I wasn't that much of a reader. I would, at best, read a couple chapters of a novel and a few poems, in one month. Then i found your channel. Now i'm inspired to read all of my books on my bookshelf. Thank you Chris Via, for inspiring me to not only read more, but to also write more. *Leaf by Leaf has now gained +1 subscriber!*
Darrel, you won't regret your time spent reading. What's that quote of Kafka's, that a book should affect you like that of a wallop? My top mind-blowing experiences: the night I brought LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL (Thomas Wolfe) home from Goodwill. HOLY HELL! Around 2015, entering IB Singer's world during a snowstorm. I'm such a penny-pincher. His LOA trilogy, I had found first two for $3. each, but 3rd was $9. (amazon). I waited a year for 3rd one to go down to $3.!
Just stumbled upon your channel and that is an impressive library. Being a huge fan of Mark Edmundson, glad to see your recommendation of "Why Read?" here. Thank you for your videos.
@@LeafbyLeaf those walls of books, great books, are happiness.. wish it’s easy to order physical books here in the Philippines..shipping is costly when ordering from abroad
After browsing your shelves, I bought a copy of So We Read On because I am a Gatsby fanatic and have a Fitzgerald shelf. I found a copy on eBay. I was at first disappointed that the label ruined the spine and front but was cheered to find that it was signed by the author, Maureen Corrigan!
A modest collection! Enough to tuck inside the tortoise shell when moving to another part of the swamp. But I understand how the books take hold. An informative and (I thought) exciting work of criticism I read recently is Samuel Frederick's Narrative's Unsettled which focuses on three authors writing in German and how they derail or undermine plot as they pursue different aims with (possibly) cryptic - even undecipherable - motives. Happy reading!
Thank you for the relaxing video - this is just what I needed in this turbulent moment in time. I hope you're doing as well as can be, and that you and your family are safe. I watched this with my Goodreads open and added so many to my TBR list! I was really into the Beats, and Kerouac in particular, during my high school years and even wrote and presented a paper on On the Road. I haven't gone back to the Beats since then, but perhaps it would be interesting to revisit some of those texts and see how I feel about them now.
Thanks so much! Similarly, I haven't been back to the Beats since grad school (9 years ago!). I was eyeing a couple of Kerouacs the other day (Lonesome Traveler, Satori in Paris, and a couple others from the Duluoz Legend). I love doing what I can to keep people's TBRs healthy! Hope all is well with you and yours too.
Just started watching your videos this week. Thanks for the great recommendations on literary criticism! Your site seems to distill a lot of wonderful recommendations in each video!
Just finished watching your 10 big books video and some of your bookshelf tours. Your selection and synopsis of the literary criticism was most helpful. (Just made a big Amazon order including Steven Moore's works). You seem to have digested quite a bit of material for a young guy! Looking forward to the rest of the Western Core series. I have a whole shelf dedicated to "Ulysses" and would be glad to recommend titles.
You will not be sorry for the purchase of the Moore books! Thanks for your kind words. I am obsessed with literature. It has been a while since I read Ulysses but I didn’t reference too much secondary material. So I’ll definitely let you know.
This reminds me that I need to do an updated video (I've finally unboxed a load of more literary studies books). My list of top lit crit books would be: - Mimesis by Eric Auerbach - 7 Types of Ambiguity by William Empson - Deceit, Desire, and the Novel by Rene Girard - Colors of the Mind by Angus Fletcher - American Renaissance by Matthiessen - On the Sublime by Longinus - The Anatomy of Influence by Harold Bloom - The Renaissance by Walter Pater But, goodness me--there's so many more!
About Bataille's L'Impossible: "I did not get this at all." Oh, great laughs, thanks! With lines like, "Nakedness is only death and the tenderest kisses have an aftertaste of rat..." it's no wonder!
It has been a very long time since I read it, but I distinctly remember reading a portion of it during a long wait and the doctor’s office and thinking: what am I reading?! I do want to get around to his book on Nietzsche though.
@@LeafbyLeaf , well. For the moment. Yes, it's a gruesome situation. Very kind of you to ask me the question. I'm looking forward to your next step of your bookshelf tour! Hi! See you soon!
Great start to the series, and what a good week to drop the first one! I needed that. I'm fighting off the urge to spend a ton of money on books right now. ;) Honestly, I had no idea half of those Gaddis books exist. Good to know. I hadn't heard of a couple of the Pynchon ones either. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Thanks, Dan! Those Gaddis and Pynchon studies are really worth it. I’ll stop right there though because I am not equipped to help you with the will power not to break your budget on books!
Thanks! I could’ve said a lot more about his book. I used a couple excerpts from it on my 31 Books on Reading video. He said a lot of things I was feeling years back. Checking out those Book TV bits now!
These are turbulent days, so I guess the range of emotion I went through over those nearly 40 minutes I should not be surprised at...Anyway, it ended in laughter, very much appreciative, though hard to explain--something about how casually you slothed through, humbly tossing out signposts of study and knowledge like I might baseball statistics, all very much by the way, off the cuff--though you couldn't shake Gass off the Gaddis cuff--or Gaddis off the Gass (I keep them in separate rooms so they don't fight)...and then quite suddenly it seemed you suddenly began to think you'd gone on too long, just before you were done, so there was a hint of rush toward the finish. So that was funny, but I also went through all the range books and a literary life can inspire, even rage when I saw Gardner and a memory of petty nastiness was evoked (perpetrated by an overly worshipful fan of his), much in the array of emotions related to wist--I most wanted to pull the third Moore off the shelf, but other books unknown to me contained much I know and have felt or endured...great to see so much Mangual...great to see I have and have read a Bakhtin you haven't...great to see you have a Bursey, but I've read the two you don't have...No envy! It feels like it would be an odd trespass--there's a reason there are 15 books on Gaddis, for instance--this is very much the Via library. (In one of Gass's books he writes about he and Gaddis being in St. Petersburgh having to suffer through a tour of Raskolnikov's haunts WHILE someone read the book to them, and Gaddis saying over and over, 'but it's fiction...'
