Be on your guard …

… Think Before You Click:

A poem for Thursday …

… Plaster cast torso of Apollo

In case you wondered…

… David McCullough’s “History Matters” (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

The mystery of faith and friendship …

… HUGH AND GUY (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Frederick Tibbetts — Dissonant Interval

A poem for this morning …

… Clouds — BY RÜŞTÜ ONUR

Something to think on …

… Inspiring Quotes

A pleasant reunion …

… Getting started with great expectations

Recalling a masterwork …

… Remembering Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Brooks Haxton —,It Comes to Me: Concision

Thank you, Cynthia

… An Advent villanelle from Philadelphia’s Frank Wilson: “one of those memories that are like photographs

RIP …

… Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88 (Hat tip, Daxe Lull))

Solvej Balle

 

I'd read and seen more recently about the Danish author Solvej Balle, and so decided to take on the first installment of her extended series, On the Calculation of Volume. 

The premise of the novel is key: a woman falls out of time and begins to relive the same day -- for what amounts, in total, to a year. She cannot understand how or why this has happens, and those around her cannot help: for they remain in time, and experience that specific day -- the eighteenth of November -- as if it were their first and only time living it. The result, as Balle writes, in a situation in which the primary character, Tara Selter, becomes overwhelmed with an abundance of memories -- but of the same singular day. Everyone else, however, experiences the inverse: they have no memory of a day which they have yet to live: they are, in a sense, free. 

For me, On the Calculation of Volume read as an exercise in existentialism. At its core -- in my reading, at least -- this was very much a novel about the need for action: that is, without action, with the decision to act, there can be no life, no meaning. If Tara Selter is stuck in the eighteenth of November that must be because, on some level, she has not willed herself to seek the next day, to act in such a way that warrants that day, that continuation.

Toward the end of the book, Balle insinuates that Selter may be able to "make room" for the next day: that is, she may be able to let the eighteenth of November wash over her, once and for all, and thus conclude that she has acted in such a way that requires more room, more time. Again, for me, this was an effective rendering of the existential dilemma around repetition and nothingness. For Tara Selter to liberate herself from the banality of a single day requires that she take action, that she think her way into something new. That point, at least, is well made. 

Ultimately, Solvej Balle succeeds in casting this complex journey -- from nothingness, to thought, to action -- as an odd celebration: of the small wonders, of the beauty in repetition, and of the fading human capacity for patience and appreciation. 

A poem for this morning …

… Lisa Russ Spaar — The Geese

Happy Thanksgiving …

… God’s Grandeur ( Hat tip, Dave lull)

Worth pondering …

… 100 years on, T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men is a poem for our populist moment

Debuts and departures …

… FIRST & LAST VI

Tracking the decline…

… Don’t Be Fooled: Notre Dame’s About-Face Isn’t a Return to Faith

Remembering one of the true greats …

… I've got you under my skin – Nicky Haslam on Cole Porter {Hat tip. Dave Lull)

These days …

I woke up this morning after having a wonderful dream that immediately turned sour. In the dream I was having a great time shopping for clothes at Joseph A.Bank, which had been my favotite clothing store. Immediately upon waking I realized those days were forever past. You don't go shopping for elegant new clothes while using a walker, as I must these days. No, now is the time for remembering and reflecting. At least I can still do that.

A poem for this morning …

… Charles Wright — Roma 1

Good news …

… Notre Dame University re-adds ‘Catholic mission’ to staff values after backlash

Listen in …

… Bloomsbury's Nigel Newton on Gold-Digging, Fast Cars, Friendship, and Finding Harry Potter

RIP …

… Jill Freud death: Love Actually actor who inspired Narnia character dies, aged 98 (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Anita Loos

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -- Anita Loos's celebrated novel of the inter-war years -- is one of those books I'd been aware of for a long time, but had never read. Last week, I rectified that. I'll say at the start that, despite the accolades, this is not a novel on par with the work of either Fitzgerald, neither Scott nor Zelda. It's a book, certainly, that explores similar themes and geographies, but it does so in a far different fashion: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is effectively a comedy -- almost, for me, in the vein of Three Men in a Boat or Diary of a Nobody. There's a predictability to these novels: which doesn't make them any less funny, but they function based on an implicit understanding of what comes next. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was very much like that: there was almost a gimmicky quality to the whole thing. That said, despite the humor, Anita Loos does uncover a seriousness: about wealth and femininity, about education and accomplishment. The trouble, for me, was that each time one of those themes is probed, they seem almost to be invalidated by a joke or another dalliance. And I understand that is part of the way this novel operates. But I didn't take away much here: Lorelei Lee remains something of an enigma, despite her creed that "everything always turns out of the best." I suppose it does in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but there might have been other ways to present the roots of that optimism. 

 

A poem for today …

… The Christmas Bos by Richard Tillinghast (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Continuing …

… Poetry Stories: Mildred's Garden

I hope parents take note ……

… Notre Dame removes Catholic mission from staff values, touts new 'refreshed' values I also the media. i will no longer regard Notre Dame as a Catholic institution.

Good Lord …

… What Started as a Joke About Trump Is Now Filling Therapy Offices, Experts Warn The extent of my interest in politucs is that I keep up with the news and always make sure to vote.

That he was …

… Davis: My Q&A with author C.M. Kushins (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Dutch was cool. No doubt about that.

A poem for this morning …

… Claribel Alegría — Summing Up

Stefan Zweig

 

It had been many years since I last encountered a book by Stefan Zweig, but over the past month, I've read and finished perhaps his most acclaimed novel, Beware of Pity. Let me say at the start, this book is a triumph: it's everything I'd associated with Zweig -- and more. Published in 1939, the novel focuses on the relationship between a crippled young woman of aristocratic stock and an Austrian military officer, only slightly her senior. The complexity of that relationship allows Zweig to explore a range of themes, including love, patriotism, and wealth. But there's more than that: Zweig is also attuned to matters of identity, psychology, and control. In some sense, Beware of Pity is very much a reflection of its time: Zweig and Freud maintained a relationship for many years, and the influence of Freud on Zweig's characters and their motivations is clear. Then, too, there's the First World War, which comes crashing like a wave at the end of the novel, and serves, in some sense, to liberate Zweig's primary character, Anton Hofmiller, of his guilt, his lingering pity: in effect, nothing so small as actions in defense or rejection of love could escape the slaughter of the war. But then, Zweig offers a caveat: guilt, he writes, is never truly forgotten so long as the 'conscience' is still aware. Beware of Pity is wonderfully written, perfectly ordered, and evocative, in its characters, scenes, and scenery, of the fading days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. This is a paean to a lost time, and also, in many ways, to a lost love. 

A poem for this morning …

… Lewis Warsh — Drops

A poem for this morning …

… Peter Schjeldahl — Gauge

A poem for this morning …

… Laurance Wieder —=These Anemones, Their Song Is Made Up As They Float Along

Just so you knowv…

… SPECIAL SECRET

Further asventures of James Reese …

… Jack Carr’s thriller Cry Havoc

Great director, great film '…

… 18 Years Later, Ridley Scott's $270M Gangster Masterpiece Is Still Required Viewing (Hat tip, Jon Caroulis)

RIP …

… Protests Work: How The Satanic Temple Fell Apartee I once spent part of an evening chatting with a professed satanist. i found it very difficult to from laughing. sometimes I failed.

Together at last

… Saint Augustine, pears, and “mimetic cascades”

Sense and reference …

… Could Qualia Terms and Neuroscience Terms have the Same Reference?

A poem for today …

… Luis Alberto de Cuenca — William of Aquitaine Returns

Dim bulbs …

… https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-critics-who-deny-carpe-diem/ {Hat tip, Dave Lull) i enjoyed Dead Poets Society spmething is wrong with my iPad. i can't do italic or boldface.

Catching up …

… Redux

Sounds well worth seeing …

… The Choral (12A). Film Review. By Harry Mount - The Oldie (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Just so you know …

Blogging will be sketchy if at all today. i an getting ready to leave rehab and much has to be done.

A poem for this morning …

… Arakawa and Madeline Gins— Untitled

Blogging note …

I continue to languish in rehab. i may blog more later today. Right now I am in a mood to ponder, not write. i stare out the window at the trees, wonderfully graced with dazzling sunlight. May everyone have a blessed day.

Something to think on …

… inspring Quotes

Hmm …

… ‘href="https://archive.is/ykTJY">Nothing is real but sex and death’ — the private world of John Updike (Hat tip, Dave Lull) can't say I agree. sex is feat (or at least can be) and death is, well, inevitable. But life has a good deal more to offer than just those.

Rehab report …

I remain in bed at Saunders House, a very nice rehab facility. My right leg feels much better. So discharge may be near. As someone who has been remarkably healthy throughout my life, being an invalid is a peculiar experience. And an enlightening one. So many people are so kind. This afternoon I shall be ensconced in front of the stationay bike, which I enjoy. Soon there will be a meeting to decide if I am ready for discharge. Pray that I am. I long to be at home.

A poem for this morning …

… Silvia Guerra — Presumption of Heaven

A poem for this morning …

… Brad Gooch — H.

Hmm …

… As we grow out of intellectual adolescence, religion’s popularity soars (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

In case you wondered …

… Bob Dylan’s Superpower is That He Doesn’t Get Embarrassed (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on…

… Inspiring quotes

Listen and read …

… Mind To Me A Kingdom Is - Edward de Vere/William Byrd | Dedicated to Alexander Waugh ( hat tip, Dave Lull)

And the winner is

… Winner of the Petrona Award 2025 announced ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Frank O’Hara — Lisztiana, Much Later

Resolution …

i have decided to blog on a more regular basis — observations, opinions, and the like. I have been in the hospital since the operation on Monday to remove bone fragments from my hip, the result of a fall. So I have plenty of time to reflect. I spent most of last year in the hospital and rehab. I had a water retention problem that was finally resolved. And now a fall in my bedroom haslanded me back in the hospital. More later.

A poem for today …

… John Yau — O Pinyin Sonnet

Natalia Ginzburg

 

I was recently recommended the work of the Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg. I didn't know much, if anything, about her, but I was intrigued, and so this week read and finished her Little Virtues. Separated in two parts, this collection of essays and reflections focuses, first, on place, especially on Ginzburg's sense for England, Italy, and Europe in the post-war period. The second part shifts its emphasis to what Ginzburg calls 'human relationships.' This section is primarily interested in experiences of youth, family identity, and friendship. Between the two, I far preferred the first, which contains a number prescient observations regarding English society, in particular. That section also achieves something unusual in terms of its narrative structure: here, Ginzburg constructs a narrative in the first-person, but the effect is something closer to what Rachel Cusk has more recently attempted: a sort of auto-fiction with the author seemingly at the center, but also hovering above, an observer to an intimate unfolding of events. The second portion of Little Virtues read a bit too didactically for me, with a number of suggestions regarding parenting, for instance, which seemed too prescriptive (and, in some ways, too political). That said, though, the whole of Little Virtues was a refreshing read, and a potent reminder of life's wonders. The final sentence, often quoted, says it all: a love of life does, indeed, beget a love of life.

Recommended …

sort of — “[At Swim-Two-Birds is] just the book to give to your sister, if she is a dirty, boozey girl.” – Dylan Thomas on Flann O’Brien’s masterpiece (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… inspiring Quotes

Marilynne Robinson

 

It's been many years since I read Gilead, Marilynne Robinson's celebrated novel of history, faith, and mortality. I never loved that novel -- at least not in the way the critics suggested I might. But now, after all those years, I've returned to Robinson: this time via her first novel, Housekeeping. 

Here, again, the critics would have you believe you've encountered a masterpiece. And in some sense, I suppose, you have: the first half of Housekeeping, which establishes a sense of time and place, is highly effective. There's a clear evocation of the American west -- along with its history, people, and struggle. Indeed, struggle is at the heart of this novel: both against the land, but also against the strictures of society.

The tragedy which unfolds at the end of the novel is meant -- in my reading -- to bring the book full circle, to establish a link between it and a separate human struggle which starts the book. These episodes are different in their severity and context, but they share something which Robinson reinforces throughout the novel: water. This is a theme, a trope, a framing which guides Housekeeping. 

If I was disappointed by the second half of Housekeeping it's because Robinson introduces -- as she does in Gilead, too -- a secondary narrative drawing heavily from religious ideas and texts. I understand why she does this -- in Gilead, especially -- but here, in Housekeeping, it did not seem necessary: and the result was a powerful story which seems to have lost at least some of its momentum. (Faith is not a central theme in Housekeeping, and the inclusion of Robinson's secondary narrative seemed extraneous.) 

I don't want to be overly negative, though: by any measure, Housekeeping is a succesful, powerful novel. For a glimpse of the American temperament, the American frontier, and the development of the American economy -- for these concepts alone, the novel is worth the time. It is a book very much of individual characters in juxtaposition to forces larger than themselves.

Just so you know …

i won't be blogging todafor a while. i'm in the hospital awaiting an operartion.

Another passing …

… Ashleigh Brilliant (1933–2025) (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

In memoriam …

… John Coyne, RIP ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Congratulations …

… Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Thomas Bernhard

 

I recently finished The Loser, Thomas Bernhard's celebrated novel of artistry, excellence, and failure. At its core, this is a book about competition and comparison: about how, despite ourselves, we cannot avoid the tendency to differentiate, to distinguish. Bernard's focus is on elite piano players and their evolution over time and space. To label one of the three "a loser" is a bit of a stretch as that player is himself an exceptional talent. But compared with the virtuoso, with the genius, he can be nothing, at that level, but a failure. The plot of The Loser is not, though, what has attracted attention: instead, is is Bernhard's style, which fluctuates between the present and a sort of perpetual past. Bernhard captures that sense of the past in a number of ways: via memory, recollection, and imagination; but mostly, through an unusual interplay of syntax, repetition, and conjugating verbs in all forms of the past tense. A character had done, or was doing, or did do, or will have had to have done: it's almost to the point of Gertrude Stein, but that is not, in my reading, Bernhard's objective. Instead, he seems to be making a point about our ability as humans to construct entire stories from memory, from supposition. And even if I found the style here a bit, well, a bit gimmicky at times, I take the point that events are, by their very nature, transformed into the past, and that history, no matter how recent, can only be made real through the articulation of memories. In this way, at least, Bernhard packs a considerable punch: his story, told largely in the past tense, becomes immediately present, casting a double sense of sorrow: for what was, and for what now is. 

A poem for this morning …

… Jacques Dupin — Lichens

Remembering Guy Davenport …

… The Word Dear Alone Hangs on the Upper Verge' (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Happy and sad …

… Thoughts on moving houses (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Remembering …

… Phillies team that everyone doubted found its way to first World Series win

A poem for this morning …

… Priscilla Becker —/My Stint Among the Beloved

Sad —.and infuriating …

… The Murder of a South Philly Barber

For sale …

… A Delancey Street townhouse filled with 100,000 books is a bibliophile’s dream — and an epic estate sale (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Octavio Paz — Target Practice

Something to think on …

… Inspiring Quotes

A poem for this morning …

… Octavio Paz — Letter of Testimony Cantata

Anniversary …

… Almost famous turns 25 ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… Today's quote

A poem for this morning …

… Octavio Paz — In The Middle Of This Phrase

Better late than never …

… Raymond Chandler's Unseen Story Has Been Published At Last (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

RIP …

… Tony Harrison 1937-2025 (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Brian Blanchfield — Smalltown Lift

Farewell …

… Goodbye to all that (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Heading home …

… How ‘Task’ creator Brad Ingelsby became the bard of Delco

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

RIP

… John Searle (1932-2025) (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something by yours truly …

… An Advent Villanelle

Charlotte Bronte

 

Well, it took me a few weeks, but I've now finished Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's mid-century classic. No doubt, this is a big book: not only in terms of its length, but in terms of its emotional depth. That said, it's not a novel that stretches with time -- nor, for that matter, with place: this is a book that captures a period of about twenty years. And of those, at least half are not described in detail. And more: the novel takes as it location a specific set of shires in northern England. 

