en-US Mon, 31 Mar 2025 03:24:28 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9253244887 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 03:24:28 -0700 /review/show/7449904154 Katja wants to read Таков мой век by Зинаида Шаховская
]]> Review7366164768 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 03:13:51 -0700 /review/show/7366164768 Katja gave 5 stars to Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson (Paperback) by Nigel Nicolson
bookshelves: b-lib, memoire
I thought I might want to re-read Orlando, the gender-fluid classic, whose prototype was Vita Sackville-West (VSW). Also, the enigmatic masterpiece Tár had a detail that required unpacking �� the book that Cate Blanchett furiously destroys in an airplane lavatory is Challenge, written by VSW about her intense affair with Violet Keppel. So, Portrait of a Marriage is VSW’s diary documenting the climax of that relationship, plus three chapters of commentary written by her younger son Nigel, who discovered the diary posthumously in her study.

Initially, I only wanted to skim the diary, ignoring the commentary, but as it turned out, the commentary was more interesting. Luckily, the son inherited the humor possessed by his father, who once wrote to his rebellious wife that in the hands of her lover she becomes like “a jellyfish addicted to cocaine.�� The diary confirms the accuracy of this succinct depiction. Also, the son’s scholarly and generous attitude towards his mother’s heritage is admirable �� in the end, she was a neglecting, selfish mother, leaving her small children for months (and actually being ready to leave for good) to enjoy the clandestine life with Violet Keppel in Paris or Italy, dressed as a man; the children are not even mentioned in the diary. But more generally, a remarkable trait of VSW’s diary is the apparent lack of any reflection. Somehow, she decided that the traditional family model no longer applied to free intellectual spirits like her, although it is unclear what would qualify her as an intellectual, the graphomaniac inclinations aside. Curiously, according to Wikipedia, the goose that Orlando chases after through centuries symbolizes VSW’s inability to write a great book �� a symbol that puzzled VSW, who wondered whether it stood for love, death, or marriage. Also amusing is VSW’s admiration for the liberating achievements in Russia �� presumably, she was impressed by the agenda of Zhenotdel and the nymphomaniac Alexandra Kollontai, who evangelized sexual freedoms for women, in particular the working class.

So, the diary is an embarrassing read; the pathetic culmination is the scene where the husbands of the two free spirits chase after them in a small two-seater aeroplane �� a plan conceived by VSW’s mother, who later in life found pleasure in telling her grandsons about their parents�� polyamorous lives (yes, VSW’s husband Harold was on the same page as his wife and also enjoyed homosexual affairs on the side, albeit none to any comparable intensity). Chapter 4 finishes with a cute episode of Virginia Woolf coming over to lunch with her husband. Having listened to the story of how the grandma visit went, she sighed, “The old woman ought to be shot.��

Orlando and Tár motivations aside, the book provides an illuminating insight into the lives of the British aristocracy �� in a way, VSW’s parents were no better, as each had their own set of lovers with whom they lived rather openly. A telling detail is the reproach that VSW made to her husband after they married �� that he, being older and more experienced, didn’t warn her that homosexuality existed. By that time, she had had an intimate relationship with a physically attractive but “stupid�� woman for almost two years, so what she meant was that he didn’t warn her that one can develop strong feelings.

