Great Video. Please do not cut down on your rambling. It's always a joy hearing people talk earnestly about something they are passionate about. Looking forward to what's to come here.
this was a joy to watch! Fathers and Crows is an amazing achievement. The Rifles is my personal favorite, although each volume is outstanding in their own way. i often think about what the remaining two volumes of the Seven Dreams will be like. looking forward to more vids! ramble away...
Hi Chris. Just want to say that this is the video that introduced me to Vollmann. I had no idea who he was before and felt ashamed about it. I am currently reading Europe Central and find his writing to be highly astute and well informed. It has me extremely excited to read his non-fiction. Even though he is highly acclaimed and is read throughout the world, I still feel he is underappreciated and underread, which is a real shame. Thank you for shedding some light on a truly remarkable writer and for introducing me to him.
What a pleasure to have introduced someone to WTV’s world. But don’t ever feel shame about not having known an author before-this is always true for everyone of course (a tautology) and it’s a joy to have the thrill of discovery! I agree that Vollmann still doesn’t have the attention he deserves but he’s chasing a vision, not a market. That’s part of his appeal for me. I need to do an updated Vollmann video-I have more of his books and more insights. Take care!
Thank you for all of these great videos and author recommendations. I just ordered The Ice Shirt and Fathers and Crows. I’m really looking forward to getting into them!
He is definitely a beast. Steven Moore said of him: "From where I'm sitting, William T. Vollmann looks to be the most prodigiously talented and historically important American novelist under 35, the only one to come along in the last 10 years or so capable of filling the seven-league boots of such mega-novelists as John Barth, William Gaddis, and Thomas Pynchon."
Oh man, i am surely getting Vollmann when i can, i snapped up a bunch because of your videos, in massive debt, won't be able to afford anymore till November. Thanks for all your content, happy reading and cheers!!
So happy to hear you've caught the WTV bug. I myself expended massive sums on his work. But, in hindsight, it was a shrewd investment with exponentially more dividends. :)
Fantastic video! RU-vid needs a lot more WTV content. Fathers and Crows is next on my list, I hope to get to it before The Lucky Star comes out. I think The Royal Family is my favorite of his so far. Keep rambling!
Good one! Yep, IMA read a couple of his books next year, _Fathers and Crows,_ and _The Rifle, _Europe Central,_ perhaps, or _The Atlas._ I'm a big Pynchon fanatic and reread _Gravity's Rainbow_ with TheBook_Chemist last year (and I totally annotated it up).
Thanks! I really need to do an updated WTV video. I think The Atlas is the best starting point for Vollmann. Fathers and Crows is my favorite of the incredible Seven Dreams septology. Bear in mind that Pynchon and Vollmann are two separate encyclopedic maximalists. Vollmann’s first novel, You Bright and Risen Angels, is in that Pynchonian vein, but WTV is very much his own beast.
I've just discovered your channel and what a joy it is!! Thanks to your very convincing evangelizing in this video, I've immediately ordered two of Vollman's books, "Europe Central" and "The Ice-Shirt". I'm looking forward to discovering a new writer! I've subbed your channel and am catching up on everything you've done so far. I mostly read history and nonfiction, but I also read literary fiction, so this is a delight!
And because of your discovery I have discovered your channel, to which I have subscribed! It is very coincidental because I have just recently made a pact with myself to improve my knowledge of history. This is a weak spot of mine and it takes me forever to read history books. But I am also very tenacious when I decide to do something. Thank you for all of your kind words and I hope you enjoy discovering this magnificent writer. I look forward to digging through your archives as well!
@@LeafbyLeaf What wonderful serendipity! :) I'm always up for a buddy read or read-along if you'd like to do that with a history title sometime. It helps when you have someone to share the process with...and it's fun! My name is Peg, btw.
Just listened to an interview with him on the True Anon podcast. What an interesting perspective he has on the world. Idk if getting Europe Central as my first book to read from him was a good choice, but excited to dive on in.
Hi mate, I just came across your channel and I really like it. I was blown away when I read You Bright and Risen Angels and then The Atlas (parts of that, like remembering his sister drowning, are so good they haunt me years later) but I then found Europe Central and The Royal Family to be pretty average: repetitive, overwritten, pointlessly obscene, and in desperate need of a strict editor, and considering his books are gigantic it's put me off getting into the Seven Dream series.
That's understandable. His books are whoppers and he takes and fights for many artistic liberties. Consider, though, that the first book of the series is a little under 300pp, so it could be a way to test the waters. Though it's not the best of the series, it is still representative of the effort he has put into the books (the amount of research and travel is unparalleled). In any case, life's short and there are more great books than can be read, so by all means move on to other pastures!