None of which is to critique Jane Eyre -- because, by almost all measures, the novel is a triumph. But I was surprised, upon reflection, how limited the novel is in terms of its historical and geographical range. That said, what the book lacks in terms of time and space, it more than makes up by way of character and journey. Jane Eyre comes of age at brutal time in English history: one of  disease, emotional repression, and industrial awakening. There are moments early in the novel when Jane confronts unspeakable sorrow and violence. That violence, mercifully, retreats: but it's never forgotten; it lurks just below the surface of Jane's story. 

Jane Eyre is a novel that focuses almost entirely on a single character: Jane Eyre. It's a memoir of sorts, with a handful of other figures introduced in order to advance Jane's evolution. The most significant among them are men: two men, actually -- Jane's suitors. True, there are other women in this novel -- and for that matter, there are other men, too. And those tertiary characters do exert their influence: but this seems a book, in the end, guided by the influence of men, by their power to dictate: whether through financial means or religious conviction. Again, upon reflection, this is a novel that seems, at least in part, to be focused on women, and yet cast as a sequence of events largely constructed by men. 

I don't want to overstate the case: I know that Jane exercises her own agency and that she's by a profound courage. But -- in my reading, at least -- it is men who dictate the terms, and who drive the novel toward its various crescendos. 

Jane Eyre is a lyrical, thorough, difficult novel: one about a young woman in her time, and about the limitations imposed on women by that era. Charlotte Bronte is a tremendous writer, and there is never any doubt about how her characters feel, how they experience triumph and regret. One of my favorite lines from Jane Eyre comes toward the end as Jane reflects on her suitors and their love; it's at this moment that she recognizes that there is a difference between an error of judgement and a violation of principle. 

In many ways, that subtle distinction -- that reflection of personal awakening -- defines the entire novel. 

Appreciation …

… Never use your own car: Elmore Leonard’s Superpower (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poetic suite … …

… Five Poems at #Ranger Magazine

A poem for this morning …

… Rowan Ricardo Phillips — Little Songs

Maybe better than his novels …

… The Journals of John Cheever

Huh?

… Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books

Still in charge …

… The Autocrat of English Usage (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Yusef Komunyakaa — Night of the Armadillo

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Just so you know …

… Collective Nouns for Librarians ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Radmila Lazić — Love

We were warned …

… Classic novels that predicted today’s world (& what they got right (Hat tip, Jon Caroulis)

Another poem for this morning …

… For the Finders of Bodies in Murder Mysteries (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Adventures in punctuation …

… With the Em Dash, A.I. Embraces a Fading Tradition (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

And the nominees are …

… The Petrona Award 2025 - Shortlist (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Woodland voices …

… The Secret Language of Tawny Owls ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… George Bogin — The Haircut

A poem for this morning …

… Patrizia Cavalli — “When, thanks to the virtues of wine …”

Something to think on …

… Inspiring Quotes

Another poem …

... David St. John Lunch

Appreciation …

... The Art of Caustic Cosiness: On Barbara Pym’s The Sweet Dove Died (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning ..

.. Madonna and Child

Start humming …

... A Lyric Nation: On the Uncollected Dream Songs (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Just so you know …

... The Story of Modern Art

Hmm …

… Science and Meaning: Parallel Tracks? (Hat tip, Dave Lull) i don't see any conflict between faith and evolution.

S0mething to think on…

… Today's quote

Pay attention …

... Vigil (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem fir this morning …

... Masaoka Shiki — from “A Drop of Ink”

A poem for this morning …

... Daniela Gioseffi — Falling into Sand

Just so you know…

... something is werong with my ipad' whoch prevents melinking to anthong just now.

A poem for this morning …

... Edwin Brock • Prototypes

The return of anti~semitism …

... Yorgos Lanthimos, Olivia Colman, Ayo Edebiri and Josh O’Connor Among 1,200 Industry Names Pledging Not to Work With Israeli Film Institutions ‘Complicit in War Crimes’

Bravo …

… Our Jesuit high school banned smartphones. Here’s why it needed to happen. As the product of a Jesuit education I think it's a good idea to have students experience as I and my fellow students did.

This illiberal era …

… Will I be arrested next, after Graham Linehan? (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Waugh’s minimalist technique up close …

… Depicting the Hollow Men (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

In case you wondered …

… An aesthete of controversy. Who was William F. Buckley? (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Another poem …

… For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Umberto Saba — Sleeplessness on a Summer Night

A trio of colums …

… TRIPLE BILL

Surprise — it’s ok to feel …

… Read It & Weep (Hat tio, Dave Lull)

A poem for this. Morning …

… Forough Farrokhzad — After You

Poems for this morning …

…… Alice Notley — Four Sonnets

Andre Breton

 

I was familiar, of course, with the work of Andre Breton as it relates to the world of visual art: but I'd not associated him with literature -- until now. Over a few days, I've read his most recognized book of prose, Nadja. 

Let me say at the start: this is not a perfect book -- and it's certainly not a perfect novel. What it is, exactly, is unclear: but perhaps that's part of its allure. For me, Nadja read mostly as an homage to Paris. Breton casts his enigmatic, tragic love -- that is, Nadja -- as a foil for the city, populating the book with images of its many districts and personalities. That visual quality endows Nadja with a sense of reality: and the book does present a certain historical rendering of the city. But more often, the novel is surreal, with self-conscious reflections on the nature of writing, on love, and on narration. Breton never seems to fully believe in what he's doing: namely endowing certain dialogue with more meaning than others -- simply by including it as part of the book. He critiques this power: acknowledging its selective nature, its artificial qualities. The result is a novel about infatuation and regret, but which reads less as a love story and more, to borrow from Breton, as the "sketch of a mental landscape." Indeed, that is exactly what Nadja is: and while it's not for everyone, it is a work occupying that unique juncture between history, geography, and individualism. For the reflections on Paris alone, Nadja is a satisfying read. 

