Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Conclusion

Well, that's about it for Deciphering Hob's Hog, believe it or not. I plan on keeping it up on the net (for as long as Blogger lets me, anyway) for those who are reading/writing about Voice Of the Fire, and on putting up occasional posts regarding any news I get regarding VOTF, Alan Moore's "sequel" prose novel Jerusalem (still a work in progress the last that I've heard), and any other Moore-related items I find interesting enough to post. But as the stated mission of Deciphering Hob's Hog is, well, deciphering "Hob's Hog", and said mission is completed, you can consider this blog to be, at present, in semi-retirement. I'll continue to post my reviews at Amazon, and may start another blog in the future (probably through Blogger again, because they're so easy to use), but for now I'm taking at least a week off from doing anything net-related that's more complicated than checking my e-mail. Many thanks to those of you who came along for the ride, especially those who commented. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun - I hope you did, too.

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for a well-written and dedicated, giving blog. It is thoughtful and considerate readers like you who help others read a book that I had a hard time sharing becuase of the intimidating first chapter.

    Perhaps consider helping make sense of the John Clare chapter which is written in very stream-of-consciousness style? Wasn't as hard as Hob's Hog, but it has its moments.

    Great job, my friend. Bravo. - johnny c

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  2. Hey, johnny c. Thank you for caring. You're very kind.

    I don't think I'll blogging on any one particular topic (Moore-related or otherwise) for a while - if I do another one in the near future, it'll probably be a more general interest type of thing. However, if you have any specific questions about that chapter, feel free to e-mail me (link to my address is on my Blogger profile page) and I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

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  3. This blog was a great way to revisit Moore's amazing novel. Thanks for taking the time to decode the prose. I had a similar experience to yours reading Hob's Hill, in that the language got easier to understand as I went along. That being said, I'm not nearly as patient, so I just kind of plowed through the confusing passages. Happily, I did pretty well in terms of comprehension, but your blog definitely cleared up a few points. I really enjoyed reading this. In case your interested, I found it through www.enjolrasworld.com. Now I can't wait for Jerusalem to be completed and published, so all us Alan Moore fans can be happily baffled for months, maybe years!! I'm going to be counting on you to get me through the really tricky bits.

    Cheers, Art

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  4. Thomas -

    Thanks. I really enjoyed writing it.

    "In case your interested, I found it through www.enjolrasworld.com."

    I'm always curious to know where the traffic comes from. Enjorla's World was kind enough to link to me after I e-mailed telling them about this, which I appreciated as I'm sure a lot of Moore-relate web traffic comes their way.

    "I'm going to be counting on you to get me through the really tricky bits."

    Always assuming I can figure it myself, right? the part where he has Lucia Joyce narrating the tale in her father James' prose style sounds a trifle intimidating - guess I should start reading FINNEGAN'S WAKE now to get in the proper frame of mind, eh? ;)

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  5. I just finished VotF today, it's one of the best novels I've ever read, I'm a spanish native speaker but a teacher of english, literature, grammar and others, and also love Moore comics, got a big bunch of them.

    I bought VotF some months ago, but seeing it in my shelf was so intimidating!

    Finally dared to read it and it was an absolutely incredible experience, it was difficult to read, but having read his Shakespeare and Kerouac texts from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier made it easier.

    Thanks for these annotations!!!!!!

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  6. You're very welcome, Guillermo; hope you found them helpful. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

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  7. Hi Art, I know it's been a few years since you've written this blog, and likewise may have been a while since you last read VofF, but the ending of Hob's Hog left me with a few questions. Namely: 1) Why was the boy masquerading as a girl? 2) Was the boy really Hob's son? 3) Why did Hob kill the narrator?

    Any light you can shed on these quesions would be most appreciated. I very much enjoyed your translation of the chapter.

    -Thanks!

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    1. @Brett: 1) either to avoid being sacrificed or to seduce the narrator in order to keep him there until the time for the sacrifice? 2) I think so. 3) As a sacrifice, the reasons for which are explained earlier in the chapter.

      Now then, who's going to start work on "Round the Bend" from "Jerusalem"?

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