Reading (or in this case, listening to) Mark Twain proves to be a challenging task for me. I don’t mind the multiple layers of irony and ambiguity…in fact I find that one of his most enjoyable features. There are sublime moments in his writing, such as the passage I quoted in the previous post regarding […]
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I found the audiobook version of Life on the Mississippi very enjoyable. Narrator Grover Gardner does a wonderful job of capturing the home-spun charm of Mark Twain’s fictionalized experience with the river. The book has two general storylines—Twain’s training to be a steamboat pilot and his taking a […]
While reading Joseph Roth’s The Legend of the Holy Drinker I had this song stuck in my head and it won’t go away even after I finished the novella. So I’ll share it in hopes that it will eventually go away. Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, and Loudon Wainwright III perform the old Richard & Linda […]
There is really nothing that people get used to so readily as miracles, once they have experienced them two or three times. Yes! In fact, such is human nature that people begin to feel betrayed when they don’t keep getting all those things that a chance and fleeting circumstance once bestowed on them. People are […]
From my first post on the book: Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March traces the history of the Trotta family across three generations. The grandfather, Joseph, saved Emperor Franz Joseph’s life at the Battle of Solferino, an act that helps and haunts the family across the years. The novel parallels and intertwines the connection between sons […]
Most of these orders pertained to the evacuation of villages and town and the treatment of pro-Russian Ukrainians, clerics, and spies. Hasty court-martials in villages passed hasty sentences. Secret informers delivered unverifiable reports on peasants, Orthodox priests, teachers, photographers, officials. There was no time. The army had to retreat swiftly but also punish the traitors […]
I’ve been listening to Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi during my commute and thoroughly enjoying it. Presented without comment is a section I heard this morning on the Vicksburg National Cemetery: The grounds are nobly situated; being very high and commanding a wide prospect of land and river. They are tastefully laid out in […]
Continuing some short quotes until I have time for more… The heart of The Radetzky March focuses on the relationship between fathers and sons, expanding that connection when looking at similar associations like emperor/subject or soldier/orderly. Onufrij, a peasant from the eastern border, is Carl Joseph’s orderly in pre-World War I Austria-Hungary. Onufrij’s devotion lies […]
I didn’t mean to completely disappear but August and September will be demanding beyond usual limit-pushing levels. For now I’ll post a few quotes over the next couple of days from Joseph Roth’s remarkable work. From Part Three, translation by Joachim Neugroschel (pages 247-248): Frau von Taussig stood on the platform in North Station. Twenty […]
Thanks to rogueclassicism for the following links, both of which cover some of the history of Carthage and one to Richard Miles’ Carthage Must be Destroyed. Richard Miles’ was on ABC Radio National’s program By Design discussing Carthage – and where is it now? (link is dead; broadcast not currently available). A wide ranging discussion, […]
I read two translations of The Radetzky March, The Overlook Press edition with translation by Joachim Neugroschel, which I’ve been using in my posts, and Granta Publication’s edition with translation by Michael Hofmann. I wanted to provide a few short quotes from both versions to give a flavor of their differences and similarities. Here are […]
Some flowers for my wife, even if they are from nine years ago. Happy anniversary!
A few notes and some additional quotes (all from the translation by Joachim Neugroschel). I wanted to highlight a few things before moving on to Part Three. Roth tends to overemphasize the impending destruction from World War I, as in the case of describing a visit of Russian and Austrian officers. Even with this overemphasis, […]
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the themes and motifs in Part Two develop those listed in Part One. I love Roth’s style so I’ll make liberal use of quotes again (from the translation by Joachim Neugroschel) in looking at three new characters in this section. Count Wojciech Chojnicki: “one of the richest Polish […]
Sigh…another book I want…and just pre-ordered… Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s ‘last stories’ will appear in English at last A collection of nine short stories by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, described by scholars as ranking alongside his best work, is to be published in English for the first time. In one of the publishing events of the autumn, the collection […]
I want to highlight some quotes (all quotes are from the translation by Joachim Neugroschel) from this section since the themes I outlined in the post on Part One continue in Part Two. I’ll go into detail on some of the themes and motifs of Part Two in a separate post. While the following quotes […]
Back then, before the Great War, when the incidents reported on these pages took place, it was not yet a matter of indifference whether a person lived or died. If a life was snuffed out from the host of the living, another life did not instantly replace it and make people forget the deceased. Instead, […]
Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard by Fan Shen (University of Nebraska, 294 pp.) From the University of Nebraska Press page: In 1966 twelve-year-old Fan Shen, a newly minted Red Guard, plunged happily into China’s Cultural Revolution. Disillusion soon followed, then turned to disgust and fear when Shen discovered that his compatriots had […]
“Jefferson’s Fiddle is a delightful collection of modern arrangements and readings of classical and traditional repertoire that showcase Thomas Jefferson’s extensive music library.” I expect the interest in the music on this recording to be limited but I also post this for the liner notes available. Here is the note for “Jefferson and Liberty: In […]
A quick post on a movie and a couple of non-fiction books which relies on the words of others… I only get to see a few movies at the theater each year that don’t involve talking animals or cars so it was a nice change of pace to see The Tree of Life yesterday. It’s […]