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something from Beyond Godot …

… On the occasion of my encounter with two butterflies today

A poem for this morning …

… D. Nurkse — Caligula

Indeed …

… A Scholar for all Seasons ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Bernadette Mayer — Marroon, Muckle & Me

Finding comfort in this poem …

… The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W. B. Yeats

Remembering …

… Reviving the Vanished Voice of a Maker (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

In case you forgot

… QUOTES ARE FACTS. (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

The poetry effect

… I Can’t Look Away From This Poem About Looking (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Writers of Faith …

… 25 Great Novelists Who Affirm Faith (Hat tip, Tim Davis)

Coming to a theater near you …

… Banijay U.K. Signs Development Deal With Ellie Wood’s Clearwood Films, Sets Adaptation of Barbara Pym Novel ‘Excellent Women’ as First Project (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Maturing …

...Report From The Other Side

Lovely singer, lovely song …

… Sarah McLachlan Adia

Nice to know …

… Michael Updike: Gravestones Don’t Have to be Morbid (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The private Updike …

… Rabbit’s Runners (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Morning reading at THPR …

… Traveling in style with Emily Dickinson

Good news …

… The Latin Mass Lives On (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Just so you know …

… Extreme Heat Will Change You

A poem for this morning …

…… Brooks Haxton — An Interval of Five Tones, Being the Domina

Reading at THPR …

… “Beach” by Stanley Plumly

A poem for this morning …

… C. S. Giscombe — Second Dream

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

The Great English Joke …

… Daisy Waugh, granddaughter of Evelyn Waugh and daughter of Auberon, has a new book out ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

The private Updike …

… Selected Letters of John Updike (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Olivia Sokolowski — Lover of Cars

Hide and Seek …

… I remained hidden as a matter of honor

Sounds like a good plan …

… POTUS puts U.S. Army in control of America’s railroads

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Just so you knw …

… Oops! 6 English Words Created Through a Mistake

A poem for this morning …

… John Skoyles — The Second Olga

All aboard …

… Making transoceanic journeys so much easier in 1914

Tracking the decline …

… The replacement of disinterested judgment by the rule of the uninterested ( Hat tip, Dave lull)

The poetry of words …

… ROGER’S THESAURUS (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

So true …

… The Devil’s in the Details of Modernity (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Q&A …

… My Interview With Judge Patrick F. Dugan, Candidate For Philadelphia District Attorney

A poem for this morning …

… Lorenzo Thomas — Displacement

Bravo …

… Tulsi Stares Down UK, Scoring Another Big Win for American Consumers

Something to think on …

… Motivation

Slippery slope on this day in 1954 …

… The beginning of a festering problem for the U.S.

A poem for this morning

… Hilda Hilst — From “Alcohologues”

Hope in 1946 …

… Someone is having his 79th

Literary obesity …

… There Are Too Many Overweight Biographies Whatever happened to Plutarch’s blessed brevity? by Joseph Epstein (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

The adventure of reading …

… How I read poems, with aphantasia ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

And the nominees are …

… The Petrona Award 2025 - Longlist (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem

… The View from an Airplane at Night, over California - Bruce Bawer (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… inspiring Quotes

Poem for Sunday: Dislocation …

… Someone is walking on your grave

Hot off the presses …

… Sports Illustrated without those swimsuit models

A poem for this morning …

… Louis Simpson — Sway

A man for our times …

… C.S. Lewis in the Age of Bleakness

Something I’ve said every month for seventeen years …

… Thank you, Mr. President!

A poem for this morning …

… Leslie Richardson — Leftovers

A poem for this morning …

… Elizabeth Spires — Second Story

Intimate correspondence …

… I felt like a voyeur reading this great Scottish writer's love letters ( Hatip, Dave Luul)

Uncle Sam wanted her …

… Opha May Johnson becomes the first in 1918

Second in command …

… Vance on Knife’s Edge (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on

… Happiness

Hide and seek …

… Sue Hendrickson makes big discovery in South Dakota

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Nice place for a stroll …

… A Review of Four Walks in Central Park by Aaron Poochigian ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Just so you know …

… Eddington Is the Must-See Covid Masterpiece (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Breaking news …

… “We begin bombing in five minutes”

Something to think on …

Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl? — Anne Frank

A nice mix …

… Poetry Against All Odds: Banned Books, Ernesto Cardenal, and Poetry in Spanish

Father and son …

… The Kindest Cut 2: The Shavening

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Q&A

… A chat with John Berryman

Time for a smile …

… A Litle Humor: Needs Editing

Wagner’s renegade urge …

… ‘Wagner and the Creation of the Ring’ Review: Back to Valhalla (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

There’s a sucker born every minute …

… P. T. Barnum’s connection with George Washington

Sad anniversary …

… In ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour,’ memory is a wound that will not heal. i spent an afternoon talking with Father Arupe in that cafeteria of what was then St. Joseph's College. The Jesuits had the only cinder-block building in the region and it survived the blast. They did all that they to treat the wounded.