Rick, I hope my videos are even half as enjoyable as your comments! (“I keep them in separate rooms so they don’t fight”-haha!) In this book from Palahniuk, he cites Gardner’s book as specifically what he did NOT want his to be. By the third Moore book, I presume that is My Back Pages. That book caused me to spend more money on books than any other book has! Thanks so much for your comments. You’re right-I did rush at the end because I saw I was nearing 40 minutes. I sadly omitted so many things I could’ve said, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous. It was fun, though, and I’m looking forward to the next one!
@@bedet See? This is why even Gass needs an index...Turns out it was easy to find. A Temple of Texts, a chapter called William Gaddis and his Goddamn Books. It's brief, and I'm not perfect rendering it, but that'll make it just slightly more fun for you to read is my guess.
@@LeafbyLeaf I get your point, but I'm probably no different from you when it comes to pretension: if it occurs to me to worry about it then it's an illusion. One facet of the pleasure of your presentation is the lack of pretense. In fact, I challenge you to do a video as the character Chris Via the Pretentious Book Critic. But I think it's not something we need to rid ourselves of. We may never know how necessary is the brake fear of pretension provides. Either ironically or paradoxically, not sure which, you could have gone a lot longer as you were; yet if you had the pretense in you, fifteen seconds would do it.
I stumbled upon Nabokov’s “Lectures on Literature and have found it to be a sturdy and challenging guide to re-interrogate texts you thought you knew. Think you’d enjoy it.
Dirda is beautiful on his hometown of Lorain, OH. I lived there at 16, found love. Boy went to prison, I went back to Virginia, we got out of touch. He died in 2003.
Hemingway was once asked to write an emotionally-moving story using only six words. He wrote: "Baby shoes for sale. Never worn." I think your succinct comment is in that same vein. I want to read that memoir at some point.
I heard Eugenides speak and read from "The Marriage Plot" when I was a creative writing student at North Texas. I asked him why he chose Bipolar for Leonard and not some other disorder and he said it was because he had a friend who had a boyfriend with Bipolar and that it would've been more dramatic than writing about just depression. He's a cool guy.
Thanks so much! I talk a little bit about that in my video On Reading Big Books (I think) and in my video on John Williams’s STONER (for sure). Never thought about making a video where I go into depth with my note-taking system. Hmmm. I do have a forthcoming video where I read through a short story and make annotations in real time that literally shows what I do when I read. Thanks for the suggestion.
How To Read Slowly sounds particularly interesting and useful. (I'm currently 600 pages into 2666 by Roberto Bolano and am already sensing a loss of my 'grasp' on The Part About The Critics and the story of Amalfitano, and that this lack of affective recall has come about as a result of rushing, even while making a concerted effort not to.)
Reading is certainly a craft in its own right. It is something to be cultivated. This is why I like to write in my books: marginalia in-line but also some main points on section title pages (which is what I did with 2666). That way, at any time, you can flip back and sort of jumpstart your memory of the threads. With 2666, though, I think you'll find that as you continue to read on Bolaño will link you back in to broken-off threads. Hang in there!
@@LeafbyLeaf Thank you. At my library I've placed a hold on How To Read Slowly and following various people's suggestions by annotating my next big book with the help of sticky notes. No risk of 2666 being set side though, it's a powerful and absorbing novel, and I'll be reading the Chris Andrews monograph on Bolano afterwards.
Your presentation on Cărtărescu’s Blinding brought me to your channel, and now I feel I am addicted to your videos. I am so happy this channel exists. Your library is so beautiful, every reader’s dream come true. When did you start building your library? Mine is not that big (not yet). I am still working on moving my books from Romania to the U.S. Again, thank you for your videos and the work you put into creating them. ☺️
Welcome to the channel! And thanks so much for your kind words! This library has definitely long been a dream of mine. We built the house (and the library) in 2017. Best of luck in transporting your library such a long distance. All my best to you!
About thirty years are represented here (I have a book or two from when I was 6). But there has been plenty of selling and trading and pruning along the way. Hey-I just got a copy of Magda Cârneci’s FEM (translated by Sean Cotter) on the way!
@@LeafbyLeaf Wow! I really admire you. The first book I bought was Jean Chevalier’s Dictionary of symbols (3 volumes). I am obsessed with dictionaries and old grammar books. When I moved to the U.S. in 2018, I had to give up a few hundred books. Manguel’s “Packing My Library” was a touching read for me, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, I haven’t read Cârneci’s FEM. I am looking forward to your review. P.S.: Cărtărescu is one of my favorite (Romanian) writers. I am proud to say that I have read almost all of his books and “Solenoid” was my favorite. I am very curious to see how “Solenoid” will be perceived by the American audience. To me, “Solenoid” is the greatest book ever written. 🤩
I love Manguel! Check this video out: ua-cam.com/video/0vTbPUKtffs/v-deo.html. I also enjoy dictionaries, thesauruses, etc. Someone from Deep Vellum contacted me today because of my Blinding video and put me on the list to receive an advance review copy of Solenoid! For now I will content myself with Nostalgia and FEM.
@@LeafbyLeaf Unfortunately, due to the virus, im having to leave my post as a teacher in Vietnam and return to the states. Durring my time here in Vietnam I've been able to amass a reasonable collection. Now that im returning though, that collection has been trimmed considerably in order to fit within a single 45L duffle. There is a silver lining in being forced back to the states im sure, perhaps ive yet to find it. But at least my remaining reads will take me though December if I read slowly. Well wishes to you and your family!!
