Thursday, July 13, 2017
Something to think on …
A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.
— Isaac Babel, born on this date in 1894
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Nothing is safe …
… Jazz Profiles: The Birth {and Death} of the Cool. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Gioia deftly argues that what began in the Jazz Age [Bix Beiderbecke] and became iconic in the 1950s with Miles Davis, James Dean, and others has been manipulated and stretched, and pushed to the breaking point – not just in our media, entertainment and fashion industries, but also by corporations, political leaders, and special institutions.
Something to think on …
It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
— Henry David Thoreau, born on this date in 1817
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Blogging note …
Blogging will resume sometime tomorrow. I have another dental appointment tomorrow morning and I have to take my wife to a doctor's appointment sometime after that. Right now, I'm just sore from the surgery. It's bearable, but distracting.
Simply outstanding …
… From What Is Left Over by Rémi Brague | Articles | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
These are large questions, so we do best to end by returning to the simple practice of plainsong. This sort of singing epitomizes the vocation of song, which is to celebrate and praise. Now, obviously, we can sing, hence praise, only what is good. We enter into praise, which is the condition of culture, if and only if there is something praiseworthy. In the last analysis, there can be culture if and only if we are convinced that, in the teeth of evil, that which is is intrinsically good. To give priority to the praiseworthy is an ontological choice. This choice is presupposed by any culture-grounding activity.Read the whole thing. I am looking to see what book by Rémi Brague I should start with. One of the best philosophical essays I have ever read.
Blogging note …
I am off to have a bit (well, more than a bit) of oral surgery. Blogging will resume sometime later.
A worthy exhibition …
… Octavia Butler: Writing Herself Into The Story : Code Switch : NPR. (Hat tip, Virginia Kerr.)
"Octavia Butler: Telling My Stories" is an exhibit currently at the Huntington Library, in the Pasadena suburb of San Marino, Calif. Curator Natalie Russell went through some "8,000 manuscripts, letters and photographs, and an additional 80 boxes of ephemera" to create an exhibition that shows, in chronological order, how Butler's career was born and evolved, and what influenced her.
Forensics and Joyce's Ulysses …
… Joyce in Court and The Ulysses Trials review – the law, murder and obscenity | Books | The Guardian.(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
[Hardiman] is scathing and scrupulously mean about the English: “To a reader in the early 21st century, what is very striking about the English official correspondence concerning Ulysses is the total self-confidence of politicians and bureaucrats who were still expounding and enforcing high Victorian values in the 1920s and 30s.” And on the objections to Molly Bloom’s soliloquy, he writes: “Equally striking is the elitism they manifest: what possible value could the ‘memoirs’ of ‘an Irish chambermaid’ have?”
Hmm …
… Craig Brown on why it's time for literary Q&As to die | Daily Mail Online. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Seems to me it depends. Some are good. Some not. Like most things.
Seems to me it depends. Some are good. Some not. Like most things.
Something to think on …
What matters in literature in the end is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor or the color of a particular human suffering.
— Harold Bloom, born on this date in 1930
Collected interviews …
… Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov - edited by by Robert Golla. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Since the pieces begin with Nabokov's success with Lolita, many of the conversations, especially the earlier ones, focus heavily on that. Aside from the familiar topics about it, it's interesting to see the obvious rivalry between this book and the other big by-a-Russian novel of the day (which also had an unusual publishing history abroad), Dr. Zhivago, a book Nabokov repeatedly bashes. He calls it: "false, melodramatic, badly written" -- even" "vilely written" -- and while he allows: "Pasternak is not a bad poet. But in Zhivago he is vulgar".
Since the pieces begin with Nabokov's success with Lolita, many of the conversations, especially the earlier ones, focus heavily on that. Aside from the familiar topics about it, it's interesting to see the obvious rivalry between this book and the other big by-a-Russian novel of the day (which also had an unusual publishing history abroad), Dr. Zhivago, a book Nabokov repeatedly bashes. He calls it: "false, melodramatic, badly written" -- even" "vilely written" -- and while he allows: "Pasternak is not a bad poet. But in Zhivago he is vulgar".
