Top Five Current Literary Protagonists
1. Pechorin
2. The Underground Man
3. Harry Haller
4. Meursault
5. Maurice Bendrix
2. The Underground Man
3. Harry Haller
4. Meursault
5. Maurice Bendrix
posted by lukeski at 8:58 pm
posted by lukeski at 8:58 pm
3 Comments:
Can you promise me it's worth picking up something by Graham Greene? I seethed all the way through The Power and the Glory, though I did, admittedly, read it during a horrible holiday to Thailand. Those Russian and French characters bring back many a happy scholarly memory. Your previous mention of Notes from Underground got me thinking I MUST read it again (and throw it across the room after the first sentence, like one of our SSEES-mates, remember?). Actually, all these names and references have got me thinking I should be reading 100 times more. I've got into an anti-novel stage. Very bad. More tips please. Never read a word of Hesse prose, but his poetry has been known to ring my bell. I'll post Valse brillante. It was an early German discovery for me. Liked it before I could understand a darned word...
...and anyway, not that I'm trying to avoid work or anything, but aren't Pechorin and Meursault wankers rather? I currently love the miserable Preobrzahenskii, the laudable Oblomov, the loveable Sebastian Marchmain, the pitibale Akaky Akakievich (apologies, but I do) and the enviable Gulliver.
ps. Word verification word now Finnish.
Greene is bliss - especially 'The End of the Affair' - his interest in the shades of grey between good & evil, right & wrong, etc... is particualrly appealing. Steppenwolf is always worth reading, both as a teenager and as a young/middle-aged miserablist. The Pechorin/Underground/Meursault triangle is quite appealing to me at present. I'm unconvinced by their total bastardness - I guess that if your state of mind is close to their's then you will tend to be more of an apologist.
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