The bad is called good

We live now in an era where normal values have been displaced.
The good is called bad, the bad - good.

Anna Politkovskaya (30 August 1958 – 6 October 2006)

Dark suspicion

I've got a deep dark suspicion
that pretty soon we should start
looking around for another planet
for ourselves. 

Wolfgang Borchert (20 May 1921 – 20 November 1947)

A process of discovery

As a writer, I write to see.
If I knew how it would end, I wouldn't write.
It's a process of discovery.

John McGahern  (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)

Beat the drum, Heinrich!*

I have never seen an ass
who talked like a human being,
but I have met many human beings
who talked like asses.

Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856)

* Heine's Doctrine

Today 532 years ago

  The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a nasty discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Today 531 years ago

 The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a nasty discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Beers & Books CCCXXIX – A Message to the Irish People

"It is clear that it is not man
who has created the universe
- whether you believe in God or in gods
or deny any divine presence -
man cannot alter the laws
that govern the universe
without damaging it."

Seán MacBride ( 26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988)

Our Civilisation

"Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many things which perhaps are of no importance, that it cannot but see something feeble in a civilization which smiles as it refuses to make the battlefield the test of excellence."

James Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941)

Beers & Books CCLVXXX – John Hume

Difference is of the essence of humanity.
Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore
never be the source of hatred or conflict.
The answer to difference is to respect it.
Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace:
respect for diversity.

John Hume (18 January 1937 – 3 August 2020)

Beers & Books CCLXI – Jakob Wassermann

All injustice and suffering on earth
has its reason in the fact
that experiences cannot be transmitted.
At the most, they can be communicated.
Between the appropriate and the unbearable
lies the whole path of experience,
which only one person can ever travel alone.
Just as only one person ever dies alone
and no one knows anything about death....

Jakob Wassermann (10 March 1873 – 1 January 1934)

Beers & Books CCXXXVII – Richard Barham Middleton

The Ghostship & Other Stories

 Richard Middleton ( 28 October 1882 – 1 December 1911)

Today 530 years ago

The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a fatal discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Beers & Books CCXXXI – Alistair MacLeod

I like to think
that I am telling a story rather than writing it.

Alistair MacLeod (20 July 1936 – 20 April 2014)

Beers & Books CCXXX – Laurent Binet

Civilizations
*
“What would you do if you ruled the world?”
The gigolo replied that he would abolish all laws.
Barthes said: “Even grammar?”

Laurent Binet * 19 July 1972

Beers & Books CCXXIX – The Letters of John McGahern

I think technique can be taught but I think
the only way to learn to write is to read,
and I see writing and reading as completely related.
One almost couldn't exist without the other.

John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)

Beers & Books CCXXVIII – E.T.A. Hoffmann

There is nothing
more marvellous or madder
than real life.

E.T.A. Hoffmann (24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822)

The Sandman

Mademoiselle de Scuderi

Beers & Books CCXXVII – Lafcadio Hearn

But what is after all the happiness of mere power?
There is a greater happiness possible
than to be lord of heaven and earth;
that is the happiness of being truly loved.

Lafcadio Hearn (17 June 1850 – 26 September 1904)

And here, one of his remarkable articles as a young reporter: Gaffeted.

Beers & Books CCXXV – Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio wondered in the middle of the 14th century "that women were so little regarded" and in response wrote a collection of witty portraits of strong-willed, influential, sometimes dangerous women.

Until his death in 1375, Boccaccio repeatedly revised his work "De mulieribus claris", a collection of over 100 portraits of famous women. Charmingly and with witty wit, he presents strong women such as Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, the prophetess Carmenta, the painter Thamaris, the orator Hortensia and Proba, the poetess. They are not always virtuous, certainly not saintly, but what they all have in common is that they prevailed in the world of men through their bravery, powers of the mind and perseverance - and so these impressive stories are still of great relevance today. For this edition, the most beautiful texts have been selected and newly translated and illustrated with the woodcuts of the first German edition (1473).   

"While farmers
generally allow one rooster for ten hens,
ten men are scarcely sufficient
to service one woman."

Giovanni Boccaccio (16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375)

Beers & Books CCXXI – Heinrich Mann

Der Untertan

"My father, after all, was a nationalist."
*
The youth of King Henri Quatre
&
The completion of  King Henri Quatre

"The Bourbon King (i.e. Henry Quatre)
was first ambassador of reason and human happiness."
*

Heinrich Mann (27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950)

Beers & Books CCXX – Gabriele Wohmann

"There's also a satisfaction
that takes place in the mind: thinking."

Gabriele Wohmann (21 May 1932 – 22 June 2015)