Six desired, one surprise

2326 pages literature at its finest.

Merry Christmas!

... and Peace on Earth

A child's born.
Its 'cross': malnutrition.
About 10,000 times a day.

So Merry Christmas then,
and peace on Earth.
And after the mass
enjoy the masses on your table.
Sumptuous meals,
a Lucullan feast.

After all, (billions of) individuals can't change the world, can they?

May the Lord care for the poor souls!


Fucking hypocrites! 

 

Those who feel offended are meant!

Beers & Books (439) – Werfel: Star of the Unborn

Star of the Unborn
(1945/46), science-fiction novel

 
Franz Werfel (10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945)

Relats conjunts: Tibetan Girl

Tibetan girl
(Liu Yun Sheng - 1937)

Relats conjunts

Yes, yes, yes. Oh, that look! Oh, that little hand! ... No! 
I will give this attack on my wonderful conscience the attention it deserves: Zero! Zero!! ZERO!!! 
Everyone is the architect of their own fortune. And with seven or eight billion people around, there are bound to be some losers, eh?!
So what! Christmas I'll enjoy the turkey that I didn't pardon, and think about who we're going to blow up with our wonderful missiles before New Year's Eve.
Peace on earth, and goodwill to all!

Beers & Books (439) – Michelsen: Dance on the Cliffs

Dance on the Cliffs
(not yet translated into English)

 Solrún Michelsen *11 March 1948

Laughing Lhursday* – Japanese simple

Describes the sound of splashing or spraying liquid,
 or fish jumping out of the water.

* [For first time visitors]: 
Typo in the title? Nah. It's just that 
I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

On the road

...

Happy 250th, Jane!

Emma

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817)

Happy 95th, Dame Edna!

Wish she could celebrate her 95th birthday, today.
I do.

 

Edna O'Brien (15 December 1930 – 27 July 2024)

 “History is said to be written by the victors. Fiction, by contrast, is largely the work of injured bystanders.” 

Books everywhere. On the shelves and on the small space above the rows of books and all along the floor and under chairs, books that I have read, books that I have not read.

What matters is the imaginative truth.

Ordinary life bypassed me, but I also bypassed it. It couldn't have been any other way. Conventional life and conventional people are not for me.

Love . . . is like nature, but in reverse; first it fruits, then it flowers, then it seems to wither, then it goes deep, deep down into its burrow, where no one sees it, where it is lost from sight, and ultimately people die with that secret buried inside their souls.

We hide the truer part of ourselves when we love.

I always want to be in love, always. It’s like being a tuning fork.

Beers & Books (438) – 28 Stories from the Faroe Islands

Of islands I know
Stories from the Faroe Islands
;-)
Even greater than the variety of beers
is the variety of the 28 stories by 27 authors.
A literary tour de force through the 20th century.

The fundamental evil

Ich erkläre das grundlegende Übel der Welt damit, 
dass der liebe Gott zu wenig Geld geschaffen hat.
                                      * * *
The fundamental evil of the world arose from the fact
that the good Lord has not created money enough. 

 Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856)

Friday is Skyday

...

Merci, Monsieur Marceau!

In autumn 1986 he gave me about an hour of his life. We talked about Auschwitz and love, about language and absolution, about Chaplin and apartheid, about poetry, Picasso and power, about resistance and reconciliation, about . . .

At one point he said: Shshsh, and now let's five minutes talk without words.

Magic?
Eyes talking.
No ears needed.
Silence.
Thoughts flowing, waving.
Question and answer dancing.
Dreams.
Understanding?
Yes.
It is possible.
Magic!

May the one and the other think I am (too) sentimental: Afterwards I felt these had been very special moments in my life. I had met a wonderful wise human being.