Poor Folk - Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky

This is one of the Dostoyevsky's that I had been partially itching to read for quite some time now. I finally thought it was time to get back to another Dostoyevsky and hence the book.

"Poor Folk" was the first novel that got Dostoyevsky a decent amount of fame as a writer and represents a side of him before the death sentence episode that scarred his life. It represents a comparatively less mature style than one encounters in his later works, for obvious reasons. The book talks about, as is apparent from the title, poor denizens of St. Petersburg and their thoughts regarding themselves and others. It is very interestingly presented as a chain of letters between two main characters and nothing else. It starts abruptly and ends with the same abruptness.

The two main characters of the story are Makar Alexievitch Dievushkin and Barabara Alexievna Dobroselova, a copier in his later middle ages and a young woman still to see her prime. The are distantly related and closely situated in their lodgings and affections towards each other. Both being poor, seek solace in the other. They share their lives with each other and an occasional book. Makar Dievushkin showers gifts upon Barbara to his best capacity and she returns his gift with her affections as well as monetary help on a couple of occasions. In the background are the lives of the few people that these two associate with, mostly of the same class as theirs. Towards the end there occur a tumult of gay and saddening occasions.

This was a comparatively less gripping Dostoyevsky than the others but it was still a Dostoyevsky. My interest lies more in the author now than his work. The concept of the story was interesting though there were occasions where the author might have been inconsistent. But all is forgotten and forgiven since he is Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

I had never heard of Milan Kundera. The ramblings of a friend as to how she was unable to understand the movie "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" led me to google the fascinating title. What I hit upon was the book by Kundera. It seemed acclaimed and the title was, as I have mentioned, fascinating, so I ordered it, received it, shelved it and picked it up a couple of weeks back.

The teaser on the back cover says that Kundera talks about "irreconcilable love and infidelities". In my opinion this summary limits the breadth of what Kundera is talking about in this novel but it gives us a taste of the more alluring topics that he covers. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is also a misleading title to the book since this phenomenon is the experience of just one of the four main characters that make the story. The book mainly expounds on various philosophies regarding preferences and differences. It's about individuality and the need to see consistency, the need to find the second half of your hermaphrodite self. Kundera pours forth a profusion of ideas, each of which is inane, each incomplete and each real. Somewhere he strikes a cord with his reader. The four characters that he uses as his tools for the task are at times inconsistent but the reader is able to relate to them as parts of himself in some capacity or the other. This book truly deserves to be more popular than it already is.

The exact plot of the story would be difficult to outline in a short space primarily because of the diversity it explores. The story has four protagonists : Tomas, Tereza, Sabina and Franz in decreasing order of amount of text devoted to their characters. Each has his own peculiarities and his own preferences. Tomas is a womanising surgeon who does not believe in the oneness of sexual intercourse and love. Tereza is a woman in search of her individuality and someone who provides her with it. Sabina is a painter who is obsessed with betrayal. Franz is a professor who romanticises about being in a grand march and the approval of the woman he loves. There is the background theme of Russian invasion of Czech and the anti-Communist feelings of the population; the persecution of the intelligentia and their revolt in the face of a apathetic regime.

Kundera's charm lies in the way he has managed to intertwine the love lives of the protagonists with a political satire. His style of writing is enchanting and engrossing. The book is modelled so crisply that you never feel anything drag for too long. Kundera also overcomes the unintentional boredom that is typical of philosophical books. In all, this was a very good read. Probably I will pick another one of his some time.

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

I did not know that there was a novel as well. And when I did it came highly recommended. But this was years ago. What made me order this novel of recent was the nature of books I had been reading. They were mostly classics and the style of writing can get a tad bit boring after a while. So I ended up ordering this one and after a few books, this one jumped the line and I started it.

I finished it in about a day's time. Something that I have not done in quite a while; sitting and reading a book cover to cover within a day's time. Since I, like many others, am a big fan of the movie the characters and sequences were terribly mixed up with it. The characters already had faces. The locations already had settings. There were sequences that were probably less descriptive in the book and better portrayed in the movie that I did not wholly mind being incomplete. My imagination was in a confusion. And the confusion was awesome. Chuck Palahniuk, despite all the incompleteness in his scenes and story, has done an incredible job of creating characters. The immortality of these characters is evident the way Tyler Durden is worshipped as a symbol of anarchy, as a symbol of rebellion. And of course there is this whole idea of a "fight club". But the first rule of fight club is that you don't talk about fight club... Palahniuk planned this book as a piece of writing that would connect the men of the world together. He added on to this idea with various elements that he got from anywhere and everywhere and put it under the blazing light of anarchy.

