The remarkable events I’m going to chronicle here would likely never have unfolded, in 1917, if young Dr. John Brinkley had not been hired as house doctor at the Swift meatpacking company, located in Kansas. He was dazzled by the vigorous mating activities of the goats destined for the slaughterhouse. A couple of years later, […]
“Sightseeing is the art of disappointment.” Robert Louis Stevenson (incorrect in this instance) in The Silverado Squatters Left side: This tablet placed by the Club Women of Napa County marks the site of the cabin occupied in 1880 by Robert Louis Stevenson and bride while he wrote The Silverado Squatters.Right side: “Doomed to know not […]
Title page of The Tree of Knowledge by Pio Baroja, translated by Aubrey F. G. Bell (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928)Posts on the novel: (Part 1) The nose of a cockatoo and more years than the oldest of parrots (Parts 2 – 3) Charity seemed to have fled from the world (Part 4) Interlude (Parts 5 […]
This post follows the final three parts of The Tree of Knowledge: Part Five (“A Provincial Experiment”), Part Six (”Experiences at Madrid”), and Part Seven (“A Son”). All quotes from the text use The Tree of Knowledge by Pio Baroja, translated by Aubrey F. G. Bell (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928). I’ll copy the summary of […]
Baroja abruptly halts the storyline at Part Four (“Inquiries”) in order to have a brief philosophical interlude. Andrés Hurtado and his uncle Iturrioz discuss different approaches on how to view life. All quotes are from The Tree of Knowledge by Pio Baroja, translated by Aubrey F. G. Bell (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928). To date, Andrés […]
Parts Two (“The Minglanillas”) and Three (“Sadness and Sorrow”) round out the medical student days of Andrés Hurtado. We follow him through his fourth and final year at medical school, his first (temporary) position in the country, and the care and death of his younger brother. All quotes are from The Tree of Knowledge by […]
Bronze statue of Pío Baroja (1872–1956) Picture source In looking at my sidebar on books I have reviewed, I see a disproportionate number by Pío Baroja and this post begins another book by him. Part of the reason has to do with limited information in English on Baroja and I have wanted to find out […]
Back home and back to work today after a week away. I avoided internet access while away so I have a lot piled up. I hope to get back to a semi-normal posting schedule next week (depending on work). The only book I read while I was away was Charles Hill’s Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft […]
Previous posts on The Road to the Open: Fin-de-siècle Vienna My art is mediocre and so is my character Grotesque and repulsive peculiarities The version of the book I read was the translation by Horace Samuel, which can be found here. (Note that a couple of pages are missing in the scan) I’ve finally finished […]
Even though I’ve only been able to read through Chapter 4 of The Road to the Open by Arthur Schnitzler I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Schnitzler paints a complex and conflicted portrait of fin-de-siècle Vienna. People defer to the main character, George von Wergenthin-Recco, because of his title yet he feels out of place in either […]