As I suspected my energy for writing in August was diverted to more important things. Plenty of energy to read, though.
With a respite in September, I should soon be able to write
a bit on the Greek philosophers I have been reading. The Cynics, Epicureans, and Stoics work well
as a cluster. Then later a bit on
Plutarch and the little philosophy project is a wrap.
PHILOSOPHY
Meditations (c. 180), Marcus Aurelius
Philosophy in the Hellenistic & Roman Worlds (2015),
Peter Adamson
FICTION
A Universal History of Infamy (1935) &
The Aleph (1949), Jorge Luis Borges
Invitation to a Beheading (1936), Vladimir Nabokov
The Man Who Loved Children (1940), Christina Stead –
all right I see why some readers can’t stomach this book, with its intensely
annoying title character (and the mother is not much better). I loved it, but I don’t blame anyone who gets
a little ways in and says “No.”
The Wide Net and Other Stories (1943), Eudora Welty
The Leaning Tower and Other Stories (1944), Katherine
Anne Porter
If on a winter's night a traveler (1979), Italo
Calvino – I may have mentioned an upcoming trip to Italy. Well, that ain’t happening. But I’ve had a great time pawing through
Italian literature this summer, whether revisiting a masterpiece like this one
or:
1934 (1982), Alberto Moravia – laughing through a
piece of nonsense like this one, which may be a good-bad book, most enjoyable
as it becomes increasingly crazy. How
are Moravia’s other books? I picked this
one because of the time period in the title.
POETRY
You Will Hear Thunder (1912-66), Anna Akhmatova
Poems (1935) &
The Earth Compels (1938) &
Autumn Journal (1939) &
Plant and Phantom (1941) &
Springboard (1944) &
Holes in the Sky (1948), Louis MacNeice – I was going
to read the superb Autumn Journal, and
then why not his other poems of the 1930s, and since I enjoyed those so
much why not his poems of the 1940s. This
is not a great way to absorb a poet – my retention will likely be terrible –
but I had a good time. The dangers of a
giant, unwieldy Complete Poems.
With Teeth in the Earth (1949-85), Malka Heifetz
Tussman – many thanks to an anonymous commenter for recommending this charming
Yiddish-American poet.
IN FRENCH
Journal, 1928-1932, André Gide
Le Képi (1943), Colette – four late, long short
stories, all good, all in the English Collected Stories. Always a pleasure to hang out with Colette.
Glad you're writing again.
ReplyDeleteI have not read MacNeice's Autumn Journal and it's time I did.
ReplyDeleteI read Moravia's Contempt a few years ago. It's like a sad, inverted Odyssey, with a reluctant Odysseus making his way to Penelope. Very uncomfortable, pretty good.
ReplyDeleteAlso, please survive whatever is happening to you.
It's nice to hear from you; I'm sorry your energy has been low and especially that the Italy trip is off (for now?).
ReplyDeleteCount me among those who got a little way into the Stead and said "no." You've known me long enough not, probably, to be surprised by that.
I value privacy and do not want to overshare or be too egotistical, but at the same time in real life my health problems are not any kind of secret. I don't want to be coy.
ReplyDeleteSurgery is scheduled for mid-October, so perhaps I will write something before the big event. Might help clear my head. Right now I'll just say that it has been a summer of doctors. All excess energy, of which there was not a lot, went to doctors and tests and waiting rooms. Excess, of course, beyond what was necessary for reading.
Italy again someday, but the October trip is gone. For next time, I'll need more books, like more Moravia - thanks for the description. Sounds quite different than the Godard film, as I had guessed.
Autumn Journal is a great pleasure to me, but I find MacNeice to be a friendly presence. The mix of daily like and dread (the autumn, to those who do not know, is that of 1939) is fascinating.
Stead's novel is a triumph of annoyingness, a record-setter. It has some sections that provide some relief, but not many. It mostly just becomes worse and worse, a high-strung comic novel of spousal and child abuse.
Anyway, thanks for all the kind words.