I was explaining to a friend the other day why I think James Agee to be, if not a great writer, a writer of great distinction. While Agee’s life was too short (he died at 45) to provide the scope necessary for considerations of greatness, he certainly possessed the sheer talent – the prose chops. […]
Eating Poetry (XXVI) – “Whole”
Does serendipity tell us anything about the world? I suppose that question matters if one is seeking, like a physicist, to understand the world as something separate and independent of those who live in it. In that case we can make various claims, including that serendipity is only the happier among coincidences. If what concerns […]
Eating Poetry (XXV) – Some of the Words Are Theirs
The close of The Great Gatsby is probably the most famous and referenced ending of any American novel. Lyricized in a lushly romantic invocation of American promise, somehow gone wrong in the stinking, rich like of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and in the aftermath of Jay Gatsby’s failed striving, with such foolish and criminal élan, […]
CineFile – Farley Granger
Farley Granger, who died a week ago today, was a second level movie star for only a brief period – the late ’40s through the mid ’50s – but any fan of Hollywood’s Golden Age, even that tail end, will inevitably know him for his appearances in two notable Alfred Hitchcock films, Rope and and […]
Eating Poetry (XXIV) – The Zen of Alice
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) A boat, beneath a sunny sky Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July– Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear– Long has paled that sunny sky; Echoes fade and memories die; Autumn frosts have slain July. Still […]