| Reading list: July |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|01:19 pm] |
Potter, Murray Anthony. Sohrab and Rustem: The Epic Theme of a Combat between Father and Son: A Study of Its Genesis and Use in Literature and Popular Tradition (1899 (publ. 1902)). 6/9
Callahan, Timothy. Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes (2008).
Rich, Claudius James, Esq. Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon and Second Memoir on Babylon: Containing an Inquiry into the Correspondence between the Ancient Descriptions of Babylon and the Remains Still Visible on the Site (1818).
Zimmerman, Keith and Kent, et al. Mythbusters: The Explosive Truth behind 30 of the Most Perplexing Urban Legends of All Time (2005).
Church, Rev. Alfred J. Stories of the Magicians (1887).
anon. The Romaunce of the Sowdone of Babylone and of Ferumbras his Sone who Conquerede Rome (c. 1400).
Ariosto, Ludovico. Orlando Furioso (1532).
Lurie, Rose G. The Great March: Post Biblical Jewish Stories Book 1 (1931).
Twain, Mark. Life on the Mississippi (1883).
Burgess, Gelett. The Maxims of Methuselah (1903).
Peattie, Elia W. Edda and the Oak (1915). |
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| Reading list: May |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|11:36 am] |
Moncrieff, A. R. Hope. Romance and Legend of Chivalry (1913).
Twenge, Joan M. Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before (2006).
Kluger, Steve. My Most Excellent Year (2008).
Barth, John. The Floating Opera (1956).
Hayden, Naura. Isle of View (Say It Out Loud) (1980).
anon. The Saga of Thidrek of Bern (1230-1250).
Frankel, Charles. The End of the Dinosaurs: Chicxulub Crater and Mass Extinctions (1996).
Ballard, J. G. Terminal Beach (1960-64).
Wild, Doris. Holy Icons in the Religious Art of the Eastern Church (1961).
Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex (2002).
anon. The Saga of the Volsungs (C13).
Ballard, J. G. Crash (1973).
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).
Gatto, John Taylor. Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling (2009).
( Ranting ) |
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| Reading list: April |
[May. 1st, 2009|01:21 pm] |
Jenkins, Elijah, esq. (John Mottley). Joe Miller’s Jests or, the Wits Vade-Mecum. Being A Collection of the most Brilliant Jests ; the Politest Repartees ; the most Elegant Bons Mots, and the most pleasant short Stories in the English Language (1739).
Pinkwatwer, Manus. Wingman (1975).
Niven, Larry, and Jerry Pournelle. Escape from Hell (2009).
anon. The Saga of the Jómsvíkings (C12).
Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin. Unseen Rain: Quatrains of Rumi (Divan- Shamsi Tabriz) (C13).
Girvan, Ritchie. Beowulf and the Seventh Century (1935).
Sawyer, Robert J. Calculating God (2000).
Beaumont, Francis. The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607).
Earl, James W. Thinking about Beowulf (1982-1994).
Gatto, John Taylor. A Different Kind of Teacher (1990-2001).
Irving, Washington. The Alhambra (1832).
Smith, William. Athelwold (1842).
Isherwood, Christopher. Prater Violet (1945).
Newman, Katherine S., et al. Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings (2004).
Brigg, Peter. J. G. Ballard (1985).
Ballard, J. G. Empire of the Sun (1984).
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The School for Scandal (1777).
--
Brunetti, Ivan. Ho (2001-2009).
Shaw, Dash. Bottomless Belly Button (2008).
var. Harvey Comics Classics vol. 5: The Harvey Girls (1952-1962 (coll. 2009)).
Lasko-Gross, Miss. Mess (2009). A Mess of Everything (2009).
Vähämäki, Amanda. The Bun Field (2009). |
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| Old-time filth |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|11:34 am] |
Horatio Alger introduces in Struggling Upward (1890) a minor character named Fanny Pratt. If Fanny Pratt had appeared in a Thomas Pynchon novel, it would have been amusing, perhaps, but when Alger does it it’s hilarious, because Alger has no idea what he’s saying. In any event, it’s hilarious to me.
