Comments on: The Appalling Volume of Artifacts http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/ the internet literature magazine blog of the future Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:01:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Helen DeWitt http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-39301 Helen DeWitt Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:03:44 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-39301 Sorry, baffled. As far as I can remember, Tristram Shandy (now available in a 656-page pb) was originally published in something like 7 volumes, each of which was small enough to fit in the pocket of a frock coat. Bleak House (896 pp from Signet) was originally serialized. A la recherche du temps perdu was published in installments. The three-volume novel was once a staple of the commercial lending libraries in Britain - novels had to be up to a certain length so that libraries could lend them out a third at a time. Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time consists, I seem to remember, of 12 books forming a larger whole - each was issued separately. (I do have them now in a single volume, but when I began reading them the last three had not yet been written.) It might be daunting to tackle a 1200-page book, but it wouldn't be, surely, to read one 100-page installment a month for 12 months by a writer one admired (don't many of us, in fact, happily read multiple posts <i>daily</i> by bloggers we admire?). So the problem is not really readers' attention spans, the problem is, it seems, with a form of packaging that suggests novel reading should be governed by the rules of the all-you-can-eat buffet. I know Philip Roth thinks a novel should be read in two weeks, but I like Sterne, Dickens and Proust better than Roth, and none wrote for the two-week dash. Sorry, baffled. As far as I can remember, Tristram Shandy (now available in a 656-page pb) was originally published in something like 7 volumes, each of which was small enough to fit in the pocket of a frock coat. Bleak House (896 pp from Signet) was originally serialized. A la recherche du temps perdu was published in installments. The three-volume novel was once a staple of the commercial lending libraries in Britain – novels had to be up to a certain length so that libraries could lend them out a third at a time. Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time consists, I seem to remember, of 12 books forming a larger whole – each was issued separately. (I do have them now in a single volume, but when I began reading them the last three had not yet been written.) It might be daunting to tackle a 1200-page book, but it wouldn’t be, surely, to read one 100-page installment a month for 12 months by a writer one admired (don’t many of us, in fact, happily read multiple posts daily by bloggers we admire?). So the problem is not really readers’ attention spans, the problem is, it seems, with a form of packaging that suggests novel reading should be governed by the rules of the all-you-can-eat buffet. I know Philip Roth thinks a novel should be read in two weeks, but I like Sterne, Dickens and Proust better than Roth, and none wrote for the two-week dash.

]]> By: Helen DeWitt http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-126317 Helen DeWitt Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:03:00 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-126317 Sorry, baffled. As far as I can remember, Tristram Shandy (now available in a 656-page pb) was originally published in something like 7 volumes, each of which was small enough to fit in the pocket of a frock coat. Bleak House (896 pp from Signet) was originally serialized. A la recherche du temps perdu was published in installments. The three-volume novel was once a staple of the commercial lending libraries in Britain - novels had to be up to a certain length so that libraries could lend them out a third at a time. Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time consists, I seem to remember, of 12 books forming a larger whole - each was issued separately. (I do have them now in a single volume, but when I began reading them the last three had not yet been written.) It might be daunting to tackle a 1200-page book, but it wouldn't be, surely, to read one 100-page installment a month for 12 months by a writer one admired (don't many of us, in fact, happily read multiple posts <i>daily</i> by bloggers we admire?). So the problem is not really readers' attention spans, the problem is, it seems, with a form of packaging that suggests novel reading should be governed by the rules of the all-you-can-eat buffet. I know Philip Roth thinks a novel should be read in two weeks, but I like Sterne, Dickens and Proust better than Roth, and none wrote for the two-week dash. Sorry, baffled. As far as I can remember, Tristram Shandy (now available in a 656-page pb) was originally published in something like 7 volumes, each of which was small enough to fit in the pocket of a frock coat. Bleak House (896 pp from Signet) was originally serialized. A la recherche du temps perdu was published in installments. The three-volume novel was once a staple of the commercial lending libraries in Britain – novels had to be up to a certain length so that libraries could lend them out a third at a time. Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time consists, I seem to remember, of 12 books forming a larger whole – each was issued separately. (I do have them now in a single volume, but when I began reading them the last three had not yet been written.) It might be daunting to tackle a 1200-page book, but it wouldn’t be, surely, to read one 100-page installment a month for 12 months by a writer one admired (don’t many of us, in fact, happily read multiple posts daily by bloggers we admire?). So the problem is not really readers’ attention spans, the problem is, it seems, with a form of packaging that suggests novel reading should be governed by the rules of the all-you-can-eat buffet. I know Philip Roth thinks a novel should be read in two weeks, but I like Sterne, Dickens and Proust better than Roth, and none wrote for the two-week dash.

]]> By: Tara http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-39041 Tara Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:30:52 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-39041 Dear everybody, Harry Potter. Game, set, match. Dear everybody,

Harry Potter.

Game, set, match.

]]> By: Tara http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-126316 Tara Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:30:00 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-126316 Dear everybody, Harry Potter. Game, set, match. Dear everybody,

Harry Potter.

Game, set, match.

]]> By: barry http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-38958 barry Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:40:28 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-38958 almanac of the dead almanac of the dead

]]> By: barry http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-126315 barry Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:40:00 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-126315 almanac of the dead almanac of the dead

]]> By: Ben White http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-38956 Ben White Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:35:05 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-38956 Given how many pages Melville devoted to descriptions of a certain species of sea-faring mammal, yes. And did you really use <em>Moby Dick</em> as your counter-masturbatory example? Given how many pages Melville devoted to descriptions of a certain species of sea-faring mammal, yes.

And did you really use Moby Dick as your counter-masturbatory example?

]]> By: Ben White http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-126314 Ben White Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:35:00 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-126314 Given how many pages Melville devoted to descriptions of a certain species of sea-faring mammal, yes. And did you really use <em>Moby Dick</em> as your counter-masturbatory example? Given how many pages Melville devoted to descriptions of a certain species of sea-faring mammal, yes.

And did you really use Moby Dick as your counter-masturbatory example?

]]> By: Rauan Klassnik http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-38827 Rauan Klassnik Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:24:42 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-38827 2666 2666

]]> By: Rauan Klassnik http://htmlgiant.com/massive-people/the-appalling-volume-of-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-126313 Rauan Klassnik Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:24:00 +0000 http://htmlgiant.com/?p=18941#comment-126313 2666 2666

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