In which the Other Reader is in earnest agreement

[sabotabby]

How did it take me until now to read If on a winter's night a traveler? Bad socialist, no cookie.

Anyway, this passage really spoke to me:

The first sensation this book should convey is what I feel when I hear the telephone ring; I say "should" because I doubt that written words can give even a partial idea of it: it is not enough to declare that my reaction is one of refusal, of flight from this aggressive and threatening summons, as it is also a feeling of urgency, intolerableness, coercion that impels me to obey the injunction of that sound, rushing to answer even though I am certain that nothing will come of it save suffering and discomfort.

Yes, that is exactly it. Exactly. Calvino also gets many points from me for writing in the second person and then gender-swapping the viewpoint character mid-sentence. No one writes like that anymore, and it's a pity.

Comments

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

It is so sad about telephones, because they should be nice, friendly things, purveyors of warmth and cosy chatitudes.

I freak when the telephone rings too, but mainly because it is always my dad and I am always pissed off or depressed after speaking to him. When I had friends who called me I loved the telephone and talked on it a lot. Now I see it as a symbol of loneliness. And, yes, of "summons," grr. Always demanding that I stop whatever I'm doing and worry about something instead!

Gender swapping mid-sentence sounds a good idea.

[sabotabby]

In fairness to telephones, I received two phone calls today and they were both welcome news. But this is often not the case.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

[sabotabby]

TVTropes page.

The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking how such a book would be radically different now, when the solution to the problem would be "just Google it." It would have to be about a Wikipedia edit, and that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Bah, someone else thought of my rather obvious joke. :)

[ironed_orchid]

<3

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

Because the author's name reminds you of a really really really horrible genre of music?

[sabotabby]

I'd never even heard of that. No, I think it was because an ex of mine really liked him. One of the bad exes.

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

Shame that -- the book actually looks like one of the few pieces of fiction I might enjoy (I <3 metafiction). And I feel the same way about phones, mostly. Save for that one special call from someone who... in all honesty... probably won't be calling on her own anytime soon. *sigh* But that fear? Yeah - I feel that about my sister. Oh man... It's terror, isn't it?

And people are shocked when I tell them I have no cell.

[sabotabby]

You should read it! It's pretty wonderful.

I do have a cell, and will be getting a better cell this month, but on the plus side, I'm probably cancelling my land line. So life will be better?

[sabotabby]

Indeed! What else should I read by him?

[ironed_orchid]

God it's been so long since I read him. I remember liking The Castle of Crossed Destinies which is the one structured around a tarot deck. Cosmicomics has some genuinely hilarious moments, as well as beautiful stories.

[ironed_orchid]

Oh, and did you see that William Weaver translated a bunch of his books, the same William Weaver who tanslated most Uberto Ecos novels and other non-academic books.

Re: OT

[sabotabby]

That is indeed cheery. I should go to Russia from May 1 to May 9 one of these days.