Thank you, Chris, for your invaluable elucidations. You have continued to inspire me to become a more serious reader of fiction, and I can not relay how appreciative I am of what you provide to us viewers of booktube. The passion and erudition you employ to describe the novels you read make me want to become a more intelligent reader, and your videos help not in just providing context for these complex novels, but also a sense of enthusiasm from your passionate reviews. I started seriously reading fiction at 17, becoming attracted to long, dense, and usually postmodern books, voraciously consuming the postmodern canon over the course of about 6 years. Your channel was started at a formative time during my reading journey, and I always look forward to watching your videos after finishing a book you have also read. Tonight, I finished Darconville's Cat, admittedly my first Theroux, and I was enthralled by it. It has even made me seriously consider my own current academic pursuits and has inspired a lot of thoughts on what I will want to do moving forward with my college career. Along with your brilliant videos, you have helped me mature as a reader, moving from sometimes just trying to read books as fast as I can to finish them to now taking my time more and really thoroughly enjoying them, even if it means not reading as many books in a year. I hope I didn't ramble on too long, but I felt compelled to get something out there, regardless if you see this or not. Overall, though, Chris, you are someone I look up to and make me feel not so alone in the solitary, isolated, sometimes solipsistic mind I have, and I just had to say thank you.
I'm a big tome nerd (like you seem to be) and, as a fan of Wallace, McElroy, Barth, etc., I am very excited to pick this one up and read it! It seems fantastic. I just ordered a (rather expensive) copy on Ebay. Thanks for all your videos and for highlighting authors I probably never would have found otherwise!
Hey there! So happy I could put this one on your radar. I loved it! It’s one of those ultra-literary tomes that make you so thankful to be a reader. It’s a shame it’s still OOP and therefore price-gouged. But I’m glad you scored one. Do circle back and let me know what you think!
I know! Its o.p. status is a shame! It is worth snatching up a used copy regardless of price though. Hopefully some sensible publisher will pick it up.
It's extraordinary intertextuality suggests to me that I can go ahead and wait until I've made my way through the Western Canon before approaching this behemoth but this video has made me very excited to do so!
I think you’d be fine to go ahead with it. You don’t need to catch every allusion to enjoy it. Plus, imagine reading it now AND after you comb through more of canon? :-)
Man, thank you so much for your channel and recommendations. I keep finding books and authors I had previously no idea about. Theroux is now on my (huge) to be read pile too, along with Gaddis and Wallace. I’m really into this kind of “difficult”post modern literature, along with more classical (but also “difficult”) modernist writers like Faulkner. This year I plan to tackle Pynchon’s GR, all thanks to you. If I have the time this year, I’ll also start my journey into Gaddis’ and Wallace’s work. Thanks again!
I felt dumb for paying $75 for it a few years ago, but the current going price that people are asking is just ridiculous. Anyway, as always, great review.
It’s usurious! My paperback was about $40; the hardcover $100. That’s a steal now. A shame that there are people price-gouging books. It’s like they’re book-napping for ransom.
It's worth the price! I paid $110 for my hardcover and $35 for the softcover. There's no telling when they will be back in print and it is a singular achievement in literature!
Just wonderful! Really, man, you're nailing these Theroux videos. And don't hesitate to add a Ramble to future reviews. Also, you should win like points or something for describing Crucifer as an Ahab-without-peg-who-makes-Minot-Warholic-look-like-Mister-Rogers.
@@LeafbyLeaf Oh, ok. I thought I saw a bunch of flags in the beginning of the book, and so I assumed it was a current read. My bad. I know that whether a book is "still relevant" -- whatever we even mean by that really stupid phrase -- is an incredibly lame reason to read (or not read) it. But in these proto-fascist days, The Tunnel is worth considering. Gass called it a "warning shot." We've so far failed to hear it.
First off, I love your videos and really appreciate what you're doing :). You're seriously the best channel on UA-cam right now for literature and your videos are always so insightful and full of amazing commentary! Secondly, I just wanted to know if you knew if there was any differences in the text between editions for Darconville's Cat, specifically the hardcover and the softcover. I am eyeing a copy right now that's relatively cheaper than other copies for sale, and it's a hardcover edition. Much appreciated! Keep up the amazing work too!
