Gliding Over the World of Literature – Issue 13

Hello ladies and gentlemen, allow me to welcome you to the thirteenth issue of Gliding Over the World of Literature, where news from the world of books flow through an endless river of knowledge, secrets and discoveries. Today, we are going to take a look into the life of Guy de Maupassant and gain some important insights into the kind of unique man he was. After that, we will take a glance at the ten best modernist books according to Laura Frost from Publisher’s Weekly, and cap things off by learning where the “historical fiction” genre found its roots.Guy de Maupassant – A Man Ahead of his TimeThough I get the impression people are starting to forget about his contributions to literature, Guy de Maupassant may have been not only one of the most influential writers of his time, but also one of the most interesting and intelligent people to have lived on Earth.He is a man who journeyed from poverty and anonymity to wealth and fame, someone who has seen all the human soul has to offer, a man who remained a realist, even when clashing with madness towards the end of his life. Many of his wise insights can still be applied today, over a hundred and twenty years after his demise.Maupassant’s literary legacy"His was a vile death, the madness caused by syphilis and its related physical horrors. It was an end that he knew he was facing and had tried to avoid by attempting suicide some 18 months earlier. But fate insisted on more suffering and the great French writer Guy de Maupassant, having slit his throat, failed to die. He struggled on and was reduced to crawling on all fours, convinced his brain was seeping out through his nose. He died 120 years ago today, July 6th 1893, in a Parisian lunatic asylum. He was only 42 and in a brief literary career had written almost 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books and a vast body of journalism. When critics pronounce on the art of the short story, naming Anton Chekhov as a God and pitch the might of the American masters against the best of the Irish, Maupassant, influenced by Honoré de Balzac and championed by Gustave Flaubert, is invariably mentioned.Maupassant the realist saw the mean-minded pettiness of men, the civil servants and peasants with hearts as dried as peas. His followers include writers as diverse as Henry James and Raymond Carver. There is no denying either that although John McGahern often professed his admiration of Flaubert’s stylistic poise, many a grim-faced McGahern country policeman or school master could have strode as easily from the pages of a Maupassant story.As a writer, what was Maupassant’s only weakness? His popularity – his huge sales made critics suspicious and reluctant to acknowledge his art. As early as the publication of Boule de Suif in 1880 when Maupassant was only 30, Flaubert praised it as a masterpiece and admitted he was grateful he had lived to read it. The first of Maupassant’s novels, Un Vie appeared in 1883, it was followed within two years by Bel Ami. It made him rich and famous, but he was never happy – not even when sailing his beautiful yacht that he had named after that second novel."Read full article: The Irish Times - Maupassant’s literary legacyGuy de Maupassant the realist saw the mean-minded pettiness of men, the civil servants and peasants with hearts as dried as peas.’ Photograph: Hulton Archive/GettyThe Ten Best Novels from the Time of ChangesThe era of modernism in literature is perhaps one of the most fascinating and challenging ones to study, as most of the works written during that period reflected the rise of mass culture, endless technological advances, progress in terms of women’s rights, and much more.Many modernist books have quickly become heralded classics, and considering we still have the rest of the summer in front of us, I have decided to provide you with what I believe to be a complete list of the modernist novels you ought to read at least once in your lifetime.The 10 Best Modernist Books (in English)"It’s going to be a long, hot summer. Why unwind with the latest mystery or light comic novel when you can grapple with some of the most demanding works ever written in English? Think of it as Pilates--or rock climbing--for your brain. Modernism, spanning the first half of the twentieth century, was the era of James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, William Faulkner, and other heavyweights who made it their business to revolutionize literature. It was a tumultuous time of technological advances, the rise of mass culture, the women’s movement, Freudian psychology, and, above all, two devastating world wars. Modernists felt that they were living through a period of momentous change that called for equally radical changes in literature. “Make it new,” Ezra Pound instructed his colleagues, by which he meant, change the rules for writing and for reading. Out went clear, coherent, linear plots, omniscient narrators, and straightforward language. In came fragmentation, multiple points of view, stream of consciousness, dense allusions, and ambiguity. Modernism requires an active reader: you need to work to make sense of it. But there’s pleasure—and yes, fun!—to be had in seeing literature do something it never had before."Read full article: Publishers Weekly - The 10 Best Modernist Books (in English)The Curious Origins of Historical FictionThough it may sound commonplace today, the more you think about it, the more the genre of “historical fiction” sounds weird. It is a combination of fiction and reality, an inaccurate re-telling of events that truly happened for the purpose of making them more exciting, or give them some type of specific meaning. As it turns out, this genre had a very rocky beginning in 17th century France and most scholars and titans in the world of literature have a very mixed and love/hate relationship towards it.Lost between literature and history"When a history, story or chronicle collides with fiction, invention or improvisation a new genre is formed. This genre of historic-fiction has been widely dismissed in the past by historians and authors alike. For historians the obvious and blatant bias of the author of historical-fiction and their invasion into the meticulousness of historical accuracy breaks the integrity of how facts are delivered. Many authors criticise the use of history as backdrop a lazy tool used to rescue a narrative from under-developed characters and bad writing.Despite its negative treatment from many corners this form of the novel, where historical fact sets the scene for the story, has become hugely popular in recent times; thanks to authors such as Hillary Mantel, Andrew Miller, Kate Mosse and Colm Tobin."Read full article: News Talk - Lost between literature and historyAnd just like that, we have already come to the end of the thirteenth edition of Gliding Over the World of Literature. I truly hope that the news I brought to you today helped you to learn something, helped you to find new books to read for the rest of the summer, or at the very least kept you entertained for the brief few minutes you spent here. I will see you next week for a brand new edition of Gliding Over the World of Literature, with more curious news and facts from the vast and seemingly endless world of books.
Source:http://quick-book-review.blogspot.com/2013/07/gliding-over-the-world-of-literature-issue-13.html

Gliding Over the World of Literature – Issue 13 Images

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