tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post471847960321257878..comments2024-03-09T00:19:36.011-08:00Comments on Reading the Short Story: Aleksandar Hemon's "Love and Obstacles"--English as a Second Language, and the Writer as DrinkerCharles E. Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-9995930689841009632011-03-03T07:40:41.941-08:002011-03-03T07:40:41.941-08:00Interesting to read this. I read 'Nowhere Man&...Interesting to read this. I read 'Nowhere Man' some years ago and liked it but I tried to read it again recently and I found his oddly self-conscious vocabulary getting in the way. I haven't read The Lazarus Project.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-36998056409453339272010-01-23T13:22:00.517-08:002010-01-23T13:22:00.517-08:00I have the same concerns with Hemon but "The ...I have the same concerns with Hemon but "The Lazarus Project" throws them all to the wind. It is truly a great work. Please take the time to read it. You will not be disappointed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-29524723250070138082009-12-27T23:35:48.090-08:002009-12-27T23:35:48.090-08:00Opulently I assent to but I think the list inform ...Opulently I assent to but I think the list inform should prepare more info then it has.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-67177329927315516012009-05-01T21:46:00.000-07:002009-05-01T21:46:00.000-07:00I guess Hemingway is the supreme writer as drinker...I guess Hemingway is the supreme writer as drinker. Perhaps a writer hopes to place himself in the category of Hemingway, and in general, of the Outsider, by having a character (one that the reader closely aligns with the writer) get liquored up now and again. But perhaps too, it's a strategy, or perhaps a cheat, pushing the story to a crescendo with a character's binge drinking/snorting/toking session. I know, because I've done it (I mean with a story!). <br />And then maybe it's just a way for writers (bookish, generally introverted, and frankly quite boring) to give themselves a little bit of street cred.<br />I have read only one of Hemon's stories, and I recall that I enjoyed reading all the details of a foreign world (foreign to me). But I didn't read it with a very critical eye, and I didn't know that he was making such a big literary splash. <br />Have you read David Bizmosgis? I don't mean to lump them into the Eastern European category, but I really love his short story collection Natasha, and I felt that the quality of his stories warranted the praise they were receiving. <br />Like Sandy, I'm a bit behind in my reading here. I'm still in February.<br />I just received "The Expendables" and am slowly working my way through it. My feelings about the collection are mixed (well, I just started it). The stories feel a bit unfinished. Perhaps this was largely her MFA work? Still, I very much liked "Affair Lite." I've just started the title story.Beckynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-85018673453334756092009-04-27T17:22:00.000-07:002009-04-27T17:22:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.sandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06340926676441895949noreply@blogger.com