Ausonius

If I remember correctly, Georges Simenon cranked out a book in 4 to 6 weeks, so that he would have the rest of the year free for "adventures in society."

Amen! Examples: As far as we know, these authors were free of drugs while creating (or not creating): Vergil, Goethe, Thomas Mann, Jan Potocki, Tennyson, Dickens, Flannery O'Connor, Willa Cather, W.G. Sebald...

From a short review: http://blog.mises.org/archives/006264.asp

Many thanks for the recommendation: although I found The Cry of the Owl less than impressive, I will check out the Ripley books, and of course Strangers On A Train, despite having seen the movie several times.

I am re-reading I, Claudius by Robert Graves after many years. The book is written as an autobiography, recently unearthed. Graves was a classicist, and so the book contains some of his creative, but very logical, guesswork as to what might have been the motivations behind many ancient Romans. He also fills in gaps in the historical record with interesting theories. There is not a great amount of dialogue, since that would not have been the style of an ancient author. But certainly the characters and their interactions come to life most vividly! Many might know the book as a mini-series on the BBC in the 1970's, with Derek Jacobi as the nervous, sensitive, stuttering Claudius.

The Menace of the Herd was written by Austrian political writer Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn It can be downloaded for free here: http://mises.org/books/herd.pdf He wrote it under a pseudonym (Francis Campbell) since at the time of its publication (the middle of WW II) his very Germanic name would have prevented many sales. Why read it? He shows the links between Communism and Fascism (they are not really all that different, arriving at totalitarianism by different routes), and he also offers a pungent criticism of democracy and its dangers, especially the trend toward egalitarian democracy, where mediocrity is raised to a national goal and purpose. A challenge to the belief that "the will of the people" is somehow mystically unerring!

Porfiry Petrovich, the detective in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, is really one of the more original detectives ever created. Acting on a hunch, he plays subtle and not so subtle psychological games with Raskolnikov to confirm that Raskolnikov did indeed commit murder, and then continues to guide the student toward a confession. Columbo, the TV detective, is based directly on Porfiry Petrovich. Also: B

Another nominee - but with an * - is Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. The story, for those in Europe who might not be acquainted with it, deals with a (probably teenaged) soldier, a new recruit, at the beginning of the Civil War, and how he alternates between fighting and running away in disgrace in his first battle experience. The asterisk is for the two versions which exist now: the shorter originally published version is rather different from Crane's original manuscript, which was restored by Professor Henry Binder and published in 1979. The restored original is to be preferred over the rather severely truncated, and ultimately incompetently edited version, which many Americans read in school. I will not be too detailed in delineating the differences, so as not to spoil anyone's experience, but one critic remarked that the book must now be reinterpreted: the war becomes much more realistic, and the main character is a much more complex figure. So if you have not read the Binder version with Crane's original intentions intact, or have never read the book, this is the one to read.

David Lynch's movies have become almost impossible to decipher. But I find it fun trying to do so! Lynch is big with double identities, and people switching souls and/or bodies. Lost Highway is something of a precursor to Mulholland Drive. Inland Empire begins with Polish Rabbit People (yes, Polish Rabbit People) in some sort of quasi-Ionesco setting. Figure that out! For an easy-to-understand Lynch movie, and one with a rather spiritual message (for Christmas, although technically not a Christmas movie): The Straight Story.

My childhood was spent around some very low-class (economically) people, both relatives and acquaintances of various races on the edge of poverty and in poverty. Never did they say say anything - even when they thought we were not listening - that approaches the kind of obscenity and the amount of obscenity found in some so-called "realistic" novels and R-rated movies. The invention of the R-rated movie c. 1970, in my opinion, has led to more people who now do talk rather crudely: and yes, some "pop novels" have followed the trend of greater crudity. Some of the most hideous characters known are dealt with by Shakespeare, who wrote for the popular theater. Where are the "realistic" crudities?

Today's (Dec. 19, 2009) Wall Street Journal has a review of a monumental biography of Dostoyevsky, over 50 years in the making! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703442904574595130313483584.html An excerpt from Michael Dirda's review of Dostoyevsky: A Writer In His Time by Joseph Frank.

Okay, I finished The Cry of the Owl by Patricia Highsmith and am not too impressed by the overall effort after its initial pages. Some of the events are unexpected, but possibly in character, but just barely, which is why I am rather skeptical of the book overall. Other events were deducible in advance, but are marred by cliched scenes with Central-Casting characters, where stupidity reigns among average people, who in reality would never be quite so stupid. In comparison, Why Begins With W wins easily! A steamroller of a mystery novel!

Yes, many years ago! Hugo has a political purpose in his story, of course, but one of the more interesting themes is that of obsession. The detective's suicide, the logical result of a life of contradictions, reminds me of the character Naphta in Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain.

The Water of the Hills by Marcel Pagnol which is divided into two novels Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring (in French L'Eau des collines (Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources). These books have the impact of Sophoclean tragedy: they are some of the greatest stories in any language.

I am surprised that Thomas Mann's Death In Venice has not yet been mentioned, so...I am mentioning it! For a writer who tended to go overboard with the verbiage (although the verbiage is always of interest), Mann produced this succinct 75-page novella to symbolize "fin-de-siecle" Europe before WWI. The book is a microcosm of melancholy, one of the best evocations of life before 1914. Concerning the movie by Visconti from the 1970's: it changes the main character to a composer (mainly so that music by Gustav Mahler can therefore be used in the soundtrack) and adds a character modeled on composer Arnold Schoenberg.