Still waters …

… Recollections of time spent at a now famous pond

Finding faith …

… Review: The Mary Pages by Sally Read ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A Silver Crown …

… The cold and forbidding worlds of Cynthia Ozick. (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Roots …

… ‘It never leaves me’: Wisconsin author’s hometown is his longstanding muse (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A fresh look at a classic case …

… ‘An Officer and a Spy’ Review: Roman Polanski’s New Spin on the Dreyfus Affair (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Claribel Alegría — Documentary

Apprection …

… Bryan Appleyard: Jerry Garcia’s American journey (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Up, up, and away!…

… It is the Wright Brothers’ first public flight

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

It happened in my neck of the woods …

… Suppressing rebellious whiskey makers in Pennsylvania

Master of her craft …

… Esther Bubley - A Life in Photography ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Susan Fox — Sceaux the Day They Turn Off the Fountain

Angus Wilson

 

I can't remember where I first encountered that name -- Angus Wilson -- but I'm glad, having now finished one of his early collection of stories, that I did. Published in 1949, The Wrong Set and Other Stories is an exceptional collection: indeed, some of the stories here are among the finest I've read. Which is saying something -- as I often lose my way with short stories. But these are entirely different: whereas short stories often serve as vignettes, Wilson's work functions -- in my reading -- as an attempt at crescendo. Each story in The Wrong Set culminates in a localized crisis, a moment of understanding, or reckoning, or revelation. And then, in most cases, Wilson leaves it there: the crisis speaks for itself; there is nothing more to say because its arrival is so clear, its meaning and implication so obvious. Wilson wrote after Fitzgerald, of course, but there was something reminiscent of the American master here: like Fitzgerald, Wilson wrote well, for instance, of drinking and of social custom. And more: there's an element in Wilson's stories -- as in Fitzgerald's -- of powerful personalities, of local figures made grand: only then, in a moment of weakness or exposure, to be cut down to nothing. The Wrong Set is very much a product of its time: the inter-war period, leading to the Second World War. And in this way, it's more than literature: it's a historical work as well, highlighting facets of British society at this time, and the way they mixed to generate equal measures of beauty and catastrophe. 

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

One of a kind …

… In Search of Samuel Clemens (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Today’s Poem …

… Light Shining Out of Darkness (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Publishing history …

… The Saturday Evening Post begins its long history

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Jacqueline Osherow —= Mural from the Temple of Longing Thither

Christmas in August …

… Santa Claus goes to a town in Indiana on this day in 1946

Farewell …

… The Empire of Forgetting by John Burnside review – last words from an essential poet of our age (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Birthday of a Native Son …

… Born in poverty-stricken Harlem NY in 1924

Hmm …

… In defense of young men (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Cause for celebration …

… John Henry Newman: Newest Doctor of the Church (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Paulé Bártón — The Sleep Bus

Let us raise a toast …

… Opening time for Tolkien and CS Lewis - Harry Mount on the reopening of the Inklings' Oxford pubs (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

The Beethoven many do not notice …

… BEETHOVEN’S CATHOLIC HUMANISM

A poem for this morning …

… Cathy Park Hong — Ballad of Fort Mann

Noteworthy date …

… Birthday of famous American writer

Ahead of his time …

… Gorgias: Plato’s Guide to Online Discussions ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Maybe he was right …

… He Was Laughed Out of Academia for This Take About Technology. Turns Out He Was Right. Marshall McLuhan was warning us about the internet long before it was invented. ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

So to speak …

…

What’s Not to Like? On similes, good and bad

(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Plus ça change …

… James Hitchcock and the Continuing Battles over Vatican II (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Bernadette Mayer —=Wind Force

Something more to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… insiring Quotes

RIP …

… Tom Lehrer, Influential Satirist Whose Topical Songs Poked and Prodded America in the ’50s and ’60s, Dies at 97 (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Farid Matuk — Crease

Tracking the decline …

… Now I’ve left Britain, here’s what you look like Lionel used to review for me when I was The Inquirer's book editor. She's as brilliant as she is lovely.

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

The proto-Auden …

… Horace for the Ages ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

One philospher on another …

… G. E. M. Anscombe - On Wittgenstein (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Time for some crime …

… Cabahug

RIP …

… Morris, the Movie Star Alligator Who Appeared in ‘Happy Gilmore,’ Dies of Old Age

A poem for this morning …

… Denise Levertov —,Sound of the Axe

The original Augustans …

… Poetry and Power

Good idea …

… Bring Back Quiet Libraries (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Our age of paradox …

… UNFORGETTABLE FIRE(Hat tip, Dave Lull) Ours is “an age in which religious belief seems to be at once in steep decline and surging out of bounds.”

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Alberto Caeiro 93

More regarding Jane …

… Jane Greer May 25, 1953 — July 22, 2025 Obituary (Hatip, Dave lull.)

Something else to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Hitting the road …

… A Beatnik Tourist in Ayahuasca Country ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Spmething to think on …

… Inspiring Quotes

A poem for this morning …

… Alberto Caeiro — 68

In case you wondered …

… The Alto Knights - Why Did The De Niro Mob Movie Bomb?

Time for some crime …

… 'Reeninald Bulan'

In case you windered …

… Who Was Hesiod?

May she rest in peace …

… She’s Gone, She Was Here and Then Gone (Hat tip, Dave Lull}

More than just flitting about …

… Butterflies: Their Fascinating Lives and How to Protect Them ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

QWERT …

… Another newfangled device doomed to become a failure

A poem for this morning …

… Patricio Ferrari —=Alberto

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

And another …

… My Daughter Walks in the Garden (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Another poem …

… Austerity —,by Janet Loxley Lewis (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

If at first you don’t succeed…

… Re-establishing the deserted (lost”) colony

Poems for this morning …

… Álvaro de Campos — Three Sonnets

RIP …

… ISI Remembers Edwin J. Feulner I knew Ed, from back when I worked for ISI. Great guy.

