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Terrible, well renowned novelists
a pack of wolves:
--- Quote from: TheMooseOfDeath on 21 Aug 2009, 00:54 ---I've found that I really, really hate most of 19th century literature (with most exceptions coming from about the last quarter of the century and some American authors). This mostly stems from the fact that they often write in 5 pages what could be written in a few paragraphs.
Also, I think it's just a language thing. I can zip through just about any contemporary novel, but I always trudge through any work from Dickens or Bronte, etc., books that were, in their day, usually read in about a week or less. That sort of verse was just normal for its contemporary readers, just like how Nick Hornby takes me a week to read, or a 2-hour Shakespearean play would have been crystal-clear to its Elizabethan audience.
Or maybe I'm just trying to find a good excuse to hate Pride & Prejudice. Seriously, Elizabeth Bennet has to be the first Mary Sue in literature AMIRITE?
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No. At least I think not, I've never come across the term before but wikipedia tells me a Mary Sue is a wish fulfilment character who's overly idealised and has no major flaws. Considering the fact that a fair chunk of the novel is Elizabeth Bennet realising her flaws it's really not applicable. Fanny Hill would make more sense actually, my word is that girl plucky.
I'll admit that I've never read a whole book by Nick Hornby but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that there's a bit less going on in his novels compared to Austen's work. Is there anything in what he's done that matches the importance of landscape gardening to good character in Mansfield Park or the analysis of the relationship between economics and marriage for women in Pride And Prejudice?
--- Quote from: BeoPuppy on 21 Aug 2009, 02:21 ---I really despise Narnia and it's sequels. Barely concealed bible re-tellings written badly. And that whole ... Lucy and lipstick and boys thing is just too offensive. (I think it was Lucy. Not sure.)
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This is why I've never read them. The misogyny and Christianity pissed my Mum off so much when she was a kid that she didn't think they were really appropriate so we never had them in the house. I got Terry Pratchett instead.
BeoPuppy:
That's one huggable mom you have there.
TheMooseOfDeath:
--- Quote from: a pack of wolves on 21 Aug 2009, 06:32 ---I'll admit that I've never read a whole book by Nick Hornby but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that there's a bit less going on in his novels compared to Austen's work. Is there anything in what he's done that matches the importance of landscape gardening to good character in Mansfield Park or the analysis of the relationship between economics and marriage for women in Pride And Prejudice?
--- End quote ---
True, Hornby hasn't exactly turned the idea of a rigid, patriarchal structure on its head (though the impact of Austen's work does have a nearly two century advantage over Hornby's), but I would say he does go at great lengths to really flesh out his characters and have them grow as you read about them with, in my opinion, a very entertaining and innovative style of writing (I'm mostly referring to High Fidelity and A Long Way Down). I mean, in High Fidelity, the protagonist Rob sets himself up to be this know-it-all hipster who's always the victim in his failed relationships, but eventually realizes that he's been a complete asshole the whole time (....kinda like Pride & Prejudice now that I think about it...).
To be fair to Austen, I've only read P&P once, but am currently re-reading it (now that I'm older and, hopefully, a little wiser). But again, 19th century prose still drives me nuts.
If I may ask, which book(s) by Hornby did you pick up and, I assume, read through a bit?
variable_star:
--- Quote from: NeverQuiteGoth on 20 Aug 2009, 17:32 ---Terry Brooks, the "quantity over quality" fantasy novelist.
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He's definitely bad, but in the shameless hack variety. I absolutely despise Mercedes Lackey, who is simply a godawful writer. I tried reading one of her novels and laughed through the entire first chaper. I didn't finish it, instead I tossed it into the garbage can in my garage filled with oil-soaked rags and threw the nearest incendiary device along with it as I ran.
It was worth losing the garage.
Surgoshan:
--- Quote from: TheMooseOfDeath on 21 Aug 2009, 13:01 ---To be fair to Austen, I've only read P&P once, but am currently re-reading it (now that I'm older and, hopefully, a little wiser). But again, 19th century prose still drives me nuts.
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Why would you say that a house burned down when one can tearfully confess that a magnificent edifice was woefully, wholly, and tragically consumed in an holocaustic conflagration?
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