Books discussion
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Just finished the biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and started:
Grendel, by JohN Gardner. A retelling of the Beowulf story from the POV of Grendel. Judging from the first chapter, there's an emphasis on the character of Grendel and how he is a monster and a person at the same time.
Grendel, by JohN Gardner. A retelling of the Beowulf story from the POV of Grendel. Judging from the first chapter, there's an emphasis on the character of Grendel and how he is a monster and a person at the same time.
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And I hate stupid people.
The World of Orbivm
And I hate stupid people.
The World of Orbivm
Re: What are you reading right now?
I don't know how they could retell Beowulf from the point of view of Grendel, in the story it served as about a single episode of the tale, and Grendel does little besides be of very evil origions, terrorise a land for 14 years (IIRC), and get it's arm torn off by Beowulf and bleed to death while trying to escape. You could hardly retell Beowulf from that perspective, you'd have to tell a diffrent story with the same characters.turin wrote: Grendel, by JohN Gardner. A retelling of the Beowulf story from the POV of Grendel. Judging from the first chapter, there's an emphasis on the character of Grendel and how he is a monster and a person at the same time.
I realy don't see why anyone would want to write that, unless for some reason they disliked the way Grendel was used in the origional story. Admittedly I don't really see why anyone would want to read a story from the point of view of Grendel especialy if they want to make him more of a person, so I'm probably missing the point entirely.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Well, yeah, "reimagining" more than "retelling". It doesn't change the facts of the story, but presents Grendel in a completely different light. Kind of like those versions of fairy tales where the villain is the hero (e.g. "the good wolf and the three evil pigs" - I have read a children's story with this premise).
For I am Turin Turambar - Master of Doom, by doom mastered. On permanent Wesbreak. Will not respond to private messages. Sorry!
And I hate stupid people.
The World of Orbivm
And I hate stupid people.
The World of Orbivm
- Girgistian
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I think the idea would be very interesting. Hell, I'd try it myself if it hadn't already been written.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Someday I'm going to write a new version of LotR, told from the Sauron's POV.
Tiedäthän kuinka pelataan.
Tiedäthän, vihtahousua vastaan.
Tiedäthän, solmu kravatin, se kantaa niin synnit
kuin syntien tekijätkin.
Tiedäthän, vihtahousua vastaan.
Tiedäthän, solmu kravatin, se kantaa niin synnit
kuin syntien tekijätkin.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
that'd be fun too you knowSgt. Groovy wrote:Someday I'm going to write a new version of LotR, told from the Sauron's POV.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
True, but that would be rather difficult to pull off in making the reader sympathize with pure evil...Girgistian wrote:that'd be fun too you know
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Re: What are you reading right now?
hehe, then you might like to read these
http://saurongorthaur.blogspot.com/ (has posts 1-20)
http://kunochan.com/sauron/ (has posts 12-41)
It is Sauron blogging! it starts from the Silmarillion and hasn't really gotten to the time of LoTr yet. XD
It has some offensive language in it just to forwarn you. But I guess that can be expected from the Dark Lord. XD
http://saurongorthaur.blogspot.com/ (has posts 1-20)
http://kunochan.com/sauron/ (has posts 12-41)
It is Sauron blogging! it starts from the Silmarillion and hasn't really gotten to the time of LoTr yet. XD
It has some offensive language in it just to forwarn you. But I guess that can be expected from the Dark Lord. XD
Re: What are you reading right now?
I've recently finished reading:
The Martian Way by Isaac Asimov. It's a good one of his, I think. Four novellas each with an interesting premise. All of them are told in dialogue, which is quite unnatural, but easy to read and works well IMO.
1984 by George Orwell. Great classic. I actually like best the excerpt from Goldstein's book on political philosophy. It has a good bit about the need for maintaining a perpetual war to use up/destroy the surplus production and to keep Party cohesion. For a while afterward I kept noticing examples of doublethink, especially in supermarkets. ASDA's "Spend and Save" being the best one, and, of course, the ubiquitous "Buy one get one free". I'll just have the free one please!
