Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Worth pondering …

The Days - Poem by Edwin Muir.

And another …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street Redux: Happy Birthday, Mr. Clemens!

Anniversary …

… Paul Davis On Crime: On This Day In History Mark Twain Was Born.

Plus ça change …

 Beyond 221B Baker Street Redux: The Triumph of Caesar by Steven Saylor.

The art of incompleteness …

… Books to give you hope: The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Pessoa is a wonderful writer.

Something to think on …

Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.
— Jacques Barzun, born on this date in 1907

Blogging note …

I have to take off in a few minutes for a dental appointment. After that, I'm heading over to The Inquirer. And after that, errands. So no blogging on my part until later, unless I can squeeze some in with my iPad.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

But is that necessarily good?

… While we all weren't looking, poetry became cool | Metro News. (Hat tip G. E. Reutter)

A vision of the page …

… Emily Dickinson’s Singular Scrap Poetry - The New Yorker. (Hat tip,  G. E. Reutter.)

It has been argued that Dickinson refused publication exactly because it was synonymous with print, whose standardizing tendencies she knew would miscarry her precision effects. When, in 1866, Dickinson’s “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” appeared in the Springfield Daily Republican (under a title likely chosen by its editors, “The Snake”), Dickinson complained to Higginson that, among other problems, she was “defeated . . . of the third line by punctuation.” Her manuscript had read, “You may have met Him—did you not / His notice sudden is—.” But, when the poem appeared, the editors had supplied a question mark: “You may have met him—did you not? / His notice instant is.”

Failing better …

… The Philosopher of Failure: Emil Cioran’s Heights of Despair - Los Angeles Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)




21st Century living …

(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The ongoing debate …

… Visible Republic - bookforum.com / current issue. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

And decades after the much-hyped, much-distorted advent of barbarian postmodernism at the gates of the academy, Rosen's argument is probably the more relevant one. That popular art—film and comics and hip-hop—is no less worthy of sustained intellectual engagement than literature (which is at any rate an amorphous and contested category) is fairly well established by now, despite the fulminations of Harold Bloom. It's not that pop music doesn't deserve a Nobel Prize but that pop music doesn't need it. (And, uh, guys? John Ashbery is still alive.)

Remembering …

… A “joyous sadness” for Judith Fitzgerald, one year on — Meta-Talon — Talonbooks. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Ribbit …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: I'm Nobody! Who are you?

In case you wondered...

Something to think on …

Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.
— C. S. Lewis, born on this date in 1898

Monday, November 28, 2016

FYI …

… The Best Recordings of 2016: 100 Honorable Mention Albums.

Choice of major …

… Every Ordinary Moment | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog.

Submissions wanted …

… 2016 Slag Glass City Call for Submissions | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog.

Be on your guard …

 Paul Davis On Crime: FBI: ’Tis The Season For Holiday Scams.

Lovely …

For the season …

 Poem | Another Advent | Commonweal Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Couplets in dissent …

… An Essay On Man By Alexander Pope - The Rumpus.net. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A warning from Will …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: Titus Andronicus: toxic revenge.



Revenge, born of defeat, is among the more gruesome human traits.

About time …

… PG Wodehouse secures redemption as British Library acquires priceless archive | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… by placing all his wartime papers in the public domain, the Wodehouse estate should lay to rest any lingering suspicions about his conduct during the dark years of 1940-46. Now, for the first time, admirers and critics alike will be able to see the exact circumstances of his incarceration after the fall of France in 1940.

Appreciation …

… Poet Sharon Olds on Aretha Franklin - WSJ. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden,)

Attention …

… FALL'S MIRROR - Poetry - Zócalo Public Square. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden,)

More to him than nonsense …

… For the art lover, the naturalist, the child in your life, a new book on Edward Lear - The Washington Post. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Something to think on …

Words easy to be understood do often hit the mark; when high and learned ones do only pierce the air.
— John Bunyun, born on this date in 1628

Hmm …

… My Grandmother’s Glass Eye: A Look at Poetry by Craig Raine – a gripping and combative study | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

There is much to be said for Archibald MacLeish's out-of-fashion (I suppose) view that "A poem should not mean / But be." Better that than a prose paraphrase of it.


Regional contrarian …

… The University Bookman: Sightings of an Endangered Species. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Evelyn Waugh


I've written about Evelyn Waugh before, but it's time to sing his praises again -- because I've just finished his first novel, Decline and Fall

To note at the start: Waugh was a natural talent, and it's hard for me to believe that his approach to narration, especially, could be so well evolved so early in his career. 

In Decline and Fall we see not just hints of Waugh's signature dialogues; instead, we see it front and center, propelling the novel forward. And more: we get a sense for Waugh's conceptions both of plot and comedy. 

