The posthumous image of him has been entangled with the real individual, and no one has really fully tried to disentangle them. But achieving that would provide us with a unique window into both the life of the court and fundamental conceptions of humour, humanity, and deviance in the Reneissance. … Fool: In Search of Henry […]
Tag: Literature Nonfiction
Francisco Goya, El sueño de la razon produce monstruos, 1797–1798, Etching and Aquatint.From Wikipedia CommonsAt the risk of overwhelming you with Dostoyevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts into Tears, I wanted to relay this complete essay by László F. Földényi at The Paris Review posted last week. I’m only about a third of the […]
(Pictures from hlo.hu) László F. Földényi was author of the month for February at Hungarian Literature Online, and they have closed out the month with a bang. Today they provided one of Földényi’s essays, “Goya’s Dog,” at their site. The translation is by Ottilie Mulzet, the same translator for the collection of essays Dostoyevsky Reads […]
Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff Yale University Press, 2019 Hardcover, 424 pagesStalingrad by Vasily Grossman is officially released today. While I’m waiting for my copy to arrive by mail, I wanted to share a little about this outstanding biography. Alexandra Popoff has written several literary biographies and is a former Moscow […]
“The Secret Oral History of Bennington: The 1980s’ Most Decadent College” by Lili Anolik, Esquire Fall, 1982. A new freshman class arrives at arty, louche, and expensive Bennington College. Among the druggies, rebels, heirs, and posers: future Gen X literary stars Donna Tartt, Bret Easton Ellis, and Jonathan Lethem. What happened over the next four […]
In the Books section of each weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal is a list of “five best books” on a particular topic. I’ve found some good leads on books I’d like to read every now and then from this feature. This past weekend edition had a list from Alexandra Popoff, former Moscow journalist and […]
Picture from Old Maps, Expeditions, and Explorations blog The Voynich manuscript has been in the news off and on over the past few years. From Wikipedia: The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), […]
Big Sur, California Highway 1, just north of Garrapata Creek Bridge: 12 January 2019 So that when later I heard people say “Oh Big Sur must be beautiful!” I gulp to wonder why it has the reputation of being beautiful above and beyond its fearfulness, its Blakean groaning roughrock Creation throes, those vistas when you […]
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 […]
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 […]
Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-Living Poet by Edward Wilson-Lee William Collins; London: 2016 One of the most striking things I found as I followed Shakespeare on his travels through East African history was the fact that the works were present at every stage of life in the region during the very period when […]
Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet by Daisy DunnHarper, 2016Hardcover, 336 pages An attempt to get back in the swing of posting… Catullus’ Bedspread by Daisy Dunn, released to coincide with her translation titled The Poems of Catullus (also from Harper) looks at the life and work of the poet […]
Don Quixote’s Profession by Mark Van Doren New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. Print. Drawings by Joseph Low Mark Van Doren in Quiz Show, answering a question about the meaning of Don Quixote: “It means, if you want to be a knight, act like a knight.” My great friends do not know me. Hamlet in […]
A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century by Benjamin Buford Williams Associated University Presses, Inc.: Cranbury, New Jersey, 1979 ISBN: 0-8386-2054-X This post is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Ben and Marilyn Williams. I consider myself fortunate to have been friends of theirs. This study is a biographical, bibliographical, generic, critical, and chronological […]
Primo Levi’s Universe: A Writer’s Journey by Sam Magavern Foreword by Jonathan Rosen, Afterword by Risa Sodi Palgrave Macmillan: New York City, 2009 ISBN 978-0-230-60647-0 [W]hen we read all of Levi’s writings together, we find that he has woven a great and terrifying testament, one of the most vital bodies of work in modern literature. […]
Thanks to Anthony @timesflow for tweeting about the planned reissue by Dalkey Archive of Gnomon: Essays on Contemporary Literature by Hugh Kenner. Unfortunately it’s not scheduled to be released until next summer, but it’s a chance to set aside some money for wonderful essays written in the 1950s about 20th century literature. From the bookflap […]
Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters Translated and Edited by Michael Hofmann W. W. Norton & Company, Hardcover, 512 pages ISBN-10: 0393060640 / ISBN-13: 978-0393060645 Albert Einstein to B. W. Huebsch (24 February 1935) Esteemed Mr. Hübsch, I am truly grateful to you for sending me this consoling book [Job] by a real mensch and […]
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro Simon & Schuster, 352 pages, $26.00 ISBN: 1416541624I enjoyed James Shapiro’s A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599 and wanted to read his latest book on Shakespeare as soon as I could. I didn’t realize Wikipedia had a long article on the Shakespeare authorship question as […]
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 […]