Jonathan Franzen's Desert Island Reading

Рет қаралды 34,768

12 жыл бұрын

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Пікірлер: 49

@beholt 9 жыл бұрын

wtf is wrong with all these hate for this writer? I am just reading Corrections in polish translation and it is wonderful book. and just looked for some interview with him on youtube... why people hate this man and call him pretentious?? couse he is not wearing a cap and does not do rap music? seroously whats going on?

@RafNen 8 жыл бұрын

+Wilhelm Friedrich That's what I'm wondering too, and I'm about 1/3 in Corrections. I find the book really funny and Franzen is not pretentious at all, he is a good writer and poor speaker - maybe that's why people don't like him.

@beholt 8 жыл бұрын

RafNen exactly,the book is very funny,especially first half:)

@possessedslig Жыл бұрын

He gives his honest opinion and doesn't offer empty platitudes, people these days don't like that

@ustuppy 3 жыл бұрын

I’d take Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain”.

@clemfarley7257 Жыл бұрын

Yes. Don Quixote. Dante’s Comedy. Dostoyevsky. Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth.

@davidloveday8473 4 жыл бұрын

Why did you cut the interview off there? "So one could look at the question as, well, five books that I think are underappreciated... erm, and deserve a plug in a situation like this..." Which 5 books did he go on to suggest?

@cynthmcgpoet 11 жыл бұрын

I actually tried to learn Russian in high school in a class taught by a former CIA agent. I even found a copy of "Essentials in Russian" somewhere near DLI in a used bookstore. But no one in Russia has used the word "comrade" since Glasnost, so this textbook it's merely an artifact. I think the first lesson features a visit from the KGB or something of that nature. The alphabet alone...astounding to learn. For years, I mixed up my English cursive 'b' and 'g' as a result. Fun times.

@MustacheMug 11 жыл бұрын

Actually, when read from a secular, literary perspective, the Bible (and all religious scripture) is some of the best reading ever. However, I wouldn't expect some people to be able to overcome their prejudices.

@proudtobleedblue 12 жыл бұрын

The "What would you read on a desert island?" question always intrigues me. Am I on the desert island because the world came to an end? In that case, I would bring books that deserve preservation, like the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Are they the only books I will ever have for the rest of my life? In that case, I would take an author I've always wanted to read more of but haven't, like Dickens. What am I expected to do on the island? Escape? Relax? Settle? The answer changes each time.

@user-un6sb4kn2z 6 жыл бұрын

I'd take Sartre's 'L'idiot de la famille'. this is a huge ass book about Flaubert.

@spd13062 11 жыл бұрын

Excellent choice Mooch, excellent.

@sufficientlyoldskool 11 жыл бұрын

Haha! It's funny how you mention mixing up the b and g. I attempted to learn Russian not long ago and I kept getting the English letter 'N' and the Russian letter 'и' mixed up. I'd have a brain fart every time I had to write it.

@MatthewWilliamLittle 9 жыл бұрын

As someone who has never before heard of this individual I can say I really didn't find anything bad about him? Especially illustrated in just this video?

@Graenelolz 9 жыл бұрын

MatthewWilliamLittle Well he has his own opinion and cares about things, unless most people, so he has to be pretentious and boring. Or at least our youtube saturated baby sensitive generation looks at it this way.

@CornerTalker 11 жыл бұрын

"Books that are not only fun but have some substance to them" Don't discount reading better children's books, such as Newberry Award Winners. I would recommend "Walk Two Moons" and "A Single Shard" to anyone that can read intelligently. "Pictures of Hollis Woods" wasn't bad either.

@bighardbooks770 6 жыл бұрын

One book: Finnegans Wake. Period.

@cindymarshall4449 6 жыл бұрын

Title could be: how to suck the fun out of your desert island booklist!

@spress15 11 жыл бұрын

If you mean "Omg I kinda hate the comments," then I agree. Many people are taking the phrase Desert Island Reading literally. Franzen defines clearly at 0:25 when he says, "Desert Island is not a literary canon. Desert Island is a wish list. What I wish I had had sustained reading time to actually figure out." Even if it were a true desert island, he is taking Russian grammars and dictionary to read "War and Peace" in the original language.