Thank you so much, Michael! So glad you’ve enjoying the videos. This has been a real pleasure. There are indeed differences between the hardcover and softcover. Theroux was and is an inveterate tinkerer and constantly added stuff. So the paperback has more than the hardcover. But securing a hardcover would still be a wise choice.
@@LeafbyLeaf You're welcome my man! I always look forward to watching your videos ever since I discovered your channel about a couple months ago, and I've been making my way through your backlog! With Darconville's Cat, I think I’ll go for a softcover then, I don’t mind ;). I was looking around and doing some research, and I saw that the hardback and some editions of the softcover have 704 pages, while most editions of the softcover have either 720 or 728 pages. Do you know if there is any substantial difference between any of the editions? As in, is there any new content added or is anything revised? My main concern was spending a lot of money on an older edition and it having typos or printing errors, so I was just wondering if there's any substantial difference between the editions. Thanks again for responding!
Finally managed to get a copy! It was this or Man Without Qualities by Musil which you have also covered (very different books I know but very difficult to find here). Decided to go with this one because something about the premise makes me want to compare it with Nabokov's Lolita in terms of language - is there any basis for that? Also Man Without Qualities being unfinished put me off a bit. Great video, as always. 🙏🏽
I’m going to have to shell out the $$$ for this. It’s been calling to me for some time, and I’ve been hoping it would be put back in print, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
The country I live in, you can't even buy this, like not even at unreasonable prices you just cannot buy it. I did get a copy of Laura Warholic though, as a present this Christmas.
I have been loving your channel. Your video on Mason & Dixon (my favorite book of all time) is the best on all of UA-cam. Cant wait for your take on Infinite Jest, one of my favorite novels. I have been desperatly wanting to read Theroux's novels, specifically Darconville's Cat , but with it being out of print I am not going to pay $100+ on the secondary market. I can understand if publishers feel there is not money to be made on print runs of his books but my guess is it is only Theroux's fault for there being no ebook version to be purchased and that annouys me just as much as no new print runs (which I would prefer). While I very much prefer paper, a digital version of this book would be interesting with being able to so quickly look up the definition of words.
Thanks for the compliments on the Mason & Dixon vivid-that was such a fulfilling read! It is indeed a shame that Theroux’s novel isn’t available. A handful of influential people have been petitioning NYRB but we shall see. It will be hard to get this one through the editorial rigors for wide distribution. And you’re right-Theroux isn’t exactly amenable to publishers. I wish I had extra copies. Perhaps one day.
@@LeafbyLeaf That would be great if they did pick it up. I just purchased their version of the Recognitions that just came out and cant wait to start it.
"a layer of skin off my lips and tongue" I lol'd. Nice shirt, by the way. I've been thinking of submitting to Rain Taxi but what and when? They have a buried books section or something? Maybe I'll try that one of these days.
I still can't taste anything. Wait--do I have COVID?! Rain Taxi loves to promote small presses and lesser known books, but they do favor stuff that has been published within the last 6 months at most. You should definitely submit. You write incredible reviews. Oh, also, they have a 500-word limit which is pretty strict. One has to get very selective.
I am about 300 pages into the Cat and I love it! I never would have known it existed if it weren't for your channel! I was reading Laura Warholic while I waited for a library interlibrary loan of it and while I liked it, it does get a bit repetitive constantly describing Laura's faults (I'm about 400 pages in). I find both Eyestones and Laura a bit tiresome-- both of them have ideas that they don't follow through on; most notably, the fact that Eyestones will inquire into whether he's that much different than Laura and then go on excoriating her for her blindness. I'm still not sure I"ll be able to finish it, though I do want to get to the scene where we find that Rapunzel is more jezebel than angel. That said, the repetition is actually kind of similar to how we actually get to know someone, constantly asking the same questions, asking why we are still hanging out with them, what attracts us to them? The Cat on the other hand is a bit less repetitive and I think benefits from its satirization of the South through a Catholic lens. I like the Cat so much I found an "acceptable" copy of it for 50 bucks on Ebay - hoping it's readable, but it's just such a treasure trove of allusions and language that I had to own it because the next time I read it I must write in it! I briefly even considered stealing it from the library, but how could I selfishly deny anyone the joy of discovering the book who can't afford their own copy?!
