I realize things have been rather quiet here the past couple of months, but I’ve got a nice backlog of posts ready to write. Time will be freeing up soon to do so. One reason things have been quiet is that I was helping my wife with her book proposal, which I’m happy to announce, […]
Regular posting will resume soon, but I wanted to provide a link to this wonderful resource, covering plenty of children’s books, that any parent can use (whether you’re homeschooling or not): LitWits Workshops Pinterest boards. I’ve posted before on how much my oldest boy likes their workshops, and we are taking advantage of the many […]
California Bookstore Day, May 3, 2014 Hopefully there’s a store near you… California Bookstore Day is a statewide party on May 3, 2014 as big and varied as the state itself. It’s more than 90 stores in more than 80 zip codes putting their bells on and throwing out the welcome mat. Think Record Store […]
I have not had a chance to listen to this yet but wanted to pass on this information because of the time limit… On Sunday BBC Radio 3 aired a production of Antony and Cleopatra and has it available this week for listening. Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston are in the title roles, directed by […]
I rarely have many new books in my ‘to be read’ stack so I had to commemorate this occasion. You’ll be seeing these titles over the next several weeks, here and elsewhere. The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenström, translated by J. M. Coetzee (Archipelago Books) Harlequin’s Millions by Bohumil Hrabal, translated by […]
In a unique series of six films, Shakespeare Uncovered combines history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passions of its celebrated hosts — Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Trevor Nunn, Joely Richardson, and David Tennant — to tell the stories behind the stories of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Produced by Blakeway Productions, 116 […]
I stumbled across this film on Netflix’s instant viewing and decided to watch it since I was familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, although it’s been quite a while since I’ve read it. I not sure why I wasn’t expecting much, especially since I thought it would be a solid cast, but I think I […]
Pardon the interruption…my wife’s book proposal was close to the deadline so that has been about our only focus for the past week. I have had to continually deal with my arch-nemisis ‘that/which’ too many times for me to care right now. Anyway, back to reading books. My oldest son went to a LitWits Workshop […]
The cover of the first edition of Prae (1934) Continuing on with articles from the current Hyperion issue (mentioned here, there is a lengthy excerpt of the third chapter of Contra Mundum Press’ upcoming release of Miklós Szentkuthy’s Prae, translated by Tim Willkinson. In a post last fall I highlighted another Hyperion article by Filip […]
Cover of Hyperion Volume VIII, No. 1 (spring 2014)Contra Mundum Press’ online magazine, Hyperion, has a new issue available! I’ll post on a few of the articles over the next week. The first article I want to mention is three short pieces by Robert Musil, all translated by Genese Grill. The first piece is “The […]
Yeah!!! Thanks to Mookse for the heads up on the upcoming Margaret Jull Costa translation of Galdós’ Tristana (see his picture for more details). I have several posts on the novel and one on the movie…see the summary post for a starting point. It’s a troubling novel, full of the usual ambiguity and irony of […]
André Prah and some of his artwork from “The Ice Horses of Ladoga” A couple of things related to Curzio Malaparte’s chapter in Kaputt related to the ice horses of Ladoga… André Prah “started to make his own visual representation of the tragedy. In wood from the shores of the Baltic Sea.” The quote is […]
Continuing with discussion of Angel Guerra by Benito Pérez Galdós, done mostly through footnotes so far. I’ll continue the trend in this post, but first a note about the story… In the previous post on the book I ended with the death of Angel’s daughter, Ción. By the end of Part One of the novel […]
I’m happy to pass along the following information from Reading Odyssey, Inc: Herodotus Salon – With Professors Paul Cartledge and James Romm Wednesday, May 14 7pm (New York time) via toll-free conference call. Reading Odyssey is proud to host a conversation with two top classicists discussing two new translations of the wonderful Herodotus. We will […]
I’ve posted before on the LitWits Workshops my oldest son has attended and it looks like I’ll do so again. We read Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell and he attended the workshop on it. For anyone not familiar with the story it’s a Robinson Crusoe-like tale based on the Lone Woman of […]
I seem to be reviewing the translation of Angel Guerra through footnotes, and the strange thing is I’m completely fine with that. Previous entries include Benito Pérez Galdós and his mother Hitting the jackpot on cross-references in Galdós novels More fun with footnotes in Angel Guerra, naturally I’ve said very little about the story so […]
Trans-Atlantyk by Witold Gombrowicz An Alternate Translation by Danuta Borchardt Yale University Press ISBN 978-0-300-17530-1The need for a new English translation of this novel has been well documented, but I’ll point to Michael Orthofer’s post at ‘the complete review’ for how bad the previous effort was regarded. So is this translation a success? I’m not […]
Trans-Atlantyk by Witold Gombrowicz An Alternate Translation by Danuta Borchardt Yale University Press ISBN 978-0-300-17530-1I haven’t read much lately and obviously have posted even less, so I’ll try and correct that with a few posts on the recent translation of Trans-Atlantyk of Witold Gombrowicz. This post will look at some comments about the book by […]
So I’ve signed up for another MOOC since I enjoyed the one on Hamlet so much. (More on that later.) So this one is titled Shakespeare and His World and is led by Professor Jonathan Bate, in conjunction with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. From the course description: Each week, Professor Bate will examine a particular […]
There’s a footnote on page 95 of Angel Guerra (Pérez, Galdós Benito. A Translation of “Angel Guerra” by Benito Pérez Galdós. Lewiston (N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 1990.), translated by Karen O. Austin, where Angel signals he is supporting his seven-year-old daughter’s anarchy instead of imposing order, as the governess has requested. Angel’s phrase, translated, is Let […]