@johnevans5434 6 жыл бұрын

He is a great writer!

@NJGuy1973 3 жыл бұрын

A manual on boat building.

@ElijahTheCreator 11 жыл бұрын

What good is learning a new language if you're alone on an island?

@nicolerosito2357 11 жыл бұрын

I mean if I had all the time in the world to be alone and not have to deal with the idiots on the Internet, I would learn new language and the history of china and everything. It's about personal growth, not necessarily external usefulness.

@plagiarist316 11 жыл бұрын

RE Why not take the opportunity to learn a language? Because there'd be nobody around to converse in that, or any language, with!!! Isn't that the whole point of this scenario? Isn't that why the 5 books are so important, cos you're going to be without human contact? WUBBA WUBBA WUBBA!!!!

@jaredrose1892 11 жыл бұрын

can't believe he said "chinese". it's not chinese and my kid brother knows that.

@nicolerosito2357 11 жыл бұрын

Omg I kinda hate the Internet.

@mooch9668 12 жыл бұрын

Take Razor's Edge.

@simiancinema2022 10 жыл бұрын

Franzen is puzzling. It is hard to imagine a more viscerally dislikable human being.

@barbarapalekalucas1938 10 жыл бұрын

A lot of Franzen's fans, such as myself, know he is a person of substance.Seems like you disliked him before you even watched the clip, if you bothered watching it.Or did you watch the video just to torture yourself?

@saintsataniko2116 9 жыл бұрын

To find someone as humanistic as Franzen "dislikable" makes me concerned for your own likability. I feel fairly certain you haven't read even a little bit of his work, or I think you would have a different opinion.

@beholt 9 жыл бұрын

+Barbara Paleka Lucas wtf is wrong with all these people? I am just reading Corrections in polish translation and it is wonderful book. and just looked for some interview with him on youtube... why people hate this man and call him pretentious?? couse he is not wearing a cap and does not do rap music? seroously whats going on?

@HandleGF 3 жыл бұрын

How many people have you met in your life?

@simiancinema2022 3 жыл бұрын

@@HandleGF I’m sure franzen is an at least skillful fiction writer. I’ve read some essays, which tend toward the smug. In interviews he has a repellent alone-in-a-bubble-of-deep-self-regard quality.

@danielmarble4077 10 жыл бұрын

He'd learn Russian to read Russian literature (War and Peace)-some books are their best in their original language-translations do not always give works their full brevity. Seems you didn't listen very well before you decided to say snotty things. Shame on you for your ignorance!

@StudioSerious1 8 жыл бұрын

What the fuck? Can't he just answer the fucking question and name three or five books that he would carry with him on an island? By the way, Corrections is an awful book. Franzen just tried to imitate Roth and Easton Ellis.

@rdjazzboy1944 8 жыл бұрын

+MrElanhyer If you hate him so much, don't bother listening, frankly, it just looks like you're jealous.

@untorecords5720 7 жыл бұрын

imitate Easton Ellis loool

@StudioSerious1 7 жыл бұрын

unto records lol yourself you shithead

@untorecords5720 7 жыл бұрын

got some repressed rage chickpea? did someone beat you up when you were a kid?

@mindslaw4961 7 жыл бұрын

Easton Ellis?? XD Jesus Christ, are you 15?

@AAwildeone 10 жыл бұрын

The very sound of this man's voice is as pretentious and ridiculous as any imitator of Anthony Hopkins or Jeremy Irons chewing up the scenery. Why is Franzen respected again? Is it because he THINKS he has something worth hearing?

@barbarapalekalucas1938 10 жыл бұрын

...it's a Midwestern accent. I've never heard it called pretentious before, but maybe there's hope for us all.

@peaceandllov 8 жыл бұрын

It's what happens when you shove a microphone in an awkward person's face.