The Reading Room

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Tsundoku

00:12

@Bookworm I don't know what people will make of the question, but it's definitely fun to answer.

Alex

00:51

@Tsundoku Makes one wonder if any published literary analysis has referenced this site.

Tsundoku

01:47

@Alex If an undergraduate thesis counts, yes: Pale Fire Upon the Page: the book as object, mutilation, and the transformative touch of the reader. One of the footnotes references Was Nabokov's Pale Fire intended to be read non-linearly, i.e. jumping to each line reference?.

1 hour later…

Bookworm

03:12

Q: War and Peace: Russian troop movements in part 2, chapters 7 and 8

So I was reading war and peace and became a bit confused about troop movements during the Kutuzov's fallback to Vienna. I wanted to check my understanding and hopefully resolve some contradictions I see. In Chapter 6, Kutuzov sends Nesvitsky to deliver a command to a colonel(who I think is differ...

2 hours later…

Rand al'Thor

05:32

@Bookworm I'm surprised nobody has mentioned House of Leaves.

5 hours later…

Matt Thrower

10:15

Just read this short story by John Barth and I don't think any single piece of literature has ever made me feel so stupid. I need a paper copy, enough time for repeat readings, a pencil for annotating, a sunny day and a strong drink to get my head around this. Quite extraordinary. There may be questions incoming. theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1967/11/lost-in-the-funhouse/…

2 hours later…

Tsundoku

11:52

@MattThrower I have read short stories by Samuel Beckett that made me think, "What the ...?"

Matt Thrower

12:12

@Tsundoku ah, I didn't realise Beckett wrote novels and short stories. I only know his work as a playwright.

2 hours later…

Bookworm

13:52

Q: In John Barth's short story Lost In The Funhouse, what is the purpose of the interrupted sentences?

Lost in the Funhouse is a short story often seen to exemplify metafiction, in which the author uses the story to draw attention to its construction. In the case of this tale, it switches freely between three narrative frames: that of the fiction itself which concerns a teenage boy at the seaside,...

short-stories john-barth lost-in-the-funhouse

2 hours later…

Tsundoku

15:24

@Bookworm Formatting HNQ.

Tsundoku

16:01

"The Irish author James Joyce once wrote."
True. And when he died, he stopped.

4 hours later…

DLosc

19:45

Q: Is "throw in an ape" an expression?

In her book Toward Zero, author Agatha Christie has the following dialogue: Kay said: ‘I don’t like my colour scheme in the livingroom. Can I have it done over, Nevile?’ ‘Anything you like, beautiful.’ ‘Peacock blue,’ said Kay dreamily, ‘and ivory satin cushions.’ ‘You’ll have to throw in an ape...