David Anthony Sam's Blog, page 212

A video clip from my reading of "Fatherhood"

A video clip from my reading of "Fatherhood" at The Griffin is now available online.

From my website here:

http://www.davidanthonysam.com/audio-video-photo/

Or on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAyyGmE_Ymo

Review > Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography by Justin Kaplan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating biography of the two characters invented by their author: Samuel Clemens & Mark Twain---and the Jekyll and Hyde relationship between the two. Clemens/Twain was a great humorist and at his best in some of his writings or onstage, something Hal Holbrook seems to capture well. But he was a bitter and angry man, too. If you want to read behind the personae created by Twain, this is a good and deep exploration.

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Free Download

A selection from my book is available for free download. http://ow.ly/zxWYn

Nadine Gordimer

Another great one gone, but her work lives on. She never took the easy path, whether as a conscience for her country or indeed the world, or in her writing. When the critics expected her to continue from her early success, she started writing scifi. She will be missed.

 Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 - Bibliography

Ay by Joan Houlihan - A brave experiment

Ay: Poems by Joan Houlihan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fine experiment in primitivist language. Houlihan here uses a diction entirely from the Anglo-Saxon to suggest the mind of a human on the verge of or just passed into language. The basic plot is a youth who leaves the clan, injured physically and by the separation, who reunites with his literal or tribal brother, and who is baptized in the end with a rain of consciousness and perhaps forgiveness.

The poetry is brilliant with clarity in observation of nature. I got used to the almost precious use of "Ay" as a name of "I." However, the use of "hims" and "thems" as possessives seemed unnecessary and distracting. A quibble.

Houlihan writes with a wonderfully musical ear. It is pleasing in a time of poetry that is prosaic to the point of dullness to hear language rise from the page. It is a brave experiment, and it largely works.

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Wendell Berry - an underrated poet

I have long admired the writings of Wendell Berry. But I think he is underrated as a poet:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/119/2#!/20595389

Rilke's advice on staying centered despite what the world (and editors)may think

Rilke's advice is something I must go back to regularly, even though I am no long the "young poet" I was in 1968 when I first met his book:

" You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you - no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must", then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. "

http://www.carrothers.com/rilke1.htm

Rilke's advice on staying centered despite what the world (and editors) may think

Rilke's advice is something I must go back to regularly, even though I am no long the "young poet" I was in 1968 when I first met his boo:

" You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you - no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must", then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. "

http://www.carrothers.com/rilke1.htm

Winston's War (Winston Churchill #1) by Michael Dobbs

Winston's War by Michael Dobbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting and entertaining re-imagining of events leading up to Churchill's becoming Prime Minister, this novel leans towards the cynical except in its portrayal of Churchill himself.

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Ask the Author on Goodreads

For those who use Goodreads, I am answering questions about "Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves" on my Author's page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/8177695.David_Anthony_Sam/questions