Our Book Bracket finalists prepare for battle in not dissimilar ways: one walks around Dublin hating himself, the other crawls around his house being hated. And both are ultimately transformed.
Throw your weight behind Joyce or Kafka here! The winning title—and winning submitted bracket—will be announced on Monday afternoon.
Perhaps it was too mired in ethical dilemmas—The Brothers Karamazov couldn’t squeak out the win it needed for advancement into the Book Bracket semifinals. Our first contender for the gold and glory has been chosen, and he’s going to write a villanelle to celebrate!
Congrats to Stephen Dedalus, who will be up against either Gregor Samsa the human beetle or Lily Bart the cautionary tale. Help decide which author battles Joyce in the semifinal of the 2014 Book Bracket by voting here.
With your help, the final match-up will be decided over the weekend and announced on Monday—keep an eye out for a voting link!
Dostoevsky, Joyce, Kafka, and Wharton have all cemented spots in the quarterfinals. But which lucky books will go on to the semis? Your chance to choose! Submit your votes here.
A wandering writer in Dublin handily defeated a wandering writer in Venice in Game 10 of our Book Bracket. In the next game, will The Metamorphosis or The House of the Seven Gables become the third quarterfinalist? You can help choose here!
[transcript:LÁSZLÓ KRASZNAHORKAI — When I am not reading Kafka I am thinking about Kafka. When I am not thinking about Kafka I miss thinking about him. Having missed thinking about him for a while, I take him out and read him again. That’s how it works. /end transcript.]
“The more I understand of myself and the more I understand of the temperament of those artists whom I admire, the more I am convinced that what separates talent from genius is nothing more nor less than confidence: the ability not to be frightened of making a fool of yourself. This is a dangerous thing to say. It opens the door to sheer bravura. But that is a very different thing from the kind of confidence I am talking about. Bravura comes from the desire to impress which in turn comes from the same fear of making a fool of yourself. The confidence I speak of is not made out of the opinions of others. It comes from solitude.”
