stephen

film: Mullan: The Magdalene Sisters (2002)…a second try.

It was in an unctious fit that I wrote last night’s comments on this film. In bed, some hours later, I could not close my eyes without the horrors seeping in through every crevice, as if fools themselves, to think that the moment one’s eyes are closed one is wholly insensitive. Which, I suppose, whenContinue reading “film: Mullan: The Magdalene Sisters (2002)…a second try.”

Byron – Occasional Pieces (1810)

It seems particularly apt to come across this short poem today. Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’ was never something that made much sense to me, nor did Anais Nin’s final rebuffing of Henry Miller, and so on, so that all those terrible things we learned would be finally obliterated by feminism, well, I begin toContinue reading “Byron – Occasional Pieces (1810)”

Proust, on the novel.

Après cette croyance centrale qui, pendant ma lecture, exécutait d’incessants mouvements du dedans au dehors, vers la découverte de la vérité, venaient les émotions que me donnait l’action à laquelle je prenais part, car ces après-midi-là étaient plus remplis d’événements dramatiques que ne l’est souvent toute une vie. C’était les événements qui survenaient dans leContinue reading “Proust, on the novel.”

love and silence, my first reaction to Lady Chatterley.

Perhaps it’s no secret that I think very, very slowly, and have immense trouble understanding when other people speak. Not always–not when I am on autopilot, when I have another mission, when that mission is to tear somebody apart, or to be the life of the party, it’s at those times when it’s far moreContinue reading “love and silence, my first reaction to Lady Chatterley.”

Byron – Occasional Pieces (1809)

What’s wonderful about Byron’s “Stanzas Composed During a Thunder-storm” is that is that he seems finally to have some of the experience necessary to discuss his subjects of choice. Of course, he had love in his past, and indeed the sort of love that would have been novel to publish in English, you know, theContinue reading “Byron – Occasional Pieces (1809)”

Byron – Occasional Pieces (1807-8)

Byron’s Hours of Idleness covers 1802-7, so far as I can tell, and is one of the most difficult books to read because it’s just so poor, not that it’s his fault, he was only learning the ropes, but it’s precisely what you’d expect someone in his position to write. Occasional Pieces of 1807 areContinue reading “Byron – Occasional Pieces (1807-8)”

Proust: Swann’s Way: ‘Overture’ (1913)

Clearly, I’ve decided to go with a translation (Moncrieff/Kilmartin), what seems to be considered the driest and most accurate translation available, as the new ones seem to carry the prose into something more contemporary. I never found an argument concerning that with which I particularly agree, even when modernizing Shakespeare, I think it should beContinue reading “Proust: Swann’s Way: ‘Overture’ (1913)”

Chicago

Visiting cities used to exhaust me utterly, until last spring when, as recorded here, I think, I gave New York a try with a goal of being drunk the entire time, and it worked out, and since then I’ve had no problem with cities at all. Little towns, like the one Manny lived in inContinue reading “Chicago”

theatre: sideshow theatre company: everything freezes

i don’t think i really had any idea what theatre is until i saw this show, which makes me more deeply thrilled to have been one of the people to help make it happen. i hate to reference it again, but the show Pippin had one of the most profound effects on my life, firstlyContinue reading “theatre: sideshow theatre company: everything freezes”

Peisistratus of Athens (rules 546-27 BCE)

(from list of weekly goals) 3. Film. I’ve spent all my time for watching films instead reading Greek history. My parents are fed up with the book, because I leave it in the kitchen, and my father began reading it and said it was intensely boring, he said he read one page three times andContinue reading “Peisistratus of Athens (rules 546-27 BCE)”