Category Archives: Literature

The Enjoyment in Writing

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Lee

Past, present, and future are bound together when Henry Miller is writing. “The past is the springboard, the present the melting pot, and the future the delectation.” The past is the springboard because it is from the memories of his … Continue reading →

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Orpheus

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Lee

Orpheus is playing his lyre with tears in his eyes, begging the rulers of the underworld to return Eurydice to him. All Pluto and Persephone want is to be rid of those dewy eyes, tearing at their heart strings. They … Continue reading →

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Building

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Lee

“We have no need for genius – genius is dead. We have need for strong hands …” How to start writing? Take a building block and set it down. It is Paris, 1930 perhaps, and a day in the life … Continue reading →

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See What I’m Saying

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Lee

First sentence of William Burroughs’ The Wild Boys: “The camera is the eye of a cruising vulture flying over an area of scrub, rubble and unfinished buildings on the outskirts of Mexico City.” Burroughs thinks in pictures and his books … Continue reading →

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Notes on Ursula Le Guin’s “The Dispossessed”

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Lee

Stepping off a train onto a crowded platform. Anxious glances of the passers-by. Shevek wonders at this anxiety: is it a function of the capitalist economy here? The fact that each of these people must make enough money to live? … Continue reading →

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Notes on Nabokov’s “The Seaport”

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Lee

The whole scene is bright, with sunshine everywhere. Colours: the blue of the sea, the green of the woman’s dress. These things stand out. The sunshine gives colour to everything. Each thing seems to have its own distinct colour: no … Continue reading →

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Happenings

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Lee

In W.H. Auden’s poems, there are “happenings” and there are “ways of happening.” Poets create ways of happening, and this is why such people are generally considered useless – at least by the practical people in our society who concern … Continue reading →

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Know Thyself

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Lee

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Know Thyself” seems to offer up two possible interpretations, and I wonder whether Coleridge believed self-knowledge was possible or not. The poet asks “Say, canst thou make thyself?” and urges his reader to “Learn first that … Continue reading →

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Above and Below

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Lee

If Henry Miller’s Nexus begins in a slough of despair, in its final chapters the rays of hope begin to emerge. The day he’ll leave for Europe is approaching, and knowing he will be leaving soon makes his remaining days … Continue reading →

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Arthur Machen’s “Meditations of a Tavern”

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Lee

In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, Lucian Taylor is a struggling writer prone to daydreaming. He deliberately seeks out obscure books, to learn the most useless knowledge he can find. He is sick of modern society and its day-to-day … Continue reading →

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