉邪褖懈屑 锌懈褋褜屑械薪薪懈泻芯屑 胁胁邪卸邪谢邪褋褟. [鈥. 携 褉芯蟹谐芯褉褌邪胁 泻薪懈卸泻褍 蟹邪 泻薪懈卸泻芯褞. 些芯 卸 鈥� 褩屑 薪械屑邪褦 褔芯谐芯 褋泻邪蟹邪褌懈? 袧褨泻芯屑褍 薪械屑邪 褔芯谐芯 锌褉芯泻褉懈褔邪褌懈? [鈥. 袩褉芯写芯胁卸褍褞褔懈 斜谢褍泻邪褌懈 蟹邪谢芯屑 褏褍写芯卸薪褜芯褩 谢褨褌械褉邪褌褍褉懈, 褟 斜褉邪胁 泻薪懈卸泻懈 蟹 锌芯谢懈褑褜, 锌褉芯褔懈褌褍胁邪胁 泻褨谢褜泻邪 褉褟写泻褨胁, 泻褨谢褜泻邪 褋褌芯褉褨薪芯泻 褨 褋褌邪胁懈胁 薪邪 屑褨褋褑械. / 袉 芯褌 褟泻芯褋褜 褟 胁蟹褟胁 褔械褉谐芯胁褍 泻薪懈卸泻褍, 褉芯蟹谐芯褉薪褍胁 褨 褋锌褉芯斜褍胁邪胁 褔懈褌邪褌懈. 袟邪 泻褨谢褜泻邪 屑懈褌械泄 褟 胁卸械 薪褨褋 褩褩 写芯 褋褌芯谢褍, 薪褨斜懈 谢褞写懈薪邪, 泻芯褌褉邪 锌芯褋械褉械写 泻褍锌懈 屑芯褌谢芯褏褍 薪邪褌褉邪锌懈谢邪 薪邪 蟹芯谢芯褌懈泄 褋邪屑芯褉芯写芯泻. 袪褟写泻懈 泻芯褌懈谢懈褋褟 蟹邪 褉褟写泻邪屑懈 谢械谐泻芯 胁褨写 褋褌芯褉褨薪泻懈 写芯 褋褌芯褉褨薪泻懈, 蟹谢懈胁邪褞褔懈褋褜 胁 褦写懈薪懈泄 锌芯褌褨泻. 袣芯卸薪械 褉械褔械薪薪褟 胁芯谢芯写褨谢芯 胁谢邪褋薪芯褞 械薪械褉谐褨褦褞, 泄芯谐芯 蟹邪屑褨薪褟谢芯 薪邪褋褌褍锌薪械, 褖械 斜褨谢褜褕 械薪械褉谐芯屑褨褋褌泻械. 袉蟹 褑懈褏 械薪械褉谐褨泄 褋泻谢邪写邪谢邪褋褟 褎芯褉屑邪 褋褌芯褉褨薪泻懈, 胁芯薪邪 斜褍谢邪 胁懈褉褨蟹褜斜谢械薪邪 褨蟹 薪懈褏. 袧邪褉械褕褌褨 褟 蟹薪邪泄褕芯胁 谢褞写懈薪褍, 褟泻邪 薪械 斜芯褟谢邪褋褟 械屑芯褑褨泄. 袚褍屑芯褉 褨 斜褨谢褜 锌械褉械屑械卸芯胁褍胁邪谢懈褋褟 蟹 褉褨写泻褨褋薪芯褞 锌褉芯褋褌芯褌芯褞. 袩芯褔邪褌芯泻 斜褍胁 褌邪泻懈屑 薪械褋邪屑芯胁懈褌懈屑, 褖芯 褕芯泻褍胁邪胁 屑械薪械, 褟泻 薪械褔褍胁邪薪械 写懈胁芯. / 携 蟹邪锌懈褋邪胁 泻薪懈卸泻褍 薪邪 褋胁褨泄 褎芯褉屑褍谢褟褉 褨 锌芯薪褨褋 写芯写芯屑褍. 校 褋械斜械 胁 泻褨屑薪邪褌褨 褟 胁泻谢邪胁褋褟 褍 谢褨卸泻芯 褨 锌褉芯写芯胁卸懈胁 褔懈褌邪薪薪褟, 邪谢械 胁卸械 蟹邪写芯胁谐芯 写芯 褌芯谐芯, 褟泻 褟 写褨泄褕芯胁 写芯 蟹邪胁械褉褕械薪薪褟 泻薪懈谐懈, 褟 蟹薪邪胁, 褖芯 褑褟 谢褞写懈薪邪 胁褨写泻褉懈谢邪 褋胁褨泄 褋褌懈谢褜 锌懈褋褜屑邪, 写芯褋泻芯薪邪谢芯 锌褉芯蟹芯褉懈泄 褨 褔褨褌泻懈泄. 袣薪懈谐邪 薪邪蟹懈胁邪谢邪褋褟 芦小锌懈褌邪泄 褍 锌懈谢褍禄, 邪 褩褩 邪胁褌芯褉芯屑 斜褍胁 袛卸芯薪 肖邪薪褌械. 袡芯谐芯 胁锌谢懈胁 薪邪 屑芯褞 芯褋芯斜懈褋褌褍 褌胁芯褉褔褨褋褌褜 褟 斜褍写褍 胁褨写褔褍胁邪褌懈 蟹邪胁卸写懈禄. 孝邪泻邪 写芯胁谐邪 褑懈褌邪褌邪 褨蟹 胁褨写谐褍泻褍 芯写薪芯谐芯 褔懈褌邪褔邪, 薪邪 写褍屑泻褍 褟泻芯谐芯, 胁芯褔械胁懈写褜, 屑芯卸薪邪 锌芯泻谢邪褋褌懈褋褟, 斜芯 褑械 卸 效邪褉谢褜蟹 袘褍泻芯胁褋泻褨.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
1,302 people are currently reading
33.5k people want to read
About the author
John Fante
54听books2,209听followersFante's early years were spent in relative poverty. The son of an Italian born father, Nicola Fante, and an Italian-American mother, Mary Capolungo, Fante was educated in various Catholic schools in Boulder and Denver, Colorado, and briefly attended the University of Colorado.
In 1929, he dropped out of college and moved to Southern California to concentrate on his writing. He lived and worked in Wilmington, Long Beach, and in the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, California.
He is known to be one of the first writers to portray the tough times faced by many writers in L.A. His work and style has influenced such similar authors as "Poet Laureate of Skid Row" Charles Bukowski and influential beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. He was proclaimed by Time Out magazine as one of America's "criminally neglected writers."
In 1929, he dropped out of college and moved to Southern California to concentrate on his writing. He lived and worked in Wilmington, Long Beach, and in the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, California.
He is known to be one of the first writers to portray the tough times faced by many writers in L.A. His work and style has influenced such similar authors as "Poet Laureate of Skid Row" Charles Bukowski and influential beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. He was proclaimed by Time Out magazine as one of America's "criminally neglected writers."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,842 reviews
September 25, 2007
I remember when I was fourteen, reading Catcher in the Rye. I went downstairs and told my mom, "it's the weirdest thing, this guy is, like, reading my mind!"
She said, "Matt, everyone thinks they're Holden Caulfield." God, adults can be so stupid sometimes. Obviously she didn't understand that this was something meaningful -- mystical, really -- that was happening to me. Or, to quote another influential poet of my youth, "parents just don't understand."
Flash forward another fourteen years, the last five or so of them being spent living in Los Angeles. Arturo Bandini, I know you too well! Living and dying with each minor victory and defeat... Fighting so often with the object of your affection to where eventually there's a perverse sort of pleasure to be found in it... Realizing that just because love might go unanswered, it doesn't make it any less real... and then of course all the dusty urban imagery that in sixty-five years has gone essentially unchanged and will likely continue to do so well into the future.
It's the telltale sign of good, strong writing when you get the feeling that someone has been reading your mail (or email). To inspire this feeling from a distance of more than half a century is an even greater trick. I would recommend this book to, like, everyone.
She said, "Matt, everyone thinks they're Holden Caulfield." God, adults can be so stupid sometimes. Obviously she didn't understand that this was something meaningful -- mystical, really -- that was happening to me. Or, to quote another influential poet of my youth, "parents just don't understand."
Flash forward another fourteen years, the last five or so of them being spent living in Los Angeles. Arturo Bandini, I know you too well! Living and dying with each minor victory and defeat... Fighting so often with the object of your affection to where eventually there's a perverse sort of pleasure to be found in it... Realizing that just because love might go unanswered, it doesn't make it any less real... and then of course all the dusty urban imagery that in sixty-five years has gone essentially unchanged and will likely continue to do so well into the future.
It's the telltale sign of good, strong writing when you get the feeling that someone has been reading your mail (or email). To inspire this feeling from a distance of more than half a century is an even greater trick. I would recommend this book to, like, everyone.
June 14, 2023
Arturo Bandini is young, penniless, na茂ve and inexperienced and he seems to be a hopeless dreamer but he has a purpose in life. He dreams to be a writer and he is set on achieving this goal by hook or by crook so he uses any possibility to write.
John Fante knows how to tell his tale right and he writes both very convincingly and captivatingly. Ask the Dust is a love story鈥� Of sort. Its title suggests it to be sad and it is.
Hopes of youth鈥� Desires of youth鈥� Failures of youth鈥� But you鈥檙e young and right ahead there seems to be an abyss of time鈥� Some use this time to reach their aims and some use it to destroy their lives.
My plight drove me to the typewriter. I sat before it, overwhelmed with grief for Arturo Bandini. Sometimes an idea floated harmlessly through the room. It was like a small white bird. It meant no ill-will. It only wanted to help me, dear little bird. But I would strike at it, hammer it out across die keyboard, and it would die on my hands.
John Fante knows how to tell his tale right and he writes both very convincingly and captivatingly. Ask the Dust is a love story鈥� Of sort. Its title suggests it to be sad and it is.
A knock on the window. Someone was knocking on the window of that house obscured by heavy vines. I turned and found the window, saw a head; the flash of teeth, the black hair, the leer, the gesturing long fingers. What was that thunder in my belly? And how shall I prevent that paralysis of thought, and that inundation of blood making my senses reel? But I want this! I shall die without it! So I鈥檓 coming you woman in the window; you fascinate me, you kill me dead with delight and shudder and joy, and here I come, up these rickety stairs.
Hopes of youth鈥� Desires of youth鈥� Failures of youth鈥� But you鈥檙e young and right ahead there seems to be an abyss of time鈥� Some use this time to reach their aims and some use it to destroy their lives.
August 14, 2021
LA POLVERE DEI SOGNI
Colin Farrell 猫 Arturo e Salma Hayek 猫 Camilla nel film omonimo diretto da Robert Towne nel 2006.
Ero giovane, saltavo i pasti, mi ubriacavo e mi sforzavo di diventare uno scrittore. Le mie letture andavo a farle alla biblioteca pubblica di Los Angeles, nel centro della citt脿, ma niente di quello che leggevo aveva alcun rapporto con me, con le strade o con la gente che le percorreva. Mi sembrava che tutti giocassero con le parole e che i cosiddetti grandi scrittori non dicessero un accidenti di niente.
Questo romanzo 猫 del 1939. E probabilmente se non fosse per Charles Bukowski, autore dei corsivi qui riportati, non ne avremmo mai sentito parlare, e quindi io non l鈥檃vrei mai letto.
Credo che si debba proprio a quel suo grande estimatore, a sua volta grande scrittore, se conosciamo John Fante che per certi versi 猫 il padre della Beat Generation.
Sabbia e polvere.
A paragone degli scrittori del passato, i moderni non valevano gran che. Tirai gi霉 dagli scaffali un libro dopo l'altro. Perch茅 nessuno diceva niente? Perch茅 nessuno gridava? Mi misi a cercare nelle altre sale della biblioteca . La sezione dei libri religiosi non era che un vasto acquitrino, almeno per me. Passai al reparto filosofia. Scovai un paio di tedeschi dall'animo amaro che mi tennero allegro per un po', ma l'esperienza si esaur矛 ben presto. Provai con la matematica, ma era esattamente come la religione, mi scorreva sopra senza lasciar traccia. Ovunque cercassi, non trovavo niente che mi interessasse.
La storia 猫 gi脿 sentita: un ragazzo, Arturo Bandini (che poi rester脿 protagonista della maggior parte dei romanzi di John Fante), 猫 approdato dal Colorado a Los Angeles inseguendo i suoi sogni di scrittore.
La realt脿 per貌 猫 pi霉 dura di quanto aveva immaginato (anche perch茅 siamo tuttora in periodo di Grande Depressione): 猫 pi霉 facile ritrovarsi senza un soldo in tasca e lo stomaco vuoto e il proprietario che t鈥檌nsegue per l鈥檃ffitto che trovare un lavoro ben pagato e frequentare bella gente interessante.
Incontra una donna, Camilla Lopez, messicana. Il ragazzo, invece, 猫 di origine italiana. Il sangue dei due giovani latini si accende, ma si mescola male. La storia non dura, non finisce bene.
La polvere arriva dal deserto, ricopre strade e marciapiedi, entra nelle stanze dei motel, copre i sogni e le speranze.
Ma alla fine il ragazzo 猫 diventato un uomo.
Poi un giorno, ne presi uno e capii subito di essere arrivato in porto. Rimasi fermo per un attimo a leggere, poi mi portai il libro al tavolo con l鈥檃ria di uno che ha trovato l鈥檕ro nell鈥檌mmondezzaio cittadino. Le parole scorrevano con facilit脿, in un flusso ininterrotto. Ognuna aveva la sua energia ed era seguita da un鈥檃ltra simile. La sostanza di ogni frase dava forma alla pagina e l鈥檌nsieme risultava come 鈥榮cavato鈥� dentro di essa. Ecco, finalmente, uno scrittore che non aveva paura delle emozioni. Ironia e dolore erano intrecciati tra loro con straordinaria semplicit脿. Quando cominciai a leggere quel libro mi parve che mi fosse capitato un miracolo, grande e inatteso.
Quello che davvero conta e fa la differenza sono tono e scrittura. Il primo 猫 dissacrante, ironico, scanzonato, ma anche struggente e disperato.
La seconda 猫 spezzata, schizofrenica, appartiene alla strada. In sintesi, come diceva Hank Bukowski, 猫 scritto con le viscere e per le viscere, con il cuore e per il cuore.
Dichiarazione d鈥檃more:
Insieme a 鈥淒elitto e castigo鈥� e al 鈥淰iaggio鈥� di C茅line, il tuo 鈥淐hiedi alla polvere鈥� 猫 il mio romanzo preferito. Le tue opere hanno dato una mano alla mia vita, mi hanno dato la speranza concreta che un uomo pu貌 buttare gi霉 parole sulla pagina e lasciare sgorgare le emozioni. Nessuno l鈥檋a mai fatto cos矛 bene come te. Il cielo 猫 bagnato oggi e domani la pista sar脿 fangosa ma penser貌 a te e alla fortuna che mi 猫 stata concessa di poter dire alla gente perch茅 鈥淐hiedi alla polvere鈥� 猫 cos矛 bello. Un romanzo che mi ha salvato la vita. Non ci sar脿 mai un altro John Fante. Non so da dove tu abbia preso il talento, ma gli dei certamente te ne hanno ben dotato. Tu per me hai significato e significhi pi霉 di qualsiasi uomo vivo o morto.
Lettera di Bukowski a Fante che si legge in 鈥淪ulla scrittura鈥� pubblicato da Guanda in questi giorni. Quest鈥檃nno cade il centenario della nascita di Bukowski.
L鈥檋otel Alta Vista al 255 S. Bunker Hill Avenue dove abita Arturo Bandini che pagava 3 dollari alla settimana.
Colin Farrell 猫 Arturo e Salma Hayek 猫 Camilla nel film omonimo diretto da Robert Towne nel 2006.
Ero giovane, saltavo i pasti, mi ubriacavo e mi sforzavo di diventare uno scrittore. Le mie letture andavo a farle alla biblioteca pubblica di Los Angeles, nel centro della citt脿, ma niente di quello che leggevo aveva alcun rapporto con me, con le strade o con la gente che le percorreva. Mi sembrava che tutti giocassero con le parole e che i cosiddetti grandi scrittori non dicessero un accidenti di niente.
Questo romanzo 猫 del 1939. E probabilmente se non fosse per Charles Bukowski, autore dei corsivi qui riportati, non ne avremmo mai sentito parlare, e quindi io non l鈥檃vrei mai letto.
Credo che si debba proprio a quel suo grande estimatore, a sua volta grande scrittore, se conosciamo John Fante che per certi versi 猫 il padre della Beat Generation.
Sabbia e polvere.
A paragone degli scrittori del passato, i moderni non valevano gran che. Tirai gi霉 dagli scaffali un libro dopo l'altro. Perch茅 nessuno diceva niente? Perch茅 nessuno gridava? Mi misi a cercare nelle altre sale della biblioteca . La sezione dei libri religiosi non era che un vasto acquitrino, almeno per me. Passai al reparto filosofia. Scovai un paio di tedeschi dall'animo amaro che mi tennero allegro per un po', ma l'esperienza si esaur矛 ben presto. Provai con la matematica, ma era esattamente come la religione, mi scorreva sopra senza lasciar traccia. Ovunque cercassi, non trovavo niente che mi interessasse.
La storia 猫 gi脿 sentita: un ragazzo, Arturo Bandini (che poi rester脿 protagonista della maggior parte dei romanzi di John Fante), 猫 approdato dal Colorado a Los Angeles inseguendo i suoi sogni di scrittore.
La realt脿 per貌 猫 pi霉 dura di quanto aveva immaginato (anche perch茅 siamo tuttora in periodo di Grande Depressione): 猫 pi霉 facile ritrovarsi senza un soldo in tasca e lo stomaco vuoto e il proprietario che t鈥檌nsegue per l鈥檃ffitto che trovare un lavoro ben pagato e frequentare bella gente interessante.
Incontra una donna, Camilla Lopez, messicana. Il ragazzo, invece, 猫 di origine italiana. Il sangue dei due giovani latini si accende, ma si mescola male. La storia non dura, non finisce bene.
La polvere arriva dal deserto, ricopre strade e marciapiedi, entra nelle stanze dei motel, copre i sogni e le speranze.
Ma alla fine il ragazzo 猫 diventato un uomo.
Poi un giorno, ne presi uno e capii subito di essere arrivato in porto. Rimasi fermo per un attimo a leggere, poi mi portai il libro al tavolo con l鈥檃ria di uno che ha trovato l鈥檕ro nell鈥檌mmondezzaio cittadino. Le parole scorrevano con facilit脿, in un flusso ininterrotto. Ognuna aveva la sua energia ed era seguita da un鈥檃ltra simile. La sostanza di ogni frase dava forma alla pagina e l鈥檌nsieme risultava come 鈥榮cavato鈥� dentro di essa. Ecco, finalmente, uno scrittore che non aveva paura delle emozioni. Ironia e dolore erano intrecciati tra loro con straordinaria semplicit脿. Quando cominciai a leggere quel libro mi parve che mi fosse capitato un miracolo, grande e inatteso.
Quello che davvero conta e fa la differenza sono tono e scrittura. Il primo 猫 dissacrante, ironico, scanzonato, ma anche struggente e disperato.
La seconda 猫 spezzata, schizofrenica, appartiene alla strada. In sintesi, come diceva Hank Bukowski, 猫 scritto con le viscere e per le viscere, con il cuore e per il cuore.
Dichiarazione d鈥檃more:
Insieme a 鈥淒elitto e castigo鈥� e al 鈥淰iaggio鈥� di C茅line, il tuo 鈥淐hiedi alla polvere鈥� 猫 il mio romanzo preferito. Le tue opere hanno dato una mano alla mia vita, mi hanno dato la speranza concreta che un uomo pu貌 buttare gi霉 parole sulla pagina e lasciare sgorgare le emozioni. Nessuno l鈥檋a mai fatto cos矛 bene come te. Il cielo 猫 bagnato oggi e domani la pista sar脿 fangosa ma penser貌 a te e alla fortuna che mi 猫 stata concessa di poter dire alla gente perch茅 鈥淐hiedi alla polvere鈥� 猫 cos矛 bello. Un romanzo che mi ha salvato la vita. Non ci sar脿 mai un altro John Fante. Non so da dove tu abbia preso il talento, ma gli dei certamente te ne hanno ben dotato. Tu per me hai significato e significhi pi霉 di qualsiasi uomo vivo o morto.
Lettera di Bukowski a Fante che si legge in 鈥淪ulla scrittura鈥� pubblicato da Guanda in questi giorni. Quest鈥檃nno cade il centenario della nascita di Bukowski.
L鈥檋otel Alta Vista al 255 S. Bunker Hill Avenue dove abita Arturo Bandini che pagava 3 dollari alla settimana.
August 7, 2024
Se mantiene el crescendo en la tercera entrega de la saga Bandini: salvo sorpresa final, esta ser谩 la mejor.
