A Momentary Taste of Being

Hüm (Noun) Jen Hadfield

I don't often review music here, largely because I lack the full critical apparatus to say why something is good or not so good.  But this album so fine and so unusual a treatment of its subject matter that it seemed worthy of bringing to your attention. As many are aware, the trend in modern classical music recently has been away from the very austere and mathematically driven compositions of serialism and other "avant garde" schools of producing sound back to a kind of tonalism--polytonalism (Philip Glass, Symphony No. 2 is bitonal), microtonalism (heard in Raga, Gamelan music, and Ligeti claimed to compose in a kind of microtonalism). This exposition of the Passion according to Saint Mark is fully tonal and includes all sorts of musical gneres.  For those used to the vaulted cathedrals of the Bach Passions or even the Penderecki Passion According to Saint Luke, this work may not be welcome.  It is unapologetically the music of the streets--guitar, percussion, voi...

A list of ten funny novels with short reviews for your delectation and delight.

James Patterson and David Mitchell together again for the first time. And James Wood reviews The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Mookse and the Gripes reviews The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne A truly wonderful book.  And one that I associate (though thematically they couldn't be further apart) with The Prime of Miss Jean Brody because their cinematic representation was effected through the wonderful and talented Maggie Smith.

The Passing of Beryl Bainbridge whose books I have much admired--but who for some reason I lumped with Elspeth Huxley and Isak Dinesin in the Out of Africa vein  (I had mistakenly associated The Flame Trees of Thika with her.)

I remember liking this very much in college and my recollection of the line of the story was quite vague, so I wanted to reacquaint myself with it.  And what I can say of it is the Death in Venice is a book by a young man that is best appreciated by young men.  The concerns and themes of the novel are such that I left off reading with a sense of, "Well isn't that quaint."  All of the angst and the sturm und drang about art and the purpose of art and the artist as person and the artist as artist--in the light of the remainder of the 20th Century (this was published in 1911) is simply irrelevant.  That said of the book presents us with a quaint artifact of the passions of the early 20th century. On the other hand--the read them--the prescient and exceedingly creepy theme of leibestod--often identified with the "homoerotic" element of the story remains powerful and awful--particularly in light of where this particular Germanic obsession wound up in history.  Whi...

Over at Times Flow Stemmed Kevin asked if there were authors who might eventually make the five who were not there yet  And I have answers both contemporary (presently less than 5 that I'm aware of) and past (more than 5 but I just caught on): on the contemporary side: I heartily endorse and agree with Anthony at Times Flow Stemmed in my first Yiyun Li Maaza Mengiste Uwem Akpan Arvinda Adiga Helen Simonson Julie Orringer (a review of whose book should be forthcoming) Zoe Heller Chimamanda Ngozi Adiechie Jhumpa Lahiri Rohinton Mistry (He may have 5 that I've read, but I can only recall 4) Diane Setterfield Recent but new to me: J. M. G. LeClézio Imre Kertesz Jonathan Tropper Amelie Nothomb Maeve Brennan (although I'm not certain she has 5) List of Writers for whom I would have 5 if they did: Madeleine St. John Charlotte Bronte Anne Bronte

I didn't realize how long the list would be, and worse, I find myself calling to mind on a more or less continual basis other authors whose work I forgot yesterday--and even typing this, yet another came to mind--Jane Yolen--how could one forget "The Devil's Arithmetic?" among others? Kara Dalkey, Kage Baker, Connie Willis. All of these with more than five. And I think Naomi Novik may be up to five at this point--I can recall the titles of four--but I think we're at five. And in response to one comment, I've only made it through half of one of the Patrick O'Brien series despite having it recommended by the most unassailable sources. I just can't work up the enthusiasm necessary for the overall topic. I find the same problem with the spy genre which is why, except for Helen MacInnes, you don't see anyone in that field--although Frederick Forsyth and Ken Follett (mostly because of his two historical novels) approach the number. I've only...

