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What Are We Reading? 28 February 2022
@Georg (#136) - Thanks for those tips on further Heine reading. He really is an invigorating voice. As you say, it doesn’t matter very much that he changes his mind. It is his expressiveness and vitality - and the sheer fun of his writing - that is so winning.
As to his warning to the French - don’t fan the fire - I was thinking more of 1870. After that it is more a case of a general intuition, as you say, though apparently others, including Thomas Mann, thought it highly prophetic.
As to his warning to the French - don’t fan the fire - I was thinking more of 1870. After that it is more a case of a general intuition, as you say, though apparently others, including Thomas Mann, thought it highly prophetic.
Power and Glory: Jacobean England and the Making of the King James Bible – Adam Nicolson (2003)
A popular history of a grand subject - a brisk, colourful, and instructive account that brings together the general scene as the old reign passes and a new commences, the discord among the divines each fighting for their vision of God’s truth, and many lively character sketches of the King, the court and the individual translators.
We marvel that such a triumphant work could have emerged from the commissioned efforts of fifty contributors – because with us it is a fixation that high art is created by a great artist working alone, that there can be no beauty in a committee. Nicolson explains it otherwise: that the Jacobean mindset was quite different, that for many purposes jointness was seen as the right way, and that a committee was both pragmatic and natural. The debt to the solitary Tyndale was enormous, but it was Archbishop Bancroft and his six Companies of collaborators who produced the Bible for the ages.
It seems that there is in fact next to no historical record of the actual work of translation – no drafts, no commentaries, no correspondence (the archives of the Privy Council destroyed in a palace fire), nothing from all those years of scholarly labour, except for a set of instructions written by Bancroft transmitting the wishes of the King, and some notes of the discussion at the final revising committee when the work of the different Companies was brought together, plus two particular documents discovered in the 1950s by a visiting American professor – an annotated copy of the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 found at Lambeth Palace, and a comparative text of the Epistles of St Paul that had lain unrecognized in the Bodleian.
Nicolson makes the most of these slender resources. With learning that is evident but not flourished he shows in example after example how the stately language of the Authorised Version works to combine richness with clarity, and why this version resonates when other versions do not.
(We do have one brilliant fictional discussion. William Shakespeare, sitting with his friend Ben Jonson in the garden at New Place, has received a packet from the Reverend Miles Smith of Brazen Nose College. It contains working papers for five verses in Isaiah. The two of them go at it. The result is the text we have today. Bravo, Rudyard Kipling - Proofs of Holy Writ.)
The whole enterprise demonstrated the devotion to the Word among all shades of Protestant opinion. It was not unusual for a sermon to last two hours or more, extracting every nuance of meaning from a single verse. Even this was not enough for one group of farmers in Lincolnshire who could find nothing in their bibles about bishops or deacons or surplices or ceremonial. The congregation itself should be sovereign. They would read the Book for themselves, and they needed no vicar imposed from above. They and others departed for the Low Countries and later the bleak shores of Massachusetts Bay. Nicolson tells the story well.
Years ago I read another account of the King James Bible, In The Beginning by Alister McGrath (2001). It was comprehensive and worthy but a bit dull. The Nicolson is the one.
A popular history of a grand subject - a brisk, colourful, and instructive account that brings together the general scene as the old reign passes and a new commences, the discord among the divines each fighting for their vision of God’s truth, and many lively character sketches of the King, the court and the individual translators.
We marvel that such a triumphant work could have emerged from the commissioned efforts of fifty contributors – because with us it is a fixation that high art is created by a great artist working alone, that there can be no beauty in a committee. Nicolson explains it otherwise: that the Jacobean mindset was quite different, that for many purposes jointness was seen as the right way, and that a committee was both pragmatic and natural. The debt to the solitary Tyndale was enormous, but it was Archbishop Bancroft and his six Companies of collaborators who produced the Bible for the ages.
