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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge was a bit of a letdown if I'm to be honest.
I love the bildungsroman as a genre. I had aspirations in university of writing a massive dissertation on the genre, (the following is to be taken more as a list of recommended novels than simple name dropping) taking into account Knowles's A Separate Peace, Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, Hemingway's Fiesta, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, Murakami's Norwegian Wood, Wintterson's Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Hesse's Demian & Steppenwolf, Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Nausea by Sartre, Robert Walser's Institute Benjamenta etc...
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge is considered a classic in the genre and while it contains sentences of True poetic significance, its overarching narrative lacks true purpose. It is a meandering tale that hopes to establish a sort of dreamlike rhythm but it gets lost in the contemplative moods of its protagonist. Brigge jumps from historical anecdote, to family drama, keenly searching for a purpose in a life that extends beyond that of mere art making.
He is a poet in search of value and meaning in life and while this is certainly a cause worth championing, it does little to invite the reader into a state of contemplation. In content, it appears the novel wishes to invite its viewer into an ongoing, universally acknowledged dialogue. One that seeks to call attention to the power of simply being alive. Of the potential of a life well lived. Of the potential of looking for something that is made up of something that is more than food and sleep but True purpose. True meaning and value. He invites his readers to ask if we've been asking the right questions all along and whether or not the last 2000 years of human existence have missed the mark entirely.This is not a simple question and as can be expected, no answer is formally presented...
To a modern audience, true meaning and value seems to stem from the idea of a journey. Sometimes psychological, almost always physical. A successful hero's journey comes from being displaced and overcoming or surmounting the odds. I believe it is in this way that The Notebooks fall flat. Because, we the reader, want to see him as a hero. One that will show us the way. That is not necessarily how
Brigge was meant to be understood and certainly not the way he must be seen.
Taking a step back, the title becomes significant. This is a notebook and while I can't allow myself to currently see it as fully successful, a second reading, in a new context may prove entirely enlightening.
There is no denying there is something mystical at play in this novel. There are sentences and thoughts that should be remembered and discussed at length. Whether or not as a whole, they make up a successful novel is something else. Recommended but to be read as a diary, rather than a journey.
'Here I sit and I am nothing'(15)
Is it possible, it thinks, that we have neither seen nor perceived nor said anything real or of any importance yet? Is it possible that we have had thousands of years to look, ponder and record, and that we have let those thousands of years pass like a break at school, when one eats a sandwich and apple?'15
'Is it possible that all these people have an exact knowledge of a past that never happened? Is it possible that all realities are nothing to them; that their life is winding down, connected to nothing at all, like a lock in an empty room?(16)
'They are in the books. At times they move among the pages, like sleepers turning between two dreams'(26)
'I sensed that it was a signal, a sign for the initiated, a sign the untouchables recognized; I felt intuitively that she was prompting me to go somewhere or do something.' (28)
'Ask no one to speak of you, not even with contempt. And if time passes and you realize that your name is on people's lips, do not take this more seriously than anything else you find in their mouths'(59)
'Times of danger are safer now than times of safety' (97)
'Fate loves to devise patterns and designs. Its difficulty lies in complexity. Life itself, however, is difficult because of its simplicity. (152)
'The woman who loves always surpasses the man who is loved, because life is greater than fate.Her devotion aspires to be infinite: that ie her happiness. But the nameless grief of her love has always been this: that she is required to limit that devotion.'(153)
---'Like the shadow of the hand of a clock' (153)
'the others were loss in the act of looking' (161)
'Thus he offered himself up, in one of those moments that are eternity, seen in foreshortened form'(161)
'We are forever watering down our understanding, stretching it to go round instead of wailing at the wall of our common distress, behind which that which passeth understanding would have time to gather its forces'(173)
I love the bildungsroman as a genre. I had aspirations in university of writing a massive dissertation on the genre, (the following is to be taken more as a list of recommended novels than simple name dropping) taking into account Knowles's A Separate Peace, Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, Hemingway's Fiesta, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, Murakami's Norwegian Wood, Wintterson's Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Hesse's Demian & Steppenwolf, Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Nausea by Sartre, Robert Walser's Institute Benjamenta etc...
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge is considered a classic in the genre and while it contains sentences of True poetic significance, its overarching narrative lacks true purpose. It is a meandering tale that hopes to establish a sort of dreamlike rhythm but it gets lost in the contemplative moods of its protagonist. Brigge jumps from historical anecdote, to family drama, keenly searching for a purpose in a life that extends beyond that of mere art making.
