Zurich Book Club - The Discussion Thread

[BokerTov]

First book is Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie.

Event here.

[BokerTov]

An interesting contribution from Sagitta here.

I will admit that I too was a bit put off at the very beginning, but it is getting better and better.

I find the choice of words and sentence structures particularly enticing.

[Sagitta]

Just a few random thoughts after yesterday's meeting of the book club.

It was BokerTov I think who was wondering whether there are any European writers who display such wild, rampant imagination as Rushdie. Well, the love of all things magic was a common feature of Romanticism, but then it was lost, I guess. I thought of one writer, who is Czech, whose writing still displays the features of magic realism. I really recommend him. That’s my favourite book of his:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-City-E...0322502&sr=8-1

Coming back to Rushdie, I was extremely touched by his novel on many levels. What I seek in literature are symbols and archetypes, and there were plenty to satisfy me. I was pondering on the significance on numerous symbols that Rushdie was able to present so uniquely and insightfully. Take Saleem and Shiva (creation and destruction) for example, switched at birth. I love this idea of the coincidence of opposites permeating this novel. Every single element has its counterposition, and there is wholeness, in which everyone participates. Any one-sided tendencies are punished and everyone experiences the wholeness sooner or later (for example Saleem is born rich but becomes poor later).

The novel also helped me to understand India better. He presents India’s unbelievable diversity: so many religions, so many languages, so many perspectives and different voices (“Is this an Indian disease, this urge to encapsulate the whole of reality?’ – he asks at one point). I must admit that the political allusions are usually beyond me, but what I gathered is that Rushdie seems to be an advocate of India’s diversity; he seems to think that its power lies in all the differences and the contrasting forces. He seems to be accusing Indira Gandhi of destroying midnight’s children and killing Parvati the witch (my favourite character). I am not sure what he means here, but perhaps he accuses her of breaking the creative spirit of India because of her dictatorial tendencies and one-track mind (politicians are able to do that, aren’t they?).

[BokerTov]

Really interesting perspective about the richness to be found in diversity.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday, the role of fate. Although lives seem to move in a pre-determined path, destiny shuffles the cards multiple times, and yet those who oppose this fate and act according to their inner desires, meet their own ruin.

Some impressions regarding the Brass Monkey: in my view, she is someone who uses aggressiveness and an apparently careless attitude to "prove her point", but who, deep down, is a fragile and insecure person, wounded by the preference of her parents for her brother, and yet who cares about her brother in her own way. Someone who is looking for confirmations and approval from the world, someone who cannot afford to be sweet, because she cannot afford to be vulnerable, otherwise the world will swallow her. She is my favorite character (no wonder)

	Quote:	Sagitta
	I thought of one writer, who is Czech, whose writing still displays the features of magic realism. I really recommend him. That’s my favourite book of his: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-City-E...0322502&sr=8-1

Thanks for the recommendation!!!

[venice]

I chose Dürrenmatt's "Das Versprechen" for our next meeting for the following reasons

A. maybe the first swiss author for some, a major German language author
B. the action takes place in Kanton Zurich
C. "Das Versprechen", originally conceived as a "Requiem to the Detective Novel", turns a typical whodunnit plot into a masterpiece of world literature.
D. there are various adaptations for theatre and film. I recommend the play currently running at the Schauspielhaus until 5 april (tickets still available) and the movie "The Pledge" directed by Sean Penn with a painfully convincing Jack Nicholson and a disturbing Benicio Del Toro.

we might even see some scenes during our discussion, to compare how the movie and the book deal with the same universal theme of responsibility and how far it can go before becoming obsession...

[venice]

thanks for following up the magical realism topic, I look forward to reading "The Other City" (already ordered!). what a shame that my czech won't allow me to read the original hopefully the translation is good.

the "fate" topic is in India's DNA. I must say I had a lost sight of this theme because I've let myself be distracted by Rushdie's fine humour. It appears in my mind humour is the opposite of fate!

one thing that makes me scream everytime I read it is when grandmother says "whatitsname" every two words, so hilarious, but also realistic!

