tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post1157997838182921823..comments2024-03-18T16:55:31.971+00:00Comments on This Space: The authorisation to inventStephen Mitchelmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-51974792307854805492016-06-10T14:24:37.925+01:002016-06-10T14:24:37.925+01:00I find Inland to be the most difficult of his book...I find Inland to be the most difficult of his books to get a grip on because of the disconnect between its two parts. Barley Patch is good and introduces his late period after he gave up publishing fiction for a decade. I would also recommend the earlier novella The Plains, which is my favourite and has a slightly mystic Borges-atmosphere, and also the two which came after Barley Patch, A History of Books and A Million Windows. Will Heyward in his review of the latter in Music & Literature said this: "The world can seem, when reading Murnane, as a maze of as yet unmade phenomenal connections. Navigating this maze, and realizing the connections within it, are part of his preoccupation with the act of writing. In writing, these connections are both invented and discovered."gaianauteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785980936425459318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-63565501138493165182016-06-10T13:26:17.352+01:002016-06-10T13:26:17.352+01:00Thanks for the comment Mattias. I haven't fini...Thanks for the comment Mattias. I haven't finished one of Murnane's novel yet despite the apparent suit. I have copies of Inland and Barley Patch, so I'll have another go.Stephen Mitchelmorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-7659011103848685632016-06-10T13:19:16.563+01:002016-06-10T13:19:16.563+01:00Thanks Stephen. Any essay from your pen is really ...Thanks Stephen. Any essay from your pen is really worth waiting for. So much to reflect upon and so little time to formulate the resulting thoughts, sorry. I will say though, after having also reread the other essay that you link to, on Alice Munro, that considering your (and my) preference for literature that does not employ the traditional third-person all-knowing narrative, I am still a bit surprised that you, as far as I have read on your blog, haven't read more fiction by the eccentric but highly readable Gerald Murnane. His fiction is a great antidote against that kind of narrative and may suit your preferences quite well. I have read and reread his fiction almost continuosly for the past two years and I would certainly love to read any thoughts you might have on his fiction. All the best/Mattiasgaianauteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785980936425459318noreply@blogger.com