Category: Archived DMs

Been on the road and having a hard time keeping up with DM responsibilities. Lame? Yes!
But I aim to replace this ‘un with a real post in the morrow. For now, feel free to post any/all complaints about the way this DM is being mismanged here. (For example: “I could pull a better At Swim-Two-Birds Deathmarch out of a hat!”)
-Cecil

It’s funny, when this one started I remember thinking “golly, this may be too easy for a deathmarch.” But for whatever reason, this is the deathmarch that has brought the highest percentage of folks low. I’m not sure how many we’re down to now — mebbe 10-14 or so folks reading along? Jinkies!
Anyways, with apologies to them what’re actually caught up or even ahead, I’m going to declare this week a punt so that what folks are looking to catch up can take one last noble stab at it. Meanwhile, I’ll put our ASTBDM scientists to work trying to develop an equation that adequately reflects this developing phenomenon. Feel free to use this comment thread (if you’re so inclined) to rage against the injustice, yes: rage! against the injustice!
Next week: Once more with feeling, see you at the bottom of page 209 (Dalkey)…..

I am now (ack! agack!) a week+ behind. And miles and miles and miles from home. But still reading along. Still loving it. Just got up to the legend of Jem Casey, Poet of the Pick. Gold, and nothing but the shiny stuff. Now don’t wait for me. Onward! Onward!
Next week: I can only hope I’ll see you all at the bottom of page 209 (Dalkey), where the Pooka himself sez it best and sez it all: “We are honoured that you accept our poor offerings…You are very kind”….

And then before ya know it, it’s Week #3.
Continuing a longstanding Deathmarch tradition, I’m now a tad behind. In good company there, from what I hear — a few stalwart marchers have had a little trouble getting their books and will be joing us mid-trail. Still having a swell time though and hope youse are being likewise regaled. Cowboys too? Oh come on now.
Next week: Let’s meet up at the bottom page 168 (Dalkey), right in the middle of a “glorious extravagance.”

Week 2 starts here, and if you’ve been reading along at home, that’ll place you on page 54 (Darlkey), at the very moment of John Furriskey’s unusual birth.
I’m enjoying the heck outta the book so far. In particular, the Fin Mac Cool stuff just slays me. It struck me that beyond a predeliction for unusual names, this also does ASTB have in common with Pale Fire and Gravity’s Rainbow: the big brainflood (aka the use of detail as an opiate).
Hope you’re enjoying yourself and keeping yer socks clean. Best I can tell we have something like 20 folks on the march. Nice healthy headcount. This one seems a little easier on the eyes than the last two, and I’m guessing most of us will make it through. What say we pick up the pace just a tad in the coming week?
Next week: See you at the bottom of page 115 (Dalkey), where the two of them are “talking with each other in a lay of generous staves.”

*****
From the intro to the Dalkey edition:
“According to its author, Adolf Hitler hated At Swim-Two-Birds so vehemently he started World War II in order to interfere with its sales.”
*****
Welcome to Day 1 of Week 1, which means for them that are marching, the marching starts roughly…now! In fact, once I hit Save, I’ll be heading off to BART, ASTB in hand. Looks like it starts with someone eating, which is always a good way to kick off really any work of art. Except for perhaps a trumpet solo.
If this is your first march, (1) yay! and (2) here’s how it works: we’ll tackle the book in 40-50 pages/week chunks. Don’t sweat it if you fall a little behind — most folks do at some point. Try to resist racing ahead so as to accentuate the commonality of referential data. Every Tuesday, I’ll post a thread right here on cv.com. Use that thread for comments, which can be as low-key as “I am the ‘At Swim-Two-Bird Man of Alcatraz.’” or as thought provoking as [very thought provoking example here].
(And of course: If you’re re-reading the book, please do yer level best to avoid spoilers.)
And that’s it. Both the kit and the kaboose.
Thanks much for coming along. This is our third book, and it’s the one I’m the most outright excited to read. In fact: I’m way too excited. In fact: I think my brain is vibrating.
I’m reading the so-called Dalkey Archive Press edition and will be using that for page break references — if you have a different edition with different breaks, just let me know and I’ll see what we can do to synch up….
Next week: Let’s meet at page 54 (Dalkey), just before the “Extract from Press regarding Furriskey’s birth.”