Virtudes literarias aparte, dado el car谩cter autobiogr谩fico de la serie, llama la atenci贸n el impudor del autor ante sus miserias y mezquindades y el escaso valor que concede a sus virtudes鈥� con una especial铆sima excepci贸n: su genio literario.
El humor est谩 m谩s presente en esta entrega que en las anteriores y consigui贸 arrancarme m谩s de una carcajada, cosa nada f谩cil.
Virtudes literarias aparte, dado el car谩cter autobiogr谩fico de la serie, llama la atenci贸n el impudor del autor ante sus miserias y mezquindades y el escaso valor que concede a sus virtudes鈥� con una especial铆sima excepci贸n: su genio literario.
El humor est谩 m谩s presente en esta entrega que en las anteriores y consigui贸 arrancarme m谩s de una carcajada, cosa nada f谩cil.
December 4, 2013
John Fante was Bukowski's god, and "either you adore him or you've never heard of him." Writing that's raw, swolen, true, and moving from a macro view of paragraph by paragraph, tectonic plates, words that are so organic, you never think about the words, they're tendons and muscles and joins that are by themselves ordinary yet Fante's voice is bold, heroic, cowardly, greedy, broken, blindingly joyful, I would follow him anywhere. It's rare that I buy a copy of a book I've already read, if I didn't own it to begin with. I needed to own Ask the Dust. The intro by Bukowski is terrific, too.
July 3, 2023
丕诏乇 丕夭 讴丕乇賴丕蹖 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 賵 爻賱蹖賳 禺賵卮鬲丕賳 賲蹖鈥屫③屫� 丨鬲賲丕 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 賴賲 亘禺賵丕賳蹖丿 賵 丌乇鬲賵乇賵 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 乇丕 賴賲 亘賴 卮禺氐蹖鬲鈥屬囏й� 亘賴 蹖丕丿賲丕賳丿賳蹖 賮乇丿蹖賳丕賳 賵 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 丕囟丕賮賴 讴賳蹖丿.
****
亘賱賴貙 賮丕賳鬲賴 鬲兀孬蹖乇 賯丿乇鬲賲賳丿蹖 乇賵蹖賲 丿丕卮鬲. 禺蹖賱蹖 丕夭 禺賵賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘鈥屬囏� 賳诏匕卮鬲賴 亘賵丿 讴賴 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘丕蹖賴 夭賳. 丕賵賳 丕夭 賲賳 亘丿 賲爻鬲鈥屫� 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕 賴賲 丿毓賵丕賴丕蹖 賵丨卮蹖丕賳賴鈥屫й� 賲蹖 讴乇丿蹖賲 賵 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賵賯鬲鈥屬囏� 爻乇卮 丿丕丿 賲蹖鈥屫藏� 芦亘賴 賲賳 賳诏賵 丨乇賵賲鈥屫藏ж�! 賲賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖鈥屫з� 丌乇鬲賵乇賵 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖!禄 賮丕賳鬲賴 禺丿丕蹖 賲賳 亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖鈥屫堎嗀池� 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 禺丿丕蹖丕賳 乇賵 鬲賳賴丕 诏匕丕卮鬲貙 賳賴 丕蹖賳讴賴 亘乇蹖 丿乇 禺賵賳賴鈥屫促堎� 乇賵 亘夭賳蹖. 賲賯丿賲賴. 趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖. 氐賮丨賴鈥屰� 郾郾 讴鬲丕亘
丕蹖 乇賵夭诏丕乇 丕夭 丌爻賲賵賳鈥屬囏� 亘蹖丕 倬丕蹖蹖賳貙 亘蹖丕 倬丕蹖蹖賳 鬲丕 氐賵乇鬲鬲 乇賵 乇賵蹖 讴賱 卮賴乇 賱爻鈥屫①嗀勜� 賱賴 賵 賱賵乇丿賴 讴賳賲貙 丕蹖 賱賵丿賴鈥屰� 賳丕亘禺卮賵丿賳蹖. 氐賮丨賴鈥屰� 郾鄄鄄 讴鬲丕亘
丿賳蹖丕 蹖賴 丕賮爻丕賳賴 亘賵丿貙 蹖賴 爻胤丨 卮賮丕賮貙 賵 賴賲賴鈥屰� 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖 乇賵卮賳 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴鈥屰� 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳鈥屫� 亘賵丿賳貨 賴賲賴鈥屰� 賲丕 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 賵 賴讴賲孬 賵 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賵 賵乇丕貙 賴賲賴鈥屰� 賲丕 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴鈥屰� 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳鈥屫� 亘賵丿蹖賲貙 賵 亘毓丿 蹖賴 噩丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴 賲蹖鈥屫ㄙ堌屬呚� 賲丕 丕氐賱丕賸 夭賳丿賴 賳亘賵丿蹖賲貙 亘賴 夭賳丿賴 亘賵丿賳 賳夭丿蹖讴 賲蹖鈥屫簇屬呚� 賵賱蹖 賴蹖趩鈥� 賵賯鬲 亘賴卮 丿爻鬲 倬蹖丿丕 賳賲蹖鈥屭┴必屬�. 賲丕 賯乇丕乇賴 亘賲蹖乇蹖賲. 賴賲賴 賯乇丕乇賴 亘賲蹖乇賲. 丨鬲蹖 鬲賵 丌乇鬲賵乇賵貙 丨鬲蹖 鬲賵 賴賲 亘丕蹖丿 亘賲蹖乇蹖. 氐賮丨賴鈥屰� 郾鄢郾 讴鬲丕亘
鈥�
****
亘賱賴貙 賮丕賳鬲賴 鬲兀孬蹖乇 賯丿乇鬲賲賳丿蹖 乇賵蹖賲 丿丕卮鬲. 禺蹖賱蹖 丕夭 禺賵賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘鈥屬囏� 賳诏匕卮鬲賴 亘賵丿 讴賴 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘丕蹖賴 夭賳. 丕賵賳 丕夭 賲賳 亘丿 賲爻鬲鈥屫� 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕 賴賲 丿毓賵丕賴丕蹖 賵丨卮蹖丕賳賴鈥屫й� 賲蹖 讴乇丿蹖賲 賵 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賵賯鬲鈥屬囏� 爻乇卮 丿丕丿 賲蹖鈥屫藏� 芦亘賴 賲賳 賳诏賵 丨乇賵賲鈥屫藏ж�! 賲賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖鈥屫з� 丌乇鬲賵乇賵 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖!禄 賮丕賳鬲賴 禺丿丕蹖 賲賳 亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖鈥屫堎嗀池� 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 禺丿丕蹖丕賳 乇賵 鬲賳賴丕 诏匕丕卮鬲貙 賳賴 丕蹖賳讴賴 亘乇蹖 丿乇 禺賵賳賴鈥屫促堎� 乇賵 亘夭賳蹖. 賲賯丿賲賴. 趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖. 氐賮丨賴鈥屰� 郾郾 讴鬲丕亘
丕蹖 乇賵夭诏丕乇 丕夭 丌爻賲賵賳鈥屬囏� 亘蹖丕 倬丕蹖蹖賳貙 亘蹖丕 倬丕蹖蹖賳 鬲丕 氐賵乇鬲鬲 乇賵 乇賵蹖 讴賱 卮賴乇 賱爻鈥屫①嗀勜� 賱賴 賵 賱賵乇丿賴 讴賳賲貙 丕蹖 賱賵丿賴鈥屰� 賳丕亘禺卮賵丿賳蹖. 氐賮丨賴鈥屰� 郾鄄鄄 讴鬲丕亘
丿賳蹖丕 蹖賴 丕賮爻丕賳賴 亘賵丿貙 蹖賴 爻胤丨 卮賮丕賮貙 賵 賴賲賴鈥屰� 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖 乇賵卮賳 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴鈥屰� 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳鈥屫� 亘賵丿賳貨 賴賲賴鈥屰� 賲丕 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 賵 賴讴賲孬 賵 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賵 賵乇丕貙 賴賲賴鈥屰� 賲丕 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴鈥屰� 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳鈥屫� 亘賵丿蹖賲貙 賵 亘毓丿 蹖賴 噩丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴 賲蹖鈥屫ㄙ堌屬呚� 賲丕 丕氐賱丕賸 夭賳丿賴 賳亘賵丿蹖賲貙 亘賴 夭賳丿賴 亘賵丿賳 賳夭丿蹖讴 賲蹖鈥屫簇屬呚� 賵賱蹖 賴蹖趩鈥� 賵賯鬲 亘賴卮 丿爻鬲 倬蹖丿丕 賳賲蹖鈥屭┴必屬�. 賲丕 賯乇丕乇賴 亘賲蹖乇蹖賲. 賴賲賴 賯乇丕乇賴 亘賲蹖乇賲. 丨鬲蹖 鬲賵 丌乇鬲賵乇賵貙 丨鬲蹖 鬲賵 賴賲 亘丕蹖丿 亘賲蹖乇蹖. 氐賮丨賴鈥屰� 郾鄢郾 讴鬲丕亘
鈥�
April 18, 2024
趩賳丿 乇賵夭 倬蹖卮 丿賵爻鬲蹖 诏賮鬲 讴賴 鬲乇噩蹖丨 賲蹖丿賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 賳丕賲賴 丌丿賲 賴丕蹖 賳丕賲賵賮賯 乇賵 亘禺賵賳賴 貙 賵 亘賳馗乇賲 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賴賲賵賳賴 讴賴 丕賵賳 丿賵爻鬲 丿賳亘丕賱卮賴 :)
丿丕爻鬲丕賳 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 噩賵丕賳貙 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 賳丕賲賵賮賯蹖 讴賴 賴賲蹖卮賴 丕夭 胤乇賮 夭賳賴丕 賵 賳丕卮乇丕賳 乇蹖噩讴鬲 賲蹖卮賴 賵 丨丕賱丕 丿乇丨丕賱蹖鈥屭┵� 亘丕 賮賯乇 賵 诏乇爻賳诏蹖 丿爻鬲 亘賴 诏乇蹖亘丕賳賴貙 亘賴 丿賳亘丕賱 乇賵蹖丕賴丕卮 賵丕乇丿 卮賴乇 賱爻鈥屫①嗀勜� 賲蹖卮賴...
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕賵賱蹖賳 丌卮賳丕蹖蹖 賲賳 亘丕 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕蹖丿 丕毓鬲乇丕賮 讴賳賲 禺蹖賱蹖 丕丨爻丕爻 亘丿亘禺鬲蹖 賲蹖讴賳賲 讴賴 鬲丕丨丕賱丕 趩蹖夭蹖 丕夭 丕蹖賳 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 賳禺賵賳丿賴 亘賵丿賲. 賯賱賲 乇賵丕賳貙 賳亘賵睾 賵 氐丿丕賯鬲 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 賲賳賵 賲噩匕賵亘 讴乇丿賴 賵 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕乇賲 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丕夭卮 亘禺賵賳賲鈾�
丿丕爻鬲丕賳 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 噩賵丕賳貙 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 賳丕賲賵賮賯蹖 讴賴 賴賲蹖卮賴 丕夭 胤乇賮 夭賳賴丕 賵 賳丕卮乇丕賳 乇蹖噩讴鬲 賲蹖卮賴 賵 丨丕賱丕 丿乇丨丕賱蹖鈥屭┵� 亘丕 賮賯乇 賵 诏乇爻賳诏蹖 丿爻鬲 亘賴 诏乇蹖亘丕賳賴貙 亘賴 丿賳亘丕賱 乇賵蹖丕賴丕卮 賵丕乇丿 卮賴乇 賱爻鈥屫①嗀勜� 賲蹖卮賴...
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕賵賱蹖賳 丌卮賳丕蹖蹖 賲賳 亘丕 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕蹖丿 丕毓鬲乇丕賮 讴賳賲 禺蹖賱蹖 丕丨爻丕爻 亘丿亘禺鬲蹖 賲蹖讴賳賲 讴賴 鬲丕丨丕賱丕 趩蹖夭蹖 丕夭 丕蹖賳 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 賳禺賵賳丿賴 亘賵丿賲. 賯賱賲 乇賵丕賳貙 賳亘賵睾 賵 氐丿丕賯鬲 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 賲賳賵 賲噩匕賵亘 讴乇丿賴 賵 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕乇賲 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丕夭卮 亘禺賵賳賲鈾�
June 27, 2021
Here goes my 200th book report since joining 欧宝娱乐.
And my introduction to the fiction of John Fante is Ask the Dust, his 1939 novel considered by some scholars and educators to be one of the best works of fiction set in the Great Depression and the best set in Los Angeles. Superlatives like those could work against the book's vitality, which is palpable. Fante's narrator--destitute twenty year old boy Arturo Bandini struggling against hunger, wanting and creative resistance--lacks the worldliness of John Steinbeck's Depression-era men and would've done well to read The Grapes of Wrath and grow up. His story is as bare as a cupboard, but Fante's language and the atmosphere he conjures are breathtaking.
I was passing the doorman of the Biltmore, and I hated him at once, with his yellow braids and six feet of height and all that dignity, and now a black automobile drove to the curb, and a man got out. He looked rich, and then a woman got out, and she was beautiful, her fur was silver fox, and she was a song across the sidewalk and inside the swinging doors, and I thought oh boy for a little of that, just a day and night of that, and she was a dream as I walked along, her perfume still in the wet morning air.
Then a great deal of time passed as I stood in front of a pipe shop and looked, and the whole world faded except that window and I stood and smoked them all, and saw myself a great author with that natty Italian briar, and a cane, stepping out of a big black car, and she was there too, proud as hell of me, the lady in the silver fox fur. We registered and then we had cocktails and then we danced awhile, and then we had another cocktail and I recited some lines of Sanskrit, and the world was so wonderful, because every two minutes some gorgeous one gazed at me, the great author, and nothing would do but I had to autograph her menu, and the silver fox girl was very jealous.
In reality, Arturo (or Arthur, depending on how prejudiced the person he's introducing himself to is towards Italians) is five months off the bus from Boulder, Colorado, chasing dreams of becoming the Great Writer he knows himself to be. He checks in to a room in the Alta Loma Hotel in Bunker Hill, in the center of downtown Los Angeles, with little more than one-hundred fifty dollars in his pocket and big dreams in his head. Arturo carried two suitcases, one full of copies of a literary magazine edited by his hero J.C. Hackmuth, who has published a short story Arturo wrote titled The Little Dog Laughed. No one in the hotel seems to care, too busy eroding by sun, hunger or dust.
Down to his last nickel, Arturo makes his way to Spring Street and a bar called the Columbia Buffet. He becomes fixated on a Mexican waitress named Camilla Lopez who serves him the worst cup of coffee he's ever tasted. Their romance hardly blossoms along the lines of mutual respect; Arturo projects his own self-loathing onto Camilla, who in return is often angry that the vigorous writer cannot be the man she loves, bartender Sammy Wiggins, who longs to publish western stories but is ailing from tuberculosis. Arturo is pursued by a desperate older woman named Vera Rivkin who becomes the inspiration for his first novel. Wanting to celebrate his success with Camilla, fate steps in.
So this is where she lived! I smelled it, touched it with my fingers, walked through it with my feet. It was as I had imagined. This was her home. Blindfolded I could have acknowledged the place, for her odor possessed it, her fevered, lost existence proclaimed it as part of a hopeless scheme. An apartment on Temple Street, an apartment in Los Angeles. She belonged to the rolling hills, the wide deserts, the high mountains, she would ruin any apartment, she would lay havoc upon any such little prison as this. It was so, ever in my imagination, ever a part of my scheming and thinking about her. This was her home, her ruin, her scattered dream.
The writing in Ask the Dust is so intoxicating, so filled with ardor and longing--whether it's righteous or completely misplaced by our boy narrator--that I couldn't help but fall under its spell. With little more than his imagination and a typewriter, Fante sketches Depression-era Los Angeles as vividly as the three greatest L.A. movies--Chinatown (1974), Blade Runner (1982) and L.A. Confidential (1997)--were able to do with an army of visual artists. Fante also knows the tempests brewing under the skin of both the aspiring artist and the amorous, socially awkward male--often one and the same--and conveys the life and times of both demographics memorably.
Ask the Dust comes up short of complete satisfaction due to a couple of things. There's the length, which I'd peg at 50,000 words, nearly novella length. This is accounting for the threadbare nature of the story, the unwillingness of Fante/Bandini to really explore Camilla, Sammy, Vera, or anyone else in Los Angeles. This is a book about a boy's angst first and a city second, with characters further down the list. There's also disconnection between Arutro and Camilla where a novelist like Steinbeck might've developed a connection. The target demographic for Fante might be budding (male) authors or those with an interest in historic Los Angeles. These are my demographics.
One of the novel's fans was Robert Towne, the Academy Award winning screenwriter of Chinatown who called Ask the Dust the greatest novel ever written about Los Angeles. In 2006, a long-simmering film version adapted and directed by Towne was released. Starring Colin Farrell as Arturo Bandini, Salma Hayek as Camilla and Idina Menzel as Vera, it suffered a fate similar to Billy Bob Thornton's 1999 adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses as a sober love story mismatched with idealistic imagery. It is in Fante's book where his descriptions thrive. I didn't ask any questions. Everything I wanted to know was written in tortured phrases across the desolation of her face.
And my introduction to the fiction of John Fante is Ask the Dust, his 1939 novel considered by some scholars and educators to be one of the best works of fiction set in the Great Depression and the best set in Los Angeles. Superlatives like those could work against the book's vitality, which is palpable. Fante's narrator--destitute twenty year old boy Arturo Bandini struggling against hunger, wanting and creative resistance--lacks the worldliness of John Steinbeck's Depression-era men and would've done well to read The Grapes of Wrath and grow up. His story is as bare as a cupboard, but Fante's language and the atmosphere he conjures are breathtaking.
I was passing the doorman of the Biltmore, and I hated him at once, with his yellow braids and six feet of height and all that dignity, and now a black automobile drove to the curb, and a man got out. He looked rich, and then a woman got out, and she was beautiful, her fur was silver fox, and she was a song across the sidewalk and inside the swinging doors, and I thought oh boy for a little of that, just a day and night of that, and she was a dream as I walked along, her perfume still in the wet morning air.
Then a great deal of time passed as I stood in front of a pipe shop and looked, and the whole world faded except that window and I stood and smoked them all, and saw myself a great author with that natty Italian briar, and a cane, stepping out of a big black car, and she was there too, proud as hell of me, the lady in the silver fox fur. We registered and then we had cocktails and then we danced awhile, and then we had another cocktail and I recited some lines of Sanskrit, and the world was so wonderful, because every two minutes some gorgeous one gazed at me, the great author, and nothing would do but I had to autograph her menu, and the silver fox girl was very jealous.
In reality, Arturo (or Arthur, depending on how prejudiced the person he's introducing himself to is towards Italians) is five months off the bus from Boulder, Colorado, chasing dreams of becoming the Great Writer he knows himself to be. He checks in to a room in the Alta Loma Hotel in Bunker Hill, in the center of downtown Los Angeles, with little more than one-hundred fifty dollars in his pocket and big dreams in his head. Arturo carried two suitcases, one full of copies of a literary magazine edited by his hero J.C. Hackmuth, who has published a short story Arturo wrote titled The Little Dog Laughed. No one in the hotel seems to care, too busy eroding by sun, hunger or dust.
Down to his last nickel, Arturo makes his way to Spring Street and a bar called the Columbia Buffet. He becomes fixated on a Mexican waitress named Camilla Lopez who serves him the worst cup of coffee he's ever tasted. Their romance hardly blossoms along the lines of mutual respect; Arturo projects his own self-loathing onto Camilla, who in return is often angry that the vigorous writer cannot be the man she loves, bartender Sammy Wiggins, who longs to publish western stories but is ailing from tuberculosis. Arturo is pursued by a desperate older woman named Vera Rivkin who becomes the inspiration for his first novel. Wanting to celebrate his success with Camilla, fate steps in.
So this is where she lived! I smelled it, touched it with my fingers, walked through it with my feet. It was as I had imagined. This was her home. Blindfolded I could have acknowledged the place, for her odor possessed it, her fevered, lost existence proclaimed it as part of a hopeless scheme. An apartment on Temple Street, an apartment in Los Angeles. She belonged to the rolling hills, the wide deserts, the high mountains, she would ruin any apartment, she would lay havoc upon any such little prison as this. It was so, ever in my imagination, ever a part of my scheming and thinking about her. This was her home, her ruin, her scattered dream.
The writing in Ask the Dust is so intoxicating, so filled with ardor and longing--whether it's righteous or completely misplaced by our boy narrator--that I couldn't help but fall under its spell. With little more than his imagination and a typewriter, Fante sketches Depression-era Los Angeles as vividly as the three greatest L.A. movies--Chinatown (1974), Blade Runner (1982) and L.A. Confidential (1997)--were able to do with an army of visual artists. Fante also knows the tempests brewing under the skin of both the aspiring artist and the amorous, socially awkward male--often one and the same--and conveys the life and times of both demographics memorably.