Must-see TV …

… I remember what I watched on television on July 20, 1969

Toiling away …

… Hypergraphia: On Prolific Writers and the Persistent Need to Produce (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Ricardo Reis —= Ode 76

Gotcha

… Spy pleads guilty in Philadelphia

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… Happiness

Death by AI …

… One man's struggle with his mortality. (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

New volumes of vintage poets …

… The violets bear them away by William Logan ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

On the road with Dr. Johnson …

… ‘A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland’: A Londoner Out of His Element (Hat tipp, tip, Dave Lull)

Special delivery …

… Mail gets to POTUS via an unusual delivery service

A poem for this morning …

… Barbara Guest — East of Omsk

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something worth pondering…

… Does this finally solve the mystery of the lost colony?

Good question …

… What is the point of state-sponsored mediocrity in the arts? (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

A poem for this morning …

… Rowan Ricardo Phillips — The Peacock

In memoriam …

… Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are" on The Ed Sullivan Show

Mihail Sebastian

 

It's an interesting experience to read a novel seemingly at random. This was the case recently when taking up Mihail Sebastian's For Two Thousand Years. Published in 1934 in Romania, this is a book far from my usual tastes and interests. 

Strangely, I'd read another of Sebastian's novels -- Women -- a few years ago, and I'd enjoyed it. But this novel -- Two Thousand Years -- is far darker, far more foreboding. This is a book, in effect, which charts the emergence of a more virulent form of anti-Semitism in Romanian culture. The novel does not makes its way to the Second World War, but the themes which are uncovered anticipate what was to come. Except, of course, that what came was far worse. 

Two Thousand Years is more, though, than a historical novel: it is one profoundly focused on identity, and on Sebastian's conflicting, almost tortured, sense for his own Judaism. There are parts of this novel which are very difficult to read -- in part because Sebastian has allowed that anti-Semitism to encroach on his moral judgments. Much more can -- and has, I'm sure -- be written about this troubling dynamic: as I say, I found it to be quite upsetting, not least because Sebastian seems at moments to negate Jewish contributions to the European past. 

In the end, Two Thousand Years is a novel in search of Romania: of its workers, its ethos, its history and culture. That does seem, truly, to be Sebastian's objective: to describe this place through its people and their conflicts, and their intractable march toward something far more sinister. Sebastian has an aphoristic way of writing which provides rewards to the patient reader. Here is one of the most memorable: 

"Aren't you traveling light for a man who's making history?"

"No. It's all I need. I'm leaving the rest behind." 

The waythese things happen …

… An Organized Retail Theft Story

A poem for this morning …

… Anne Sexton — The Poet of Ignorance

Worth podering …

… Is Bernini’s Baroque Masterpiece the Most Controversial Religious Artwork of All Time?

Sad …

… Philadelphia’s newest and smallest art museum is ready for its close up ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Interesting …

… Updike is referenced in a book of Mark Twain poems (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A poem for this morning …

… Ann Darr — Everything in the Kitchen Sink

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

I fear so …

… Lionel Shriver: The left has grown adept at gaslighting (Hat tip, Dave Lull) lionel used to review for me when I was the book editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. she's beautiful and wise.

Anniversay …

… The Erie Canal at 200 (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A poem for this morning …

… Camille Dungy Poem Revised in a Twelfth-Floor Hotel Room After Seeing a Man in the Building Across the Street Holding What Appeared to be Binoculars

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… nspiring quotes.

A poem for this morning …

… Gary Snyder — Oysters

The finish line …

… Poet Mary Jo Bang reaches the end of her 20-year journey through Dante's 'Divine Comedy' (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

More about Updike

… The Complicated Brilliance of John Updike: A Conversation with Biljana Dojčinović (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

One a believer, the other not …

… Reading Two Thomases (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Surely worth reading …

… New Yorker previews upcoming John Updike Selected Letters volume (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to ponder at Harper’s Pond

… Thinking about the end…

One can only hope …

… Can Americans Love Poetry Again? ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A tale worth reading …

… My Crime Fiction: 'Mouth'

A poem for this morning …

… Morgan Parker — The High Priestess of Soul’s Sunday Morning Visit to the Wall of Respect

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Read away .…

… THE PARIS REVIEW Weekly

Read and listen …

… The Weekly Dish.

Take your pick …

… The Huble Essatist. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The last perfect season at Harper’s Pond …

… This was as good as it was ever going to get

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A time lacking grandeur …

… Tom Wolfe’s Sociology of the Weird (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) From high school on, I have identified with the Beats. I knew some Hippies, of course, but I never thought of being one.

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Too much preaching ……

… Political Theater Makes Bad Drama (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Hopkins at Harper’s Pond …

… Glory be to God for dappled things —

Ch-ch-changes …

… UP AND AWAY PART III

RIP …

… Mourning the loss of Fanny Howe.

Spare us …

… The Architecture of Arrogance (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It happened near Harper’s Pond …

… On July 7, 1755, in southwestern Pennsylvania

City of brotherly love

… In Larry Krasner's 'Safer, Freer' Philadelphia, 52 shot in one weekend; six dead

Mark Twain at Harper’s Pond …

… I’m sure he does rise up some days

Someting to think on…

… Quotes To Inspire You

Origins …

… THE WRITING OF TAKE 5: One novelist's big book obsession (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In case you wondered …

… Was the Bicentennial a boon for Philly? A bust? Or something in between?

