tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post7297384704047726401..comments2024-01-08T14:21:37.465-08:00Comments on Infinite Art Tournament: Contesting Bulwer-LyttonMichael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-83712617449088830292010-05-01T08:44:27.681-07:002010-05-01T08:44:27.681-07:00Commencing "Great Expectations" on audio...<b>Commencing "Great Expectations" on audiotape -- really, cassettes! -- as per instructions.</b>Michael5000https://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-33543048415287752512010-04-19T03:17:05.554-07:002010-04-19T03:17:05.554-07:00Oooooo Kaaaaaaay.
But if you watch 'Farenheit ...Oooooo Kaaaaaaay.<br />But if you watch 'Farenheit 451' (if I am remembering the temperature at which books burn)..the one with Oskar Werner, you might get tempted, you know.Elainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13195458656221202202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-20093412196887948842010-04-18T20:37:36.881-07:002010-04-18T20:37:36.881-07:00Elaine: Unfortunately, they didn't make it ont...<b>Elaine: Unfortunately, they didn't make it onto The Reading List, so they'll probably be deferred quite a ways into the future.<br /><br />Dr. Ken: Yeah, that's one of the more embarrassing ways to be preserved in ash for all eternity.</b>Michael5000https://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-62272572994610289172010-04-18T10:35:07.151-07:002010-04-18T10:35:07.151-07:00Knowing me, I would have been masturbating in Pomp...Knowing me, I would have been masturbating in Pompeii when the volcano hit, and I would be preserved like that for eternity.Dr. Kenneth Noisewaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06293248808640989299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-62815202585332099552010-04-18T06:24:23.611-07:002010-04-18T06:24:23.611-07:00Wow. Well, I hope you read *at least* the two gre...Wow. Well, I hope you read *at least* the two great classics: _David Copperfield_ and _Great Expectations_. (I will add that notations vastly expand the readability because so much of Dickens has little references that need explaining to modern readers and which enhance the experience.) <br /><br />I agree-- one Bulwer-Lytton is sufficient.Elainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13195458656221202202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-48759065939994924932010-04-17T19:09:55.739-07:002010-04-17T19:09:55.739-07:00Interesting. I haven't read any of the four y...<b>Interesting. I <i>haven't</i> read any of the four you name, interestingly, but <i>have</i> read "Dombey and Son," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Our Mutual Friend," and "Bleak House," all of which I found dense and improbable, sure, but also loved.<br /><br />I hereby give notice -- just in case it comes up -- that I do not intend to read the entire Bulwer-Lytton library in order to be able to speak definitively about his body of work.</b>Michael5000https://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-8858610892762600312010-04-17T17:46:53.778-07:002010-04-17T17:46:53.778-07:00Well, here's the thing. Much of Dickens is ju...Well, here's the thing. Much of Dickens is just as dense, prose-wise, as B-Lytton. One sentence can constitute a paragraph. I don't know if you have read _The Old Curiosity Shop_ (in addition, I say, to _David Copperfield_ and _A Tale of Two Cities_, at the minimum) but all of his works are hardly created equal. MUCH later in life I read _Great Expectations_ (with annotation) and was blown away by how great it was...BUT, it was also 'atypical Dickens,' and much more modern in tone and spare in its prose. There's no comparison, in terms of 'body of work'-- Dickens is much the superior-- but if you read only ONE Dickens work, and ONE B-L work....you might find them more similar. Little Nell haunts me still.......!Elainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13195458656221202202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-50352256727946272042010-04-16T17:06:46.086-07:002010-04-16T17:06:46.086-07:00Elaine: OK, I can see how Dickens and the splendid...<b>Elaine: OK, I can see how Dickens and the splendidly bewhiskered B-L would seem similar at 14. But surely you wouldn't equate them as a grownup! Or... would you?</b>Michael5000https://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-61271770647809790502010-04-16T13:48:24.703-07:002010-04-16T13:48:24.703-07:00What a good exercise. So many issues pop out of t...What a good exercise. So many issues pop out of this - how tastes change, in prose or story or beards. How what must have looked at the time like minor differences in style no mean te difference between a readable and unreadable book.<br /><br />I wonder how the movies are. The 1913 version shows up in film histories, but, as you demonstrate here, that does not mean it's especially good.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-85088002736642268962010-04-16T13:11:01.403-07:002010-04-16T13:11:01.403-07:00Yeah, but Bulwer-Lytton had a very cool beard!Yeah, but Bulwer-Lytton had a very cool beard!Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06415787787176723318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-61933403683889292412010-04-16T06:09:35.205-07:002010-04-16T06:09:35.205-07:00i'm beginning to think that you're somethi...i'm beginning to think that you're something of a masochist. thanks for taking one for the team.dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06769697352301199658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10779294.post-554882786018772912010-04-16T02:07:17.439-07:002010-04-16T02:07:17.439-07:00M5000, you are Too Late!
I read this when I was,...M5000, you are Too Late! <br />I read this when I was, oh, 14 or so. It wasn't any worse than Dickens, really, which I was forced to read. <br />Too bad you did not check with me, as i could have saved you. I once entered the bulwer-lytton contest, BTW. But there were better bad writers out there, by far!Elainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13195458656221202202noreply@blogger.com