I agree--the Cat is superior to all AT's other works. Such a great feast of literary-ness! The whole ruse with LW, of course, is that both LW and EE are, in their own ways, despicable people. But there is a lot of harsh truth all throughout the book, as you've already hit on. Hey--Roberto Bolano said the best books he ever read were the books he stole in Mexico!
my copy arrived in the mail yesterday and i'm about a hundred pages in. the book is stupefyingly good stuff so far, but i think that people do somewhat exaggerate its difficulty. it ain't exactly a walk in the park but there are many major works by many major writers which i’d say are considerably tougher than Darconville’s Cat. it’s certainly not challenging enough to warrant the horror stories you can find online written by readers basically characterizing the thing as a punch in the brain (unless Theroux seriously ups the ante later in the book) side note: am also relieved to have my fears assuaged that it might turn out to not be worth the obscene amount of money i shelled out to actually get my hands on the damn thing
Your sentiment mirrors mine. It really reads like a fairly standard contemporary novel, but it's adorned with literary allusion and, of course, exotic words (the latter of which makes for fun dictionary and lexicon research). I really enjoyed the book from cover to cover. Dr. Crucifer is to Theroux as Ahab is to Melville, and he is reserved for the last portion. Enjoy!
Great work you surpassed yourself again! Can you please tell me what word where you saying at 8:53 after encyclopedic ? Is it manipian?(because I didn't find anything on google on manipian literature)
This was excellent, many thanks! I've been looking for a (affordable) copy for a while now, without success. In the meantime I'm amusing myself reading his The Grammar of Rock to be followed by Estonia. I've also been dipping into the collected poems. Just wondered if it's likely you'll comment on these sometime? Does the forthcoming Steven Moore book cover these volumes?
Thanks for saying so! I hope one pops up in your price range soon. Yes, Steven Moore comments at length on the Collected Poems--he pretty much covers everything except the fables. (I will have a video on Moore's book on here on 9/10). In general, I need more poetry on the channel and AT shall be included. Happy reading!
@@LeafbyLeaf Chris, Norman, I managed to get a copy of the collected poems and there's a poem there that pokes fun at the author James Baldwin. It is cruel in a schoolboyish way, and very funny, quite a guilty pleasure.
Worked great, though without an actual stop and restart I can't imagine anyone turning it off. One question I have is whether or not you spend enough time on the story the book tells--which I'll only know when I read it. The reason I wonder is because there was so little about the student (Isabelle?), and I have no idea what invites Darconville's openness to revenge.
Thanks, Rick! You're right--I do tend to shy away from plot recapitulation. Always have in reviews, mostly because I don't want to repeat what's on the back of the book (or Goodreads, etc.). Plus, I've always personally liked going into books and movies "cold," knowing little to nothing about plot. But this is a weakness of mine I should address. To sum up for this book: Darconville falls in love with Isabel (the student). They experience the typical ups and down and miscommunications, but end up engaged. Darconville moves to Cambridge to take a position at Hardvard, but Isabel (fraught with apprehensions) remains in Charlottesville, VA to continue preparing for the impending nuptials. She becomes very distant, calls don't come in, letters don't arrive. She calls off the wedding and ends the relationship. Then Darconville finds that Isabel is with the neighbor boy after all and they are to be wed. Ultimately, though, it is the black hole that is Dr. Crucifer who gets into Darconville's febrile mind and broken heart and sets his sights on hatred and revenge. That is the plot trajectory in its most basic form, shorn of many, many details.
@@LeafbyLeaf thanks, but I don't consider it a flaw at all, for precisely the reason you mention: i could have spent 5 minutes looking it up. Had you spent the time explaining that bit of the plot it would have injected a degree of banality where there is none.
It's worth the price! I paid $110 for my hardcover and $35 for the softcover. There's no telling when they will be back in print and it is a singular achievement in literature!
@@LeafbyLeaf in my naivity about publishing and authors rights and all that business side of things, couldn't some enterprising soul with cooperation from Theroux, get this reprinted and out to us (many?) readers? I'm thinking of you Mr Harsch.
Loved Darconville Cat novel, by the wayI had to look up almost all of his words, took me some 30 plus pages to write them. Also, if you could read a book by Fernando del Paso, Palinuro of Mexico, really a novel of encyclopedias of medical terms ...besides doctor cousin relationships.