It seems that there is in fact next to no historical record of the actual work of translation – no drafts, no commentaries, no correspondence (the archives of the Privy Council destroyed in a palace fire), nothing from all those years of scholarly labour, except for a set of instructions written by Bancroft transmitting the wishes of the King, and some notes of the discussion at the final revising committee when the work of the different Companies was brought together, plus two particular documents discovered in the 1950s by a visiting American professor – an annotated copy of the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 found at Lambeth Palace, and a comparative text of the Epistles of St Paul that had lain unrecognized in the Bodleian.
Nicolson makes the most of these slender resources. With learning that is evident but not flourished he shows in example after example how the stately language of the Authorised Version works to combine richness with clarity, and why this version resonates when other versions do not.
(We do have one brilliant fictional discussion. William Shakespeare, sitting with his friend Ben Jonson in the garden at New Place, has received a packet from the Reverend Miles Smith of Brazen Nose College. It contains working papers for five verses in Isaiah. The two of them go at it. The result is the text we have today. Bravo, Rudyard Kipling - Proofs of Holy Writ.)
The whole enterprise demonstrated the devotion to the Word among all shades of Protestant opinion. It was not unusual for a sermon to last two hours or more, extracting every nuance of meaning from a single verse. Even this was not enough for one group of farmers in Lincolnshire who could find nothing in their bibles about bishops or deacons or surplices or ceremonial. The congregation itself should be sovereign. They would read the Book for themselves, and they needed no vicar imposed from above. They and others departed for the Low Countries and later the bleak shores of Massachusetts Bay. Nicolson tells the story well.
Years ago I read another account of the King James Bible, In The Beginning by Alister McGrath (2001). It was comprehensive and worthy but a bit dull. The Nicolson is the one.
Russell wrote: "Power and Glory: Jacobean England and the Making of the King James Bible – Adam Nicolson (2003)A popular history of a grand subject - a brisk, colourful, and instructive account that brings toget..."
Sounds very interesting. I've seen analyses that suggest the King James team carefully studied the earlier English translations.
Robert wrote: "I've seen analyses that suggest the King James team carefully studied the earlier English translations."
Yes, studied and used. Someone has calculated that around 95% of the AV is taken from earlier translations, especially Tyndale. The instructions from the King were, basically, to consult all the previous English translations, except for the Douai (because it was Catholic – but they used it anyway), and to change only what they needed to.
The Preface – not usually included in modern printings – was explicit:
“Truly…we never thought from the beginning, that we should make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one…but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one…[W]hatsoever is sound alreadie the same shall shine as gold more brightly, being rubbed and polished…”
Nicolson gives an example of one verse in the AV made up of five bits from Tyndale, four from the Geneva, two each from the Bishops’ Bible and the Great Bible of Henry VIII, and nothing new.
Interestingly, though we all probably assume that it was the AV that the Pilgrim Fathers took with them to the New World - I for one did – almost certainly they did not, because it was slow to be accepted and was also too identified with the bishops and the King. The one they took most probably was the Geneva, the Calvinist version, with its helpful explanatory notes in the margin. James thought some of the notes anti-monarchical, and he wasn’t having any of that in his Version. Instruction 6: “No Marginal Notes at all to be affixed…”
Yes, studied and used. Someone has calculated that around 95% of the AV is taken from earlier translations, especially Tyndale. The instructions from the King were, basically, to consult all the previous English translations, except for the Douai (because it was Catholic – but they used it anyway), and to change only what they needed to.
The Preface – not usually included in modern printings – was explicit:
“Truly…we never thought from the beginning, that we should make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one…but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one…[W]hatsoever is sound alreadie the same shall shine as gold more brightly, being rubbed and polished…”
Nicolson gives an example of one verse in the AV made up of five bits from Tyndale, four from the Geneva, two each from the Bishops’ Bible and the Great Bible of Henry VIII, and nothing new.
