Category Archives: Literature

Return to the Magic Mountain

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Lee

I’m reading Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain again (the translation by H.T. Lowe-Porter). It’s over 700 pages long and I’ll blog about it as I progress slowly through it. Thomas Mann justifies the length of his work by saying: “When … Continue reading →

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Good Intentions

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Lee

Like when I say to myself: “I’ll post to my blog at least once a month.” Today I started reading The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. It’s a collection of 100 short stories, woven into a tale about a group of … Continue reading →

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A Modern Hero

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Lee

In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, Lucian writes a book, submits it to a publisher and, after an agonising wait, receives a rejection. Some time later his book is published – under the name of another author. Lucian’s work … Continue reading →

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On Poe and Writing with Purpose

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Lee

H.P. Lovecraft said the genius of Edgar Allan Poe was that he expressed human sensations the way they really are. The sensations he was interested in describing were those of pain, decay, and terror. Poe was carrying out a scientific … Continue reading →

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Friday, 21st February 1997

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Lee

Besides getting his toilet fixed by a man called “Dirty Dave,” William Burroughs spent the day reading Asylum by Patrick McGrath. It’s been a long time since I read that book. I remember I enjoyed it but little more. What … Continue reading →

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Friends and Readers

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Lee

I’ve been reading Jack Kerouac’s Vanity of Duluoz, towards the end of which he describes the way William Burroughs showed support for him in the early years, motivating him to write more as he experimented and found his voice and … Continue reading →

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Empty

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Lee

To be empty inside is to have “no special way of moving or doing things so one way is the same … as another.” You learn things fast and follow instructions well. You are useful to others. “The Dead Child” … Continue reading →

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Home

Posted on November 24, 2023 by Lee

I finished reading Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich this morning. The Earth is our home, and the future home will be the Earth to come. In the story, the planet is changing fast and the future … Continue reading →

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Doors

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Lee

To make a short story by Kafka even shorter: A man approaches a door and is told by the doorkeeper that he cannot enter. The door is wide open and the man thinks about just strolling through and the doorkeeper … Continue reading →

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Labyrinths

Posted on July 20, 2023 by Lee

For Borges a labyrinth is a place, somewhere you might find yourself, which has the quality of being infinite. It might be a house and the house might have only fourteen rooms. But if those fourteen rooms are your whole … Continue reading →

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