There will be time, there will be timeTo prepare a face to meet the faces that you meetJ. Alfred Prufrock meet Tom Ripley.Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley is, according the Library of America, one of the five best American Noir novels of the 1950s. Hard to argue with the Library of America. After publishing this novel in 1955, a quarter of a century later, Highsmith returned to Ripley for another novel. Then again in 1974, 1980 and 1991. Five novels (the Ripliad!) but 25 years … [Read more...] about Mr Ripley and You
Life Advice
Celebrating the Mundane
The Origin Story is a staple of Superheroes. But what about heroes who aren’t super? Do they also merit an origin story? How does a perfectly normal person become a hero? John Le Carre’s Call for the Dead is the origin story of George Smiley. Le Carre is a pen name for David Cornwell, who was a mid-level intelligence agent in the British spy service. Coincidentally, George Smiley is a mid-level intelligence agent in the British spy service. Le Carre became famous writing spy novels, the … [Read more...] about Celebrating the Mundane
Seven Books
The Seven Book Challenge is one of those curious “challenges” that has been floating around social media. You know the drill: someone challenges you to post pictures of seven books. I have no idea why it is called a “challenge.” I have a former student who recently tagged me in this challenge. Since all I do on social media is put up book reviews, just putting up pictures of seven books I enjoy seemed odd. But, I like my former student who issued this challenge, and so I feel duty bound to do … [Read more...] about Seven Books
Personal Legends: Yours and Mine
“And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?” “They were only looking for gold,” his companion answered. “They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.” Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a tale of a journey. It is one of those philosophical novels that skips along lightly through the philosophy as we watch Our Hero discover the Meaning of Life. Minor characters come and go, each … [Read more...] about Personal Legends: Yours and Mine
A Second-Rate Potter
Late in his life, T.S. Eliot took to writing plays in verse. I don’t know why; he was never going to be a great playwright. But, I guess when you are famous, you can do whatever you want. A couple of his plays have some amazing bits in them. Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party both work well if you think of them as verse in play form. That is entirely different from being great plays, though. A couple of his plays are not good verse or play, containing rather a few scattered … [Read more...] about A Second-Rate Potter
Choose Again
Charles Krauthammer was a reasonably well-known political essayist who died in 2018. His son, Daniel, subsequently edited a collection of his father’s essays, The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors. The book as a whole is a nice trip down memory lane over the last few decades, recalling the political and cultural flashpoints which once seemed like the most important things in the world. Krauthammer was politically conservative but of a genial disposition, so for the … [Read more...] about Choose Again