Moving from GR over to UA-cam. Those Steven Moore books are tempting me something fierce. I picked up Darconville's Cat this month already, though, and the book budget doesn't seem to be giving. Maybe next month...
I paid a pretty penny for my copy of Darconville, too. If you’re trying to stay within a book budget do not buy the Moore books-he will compel you to buy everything he talks about!
@@LeafbyLeaf I found my copy of DC in hard cover for $18, supposedly in good shape (it's en route). However, I also recently purchased the complete works of Primo Levi and Theroux's Laura Warholic, too. Someone needs to stop me. Doesn't sound like Moore is the guy to do it!
There’s something very aesthetically pleasing about the hardcover of Laura Warholic. I suppose you should go ahead and snatch up Three Wogs, An Adultery, and start least his two main essay collections (primary and second colors). 😜
@@LeafbyLeaf While I'm at it, I might as well pick up that little volume on Zettels Traum, too. :) I'm looking forward to diving in at the start of 2021!
Very enjoyable- maybe too enjoyable ended up putting a few books on the old tbr. I didn’t know Longinus had a book on writing. Will need to get to that. I have a question that maybe you can answer. Within many of Harold Blooms books he quotes Nietzsche and seems to esteem him, but I have never come across a book he wrote about him and his writings - do you know if one exists? It is very odd that he would quote him so liberally, yet not take time to expound on his views. Very unBloomlike, lol. Thank you so much for sharing your library with us. Oh, heck never mind I found what I was looking for in Bloom - double checked after I posted and it came up. I think google just toys with you sometimes.
Thanks! Check out my video on Longinus and my video on The Anxiety of Influence for some relevant material to your comments. Glad to have kept your TBR healthy. 😉
Yes, great book indeed! Bummer about your experience of her though. Perhaps she was having a really bad day or something. Still, a disappointment I’m sure.
No, I haven't, but my answer is that he's simply from the generation of the incontestable canon. These were the authors who were in the canon he came to love. And it was a deep love. I think he has a _lot_ to teach about reading and appreciation that lays a foundation no matter the textual objects.
@@LeafbyLeaf He isn't perfect but he faced a woke backlash, attempted cancelling which I found obnoxious...It just seems like nowadays if you're not interpreting the power relations within a book, you're somehow a fascist
Might be a tough question, but if you were to suggest a top / essential like, 3 or 5 literary theory books to get started, what would they be? Finishing up ABC of Reading by Pound - which I love - now and that's been my introduction to theory. I'm an English minor so school has more or less scratched that itch (even just the Norton Anthology intros are always great), but I'd like to keep up my education over the summer and would love to know your suggestions! And apologies if this has been asked and answered elsewhere
Strictly literary theory or literary criticism (i.e. applied theory)? Tell you what-I’ll do both! Theory: 1. Literary Theory: An Anthology (eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan) 2. The Critical Tradition (Richter) 3. Orientalism (Said) 4. New French Feminisms (eds. Marks and de Courtivron) 5. The Postmodern Condition (Lyotard) Criticism: 1. Anatomy of Criticism (Frye) 2. Mimesis (Auerbach) 3. The Anatomy of Influence (Bloom) 4. My Back Pages (Moore) 5. No Other Book (Jarrell) Hard to narrow it down, but those are some of my go-to books.
What is your method to where you put your books other than fiction and nonfiction? I have Susan Bauer's The Well Trained Mind. Once Prometheus graduates I'll pass it on for my grandkids. And I also own a few other books, but boy did I add quite a few to my goodreads tbr! what a fun video! Thank you. And I had to look up word salad; reminds me of Virginia Woolf.
Thanks so much! Glad to have contributed to the health of your TBR--we must keep them well fed or they will consume us, after all. As far as my method (and I hope I'm understanding the question correctly), I have my books grouped as follows: theology, language reference (thesauri, dictionaries, grammars, lexicons, etc.), literary studies, poetry, essays, philosophy, essays, psychology, odds & ends, nature, history, biography (including letter, diaries, etc.), journalism, economy, science. Then one wall of fiction.
@@LeafbyLeaf Okay, yes. You understood my question, and that's what I thought. But you mentioned a few authors you have multiple books of, but they're on separate shelves. So if they wrote about different topics that makes sense. I think it would bother me if I didn't have all books by the same author together. LOL what?! me anal? nah......LOL
Hahaha! It does irk me, too, to a degree. For example: William T. Vollmann appears in literary studies, philosophy, history, journalism, and fiction. Borges appears in essays, poetry, and fiction. Marilynne Robinson in essays and fiction. :-)
I was particularly intrigued by Amy Hungerford's refusal to read Infinite Jest. So I googled it. I found an interesting article about it. Btw, great video as always!
I occasionally watch some of Amy Hungerford's UA-cam based lectures on literature. The ones offered appear to be geared to 100 level survey classes. She includes "Lolita" and "Blood Meridien" but no hint as to why she would eschew "Infinite Jest". Jut got my copy of "Infinite Jest" and it is on my list after "Against the Day". On the surface it does appear somewhat daunting but the buzz is too much to resist it.
As someone that's pretty much new to Literary Studies, what would you recommend first? Sooo many of these sound interesting, but I can't buy all of them right now! lol
I understand that feeling-there’s so much great material out there! For someone completely new to literary studies, I recommend Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Happy reading!
Yes. His is still pretty much the standard by which all subsequent books on reading are measured, and it's the foundation of those books. The bottom line is that reading well means re-reading. Although, there have been some recent books on reading that depart from Adler's core: e.g. Cass White's Books Promiscuously Read. Check out my video "31 Books on Reading" too, if you like.
