books that matter

This blog is concerned with providing contextual back stories to great literature as well as acting as a "key" to unlocking mysteries of the text, obscure and not. Insights from scholars are noted. Brilliant readers (and not so) are welcome. George Steiner said that an intellectual is someone who can't read a book without a pencil in his or her hand. Blogs are the new pencils. NYT Mag critic Sam Anderson ("Riff") opines: marginalia is "a way to fully enter the text, to collaborate with it."

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Cate Blanchett's guy updates Chekhov's 1st play (1878)

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Cate Blanchett's husband, Andrew Upton, adopted Chekhov's first play, Platonov (1878) under the title The Present . "Lond...
Wednesday, March 1, 2017

NERVE / The New Nude (2000) by Genevieve Field, Ed.

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Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989, HIV/AIDS) blew out all the boundaries of the "Last Taboo" (see Wesley Morris in The New York T...
Wednesday, January 25, 2017

The House Book (2001) by the Editors of Phaidon Press

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This heavy book is comprised of 500 color photos arranged alphabetically by architect, patron, or designer. Notable entries include: Ud...
2 comments:
Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Iconic America by Hilfiger and Lois

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This intriguing book can be browsed over 335 pages in an hour.  Best icons include (p. 69) dollar bill All-Seeing Eye from the Great Seal...
1 comment:
Sunday, August 28, 2016

Szarkowski Tells Story Behind 100 Pictures from MoMA Collection

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John Szarkowsi's book, Looking at Photographs, is the earliest (1973, 1999 revision) of three fabulous studies, including Susan Sonta...
1 comment:
Saturday, August 27, 2016

Geoff Dyer's Irreverent Insights on Photography Astound

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Susan Sontag opens her seminal essay with the Plato's Cave allegory, Dyer follows with an equivalent compelling literary metaphor ref...
1 comment:

Borges' "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins"

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"The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" is a short essay by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges and is a critique of the Englis...
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