I took a William Faulkner/Toni Morrison course back in college that has stuck with me for 20+ years–we read 5 by each author which led to some very cool and unexpected resonance and conversation. Two books that I remember fitting very well were Light in August and Song of Solomon.

I also just read American Prometheus and loved it, while my mom read the other Oppenheimer biography from Ray Monk. I was really curious about the cajones Monk had to write his biography in the massive shadow of Prometheus. It is by far the established biography, but Monk makes a strong case for his own–that he focuses on Oppie’s significant contributions to physics, which Prometheus mostly disregards, focusing instead on his diminishing returns as a manager. Prometheus is a fantastic book, but talking about the Monk made me turn a more critical eye to the ways it may have pigeon-holed Oppie too simplistically.

I’d love to hear what other pairings of either author or books y’all may have!

  • SmolesworthyBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I happen to be reading both Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being. Wasn’t planned - just the next two on my library TBR list. Dr Z happens at the birth of the Russian revolution, and ULoB is a result of that revolution, with Soviet Russia invading Czechoslovakia. But it’s not just that connection. I keep coming across passages that complement each other. Here’s two with the same theme of (un)inspiring speeches.

    From Doctor Zhivago (Trans. Pevear)

    The greatest success fell to the worst orator, who did not weary his listeners with the necessity of following him. His every word was accompanied by a roar of sympathy. No one regretted that his speech was drowned out by the noise of approval. They hastened to agree with him out of impatience, cried ‘shame’, then suddenly, bored by the monotony of his voice, they all rose to a man and, forgetting about the orator, hat after hat, row after row, thronged down the stairs and poured outside.

    From The Unbearable Lightness of Being

    She kept coming back to the speech Dubcek had given over the radio after his return from Moscow. Although she had completely forgotten what he said, she could still hear his quavering voice.