Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Walt Whitman: In Memoriam-- the defeated

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I was surprised to read this poem by Walt Whitman. 18 With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums, I play not marches for ac...
5 comments:
Saturday, May 27, 2017

Chaim Potok: Two novels

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Chaim Potok The Chosen The Promise  One of the reasons I belong to several book discussion groups is that I get an opportunity to read...
14 comments:
Tuesday, May 23, 2017

A Minute Meditation

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Language is the stuff of the imagination.  The imagination is the creative aspect of language.  It enables us to use language to its high...
18 comments:
Friday, May 19, 2017

Lawrence Durrell: Monsieur or The Prince of Darkness

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Lawrence Durrell Monsieur or Prince of Darkness Book 1 of  "The Avignon Quintet"  (aka The Quincunx) Please do not expect an ...
3 comments:
Monday, May 15, 2017

Willa Cather: YOUTH AND THE BRIGHT MEDUSA, Pt. 1

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Willa Cather Youth and the Bright Medusa short stories The title is a bit deceptive, for it isn't just about youth.  The eight shor...
12 comments:
Thursday, May 11, 2017

A Minute Meditation

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To really appreciate a place or time----to extract the poignant essence of it--one should see it in the light of a departure, a leavetaking...
19 comments:
Monday, May 8, 2017

Wallace Stevens: "The Poems of Our Climate"

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Wallace Stevens is a very unique and perplexing poet, or so he seems to me.   Some of his poems are straightforward while others force me to...
17 comments:
Friday, May 5, 2017

A Time to Die?

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Generally speaking, killing another human is banned by most societies and religions.  There are exceptions of course--self-defense or defens...
14 comments:
Monday, May 1, 2017

The Rubaiyat: Second Edition, Quatrain XCIX

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Quatrain XCIX links back to the previous quatrain, especially the last two lines of that Quatrain:  And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf,...
19 comments:
Thursday, April 27, 2017

A Minute Meditation

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Some ride in palanquins Some bear palanquins: Some weave sandals For palanquin bearers                    -- Anon -- from Japanese Pr...
5 comments:
Sunday, April 23, 2017

N. Scott Momaday: on stories

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Another quotation from N. Scott Momaday on storytellers and storytelling.  I think there are some ideas expressed in them that wouldn't ...
7 comments:
Thursday, April 20, 2017

Han Shan: solitude

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One reason why I admire Han Shan (Cold Mountain) is his humanity.  He comes across as very human, and this is one that reveals him as being...
9 comments:
Monday, April 17, 2017

Lawrence Durrell: Justine, Pt. 3

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Lawrence Durrell Justine As many have said before and many will repeat in the future, one of the joys and benefits of rereading some wor...
16 comments:
Thursday, April 13, 2017

A Minute Meditation

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The storyteller is the one who tells the story.  To say this is to say that the storyteller is preeminently entitled to tell the story.  He...
8 comments:
Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Nikos Kazantzakis: Toda Raba

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Nikos Kazantzakis Toda Raba Published 1931 English Translation, 1964 Amy Mims,  trans.   The focal point of this tale is the Sovie...
4 comments:
Saturday, April 8, 2017

The Rubaiyat: Second Edition, Quatrain XC

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This quatrain is linked to the previous quatrain  in which the narrator eavesdrops on the Potter's creations as they comment in the Pott...
9 comments:
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

John Muir: Destruction or Creation?

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No. 66 How lavish is Nature, building, pulling down, creating, destroying, chasing every material particle from form to form, ever chang...
14 comments:
Sunday, April 2, 2017

Lawrence Durrell: Justine, Pt. 2

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For some reason, the narrator neglected to introduce us to Balthazar, who will be a very important character, as suggested by his name given...
13 comments:
Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Eagle

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     Hokusai:  Eagle in Flight The Eagle He clasps the crag with crooked hands; C lose to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd ...
11 comments:
Sunday, March 26, 2017

Favorite SF novels or short works--2016

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These are those SF/F works that I read and enjoyed during 2016, and many of which I might read again, sometime down the road. NOVELS ...
14 comments: