tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post1374644857377079994..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Words that caress, words that cutJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-78148252043509207932009-07-08T22:46:01.800-07:002009-07-08T22:46:01.800-07:00Nancy--at last blogspot.com let you in directly!! ...Nancy--at last blogspot.com let you in directly!! Best wishes for the new blog.<br /><br />Carol--yes, it's a puzzling place, full of contradictions. Must be human beings living there!! In any case, my impression of Akunin and his reputation is that he's taken quite seriously as a scholar of Japanese culture. I really do plan to read his fiction, just haven't had time and access so far.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-27706387675085647172009-07-08T17:30:13.450-07:002009-07-08T17:30:13.450-07:00If you insist.If you insist.Nancynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-34397163176665069882009-07-07T09:39:56.845-07:002009-07-07T09:39:56.845-07:00Oh, my heavens! I certainly didn't mean to emb...Oh, my heavens! I certainly didn't mean to embarrass you, Johan. I'm sorry. <br /><br />He's got a new series that features a 19th-century mystery-solving nun, Sister Pelagia. I've wondered if he's using the series to comment on the Orthodox church in Russia.<br /><br />What I've noticed about the prose-in-translation is that he sets up this rather merry contract with the reader: Isn't this a fun kind of grown-up fairy tale? Wink-wink. And then he'll violate that contract with instances of rather creepy violence and then he'll pull you right back in while you're still coping with your disorientation.<br /><br />It's making me want to learn Russian so I can read him in the original. (I hear he's wonderful.)<br /><br />And it also has me wondering if he's making some statement about Russia. Or if it's not that deep and he merely lacks empathy. <br /><br />He's puzzling. But then, so's Russia, right?Carolhttp://among.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-62362474736817405132009-07-06T19:26:08.696-07:002009-07-06T19:26:08.696-07:00*blush* This is where I publicly admit that I'...*blush* This is where I publicly admit that I've not read a single Akunin novel....Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-57352641861838409132009-07-05T06:08:51.339-07:002009-07-05T06:08:51.339-07:00You might want to compare Smith's African myst...You might want to compare Smith's African mysteries to the mysteries he's written with the Scots detective.<br /><br />I've read one of those, and as I recall it was comparably primitive. <br /><br />I think Smith is one of those writers who simply isn't very good, but it doesn't matter because he has tapped into something that satisfies anyway.<br /><br />Now, Johan, what does the prose of Boris Akunin tell us about Russia? and should Obama be reading Akunin's books in preparation for his trip?Carolhttp://among.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-82777087057984883682009-07-03T11:15:31.823-07:002009-07-03T11:15:31.823-07:00I don't know Botswana either. In commenting on...I don't know Botswana either. In commenting on Smith's prose, I think I'm just as much commenting on my own biases and worldview. Certainly I recognize the conversational and ruminating style, and lyrical turns of phrase, from other African cultures. <br /><br />And, I'm on to the third novel.... Great antidote to my other reading this morning--all the public advice Obama is getting in advance of his Russian trip.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-20509925354298292102009-07-03T11:11:45.672-07:002009-07-03T11:11:45.672-07:00Johan,I enjoyed your thoughts on A.M. Smith's ...Johan,I enjoyed your thoughts on A.M. Smith's wacky African detective series and must admit to being a much less critical reader than you. Hal and I have read them all, out loud no less. I have another perspective on the style and tone of the books. You wrote of "cotton-candy prose" and a "kind, lyrical, thinking-out-loud, often skippy style." Good description. It is different from prose from the "West," and that may be its strength. I think Smith is trying to immitate an African oral communication style (similar to a Latin American oral style), and it is "lyrical and skippy" and probably meant to be "thinking-out-loud." I don't know Botswana culture and I know no women from there, but it seems authentic, probably because I've studied communication styles from other similar cultures. It's caused us both to wonder how a European male author, in spite of his many years in Botswana, could so get inside the head of an African woman. If, indeed, that's what he does. Anyway, thanks again for making me think. Always a good exercise.Nancy Thomashttp://www.barclaypress.com/cafewriters.php/2008/04/09/nancy-thomasnoreply@blogger.com