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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

@eldashraheb.bsky.social

3.1K followers 4.5K following 1.9K posts

https://www.abeelraheb.com Egyptian-American Editor and Writer (WGA West) Desperately trying to learn Spanish We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · Jun 18

Once again, I’m reading Nabakov shit on your (and my) faves, while praising them too. Always a great time. #booksky 💙📚

Chesterton, G. K. A favorite between the ages of 8 and 14. Essentially a writer for very young people. Romantic in the large sense.
• Conan Doyle, Arthur. A favorite between the ages of 8 and 14, but no longer.
Essentially a writer for very young people. Romantic in the large sense.
• Conrad, Joseph. A favorite between the ages of 8 and 14. Essentially a writer for very young people. Certainly inferior to Hemingway and Wells. Intolerable souvenir-shop style, romanticist clichés. Nothing I would care to have written myself. In mentality and emotion, hopelessly juvenile. Romantic in the large sense. Slightly bogus.
• Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Dislike him. A cheap sensationalist, clumsy and vulgar. A prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. Some of his scenes are extraordinarily amusing. Nobody takes his reactionary journalism seriously.
• The Double. His best work, though an obvious and shameless imitation of Gogol's "Nose."
• The Brothers Karamazov. Dislike it intensely.
• Crime and Punishment. Dislike it intensely. Ghastly rigmarole.
• Douglas, Norman. A favorite between the ages of 20 and 40, and thereafter.
• Dreiser, Theodore. Dislike him. A formidable mediocrity.
• Eliot, T. S. Not quite first-rate.
• Emerson, Ralph Waldo. His poetry is delightful.
• Faulkner, William. Dislike him. Writer of corncobby chronicles. To consider them masterpieces is an absurd delusion. A nonentity, means absolutely nothing to me.
• Flaubert, Gustave. A favorite between the ages of 10 and 15, and thereafter.
Read complete works between 14 and 15.
• Forster, E. M. Only read one of his novels (possibly A Passage to India?) and disliked it.
• Freud, Sigmund. A figure of fun. Loathe him. Vile deceit. Freudian interpretation of dreams is charlatanic, and satanic, nonsense.
• Galsworthy, John. A formidable mediocrity.
• García Lorca, Federico. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up.
• Gogol, Nikolai. Nobody takes his mystical didacticism seriously. At his worst, as in his Ukrainian stu…

• Hemingway, Ernest. A writer of books for boys. Certainly better than Conrad.
Has at least a voice of his own. Nothing I would care to have written myself. In mentality and emotion, hopelessly juvenile. Loathe his works about bells, balls, and bulls.
• The Killers. Delightful, highly artistic. Admirable.
• The Old Man and the Sea. Wonderful. The description of the iridescent fish and rhythmic urination is superb.
• Housman, A. E. A favorite between the ages of 20 and 40, and thereafter.
• Ilf and Petrov. Two wonderfully gifted writers. Absolutely first-rate fiction.
• Ivanov, Georgy. A good poet but a scurrilous critic.
• James, Henry. Dislike him rather intensely, but now and then his wording causes a kind of electric tingle. Certainly not a genius.
• Joyce, James. Great. A favorite between the ages of 20 and 40, and thereafter.
Let people compare me to Joyce by all means, but my English is patball to Joyce's champion game. A genius.
• Ulysses. A divine work of art. Greatest masterpiece of 20th century prose.
Towers above the rest of Joyce's writing. Noble originality,
unique lucidity of
thought and style. Molly's monologue is the weakest chapter in the book.
Love it for its lucidity and precision.
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Never liked it. A feeble and garrulous book.
• Finnegans Wake. A formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a cold pudding of a book. Conventional and drab, redeemed from utter insipidity only by infrequent snatches of heavenly intonations. Detest it. A cancerous growth of fancy word-tissue hardly redeems the dreadful joviality of the folklore and the easy, too easy, allegory. Indifferent to it, as to all regional literature written in dialect. A tragic failure and a frightful bore.
• Kafka, Franz.
• The Metamorphosis. Second-greatest masterpiece of 20th century prose.
• Kazantzakis, Nikos. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up.
• Keats, John. A favorite between the ages of 10 and 15, and thereafter.
• Khodasevich, Vladislav. The gr…

