October 13, 2023

"There is also a peculiar effect whereby different books read by the same narrator can seem to agglutinate into a single mongrel super-book."

"The audiobooks of Norman Mailer’s 'Miami and the Siege of Chicago,' Steven Pinker’s 'The Sense of Style,' and Nabokov’s epic 'Ada' are all read by Arthur Morey, and I’ve begun to hear his circumspect and world-weary enunciation meld into an imaginary work in which the 1968 Republican convention is satirized between bouts of hectoring the reader about sentence construction, all in Nabokov’s wildly over-frosted late prose. Many of my beloved science-fiction audiobooks are read by Robertson Dean, whose voice sounds like a glob of pomegranate molasses falling off the edge of a spoon. It’s a good fit for techy near-future dystopias, at once hal-ishly flat and resonantly mellow, saying things like, '[she] lay staring up at a dim anamorphic view of the repeated insectoid cartouche' (that’s from William Gibson’s 'Zero History')."

13 comments:

Kate said...

I'll record myself narrating books for family and private enjoyment. I like to read aloud. When I listen back to check for flaws, I'm always dismayed at the repetitive speaking patterns. Habit, resonance, vocal chords -- a reader can only do so much.

Fun quote by Grimstad.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

...like a glob of pomegranate molasses falling off the edge of a spoon.

Last Friday at The Atlantic weekly staff meeting; "Hey, lunch at Shake Shack on me for the writer who can come up with the world's most unrelatable metaphor and use it in an article!"

rcocean said...

Who reads the audiobook makes a real difference. I listened to Scott Brick's White Jazz. Its a masterpiece of narration and some of his SF is just as good. I've never listened to a War and Peace better than Walter Zimmermann.

And so on.

I've listened to Patrick Tull's narrations of the Captain Aubrey books and wont listen to anyone else.

Narr said...

I know only two people who have read "Ada" (as in, read a book silently) and I'm one of them.

Our public radio station used to have "Radio Reader" with Dick Estelle (sp?). I can't recall a lot about the books by many authors, but I'd know his voice instantly.

Oligonicella said...

Many of my beloved science-fiction audiobooks are read by Robertson Dean, whose voice sounds like a glob of pomegranate molasses falling off the edge of a spoon.

From that statement I must assume the poor man has an absolutely horrible case of ulcerating throat mucus.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Mark Steyn has an uncanny talent for narration. Of his own work as well as others', btw. I suggest that anyone interested go to www.steynonline.com and select "Tales For Our Time."

n.n said...

Audible influence can steer perception.

Joe Bar said...

I do this with podcasts. I will sometimes break out in laughter while shopping.

Indigo Red said...

I've got agglutinate. It prevents me from digesting anything written by Nabokov.

Mr. Majestyk said...

I loved Scott Brick's narration of Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton.

Patrick said...

I think the first audio book I ever heard was A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe read by David Ogden Stiers. Superb!

Ampersand said...

When we listen to audiobooks, we strain to hear the author. If you are focusing on the reader, you're doing it wrong.
So much of my youthful educational reading had a sense of obligation. Now, audio versions of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Twain feel new and alive to me.

boatbuilder said...

I agree about Patrick Tull's narration of the O'Brien books. Like watching a play. Makes the page come alive.