I was once at the check out with my shopping for the entire week and while I
was taking out my purse to pay I heard a voice:
"I'll take care of that!" I turned round and there was this man with whom I
had worked. He was undoubtedly a wonderful man and there had never been
anything between us. I tried to protest, I had a job and could deal at least
with my grocery, but no, he would not accept. I think I met Providence on
that day.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:23 AM, Halvard Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> And runs down, at least, to S.J. Perelman:
>
> "I loathe writing. On the other hand I'm a great
> believer in money. Often when I couldn't pay the
> grocery bill, Providence intervened and I don't
> mean my natal city, Providence, which can be
> counted on for nothing."
>
>
> Hal
>
> "Information cannot argue with a closed mind."
> --Mike Nichols and Elaine May
>
> Halvard Johnson
> ================
> [log in to unmask]
> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/index.html<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ehalvard/index.html>
> http://entropyandme.blogspot.com
> http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.com
> http://www.hamiltonstone.org
> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/vidalocabooks.html<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ehalvard/vidalocabooks.html>
>
>
> On Mar 24, 2008, at 6:29 PM, David Bircumshaw wrote:
>
> > Mind you, Nathan, there's a long tradition, in writing, of writers
> > questioning the worth of writing (and reading!) It goes back far,
> > recall the
> > Phaedrus, where Plato has Socrates tell:
> >
> > "But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the
> > Egyptians
> > wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the
> > memory
> > and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent
> > or
> > inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or
> > inutility
> > of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance,
> > you who
> > are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children
> > have
> > been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for
> > this
> > discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls,
> > because
> > they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external
> > written
> > characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have
> > discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you
> > give your
> > disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be
> > hearers
> > of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be
> > omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome
> > company,
> > having the show of wisdom without the reality."
> >
> > On 24/03/2008, Nathan Hondros <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>
> >> "real writers read". I couldn't agree more, Doug. I don't think
> >> there was
> >> ever a writer who wasn't also a voracious reader.
> >>
> >> On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:22 AM, Douglas Barbour <
> [log in to unmask]
> >>>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> Ah, now pardon me for the previous posts. You seem to realize what's
> >>> needed.
> >>>
> >>> The thing of it is, each of us finds the writers we need (are
> >>> different, quite often).
> >>>
> >>> Doug
> >>> On 24-Mar-08, at 7:14 AM, Nathan Hondros wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> I have this notion that it may be possible to teach literature and
> >>>> criticism
> >>>> (the construction of the tools; Anny, I like that analogy) but
> >>>> that an
> >>>> academic understanding of writing and its methods, or even the
> >>>> complex
> >>>> interaction of a reader with a poem, is more elusive. I can barely
> >>>> describe
> >>>> the way in which I interact with a good poem, let alone understand
> >>>> it on
> >>>> more than merely a formal level. Can this form of emotional
> >>>> intertwining
> >>>> between an audience and a work of art be taught? Perhaps I am
> >>>> saying
> >>>> that
> >>>> what I love is the personal experience of a poem, and not the
> >>>> breadth of
> >>>> understanding or intellectual concept that underpins it.
> >>>>
> >>>> I do disagree with the tabula rasa model. All writing owes a debt
> >>>> to
> >>>> the
> >>>> good and the mediocre that went before it, and this must be
> >>>> learned or
> >>>> unlearned as the case may be.
> >>>>
> >>>> Ezra Pound advised writers to "pay no attention to the criticism of
> >>>> men who
> >>>> have never themselves written a notable work". I've read William
> >>>> Faulkner
> >>>> quoted as saying that real writers are far too arrogant to listen
> >>>> to
> >>>> anyone
> >>>> when it comes to their writing. These two quotes fit so well
> >>>> together, don't
> >>>> they?
> >>>> But, of course, these thoughts of mine are unschooled. Perhaps the
> >>>> value of
> >>>> schooling in these matters is in knowing what has been thought and
> >>>> spoken
> >>>> before, so that one doesn't end up repeating what everyone else
> >>>> already
> >>>> knows? I apologise if that's the case with the rant above!
> >>>
> >>> Douglas Barbour
> >>> [log in to unmask]
> >>>
> >>> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/<http://www.ualberta.ca/%7Edbarbour/>
> >>>
> >>> Latest books:
> >>> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> >>> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >>> Wednesdays'
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
> >>>
> >>> to rid me of
> >>> the ugh in
> >>> thought
> >>> i spell anew
> >>> weave the world
> >>> out of the or
> >>> binary
> >>>
> >>> bpNichol
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > David Bircumshaw
> > Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> > http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
> > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> > Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>
--
Anny Ballardini
http://annyballardini.blogspot.com/
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=poetshome
http://www.moriapoetry.com/ebooks.html
I Tell You: One must still have chaos in one to give birth to a dancing
star!
|