Monday, July 10, 2017
I guess I stand corrected …
… Edward Feser: Aquinas watches Glengarry Glen Ross. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I detested the film when I saw it years ago, because I didn't think it reflected the actual business world as I knew it from experience. It seemed an intellectual's unsympathetic imagining of the business world. Looked at it this way, though, it might just work. Guess I'll have to see it again.
I detested the film when I saw it years ago, because I didn't think it reflected the actual business world as I knew it from experience. It seemed an intellectual's unsympathetic imagining of the business world. Looked at it this way, though, it might just work. Guess I'll have to see it again.
Hmm …
… Informal Inquiries: Calvin, TULIP, and freedom.
I have always found it amazing that so repulsive a creed should prove so alluring. I am with Meister Eckhart: "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." The God I have faith in is the God of Love.
I have always found it amazing that so repulsive a creed should prove so alluring. I am with Meister Eckhart: "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." The God I have faith in is the God of Love.
Something to think on …
Do not wait for life. Do not long for it. Be aware, always and at every moment, that the miracle is in the here and now.
— Marcel Proust, born on this date in 1871
Hmm …
… Informal Inquiries: Confessions of an incompetent English teacher.
I taught for one semester as a teaching assistant in grad school (at the end of the semester I quit grad school). I was, however, by that time a published writer and had been earning my living as an editor. I had been taught rhetoric and public speaking in college, and I am not known for a lack of self-confidence. What I taught that semester was English composition. I taught my students what I had learned as an editor. I later heard that they all turned out to do well when they had to write something. Hardly surprising. The basics of writing are not that hard to master. I enjoyed teaching, but it took a lot of work to do it well. I felt I needed the time for other things.
Sunday, July 09, 2017
Good choices …
… Fourteen Books to Replace Progressive Propaganda in College.
Students who had read these could give just about any indoctrinating prof a run for his money — might even prove he isn't as well-educated as he claims.
Students who had read these could give just about any indoctrinating prof a run for his money — might even prove he isn't as well-educated as he claims.
Hmm …
… UNLV professor taking new US export to Cuba: poetry – Las Vegas Review-Journal. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)
… a UNLV professor is about to bring to a new product of immeasurable value to the Caribbean island nation: poetry.I should think they could use a bit more freedom.
Literary destinations …
… Your Guide to the Great American Literary Road Trip | Reader's Digest. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)
Anniversary …
… Informal Inquiries: Hemingway is wounded.
I think anyone who kills himself must have some great sadness to contend with. I think I know whereof I speak, since I have had an uncommon acquaintance with suicide.
I think anyone who kills himself must have some great sadness to contend with. I think I know whereof I speak, since I have had an uncommon acquaintance with suicide.
Respighi again …
There is more to his music than the Roman Trilogy. It should be played more in concert halls.
Angels on the line …
… Oh let there be nothing on earth but laundry | Love Calls Us… | Flickr. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I wouldn't bet on it …
… on the nation following Yale's lead, that is: Cli-Fi.Net -- (the world's largest online 'Cli-Fi' portal for Cli-Fi, a subgenre of sci-fi): ''As Yale goes, so goes the nation".
Old-time rowdiness …
… Even in the 1700s, Book Clubs Were Really About Drinking and Socializing - Atlas Obscura. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave also sends this: When reading a book was a group activity.
One club, for instance, had 22 members (including Branwell Brontë, the sole brother of the literary siblings) and met for monthly dinners. “A broad hint of conviviality is given in the rules,” writes Kaufman, “which imposed fines for swearing, for being drunk ‘so that a member be offensive to the company,’ and for unseemly scrambling for books to borrow!”
Dave also sends this: When reading a book was a group activity.
Good news for literary fiction …
… Henley reveals ACE's 'concerns for literary fiction' | The Bookseller. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)
Diving in …
… Top 10 books about swimming | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Swimming and reading have a lot in common: both are solitary pursuits, escapes into different worlds and different kinds of freedom.
Something to think on …
Historical methodology, as I see it, is a product of common sense applied to circumstances.
— Samuel Eliot Morison, born on this date in 1887
Saturday, July 08, 2017
A master's choices …
… Anthony Burgess: My Best 99 Novels 1939-1984 And Top 5 Dystopian Books . (Hat ti[, Dave Lull.)
