French
No. 1 Rue Des Brasseurs: Verlaine and Rimbaud
"Situations have ended sad, relationships have all been bad
Mine have been like Verlaine and Rimbaud
But there's no way I can compare all them scenes to this affair
You're gonna make me lonesome when you go"
-- Bob Dylan, "Blood on the Tracks"
Congrats to everybody who knew the answer. Yes, as one deft commenter guessed, our wayward writers were French: they are Symbolist poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, who were staying at a hotel overlooking Grand Place in the center of Bruxelles, Belgium in July 1873 when their relationship ended ugly.
Pondering Proust IIIb: More On Guermantes Way
(Here Michael Norris continues his exploration of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. The previous installment on The Guermantes Way is here. Original painting "Oriane" by David Richardson.)
M.’s infatuation with Oriane, the Duchesse de Guermantes in Marcel Proust's Guermantes Way, proves to be short lived. One day his mother tells him “You really must stop hanging about trying to meet Mme de Guermantes. You’re becoming a laughing stock.” And with that, he is cured of the malady of his obsession, much more easily than Swann was cured of his obsession with Odette, but once again Proust makes the comparison between love and disease. At this same time, Saint-Loup breaks with Rachel. He goes to Morocco to forget the affair, but sends M. a letter telling him that Mme Stermaria, a beautiful and desirable young woman recently divorced from her husband, is now available. This offers M. occasion for a new passion. He writes her a note, inviting her to dinner, and then waits in his room for an answer.
Invisible by Paul Auster
In the prolific years since The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster's writing has tightened to such a perfect pitch it's become almost inaudible to human ears. His issues -- identity, language, truth or reality -- weave into such a seamless harmony, it must be what one hand clapping sounds like. He's even added, to this perfect mix, a hint of global awareness. It's beautiful mind candy, but what does it all amount to?
Where I'm From 2010
1. Forest Hills. I don't know these people but I feel like I do.
Thursday Thoughts
1. This expressionist portrait of Joyce Carol Oates is one of many interpretations of modern authors by Swedish artist Carl Kohler, who died in 2006.
2. If you prefer cute to modern expressionist, here's John Pupdike on Etsy.
Pondering Proust III: Guermantes Way
(Note: This article continues our study of the individual volumes that make up Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". "The Guermantes Way" is quite lengthy, consisting of two very large chapters, so we will cover each chapter in a separate piece.)
PEN WORLD VOICES: J.M.G. Le Clezio in Conversation with Adam Gopnik