• Lawrence, D. H. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up. Mediocre. Fakes realism with easy platitudes. Execrable.
• Lowell, Robert. Not a good translator. A greater offender than Auden.
• Mandelshtam, Osip. A wonderful poet, the greatest in Soviet Russia. His poems are admirable specimens of the human mind at its deepest and highest. Not as good as Blok. His tragic fate makes his poetry seem greater than it actually is.
• Mann, Thomas. Dislike him. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up.
• Death in Venice. Asinine. To consider it a masterpiece is an absurd delusion.
Poshlost. Mediocre, but anyway plausible.
• Maupassant, Guy de. Certainly not a genius.
• Maugham, W. Somerset. Mediocre. Fakes realism with easy platitudes.
Certainly not a genius.
• Melville, Herman. Love him. One would like to have filmed him at breakfast, feeding a sardine to his cat.
• Marx, Karl. Loathe him.
• Milton, John. A genius.
• Odoevsky, Vladimir. Indifferent to his works.
• Yury Olesha. Some absolutely first-rate fiction.
• Orczy, Baroness Emmuska.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel. A favorite between the ages of 10 and 15, but no longer.
• Pasternak, Boris. An excellent poet, but a poor novelist.
• Doctor Zhivago. Detest it. Melodramatic and vilely written. To consider it a masterpiece is an absurd delusion. Pro-Bolshevist, historically false. A sorry thing, clumsy, trivial, melodramatic, with stock situations and trite coincidences.
• Pirandello, Luigi. Never cared for him.
• Plato. Not particularly fond of him.
• Poe, Edgar Allan. A favorite between the ages of 10 and 15, but no longer. One would like to have filmed his wedding.
• Pound, Ezra. Definitely second-rate. A total fake. A venerable fraud.
• Proust, Marcel. A favorite between the ages of 20 and 40, and thereafter.
• In Search of Lost Time. The first half is the fourth-greatest masterpiece of 20th-century prose.

• Queneau, Raymond.
• Exercises de style. A thrilling masterpiece, one of the greatest stories in French literature.
• Zazie. Very fond of it.
• Ransom, John Crowe.
• Captain Carpenter. Admire this poem.
• Rimbaud, Arthur. A favorite between the ages of 10 and 15, and thereafter.
• Robbe-Grillet, Alain. Great. A favorite. How freely one breathes in his marvelous labyrinths! Lucidity of thought, purity of poetry. Magnificently poetical and original.
• Rolland, Romain. A formidable mediocrity.
• Salinger, J. D. By far one of the finest artists in recent years.
• "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." A great story. A particular favorite.
• Sartre, Jean-Paul. Even more awful than Camus.
• Nausea. Second-rate. A tense-looking but really very loose type of writing.
• Schwartz, Delmore.
• "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities." A particular favorite.
• Schweitzer, Albert. Detest him.
• Shakespeare, William. Read complete works between 14 and 15. One would like to have filmed him in the role of the King's Ghost. His verbal poetic texture is the greatest the world has ever known, and immensely superior to the structure of his plays as plays. It is the metaphor that is the thing, not the play. A genius.
• Sterne, Laurence. Love him.
• Sue, Eugène. Melodramatic, second-rate.
• Tagore, Rabindranath. A formidable mediocrity.
• Tolstoy, Aleksey. A writer of some talent with two or three science fiction stories or novels which are memorable.
• Tolstoy, Leo. A favorite between the ages of 10 and 15, and thereafter. Read complete works between 14 and 15. Nobody takes his utilitarian moralism seriously. A genius.
• Anna Karenina. Incomparable prose artistry. The supreme masterpiece of 19th-century literature.
• The Death of Ivan Ilyich. A close second to Anna Karenina.
• Resurrection. Detest it.
• The Kreutzer Sonata. Detest it.
• War and Peace. A little too long. A rollicking historical novel written for the general reader, specifically for the young. Artistically unsatisfying.
Cumbersome mes…

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1h

Was playing through Hollow Knight again and had to put it down and walk away. Contact damage and the healing system made me lose interest. I’ve played it twice before but have to pull the plug on this franchise, personally

Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 20h

That other Johnny Cash thing is insipid drivel dressed up as rage bait — not worth a single moment of attention. I recommend reading this wonderful piece by Kaleb Horton instead.

Johnny Cash: American Recordings

Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we explore Johnny Cash’s 1994 comeback American Recordings.

pitchfork.com

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 8h

It’s amazing how personal he was able to get within the brand boundaries of Pitchfork

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

Irish Examiner @irishexaminer.bsky.social · 10h

Gareth O'Callaghan: We are afraid of getting old because it means becoming invisible

Fear of ageing is self-sabotaging and it often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy by causing those fears to come true

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 10h

I 100% get why Link did the mutual aid Fridays.

Like, every time someone replies by telling me the need is met is one less person struggling in the world.

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 10h

m.youtube.com/watch?v=5l39...

Bob Dylan - Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You (Live at Montreal Forum)

YouTube video by BobDylanVEVO

m.youtube.com

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 10h

FaceTimed my 92 year old grandma and she was watching Wheel of Fortune at a frankly deafening volume. Endearing.

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 15h

Oh, good! Google just gives you straight up incorrect information when you google lyrics now! Will the magic of AI know no end?

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

My favorite playwright alongside Chekhov. Pinter’s atmospheres and aggressive use of pauses are peerless

Patrick Wall @writer-patrickwall.bsky.social · 1d

Happy birthday, Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter and director, born 10 October 1930.

‘Language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you … at any time.’
–Harold Pinter

#Readers #Writers #Books

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

Having an old fashion at Idle Hour in his honor. This is where I first met him after being a fan and having limited correspondence with him for 10 years. He loved this place and would always come when he had “money to burn.”

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

Beautiful memorial for a remarkable person.

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

Tough place Gen X has ended up in. Not that millennials are better

Stereogum @stereogum.bsky.social · 1d

The Smashing Pumpkins’ “goth” Erewhon smoothie costs $19.79

www.stereogum.com/2325803/the-...

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

Crying before it even starts at the pre-music of Joe Strummer singing “Redemption Song”

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

This stupid book is an undefeated signifier of a giant piece of shit

Katie Porter reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

I think this franchise may just not be for me bc I’m not great at either platforming or combat. Too old for each and 1/4 times I try to sword swipe left I end up swiping up.

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 1d

She left my roses byoiy the stairs

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

Wolf being absolutely destroyed in Jeopardy by Andy Richter

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

Hank & Townes’s Mom @katehascats.bsky.social · 5d

I have the time incorrect here. It is 3pm.

Hank & Townes’s Mom @katehascats.bsky.social · 8d

Kaleb’s memorial will be Thursday, October 9th at 2pm at Silver Lake Community Church in LA. We will have a private service in Bakersfield to inter him next to his grandparents, date TBD. If you can attend, it would be very meaningful to his loved ones.

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

Paul F. Tompkins @pftompkins.bsky.social · 2d

I think if the Fantastic Four were real we would mostly find them disgusting

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement

The complete works, including previously unpublished poems and expert notes, are brought together in one volume for the first time

www.theguardian.com

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Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 2d

I don’t think it’s a very well paced game. Act 2 was tons of backtracking and felt a bit jumbled. The difficulty starts at 10 and rarely lets up making it feel like you’re not getting better bc the challenge is so severe. Odd feeling

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 2d

Took me 66 hours lol

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 2d

Needing a slot for the compass remains an obscene design choice.
However, the $20 price is insanely generous for the amount of game delivered. Love when artists give consumers the London Calling abundance treatment.

Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer @eldashraheb.bsky.social · 2d

Beat Silksong. Top 3 hardest games I've ever played.
The Dark Souls Il of
Metroidvanias (complimentary and derogatory). High highs and very low lows. Runbacks, tool farming and fast travel tedium dragged the process down. Glad something like this exists but would not play again. 7/10.

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Reposted by Abe El-Raheb / Editor & Writer

[LVL 35]Alsvid Wotansdottir🔵 @alsvid.bsky.social · 2d

This is from 1965.

Police attack a black man during the Watts riots.

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