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Odysseus’ travels Muse, speak to me now of that resourceful man who wandered far and wide after ravaging the sacred citadel of Troy. He came to see many people’s cities, where he learned their customs, while on the sea his spirit suffered many torments, as he fought to save his life and lead his comrades […]
Picture source(Archimedes: The Palimpsest Project) Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal had an article on the trove of ancient manuscripts being found or salvaged using new technologies. Also, many manuscripts are being digitized and posted online. Since I can’t find the article online, I’ll pass on the links mentioned. The British Library Key works:Mozart’s thematic […]
The Duel between Onegin and Lensky (1901) by Ilya Repin the ache/toská: No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a […]
Ball at Larins by Alexei Steipanovitch Stepanov (1911)Picture source Whatever in this rough confectionyou sought – tumultuous recolleciton,a rest from the toil and all its aches,or just grammatical mistakes,a vivid brush, a witty rattle – God grant that from this little bookfor heart’s delight, or fun, you took,for dreams, or journalistic battle,God grant you took […]
… watching Greta Garbo in The Mysterious Lady… wow… ahem… OK, back to your regularly scheduled programming…
Listen to Pushkin’s poem in the original Russian: I loved you once: perhaps that love has yet To die down thoroughly within my soul; But let it not dismay you any longer; I have no wish to cause you any sorrow. I loved you wordlessly, without a hope, By shyness tortured, or by jealousy. I […]
The Middle of the Road antiques store on Highway 14 in Sprott, Ala Photo: Gary Tramontina for The New York Times Picture sourceBe careful what you allude to…you may see an article on it a couple of days later: On the Path of Walker Evans has Laura M. Holson retracing some of the Alabama trek […]
My parents kept all my books from when I was a kid, including this copy of Doctor Dolittle that one of my brothers gave me over 40 years ago. My wife and I have been reading it to the boys, and I should finish the last two chapters tonight. To say that it underwhelms me, […]
Confession–the most I have seen of Stanley Kubrick’s film Spartacus is the clip that is shown in the movie Clueless (“Christian had a thing for Tony Curtis so he brought over Some Like it Hot and Sporadicus“). So while I’m clueless on the myth, I’m also woefully ignorant on the history behind Spartacus’ uprising. After […]
I love it when many things come together unexpectedly and in ways you could never imagine. After posting on Merrill Moore and his poem “No Envy, John Carter” last week, what do I come across today? The recently released James Agee: Selected Poems (American Poets Project), within it the incomplete satire John Carter. But to make […]