A pleasant evocation of the mid to late 1800s in southwest US from a French Catholic missionaryвІ s perspective вІ when life was hard, but not as hard as the life of the earliest Spanish missionaries. Told with a sympathetic eye. I like her вІ
Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather, first published in 1927
ВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВP The two I didnвІ t understand were A Bush in the Tunnel and The MartyrвІ s Crown, likely because of my ignorance about his references. The first was about Joyce (among other things) and I have only read Dubliners. The second had to do with early 20th century Irish history.
ВP ВP ВP ВP ВP ВPThirst was a play that had an obvious trick in it. Short so at least it didnвІ t get tedious, although you knew the ending pretty quickly on.
ВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВPВP Faustus Kelly was well worth reading, funny and a new twist on the Faustus theme. I would love to see this play performed.
The Pfannkuches will find this story particularly resonant.
ВP ВP ВP ВP ВP ВPJohn DuffyвІ s Brother is a brilliant short story. CanвІ t tell you anything about it, or it will ruin the pleasure вІ but read if you can. It will only take 10 minutes. Or, you can see a beautiful 15 minute rendition narrated by Michael Gambon at this link:
get.вІ The first piece, SlatteryвІ s Sago Saga, is an unfinished novel and draws Ireland and Texas together. It was a good beginning, I would have liked to know how it turned out.
Flann OвІ Brien was a pen name for Brian OвІ Nolan, who also wrote under the name Myles na Gopaleen. There were several pieces I liked a lot, some that were O.K. but not great, and a few I didnвІ t вІ
Stories and Plays by Flann OвІ Brien (1974)
sensitiveвІ soul of an artist but a simian body, and the two do battle.
poeticвІ description. David, skimmed, parts of this book too, but I suspect we skimmed different parts. In this book of a small town southern boy (two chapters about childhood) goes off to college and then hits the big, Northern city of New York (the Rock in the title). The boy, George Webber, turns into a manic depressive, with the emphasis on depressive, and has an obsessive, emotionally abusive, love affair with an older woman. There is also a theme that he has the вІ
He can tell a good story and he can paint a scene like a master, but his characters are tedious and I just skim his вІ
Wikipedia tells me that Wolfe is renowned for his pioneering work on the autobiographical novel, his poetic descriptions, and his influence on other writers. He wrote long, giving his publishers huge manuscripts that were then cut down to marketable size. When he died of a type of tuberculosis that destroyed his brain when he was 38, his publisher had a large manuscript, from which he carved several publications, including this book. This is the second Wolfe book I read. It will be the last.
The Web and The Rock by Thomas Wolfe (1937)
IвІ ve read severalВP books about or set during the Holocaust. I have seen movies. I have visited five camps. I thought that I was going to avoid the Holocaust literature/movies from now on because I wouldnвІ t learn anything new and I understand as well as someone now can. But the book did teach me a lot and I am glad I read it. The book is two short volumes, published five years apart. It was easy to read a volume in an evening. Highly recommended. This was easily the most satisfying book I have read this month.
The story is compelling, as are the comic strip pictures. Jews, no matter their nationalities, are depicted as mice, non-Jewish Germans as cats, non-Jewish Poles as pigs, and other nationalities have each their own animal. Both of SpiegelmanвІ s parents survived the camps, which is known at the beginning of the book, so that outcome is never a mystery. But how they did, and what they went through before they were put in the camps, and how the rest of their families fared slowly unfolds in the story.
Spiegelman received a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992 for Maus, a comic book. Sometimes classified as fiction, sometimes as history, this comic book was hard for the Pulitizer committee to put in a category, according to a New York Times article at the time. Many people are now aware of this unusual book, the narrative of a son interviewing his aging father about the fatherвІ s experiences as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. The book tells of VladekвІ s life avoiding and then being imprisoned by the Nazis and ArtвІ s coming to terms with a difficult father, as well as the memory of his mother who had committed suicide 20 years earlier.
Maus, by Art Spiegelman (1986, 1991)
This month features comic book, Irish writers, a couple of Nobel Prize winners and Willa Cather, and a special video for the Pfannkuches, or anyone who likes trains. Unfortunately, I am having trouble posting photos, so this post is not illustrated.
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