Thanks, Chris, yes, Alexander Theroux is heavy duty, like Pynchon, could really reread them countless times, very rich substance in their writings, many level of meanings, keep up the readings, thanks again, Chris.
I would love to ask Alex about Darconvilles Spontaneous Pneumothorax he suffered in chapter “Gone for a Burton” (p593). I suffered from this operation 15 years ago and was a very traumatic experience. I’m curious if this was something that happened to him as well.
From Mr. Theroux himself: "I honestly wish I could answer you question intelligently (or even with facts) about Spontaneous Pneumothorax, but it was so long ago -- what, 40 or so years ago? -- that I wrote that, I can't even remember why I tendered to poor Darconville that indisposition. Maybe you could tell me what's involved."
Funny how that works. I blasted through LW but it took me a good while to finish DC. Anyway, loved the bull session and the whole review. Another epic video, another notch in the belt. Bravo, brother!!!! One thing that comes to mind: DC uses perhaps a lot of unattributed quotes from other works, and The Recognitions too to a degree. It's not exactly plagiarism is it but idk, something about that seems a bit off. What do you think about it? I remember something from my missing first comment. The "human shambles" quote from The Recognitions is familiar. Where did I hear that before? I feel like you've quoted that from somewhere else. Is a similar phrase in 2666? Help!
Thanks so much, George! I will probably do the bull session format for both J R and The Recognitions and just point people to my "tidy" reviews on Splice. I like that you brought this up about all the unattributed quotes. More and more I'm seeing that Gaddis did indeed pick from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations a lot. Obviously this would never fly in an essay or in non-fiction, but, I don't know, for me it works in this type of encyclopedic fiction. It's almost like the writer knows that the quintessential reader will at least sense when something is an allusion. And that makes it exciting. I think there's probably a ratio that would be important to respect (for e.g.: someone has a collection of poems using only lines from other poems, and I can't subscribe to this). You've heard me use that "shambles" quote many times because I love it so much! I've used it in at least 4 videos, including one of the Q&As.
@@LeafbyLeaf It might have been flagged because I opened with, "You have a beautiful p***y. It's true though! I just checked Rain Taxi and couldn't find what I saw earlier this year or last year. Something about a forgotten or neglected books section. Did I hallucinate. The closest thing I found was this: "and reflections on older works that continue to resonate."
@@LeafbyLeaf My issue with it was that it's one tone throughout all its characters - shrill. No light or shade, all characters doomed and debased by their circumstances.
Fantastic video, Chris. Awesome ramble and the ending was perfect
Thanks, Eddie! I hoped you wouldn’t sue me for plagiarism by opening up with a shot of my own cat (I’m assuming that was yours in your video).
Enjoyed the video
Thanks, Orpheus! Great to hear from you.
Thank you, Chris, for your invaluable elucidations. You have continued to inspire me to become a more serious reader of fiction, and I can not relay how appreciative I am of what you provide to us viewers of booktube. The passion and erudition you employ to describe the novels you read make me want to become a more intelligent reader, and your videos help not in just providing context for these complex novels, but also a sense of enthusiasm from your passionate reviews. I started seriously reading fiction at 17, becoming attracted to long, dense, and usually postmodern books, voraciously consuming the postmodern canon over the course of about 6 years. Your channel was started at a formative time during my reading journey, and I always look forward to watching your videos after finishing a book you have also read. Tonight, I finished Darconville's Cat, admittedly my first Theroux, and I was enthralled by it. It has even made me seriously consider my own current academic pursuits and has inspired a lot of thoughts on what I will want to do moving forward with my college career. Along with your brilliant videos, you have helped me mature as a reader, moving from sometimes just trying to read books as fast as I can to finish them to now taking my time more and really thoroughly enjoying them, even if it means not reading as many books in a year. I hope I didn't ramble on too long, but I felt compelled to get something out there, regardless if you see this or not. Overall, though, Chris, you are someone I look up to and make me feel not so alone in the solitary, isolated, sometimes solipsistic mind I have, and I just had to say thank you.
Thx for the spoiler free review
You are quite welcome!