A poem for this morning …

… Fanny Howe — Original

Prescience …

… Elizabeth Jennings' poem "Euthanasia" (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Wallace Stevens at Harper’s Pond …;

… The houses are haunted by white night-gowns

Great historian and biographer …

… Celebrating a birthday in Pittsburgh

Appraisal …

… Toni Morrison, Editor (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In case you wondered …

… Why did the Romans consider butter a "barbaric" food. (Hat tip, Felix Giordano)

Testimony …

… H. L. Mencken On Hot Dogs

Our faithful grounding …

… Nature and the God of the Declaration of Independence (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Preview …

… from “Only Sing: 152 Uncollected Dream Songs,” by John Berryman (Hat tip, dave Lull.)

William Carlos Williams at Harper’s Pond …

… Between Walls

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… William Carlos Williams — About a little girl

The old order changeth …

… For sale: Wisconsin's first and last Carnegie libraries (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Just so you know …

… “Perfume from a Dress”: How Poetry Persuades (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The week that just was …

… Budget delays, synthetic opioids, and a WNBA team

Remembering the first American casualty …

… It happened on July 5, 1950

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Edward Dorn — The Poet Lets His Tongue Hang Down

Appreciation …

… Celestial wisdom: Dr Johnson as a poet (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Classical drama …

… Seneca's "The Madness of Hercules": a stunning performance, a brilliant new translation! (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Seneca's "The Madness of Hercules" made its debut this month – and San Francisco actress and singer Grace Wade smoldered as the betrayed Juno in Dana Gioia's stunning new translation of the tragedy.

Important moment for Washington …

… American troops get new commander

A matter of style …

… Elmore Leonard’s Perfect Pitch (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

RIP …

… David Rytman Slavitt Obituary (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Just so you know …

… Male Novel Readers Are Not Fiction (Hat tip, Dave lull.) Liberal politics have destroyed the space for male readers. The women who “dominate the publishing industry” are the same kind of women that dominate Hollywoke — man-bashing, woman-mutating feminists. They’re the reason my four novels thus far aren’t published by major presses like Hachette, Harper Collins, and Random House but by boutique publishers (very discriminating ones).

In visions of the dark night …

I have dreamed of joy departed—

A poem for this morning …

… Tom Clark — Where I Live

A demon in my view…

… I have not been as others were

A poem for this morning …

… Joan Moore — Grace

Stella Gibbons

I'd been aware of Cold Comfort Farm for a long while, but it was only recently that I had the opportunity to read it. And I must say: this novel is fantastic. Indeed, it's everything you'd like to see in a literary comedy: equal measures seriousness and parody, wrapped in superb prose. Stella Gibbons produced something tremendous when Cold Comfort was published in 1932. 

Like other novels of this period, Cold Comfort has assumed a last quality: the characters emerge in three dimensions; they are funny, even absurd; but they are also representative, in their thoughts and actions, of themes larger than themselves. This is not an exercise in belittling; it is instead an effort to uncover, with humor, the shifting social plates of interwar period. 

Gibbons, of course, produced a number of memorable scenes in Cold Comfort, including several with her primary character, Flora Poste. In many ways, and at many moments, Poste serves as the hinge: she embodies a polite mannered culture, while, at the same time, flirting with modernity, with private jets and birth control. She plays the traditional matchmaker, but again, without hesitation, acknowledges the less predictable worlds of sexuality and romance. All of which is to say: Cold Comfort sits at the very lively intersection between Georgian custom and contemporary liberation, between rural tradition and urban sophistication. 

Ultimately, Cold Comfort reads as a classic comedy -- one employing all the tricks and crafts of the trade: it's a very well written novel with a tangled web at its start and a long gilded line at its end. I enjoyed Gibbon's achievement throughout. After all, there's nothing funny about great writing. 

Test yourself …

… Weekly Wisdom Quiz

A conversation …

… Brevity Blog

Q&A…

… Marie NDiaye, The Art of Fiction No. 268

A fresh look …

… Plath’s Poetry—Minus the Pathology

Members only …

… The Worriers’ Guild

A poem for this morning …

… João Cabral de Melo Neto — The Word Silk

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You.

The loss of paradise …

… The terrible fate of John Milton … A War Over Heaven and Hell (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Father said…

… The benefits of an active lifestyle

Something think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

Hmm …

… Maybe I'm Just a Bad Person (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) ijust think of myself as an ordinary guy.

Just so you know …

… America’s 100th birthday party was a huge victory for Philadelphia

A poem for this morning …

… Joe Brainard — The Outer Banks

The write to poetry …

… When Paradise Shakes

Thoughts in a garden …

… What wondrous life is this I lead!

Remembering …

… On Flannery O’Connor’s Centenary (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Patty Nash — =Metropolitan

In case you wondered …

… The real reason J.K. Rowling’s critics hate her ( Hadt tip, Dave Lull.

Warpath…

… History happened in Swansea

My daughter Jen’s book of poems …

I Am Beautiful in the Dark, My Love - Kindle edition by Knox, Jennifer Jeanne-Marie. Self-Help Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

In csse you wondered …

… "Is Logic Evidence For God? ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

… Quotes To Inspire You

A poem for this morning …

… Katie Ford — Earth

Worth watching …

…… Count me among those who are obsessed