	Quote:	Sagitta
	Just a few random thoughts after yesterday's meeting of the book club. It was BokerTov I think who was wondering whether there are any European writers who display such wild, rampant imagination as Rushdie. Well, the love of all things magic was a common feature of Romanticism, but then it was lost, I guess. I thought of one writer, who is Czech, whose writing still displays the features of magic realism. I really recommend him. That’s my favourite book of his: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-City-E...0322502&sr=8-1

	Quote:	BokerTov
	Really interesting perspective about the richness to be found in diversity. Something I forgot to mention yesterday, the role of fate. Although lives seem to move in a pre-determined path, destiny shuffles the cards multiple times, and yet those who oppose this fate and act according to their inner desires, meet their own ruin.

[Sagitta]

I have also pondered a lot on fate.
I think one of the central themes of the novel is a quest for meaning. Saleem admits that above all things he fears absurdity. I think he shows a lot of ambivalence towards astrology and fortune telling, which are commonplace in India and used on a daily basis even by politicians (I was shocked to discover that in another great book, which I’d recommend to anyone who would like to understand Asia). When he introduces Shri Ramran Seth (palmist, astrologer, fortune teller) he says: “… if everything is planned in advance, then we all have a meaning, and are spared the terror of knowing ourselves to be random, without a why…”
I have the feeling that the book does not give a definite answer whether the narrator believes in fate. If Shiva and Saleem were switched at birth, was it fate or random chance? If it was written in the stars and if they were born at exactly the same time, how could their destinies have been so different? Or maybe in fact they were not really different but strangely intertwined precisely because they were born at the same time and endowed with the qualities of that time? Fascinating questions which are impossible to answer, I think.

[Sagitta]

	Quote:	venice
	thanks for following up the magical realism topic, I look forward to reading "The Other City" (already ordered!).

Oh, and how could we have forgotten about Italo Calvino - the most magical of all Italian writers? I love him.

[venice]

Spot on! how could we?

I'm afraid I'm not a hardcore fan of either Calvino or magical realism, but it's a kind of writing one simply has to know, because it has had such a strong influence on literature, film and media in general.
if I can choose I prefer to read something very "realistic" and down to earth but, as we were saying, that's the reason why I joined the book club. often if someone I like likes something I don't, I will be made curious to overcome my prejudice

	Quote:	Sagitta
	Oh, and how could we have forgotten about Italo Calvino - the most magical of all Italian writers? I love him.

[BokerTov]

	Quote:	venice
	Spot on! how could we? I'm afraid I'm not a hardcore fan of either Calvino or magical realism, but it's a kind of writing one simply has to know, because it has had such a strong influence on literature, film and media in general. if I can choose I prefer to read something very "realistic" and down to earth but, as we were saying, that's the reason why I joined the book club. often if someone I like likes something I don't, I will be made curious to overcome my prejudice

I will have to "rediscover" Calvino - they made us read him in elementary school, and I remember liking him somehow, but admittedly I was never tempted to go back to him afterwards. As we mentioned, I like magics - Garcia Marquez, Allende, etc. The Czech recommendation is in my queue, after Dürrenmatt, and then the autobiography of the early life of Maya Angelou, which awaits on my bedside table for a while now.

I love our book club, and I agree with Venice - there is nothing better than discovering something new, finding a new author that pushes one outside of his/her comfort zone.

[Canadian Maple]

Just ordered Dürrenmatt's "Das Versprechen" from Amazon. Looking forward to our next meeting. Hopefully I'll get through the whole book this time!

[warbash]

Following on from a most enjoyable discussion of Das Versprechen, we've chosen to look at Max Frisch's Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän next. Also set in Switzerland, Frisch was a contemporary of Duerrenmatt. Although Frisch's novel is not a detective novel nor is it overtly similar to Duerrenmatt's work, it will be interesting to see what similar themes emerge. Madness, truth, religion, and reality are ones that spring to mind, but we'll see what else emerges!

The book is also available in translation to English as Man in the Holocene.

Meeting will be on Sunday, 3rd of June from 7-9pm, most likely at Stall 6 but to be confirmed as the date approaches.

[BokerTov]

	Quote:	warbash
	Following on from a most enjoyable discussion of Das Versprechen, we've chosen to look at Max Frisch's Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän next. Also set in Switzerland, Frisch was a contemporary of Duerrenmatt. Although Frisch's novel is not a detective novel nor is it overtly similar to Duerrenmatt's work, it will be interesting to see what similar themes emerge. Madness, truth, religion, and reality are ones that spring to mind, but we'll see what else emerges! The book is also available in translation to English as Man in the Holocene. Meeting will be on Sunday, 3rd of June from 7-9pm, most likely at Stall 6 but to be confirmed as the date approaches.

Event is here