I'm a big tome nerd (like you seem to be) and, as a fan of Wallace, McElroy, Barth, etc., I am very excited to pick this one up and read it! It seems fantastic. I just ordered a (rather expensive) copy on Ebay. Thanks for all your videos and for highlighting authors I probably never would have found otherwise!
Hey there! So happy I could put this one on your radar. I loved it! It’s one of those ultra-literary tomes that make you so thankful to be a reader. It’s a shame it’s still OOP and therefore price-gouged. But I’m glad you scored one. Do circle back and let me know what you think!
Thanks for the video!, I wish we could get a new print of this book, I'm dying to read it
I know! Its o.p. status is a shame! It is worth snatching up a used copy regardless of price though. Hopefully some sensible publisher will pick it up.
It's extraordinary intertextuality suggests to me that I can go ahead and wait until I've made my way through the Western Canon before approaching this behemoth but this video has made me very excited to do so!
I think you’d be fine to go ahead with it. You don’t need to catch every allusion to enjoy it. Plus, imagine reading it now AND after you comb through more of canon? :-)
I’m loving the increased production value here!The intro, music, textual interjections, etc. add lots!
Thanks for saying so! My video editing skills are nil but I’m learning.
Man, thank you so much for your channel and recommendations. I keep finding books and authors I had previously no idea about. Theroux is now on my (huge) to be read pile too, along with Gaddis and Wallace. I’m really into this kind of “difficult”post modern literature, along with more classical (but also “difficult”) modernist writers like Faulkner. This year I plan to tackle Pynchon’s GR, all thanks to you. If I have the time this year, I’ll also start my journey into Gaddis’ and Wallace’s work. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for saying so. It has really been a pleasure to share my passions with you all and to inspire reading. All my best to you!
Well that does it, I'll be reading this by the end of the year. Excellent video, Chris
Yesss! Thanks!
I felt dumb for paying $75 for it a few years ago, but the current going price that people are asking is just ridiculous. Anyway, as always, great review.
It’s usurious! My paperback was about $40; the hardcover $100. That’s a steal now. A shame that there are people price-gouging books. It’s like they’re book-napping for ransom.
The book I wish I owned! My search for this book is still in itinere.
It's worth the price! I paid $110 for my hardcover and $35 for the softcover. There's no telling when they will be back in print and it is a singular achievement in literature!
My biggest flex is owning the 1st Ed hardcover of this masterpiece
🤟👊💪
Just wonderful! Really, man, you're nailing these Theroux videos. And don't hesitate to add a Ramble to future reviews. Also, you should win like points or something for describing Crucifer as an Ahab-without-peg-who-makes-Minot-Warholic-look-like-Mister-Rogers.
Thanks, Dan! Really appreciate that. And I was quite proud of that analogy, so your citation is very welcome!
@@LeafbyLeaf Also, I'm really looking forward to your video on The Tunnel. I don't think there are any reviews of that here on YT.
Dan J. I read The Tunnel in 2017 or 2018. I’ll have to freshen up and get a video going!
I read The Tunnel in 2017 or 2018, so I’ll have to freshen up, but you’re right-it must needs be done!
@@LeafbyLeaf Oh, ok. I thought I saw a bunch of flags in the beginning of the book, and so I assumed it was a current read. My bad.
I know that whether a book is "still relevant" -- whatever we even mean by that really stupid phrase -- is an incredibly lame reason to read (or not read) it. But in these proto-fascist days, The Tunnel is worth considering. Gass called it a "warning shot." We've so far failed to hear it.
First off, I love your videos and really appreciate what you're doing :). You're seriously the best channel on UA-cam right now for literature and your videos are always so insightful and full of amazing commentary!
Secondly, I just wanted to know if you knew if there was any differences in the text between editions for Darconville's Cat, specifically the hardcover and the softcover. I am eyeing a copy right now that's relatively cheaper than other copies for sale, and it's a hardcover edition. Much appreciated! Keep up the amazing work too!
Thank you so much, Michael! So glad you’ve enjoying the videos. This has been a real pleasure.
There are indeed differences between the hardcover and softcover. Theroux was and is an inveterate tinkerer and constantly added stuff. So the paperback has more than the hardcover. But securing a hardcover would still be a wise choice.
@@LeafbyLeaf You're welcome my man! I always look forward to watching your videos ever since I discovered your channel about a couple months ago, and I've been making my way through your backlog!