Man, I really want that 7 book set of Rising up and Rising Down but it's selling for exorbitant amounts of money. Apparently Vollman stated that he did the abridged version "for the money." You'd think he'd try and get that set released in paper back sets or even sell each individual volume separately if it was for the money. Anyways, I've definitely been inspired to read Vollmand work and I believe I've watched this video more times than I care to admit publicly. ✌
Dude, I’m right there with you. I keep getting ready to pull the trigger on a copy and then chicken out. You also reminded me that I need to do an updated Vollmann video. I have several more books and plenty more to say than what’s in here. So glad you’re enjoying it!
@@LeafbyLeaf Shooot, I'd be down for an hour long Leaf by Leaf Vollman video! It would be an absolute joy. Maybe we should all start writing to Vollman to try and get him to publish another round of Rising Up and Rising Down.....get it community wide! I mean a man is allowed to dream right? ✌
Really appreciate that. I have two nearly one-hour videos coming up on Gaddis’s two big tomes. They are fun to make but exhausting to edit (the one on Recognitions started at over 1.5 hours). The publishing industry is even worse than when Vollmann pulled off getting RURD published by McSweeney’s. He would almost have to get it published with an academic press like Bloomsbury or some university press. But then the cost would still be ridiculous, even in paperback. But you’re right-it should be petitioned. Sort of like what I am others are doing to get NYRB to reissue Darconville’s Cat!
@@LeafbyLeaf Oh I definitely understand (albeit very minutely) how time consuming/outright exhausting the editing process can be. Seriously though, two almost one hour videos on Gaddis' door stoppers?! I can't even put my excitement into words, those will be very fun to watch! A reissue of Darconville's cat would be amazing, most of the ones I've found were pretty pricey so unless I somehow find them in a resale store or antique mall the chances of me getting a copy is very slim. I am however all over the country constantly so my chances are a bit more increased than most, just have to get time to go in to them 🤣
Finally another admirer of Vollmann on RU-vid! I have you beat on my Vollmann collection though! I have all his works in hardcover and even his complete seven volume of Rising Up and Rising Down!
Nice to meet you! I’ve acquired many more books since this video-but you definitely still have me beat! Very, very nice. One day I will have the full set of RURD.
In picking up Europe Central, I cannot pin down why for me it picks up a sense of Dos Passos' USA novels. I read that in the late 1950s. There was, I think,the kind of disjunctions in narrative that I see in this overarching tributary flow of brutal historic tragedy.
I think Dos Passos's mixed-media USA novels are an apt comparison to WTV's approach. He loves blending together narrative, research snippets, quotes, news reels, meta-narrator reflections, etc.
Where should I start with Vollmann? I’m a big fan of Gaddis and Pynchon so I’m not afraid of the big tomes just really want to enter in the right place...
Gaddis and Pynchon, you say? Sounds like we will be great friends! The question of where to start with WTV is tough because his range is so diverse. It depends on what you want. Here’s what I usually recommend: - The Ice-Shirt (historical novel) - Carbon Ideologies (journalism) - The Atlas (travel stories, but hard to categorize) - Conversations with William T. Vollmann (interviews with WTV) Note that I am the type who delays the best worlds for later. Hope that helps! You are in for a real treat!
Vollmann is appreciated by fans of Gaddis and Pynchon but he’s really not the challenge that they are. He writes very much in the tradition of Kerouac-as a journalist exploring culture everywhere, and as a poet. “Where to start” is a difficult question to answer because the scope of his writing covers so many genres. Frankly I’d start with his short stories. The Rainbow Stories is great, go from there. Then you can branch out into his other short story works like The Atlas. Yet now you still have to hit up his journalism/essay stuff and his historical fiction. Depends on what you want. I’ve read only one of his journalistic works-the one about riding trains (see the Kerouac?). It was disappointing. Anyway the way talks about his historical fiction is getting at me. But I think this is some heavier stuff and maybe not the best starting point for Vollmann. Anyway go with what Via said...
The first that I read partially was Europe Central, because it was available at my local library - but the first that I read in full was Father and Crows, because it is literally a book about my own ancestors history.
Do you still recommended the abridged version of Rising Up and Rising Down? I know you've since come to review the full set but I'm wondering if it could be a good starting point for Vollmann?
Can you believe I've never read anything by Vollmann. Where should I start? His first novel? Sorry if you address this later... I'm commenting ahead of time.
I actually don't recommend the first novel first. It's very dense (though good). I would say start with the Seven Dreams series for fiction and Carbon Ideologies for non-fiction.
Also, to save money up front and get a taste of his journalism and sardonic wit, check out his latest piece in Harper's: harpers.org/archive/2019/07/just-keep-going-north/