@@LeafbyLeaf I actually just finished How to Read a Book by Adler today and it was a nice surprise to see it in your video. I feel much more confident in my approach to understanding difficult books after having read it. I'll check out the video you mentioned too - thanks for the recommendation
@@LeafbyLeaf thanks for the reply, man. i am sure the planning and effort were just as elaborate and exquisiteas the shelf appears. mind sharing the specs? again, the whole appearance induces the kind of quietude one feels in the aisles of a library..very calming. thanks again
What is it with Christians and books? I’m a Christian too and a lifelong bibliophile. Some of, if not all the best book tours I’ve seen on UA-cam have been Christian. I will admit Alanis Morissette has a very impressive collection as well. I believe I have more books, but man I am jealous of your shelves.
That's interesting--especially since we should only have one book! ;-P (Cave hominem unius libri) If you could, send me the links to these other tours. I've only seen Umberto Eco's short walk-through (unreal!) and a few others. Nice to "meet" you!
Greetings sir am a huge fan of your channel and a subscriber can you please do a tour on other topics apart from literary studies would really appreciate it and sorry for giving you a hard time !! Thanks
It has been 9 years since I read that, but there were two connections that I remember: one of the characters was studying humanities in university during the French lit crit boom; and one of the men in the female character’s love triangle was deeply in touch with the book and it spilled over into their dynamics as lovers. Hope that helps.
@@LeafbyLeaf Yes, you remember correctly, but it's much deeper than that. If you read Barthes carefully you can find really lots of connections on different literary levels. I really admire what Jeff accomplished with his novel, but I'm not sure that a lot of people understand it. I don't have my own copy of Barthes and the library is closed but if you are interested I can give you some hints later ( if I survive this virus : ). Thanks for your video, I'm looking forward to the next one.
I’m sure it is a lot deeper and I’d love to hear anything at all about it. It’s a shame I don’t remember as much, but I really enjoyed reading it. It was better than Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, in my opinion. Bring in whatever you’ve got!
Is this all of your literary studies? Sort of surprised to see no Edmund Wilson, Raymond Williams, Cleanth Brooks, Ernst Robert Curtius, Hayden White, Paul de Man, etc, etc.
It is, and it is definitely unbalanced. A lot of those thinkers’ texts do appear in that massive compendium The Critical Tradition (definitely de Man, Brooks, and White), too, so I never felt compelled to buy any separate volumes. Edmund Wilson has been on my TBR for far too long.
Well, I never switched to IT-I have always been in it. Started at 15; first job doing weekend tech support for a regional Internet provider. Twenty years later and I’m still in the field, but I’ve established another life in parallel. :-)
Just finished Sartre’s “The Words” and it’s truly a knockout. Aside from his insights into reading and writing, it was as touching a memoir of the author as child as anything I’ve seen outside of Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine.”
So flattered to see my books on your stately white shelves, and sorry to hear they've put a dent in your finances!
It was all money well spent (and continues to be)! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a note!
You’re a madman, an absolute madman.
Mwuahahahahahahaaaa!
I wasn't that much of a reader. I would, at best, read a couple chapters of a novel and a few poems, in one month. Then i found your channel. Now i'm inspired to read all of my books on my bookshelf. Thank you Chris Via, for inspiring me to not only read more, but to also write more.
*Leaf by Leaf has now gained +1 subscriber!*
That is music to my eyes-to inspire more reading and more editing! Thanks so much!
Darrel, you won't regret your time spent reading. What's that quote of Kafka's, that a book should affect you like that of a wallop? My top mind-blowing experiences: the night I brought LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL (Thomas Wolfe) home from Goodwill. HOLY HELL! Around 2015, entering IB Singer's world during a snowstorm. I'm such a penny-pincher. His LOA trilogy, I had found first two for $3. each, but 3rd was $9. (amazon). I waited a year for 3rd one to go down to $3.!
Just stumbled upon your channel and that is an impressive library. Being a huge fan of Mark Edmundson, glad to see your recommendation of "Why Read?" here. Thank you for your videos.
Hey there! Glad you found me. That book is a major part of my fabric. I use it in several videos!
I watched his CSPAN video sooooo many times where he talks about books.
Leaf by Leaf making my day.
Love hearing that! I actually need to update this video. I've some great additions (and I'm getting The Melville Log for my birthday)!
This has been such a difficult week. I am so glad for this video. Thank you so much.
It has been rough indeed. Many sudden and drastic changes. I would be thrilled if this video brought you a reprieve. Thank you!
Salaam. Hope things are better. I'm 66, alone, but reading game is going full throttle!
That's the nicest bookshelf I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, and you’re welcome! 😁
Just found your channel ♥️ A REAL DREAM 😍😍😍 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING! This video made me happy ♥️
Thank you so much for your kind words!
I would love to live in your house , seeing all those great selections of books 😊
I can't lie--it's a great life here! :)
@@LeafbyLeaf those walls of books, great books, are happiness.. wish it’s easy to order physical books here in the Philippines..shipping is costly when ordering from abroad
All the more reason to select books very wisely.
After browsing your shelves, I bought a copy of So We Read On because I am a Gatsby fanatic and have a Fitzgerald shelf. I found a copy on eBay. I was at first disappointed that the label ruined the spine and front but was cheered to find that it was signed by the author, Maureen Corrigan!
What a nice surprise! Enjoy the read!
A modest collection!
Enough to tuck inside the tortoise shell
when moving to another part of the swamp.
But I understand how the books take hold.
An informative and (I thought) exciting work of criticism I read recently is Samuel Frederick's Narrative's Unsettled which focuses on three authors writing in German and how they derail or undermine plot as they pursue different aims with (possibly) cryptic - even undecipherable - motives.
Happy reading!
Ooohhh, that sounds like a good one. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
I love the way you worded that. "Enough to tuck inside the turtoise shell when moving to another part of the swamp." Love it.