With Darconville's Cat, I think I’ll go for a softcover then, I don’t mind ;). I was looking around and doing some research, and I saw that the hardback and some editions of the softcover have 704 pages, while most editions of the softcover have either 720 or 728 pages. Do you know if there is any substantial difference between any of the editions? As in, is there any new content added or is anything revised? My main concern was spending a lot of money on an older edition and it having typos or printing errors, so I was just wondering if there's any substantial difference between the editions. Thanks again for responding!
It has become collector's item now a days, untouchable prices....
I know. It’s sad. I keep hoping a reissue will happen.
Finally managed to get a copy! It was this or Man Without Qualities by Musil which you have also covered (very different books I know but very difficult to find here). Decided to go with this one because something about the premise makes me want to compare it with Nabokov's Lolita in terms of language - is there any basis for that?
Also Man Without Qualities being unfinished put me off a bit.
Great video, as always. 🙏🏽
I’m going to have to shell out the $$$ for this. It’s been calling to me for some time, and I’ve been hoping it would be put back in print, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
It will be a while before it would be in print, yes, but I can now say that as of yesterday there is a glimmer of hope. :-)
The country I live in, you can't even buy this, like not even at unreasonable prices you just cannot buy it. I did get a copy of Laura Warholic though, as a present this Christmas.
I am aware of that and it’s a shame. Warholic is a different beast than Darconville but it’s still a solid Therouvian piece. Merry Christmas!
I have been loving your channel. Your video on Mason & Dixon (my favorite book of all time) is the best on all of UA-cam. Cant wait for your take on Infinite Jest, one of my favorite novels. I have been desperatly wanting to read Theroux's novels, specifically Darconville's Cat , but with it being out of print I am not going to pay $100+ on the secondary market. I can understand if publishers feel there is not money to be made on print runs of his books but my guess is it is only Theroux's fault for there being no ebook version to be purchased and that annouys me just as much as no new print runs (which I would prefer). While I very much prefer paper, a digital version of this book would be interesting with being able to so quickly look up the definition of words.
Thanks for the compliments on the Mason & Dixon vivid-that was such a fulfilling read! It is indeed a shame that Theroux’s novel isn’t available. A handful of influential people have been petitioning NYRB but we shall see. It will be hard to get this one through the editorial rigors for wide distribution. And you’re right-Theroux isn’t exactly amenable to publishers. I wish I had extra copies. Perhaps one day.
@@LeafbyLeaf That would be great if they did pick it up. I just purchased their version of the Recognitions that just came out and cant wait to start it.
I am so thrilled they reissued both Gaddis tomes. Enjoy!
"a layer of skin off my lips and tongue" I lol'd.
Nice shirt, by the way. I've been thinking of submitting to Rain Taxi but what and when? They have a buried books section or something? Maybe I'll try that one of these days.
I still can't taste anything. Wait--do I have COVID?!
Rain Taxi loves to promote small presses and lesser known books, but they do favor stuff that has been published within the last 6 months at most. You should definitely submit. You write incredible reviews. Oh, also, they have a 500-word limit which is pretty strict. One has to get very selective.
I am about 300 pages into the Cat and I love it! I never would have known it existed if it weren't for your channel! I was reading Laura Warholic while I waited for a library interlibrary loan of it and while I liked it, it does get a bit repetitive constantly describing Laura's faults (I'm about 400 pages in). I find both Eyestones and Laura a bit tiresome-- both of them have ideas that they don't follow through on; most notably, the fact that Eyestones will inquire into whether he's that much different than Laura and then go on excoriating her for her blindness. I'm still not sure I"ll be able to finish it, though I do want to get to the scene where we find that Rapunzel is more jezebel than angel.
That said, the repetition is actually kind of similar to how we actually get to know someone, constantly asking the same questions, asking why we are still hanging out with them, what attracts us to them?
The Cat on the other hand is a bit less repetitive and I think benefits from its satirization of the South through a Catholic lens. I like the Cat so much I found an "acceptable" copy of it for 50 bucks on Ebay - hoping it's readable, but it's just such a treasure trove of allusions and language that I had to own it because the next time I read it I must write in it! I briefly even considered stealing it from the library, but how could I selfishly deny anyone the joy of discovering the book who can't afford their own copy?!
