Road of Peas

Artists struggling with their concepts of art owe it to themselves to read these novels. These novels are often found to be difficult reading, in particular,

The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch.

This story occurs over the last 40 hours of Virgil’s life. He arrives by ship at a port near Rome, is carried ashore and through some odd parts of town to a room where he spends a fever ridden night. In the morning, some friends, including the Emperor, visit, and then Virgil dies. The real story is Virgil’s ongoing meditations on the nature of life, art, and the spirit. This is the only book I’ve ever read that put me through spiritual changes. The prose is extremely difficult, partially as a result of the way it was translated.

The Complete Review is a great source for literature reviews.
Their review of The Death of Virgil is excellent. It briefly addresses the translation choices.

This is a difficult book, but it will reward careful reading. Work at it!

The Recognitions by William Gaddis is the best novel ever. It tells the story of a painter who works in the style of the Old Masters, and does this so well that he gets roped into counterfeiting old paintings.

The Complete Review’s take.

This novel is not so hard to read as DV but it helps to have some background in the history of art and Christianity. There are reading guides available, such as at The Gaddis Annotations and Steven Moore’s William Gaddis.

This is required reading! They are not dime novels, you need to put some mental elbow grease in, slather it on, they will reward the effort!

Hear me, Zephi!