http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7464742/VORC001.mp3
Total time: 12:27
I hope you enjoyed that. If you didn’t, and don’t want to, here’s a quick summary:
Literature is complicated.
Literature is more complicated, the more of it there is.
We should all stop making literature (just kidding.)
Haiku is interesting stuff if you treat it right.
Haiku is annoying if you treat it wrong.
Treating it right involves picturing it, and recognizing its ambiguity.
Along with trying to feel what the poet felt.
I’m going to write some Haiku.
Oh, and I’m crazy.
Recommendations for more and better audio:
First off, Librivox.org - I couldn’t do it without Librivox. It used to be that the volunteer readers just weren’t that great, to be honest. These days, though, there are a lot of great readers. To name a few:
Adrian Praetzellis, who read this great version of Kim
Ray Clare, who is doing a fantastic job working his way through the catalog of GK Chesterton. He’s got a good voice, and it’s a project I can’t say enough good about.
If you want more than librivox, you might try http://www.podiobooks.com/ - the Chesterton there is read by the fantastically deep voice of David “Grizzly” Smith.
For short fiction, try:
podcastle
escape pod
and pseudopod
the fantasy, science fiction and horror branches of one organization. Generally professional, they do a good job. A few specific stories I recommend:
Something wicked this way plumbs from podcastle (don’t worry, it’s more amusing than scary)
Chemical Magic in pseudopod (actually disturbing. This is not Disney’s version of magical.)
The Nimble Men in pseudopod (an excellent story and great introduction to pseudopod for those of a weaker stomach)
and We are Ted Tuscadero for President in Escape Pod. Again, going for amusing, if disturbing... so... many... politicians...
also for Sci Fi you might want to try Clarkesworld Magazine. Some may not enjoy the reader’s tendency to be affected by the stories she reads, but I find it engaging.
You might try Laying the Ghost, My Fathers’ Singularity and Paper Cradle.
For verse, I must recommend the youtube channel “SpokenVerse” - some may not like the reader’s gruff and blank tone, but I do. Oh, he does recommend downloading his readings as mp3’s - and even gives instructions on how to do it on his webpage. That alone makes him a cool guy. The positive reviews from Roger Ebert, and the intelligent and friendly responses to my recommendations make him a really cool one.
To try one of those haiku, and then the picture I wrote it from.
past pale yellow home we
leave for night, behind sunset
rich heavy hills, auburn.
I had to chuckle that I decided to fold the laundry while listening to your audiocast--before you suggested it :) Scary to think I might be thinking like you!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your presentation both in content and style.
I agree with your comments in regards to brevity. I have found brevity, especially when dealing with sons. If I say, "stop!" they know exactly what I mean. If I quantify it at all, they look for loopholes!
Ok, first, good discussions on literary criticism (see the ambiguity arising from the subjectivity there eh?), rather than make my brain hurt, have the tendency to give me goosebumps and make me grin...
ReplyDeleteSecond, if you want to embed your audio on this blog... you can do it like this:
<object width="350px;" height="100px"><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7464742/VORC001.mp3" width="350px;" height="100px"></embed></object>
(I'm not sure if that will actually embed it in my comment or if you will be able to see the code so, depending on what it does I may need to follow this up and try it a different way.)
Ok... with that out of the way, I enjoyed the audio post. I'm curious as to whether you were reading the whole thing or working off notes and a few things actually written out (my thought while listening to it was that if you were reading the whole thing, I could see it being easier for you to wing it a little bit with some notes and a few of the more prepared thoughts being already written).
I remember a time that you seemed to hold quite the prejudice against discussions concerning haiku. I've honestly never really gotten the point of haiku myself. Well, I understand it and I think you've sort of hit the nail on the head with this post. I just simply am not impressed by it. It doesn't really speak well for the genre when I can honestly say the best haiku I've ever heard was from a film produced in Hollywood (Fight Club).
As for the topic of your primary discussion...
It has long been my conviction that in the absence of absolute objectivity, or omniscience if you prefer to think of it that way, absolute truth is an impossibility as all truth is dependent upon context. I'm not sure if you have read Wittgenstein, but in terms of this discussion, I am reminded of his work and of your response to Andy's post on education, about math scores as they relate to the language. In my opinion, one of the primary problems with our capacity to communicate is that our language is not structured well to differentiate statements of context from assertions of truth, or to require that both are met as conditionals to a complete statement.
Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but, in the interest of brevity...
Ok, first, good discussions on literary criticism (see the ambiguity arising from the subjectivity there eh?), rather than make my brain hurt, have the tendency to give me goosebumps and make me grin...
ReplyDeleteSecond, if you want to embed your audio on this blog... you can do it like this:
<object width="350px;" height="100px"><embed src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7464742/VORC001.mp3" width="350px;" height="100px"></embed></object>
Ok... with that out of the way, I enjoyed the audio post. I'm curious as to whether you were reading the whole thing or working off notes and a few things actually written out (my thought while listening to it was that if you were reading the whole thing, I could see it being easier for you to wing it a little bit with some notes and a few of the more prepared thoughts being already written).
I remember a time that you seemed to hold quite the prejudice against discussions concerning haiku. I've honestly never really gotten the point of haiku myself. Well, I understand it and I think you've sort of hit the nail on the head with this post. I just simply am not impressed by it. It doesn't really speak well for the genre when I can honestly say the best haiku I've ever heard was from a film produced in Hollywood (Fight Club).
As for the topic of your primary discussion...
It has long been my conviction that in the absence of absolute objectivity, or omniscience if you prefer to think of it that way, absolute truth is an impossibility as all truth is dependent upon context. I'm not sure if you have read Wittgenstein, but in terms of this discussion, I am reminded of his work and of your response to Andy's post on education, about math scores as they relate to the language. In my opinion, one of the primary problems with our capacity to communicate is that our language is not structured well to differentiate statements of context from assertions of truth, or to require that both are met as conditionals to a complete statement.
Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but, in the interest of brevity...