Regarding the former: Decline and Fall is a book defined less by what happens and more by how events assume a comic shape. There's an absurdity to Paul Pennyfeather's story -- and no doubt, parts of it veer off into the ridiculous. But before that, Waugh leaves his imprint, exposing the inane, poking fun at the academy.

Like Lucky Jim (which came a generation later), Decline and Fall is a book to be enjoyed: true, there's social commentary here; and true, there's an autobiographical quality as well. But to focus too heavily on these aspects of the novel is, I think, to miss its magic. Waugh's contribution is the perfectly time joke, the innuendo left unsaid, the character with a name too good to be true. 

Decline and Fall was the start of it all, and while it doesn't entirely hold together, it signaled the emergence of a significant new talent, one with a sense of humor -- and sense for how humor could be used to enhance a writer's literary pursuits. 



Wedding anniversary …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: William Shakespeare takes a wife (and I make an announcement about my blogging activities).

In search of herself …

… Diane Arbus: a life of incest, orgies and pursuing the extremes. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)



It needs to be said that this is an extraordinarily good review. Bryan's a pro, of course, but there is a formal perfection to this review that is rarely encountered.

This is interesting …

… BBC iWonder - So what if we're all self-obsessed?

I don't consider myself a narcissist — though I did ace the narcissist quiz — but I have always thought there was something to Oscar Wilde's quip that "to fall in love with oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."

Inquirer reviews …

… Loren Eiseley: Great science, great writing.

'Swing Time': Dancers face the dark music.

… 'The Lion in the Living Room': Why cats R Us.

 'Nation Without Borders': Our history, and its other side.

… The little screen that became great: Three huge books on TV history.

Something to think on …

God doesn't believe in the easy way.
— James Agee, born on this date in 1909

Blogging note …

Immediately after the 8 AM Mass this morning, I am heading up to Bethlehem, OA. Won't be back until late this afternoon. In the meantime, no blogging on my part.

The new liturgical year begins …

Advent


The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear
(Though winter’s scheduling an arctic flight).
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.

Some say a telling sign will soon appear,
Though evidence this may be so is slight:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.

Pale skeptics may be perfectly sincere
To postulate no ground for hope, despite
The rumor that a rendezvous draws near.

More enterprising souls may shed a tear
And, looking up, behold a striking light:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.

The king, his courtiers, and priests, all fear
Arrival of a challenge to their might:
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.

The wise in search of something all can cheer
May not rely on ordinary sight:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.

Within a common place may rest one dear
To all who yearn to see the world made right.
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.




Saturday, November 26, 2016

Sacred calling …

… The poetic ‘soul' of Michael Longley - The Irish News. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Remembering the often overlooked …

… The Third Great American Songbook - Washington Free Beacon. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Meet and just …

 'Outsider' Larkin finally joins the Establishment in Poets' Corner. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The mystery of light …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Rainbow, Sonnet #325.

Something to think on …

It is a lesson we all need — to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path.
— Katharine Drexel, born on this date in 1858

Katharine Drexel is the only canonized saint I have seen in person. She visited my grade school once. I can still see her, sitting quietly on the stage. I don't remember what she said, but I believe she communicated something silently to all who were present that day.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Well put …

… Maverick Philosopher: Catholicism as True Enough.



I would mention the importance of prayer. I am sustained by my prayer life.

A cheering art …

… Nigeness: Ardizzone in the House of Illustration.

Something of value …

… First Known When Lost: Detachment.

I am not fond of the assumption of certainty that accompanies political discourse. So many utopian master plans! All of them based upon classes, categories, and caricatures. All of them chimerical. All of them leaving individual human beings and individual human souls out of account.
Nor am I.

Diversity vs. diversity …

… Anthony Esolen – Providence College Diversity Dispute | National Review.



If they're so committed to diversity, I suppose they ought to have an atheists' club, and maybe a fascist society. How about a redneck night? Don't hold your breath. We already know they can't even tolerate this professor's dissent. Fr. Shanley is pathetic.

For the holiday …

Speech Alone by Jean Follain



It happens that one pronounces

a few words just for oneself


alone on this strange earth

then the small white flower

the pebble like all those that went before

the sprig of stubble


find themselves re-united

at the foot of the gate


which one opens slowly


to enter the house of clay


while chairs, table, cupboard,

blaze in a sun of glory.



(Hat tip, Leonard Gontarek.)

Happy Thanksgiving …

… Knopf Poem-a-Day: April 18, Mona Van Duyn’s “Sonnet for Minimalists” | Knopf Doubleday. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Listen in and watch, too …

… Episode 195 – Thanksgiving 2016 | Virtual Memories.

