Torturing Machiavelli again Of the few biographies I’ve read in the past decade, Niccolo’s Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli is one of my favorites. However, the above article at The New Yorker provides a lot on his life and a relatively balanced picture of Machiavelli before the predictable ending. Mrs. Woolf and the Servants Mrs. Woolf […]
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“Why do we want to spend a year of our lives making this film?” ” ’cause it’s funny.” “Is that all?” “Is that not enough?” Sterne would have undoubtedly said “Yes” as that exchange captures the spirit of his book. The reviews at IMDB and at Amazon.com are mixed, but I think that is the […]
Pages from Volume VI, Chapter 40 Picture sourceIf I should speak too jocosely, this bit of liberty you will indulgently grant me – Horace If anyone should censure [me] as too light for a proper churchman or too biting for a decent Christian, it is not I but Democritus who speaks (Latin) – Erasmus — […]
A melancholy man of letters Do we really need another biography of Samuel Johnson? Peter Martin and his publisher’s evidently think so, with the recent release of Samuel Johnson: A Biography Mr. Martin makes much of Johnson’s acute melancholy—but then so did Johnson, who claimed that he led “a life radically wretched.” It is an […]
Frontispiece of Volume III Designed by William Hogarth, engraved by Simon François Ravenet (the elder) Picture sourceI do not fear the opinions of the ignorant mob, but I ask that they spare my little book, in which I always proposed to pass from the mirthful to the serious, and from the serious to the mirthful […]
Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries Posted over a year ago but I just discovered it this week. I’m still working my way through all the pictures of these gorgeous libraries (and will have to pace myself to work through the site). How to explain […]
Frontispiece and title page from Volume 1 (7th edition) “Trim’s reading the Sermon to my Father” Picture sourceMen are tormented with the Opinions they have of Things, and not by the Things themselves. — epigraph to Volumes I and II (from the Stoic Epicetus as translated by Montaigne) It has taken me a while to […]
Picture sourceI think I’ll go with the shortened name of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. The long title is the reader’s first clue that nothing in the novel will be to the point. Here are some links on the work and the author: Laurence Sterne Wikipedia’s entry on the author The Shandean […]
Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven Picture source He has seen everything, had experienced all emotions, from exaltation to despair, had been granted a vision into the great mystery, the secret places, the primeval days before the Flood. He had journeyed to the edge of the world and made his way back, exhausted but whole. […]
I waffled on whether or not to have a separate post on Gilgamesh: A Novel by Joan London and finally decided to do so. I happened to stumble across this book at my local library when I was checking out the epic and thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately I never really connected […]