Ask the Dust comes up short of complete satisfaction due to a couple of things. There's the length, which I'd peg at 50,000 words, nearly novella length. This is accounting for the threadbare nature of the story, the unwillingness of Fante/Bandini to really explore Camilla, Sammy, Vera, or anyone else in Los Angeles. This is a book about a boy's angst first and a city second, with characters further down the list. There's also disconnection between Arutro and Camilla where a novelist like Steinbeck might've developed a connection. The target demographic for Fante might be budding (male) authors or those with an interest in historic Los Angeles. These are my demographics.
One of the novel's fans was Robert Towne, the Academy Award winning screenwriter of Chinatown who called Ask the Dust the greatest novel ever written about Los Angeles. In 2006, a long-simmering film version adapted and directed by Towne was released. Starring Colin Farrell as Arturo Bandini, Salma Hayek as Camilla and Idina Menzel as Vera, it suffered a fate similar to Billy Bob Thornton's 1999 adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses as a sober love story mismatched with idealistic imagery. It is in Fante's book where his descriptions thrive. I didn't ask any questions. Everything I wanted to know was written in tortured phrases across the desolation of her face.
November 11, 2022
爻賵賲蹖賳 乇賲丕賳 丕夭 賲噩賲賵毓賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 貙 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 貙 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 賲爻蹖乇 夭賳丿诏蹖 丌乇鬲賵乇 乇丕 鬲丕 鬲亘丿蹖賱 卮丿賳 丕賵 亘賴 蹖讴 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 賳爻亘鬲丕 丨乇賮賴 丕蹖 賵 卮賳丕禺鬲賴 卮丿賴 丿乇 賱爻 丌賳噩賱爻 乇丕 亘蹖丕賳 讴乇丿賴 . 丿乇 讴鬲丕亘 丿賵賲 蹖毓賳蹖 噩丕丿賴 賱爻 丕賳噩賱爻 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘賴 丿賳亘丕賱 乇賵蹖丕 賴丕蹖 禺賵丿 蹖毓賳蹖 毓卮賯 貙 倬賵賱 賵 卮賴乇鬲 禺丕賳賴 禺賵丿 乇丕 鬲乇讴 讴乇丿 賵 乇丕賴蹖 賱爻 丕賳噩賱爻 卮丿賴 亘賵丿 貙 丨丕賱 丕賵 丿乇 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 亘賴 亘禺卮蹖 丕夭 乇賵蹖丕賴丕蹖 禺賵丿 賲蹖 乇爻丿 .
丌乇鬲賵乇 诏乇趩賴 賴賲趩賳丕賳 噩丕賲毓賴 爻鬲蹖夭 貙 蹖丕睾蹖 賵 爻乇讴卮 丕爻鬲 丕賲丕 亘賴 賳馗乇 賲蹖 乇爻丿 讴賴 賳爻亘鬲 亘賴 丿賵乇丕賳 賳賵噩賵丕賳蹖 禺氐賵氐蹖丕鬲 賲賳賮蹖 丕賵 丕賳丿讴蹖 讴賲鬲乇 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲 . 丕賲丕 夭亘丕賳 丌乇鬲賵乇 賴賲 趩賳丕賳 鬲賳丿 賵 鬲賱禺 丕爻鬲 貙 爻乇蹖 倬乇 卮賵乇 賵 卮乇 丿丕乇丿 丕賲丕 丕賵 賴賲 趩賳丕賳 亘乇丕蹖 賴丿賮 禺賵丿 蹖毓賳蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 卮丿賳 爻禺鬲 賲蹖 噩賳诏丿 .
乇丕亘胤賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賱賵倬夭 貙 丿禺鬲乇蹖 賲讴夭蹖讴蹖 讴賴 丿乇 讴丕賮賴 丕蹖 讴丕乇 賲蹖 讴賳丿 丿乇賳賵毓 禺賵丿 亘爻蹖丕乇 噩丕賱亘 丕爻鬲 貙 丿丕賲賳賴 毓賵丕胤賮 丌賳丕賳 賳爻亘鬲 亘賴賲 賲蹖丕賳 毓卮賯 賵 鬲賳賮乇 賳賵爻丕賳 賲蹖 讴賳丿 . 亘賴 賳馗乇 賲蹖 乇爻丿 讴賴 丌賳丕賳 亘蹖卮鬲乇 卮亘蹖賴 賴爻鬲賳丿 鬲丕 賲讴賲賱 賴賲 . 诏乇趩賴 亘賴 诏賵賳賴 丕蹖 毓丕卮賯 賴賲 賴爻鬲賳丿 丕賲丕 賴賲丿蹖诏乇 乇丕 爻禺鬲 丌夭丕乇 賲蹖 丿賴賳丿 .
賳讴鬲賴 噩丕賱亘 丿乇 丕蹖賳 賲噩賲賵毓賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 貙 毓賵囟 卮丿賳 賲丿丕賵賲 賵 賴賲蹖卮诏蹖 鬲毓丿丕丿 丕賮乇丕丿 禺丕賳賵丕丿賴 丕賵爻鬲 . 丿乇 讴鬲丕亘 鬲丕 亘賴丕乇 氐亘乇 讴賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 貙 丌乇鬲賵乇 丕囟丕賮賴 亘乇 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇丿賵 蹖丕 爻賴 亘乇丕丿乇 丿丕卮鬲 . 丿乇 噩丕丿賴 蹖 賱爻 丕賳噩賱爻 貙 倬丿乇 賮賵鬲 卮丿賴 貙 丕夭 亘乇丕丿乇丕賳 禺亘乇蹖 賳蹖爻鬲 賵 蹖讴 禺賵丕賴乇 噩丕蹖 丌賳丕賳 乇丕 诏乇賮鬲賴 丕爻鬲 賵 丿乇 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘乇丕蹖 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇 禺賵丿 讴賴 丿乇 卮賴乇 丿蹖诏乇蹖 賴爻鬲賳丿 倬賵賱 賲蹖 賮乇爻鬲丿 . 亘丕蹖丿 丿蹖丿 讴賴 丿乇 丌禺乇蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵蹖丕賴丕蹖 亘丕賳讴乇 賴蹖賱 貙 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 趩賴 亘乇賳丕賲賴 丕蹖 亘乇丕蹖 禺丕賳賵丕丿賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 丿丕乇丿 .
讴賱丕賲 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 鬲賱禺 丕爻鬲 賵 爻賵夭丕賳 貙 賯賴乇賲丕賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕賵丌乇鬲賵乇诏賵蹖蹖 賴賲 賯賴乇賲丕賳 丕爻鬲 賵 賴賲 囟丿 賯賴乇賲丕賳 貙 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 賴賲 丕夭 倬蹖乇賵夭蹖 丕賵 賱匕鬲 賲蹖 亘乇丿 賵 賴賲 丕夭 鬲丨賯蹖乇 卮丿賳 丕賵. 丌乇鬲賵乇 賴賲 賴賲丿乇丿蹖 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 乇丕 亘乇 賲蹖 丕賳诏蹖夭丿 賵 賴賲 丨爻 賳賮乇鬲 丕賵 乇丕 ( 诏乇趩賴 讴賴 丿乇 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 賳賮乇鬲 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 丕夭 丌乇鬲賵乇 賲賲讴賳 丕爻鬲 讴賲鬲乇 卮賵丿 ) 丕賲丕 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 丿乇 賵噩賵丿 丌乇鬲賵乇 氐賮鬲 亘爻蹖丕乇 賲孬亘鬲蹖 诏匕丕卮鬲賴 丕爻鬲 : 氐丿丕賯鬲 亘蹖 賳賴丕蹖鬲 丕賵 讴賴 爻禺鬲 爻鬲賵丿賳蹖 丕蹖爻鬲 .
丌乇鬲賵乇 诏乇趩賴 賴賲趩賳丕賳 噩丕賲毓賴 爻鬲蹖夭 貙 蹖丕睾蹖 賵 爻乇讴卮 丕爻鬲 丕賲丕 亘賴 賳馗乇 賲蹖 乇爻丿 讴賴 賳爻亘鬲 亘賴 丿賵乇丕賳 賳賵噩賵丕賳蹖 禺氐賵氐蹖丕鬲 賲賳賮蹖 丕賵 丕賳丿讴蹖 讴賲鬲乇 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲 . 丕賲丕 夭亘丕賳 丌乇鬲賵乇 賴賲 趩賳丕賳 鬲賳丿 賵 鬲賱禺 丕爻鬲 貙 爻乇蹖 倬乇 卮賵乇 賵 卮乇 丿丕乇丿 丕賲丕 丕賵 賴賲 趩賳丕賳 亘乇丕蹖 賴丿賮 禺賵丿 蹖毓賳蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 卮丿賳 爻禺鬲 賲蹖 噩賳诏丿 .
乇丕亘胤賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賱賵倬夭 貙 丿禺鬲乇蹖 賲讴夭蹖讴蹖 讴賴 丿乇 讴丕賮賴 丕蹖 讴丕乇 賲蹖 讴賳丿 丿乇賳賵毓 禺賵丿 亘爻蹖丕乇 噩丕賱亘 丕爻鬲 貙 丿丕賲賳賴 毓賵丕胤賮 丌賳丕賳 賳爻亘鬲 亘賴賲 賲蹖丕賳 毓卮賯 賵 鬲賳賮乇 賳賵爻丕賳 賲蹖 讴賳丿 . 亘賴 賳馗乇 賲蹖 乇爻丿 讴賴 丌賳丕賳 亘蹖卮鬲乇 卮亘蹖賴 賴爻鬲賳丿 鬲丕 賲讴賲賱 賴賲 . 诏乇趩賴 亘賴 诏賵賳賴 丕蹖 毓丕卮賯 賴賲 賴爻鬲賳丿 丕賲丕 賴賲丿蹖诏乇 乇丕 爻禺鬲 丌夭丕乇 賲蹖 丿賴賳丿 .
賳讴鬲賴 噩丕賱亘 丿乇 丕蹖賳 賲噩賲賵毓賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 貙 毓賵囟 卮丿賳 賲丿丕賵賲 賵 賴賲蹖卮诏蹖 鬲毓丿丕丿 丕賮乇丕丿 禺丕賳賵丕丿賴 丕賵爻鬲 . 丿乇 讴鬲丕亘 鬲丕 亘賴丕乇 氐亘乇 讴賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 貙 丌乇鬲賵乇 丕囟丕賮賴 亘乇 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇丿賵 蹖丕 爻賴 亘乇丕丿乇 丿丕卮鬲 . 丿乇 噩丕丿賴 蹖 賱爻 丕賳噩賱爻 貙 倬丿乇 賮賵鬲 卮丿賴 貙 丕夭 亘乇丕丿乇丕賳 禺亘乇蹖 賳蹖爻鬲 賵 蹖讴 禺賵丕賴乇 噩丕蹖 丌賳丕賳 乇丕 诏乇賮鬲賴 丕爻鬲 賵 丿乇 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘乇丕蹖 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇 禺賵丿 讴賴 丿乇 卮賴乇 丿蹖诏乇蹖 賴爻鬲賳丿 倬賵賱 賲蹖 賮乇爻鬲丿 . 亘丕蹖丿 丿蹖丿 讴賴 丿乇 丌禺乇蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵蹖丕賴丕蹖 亘丕賳讴乇 賴蹖賱 貙 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 趩賴 亘乇賳丕賲賴 丕蹖 亘乇丕蹖 禺丕賳賵丕丿賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 丿丕乇丿 .
讴賱丕賲 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 鬲賱禺 丕爻鬲 賵 爻賵夭丕賳 貙 賯賴乇賲丕賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕賵丌乇鬲賵乇诏賵蹖蹖 賴賲 賯賴乇賲丕賳 丕爻鬲 賵 賴賲 囟丿 賯賴乇賲丕賳 貙 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 賴賲 丕夭 倬蹖乇賵夭蹖 丕賵 賱匕鬲 賲蹖 亘乇丿 賵 賴賲 丕夭 鬲丨賯蹖乇 卮丿賳 丕賵. 丌乇鬲賵乇 賴賲 賴賲丿乇丿蹖 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 乇丕 亘乇 賲蹖 丕賳诏蹖夭丿 賵 賴賲 丨爻 賳賮乇鬲 丕賵 乇丕 ( 诏乇趩賴 讴賴 丿乇 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 賳賮乇鬲 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 丕夭 丌乇鬲賵乇 賲賲讴賳 丕爻鬲 讴賲鬲乇 卮賵丿 ) 丕賲丕 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 丿乇 賵噩賵丿 丌乇鬲賵乇 氐賮鬲 亘爻蹖丕乇 賲孬亘鬲蹖 诏匕丕卮鬲賴 丕爻鬲 : 氐丿丕賯鬲 亘蹖 賳賴丕蹖鬲 丕賵 讴賴 爻禺鬲 爻鬲賵丿賳蹖 丕蹖爻鬲 .
June 6, 2020
Struggling writer Arturo Bandini (Great name!) arrived in 1930's Los Angeles to make it Big, but ends up in a crummy hotel on Bunker Hill where he spends most of his time dreaming the days away whilst surviving on a diet of oranges and cheap drink, the town is gripped by poverty and every time he sits at his typewriter the lack of ideas is paramount. But the publication of a short story which leads to some much needed cash brings Bandini some joy, where it's a case of spend! spend! spend! New clothes, cigars, fine food, and nights out: indulgent excess! But the high life does not last, and it's while at a diner that he is drawn to Camilla Lopez, a waitress with hidden troubles of her own, and so begins a love/hate relationship that always seemed doomed from the start.
Arturo Bandini is such a great creation and on first impressions Henry Chinaski springs to mind, although there are some similarities here with Bukowski, Fante writes more from the heart with a tenderness that overall makes this more of a moving read than the Chinaski novels. It reminded me a little of Nathaniel West's brilliant 'The Day of the Locust' in terms of the hopes and dreams of those trying to make a name for themselves in the City of Angels. Great stuff!
Arturo Bandini is such a great creation and on first impressions Henry Chinaski springs to mind, although there are some similarities here with Bukowski, Fante writes more from the heart with a tenderness that overall makes this more of a moving read than the Chinaski novels. It reminded me a little of Nathaniel West's brilliant 'The Day of the Locust' in terms of the hopes and dreams of those trying to make a name for themselves in the City of Angels. Great stuff!
June 14, 2023
In one way this reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye, though not the good way. For me as for so many teens growing up, Holden Caulfield was all that. Imagine, then, my horror when I grew up to be an English teacher in a high school assigning the book of my dreams. Imagine, too, the horror I felt as 75% of my young readers were turned off by the book, considering HC to be a shallow whiner.
A shall--, wha?
That was a few decades back. Just a few years ago I dared to return to Salinger's magnum opus, risking everything, I thought, if time treated it poorly. But it didn't. And that pleased me no end (I'm a simple man). I thought the book achieved everything it set out to. I thought both Holden and his little sister Phoebe were great characters. I even liked the bit characters--Ackley, Stradlater, Jane Gallagher, etc.
But back to Ask the Dust. Chaz Bukowski put me on to it. Even wrote an intro for it, circa 1979, complaining how anemic contemporary books were in those days, how nothing had any life like the pre-Revolution Russians. Until this book.
Yikes. A tall order. Ask the Dust on a par with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? Uh, no. But back to Salinger's book. I found my response to John Fante's novel somewhat akin to my students' reaction to Salinger's. The protagonist, Arturo Bandini, was 20 but immature for his days. Whiny, if whimsical. Deluded, if hopeful. A writer with all the wannabe writer dreams. It was mildly funny in the start, until it wasn't.
The trouble is, Bandini seemed a bit of a crackpot. Over the edge. And then the girl he falls for, one Camilla, is almost a mirror image. A crackpot. Over the edge. His neighbor who cadges money off of him? Crackpot, check. Over the edge, check. The crazy older woman he'd never seen before who shows up at his door one night looking for love? Crackpot (natch). Over the edge (-urally). (But at least she was the source of writing ideas for young Bandini who, like every 20-year-old who wants to write, has an editor who publishes everything he mails in.)
Don't get me wrong. It was an easy read and I never wanted to STOP. It was just, I don't know, a rather plotless thing begging me to fall in love with its characters (as all plotless books do), and I just couldn't fully deliver.
So not bad and not great. Three points. All for you, Bukowski, because the character was as down and out as you played at being. That counts for something, maybe.
A shall--, wha?
That was a few decades back. Just a few years ago I dared to return to Salinger's magnum opus, risking everything, I thought, if time treated it poorly. But it didn't. And that pleased me no end (I'm a simple man). I thought the book achieved everything it set out to. I thought both Holden and his little sister Phoebe were great characters. I even liked the bit characters--Ackley, Stradlater, Jane Gallagher, etc.
But back to Ask the Dust. Chaz Bukowski put me on to it. Even wrote an intro for it, circa 1979, complaining how anemic contemporary books were in those days, how nothing had any life like the pre-Revolution Russians. Until this book.
Yikes. A tall order. Ask the Dust on a par with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? Uh, no. But back to Salinger's book. I found my response to John Fante's novel somewhat akin to my students' reaction to Salinger's. The protagonist, Arturo Bandini, was 20 but immature for his days. Whiny, if whimsical. Deluded, if hopeful. A writer with all the wannabe writer dreams. It was mildly funny in the start, until it wasn't.
The trouble is, Bandini seemed a bit of a crackpot. Over the edge. And then the girl he falls for, one Camilla, is almost a mirror image. A crackpot. Over the edge. His neighbor who cadges money off of him? Crackpot, check. Over the edge, check. The crazy older woman he'd never seen before who shows up at his door one night looking for love? Crackpot (natch). Over the edge (-urally). (But at least she was the source of writing ideas for young Bandini who, like every 20-year-old who wants to write, has an editor who publishes everything he mails in.)
Don't get me wrong. It was an easy read and I never wanted to STOP. It was just, I don't know, a rather plotless thing begging me to fall in love with its characters (as all plotless books do), and I just couldn't fully deliver.
So not bad and not great. Three points. All for you, Bukowski, because the character was as down and out as you played at being. That counts for something, maybe.
September 9, 2009
Fuck this book. "I acted like a racist douchebag toward a girl I like/hate because I've experienced racism myself, and then I sexually assualted her. Later, I felt sad she was gone forever." Arturo Bandini writes charmingly, and the setting and (non)plot are super inviting, but Jesus Christ, I expected so much more from a press (Black Sparrow) that's supposed to be cool and an author with such an old-timey mystique. Fuck this.
July 29, 2021
賲賯丿賲賴鈥屰� 趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖:
蹖賴 乇賵夭 丕夭 鬲賵蹖 讴鬲丕亘禺賵賳賴 蹖賴 讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴卮蹖丿賲 亘蹖乇賵賳 賵 亘丕夭卮 讴乇丿賲 賵 蹖丕賮鬲賲卮! 蹖賴 賱丨馗賴 賵丕蹖爻鬲丕丿賲 亘賴 禺賵賳丿賳.亘毓丿 賲孬賱 丌丿賲蹖 讴賴 鬲賵 夭亘丕賱賴贁鈥屫堎嗃� 貙胤賱丕 倬蹖丿丕 讴乇丿賴貙讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 亘乇丿賲 爻乇 蹖賴 賲蹖夭.賵 亘賱丕禺乇賴 賲乇丿蹖 丕蹖賳噩丕 亘賵丿 讴賴 丕夭 賳卮賵賳 丿丕丿賳 丕丨爻丕爻丕鬲卮 鬲乇爻 賳丿丕卮鬲.胤賳夭 賵 丿乇丿 亘丕 爻丕丿诏蹖 讴賲 賳馗蹖乇蹖 亘丕賴賲 鬲乇讴蹖亘 卮丿賴 亘賵丿.卮乇賵毓 丕賵賳 讴鬲丕亘 賵丕爻賲 蹖賴 賲毓噩夭賴鈥屰� 賲賴丕乇 賳卮丿賳蹖 賵 毓馗蹖賲 亘賵丿.讴丕乇鬲 讴鬲丕亘禺賵賳賴 乇賵 丿丕卮鬲賲.讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 亘乇丿賲 丕鬲丕賯賲 貙乇賮鬲賲 乇賵蹖 鬲禺鬲 賵 禺賵賳丿賲卮貙賵 禺蹖賱蹖 賯亘賱 丕夭 丕蹖賳 讴賴 鬲賲賵賲卮 讴賳賲 賲蹖丿賵賳爻鬲賲 亘丕 賲乇丿蹖 胤乇賮賲 讴賴 爻亘讴 賳诏丕乇卮 賲鬲賲丕蹖夭蹖 丕亘丿丕毓 讴乇丿賴 亘賵丿.丕賵賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 亘賵丿.讴爻蹖 讴賴 亘毓丿鈥屬囏� 鬲丕孬蹖乇 賲丕丿丕賲 丕賱毓賲乇蹖 乇賵蹖 賳賵卮鬲賳 賲賳 诏匕丕卮鬲.亘賱賴 賮丕賳鬲賴 鬲丕孬蹖乇 賯丿乇鬲賲賳丿蹖 乇賵蹖賲 丿丕卮鬲 .禺蹖賱蹖 丕夭 禺賵賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘鈥屬囏� 賳诏匕卮鬲賴 亘賵丿 讴賴 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘丕 蹖賴 夭賳.丕賵賳 丕夭 賲賳 亘丿 賲爻鬲 鬲乇 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕賴賲 丿毓賵丕賴丕蹖 賵丨卮蹖丕賳賴鈥屫й� 賲蹖讴乇丿蹖賲 賵 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賵賯鬲 賴丕 爻乇卮 丿丕丿 賲蹖夭丿賲: 芦亘賴 賲賳 賳诏賵 丨乇丕賲夭丕丿賴! 賲賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖鈥屫з呚屫⒇必堌辟� 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖!禄
賮丕賳鬲賴 禺丿丕蹖 賲賳 亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖丿賵賳爻鬲賲 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 禺丿丕蹖丕賳 乇賵 鬲賳賴丕 诏匕丕卮鬲貙賳賴 丕蹖賳讴賴 亘乇蹖 丿乇 禺賵賳卮賵賳 乇賵 亘夭賳蹖.
