joe@emacs.uucp (Joe Chapman) (07/02/85)
I recently borrowed a copy of the novel Tricks by Renaud Camus; I believe the book attracted some interest several years ago when Gore Vidal reviewed it in one of those periodicals like The New York Review of Books where the mention of a title of a book to be reviewed is used as a starting point for an extended essay on Communism, Life in General, or The Psychological Basis for Habitually Combing the Fringe on the Edge of Throw Rugs and the mention of the actual contents or style of the book under review is considered a sort of recidivism. Vidal, of course, used the occasion to excoriate the Heterosexual Dictatorship, which I suppose deserves it. The book contains flat, unemotional descriptions of 45 of the author's tricks, written in a style similar to that of of Cavafy's poems. (Not surprising: the last few lines of Cavafy's ``So much I gazed on beauty'', together with several translations, appear as an epigraph.) The French second edition which I borrowed has a preface by Roland Barthes, and claims to have been fortified and expanded with several new episodes of dalliance which were omitted from the first. I have some friends who have no French but would love this book. I've heard that the translation was published by one of the pulp mills whose product remains in print for six months and then vanishes; on the other hand, there's a quote from Ginsberg on the back of the book attributed to the American edition. Has anyone seen a copy in English? -- -- Joseph Chapman decvax!cca!emacs!joe CCA Uniworks, Inc. emacs!joe@cca-unix.ARPA 20 William St. Wellesley, MA 02181 (617) 235-2600
wild@sun.uucp (Will Doherty) (07/03/85)
> I recently borrowed a copy of the novel Tricks by Renaud Camus; I Sounds fascinating... Is Camus a pseudonym (after the late great perhaps)? > The French second edition which I borrowed has a preface by Roland > Barthes Please excuse my ignorance--who is Barthes? Which set of Cavafy poems would you recommend? What nationality is Cavafy? And in which language did he originally write them? (When possible, I like to read them in the original tongue--I do read French, hopefully well enough to get more enjoyment from them that way, especially for poetry or the more lyric writings.) What other French lesbian-and-gay oriented novels/short stories/poems would you recommend? Will Doherty decvax!ucbvax!sun!oscar!wild
rjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) (07/10/85)
Several of the vignettes were printed in an issue of Christopher Street
a couple of years ago. I found the flat style rather...um...flat.
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rod williams | {ihnp4,dual}!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw
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