I was out at the end of my driveway, to keep the trick-or-treaters from having to climb up to our house, and to keep the dogs from barking at everyone. I was also reading because it was still light out. A group of adults was assembling on my street (we are apparently now a destination neighborhood) and one of them, looking at me, says "are you just, like, reading Beowulf for fun?" Indeed I am, friend.
Beowulf, tr. Heaney
I read this in 10th grade or so, when I started in on the classics but before I made it to Dante and subsequently turned in the first of many particular directions. There are apparently a lot of arguments about it, since there's only one source manuscript. It reads to me as purely Roman with Christian elements added as an afterthought. I say Roman rather than Greek (or European) because the violence is vivid and detailed, not unlike the Aeneid, and the interpersonal relations are something of an afterthought. The Christian lines are pretty basic and reveal little or no theological content, nor are they woven into the text. As for Heaney, it's pretty clear he's not attempting anything like a direct translation. Unlike a lot of critics when the translation first came out, I don't really mind the clear anachronisms and Irish-isms; I've read too many translations that do this to mind, and I do follow Borges in the idea that a strong enough story should be able to withstand and overcome any number of errors by a translator.
Metamorphoses, Ovid
Ovid's reputation as an explicit or crass poet made its way down to me, but gotta say, I don't see it at all. There's no shortage of moments that verge on the carnal--hard to talk about Jove without it--but it's mostly golden lights and implications of what happens with the cow or bull, but very direct detailed accounts of, say, Pentheus being ripped to pieces by the Bacchae, or what happens when Jove is not allowed to tone in down when he's with a human woman. Lurid violence and very little actual sex for all the sex that's supposedly happening--very 21st century.
On a larger level, the famous stories are all famous if you know anything about mythology; my childhood book of "Greek myths" was almost entirely from Ovid. The obscure ones are obscure for a reason.
Our Mutual Friend
There are *at least* two different traps being set right now, where a character is attempting to hold out on information they have to gain an advantage over people who are trying to hurt them. I cannot decide whether this violates my rule of "read no book where the central mystery goes away if the main character just directly talk to each other". I have a real problem with John Rokesmith/Harmon's plot to pretend to be poor, get fired, marry a woman who he was concerned was a gold-digger, and put her through her paces before revealing that he's actually rich. If I were that woman, I'd be pretty mad about this whole thing.
Musil, The Man Without Qualities, vol 2
I did not anticipate so much abstract theorizing about the roles of men and women being carried on by a brother and sister who appear to be kinda into each other? I knew that last bit, but didn't expect it to be so explicit. That's on me, I guess. Only 1000 pages to go!
Benjamin, Arcades Project
"Boredom" is an excellent convulute, every entry a banger.
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