Tuesday, October 17, 2006
I was shocked ...
... to learn that Gwen is now 100, since I have known her since she was about 9. I have also suggested she post more pictures: Gwendolyn At Sea. Debbie and I have visited Bustins Island. It is a lovely place.
Monday, October 16, 2006
I missed this yesterday ...
... Sonnet Sunday: "And So It Goes"
Here's Rob Mackenzie's characteristically fine contribution: Gardener.
Here's Rob Mackenzie's characteristically fine contribution: Gardener.
I have one ...
... but I don't think I'm ready to fight over it: Battle of the Beards. (Hat tip, Maxine Clarke.)
United Kingdom of blogs ...
... UK mass blogging day tomorrow. Debbie and I will be on our way to the mountains by then.
Nobel thoughts ...
... from Kelly Jane Torrance: Not even Nobel escapes politics. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I like this from Jessa Crispin: "I'm really bored with the older, white man who has erection problems. I'm really tired of that book." Me too.
To which I might add that, when asked about great American novelists, people tend to cite Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, etc. Not to take anything away from them, but Willa Cather is easily their equal.
Turkish dissent ...
... from Melik Kaylan regarding Orhan Pamuk's 'Reality.' This is probably available only to subscribers, but two points are worth citing. This:
I have read Mr. Pamuk's novels in both English and Turkish and I couldn't tell you now, or even while reading, what happens in most of them. Mine is scarcely a unique reaction. Maureen Freely, one of his translators, cheerfully avowed in a recent interview that you need a good memory to follow the plot of "The Black Book." Or did she mean "My Name Is Red," in which a coin, a tree, a dog and a dead man (among others) internarrate an impenetrable mystery over hundreds of pages? She could equally have meant "The White Castle" -- Kafka, anyone? -- where the Sultan's chief engineer tries, with Sisyphean longueurs, to relocate a giant cannon up a hill for an entire book. I believe that's what happens. You're not really supposed to know. You are only the reader. The text refers to itself and to other texts; we are merely eavesdroppers.
And this:
... Orhan Pamuk writes in Turkish for foreign plaudits. He hasn't taught anyone anything they didn't already know, but he has made precisely the right noises that the "progressive" arbiters of taste in Europe like to hear. And it flatters their own semi-informed sense of activism to reward him for it.
The downside of prizes ...
... Do awards like the Man Booker trivialise literature? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The fact is, there is no necessary relation between such prizes and the literary merit of the works honored. The prize is arrived at by a consensus among experts - and readers of this blog know that I am skeptical of experts. Reliance on them is a reliance on authority - which has its uses, but is not without its perils. If you go to the Phillips Collection in Washington, the original collection, gathered by Duncan Phillips and on display in the main part of the museum (which was his home), is uniquely impressive, a true collector's collection. Among the more interesting items are some abstract landscapes by Augustus Tack. Once you get to the new wing and the works chosen by curators - in other words, works the current experts approve of - the drop off in quality is palpable. There is no character to what is on display there. That part of the collection does not cohere. It's committee work. Luckily for Augustus Tack, Duncan Phillips had a sharper eye and better taste than any committee. At left, is an untitled work by Tack.
Reality vs. fiction ...
... Oates story draws ire from TCNJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I hadn't known of the story or the controversy until a colleague - who lives in Lawrenceville - told me about it. To put it mildly, he was not amused. What do I think? Well, obviously, if it's in the news, it's in the public domain. And this particular incident is the sort one would find in a Joyce Carol Oates story. She is probably right that if it had appeared in some obscure journal it would have passed unnoticed. But presumably it was she who submitted it to the New Yorker and she certainly knew it was going to appear there. I think it is a perfect example of just how ruthless artists can be.
"Guerrilla" project ...
... the other day I posted this: Hey, kids ... I'm linking to it now because Pat Hughes has appended a comment that is very much worth reading. I also wanted to link to this at her Web site. This is the sort of thing I think we are going to see much more of in the future, another way in which the Internet is changing our world - in this instance, schools and teaching.
Eleven-day parenthesis ...
... Christie's most famous mystery solved at last . (Hat tip, Vikram Johri.)
Sunday, October 15, 2006
More on censorship ...
... as a dubious form of argument: The chilling effect on free speech and Cease All Movement. Nothing proves your own lack of faith in your position than an attempt to silence by force those opposed to your position.
It's about time ...
... that there's an Yvor Winters Web Site. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Update: There is more to this than met my eye at first: A Year with Yvor Winters and Yvor Winters.
