![]() ![]() As always with a classic, I can only write my response to it and I won’t pretend to analyse anything that more literate people have analysed before me. Mann really spent time in Venice in 1911 and he said lots of things included in Death in Venice are true. Thoughts about literature and the role of writers in society, art and homosexuality. Where will that lead him?ĭeath in Venice was written in 1912 and Thomas Mann manages to pack a lot of things in his novella. The novella describes Aschenbach’s growing obsession to the young Tadzio. Aschenbach thinks Tadzio is about 14 and he finds him very attractive. He’s Polish and he’s also on holiday with his family. He stays at a hotel at the Lido and sees a young adolescent, Tadzio. On a whim, he decides to go to Venice on holiday. He lives a quiet and rather solitary life, working on his books. Gustav Aschenbach is a famous and ageing writer. So I did the translations myself which isn’t easy with that kind of prose. So I decided to re-read Death in Venice by Thomas Mann.ĭisclaimer: I have read this in French and I tried to find an English translation of the quotes I wanted to use in this post but I didn’t find any. I happened to be in Venice in November, during German Lit Month. ![]() Translated by Félix Bertaux and Charles Sigwalt. Death in Venice (1912) by Thomas Mann (1875-1955) French title: La mort à Venise. ![]()
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![]() ![]() He never allowed a cliché to pass him, never indulgently or wearily went on, leaving behind him a phrase which almost expressed his meaning. Less perhaps than any other writer, not of France, but of modern Europe, Flaubert yields admission to the inexact, the abstract, the vaguely inapt expression which is the bane of ordinary methods of composition. That he was one of the greatest writers who ever lived in France is now commonly admitted, and his greatness principally depends upon the extraordinary vigour and exactitude of his style. ![]() One of the most severe of academic critics admits that in all his works, and in every page of his works, Flaubert may be considered a model of style. His private letters show that he was not one of those to whom easy and correct language is naturally given he gained his extraordinary perfection with the unceasing sweat of his brow. It cannot be said that his incessant labors were not rewarded. He worked in sullen solitude, sometimes occupying a week in the completion of one page, never satisfied with what he had composed, violently tormenting his brain for the best turn of a phrase, the most absolutely final adjective. He was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie Region of France.įlaubert's curious modes of composition favored and were emphasized by these peculiarities. Gustave Flaubert is counted among the greatest Western novelists. ![]() ![]() ![]() As I watched, three of the attackers fell on Tars Tarkas. Tars Tarkas and his warriors were under attack from another tribe of green warriors. He had been as kind to me as a green Martian can be.Īs I stood watching him, a rifle fired in the distance, then another and another. ![]() JOHN CARTER: The huge green warrior Tars Tarkas came slowly toward me with his thin sword. John Carter continues to tell what happens in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ story, “A Princess of Mars.” The Princess and Sola must flee while John Carter tries to slow the green warriors who are chasing them. Paul Thompson and Mario Ritter produced it.Ī short time later, John Carter, the Princess and their friend, the green Martian woman Sola, attempt to escape rather than face death. Paul Thompson adapted this story for VOA Learning English. He also saw the beautiful Princess Dejah Thoris being captured after the battle. Last week, we told how John Carter observed a fierce battle between the green Martians and a race of red, human-like creatures. Editor's note: This is the fourth in our series of programs called “A Princess of Mars.” The story is from a series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. ![]() ![]() Beren was a mortal man on the run from the first Dark Lord Morgoth.īeren and Lúthien plighting their troth within Doriath, by Kip Rasmussen Their relationship was unlikely from the beginning: Lúthien was not only the cherished single daughter of the most powerful Elven King in Beleriand, but also the daughter of a Maia, a powerful angelic being of the race of the Ainur. Lúthien was remembered in the Lay of Leithian as the first Elven woman to ever fall in love and marry a mortal man, who in her case was Beren, a man of the House of Bëor whom she met in the woods of Doriath. He himself soon came to love her jealously, though she would not return it. She often enjoyed dancing in the woods of the realm to the music of her good friend Daeron's flute. ![]() She was a woman of incomparable beauty and grace, with night-dark hair, sparkling grey eyes, luminous skin, and a clear heartbreakingly lovely voice that was said to cause winter to melt into spring - "the song of Lúthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where her feet had passed". Throughout the years before she met Beren, she lived as all the Elves of Doriath did: in a state of perfect blissful peace. Lúthien was the daughter of Elu Thingol, King of Doriath, and his Queen, Melian the Maia. Lúthien dancing in the woods, by Ted Nasmith Early years ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "It's been my experience," as the critic and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick once wrote, "that nobody holds a man's brutality to his wife against him." Literary wives are a unique breed, requiring a particular kind of fortitude.Īuthor Carmela Ciuraru shares the stories of five literary marriages, exposing the misery behind closed doors. Toss in celebrity, male privilege, ruthless ambition, narcissism, misogyny, infidelity, alcoholism, and a mood disorder or two, and it's easy to understand why the marriages of so many famous writers have been stormy, short-lived, and mutually destructive. The history of wives is largely one of silence, resilience, and forbearance. ![]() "With an ego the size of a small nation, the literary lion is powerful on the page, but a helpless kitten in daily life-dependent on his wife to fold an umbrella, answer the phone, or lick a stamp." "The five marriages that Carmela Ciuraru explores in Lives of the Wives provide such delightfully gossipy pleasure that we have to remind ourselves that these were real people whose often stormy relationships must surely have been less fun to experience than they are for us to read about."