Inspired by the post I noted yesterday and this one from Time's Flow Stemmed , I'm going to share my list of most-read authors--and I must confess it's something of an embarrassment, and there are occasions on which I don't have an exact count, so I cluster all of the complete works authors somewhere near the top. These all represent reading from High School: no poetry, plays, or works prior to the Time of Shakespeare. I guess, just for sanity's sake, I'll also exclude nonfiction by authors other than those whose fiction I'm counting--thus I'll include C.S. Lewis nonfiction in the count, but I won't count Thomas Merton, or Pope John Paul II, or St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, etc. Agatha Christie--Complete Fiction 60-70? John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson--Complete Works 50-60? Rex Stout--Complete Fiction--40? Ellery Queen (original cousins, not house name)--40? John M. McDonald--30 Mary Roberts Rinehart--30 A.A. Fair/Erle Stanle...

From The Commonplace Blog: earlier this week Christopher Hitchens canceled a series of speaking engagements.  Hitchens has announced that he is undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. . Despite my own strong dislike of some of his views and pronouncements, I must join with the blogkeeper at The Commonplace Blog that to lose such a vibrant and integral and challenging voice would be a tremendous loss.  And sneer or not, I will add a prayer for Mr. Hitchens's recovery to my daily round.  I encourage all of my believing friends and readers to do likewise--and those who are not believers, I encourage you to express your solidarity with this unfortunate change in circumstances in whatever ways are most appropriate.

A comment from the blogkeeper at Underbelly (thank you Buce) inspired me to look this up.  I was fairly certain that I had reviewed the book in the recent past, and so I discovered this.  a good book is worth appreciation--over and over and over again. Also, while you are appreciating, you might want to take in Underbelly's look at Helena as well.    La Belle Hélène on March 18, 2005 8:11 AM In reading Helena last night I stumbled across a large number of passages I would like to share. But I thought the more important thing to share was an observation. Evelyn Waugh liked this best among his books. There are a good many reasons why this might be so: it is splendidly written--both the prose and the coherence are several notches above some of his earlier, more frenetic work. It is tightly done, with just the right strokes and exactly the right selection of detail. But I suspect the reason Waugh prized this above all the other works is that in t...

from Sonnets from the Portuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning X Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright, Let temple burn, or flax; and equal light Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed: And love is fire. And when I say at need I love thee ... mark! ... I love thee--- in thy sight I stand transfigured, glorified aright, With conscience of the new rays that proceed Out of my face toward thine. There's nothing low In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures Who love God, God accepts while loving so. And what I feel, across the inferior features Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show How that great work of Love enhances Nature's. We continue to wander, slowly, through The Sonnets from the Portuguese .  And I would venture to guess that if you are the average reader, the pace at which we progress is probably just right--not too much poetry to have to deal with in a day.  But one a day (or l...

The Reading Ape discusses the new iPhone as eReader

The Bizarre Ranks of the Most Read Look for something similar in the near future.

I thought I was the last remaining person to have read and know about William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki.   I have the books in collectable Arkham House editions, and while Hodgson is not generally high on my list of readable fantasists--some of these stories are quite good.

Books that win prizes, genres that don't Petrona touches on one, but those of us who are longtime fans of SF wonder why the likes of Doris Lessing gets praise for the Canopus in Argos archives (Middling books, and as science fiction, nothing thrilling) whereas Mary Doria Russell's The Swallow gets virtually ignored despite the compelling "universal" things it has to say.  It's an old gripe, but one that never loses its validity.  Let us hope that it will in the future.

A list of pre-admission reading for various colleges What is most disheartening about this list is that while it includes some worthwhile books, it certainly does not include much, if anything, that I would consider foundational for an understanding of literature.  Certainly it may include things that a hundred years in the future might provide that foundation, but it points to the essential rootlessness and thoughtlessness of the way students are educated today.  It makes me glad to embrace our decision to homeschool.  The colleges may not require Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Austen, or Woolf, but our house (with the possible exception of the last, which is probably a bit advanced for upper high-school) certainly shall.

Links following links following links, led me to an interesting, if dense paper on music theory touching on one of my least favorite composers of the twentieth century--Pierre Boulez.  Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems--Fred Lerdahl

Unaccountably, this post on blackberries put me in mind of my first foray into the land of Finnegans Wake during which time I composed the following bon mot and felt something like Little Jack Horner--it was the first time I had composed a pun in a language other than my own. Les mûrs mûres murmurent sur la mûr mur. In fact, the phrase, particularly the latter part can be read in a number of different ways--worn wall, or, my preferred given that it was Wakeian, drunken (plastered) wall.