Medlem: dougwood57

Yeah, Doug: back in the freaky sixties and seventies, I had every comic by R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodrigues that I could find. Then I lost 'em all when my house got raided while I was on vacation. I'll never know who took 'em all, but I believe it was the cops.

Thing about Crumb's "Genesis," it's got me stymied: It is not a parody, it's the real thing, straight-up. I can't understand why he did it. I mean, I'd have bought it anyway, but I was expecting something totally different. Has the guy who gave us Mr. Natural, the Sewer Snoids, Eggs Ackley, and Angelfood McSpade gone Jesus on me? Jesus! I hope not.

skrevet af dekesolomon kl. 11:46 pm (EST) den Nov 30, 2009

I'm very definite on what happened to Fussell. I'm very definite on that because I read Paul Fussell's personal account of the incident and his reaction to it. The only point upon which I'm hazy is I cannot remember if he ran away when his sergeant was hit or if he walked away a few minutes later. But I clearly remember "Fussell telling how, from that point forward, he "led" his company from a distance so far in the rear that his superiors finally had to relieve him to avoid the political embarrassment of a court-martial for cowardice" (quoting my previous post).

I see now that I wasn't clear when I introduced Fraser. I didn't mean that Fraser detested Fussell in particular. I meant that Fraser would have detested behavior such as I've described in the paragraph above, and most probably for the reason I gave. Fraser wouldn't hate a man because the man was fearful (Everyone is afraid in combat). Fraser would hate a man who ran away and left his mates (You don't ever run out on your buddies). It's that group thing again, you see.

I'm done. Let's drop this if you're willing.

skrevet af dekesolomon kl. 2:00 am (EST) den Nov 26, 2009

You wrote -- "In addition to Fussell's Wartime, I would also suggest that the reader try E.B. Sledge's memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. Readers may also enjoy Fraser's lesser known works of historical fiction based on his later WW II experiences in the Middle East, The Complete McAuslan: All the Hilarious McAuslan Stories in One Volume. "

Have you seen William Manchester's account of his experience as a Marine in the Pacific theater? It's called "Goodbye Darkness." I recommend it highly.

I plan to check out the WWI stories of Austria you mentioned.

Thanks!

Deke

skrevet af dekesolomon kl. 8:23 am (EST) den Nov 22, 2009

Part of Fraser's problem with Fussell surely has something to do with the fact that Fussell is a confessed coward. I myself enjoy Fussell a great deal. His books on The Great War, on Samuel Johnson and on travel Abroad, for example, have space on my shelf. I'm wound up to review Fussell's treatment of Kingsley Amis as soon as I find time to read it. As a fan of Robert Graves, I found "The Great War and Modern Memory" particularly appealing.

Anyway: my point thus far is that I'm in Fussell's corner. And I'm also in Fraser's corner, as you already know. All of that said, I now feel free to stick my foot in my mouth. So I will.

I read Fussell's account of his WWII experience. He was a company commander of infantry, a captain in charge of some hundred and eighty men during the invasion of (I believe it was) Southern France. He and his outfit were wound up to attack a German position when, suddenly, a German machinegun opened on them. Fussell was standing next to his top sergeant when a burst caught the sergeant full in the chest. Perhaps a dozen high-velocity, 8 mm rounds passed completely through the sergeant, killing him instantly. Fussell (standing next to and slightly behind the man) was liberally coated with splatter from the exit wounds. At that point, Capt. Fussell freaked. Memory fails me here, but I believe he ran away, leaving his men to sort out the situation for themselves. I DO remember Fussell telling how, from that point forward, he "led" his company from a distance so far in the rear that his superiors finally had to relieve him to avoid the political embarrassment of a court-martial for cowardice.

That is what I remember of Fussell's WWII tour in the infantry as Fussell himself recounted it. As a story, it's entirely believable. As behavior, it's entirely understandable. But if it's acceptable to some folks, it's entirely unacceptable to others -- as Fussell himself knows well. Fraser would count himself among the latter group.

What makes such behavior acceptable or unacceptable is the bone I'm picking here. Speaking strictly for myself (Who else could I speak for?), I think men like Fraser find it unacceptable not because it is cowardly -- everybody in combat is fearful -- but because it is a betrayal of the group. Instead of staying with his buddies, the fearful man has packed it in and left his mates to fend for themselves. In light of what I told you before, you can maybe see now why Fraser would regard Fussell's behavior as not merely unacceptable but utterly unforgivable.

I haven't read Fussell's WWII book, so I don't know how he treats the subject there. My sense of it is that Fussell had better be careful what he writes about men at war lest he find himself in the situation of an author who writes about love but knows absolutely nothing of tennis. It was Dr. Johnson who said: "I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read." And Fussell wrote a very good book about Dr. Johnson. . . .