Thank you for the relaxing video - this is just what I needed in this turbulent moment in time. I hope you're doing as well as can be, and that you and your family are safe. I watched this with my Goodreads open and added so many to my TBR list! I was really into the Beats, and Kerouac in particular, during my high school years and even wrote and presented a paper on On the Road. I haven't gone back to the Beats since then, but perhaps it would be interesting to revisit some of those texts and see how I feel about them now.
Thanks so much! Similarly, I haven't been back to the Beats since grad school (9 years ago!). I was eyeing a couple of Kerouacs the other day (Lonesome Traveler, Satori in Paris, and a couple others from the Duluoz Legend). I love doing what I can to keep people's TBRs healthy! Hope all is well with you and yours too.
I really love Dirda and am always happy to see people talk about his work. How to Read Slowly definitely calls my name, too!
(BTW, I live in Takoma Park-despite my North Carolina roots.)
How about that-my family is from Silver Spring but now we almost all live in NC!
Just started watching your videos this week. Thanks for the great recommendations on literary criticism! Your site seems to distill a lot of wonderful recommendations in each video!
Thanks and welcome! That’s one of my big goals, so thanks for the affirmation. Glad to have you.
Thank you for this video (and all the new entries on my “to-read” list). I didn’t intend on watching it all in one sitting, but the time flew by!
You’re quite welcome! That makes me feel a lot better, as I cringed when I saw it was about 40 mins!
Excellent selection. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love your channel! Please do some more bookshelf tour videos soon :)
Thanks so much! You got it!
Just finished watching your 10 big books video and some of your bookshelf tours. Your selection and synopsis of the literary criticism was most helpful. (Just made a big Amazon order including Steven Moore's works). You seem to have digested quite a bit of material for a young guy! Looking forward to the rest of the Western Core series. I have a whole shelf dedicated to "Ulysses" and would be glad to recommend titles.
You will not be sorry for the purchase of the Moore books! Thanks for your kind words. I am obsessed with literature. It has been a while since I read Ulysses but I didn’t reference too much secondary material. So I’ll definitely let you know.
Where's your list, please, Mr. Hargett?
Great survey. I wish you had given us a list of some of the best you mentioned.
This reminds me that I need to do an updated video (I've finally unboxed a load of more literary studies books).
My list of top lit crit books would be:
- Mimesis by Eric Auerbach
- 7 Types of Ambiguity by William Empson
- Deceit, Desire, and the Novel by Rene Girard
- Colors of the Mind by Angus Fletcher
- American Renaissance by Matthiessen
- On the Sublime by Longinus
- The Anatomy of Influence by Harold Bloom
- The Renaissance by Walter Pater
But, goodness me--there's so many more!
Mimesis is wonderful, I look forward to checking out the rest of your channel
Yes, it is-glad to “meet” someone who’s read and recognized its worth! Hope to “hear” more from you!
About Bataille's L'Impossible: "I did not get this at all." Oh, great laughs, thanks!
With lines like, "Nakedness is only death and the tenderest kisses have an aftertaste of rat..." it's no wonder!
It has been a very long time since I read it, but I distinctly remember reading a portion of it during a long wait and the doctor’s office and thinking: what am I reading?! I do want to get around to his book on Nietzsche though.
Awesooooomeeee! You light up my boring day! Thanks!
Thank you! I love to brighten people’s days!
How are you, by the way? Things seem rather grim in Italia.
@@LeafbyLeaf , well. For the moment. Yes, it's a gruesome situation. Very kind of you to ask me the question. I'm looking forward to your next step of your bookshelf tour! Hi! See you soon!
Marina Maccagni great news! Which section should I do next?
@@LeafbyLeaf , I'd like to see the poetry and play section. Then the fiction. I'm over excited! Thanks!
I really enjoyed your video. Thankyou xx
I’m so glad! Thanks so much!
Great start to the series, and what a good week to drop the first one! I needed that. I'm fighting off the urge to spend a ton of money on books right now. ;) Honestly, I had no idea half of those Gaddis books exist. Good to know. I hadn't heard of a couple of the Pynchon ones either. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Thanks, Dan! Those Gaddis and Pynchon studies are really worth it. I’ll stop right there though because I am not equipped to help you with the will power not to break your budget on books!
Another great video. Just to underscore your comment on Mark Edmundson...wonderful thinker and interviews on Book TV worth the time.
Thanks! I could’ve said a lot more about his book. I used a couple excerpts from it on my 31 Books on Reading video. He said a lot of things I was feeling years back. Checking out those Book TV bits now!
These are turbulent days, so I guess the range of emotion I went through over those nearly 40 minutes I should not be surprised at...Anyway, it ended in laughter, very much appreciative, though hard to explain--something about how casually you slothed through, humbly tossing out signposts of study and knowledge like I might baseball statistics, all very much by the way, off the cuff--though you couldn't shake Gass off the Gaddis cuff--or Gaddis off the Gass (I keep them in separate rooms so they don't fight)...and then quite suddenly it seemed you suddenly began to think you'd gone on too long, just before you were done, so there was a hint of rush toward the finish. So that was funny, but I also went through all the range books and a literary life can inspire, even rage when I saw Gardner and a memory of petty nastiness was evoked (perpetrated by an overly worshipful fan of his), much in the array of emotions related to wist--I most wanted to pull the third Moore off the shelf, but other books unknown to me contained much I know and have felt or endured...great to see so much Mangual...great to see I have and have read a Bakhtin you haven't...great to see you have a Bursey, but I've read the two you don't have...No envy! It feels like it would be an odd trespass--there's a reason there are 15 books on Gaddis, for instance--this is very much the Via library. (In one of Gass's books he writes about he and Gaddis being in St. Petersburgh having to suffer through a tour of Raskolnikov's haunts WHILE someone read the book to them, and Gaddis saying over and over, 'but it's fiction...'
