This week's question comes from Debbie Nance at Readerbuzz
What is the most difficult literary work you've ever read? What made it so difficult?
I imagine that since it asks "read," that implies actually finishing. Otherwise I'd be talking about how many times I have started-but-not-finished Ulysses by James Joyce. My only strategy with that one is to read it out loud, but I still end up putting it aside for something else. Nothing like a difficult book to get you to develop reader's ADD!
Some books that I've tackled that sometimes are considered difficult, such as Gravity's Rainbow, Les Miserables, and so on - these have been so enjoyable that it seemed completely worth it.
I'm going to choose Moby Dick for my answer to this question. Ah, Melville. I read this along with a group that was reading a chapter a day, and as Moby Dick has 365 chapters, it took a year. If I had read it on my own, I would surely have read it more quickly, so the process itself was a little tedious. I know this is supposed to be one of the great novels of life and death and obsession, and I definitely enjoyed the bits that had interesting characters and plot. Right when I would get into the story, Melville would go off on a tangent and talk about whale biology or the history of the shipping industry. Difficult books might give me reading ADD, but Melville clearly had writing ADD! Revenge, redemption, oh look, there's a pony! It was distracting and I wanted to abandon ship (har har) more than once, just on principle.
At the same time, I think of how many times reading one book has sent me off in search of more information about history or philosophies or people represented within it. Perhaps Melville was doing me a favor by providing all the possible context within the pages of one integrated novel!
As many difficult books as I have enjoyed, I still have several major ones I haven't gotten around to reading. I am trying to decide between War and Peace and Infinite Jest as the book I'll tackle during the winter holidays.
nice post, i forgot about moby dick while i was writing my post but now that i think of it...that was one painful book to read. like you say, melville's tangents can be hard to get through.
ReplyDeletei've never started ulysses but i imagine my experience will be similar to yours the day i do. i started infinite jest 4 or 5 times, even got about 200 pages into it, before i finally buckled down and finished it. i'm glad i did, but mostly in the way that i can say i read it...in order to have a chance of UNDERSTANDING it, i'm going to have to reread.
I've never been able to read more than an excerpt here and there for Moby Dick because of the tangents into the whaling history. Just typing that makes my mind start to wander.
ReplyDeletei vote WAR AND PEACE! I'm actually planning on writing a post about reading War and Peace TOMORROW so you should come by and read it!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post-I am glad to see you like Gravity's Rainbow and Moby Dick-I am now a follower of your blog and look forward to reading your postd
ReplyDeleteI have come to see that I shy away from difficult texts. I prefer to read a lot of strong texts and completely avoid the very challenging ones.
ReplyDeleteI am not even interested in Moby Dick (don't like ocean/boat books in general) so I'm always amazed to hear when somebody's read it. I loved War and Peace though!
ReplyDeleteI can safely say that I will NEVER read Moby Dick, but do plan to read War and Peace next year.
ReplyDeleteI have read a lot of classics in my school and college years. And some still remain my favorites. However, there are a few I could never get into..
ReplyDeleteHere is my Literary Blog Hop post!
I've not read Moby Dick. I've suffered through Billy Budd and Bartleby the Scrivener, and those two were enough for me...
ReplyDeleteInfinite Jest is my holiday reading goal! I've given up on War and Peace until I'm retired or dead, in which case I can interview Tolstoy and ask him just what he was thinking when he wrote it. Great choice on Moby Dick - your post hasn't inspired me to read it, but it has shed light on the reasons I haven't! Cheers, DC
ReplyDeleteMoby Dick was my choice, too - I loved it, but it was difficult to get through. I'm about to start War and Peace for my Thanksgiving vacation. Hope I can get through it in 10 days, if I read like mad. Maybe?
ReplyDeleteMoby Dick is not on my list of possible reads. Sounds a tad painful. But I would like to try Infinite Jest in the not too distant future. Good response.
ReplyDeleteRead Melville, a good few years ago now, but am about to start Gravity's rainbow. enjoyed your post thanks
ReplyDeleteParrish
When I finally did read Moby Dick I found it not so terribly difficult after all. But I can't imagine reading just a chapter a day--what a discontinuous way to read a book! I like to just take the plunge and muddle through all at once.
ReplyDeleteMoby-Dick is the quintessential American novel. Yes, it is tough, but it is so worth it. By the bye, my unabridged edition (Norton) has 135 chapters, plus the epilogue. I guess I'm not quite sure what you mean by 365 chapters?
ReplyDeleteWar and Peace is a very linear novel, with little to no complexity whatsoever to it. It is a very straight-forward and rollicking good read. It does have an incredibly broad landscape of characters, but you easily get in a groove and just go with it. Frankly, I've always been slightly puzzled why people find this novel intimidating.
Cheers! Chris
I was assigned Moby-Dick sophomore year in high school, and I was one of those kids that actually read the books and did not rely on cliff notes. I remember thinking the teacher a total sadist for requiring this book to be read in one term. It's been awhile, but I enjoyed the beginning and the end...and most thought it had a very flabby, "blubbery" middle. And the whale anatomy parts were annoying. I've considered re-reading it as an adult...we'll see.
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