There is an unnamed protagonist who is fed up of life and his needs and wants to start afresh. He "meets" Tyler Durden on a flight and they strike a friendship. Tyler is confident and full of useful information. Especially about homemade explosives. The protagonist moves in with him in an abandoned industrial sector of town after his house and all his belongings are destroyed in an explosion. They create a fight club to feel what it is like to get into a real fight. Then there are fight clubs springing up all over the country. There is anarchy being conceived for the better of the human race.

Palahniuk's work was not one of the best for it's literary qualities but it was so vivid (or maybe it was so because I had seen the movie, but then it was this book that inspired the movie as well) that I could imagine every scene and every thought of the pitiable narrator. It was certainly something that I would like to read again sometime. So he stays on the list.

V For Vendetta - Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Moore again. "V for Vendetta" was a really good movie. I am sure most who have seen it would agree to that. But comparing Moore's "From Hell" and the movie, I wondered whether this one could also be a better graphic novel. Hence I bought it at the first possible convenient chance. In the middle of all the Greek epics and tragedies which are proving a bit too much to handle by now, I picked up this book as an asylum. Shame that I ended it within 24 hours.

Moore proved his script writing prowess once again. The book fared better than the movie, not by a great margin, but yes, it did. There is something about Moore's novels that make you live them. The fluency of the story draws you in. It is not one scene after another, rather it is one scene running into another, stringing into a beautiful garland. A work of art that you cannot help appreciate. Moore does not simply build a character. He builds characters. The story is not just one protagonist shining above all others. There are multiple stories going on. Characters that make them. Everything contributing to one main plot. David Lloyd is equally a genius. The art work is to dies for. Not as pristine as "Batman : A Killing Joke" but well laid out and beautifully done.

The story set in Britain in an imaginary 90's (the novel was written in the 80's). London ruled by a fascist government in the nuclear holocaust after a third World War. No freedom to anyone. Everyone being observed all the time. In this setting emerges a man of superhuman strength and full of ideas of liberality. Wearing a mask and going by the name 'V', he starts killing the top brass of the party. He advocates anarchy in a totalitarian regime. He takes on a young girl as his protege. He plans to shake the masses awake from its servile slumber.

Alan Moore is nothing short of a genius. A few months ago I was not too big on graphic novels. Now I am a big fan of them. Moore's work at the least is nothing less than a text novel. Next up is "Watchmen". Reading Moore's works, it is no wonder that so many of them have inspired motion pictures.

Theogony & Work and Days - Hesiod / M. L. West

The same course Greek and Roman Mythology course got me to order "Theogony & Work and Days". Before long, I am sure I will be writing about a few more books that I read during this course. But it is these epic poems by Hesiod that are the subject of this post.

Hesiod was an unknown name to me when I picked up this book. In case I had heard of him somewhere, I certainly did not remember. Despite his lack of fame in the world of laymen, he is a prominent figure in Greek epic poetry, as prominent as Homer. But you soon find out why he is such an obscure figure in the world of leisure readers. His works are of academic interest and hold little charm for light readers. There are long lists of gods and didactic verses on virtues. There are interesting bits of information but they are well hidden under piles of jargon. Enough to make anyone lose interest. It is a good thing that the poems are short (despite their epic status).

Theogony is the story of the birth of Gods. It is a fanciful tale that involves a lot of deceit, lust and power struggle. There are sons castrating their fathers, the gory details of which are necessary in order to know of the birth of the Aphrodite (Love). It is apparently borrowed from Sumerian and other Eastern cultures in parts and serves to establish Zeus as the ultimate father of Gods and men. It lays out a genealogical connection between Gods and utterly confounds the reader.