Rick, I hope my videos are even half as enjoyable as your comments! (“I keep them in separate rooms so they don’t fight”-haha!) In this book from Palahniuk, he cites Gardner’s book as specifically what he did NOT want his to be. By the third Moore book, I presume that is My Back Pages. That book caused me to spend more money on books than any other book has! Thanks so much for your comments. You’re right-I did rush at the end because I saw I was nearing 40 minutes. I sadly omitted so many things I could’ve said, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous. It was fun, though, and I’m looking forward to the next one!
Any idea which Gass book has that St. Petersburgh story? I'd love to read that. I assume it's in one of his essay collections?
@@bedet See? This is why even Gass needs an index...Turns out it was easy to find. A Temple of Texts, a chapter called William Gaddis and his Goddamn Books. It's brief, and I'm not perfect rendering it, but that'll make it just slightly more fun for you to read is my guess.
@@LeafbyLeaf I get your point, but I'm probably no different from you when it comes to pretension: if it occurs to me to worry about it then it's an illusion. One facet of the pleasure of your presentation is the lack of pretense. In fact, I challenge you to do a video as the character Chris Via the Pretentious Book Critic.
But I think it's not something we need to rid ourselves of. We may never know how necessary is the brake fear of pretension provides. Either ironically or paradoxically, not sure which, you could have gone a lot longer as you were; yet if you had the pretense in you, fifteen seconds would do it.
@@rickharsch8797 Thanks for that!
Wow Speechless! Every video of yours excites me to read.
That is the highest compliment you could give me! Glad you found it inspiring.
History,psychology,sociology and politics sections too please
I’ll get there! Save for politics-I think I have maybe three political books. Coming up: poetry, essays, history, et al.
I stumbled upon Nabokov’s “Lectures on Literature and have found it to be a sturdy and challenging guide to re-interrogate texts you thought you knew. Think you’d enjoy it.
Thanks for the rec-buying it now. I’ve only ever read his famous Cornell lecture “Good Readers and Good Writers.” Cheers!
Dirda is beautiful on his hometown of Lorain, OH. I lived there at 16, found love. Boy went to prison, I went back to Virginia, we got out of touch. He died in 2003.
Hemingway was once asked to write an emotionally-moving story using only six words. He wrote: "Baby shoes for sale. Never worn." I think your succinct comment is in that same vein.
I want to read that memoir at some point.
I heard Eugenides speak and read from "The Marriage Plot" when I was a creative writing student at North Texas. I asked him why he chose Bipolar for Leonard and not some other disorder and he said it was because he had a friend who had a boyfriend with Bipolar and that it would've been more dramatic than writing about just depression. He's a cool guy.
I really liked all his novels. Have yet to read his short stories. Thanks for sharing that!
Love this video! Is their any chance you could do a video about the annotations and tabs you have in your books? Can’t wait for the next one!
Thanks so much! I talk a little bit about that in my video On Reading Big Books (I think) and in my video on John Williams’s STONER (for sure). Never thought about making a video where I go into depth with my note-taking system. Hmmm. I do have a forthcoming video where I read through a short story and make annotations in real time that literally shows what I do when I read. Thanks for the suggestion.
How To Read Slowly sounds particularly interesting and useful. (I'm currently 600 pages into 2666 by Roberto Bolano and am already sensing a loss of my 'grasp' on The Part About The Critics and the story of Amalfitano, and that this lack of affective recall has come about as a result of rushing, even while making a concerted effort not to.)
Reading is certainly a craft in its own right. It is something to be cultivated. This is why I like to write in my books: marginalia in-line but also some main points on section title pages (which is what I did with 2666). That way, at any time, you can flip back and sort of jumpstart your memory of the threads. With 2666, though, I think you'll find that as you continue to read on Bolaño will link you back in to broken-off threads. Hang in there!
@@LeafbyLeaf Thank you. At my library I've placed a hold on How To Read Slowly and following various people's suggestions by annotating my next big book with the help of sticky notes. No risk of 2666 being set side though, it's a powerful and absorbing novel, and I'll be reading the Chris Andrews monograph on Bolano afterwards.
I want to read Mimesis!
Good stuff mate
Thanks! (Nice username 😜)
Your presentation on Cărtărescu’s Blinding brought me to your channel, and now I feel I am addicted to your videos. I am so happy this channel exists. Your library is so beautiful, every reader’s dream come true. When did you start building your library? Mine is not that big (not yet). I am still working on moving my books from Romania to the U.S. Again, thank you for your videos and the work you put into creating them. ☺️
Welcome to the channel! And thanks so much for your kind words! This library has definitely long been a dream of mine. We built the house (and the library) in 2017. Best of luck in transporting your library such a long distance. All my best to you!
@@LeafbyLeaf Thank you for your kind reply. Actually, what I meant was how many years did it take you to collect all those books? 📚🤩
About thirty years are represented here (I have a book or two from when I was 6). But there has been plenty of selling and trading and pruning along the way.
Hey-I just got a copy of Magda Cârneci’s FEM (translated by Sean Cotter) on the way!
@@LeafbyLeaf Wow! I really admire you. The first book I bought was Jean Chevalier’s Dictionary of symbols (3 volumes). I am obsessed with dictionaries and old grammar books. When I moved to the U.S. in 2018, I had to give up a few hundred books. Manguel’s “Packing My Library” was a touching read for me, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, I haven’t read Cârneci’s FEM. I am looking forward to your review. P.S.: Cărtărescu is one of my favorite (Romanian) writers. I am proud to say that I have read almost all of his books and “Solenoid” was my favorite. I am very curious to see how “Solenoid” will be perceived by the American audience. To me, “Solenoid” is the greatest book ever written. 🤩
I love Manguel! Check this video out: ua-cam.com/video/0vTbPUKtffs/v-deo.html. I also enjoy dictionaries, thesauruses, etc. Someone from Deep Vellum contacted me today because of my Blinding video and put me on the list to receive an advance review copy of Solenoid! For now I will content myself with Nostalgia and FEM.
