Hart Crane would have turned 125 on July 21
Friday, July 26, 2024
Another poem …
… Garden Abstract by Hart Crane - Poems | Academy of American Poets. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Something to think on …
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
— Carl Jung, born on this date in 1875
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Definitely worth reading …
… especially these days — (18) Contemplating Suicide? - by William F. Vallicella..
Something to think on …
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
—=Eric Hoffer, born on this date in 1993
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Good question …
… What will remain of us if the machines take over? - Engelsberg ideas. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In case you wondered …
… The Achievement of the Irish Poets | The Russell Kirk Center. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.j
Something to think on …
Fact is not truth, but a poet who wilfully defies fact cannot achieve truth.
— Robert Graves, born on this dare in 18955
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Something to think on …
The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.
— Raymond Chandler, born on this date in 1888
Monday, July 22, 2024
Something to think on …
May faith be the torch which illuminates, animates, and sustains you.
— Margaret Maty Alocoque, born on this date in 1647
Sunday, July 21, 2024
The big screen …
… How one bad scene can ruin an otherwise great movie - The Spectator World.
My acquaintance with film goes back along way. When I was very small, my grandmother got a job at the Century Theater at Sixth and Erie. She used to take me with her. Mr. Hirsch, the owner, was very kind to me, andi I believe he let my family in for free. Then we moved away in 1949. But in college one of my friends was Dick Corliss. He was the film of the college newspaper that I was the editor of. We went to lots of movies. Those were the days of the French Nouvelle Vague. So we saw alot of Truffaut, Godard, Varda, Rohmer. Dick went onto to become the movie for Time. I once introduced introduce Umberto Eco auther of The Name of the Rose, which was made into a major film at the Philadelphia Library. We had a wonderful time taling afterwards at the bar across the street in the hotel he was staying at. Ah, those were the days.
Blogging note …
I took a bad fall last night. I lay on the floor all night. This morning I called my landlord, who came over and lifted me into bed. Don’t know how much blogging I’ll do today. More as the day proceeds i expevt.
Something to think on …
There are many people for whom 'thinking' necessarily means identifying with existing trends.
— Marshall McLuhan, born on this date in 1912
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Something to think on …
I got what I needed instead of what I wanted and that's just about the best kind of luck you can have.
— Cormac McCarthy, born on this date in 1933
Friday, July 19, 2024
Something to think on …
Above all am I convinced of the need, irrevocable and inescapable, of every human heart, for God. No matter how we try to escape, to lose ourselves in restless seeking, we cannot separate ourselves from our divine source. There is no substitute for God.
— A. j Cronin, born on this date in 1896
Thursday, July 18, 2024
RIP …
… American comedian Bob Newhart dead at 94, publicist says.
I saw his first appearance on the Jack Paar show. Tells you how old I am.
Blogging note …
I have not been feeling well these past few days. I can barely stand, let alone walk. I plan to stay inside and rest. I will blog from time to time. But blogging is not the be all and end all of my existence. May everuyone have a blessed day.
Something to think on …
A religious awakening which does not awaken the sleeper to love has roused him in vain.
— Jessamy West, born this date in 1903
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
A poem
Communion
Eat a wafer and be one with God.
How is it with harmonious points of view?
That is my humble self's triumphant ballad
Blood and roses are The Christ's tattoo.
Blood and roses are the crown of pride.
Which leads to inharmonious points of view
Most importantly I'm in everyone's heart.
Baptize my head as clean as morning dew.
And will we ever have harmonious views?
Love for all men and creatures is the key
A sea of change making God's vision true.
The ray of hope for arrant ones like me.
Come to me Love in the dead of night.
Beat off the demons then with the angels take flight
Jennifer Knox
Something to think on …
The reason men don't know the law of life is because they're afraid to look Eternity in the face.
— Erle Stanley Gardner, born on this date in 1889
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Sounds reasonable …
… Joe Biden is a huge narcissist, too - The Spectator World. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Monday, July 15, 2024
Something to think on …
We can only learn to love by loving.
— Iris Murdoc, born on this date in 1919
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Talk about dumb …
… Trump haters on social media say shooting was a hoax: 'Created by the right for sympathy and votes' | Blaze Media.
Anf the guy the Secret Service shot isn’t really dead, either?
Something to think on …
There is no art form that has so much in common with film as music. Both affect our emotions directly, not via the intellect.
—Ingmat Bergman, born on this date n 1918
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Friday, July 12, 2024
In case you wondered …
… 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Something to think on …
Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who stood their ground.