蹖賴 乇賵夭 丕夭 鬲賵蹖 讴鬲丕亘禺賵賳賴 蹖賴 讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴卮蹖丿賲 亘蹖乇賵賳 賵 亘丕夭卮 讴乇丿賲 賵 蹖丕賮鬲賲卮! 蹖賴 賱丨馗賴 賵丕蹖爻鬲丕丿賲 亘賴 禺賵賳丿賳.亘毓丿 賲孬賱 丌丿賲蹖 讴賴 鬲賵 夭亘丕賱賴贁鈥屫堎嗃� 貙胤賱丕 倬蹖丿丕 讴乇丿賴貙讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 亘乇丿賲 爻乇 蹖賴 賲蹖夭.賵 亘賱丕禺乇賴 賲乇丿蹖 丕蹖賳噩丕 亘賵丿 讴賴 丕夭 賳卮賵賳 丿丕丿賳 丕丨爻丕爻丕鬲卮 鬲乇爻 賳丿丕卮鬲.胤賳夭 賵 丿乇丿 亘丕 爻丕丿诏蹖 讴賲 賳馗蹖乇蹖 亘丕賴賲 鬲乇讴蹖亘 卮丿賴 亘賵丿.卮乇賵毓 丕賵賳 讴鬲丕亘 賵丕爻賲 蹖賴 賲毓噩夭賴鈥屰� 賲賴丕乇 賳卮丿賳蹖 賵 毓馗蹖賲 亘賵丿.讴丕乇鬲 讴鬲丕亘禺賵賳賴 乇賵 丿丕卮鬲賲.讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 亘乇丿賲 丕鬲丕賯賲 貙乇賮鬲賲 乇賵蹖 鬲禺鬲 賵 禺賵賳丿賲卮貙賵 禺蹖賱蹖 賯亘賱 丕夭 丕蹖賳 讴賴 鬲賲賵賲卮 讴賳賲 賲蹖丿賵賳爻鬲賲 亘丕 賲乇丿蹖 胤乇賮賲 讴賴 爻亘讴 賳诏丕乇卮 賲鬲賲丕蹖夭蹖 丕亘丿丕毓 讴乇丿賴 亘賵丿.丕賵賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 亘賵丿.讴爻蹖 讴賴 亘毓丿鈥屬囏� 鬲丕孬蹖乇 賲丕丿丕賲 丕賱毓賲乇蹖 乇賵蹖 賳賵卮鬲賳 賲賳 诏匕丕卮鬲.亘賱賴 賮丕賳鬲賴 鬲丕孬蹖乇 賯丿乇鬲賲賳丿蹖 乇賵蹖賲 丿丕卮鬲 .禺蹖賱蹖 丕夭 禺賵賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘鈥屬囏� 賳诏匕卮鬲賴 亘賵丿 讴賴 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘丕 蹖賴 夭賳.丕賵賳 丕夭 賲賳 亘丿 賲爻鬲 鬲乇 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕賴賲 丿毓賵丕賴丕蹖 賵丨卮蹖丕賳賴鈥屫й� 賲蹖讴乇丿蹖賲 賵 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賵賯鬲 賴丕 爻乇卮 丿丕丿 賲蹖夭丿賲: 芦亘賴 賲賳 賳诏賵 丨乇丕賲夭丕丿賴! 賲賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖鈥屫з呚屫⒇必堌辟� 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖!禄
賮丕賳鬲賴 禺丿丕蹖 賲賳 亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖丿賵賳爻鬲賲 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 禺丿丕蹖丕賳 乇賵 鬲賳賴丕 诏匕丕卮鬲貙賳賴 丕蹖賳讴賴 亘乇蹖 丿乇 禺賵賳卮賵賳 乇賵 亘夭賳蹖.
December 24, 2024
丕賵賱蹖賳 賲賵丕噩賴賴 賲賳 亘丕 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴貙 鬲噩乇亘賴 卮蹖乇蹖賳 賵 丿賱倬匕蹖乇蹖 亘賵丿. 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 卮禺氐蹖鬲 丕氐賱蹖 乇賲丕賳貙 丕賳賵丕毓 賵 丕賯爻丕賲 丨爻鈥屬囏й� 賲禺鬲賱賮 乇賵 丿乇 賲賳 丕蹖噩丕丿 讴乇丿. 诏丕賴蹖 亘乇丕卮 睾氐賴 禺賵乇丿賲貙 诏丕賴蹖 毓氐亘蹖 卮丿賲 賵 丨乇氐 禺賵乇丿賲 賵 亘毓囟蹖 賲賵丕賯毓 鬲賵賳爻鬲賲 丿乇讴卮 讴賳賲. 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 卮禺氐蹖鬲鈥屬囏й� 禺賱锟斤拷 卮丿賴 丿賳蹖丕蹖 丕丿亘蹖丕鬲賴 讴賴 亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 蹖讴蹖 賲丕賳丿诏丕乇 禺賵丕賴丿 亘賵丿.. 賮讴乇 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 賲丕 亘禺卮蹖 丕夭 賵噩賵丿賲賵賳 讴賴 爻毓蹖 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗃屬� 丨鬲賲丕 倬賳賴丕賳卮 讴賳蹖賲 乇賵 丿乇 賵噩賵丿 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 賲蹖鈥屫ㄛ屬嗃屬�. 丌乇鬲賵乇 丿乇爻鬲賴 丿乇 丨丕賱 噩爻鬲 賵 噩賵蹖 禺賵卮亘禺鬲蹖 賵 爻毓丕丿鬲賴 賵賱蹖 丕賳诏丕乇 丿丕卮鬲 丿賵乇 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖鈥屭嗀必屫�.亘賴 賲賯氐丿蹖 賳賲蹖鈥屫必驰屫�. 禺賵丿 卮禺氐蹖鬲 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖貙 賮囟丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丿乇 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賱賯 卮丿賴 賵 讴丕乇賴丕蹖 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 丨鬲蹖 賴賲賵賳 讴丕乇賴丕蹖 睾蹖乇賲賳胤賯蹖 賵 丕毓氐丕亘 禺賵乇丿讴賳卮貙 賴賲賴 賵 賴賲賴 賵丕爻賴 賲賳 丨爻 夭賳丿诏蹖 乇賵 丿丕卮鬲.丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 亘爻蹖丕乇 卮亘蹖賴 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘賵丿貙 賵丕賯毓蹖 亘賵丿貙 賵 賴乇 趩賴 乇賳诏 賵 亘賵蹖 賵丕賯毓蹖鬲 丿丕卮鬲賴 亘丕卮賴 賵丕爻賴 賲賳 丕乇夭卮賲賳丿賴.
丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 亘乇丕蹖 乇爻蹖丿賳 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘賴鬲乇 乇丕賴蹖 賵 爻丕讴賳 賱爻 丌賳噩賱爻 卮丿賴. 丕賵 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 丕爻鬲. 禺賵丿卮 禺蹖賱蹖 賴賳乇卮賵 賯亘賵賱 丿丕乇賴 賵 賮讴乇 賲蹖讴賳賴 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 夭亘乇丿爻鬲 賵 亘夭乇诏蹖賴 丕賲丕 賵丕賯毓蹖鬲 趩蹖夭 丿蹖诏賴鈥屫й� 賲蹖诏賴. 賴乇 丕夭 诏丕賴蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 讴賵鬲丕賴蹖 趩丕倬 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 賵 丕夭 倬賵賱蹖 讴賴 亘賴 丿爻鬲 賲蹖丕乇賴貙 亘賴 乇鬲賯 賵 賮鬲賯 丕賲賵乇丕鬲 夭賳丿诏蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屬矩必ж操�. 丕賱亘鬲賴 丕蹖賳 讴丕乇 亘賴 丕蹖賳 爻丕丿诏蹖 賴丕 亘乇丕卮 倬蹖卮 賳賲蹖乇賴 賵 丕賳鬲卮丕乇丕鬲 賲禺鬲賱賮 诏丕賴蹖 丿爻鬲 乇丿 亘賴 爻蹖賳賴鈥屫ж� 亘乇丕蹖 趩丕倬 丌孬丕乇卮 賲蹖鈥屫操嗁嗀�. 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 噩賲蹖毓 賵蹖跇诏蹖 賴丕蹖 禺賵亘 賵 亘丿 亘賵丿. 诏丕賴蹖 讴丕乇蹖 賲蹖鈥屭┴必� 讴賴 禺賱丕賮 丕賵賳 趩蹖夭蹖 亘賵丿 讴賴 丿乇 鬲賮讴乇丕鬲 賵 鬲氐賵乇丕鬲卮 亘賵丿.亘賴 胤賵乇 讴賱蹖 亘毓囟丕 鬲賮讴乇丕鬲 賵 丕毓賲丕賱卮 賴賲禺賵丕賳蹖 賳丿丕卮鬲.爻乇丿乇诏賲 亘賵丿.爻乇丿乇诏賲 丿乇 賲爻蹖乇.丿乇 胤蹖 賲爻蹖乇....丿乇 丕蹖賳 亘蹖賳 丕賵 亘賴 蹖讴 丿禺鬲乇 賲讴夭蹖讴蹖 卮丕睾賱 丿乇 讴丕賮賴 毓賱丕賯賴 賲賳丿 賲蹖卮賴.丕賲丕 乇丕亘胤賴鈥屫ж� 亘蹖卮鬲乇 毓卮賯 蹖讴 胤乇賮賴 丕爻鬲 賵 趩蹖夭 夭蹖丕丿蹖 丕夭 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賳氐蹖亘卮 賳賲蹖卮賴 賵 丕賲丕賳 丕夭 毓卮賯 蹖讴 胤乇賮賴...蹖讴 爻賵賲 倬丕蹖丕賳蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丿乇诏蹖乇 乇丕亘胤賴 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賵 丌乇鬲賵乇 賵 賴賲趩賳蹖賳 爻賲 賲蹖鈥屫篡屬� 賵 爻乇丕賳噩丕賲 丕蹖賳 乇丕亘胤賴 賴賲 丿乇 倬丕蹖丕賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賲卮禺氐 賲蹖卮賴.賲賳 丕賵賳 氐丨賳賴 倬丕蹖丕賳蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 乇賵 亘爻蹖丕乇 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕卮鬲賲.丕丨爻丕爻 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴賴 鬲賵爻胤 丌乇鬲賵乇 倬乇鬲 賲蹖卮賴 賴賲蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丿爻鬲 賲賳賴 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 鬲賲蹖夭卮 讴賳賲 賵 亘禺賵賳賲卮...
丿賵 氐丨賳賴 賲丕賳丿诏丕乇:
賯賱賲 賮丕賳鬲賴 丿乇 亘乇丕賳诏蹖禺鬲賳 丕丨爻丕爻丕鬲 丿乇賵賳蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 乇賵 賲賳 鬲丕孬蹖乇 诏匕丕卮鬲. 丿蹖爻讴 讴賲乇 乇賵 丿賯鬲 讴乇丿蹖賳責 丿蹖爻讴 丕夭 賲丨賱 丕氐賱蹖 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖夭賳賴 亘蹖乇賵賳 賵 亘乇禺賵乇丿 賲蹖讴賳賴 亘賴 賳禺丕毓貙 賳禺丕毓 賴賲 倬乇 丕夭 丕毓氐丕亘 賵 賴賲蹖賳 亘乇禺賵乇丿 丿蹖爻讴 亘賴 賳禺丕毓 亘丕毓孬 賲蹖卮賴 丿乇丿 卮丿蹖丿蹖 丕蹖噩丕丿 亘卮賴.賯賱賲 賮丕賳鬲賴 賵丕爻賴 賲賳 亘賴 丕蹖賳 卮讴賱 亘賵丿. 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 夭丿 亘賴 丕賵賳噩丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丨爻丕亘蹖 丌丿賲 丿诏乇诏賵賳 賲蹖卮賴. 丿賵 噩丕 丿乇 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘賵丿 讴賴 趩蹖夭 噩丿蹖丿 賵 賳賵蹖蹖 賳亘賵丿 賵賱蹖 乇賵 賲賳 鬲丕孬蹖乇 夭蹖丕丿蹖 丿丕卮鬲. 蹖讴蹖 氐丨賳賴 丕蹖 讴賴 蹖讴 丿禺鬲乇亘丿讴丕乇賴 賲蹖丕丿 丌乇鬲賵乇 乇賵 亘睾賱 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 賵 亘賴卮 賲蹖诏賴 : 毓蹖亘 賳丿丕乇賴 賲賳賵 丿賵爻鬲 賳丿丕乇蹖貙 毓卮賯鬲 讴蹖賴責亘蹖丕 賮讴乇 讴賳蹖賲 丕賵賳 賲賳賲.亘丕 賮讴乇 丕賵賳 亘睾賱賲 讴賳..賲賳 禺蹖賱蹖 鬲賳賴丕賲.. 氐丨賳賴 丿賵賲 噩丕蹖蹖 亘賵丿 讴賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 賳丕賲賴 丕蹖 賳賵卮鬲 亘賴 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賵 丿丕丿 亘賴 蹖讴蹖 讴賴 亘乇爻賵賳賴 亘賴 讴丕賲蹖賱丕.亘蹖乇賵賳 讴丕賮賴 丕蹖爻鬲丕丿賴 亘賵丿 賵 丿丕卮鬲 賵丕讴賳卮 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 乇賵 賳诏丕賴 賲蹖鈥屭┴必� 賵 丿蹖丿 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賳丕賲賴 乇賵 倬丕乇賴 讴乇丿..(丿蹖诏賴 趩蹖夭蹖 賳賳賵蹖爻 爻丕賲丕賳)...
倬.賳1: 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 爻賵賲蹖賳 噩賱丿 丕夭 趩賴丕乇诏丕賳賴 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 丿乇 賲賵乇丿 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 丕爻鬲.賲賳 夭賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 禺乇蹖丿賲貙丕蹖賳 乇賵 賳賲蹖鈥屫堎嗀池�. 鬲乇鬲蹖亘 丕蹖賳 趩賴丕乇诏丕賳賴 : 1- 鬲丕 亘賴丕乇 氐亘乇 讴賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 2- 噩丕丿賴 賱爻 丌賳噩賱爻 3- 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 4- 乇賵蹖丕賴丕蹖蹖 丕夭 亘丕賳讴乇 賴蹖賱.
倬.賳2:乇丕亘胤賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 亘丕 讴丕賲蹖賱丕貙 丌賴賳诏 亘丕 賲賳 賯丿賲 亘夭賳 毓賱蹖 爻賵乇賳丕 乇賵 鬲賵 匕賴賳賲 倬賱蹖 讴乇丿. 亘賴 禺氐賵氐 賯爻賲鬲 丕賵賱 丌賴賳诏.
丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 亘乇丕蹖 乇爻蹖丿賳 亘賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 亘賴鬲乇 乇丕賴蹖 賵 爻丕讴賳 賱爻 丌賳噩賱爻 卮丿賴. 丕賵 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 丕爻鬲. 禺賵丿卮 禺蹖賱蹖 賴賳乇卮賵 賯亘賵賱 丿丕乇賴 賵 賮讴乇 賲蹖讴賳賴 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 夭亘乇丿爻鬲 賵 亘夭乇诏蹖賴 丕賲丕 賵丕賯毓蹖鬲 趩蹖夭 丿蹖诏賴鈥屫й� 賲蹖诏賴. 賴乇 丕夭 诏丕賴蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 讴賵鬲丕賴蹖 趩丕倬 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 賵 丕夭 倬賵賱蹖 讴賴 亘賴 丿爻鬲 賲蹖丕乇賴貙 亘賴 乇鬲賯 賵 賮鬲賯 丕賲賵乇丕鬲 夭賳丿诏蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屬矩必ж操�. 丕賱亘鬲賴 丕蹖賳 讴丕乇 亘賴 丕蹖賳 爻丕丿诏蹖 賴丕 亘乇丕卮 倬蹖卮 賳賲蹖乇賴 賵 丕賳鬲卮丕乇丕鬲 賲禺鬲賱賮 诏丕賴蹖 丿爻鬲 乇丿 亘賴 爻蹖賳賴鈥屫ж� 亘乇丕蹖 趩丕倬 丌孬丕乇卮 賲蹖鈥屫操嗁嗀�. 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 噩賲蹖毓 賵蹖跇诏蹖 賴丕蹖 禺賵亘 賵 亘丿 亘賵丿. 诏丕賴蹖 讴丕乇蹖 賲蹖鈥屭┴必� 讴賴 禺賱丕賮 丕賵賳 趩蹖夭蹖 亘賵丿 讴賴 丿乇 鬲賮讴乇丕鬲 賵 鬲氐賵乇丕鬲卮 亘賵丿.亘賴 胤賵乇 讴賱蹖 亘毓囟丕 鬲賮讴乇丕鬲 賵 丕毓賲丕賱卮 賴賲禺賵丕賳蹖 賳丿丕卮鬲.爻乇丿乇诏賲 亘賵丿.爻乇丿乇诏賲 丿乇 賲爻蹖乇.丿乇 胤蹖 賲爻蹖乇....丿乇 丕蹖賳 亘蹖賳 丕賵 亘賴 蹖讴 丿禺鬲乇 賲讴夭蹖讴蹖 卮丕睾賱 丿乇 讴丕賮賴 毓賱丕賯賴 賲賳丿 賲蹖卮賴.丕賲丕 乇丕亘胤賴鈥屫ж� 亘蹖卮鬲乇 毓卮賯 蹖讴 胤乇賮賴 丕爻鬲 賵 趩蹖夭 夭蹖丕丿蹖 丕夭 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賳氐蹖亘卮 賳賲蹖卮賴 賵 丕賲丕賳 丕夭 毓卮賯 蹖讴 胤乇賮賴...蹖讴 爻賵賲 倬丕蹖丕賳蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丿乇诏蹖乇 乇丕亘胤賴 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賵 丌乇鬲賵乇 賵 賴賲趩賳蹖賳 爻賲 賲蹖鈥屫篡屬� 賵 爻乇丕賳噩丕賲 丕蹖賳 乇丕亘胤賴 賴賲 丿乇 倬丕蹖丕賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賲卮禺氐 賲蹖卮賴.賲賳 丕賵賳 氐丨賳賴 倬丕蹖丕賳蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 乇賵 亘爻蹖丕乇 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕卮鬲賲.丕丨爻丕爻 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴賴 鬲賵爻胤 丌乇鬲賵乇 倬乇鬲 賲蹖卮賴 賴賲蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丿爻鬲 賲賳賴 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 鬲賲蹖夭卮 讴賳賲 賵 亘禺賵賳賲卮...
