… my desk is once again filled with philosophical texts. It might be hard to find a common theme in the stack of books in front of me, but I guess they all in some sense could fit on a shelf labelled “philosophy of life” – or maybe: getting old (with grace) is the least…
Tag: Aristotle
Notes on Melancholy, part 2
from A Field Guide to Melancholy … melancholy & genius: Aristotle: ‘Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy or politics or poetry or the arts are clearly melancholics, and some of them to the extent as to be affected by diseases caused by black bile?’ Moyra Davey
Ars Poetica II
Originally posted on sub rosa:
Still soaked in the world of Anne Carson In ESSAY ON WHAT I THINK ABOUT MOST Carson dicuss the concept of ERROR (which is what she thinks about most) through a poem by the ancient Greek poet Alkman: (…) There are three things I like about Alkman’s poem. (…) The…
Funny is the New Deep
In Brooklyn gaining new insights on writing … “Writers in early stages … tend to look down upon the comic impulse”, says Almond, and I think he is right. Writers are afraid of not being taken serious. But the thing is: Comedy is not stupid, it is – maybe – the best way to connect…
Lovely Blueness
Just the other day Jim Elkins made me aware of a very fine text on blue written by Colm Tóibín. In 2004 Colm Tóibín curated an exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin called ‘Blue’ which consisted of blue objects from the collection. The following passages are derived from In Lovely Blueness: Adventures in Troubled Light, Tóibín’s introductory essay to…
Hi Plato, look at this!
Still soaked in the world of Anne Carson In ESSAY ON WHAT I THINK ABOUT MOST Carson dicuss the concept of ERROR (which is what she thinks about most) through a poem by the ancient Greek poet Alkman: (…) There are three things I like about Alkman’s poem. (…) The fourth thing I like About…
Essay on What I Think About Most
I’m reading Anne Carson today; it’s a slow and difficult process, like trying to find a path through a deep and dark forest. I have to retrace my own steps all the time. Her texts are full of sadness, sorrow, and melancholic pain, but they do also unveil glimpses of hitherto unknown beauty. And she…
apropos Foremothers
The core problem of lacking foremothers might simply be this: it’s even more difficult for a woman than for a man to say: i want to become a writer i want to become an artist i want – i can? Believing in creative powers, believing them to be strong enough to be taken seriously;…
Men are all brothers … ?!
Yesterday I read a bit about Oulipo. While reading I discovered this beautifully arranged picture of a part of the group, but couldn’t help noticing that there weren’t any women around … (I am, after all, on a quest for literary foremothers). In A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf writes: “we think back through our mothers…
sub rosa 