He is a poet in search of value and meaning in life and while this is certainly a cause worth championing, it does little to invite the reader into a state of contemplation. In content, it appears the novel wishes to invite its viewer into an ongoing, universally acknowledged dialogue. One that seeks to call attention to the power of simply being alive. Of the potential of a life well lived. Of the potential of looking for something that is made up of something that is more than food and sleep but True purpose. True meaning and value. He invites his readers to ask if we've been asking the right questions all along and whether or not the last 2000 years of human existence have missed the mark entirely.This is not a simple question and as can be expected, no answer is formally presented...
To a modern audience, true meaning and value seems to stem from the idea of a journey. Sometimes psychological, almost always physical. A successful hero's journey comes from being displaced and overcoming or surmounting the odds. I believe it is in this way that The Notebooks fall flat. Because, we the reader, want to see him as a hero. One that will show us the way. That is not necessarily how
Brigge was meant to be understood and certainly not the way he must be seen.
Taking a step back, the title becomes significant. This is a notebook and while I can't allow myself to currently see it as fully successful, a second reading, in a new context may prove entirely enlightening.
There is no denying there is something mystical at play in this novel. There are sentences and thoughts that should be remembered and discussed at length. Whether or not as a whole, they make up a successful novel is something else. Recommended but to be read as a diary, rather than a journey.
'Here I sit and I am nothing'(15)
Is it possible, it thinks, that we have neither seen nor perceived nor said anything real or of any importance yet? Is it possible that we have had thousands of years to look, ponder and record, and that we have let those thousands of years pass like a break at school, when one eats a sandwich and apple?'15
'Is it possible that all these people have an exact knowledge of a past that never happened? Is it possible that all realities are nothing to them; that their life is winding down, connected to nothing at all, like a lock in an empty room?(16)
'They are in the books. At times they move among the pages, like sleepers turning between two dreams'(26)
'I sensed that it was a signal, a sign for the initiated, a sign the untouchables recognized; I felt intuitively that she was prompting me to go somewhere or do something.' (28)
'Ask no one to speak of you, not even with contempt. And if time passes and you realize that your name is on people's lips, do not take this more seriously than anything else you find in their mouths'(59)
'Times of danger are safer now than times of safety' (97)
'Fate loves to devise patterns and designs. Its difficulty lies in complexity. Life itself, however, is difficult because of its simplicity. (152)
'The woman who loves always surpasses the man who is loved, because life is greater than fate.Her devotion aspires to be infinite: that ie her happiness. But the nameless grief of her love has always been this: that she is required to limit that devotion.'(153)
---'Like the shadow of the hand of a clock' (153)
'the others were loss in the act of looking' (161)
'Thus he offered himself up, in one of those moments that are eternity, seen in foreshortened form'(161)
'We are forever watering down our understanding, stretching it to go round instead of wailing at the wall of our common distress, behind which that which passeth understanding would have time to gather its forces'(173)
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
3.5/5
Death, Nostalgia, Bildungsroman
“Abelone might as well not have heard me. There she sat in her bright dress, as if the darkness were deepening everywhere within her, just as it was in her eyes.
‘Give it to me,’ she said suddenly, as if in anger, and, taking the book out of my hand, she opened it at the page she wanted.”
The obscurity and dreamlike quality of the writing read beautifully, although also left me lost, only understanding minute glimpses from the notebooks.
Pros:
-- poetic prose and artistic aesthetic
-- Malte and Abelone's banter
Cons:
-- disconnect between the ramblings and some structure or lack of
-- extremely private, lack of sensible metaphors
Death, Nostalgia, Bildungsroman
“Abelone might as well not have heard me. There she sat in her bright dress, as if the darkness were deepening everywhere within her, just as it was in her eyes.
‘Give it to me,’ she said suddenly, as if in anger, and, taking the book out of my hand, she opened it at the page she wanted.”
The obscurity and dreamlike quality of the writing read beautifully, although also left me lost, only understanding minute glimpses from the notebooks.
Pros:
-- poetic prose and artistic aesthetic
-- Malte and Abelone's banter
Cons:
-- disconnect between the ramblings and some structure or lack of
-- extremely private, lack of sensible metaphors
an incredible incredible book. rilke is heralded as one of the greats because he is. his reflections on love (to love and to be loved), God, womanhood, anxiety, loneliness, depression, societal whims, etc seem to be so ahead of his time. he adds depth to the universal experience and makes one feel seen
“I am learning to see. I don't know why it is, but everything enters me more deeply and doesn't stop where it once used to. I have an interior that I never knew of... What's the use of telling someone that I am changing? If I'm changing, I am no longer who I was; and if I am something else, it's obvious that I have no acquaintances. And I can't possibly write to strangers.”
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes