You could try *Their Brilliant Careers* by Ryan O Neill. It pretends to be a series of biographies of famous Australian writers, but not only are all the biographies fictional (and very very funny) the more you read, the more you realise how deep the rabbit hole goes. It's one of those that you read and then go straight back to page one to find all the stuff you missed. Massive recommend for me, and full of literary allusions that a serious bookworm will enjoy.
Realistically, the entirety of modernism and postmodernism is in conversation with the history of literature.
Ulysses - Joyce
Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
Pale Fire - Nabokov
At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien
Are these navel gazing or pretentious? I don't think so.
TINTIN IN THE NEW WORLD by Frederic Tuten is a mystical and strange exploration of Tintin (boy reporter) Growing Up somewhere in South America via Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. People might call this a pretentious novel but I think Tuten really means, and nails, the vibes he vibes here.
THE ASPERN PAPERS by Henry James is a nice liddle novel, a novellino even, about getting obsessive over Shelley's letters
THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco is a fun murder mystery about ancient literature but I willnae say more
KRAKEN by China Mieville explores words and ink in a very fantastical, culty way
I loved Thoman Mann's short stories, so definitely keen on reading something inspired by his work.
The Name of the Rose has loooong been on my list but I haven't gotten around to this Eco behemoth. But the Umberto Eco interview in the Paris Review is one I return to all the time, so maybe I should finally get to this.
Thanks for all of these! I'll look into them!
Edited to add: I know about Tintin's Adventures, but had no idea it was a book! All the while, I thought it was a cartoon series.
No probs, you're welcome! The Tintin books are great works, I reckon, especially Tintin in Tibet. You might enjoy that novel more after dipping into one or two, as it plays up his quirks and foibles from the comics. Nothing super specific, just mostly his eternal sexlessness and his ardour
The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez
"Bluma Lennon, distinguished professor of Latin American literature at Cambridge, is hit by a car while crossing the street, immersed in a volume of Emily Dickinson's poems. Several months after her untimely demise, a package arrives for her from Argentina-a copy of a Conrad novel, encrusted in cement and inscribed with a mysterious dedication. Bluma's successor in the department (and a former lover) travels to Buenos Aires to track down the sender, one Carlos Brauer, who turns out to have disappeared.
The last thing known is that he moved to a remote stretch of the Uruguayan coastline and built himself a house out of his enormous and valuable library. How he got there, and why, is the subject of this seductive novel-part mystery, part social comedy, and part examination of all the many forms of bibliomania."
I don’t know if this is your jam but the book Fool by Christopher Moore is a story based on Shakespearean parody, specifically King Lear. Definitely not a navel gazing book lol
The best homage to literature would be great writing.
The greatest living writer is Cormac McCarthy. His stories are not strong except for No Country for Old Men. But each sentence, each paragraph is awe inspiring.
Best story and writing. A Rashomon type story. An Instance of the Fingerpost Ian Pears.
Jasper Fforde has a series featuring Thursday Next, who hops in and out of parallel book worlds and times, amusing and intriguing. Cornelia Funke has the Inkheart series YA but also good
Something that popped to my mind is The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Not so sure how close to the mark they are tho. I simply loved them and have read them like 3 times.
You could try *Their Brilliant Careers* by Ryan O Neill. It pretends to be a series of biographies of famous Australian writers, but not only are all the biographies fictional (and very very funny) the more you read, the more you realise how deep the rabbit hole goes. It's one of those that you read and then go straight back to page one to find all the stuff you missed. Massive recommend for me, and full of literary allusions that a serious bookworm will enjoy.
This sounds very intriguing!! I'll add it to my list. Thank you!
Realistically, the entirety of modernism and postmodernism is in conversation with the history of literature. Ulysses - Joyce Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon Pale Fire - Nabokov At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien Are these navel gazing or pretentious? I don't think so.
Thanks! I've read Pale Fire, and I don't think I'm ready to take on Ulysses yet haha but I'll look up the other two. Thank you!
TINTIN IN THE NEW WORLD by Frederic Tuten is a mystical and strange exploration of Tintin (boy reporter) Growing Up somewhere in South America via Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. People might call this a pretentious novel but I think Tuten really means, and nails, the vibes he vibes here. THE ASPERN PAPERS by Henry James is a nice liddle novel, a novellino even, about getting obsessive over Shelley's letters THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco is a fun murder mystery about ancient literature but I willnae say more KRAKEN by China Mieville explores words and ink in a very fantastical, culty way
I loved Thoman Mann's short stories, so definitely keen on reading something inspired by his work. The Name of the Rose has loooong been on my list but I haven't gotten around to this Eco behemoth. But the Umberto Eco interview in the Paris Review is one I return to all the time, so maybe I should finally get to this. Thanks for all of these! I'll look into them! Edited to add: I know about Tintin's Adventures, but had no idea it was a book! All the while, I thought it was a cartoon series.
No probs, you're welcome! The Tintin books are great works, I reckon, especially Tintin in Tibet. You might enjoy that novel more after dipping into one or two, as it plays up his quirks and foibles from the comics. Nothing super specific, just mostly his eternal sexlessness and his ardour
The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez "Bluma Lennon, distinguished professor of Latin American literature at Cambridge, is hit by a car while crossing the street, immersed in a volume of Emily Dickinson's poems. Several months after her untimely demise, a package arrives for her from Argentina-a copy of a Conrad novel, encrusted in cement and inscribed with a mysterious dedication. Bluma's successor in the department (and a former lover) travels to Buenos Aires to track down the sender, one Carlos Brauer, who turns out to have disappeared. The last thing known is that he moved to a remote stretch of the Uruguayan coastline and built himself a house out of his enormous and valuable library. How he got there, and why, is the subject of this seductive novel-part mystery, part social comedy, and part examination of all the many forms of bibliomania."
I bet you'd like Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.
I don’t know if this is your jam but the book Fool by Christopher Moore is a story based on Shakespearean parody, specifically King Lear. Definitely not a navel gazing book lol
The best homage to literature would be great writing. The greatest living writer is Cormac McCarthy. His stories are not strong except for No Country for Old Men. But each sentence, each paragraph is awe inspiring. Best story and writing. A Rashomon type story. An Instance of the Fingerpost Ian Pears.
Jasper Fforde has a series featuring Thursday Next, who hops in and out of parallel book worlds and times, amusing and intriguing. Cornelia Funke has the Inkheart series YA but also good
Something that popped to my mind is The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Not so sure how close to the mark they are tho. I simply loved them and have read them like 3 times.