And so began my search for unintentionally filthy passages in old books, some of my favorites of which I have listed below. The last two employ the word “ejaculate,” which is so common in the old books that it is almost cheating to mention these.
1. The terrified wretch, falling on his knees, vocifierated, “My cock, —my cock,—my cock! oh! I am undone!”
Charles Robert Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer (1820).
2. I am a virgin, and I have promised to remain so, always. Daily intercourse with a man would in no way be convenient.
William Beckford, The Episodes of Vathek (1783-87? (pub. 1912)).
3. Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever!
Herman Melville, Moby Dick (1851).
4. ‘Wipes,’ replied Master Bates; at the same time producing four pocket-handkerchiefs…
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1838)
5. Meanwhile Brigitta stood gazing at the sausage with almost an expression of awe. She had hardly in her life seen such a monster sausage, much less owned one, and she could scarcely believe her eyes. She shook her head and said doubtfully, “I must ask Uncle what it is meant for.”
But Heidi answered without hesitation, “It is meant for eating, not for anything else.”
Johanna Spyri, Heidi (1881).
6. “I believe I’m very terrible, when I’m roused,” ejaculated Jos from the sofa, and made a grimace…
William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847-48).
7. …and the sight of Fou-tan [the jungle girl] elicited a wealth of ejaculation…
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jungle Girl (1931).
Anyone else have some to add? |
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| Reading list: March |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|12:51 pm] |
OK, I had my April fun, and you caught me fair and square. Although the sad truth is I would probably read any one of those books. I have no shame.
The real list::
Sellar, W. C., and R. J. Yeatman. 1066 and All That (1931).
Stoppard, Tom. Arcadia (1992).
Reger, Rob, and Jessica Gruner. Emily the Strange: The Lost Days (2009).
Blish, James. Giants in the Earth (1952).
Young, G. M. Victorian England: Portrait of an Age (1936).
Chrétien de Troyes. Cligès (Raffel) (1176-7).
Irving, Washington. Mahomet and His Successors Vol. II (1882).
Ovason, David. The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill (2004).
Eliade, Mircea. Bengal Nights (1933).
anon. Beowulf (Heaney) (C8?).
Maturin, Charles Robert. Melmoth the Wanderer (1820).
Efrati, Carol. The Road of Danger, Guilt, and Shame: The Lonely Way of A.E. Housman (2002).
Silverberg, Robert. We, the Marauders (1958).
Nonnus of Panopolis. Dionysiaca vol. 2 (C5).
Horspool, David. Why Alfred Burned the Cakes (King Alfred: Burnt Cakes and Other Legends (2006).
Burkert, Nancy Ekholm. Valentine and Orson (1989).
Walker, Mort, and Jerry Dumas. Sam’s Strip (1961-3 (coll. 2009)).
Wolverton, Basil. The Wolverton Bible (1954-74 (coll. 2009)).
Taro, Chiaki. Puri Puri vol. 1 (2005).
Taro, Chiaki. Puri Puri vol. 2 (2005).
Obomsawin, Diane. Kaspar (2009).
Taro, Chiaki. Puri Puri vol. 3 (2005).
Gurewitch, Nicholas. The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack (coll. 2009).
Regnaud, Jean, & Émile Bravo. My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill (2007).
Taro, Chiaki. Puri Puri vol. 4 (2006).
Bell, Gabrielle. Cecil and Jordan in New York Stories (2004-09)
Riley, Andy. D.I.Y. Dentistry and Other alarming Inventions (2009).
Lay, Carol. The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude (2008).
