JFDI BOOK NO. 5: DAYS AND NIGHTS OF LONDON NOW

LONDONERS

THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF LONDON NOW

by Craig Taylor

Interviews of Londoners of every ilk.  Chosen by Alistair Hall

To be discussed on Thursday 9 May at the Fox and Anchor at 6:30PM.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Londoners-Days-Nights-London-Those/dp/1847083293

REVIEW: SPURIOUS By Lars Iyer

Spurious by Lars Iyer

Well…is this literature in the guise of non-literature, a story perceived with peripheral vision ?  Or… the great posthumous novel (as L.I. intimates in an interview) ?  Or perhaps, both ? I’m not sure, but…it is engaging in an unusual way.
 Interestingly enough it’s a story told in the first person with references almost solely in the third person.  There is no “Handlung”; i.e. plot as the Germanics (reference Kafka) would have it, but a tale of relationship, fecklessness and humor buried in the pages.  As the details of the “plot” flesh themselves out, so do the characters of the protagonists (again, perhaps somewhat exaggerated as a description).  These are men of academia, no Feynmans for sure, but apparently able enough to subsist on grants and head out to various and sundry conferences. 
I found their relationship similar to Laurel and Hardy- the question arising being: why do I have you as a friend, when you’re so ­­­_____ (inept or whatever handy insult comes to mind).  As in Laurel and Hardy, Lars really does seem inept, struck by fate, unable to control the rising, all permeating damp.  W is his friend, but in essence it seems a needy one, despite his condescension, looking for Lars’ acceptance, approval and adoration (?).  And, strange as it seems, this is funny because it mirrors friendships we see in the real world- only without the rising damp, hopefully.
All sorts of references to the greats and mysterious of the 20^th century – Kafka, Rosenzweig, Bela Tarr, etc. come up.  As an academic, most of these characters are apparently well know to L.I.  Knowing a bit about one or two of them myself, and with the aid of Wikipedia, they provide an interesting philo-litero-sophical (I made that word up) background to it all.  I’ll stick with Kafka, as I know him best having slogged through  most of his works and even having read Max Brod (who also comes up) about Kafka.  The sense of the absurd, the whimsical that is in Kafka is present in this book, although Kafka’s exposition of whimisicality (sorry Webster’s, OED or whomever) is somewhat darker than L.I.’s.  It is almost the light hand of fate- rising damp isn’t as bad as turning into a giant insect overnight or being put on trial for no discernible reason.  The Damp, however, is in a way malevolent.  It won’t be controlled or appeased, it is seemingly all conquering.  If I were Lars, I’d move, but he doesn’t.  So Laurel.
This book is not literature in the way most of us are used to.  That is apparently the point of it, but even though it celebrates the end of the “novel”, it somehow becomes one.  For me, it was like waking up with sleep in your eyes and struggling to focus.  Things won’t become clear as you try harder to focus on them, but once you gave in to the lack of clarity as the book went on,  things did become clearer and plot and character did appear, although not of an ordinary nature.  Funny and refreshing, enjoyable…but not a beach read.

Average score 3.5 out of 5 
Review by Joe Igoe

JFDI BOOK NO.4 SPURIOUS Lars Iyer

SPURIOUS  by Lars Iyer

Spurious follows W. and Lars, who dream of great philosophical and literary deeds as they bumble drunkenly through Europe. It's a raucous debut novel that forever ping pongs between intellectual seriousness and absurdist British comedy. The novel speaks with equal wit and insight on Spinoza's Ethics, the virtues of 'man bags' and why Poles are the best drinkers. It is Franz Kafka, Laurel & Hardy, Thomas Bernhard, Ricky Gervais, Maurice Blanchot and Monty Python all at once. Witty, suicidal, slapstick, foolish and profound, Spurious marks the arrival of a singular and electric new literary voice."

Chosen by Joe Igoe

The next meeting will tentaively be on Thursday, 14th March at the Fox and Anchor

REVIEW:CHRONICLE IN STONE

Chronicle In Stone—This was my JFDI Book Club selection, chosen because of a glowing review I read of the author’s body of work. Published in 1971 by Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, it’s a boy’s account of the people and events of “a strange city...old and made of stone,” one “set at a sharper angle than perhaps any other city on earth” and where “it was hard to believe...the tender flesh of life survived and reproduced.”   Those opening descriptions set the tone for a book that contains elements of European tradition even as it defies them.  Like Albania itself. 

Reading a book in translation is always fraught with interpretive danger, one magnified when the book is long on theme and imagery and short on plot and pathos.  What is invariably missed is the poetry of the language.  And yet the poetry of the imagery—e.g., the cistern, the slaughterhouse, the citadel, the aerodrome—is here in abundance. By adopting the narrative voice of a pre-adolescent boy, Kadare assumes the role of an observer of things elemental and not abstract. There are no value judgements about the people, their actions or the events that are taking place. And those events are extraordinary, as the chronicle covers the years from 1939 to 1943, when Albania and the stone city were invaded by the Italians, the Greeks and the Germans.

The book therefore puts a big burden on the reader used to a Western literary tradition that usually makes it easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys, especially in books about war, where lines of morality are sharply drawn.  Here, though, in a positively medieval society where ancient prejudices and superstitions form the moral code, the ability to relate to characters without the slightest sense of place in a truly global event is a real challenge. But ultimately that is what makes this book so different from any other I have read.  And different in this case translates as memorable.