Update: There is more to this than met my eye at first: A Year with Yvor Winters and Yvor Winters.
Bryan Appleyard has it ...
... just about right, I think: A novel use of technology. (God, he's a good writer.)
Update: Here's Bryan's post about this on his blog: Pods, Blogs and Books .
Update: Here's Bryan's post about this on his blog: Pods, Blogs and Books .
Given the recent murder ...
... of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, this is most timely: What time is it in Russia?
An unreclusive Pynchon ...
... his son, apparently: Pynchon's Son Big Man on Campus. (Hat tip, Drew Kerr.)
Today's must read ...
... is this post of Maxine's at Petrona: Mass creativity on the web.
Maxine's on a roll, actually. Check out Inscription No-Nos and Red Leaves in the Rainforest and MySpace is Ok on one score.
Maxine's on a roll, actually. Check out Inscription No-Nos and Red Leaves in the Rainforest and MySpace is Ok on one score.
Let's get back ...
... to the subject of literary innovation: Like modern poetry? Take a look back. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
Maxine is very disappointed in the new Elizabeth George novel: New Elizabeth George an odd prequel.
But I was very impressed by Edna O'Brien's latest: Mother's dying, daughter's not living.
Speaking of Edna O'Brien, John Freeman chats with her about her new book: New novel is 'imaginary' life, not autobiography, O'Brien says.
Inquirer music critic Dan De Luca thinks Griel Marcus may be a bit over the top:
Listening, broadly, deeply, for the real America.
Katie Haegele looks at a book on writing for young people: Young Adult Reader Young storytellers: Have fun and save every word you write.
Last week, John Freeman also chatted with Man Booker winner Kiran Desai: Globalization and its discontents.
But I was very impressed by Edna O'Brien's latest: Mother's dying, daughter's not living.
Speaking of Edna O'Brien, John Freeman chats with her about her new book: New novel is 'imaginary' life, not autobiography, O'Brien says.
Inquirer music critic Dan De Luca thinks Griel Marcus may be a bit over the top:
Listening, broadly, deeply, for the real America.
Katie Haegele looks at a book on writing for young people: Young Adult Reader Young storytellers: Have fun and save every word you write.
Last week, John Freeman also chatted with Man Booker winner Kiran Desai: Globalization and its discontents.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Pepys is in trouble ...
... Pepys’s abuse - it probably went on for years. I don't know what to say.
My colleague ...
... David Hiltbrand's column today is more than just (as usual) funny: Dave on Demand The hits don't keep coming.
There isn't anything exceptional about critics raving over shows that don't attract an audience. What is noteworthy, I think, is that newspapers continue to assume that their readers are as interested in TV as the people who run newspapers are. TV isn't the draw it was 20 or 30 years ago. People have others things to do. And the people who are in planted in front of the tube all day probably don't read the paper. The news business just hasn't caught on to any of this.
There isn't anything exceptional about critics raving over shows that don't attract an audience. What is noteworthy, I think, is that newspapers continue to assume that their readers are as interested in TV as the people who run newspapers are. TV isn't the draw it was 20 or 30 years ago. People have others things to do. And the people who are in planted in front of the tube all day probably don't read the paper. The news business just hasn't caught on to any of this.
Richard Holmes thinks very well ...
... of Claire Tomalin's biography of Thomas Hardy: At home in his socks.
Holmes knowa what he's talking about. He's one of the best biographers around, His biography of Coleridge is outstanding.
Holmes knowa what he's talking about. He's one of the best biographers around, His biography of Coleridge is outstanding.
Dave Lull sends along ...
... Bill Kauffman, An Introduction. I am not a fan myself, but that is neither here nor there. I would link to my review of Look Homeward, America if I could.
Update: I couldn't find it online, but the intrepid Dave Lull could. So here is the forementioned review: Alternative history's big helping of scorn. A word of caution: This is my account of how the book struck me. Obviously, it has struck others differently. Who's right? Who knows?
Update: I couldn't find it online, but the intrepid Dave Lull could. So here is the forementioned review: Alternative history's big helping of scorn. A word of caution: This is my account of how the book struck me. Obviously, it has struck others differently. Who's right? Who knows?
Friday, October 13, 2006
It's late of a Friday night ...
... and I still have reading to do. So that's it for blogging. It has been sporadic these last few days because I have had a lot to do in order to be able to take for the mountains next week. I also had some social obligations. We'll try to be a little more regular over the weekend.
The IBPC Competition's
... October winners have been posted. (hat tip, Rus Bowden.) Congratulations all.
Hey, kids ...
