Chris Via > Recent Status Updates

While the Charles Martin is perfectly lucid and readable, I greatly prefer the Mandelbaum!

https://lithub.com/announcing-themyst...

Honorable mention and a signed copy of the novel—what a great day!

A harsh call to the former glory of classical times, which often reminds me of Rimbaud's poem << Soleil et chair >> : Ô Vénus, ô Déesse !
Je regrette les temps de l’antique jeunesse. Every word is infused with power that reminds me of the best of Melville ("Give me a condor's quill! Give me Vesuvius' crater for an inkstand!").

“Raise the fallen / since the living sleep. Rearm the dead tongues of our pristine heroes....”

Cherry blossoms, harvest moons, autumn winds.

So far, I'm about 50:50 on better aesthetics between TPT:KJV. I do love the exorbitant footnotes to the original Greek and Aramaic.

What a delight, a feast!

Almost the page after my last update, the book to a turn for the better. In fact, the last 200pp have yielded a lot to love. Nathan Gaddis was right—Nina and Dia are far from the best characters (Nuno, The Theorist, the priest). I hope this steam continues through this last leg.

As much as it pains me to say so, this book is becoming a grind of a read. I had to flip through the final sections to make sure Dia and Nina continue to surface (this duo makes the read).

I'll probably be picking through this one for a few months, but, so far, pure Vidal.

You know the survivors at the end of Fahrenheit 451 who are committed to memorizing and reciting books? I’m pretty sure Michael Dirda is one of them.

The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding (12).

OK, I knew this was a highly lauded work of literary criticism, but--WOW--I had no idea it was at this level. Phenomenal.

Finally getting around to this classic.

Stay gold, Ponyboy.

'That engine's never going to be put back on any track, from the looks of it.'
'But...but it's got to move us!'
'It can't.'

Finally settling into this gold standard work of literary criticism. Phenomenal opening essay (“Odysseus’ Scar”) that compares the Homeric poems with the Old Testament (particularly the story of the “sacrifice” of Isaac to conclude a contrast between “foregrounding” and “backgrounding.”

Lunch break success: an Ethiopian pour-over and these sonorous, numinous poems.

Plantinga v. Dennett

Plantinga v. Dennett