Deus absconditus …

… Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Modern Library #89) | Reluctant Habits.
For all of the book’s concerns with divinity, or what Dillard identifies as “a divine power that exists in a particular place, or that travels about over the face of the earth as a man might wander,” explicit gods don’t enter this meditation until a little under halfway through the book, where she points out jokingly how gods are often found on mountaintops and points out that God is an igniter as well as a destroyer, one that seeks invisibility for cover. And as someone who does not believe in a god and who would rather deposit his faith in imaginative storytelling and myth rather than the superstitions of religious ritual, I could nevertheless feel and accept the spiritual idea of being emotionally vulnerable while traversing into some majestic terrain. Or as Pascal wrote in Pensées 584 (quoted in part by Dillard), “God being thus hidden, every religion which does not affirm that God is hidden, is not true, and every religion which does not give the reason of it, is not instructive.”

Choices …

… TLSBooks of the Year 2016 – TheTLS. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hmm …

… TLSdonald-trump-supporters-humanity. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)



An interesting piece, though the writer retains a few blind spots herself. "Communities that depend on the rape of natural resources are filled with people who love those communities desperately." Well, think of the people outside those communities who also depend on those natural resources. Those high-priced Manhattan apartments probably have wood floors. Something is fueling their heating system. The forests of Pennsylvania may well be the best-managed in the world, and they are managed for harvest. As for clear-cutting, some trees need to be clear-cut if you want their lumber. As an actual logger once explained to me, if you spot cut oaks, the oaks you don't cut will quickly spread their canopy of leaves and branches and not give the oaks that sprout beneath enough sun.  So you clear-cut a segment and plant some new oaks. Obviously, you clear-cut judiciously. That particular logger told me that he had stopped taking out the branches of the trees he cut because they provided good fertilizer for the forest. He knew trees better than anyone I have ever met. He could just pat the bark as he walked past one and tell you what it was. He was sort of like an American Indian honoring the spirit of the deer he had to kill.

Something to think on …

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.
— Baruch Spinoza, born on this date in 1632

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Digital Eliot …

 Welcome to tseliot.com | T. S. Eliot. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to look forward to …

…  SILENCE Gets A Trailer - EarlyWord: The Publisher | Librarian Connection. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I did not like Scorsese's adaptation of The Last Temptation of Christ or Willem Dafoe's meshuga Jesus. Hope this one is better.

Listen in …

… Episode 194 – Bob Eckstein | Virtual Memories.

“This book has three things I love: bookstores, painting and name-dropping.”

An historian's viewpoint …

… Reagan, Trump and America | Standpoint. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

Poetry is a sort of homecoming.
— Paul Celan, born on this date in 1920

Blogging note …

I have to hit the ground running today in order to meet some obligations. In fact, it is day of obligations. So blogging on my part will resume sometime later on.

Poet in black …

… Johnny Cash: Inside the Country Legend's Forgotten Poetry - Rolling Stone. (Hat tip, G. E. Reutter.)

News you can use …

… 11 Poetry Collections That Will Allow You To Heal Right Now. (Hat tip, G. E. Reutter.)

It seems that, these days, everybody's looking to be healed.

And here's more: MEISEL | Poetry in a Time of Crisis. (Hat tip, G. E. Reutter.)

And the winner is …

… Rachel Landers' Who Bombed the Hilton? wins literary prize. (Hat tip, G. E. Reutter.)

Another look …

… Revisiting Ron Hansen’s “Mariette in Ecstasy” 25 Years Later. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Good Catholic storytelling has always been corporal: messy, strange, steeped in the sins of real people. I’m not talking about church thrift-store fare, devotional tales with covers of sunrises over mountains. Consider the profane piety of the whiskey priest in Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory. The lust of Obadiah Elihue Parker in Flannery O’Connor’s “Parker’s Back.” The scarred and scorned bodies searching for grace in the novels of Toni Morrison. Catholics go for crucifixes over crosses. They want their Mass wine in a chalice, not Solo cups. The Eucharist is not a symbol; it is substance.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

FYI …

… The Irony Everyone’s Missing in the Hamilton-Pence Controversy | Foundation for Economic Education.  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)



All of this pales in comparison to the supreme irony everyone is missing in this whole overblown controversy. Here we have the cast of a musical that holds Alexander Hamilton in an admiring light expressing deep anxiety about a president who just won a stunning upset victory after running his campaign largely based on the political ideas of – wait for it – Alexander Hamilton.
Well, irony depends on its auditor being informed.

Moved …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: Critique of Criminal Reason by Michael Gregorio (2006).

Moving …

 The Violent Bear It Away: Change of Address.

Remembering …

Hoagy Carmichael was born on this date in 1899.

Blogging note …

As usual, on Tuesday, I will be at The Inquirer. In the meantime, my blogging will be spotty.