... and teachers ... and parents ... and others, take a look at The Guerrilla Season Book Blog .
(More full disclosure: Author Pat Hughes is a former colleague of mine. No need to hold that against her, though.)
(More full disclosure: Author Pat Hughes is a former colleague of mine. No need to hold that against her, though.)
Lots of good stuff as usual ...
... at Books, Words, and Wriiting: Great Site For Fans of Romance Novels, Using White Space In Literary Non-Fiction, Miniature Books, and Comic Books And Literacy.
Funny, I read a lot of comic books when I was a kid, but I can't get into them anymore at all. Don't know why - except that I'm not a kid anyomore, only that doesn't seem to explain it.
Funny, I read a lot of comic books when I was a kid, but I can't get into them anymore at all. Don't know why - except that I'm not a kid anyomore, only that doesn't seem to explain it.
How brilliant is this?
... I could count the ways, but why bother? I will just refer you to Bryan Appleyard's On Politics 1, On Politics 2, On Politics 3, and On Politics 4.
Let me note this, though: "(This is On Politics 1 because it is potentially very long and I don't like the look of long posts.)" The sound instinct of a born blogger.
And this: "The old politics survives in the form of purely tribal badges. That is what all the name-calling and abuse is about and it is why blogs have become so politically active. They naturally lend themselves to this kind of tribal warfare, though not necessarily. There are blogs of political ideas, though they seem to be more common in the US." (There are plenty of the other kind in the US, too. The old divisions between left and right have become meaningless. The new left and the old right have found common ground in their mutual dislike of Israel, the so-called neo-cons are revised and edited Wilsonians - Woodrow, not me. )
Let me note this, though: "(This is On Politics 1 because it is potentially very long and I don't like the look of long posts.)" The sound instinct of a born blogger.
And this: "The old politics survives in the form of purely tribal badges. That is what all the name-calling and abuse is about and it is why blogs have become so politically active. They naturally lend themselves to this kind of tribal warfare, though not necessarily. There are blogs of political ideas, though they seem to be more common in the US." (There are plenty of the other kind in the US, too. The old divisions between left and right have become meaningless. The new left and the old right have found common ground in their mutual dislike of Israel, the so-called neo-cons are revised and edited Wilsonians - Woodrow, not me. )
On this date ...
... in 1890, Conrad Richter was born in Pine Grove, Pa. Pine Grove is about a 20-minute drive from Pottsville, where John O'Hara was born. Both won the National Book Award (Richter also won the Pulitzer). About an hour south is Shillington, where John Updike - who has won both the Pulitzer and the NBA twice - was born and raised. And Shillington is right outside Reading, which is where Wallace Stevens hailed from. Can't be many places in this country that have that kind of literary record.
More on Arthur Rackham ...
... at ARType. (Hat tip, Art Durkee, who notes you should click on "Rackham" on the navigation bar to the left.)
Maxine's "10" ...
... Ten favourite detective authors (and much else besides). In the meantime, the GOB has taken note of this little contretemps in his Thursday digest (which has a wealth of good stuff), but doen't join in the fray. (I suppose full disclosure is on order: Both David Montgomery and Maxine Clarke review for The Inquirer.)
Thursday, October 12, 2006
This is a great idea ...
... tracking down books with wonderful illustrations: Arthur Rackham. (Hat tip, Maxine Clarke, who also notes that this is neat blog.)
What a liberal idea this is ...
... Nuremberg-style Trials Proposed for Global Warming Skeptics.
Persecution is among the weaker forms of argument.
Persecution is among the weaker forms of argument.
We're back ...
... Blogger was acting - actually, not acting at all. By now, you surely know that Orhan Pauk has won the 2006 Nobel Prize for literature: Orhan Pamuk's rise to stardom proceeded on different tracks abroad and at home.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Maxine has some holiday suggestions ...
... Book blog on blog books.
I like this: " ... it would be a fantastic Christmas/seasonal present for any husbands, wives, lovers, friends, etc who wonder why they never see you any more since you started your blog."
Yes, I should get one for Debbie.
I like this: " ... it would be a fantastic Christmas/seasonal present for any husbands, wives, lovers, friends, etc who wonder why they never see you any more since you started your blog."
Yes, I should get one for Debbie.
Since I am an editor ...
... I am naturally inclined to speak well of editors. Still, I wonder if this doesn't complicate things more than is necessary: The Editorial Function. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Since I also write a column, I also get edited. I was edited today by my current editor, Charlie Peitz, The Inquirer's fine arts editor. He definitely improved my review of Edna O'Brien's The Light of Evening. Just little nips and tucks here and there, but crucial.
