I have long admired, even loved, the French but I don’t think I ever quite understood why until I read Victor Hugo. Their commitment to liberty inspired two revolutions – America’s and their own – that created the best of the world we live in today. They are more responsible than anyone for the evolutionContinue reading “Victor Hugo and the French Aesthetic”
Tag Archives: review
This is Not Happening to You
I was introduced to Tim Tomlinson’s writing through his poetry, which I recommend highly to those who love poetry, and even more highly to those who don’t. You might find your distaste for poems is relieved after reading a few of his. Tim’s poems often feel like fiction, so I thought I knew what toContinue reading “This is Not Happening to You”
Candide
I thought Candide was funny at first. It is an easy mistake to make in the first chapter where we meet Candide and his beloved Cunegonde: On her way back to the castle she met Candide. She blushed, and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her withoutContinue reading “Candide”
If Beale Street Could Talk
Yesterday morning there was a man in the lobby of my office building talking into his phone at an obscene volume. As we rode up in the elevator together – four or five of us – it became obvious that he was not like the rest of us and did not want to be. HeContinue reading “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Mozart Scares Me
Mozart scares me. And not just because he could write a melody like this, or orchestrate it the way he did. Not just because this is one of three complete symphonies he composed in less than two months during the summer of 1788. Not just because he was 23 years younger than me when heContinue reading “Mozart Scares Me”
