The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald

The Rings of Saturn is an account of the author’s walking tour of East Anglia. In addition to describing the places he sees and people he encounters Sebald also discusses various episodes of history and literature, including the introduction of silkworm cultivation to Europe and the writings of Thomas Browne, which attach in some way to the larger text.

Ever one to turn an edgy phrase, Dennis referred to the book as “literary molasses”, emphasizing the bleakness of mankind. Readers (not all of the members, you slackers! oops, I’m on of them!) professed ambivalence to the work, noting that the sparks were there, although hard to find. The snippets of history were seen as interesting and educative, although coldly rendered. Leanne noted what she sees as the European sensibility of the book, perhaps somewhat arcane for those antipodeans among us.

Sebald’s aims seem somewhat obscure, and again Dennis came up with a pertinent line in noting that the book could alternatively be titled “The Rings of Uranus”.

Scores were:

Andrew 7
Dennis 2
Leanne 7
Kevin 7

Bringing the score down to 6.

The next book will be Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, chosen by Leanne.

Congratulations to Denis on his Matinee Idol performance with the Ashfield Musical Society on Saturday Night. And good luck to Mark (hey that's me) for my next try with Club Jazz Sydney at the Manhattan Lounge again this coming Wednesday.

Mark

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood was an inspired choice by Dennis, who also hosted the BBC with typical aplomb. 

The Handmaid's Tale takes place in the Republic of Gilead, a country formed within the borders of what was originally the United States of America after nuclear, biological, and chemical pollution rendered a large portion of the population sterile and a staged terrorist attack killed the President and Congress. After the attack, a revolution occurred which deposed the United States government and abolished the US Constitution. New theocratic governments, including the Republic of Gilead, were formed under the rule of a military dictatorship.

The story is told from the point of view of a woman called Offred, who is kept by the ruling class as a concubine ("handmaid") for reproductive purposes shortly after the beginning of what is called in the epilogue the Gilead period. The story's narrative is disjointed and out of order and ends abruptly, which is revealed at the end to be caused by its supposedly having been narrated onto a series of unnumbered audio tapes.

BBC members were disturbed by many of the book’s scenes, which although presented in a matter of fact way, presented events such as organized rape, the shredding of imperfect babies. Beyond the scope of imagination, but at the same time with touches of irony, such as in the naming of social groups, including terms such as the “econowives”. An invocation of imagination both spare and highly provocative. Members also noted touches of John Wyndham, and interesting analogies to current events, despite the book having been written over 20 years ago. Members seemed to be able to relate themselves to particular groups within Gilead, such as Al as the fitting comfortably into the Econowife category.

Dennis 8.5
Al 8.5
Andrew 8.5
Kevin 8.5
Mark 9
Mary 8
Score: 8.5

A 1990 film adaptation was directed by Volker Schlöndorff, with the screenplay written by Harold Pinter. It starred Natasha Richardson (Offred), Faye Dunaway (Serena Joy), Robert Duvall (Fred), Aidan Quinn (Nick), and Elizabeth McGovern (Moira).[5] MGM released the film on DVD in 2001.

This can be viewed on YouTube at: 

The Handmaid's Tale

There is also an operatic adaptation, written by Poul Ruders, which premièred in Copenhagen on March 6, 2000, and ran at the English National Opera in London in 2003. There is a full-cast dramatization, produced for BBC Radio 4 by the award-winning John Dryden in 2000. A straight stage adaptation by Brendon Burns was toured by the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke, UK in 2002

For the next book Andrew, who will also host on 20 May, has chosen “The Rings of Saturn” is by WG Sebald. 

My Secret History - by Paul Theroux

Kevin chose My Secret History by Paul Theroux, and hosted superbly as always on a balmy evening with kickass views of the city and Santa Maria.

We welcomed Mary to the group and she is now enjoying our Hans Fritzel style initiation under the floor of Kevin's Victoria Street terrace. See you in 25 years upon your release Mary. Well, how tasteless!  .. welcome to the club Mary and see you next time.

My Secret History

Barbara Hoffert of the Library Journal put it thus:

From an early adolescence torn between a call to the priesthood and the call of the flesh, through late-adolescent sexual initiation and a young adult's escapades as a teacher in Africa, to a grown man's crisis in marriage, Theroux recounts the "secret history" of Andy Parent, a writer suspiciously resembling Theroux himself. That the purpose is to show a man "writing for his life," his fragmented self so healed by making "something new of his experience" that his work is seen metaphorically as "going home," is not apparent until the final pages, and though these pages dazzle they hardly seem novelistic. For the reader, Andy's impulse to write is buried in the unending description of his numerous liaisons--there is enough sexual endeavour here to bore the most prurient among us. Indeed, his comment, "My being inarticulate was probably the reason I had become a writer," serves to highlight Theroux's own failure to articulate the connections between Andy's early life and later self-discovery as a writer. A tantalizing novel whose occasional power suggests how much better it could have been.

It was interesting to hear the views of women members who tended to see the female characters as "issue" characters - while I, in my usual naiveté simply saw them simply as well described individuals, belonging to their times ... so there you go. Nevertheless the women voters ranked the work highly, while the overall score was dragged down by a disdainful (but well argued) assessment by Andrew.  Mark

Kevin 8.5

Andrew 4.5

Mary 8

Mark 8

Leanne 9

Score: 7.5

The next book  is Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaids Tale' chosen by Dennis who will host on Wednesday April 15th.

Eat, Pray, Love ............

The BBC was recently superbly hosted by Helen, who made the choice of "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia", a memoir by American author and memoirist Elizabeth Gilbert.

At 32, Gilbert was educated, had a home and a husband, and successful career as a writer. However, she was not happy; she was depressed with her marriage, often spending the night crying on her bathroom floor. She divorced her husband and entered into a relationship with another man, but this relationship did not work out either. She decided that she needed a change. She spent the next year travelling the world. She spent four months in Italy, eating and enjoying life (Eat). She spent four months in India, trying to find her spirituality (Pray). She ended the year in Bali, Indonesia, looking for "balance" of the two, and love (Love).

The escapades of a silly and spoiled American? surprisingly not it seems, from the readers, who felt she had great heart, and an intimate and humanistic tone to which they could easily relate.

Five members present had read the book and returned the following scores:

Natalie 8.5
Kevin 7
Leanne 8
Henri 8.5
Helen 8
Score 8

Mark & Andrew were also present but hadn’t read the book (oh the shame of it all), but nevertheless managed to inject gratuitous and irrelevant commentary into the discourse, thereby maintaining BBC’s existing standards of intellectual aridity and tedious self referential allusion.

The next choice is “Secret History” by Paul Theroux chosen by Kevin and also to be hosted at Casa del Kevin in Potts Point on March 11.

We look forward to welcoming Mary to the BBC, and hope that she is able to endure the shock of our secret initiation ceremony (just in case you are reading this Mary).

Chocolate for Xmas 2008

Thanks to Al for his Mexican Fiesta Christmas. Good food, good stories, good photos and good books. Dennis has read his from cover to cover 8 times already! For those that weren't there Nathalie's story was chosen as the best and Dennis picked all five authors. Marching Powder got a score of 4.8 and was generally thought to be readable but with no great depth, the main character wasn't likeable (and wasn't 100% believed) and nobody expected Rusty to write another! ... for the stories and photos see >> click here

Al 6
Kev 6
Dennis 3
Henri 4
Mark 6
Leanne 4
Nat Abstain!

Helen, has graciously offered to host the next BBC and her book choice is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.