- I'll read a book of every of the Nobel Prize for Literature Laureates, in chronological order.
Yeah... I'd love to bend that rule, really.
The two problems I have with Mommsen are that as great and interesting "A History of Rome" is, it is
a) hard to find: in the whole of Berlin, there is one library that offers it to take it home (and I'm certainly not reading eight volumes crouched in the stale air of the library reading rooms), and I'm not willing to pay €35 per volume to have it around for longer than the four weeks the library grants you, which is a problem because
b) you need a good amount of time to read. It's harder to read than the average textbook I read for class and you certainly can't read it in the subway on your way to and fro. You need quiet and calm, and worse, you need a clear, concentrated, craving mind.
And since all my craving at the moment is reserved for "The umlaut as a constant in the history of the german language" and reconstructed proto-indo-european laryngals... I'd love to change for something a bit less intense.
But then, I made the rules, I'm going to follow them. No Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson until the end of the Roman Empire.
Mommsen taught at the university I currently study at, actually. I walk past his bust occasionally, and when no one's watching, I wink at him.
Donnerstag, 24. Juni 2010
Montag, 12. Oktober 2009
1902: Theodor Mommsen - Römische Geschichte
"The greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A history of Rome."
"A history of Rome" consists of eight volumes, so I'm going to update this post as I go along.
(Kudos to Gosia who said "it must available as audiobook!" which I didn't believe, but you never know with geeks and literature! librivox is a great public domain reading project by the way!!)
Mommsen was German and wrote in German as I will be when it comes to quotations. I'll probably quote a lot because he has a very ornate yet sharp-cut style, and even a good sense of humour - "Keine Kunde, ja nicht einmal eine Sage erzählt von der ersten Einwanderung des Menschengeschlechts in Italien; vielmehr war im Altertum der Glaube allgemein, daß dort wie überall die erste Bevölkerung dem Boden selbst entsprossen sei."
(I checked the dwds corpus about the word "entsprießen" - he's not the only one to use it, but the last entry I found for it is from the year my grandfather was born).
More to follow!
"A history of Rome" consists of eight volumes, so I'm going to update this post as I go along.
(Kudos to Gosia who said "it must available as audiobook!" which I didn't believe, but you never know with geeks and literature! librivox is a great public domain reading project by the way!!)
Mommsen was German and wrote in German as I will be when it comes to quotations. I'll probably quote a lot because he has a very ornate yet sharp-cut style, and even a good sense of humour - "Keine Kunde, ja nicht einmal eine Sage erzählt von der ersten Einwanderung des Menschengeschlechts in Italien; vielmehr war im Altertum der Glaube allgemein, daß dort wie überall die erste Bevölkerung dem Boden selbst entsprossen sei."
(I checked the dwds corpus about the word "entsprießen" - he's not the only one to use it, but the last entry I found for it is from the year my grandfather was born).
More to follow!
1901: Sully Prudhomme - Journal Intime
"In special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect"
There is a series in Coron Publishing Zurich that's called "Nobel Prize in Literature", and "Journal Intime et Pensées" is Volume 1. It includes a short history of the awarding of the first Nobel Prize in Literature to Sully Prudhomme - a lot of people thought Leo Tolstoi should have been the one and wrote a letter to him in apology. (Tolstoi answered humbly saying he didn't mind and he very much preferred the sympathy and honour coming with the letter, subscribed by people such as August Strindberg and later nobel prize laureate Selma Lagerlöf).
So:
I found it genuinely awe-inspiring that someone who, besides studying engineering and law, in his spare time writes a diary that is of such precision, full of analytical insights, even though some of which have been rendered obsolete by the course of time and now are left to seem like mere living room psychology.
Still: I liked this book a lot because it's very self-reflective and because some aspects of the life he describes and opinions he holds are still valid, and relevant, today, but the most interesting parts I found to be those that describe the life and society of his time (Paris in the 1860s) in aspects that differ from the society we live in today, writing with total confidence things society would oust you for today.
(I had a german copy, translated by Gerda Munk and Hans Roesch. The translations below are mine).
October 1st, 1862
"Good day. Roman law - worked with joy... I am worth more than I thought." and
June 20, 1868
"I have the bad habit of getting up late. Not that I enjoy staying in bed after having awoken, but indescribable fatigue holds me. Getting up costs me an effort. I'm sorry about the morning hours, the only cool ones of the day, where the mind is light, clear and quickened..."
(I find it very easy to identify with somebody that has trouble getting out of bed and feels his self-esteem rise after a good day of work, it's nothing to be proud of except for the honesty to admit it to oneself).
He wasn't married, saying "I think that, once I'm old, I am not going to say this word [love] anymore; it only belongs with lips that kiss" (6/23/1868), yet he had some very wise things to say about it - "the punishment for him who doesn't love is that he doesn't enjoy being loved" (1/27/1869).
However, the parts I liked best were similar to this one:
"(...) the woman has to obey unless the husband submits to her command; for want of a majority, votings can only separate. So the man is the master in his own house because he made its foundation. He can't force the woman to stay with him, but is she with him, she must obey. (11/29/1864)
It goes on like that for a good bit and then every once in a while, and I find it curiously philosophic.
Did I enjoy reading this book? Yes, even though probably for the wrong reasons.
