Please note: I was trying out different themes for the site and a few recent comments got deleted. My apologies for this mistake.
I received a nice note from a teacher in Zimbabwe (“somewhat isolated from the academic world,” as they put it) commenting that my posts on Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War has helped them and it has paid off for their students. That note, along with other nice comments from students reading the book and finding help […]
The other day I was changing channels on Sirius XM and landed on BYU Radio, which I had no idea even existed. I was getting ready to change the channel when I realized the conversation was on Moby Dick, and I ended up listening to the remainder of the show. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and […]
The Disappearance of Émile Zola: Love, Literature, and the Dreyfus Case by Michael RosenPegasus Books, 2017 I have to admit I’ve never really connected with Zola’s books. I find things I appreciate and like in his writing, but its more in fits and starts than for a sustained reading. What interested me in […]
If I see something interesting—post, video, etc.—that ties in well with a book I’ve posted about on the blog, I’ll go back to the original post and update it with the link to the new item. I realize not everyone will go back to something they have already seen, so I thought an occasional “Update” […]
The Avignon Papacy Contested: An Intellectual History from Dante to Catherine of Siena by Unn Falkeid Harvard University Press, 2017 Series: I Tatti Studies in Itallian Renaissance History The aim of this book has been to explore some of the most significant critics of the Avignon papacy, critics who in many ways came to prepare […]
I posted about this earlier this year, but I’m excited to say that The Landmark Julius Caesar: The Complete Works is now available and it is beautiful. While Robert Stassler is still the series editor, Kurt A. Raaflaub did the translation and editing. If you’re not familiar with the series, it presents classical historical works […]
Yesterday was the first day in about sixteen months that I was pain-free for a few hours. I cannot tell you how great that felt. It turns out I got very little done during that time, though. I found myself simply enjoying the feeling. Or lack of it, I guess. I know I’ve said this […]
Picture source: Big Star Third Live Facebook page I have wanted to post something…anything…but haven’t felt up to it for a while. I’ve posted about this tour elsewhere, but I’m pleasantly surprised how much I liked the documentary release covering one of its performances. There are some interviews with a few of the performers, but […]
Another week, another trip to the hospital for an infection. Fortunately this was caught early enough that medication may be enough to handle it. On to brighter things… The video appears to be the 1991 movie 30 Door Key based on Witold Gombrowicz’s book Ferdydurke. I’ll be checking it out this weekend. I had […]
I seem to be all over the place in reading lately, but with little time to post about it. I seem to focus on big-brush topics at times and while I always hope to post on them, it never seems to work. So I’m hoping with a little prodding on my own part, I’ll follow […]
I have had the above video open in a browser for several weeks without watching it. I wanted to see Hugh Kenner, but the topic title, “The Political Responsibility of Artists,” put me off. I finally screwed up the courage to watch and found it stimulating…I shouldn’t have let the title guide me. Kenner is […]
I wanted to wait until I had a released copy of Be Like the Fox to quote anything from it. Here’s a lengthy excerpt about an episode late in Machiavelli’s life. The setting: the Medici successfully returned to Florence in 1512 and Machiavelli was removed from office. He remained in political exile until 1521 when […]
The Red Sphinx by Alexandre Dumas Edited and translated by Lawrence Ellsworth Pegasus Books, 2017 Hardcover, 832 pages What is clear and undeniable in this painting is that it depicts a man of mind and intelligence, and nothing more. Here is neither heart nor spirit—fortunately for France. In the vacuum of the monarchy between Henry […]
Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli in His World by Erica Benner W. W. Norton & Company, 2017 Erica Brenner’s study of “Machiavelli in his world” is being released today. I obtained an advance reading copy secondhand and wanted to pass on a few of my thoughts about the book since I found it helpful and […]
Many thanks to Michael Wooff for translating this short story and making it available at Project Gutenberg. It’s a wonderful piece that hints at what we will see in later works by Galdós. Published in 1871, “The Novel on the Tram” is close in tone and style to Galdós’ first novel The Shadow. The story […]
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know from my reading projects on Herodotus’ Histories, Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War, and Arrian’s The Campaigns of Alexander that I am a huge fan of The Landmark Ancient Histories series. As I noted in a post last August, a quote from editor Robert Stassler on an […]
Jean Barois by Roger Martin du Gard Translated by Stuart Gilbert Viking Press, 1949 (original publication in 1913)I picked up The Thibaults a couple of years of years ago, but haven’t been able to commit to the almost-two thousand page work. Jean Barois ended up being my introduction to Roger Martin du Gard instead. I […]
I’m updating this post because of Grant Hart’s recent death. My range of focus online has narrowed quite a bit, but I was surprised how little I saw about this as it was happening. What he contributed to me is difficult to quantify, but I have to say the influence was substantial. I guess I […]
I wanted to recommend this article on Reginald Foster, “The Vatican’s Latinist,” by John Byron Kuhner. Foster was “part of a small team of scribes who composed the pope’s correspondence, translated his encyclicals, and wrote copy for internal church documents” for over forty years. He has done so much more, though. He also taught Latin […]
I recently saw that “Firing Line” now has a channel on YouTube. I’ve mentioned the episode on “The Southern Imagination” a few times, with Eudora Welty and Walker Percy, and it is available here. A different episode I wanted to share was the conversation with Jorge Luis Borges, recorded on February 1, 1977. If you’re […]