Hi,
Next Tuesday we start up Deathmarch #3. This time out it’s another relatively short book — At Swim-Two-Birds written by Irish author Flann O’Brien and published back in 1939. I’m especially looking forward to this one — a brilliant darkly comic romp, or so I’ve been told by some really smart people. But that said, I’ll keep this post a bit on the ultrashort side since I’m on the road this week and up way past my bedtime. Hope to see you out on the trail….
-Cecil

Pale Fire Peoples!
As suggested last week, here’s a bonus round for folks interested in re-reading the first section, talking about the Richard Rorty introduction to the Everyman’s Library, and/or bringing other external sources to the party.
My 2 cents: I was a bit disappointed with the Rorty intro. Seemed to me he was commiting a Kinbote of sorts — putting himself too much in the center of things. I kept waiting for him to say “When we first encounter so-called ‘Gradus,’ we are wearing those pants we thought we’d given away, but then it turned out they were just buried under some other clothes on our rocking chair in the back room.”
Some of what he described as what the reader would go through rang true for me — in particular the section on page x where he talks about the experience of reading the intro and the poem. But after that, I started writing “no” in the margin of my copy every paragraph or two. “The awed sense that royalty has condescended to treat us as a confidant”? no. “the revelation of some new and surprising fact about our remarkable host and commentator”? no again. I just didn’t have that experience — at the start, for me at least, Kinbote was a clown. It was only toward the very end that I was surprised to find myself getting a wee bit of sympathy for the narrator.
Those are quibbles, I suppose. My biggest beef is that so much of Rorty’s essay hinges on the idea that Nabokov wanted us to forget about Hazel and then only come back to her in the end. (1) did we really forget about her? didn’t seem that way to me. (2) I don’t recall N. swinging her story back into view in the last few pages.
Still, it made for an interesting reading. Your thoughts?
Next up: starting on August 16th, Deathmarch 3: At Swim-Two-Birds, by Flan O’Brien (aka Brian O’Nolan), which, according to James Joyce, is “A really funny book.” (I’m not making that up.)

Pale Fire Peoples!
Just finished PF this very morning. Enjoyed the close very much — it felt like a soft and very satisfying landing. Looks like many of the folks (at least the commenting folks) on the ‘march appear to be in the “he’s a nut” camp. But me, I didn’t feel like VN was committing 100% either way. It felt to me like at least three stories kept in focus at the same time — the story within the poem, the story of Charles the eccentric ex-King, and the inferred story of Charles the looped stalker. I’d been braced for some sort of neat “it was all a dream” ending and this more open-ended close was a bit of a relief. Or mebbe that’s my delusion 🙂
Either way, I’m glad I read this one. As with GR, it just felt good on the brain to be reading this ecstatic (to swipe Updike’s word from the back cover) prose in small, savoured doses.
Next week: This is the thread for closing thoughts on the book itself. Next week, by popular demand, we’ll add a thread for folks what want to re-read the poem, intro, and foreword, and throw any other external sources into the stew.
Thanks all,
-CV

Pale Fire Peoples!
Welcome to Week 5 and the final push. It’s been an action-packed week filled with revelations and disertations. Suicide? Prejudice? The Legend of Curdy Buff? It’s all in there. I enjoyed this week’s read and was surprised at points to find myself starting to become just a wee bit sympathetic with our narrator. Still, I will confess: Tout en ayant connaissance des traductions françaises de “John Donne” et d’”Andrew Marvell,” j’ai mis ma tête vers le bas, et ai pris un petit somme court. (What oh what did we ever do before we had the Babel Fish?)
Next week: We wrap! Let’s meet up on the far side of the index to compare closing thoughts. Speaking of which, a word to the wise — this last patch includes a few revelations. Folks are doing what they can to avoid full-on spoilers, but if you’re a bit behind this week’s target, you might want to skim these comments with caution.
Thanks all,
-CV