Thomas, W. Morgan, et al. Golden Age Sheena: The Best of the Queen of the Jungle (1941-50 (coll. 2009)). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 23rd, 2009|12:07 pm] |
"Perchance," said he, as the five lads lay in the rustling stillness through which sounded the monotonous cooing of the pigeons -- "perchance there may be dwarfs and giants and dragons and enchanters and evil knights and whatnot even nowadays. And who knows but that if we Knights of the Rose hold together we may go forth into the world, and do battle with them, and save beautiful ladies, and have tales and gestes written about us as they are writ about the Seven Champions and Arthur his Round Table."
Howard Pyle, Men of Iron (1891). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|01:45 pm] |
Not great things needs give a man:
bringeth thanks oft a little thing;
with half a loaf and a half-drained cup
I won me oft worthy friend.
The Hávamál (MS C 12-13). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|12:47 pm] |
By blunting the sense through sensationalism, kitsch renders disappointing not only art but also life itself. Kitsch shares that quality with pornography.
Curtis F. Brown, Star-Spangled Kitsch (1975). |
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| For and against hypocrisy |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|12:35 pm] |
1. An acquaintance of mine, whom I'll call X, was once describing to me the new York brothel scene in the 1980s, a strange and fascinating subject with which X had become acquainted by the expedient of frequently engaging prostitutes. At one point in the lecture (it could hardly be called a discussion) X mentioned that he often saw Orthodox Jews as fellow brothel patrons. At this point he became very angry. "Those hypocrites!" he shouted, his face contorted with rage. "They pretend to be so pious!" (X himself is a non-practicing Jew.)
What is fascinating here is that the Orthodox Jews who prompted X's outburst were themselves doing nothing worse than what X did himself. They were all johns together, and X hardly saw his own actions as worthy of criticism. But Orthodox Jews ostensibly viewed prostitution as a vice, which X certainly did not, and therefore their engagement of prostitutes merited censure.( More of the same. ) |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 10th, 2009|04:16 pm] |
His blood boiled, his heart pounded so loudly in his breast that the sexton's deaf old widow sitting at her table eating her evening meal two houses away cried out "Come in!" because she believed he had knocked at her door. And so he, too, resolved to sally forth and try his luck at retrieving the princess’s shadow.
Hans Dieckmann, Twice Told Tales: The Psychological Use of Fairy Tales (1978). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 9th, 2009|01:37 pm] |
We are Turks with the affections of our women; and have made them subscribe to our doctrine too. We let their bodies go abroad liberally enough, with smiles and ringlets and pink bonnets to disguise them instead of veils and yakmaks. But their souls must be seen by only one man, and they obey not unwillingly…
William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847-48). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 5th, 2009|02:33 pm] |
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts (1992). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 4th, 2009|11:46 am] |
Milk! milk! milk
Straight as the Parson's bands,
Streaming like silk
Under and over her hands --
What is Mary scheming?
What is Mary dreaming?
Swish! swish! swish!
Pressing her sweet young brow,
Smooth as a dish,
To the side of the sober cow --
Can she tell no tale then?
Naught but milk and pail then?
T.E. Brown, "Lynton Verses," The Collected Poems of T.E. Brown (1909). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 3rd, 2009|04:27 pm] |
When a beholder enters a garden
In his love for the rose his heart is charred like a tulip's.
Jámí, Yúsuf u Zulaykhá (C15); quoted in Reuben Levy, Persian Literature: An Introduction (1923). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|08:43 pm] |
Today the Victorian viewpoint seems ludicrously inadequate, yet we cannot claim to have replaced it with anything more substantial...
Michael Goss, The Halifax Slasher: An Urban Terror in the North of England (1987). |
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| Florilegium |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|01:22 pm] |
I cannot tell who loves the Skeleton
Of a poor Marmoset. Nought but boan, boan.
Give me a nakednesse with her cloath's on.
Richard Lovelace, “La Belle Bona Roba” (c. 1640) |
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| Florilegium |
[Feb. 27th, 2009|02:22 pm] |
No one would condemn the family as an institution because it tends to foster nepotism.
Baigent & Leigh, The Temple and The Lodge (1989?). |
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