You could have a public library. Wishing I had your collection for quarantine
I hope you at least have enough good reads for the duration.
@@LeafbyLeaf Unfortunately, due to the virus, im having to leave my post as a teacher in Vietnam and return to the states. Durring my time here in Vietnam I've been able to amass a reasonable collection. Now that im returning though, that collection has been trimmed considerably in order to fit within a single 45L duffle.
There is a silver lining in being forced back to the states im sure, perhaps ive yet to find it. But at least my remaining reads will take me though December if I read slowly.
Well wishes to you and your family!!
Moving from GR over to UA-cam. Those Steven Moore books are tempting me something fierce. I picked up Darconville's Cat this month already, though, and the book budget doesn't seem to be giving. Maybe next month...
I paid a pretty penny for my copy of Darconville, too. If you’re trying to stay within a book budget do not buy the Moore books-he will compel you to buy everything he talks about!
@@LeafbyLeaf I found my copy of DC in hard cover for $18, supposedly in good shape (it's en route). However, I also recently purchased the complete works of Primo Levi and Theroux's Laura Warholic, too. Someone needs to stop me. Doesn't sound like Moore is the guy to do it!
There’s something very aesthetically pleasing about the hardcover of Laura Warholic. I suppose you should go ahead and snatch up Three Wogs, An Adultery, and start least his two main essay collections (primary and second colors). 😜
@@LeafbyLeaf While I'm at it, I might as well pick up that little volume on Zettels Traum, too. :) I'm looking forward to diving in at the start of 2021!
Very enjoyable- maybe too enjoyable ended up putting a few books on the old tbr. I didn’t know Longinus had a book on writing. Will need to get to that. I have a question that maybe you can answer. Within many of Harold Blooms books he quotes Nietzsche and seems to esteem him, but I have never come across a book he wrote about him and his writings - do you know if one exists? It is very odd that he would quote him so liberally, yet not take time to expound on his views. Very unBloomlike, lol. Thank you so much for sharing your library with us.
Oh, heck never mind I found what I was looking for in Bloom - double checked after I posted and it came up. I think google just toys with you sometimes.
Thanks! Check out my video on Longinus and my video on The Anxiety of Influence for some relevant material to your comments. Glad to have kept your TBR healthy. 😉
Do stickers on spine bother you? I try to remove unless library used.
Yes, they are extremely irksome! I try to remove them, too, unless I suspect it will damage the book in some way.
I loved Writing Down the Bones SO much. Then I met Natalie Goldberg at a bookstore I worked at in Albq and she was SO rude. I was heartbroken :(
Yes, great book indeed! Bummer about your experience of her though. Perhaps she was having a really bad day or something. Still, a disappointment I’m sure.
Have you done a video about why Bloom is so "closed minded"?
No, I haven't, but my answer is that he's simply from the generation of the incontestable canon. These were the authors who were in the canon he came to love. And it was a deep love. I think he has a _lot_ to teach about reading and appreciation that lays a foundation no matter the textual objects.
@@LeafbyLeaf He isn't perfect but he faced a woke backlash, attempted cancelling which I found obnoxious...It just seems like nowadays if you're not interpreting the power relations within a book, you're somehow a fascist
Might be a tough question, but if you were to suggest a top / essential like, 3 or 5 literary theory books to get started, what would they be? Finishing up ABC of Reading by Pound - which I love - now and that's been my introduction to theory. I'm an English minor so school has more or less scratched that itch (even just the Norton Anthology intros are always great), but I'd like to keep up my education over the summer and would love to know your suggestions!
And apologies if this has been asked and answered elsewhere
Strictly literary theory or literary criticism (i.e. applied theory)? Tell you what-I’ll do both!
Theory:
1. Literary Theory: An Anthology (eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan)
2. The Critical Tradition (Richter)
3. Orientalism (Said)
4. New French Feminisms (eds. Marks and de Courtivron)
5. The Postmodern Condition (Lyotard)
Criticism:
1. Anatomy of Criticism (Frye)
2. Mimesis (Auerbach)
3. The Anatomy of Influence (Bloom)
4. My Back Pages (Moore)
5. No Other Book (Jarrell)
Hard to narrow it down, but those are some of my go-to books.
@@LeafbyLeaf Thanks, this is great!
👊
What is your method to where you put your books other than fiction and nonfiction? I have Susan Bauer's The Well Trained Mind. Once Prometheus graduates I'll pass it on for my grandkids. And I also own a few other books, but boy did I add quite a few to my goodreads tbr! what a fun video! Thank you. And I had to look up word salad; reminds me of Virginia Woolf.
Thanks so much! Glad to have contributed to the health of your TBR--we must keep them well fed or they will consume us, after all. As far as my method (and I hope I'm understanding the question correctly), I have my books grouped as follows: theology, language reference (thesauri, dictionaries, grammars, lexicons, etc.), literary studies, poetry, essays, philosophy, essays, psychology, odds & ends, nature, history, biography (including letter, diaries, etc.), journalism, economy, science. Then one wall of fiction.