Take your pick …

… A Basket Full of Links | Brandywine Books.

Together …

… Poem of the week: Meeting Point by Louis MacNeice | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

And the winner is …

… Aaron Poochigian - Winner, Able Muse Book Award, 2016 | Able Muse Press. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
— George Eliot, born on this date in 1819

Monday, November 21, 2016

The New Order changeth …

… The iron law of oligarchy. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In some ways the new world we have entered is not as novel as it looks. In reducing its global role, the US is returning to the more historically normal position it held in the 19th century as one of several great powers. 

Way to go, Lionel …

 Lionel Shriver Is Out of Line | commentary. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
As Shriver was suggesting, the cultural-appropriation police seem not to understand the dead end represented by their racialist essentialism—or how easily it might be turned around against them. By their logic, black actors should not be allowed to play Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, or other “white” roles in Shakespeare, and nonwhite performers should be completely excluded from taking part in any opera or classical ballet given that both are “white” European art forms, in the same way that jazz or blues music could be said to belong exclusively to black people.

Listen in …

… Kay Ryan on Robert Frost - Poetry Off the Shelf | Poetry Foundation. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

NYT Obituary - William Trevor

RIP, William Trevor.

Old trade...

RIP …

… Irish writer William Trevor dies aged 88 | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Recommitment …

… The Violent Bear It Away: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson.

Mark thy calendar …

Come Over To The Window, My Little
Darling, I’d Like To Try To Read Your Palm



A Celebration Of LEONARD COHEN



TUESDAY,  DECEMBER 20, 2016, 7 PM


Presented by
THE GREEN LINE CAFE POETRY SERIES

Hosted By
LEONARD GONTAREK

If You Would Like To Participate, Contact:
gontarek9@earthlink.net


THE GREEN LINE CAFE
45TH & LOCUST STREETS,
Philadelphia, PA


http://greenlinecafe.com/


This Event Is Free

Those were the days …

… Who Are the Literary Brat Pack - Meet Authors Donna Tartt, Jay McInerney, and Bret Easton Ellis. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)

Something to think on …

The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual — when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions — it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer, born on this date in 1902

FYI …

… The Real War on Science | City Journal.

In case you wondered...

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Remembering …

 It Is Easy To Be Dead is a haunting tribute to a remarkable forgotten war poet - review. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The way things used to be …

… Paul Davis On Crime: The Intellectual And The Talk Show Host: Buckley’s Regular Presence On Carson’s ‘Tonight’.

So you don't like poetry …

… 8 Poetry Collections For People Who Don't Like Poetry. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)

Top picks …

… Best poetry collections of 2016 - The Washington Post. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)

Progress report …

… T. S. Eliot Prize 2016 - Ian Duhig. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Inquirer reviews …

… including this one by me: 'Shiva' by Leonard Gontarek: Simple words, piercing insights.

… 'Mister Monkey': Not a barrel of fun.

… 'Killing in Amish Country': Sex and murder, pathetic and obvious.

… 'Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. Three': Disappointing end to a promising bio.

Honesty and Book Reviewing

The current state of affairs

Something to think on …

The ways of Providence cannot be reasoned out by the finite mind ... I cannot fathom them, yet seeking to know them is the most satisfying thing in all the world.
— Selma Lagerlöf, born on this date in 1858

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Young Ernest …

… Paul Davis On Crime: Photos, Journals Explore Hemingway’s Early Life.

Anniversary …

… Paul Davis On Crime: On This Day In History President Abraham Lincoln Delivered The Gettysburg Address.

Someone who knows how to look …

… Nigeness: Tackling AbEx.

The art of reviewing …

Jacques Barzun on The Springs, by Anne Goodwin Winslow - The Neglected Books Page. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hmm …

… What Is Great Art? - The Atlantic. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)



Gee, I grew up looking at paintings by Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Rosa Bonheur. Guess the question never crossed my insensitive mind. I also once spent part of an evening pleasantly chatting with Grace Hartigan.

Kindred spirits …

 Friendship’s Garland | City Journal. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Joyce and Svevo, though far apart in age, had much in common. They were both genuine artists, willing to suffer any setback rather than displease their importunate muses. They were both masterly at making the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune serve their fiction. They were both fond of the ridiculous, even in the most tragic of circumstances. When Joyce fled Paris in 1940 ahead of the invading Nazis, the Swiss border authorities mistook him for a Jew, doubtless confusing him with his hero, Bloom, which caused Joyce to respond: “Je ne suis pas juif de Judée mais aryen d’Erin (I am not Jewish from Judea but Aryan from Erin).” As Price remarks, “Even in this surreal predicament, Joyce was still able to pun bilingually.”

Entwined …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Snakes (Escher), Sonnet #324.

The craft of reviewing …

… How to Write a Review - Washington Free Beacon.

While always fair—she more often damns writers with faint praise than condemns them outright—, Bowen is not afraid to drag the occasional soul over hell’s coals when needed. In a review of Upton Sinclair’s Between Two Worlds, her opening remark that Sinclair is “a prolific writer, and obviously a very impassioned one” is not intended as a compliment. Sinclair once bragged about his writing that “all I have to do is turn the spigot and the water flows,” to which Bowen responds: “It certainly does … Mr. Sinclair has no time for style: his narrative method reminds one of an incoherent person talking in a train. But one must honor his important intention—which is to save the world.”

(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Take it easy …

… The Sun Magazine | Sobriety. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Something to think on …

If Darwin had seen in life what Dostoevsky saw, he would not have talked of the law of the preservation of species, but of its destruction.
— Lev Shestov, who died on this date in 1938

Friday, November 18, 2016

Technocrats at work …

… Instapundit — LIZ SHELD: Are Men Bothering You at Work? Call 1-800-MANSPLAIN. “Are you a lady who is tired of me…



The feminist snowplowing is the key item here. What kind of mind thinks this way?

Good news …

… The Violent Bear It Away: Beyond the Storm: a renewed commitment.

Anniversary …

Eugene Ormandy was born on this date in 1899.

Travelogue …

… How Narnia and Middle Earth helped an atheist professor find her faith – CatholicHerald.co.uk.

Something I missed yesterday …

 Lucy of Narnia, the Valiant | Brandywine Books.

Something to think on …

God does not ask for 'religious' art or 'Catholic' art. The art he wants for himself is Art, with all its teeth.
— Jacques Maritain, born on this date in 1882

Moon over Philadelphia …

… Astronomy Picture of the Day. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)

Thursday, November 17, 2016

This is great …

… A Harvard student's open letter to the delicate flowers of the Ivy League | Fox News.

Tough love …

… Iowa bill named 'Suck it up, Buttercup' seeks to stop student coddling - CSMonitor.com.

In case you wondered...

Take a look …

 2016 National Book Awards. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Recommended …

… The Civil War in 3,000 Easy Pages: Celebrating Shelby Foote’s 100th Birthday : The Booklist Reader. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Have a look …

… A short photo essay of Kraków | The Book Haven.

Let us all pray for Mrs. Davis …

… The Violent Bear It Away: Higher priority trumps all blogging for a while.

FYI again …

… You Are Still Crying Wolf | Slate Star Codex. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)



See also this and this.




FYI …

 The Play That Explains Trump’s Win - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Ms. Nottage’s open-eared reporting is part of what makes “Sweat” so good. But most of what makes it good is that it’s an impeccably solid piece of theatrical work—tightly structured, free of wordy sermonizing, full of surprises. The drama is personal, a story of real people pushed into a corner, and broader implications are left unspoken.

Something to think on …

The main objection to killing people as a punishment ... is that killing people is wrong.
— Auberon Waugh, born on this date in 1939

Faith and writing...

“But I’m not interested in the scientists’ approach, the Dawkins thing — that if there is no creator god, then the whole thing is not valid — because that would mean that so many people of the past must be not worth reading. Were they all idiots? To me the various faiths are a series of philosophical systems. The principle of Islam — submission — is a fundamental of human life. And as I see it, the reality of sin is another fundamental. A tenet of the mild Anglicanism most people grew up with in England, that you search for the sin inside first, is a defining factor of our moral lives. So I use these structures, and I’ve benefited from them. If you dismiss it all, you dismiss what we’re doing here. And the possibility of a creating source — I don’t say consciousness, I don’t say god — seems to me isn’t provable or disprovable one way or another. That goodness does exist, that’s my god, it’s enough."

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

RIP

… Mose Allison, who sang the blues with whimsy and a twist of jazz, dies at 89 - The Washington Post.





Suggestions wanted …

.… The Violent Bear It Away: "Lifetime Reading Plan" for a fog-bound septuagenarian.

Q&A …

… Paul Davis On Crime: A Bronx Tale: Chazz Palminteri’s Move From Mean Streets To A Tuscan-Style Villa.

Appreciation …

… A Haunting Evening at Eton - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

James is to ghost stories what Conan Doyle is to detective stories. He has one or two rivals – ‘The Lost Stradivarius’ , a short novel by J Meade Falkner – is comparable in power and the evocation of genuine fear, but nobody else has managed to hit the mark so many times in such a small collection of work.

So what?

… The Unoriginality of Orwell’s Critique of Language – Lingua Franca - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)



Originality is overrated. In fact, it is rather rare. J. S. Bach is among the least original composers. He is also perhaps the very greatest. Actually, Pullum  provides only one example to prove his point. What about the rest of the essay?

Lyrical intensity …

… Star Journal- Selected Poems by Christopher Buckley.

Sound diagnosis …

… Newspaper publishers face very different and much more immediate threats than book publishers - The Shatzkin Files The Shatzkin Files.



Of course, newspapers might want to increase their book coverage, too.

But he still has to lecture …

… Bob Dylan confirms non-attendance at Nobel Prize ceremony - BBC News. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

These people really are clueless …

… Media Has Hissy Fit Over Trump Attending Private Dinner With His Family —  Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

Something to think on …

Religion is not a department of life; it is something that enters into the whole of it.
— Alan Watts, who died on this date in 1973

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Interesting …

… Trump and Science | City Journal. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

More on the passing of Leonard Cohen

From the London Review.

Blogging note …

It is Tuesday and I must be off to The Inquirer. I will resume blogging when I have the chance.

Toads and gardens …

… The Violent Bear It Away: Poetry: always a challenge to define and display.

Obituary …

… Death of the hatchet job. (Hat tips. Dave Lull and Rus Bowden.)

A review I wrote many years ago of Susan Sontag's I, Etcetera was so harsh the editor at first hesitated to run it. It was later picked by some group as among the best reviews of the year. 
The problem with writing negative reviews is that you have to read an entire book you don't like. Now that I am old, I prefer to write about books that I do like.

Something to think on …

You're not free until you've been made captive by supreme belief.
— Marianne Moore, born on this date in 1887

Hmm …

… McCabism: Trump and Brexit. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Plans …

 Beyond 221B Baker Street: Charting a course to a safe harbor.

"I dwell in Possibility -- "

Monday, November 14, 2016

History nuggets …

Hello, history mate.
As rancorous as last week's big election was, let me tell you about a truly ugly election that happened 150 years ago in my home state of Pennsylvania. I cover it in Embattled Freedom, my forthcoming book about the Underground Railroad and 19th century race relations in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
"The White Race Alone Is Entitled."  The year was 1866 and the governor's seat was up for grabs. Union veterans had poured back home, including thousands of black men who had served with distinction. My little hometown of Waverly, Pa., had 13 black war vets, only three of whom returned from combat unscathed. Black leaders formed the new Equal Rights League to press boldly for greater rights including the vote. Spokesman Jonathan Jasper Wright of Wilkes-Barre challenged whites to "act as though they believed in their own Declaration of Independence, and especially in its assertion that all men are created equal." But the Republicans went limp on their support for black aspirations, seeing few votes to gain on the issue. Meanwhile, the state's Democrats, angry foes of Lincoln and abolitionism, whipped out the white-supremacy card and whipped up racial fears to help nominee Hiester Clymer (see below and here). The Clymer platform was explicit: “The white race alone is entitled to the control of the government of the Republic, and we are unwilling to grant to negroes the right to vote.” The Democratic newspaper in Scranton warned that a vote for the Republican, John Geary, is a vote for "negro suffrage, negro equality, high taxation, amalgamation, disunion, another war, and all the evils that abolition fanaticism can inflict upon our country and race."  Republican vets in Waverly and elsewhere formed "Boys in Blue" clubs to get out the vote for Geary, to mixed results. Geary won narrowly statewide but was trounced in the county. And Waverly? It went for the Democrat, Clymer. It is a confounding fact that Waverly, despite having many GOP Boys in Blue and hosting its own fugitive-slave settlement, would remain in the camp of the race-baiting Democrats for another twenty years.
The two platforms
Book News. Sunbury Press is about to assign an editor to my Embattled Freedom manuscript. The release date hasn't been set yet, but the book should be out in time for my first talk in Scranton in February. Meanwhile, I'm recording audio and video segments for the related website. And I've been having some nice correspondence with a descendant of one of Waverly's original fugitives. She's planning a trip east this spring--and hopes to visit Waverly for the first time and see the little home her ancestor built, which still exists. What an experience that should be!

Not much to see …

 Uncensored John Simon: THEATRE: SECOND OPINIONS. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Help for the distressed …

… A poem we need to share from 1970 - Eratosphere. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Cheers …

… New York Poet Ron Padgett Wows Audience at the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival | The Huffington Post. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)

Misbehavin' …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: Rumpole Misbehaves (and others also misbehave).

Funeral sermon …

… PN Review Literary Magazine, Poetry Magazine, Online Poetry Resource - Sir Geoffrey Hill - Rowan Williams - PN Review 232. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Geoffrey believed that the Christian narrative of guilt (true not self-dramatising guilt, the weight of the stresses born out of one’s own failure), of the clarification of our being by grace, of the continuous tension between love and betrayal and of the inexhaustible resource of patience underpinning all things was a narrative that was worth committing to, and it is this that gives us our words today for redirecting pain towards paean, turning things, making our bereavement a little more precise – that is, doing justice to where we find ourselves.

A giant anthology …

… The Map and the Clock review – a delicious mix of ancient poetry and contemporary wit | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, G. E. Reutter.)

RIP

… Leon Russell, Hit Maker and Musicians’ Musician, Dies at 74 - The New York Times.



From politics to verse …

… Political rhymes in uncertain times: House of Commons records reveal 24 times MPs tried their hand at poetry | National Post. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hmm …


Today the North West Passage just got found,
Three penguins and a bear got drowned,
The ice they lived on disappeared,
Seems things are worse than some had feared.

Someone should tell Mr. Sumner that penguins live in Antarctica, not the Northwest Passage.  (Hat tip, Dan Bloom.)

Something to think on …

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
— Booker T. Washington, who died on this date in 1915

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Time out …

 Beyond 221B Baker Street: Politics and Blogging.

Anniversary …

… Paul Davis On Crime: On This Day In History Robert Louis Stevenson, Author Of 'Kidnapped,' "The Master of Ballantrae," "Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" And Other Classic Novels, Was Born.

By Stephen L. Carter …

… Trump and the Fall of Liberalism - Bloomberg View.

Yes, Trump ran an often ugly campaign. Yes, I am among those worried about his unpredictability. But the left has work to do, not only on policy and organization but also on attitude. Too many of my progressive friends seem to have forgotten how to make actual arguments, and have become expert instead at condemnation, derision and mockery. On issue after issue, they’re very good at explaining why no one could oppose their policy positions except for the basest of motives. As to those positions themselves, they are too often announced with a zealous solemnity suggesting that their views are Holy Writ -- and those who disagree are cast into the outer political darkness. In short, the left has lately been dripping with hubris, which in classic literature always portends a fall.

More harsh analysis …

… The Cognitive Dissonance Cluster Bomb | Scott Adams' Blog.

Cause for concern …

… The decimation of the Democratic Party, visualized - The Washington Post.






Harsh analysis …

… Commentary: The unbearable smugness of the press - CBS News.

This is all a “whitelash,” you see. Trump voters are racist and sexist, so there must be more racists and sexists than we realized. Tuesday night’s outcome was not a logic-driven rejection of a deeply flawed candidate named Clinton; no, it was a primal scream against fairness, equality, and progress. Let the new tantrums commence!

Headline of the year …

… Aberdeenshire business owner wins presidential election - Buchan Observer.



Mr Trump is half Scottish - his mother Mary MacLeod being from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. She grew up in a simple croft until she landed in Manhattan at the age of 20 and her first language was Gaelic.

Inquirer reviews …

"Thunder at the Gates": Black heroes of the Civil War - and their mistreatment.

… 'Seinfeldia': A show about much more than nothing.

'Mercury': What's hiding in plain sight.

 'Capone': The family's viewpoint unbalances a tale of bloodshed.

Poets gathering …

… 'Who Do You Love?' Celebrating Anne Sexton on PhillyCAM.

Free sample …

… Milton native Jenny Slate and her dad just wrote a book about her childhood home. Here's an excerpt. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
— Augustine of Hippo, born on this date in 354

Saturday, November 12, 2016

FYI …

 Beyond 221B Baker Street: Revised and Limited Blogging Schedule.

Help for snowflakes …

… Paul Davis On Crime: My Safe Place: The Aircraft Carrier USS Kitty Hawk At Sea.

Recommended …

… Best poetry of the month: Philip Levine, Christian Wiman, Paul Muldoon - The Washington Post. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Outraged voice …

 Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Black Lives | JSTOR Daily. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Seeing a lot just by observing …

… Here’s to the return of the journalist as malcontent - Columbia Journalism Review. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)

… journalism’s fundamental failure in this election, its original sin, is much more basic to who we are and what we are supposed to be. Simply put, it is rooted in a failure of reporting.
Something Konrad Lorenz said has bearing on this: "It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young." Take some time, from time to time, to question your own presumptions. And get out more. Above all, avoid categorical thinking.



The mystery of Housman …

… Paul Keegan reviews ‘Housman Country’ by Peter Parker —  LRB 17 November 2016. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The book became ubiquitous but it also travelled incognito, slipping neatly into heterosexual breast pockets or, at a later date, tunic pockets. In a 1910 lecture on Swinburne, Housman recollected being told by Hardy that when he was a young man in London ‘there was a whole army of young men like himself, not mutually acquainted, who nevertheless, as they met in the streets, could recognise one another as spiritual brethren by a certain outward sign. This sign was an oblong projection at the breast-pocket of the coat.’ He is referring to the 1866 edition of Swinburne’s Poems and Ballads, worn just over the heart by what Housman, in his obscurely provoking way, calls ‘the sons of fire’. But the passage also describes a dress rehearsal for A Shropshire Lad, and its double lives in the world.

Poet in black …

… Forever Words by Paul Muldoon | Poetry Foundation. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

The sacrament of being …

… The Writer’s Almanac for November 9, 2016 | Creature to Creature | The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

And empty, too …

… Safe Spaces - Washington Free Beacon. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Safe spaces, microaggressions, and trigger warnings are outward and visible signs of an inward weakness that barely holds back a bubbling, psychotic violence. Students are told to have neither thick skins nor self-restraint. In fact, they are rewarded for thin skins and uninhibited anger, ready to lash out at anything that they can imagine disturbing them. “Fragility and vulnerability are the defining characteristics” that colleges believe their students to have, and any criticism of their ideas becomes “an unacceptable challenge to their personas.”

In the beginning …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: Maigret's First Case by Georges Simenon (Penguin, 29 November 2016).

Hear, hear …

… First Known When Lost: Perspective.

"Being politicized leads to evaluating and judging the world and other human beings in terms of classes, categories, and clichés. Never underestimate the allure of a priori conclusions. For the politicized, everything appears to be simple and subject to explanation. Us and them. The enlightened versus the benighted.
"All of this has nothing whatsoever to do with the individual human being or with the individual human soul."

Just so you know …

… Paul Davis On Crime: The Seven Huge Mistakes Crime Novels And TV Shows Keep Making.

God's judgment …

… Zealotry of Guerin: The Seventh Plague: Hail and Fire (John Martin), Sonnet #323.

Something to think on …

Public political discussion is not intellectually adult in any country.
—Don Colacho

In first person...

Friday, November 11, 2016

Together at last …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: Veterans Day and Emily Dickinson.

Hmm …

… Maybe stop calling Trump supporters dumb | Washington Examiner.



Let's be honest. I have a college degree, and I did some time in grad school. The people I went to college and grad school with were certainly not dumb. But they weren't all Einsteins, either. Ray Nocella, my roofing contractor, has as sharp a mind as anyone I know. I love talking philosophy with him. Abstract knowledge is not the only kind there is. Nor is it always the right kind.

Analysis …

… A ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ Lesson for the Digital Age - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… the problem that surfaced on Tuesday night was much bigger than polling. It was clear that something was fundamentally broken in journalism, which has been unable to keep up with the anti-establishment mood that is turning the world upside down.

Complicated puzzle …

… Beyond 221B Baker Street: Lock No. 1 by Georges Simenon (Penguin, 2015).

Something to think on …

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, born on this date in 1821

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Moving on …

… The Violent Bear It Away: Notice -- Change of Address.

Listen in …

… Calvin Trillin Reads Ogden Nash - The New Yorker. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A gem …

… Ship in a Bottle - The New York Times.

Another sign of decline …

 Swiss Army Librarian — Book Reviews in the Age of Email Leaks :: Brian Herzog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Cheer up, folks

… The Violent Bear It Away: Emily Dickinson -- "Hope" and the absence of fulfillment.

Let's have a big hand …

… for Geda the Monkey, who made a monkey out of the experts.

Something to think on …

A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away. 
— Ivan Turgenev, born on this date in 1818

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Wednesday, November 9, 2016


A Poetry Reading +
A Short Non-Lecture On Poetry



By Leonard Gontarek




Wednesday, November 9, 7 PM



Fergie’s Pub
1214 Sansom Street
Philadelphia PA




Hosted by Charles Carr
& Moonstone Arts Center






As I say in a poem: I want you to choose between beauty & light. This line
speaks on behalf of my poetry. I like that two choices are offered, both good.

                                         – Leonard  Gontarek







Leonard Gontarek is the author of St. Genevieve Watching Over Paris, Van Morrison Can’t Find His Feet, Zen For Beginners, Deja Vu Diner, He Looked Beyond My Faults And Saw My Needs, and most recently, Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket, Shiva.
His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poet Lore, Verse,
Blackbird, The Awl, Spinning Jenny, and The Best American Poetry,
among others. He teaches poetry workshops throughout the Philadelphia area,
including the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership,
and a weekly Saturday workshop from his home in West Philadelphia.
He has been Mad Poet-in-Residence since 2008. He coordinates Peace/Works,
Philly Poetry Day, The Philadelphia Poetry Festival, and hosts The Green Line
Reading & Interview Series. Gontarek has received Poetry fellowships from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Writers Conference Community Service Award, and was a Literary Death Match Champion. His poem, 37 Photos
From The Bridge, was a Poetry winner for the Big Bridges MotionPoems project
and the basis for the award-winning film by Lori Ersolmaz sponsored by the