-Francine Prose, author of The VixenĪ witty, provocative look inside the tumultuous marriages of five writers, illuminating the creative process as well as the role of money, power, and fame in these complex and fascinating relationships. ![]() ![]() Granted that took a few months but that is fine. ![]() It had Bookish in the title so how could I turn it down!? I immediately added it to my Amazon Wish List and waited patiently for the price to drop. ![]() I knew when I saw it that I had to read this book. I saw this book while scrolling Bookstagram (Instagram but only book-related content). It’s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page. It’s time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn’t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. Hide in a corner of her apartment and rock back and forth. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.)Ģ. Completely change her name and appearance. Doesn’t he realize what a terrible idea that is?ġ. It’s a disaster! And as if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny, and deeply interested in getting to know her. They all live close by! They’re all-or mostly all-excited to meet her! She’ll have to Speak. When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book. The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. ![]() ![]() Unfortunately, Indigenous traditions are still rarely part of the philosophical discourse. Thus, I am interested in “intercultural philosophy”. And I am a philosopher who takes great interest in these places, who seeks to research them – preferably also from a place “in between”. ![]() I am a philosopher who studies and works in places that are “in between”: between different disciplines, cultures, and methods. This is a reflection of a white woman coming from a very different place feeling a deep connection and at the same time a strong sense of alienation. Although I am referring to an incredible book written by an Inuk artist, the starting point for my reflections is what happened with me reading it. ![]() With my article, I would like to share some of my experiences reading Split Tooth as I became curious about myself and my reactions to a story that upset me and fascinated me at the same time. As social worker and researcher working with juvenile sex offenders, I witnessed the heavy burden of abuse and alcohol as well as suicidal thoughts in midst of a spiritual reality sparked by a natural environment that doesn’t allow for compromise. ![]() I used to live in Canada and spent time in Indigenous communities, especially in the Arctic. ![]() Reading Tanya Tagaq’s (2018) Split Tooth affected me on a very profound level. Trigger Warning: This article includes references to (child) sexual abuse. ![]() ![]() My words simply can’t do justice to this absolutely amazing opening book of what looks set to be an awe inspiring series. Those quieter moments provided a perfect foil to the more hectic, high velocity, action sequences and gave the story a feeling of balance. It is imbued with so many wonderful moments, some replete with humour, others that are deep, filled with troubled self reflection and yet more where Shanti challenges the pompous males around her with her sharp wit and sparkling repartee. ![]() Whilst we get several other view points, she is the main character of this book, and one who easily carries the story on her slender but strong shoulders.Ī powerful story with a well thought out and cohesive plot that hooked it’s claws into my soul and didn’t ever let go. I adored Shanti, loved her irreverent humour, her toughness, her determination and her willingness to cry. ![]() Quite simply this was a book I didn’t want to put down, one full of tension, angst and peril, with some truly wonderful world building to boot. The only reason this wasn’t read within one or two days was that I had several arc reading commitments to complete at the same time. ![]() ![]() And when Assail’s truth comes out, will she run from the horror. The last thing she wants is a return to her past, but how can she leave him to die?Īs a lethal new enemy of the vampires shows its face, and the Brotherhood needs Assail back on his feet, Sola finds herself not only a target, but a mission-critical force in a war she doesn’t understand. ![]() When Assail falls into a coma and lingers on the verge of death, his cousins seek out Sola and beg her to give him a reason to live. ![]() Back in the Old Country, for example, he’d stolen a carriage with four perfectly matched grays under that little loophole.' -BalthazarBalthazar is a vampire and second-in-command of the Band of. It could be an object, a bunch of things in a container, or a set that was somehow loosely, but tangibly, linked together. But they have no future, and not just because she doesn’t know he is a vampire, but because he is not about to stop dealing arms to the Black Dagger Brotherhood. 'His rule was one thing, and one thing only, from any given infiltration. Her heart, though, is back up north, with the only man who has ever gotten through her defenses: Assail, son of Assail, who never meant to fall in love-and certainly not with a human woman. On the run from a drug lord’s family, she is lying low far from Caldwell, keeping her nose clean and her beloved grandmother safe. Sola Morte, former cat burglar and safecracker, has given up her old life on the wrong side of the law. ![]() And in 2015, Cecily's daughter Flip-a burned-out stoner trapped in a bureaucratic job firing cremains into keepsake glass ornaments-resolves to break the cycle of inherited secrets, reaching back through the generations in search of a family legacy that feels true. In 1986, Edward's child, Novak-just Novak-is an acrobatic window washer cleaning Manhattan high-rises, who gets caught up in the plight of Cecily, a small town girl remade as a gender-bending Broadway ingénue. Her son, Edward, wants to be a man of faith but struggles with the complexities of the mortal world while apprenticing at a stained-glass studio. Agnes's desperate actions breed secrecy, and the resulting silence echoes into the future. But when Bohemian naturalist and glassblower Ignace Novak reignites Agnes's passion for science, Agnes begins to imagine a different life, and she sets her mind to getting it. ![]() After years as an independent woman of fortune, influential with the board of a prominent university because of her financial donations, she is now subject to the whims of an abusive, spendthrift husband. ![]() A Goodreads Buzziest Debut Novel of 2023 In 1910, Agnes Carter makes the wrong choice in marriage. A gorgeously written and irresistibly intimate queer novel that follows one family across four generations to explore legacy and identity in all its forms. ![]() |