Interestingly, though we all probably assume that it was the AV that the Pilgrim Fathers took with them to the New World - I for one did – almost certainly they did not, because it was slow to be accepted and was also too identified with the bishops and the King. The one they took most probably was the Geneva, the Calvinist version, with its helpful explanatory notes in the margin. James thought some of the notes anti-monarchical, and he wasn’t having any of that in his Version. Instruction 6: “No Marginal Notes at all to be affixed…”
I remember a quote from the Tyndale that I liked: "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a lucky fellow." (Genesis 39.2).
I haven't read the Tyndale, BTW, I just came across that line quoted somewhere years ago, can't recall where, now. Looking up the King James, it has instead, "he was a prosperous man".
Mod
That's really interesting, thanks.
Russell wrote: "Robert wrote: "I've seen analyses that suggest the King James team carefully studied the earlier English translations."Yes, studied and used. Someone has calculated that around 95% of the AV is t..."
i love the geneva bible with its little inserts and commentaries...as a literary artefact
The Women’s Prize for Fiction looks worth exploring.. Not read any of these, but am familiar with some of the authors. Read a couple by Charlotte Mendelson, though not this one. The Maggie Shipstead appeals, too, maybe echoes of Amy Johnson’s courage, and Louise Erdrich is a must. Always relish her novels. Picked up her Future Home of the Living God from the library last week. Don’t think I’ve read it…or have I?
https://www.newscientist.com/video/23...This is the video of Shackleton’s ship Endurance discovery from newscientist.
I posted over on archaeology but thought others might like to see it, fascinating
PhotobooksAs you know i like to study photobook collections and the essays and accompanying text
I recently finished perusing Henri Cartier Bressons "Europeans", which i thought was a remarkable collection of images from the 1950s to 1990s .
Now i'm flicking thro Sergio Larrians "London "59", which i had been meaning to get for ages after enjoying his collection of images "Valparaiso" a few years back
@CCC, and anyone interested in Shackleton. I know I’ve related this before, but…at my East Riding school in the late 60s, a Mr Green visited with slides of “snowy stuff”. My head was full of clothes and pop music, and I really didn’t comprehend the significance of the slides, and his connection with the Shackleton expedition. Don’t know how he had the slides, were they the Frank Hurley ones, I wonder? He’d been the cook on the Endurance, married a local girl, and settled in the area. I didn’t think at the time that we had been in the presence of someone, however small a part he played, in one of the the U Ks memorable explorations.
CCCubbon wrote: "https://www.newscientist.com/video/23...This is the video of Shackleton’s ship Endurance discovery from newscientist.
I posted..."
amazingly intact, wonderful to see, that water has preserved it immaculately. i watched a docu on an attempt to find the Endurance on nat geo, they failed in get under the ice due to robots breaking down glad somebody else suceeded
Lass wrote: "The Women’s Prize for Fiction looks worth exploring.. Not read any of these, but am familiar with some of the authors. Read a couple by Charlotte Mendelson, though not this one. The Maggie Shipstea..."Leone Ross recommended, though its the only one I've read..
A rare longer read for me, as I consider whether I will the most recent Olga Tokarczuk on my tbr list... with The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin.
This is the third in Celestin's City Blues Quartet, which is set across the middle 50 years of the century with the respective histories of jazz and organised crime very much at its heart.
By now it is clear what Celestin does well, after all it takes a lot to get me to read anything more than 300 pages. His city panoramas are enticing, previously New Orleans and Chicago, and now New York, from its tenements to its luxury hotels, its ‘bebop’ clubs to the wharves of the Brooklyn waterfront.
He also has a blend of fact and fiction that works. The historical content is accurate and extremely readable, set as it is, at a time when organised crime, the Mafia, is at the height of its power.
The highly plausible plot is structured around a psychotic killer who even the Mafia are concerned about.
The cast of characters, from the back sex workers and a black population inundated by a tidal wave of drugs brought in by the Mafia to the reluctant Mafia boss Costello, are convincing and authentic.
As strong as any of the characters though is New York itself, riddled with massive and endemic corruption, racism, casual violence and organised crime.
A skill to Celestin's pen is that he doesn't glamourise the era and its people, rather it is his often deeply unflattering descriptions that stand out.
I know also it was reviewed very favourably by someone else here just a week or two ago.. I can't recall who.. but thanks for the reminder about it.
Andy wrote: "A rare longer read for me: The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin. I agree with your comments about Celestin, who deserves to be better known... it's a while since I read that one, but recently reviewed the fourth and final volume of his 'City Blues Quartet', Sunset Swing, which is set in Los Angeles in 1967.
Lass wrote: "@CCC, and anyone interested in Shackleton. I know I’ve related this before, but…at my East Riding school in the late 60s, a Mr Green visited with slides of “snowy stuff”. My head was full of clothe..."Bloody hell, you met somebody who was on the Endurance.
There is a photo of Mr Green in Caroline Alexander's book.
The caption reads:
"the cook skins a penguin in the galley.
On the Endurance Green's day began at dawn end ended after tea (tea in the Yorkshire meaning :-)). He was the son of a patissier and apart from cooking the animals hunted on the ice he baked 12 loaves of bread a day".
I bought that book because I was so fascinated by the photographs. Not sure now whether I had even heard of Shackleton/the Endurance before.
I wonder what happened to the rest of the crew. Might do some googling....
Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette, originally published as Le Petit Bleu de la Côte Ouest (1976)...English translation by Donald Nicholson-SmithI'm sure someone recommended this recently - thanks - I enjoyed it.
This was an entertaining story by a French author new to me... the setup is in a way along the lines of stories like Hitchcock's North by Northwest, in that an ordinary person - salesman Georges Gerfaut - accidentally becomes the target for assassination attempts by professional hitmen.
I think the story will work best for those with a good knowledge of French culture... I especially enjoyed the first half, in which the author pokes fun at some of the intellectual underpinnings of French life, with stabs at Marx and Kant (for sure), and - I am fairly certain - a deliberate attempt to parody the 'nouvel roman' style by including wholly irrelevant details in the narrative. I don't know why, exactly, but the author seems to abandon this comical style in the second half, and settles for a more conventional (and so less interesting) narrative. The final few paragraphs sit rather oddly, and seem to make some sort of vague political statement - Manchette was politically to the left and his writing reflects this through his analysis of social positions and culture. (Wikipedia)
He was also a jazzman, and refers to many jazz players of the era - I assume they were real people, though I had only heard of Stan Getz.
The translation in the Kindle edition is rather poorly proofread - Citroën is rendered as Citreën (several times), there are some misspellings, at least one sentence simply peters out unfinished... in addition, the translation is in American English, which gave me pause here and there - 'WTF is a zwieback?' I thought... it sounds like a ferocious breed of dog, or something you'd find in the African savannah... turns out it's a biscotte - I think. So, overall, I wished that I'd ordered the French edition.
But I liked it well enough, and may read a couple more (in French).
scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "A rare longer read for me: The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin. I agree with your comments about Celestin, who deserves to be better known... it's a..."
Yes it was you SN.
I’ll have a break before reading the last one. Looking forward to it.
scarletnoir wrote: "Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette, originally published as Le Petit Bleu de la Côte Ouest (1976)...English translation by Donald Nicholson-SmithI'm sure someone recommended th..."
Not sure if it was me, but I really enjoyed this.
That old Gallic noir, quite Garnier-esque, but a bit more violence, like Izzo.
Just looking back, I also gave The Mad and the Bad and Fatale, both of which I think have recent translations with NYRB.
On the strength of these 3 I think he’s up there with the best.
Thanks for the review.
Mach has been very quiet, hope all is ok with him and other members who dip in and out. Its a horrible time for Europe and i would be suprised if it is affecting mood and reading time for many of us
AB76 wrote: "Mach has been very quiet, hope all is ok with him and other members who dip in and out. Its a horrible time for Europe and i would be suprised if it is affecting mood and reading time for many of us"perhaps a missing 'nt, in the 'would' category? I'm feeling quite sad and bereft, and I think that I am not alone here. The world does not seem to make much sense at all... I have chased up a question that seemed to be hanging over me somewhat. Why did Ukraine have a substantial population of ethnic Russians within its boundaries? Well it seems that there are at least some indications here in this Wiki article on the 'Holodomor'. I will put it in here without comment from me, but there seems to be a huge diversity of 'historians' opinions in the mix and arguing over the actual 'vérité'... of what actually happened https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
I can't help but think about Cyprus, and the split between Turkish north and the Greek Cypriot south, and the fallout between the two peoples. Turkey, after the split, exported a lot of native Turkish people onto the Cypriot island, to boost its supposed 'right' to its claim to be part of Turkey. Well, as a political issue, it is still unsolved to this day.
Anyway it explains to me why there was such a large enclave of ethnic Russians within the Ukrainian borderlands, such as in Donetsk, and the other place that I can never remember its name. It's a horrible history, but makes me far more aware as to quite why they are so united to hang on to Ukrainian independence, against all odds... at least for the moment...
Would be interested in your thoughts on the matter...
Andy wrote: "Just looking back, I also gave The Mad and the Bad and Fatale, both of which I think have recent translations with NYRB.On the strength of these 3 I think he’s up there with the best.
Thanks for the tip - I'll almost certainly read some more, as I enjoyed it... Was the proof-reading better for the book, if that is how you read it? The Kindle version was a bit messy here and there, though not terrible.
Manchette seems to have been an interesting character, to judge by his Wikipedia entry - he mainly wanted to be a screenwriter, and did write a number of screenplays as well as novels.
AB76 wrote: "Mach has been very quiet..."I'm sure I saw comments from him on the Guardian's WWR very recently, so I guess he's OK... there are so many comments on that, it's hard to keep track!
(If you find one comment by him - or anyone - on the Guardian, by clicking on their 'name' you get a link to all their comments, so you can find the most recent... in case you didn't know.)
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mach has been very quiet, hope all is ok with him and other members who dip in and out. Its a horrible time for Europe and i would be suprised if it is affecting mood and reading time ..."Ukraine is a large country, the second largest in Europe, more than twice the size of the Uk with a population roughly two thirds of the population here. I wish we heard more from other parts of the country.
I don’t know enough about the history to comment and my sympathies are with suffering people. However I am rather concerned about the propaganda being used by Russians to justify their actions and Ukraine to persuade the West into a no fly zone which could be a disaster for the world.
The other night we watched the film The Courier which is about the Bay of Pigs crisis where Russia tried to establish nuclear weapons on Cuba and the world came within touching distance of nuclear war. Russia backed down then but there are parallels today. Russia would see Nato in Ukraine as much of a threat as Kennedy feared the Russiam missiles close in 1962. I remember how frightened we all were then.
I see Mach has been online at WWAR. If he’s looking on GR I’d like him to know that all thanks to him I’ve made a decent profit on my little rare book and apart from a bit that’s going to increase the library in a local primary school all the rest is going to Ukraine. Thank you so much Mach.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "...apart from a bit that’s going to increase the library in a local primary school all the rest is going to Ukraine. Thank you so much Mach.It's an ill wind... etc. Good to know that some good can be done in these dark days....
I had assumed - wrongly, it seems - that the phrase was yet another Shakesperian quote, but apparently not:
The use of 'ill wind' is most commonly in the phrase 'it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good'. This is first recorded in John Heywood's A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:
"As you be muche the worse. and I cast awaie.
An yll wynde, that blowth no man to good, men saie.
Wel (quoth he) euery wind blowth not down the corn
I hope (I saie) good hap [luck] be not all out worn."
