Georges Bataille - Story of the Eye

Finished Watt, whoa... I'll can it til the discussion tomorrow (7 PM). In the meantime, thought I'd start repping for next month, we'll be reading Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye. Very quick book but a definite favorite. Only caveat: there's abundant lewd conduct and a bit of violence, so discretion is advised to those possessed of sensitive palettes... in other words, it's a crowd-pleaser! Discussion is February 12th at 7 PM.

In 1928, Georges Bataille published this first novel under a pseudonym, a legendary shocker that uncovers the dark side of the erotic by means of forbidden obsessive fantasies of excess and sexual extremes. A classic of pornographic literature, Story of the Eye finds the parallels in Sade and Nietzsche and in the investigations of contemporary psychology; it also forecasts Bataille's own theories of ecstasy, death and transgression which he developed in later work.
--from http://www.booksinc.net/book/9780872862098

Tonite: James Joyce's 'The Dead' -- Part 2 on KQED

"James Joyce's 'The Dead' -- Part 2
The show features "The Dead," by James Joyce, performed by Rene Auberjonois, Fionnula Flanagan and Isaiah Sheffer.
Sat, Jan 7, 2012 -- 8:00pm"
http://www.kqed.org/radio/programs/index.jsp?pgmid=RD41

Burroughs - The Junky's Christmas

Samuel Beckett - Watt

For next month, Samuel Beckett's Watt, discussion at 7 PM Sunday, January 8th 2012.  Should be awesome, y'all

In prose possessed of the radically stripped-down beauty and ferocious wit that characterize his work, this early novel by Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett recounts the grotesque and improbable adventures of a fantastically logical Irish servant and his master."Watt"is a beautifully executed black comedy that, at its core, is rooted in the powerful and terrifying vision that made Beckett one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century.

--from http://www.booksinc.net/book/9780802144485

Classics I Forgot to Read

At recent meetings, I've been terribly guilty of not repping my sister (parent?) book club which also meets at Books Inc in the Marina: Classics I Forgot to Read.  They'll be reading the excellent David Copperfield by Charles Dickens for January with a meeting on January 25th (they always meet the final Wednesday of each month except December).  Info: http://www.booksinc.net/localinterest/278531

etc etc

Awesome Kafka dissection tonight, I really got into the different views, thanks a bunch for participating.  I also thought the short story format worked pretty nicely, so I'll shoot for more of that in the future, although I realize if everyone hasn't read more or less the same stories it could be problematic; I'll try to be ultra specific henceforth.

Also, following up on Liz's point, here's the letter Kafka wrote to his father:
http://www.kafka-franz.com/KAFKA-letter.htm

I also had a recommendation for something of Beckett's novels for January, so I'm all about that!  Happy Thanksgiving, see ya December 11th at 7 PM!

Richard Brautigan

Yep, Kafka still on for this Sunday.  See ya at 7 PM sharp!

December selection: Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar, two novellas and poetry available in one volume, ISBN 9780395500767.  I've only read In Watermelon Sugar, which I think is an incredible piece of outsider literature with a distinctly bizarre American feel, simultaneously a product of its era and yet disembodied and idiosyncratic--"good for the soul" (sez the shelf talker).  I'm looking forward to discussing everything in this volume, but if you've only got time for one thing, Trout Fishing will probably be more than enough fodder for two hours' discussion.

Trout Fishing in America is by turns a hilarious, playful, and melancholy novel that wanders from San Francisco through America's rural waterways; In Watermelon Sugar expresses the mood of a new generation, revealing death as a place where people travel the length of their dreams, rejecting violence and hate; and The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster is a collection of nearly 100 poems, first published in 1968.
--from http://www.booksinc.net/book/9780395500767