— Henry David Thoreau, born on this date in 1817
Thursday, July 11, 2024
I can’t figure this out …
I keep seeing all these commentaries about something actor George Clooney wrote about President Biden. Now I’ve never been a fan of Biden. But why am I supposed to care about what some actor thinks about him. In fact, I don’t care.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
The journey of solitude …
By the time I was 11 years old, my mother, my grandmother, and my brother were all working. I made my own breakfast and lunch and took care of myself. I’ve been pretty much a loner all my life. Now that Debbie is in hospice I’m a loner again. I’m OK with that. And if I don’t wake up tomorrow I’m OK with that too. It’s all up to God.
It’s never “settled” …
Regrettably, many—especially members of the legacy media—have forgotten or chosen to ignore key principles of the scientific method.
Vignette No. 2
He is eighty-two. And lately wonders how he became who it is he happens to be. It occurs to him how that’s just the sort of thing one of his all-time favorite writers did. That would be Michel de Montaigne, the father of the essay. Now plenty of autobiographical discourses had been written before Montaigne wrote his essays. What makes his essays so different is their focus. They amount to a phenomenology of himself. There’s nothing especially egotistical about it. He simply records his observations of himself as if he were watching pears ripen on a window sill.
To observe oneself in so detached a way really was original. The old man hopes he can pull it off.
Something to think on …
Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.
— Marcel Proust, born on this date in 1871
Tuesday, July 09, 2024
Vignette No. 1
The old man notices how he sees things now as snapshots. Life has turned into paging through the photo album of his being. He thinks it may be worthwhile — surely for himself — to take notes. Whether these will be of interest to anyone else — hard to say.
Just so you know …
… 10 most walkable cities for tourists in the United States. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
I used to walk all over this. Now that I need a walker I only do short ones. The city is also as safe these days.
A classic reissued …
… Brave Companions: Portraits in History. (Hat tip, Tim Davis)
I once had the privilege of having a long lunch with David McCullough. A very nice man.
Something to think on …
Never, in these United States, has the brain of man conceived, or the hand of man fashioned, so perfect a thing as a clipper ship.
— Samuel Eliot Morison, born on this date in 1887
Monday, July 08, 2024
Well worth pondering …
… Anti-Semitism is a real problem — but the Antisemitism Awareness Act is unconstitutional.
I’m just an old guy who remembers WWII and Auschwitz who never expected anti-Semitism to become so public again. And I’m a Catholic.
Something to think on …
There can be neither beauty, nor trust, nor security between a man and a woman if there is not truth.
— Grace Metalius, born on this date in 1924
Sunday, July 07, 2024
Hmm …
No man who has managed to keep out of an office can be called a failure in life.
— Richard Aldington
Something to think on …
If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence, it would have been worthwhile.
— Samuel Eliot Morrisn, born on this date in 1887
Hmm …
… No Safe Place | An Official Journal Of The NRA.
Back in the day when my walking stick was a fashion statement, not a utility, a guy came walking toward me opening a switchblade. I positioned my stick in somewhat odd way and I said to him — yes, I know, I was swiping a famous line — “Go ahead, make my day.” He figured out that I was prepared to take out one of his eyeballs. He folded up the knife and walked away. That the advantage of starting life among factory workers in north Philly and being street smart and street tough. Which reminds me these days to avoid much of this city most of the time.
Something to think on …
Never assume that people in positions of responsibility are behaving responsibly.
— David McCullough, born on this date in 1933
Saturday, July 06, 2024
Something to think on …
Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck
— Guy de Maupassant, who died on this date in 1893
Friday, July 05, 2024
Something to think on …
An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.
— Jean Cocteau, born on this date in 1889
Thursday, July 04, 2024
F. Scott Fitzgerald
It's not often that you willingly -- proactively -- read an unfinished novel. And it's probably less often, still, that you enjoy the experience. But having set a goal to read all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's major novels, The Last Tycoon was on my list (it was the last of his novels on the list). I recently read the book, and I must say, despite is unfinished status, the experience was a rewarding one.
Tycoon is not a perfect novel: in my reading, the book lacks the glitter of Gatsby and the thoroughness of Tender is the Night. There is, perhaps, too much dialogue in Tycoon and not enough context, not enough character arc. But then, the pleasure of reading the novel outweighed all of this. Fitzgerald was a stylist of the first order, and while his writing had a certain flourish, it was never overdone. Tycoon has that charm, that style, especially the sections where histories overlap.
Tycoon is unfinished and the sense at the end is of a work wanting more. But that's understood when you start the novel: that's the deal you make. Given that Fitzgerald died days after completing the latest chapter, there's a certain poignancy to the whole thing: it's as if you're reading the story not only of Hollywood and its personalities, but of Fitzgerald's final moments. There are not many novels which serve this dual function.
Something to think on …
It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.
— Lionel Trilling, born on this date in 1906
Wednesday, July 03, 2024
Something to think on …
Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God.