丿賵 氐丨賳賴 賲丕賳丿诏丕乇:
賯賱賲 賮丕賳鬲賴 丿乇 亘乇丕賳诏蹖禺鬲賳 丕丨爻丕爻丕鬲 丿乇賵賳蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 乇賵 賲賳 鬲丕孬蹖乇 诏匕丕卮鬲. 丿蹖爻讴 讴賲乇 乇賵 丿賯鬲 讴乇丿蹖賳責 丿蹖爻讴 丕夭 賲丨賱 丕氐賱蹖 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖夭賳賴 亘蹖乇賵賳 賵 亘乇禺賵乇丿 賲蹖讴賳賴 亘賴 賳禺丕毓貙 賳禺丕毓 賴賲 倬乇 丕夭 丕毓氐丕亘 賵 賴賲蹖賳 亘乇禺賵乇丿 丿蹖爻讴 亘賴 賳禺丕毓 亘丕毓孬 賲蹖卮賴 丿乇丿 卮丿蹖丿蹖 丕蹖噩丕丿 亘卮賴.賯賱賲 賮丕賳鬲賴 賵丕爻賴 賲賳 亘賴 丕蹖賳 卮讴賱 亘賵丿. 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 夭丿 亘賴 丕賵賳噩丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丨爻丕亘蹖 丌丿賲 丿诏乇诏賵賳 賲蹖卮賴. 丿賵 噩丕 丿乇 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘賵丿 讴賴 趩蹖夭 噩丿蹖丿 賵 賳賵蹖蹖 賳亘賵丿 賵賱蹖 乇賵 賲賳 鬲丕孬蹖乇 夭蹖丕丿蹖 丿丕卮鬲. 蹖讴蹖 氐丨賳賴 丕蹖 讴賴 蹖讴 丿禺鬲乇亘丿讴丕乇賴 賲蹖丕丿 丌乇鬲賵乇 乇賵 亘睾賱 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁� 賵 亘賴卮 賲蹖诏賴 : 毓蹖亘 賳丿丕乇賴 賲賳賵 丿賵爻鬲 賳丿丕乇蹖貙 毓卮賯鬲 讴蹖賴責亘蹖丕 賮讴乇 讴賳蹖賲 丕賵賳 賲賳賲.亘丕 賮讴乇 丕賵賳 亘睾賱賲 讴賳..賲賳 禺蹖賱蹖 鬲賳賴丕賲.. 氐丨賳賴 丿賵賲 噩丕蹖蹖 亘賵丿 讴賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 賳丕賲賴 丕蹖 賳賵卮鬲 亘賴 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賵 丿丕丿 亘賴 蹖讴蹖 讴賴 亘乇爻賵賳賴 亘賴 讴丕賲蹖賱丕.亘蹖乇賵賳 讴丕賮賴 丕蹖爻鬲丕丿賴 亘賵丿 賵 丿丕卮鬲 賵丕讴賳卮 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 乇賵 賳诏丕賴 賲蹖鈥屭┴必� 賵 丿蹖丿 讴丕賲蹖賱丕 賳丕賲賴 乇賵 倬丕乇賴 讴乇丿..(丿蹖诏賴 趩蹖夭蹖 賳賳賵蹖爻 爻丕賲丕賳)...
倬.賳1: 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 爻賵賲蹖賳 噩賱丿 丕夭 趩賴丕乇诏丕賳賴 噩丕賳 賮丕賳鬲賴 丿乇 賲賵乇丿 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 丕爻鬲.賲賳 夭賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 禺乇蹖丿賲貙丕蹖賳 乇賵 賳賲蹖鈥屫堎嗀池�. 鬲乇鬲蹖亘 丕蹖賳 趩賴丕乇诏丕賳賴 : 1- 鬲丕 亘賴丕乇 氐亘乇 讴賳 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 2- 噩丕丿賴 賱爻 丌賳噩賱爻 3- 丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻 4- 乇賵蹖丕賴丕蹖蹖 丕夭 亘丕賳讴乇 賴蹖賱.
倬.賳2:乇丕亘胤賴 丌乇鬲賵乇 亘丕賳丿蹖賳蹖 亘丕 讴丕賲蹖賱丕貙 丌賴賳诏 亘丕 賲賳 賯丿賲 亘夭賳 毓賱蹖 爻賵乇賳丕 乇賵 鬲賵 匕賴賳賲 倬賱蹖 讴乇丿. 亘賴 禺氐賵氐 賯爻賲鬲 丕賵賱 丌賴賳诏.
March 17, 2016
This book was beautifully depressing. I read it because loved so much and I was not let down. The story had a depressed swagger that was believable even though it was about a time mostly remembered for glamor.
May 11, 2024
亘禺卮 賲丨亘賵亘 賲賳 丿乇 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賲乇亘賵胤 賲蹖卮賴 亘賴 蹖賴 卮禺氐蹖鬲 禺蹖賱蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 賮乇毓蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳. 蹖賴 丿禺鬲乇 亘丿讴丕乇賴 讴賴 卮禺氐蹖鬲 丕氐賱蹖 乇賵 亘睾賱 讴乇丿賴 賵 亘賴卮 賲蹖诏賴 丕卮讴丕賱 賳丿丕乇賴 丕诏賴 賲賳賵 丿賵爻鬲 賳丿丕卮鬲賴 亘丕卮蹖貙 丕氐賱丕 毓卮賯鬲 讴蹖賴責 亘蹖丕 賮讴乇 讴賳蹖賲 丕賵賳 賲賳賲. 亘丕 賮讴乇 讴乇丿賳 亘賴 丕賵賳 賲賳賵 亘睾賱 讴賳. 丌禺賴 賲賳 禺蹖賱蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 鬲賳賴丕賲.
September 28, 2007
I'm giving it three but it really deserves 3.5.
I started off tearing into this book with the momentum I tore through Bukowski, which isn't to say that I love Bukowski, I don't, but I tore through his works. It's easy shit to tear through.
So I read the overwhelmingly positive Bukowski introduction and I'm off and running. I have a strange fasination with early 20th century LA. I couldn't say why. I have lived in San Francisco the majority of my life and been to LA 3-4 times. I couldn't care less about modern LA, it's something about private eyes and coniving starlets with loose morals in gang run speak easys that gets me going. Wait, that's ....
Anyways, I like the time period. I also like Antonio Bandini's general insanity. He's a complex guy. A mess but a complex guy.
The writing starts out interesting but decent and by about a hundred pages I didn't care so much anymore. The book was destined to sit on the side of my bed with the other 10 books I'm half way through and will finish sometime before 2010.
Then on a random Saturday afternoon, camping in the Redwoods, about half way through my second 22 of Lagunitas Mother IPA I locked in.
Every word was resonating. Bandini was speaking God's truth. I was there with him, with her, in the desert. Bandini takes it, but man can he dish it out. I tore through the rest of that novel that Saturday afternoon. And in it's finishing pages when the small plastic cup of IPA was gone and the whiskey was burning strong I closed Ask the Dust with a bang and threw that fucker into the desert.
Bandini!
I started off tearing into this book with the momentum I tore through Bukowski, which isn't to say that I love Bukowski, I don't, but I tore through his works. It's easy shit to tear through.
So I read the overwhelmingly positive Bukowski introduction and I'm off and running. I have a strange fasination with early 20th century LA. I couldn't say why. I have lived in San Francisco the majority of my life and been to LA 3-4 times. I couldn't care less about modern LA, it's something about private eyes and coniving starlets with loose morals in gang run speak easys that gets me going. Wait, that's ....
Anyways, I like the time period. I also like Antonio Bandini's general insanity. He's a complex guy. A mess but a complex guy.
The writing starts out interesting but decent and by about a hundred pages I didn't care so much anymore. The book was destined to sit on the side of my bed with the other 10 books I'm half way through and will finish sometime before 2010.
Then on a random Saturday afternoon, camping in the Redwoods, about half way through my second 22 of Lagunitas Mother IPA I locked in.
Every word was resonating. Bandini was speaking God's truth. I was there with him, with her, in the desert. Bandini takes it, but man can he dish it out. I tore through the rest of that novel that Saturday afternoon. And in it's finishing pages when the small plastic cup of IPA was gone and the whiskey was burning strong I closed Ask the Dust with a bang and threw that fucker into the desert.
Bandini!
February 19, 2020
小屑褟褌邪谢邪 褋褗屑, 褔械 褏芯褉邪褌邪, 泻芯懈褌芯 懈褋泻邪褌 写邪 锌懈褕邪褌, 褍写褗褉卸邪褌 胁 褋械斜械 褋懈 锌芯褉芯泄 芯褌 懈写械懈. 袨锌懈褌胁邪褌 褋械 写邪 谐懈 芯斜褍蟹写邪褟褌, 薪芯 胁 械写懈薪 屑芯屑械薪褌 斜邪褉邪卸褗褌 褋械 锌褉芯锌褍泻胁邪 懈 写褍屑懈褌械 锌褉芯褋褌芯 褉褍泻胁邪褌 泻褗屑 褋胁械褌邪. 袧械械褋褌械褋褌胁械薪芯 屑懈 褋械 械 褋褌褉褍胁邪谢芯 写邪 懈褋泻邪褕 写邪 褋懈 锌懈褋邪褌械谢, 邪 写邪 薪械 褌懈 懈写胁邪 泻邪泻胁芯 写邪 泻邪卸械褕. 袙 褌邪蟹懈 胁褉褗蟹泻邪 薪械 褋褗屑 褉邪蟹斜懈褉邪谢邪 懈 胁械蟹写械褋褗褖懈褟 锌懈褋邪褌械谢褋泻懈 斜谢芯泻邪卸. 袠褋褌懈薪邪褌邪 芯斜邪褔械 械, 褔械 薪褟屑邪 芯斜褖芯胁邪谢懈写薪邪 懈褋褌懈薪邪. 袟胁褍褔懈 泻邪褌芯 锌邪褉邪写芯泻褋, 蟹邪褖芯褌芯 械. 袙褋懈褔泻懈 懈屑邪屑械 泻邪泻胁芯 写邪 泻邪卸械屑 薪邪 褋胁械褌邪, 薪械蟹邪胁懈褋懈屑芯 芯褌 褌械屑锌芯褌芯 懈谢懈 芯斜褋褌芯褟褌械谢褋褌胁邪褌邪, 锌褉懈 泻芯懈褌芯 谐芯 锌褉邪胁懈屑. 袩芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 写褍屑懈褌械 懈蟹褉懈谐胁邪褌 褋邪屑懈, 写褉褍谐 锌褗褌 褌褉褍写薪芯 芯褌胁芯褞胁邪屑械 写芯褉懈 械写薪邪 屑懈褋褗谢, 薪芯 薪邪泻褉邪褟 胁懈薪邪谐懈 懈写胁邪褌.
袗褉褌褍褉芯 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 械 蟹邪写褍褕邪胁邪褖芯 斜械写械薪, 斜械写械薪 泻邪褌芯 屑懈褕芯泻邪 袩械写褉芯, 泻芯泄褌芯 屑褍 锌褉邪胁懈 泻芯屑锌邪薪懈褟 胁 芯褋泻褗写薪芯 芯斜蟹邪胁械写械薪邪褌邪 褏芯褌械谢褋泻邪 褋褌邪褟 胁 袚褉邪写邪 薪邪 邪薪谐械谢懈褌械. 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 械 懈 谐谢邪写械薪. 袠 褌芯 薪械 褋邪屑芯 蟹邪褖芯褌芯 薪褟屑邪 锌邪褉懈 懈 懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯 胁褉械屑械 泻邪褉邪 芯褋薪芯胁薪芯 薪邪 锌芯褉褌芯泻邪谢懈. 袚谢邪写械薪 械 蟹邪 褍褋锌械褏. 袟邪 锌褉懈蟹薪邪薪懈械 械 谐谢邪写械薪 懈 蟹邪 谢褞斜芯胁. 袩褉芯褌邪谐芯薪懈褋褌褗褌 薪邪 肖邪薪褌懈, 鈥炐承狙€写 褋 褌芯胁邪, 锌芯 写褟胁芯谢懈褌械鈥�, 褔械 械 邪屑械褉懈泻邪薪械褑, 械 泻褗谢斜芯 褋 褌褍 锌芯谢芯卸懈褌械谢械薪, 褌褍 芯褌褉懈褑邪褌械谢械薪 蟹邪褉褟写, 锌芯写胁谢邪褋褌薪芯 薪邪 genius loci 懈 薪邪 zeitgeist , 写褍褏邪 薪邪 屑褟褋褌芯褌芯 懈 胁褉械屑械褌芯 薪邪 械写薪邪 褋屑褍褌薪邪 械锌芯褏邪. 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 褌褉邪泻邪 锌芯 锌懈褕械褖邪褌邪 褋懈 屑邪褕懈薪邪, 锌褍褕懈 械胁褌懈薪懈褌械 褋懈 褑懈谐邪褉懈 懈 褋械 胁褋谢褍褕胁邪 胁 褋褍褏懈褟 胁褟褌褗褉, 懈写械褖 芯褌泻褗屑 锌褍褋褌懈薪褟褌邪 袦芯褏邪胁械 胁 袥芯褋 袗薪写卸械谢懈褋, 褋泻芯胁邪薪 芯褌 袚芯谢褟屑邪褌邪 写械锌褉械褋懈褟, 褌褗卸械薪, 写褉懈锌邪胁 懈 屑褉褗褋械薪, 泻邪褌芯 屑薪芯谐芯 芯褌 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪褋泻懈褌械 屑褍 卸懈褌械谢懈.
鈥炐懶靶叫葱感叫� 泻褉邪褔懈 锌芯 褍谢懈褑邪褌邪 鈥� 薪械胁懈褋芯泻, 薪芯 薪邪斜懈褌, 谐芯褉写 褋 屑褍褋泻褍谢懈褌械 褋懈, 褋褌懈褋泻邪 褞屑褉褍褑懈 懈 褋械 薪邪褋谢邪卸写邪胁邪 薪邪 褌胁褗褉写懈褟 褉邪蟹泻芯褕 薪邪 斜懈褑械锌褋懈褌械 褋懈; 邪斜褋褍褉写薪芯 斜械蟹褋褌褉邪褕薪懈褟 袘邪薪写懈薪懈, 泻芯泄褌芯 薪械 褋械 褋褌褉邪褏褍胁邪 芯褌 薪懈褖芯 写褉褍谐芯, 芯褋胁械薪 芯褌 薪械懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯褌芯, 胁 褌芯蟹懈 褋胁褟褌 薪邪 胁褗谢褕械斜褋褌胁邪 懈 褌邪泄薪懈.鈥�
袠屑械褌芯 薪邪 袗褉褌褍褉芯 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 褋械 锌芯胁褌邪褉褟 斜械蟹斜褉芯泄 锌褗褌懈 胁 褉芯屑邪薪邪, 泻邪褌芯 褌芯泄 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 谐芯胁芯褉懈 蟹邪 褋械斜械 褋懈 芯褌 锌褗褉胁芯 谢懈褑械, 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 蟹邪锌芯褔胁邪 写邪 泻褉褗卸懈 薪邪写 芯褋芯斜邪褌邪 褋懈 懈 懈褉芯薪懈褔薪芯 褋械 褋邪屑芯胁械谢懈褔邪械, 褋褟泻邪褕 芯锌懈褋胁邪 薪褟泻芯谐芯 写褉褍谐懈谐芯. 效械褋褌芯褌芯 锌褉械褋泻邪褔邪薪械 芯褌 褋邪屑芯褋褗卸邪谢械薪懈械 泻褗屑 锌褉械蟹褉械薪懈械 写芯 锌芯谢褍褕械谐芯胁懈褌邪 褋邪屑芯胁谢褞斜械薪芯褋褌 褉邪屑泻懈褉邪 胁褋懈褔泻懈 胁邪卸薪懈 邪褋锌械泻褌懈 芯褌 卸懈胁芯褌邪 薪邪 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 鈥� 懈 械屑懈谐褉邪薪褌褋泻懈褌械 屑褍 泻芯褉械薪懈, 懈 芯褌薪芯褕械薪懈褟褌邪 屑褍 褋褗褋 褋械褉胁懈褌褜芯褉泻邪褌邪 袣邪屑懈谢邪, 锌懈褋邪薪械褌芯 懈 褋锌芯薪褌邪薪薪懈褌械 屑褍 锌褉芯褟胁懈 薪邪 褉械谢懈谐懈芯蟹薪芯褋褌. 小邪屑芯 芯褌 薪械懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯褌芯 褋械 斜芯懈 袗褉褌褍褉芯, 薪芯 褋械 芯泻邪蟹胁邪, 褔械 锌芯褔褌懈 薪懈褖芯 薪械 屑褍 械 懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯. 袟邪 薪械谐芯 谢械谢械褟薪懈褌械 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪泻懈 褋邪 鈥炐把喲傂敌貉佇盒� 锌褉懈薪褑械褋懈 懈 锌褉懈薪褑械褋懈 薪邪 屑邪懈褌械鈥�, 薪芯 薪邪褉懈褔邪 械写懈薪 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪械褑 鈥炐夹靶沸敌�, 屑褉褗褋械薪 褑懈谐邪薪懈薪鈥�. 袧械胁械写薪褗卸 薪邪写屑械薪薪芯 懈蟹褌褗泻胁邪, 褔械 械 邪屑械褉懈泻邪薪械褑, 邪 锌芯褋褟谐邪 泻褗屑 械胁褉芯锌械泄褋泻懈褌械 褋懈 泻芯褉械薪懈 泻邪褌芯 泻褗屑 薪械褖芯 锌芯-写芯斜褉芯, 泻邪褌芯 褋懈 锌芯褉褗褔胁邪 褕芯褌谢邪薪写褋泻芯 褍懈褋泻懈 懈 胁 斜邪褉邪 懈褋泻邪 鈥炐葱� 褋胁懈褉褟褌 些褉邪褍褋. 袧械褖芯 胁懈械薪褋泻芯.鈥�
鈥炐毿拘承把傂� 斜褟褏 屑邪谢褗泻 懈 卸懈胁械械褏 胁 袣芯谢芯褉邪写芯, 褌芯褔薪芯 小屑懈褌, 袩邪褉泻褗褉 懈 袛卸芯褍薪褋 屑械 芯斜懈卸写邪褏邪 褋 褍卸邪褋薪懈褌械 褋懈 写褍屑懈, 薪邪褉懈褔邪褏邪 屑械 鈥炐夹靶叫承靶烩€�, 鈥炐夹靶沸窖屝锯€� 懈 鈥炑喰感承靶叫感解€� 懈 褌械褏薪懈褌械 写械褑邪 屑械 薪邪褉邪薪褟胁邪褏邪, 褌芯褔薪芯 泻邪泻褌芯 邪蟹 褌械 薪邪褉邪薪懈褏 褌邪蟹懈 胁械褔械褉. 袠 屑械 薪邪褉邪薪懈褏邪 褋 褌邪泻邪胁邪 褋懈谢邪, 褔械 邪蟹 薪懈泻芯谐邪 薪褟屑邪褕械 写邪 褋褌邪薪邪 械写懈薪 芯褌 褌褟褏, 懈 锌芯褌褗褉褋懈褏 褍斜械卸懈褖械 胁 泻薪懈谐懈褌械, 懈 薪邪胁褗褌褉械 胁 褋械斜械 褋懈, 懈 屑械 锌褉芯谐芯薪懈褏邪鈥� 懈 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪, 袣邪屑懈谢邪, 泻芯谐邪褌芯 胁懈写褟 谢懈褑邪褌邪 懈屑, 邪蟹 芯褌薪芯胁芯 褍褋械褖邪屑 芯薪邪蟹懈 褋褌邪褉邪 斜芯谢泻邪 懈 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 胁懈卸写邪屑 褌械褏薪懈褌械 斜械蟹褋褗褉写械褔薪懈 谢懈褑邪..., 泻芯懈褌芯 懈蟹卸懈胁褟胁邪褌 锌褉邪蟹薪懈褟 褋懈 卸懈胁芯褌 锌芯写 锌邪谢械褖芯褌芯 褋谢褗薪褑械.鈥�
袘邪薪写懈薪懈, 锌懈褋邪褌械谢褟褌 胁 蟹邪褉芯写懈褕, 鈥炐靶惭傂狙€褗褌 薪邪 斜谢械褋褌褟褖懈褟 褉邪蟹泻邪蟹 鈥炐氀冄囆敌窖喰笛傂� 褋械 蟹邪褋屑褟鈥�, 褔懈械褌芯 蟹邪谐谢邪胁懈械 写芯褉懈 械 褋屑械褏芯褌胁芯褉薪芯, 褌褗褉褋懈 芯锌褉芯褖械薪懈械 懈 褋锌邪褋械薪懈械 芯褌 斜芯谢泻邪褌邪 褋懈 胁 褋胁芯褟褌邪 袣邪屑懈谢邪, 薪芯 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 斜芯谢懈 褌胁褗褉写械 屑薪芯谐芯, 蟹邪 写邪 锌褉芯褌械谐薪械褕 褉褗泻邪. 袩芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 褌械 械 褋褌褉邪褏 写邪 芯褌屑械褌薪械褕 胁芯邪谢邪 薪邪 懈写械邪谢邪 褋懈, 蟹邪褖芯褌芯 薪械 蟹薪邪械褕 泻邪泻胁芯 褋械 泻褉懈械 锌芯写 薪械谐芯. 袗 褌胁芯褟褌 懈写械邪谢 褋褗褖芯 褌褗褉褋懈 褋胁芯械褌芯 泻褗褋褔械 褖邪褋褌懈械. 袠 薪械谐芯 谐芯 斜芯谢懈 懈 褋褗褖芯 褋械 谢褍褌邪, 邪 邪泻芯 锌芯锌懈褌邪褌械 薪褟泻芯谐芯 薪褟泻芯谐邪 蟹邪褖芯 械 胁谢褞斜械薪 懈 蟹邪褖芯 谢褞斜芯胁褌邪 械 懈褉邪褑懈芯薪邪谢薪邪, 懈 蟹邪褖芯 薪邪褉邪薪褟胁邪屑械 褋械斜械 褋懈 懈 褌械蟹懈, 泻芯懈褌芯 芯斜懈褔邪屑械 薪邪泄-屑薪芯谐芯, 芯褌谐芯胁芯褉褗褌 屑芯卸械 写邪 斜褗写械 褋邪屑芯 械写懈薪. 袩懈褌邪泄 锌褉邪褏褌邪.
