Hitchens

Hitchens is reviewing Saul Bellow’s novels.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Erich Fromm once gave a course at the New School on “the struggle against pointlessness,” and one wonders whether Bellow heard of, or took, this class. Pervasive in his work is the sense of the awful trap posed by aimlessness and its cousins, impotence and the death wish.

-- Christopher Hitchens, “Saul Bellow: The Great Assimilator” in Arguably

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Resizing pictures

Wow, I just learned that I have not need to generate the proportions when I want to resize the pictures, that is enough to simply provide the one-dimension that you want, and the computer will automatically make the resizing proportionate. I don't to go through another website. It makes life easier; I can kick myself for not knowing this sooner.

Iliad

Working on the Iliad for my book-blogging, I started to hunger for another translation besides my trusty Fagles. I was thinking the Lattimore translation might be good to have along, and to read it through as I do this book-blogging. Then, while I was browsing Amazon's wares, and losing a good part of the afternoon thereby, I also saw a free translation, in the public domain, by Derby, which stresses poeticity and looks fun to read, and which will also help to bring out different emphases. I also remember that I already have the Alexander Pope version on my Kindle.

As I am still in the opening verses, having only done four posts, I will begin again, and I will have to decide how to manage all these materials. Maybe I'll make a mash of the different versions, or maybe I'll pick a favorite for this or that passage. Maybe I will even provide a couple of versions for a particular passage. I'm going to wait a round, hit a couple of other books, before I begin the Iliad anew, and I'll play it by ear, literally - whatever sounds most beautiful and compelling to my poetic imagination.

Home

Wow, Pop's computer was so slow in booting up this evening. It is getting quirkier. Talk about the growing demands on Pop's little funds. He may be needing a new computer pretty soon, maybe this summer. The laptop is still running great, but it has some age on it.

23. Birthday

It’s my party. I’ll cry if I want to. You’d cry too, if it happened to you. At least I got my Edmund Burke book in the mail. I didn’t plan it that way, but it worked out kind of nice. It feels good to get a package on your birthday, even if it is from yourself. But I still feel this unfortunate association between my birthday and my old salvation fantasies, in which I am miraculously rescued from my lowly led life. Since nobody is going to sweep in and save me and drop a million dollars on me, I cannot help always feeling a little depressed on my birthday. And at this point, what could such salvation mean anyway, after losing thirty years - my twenties, thirties, and forties? There is nothing left to really save. Though, I guess it would be nice to decline through old age in greater comfort and die more easily.

Daily Fun

( Read more... )

Weather

It looks like a very good chance for rain overnight. I'm playing a little cute with the cats. I am keeping the food plate inside. If it does start storming at one in the morning or so, I hope that the pang of hunger will be an additional inducement to come inside the house.