Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Literature’ Category

Fairytales for the 21st century: Quotes from June

Posted in Literature, Quotes from the month, tagged , , , , , on 12 July, 2010 | 3 Comments »

In June, I read two fairytales for the men and women of the early 21st century: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire, the first two instalments of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. Larsson, following only a marginally more sophisticated “write-by-numbers” syllabus than the one Dan Brown used, gives us [...]

Read Full Post »

Diary of a Nobody

Posted in Literature, tagged , , , , , on 18 June, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

No, it’s not another blog.  It’s the book written in 1892 by the London brothers, George and Weedon Grossmith who aspired in their youth to be a barrister and a portrait painter respectively, but … became professional comedians. It’s also the perfect riposte to the Kindle and the iPad which I knew must exist somewhere. [...]

Read Full Post »

The lads’ mag, 1849-style

Posted in Literature, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 21 May, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Two unlikely bedfellows share a boat down the Nile in 1849: one, the very laddish Gustave Flaubert, setting out on what becomes a tour of Egyptian brothels; the other, Florence Nightingale, searching for a clue about where her future lies.  Within seven years, both will be famous. ***** How delicious!  Not only was Flaubert sailing [...]

Read Full Post »

What Women Want

Posted in Literature, Philosophy and culture, Women who've carried the day, tagged , , , , on 21 March, 2010 | 10 Comments »

Going through some old notes the other day I found a copy of the parable of Gawain and the Lady Ragnell.  I first read this story six years ago and each time I come across it – as time passes and my understanding of my womanhood develops — I get something afresh.  And each time [...]

Read Full Post »

Germaine and The Monthly

Posted in Literature, On writing, Philosophy and culture, Status of women, tagged , , , , on 10 March, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Until last week I thought The Monthly benign, mostly harmless, occasionally stimulating. Sure, it published articles by male writers over articles by female writers in a ratio of 4:1, and had a tendency towards husband-and-wife writing sinecures.  But if it wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t uncommon either (especially as some of my readers and me discovered when [...]

Read Full Post »

“A nasty little subject”: Quotes from February

Posted in How to live, Literature, Philosophy and culture, Quotes from the month, tagged , , , , , , on 7 March, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Somewhere in The Western Canon, Harold Bloom, the Yale English professor who in the 90s made the decision – probably shrewder than it was brave – to oppose postmodernism and defend the castle instead, says that Shakespeare “invented” the modern human. Moreover, Shakespeare invented the modern human by virtue of one neat trick: the device [...]

Read Full Post »

33 rules for writing fiction

Posted in Literature, On writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 4 March, 2010 | 6 Comments »

The Guardian recently asked a long list of authors to nominate their ten rules for writing fiction.  Here are 33 of the best (note, rules of blog writing: always use a kooky number): 1. Read it aloud to yourself because that’s the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are [...]

Read Full Post »

The real Tolstoy

Posted in Literature, tagged , , on 8 February, 2010 | 8 Comments »

Further to the post about the last days of Tolstoy and the upcoming film, The Last Station, here’s some rare footage showing the man himself in the period just before his death in 1910.  Accompanied by Tchaikovsky, we can see it all: grandchildren pulling faces, sleighs, pines, railway stations, fawning retinues, Sophia, and what must be his [...]

Read Full Post »

“I love you, but …” Quotes from January

Posted in Literature, Quotes from the month, tagged , , , , , , , , on 3 February, 2010 | 8 Comments »

Dear Marukami san, I love you, but … WHAT HAPPENED WITH KAFKA ON THE SHORE? True, Mr Nakata has an excellent character, and his first conversation with Otsuka, the “elderly black tomcat,”  is very enjoyable.  And the episode with the school teacher having an erotic dream of her husband and it all getting mixed up in her [...]

Read Full Post »

Life and death at the railway station

Posted in Literature, tagged , , , , , on 1 February, 2010 | 23 Comments »

When literature possesses a Tolstoy, it is easy and pleasant to be a writer; even when you know you have achieved nothing yourself and are still achieving nothing, this is not as terrible as it might otherwise be, because Tolstoy achieves for everyone. Trust Chekhov to get it exactly right.  He puts his finger on [...]

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »