Under Western Skies is meant to reflect the joy and the endless adventure of living in the American West: life, culture, history and travel in California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington — and elsewhere. Well, not all of it is joyful, because we look at the downside, too. We talk about work, though more specifically about video and multimedia. We talk a lot about books and writing and publishing.
And music (but not just western music, even though Buck Owens really started something just up the road there in Bakersfield).
We do NOT talk about politics or religion, except in passing reference to the current cultural scene. There is enough talk radio, talk TV, journalism, pseudo-journalism, punditry and other doodah already, without any help from us here. Ideas are more compelling than ideologies. You won’t even find “politics” or “religion” or similar big honking topics listed in the Categories widget over in the right-hand navigation bar.
That “Categories” menu in the right-hand navigation will give you an overview of the topics we’ve covered and let you pick your favorites.
I post new entries on the average of twice a week.
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OK Brad – from MU Hockey to Proust. I’m just 10% of the way into the whole shooting match (loitering at the Verdurin’s soirees), and just noticed your summaries from a few months ago.
I, too, have put this off for several decades, and fortunately didn’t have to fabricate anything for my English BA.
As prep, I read De Botton’s book, and some other essays online, and was struck by a few notes on the humor in Proust. Sure enough, there’s plenty of it in the introductory few hundred pages. Here’s hoping it continues.
My initial reaction is that he combines Eliot’s psychological mastery with Dicken’s humor and Trollope’s landscapes. (That’s as faux intellectual snobby as I can get).
I wonder if the sentences come off better in French than in translation? They’re certainly elegant and readable, but often rereadable and rerereadable.
If I make it through this, I’ve still got Shakespeare and the Bible to completely conquer, and long ago a friend recommended Anthony Powell’s twelvesome – have you any words of wisdom on that, it’s Proustian in length.
By: John Cadwallader on March 26, 2010
at 1:02 pm
On the sentences: I so deeply regret that I cannot read them in French. I would love to be able to do so. They are absolute masterpieces, one after another. Never read Powell, though I’ve thought about it. Yep, MP’s very Dickensian. And Proust had read Eliot and Trollope in translation, so I’ll bet you’re right there, too. I tackled “Search” without any pre-reading of any kind, and it’s been an amazing journey of discovery. Can’t believe I waited so long. Bon chance! It only gets better as you go on.
By: Brad Nixon on March 26, 2010
at 1:37 pm