Over to you, sir.

Deke

skrevet af dekesolomon kl. 8:11 am (EST) den Nov 22, 2009

Read yours on "Flashman and the Redskins." Some thoughts of my own --

Back in the seventies, I read every Flashman book I could get my hands on. Considering how they're now priced, I wish I had kept a few of them -- but that's beside the point. My POINT is that after the fifth or sixth one, they began to get boring for me. I mean it was the kind of thing -- I knew what was going to happen next before I turned the page. Like that.

I suppose that happens to every author who finds a groove like Fraser did. I mean, I've read most of Robert Graves' novels and HE doesn't have that problem, but Graves' novels (excepting only Proceed, Sgt. Lamb and Sgt. Lamb's America) all concern different characters. Graves wasn't stuck with the same protagonist bashing his way through similar situations. I've never read one of Zane Grey's novels or more than a couple by Louis L'Amour (ick!), so I can't talk about their work. But I know I had the same experience when, as a little boy, my mother tried feeding me the "Dave Dawson" series (R. Sidney Bowen). When, after the fifth or sixth one, I started to choke on those books, she took them from me and gave them to my kid brother who (she said) hadn't outgrown them yet.

I certainly haven't outgrown Flashman. I reread "Flashman" or "Flashman in the Great Game" or "Flashman at the Charge" every once in a while because they thrill me yet and sometimes still bring tears. Fraser at his best is the absolute best rum-and-strumpet history ever written as far as I'm concerned. Fraser at his worst is at least as good as the best of those who presently ride his coattails.

I quit reading new Flashman novels back in '80 or '82, thereabouts. Of course I quit buying them at the same time. Today I want a full set on my shelf, so I'll have to buy them all once again. Money is a bitch, don't you know.

About "Quartered Safe Out Here": from the remarks you make I take it you have never served. There's nothing wrong with that and I'm not here to pick a fight. I only want to tell you that service is so hard because -- just by being in it -- one learns things about people that most people who never serve never learn.

There's more to that "Band of Brothers" BS than you might believe, for example, but the things about it that are actually true never find their way into television productions. Among the many things one does learn, one learns what the people at home and especially those you think are closest to you (your brothers, sisters, mom, dad, etc.) really think about you. And you learn that simply by watching your mail. Who writes to you and who doesn't is telling. The excuses they make for not writing are telling.

My own experience was that I wrote home on my first night in boot camp -- they made every one of us write a note to our mothers -- and it was two months before my mother wrote back. I wrote to my girlfriend, and it was about six weeks before I heard back from her. When I heard back from my mother, most of the note was an explanation of the fact that she didn't have time to write sooner. I remembered then as I remember now that my mother sat at home every night in front of the TV set so it was hard to believe that she didn't have time. Same with my girlfriend and with everybody else who didn't have time. I made it a policy from that point forward to answer EVERY LETTER I got immediately, and I did so just like religion. Then, when I went home on leave, I sat with them and listened to them all complain because I didn't write more often. Back in my barracks, I checked with my friends and most of them had a similar experience. That's what you learn in the service about the people at home who claim to care for you.

In the barracks, on the other hand, you don't have to worry about being broke. Your friends all loan you money and cigarettes and buy your beers when you can't, and you do the same for them. When somebody gets a care package from home, everybody eats. If you fall down, they pick you up. If you get in a fight, they're right there at your back. If you can't carry your pack, they'll help you with your load. Everybody -- Every Swingin' Dick -- works and everybody fights and everybody shares. Everything. By and by, a guy comes to realize who cares for him and who doesn't. The folks at home come out on the short end of that stick most every time.

Combat, of course, puts an even bigger strain on relationships with those at home. Grunts don't wanna upset folks at home by telling them they're being shot at on a daily basis, so they tell 'em other stuff (We're quartered safe out here) stuff that they have to make up because folks at home can't handle reality and they don't want the folks to worry. Then when they get home, they find they still can't tell the folks about what they've been through because the folks simply won't believe it.

Today I am 61 years old and I understand that the best friends I ever had, the only people I ever knew who truly cared for me, the only true friends I've still got, was the gang of crazy killers I hung out with between my 20th and my 24th birthdays. Even today, 40 years later, if ever I'm in trouble, I could reach out to them if I chose to do so. Any of them can get a hand from me any time he needs one. Service forms bonds that can never be broken. Blood relation for the most part means nothing. My sisters and brothers have nothing to say to me nor I to them.

There it is.

That's why Fraser seems blind to you. The hell he had in Burma, he shared with the best men he ever knew. He would never speak ill of them nor of what they shared together.

skrevet af dekesolomon kl. 6:06 am (EST) den Nov 14, 2009

I really liked your review of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It breaks my heart a little when people assume that wickedly funny and deadly serious are incompatible, and that book has so many reviews that say "cute child classic!" or "Twain had absolutely no intention to add a moral element to this story" that it is a relief to see a review that appreciates the book's worth.

skrevet af jlelliott kl. 6:56 pm (EST) den Sep 23, 2009

i,too,loved The Stalin Epigram.

skrevet af berthirsch kl. 9:58 pm (EST) den Aug 29, 2009

Very interesting reviews you have posted. I'm the founder of Upublica (http://www.upublica.com), a free online publishing service - just started. I would be very happy to see your book reviews (and other stuff) on the site. You could use it as an alternative platform to share your thoughts. If interested all you need to do is register and you can start publishing.

Best
Thomas Vieth, London
My profile: http://www.upublica.com/profile_c/viewpr...

skrevet af vieth kl. 6:45 am (EST) den Jul 14, 2009

Don't mention it.

P.S. You have good taste.

skrevet af MyLoveForAugustus kl. 10:58 pm (EST) den Oct 2, 2007

Oops, looks like you have it already. My bad.

skrevet af MyLoveForAugustus kl. 12:05 am (EST) den Sep 28, 2007

I didn't know if you'd see the post in the ancient history group, so I thought I would message you just in case:

The best book I have read so far (and I have read MANY Augustus books) was Augustus: A Novel by John Edward Williams.

You don't have to be a scholar of Rome to enjoy it. It is written in epistolary form. It is a series of fictional letters from different people who lived during Augustus' time along with memoir and journal excerpts. It was such an interesting way to learn even more about what people may have been like as well as Augustus. Also, John Williams' writing was beautiful; almost every letter contained a poetic passage.

skrevet af MyLoveForAugustus kl. 12:02 am (EST) den Sep 28, 2007

I have to thank you ever so much about the information regarding Manil Suri. I bought "The Death of Vishnu" shortly after having been published. I have therefore waited for a long time. I will buy "The age of Shiva" right now. Once again, thank you.
Girkner

skrevet af Girkner kl. 8:16 am (EST) den Aug 17, 2007

Hi Dougwood57--I'm an HTML dummy, but I found the instructions here easy to follow: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.ph...

I hope this helps!

skrevet af DoctorRobert kl. 3:54 pm (EST) den May 30, 2007

dougwood57:

Thanks for your comment, and in response, I think P.G. Wodehouse is great!

I like all his characters, Wooster, Jeeves, Psmith, Mr.Mulliner, the Drones Club, etc....

While I can't say that I've read them all, I can say that I've read them *most*...

Glad to hear that you're a Biggins fan too... He doesn't get enough (or any) good press....

You may already know but it bears repeating that McBooks Press is reprinting all the Biggins' novels - including his last book, Tomorrow the World.

That's important as Tomorrow the World was printed in an infinitesmally small print run in the UK... It's a great book, but used copies (if you can find one) run into the hundreds of dollars!

Thanks, again for the comment.

mbahawk

skrevet af mbahawk kl. 8:07 pm (EST) den Feb 14, 2007

Doug, The Year of Three Battles was the first book I read by McLynn, but I thought it was quite good. He mentioned different interpretations of persons and events, and his take on things seemed thorough and extremely knowledgeable. My reaction to the works I mentioned stand in contrast to another book I recently got and read from the History Book Club, titled (I think) Queen Emma and the Vikings. That one, written by a non historian, was simplistic and poorly written, with a weak grasp of basic grammar and usage in several places and with a very simplistic take on the history. Dreadful and of no credit to the HBC.

skrevet af laceyvail kl. 8:16 am (EST) den Feb 5, 2007

Hi Dougwood, I don't know what I was thinking when I posted to you, but somehow I forgot that I also read Bryher's The Fourteenth of October, a novel about the conquest. The characters, like all of Bryher's, are unimportant folk, living on the edge of the events, but facing great changes in their world.

skrevet af laceyvail kl. 6:25 am (EST) den Jan 31, 2007

I'm intrigued by your determination to read simultaneously a non-fiction book and a fiction book on the same subject. Although I often read more than one book at a time, usually one of them is really light--a good thriller or mystery--and another a work of history or a more demanding novel. I did, however, spend most of last Christmas in 11th century England: I read 1066, The Year of Three Battles by Frank McLynn; Harold II, The Doomed Saxon King; and reread Howarth's 1066, the Year of the Conquest.

skrevet af laceyvail kl. 4:36 pm (EST) den Jan 29, 2007