May 9, 2013
Winter Semester 2013: The Books I Read

Here’s a list of all the books I read from January to April 2013, organized by author/editor’s surname.

César Aira: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter
Algernon Blackwood: Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood
Robert Bloch: Dragons and Nightmares
Gilles Boulenger: John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness
Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Judith Butler: Gender Trouble
James M. Cain: The Root of His Evil
Ramsey Campbell: The Doll Who Ate His Mother
Truman Capote: The Grass Harp
Anne Carson: Autobiography of Red
Louis-Ferdinand Céline: Journey to the End of the Night
John Clute: The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror
Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
Jacques Derrida: The Gift of Death and Literature in Secret
Jacques Derrida: The Animal That Therefore I Am
Jacques Derrida: Genres, Genealogies, Genres, and Genius: The Secrets of the Archive
Philip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Gambler
Jack Ketchum: Off Season
Stephen King: Skeleton Crew
Stephen King: Insomnia
Stephen King: Under the Dome
Arthur Machen: The Great God Pan
Richard Matheson: A Stir of Echoes
Charles Maturin: Melmoth the Wanderer
Herman Melville: Billy Budd, Sailor
Frank Norris: McTeague
Sylvia Plath: Ariel
Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe
Eden Robinson: Blood Sports
Marcel Schwob: The Book of Monelle
Tim Underwood & Chuck Miller (eds.): Fear Itself: The Horror Fiction of Stephen King
Tim Underwood & Chuck Miller (eds.): Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King
Matthew Vollmer: Inscriptions for Headstones
Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto

4:55pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZY511ykcKece
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: reading literature philosophy fiction derrida stephen king mike thorn books prose poetry gothic fiction classic literature horror 
May 4, 2013
REPENTINO PRE-ORDER FORM.

infraread:

repentinomagazine:

Order your copy of Repentino now! If you have any accepted work being featured in the magazine (check your emails) you receive one for free!

I have been published in this edition of Repentino. Order one. Support Mexico City’s vibrant writing scene.


-T

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(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: tomas boudreau repentino infrarealism infrarealist writing published publication canadian writer canadian literature literature 
April 22, 2013
My 10 Favorite Horror Novels/Novellas

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Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin (1820)

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

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House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)

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The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen (1894)

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It by Stephen King (1986)

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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

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The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)


The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso (1970)


Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)


The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

Honorable Mentions: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

12:12pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZY511yjHtZaN
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: literature books fiction mike thorn classic literature gothic horror melmoth the wanderer charles maturin frankenstein mary shelley house of leaves mark z. danielewski the great god pan arthur machen stephen king stephen king's it the metamorphosis franz kafka the obscene bird of night jose donoso the turn of the screw henry james dracula bram stoker Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 
March 18, 2013

My reading of “Medusa” by Tomas Boudreau

(Source: ssemblage)

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(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: tomas boudreau mike thorn infraread no wave spoken word poetry medusa poem literature fiction prose poem prose poetry 
March 18, 2013
Jacques Derrida Seminar Entry #2: Deconstruction & Literature

” … does the deconstructive effect depend on the force of a literary event? What is there of literature, and what of philosophy, here, in this fabulous staging of deconstruction? I shall not attack this enormous problem head on.” -Derrida, “Psyche: Inventions of the Other”

Derrida’s reflection here is enormously complicated. It is something I would like to dissect in more detail during the process of my facilitation tomorrow. In addition to tackling the foundation of this question, I’d like to analyze his use of the words “literature” and “philosophy” in the essay “Psyche: Inventions of the Other.”

If deconstruction functions as a written practice, it must possess the properties of its form. As such, deconstruction itself is vulnerable to the process of deconstruction. This notion initiates a moment of aporia, where deconstruction takes on the attributes of an immanent undertaking. Is deconstruction locked into the written word? I am probably simplifying the implications of Derrida’s rumination, but I think it is especially noteworthy that deconstruction must operate through a linguistic form and approach.

However, I like to believe that the deconstructive method is capable of obtaining a kind of transcendent status, of locating meaning beyond the perameters and constrictions of language.

12:46am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZY511ygX8a6N
Filed under: transcendence immanence jacques derrida deconstruction literature psyche mike thorn philosophy continental writing 
March 10, 2013
Gift Card Book Haul

I got a gift card for my birthday. These are the books I bought with it:

The Trial by Franz Kafka
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin 
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
McTeague by Frank Norris
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

10:10pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZY511yf_uRDx
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: philip roth books literature mike thorn melmoth classic literature charles maturin friedrich nietzsche beyond good and evil philosophy poetry ariel sylvia plath mcteague frank norris the ghost writer kafka the trial 
January 5, 2013
"As long as we’re young, we manage to find excuses for the stoniest indifference, the most blatant caddishness, we put them down to emotional eccentricity or some sort of romantic inexperience. But later on, when life shows us how much cunning, cruelty, and malice are required just to keep the body at ninety-eight point six, we catch on, we know the score, we begin to understand how much swinishness it takes to make up a past. Just take a close look at yourself and the degree of rottenness you’ve come to. There’s no mystery about it, no more room for fairy tales; if you’ve lived this long, it’s because you’ve squashed any poetry you had in you. Life is keeping body and soul together."

— Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

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(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: Louis-Ferdinand Céline journey to the end of the night quote literature 
December 31, 2012
The Books I Read in 2012

I read 114 books altogether in 2012. Here is the list, organized by the author or editor’s surname.

The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
Silk by Alessandro Baricco
The Damnation Game by Clive Barker
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Cabal by Clive Barker
My Mother, Madame Edwarda, The Dead Man by Georges Bataille
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
The Bataille Reader by Georges Bataille
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Psycho by Robert Bloch
Night-World by Robert Bloch
American Gothic by Robert Bloch
Lucky at Cards by Lawrence Block
Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño
Mind Grabber by Gary Brandner
Factotum by Charles Bukowski
The Asphalt Jungle by W.R. Burnett
The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs
Queer by William S. Burroughs
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
Serenade by James M. Cain
If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
More by Austin Clarke
The Favourite Game by Leonard Cohen
Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror edited by Ian Conrich & David Woods
Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
Monolingualism of the Other or the Prosthesis of Origin by Jacques Derrida
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Blood on the Moon by James Ellroy
Baby Moll by John Farris
Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The History of Sexuality Volume 1: An Introduction by Michel Foucault
“Master Harold”…and the Boys by Athol Fugard 
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Great Leader by Jim Harrison
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Kamouraska by Anne Hébert
Winner Take Nothing by Ernest Hemingway
Demian by Herman Hesse
Self-Transformations: Foucault, Ethics, and Normalized Bodies by Cressida J. Heyes
The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by Jack Kerouac & William S. Burroughs
The Shining by Stephen King
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition by Stephen King
The Long Walk by Stephen King
Roadwork by Stephen King
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Gerald’s Game by Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King  
Bag of Bones by Stephen King 
From a Buick 8 by Stephen King
The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
The Studhorse Man by Robert Kroetsch
The Nightrunners by Joe R. Lansdale
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre by H.P. Lovecraft
Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by H.P. Lovecraft
Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald
I Am Legend and Other Stories by Richard Matheson
Monoceros by Suzette Mayr
Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
White-Jacket or the World in a Man-of-War by Herman Melville
Pierre or the Ambiguities by Herman Melville
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder by Henry Miller 
Quiet Days in Clichy by Henry Miller
Paradise Lost by John Milton
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday  
My Place by Sally Morgan 
Genre and Hollywood by Steve Neale
Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono  
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 
Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys
Trap Lines by Eden Robinson
Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
As for Me and My House by Sinclair Ross
Feral by Berton Roueché 
Conversations with Scorsese by Richard Schickel
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Now and on Earth by Jim Thompson
Heed the Thunder by Jim Thompson
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
Recoil by Jim Thompson
The Golden Gizmo by Jim Thompson
A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson
After Dark, My Sweet by Jim Thompson
Wild Town by Jim Thompson
The Grifters by Jim Thompson
South of Heaven by Jim Thompson
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide by Lois Tyson
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Diamond Grill by Fred Wah
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Double Hook by Sheila Watson
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Valley of Spiders by H.G. Wells
361 by Donald E. Westlake
Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White

2:22am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZY511yabvM8K
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: margaret atwood alessandro baricco reading literature 2012 list lit fiction prose classic literature canadian literature western canadian literature philosophy theory feminist philosophy literary theory postcolonial literature film studies 17th century literature 19th century literature 20th century literature 21st century literature horror crime fiction clive barker georges bataille alison bechdel robert bloch lawrence block roberto bolano gary brandner 
December 19, 2012
"the gray day, the red bulblight, I had never heard such a story from such a soul except from the great men I had known in my youth, great heroes of America I’d been buddies with, with whom I’d adventured and gone to jail and known in raggedy dawns, the boys beat on curbstones seeing symbols in the saturated gutter, the Rimbauds and Verlaines of America on Times Square, kids—no girl had ever moved me with a story of spiritual suffering and so beautifully her soul showing out radiant as an angel wandering in hell and the hell the selfsame streets I’d roamed in watching, watching for someone just like her and never dreaming the darkness and the mystery and eventuality of our meeting in eternity, the hugeness of her face now like the sudden vast Tiger head on a poster on the back of a woodfence in the smoky dumpyards Saturday no-school mornings, direct, beautiful, insane, in the rain."

— Jack Kerouac, The Subterraneans

3:02pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZY511yZi9W5L
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: Jack Kerouac The Subterraneans quote literature 
December 3, 2012
"In the operative opinion of this world, he who is already fully provided what what is necessary for him, that man shall have more; while he who is deplorably destitute of the same, he shall have taken away from him even that which he hath. Yet the world vows it is a very plain, downright matter-of-fact, plodding, humane sort of world. It is governed only by the simplest principles, and scorns all ambiguities, all transcendentals, and all manner of juggling. Now some imaginatively heterodoxical men are often surprisingly twitted upon their willful inverting of all common-sense notions, their absurd and all-displacing transcendentals, which say three is four, and two and two make ten. But if the eminent Juggularius himself ever advocated in mere words a doctrine one thousandth part so ridiculous and subversive of all practical sense, as that doctrine which the world actually and eternally practices, of giving unto him who already hath more than enough, still more of that superfluous article, and taking away from him who hath nothing at all, even that which he hath,—then is the truest book in the world a lie."

— Herman Melville, Pierre or the Ambiguities

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Filed under: Herman Melville Pierre quote literature 
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