Well, maybe, I suppose …
… The Word Choices That Explain Why Jane Austen Endures - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Isn't the choice of words what makes every writer's work distinctive?
Isn't the choice of words what makes every writer's work distinctive?
Something to think on …
All the brains in the world are powerless against the sort of stupidity that is in fashion.
— Jean de La Fontaine, born on this date in 1621
Friday, July 07, 2017
Surviving Beats …
… VIDEO: Driving the Beat road — Where the great poets of a lost generation have gone | Lifestyles | mankatofreepress.com. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
"The main shift, and it comes about gradually, is realizing that you really will die," Snyder laughs. "It's not a joke. You really have to die. Even though you think you know it already, you don't know it until you feel it around the corner."No lie there.
Don't forget …
… Paul Davis On Crime: Visit To San Antonio, Texas: Remember The Alamo.
I suppose the politically thing these days is not to remember the Alamo.
I suppose the politically thing these days is not to remember the Alamo.
Good bad cop …
… Paul Davis On Crime: My Washington Times Review Of Don Winslow's 'The Force'.
Whenever I encounter a police offer I make sure to thank him for his service. Of course, I would. My father was a cop, and so is my nephew.
Whenever I encounter a police offer I make sure to thank him for his service. Of course, I would. My father was a cop, and so is my nephew.
Fictional life, actual death …
… Informal Inquiries: Dr. John H. Watson's birthday (and a few questions).
I read the complete Holmes on summer in my high school years. If I were to revisit Doyle it would probably be to read TheLost World.
I read the complete Holmes on summer in my high school years. If I were to revisit Doyle it would probably be to read TheLost World.
Popular books …
… Publishers Weekly Annual Adult Bestsellers 1990-2013. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I reviewed a couple —Stephen King's and Peter Straub's Black House and Michael Crichton's State of Fear. I liked both. I also wrote about a couple of others — The Da Vinci Code and Unfit for Command. I thought the first was awful and didn't think much of the second.
I reviewed a couple —Stephen King's and Peter Straub's Black House and Michael Crichton's State of Fear. I liked both. I also wrote about a couple of others — The Da Vinci Code and Unfit for Command. I thought the first was awful and didn't think much of the second.
Something to think on …
Political tags - such as royalist, is communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
— Robert A. Heinlein, born on this date in 1907
Hmm …
… Anthony Burgess was a gifted writer, but had the theology of a lapsed Catholic bore | CatholicHerald.co.uk. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This piece seems to me to come up short on particulars. I rather like the description of Catholicism as a “kind of nationality one is stuck with forever”. And I myself often grumble over the direction of the post-Vatican II Church. They have never seemed to me to be in any way an improvement over what they replaced.
This piece seems to me to come up short on particulars. I rather like the description of Catholicism as a “kind of nationality one is stuck with forever”. And I myself often grumble over the direction of the post-Vatican II Church. They have never seemed to me to be in any way an improvement over what they replaced.
Hmm …
… Should Tyler Cowen Believe in God? - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Just a few comments: Cowen's remarks about the heritable aspect of religion overlooks its importance as a part of one's facticity. If one has been raised in a faith, that process has exerted a great deal of influence on who you are and should not be abandoned lightly. Regarding God and Bayes's Theory, Cowen may want to check out Stephen Unwin's The Probability of God . The best way to get to know God is to pray, to spend some quality time "alone with the alone." Whatever God may be, He is certainly not primarily the terminus ad quem of a reasoning process.
Just a few comments: Cowen's remarks about the heritable aspect of religion overlooks its importance as a part of one's facticity. If one has been raised in a faith, that process has exerted a great deal of influence on who you are and should not be abandoned lightly. Regarding God and Bayes's Theory, Cowen may want to check out Stephen Unwin's The Probability of God . The best way to get to know God is to pray, to spend some quality time "alone with the alone." Whatever God may be, He is certainly not primarily the terminus ad quem of a reasoning process.
Thursday, July 06, 2017
Hmm …
… On the Validity of NOAA, NASAand Hadley CRU Global AverageSurface Temperature Data.