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/i...
scarletnoir wrote: "It's an ill wind... etc. Good to know that some good can be done in these dark days......"Thanks for looking that one up - it's a phrase I use a lot, surprising how often it's appropriate.
Similarly, 'every cloud has a silver lining', which I now find comes from Milton's Comus (1634) "Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud/Turn forth her silver lining on the night?" - nice because you know that the sun will be shining on the far side of a black cloud.
Not sure we can apply it to current events though - it's hard to see it at the moment.
So I managed 2 of the International Booker Longlist. (Same as last year..) Mind, I listed what I had read, and hoped would make it, not a prediction as such. The G has an article for those interested.
What’s good is that there are 3, even 4, that no one expected, even the forum over at Mookse and Gripes. A few of the blogs have got together and formed a ‘shadow panel’ and will read each in turn, if anyone’s interested. Here’s the link to one of them if any one’s interested. http://www.davidsbookworld.com/
A question, has anyone read Olga Tokaczuk’s The Books of Jacob? And if so, can it be split into two of three separate readings? (It’s over 1,000 pages). Cheers.
Machenbach wrote: "Did it go to the Henley bunch?."Yes, drove it over there, lovely shop and people. More or less parroted what you said re who might want it, they might be left with it unsold, quite a risk they were taking .... But I couldn't help thinking he'd got his hands on such a rare find and in such lovely condition that he'd be silly not to grab it. And he got it for a bit less than your/my estimate but still enough to make quite a big difference to people in Ukraine.
There was no way I was going to keep the proceeds for myself, but the decision as to where they should go was made for me two weeks ago.
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mach has been very quiet, hope all is ok with him and other members who dip in and out. Its a horrible time for Europe and i would be suprised if it is affecting mood and reading time ..."I thought that perhaps Stalin imported Russians to Ukraine (as he did in Kazakhtstan) so I asked google that. Here's what I got - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/hi...
Note - you will get a 'free' read if you sign up for their newsletter.
Andy wrote: "So I managed 2 of the International Booker Longlist. (Same as last year..) Mind, I listed what I had read, and hoped would make it, not a prediction as such. "FWIW, my scepticism regarding literary prizes is reinforced (rather than reduced) by the 'pose with spectacles' taken by the chairman of the judging panel....
CCCubbon wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mach has been very quiet, hope all is ok with him and other members who dip in and out. Its a horrible time for Europe and i would be suprised if it is affecting mood and r..."Did the Courier consider the Bay of Pigs (April '61) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (October '62) as one thing? Very different.
Serhii Plokhy of Ukraine history fame - The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine has also written about the Cuban Missile Crisis - Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis
.PS - I was lucky enough to take a trip to Cuba during that brief period after Obama went there. The Bay of Pigs was an obligatory stop. Quite nothing! But Cuba was fantastic, and so damned poor at the same time.
MK wrote: "Did the Courier consider the Bay of Pigs (April '61) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (October '62) as one thing? Very different.Indeed - some of us are old enough to remember both, as is CCC - maybe the film made some sort of historical link?
Interesting that the USA's hatred for 'commies' was so strong that they preferred a Cuba run by the Mafia. Perhaps some negotiated settlement at the time could have avoided a lot of pain later on (Note - I am no expert on Cuban history, just a codger.)
I've just finishedThe Long Journey Home
by Michael Gilbert which the library catalogs as a mystery, and I put it in the thriller subset. Here we are scrambling up and down the Apennines to evade the murderous Mafia and then the French mob in order to right grievous wrongs. Quite a book - kept me up late.PS - @give - I now have a copy of Eric Newby's Love and War in the Apennines on my TBR pile.
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "Did the Courier consider the Bay of Pigs (April '61) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (October '62) as one thing? Very different.Indeed - some of us are old enough to remember both, as is ..."
