Please note: I was trying out different themes for the site and a few recent comments got deleted. My apologies for this mistake.
This is the first book covered in the online Shakespeare course I joined. Shapiro’s work goes into detail on Shakespeare’s achievements in 1599 (a remarkable output–Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and the first draft of Hamlet ), his business dealings, and the national scene within which he worked. The approach of […]
The vacant ice looked tired, though it shouldn’t have. They told him it had been put down only a few minutes ago following a basketball game, and after the hockey match it would be taken up again to make room for something else. But it looked not expectant but resigned, like the mirror simulating ice […]
Picture source So Humbert the Cubus schemed and dreamed—and the red sun of desire and decision (the two things that create a live world) rose higher and higher, while upon a succession of balconies a succession of libertines, sparkling glass in hand, toasted the bliss of past and future nights. Then, figuratively speaking, I shattered […]
So I’m behind in everything I wanted to do so far this year, and I’m probably going to sign up for more. I ran across an online course on Shakespeare being put together which I thought I would explore. It will be the first time it’s offered and while it sounds like it may have […]
I apologize for the lack of posting but I haven’t had a chance to read anything in the past month, much less write about it. Home and work are taking up all my time, with no time for anything else. Not to mention lots of turbulence at work (today’s fun is preparing a separation agreement […]
Vladimir Nabokov and his wife, Véra, 1966 Picture source Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. (The opening lines of Lolita) A note on […]
The Olympia Press’ cover of Lolita Picture source There are many informative sites dedicated to Nabokov and Lolita, but unfortunately many of the links I tried at these sites no longer exist. Hopefully the following links will stick around for a while. Vladimir Nabokov Wikipedia entry for Vladimir Nabokov The gateway to an extended interview […]
William Faulkner Picture source at American Memory from The Library of CongressA summary of the postings related to As I Lay Dying. It definitely is in the top three of my favorite Faulkner novels, and I’m looking forward to reading Light in August later this year…it was my favorite my first time through some of […]
Illustration by Nathan Olsen Picture source at nateomedia.com Sometimes I aint so sho who’s got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint. Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It’s […]
These sections cover from Addie’s funeral to the disastrous river crossing. The dark, morbid humor really shines in these sections. The actions or descriptions are sickly funny by themselves, such as the mosquito netting to cover the auger holes in Addie’s face or the mules’ stiff legs turning repeatedly over in the river. What makes […]
A reproduction of the first manuscript page of As I Lay Dying I finally have a few moments (and an internet connection) to write something on the first third of As I Lay Dying and I’m at a loss on how to approach it. The first thing most analyses note on the book is the […]
Due to many recent changes (a new job being the big one) as well as kids’ (and my) illnesses has led to zero reading lately. So I’ll leave you with one of the funnier comments I’ve seen lately on William Faulkner’s work. Not to mention timely, since I’ll be visiting Alabama later this week: Lucy: […]
A few links with background information on William Faulkner and As I Lay Dying: William Faulkner William Faulkner on the Web (hosted by the University of Mississippi)—plenty of pages on his life and works as well as information on Oxford and Rowan Oak. Extensive details on his life at the Faulkner Archives (again from Ole […]
Book 8, lines 245-253 in a Greek manuscript of the late fifth or early sixth century AD Picture source Generations of men are like the leaves. In winter, winds blow them down to earth, but then, when spring season comes again, the budding wood grows more. And so with men— one generation grows, another dies […]
This is a partial review of Alessandro Baricco’s An Iliad (translated by Ann Goldstein)—partial because I could not finish it. The book does raise interesting questions (more about his choices, but some about the original work). I’ll outline Baricco’s introduction and end note (in slightly different order than he presented them) and then go into […]
Andromache mourning Hector Jacques-Louis David “Revere the gods, Achilles! Pity me in my own right, Remember your own father! I deserve more pity… I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before— I put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son.” Book XXIV, lines 588 – 591 […]
Automedon with the Horses of Achilles by Henri Regnault And Iris racing the wind went veering off as Achilles, Zeus’ favorite fighter, rose up now and over his powerful shoulder Pallas slung the shield, the tremendous storm-shield with all its tassels flaring— and crowning his head the goddess swept a golden cloud and from it […]
Menelaus and Meriones lifting Patroclus’ body on a cartPicture source Book XIII continues the battle among the ships. The Achaeans are now fighting a defensive battle, trying to protect their only way home. The ebb and flow of the battle changes as the gods participate. Zeus has instructed no interference from other gods, but Poseidon […]
The Ambassadors to Agamemnon Visiting Achilles Jean Auguste-Dominique IngresBook IX begins with Agamemnon declaring that Zeus has tricked him and he is planning on going home. Unlike Book II’s ruse, this time he seems to mean it. This is an interesting time for him to feel that way. Things have gone badly during the recent […]
Aphrodite Wounded by Diomedes Jean Auguste-Dominique IngresBook V belongs to Diomedes despite Zeus’ agreement allowing the Trojans temporary ascendancy on the battlefield. I find the interplay between gods and humans fascinating, the gods protecting or abandoning people at the god’s whim. The battles that the gods wage against each other, using humans as intermediaries, must […]