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sherwoodreads's review against another edition
A meandering excursion in search of the evolution of style. Thirwell's sympathies lie with Flaubert and Maupassant, and those influenced by them: writers who create a puzzle with fiction, whose readers will promise not to sink into the narrative, but remain outside, perusing the work through the lens of the intellectual. He relates his anecdotes with sympathy and humor, he doesn't hector like some of the more earnest critics, or browbeat, like Bloom tends to do.
My favorite bits are the difficulties in translation, highlighting where cultures do not quite overlap, and the sympathetic exploration of experiments in style. Pluses are lovely bits I hadn't know, like Diderot wrote fan fiction for Tristram Shandy, and James Joyce was inspired to write Ulysses after reading an experimental novel by a French aesthete, who was friends with Malormee. I love the cross-pollinizing of personalities and ideas.
Thirwell does tend toward judgments as though they were self-evident, but the rest of the work is a delighted state.
My favorite bits are the difficulties in translation, highlighting where cultures do not quite overlap, and the sympathetic exploration of experiments in style. Pluses are lovely bits I hadn't know, like Diderot wrote fan fiction for Tristram Shandy, and James Joyce was inspired to write Ulysses after reading an experimental novel by a French aesthete, who was friends with Malormee. I love the cross-pollinizing of personalities and ideas.
Thirwell does tend toward judgments as though they were self-evident, but the rest of the work is a delighted state.
apatrick's review against another edition
5.0
This is literary criticism at its best, specifically focusing on style and translation and whether the twain shall meet.
fletchorama's review against another edition
5.0
this book was right up my alley. a lengthy meditation on the relationships between writers, their writings, and the possible value of a bad translation.
buta_comes_home's review against another edition
4.0
Speaking personally I have consistently said of this book that I couldn’t tell you the half of what it says but I just love the reading of it. The style, the voice... unfortunately, at some point I Very coherently relayed more than half of what I had read to a colleague. Possibly wrongly but definitely coherently. I wish there had been more female characters, happily there are many in the acknowledgements and, of course, Miss Herbert herself. I wish I had found it earlier, I regret none of the time spent on it.
smartcookiesca's review against another edition
5.0
I have never more thoroughly enjoyed a book as I have The Delighted States, which has served as introduction to translation studies and comparative literature more generally. It is definitely now my favorite nonfiction book and on the short list of books overall.
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