I have this childhood memory of my father going to some sort of business convention in Miami? and taking a day trip to Cuba during the Battista era. I think that is where he came to prefer daiquiris.
A very readable Cuban history of the Battista/mob era is Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba & Then Lost it to the Revolution
.And one that chronicles the Cuba and US is Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana
. This one made me gnash my teeth at how the US has used and abused (and continues to do so - think Mario Rubio) Cuba.And when one has had enough non-fiction there's always Telex from Cuba
. (United Fruit plantation setting in Oriente province at revolution time)That is, if you have the time and inclination to divert from the ever present TBR pile.
MK wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "Did the Courier consider the Bay of Pigs (April '61) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (October '62) as one thing? Very different.Indeed - some of us are old enough to r..."
Sorry I seem to have muddled the two up, although both are mentioned in this very good film.
The Courier is an account of what happened to Greville Wynne the Englishman who was a businessman who was persuaded to carry secrets between the Russian generalPenkovsky and the West. Their actions were the source of intelligence that gave the US warning of what was happening in Cuba during both these periods.
Both men were caught and imprisoned in October 62,Penkovsky shot and Wynne exchanged two years later. Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent in the film .
It was while watching this film that the parallels between the times came to mind.
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam, still nothing on why Walser started to write in micro script style from "Walks With Walser".
Its an engrossing slim volume mind you, as he ac..."good to see you around Mach and i wasnt aware that he was writing that small so early!
1mn is quite a feat, i must attempt that later....
I am suprised i missed this in 2017 actually, anything about the life of Walser is never a boring topic and i would have been keen to read it back then. I finished it last night and it was a joy, if tinged with sadness as Seelig describes his death in the snow, that final walk....
I liked the way Seelig writes too, the gentle bonding between two middle aged men over beer and large lunches. How nice that Walser had something to look foward to in those confused asylum years, a patient, kind friend to walk with. (i occasionally walk with a man named Robert in his early 60s, same age gap as Seelig and Walser, 16 years, though i am not sure it would be as interesting reading as "Walks With Walser")
The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili translated from the Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway.
This is a powerful but interminably bleak depiction of life in a residential school for ‘Intellectually Disabled Children’ situated on the outskirts of Tbilisi, in a newly independent Georgia.
It is part of the ‘Closed Universe’ series from Peirene Press.
Most of the children at the school have been abandoned by their parents at a young age. They do not experience complete physical solitude, but they are nonetheless isolated from the world that has left them behind. The protagonist is 18 year old Lela, pupil turned carer, mainly because she has nowhere else to go. The children live out a confined and withdrawn existence that festers with abuse and neglect; fenced in by their remote location and the titular pear field, and simultaneously by their own fears and society’s thoughtless dismissal of their worth.
Ekvtimishvili describes a place that time forgot, and a group of scarred and emotionally damaged children in dire need of protection. The writing is visceral and relentless as the heart-rending, often shocking, events unfold.
Andy wrote: "The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili translated from the Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway. This is a powerful but interminably b..."
i like Peirene, must look this up thanks andy
Next up on my late evening journals/diaries reading, to follow Seeligs writing on walking with Robert Walser, is a very slim non-fiction journal by Graham Greene called "In Search of Character"
It covers two trips to Africa, both which resulted in novels, one of which was "The Heart of the Matter" one of the best Greene novels i have read
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "How nice that Walser had something to look foward to in those confused asylum years, a patient, kind friend to walk with. (i occasionally walk with a man named Robert in his early 60s,..."i agree, he was very different to what i expected too, a prouder,defiant and quite complex
Will google those paintings.....CF Ramuz continues my swiss theme, am reading his novel "Jean Luc Persecuted" from 1909
Just back from the supermarket, where I encountered this children's book on a, to me, surprising subject:
Mod
"This reminds me of an incident when my daughter was 6. The town owns a chateau and park outside Paris where they organise day camp during the holidays. One evening my daughter came back very subdued and then had terrible nightmares. She eventually described the "game" the teenage monitors decided to play with the youngest children. The children were taken into the woods and then chased by des pestiférés, "plague victims" wrapped up in bandages. I was not the only parent to make a strong complaint the following morning!
