In the legendary movie ‘Down by law’ by Jim Jarmush three refugees (Roberto benigni, Tom Waits and John Lurie) ride a small boat in unkown territory. When they reach a familiar location, one of them exclaims: “We Keep Going in Circles”. At this exact moment the boat begins to sink. And so it is with destructive habits and vices we are unable -or even unwilling- to shake off. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category
Too gentle for (t)his World
Saturday, September 13th, 2008Writer attacked by characters
Saturday, July 7th, 2007
Five peasant farmers beat up an author for revealing in his novel the dark secrets of their hamlet, including adultery, suicide, inbreeding and alcoholism, a court heard.
Size & Stamina [Ondaatje]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
Apparently (1) some writers just need a faint suggestion of a story to kick off a complete novel, like a small ice ball dropped from the top of a snowy mountain turns into a full grown avalanche -depending on the size of the mountain and the amount of available snow (i.e. the greatness of the writer and his stamina).
Apparently (2) Michael Ondaatje is such a writer.
Cold War Novel
Sunday, February 4th, 2007
the Soviets’ persecution of Boris Pasternak, author of “Doctor Zhivago,” a Russian historian has injected a belated piece of intrigue: the CIA as covert financier of a Russian-language edition of the epic novel.
Read how this famous novel finally got published in its original language at The Wasington Post
Absinthe: muse or murderer
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007
The list of artists and writers (Hemingway was just one of many) who loved the absinthe curse is impressive. It killed some, it wounded others, but who cares: it led to some great works of modern art which outlived their creators. Just like the absinthe myth by the way.
Photo: Rimbaud, who was shot by his lover Verlaine during an absinthe inspired row in Brussels
Hemingway, the favorite drunkard
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007
“The most accomplished people have been drinkers,” he said. “Hemingway was a great literary drunk, and I think a lot of teetotalers would trade their lives for his in a second. Alcohol is the great socializer. Can you imagine a world without it? Well, I guess you can — it’s called the Middle East.”
Hemingway was a great fan and a bad drunk, especially with his love of guns and knives.
To be JT LeRoy or not to be
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007
“..almost no one had ever met him in person, some people thought novelist Dennis Cooper was actually the author, or maybe Ewert himself, Cooper’s ex-boyfriend. Certainly LeRoy seemed suspiciously similar to the characters in Cooper’s novels, fucked-up teenage boys in perpetual danger, or to the wise, otherworldly children in Ewert’s Web film Piki & Poko.“
Mc Ewans real life Bouillabaisse
Sunday, January 28th, 2007
Writers have been tempted to tear down the natural wall between the fictitious world on one side and the readers real life on the other. Post modernism has accelareted this tendency considerably and so has the internet. The latter offers a range of opportunities to at least extend the reality of characters lifes. (more…)