Hardy, Allen, Smart, Jonson, Miller, Hesse

Since my last post, I've read biographies of: Thomas Hardy, with many critical comments to his wife despite the fact that he was repeatedly and constantly unfaithful; Elizabeth Smart, a Canadian writer of affluent background -- her life certainly doesn't resemble anyone else's life, at least none of anyone I know who was alive in the thirties, for example; Ben Jonson, about whom I knew very little; Henry Miller, who used his sex life to write, but in a much more direct way than many before him -- was this pornography?; and the memoirs of Walter Allen, a British writer I didn't previously know about, and whose reminiscences were not all that illuminating for me.

I'm now in the middle of a Herman Hesse biography. Overall, I'm starting to think that all writers are hard on the people around them, and suffer money problems. Not a novel conclusion, of course, but there it is.

McMeekin, Miller, White, Kristeva

Since my last post, I've read Kristeva's Hannah Arendt. I had read her lectures for the University of Toronto, and there was a certain amount of overlap. I also read Feuillet's Choreographie. This book was a facsimile reprint of the classic from the 1700's. It's so old the 's' is printed as an 'f'. This is the original nomenclature for ballet steps, with line figure illustrations. The second book is a collection of Feuillet's ballets, and that is what made the strongest impression. It was a curved line showing the movements of the dancers on the stage, with a sequence of line figures to show the positions. How extraordinary. I also read History's Greatest Heist by Sean McMeekin, about the Russian monies and valuables lost at the Revolution. It was a sobering and ironical thought that the gold was sold at less than 70% of its value because the communists had no experience in dealing with financiers. I also read The Magician's Book, by Laura Miller. After reading it I still can't see the reason why it should have been written, a book about reading The Chronicles of Narnia. The commentary was small, it seemed to me, and the topic without interest. I also read Lincoln's Greatest Speech, by Ron White, about the Second Inaugural. I don't agree that this is his greatest speech. I think that honor belongs to the Gettysburg address, although certainly the language of the Second Inaugural is rich, symphonic even. Finally I read a 1300 page read about dance, entitle, you guessed it, Reading Dance. I enjoyed it, mostly for the personal detail and the things no layperson would know, like it's a tradition for a dancer to sow her own silk tights, and although Pavlova would spit into her shoe to hold the heel there, Allegra Kent chose to use Lepage's glue, because it was stronger.