I agree--the Cat is superior to all AT's other works. Such a great feast of literary-ness! The whole ruse with LW, of course, is that both LW and EE are, in their own ways, despicable people. But there is a lot of harsh truth all throughout the book, as you've already hit on. Hey--Roberto Bolano said the best books he ever read were the books he stole in Mexico!
my copy arrived in the mail yesterday and i'm about a hundred pages in. the book is stupefyingly good stuff so far, but i think that people do somewhat exaggerate its difficulty. it ain't exactly a walk in the park but there are many major works by many major writers which i’d say are considerably tougher than Darconville’s Cat. it’s certainly not challenging enough to warrant the horror stories you can find online written by readers basically characterizing the thing as a punch in the brain (unless Theroux seriously ups the ante later in the book)
side note: am also relieved to have my fears assuaged that it might turn out to not be worth the obscene amount of money i shelled out to actually get my hands on the damn thing
Your sentiment mirrors mine. It really reads like a fairly standard contemporary novel, but it's adorned with literary allusion and, of course, exotic words (the latter of which makes for fun dictionary and lexicon research). I really enjoyed the book from cover to cover. Dr. Crucifer is to Theroux as Ahab is to Melville, and he is reserved for the last portion. Enjoy!
Great work you surpassed yourself again! Can you please tell me what word where you saying at 8:53 after encyclopedic ? Is it manipian?(because I didn't find anything on google on manipian literature)
Thanks so much! Menippean satire.
You own two copies! What a luck!
Luck or financial irresponsibility? ;-)
@@LeafbyLeaf hahahaha
This was excellent, many thanks! I've been looking for a (affordable) copy for a while now, without success. In the meantime I'm amusing myself reading his The Grammar of Rock to be followed by Estonia. I've also been dipping into the collected poems.
Just wondered if it's likely you'll comment on these sometime? Does the forthcoming Steven Moore book cover these volumes?
Thanks for saying so! I hope one pops up in your price range soon. Yes, Steven Moore comments at length on the Collected Poems--he pretty much covers everything except the fables. (I will have a video on Moore's book on here on 9/10). In general, I need more poetry on the channel and AT shall be included. Happy reading!
@@LeafbyLeaf Chris, Norman, I managed to get a copy of the collected poems and there's a poem there that pokes fun at the author James Baldwin. It is cruel in a schoolboyish way, and very funny, quite a guilty pleasure.
John Dickson I’ve got Lollipop Trollops (which I’ve read) and Collected Poems (which I’ve only thumbed through a bit). You’ve nailed the spirit of it.
Worked great, though without an actual stop and restart I can't imagine anyone turning it off. One question I have is whether or not you spend enough time on the story the book tells--which I'll only know when I read it. The reason I wonder is because there was so little about the student (Isabelle?), and I have no idea what invites Darconville's openness to revenge.
Thanks, Rick! You're right--I do tend to shy away from plot recapitulation. Always have in reviews, mostly because I don't want to repeat what's on the back of the book (or Goodreads, etc.). Plus, I've always personally liked going into books and movies "cold," knowing little to nothing about plot. But this is a weakness of mine I should address. To sum up for this book: Darconville falls in love with Isabel (the student). They experience the typical ups and down and miscommunications, but end up engaged. Darconville moves to Cambridge to take a position at Hardvard, but Isabel (fraught with apprehensions) remains in Charlottesville, VA to continue preparing for the impending nuptials. She becomes very distant, calls don't come in, letters don't arrive. She calls off the wedding and ends the relationship. Then Darconville finds that Isabel is with the neighbor boy after all and they are to be wed. Ultimately, though, it is the black hole that is Dr. Crucifer who gets into Darconville's febrile mind and broken heart and sets his sights on hatred and revenge. That is the plot trajectory in its most basic form, shorn of many, many details.
@@LeafbyLeaf thanks, but I don't consider it a flaw at all, for precisely the reason you mention: i could have spent 5 minutes looking it up. Had you spent the time explaining that bit of the plot it would have injected a degree of banality where there is none.
The cheapest copy of darconville's cat costs 144 euro!
It's worth the price! I paid $110 for my hardcover and $35 for the softcover. There's no telling when they will be back in print and it is a singular achievement in literature!
