Tag Archives: reading

American Life Unlimited

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Lee

Chapter 1 of Henry Miller’s Nexus is about, among other things, the mystery of Dostoevsky and the monotony of New York City. He finds a line he’s scribbled in his notebook, which he thinks is “probably from Berdyaev.” It says: … Continue reading →

Posted in books | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Notes on Gogol’s Old-Fashioned Farmers

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Lee

The world is all “in an uproar,” says Gogol. And yet here is peace and quiet: the house of the owners of a small village in the Ukraine, with its bright garden full of trees and hanging fruits, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Notes on Gogol’s The Overcoat

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Lee

Gogol’s The Overcoat is a story of a lowly government official in Tsarist Russia. His job is to copy out documents. There’s a curious ambiguity in the narrator’s feelings for the official: on the one hand he is described as … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Creation is Grace: Notes on Daniil Kharms

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Lee

I’ve been reading I Am a Phenomenon Quite Out of the Ordinary: the Notebooks, Diaries, and Letters of Daniil Kharms (published 2013) and trying to get a picture in my mind of the kind of person Kharms was. “Creation is … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Notes on Gogol’s “The Nose”

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Lee

Nikolai Gogol’s story of “The Nose” opens with a macabre scene: a nose found in a loaf of bread. Perhaps this is going to be a murder mystery. But then the story becomes absurd: the nose found its way into … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stories

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Lee

I reach for my copy of Plexus by Henry Miller. I’m wondering if I’ve written all I can about Miller. I open the book to find out. There’s always something more in here. Today I read Miller’s version of Goldilocks … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forgetfulness

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Lee

Forgetting is the essence of writing, says Henry Miller. “Inner turmoil” must be present in good writing, and the inner life of the writer a seething chaos. Moments of past and present come to the surface and are gone again. … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Clutter

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Lee

A young Henry Miller looks around the home he now shares with his wife Mona. He turns to his library: “Every book on the shelves had been acquired with a struggle, devoured with gusto, and had enriched our lives.” Henry … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

William Burroughs and Facts

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Lee

William Burroughs tells Allen Ginsberg: “I am about to annunciate a philosophy called ‘factualism.’ All arguments, all nonsensical considerations as to what people ‘should do,’ are irrelevant. Ultimately there is only facts on all levels, and the more one argues, … Continue reading →

Posted in Beat Generation, books, Literature | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Notes on Deleuze and Guattari: A Thousand Plateaus

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Lee

Segmentarity is when we divide things up, into segments. There are countless ways you can divide things. It depends what you’re trying to do. Segmentarity works “in a circular fashion,” in ever wider circles, or “in a linear fashion.” When … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments