Fahrenheit 451 Challenge

[GOLLUM]

Stop giving me a headache Nesa.....

 

[Addy]

Ooookaaayyy... Now, that's an interesting choice. May I suggest investing in some headache powders first? (Not that it's not a worthwhile book -- though I think I'd prefer Ulysses myself -- but memorizing it would be ... quite a task, shall we say.....)

I prefer Ulysses myself too, and I even know some bits of it already by heart--mainly the first paragraph off each chapter--, but I thought Finnegans Wake would be more fun. I even translated parts of it into Portuguese when I was in college.

 

[Toraspanda]

I'd take either Fahrenheit 451 itself, or Lord of the Rings, which I know practically by heart anyway!

 

[Nesacat]

Stop giving me a headache Nesa.....

It'll be a shared thing then. Just thinking about this is giving me both a headache and a real scare. I keep thinking about everything that simply won't be remembered.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and looking at your shelves and trying to save only what you could memorise.

Maybe we all need to get into the old habit of storytelling. An oral tradition as well as a written one.

 

[j d worthington]

Maybe we all need to get into the old habit of storytelling. An oral tradition as well as a written one.

I'm in agreement with that. For one thing, I think it would help to restore appreciation of genuinely good rhetoric (as opposed to vocal persiflage or outright b.s.)... which would in turn enhance an appreciation for fine writing as well.

Still having to give this one some thought.... I'm tempted to go with Mary Shelley's The Last Man, which fits the description I have given here... it's a novel that almost requires to be read aloud to appreciate the richness of its writing and thought... but there are so many others clamoring for first place.....

 

[Briareus Delta]

At the risk of being very predictable, mine would be The Lord of the Rings.

 

[j d worthington]

Addy: Translating Finnegan's Wake into Portuguese? Oh, that must have been quite an interesting challenge! Even though I've seen several foreign translations of Lewis Carroll's books (French, German, Spanish, Russian), I'm still amazed at anyone who would have the courage to attempt such a thing. And I've got to admit that I would love to see the foreign translations of Richard Lupoff's "With the Bentfin Boomer Boys on Little Old New Alabama", from Again, Dangerous Visions (or, for that matter, either The Demolished Man or The Stars My Destination!)... I'll bet the translator's hair was pure white by the time they finished!

 

[Addy]

Addy: Translating Finnegan's Wake into Portuguese? Oh, that must have been quite an interesting challenge! Even though I've seen several foreign translations of Lewis Carroll's books (French, German, Spanish, Russian), I'm still amazed at anyone who would have the courage to attempt such a thing. And I've got to admit that I would love to see the foreign translations of Richard Lupoff's "With the Bentfin Boomer Boys on Little Old New Alabama", from Again, Dangerous Visions (or, for that matter, either The Demolished Man or The Stars My Destination!)... I'll bet the translator's hair was pure white by the time they finished!

It was a lot of fun, and a challenge, of course. I saw a recent (and probably the only) translation of the book recently in a bookshop. It's called Finnicius Revive in Portuguese. As far as I could tell from a quick appraisal, it was decently done. And it's a bilingual edition too.

The Demolished Man has actually been translated to Portuguese. Here's the 1981 edition's cover:

I haven't had a chance to peruse that version, but I don't think it would be that hard to translate.

As for Richard Lupoff, I don't think any of his works have been published here at all.

 

[Musky]

I'll take two.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

and

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The question then would be, how do the movies get saved?

 

[mosaix]

Either:

The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin

or

Catch 22, Joseph Heller

 

[Connavar]

It's starting to look like there are going to be lots of lost classics of literature

Thats not shocking since people starts reading books in different times and different ways.

I didnt read books outside school up 7th grade. Until later i never cared about classics like Dickens and co. Heck if my swedish teacher didnt almost force me to read The Count of Monte Cristo i wouldnt be here with you guys.


I would be just another one who thinks why bother to read books for enjoyment.

Some of the members has been reading books since before i was born, you feel like a newbie seeing them mention old school writers you dont know

 

[Thadlerian]

Watership Down by Richard Adams


Oh, wait, I already know that one by heart (more or less)

The question then would be, how do the movies get saved?

It would demand a rather good memory, but I would recommend memorizing them bitmap by bitmap, each pixel with an RGB code, at 24 frames per second.

 

[DeepThought]

Hyperion, Dan Simmons

 

[brent.bennett]

I'd probly pick Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein..... for the children. Most is picking classics, I'll take up a childrens book for the sake of getting the next generations involved in literature.

 

[Addy]

If this is going to be restricted to SF & F (well, why shouldn't it?), I'd go for The Lathe of Heaven.

 

[bullferret]

BRAVE NEW WORLD by Alduous Huxley would seem to me to be a good one to save

 

[Christopher Lee]

I would memorize Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis. Thanks to you guys most of the important classics would be taken care of.

 

[Mangara]

Because its pretty well forgotten already. The best book I have read, bar none.

 

[Toby Frost]

1984, because it's a very good book and it would be useful as a warning to society.

 

[Bick]

I'm glad someone's already picked Fahrenheit 451 itself, so we can all remember down the ages why we're doing it!

I would have to pick a fairly short book (laziness), and one that's not already been chosen, so I'd go with one of three books probably:
Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"
Orwell's "Coming up for Air"
or
Balzac's "Old Man Goriot"

Tough choice - maybe the Hemingway. I hope some one else chooses War and Peace as its the finest book ever written imo, but too long for me to memorise.

By the way, Connavar - I read the most recent Odyssey translation into English from Penguin classics last year - its not old, and its very readable. It would also be relatively easy to memorise, as it was written to be memorised and 'played out' in live performances. Hence, every chapter seeming to start with the phrase "dawn comes early with rosy fingers", and Telemachus always being given the same adjective "thoughtful", etc.