Knygatin, as you seem well-versed in this genre, are you familiar with Brian McNaughton and his ‘Nasty Stories’? If you are, I’m curious as to your opinions.

I read McNaughton’s The Throne of Bones last year and despite the lame title it ended up being my favourite read of 2020. I cannot recommend it highly enough to the handful of cognoscenti who frequent his forum (spooky laughter).

I am afraid I am not familiar with McNaughton.

Knygatin Wrote:
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> I am afraid I am not familiar with McNaughton.

Me, too.

E.g. cannot find him in the local library.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Sawfish Wrote:
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>
> Crane was an odd character from what I can
> tell. He successfully and persuasively portrayed
> the battlefield experience of naive bravery as it
> collides with grim reality, and the victory of
> blind panic--all without having had any
> battlefield experience.
>
> This is not to say that he had it right (I
> wouldn't know, not having had war experience), but
> he very persuasively established credibility and
> verisimilitude. He succeeded with critics, but he
> also succeeded with *me*, and I'm really skeptical
> and critical over these issues *if the story
> portrays itself as realistic*.
>
>

Was he comparable to Ambrose Bierce in portraying war?


> experience of naive bravery as it collides with grim reality, and the victory of blind panic

Is there a particular story that captures these situations exceptionally well?

Which would you recommend if I only try one story by Crane?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 13 Jul 21 | 06:39AM by Knygatin.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Crane was an odd character from what I can
> > tell. He successfully and persuasively
> portrayed
> > the battlefield experience of naive bravery as
> it
> > collides with grim reality, and the victory of
> > blind panic--all without having had any
> > battlefield experience.
> >
> > This is not to say that he had it right (I
> > wouldn't know, not having had war experience),
> but
> > he very persuasively established credibility
> and
> > verisimilitude. He succeeded with critics, but
> he
> > also succeeded with *me*, and I'm really
> skeptical
> > and critical over these issues *if the story
> > portrays itself as realistic*.
> >
> >
>
> Was he comparable to Ambrose Bierce in portraying
> war?

I don't know Bierce very well at all, and cannot make that comparison.

He seems most like Hemingway, when it comes to war. Probably really influenced Hemingway there.

Did Bierce do Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge? If so, the fantasy sequence--the main part of the story, with the miraculous escape--seems a lot like Crane.

>
>
> > experience of naive bravery as it collides with
> grim reality, and the victory of blind panic
>
> Is there a particular story that captures these
> situations exceptionally well?
>
> Which would you recommend if I only try one story
> by Crane?

The Open Boat

Remember: no supernatural, in fact, Crane is a Naturalist/Realist in terms of tone, and I've read that he's a lierary impressionist in technique but I need to cogitate on that one.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Did Bierce do Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge? If
> so, the fantasy sequence--the main part of the
> story, with the miraculous escape--seems a lot
> like Crane.
>

Yes, that is Bierce.


>
> The Open Boat
>
> Remember: no supernatural, in fact, Crane is a
> Naturalist/Realist in terms of tone, and I've read
> that he's a lierary impressionist in technique but
> I need to cogitate on that one.

Thanks for the tip!

And Avoosl, thanks for your tip.

Knygatin Wrote:
----------------------------------------------------
> And Avoosl, thanks for your tip.

You’re more than welcome, of course. Fine writing only lives in the minds of those who read it, so I am always eager to share the wealth.

I notice that The Throne of Bones can be had as an ebook for less than one, two or three cups of coffee (depending on where you live):

[wildsidepress.com]

A paper copy will set you back a little more and (o irony!) have a few minor typesetting errors that the ebook does not have.

(I adore Wildside Press, but they can be quite sloppy sometimes.)

Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> >
> > And Avoosl, thanks for your tip.
>
> You’re more than welcome, of course. Fine
> writing only lives in the minds of those who read
> it, so I am always eager to share the wealth.
>
>

Quite a bit about McNaughton has been written on this site, which a Search by his name will show. HERE is a whole thread about him. Perhaps it is time for a re-opening.

Thank you Knyggie! It had never occurred to me to do a search on McNaughton here.

It should be clear by now that I love his stuff, but it is very sexually explicit. Caveat emptor!

(And how appropriate is that name: McNaughton? It sounds like truancy and dirty magazines behind the bicycle shed!)

Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Knyggie! It had never occurred to me to
> do a search on McNaughton here.
>
> It should be clear by now that I love his stuff,
> but it is very sexually explicit. Caveat emptor!
>
> (And how appropriate is that name: McNaughton? It
> sounds like truancy and dirty magazines behind the
> bicycle shed!)


Naughtius Maximus... ;^)

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Yesterday I read the short story "Manacled" and I enjoyed it. Very good story in the vein of my favourite writer Maurice Level. Did Crane write more stories of this quality? In one of my previous post I wrote that his work, or at least the part I had read, did not appealed to me at all but if Crane wrote more stories like "Manacled" I am prepared to give him one more chance.

Minicthulhu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yesterday I read the short story "Manacled" and I
> enjoyed it. Very good story in the vein of my
> favourite writer Maurice Level. Did Crane write
> more stories of this quality? In one of my
> previous post I wrote that his work, or at least
> the part I had read, did not appealed to me at all
> but if Crane wrote more stories like "Manacled" I
> am prepared to give him one more chance.


I can't in honesty say that he focused consistently on narrow situations such as are portrayed in Manacled.

But I can say that he was not troubled, at all, by writing about topics and situations most others avoid in some fashion.

There are *so* many stories, and of varied quality, that it's a grab-bag. I happen to like his stuff, so I go thru them all and therefore will come across stories like Manacled.

Thinking a bit, what he did pretty often was to show the difference between what an idealistic character thinks themselves capable of, in war or some other existential test, and the actuality of what they end up doing.

To my mind, he is an extremely influential writer in 20th C Am Lit.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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