— Tom Stoppard, born on this date in1936
Tuesday, July 02, 2024
This is terrible …
… Lesbian couple beaten up by gang in homophobic attack during birthday night out | World News | Metro News.
I’m terminally straight myself — several young woman have a crush on me —but my friend Katherine shared power for for a gay couple, who were dear friends. People are as thry are. Leave them alone.
Great woman, great novel …
… ‘Helena’: Meet the remarkable woman who found the True Cross. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Somehing to think on …
Art is the contemplation of the world in a state of grace.
— Hermann Hesse, born on this date in 1877
Monday, July 01, 2024
Blogging note …
I got off to a late start, and i must now go out for my daily walk. Blogging will resume later.
Something to think on …
There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.
— George Sand, born on tis date in 180&
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Something to think on …
It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism
— Czeslaw Milosz, born on this date in 1911
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Something to think on …
True love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born on this date in 1900
RIP …
… Frederick Crews Obituary (1933 - 2024) - Berkeley, CA - San Francisco Chronicle. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Friday, June 28, 2024
Something to think on …
Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can generate....It supplies us with a flow of sustaining power in our daily lives.
— Alexis Carrel, born on this dare in 1873
Worth pondering …
… Many Older Adults Are Still Taking Daily Aspirin Despite Recent Warnings Not To, Study Finds | The Epoch Times.
My cardiologist advised me to continue taking it.
In case you wondered …
… How Solzhenitsyn Found Himself—and God. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Soviet conditions, Solzhenitsyn came to understand, followed directly from materialism and atheism. If people are nothing but material objects, if there is nothing resembling what we call the soul, then concepts like “the sacredness of human life,” “human dignity” and “the inviolability of the person” are merely bourgeois mystification.
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Something to think on …
A great many things which in times of lesser knowledge we imagined to be superstitious or useless, prove today on examination to have been of immense value to mankind.
— Lafcadio Hearn, born on this date in 1850
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Before he became Catholic …
…Bicentenary of first sermon by one of the greatest preachers in modern times: St John Henry Newman - Catholic Herald. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Someone everyone should study. The Church is in a bad way these days.wish he we were here.
There’s a simpler explanation …
…De Niro, Charlamagne Highlight Trump Derangement Syndrome.
These are people who enjoy celebrity, but have no more political expertise than the average citizen. I don’t care what they think and wish they would keep their opinions to themselves.
Something to think on …
To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.
— Pearl S. Buck — born on this in 1892
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Something to think on …
There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language
— George Orwell, born on this date in 1994
Monday, June 24, 2024
Rough language …
… Eloquent Contentiousness: On “Farnsworth’s Classical English Argument” (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Are they nuts?
… DHS Doc: Trump Supporters, Military, Religious People Most Likely Terrorists.
The military? Religious people?
Something to think on …
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
— Henry Ward Beecher, born on this date in 1813
Listen in …
… René Girard, Mimesis, and Conflict (with Cynthia Haven) - Econlib. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In case you wondered …
… The 20 Greatest English-language Poets of All Time and Why. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.(
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Something to think on …
Beauty is one of the rare things that do not lead to doubt of God.
— Jean Anouilh, born on this date in 1910
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Something to think on …
Never do anything complicated when something simple will serve as well. It's one of the most important secrets of living.
— Erich Maria Remarque, born on this date in 1898
Friday, June 21, 2024
Claire Keegan
Because I'd recently read Kairos, winner of this year's International Booker Prize, the Internet suggested that I read the work another acclaimed contemporary European author, Claire Keegan. And so I obliged: this time having picked up Small Things Like These.
Let me start by saying that this novel is more of a novella, and that it's been very well received. In many ways, this praise is deserved: I agree that the book is spare, but exacting; it's beautiful without being precious. Every word is measured, and the result, if this is the sort of literary style you enjoy, is a novella that is almost perfectly constructed. Everything that needs to be said is included, and what's not made explicit lurks just below the surface.
But then, Small Things Like These felt to me like an unfinished work: just at the moment of conflict, the novel ends, leaving us to wonder what comes next. And to a certain extent, this can be envisaged. It's just that it would be have been satisfying if the plot had continued, and if the characters had been compelled to confront this conflict. As I say, they are not, and the result is a convincing ascent toward tension -- but one which ends without resolution. (To argue that the remainder can be left unspoken is not fully convincing to me.)
I won't be negative, though, because Keegan does pack a serious punch: this is a novella which functions on a number of levels: political, religious, cultural. There's identity and gender there, too. Ultimately, this is a book about Ireland: its history, its unspoken trauma. It is a book which can be read in a single sitting -- which is a relief of sorts because there is a lot here to unpack and process.
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