Saïd Sayrafiezadeh on Debt, Cults, and Our Inner Algorithms
The narrator of your story “ Minimum Payment Due ” is mired in debt and, from the outset, trying to
Menu
Kalpesh Lathigra/Farrar Strauss & Giroux The Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Ignat Avsey 1 Penguin Classics The Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Ignat Avsey Now 36% Off $11 at Amazon $19 at Bookshop For me, this book ranks among the greatest triumphs of the novel as a form. Its plot deals with the death of a family patriarch, the turmoil of an eldest son torn between his love for two different women, and the tribulations of an intellectually gifted younger brother named Ivan. But I thought enough time had passed for these themes to warrant further consideration. Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein, translated by G.E.M. Anscombe 2 Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein, translated by G.E.M. Anscombe $25 at Amazon $40 at Bookshop In my experience, many books of philosophy are difficult to read. Philosophical Investigations , on the other hand, is easy to read, but difficult to understand. In fact, it has all the qualities of a great novel: charismatic prose style, dazzling psychological insight, and ingenious fictional dialogue. Inexplicably, the English text seems to be out of print—but I’m hoping that if I talk about it enough, someone might decide to publish a new edition. On Sale Hamlet by William Shakespeare 3 Simon & Schuster Hamlet by William Shakespeare Now 14% Off $6 at Amazon Shop at Bookshop Another famous story about a son grappling with the loss of a father. About halfway through writing Intermezzo , I re-read Hamlet, and found it completely absorbing and unexpectedly strange—full of odd offhanded things that didn’t seem to make any sense. T.S. Eliot described Hamlet as “puzzling,” “disquieting,” and “most certainly an artistic failure.” I agree with him on the first two counts, but not on the third. Ulysses by James Joyce 4 Ulysses by James Joyce $13 at Amazon My path back to Hamlet came through James Joyce’s Ulysses , in which the work of Shakespeare looms large. I’ve written elsewhere about my love of Ulysses , which I think is one of the finest novels in the English language and largely (honestly!) a pure […]
Click here to view original page at 8 Books Sally Rooney Read While Writing Intermezzo
© 2024, wcadmin. All rights reserved, Writers Critique, LLC Unless otherwise noted, all posts remain copyright of their respective authors.
The narrator of your story “ Minimum Payment Due ” is mired in debt and, from the outset, trying to
Hanif Kureishi You have been back in your London home for several months now, after a year in different hospitals,
