Writers you hate

[craner]

I sometimes feel sorry for Will Self, but something about him just makes him a brilliant target. The comments under any Guardian piece on him are full of people savouring every gaffe he makes.

"Yes you're right. He devotes several sentences to describing the famous shot and completely gets it wrong, as you can see from the clip included with the article. And he gushes about how his work is inter-related with cinema, as opposed to those over-literary novelists, who people respect and stuff. I don't think I've ever seen such a self-congratulatory self-serving piece written by a novelist. And, he makes a complete fool of himself in the process. Hilarious."

I hate his writing style though because he relied on obscure words that nobody else ever used, and he would plonk them into these horrible sentences which where made horrible, or even more horrible, by the completely inappropriate, ugly, obscure word trying to draw attention to itself. All to communicate some shit non-story about heroin addicts, with characters even more ridiculous and unreal than Martin Amis' Keiths.

 

[craner]

Which is the best Philip Roth book, Craner?

American Pastoral.

 

[luka]

Smart enough not to over commit, hasn't assembled the strength for a full frontal assault yet. Just armed raids, sniping from cover then melt back into the general population. But soon other discontents will rally to his banner. Soon the revolution will come.

 

[version]

Apparently a man wanks on a woman's grave in Sabbath's Theater. It sounds like what I imagine a parody of Roth would be.

 

[craner]

I've got one and it's not that one.

Oh, OK. Which one is it, then?

 

[craner]

Apparently a man wanks on a woman's grave in Sabbath's Theater. It sounds like what I imagine a parody of Roth would be.

I haven't read that one. I haven't read every single Roth novel.

 

[luka]

beagle is luke. luke thought that if he insulted himself he'd lead me off the scent.

We both posted at 12:47 explain that Columbo!

 

[sadmanbarty]

you're acting as though i haven't had whole back and forth conversations with my own fake accounts

 

[craner]

Version, I've read:

Portnoy's Complaint - can't say I enjoyed it, but admired its, uh, candour.
The Ghost Writer - an unpleasant, vain book, poorly executed.
Zuckerman Unbound - can't really remember much about this one, I think I liked it but get it confused with:
The Anatomy Lesson - brutal and self-lacerating, almost hard to read, but I liked this one quite a lot.
American Pastoral - I loved this book.
I Married a Communist - another nasty case of misogyny, but better than The Ghost Writer.
The Plot Against America - the last one of his I bothered reading, I found it embarrassing but it's now being resurrected as prescient with Trump.

 

[sadmanbarty]

it's like silence of the lambs, only a killer can understand the mind of murderer.

 

[luka]

it's like silence of the lambs, only a killer can understand the mind of murderer.

That's what they want you to think. Sowing seeds of suspicion. Corrosive paranoia and distrust. Go to dungeonmaster Sufi inspect ip addresses it's nothing to do with me. Just enjoy the intrigue. The stirrings of peasant revolt.

 

[version]

It's probably Will Self incognito.

 

[luka]

Historians of the Internet will look back and ask how was the Luka-Barty hegemony broken? And it will all be down to the sewer-rat smarts and bandit bravery of beagle.

 

[yyaldrin]

We both posted at 12:47 explain that Columbo!

that's exactly what i would do if i'd have a second account in order to talk myself out of it

 

[version]

sadmanbarty vs. badboybeagle

 

[luka]

Then beagle and his ragtag guerrilla army will, hoist Craner on to the throne. He will protest, no, no, I never wanted to lead, but they will insist, and a new era of peace and propseperity will have begun.

 

[luka]

We will be cast out beyond the city walls, mocked and jeered at by street urchins. Villagers will throw rotten fruit at us. Mangey dogs will snap at our heels. That's how it always ends.

 

[version]

Then beagle and his ragtag guerrilla army will, hoist Craner on to the throne. He will protest, no, no, I never wanted to lead, but they will insist, and a new era of peace and propseperity will have begun.

 

[luka]

I'd hedge your bets if I were you version or you'll get tagged as a collaborator.

 

[Mr. Tea]

So, is everyone here too much of a white knight to say they dislike any female authors, or too much of a neanderthal to know any?