The Reading Room

« first day (4701 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (104 days later) »

verbose

4:35 AM

@Tsundoku 😱

4 hours later…

verbose

8:10 AM

Unlikely relatives: Roddy Doyle and Arthur Conan; Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder and Jacques Derrida.

@Tsundoku if only there were some website where you could ask

Bookworm

8:29 AM

Q: Class dynamics in Elsschot's Cheese

In Willem Elsschot's Cheese, the protagonist Frans Laarmans is happy in his job as a shipping clerk, but is enticed to take on a more prestigious and potentially more lucrative role as a businessman dealing in imported cheese. He seems motivated more by a desire to fit in with the circle of wealt...

2 hours later…

Tsundoku

10:26 AM

@verbose Maybe one of the sites listed here?

2 hours later…

Tsundoku

12:50 PM

@verbose After reading Elsschot's collected works, it turns out that the answer for Boorman would be different from the answer for Laarmans.

Bookworm

1:05 PM

Q: Is the character named Boorman supposed to be the same person across Elsschot's œuvre?

In analogy with the question Is the character named Laarmans supposed to be the same person across Elsschot's œuvre?, it is also possible to ask whether Boorman is the same character in the novels in which he makes an appearance. In Lijmen/Het Been (Soft Soap/The Leg), Boorman is the publisher of...

character-analysis dutch-language willem-elsschot

1 hour later…

Bookworm

2:31 PM

Q: Parallels between Michael Malone's novel "Handling Sin" and Cervantes' novel "Don Quixote"

Handling Sin is a hilarious novel by Michael Malone, where the protagonist makes an epic journey across the American South, chasing his father, who has discharged himself from the hospital and taken off for parts unknown. In an interview, in January magazine (2002), Michael Malone says Handling ...

don-quixote miguel-de-cervantes michael-malone handling-sin

Clara Díaz Sanchez

2:52 PM

@Bookworm As I completed reading Quixote a few weeks ago, I should be in a good position to answer this. The problem is, I haven't read Handling Sin though :(

Peter Shor

@ClaraDíazSanchez Whereas I've read Handling Sin (twice!), but don't know that much about Don Quixote.

Clara Díaz Sanchez

@PeterShor So we complement each other (without necessarily complimenting each other ;)

2 hours later…

Tsundoku

5:15 PM

"Meanwhile in Belgium: Error 404: Summer not found. Summer is not available in your country." (From a newsletter I received this week.)

Tsundoku

6:11 PM

We used to have a feed for new Meta questions. Was this disabled at some point? I can't find any posts from it from the last few months.

This is the most recent post from the "Librarian" feed that I could find:

Oct 4, 2023 at 17:05, by Librarian

Q: Announcing the October–November 2023 topic challenge: Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

In accordance with our meta agreement to have topic challenges and a later meta agreement to have topic challenges lasting for two months and overlapping by one month, it is (long past) time to announce the October–November 2023 topic challenge. Based on the number of votes (+6/-0), the next topi...

discussion topic-challenge

I don't know whether the new topic challenge suggestion feed is still working, but here is the most recent feed item for new suggestions that I could find:

Mar 25 at 6:58, by New Topic Challenge Suggestion

A: New Literature SE Topic Challenge Suggestions Thread

The Literature of the Harlem Renaissance The great efflorescence of African-American culture known as the Harlem Renaissance occurred roughly a century ago. In music, painting, photography, theater, and literature, the artists and writers associated with the movement sought to depict the lived ex...

In other news: there is now only one topic challenge suggestion from me that has not been chosen yet: Sequels to or retellings of Robinson Crusoe. (I still think it's a good one because it cuts across cultures. Or at least a few cultures.)

2 hours later…

Tsundoku

8:27 PM

Does one of our mods know anything about the issues with the feeds?