The conclusive findings of this research are that the three GAST data sets are not a valid representation of reality. In fact, the magnitude of their historical data adjustments, that removed their cyclical temperature patterns, are totally inconsistent with published and credible U.S. and other temperature data. Thus, it is impossible to conclude from the three published GAST data sets that recent years have been the warmest ever –despite current claims of record setting warming.
The way we were …
… Browse a Collection of Over 83,500 Vintage Sewing Patterns | Open Culture. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Graphic poetry …
… Turning rhyme for the ears into rhythm for the eyes: It's 'Concrete Poetry' at the Getty - LA Times. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
I guess these are the descendants of emblem poems.
I guess these are the descendants of emblem poems.
Something to think on …
What part soever you take upon you, play that as well as you can and make the best of it.
— Thomas More, who died on this date in 1535.
Color me skeptical …
… The Most Anthologized Short Stories of All Time | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I do not doubt that those listed have been frequently anthologized. But "of all time"?
I do not doubt that those listed have been frequently anthologized. But "of all time"?
Wednesday, July 05, 2017
Growing menace...
...Report calls for public inquiry into Gulf funding of British extremism
The attempt by several states to influence Islamic communities and advance an illiberal – and at times anti-western – version of the Islamic religion appears to have been an intentional and systematic policy, with the level of funding allocated to this effort believed to have grown in recent years.
Out of our heads …
… Religion has no monopoly on transcendent experience | Aeon Essays. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Maybe religion doesn't have a monopoly on it, but it's hard to discuss it without reference to religion. And once you get past thinking of religion as having to do primarily with creeds and the like — it has to do primarily with how you live — a lot of problems disappear.
Maybe religion doesn't have a monopoly on it, but it's hard to discuss it without reference to religion. And once you get past thinking of religion as having to do primarily with creeds and the like — it has to do primarily with how you live — a lot of problems disappear.
In case you wondered …
… About Last Night | The purpose of panning.
If my review stopped anybody from spending several hundred dollars to hear Bette Midler sing really, really badly, then I rejoice. If, on the other hand, it caused even one of my readers to stop seeing theater, I think it’s safe to say that the reader in question didn’t much care for theater in the first place.
Clean poetry, messy life …
… Philip Larkin exhibition in Hull offers fresh insights into poet's life | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
For Farthing, the exhibition is about exploring a side of Larkin that goes against expectation. The theme throughout is pink, which was Larkin’s favourite colour, and it focuses in on the scribblings, the unpublished thoughts and scratched out writings that are never seen in his sparse, clean poems. At the end of the show, people are also invited to pen their own letter to Larkin, which will then be pinned on to the wall.
Something to think on …
Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
— Jean Cocteau, born on this date in 1889
Tuesday, July 04, 2017
Influential fellow
… Informal Inquiries: William Strunk's birthday and English Composition 101.
Post bumped.
Robertson Davies said of Strunk & White that it teaches you to build the prose equivalent of a good sound chicken coop, but that many of us want to build something more elaborate. Which is true enough, but it is also wise to make sure you can build that chicken coop before undertaking anything more elaborate. I found S&W very helpful during my college years.Somerset Maugham's The Summing Up was also helpful to me in learning how to write. John Burke, one of my English teachers in college, pointed out once that in the chapters on writing in that book Maugham not only tells you about good writing, but is also at the same demonstrating it to you. I remain an admirer of Maugham's work.
Post bumped.
Listen in …
…Episode 225 – Howard Chaykin | Virtual Memories.
“I want to be loved; I just don’t work too hard at it.”
Hard times …
… Greek Poetry in the Shadow of Austerity | The New Yorker. (Hat tip, G.E. Reutter.)
While many of the poets in “Austerity Measures” carry this activist tradition forward, one of the most striking features of the collection is its refusal to pin down what writing is and isn’t political. Van Dyck opts for a wider picture, including plenty of “work which doesn’t directly address the political situation,” thereby aiming “to provide deeper and more various answers” to questions of a poet’s responsibility in the political process. The book’s forty-nine poets are grouped into six loose areas of influence. This scheme, though inevitably imprecise, provides contours to a generation of poets who are largely unknown to English-speaking audiences.
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