https://lithub.com/olga-tokarczuk-has-responded-to-the-controversy-over-her-reputed-use-of-ai/
At first she said she used it both for research purposes and for asking how she could develop the novel but now she is saying that she only used it for research.
https://lithub.com/nobel-laureate-olga-tokarczuk-apparently-used-ai-to-write-her-latest-novel/
Idk how to feel. It seems like she (mostly) used it for research purposes but there is also the bit where she asked how she could develop the novel. I don't think it's possible that someone like her does something like the commonwealth short stories controversy. But I am still not sure I like it.
I am currently going through Fireworks by Angela Carter(her first short story collection) and goddamn some of these stories are so horny. I love the Infernal Desire machines of Doctor Hoffman and Bloody Chamber and other stories; those were also extremely horny and fetishistic but this collection almost seems to be a whole different level (or maybe not.....Infernal Desire machines of doctor Hoffman is REALLY horny) I just read penetrating to the heart of the forest and I am a bit ashamed to admit that I found the descriptions of trees with breast and the incest that happened....... rather titillating(I swear I am not someone who is pumped about incest but the repressed sexual/romantic feelings between the brother and sister is written in the most lush, poetic and erotic style possible) I am 100 percent convinced that Carter had REALLY specific fetishes and she depicted those fetishes simultaneously to make her broader points about her common themes of sexuality, femininity and violence etc. and also because she simply found pleasure in them. All of the stories in this collection is erotic in one way or another. It is sometimes erotic to amplify the emotional and thematic aspects of the story and it is erotic a lot of the time just for the hell of it(while still making a broader point about the themes).
I seriously need to read other women writers like her. Anaïs Nin and Sarah Waters are often really erotic but they are really no way comparable to Carter.
It's a very new manga with only 11 chapters and it's so unique and Pynchonesque. The story is set during the years leading up to WW2 and follows a codebreaker who worked for MI6 and was involved in breaking the enigma code. It's very drawn in a very cinematic way and with a lot of creativity with it's angles and panelling but above all it's extremely Pynchonesque in it's narrative. It is full of conspiracy theories, political narratives and weird plot points. Like one of the plot points is how the distribution of a soft porn pamphlet of a girl could start WW2(I am not joking). It's absolutely crazy and I am surprised nobody is talking about this. I only kind of randomly came into this while scrolling through the Mangaplus app and it deserves a look if you are into Manga.
The book is about a love affair between two poets and it being discovered years later by 2 scholars. It has gorgeous writing. I really don't know why more people are not talking about this. Easily one of my favourite books of the year. I really urge people to pick it up if they want something unique and metafictional. Easily one of my favourite books of the year. Also,the cover is probably the most beautiful cover of a book I own.
Despair and The Gift both have the theme of the moral and cultural decay of weimar republic plus also the kind of ephemerality it has due to it's own nature.
Bend sinister is literally political satire about state sanctioned violence and fascism.
The first short story he ever wrote, The Wood Sprite is an allegory about the exiled Russians.
I don't even need to explain Lolita and Pale Fire.
It's also fascinating to me that a writer who is often called lacking emotional depth and cruel by his critics(example:William Gaddis), his works are actually very emotional and often very joyful also. Why do so many people think that his writing lacks emotion is something very strange to me.