@@LeafbyLeaf in my naivity about publishing and authors rights and all that business side of things, couldn't some enterprising soul with cooperation from Theroux, get this reprinted and out to us (many?) readers?
I'm thinking of you Mr Harsch.
Leaf by Leaf where did you manage to find a softcopy for $35?
Alex Finch I did snatch it up a good two years ago. Guess it was a bit cheaper then.
John Dickson well, Theroux is notorious for being pretty financially demanding of editors and publishers. Hopefully he will ease up at some point.
Loved Darconville Cat novel, by the wayI had to look up almost all of his words, took me some 30 plus pages to write them. Also, if you could read a book by Fernando del Paso, Palinuro of Mexico, really a novel of encyclopedias of medical terms ...besides doctor cousin relationships.
Glad to meet someone else who appreciates this one! The work horde is such a delight. Palinuro has been on my list for years. So many books to get to!
Thanks, Chris, yes, Alexander Theroux is heavy duty, like Pynchon, could really reread them countless times, very rich substance in their writings, many level of meanings, keep up the readings, thanks again, Chris.
I would love to ask Alex about Darconvilles Spontaneous Pneumothorax he suffered in chapter “Gone for a Burton” (p593). I suffered from this operation 15 years ago and was a very traumatic experience. I’m curious if this was something that happened to him as well.
I have routed your question to the proper authorities. I'll be in touch when I hear back!
From Mr. Theroux himself: "I honestly wish I could answer you question intelligently (or even with facts) about Spontaneous Pneumothorax, but it was so long ago -- what, 40 or so years ago? -- that I wrote that, I can't even remember why I tendered to poor Darconville that indisposition. Maybe you could tell me what's involved."
Wish it were selling for less than 120 bucks
I know; it's a shame. But--I happen to know for a fact that a possible affordable new paperback edition is in the works!
Funny how that works. I blasted through LW but it took me a good while to finish DC. Anyway, loved the bull session and the whole review. Another epic video, another notch in the belt. Bravo, brother!!!!
One thing that comes to mind: DC uses perhaps a lot of unattributed quotes from other works, and The Recognitions too to a degree. It's not exactly plagiarism is it but idk, something about that seems a bit off. What do you think about it?
I remember something from my missing first comment. The "human shambles" quote from The Recognitions is familiar. Where did I hear that before? I feel like you've quoted that from somewhere else. Is a similar phrase in 2666? Help!
Thanks so much, George! I will probably do the bull session format for both J R and The Recognitions and just point people to my "tidy" reviews on Splice.
I like that you brought this up about all the unattributed quotes. More and more I'm seeing that Gaddis did indeed pick from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations a lot. Obviously this would never fly in an essay or in non-fiction, but, I don't know, for me it works in this type of encyclopedic fiction. It's almost like the writer knows that the quintessential reader will at least sense when something is an allusion. And that makes it exciting. I think there's probably a ratio that would be important to respect (for e.g.: someone has a collection of poems using only lines from other poems, and I can't subscribe to this).
You've heard me use that "shambles" quote many times because I love it so much! I've used it in at least 4 videos, including one of the Q&As.
This is better than betterthanfood...
Whoa--that's a really high accolade there.
uhhh where is the cat
Great Moby-DIck quote. Did my comment from last night disappear?
I don't see any other comments from you. Let me check to see if YT flagged it.
Unfortunately I don't see any other comments from you. But I can tell you from experience that not all of my replied even stay posted. :(
@@LeafbyLeaf It might have been flagged because I opened with, "You have a beautiful p***y. It's true though!
I just checked Rain Taxi and couldn't find what I saw earlier this year or last year. Something about a forgotten or neglected books section. Did I hallucinate. The closest thing I found was this: "and reflections on older works that continue to resonate."
I wouldn't bother with Hurricane Season Chris! You nailed this, as much as it's ever possible to nail Theroux.
Thanks, Marc! Glad you enjoyed it. I'll definitely be circling back and making more videos about this one.
@@LeafbyLeaf Hurricane Season is a must read. Powerfully shocking and disturbing, I think you would like it.
John Dickson hmmmm. So much mixed feedback on this book!
@@LeafbyLeaf My issue with it was that it's one tone throughout all its characters - shrill. No light or shade, all characters doomed and debased by their circumstances.