Thursday, May 21, 2009

Quoted

‘The law of delicacy, according to which an author has the right to use what he himself has experienced, is that he is never to utter verity but is to keep verity for himself & only let it be refracted in various ways.’

(Kierkegaard, quoted by Elizabeth Bishop writing to Robert Lowell, quoted by Colm Toibin writing about the correspondence between Bishop and Lowell)

Diego Garcia

And here the book of nature lies unread.

Monday, May 11, 2009

"Wisdom", by John Ashbery

There is no wisdom.

Monday, May 04, 2009

List: Short short fiction

1. Felix Feneon, "Novels in Three Lines"
2. Robert Walser, "Selected Stories"
3. Thomas Bernhard, "The Voice Imitator"
4. Donald Barthelme, "Sixty Stories"
5. Lydia Davis, "Samuel Johnson is Indignant"

Special Mention:
Alphonse Allais, "The World of Alphonse Allais" (tr. by Miles Kington)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The high lands are plentiful. The islands are bare. Nothing of disorder ever grew here.