Closing the loop �� I don’t feel like rereading Orlando anymore, but the book by VSW in Tár makes more sense now. For one, it reinforces the key theme of the blurred line between the author and their work. Also, it is evidence of garbage fancying itself as art. ]]> Review7449888273 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 03:12:08 -0700 /review/show/7449888273 Katja gave 1 star to The Girl on the Train (Hardcover) by Paula Hawkins
I'm kind of embarrassed that I've read this book. The flesh is weak �� the promise of an unreliable female narrator, drunk half the time, was so appealing. In fact, there are three female narrators, hardly distinguishable from one another in how they speak, think, and what they wish. And with a book featuring three male characters where everyone tends to sleep with everyone, it's hard to get to the middle without having a pretty accurate guess as to whodunit. ]]> ReadStatus9233281317 Tue, 25 Mar 2025 23:32:52 -0700 /review/show/7435958142 Katja wants to read Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
]]> ReadStatus9192112971 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 00:09:12 -0700 /review/show/7133009745 Katja started reading Marcel Proust: A Biography, Volume 1 by George D. Painter
]]> ReadStatus9192112458 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 00:08:51 -0700 /review/show/7261518306 Katja started reading Dirt for Art's Sake: Books on Trial from "Madame Bovary" to "Lolita" by Elisabeth Ladenson
]]> ReadStatus9133635817 Sat, 01 Mar 2025 13:50:09 -0800 /review/show/7366337111 Katja wants to read A Reader's Guide to Nabokov's 'Lolita' by Julian Connolly
]]> ReadStatus9133393703 Sat, 01 Mar 2025 12:50:01 -0800 /review/show/7366164768 Katja wants to read Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson by Nigel Nicolson
]]> Review7299162518 Fri, 07 Feb 2025 07:48:54 -0800 /review/show/7299162518 Katja gave 5 stars to Proust's Lesbianism (Paperback) by Elisabeth Ladenson
This short book, which some reviewers categorize as being for "hard-core Proust fans," might seem like an unusual choice. However, I disagree. "In Search of Lost Time" is a complex novel exploring several recurring themes, but these themes aren't always presented explicitly. A little help in navigating them can be invaluable. Just as a history refresher enhances our understanding of the societal nuances, and an art book enriches our appreciation of volumes 1 and 2, Elisabeth Ladenson's "Proust's Lesbianism" offers crucial insights into a central, yet often perplexing, aspect of the narrative: the Narrator's obsessive focus on Albertine's bisexuality. This isn't a minor detail; it dominates volumes 5 and 6 (and, to a lesser extent, volume 4), and, when considered alongside Swann's jealosy for Odette's female lovers and other sapphic relationships, emerges as a significant exploration of lesbianism.

Why would a gay man fixate so intensely on a subject seemingly so removed from his own experience? Why would a vegetarian write volumes about a craving for steak? One common explanation is that Proust, living in a society less tolerant of male homosexuality, employed a kind of literary transposing, substituting lesbians for gay men. Albertine, after all, shares key characteristics with Proust's own well-documented romantic interest—simply remove the feminine suffix "-ine" and consider "Albert".

However, this explanation proves inadequate upon closer examination. Surprisingly, as Ladenson's book reveals, this simplistic transposition theory has been (and perhaps remains) the prevailing interpretation of lesbianism in "In Search of Lost Time." It's a remarkably superficial reading that ultimately fails to align with the novel's complexities.

Ladenson's book offers a far more compelling answer to the question of Proust's and the Narrator's fascination with lesbianism, but I won't spoil it here. The book is short, engaging, and well worth reading. Beyond the central hypothesis presented in the final chapter, Ladenson explores the historical depiction of lesbianism by male authors, the evolution of this theme in Proust's earlier works, its connection (and ultimately, misdirection) to Baudelaire's "Lesbos," and other fascinating related topics.

In just over 120 pages, "Proust's Lesbianism" provides a thought-provoking and, in my opinion, highly convincing interpretation of the complex web of bisexuality and lesbianism in "In Search of Lost Time." It's a valuable addition to the four thousand-page epic. I enjoyed it so much that I'm now eager to read Ladenson's "Dirt for Art's Sake." ]]> Review7133006002 Thu, 06 Feb 2025 13:35:41 -0800 /review/show/7133006002 Katja gave 5 stars to Time Regained (Paperback) by Marcel Proust
bookshelves: p-lib, fiction, kindle, ru
Разрозненные мысли месяц после прочтения:

1. Анри Бергсон мало известен теперь, но похоже, его философия была несравненно популярнее тогда, тем более что Пруст был его студентом и родственником. По сути, сам роман -- это иллюстрация к тезисам Бергсона об искусстве как способе постижения сложных категорий, не поддающихся или теряющих слишком много при анализе. Последний том пересказывает положения этого философского подхода более-менее прямым текстом.

2. Подробное описание паноптикума "мушкетеров 20 лет спустя". Детально, не то чтобы жестоко, но точно без любви раздал всем сестрам по серьгам. Расправа над персонажами, но и здесь нет тривиальных связок -- кто как сохранился, предсказать по тому, что мы о героях знаем, нельзя.

3. Роман так элегантно закольцован, что закончив последний том, хочешь начать внимательно читать первый (а потом второй). Певуче-красивое слово "утраченное" в названии оказывается совсем не подходящим, потому что время, как и говорит перевод Е.Баевской, распространяющийся, к сожалению, только на первые четыре тома, время не трагически утрачено, а попросту потрачено, но через творческое переосмысление потрачено не впустую.

4. Сложно сказать, насколько удачен или неудачен перевод Смирновой. Она первая ввела Андреа вместо Андре, но ведь и Альбертина с Жильбертой получили в русском окончание -а, потому эту нападку (из википедии) сложно считать справедливой. ]]>