Tag Archives: literature

Subsolar

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 ) In an autobiographical fragment, Mark Twain … Continue reading

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Leftness

Have I ever mounted a bicycle from the right? No, and I do not recall seeing anyone else do it. “Why do you ask?” I ask myself. Blame it on The Third Policemen—specifically, the fecund imagination (or is it boundless … Continue reading

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Bottled

The Cleveland classical radio station WCLV made me do it, twenty years ago. In the month preceding Valentine’s Day in 1997, they kept reading a love poem by a British poet laureate and asking: “Can you write something that good?” … Continue reading

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Memory

I had to memorize this in high school: (though not in this format).

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Nots

To kick off the new year, here’s a story by a Russian writer with a very Polish name: Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky. I’m just starting to explore his works, only a few of which have appeared in English. I thought I’d add … Continue reading

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Twofer

Happy Bloomsday, everyone! And what a lucky day it is. A tweet from uchicagomag (the University of Chicago alumni magazine) led to this wonderful photo showing two of my most favorite things: Looks like she’s absorbed in Molly’s soliloquy. “Yes” … Continue reading

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Georgious

Not many notes have been emanating from the basement recently. A lot has been happening upstairs, but the excitement generated there is unlikely to be of particular interest to you. And of course something big is afoot in the world … Continue reading

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Relaxing

The lefty blogs have gone so batscheiss crazy over the fact that Clinton is still in the race, it’s impossible to read them. So, for some weeks now, I haven’t. It’s very pleasant. I finally got around to reading a … Continue reading

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Shanty

Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest, Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum … I always imagined fifteen guys stomping up and down on some poor guy’s chest. Maybe I’m the only one—I never really checked with anyone else. Well, … Continue reading

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Plagiarism

The recent news coverage of Barack Obama’s supposed “plagiarism” stirred up once again the confused pot of ideas I have or seem to have about originality and the overselling of same in the form of “intellectual property rights.” Due to … Continue reading

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