@@LeafbyLeaf Okay, yes. You understood my question, and that's what I thought. But you mentioned a few authors you have multiple books of, but they're on separate shelves. So if they wrote about different topics that makes sense. I think it would bother me if I didn't have all books by the same author together. LOL what?! me anal? nah......LOL
Hahaha! It does irk me, too, to a degree. For example: William T. Vollmann appears in literary studies, philosophy, history, journalism, and fiction. Borges appears in essays, poetry, and fiction. Marilynne Robinson in essays and fiction. :-)
@@LeafbyLeaf LOL If you get enough books by one author, would you give one shelf to that author?
I was particularly intrigued by Amy Hungerford's refusal to read Infinite Jest. So I googled it. I found an interesting article about it.
Btw, great video as always!
Obrigado! I’d be interested in your take on Hungerford’s stance.
Obrigado! I’d be interested in your take on Hungerford’s stance.
I occasionally watch some of Amy Hungerford's UA-cam based lectures on literature. The ones offered appear to be geared to 100 level survey classes. She includes "Lolita" and "Blood Meridien" but no hint as to why she would eschew "Infinite Jest". Jut got my copy of "Infinite Jest" and it is on my list after "Against the Day". On the surface it does appear somewhat daunting but the buzz is too much to resist it.
I like her a lot and I respect her views. But Infinite Jest should not be missed.
As someone that's pretty much new to Literary Studies, what would you recommend first? Sooo many of these sound interesting, but I can't buy all of them right now! lol
I understand that feeling-there’s so much great material out there! For someone completely new to literary studies, I recommend Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Happy reading!
@@LeafbyLeaf Thank you!! I'm gonna pick up a copy this weekend!
This video made me spend money. LOL. Nice job! I'll send you my book bill here in a few weeks. ;-)
LOL! :-)
Have you seen videos from the UA-cam channel called “The Pursuit of Wonder”?
That sounds familiar but I don’t think so. I’ll check it out.
Do you have any thoughts on How to Read a Book by Adler?
Yes. His is still pretty much the standard by which all subsequent books on reading are measured, and it's the foundation of those books. The bottom line is that reading well means re-reading. Although, there have been some recent books on reading that depart from Adler's core: e.g. Cass White's Books Promiscuously Read. Check out my video "31 Books on Reading" too, if you like.
@@LeafbyLeaf I actually just finished How to Read a Book by Adler today and it was a nice surprise to see it in your video. I feel much more confident in my approach to understanding difficult books after having read it. I'll check out the video you mentioned too - thanks for the recommendation
This may sound peripheral to many, but how, really, how did you get that shelf made? it reminds me of the one I have seen circulating as Beckett’s.
I’ve been asked that many times! We actually had it built when we built the house. I worked with a carpenter to spec it out. It’s a dream come true.
@@LeafbyLeaf thanks for the reply, man. i am sure the planning and effort were just as elaborate and exquisiteas the shelf appears. mind sharing the specs? again, the whole appearance induces the kind of quietude one feels in the aisles of a library..very calming. thanks again
What is it with Christians and books? I’m a Christian too and a lifelong bibliophile. Some of, if not all the best book tours I’ve seen on UA-cam have been Christian. I will admit Alanis Morissette has a very impressive collection as well. I believe I have more books, but man I am jealous of your shelves.
That's interesting--especially since we should only have one book! ;-P
(Cave hominem unius libri)
If you could, send me the links to these other tours. I've only seen Umberto Eco's short walk-through (unreal!) and a few others.
Nice to "meet" you!
hell yeah dude this rules
🤟🏻🤟🏻thanks!
Greetings sir am a huge fan of your channel and a subscriber can you please do a tour on other topics apart from literary studies would really appreciate it and sorry for giving you a hard time !! Thanks
Yessir! I am quite delayed on the next bookshelf tour. I’ve got a science shelf tour out here. I’m thinking philosophy next.
Can you tell me what do you think why Jeff used this book in his novel? 23:22
It has been 9 years since I read that, but there were two connections that I remember: one of the characters was studying humanities in university during the French lit crit boom; and one of the men in the female character’s love triangle was deeply in touch with the book and it spilled over into their dynamics as lovers. Hope that helps.
@@LeafbyLeaf Yes, you remember correctly, but it's much deeper than that. If you read Barthes carefully you can find really lots of connections on different literary levels. I really admire what Jeff accomplished with his novel, but I'm not sure that a lot of people understand it. I don't have my own copy of Barthes and the library is closed but if you are interested I can give you some hints later ( if I survive this virus : ). Thanks for your video, I'm looking forward to the next one.
I’m sure it is a lot deeper and I’d love to hear anything at all about it. It’s a shame I don’t remember as much, but I really enjoyed reading it. It was better than Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, in my opinion. Bring in whatever you’ve got!
I'm jealous
I’m flattered.
Aw yeah, it started.
:-)
Is this all of your literary studies? Sort of surprised to see no Edmund Wilson, Raymond Williams, Cleanth Brooks, Ernst Robert Curtius, Hayden White, Paul de Man, etc, etc.
It is, and it is definitely unbalanced. A lot of those thinkers’ texts do appear in that massive compendium The Critical Tradition (definitely de Man, Brooks, and White), too, so I never felt compelled to buy any separate volumes. Edmund Wilson has been on my TBR for far too long.
I like H Bloom. Hes closed minded but the people who attack him arent?.He was probably the last who will stand for western lit in this PC age.
Why did you switch to engineering/it?
Well, I never switched to IT-I have always been in it. Started at 15; first job doing weekend tech support for a regional Internet provider. Twenty years later and I’m still in the field, but I’ve established another life in parallel. :-)
Leaf by Leaf oh so you were doing that while in grad school? Very cool!
Yep! Pretty freakin tiring! But cool, too.
Just finished Sartre’s “The Words” and it’s truly a knockout. Aside from his insights into reading and writing, it was as touching a memoir of the author as child as anything I’ve seen outside of Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine.”
Francine Prose sounds like a made up name
I think her cousin is Veronica Verse.