Work and Days, on the other hand, is a preaching of values to be followed and practiced in everyday life. It is much more pragmatic than Theogony and has fewer names. But it does not altogether do away with mythical stories. It talks about Pandora and the breed of women as an ailment sent by the heavens. It talks of the various generations of man. But mostly, it talks about the virtues of labour, how to manage an agrarian household and how to trade for profit. It tells of what to do on what day of the month, what practices are favoured by the gods and which are frowned upon.

Hesiod might be a big name but he certainly draws interest only from the academia. I think I have had enough of him, for a lifetime perhaps. So long poet.

Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol

Ever since I started reading Dostoyevsky, Gogol has been a constant presence in the background. He is much referred to in Dostoyevsky's stories. It was upon reading one such reference that I decided to get "Dead Souls" whenever I could lay my hands on it. I did so in a clearance sale but was a long time before I could get myself to start reading this book.

"Dead Souls" is an amusing caricature of human beings and their systems. Despite a pressing urgency to read the Greek classics alongside, the book held me strongly enough to see me finish it. Gogol shows all of human folly in a comic light. The style of writing is very digressing though. There are pages at stretch about things that are irrelevant to the story. One can see something similar in Dostoyevsky as well but to a lesser extent. However, there is a story that goes on steadily and which keeps you transfixed to discover where it will lead to. That in itself is genius. The second part is rather incomplete (though there is a feeble attempt by another to complete it) and leaves you a tad bit dissatisfied. But it prods your imagination all the more. Where does Chichikov go on from here? What happens to him?  You can come up with a story of your own in case you crave closure.

We follow our protagonist, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, in a journey across the Russian provinces. He is a gentleman with refined skills at charming both the sexes. He is knowledgeable of ever subject. He is easy to befriend. And he needs dead souls. Chichikov states various reasons for wanting to take or purchase the dead souls that are still counted on census list from all the landed proprietors he comes in contact with. It is not till the end of the first part that one comes to know why he needs them. In his hunt he comes across various kind of people who treat him in various fashions, some hesitate, some bargain while some beat him up. Chichikov adapts and perseveres.

Gogol excels in oration. His stories are funnier if read aloud. No wonder his is the play (The Government Inspector) considered as Russia's greatest. He can make a story out of a plot. Apparently, the plot for "Dead Souls" was provided by Pushkin. I surely will read another Gogol (The Overcoat) before long.

The Odyssey - Homer / Robert Fagles

Of course, no one remains a stranger to the names of the great epics for long. I had heard of Iliad and Odyssey as a boy and had stumbled across their translated prints a few years ago when I was flitting through the stalls at a World Book Fair. Following a series of unfortunate events, I lost my copy of "The Odyssey" and I decided not to start the Iliad till I had another copy of Odyssey with me, and so it has stayed ignored in my shelves for more than three years now. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a course on Greek and Roman mythology on coursera.com, enrolled and ordered Fagles's translation of the epic. Coincidentally, his translation was the one I had bought earlier as well.

The Odyssey needs no laudation from me. It is an epic not only in its construct but also in its entirety. Fagles's translation, however, I can comment on. It is extremely poetic, brings out the music in the epic that I have found lacking in so many other Greek tragedies I have read thus far. The construct of the prose are excellent. I wonder how close a literal translation this is, but evidently it is held in high regard by people who know what they are talking about. I can only comment on what a pleasure it was to read this rendition.

Odysseus is a man of suffering, endurance and everlasting tact. His journey home from Troy is rigged by the Gods. He brings it upon himself in parts, his crew bring it upon him in parts. He however is the only one to survive and return home years later, a broken man with adventures and sufferings borne all his journey. That is primarily what the epic is all about : the journey home and the winning back of one's life of peace. We are taken through fantastic tales of brutality, wit and magic through Odysseus's eyes. Immortal goddesses bed him; giants slay his crew; he peeks into the world of the dead; strangers help him homeward and Gods hold him back. Fantastic and thrilling!

Fagles has renewed the zest for Greek epics and tragedies in me. Despite the redundancy, I will once again praise the poetic feel to Fagles's translation. He keeps the reader bound. It hardly seems like a translation from an alien language, so fluent do his lines flow. I might look into Fagles's other translations later, but for now, I have another one of his lying in my shelves. Time to pick up the Iliad and read about the brave and swift Achilles!