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam, still nothing on why Walser started to write in micro script style from "Walks With Walser". Its an engrossing slim volume mind you, as he ac..."Thanks for that comment.
AB posted a link to an article in the New Yorker which raised my hackles with the first sentence
....Robert Walser was prolific, schizophrenic, taciturn, and humble...
Nothing in his medical notes suggests that he ever displayed symptoms of schizophrenia. But why would a hack not love to use a buzz-word like that? Chances are your readers will never find out you don't have a clue what it means in the first place.
Then I found:
Yet they also establish Walser as a modernist of sorts: the recycling of materials can make the texts look like collages, modernist mashups toeing the line between mechanical and personal production.
Hm, if that were a cryptic clue in a crossword my answer would be "b****cks".
I had a problem with:
Bernofsky reveals that Walser developed the tiny print as a means of evading writer’s block. In a 1927 letter to a Swiss editor, Walser claimed that his writing was overcome with “a swoon, a cramp, a stupor” that was both “physical and mental” and brought on by the use of a pen; adopting his strange “pencil method” enabled him to “play,” to “scribble, fiddle about.” “The Microscripts” proves that this odd counter-thrust to the deadening stroke of blankness produced surprisingly beautiful objects in their own right.
Not the last sentence, mind. That could easily be filed under b****cks as well..
I just couldn't imagine Susan Bernofsky reducing Walsers words to the platitudinous "writer's block". Thanks for putting my mind at rest by confirming my hunch.
The first appearance of his micrograms was indeed found in a letter to his sister Fanny in 1904 (or 1902).
I love Sebalds essay on Walser. Because I think Sebald was one of the few people who had the right feeling: that the person Walser was too elusive, too ephemeral to be nailed down. Nobody will ever manage to do that, I think.
Georg wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam, still nothing on why Walser started to write in micro script style from "Walks With Walser". Its an engrossing slim volume..."Interesting Georg, have you read "Walks with Walser"? I think you will like it
AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili translated from the Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway. This is a powerful but i..."
The other two in the series are Ankomst and Snow, Dog, Foot. I’ve read the first which is good. Must get on to the Morandini at some stage.
They do put out some really good stuff. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed AB.
For the history mystery lovers here I have just come across another author :https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/ch...
I have just read The Crooked Spire set (no surprise) in Chesterfield. John the carpenter arrives in the town looking for work and is taken on at the church. Within days he gets to work and finds the body of the foreman. He starts helping the local coroner to look for the murderer. Further murders take place and someone doesn't want him poking his nose in.
For lovers of the Cadfael series I am sure this will suit and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a popular artist in the 19th Century, but fell into disregard. The only thing that I knew about him was a mention in "The Sign of Four" (Thaddeus Sholto owned a Bouguereau) and another mention in What's Bred in the Bone. (Robertson Davies' central character, Frank Cornish, opines that Bouguereau had remarkable technique, but wasn't a great artist.)However, a site that I belong to is run by a fan of 19th Century art, and I've discovered that I rather like William-Adolphe Bouguereau. I'm posting a sample.
I had never heard of Robert Walser until I noticed a couple of volumes when I was in the bookshop last weekend, and now there's all this talk of him here. Where should one start (I can't remember which titles they had)?Btw, having mentioned the bookshop and in the spirit of recommending independents, and maybe people will be able to travel and visit one day, I was in Ark Books on Møllegade. Achingly hip(ster) but with an always interesting stock:
http://arkbooks.dk
In the meantime, Pontopiddan is going well.
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Ersatz TLS
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I’m keen on Salt Lick.
But wanted to give a shout for This One Sky Day by [author..."
yes, good timing,....its been a bad few years....painful to watch at times, especially the Ashes