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Meta
Tag Archives: reading
RIP: David Markson (1927-2010)
[CC licensed photo by adm] David Markson passed away last Friday. I have recently had reason to think about Markson’s work, in particular Wittgenstein’s Mistress, which—like many—I came to thanks to David Foster Wallace’s high praise. At the time I … Continue reading
Reading Log: Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare)
Julius Caesar is a play with three– count ‘em three– central protagonists. There is Caesar himself, of course, whose presence remains (literally, at one point) despite being brutally murdered halfway through the play… as Caesar himself puts it just before … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged 101010 challenge, books, julius caesar, reading, william shakespeare
1 Comment
Thoughts on James Joyce’s “Clay”
In Joyce’s story “Clay,” Maria is the clay—completely molded by events outside herself. None of Maria’s emotions originate from within herself… each is a reaction to the needs or emotion of someone else: she’d rather not take a gift, but … Continue reading
from “The Well of Lonliness” (Radclyffe Hall)
“Krafft-Ebing—she had never of that author before. All the same she opened the battered old book, then she looked more closely, for there on its margins were notes in her father’s small, scholarly hand and she saw that her own … Continue reading
on Noise, Interference, and Handwriting (Marjorie Perloff)
“…noise is not only incidental, but essential to communication. … If, for example, a letter is written in careless or illegible script, there is interference in the reading process, which is to say that noise slows down communication.” –Marjorie Perloff … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged aesthetics, cpb, handwriting, marjorie perloff, reading, Writing
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on Praising Difficult Poems (Stephen Dunn)
“When people praise a poem that I can’t understand I always think they’re lying.” [Boy do I understand this suspicion] –Stephen Dunn
Joyce’s “A Little Cloud”
Joyce’s “A Little Cloud” is structurally interesting— consider Little Chandler and Gallaher as parallel to Corley and Lenehan—and were I back in school writing post-structuralist criticism of the kind understandable only to a small inner-circle of other students of post-structuralist … Continue reading
Thoughts on Joyce’s “The Boarding House”
They call Mrs. Mooney, rather ambiguously, “The Madam.” A term of respect for making something of her shambolic circumstances, but also a none-too-subtle allusion to the fact that she is essentially prostituting her daughter. Polly wants a new life through … Continue reading
Limerick for “Two Gallants”
“Two Gallants” didn’t do much for me… feels like a series of symbols in search of a story. So here’s a metrically challenged limerick (seemed like the appropriate form) in honor of the “The Two Gallants” and the two gallants: … Continue reading
OUCH
I know this comment was a compliment… yet it illustrates the fundamental divide in the person I once was (and want to be again) and the person I’ve become, despite my efforts. No poetry.
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, motleyread
Tagged motleyread, poetry, Psyche, reading, Writing
3 Comments
A Thought on Joyce’s “After the Race”
There are a few things that strike me about this story, but I’m going to talk about just two. First, the punny title. Yes, there’s a race. But isn’t Joyce also commenting on the Irish people and how they always … Continue reading
Thoughts on Joyce’s “Eveline”
A “creature” “burning with anguish and anger.” Wearing a straitjacket. “Passive, like a helpless animal.” Paralysis. Eveline looks to God for an answer to what shouldn’t be any kind of dilemma but finds none. No surprise, this being Joyce. In … Continue reading
Reading Log: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)
I’ve had The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my shelf since it was first released (a spontaneous purchase courtesy of a significant sale price and a prominent floor display). I’d tried to get into it at least three times … Continue reading
Reading Log: Matter (Iain M. Banks)
Matter, the latest novel in Iain M. Banks’s speculative fiction series (loosely defined) set in the far-future, inter-galactic world of the “Culture” is a glorious mess. On the glorious side are all the things I’ve liked—and sometimes loved—about the other … Continue reading
Big News: Jacket2
This is big news for poetry readers… Jacket magazine is being retired, to be succeeded by Jacket2, in coordination with PennSound: Dear friends: We are writing with news of a transition we both deem very exciting. By the end of … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged jacket, jacket2, poetry, publications, reading
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Thoughts on Joyce’s “Araby”
The language! On his deathbed, Jack Spicer’s last words were “My vocabulary did this to me!” I think Spicer meant vocabulary in the broadest sense, the way that those who possess (and obsess) over language are inhabited by it, the … Continue reading
Thoughts on Joyce’s “An Encounter”
Joyce apparently said many times that Dubliners is meant to be more like a novel than a collection of individual stories. At the same time, he also spoke to the process of writing Dubliners as one of gnomon, which Wikipedia … Continue reading
Thoughts on Joyce’s “The Sisters”
I have to remind myself that Dubliners was intended, as I understand it, to be closer to a novel than a collection of individual stories. It was certainly written to be read as a whole, which can make it problematic … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, motleyread
Tagged books, dubliners, james joyce, motleyread, reading
5 Comments
Join the Motley Reading of Joyce’s Dubliners
[CC licensed image by reillyandrew] Today begins a motley reading of James Joyce’s Dubliners by a shaggy collective connective group network. Its easy for to join in the fun if you’d like!