Been reading this Wall Street Journal interview a few times as it has so much entertainment in it.
Corbis Outline
Cormac McCarthy, above in 2007, drew on his own relationship with his son for his novel ‘The Road.’
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529703577274572.html?
Some ‘readings out’ or should that be ‘reading outs’. Review of Stevens’ Selected Poems, by Dan Chiasson in NYRB Nov 19th is threatening to send me off to Stevens’ stuff, none of which I have read or if I have I can’t remember (not unusual for me, don’t think it’s because the poetry is forgettable, at least not according to Chiasson). Here’s one bit of the review I would read out: “Most people are baffled their entire lives by the problem of what to think about, so they think about whatever the moment requires.” How similar is that to the well-known “Most men live lives of quiet desperation”? And a bit of biography – Stevens worked “his entire life as a security claims expert for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, a fact that seemed to bisect his life into two distinct regions. Poetry prospered in one by never visiting the other…”. What’s a security claims expert?
Many intense and wide-ranging observations about James’ Washington Square at the WEA/Keele class today, matched only by my indifference to the characters and the plot. Attempting to identify why I just can’t get on with James’ writing I thought I’d noticed that there are no metaphors, similes or other literary and atmosphere-setting devices that make for good reading for me, then I found in the early part of this piece two such expressions – ‘desultory Dutch houses’ and ‘the murmur of trade’. Of such material is good reading made for me, so if there was more of that in James, then I might have developed an interest and enthusiasm for reading more. I was not alone, though, in finding James just so much effort for so little, if any, reward.
That’s the name of the exhibition (free) on until Dec 13th at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester.
It’s a superb display of the British Museum’s collection (the biggest outside the USA) of American prints. First time at this gallery for me. Very impressed, not least with the Cafe.