Vile Bodies

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, 321 pages

Adam wants to marry Nina.  Nina wants to marry Adam.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have any money.  Their pursuit of happiness amidst the anarchic social swirl of 1920s London is at the center of Vile Bodies, but it is the unsettled conditions underlying the swirl itself that are the real target of Waugh's satire.  So, once again, this time in prose, Prufrock wanders unaware into the wasteland.

Satyricon

The Satyricon by Petronius, translated by WC Firebaugh, 253 pages

One of the first novels, the sprawling Satyricon survives only in fragments, but fortunately these fragments form a more or less continuous text comprising most of books fifteen and sixteen of the original.  The story follows a group of well-educated but impoverished friends and rivals as they make their way through the decadent society of southern Italy during the reign of Nero, falling into and out of adventures ranging from the orgiastic rites of Priapus to the interminable dinner party of the wealthy bore Trimalchio.  At the center of many of these episodes is the beauty of the former gladiator Encolpius' boy lover Giton, a source of desire and therefore conflict for men and women alike.

As aimless as it is obscene, for the modern reader Petronius will recall Hunter S Thompson at his best or Jack Kerouac at his most popular.  It is certainly testament to the truth of Qoheleth's adage that there is nothing new under the sun.

Kill All Happies

Kill AllHappies by Rachel Cohn, 279 pages

“Last Call at Happies! Tonight, 8 P.M. Senior Class Only! Please with the Shhhh. This is it. Graduation. And Vic Navarro is throwing the most epic party Rancho Soldado has ever seen. She's going to pull off the most memorable good-bye ever for her best friends, give Happies-the kitschy restaurant that is her desert town's claim to fame-a proper send-off into bankruptcy, and oh yes, hook up with her delicious crush, Jake Zavala-Kim. She only needs to keep the whole thing a secret so that her archnemesis, Miss Ann Thrope, Rancho Soldado's nightmare Town Councilwoman and high school Economics teacher, doesn't get Vic tossed in jail. With the music thumping, alcohol flowing, bodies mashing, and Thrope nowhere to be seen, Vic's party is a raging success. That is, until Happies fans start arriving in droves to say good-bye, and storm the deserted theme park behind the restaurant. Suddenly what was a small graduation bash is more like Coachella on steroids with a side of RASmatazz pie. The night is so not going as planned. And maybe that's the best plan of all.” This book was completely crazy and I really enjoyed it.  This is a great story for teens who like fiction that is mostly realistic but just a little outside the realm of possibility as well.

Odes of Horace

The Odes of Horace by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), translated by David Ferry, 160 pages 

In the sixth ode of the first book, dedicated to Augustus' general Agrippa, the victor of Actium, Horace protests that to sing his subject's virtues properly would require an epic poet in the manner of Homer and Virgil, whereas

     It falls to me to make up easygoing

     Songs about such battlefields as parties,

     Epic encounters between young men and women.

So David Ferry renders it.  Contrast this with John Conington's Victorian era translation:

     Feasts are my theme, my warrior maidens fair,

     Who with pared nails encounter youths in fight.

Or A.S. Kline's more contemporary translation:

     I sing of banquets, of girls fierce in battle

     With closely-trimmed nails, attacking young men.

Obviously Ferry's translation is more equivalent than literal here, and on that level he succeeds admirably.  His rendition of Horace's poetry has an ease and a confidence that makes it seem effortless without being superficial, to the point where it is easy to imagine the odes being performed or even composed at one of the poet's dinner parties.  Unfortunately, it also misses some of Horace's gems, like the girls fighting with their nails in amorous combat, an image, so striking in itself, that also echoes his earlier references to "the wrath that filled Pelides' breast" and "crafty Ulysses' long sea-wanderings" better than "epic encounters between young men and women".

On the other hand, Ferry translates the thirteenth ode of the fourth book more literally

     ...your graying hair and yellowing teeth

while Conington transformed that description

     The white has left your teeth

     And settled on your brow.

Ferry is not deaf to metaphor, but he clearly prizes accessibility over ornament.  Whether the readers' values agree will determine their reception of this translation.

Party Monster: a Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

Party Monster: a Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland , by James St. James, 287 pages

With the recent release of Michael Alig from prison, I found myself saying, "Who?"  I had no knowledge about the Club Kids culture of New York City in the '90s, so I read this true-crime tale written by James St. James.  (Note: if interested in drag queen makeup tutorials, google James St James transformations on Youtube).  James St. James writes of an incredibly decadent, superficial, drug-fueled nightlife, where the cast of characters is simultaneously sympathetic and repulsive, all at once.  He describes at length the rise of Michael Alig, from shunned party-goer to the organizer of must-attend, blow-out bashes, where wild events would take place, all in a frenzy of tons of drugs.  Alig, who comes across as someone who just desperately wanted to be loved, soon becomes addicted- both to drugs and notoriety, which soon spirals out of control, culminating in a night of murder and months of denial.  The writing is very scattered and conversational, which I found engaging, but others might not.  There are many funny events in this book, but those, combined with the shadow of addiction and murder, made me feel a little uncomfortable laughing.  This was later turned into a movie with Macaulay Culkin.