It’s not a new claim that maybe Shakespeare was someone else, or a collection of other people. How could it be, people wonder, that some under-educated rube from the provinces could write such beautiful, witty, universally acclaimed stuff? Ok. Whatever. Now, out comes a book claiming that Mary Shelley couldn’t have written Frankenstein. She was […]
Archive | Language/Lit
Nudge
I’ve written before (and before that) about the idea of “libertarian paternalism.” aldaily.com points to an article explaining it while talking about the new book on the subject: Nudge.
Adverb of the Week
From “The Call of Cthulhu,” by H.P. Lovecraft: “Johansen and his men … clambered slipperily up over titan oozy blocks….” They clambered slipperily. I admire the adverbial experimentation, and if this example stood alone in the story (or huddled with a few friends), I’d have loved it. Unfortunately, the last half of the text is […]
Spain
Put it this way: We were mainly in the plains. What does that tell you about the weather we had? Everyone kept saying how unusual it was that it rained every day and was cold. So… lucky us, we had unusual weather. But it was nice to see the aunt and uncle, and the tapas […]
Beatles and Bad Grammar
I recently saw Across the Universe. As most people know, the movie updates a bunch of Beatles songs, and uses them to tell a story. It’s pretty good, and part of the fun is seeing how the movie-makers adapt the lyrics to their purpose. The one I bring you today is especially interesting to me, […]
Open Dictionary
The Britannica Blog points to Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary. If the word’s not already in the dictionary, you can help put it there. Or if not “there,” at least somewhere. Some of the submissions are clearly wannabes, but some are words I’ve used or heard used many times (like “za” for “pizza”; or “A-game,” as in […]
Preface
In the middle of Volume III, Chapter 19, Shandy (the narrator) gives the general position of the characters he’s introduced so far, noting that they’re all taken care of for the moment. Then he says: “’tis the first time I have had a moment to spare, and I’ll make use of it, and write my […]
Odysseus Journeys Home
Robert Fagles (who was approvingly quoted in a weeklyrob post about translation) has died. Obit.
Congress
Maybe everyone knows this. After Bono said, “This is fucking brilliant” on live TV, the P.I.C. (“People in Charge”) decided that the network couldn’t be punished because the word “fucking” in that sentence wasn’t actually talking about sex, so broke none of the current rules. So a resolution was introduced to the House, explicitly (and […]
Current Favorite Quote
“Your identity is not equivalent to your biography.” John O’Donohue There’s a lot to appreciate in that line. [Quote found on Scrivenings. That’s the blog, not the writing tool I love so much.]