29 thoughts on “Tuesday, July 19, 2022”

  1. Mark J and Ferrick, I envy you both for living in Australia. I hope to visit someday. Escaping the U.S. is high on my list right now. Stay happy and healthy friends

  2. Linda, I tried both your URLs for downloadable and got the error msg: “No preview available. File is in owner’s trash.” I clicked on more and got “viewers cannot download.” Is there something I’m doing wrong? I do love your paper.

    1. Yikes, let me check as I used my daughter’s computer. Will post update later today. Thanks

  3. Barbara: I’m a little surprised at your harsh judgement of The Sun Also Rises, and curious about why your critique groups would trash it out. By the way, Harold Bloom once said all of Hemingway’s novels are failures.

    1. Roger, Why were you surprised? Readers seem to either love Hemingway or hate him. I’m not sure why. I really wanted to love it, esp. after reading reviews by those who love it.

      I’m currently reading a few books at once: Moby Dick by Melville, The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler, and Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson, and all of these novels are so much richer than The Sun Also Rises, so I suppose my reaction had to do with the books I’m reading, so much better than that novel.

      As I said, I loved A Moveable Feast so I don’t flatly hate Hemingway. I suppose I also wasn’t looking forward to the killing of bulls.

      I just found the writing so extremely spare, which is why I can imagine my students saying to the writer of that work, Go deeper, say more, don’t be so minimalist, breathe some life into Brett.

      I’m going to have to look up Bloom and see why he said all of Hemingway’s novels are failures–unless you will tell me….; }

  4. Woody Allen (Guilty? Not guilty?) was once asked by a journalist, as he exited a particularly onerous court hearing: “Mr Allen, if you could live your life again, what what would you change?” He said: “I wouldn’t read Moby Dick.”

  5. Barbara: The late Harold Bloom was longtime professor of Literature at Yale and a prolific author and critic. I heard him make that rather offhand comment at some gathering of the literati I watched on YouTube. His way of saying Hemingway was a better short story writer than novelist. But he considers The Sun Also Rises Hemingway’s best novel.

    I was surprised because as I recall you like Cain and Chandler, both of whom write in the spare style. Apparently Hemingway leaned it from Ezra Pound, but I suspect his newspaper experience had some influence. Whatever, it served him well. But you’re right, readers usually like him or hate him. A Moveable Feast is probably the book I like best, but Death In The Afternoon is very good. You wouldn’t like it because it’s about bullfighting. Among the novels I prefer The Garden Of Eden. Many of the short stories are great.

  6. I would agree–Hemingway’s short stories are good. I’ve taught a couple of them in my classes. I may reread A Moveable Feast (so I can praise him instead of tear him down). I’ll check out The Garden of Eden.

  9. Barbara: No, not a professor. Just a BA in history. When I finished my degree there was a surfeit of graduate students in my major so I took up journalism, which I’d always intended to do.

  10. Barbara, I had the same URL error message initially too but persevered and after a few tries both links eventually worked.

  11. Barbara when I’ve received damaged items not described “as is” I email and advise the seller that I do not wish to add a negative review however… They usually ask for a compromise, a percentage off. But I would suggest it if they don’t.

  12. Xicano, I heard back from Shopgoodwill.com and they said they’d refund $30, or they’ll send me a shipping label to return for a full refund. I’m talking to my typewriter repair dude in San Diego to see what he thinks. He’s so reasonable (cheap) that if he thinks he can fix it, I’ll take it to him. Shopgoodwill said they’ll keep the ticket open until I tell them what I want to do. It’s so hard to find these old green Royals so I want it to work…..

  14. Roger,
    Are you still doing journalism? From 1997 to 2015 or so I did a lot of journalism. These last years since, I do very little–mostly I write about writing for the Authors Guild Bulletin. I do my show, write fiction, teach. A bunch of short stories have been published and I’m working on a novel.

  15. I too, enjoy Hemingway’s short stories than most of his novels. I tend to agree with Barbara on The Sun Also Rises. I don’t see what others see in it as anything to make it great.

  18. Barbara: Rarely. The editor of our regional newspaper died in December and his family has cut back to once a week instead of twice. Few paying opportunities otherwise. Just as well. Too old for the rough and tumble. Meanwhile, OTP is a nice outlet, but the lack of an editor has always made me uncomfortable. Writers need to be on a leash, myself included.

  19. JVC: I worked several years at Ch. 7 there in the Burque. i got out of it (after 9/11) for pretty much the same reason you describe…and haven’t looked back.

  20. Barbara: I love Hemingway, but his style does tend to call attention to itself. I liked The Sun Also Rises, but not my favorite of his novels. A Moveable Feast, though not a novel, is probably my favorite Hemingway overall — extremely poignant and wistful, but also just plain funny, especially his impolitic interactions with Gertrude Stein. Amazing that he was able to make the Paris of his youth come alive from his Idaho refuge where he shortly thereafter took his own life.

  21. Yes, Roger, the lack of an editor here can be daunting. That’s probably why my submissions are usually on the short side. And Brendan, yes, poignant and wistful. Great descriptors of A Moveable Feast.

  22. And Roger, yes, Chandler’s style is spare but he’s so witty. And his similes and metaphors are to die for. Well, maybe not die, but you get my gist.

  24. Barbara: You’re right about Chandler. I howl every time I read him. A shame he was such a drunk. Damn, it’s hot in Arkansas.

  25. JVC: It’s not odd. I’ve been not watching TV for about 10 years. I recently started again since the opportunity arose to get news from my home country. But I do so very sparingly. Usually the news bother me and cost me my well earned sleep. I watch a lot of youtube instead. But also very selected stuff. Stuff that inspires me, stuff that keeps me calm and happy. I block a lot of channels. Especially the ones that make content only for the clicks. There was a lot of crap on television back in the days, but there is a heck lot more now on the internet. I like TV and TV like stuff, but I think it’s good to keep the doses small. I watch a lot of VHS still. It’s physical media and I can watch whatever I want. I sill like that, and you get a lot of old movies on VHS that you usually have a hard time finding on DVD. And non of the high tech digital effects stuff. I guess I’m old school in that regard.

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