Harry Miller's Blog, page 3

Book Review: A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter

James Salter’s A Sport and a Pastime is immersive and dreamlike. Much of it narrates car trips through bucolic cat-filled towns, and thus it seems “truly French,” although other books with different approaches could seem just as “French.”

In the composition of his dreamscape, Salter eschews action verbs and employs instead verbs of being, “there is” or “there are” (il ya) constructions, and the passive voice, as in:

There are tunnels of hay, mosques, cupolas, domes. Every house has its vegetable...

Book Review: Lord of Formosa, by Joyce Bergvelt

Lord of Formosa is well-researched, fast-paced, transporting, and enjoyable. Readers should not feel daunted by the book’s 440-page length: The story flies by. Asian settings and character names are also made easy to assimilate by use of maps and by keeping the players to a minimum. Also, this is a transnational story, so it’s easier to keep track of the Chinese, Japanese, and Dutch names than it would be if all the names were Chinese. (Another bit of good news in this regard is that the main ch...

Book Review: Tales of Ming Courtesans, by Alice Poon

Tales of Ming Courtesans is a freedom book. Utilizing an approach that is very different from Lisa See’s in her Peony in Love, Alice Poon has created characters that do more than make the most of miserable situations. Rather, they rail at the injustice of them and seek liberation. In one passage, Poon credits very liberal expressions to the Hangzhou merchant Wang Wei and includes a ringing endorsement from Liu Rushi, perhaps the most intrepid of the three Ming courtesans portrayed in this book:

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Champagne Dream

I dreamed I was trying to help a friend celebrate a birthday or anniversary by treating him and his family to dinner in what I took to be a low or middle grade family restaurant, judging from the kids running around amongst the tables. However, I failed to pick up on the smooth-talking waitress’s description of a certain champagne (they have champagne?) as “exquisite” and “very well thought of” and proceeded to order a bottle. When the check came, it totaled nine thousand dollars, of which seven...

Book Review: Northwood, or Life North and South, by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

Written in open anticipation of the Civil War, Northwood, or Life North and South (1852) posits basic differences in character between Yankees and Southrons. Some character traits are caused by geography and climate, as in:

The universal necessity for constant labor or application to business, which yet happily exists in the New England States, contributes, perhaps more than any other cause, to preserve the purity of morals which distinguishes the inhabitants of that section of our country. Had ...

The Best Books about the Struggle of the Individual in the Crazy World

The good people at Shepherd.com invited me to contribute this list to their site. Please enjoy.

Who am I?

“Whosoever shall promote himself shall be abased.” – Matthew 23:12

(I’m not in the mood to blurb myself at the moment. If you want to know who I am, please send me an email.)

[This is the version I wanted to use. I ended up promoting myself in the finished product.]

I wrote…

Southern Rain

What is my book about?

My book is about a carpenter’s son who rescues an apprentice Buddhist nun from an...

Review: Balin, or the Knight with the Two Swords, by Thomas Malory

Balyne le Saveage’s character can be gleaned from the following passage:

Than hit befalle so that tyme there was a poore knyght with kynge Arthure that had bene presonere with hym half a yere for sleyng of a knyght which was cosyne unto kynge Arthure. And the name of thys knyght was called Balyne, and by good meanys of the barownes he was delyverde oute of preson, for he was a good man named of his body. (Malory, Works, 1971 collection ed. by Vinaver, p. 39)

The two main points that emerge are 1...

Book Review: The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu

The Tale of Genji, which some might dismiss as a tale of serial rape, is in fact a Buddhist tragedy, in which the seducers are slaves to their desires, with miserable results.

Throughout this time Genji was constantly reminded of his separation from Oborozuki at the time when she became Consort of the Emperor Suzaku. She too was Lady-of-the-bedchamber; she too was carried away and locked up in a place whither it was impossible for him to pursue her. He remembered being very unhappy then, but not...

Seeking a Collective Noun

If it’s “school of fish” and “raft of ducks,”Then what would the grouping-word be for schmucks?“A swarm of schmucks” is sweet to say.To “box of schmucks” I’ll not say nay.“Cohort” and “legion” have classical rings,And “chorus” would work, if the schmucks like to sing.Yet puzzling’s done. It’s time to say fuck it:I think I’ll be taking my schmucks by the bucket;For “a bucket of schmucks” is a barrel of laughs,Almost as good as “a tower of giraffes.”

書評: 陶淵明詩選(中國歷代詩人選集#4)

本人前半輩子因為看得懂「陶淵明」三個字，就買下了此書，在書架上一擺就是幾十年。近來突然下了決定，要把整本書讀一遍，說不定是陶先生的靈魂在呼喚我。這篇小文當然是出自外行的拙作，還望不會鬧出什麼大笑話。(感謝柯松韻協助校訂本文。若有不足之處，則是筆者有所疏漏。)

本文結構從最雞毛蒜皮的批評開始，漸入較為深刻的分析討論。文章首先要來抱怨陶先生太愛喝酒，愛到不斷地在作品中提及飲酒，實在無聊，最明顯的例子是《和郭主簿》第二首：

和澤週三春，清涼素秋節。
露凝無遊氛，天高肅景澈。
陵岑聳逸峯，遙瞻皆奇絕。
芳菊開林耀，青松冠巖列。
懷此貞秀姿，卓爲霜下傑。
銜觴念幽人，千載撫爾訣。
檢素不獲展，厭厭竟良月。

在令人心怡的大自然中既然已達到精神的高點，卻又縱情飲酒，未免不解風情。

不過除了這個例子之外，陶先生寫到飲酒並不是混淆詩意。其實，陶先生提到飲酒，通常只是代表個人樂趣的追求，因此讀者可以放遠來看，不必放大檢視詩中反覆出現的飲酒行為。

即使我們接受詩作中飲酒之舉一再出現，詩中一再提到辭官，再三考量是否退隱，也讓人反感。詩選中有八成的內容，似乎都是陶先生的自我辯護，解釋自己為何辭官。反覆強調這個話...