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 longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a […]
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Picture source Jumping down from the high step of the dog-cart the girl completely disappeared into the silver: she had on an otter-skin toque, dark, that should have been visible. But she was gone more completely than if she had dropped into deep water, into snow–or through tissue paper. More suddenly, at least! In darkness […]
Some Do Not Illustration by Stella BowenNote: check back for updates I will probably stay close to my usual pattern of posting during the read-along for Parade’s End. With “online resources,” I try to find sites or pages that are useful in understanding a work. If anyone would like to add a resource to these […]
Red Dawn by Pío Baroja Translated by Isaac Goldberg Alfred A. Knopf, 1924, 347 pages This would be the dawn of a new day, the dawn of justice, the cry of an entire people, which for so many years had been downtrodden, martyred, exploited, reduced to the wretched plight of a beast of burden. It […]
The Art of Eating Well by Pellegrino Artusi Translated by Kyle M. Phillips III Random House In 1982 I bought a copy of Pellegrino Artusi’s La Sceinza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene, “The Science of Cookery and the Art of Eating Well,” from a used-book seller who also carried a few new books […]
While I haven’t spent much time at C-SPAN’s video library, they (thankfully) have more than political events available for viewing. Here is the link to a talk by historian William Goetzmann: Mr. Goetzmann talked about the book My Confession: Reflections of a Rogue, written by Samuel Chamberlain. He focused on the life of Chamberlain, an […]
The only thing I’ve written lately has been notes on the books I’m reading, but I haven’t felt like organizing and posting discussions. The normal blather should return soon. There’s no other purpose for this post except to enjoy the look of the books that make up Baroja’s The Struggle for Life trilogy. Posts related […]
I have enjoyed owning works from The Library of America for at least 25 years now, and I’m happy to see they are posting a Story of the Week at their website. Mark Twain’s two-part newspaper article, later released as an essay, on Queen Victoria’s Jubilee appears as this week’s story. Here is the introduction […]
There have been a couple of comments on The Good Soldier Švejk, particularly in regard to Part One: Behind the Lines. I think a large part of Hašek’s accomplishment revolves around the ambiguity on how much of a simpleton is Švejk. Is he playing the part or is he really a fool? Or is he […]
Mel u at The Reading Life and I will be reading Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford starting in April. I’ve had the Carcanet Press version sitting next to the bed for over a year and I can’t take the procrastination any more. Feel free to comment as we tackle the four books. If you […]
Weeds by Pío Baroja Translated by Isaac Goldberg Alfred A. Knopf, 1923, 344 pagesWith Weeds I will link to the online resources for The Quest since I can’t find additional information that seems relevant or helpful. Fortunately the text can be found online here. Weeds came out in 1904 shortly after The Quest was released. […]
2666 By Roberto Bolaño Translated by Natasha Wimmer Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 898 pages, $30 (hardcover) …there was something revelatory about the taste of this bookish young pharmacist, who in another life might have been Takl or who in this life might still be writing poems as desperate as those of his distant Austrian counterpart, […]
View of Tor House and Hawk Tower from Scenic Drive, Carmel, CaliforniaI really enjoyed my tour of Robinson Jeffers’ Tor House on Friday. The setting was perfect–a storm was working its way toward shore–to admire Jeffers’ handiwork and his poems. So while I’m back at work and have to clean up after someone broke into […]
My wife will attend a seminar in Monterey Friday, so I’m taking the day off to tag along for the fun of it. While I don’t have firm plans there are many things I love doing in the Big Sur / Carmel / Monterey area, of which I’m sure I’ll include these two: Robinson Jeffers’ […]
I am halfway through Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 and I’m still uncertain how I feel about it other than I’ll give it a chance to let all the pieces fit together. In the meantime, here are a couple of posts by Patti Smith on her reading of 2666, among other things. Part One Part Two
Gilead by Marilynne RobinsonFarrar, Straus & Giroux; 247 pages I woke up this morning thinking this town might as well be standing on the absolute floor of hell for all the truth there is in it, and the fault is mine as much as anyone’s. I was thinking about the things that had happened here […]
The Quest by Pío Baroja Translated by Isaac Goldberg Alfred A. Knopf, 1922, 289 pagesOnline resources for Baroja and The Quest, including links to the text, can be found here. La Corrala was a seething, feverish world in little, as busy as an anthill. There people toiled, idled, guzzled, ate and died of hunger; there […]
“In the Bag” by Eudora WeltyPicture source This month’s Transatlantica has several pieces on the Eudora Welty centennial last year. Of interest to me was Welty’s photographs, taken in the 1930’s when she worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration. Alison Goeller writes in her essay accompanying the above picture that “In […]
The Quest by Pío Baroja Translated by Isaac Goldberg (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1922)“Before [1898], in the period of adventures, Spain was led by Don Quixote. From now on, it would be directed by Sancho Panza.” – Pío Baroja I am duplicating the online resources for Baroja that I listed in The Restlessness of Shanti […]
Good Newes from New England (1624) by Edward Winslow This particular copy was owned by Thomas Prince and later John Adams Picture source I confess we have come so far short of the means to raise such returns, as with great difficulty we have preserved our lives; insomuch as when I look back upon our […]