At the JDFI get-together I gave this book 4 stars, but after writing this review, I’m giving it 5. Go on, call it self-justification; I dare yuh. Other scores at the confab were a 4 and two 3s. But we all gave the food and beer at the Fox & Anchor a 6. Big thanks to Mike for choosing the venue. Bigger thanks for him opting to stay home and not projectile-vomit all over our cosy little room at the inn.    

Feliz Navidad, Prospero Ano y Felicidad

El Hombre Sin Nombre

T. Fred Wells

JFDI BOOK NO. 3 CHRONICLE IN STONE Ismail Kadare

CHRONICLE IN STONE by Ismail Kadare

Looks like it's my turn to pick the book and I'm going with CHRONICLE IN STONE by Ismail Kadare.  Until a month ago I had never heard of the author or any of his works, but I found out about him via a recent Independent review of a novel he has just published.  Turns out he has been a leading literary figure in his home country of Albania since his first book was published in 1963 and has been highly regarded in France for at least two decades.  It appears, though, that he has only recently been translated into English, as CHRONICLE IN STONE was written in 1971 but only translated into English in 2007.

Anyway, for a long time I've been curious about Albania, a country so contrarian even the Soviets didn't want it as a satellite, especially after I saw Randy Newman in concert in 1975 and he said that the song "Wedding in Cherokee County," which appeared on the Southern (US)-themed album GOOD OLD BOYS, was really about Albania. The song is hilarious. Albania is not. 

Date for the next JFDI con-fab is Wednesday 12 December.  Mike is going to arrange the venue.  'Til then... Tom.


Chosen by Tom Wells

1491 MEETING NOTE

1491 by Charles C Mann  (see earlier post for Alistair's written review).

We met at La Bodega Negra, a very good (if you can find it) Mexican Cafe/Restaurant which benefits from two entrances (benefits if you are trying to hide from somebody, that is). But I digress.

In attendance were Sergio, Eric, Tom, Mike, and Joe (eventually) and a few Margaritas and cervezas.

The consensus on the book after a lively two hour discussion was summed up by Mike: Don't believe the Man.

However, after you admit you don't believe the Man (ie. the purveyors of American history as we have been taught in schools), but that you do believe the Mann (the author's name) then he could have said what he had to say in about 100 pages less. We applauded his scholarship, and his writing, especially in the first part of the book when his revelations were fresh, but after a while it lacked narrative (Tom's comment) and was an effort to plough through (acknowledged by all). A book with 100 pages of notes appears more to be like a thesis.

So we learned a lot about a history which is at best asymmetrically taught by our Eurocentric educational system, namely that disease, not military prowess, brought an end to a rich Meso-american culture(s); that pigs are a pretty good weapon; that incest, mummification, and ritual sacrifices are not necessarily a recipe for long term survival, that (as an aside)carbon dating is fascinating and very clever; and that we certainly should maybe think twice before accepting blindly the history as written only by the victors.

One style point. We prefer Kindle books for notation.

Our next book will be suggested by Tom. It is a novel, our first fiction book for consideration. It is about Albania, and according to him, is reminiscent of Kafka. Details to follow.

OTHER COMMENTS ARE V.WELCOME.

FIELD TRIP REPORT-RUSHDIE SPEAKS

The most important things in a person's life are decided by others. So said Salman Rushdie before a packed theatre at UCL. The evening was to hear him discuss his book about living on the run for 12 years. The conclusion after a solid 1 1/2 hours was that far from being a hunted (haunted) man, he is a wry observer of what happens when you get on the wrong side of some stranger's decisions, in his case two Indian Muslim politicians trying to boost their election chances by gratuitously criticising someone else's words, and a dying Ayatollah. At least that is what Salman told us.

Having been informed by a colleague that the ante on the fatwa on Salman's life had been upped the previous week, it was with no small amount of concern that we approached the event after work, making nervous jokes about how we might be walking into an ambush.

No such concern. If anything, the atmosphere was too relaxed. Security? Chris's bike bag had sharp tools and a gas canister. No prob. Beer in the theatre? No prob. Racial profiling? You must be kidding.  

It was nonetheless a bravura performance, variously funny, perceptive, witty, pensive, and more-ish. Much too short a time, even with questions added on. The highlight for me was the story he told of one of his Alpha Squad minders, a man by the name of Fat Jack. While shepherding Salman and his son to a Fun Fair, he overheard Salman's son urging his father to win the biggest prize at the shooting gallery. 'Daddy, I want that one', pointing to the stuffed animal at the top, the one requiring all of the targets to be hit.  Fat Jack intervened. 'What's the problem, Mr. R?' Taking a quick look at the 'adjusted' sights on the air rifle, he slapped down his money, and Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam, they all fell in succession. 'There you are. Sorted.' 

Woebetide any potential assassin.

Made me resolve to read what all the fuss was about (yes, I for one was woefully unprepared, having read NONE of his works).

Which is, after all, the purpose of JFDI. To tread where you haven't before.

And Tom, no mean wry observer of life himself, came up with a slogan for JFDI apropos of any misplaced fear.

NO TREPIDATION.  J.F.D.I.