Contributions From a Potential Corpse by Eugene Halliday, my favourite philosopher. In this one is his definition of love as the 'will to work for the development of the potentialities of all beings'. He gives an account of consciousness as a continuous spatially extended field of sentience. The first half of the book is philosophy of mind, and later it becomes a collection of notes. He annoyingly suggests that atheistic materialist accounts of consciousness are doomed to fail but stops short, as far as I can tell, of saying exactly why. There's a nice definition of 'good': "To see the Absolute as the Good is to see it as the object or aim of the highest will. For Good is simply that which is willed. The Good is the object of appetite, the "universal wolf which at last eats up itself"."
The Martian Way by Isaac Asimov. It's a good one of his, I think. Four novellas each with an interesting premise. All of them are told in dialogue, which is quite unnatural, but easy to read and works well IMO.
1984 by George Orwell. Great classic. I actually like best the excerpt from Goldstein's book on political philosophy. It has a good bit about the need for maintaining a perpetual war to use up/destroy the surplus production and to keep Party cohesion. For a while afterward I kept noticing examples of doublethink, especially in supermarkets. ASDA's "Spend and Save" being the best one, and, of course, the ubiquitous "Buy one get one free". I'll just have the free one please!
Contributions From a Potential Corpse by Eugene Halliday, my favourite philosopher. In this one is his definition of love as the 'will to work for the development of the potentialities of all beings'. He gives an account of consciousness as a continuous spatially extended field of sentience. The first half of the book is philosophy of mind, and later it becomes a collection of notes. He annoyingly suggests that atheistic materialist accounts of consciousness are doomed to fail but stops short, as far as I can tell, of saying exactly why. There's a nice definition of 'good': "To see the Absolute as the Good is to see it as the object or aim of the highest will. For Good is simply that which is willed. The Good is the object of appetite, the "universal wolf which at last eats up itself"."
Good is simply that which is willed. - Eugene Halliday
Re: What are you reading right now?
So, I just finished the collection of Death myths by Schopf yesterday.
Now I can't decide which to read first:
Camus, "Der glückliche Tod" (The happy Death)
or
another collection of philosophical texts and poems called "Über den Tod" (About Death).
This decision is quiet difficult.
Now I can't decide which to read first:
Camus, "Der glückliche Tod" (The happy Death)
or
another collection of philosophical texts and poems called "Über den Tod" (About Death).
This decision is quiet difficult.
ThanatoNoth | Necromanteion | Undead Rights Protection Society
"The gods can demand nothing of me. Even gods answer to me, eventually. [...] I cannot be bidden, I cannot be forced. I will do only that which I know to be right." (Death in Pratchett's "Mort")
"The gods can demand nothing of me. Even gods answer to me, eventually. [...] I cannot be bidden, I cannot be forced. I will do only that which I know to be right." (Death in Pratchett's "Mort")
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Thanatos wrote:"Der glückliche Tod"
"Über den Tod"
"Death myths by Schopf"
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Yep. It is still as relevant as it ever was.bert1 wrote:1984 by George Orwell. Great classic.
Feel free to PM me if you start a new terrain oriented thread. It's easy for me to miss them among all the other art threads.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
War and Peace
Thank you President Bush
Ask not what wesnoth can do for you, but what you can do for wesnoth.-cobra
Ask not what wesnoth can do for you, but what you can do for wesnoth.-cobra
Re: What are you reading right now?
Something to say?Syntax_Error wrote:Thanatos wrote:"Der glückliche Tod"
"Über den Tod"
"Death myths by Schopf"
ThanatoNoth | Necromanteion | Undead Rights Protection Society
"The gods can demand nothing of me. Even gods answer to me, eventually. [...] I cannot be bidden, I cannot be forced. I will do only that which I know to be right." (Death in Pratchett's "Mort")
"The gods can demand nothing of me. Even gods answer to me, eventually. [...] I cannot be bidden, I cannot be forced. I will do only that which I know to be right." (Death in Pratchett's "Mort")
Re: What are you reading right now?
Yeah, in that post, your text, signature, name, and avatar referenced death 9 times.Thanatos wrote:Something to say?Syntax_Error wrote:
JW's Wesnoth personality quiz wrote:You are a Skeleton: a lifeless animation of bone controlled by a necromancer. See a therapist.