John Crowley's Blog, page 25

I See a Bird

Lucky that I caught this lovely creature, whom I have in fact never seen:

http://gazebonews.com/2012/03/09/colorful-pheasant-still-around-lake-forest/

Pointless beauty

A nice article in the March 12 New Yorker about Christian Marclay and his creation of "The Clock," a 24-hour long digital art piece that combines images of clocks, watches, steeples, and people calling out the time, taken from the whole history of movies, and edited in such a way that each clock image or time statement comes at exactly that time point in the 24-hour show.  I loved this idea when i read about it, and it's been hugely successful; the article shows that it is an intensely considered and wittily crafted work of art.  I hope to see it one day.  I believe there are certain works that are transcendently beautiful and heartening while being (because being?) entirely pointless; they are my touchstones, though I may never create one.  Among them I class this one, provisionally, along with Georges Perec's La Disparition, a long novel written without using the letter e; Last Year at Marienbad , a puzzle without a solution, or as it's said somewhere in the Aegypt books, "a key to which the lock is lost;" the ceilings of Tiepolo, mostly because the plots -- the archbishop being apotheosized, etc., is forgotten and irrelevant, and all that exists are clouds, nymphs, river-gods, angels and heroes. 

Nother lost story

... with not very helpful description.  A reader sends me this:

I know this is a silly request, but given the vast literary knowledge that you and those that comment on your LiveJournal posts have, I thought I'd give this a shot. I'm trying to find an anthology of short stories for a friend -- or a specific story that appears in the anthology. He believes it can be found in an Esquire collection from the 1970s or earlier, and describes the story thusly: "One story will be about a guy that buys a salt-shaker sized device that, when rubbed over text, will add or subtract words." Does that description ring any bells of something you've read? If not, would you consider posing the question to your readers. I certainly understand if not, but would be grateful to you for any assistance you could provide. 

[Post here if you have a clue.]

My John Birch self

Maybe I'm not a member, but myself in Des Moines is liked by the Iowa John Birch Society, who posted my remarks on their page:

http://iowajohnbirchsociety.com/2012/03/05/john-crowley-of-dm-has-brilliant-lte/ 

Actually except for the wrongheaded snark about the seventh century (see the wonderful post about Bucky Fuller and the King of Afghanistan attached to the recent Buckyballs post)  I would agree with myself.

Note that there's a link on the page showing you how to join the John Birch Society yourself.  Founded in my sorta home state of Indiana, in a room at the Claypool Hotel in Indianapolis.



JC

Well may be

A Times article about yoga and sex lists some links between yogic postures and sexual arousal includes this:  

 Czech scientists working with electroencephalographs have shown how poses can result in bursts of brainwaves indistinguishable from those of lovers. 

Sometimes I think that there's a thick crust over medical science in the present era that's not different from the excitements of mesmerism and phrenology.  Unsaid here is what other "bursts of brain waves" yogic ones resemble.  Heaving a trunk?  Road rage?  Yelling at the kids?  Who knows?  And what is this class of "lovers" and how is it defined, how are the subjects chosen?  Are they having sex?  Only the Czechs know.

Weird

A sort of semi-legal download site promises free e-book (or PDF) downloads of the Aegypt books with this wonderfully zany pitch, apparently robo-aggregated from a dozen reviews or puffs or blags of other books -- would that at least some of it were so ("weather vane for the publishing industry", "sacred totem".  I've removed the links (find free copies on your own).

full ebook for ipad, kindle and pdf HERE
It`s no surprise that book reviews of Aegypt series by John Crowley -- everybody's have great reviews about it. LA Times and NY Times reviews gave the book Aegypt series by John Crowley 5 star rating. The B&­N Review by top critic spends most of the time describing the plot, and delineating the differences between Aegypt series by John Crowley and other books as well as offering tidbits of dialogue. Washington Post said that it is best book of the year for sure. And the were right! Aegypt series by John Crowley gets best reviews from everyone. It seems like this book has superseded its own status of book, and become more like a weather vane for the publishing industry as a whole -- a sacred totem, because readers of Aegypt series by John Crowley go crazy about it. Could it be that massive popularity on this scale trumps any kind of literary merit? People are just going insane and stand in line for Aegypt series by John Crowley. It is very interesting, that even who criticize it change they view about Aegypt series by John Crowley and after that give book better reviews. The tone, overall, has been near insane. The criticism is spoken in a quiet small and that is mostly about marketing or other things that is not in concern of book. Fans follow Aegypt series by John Crowley on Facebook, author on Twitter and other social portals, on release date buzz was so big, that book run out of copies. But that's such a horrible position for other books to be in -- as readers in bookshop probablly will choose this book. I know that you have to review Aegypt series by John Crowley, but there is nothing bad to say about it, I read it 3 times already. Now reading forth time on my iPad. Trust me, it is so easy to read Aegypt series by John Crowley on iPad, it`s just perfect. Even pictures look good. Anyway for summary if you don`t have  ­Aegypt series by John Crowley  ­then it`s time to download it on iPad! I mean who in this day and age keeps books in dust, digital copy is the way to go if you ask me. You can download Aegypt series by John Crowley at [  ]

Smart me out there in Detroit

From CBS Detroit website:

So, what are the hottest issues? Most Republican voters speaking to WWJ’s Ron Dewey said the issue of government help for General Motors and Chrysler was not a factor in deciding their vote.

But Democratic voters including, John Crowley of Redford Township, say that is very much an election year issue. “If they had let the auto industry flounder it wouldn’t have just been the big three, it would have been their supplier and everybody that’s involved,” said Crowley. “All of the empoloyees, even the guy at the five and dime store or mom and pop shop.”

I'm sure I meant to mention the local independent bookstore also, and forgot in the heat of the moment, 

Where are they going? What do they want?

NASA telescope detects massive cloud of 'buckyballs' hurtling through space 
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0223/NASA-telescope-detects-massive-cloud-of-buckyballs-hurtling-through-space

I laughed, for no good reason.  

Tense about moods

Can a French speaker or reader remind me of the name of the tense or mood whereby actions recounted using "would" (in English) are considered as repeated:  "Often he would go to see his Maman and she would listen to his little woes" (yes, it's the thing Proust is always doing).  

Something with "progressive" or "contnuous"?

Learn to Write in 2 Weeks

If you have ever thought you'd like to take a writing course with me, here's your chance:

http://www.yale.edu/summer/writing/faculty.html 

Several other good writers teaching and guests, publishers, agents, etc.  This is the first year for the program, but it looks good.  Those who remember the Summer Session program I ran myself should put those memorioes aside,  This is the real thing.