鈥炐熝冄佈傂感窖徰傂� 胁懈薪邪谐懈 褖械褕械 写邪 褋懈 斜褗写械 褌邪屑 泻邪褌芯 褌褗褉锌械谢懈胁芯, 斜褟谢芯 卸懈胁芯褌薪芯, 泻芯械褌芯 褔邪泻邪 褏芯褉邪褌邪 写邪 褍屑褉邪褌, 褑懈胁懈谢懈蟹邪褑懈懈褌械 写邪 锌褉懈屑懈谐薪邪褌 懈 写邪 锌芯褌褗薪邪褌 胁 薪械斜懈褌懈械褌芯.鈥�
袗褉褌褍褉芯 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 械 蟹邪写褍褕邪胁邪褖芯 斜械写械薪, 斜械写械薪 泻邪褌芯 屑懈褕芯泻邪 袩械写褉芯, 泻芯泄褌芯 屑褍 锌褉邪胁懈 泻芯屑锌邪薪懈褟 胁 芯褋泻褗写薪芯 芯斜蟹邪胁械写械薪邪褌邪 褏芯褌械谢褋泻邪 褋褌邪褟 胁 袚褉邪写邪 薪邪 邪薪谐械谢懈褌械. 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 械 懈 谐谢邪写械薪. 袠 褌芯 薪械 褋邪屑芯 蟹邪褖芯褌芯 薪褟屑邪 锌邪褉懈 懈 懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯 胁褉械屑械 泻邪褉邪 芯褋薪芯胁薪芯 薪邪 锌芯褉褌芯泻邪谢懈. 袚谢邪写械薪 械 蟹邪 褍褋锌械褏. 袟邪 锌褉懈蟹薪邪薪懈械 械 谐谢邪写械薪 懈 蟹邪 谢褞斜芯胁. 袩褉芯褌邪谐芯薪懈褋褌褗褌 薪邪 肖邪薪褌懈, 鈥炐承狙€写 褋 褌芯胁邪, 锌芯 写褟胁芯谢懈褌械鈥�, 褔械 械 邪屑械褉懈泻邪薪械褑, 械 泻褗谢斜芯 褋 褌褍 锌芯谢芯卸懈褌械谢械薪, 褌褍 芯褌褉懈褑邪褌械谢械薪 蟹邪褉褟写, 锌芯写胁谢邪褋褌薪芯 薪邪 genius loci 懈 薪邪 zeitgeist , 写褍褏邪 薪邪 屑褟褋褌芯褌芯 懈 胁褉械屑械褌芯 薪邪 械写薪邪 褋屑褍褌薪邪 械锌芯褏邪. 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 褌褉邪泻邪 锌芯 锌懈褕械褖邪褌邪 褋懈 屑邪褕懈薪邪, 锌褍褕懈 械胁褌懈薪懈褌械 褋懈 褑懈谐邪褉懈 懈 褋械 胁褋谢褍褕胁邪 胁 褋褍褏懈褟 胁褟褌褗褉, 懈写械褖 芯褌泻褗屑 锌褍褋褌懈薪褟褌邪 袦芯褏邪胁械 胁 袥芯褋 袗薪写卸械谢懈褋, 褋泻芯胁邪薪 芯褌 袚芯谢褟屑邪褌邪 写械锌褉械褋懈褟, 褌褗卸械薪, 写褉懈锌邪胁 懈 屑褉褗褋械薪, 泻邪褌芯 屑薪芯谐芯 芯褌 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪褋泻懈褌械 屑褍 卸懈褌械谢懈.
鈥炐懶靶叫葱感叫� 泻褉邪褔懈 锌芯 褍谢懈褑邪褌邪 鈥� 薪械胁懈褋芯泻, 薪芯 薪邪斜懈褌, 谐芯褉写 褋 屑褍褋泻褍谢懈褌械 褋懈, 褋褌懈褋泻邪 褞屑褉褍褑懈 懈 褋械 薪邪褋谢邪卸写邪胁邪 薪邪 褌胁褗褉写懈褟 褉邪蟹泻芯褕 薪邪 斜懈褑械锌褋懈褌械 褋懈; 邪斜褋褍褉写薪芯 斜械蟹褋褌褉邪褕薪懈褟 袘邪薪写懈薪懈, 泻芯泄褌芯 薪械 褋械 褋褌褉邪褏褍胁邪 芯褌 薪懈褖芯 写褉褍谐芯, 芯褋胁械薪 芯褌 薪械懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯褌芯, 胁 褌芯蟹懈 褋胁褟褌 薪邪 胁褗谢褕械斜褋褌胁邪 懈 褌邪泄薪懈.鈥�
袠屑械褌芯 薪邪 袗褉褌褍褉芯 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 褋械 锌芯胁褌邪褉褟 斜械蟹斜褉芯泄 锌褗褌懈 胁 褉芯屑邪薪邪, 泻邪褌芯 褌芯泄 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 谐芯胁芯褉懈 蟹邪 褋械斜械 褋懈 芯褌 锌褗褉胁芯 谢懈褑械, 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 蟹邪锌芯褔胁邪 写邪 泻褉褗卸懈 薪邪写 芯褋芯斜邪褌邪 褋懈 懈 懈褉芯薪懈褔薪芯 褋械 褋邪屑芯胁械谢懈褔邪械, 褋褟泻邪褕 芯锌懈褋胁邪 薪褟泻芯谐芯 写褉褍谐懈谐芯. 效械褋褌芯褌芯 锌褉械褋泻邪褔邪薪械 芯褌 褋邪屑芯褋褗卸邪谢械薪懈械 泻褗屑 锌褉械蟹褉械薪懈械 写芯 锌芯谢褍褕械谐芯胁懈褌邪 褋邪屑芯胁谢褞斜械薪芯褋褌 褉邪屑泻懈褉邪 胁褋懈褔泻懈 胁邪卸薪懈 邪褋锌械泻褌懈 芯褌 卸懈胁芯褌邪 薪邪 袘邪薪写懈薪懈 鈥� 懈 械屑懈谐褉邪薪褌褋泻懈褌械 屑褍 泻芯褉械薪懈, 懈 芯褌薪芯褕械薪懈褟褌邪 屑褍 褋褗褋 褋械褉胁懈褌褜芯褉泻邪褌邪 袣邪屑懈谢邪, 锌懈褋邪薪械褌芯 懈 褋锌芯薪褌邪薪薪懈褌械 屑褍 锌褉芯褟胁懈 薪邪 褉械谢懈谐懈芯蟹薪芯褋褌. 小邪屑芯 芯褌 薪械懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯褌芯 褋械 斜芯懈 袗褉褌褍褉芯, 薪芯 褋械 芯泻邪蟹胁邪, 褔械 锌芯褔褌懈 薪懈褖芯 薪械 屑褍 械 懈蟹胁械褋褌薪芯. 袟邪 薪械谐芯 谢械谢械褟薪懈褌械 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪泻懈 褋邪 鈥炐把喲傂敌貉佇盒� 锌褉懈薪褑械褋懈 懈 锌褉懈薪褑械褋懈 薪邪 屑邪懈褌械鈥�, 薪芯 薪邪褉懈褔邪 械写懈薪 屑械泻褋懈泻邪薪械褑 鈥炐夹靶沸敌�, 屑褉褗褋械薪 褑懈谐邪薪懈薪鈥�. 袧械胁械写薪褗卸 薪邪写屑械薪薪芯 懈蟹褌褗泻胁邪, 褔械 械 邪屑械褉懈泻邪薪械褑, 邪 锌芯褋褟谐邪 泻褗屑 械胁褉芯锌械泄褋泻懈褌械 褋懈 泻芯褉械薪懈 泻邪褌芯 泻褗屑 薪械褖芯 锌芯-写芯斜褉芯, 泻邪褌芯 褋懈 锌芯褉褗褔胁邪 褕芯褌谢邪薪写褋泻芯 褍懈褋泻懈 懈 胁 斜邪褉邪 懈褋泻邪 鈥炐葱� 褋胁懈褉褟褌 些褉邪褍褋. 袧械褖芯 胁懈械薪褋泻芯.鈥�
鈥炐毿拘承把傂� 斜褟褏 屑邪谢褗泻 懈 卸懈胁械械褏 胁 袣芯谢芯褉邪写芯, 褌芯褔薪芯 小屑懈褌, 袩邪褉泻褗褉 懈 袛卸芯褍薪褋 屑械 芯斜懈卸写邪褏邪 褋 褍卸邪褋薪懈褌械 褋懈 写褍屑懈, 薪邪褉懈褔邪褏邪 屑械 鈥炐夹靶叫承靶烩€�, 鈥炐夹靶沸窖屝锯€� 懈 鈥炑喰感承靶叫感解€� 懈 褌械褏薪懈褌械 写械褑邪 屑械 薪邪褉邪薪褟胁邪褏邪, 褌芯褔薪芯 泻邪泻褌芯 邪蟹 褌械 薪邪褉邪薪懈褏 褌邪蟹懈 胁械褔械褉. 袠 屑械 薪邪褉邪薪懈褏邪 褋 褌邪泻邪胁邪 褋懈谢邪, 褔械 邪蟹 薪懈泻芯谐邪 薪褟屑邪褕械 写邪 褋褌邪薪邪 械写懈薪 芯褌 褌褟褏, 懈 锌芯褌褗褉褋懈褏 褍斜械卸懈褖械 胁 泻薪懈谐懈褌械, 懈 薪邪胁褗褌褉械 胁 褋械斜械 褋懈, 懈 屑械 锌褉芯谐芯薪懈褏邪鈥� 懈 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪, 袣邪屑懈谢邪, 泻芯谐邪褌芯 胁懈写褟 谢懈褑邪褌邪 懈屑, 邪蟹 芯褌薪芯胁芯 褍褋械褖邪屑 芯薪邪蟹懈 褋褌邪褉邪 斜芯谢泻邪 懈 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 胁懈卸写邪屑 褌械褏薪懈褌械 斜械蟹褋褗褉写械褔薪懈 谢懈褑邪..., 泻芯懈褌芯 懈蟹卸懈胁褟胁邪褌 锌褉邪蟹薪懈褟 褋懈 卸懈胁芯褌 锌芯写 锌邪谢械褖芯褌芯 褋谢褗薪褑械.鈥�
袘邪薪写懈薪懈, 锌懈褋邪褌械谢褟褌 胁 蟹邪褉芯写懈褕, 鈥炐靶惭傂狙€褗褌 薪邪 斜谢械褋褌褟褖懈褟 褉邪蟹泻邪蟹 鈥炐氀冄囆敌窖喰笛傂� 褋械 蟹邪褋屑褟鈥�, 褔懈械褌芯 蟹邪谐谢邪胁懈械 写芯褉懈 械 褋屑械褏芯褌胁芯褉薪芯, 褌褗褉褋懈 芯锌褉芯褖械薪懈械 懈 褋锌邪褋械薪懈械 芯褌 斜芯谢泻邪褌邪 褋懈 胁 褋胁芯褟褌邪 袣邪屑懈谢邪, 薪芯 锌芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 斜芯谢懈 褌胁褗褉写械 屑薪芯谐芯, 蟹邪 写邪 锌褉芯褌械谐薪械褕 褉褗泻邪. 袩芯薪褟泻芯谐邪 褌械 械 褋褌褉邪褏 写邪 芯褌屑械褌薪械褕 胁芯邪谢邪 薪邪 懈写械邪谢邪 褋懈, 蟹邪褖芯褌芯 薪械 蟹薪邪械褕 泻邪泻胁芯 褋械 泻褉懈械 锌芯写 薪械谐芯. 袗 褌胁芯褟褌 懈写械邪谢 褋褗褖芯 褌褗褉褋懈 褋胁芯械褌芯 泻褗褋褔械 褖邪褋褌懈械. 袠 薪械谐芯 谐芯 斜芯谢懈 懈 褋褗褖芯 褋械 谢褍褌邪, 邪 邪泻芯 锌芯锌懈褌邪褌械 薪褟泻芯谐芯 薪褟泻芯谐邪 蟹邪褖芯 械 胁谢褞斜械薪 懈 蟹邪褖芯 谢褞斜芯胁褌邪 械 懈褉邪褑懈芯薪邪谢薪邪, 懈 蟹邪褖芯 薪邪褉邪薪褟胁邪屑械 褋械斜械 褋懈 懈 褌械蟹懈, 泻芯懈褌芯 芯斜懈褔邪屑械 薪邪泄-屑薪芯谐芯, 芯褌谐芯胁芯褉褗褌 屑芯卸械 写邪 斜褗写械 褋邪屑芯 械写懈薪. 袩懈褌邪泄 锌褉邪褏褌邪.
鈥炐熝冄佈傂感窖徰傂� 胁懈薪邪谐懈 褖械褕械 写邪 褋懈 斜褗写械 褌邪屑 泻邪褌芯 褌褗褉锌械谢懈胁芯, 斜褟谢芯 卸懈胁芯褌薪芯, 泻芯械褌芯 褔邪泻邪 褏芯褉邪褌邪 写邪 褍屑褉邪褌, 褑懈胁懈谢懈蟹邪褑懈懈褌械 写邪 锌褉懈屑懈谐薪邪褌 懈 写邪 锌芯褌褗薪邪褌 胁 薪械斜懈褌懈械褌芯.鈥�
March 22, 2009
I picked this up for a buck last week. Fante's such an easy read that I should have been finished that night, but I can't even seem to feign an interest in fiction lately. Well, maybe that's not entirely true. Maybe brain is still convalescing from all the Texas, drugs, and alcohol that I consumed last weekend. I'm astonished that I'm even capable of reading my e-mails lately.
An example of Fante's ostensible solipsism. "War in Europe, a speech by Hitler, trouble in Poland, these were the topics of the day. What piffle! You warmongers, you old folks in the lobby of the Alta Loma Hotel, here is the news, here: this little paper with all the fancy legal writing, my book! To hell with that Hitler, this is more important than Hitler, this is about my book. It won't shake the world, it won't kill a soul, it won't fire a gun, ah, but you'll remember the book. The story of Vera Rivken, a slice out of life." Indeed, he makes such a charming argument. World War II, bah! Bandini's aimless adventures; far more important.
Books such as Ask the Dust seem to fall into the "hey, listen-to-me-becoming-a-great-writer" category. I've never really understood how any of these guys were published. I chalk it up to the historical period. Maybe the idea of the struggling writer trying to make a name for himself in Los Angeles appealed to the sympathies of the difficult times in which these books were written. Honestly, I see nothing more than a nuanced journal kept by someone who thinks that they are becoming a great writer. There isn't really anything more to Ask the Dust than a few banal observations about the human condition, a masochistic relationship with a bar waitress, and an appalling amount of exclamation points.
I've often heard Bukowski compared to Fante. Fante's influence on Bukowski is chronologically accurate, but it's unfair to Bukowski to say that Fante is superior in some way. They're both awful writers. They're both assholes too. The only difference is that Fante paints a portrait of his alter-ego as this altruistic, Catholic saint, whereas Bukowski drowns himself in booze-soaked, self deprecation. At least Bukowski was honest, and funny. Anyway, I don't even know why I really care that much. Maybe I just can't stand needless arguments about which piece of crap is better.
An example of Fante's ostensible solipsism. "War in Europe, a speech by Hitler, trouble in Poland, these were the topics of the day. What piffle! You warmongers, you old folks in the lobby of the Alta Loma Hotel, here is the news, here: this little paper with all the fancy legal writing, my book! To hell with that Hitler, this is more important than Hitler, this is about my book. It won't shake the world, it won't kill a soul, it won't fire a gun, ah, but you'll remember the book. The story of Vera Rivken, a slice out of life." Indeed, he makes such a charming argument. World War II, bah! Bandini's aimless adventures; far more important.
Books such as Ask the Dust seem to fall into the "hey, listen-to-me-becoming-a-great-writer" category. I've never really understood how any of these guys were published. I chalk it up to the historical period. Maybe the idea of the struggling writer trying to make a name for himself in Los Angeles appealed to the sympathies of the difficult times in which these books were written. Honestly, I see nothing more than a nuanced journal kept by someone who thinks that they are becoming a great writer. There isn't really anything more to Ask the Dust than a few banal observations about the human condition, a masochistic relationship with a bar waitress, and an appalling amount of exclamation points.
I've often heard Bukowski compared to Fante. Fante's influence on Bukowski is chronologically accurate, but it's unfair to Bukowski to say that Fante is superior in some way. They're both awful writers. They're both assholes too. The only difference is that Fante paints a portrait of his alter-ego as this altruistic, Catholic saint, whereas Bukowski drowns himself in booze-soaked, self deprecation. At least Bukowski was honest, and funny. Anyway, I don't even know why I really care that much. Maybe I just can't stand needless arguments about which piece of crap is better.
April 8, 2021
蹖丕丿賲賴 鬲賵 賲賯丿賲賴 讴鬲丕亘 賲乇诏 賯爻胤蹖 爻賱蹖賳 禺賵賳丿賴 亘賵丿賲 讴賴 賲賴賲 鬲乇蹖賳 讴丕乇 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 丕賳鬲賯丕賱 丨爻賴...
丕诏賴 丨乇賮 爻賱蹖賳 丿乇爻鬲 亘丕卮賴 貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘賴鬲乇蹖賳 丕孬乇蹖賴 讴賴 禺賵賳丿賲. 亘丕 鬲讴 鬲讴 爻賱賵賱丕賲 卮禺氐蹖鬲 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 乇賵 丨爻 賲蹖 讴乇丿賲 .
丨噩賲蹖 丕夭 氐丿丕賯鬲 乇賵 鬲賵 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賲蹖 亘蹖賳蹖 讴賴 鬲賵 讴賲鬲乇 讴鬲丕亘蹖 丿蹖丿賴 賲蹖卮賴 賵 賳讴鬲賴 丿蹖诏賴 乇賵丕賳卮賳丕爻蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 禺賵亘 讴鬲丕亘 亘賵丿 .
讴賱丕 賳诏匕乇蹖賳 丕夭蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘. 毓丕賱蹖賴 毓丕賱蹖蹖蹖
丕诏賴 丨乇賮 爻賱蹖賳 丿乇爻鬲 亘丕卮賴 貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘賴鬲乇蹖賳 丕孬乇蹖賴 讴賴 禺賵賳丿賲. 亘丕 鬲讴 鬲讴 爻賱賵賱丕賲 卮禺氐蹖鬲 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 乇賵 丨爻 賲蹖 讴乇丿賲 .
丨噩賲蹖 丕夭 氐丿丕賯鬲 乇賵 鬲賵 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賲蹖 亘蹖賳蹖 讴賴 鬲賵 讴賲鬲乇 讴鬲丕亘蹖 丿蹖丿賴 賲蹖卮賴 賵 賳讴鬲賴 丿蹖诏賴 乇賵丕賳卮賳丕爻蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 禺賵亘 讴鬲丕亘 亘賵丿 .
讴賱丕 賳诏匕乇蹖賳 丕夭蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘. 毓丕賱蹖賴 毓丕賱蹖蹖蹖
April 7, 2015
*噩夭亍 賲賲丕 賯丕賱賴 鬲卮丕乇賱夭 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 毓賳 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 :
賮賷 丕賱亘丿亍 賰丕賳 鬲卮丕乇賱夭 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 ..
鬲氐賮丨鬲 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賵兀賳丕 兀賯賵賲 亘鬲乇鬲賷亘 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 丕賯鬲賳賷鬲賴丕 賲賳 賲毓乇囟 丕賱乇賷丕囟 ..
賵賵噩丿鬲賳賷 賵賯丿 亘丿兀鬲 亘賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕 ..
賮賷 賲賯丿賲鬲賴 鬲丨丿孬 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 毓賳 丨亘賴 賱賱賯乇丕亍丞 賵丕賱兀丿亘 亘丨孬丕賸 毓賳 賰鬲亘 鬲鬲丨丿孬購 廿賱賷賴 賵鬲氐乇禺 亘賴 (丨爻亘 鬲毓亘賷乇賴) 貙 賰鬲亘 丕爻鬲孬賳丕卅賷丞 賵賱賲 賷噩丿 廿賱丕 丕賱賯賱賷賱 貙 丨鬲賶 賵賯毓鬲 亘賷賳 賷丿賷賴 賳爻禺丞 賱賭 乇賵丕賷丞 丕爻兀賱 丕賱睾亘丕乇 ..
鬲丨丿孬賻 毓賳 賰賷賮 兀丨亘 丕賱毓賲賱 賵兀孬乇 亘賴 賵兀孬乇 亘賰鬲丕亘丕鬲賴 胤賵丕賱 丨賷丕鬲賴 貙 賵毓賳 鬲賯丿賷乇賴 賱賭 噩賵賳 賮丕賳鬲賷 ..
賲賯丿賲丞 賰賭 賴匕賴 爻鬲噩毓賱賰 鬲亘丿兀 亘賯乇丕亍丞 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賮賵乇丕購 ..
丌乇鬲賵乇賵 亘丕賳丿亘賳賷 卮丕亘 胤賲賵丨 賷毓賷卮 賮賷 賱賵爻 丕賳噩賱賵爻 賮賷 孬賱丕孬賷賳賷丕鬲 丕賱賯乇賳 丕賱賲丕囟賷 貙 賰丕鬲亘 賵丨丕賱賲 賷鬲賰爻亘 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘丕鬲賴 丕賱睾賷乇 賲賳鬲馗賲丞 賵丕賱鬲賷 鬲賳卮乇 賮賷 亘毓囟 丕賱賲噩賱丕鬲 賵毓賱賶 賮鬲乇丕鬲 賲鬲亘丕毓丿丞 ..
賷爻丨乇賰 (禺丕氐丞 賮賷 丕賱亘丿丕賷丞 ) 丌乇鬲賵乇賵 亘賰賱 毓賳賮賵丕賳賴 賵睾囟亘賴 賵丕賳丿賮丕毓賴 貙 賵鬲噩匕亘賰賻 鬲賳丕賯囟丕鬲賴 賵氐乇丕毓丕鬲賴 賲毓 賴賵賷鬲賴 貙 賰乇丕賴賷鬲賴 賱賱賳馗乇丞 丕賱丿賵賳賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賵氐賲賻 亘丕毓鬲亘丕乇賴 丕亘賳丕賸 毓丕卅賱丞 賰丕賳鬲 匕丕鬲 賷賵賲 毓丕卅賱丞 賲賴丕噩乇丞 賵賴賵 賲毓 匕賱賰賻 賱丕 賷鬲賵丕賳賷 賲賲丕乇爻丞 賳賮爻 丕賱賮毓賱 賲毓 丌禺乇賷賳 .
乇賵丕賷丞 毓賳 丕賱丨賷丕丞 貙 毓賳 賲氐丕毓亘賴丕 賵丌賱丕賲賴丕 貙 鬲鬲丨丿孬 兀賷囟丕賸 毓賳 丨亘 賵賲賵鬲 賵氐丨乇丕亍 賯丕爻賷丞 貙 毓賳 丕賱鬲丿賲賷乇 丕賱匕丕鬲賷 貙 賵毓賳 丕賱賵丕賯毓 賵禺乇丕亘賴 賵毓賳 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 貙 廿賳賴 賲夭賷噩 賲孬丕賱賷 ..
毓賲賱 賷囟丨賰賰 賵賷亘賰賷賰賻 亘賭丕賱賵賯鬲 賳賮爻賴 貙 賲賱賷亍 亘丕賱賰賵賲賷丿賷丕 丕賱爻賵丿丕亍 賵亘丕賱丌賱丕賲 貙 賵賲丐孬乇 賵丕噩夭賲 兀賳賴 爻賭 賷賱賲爻 賰賱 賯丕乇賷亍 亘胤乇賷賯丞 禺丕氐丞 貙 噩賵賳 賮丕賳鬲賷 賰丕鬲亘賹 毓馗賷賲 貙 賴匕賴 乇賵丕賷丞 賲賰鬲賵亘丞 亘賯賵丞 賵鬲氐賲賷賲 : 賲賰鬲賵亘丞 賲賳 丕賱賯賱亘 貙 賮賴賲鬲 丕賱賰孬賷乇 亘毓丿賻 兀賳 毓乇賮鬲 賲丿賶 丕賱鬲卮丕亘賴 亘賷賳 卮禺氐賷丞 丌乇鬲賵乇賵 賵丕賱賰丕鬲亘 ..
廿賳賴丕 乇賵丕賷丞 毓賳 丕賱兀丨賱丕賲 貙 毓賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘丞 賵毓賳 乇噩賱 賵丨賷丿 賵毓丕賱賲賺 賯丕爻賺 賵丨亘賺 賲爻鬲丨賷賱 ...
July 6, 2012
芦 Avevo vent鈥檃nni, allora. Che diavolo, dicevo, prenditela comoda, Bandini. Hai davanti a te dieci anni per scrivere un libro, vacci piano, allora, guardati attorno e impara qualcosa, gira per le strade. Il tuo guaio 猫 che non sai niente della vita. Dio Mio, amico, ti rendi conto che non sei mai stato una donna? 禄
Arturo Bandini. S矛, Arturo Bandini.
Non conoscete Arturo Bandini?
Come no鈥� via! Lo scrittore! Arturo Bandini lo scrittore!
No? Dai, quello l矛鈥� quello che ha scritto鈥� 鈥業l cagnolino rise鈥� e 鈥楲e colline perdute鈥� e quell鈥檃ltro romanzo che adesso sta spopolando in libreria che鈥� come si chiama? Mannaggia. Parla di una donna, s矛, la storia di una donna che鈥�
Ma, Cristo, che ci parlo a fare con voi. Se non sapete neanche chi 猫 Arturo Bandini. Roba da non credere.
Ve lo dico io chi 猫 Arturo Bandini. Arturo Bandini 猫 un tronfio, narcisista, iper-sicuro-di-s茅 e promettente giovane scrittore. Quel che fa Arturo Bandini 猫 sempre ben fatto. Quel che scrive Arturo Bandini 猫 sempre ben scritto. Arturo Bandini capisce tutto lui. Non sbaglia mai. 脠 un figo. Le donne lo amano.
Se potessimo spaccare in due la testa di Arturo Bandini, sezionarla come un鈥檃nguria, questo 猫 all鈥檌ncirca ci貌 che ci troveremmo dentro: un perpetuo elogio di s茅 che si trasforma continuamente in apologia. L鈥檈logio di s茅 猫 necessario, come sempre 猫 necessaria l鈥檃pologia, perch茅, per quanto il lettore medio sia suscettibile al fascino del Bandini, vede bene 鈥� lo vede pure l鈥檕cchio meno acuto 鈥� che l鈥橝rturo Bandini in potenza si trasforma raramente nel Bandini in atto. Il Bandini che vive, quello che del Bandini-idea ha solo il nome e i contorni, 猫 un ragazzetto, 猫 povero, 猫 andato via da casa con pochi soldi e tanti sogni di gloria, con le donne 猫 un disgraziato, nessuno lo prende sul serio, 猫 una miseria. Il cozzo tra l鈥檌dea che Bandini ha di s茅 e l鈥檌mpressione che suscita sugli altri 猫 terribile.
Il vero Bandini 猫 uno che si affaccia appena alla vita, che ha bisogno di sicurezze e di conferme, continuamente scisso tra i precetti dell鈥檈ducazione cattolica e un grande desiderio di trasgressione. Si professa ateo, ma prega. Si considera sessualmente un portento, e riesce a possedere una donna s矛 e no. Si sente incredibilmente virile, ma si eccita sempre al momento sbagliato. Il desiderio lo smorza, lo annichilisce anzich茅 attizzarlo: solo il disprezzo e il dolore gli risvegliano l鈥檃ppetito. Pensa di essere un sadico, invece 猫 masochista. Il vero Bandini strepita per imporre alla vita l鈥檌dea che ha della vita, per sovrapporre l鈥檌mmagine mitica che ha di s茅 alla sua immagine in carne e ossa. Far entrare la letteratura nella vita 猫 la stessa cosa che far entrare la vita nella letteratura: una lotta impari, una faticaccia, uno sforzo spesso senza risultati o con risultati cos矛 magri da non valere l鈥檌mpegno. 芦 Questi momenti 鈥� il lato brutto della vita 鈥� si trasformeranno in altrettante pagine 禄.
Cos矛 io credo sia questo. 鈥楥hiedi alla polvere鈥� 猫 una teoria del possesso. Il possesso della vita nella vita. Il possesso della vita nella letteratura. Il possesso della donna nella vita 鈥� Camilla. Il possesso della donna nella letteratura 鈥� Vera. Il possesso di quella forza che sta oltre la vita, la letteratura e l鈥檃more e che 猫 il furore, l鈥檕rgoglio vitale, la potenza di esistere.
Cos矛 mi ha fatto sentire questo libro: potente, vitale, divertita, in pace col mondo, coraggiosissima. Pronta a solcare il globo da est a ovest e da ovest a est. Pur essendo un libro terribile, mi ha fatto sentire terribilmente bene.
La scrittura di Fante 猫 un鈥檃utomobile sportiva lanciata a tutta velocit脿 su un rettilineo. Il rettilineo, per貌, 猫 circondato da mura di mattoni e l鈥檃uto sbanda continuamente a destra e a sinistra cozzando contro i muri. Il lettore 猫 scagliato in avanti e frantumato perpendicolarmente. La visuale 猫 tutta una polvere di schegge di vernice.
Non aggiungo altro. Credo di aver letto questo libro nel momento giusto per me. Vi auguro di leggerlo nel momento giusto per voi.
Arturo Bandini. S矛, Arturo Bandini.
Non conoscete Arturo Bandini?
Come no鈥� via! Lo scrittore! Arturo Bandini lo scrittore!
No? Dai, quello l矛鈥� quello che ha scritto鈥� 鈥業l cagnolino rise鈥� e 鈥楲e colline perdute鈥� e quell鈥檃ltro romanzo che adesso sta spopolando in libreria che鈥� come si chiama? Mannaggia. Parla di una donna, s矛, la storia di una donna che鈥�
Ma, Cristo, che ci parlo a fare con voi. Se non sapete neanche chi 猫 Arturo Bandini. Roba da non credere.
Ve lo dico io chi 猫 Arturo Bandini. Arturo Bandini 猫 un tronfio, narcisista, iper-sicuro-di-s茅 e promettente giovane scrittore. Quel che fa Arturo Bandini 猫 sempre ben fatto. Quel che scrive Arturo Bandini 猫 sempre ben scritto. Arturo Bandini capisce tutto lui. Non sbaglia mai. 脠 un figo. Le donne lo amano.
Se potessimo spaccare in due la testa di Arturo Bandini, sezionarla come un鈥檃nguria, questo 猫 all鈥檌ncirca ci貌 che ci troveremmo dentro: un perpetuo elogio di s茅 che si trasforma continuamente in apologia. L鈥檈logio di s茅 猫 necessario, come sempre 猫 necessaria l鈥檃pologia, perch茅, per quanto il lettore medio sia suscettibile al fascino del Bandini, vede bene 鈥� lo vede pure l鈥檕cchio meno acuto 鈥� che l鈥橝rturo Bandini in potenza si trasforma raramente nel Bandini in atto. Il Bandini che vive, quello che del Bandini-idea ha solo il nome e i contorni, 猫 un ragazzetto, 猫 povero, 猫 andato via da casa con pochi soldi e tanti sogni di gloria, con le donne 猫 un disgraziato, nessuno lo prende sul serio, 猫 una miseria. Il cozzo tra l鈥檌dea che Bandini ha di s茅 e l鈥檌mpressione che suscita sugli altri 猫 terribile.
Il vero Bandini 猫 uno che si affaccia appena alla vita, che ha bisogno di sicurezze e di conferme, continuamente scisso tra i precetti dell鈥檈ducazione cattolica e un grande desiderio di trasgressione. Si professa ateo, ma prega. Si considera sessualmente un portento, e riesce a possedere una donna s矛 e no. Si sente incredibilmente virile, ma si eccita sempre al momento sbagliato. Il desiderio lo smorza, lo annichilisce anzich茅 attizzarlo: solo il disprezzo e il dolore gli risvegliano l鈥檃ppetito. Pensa di essere un sadico, invece 猫 masochista. Il vero Bandini strepita per imporre alla vita l鈥檌dea che ha della vita, per sovrapporre l鈥檌mmagine mitica che ha di s茅 alla sua immagine in carne e ossa. Far entrare la letteratura nella vita 猫 la stessa cosa che far entrare la vita nella letteratura: una lotta impari, una faticaccia, uno sforzo spesso senza risultati o con risultati cos矛 magri da non valere l鈥檌mpegno. 芦 Questi momenti 鈥� il lato brutto della vita 鈥� si trasformeranno in altrettante pagine 禄.
Cos矛 io credo sia questo. 鈥楥hiedi alla polvere鈥� 猫 una teoria del possesso. Il possesso della vita nella vita. Il possesso della vita nella letteratura. Il possesso della donna nella vita 鈥� Camilla. Il possesso della donna nella letteratura 鈥� Vera. Il possesso di quella forza che sta oltre la vita, la letteratura e l鈥檃more e che 猫 il furore, l鈥檕rgoglio vitale, la potenza di esistere.
Cos矛 mi ha fatto sentire questo libro: potente, vitale, divertita, in pace col mondo, coraggiosissima. Pronta a solcare il globo da est a ovest e da ovest a est. Pur essendo un libro terribile, mi ha fatto sentire terribilmente bene.
La scrittura di Fante 猫 un鈥檃utomobile sportiva lanciata a tutta velocit脿 su un rettilineo. Il rettilineo, per貌, 猫 circondato da mura di mattoni e l鈥檃uto sbanda continuamente a destra e a sinistra cozzando contro i muri. Il lettore 猫 scagliato in avanti e frantumato perpendicolarmente. La visuale 猫 tutta una polvere di schegge di vernice.
Non aggiungo altro. Credo di aver letto questo libro nel momento giusto per me. Vi auguro di leggerlo nel momento giusto per voi.
March 11, 2018
螤蟻喂谓 伪蟺慰 伪蟻魏蔚蟿慰 魏伪喂蟻慰, 蔚喂蠂伪 未喂伪尾伪蟽蔚喂 蟿慰 尾喂尾位喂慰 蟿慰蠀 Bukowski, "蟿慰 渭慰谓慰 蟺慰蠀 谓慰喂伪味蔚喂 蔚喂谓伪喂 谓伪 尉蠀谓慰渭伪喂 蟽蟿畏 渭伪蟽蠂伪位畏..".蟽蔚 伪蠀蟿慰 蟿慰 尾喂尾位喂慰 位慰喂蟺慰谓 蔚喂蠂蔚 伪谓伪蠁蔚蟻蔚喂 蠅蟼 渭蔚纬伪位蠀蟿蔚蟻畏 蔚蟺喂蟻蟻慰畏 蟿慰蠀 蟽蟿慰 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁喂魏慰 蟿慰蠀 蔚蟻纬慰 蟿慰谓 John Fante 魏喂 蔚蟿蟽喂 伪蟺慰蠁伪蟽喂蟽伪 谓伪 未喂伪尾伪蟽蠅 魏伪蟿喂 未喂魏慰 蟿慰蠀 蟺蟻慰魏蔚喂渭蔚谓慰蠀 谓伪 未蠅 蟺蠅蟼 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠀蟽蔚 谓伪 纬蟻伪蠁蔚喂 魏伪蟺慰喂慰蟼 慰 慰蟺慰喂慰蟼 蔚蟺畏蟻蔚伪蟽蔚 蟿慰谓 Bukowski...蟿慰 "蟻蠅蟿伪 蟿畏 蟽魏慰谓畏" 位慰喂蟺慰谓 渭慰蠀 伪蠁畏蟽蔚 蟿喂蟼 魏伪位蠀蟿蔚蟻蔚蟼 蔚谓蟿蠀蟺蠅蟽蔚喂蟼.蟺伪蟻慰蠀蟽喂伪味蔚喂 慰谓蟿蠅蟼 蟺慰位位蔚蟼 慰渭慰喂慰蟿畏蟿蔚蟼 渭蔚 蟿慰 蔚蟻纬慰 蟿慰蠀 Bukowski , 蠅蟽蟿慰蟽慰 慰 Fante 尾纬伪味蔚喂 渭喂伪 渭蔚位伪纬蠂慰位喂伪 魏伪喂 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟽慰蟿蔚蟻畏 "蟽慰尾伪蟻慰蟿畏蟿伪" 魏伪喂 蠅蟻喂渭慰蟿畏蟿伪 伪蟺慰 蟿慰 蠅渭慰 魏伪喂 蟺慰位位蔚蟼 蠁慰蟻蔚蟼 蟺蟻慰蟽尾位畏蟿喂魏慰 蠂喂慰蠀渭慰蟻 蟿慰蠀 伪纬伪蟺畏渭蔚谓慰蠀 Bukowski.
螚 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂伪 蔚魏蟿蠀位委蟽蟽蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 螞慰蟼 螒谓蟿味蔚位蔚蟼(蠁蠀蟽喂魏伪), 渭蔚 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿畏 蔚谓伪谓 伪谓蔚蟻蠂慰渭蔚谓慰 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁蔚伪 魏伪喂 alter ego 蟿慰蠀 桅伪谓蟿蔚, 蟿慰谓 螒蟻蟿慰蠀蟻慰 螠蟺伪谓蟿喂谓喂.畏 味蠅畏 蟿慰蠀 蔚喂谓伪喂 纬蔚渭伪蟿畏 蟽蟿蔚蟻畏蟽蔚喂蟼, 伪蟺慰纬慰畏蟿蔚蠀蟽蔚喂蟼 魏伪喂 伪蠀蟿慰伪谓伪喂蟻蔚蟽蔚喂蟼 , 渭蔚蠂蟻喂 蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀谓伪谓蟿伪 渭喂伪 慰渭慰蟻蠁畏 螠蔚尉喂魏伪谓伪 魏伪喂 蟿慰蟿蔚 伪蟺位伪 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蔚蟻蔚喂 蟽蟿畏 "蟽蠂蔚蟽畏 " 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪蠀蟿蔚蟼 蟿喂蟼 蟽蠀渭蟺蔚蟻喂蠁慰蟻蔚蟼 渭蔚 慰位蔚胃蟻喂伪 蠁蠀蟽喂魏伪 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位蔚蟽渭伪蟿伪.畏 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂伪 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟽蠂蔚未慰谓 伪蠀蟿慰尾喂慰纬蟻伪蠁喂魏畏 蟿慰蠀 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁蔚伪 魏伪喂 蟿慰 尾喂尾位喂慰 未喂伪尾伪味蔚蟿伪喂 蟺慰位蠀 蔚蠀魏慰位伪.蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏伪 蟽蔚 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蔚蟻蔚喂 蟽蟿慰 魏位喂渭伪 蔚魏蔚喂谓畏蟼 蟿畏蟼 蔚蟺慰蠂畏蟼 渭蔚 蟿畏 味蠅谓蟿伪谓畏 伪蠁畏纬畏蟽畏 魏伪喂 蟽蔚 尾伪味蔚喂 100% 蟽蟿慰谓 蠄蠀蠂喂蟽渭慰 蟿慰蠀 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿畏.伪尉喂味蔚喂 蔚蠅蟼 蟿畏谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪喂伪 蟽蔚位喂未伪..
螚 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂伪 蔚魏蟿蠀位委蟽蟽蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 螞慰蟼 螒谓蟿味蔚位蔚蟼(蠁蠀蟽喂魏伪), 渭蔚 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿畏 蔚谓伪谓 伪谓蔚蟻蠂慰渭蔚谓慰 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁蔚伪 魏伪喂 alter ego 蟿慰蠀 桅伪谓蟿蔚, 蟿慰谓 螒蟻蟿慰蠀蟻慰 螠蟺伪谓蟿喂谓喂.畏 味蠅畏 蟿慰蠀 蔚喂谓伪喂 纬蔚渭伪蟿畏 蟽蟿蔚蟻畏蟽蔚喂蟼, 伪蟺慰纬慰畏蟿蔚蠀蟽蔚喂蟼 魏伪喂 伪蠀蟿慰伪谓伪喂蟻蔚蟽蔚喂蟼 , 渭蔚蠂蟻喂 蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀谓伪谓蟿伪 渭喂伪 慰渭慰蟻蠁畏 螠蔚尉喂魏伪谓伪 魏伪喂 蟿慰蟿蔚 伪蟺位伪 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蔚蟻蔚喂 蟽蟿畏 "蟽蠂蔚蟽畏 " 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪蠀蟿蔚蟼 蟿喂蟼 蟽蠀渭蟺蔚蟻喂蠁慰蟻蔚蟼 渭蔚 慰位蔚胃蟻喂伪 蠁蠀蟽喂魏伪 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位蔚蟽渭伪蟿伪.畏 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂伪 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟽蠂蔚未慰谓 伪蠀蟿慰尾喂慰纬蟻伪蠁喂魏畏 蟿慰蠀 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁蔚伪 魏伪喂 蟿慰 尾喂尾位喂慰 未喂伪尾伪味蔚蟿伪喂 蟺慰位蠀 蔚蠀魏慰位伪.蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏伪 蟽蔚 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蔚蟻蔚喂 蟽蟿慰 魏位喂渭伪 蔚魏蔚喂谓畏蟼 蟿畏蟼 蔚蟺慰蠂畏蟼 渭蔚 蟿畏 味蠅谓蟿伪谓畏 伪蠁畏纬畏蟽畏 魏伪喂 蟽蔚 尾伪味蔚喂 100% 蟽蟿慰谓 蠄蠀蠂喂蟽渭慰 蟿慰蠀 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿畏.伪尉喂味蔚喂 蔚蠅蟼 蟿畏谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪喂伪 蟽蔚位喂未伪..
