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Voyage to Kazohinia by Sándor Szathmári Translated from the Hungarian by Inez Kemenes North Adams, Massachusetts: New Europe Books, 2012, paperback.How to review a novel I greatly admired but didn’t necessarily click with? Instead of avoiding any write-up, as I did with Job by Joseph Roth, I’ll attempt to lay out both why I admired […]
1973 Moscow subway map Picture source: Old Russian Tram Maps Trevor at The Mookse and the Gripes posted on the short story by Leonid Tsypkin: “The Last Few Kilometers” in the September 17, 2012 edition of The New Yorker. Since I enjoyed Summer in Baden-Baden so much, I stopped by the library this weekend and […]
Three used books and one used bottle of wine (magnum). Expect more on the Alas and Galdós soon. The Chave, sadly, did not survive the evening. Coincidentally, this copy of His Only Son‘s round-about journey to my library started at the Auburn University at Montgomery library. It may have been on their shelves while I was […]
Ramon Casas “La Madeleine” (1892) I’m finally getting around to formally announcing the October read-along of Fortunata and Jacinta by Benito Pérez Galdós. Never having officially hosted a read-along, bear with me as I stumble my way through it. I’ll try and adhere to a schedule, at least loosely: Week of October 8—Volume 1 Week […]
If I find articles that relate to older material here I’ll add an update to the original post. I’m not good about letting anyone know about the updates so I’ll take this opportunity to note a few from the past few months. Parade’s End on BBC Two Update (12 Sep 2012): Parade’s End, the BBC […]
The Spendthrifts by Benito Pérez Galdós Translation by Gamel Woolsey; illustrations by Charles Mozley; introduction by Gerald Brenan Farrar Straus & Young Inc.: New York, 1952.My previous posts on The Spendthrifts: One: a Spain that does not understand anything except eating and digesting Two: The ceremony? It was nothing. Three: Me-ow! Torquemada! Krausism! My introduction […]
Sorry for the tabloid-style heading, but this post will be a jumble of things that turned up in the book that I enjoyed and wanted to share. So far Galdós’ novel has shown him at his cattiest of the few books I’ve read by him, as the posts so far have demonstrated some good examples. […]
In Chapter 7 of The Spendthrifts, Galdós highlights some part of the farcical nature of Queen Isabella II’s court by detailing the Maundy Thursday ceremony held in the palace. Two dozen members of the lowest class (after being scrubbed, of course) are selected to eat in the palace, served by the Queen and her staff. […]
A stop at Powell’s Books is always in order when I’m in Portland. Last week I escaped (using restraint I didn’t know I had) spending less than $20 for a few books, one of which was The Spendthrifts by Benito Pérez Galdós, the second release in the 1950’s series The Illustrated Novel Library. There’s another […]
Even with several long posts on La Regenta I’ve barely scratched the surface of this wonderful novel, but I want to wrap things up so I can get to other books. Here are the posts to date on the book: Introduction: summary, introduction, technique, illustrations, references Excerpts: extended quotes on Ana’s boredom, attending Don Juan […]