180 books
—
40 voters
to-read
(772)
currently-reading (6)
read (610)
novel (510)
united-states-and-canada (453)
united-kingdom-and-ireland (370)
fantasy (278)
historical-fiction (117)
reviewed (107)
crime (94)
history (94)
currently-reading (6)
read (610)
novel (510)
united-states-and-canada (453)
united-kingdom-and-ireland (370)
fantasy (278)
historical-fiction (117)
reviewed (107)
crime (94)
history (94)
for-children
(90)
collections-and-compendiums (87)
comics (87)
horror (86)
biography (67)
poetry (65)
comedy (56)
short-story (56)
drama (54)
theology (49)
thriller (46)
collections-and-compendiums (87)
comics (87)
horror (86)
biography (67)
poetry (65)
comedy (56)
short-story (56)
drama (54)
theology (49)
thriller (46)
Lance said:
"
For the past six years, I have kept my copy of John Truby’s Anatomy of Story almost perpetually at hand, constantly referring back to it and using its suggested exercises to keep track of my novel’s characters, theme, and plot. Truby’s insistence on
...more
"
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
―
―
“Why is Melancholy like Honey? Because it is very sweet, and it is culled from Flowers.”
― Lud-in-the-Mist
― Lud-in-the-Mist
“In this sense the Dionysian man resembles Hamlet: both have once looked truly into the essence of things, they have gained knowledge, and nausea inhibits action; for their action could not change anything in the eternal nature of things; they feel it to be ridiculous or humiliating that they should be asked to set right a world that is out of joint. Knowledge kills action; action requires the veils of illusion: that is the doctrine of Hamlet, not that cheap wisdom of Jack the Dreamer who reflects too much and, as it were, from an excess of possibilities does not get around to action. Not reflection, no--true knowledge, an insight into the horrible truth, outweighs any motive for action, both in Hamlet and in the Dionysian man.
Now no comfort avails any more; longing transcends a world after death, even the gods; existence is negated along with its glittering reflection in the gods or in an immortal beyond. Conscious of the truth he has once seen, man now sees everywhere only the horror or absurdity of existence; now he understands what is symbolic in Ophelia's fate; now he understands the wisdom of the sylvan god, Silenus: he is nauseated.
Here, when the danger to his will is greatest, art approaches as a saving sorceress, expert at healing. She alone knows how to turn these nauseous thoughts about the horror or absurdity of existence into notions with which one can live: these are the sublime as the artistic taming of the horrible, and the comic as the artistic discharge of the nausea of absurdity. The satyr chorus of the dithyramb is the saving deed of Greek art; faced with the intermediary world of these Dionysian companions, the feelings described here exhausted themselves.”
― The Birth of Tragedy / The Case of Wagner
Now no comfort avails any more; longing transcends a world after death, even the gods; existence is negated along with its glittering reflection in the gods or in an immortal beyond. Conscious of the truth he has once seen, man now sees everywhere only the horror or absurdity of existence; now he understands what is symbolic in Ophelia's fate; now he understands the wisdom of the sylvan god, Silenus: he is nauseated.
Here, when the danger to his will is greatest, art approaches as a saving sorceress, expert at healing. She alone knows how to turn these nauseous thoughts about the horror or absurdity of existence into notions with which one can live: these are the sublime as the artistic taming of the horrible, and the comic as the artistic discharge of the nausea of absurdity. The satyr chorus of the dithyramb is the saving deed of Greek art; faced with the intermediary world of these Dionysian companions, the feelings described here exhausted themselves.”
― The Birth of Tragedy / The Case of Wagner
“Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest.”
―
―
“There is a commonplace book argument,
Which glibly glides from every vulgar tongue
When any dare a new light to present:
'If you are right, then everybody's wrong.'
Suppose the converse of this precedent
So often urged, so loudly and so long:
'If you are wrong, then everybody's right.'
Was ever everybody yet so quite?”
― Don Juan
Which glibly glides from every vulgar tongue
When any dare a new light to present:
'If you are right, then everybody's wrong.'
Suppose the converse of this precedent
So often urged, so loudly and so long:
'If you are wrong, then everybody's right.'
Was ever everybody yet so quite?”
― Don Juan
Lance’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Lance’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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