February 2012
11 posts
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Malloy vs. Molloy
First, one of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard, courtesy the Smithsonian’s consistently fantastic history blog, Past Imperfect: “The Man Who Wouldn’t Die.” It begins:
The plot was conceived over a round of drinks. One afternoon in July 1932, Francis Pasqua, Daniel Kriesberg and Tony Marino sat in Marino’s eponymous speakeasy and raised their glasses, sealing...
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Three Photos of Colette: William Gass →
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“But what attitude do cats adopt? Cats are just that: cats. And their world is...”
– Rainer Maria Rilke, from the preface to Mitsou. Translated by Richard Miller.
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“Take dogs: the admiration and trust evidenced in their approaches to us often...”
– Rainer Maria Rilke, from the preface to Mitsou. Translated by Richard Miller.
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“Does anyone know cats? Do you, for example, think that you do? I must admit I...”
– Rainer Maria Rilke, from the preface to Mitsou. Translated by Richard Miller.
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January 2012
31 posts
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Checking Out by Avi Steinberg →
Porn books and librarians have always had a passionate, mutually defining relationship—it was, in fact, a prudish French librarian in the early nineteenth century who coined the word pornography. So it comes as no surprise that the sexy librarian, a fixture of the pornographic imagination, is most at home in books. Each year, new titles are added to the librarian-porn bookshelf. This past...
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In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women... →
igetakickoutofbrew:
January 29, 2012- May 6,2012
Oh wow, this exhibit looks amazing!
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Eric Klineberg on Going Solo →
In the book I argue that the spike of living alone has played a large and overlooked role in revitalizing cities, because singletons are so likely to go out in the world, to be in cafes and restaurants, to volunteer in civic organizations, to attend lectures and concerts, to spend time in parks and other public spaces. They have played a big role in reanimating central cities. People who...
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Last exit to Llanview: Michael Malone looks back... →
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“After I learned how to read I liked to copy pictures and trace them and I still...”
– Lynda Barry, from Blabber Blabber Blabber: Volume 1 of Everything
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I would like to read something by Colette this year. Any recommendations?
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“An aristocracy of swans pushed haughtily through a commonality of ducks and a...”
– from “Badger,” as printed in The Drummer of the Eleventh North Devonshire Fusiliers by Guy Davenport
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Imaginary Danish Books
How To Be Sure As To What Is And What Isn’t
The Doll’s Guide to Existentialism
If This, Then What?
You Are More Miserable Than You Think You Are
[This is a list of the books that Belinda the doll sees in the window of a Copenhagen bookshop, in Guy Davenport’s story “Belinda’s World Tour.” Belinda notes “the Danes are melancholy and drink lots of...
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“Yet Kafka’s stay in the city was not utterly bleak; hence the first of my...”
– Mark Harman in “Missing Persons: Two Little Riddles About Kafka and Berlin” via the Kafka Project.
Guy Davenport wrote a story about this episode called “Belinda’s World Tour.”
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December 2011
16 posts
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“Though Mr. Jubber presented, to all appearance, the most scoundrelly aspect that...”
– Wilkie Collins, in Hide and Seek (1854).
Hooray for Wilkie Collins villains! The phrase “climax of blackguard perfection” is my new favorite. A few paragraphs hence Mr. Jubber says accusingly, “What do you mean by enticing away my Mysterious Foundling?” I love it.
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Victorian Cribbage Lingo
From Hide and Seek by Wilkie Collins (1854):
Zack took Mrs. Blyth’s advice, and sat down by her, with his back towards the cribbage players.
“Well, the question is, What present am I to give her?” he went on. “I’ve been twisting and turning it over in my mind, and the long and the short of it is—”
(“Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair’s...
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