HA!: A Self-Murder Mystery by Gordon Sheppard

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Two Episodes from the Life of Hubert Aquin
Jacques Godbout (1979) | 56 min
www.nfb.ca/film/two_episodes_...
#leafbyleaf #bookreview #reading #literature #books #booktube

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

To quote the great Tommy Wiseau, "HA! HA! HA! What a story, Mark!"

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I had to look that one up! Thanks for that!

[@jorick-r]

This book arrived in the mail a few hours ago. I went back to my desk, opened up KZbin, and LxL's video popped up. Life is unbelievable.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Literary serendipities are the pulse of life!

[@bizy1226]

Books like this simply can not exist in audio format. What a uniquely tactile experience this is!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Indeed, indeed!

[@bizy1226]

My copy came in the mail today! Thank you for a very cool suggestion@@LeafbyLeaf

[@joseramirez-hh2sw]

Ha! Edit: I meant Ah!

[@Bob-kt6bi]

Ahah

[@LeafbyLeaf]

A-ha-ha-ha

[@brianclary8205]

The publisher of “Ha!” seems to be daring enough to consider bringing Vollmann’s “Table of Fortune” to readers. WTV’s use of fonts and other textual experiments got him fired from Viking so it’s up to this University press to take up the torch.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Have we heard from Grove yet, though? They were taking a look at the manuscript last I heard.

[@MarcNash]

Sounds right up my street, but very hard to get hold of in the UK seemingly

[@dbag57]

Loads of the books LxL recomends seem very expensive in the UK..Im not seeing it for less than £35

[@MarcNash]

@@dbag57 I've ordered if from ebay coming over from the US. About ££37 inc P&P. This is a book published by a US University Press which makes it harder tio get hold of in the UK I guess

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Yeah, unfortunately this one was put out by a Canadian university press, which makes it, by default, more expensive even here in the States. I had to get mine second-hand. More and more, daring literary fiction and non-fiction is only finding a home in university presses. Sad comment on the state of publishing. I've even had three forthcoming novels brought to my attention that only found homes with university presses.

[@MarcNash]

@@LeafbyLeaf Ha yes, an obstacle I face with each of my own books!

[@larryriley8802]

I finished this a couple days ago and thought it a great book. I’m pretty sure I first became aware of it when you announced your reading list for the year. Almost immediately I felt a connection because it checks a lot of different boxes for me. I was born in the 50’s and my mother’s historical links go back to Quebec….a branch of her family having emigrated from France in the 19th century some of whom eventually moved southward into NYS. Now and again every few years though her and my dad would go to family reunions in Quebec City. But also being born in the 50’s there are events that were a backdrop to my coming of age like the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement not only in the United States but in Northern Ireland which links to my father’s history and then also the Quebec separatist movement. Vietnam was forever in the news but often enough the other two would be too and I took an interest in them at the time. Another thing the book itself, the extensive the multimedia, Aquin’s own literary influences, even a kind of link if you will to DFW’s Infinite Jest (one of my favorite books) which I hope to read again this year. As an aside I have some familiarity with two other Quebecois writers mentioned in the book Marie-Claire Blais and Anne Hebert and I plan on reading Aquin’s Next Episode soon. As a further aside I’m reminded also of the Band’s song Acadian Driftwood which recounts a saga of Québécois moving to Cajun country Louisiana after the French defeat on the plains of Abraham.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this comment, Larry. I really enjoyed learning of your personal connection to the world of this book. Coincidentally, my heritage is half French (father) and half Irish (mum). Though my mom ended up becoming a Francophile and my father had an Irish blue-collar work ethic. I've no connection to Québécois that I know of--mine if French Huguenot, so, like most, escapees of persecution. I've been to Québec, in October, too! Lovely place that I'd go back to in a breath. I'm so thankful for people like Sheppard, who foresee the need to document such epochs, otherwise I wouldn't have this window. Speaking of thankfulness, I am thankful for people like you, too, who have made writers like Arlt available to me. I _will_ be reading the Arlt book from c\z this year!

[@larryriley8802]

@@LeafbyLeaf Twenty some years by Sheppard working on a project that in not really about making money is a labor of love….and there is a lot of that in the world of literature and the other arts. People having a vocation whether or not it will make them rich. The extra touches in HA! with all the multimedia just enriched the pleasure of reading it. As far as Arlt I just started something because I wanted to find out how the story ended and I didn’t give up. I worked out strategizes to keep from getting bogged down but I also had help and encouragement from other people too and without them I don’t think it would have worked.

[@MaximTendu]

I had heard of this book some years ago and expected it to be an experimental novel along the lines of David Bowie's "Outside", not a biography. So interesting. As always, thanks for sharing, Chris 👍

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My pleasure! My initial expectations were the same: I, too, thought it was an experimental novel going into it. Should I check out the Bowie title you mention?

[@MaximTendu]

@@LeafbyLeaf oh, Outside is certainly an ambitious project, and an interesting one at that. Well, why not? After all, (alas) man shall not live by books alone :P

[@sputniki5477]

Can't wait for Next Episode!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Next Episode and Blackout, coming March 1. 😁

[@babbymonke]

I wonder if you have read S. and Bats of the Republic, they use similar multimedia tricks, especially S. Bats of the Republic also contains a letter in an envelope, a letter which is one of the central mysteries of the book.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Whoa, no way! Thanks for making me aware of this!

[@babbymonke]

@LeafbyLeaf Absolutely, these books need more readers! 😁 S. is definitely a must if you want to check out more ergodic/multimedia literature. I didn't enjoy Bats as much, but it's definitely gorgeously designed. Another book that I'm actually reading right now that I have no idea why nobody talks about is XX by Rian Hughes. I'm having such an incredible time with it! It might become one of my favourite examples of this kind of literature along with Mark Danielewski's novels.

[@larryriley8802]

Got the trade edition of this about 2/3 weeks ago in the mail and looking through the text, espying all the multimedia and the inserts I was super intrigued. I’m about 140 pages in so I’m only going to watch the first few minutes of this video for now but so far it’s great.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Glad to hear you snagged a copy and are enjoying it! I'm looking forward to reading your translation of Arlt this year!

[@larryriley8802]

@@LeafbyLeaf well if you have to you have to😁but I probably should warn you that before the end some psychotic rage plays out and some people who read it might find it disturbing. I think it’s a great book though maybe not the greatest translation on my part and though I reread it now and again I don’t try pushing it on others because I’m not sure how they’ll take it…..it’s almost towards the end like Celine or Hubert Selby at their gnarliest.

[@marclowther3823]

Looking forward to checking out your thoughts for this one. I finished it last month and really enjoyed it. Felt it retreaded a lot of the same ground at times so could have been 100 or so pages lighter but it was a morbidly fascinating journey.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

"A morbidly fascinating journey" indeed!

[@Smelly285]

You should definitely checkout the unorthorised biography of Ezra mause!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Aie ie ie, lookey here! Thanks for this!