COMPLETE [SOLO] Visions and Revisions by John Cowper Powys-ag

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
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keri
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Post by keri »

gppetersen
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Post by gppetersen »

Perfect read Keri. Was looking forward to the next section and really enjoyed it.
by the way, I wonder if the opening line is transcribed correctly by the publisher? My text also reads:
"As the enigmatic wisdom of Goethe been exhausted... ...Ah! I deem not yet."
but this makes more sense to me grammatically and logically:
"Has the enigmatic wisdom of Goethe been exhausted... ...Ah! I deem not yet."
keri
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Post by keri »

Yeah, definitely "Has". I'm glad you enjoyed the Goethe section, I was surprised by how sympathetic Powys was to Goethe's work, because their temperaments seem so different. Although Powys always stressed in his lecturing that what he really enjoyed was taking on the different personality of the writer he was lecturing on. There is always a strain of Powys in these but the personality he is writing about is also there. This section had a completely different flavour to the Dickens, and the experience of reading was very different for me, much less exuberant and much more thoughtful, it made me want to read some more Goethe. I've never actually finished Faust, I think I should schedule myself to read that before the end of the year.
gppetersen
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Post by gppetersen »

Monthly keep alive.
keri
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Post by keri »

gppetersen
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Post by gppetersen »

Perfect read and it sounds great too. I think I'll dig up some of Mr Arnold's work after hearing that. Must have some in one of the Penguin collections I have. Hope the Faust is going well.
keri
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Post by keri »

Thanks Grant. I haven't read any Arnold for ages, I'll have to get a copy of his selected poems. Almost finished reading part 1 of Faust. Shelley next!
keri
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Post by keri »

gppetersen
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Post by gppetersen »

Another perfect read. A sort of slightly quieter tone to this one then I recall in the last and it suits it too.
By the way and out of interest only, our texts varied a bit more then usual this chapter. Notably, some quotes are different (yours better ones I thought) and I had "Mr. Wells" instead of your "H G Wells". I'm now pretty certain I'm reading from an earlier draft as your differences all add something worthwhile or clarity.
About 2/3rds done you know.
Giving Arnold a go. The Penguin collections did have a few of his poems. There's an epic I'm quite enjoying in a Conan The Barbarian (at it's best) / Lovecraft kind of way "Sohrab and Rustum" in the Penguin Book of Narrative Verse (though I'm not far in yet) and a few shorter poems in another Penguin collection that seem familiar probably due to being the sources of so many quotes such as "Dover Beach" which is of course pretty wonderful itself. I'll look for a collection of his poetry when I'm next in a second hand book shop.
All the best, Grant.
Last edited by gppetersen on September 18th, 2018, 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
keri
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Post by keri »

Thanks for the proof listen. I really liked the Shelley chapter, I think Powys does capture something essential about each writer while being his idiosyncratic self and Shelley is one that a lot of people miss, I'm also quite impressed with the diversity of writers he really delights in. I think Goethe is possibly the least like Powys, yet I think he got him right.
My reading is a bit more reliable now as I read aloud each paragraph before recording it, I think it improves my phrasing a bit too. I was a bit sick this weekend which may be why the recording was softer, you might have noticed one of the paragraphs was a bit hoarse.
I got myself a collection of Arnold last week, will make sure I read "Sohrab and Rustum", going slow on Faust at present concentration is a bit low, hopefully I'll pick up on that soon. Excited about all the coming chapters of Visions and revisions and plan to do one each of the next two weekends. Keats then Nietzsche.
keri
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Post by keri »

gppetersen
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Post by gppetersen »

Lovely read Keri. No problems with your delivery at all but around 10:35 a notification type "Bing" can be heard at an odd moment.
keri
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Post by keri »

Again, this time with no beep

Chapter 11 Keats

https://librivox.org/uploads/alg1001/visions_12_powys_128kb.mp3

Time 20:20
gppetersen
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Post by gppetersen »

Perfect.
I missed that you had already read that part twice to fix the bing. I only noticed the second good read on the first recording after checking to find out why there was an 8 second shorter run. I'm a bit shy (for want of a better word. Morning mind mode still) of Keats after hearing all that you know.
Wet morning. Some proper rain. I had Gong's "Shamal" on the record player. French Gong and Davaird Allain shaped hole in it but very good morning music for all that.
keri
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Post by keri »

I think the bing sound threw us off, I recorded the replacement section and then when it played back I noticed the duplication. so I cut out the new section.

Yeah, there should be a warning on collections of Keats poems, I'm not sure I want to risk reading his odes at the moment, I'd quite like to read his early poem Endymion, that might be safe.

Daevid's great and Gong without him is a different beast, but I love some of them Gazeuse had a big impact on me in my late teens. I haven't currently got Shamal I might have to change that soon.
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