Since I also write a column, I also get edited. I was edited today by my current editor, Charlie Peitz, The Inquirer's fine arts editor. He definitely improved my review of Edna O'Brien's The Light of Evening. Just little nips and tucks here and there, but crucial.
Blogging pretty much ceased ...
... this afternoon because the response time on my computer at work became prohibitively slow. I just got home and hope to do some blogging before settling down to read - I have a lot of reading to do for a forthcoming article.
The future has arrived ...
... in Philadelphia and it doesn't look good for books: At Philly 'Future' School, Books Are So 20th Century. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Laughs of a master ...
... Patrick Kurp gathers some gems of Peter De Vries: "Hilarious Frustration."
And the winner ...
...at the Quill Book Awards is Tyler Perry: ‘Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings’ Takes Book of the Year. (Hat tip, Bonnie Calhoun.)
The rest of The Quill Book Awards. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The rest of The Quill Book Awards. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
We'll always have ...
... the Paris Review, apparently: After Plimpton, Onward & Upward. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Speaking of prizes ...
... John Freeman wonders: Do Book Prizes Keep Books in Print? (Hat tip, Maxine Clarke. Where would I be on a day like this if friends like Maxine and Dave and Bud din't alert me to what's out there? Thanks all.)
I can't say I know much ...
... about alternative prose - or feminist sf, for that matter -- but this seems interesting: interview : l. timmel duchamp : part one. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Blogging has been light ....
... because I have been toiling over a review of Edna O'Brien's The Light of Evening. It is a very good book. Probably should have won the Booker.
And the winner is ...
... Kiran Desai: Youngest ever woman wins Man Booker Prize at age of 35 . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thoughts on best novels ...
... I cannot tell you when I have been more pleased... (Hat tip, Maxine Clarke.)
Bryan Appleyard has second thoughts ...
... about irony: Universal Disdain and Poured Scorn. I must say I love this: Paris Hilton is "the empty carrier for the entire culture of pallid, inattentive distraction."
What interests me about celebrity culture is that it doesn't really involve people, except peripherally. It is images - on a screen or magazine cover - that provide what little substance it has. A jaw-droppingly shallow form of idolotry.
What interests me about celebrity culture is that it doesn't really involve people, except peripherally. It is images - on a screen or magazine cover - that provide what little substance it has. A jaw-droppingly shallow form of idolotry.
As Gauguin put it ...
... Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
In the spirit of those queries, take some time to Share your favourite poems on identity. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
In the spirit of those queries, take some time to Share your favourite poems on identity. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
We progress, we progress ...
... as Genevieve (who no one besides me probably remembers) used to say: Victory for the Riyadh girls. (Hat tip, Vikram Johri.)
Monday, October 09, 2006
Not too hot, not too cold ...
... just right: Goldilocks and the riddle of the perfect universe. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
One of the things that strikes me about this is the extraordinarily unsophisticated notion of God - "... a miracle-working cosmic magician meddling with events” - and religion that seems to obtain among many scientists. Now it's true that many people of faith also subscribe to rather unsophisticated notions of God. But not all of us do, and it would behoove scientists to look into some of the more nuanced views of deity before dismissing all of them out of hand. As I have pointed out a number of times, I'm sure I don't believe in the same God Richard Dawkins doesn't believe in.
There's so much good stuff ...
... over at the GOB, it's best to just go there and keep scrolling - and the Kathy O'Beirne update is a must-read.
Another Anthony Burgess fan ...
...Edward Champion writes of Burgess Hunting. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I notice that Ed calls Earthly Powers "Burgess's masterpiece." I quite agree.
I notice that Ed calls Earthly Powers "Burgess's masterpiece." I quite agree.
Fool's gold
... The tarnished truth beneath Hollywood's golden age glitter . (Hat tip, Vikram Johri.)
The morals may have been the same as today, but the movies were better.
The morals may have been the same as today, but the movies were better.
The art of lives ...
... Terry Teachout on biography: Beyond the pigeonhole. See also, though, this Almanac entry.
The biographies that annoy me are those in which the author has decided to simply catalog the research. A good biography demands that the author make hard choices in order to arrive at a clear and distinct portrait of the subject. This involves a selection and arrangement of salient details - and, as Terry says, it means to show and not merely tell.
The biographies that annoy me are those in which the author has decided to simply catalog the research. A good biography demands that the author make hard choices in order to arrive at a clear and distinct portrait of the subject. This involves a selection and arrangement of salient details - and, as Terry says, it means to show and not merely tell.
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