Will I read more by this author? Probably not, but I copied some of his aphorisms for future use.
Do I recommend this book? I don't know, I'm certainly not discouraging you, it may be hard to come by though.
There is a series in Coron Publishing Zurich that's called "Nobel Prize in Literature", and "Journal Intime et Pensées" is Volume 1. It includes a short history of the awarding of the first Nobel Prize in Literature to Sully Prudhomme - a lot of people thought Leo Tolstoi should have been the one and wrote a letter to him in apology. (Tolstoi answered humbly saying he didn't mind and he very much preferred the sympathy and honour coming with the letter, subscribed by people such as August Strindberg and later nobel prize laureate Selma Lagerlöf).
So:
I found it genuinely awe-inspiring that someone who, besides studying engineering and law, in his spare time writes a diary that is of such precision, full of analytical insights, even though some of which have been rendered obsolete by the course of time and now are left to seem like mere living room psychology.
Still: I liked this book a lot because it's very self-reflective and because some aspects of the life he describes and opinions he holds are still valid, and relevant, today, but the most interesting parts I found to be those that describe the life and society of his time (Paris in the 1860s) in aspects that differ from the society we live in today, writing with total confidence things society would oust you for today.
(I had a german copy, translated by Gerda Munk and Hans Roesch. The translations below are mine).
October 1st, 1862
"Good day. Roman law - worked with joy... I am worth more than I thought." and
June 20, 1868
"I have the bad habit of getting up late. Not that I enjoy staying in bed after having awoken, but indescribable fatigue holds me. Getting up costs me an effort. I'm sorry about the morning hours, the only cool ones of the day, where the mind is light, clear and quickened..."
(I find it very easy to identify with somebody that has trouble getting out of bed and feels his self-esteem rise after a good day of work, it's nothing to be proud of except for the honesty to admit it to oneself).
He wasn't married, saying "I think that, once I'm old, I am not going to say this word [love] anymore; it only belongs with lips that kiss" (6/23/1868), yet he had some very wise things to say about it - "the punishment for him who doesn't love is that he doesn't enjoy being loved" (1/27/1869).
However, the parts I liked best were similar to this one:
"(...) the woman has to obey unless the husband submits to her command; for want of a majority, votings can only separate. So the man is the master in his own house because he made its foundation. He can't force the woman to stay with him, but is she with him, she must obey. (11/29/1864)
It goes on like that for a good bit and then every once in a while, and I find it curiously philosophic.
Did I enjoy reading this book? Yes, even though probably for the wrong reasons.
Will I read more by this author? Probably not, but I copied some of his aphorisms for future use.
Do I recommend this book? I don't know, I'm certainly not discouraging you, it may be hard to come by though.
About this Blog
Have you ever heard of Knut Hamsun? Grazia Deledda? Giorgios Seferis? Nagib Mahfuz? (If you have - that's great! You don't need to read on though.)
If you haven't - you're in company!
They have something in common with John Steinbeck, Jean-Paul Sartre, G.B. Shaw and 99 others - they all won the Nobel Prize for Literature at some point.
How come we know and revere some of them, and completely forgot about the others? Is there a such thing as timelessness when it comes to literature which some works have and others don't? Are all works that once were named the "most outstanding work in an ideal direction" still accessible, profitable in one way or another?
Now I don't know a lot about literature except that I'm fond of reading and I've done so a bit, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll read every work the price has been awarded to up till now and see what I think. Are you with me?
The rules are:
- I'll read a book of every of the Nobel Prize for Literature Laureates, in chronological order.
- If the prize is awarded for a specific work, or a specific work is mentioned in the announcement, that's the pick. If the prize is awarded for life's work, I'll try and choose something representative, I'll use critics and literary reviews to figure it out.
- I'll read the books in the original language if I know it and can get hold of a copy in the original language. I'll read an english or german translation if I can't.
- If I've read the work already, I can leave it out. If I've read a translation even though I'm fluent in the language, I'll read it again in the original version.
- If, in a given year, two prices have been awarded, I'll read a book of each author.
- I'll blog about it! One post per book.
See you around!
If you haven't - you're in company!
They have something in common with John Steinbeck, Jean-Paul Sartre, G.B. Shaw and 99 others - they all won the Nobel Prize for Literature at some point.
How come we know and revere some of them, and completely forgot about the others? Is there a such thing as timelessness when it comes to literature which some works have and others don't? Are all works that once were named the "most outstanding work in an ideal direction" still accessible, profitable in one way or another?
Now I don't know a lot about literature except that I'm fond of reading and I've done so a bit, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll read every work the price has been awarded to up till now and see what I think. Are you with me?
The rules are:
- I'll read a book of every of the Nobel Prize for Literature Laureates, in chronological order.
- If the prize is awarded for a specific work, or a specific work is mentioned in the announcement, that's the pick. If the prize is awarded for life's work, I'll try and choose something representative, I'll use critics and literary reviews to figure it out.
- I'll read the books in the original language if I know it and can get hold of a copy in the original language. I'll read an english or german translation if I can't.
- If I've read the work already, I can leave it out. If I've read a translation even though I'm fluent in the language, I'll read it again in the original version.
- If, in a given year, two prices have been awarded, I'll read a book of each author.
- I'll blog about it! One post per book.
See you around!
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