Posts you had second thought about and decided not to post - put them here

No, it stems from the prose itself. The terror-stricken struggle with language is there at every step.

He speaks of writing as an 'obligation' to express.

fwiw I always got him confused with that comedian

Yeah, but Beckett was "performing" "Samuel Beckett" in a lot of his writing. Remember, his early stuff was super-Joycean and positively besotted with word-power and language's expressive capability. His later, minimal stuff was a reaction, and he fully understood the absurdity of what he was trying to do.

Hm. I understand your point now, but I know few writers for whom a struggle with language wasn't a terror!

though i do wish we had threads for shows like Insecure and Dear White People ...

*AHEM*
Issa Ray's "Insecure" HBO show

I am bummed no one posts on that thread but me tbh

most thread here could be titled Insecure and Dear White People imo

lol

*clink*

I didn't post about TM because it's like leaving a scribbled note at the foot of a mountain and besides I don't feel qualified (short version: I'm insecure and white). Then I dribbled some inadequate bollocks on the thread and am thinking I'll stick with my insecurity from now on.

Yeah, but Beckett was "performing" "Samuel Beckett" in a lot of his writing. Remember, his early stuff was super-Joycean and positively besotted with word-power and language's expressive capability. His later, minimal stuff was a reaction, and he fully understood the absurdity of what he was trying to do.

All writers perform 'themselves' on some level (and Beckett was more aware of this than most, as evidenced by the never-ending authorial chain in The Unnamable, for instance), but his early stuff is already shot through with 'great black pauses', as he says with reference to Beethoven's 7th. Its stylistic lavishness often comes across as a front, which is almost never the case in Joyce's writings.

Btw Alfred, you're certainly right to point out that a difficult relationship with language isn't necessarily indicative of terror or torture or tortuousness, etc. Conversely, some writers claim to loathe the ease with which they write. Whether this is made manifest in the prose (or poetry) itself varies from author to author, but I would argue that in Beckett's case it most certainly is (that said, the opposite argument has been made, and I don't think it unpersuasive!).

fair enough! That makes sense.

think yer all wrong and prob wilfully so but cba needling the winkle out of the shell

Conversely, some writers claim to loathe the ease with which they write

aaaaaah screw these people!

black, white, purple

aaaaaah screw these people!

cosign

most threads here could be titled "aaaaaah screw these people!"

aaaaaah screw these people!

― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili),

John Updike is dead!

Who are these writers that curse themselves for writing too easily? Damn their eyes.

“No it is not easy to write. It is as hard as breaking rocks. Sparks and splinters fly like shattered steel” Clarice Lispector.

Oh yeah, Updike. I imagine Paul Theroux is another.

aaaaaah screw these people!

― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili),

John Updike is dead!

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 8, 2019 11:25 AM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah but with updike you could really tell writing came easily

Trump calls the El Paso gunman a “coward” while speaking to local law enforcement. “He gave up, just gave up."

— Claudia Koerner (@ClaudiaKoerner) August 7, 2019

cannot

Re:writers and language, it makes me think of Nabokov's commentary on Lolita where he's like, "btw, I could have written this soooo much better in Russian," when most writers in English would kill to be able to write like Nabokov.

https://am14.akamaized.net/med/cnt/uploads/2019/08/Twitter-Recoils-at-WH-Photo-Op-of-Trump-Posing-with-El-Paso-Orphan.jpg

Wow, this inspired poll idea is just what ILM needed!

lol speaking of petri dishes going sour

jesus u rly are just the american _____ arent u

he's coming to your board
with his righteous sword
he's the american ____________________

It's like ten spoons when all you need is a trife.

One of the train operators in the UK is called Trenitalia and I'm having a hard time ignoring that name. But people would probably be Offended if I suggested it would be a great name for trans genitalia, wouldn't they?

It's a state owned Italian train company, of course. We were stupid enough to privatise ours.

hey at least we are subsidising cheap train tickets for Madeleina Kay's well publicised European adventures, although it would be ideal if she could fly (off a bridge for starters!)

UK based private train operators received £3.8bn in gov subsidies last year, wonder how much of that went straight into the pockets of shareholders.

Finland is not part of Eastern Europe

See parenthesis.

I mean, you're technically correct, but these categories are quite porous in my book. And geographically, it's mostly East of Kaliningrad, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, etc.

Sure, but so is Greece. It's Northern Europe / Scandinavia, and it was a part of Sweden for far longer than it was a part of Russia. I mean, I'd ask my Finnish friend if she feels more connected to Sweden or Russia, but it would feel kinda silly, since we speak Swedish with each other.,,

what if you asked her in russian

Before long, it shall again become a part of Sweden, god willing. The days of Finnish sovereignty are numbered, of this I promise you.

finn de siècle

Greece is also arguably part of Eastern Europe. See: Byzantium, Orthodox Christianity, etc.

Finland is undoubtedly not Eastern European if we go by the usual taxonomy. But these things are hardly set in stone (see also: is Mexico part of North or Central America? is the Czech Republic Central or Eastern European? etc.).

it's all basque to me

On a completely unrelated note, the z isn't silent. It would have made for a solid pun otherwise.

Byantium?

lol, it didn't cross my mind. That particular post was in reference to something else entirely.

well youre focusing on what matters anyway

What becomes of the broken-tarted

Finland is not scandinavian

nabisco otm