February 19, 2025
睾賲诏蹖賳 賵 诏乇賮鬲賴 卮丿賲. 丕蹖賳 趩賳蹖賳 氐丿丕賯鬲蹖 丕夭 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 賴賲蹖卮賴 倬蹖卮 賳賲蹖丕丿. 亘賳馗乇賲 丨鬲蹖 丕丨爻丕爻丕鬲賲 亘賴 亘丕夭蹖 诏乇賮鬲賴 卮丿...
April 3, 2014
And I answer, the sea is back there, back in the reservoir of memory. The sea is a myth. There never was a sea. But there was a sea! I tell you I was born on the seashore! I bathed in the waters of the sea! It gave me food and it gave me peace, and its fascinating distances fed my dreams! No, Arturo, there never was a sea. You dream and you wish, but you go on through the wasteland. You will never see the sea again. It was a myth you once believed. But, I have to smile, for the salt of the sea is in my blood, and there may be ten thousand roads over the land, but they shall never confuse me, for my heart's blood will ever return to its beautiful source.
The glorious face of the greatest editor, J.C. Hackmuth, a God of magazine publishers, gazes benevolently on the castawayed writer. Arturo Bandini, writer of the greatest story told. The Little Dog Laughed. Not about a dog, what stunning prose. He will autograph it for you. Here, take two and three with love. Tear and hunger stained pages and his prostrate body in signed (a puppy love school girl wouldn't flourish the name combinations so well) IOUs. They'll sell, some day, one day bright blind. It hurt me when he peeled off two dollars, three and eight. Fifteen and fifty cents loaned to a man who was so not good for it. Remember the lean days, Arturo! Oranges for breakfast, lunch and no dinner. I liked about Fante how I felt sorry for the charitable Japanese fruit dealer when Arturo bypasses his stall to blow an unexpected windfall (weeell, a deadbeat returns fifteen cents so he can get it adds up later) on two dozen cookies. I hated Arturo as he hated himself, waiting for him. A hazy Japanese fruit seller with blunted edges of charity, waiting on him in unreality. He's also unreal in world goes on without you. I wanted to hold his hand blind leading the blindfolded. He hurts me because he is too damned dumb. He would give it all away just in case some other dumb asshole might be thinking about him what he's thinking about himself. If they are thinking about him, laughing at him. I bet he could get afraid of going out in public with a smile on his face lest some jerk sees him and decides to turn it upside down. I liked a whole lot how Fante held this self aware/unself awareness of Arturo like it was just the weather. He is always greatest writer in the world voice-over in the aftermath of the kicked dog tail under tow. In his blind spot he's a part time racist. Dear great Hackmuth, they called me all kinds of names when I was coming up. All the bad ones, you can't imagine. I hate him as he licks his wounded on her. The dancing Mexican, his Mayan princess. Camilla the poor waitress in the center of his virgin's fixation. Arturo is youngish, I guess, but the more he lied the longer he grew in the tooth. They don't allow your kind in my hotel. I guess there was an upper hand change somewhere in the fists and fits. It's too sad as she's covered in his useless writer's glamour. That's what stuck to me, how no good he was on her terms and his own terms were pity and hate.
It could have been worse. He could have stayed in the writer's block motel with Barton Fink. His neighbor murders veal on a blood soaked binge. His neighbor lets it all hang out in a filthy bathrobe. No heads in boxes. Every cloud. It was funny when he's sunk to his knees in lowest moment prayers to God for blessing of stolen milk. It was buttermilk! The homesick "Memphis Kid" signs his I gotta get out of here and go home where friends are friends out of Fort Worth, Texas. Home becomes home when they had to leave it and Los Angeles (or wherever) picks up the same old wander lust bowl. Okay, I'm not so sure I buy the letting down of I'm the star of the movie and what can they do for me that settles on the two women he manages to bang (by not running out of the room). I wouldn't change anything about Ask the Dust, it's just this nagging wonder about what is going to happen if he writes a great book, anyway. There's a shut up silence in him for Vera and Camilla and I wish it had had nothing to do with him in my gut, though I know it wouldn't be Arturo Bandini if he didn't ruin it and start talking again. Of course he has to autograph his book, a gesture for the wind. Hackmuth is a mere man (I never met him. Maybe such a Godsend is out of my sights). Maybe he wanted to remember her where he liked himself, wild beach hair blowing ancient temptress. I was there and he couldn't get it up and it was to the ground and snarling echoes of cruel thoughts from where they are wherever people are before they are born. (Fante was pretty perfect in the phoenix ashes of shame and ego I could hardly stand it. )Wherever people go when they die, that's where Camilla is. I guess he loved her in between.... I liked that it felt real all this damned pretense. It is a lot of work to be Arturo every day. It was strangely kind of innocent, and I didn't mean it hurt. I wouldn't change a thing since the book about him didn't just read like some book about something....
August 3, 2021
My plight drove me to the typewriter. I sat before it, overwhelmed with grief for Arturo Bandini. Sometimes an idea floated harmlessly through the room. It was like a small white bird. It meant no ill-will. It only wanted to help me, dear little bird. But I would strike at it, hammer it out across die keyboard, and it would die on my hands.
*
Oh Bandini, talking to the reflection in the dresser mirror, what sacrifices you make for your art! You might have been a captain of industry, a merchant prince, a big league ball player, leading hitter in the American League, with an average of.415; but no! Here you are, crawling through the days, a starved genius, faithful to your sacred calling. What courage you possess!
*
They were myths I once believed, and now they were beliefs I felt were myths. This is the sea, and this is Arturo, and the sea is real, and Arturo believes it real. Then I turn from the sea, and everywhere I look there is land; I walk on and on, and still the land goes stretching away to the horizons. A year, five years, ten years, and I have not seen the sea. I say unto myself, but what has happened to the sea? And I answer, the sea is back there, back in the reservoir of memory. The sea is a myth. There never was a sea. But there was a sea! I tell you I was born on the seashore! I bathed in the waters of the sea! It gave me food and it gave me peace, and its fascinating distances fed my dreams! No Arturo, there never was a sea. You dream and you wish, but you go on through the wasteland. You will never see the sea again. It was a myth you once believed.-But, I have to smile, for the salt of the sea is in my blood, and there may be ten thousand roads over the land, but they shall never confuse me, for my heart's blood will ever return to its beautiful source.
*
I was like a man made of wood and there was no feeling within me except terror and a fear of her, a sense that her beauty was too much, that she was so much more beautiful than I, deeper rooted than I. She made me a stranger unto myself, she was all of those calm nights and tall eucalyptus trees, the desert stars, that land and sky, that fog outside, and I had come there with no purpose save to be a mere writer, to get money, to make a name for myself and all that piffle. She was so much finer than I, so much more honest, that I was sick of myself and I could not look at her warm eyes, I suppressed the shiver brought on by her brown arms around my neck and the long fingers in my hair.
*
Take the longing in these restless eyes and feed it to lonely swallows cruising an autumn cornfield, because I love you Camilla, and your name is sacred like that of some brave princess who died with a smile for a love that was never returned.
*
Across the desolation lay a supreme indifference, the casualness of night and another day, and yet the secret intimacy of those hills, their silent consoling wonder, made death a thing of no great importance. You could die, but the desert would hide the secret of your death, it would remain after you, to cover your memory with ageless wind and heat and cold. It was no use. How could I search for her? Why should I search for her? What could I bring her but a return to the brutal wilderness that had broken her? I walked back in the dawn, sadly in the dawn. The hills had her now. Let these hills hide her! Let her go back to the loneliness of the intimate hills. Let her live with stones and sky, with the wind blowing her hair to the end. Let her go that way.
*
Oh Bandini, talking to the reflection in the dresser mirror, what sacrifices you make for your art! You might have been a captain of industry, a merchant prince, a big league ball player, leading hitter in the American League, with an average of.415; but no! Here you are, crawling through the days, a starved genius, faithful to your sacred calling. What courage you possess!
*
They were myths I once believed, and now they were beliefs I felt were myths. This is the sea, and this is Arturo, and the sea is real, and Arturo believes it real. Then I turn from the sea, and everywhere I look there is land; I walk on and on, and still the land goes stretching away to the horizons. A year, five years, ten years, and I have not seen the sea. I say unto myself, but what has happened to the sea? And I answer, the sea is back there, back in the reservoir of memory. The sea is a myth. There never was a sea. But there was a sea! I tell you I was born on the seashore! I bathed in the waters of the sea! It gave me food and it gave me peace, and its fascinating distances fed my dreams! No Arturo, there never was a sea. You dream and you wish, but you go on through the wasteland. You will never see the sea again. It was a myth you once believed.-But, I have to smile, for the salt of the sea is in my blood, and there may be ten thousand roads over the land, but they shall never confuse me, for my heart's blood will ever return to its beautiful source.
*
I was like a man made of wood and there was no feeling within me except terror and a fear of her, a sense that her beauty was too much, that she was so much more beautiful than I, deeper rooted than I. She made me a stranger unto myself, she was all of those calm nights and tall eucalyptus trees, the desert stars, that land and sky, that fog outside, and I had come there with no purpose save to be a mere writer, to get money, to make a name for myself and all that piffle. She was so much finer than I, so much more honest, that I was sick of myself and I could not look at her warm eyes, I suppressed the shiver brought on by her brown arms around my neck and the long fingers in my hair.
*
Take the longing in these restless eyes and feed it to lonely swallows cruising an autumn cornfield, because I love you Camilla, and your name is sacred like that of some brave princess who died with a smile for a love that was never returned.
*
Across the desolation lay a supreme indifference, the casualness of night and another day, and yet the secret intimacy of those hills, their silent consoling wonder, made death a thing of no great importance. You could die, but the desert would hide the secret of your death, it would remain after you, to cover your memory with ageless wind and heat and cold. It was no use. How could I search for her? Why should I search for her? What could I bring her but a return to the brutal wilderness that had broken her? I walked back in the dawn, sadly in the dawn. The hills had her now. Let these hills hide her! Let her go back to the loneliness of the intimate hills. Let her live with stones and sky, with the wind blowing her hair to the end. Let her go that way.
March 11, 2023
During my early days in Mumbai, I used to stay at a defunct nursing home that still had a small general practitioner doctors clinic. The building was getting converted into a paying guest facility. There was this beautiful, thin and fair skinned nurse who worked there. I was from the English speaking middle class and she was from the Hindi speaking under class. We used to circle each other, taunting, challenging, hoping but mostly ignoring. On my last day at that place, I was clearing out my cupboard and she barged in to say goodbye and grabbed a Rexona roll-on deodorant that was half used. She said she would use it. Did not even wait for my permission. I guess this is a yucky story. But it has stayed with me.
When Bukowski met Fante, Fante warned Bukowski about bitterness. Fante told Bukowski that eventually most people end up becoming bitter. That quote stayed with me when I read it in my thirties. I am in my forties now.
Fante is a honest writer. Not like the pussies who populate English literature today. There is some racial supremacism in this book. Fante wrote about how his people were the conquerors and his Mexican waitress lovers people can go to hell because they were the losers/conquered. Obviously things do not work out between Italian American writer Bandini and Mexican waitress Camilla. That would be an understatement. I ordered this in the early days of the thriving online Indian bookstores. I read it during my last days in Mumbai. The film was a dud.
When Bukowski met Fante, Fante warned Bukowski about bitterness. Fante told Bukowski that eventually most people end up becoming bitter. That quote stayed with me when I read it in my thirties. I am in my forties now.
Fante is a honest writer. Not like the pussies who populate English literature today. There is some racial supremacism in this book. Fante wrote about how his people were the conquerors and his Mexican waitress lovers people can go to hell because they were the losers/conquered. Obviously things do not work out between Italian American writer Bandini and Mexican waitress Camilla. That would be an understatement. I ordered this in the early days of the thriving online Indian bookstores. I read it during my last days in Mumbai. The film was a dud.
July 29, 2018
丕夭 睾亘丕乇 亘倬乇爻貙 丿乇亘丕乇賴 蹖 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳鈥屭┵堌з団€屬嗁堐屫迟� 讴賴 丿乇诏蹖乇 賲孬賱孬 毓卮賯蹖 賲蹖卮賴.
鬲乇噩賲賴 毓丕賱蹖 賳亘賵丿 賵賱蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 禺賵亘 亘賵丿 賵 賲毓賱賵賲 亘賵丿. 賲鬲乇噩賲 夭丨賲鬲 讴卮蹖丿賴 亘賵丿. 賲賯丿賲賴 蹖 賲鬲乇噩賲 賲丕賱 丨丿賵丿 丿賴 爻丕賱 倬蹖卮 亘賵丿 賵 夭賲丕賳 丕賵賱蹖賳 趩丕倬 讴鬲丕亘 賲丕賱 蹖讴 爻丕賱 倬蹖卮. 丕賵賱卮 鬲毓噩亘 讴乇丿賲 丕賲丕 丿乇 丨蹖賳 禺賵賳丿賳 讴鬲丕亘貙 丨丿爻 夭丿賲 賲鬲乇噩賲 夭蹖乇 亘丕乇 丨匕賮蹖丕鬲 賵夭丕乇鬲 丕乇卮丕丿 賳乇賮鬲賴 賵 丨丕賱丕 讴鬲丕亘 亘丕 讴賲蹖賳賴 蹖 丨匕賮蹖丕鬲 亘賴 趩丕倬 乇爻蹖丿賴.
丕賵賱賽 讴鬲丕亘貙 賯賴乇賲丕賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 丿乇诏蹖乇 賮賯乇 亘賵丿 賵 丿睾丿睾賴 蹖 丕氐賱蹖卮 賳賵卮鬲賳 亘賵丿 丕賲丕 丕夭 蹖讴 爻賵賲 丕賳鬲賴丕蹖 讴鬲丕亘 丿睾丿睾賴 丕卮 亘賴 讴賱蹖 毓賵囟 卮丿 賵 爻禺丕賵鬲賲賳丿丕賳賴 倬賵賱 禺乇噩 賲蹖 讴乇丿 讴賴 丕蹖賳 亘賴 賳馗乇賲 丕夭 賲毓丕蹖亘 亘夭乇诏 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘賵丿. 丕賲丕 鬲賵氐蹖賮丕鬲 禺蹖賱蹖 禺賵亘蹖 丿丕卮鬲.
丿賵爻鬲丿丕乇丕賳 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 賵 爻賱蹖賳 賵 讴乇賵丕讴 亘賴 丕丨鬲賲丕賱 夭蹖丕丿 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 禺賵丕賴賳丿 倬爻賳丿蹖丿.
鬲乇噩賲賴 毓丕賱蹖 賳亘賵丿 賵賱蹖 禺蹖賱蹖 禺賵亘 亘賵丿 賵 賲毓賱賵賲 亘賵丿. 賲鬲乇噩賲 夭丨賲鬲 讴卮蹖丿賴 亘賵丿. 賲賯丿賲賴 蹖 賲鬲乇噩賲 賲丕賱 丨丿賵丿 丿賴 爻丕賱 倬蹖卮 亘賵丿 賵 夭賲丕賳 丕賵賱蹖賳 趩丕倬 讴鬲丕亘 賲丕賱 蹖讴 爻丕賱 倬蹖卮. 丕賵賱卮 鬲毓噩亘 讴乇丿賲 丕賲丕 丿乇 丨蹖賳 禺賵賳丿賳 讴鬲丕亘貙 丨丿爻 夭丿賲 賲鬲乇噩賲 夭蹖乇 亘丕乇 丨匕賮蹖丕鬲 賵夭丕乇鬲 丕乇卮丕丿 賳乇賮鬲賴 賵 丨丕賱丕 讴鬲丕亘 亘丕 讴賲蹖賳賴 蹖 丨匕賮蹖丕鬲 亘賴 趩丕倬 乇爻蹖丿賴.
丕賵賱賽 讴鬲丕亘貙 賯賴乇賲丕賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 丿乇诏蹖乇 賮賯乇 亘賵丿 賵 丿睾丿睾賴 蹖 丕氐賱蹖卮 賳賵卮鬲賳 亘賵丿 丕賲丕 丕夭 蹖讴 爻賵賲 丕賳鬲賴丕蹖 讴鬲丕亘 丿睾丿睾賴 丕卮 亘賴 讴賱蹖 毓賵囟 卮丿 賵 爻禺丕賵鬲賲賳丿丕賳賴 倬賵賱 禺乇噩 賲蹖 讴乇丿 讴賴 丕蹖賳 亘賴 賳馗乇賲 丕夭 賲毓丕蹖亘 亘夭乇诏 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘賵丿. 丕賲丕 鬲賵氐蹖賮丕鬲 禺蹖賱蹖 禺賵亘蹖 丿丕卮鬲.
丿賵爻鬲丿丕乇丕賳 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 賵 爻賱蹖賳 賵 讴乇賵丕讴 亘賴 丕丨鬲賲丕賱 夭蹖丕丿 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 禺賵丕賴賳丿 倬爻賳丿蹖丿.
August 28, 2024
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘賵 趩賳丿 賲丕賴 倬蹖卮 禺乇蹖丿賲. 亘賴 丿賱蹖賱 鬲亘賱蹖睾丕鬲 诏爻鬲乇丿賴 亘賱丕诏乇賴丕蹖 讴鬲丕亘 鬲賵蹖 丕蹖賳爻鬲丕诏乇丕賲 讴賳噩讴丕賵 卮丿賲 亘禺賵賳賲卮 亘亘蹖賳賲 趩蹖賴 !禺賵賳丿賲 賵 丿蹖丿賲 趩蹖夭 亘丿蹖 賳蹖爻鬲 賵賱蹖 賳賴 丕賵賳賯丿乇蹖 讴賴 丕賵賳 賴賲賴 丕丿賲 亘乇蹖夭賳 爻乇卮 賵 賲毓乇賮蹖卮 讴賳賳!
.
丿賳蹖丕 蹖賴 丕賮爻丕賳賴 亘賵丿貙蹖賴 爻胤丨 卮賮丕賮貙 賵 賴賲賴 蹖 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖 乇賵卮 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳噩丕 亘賵丿賳貙賴賲賴 蹖 賲丕 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳噩丕 亘賵丿蹖賲 賵 亘毓丿 蹖賴 噩丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴 賲蹖 亘賵丿蹖賲貙賲丕 丕氐賱丕 夭賳丿賴 賳亘賵丿蹖賲貙 亘賴 夭賳丿賴 亘賵丿賳 賳夭丿蹖讴 賲蹖卮丿蹖賲貙賵賱蹖 賴蹖趩賵賯鬲 亘賴卮 丿爻鬲 倬蹖丿丕 賳賲蹖讴乇丿蹖賲.
.
丿賳蹖丕 蹖賴 丕賮爻丕賳賴 亘賵丿貙蹖賴 爻胤丨 卮賮丕賮貙 賵 賴賲賴 蹖 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖 乇賵卮 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳噩丕 亘賵丿賳貙賴賲賴 蹖 賲丕 賮賯胤 賵丕爻賴 蹖賴 賲丿鬲 讴賵鬲丕賴 丕蹖賳噩丕 亘賵丿蹖賲 賵 亘毓丿 蹖賴 噩丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴 賲蹖 亘賵丿蹖賲貙賲丕 丕氐賱丕 夭賳丿賴 賳亘賵丿蹖賲貙 亘賴 夭賳丿賴 亘賵丿賳 賳夭丿蹖讴 賲蹖卮丿蹖賲貙賵賱蹖 賴蹖趩賵賯鬲 亘賴卮 丿爻鬲 倬蹖丿丕 賳賲蹖讴乇丿蹖賲.
December 14, 2022
South of No North led me to Love Is A Dog From Hell which led me to Fante. I think we who appreciate Bukowski, and what Bukowski did for changing modern writing, owe a debt of gratitude to Black Sparrow Press. Black Sparrow published Bukowski. And then Bukowski said to to Black Sparrow, "hey, you should check out Fante...." and the rest is literary dust... Ask The Dust is a gem of depression. A stark sadness on a sun-lit beach. A lonely sigh. A beautiful, beautiful book. Don't ask why, just ask the dust.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,842 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.