The crooked Timber of Humanity

Many years out of print, on the occasion of Isaiah Berlin's 100th anniversary that marks today there's a new German edition of The Crooked Timber of Humanity available: Das krumme Holz der Humanität (Berlin Verlag, 430 S., 19,90 Euro).
And Suhrkamp published Der Igel und der Fuchs (105 S., 12,80 Euro), i.e The Hedgehog and the Fox.


Interesting reads I can tell you.

For those who got intrigued and would like to dive a bit deeper I commend The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library.

May I introduce you to ...

... Teresa Magolles?


Well, and here's a bit :) more.

Fancy for dancing? :)

Although personally I do prefer this

I am also fascinated by that kind of dancing. (They are giving guest performances in Germany these days)



Well, and sometimes I like Dancing barefoot.


Did I tell that I am a lousy dancer?

If you've got two bottles of wine ...

If you are in possession of two pairs of trousers
sell one and buy this book.
Lichtenberg

Now would I not go so far as the old ingenious hunchback, but ...

... I know what's better than drinking two bottles of wine:

One bottle of wine and ... a good book. Good poetry, for example.

Now, please don't ask what the criteria for a good book are , what those for good poetry.
And: Need I tell that you don't have to empty both - the bottle and the book - during one night? :)
But: Opening one bottle - in this very case I'd commend one of those fine Sicilian drops - and to enjoy the spirit of both the pressed grapes and the expressed thoughts - that comes next to ... :)

Alright then: During the coming days I shall - with the permission of the author and his congenial translator - post some poems.
Do I like them all? That's not the question.
Sometimes I consider a book or a (long) poem worth its price 'cause of but one tiny sentence.

In this very book, though, there are to be found many good thoughts. So many good thoughts, indeed, that I do wish that Pegasus may offer the duo (poet and translator) many more of such poetic rides.

'Ha!' I do hear some of those spirits who'd love to (almost) always deny: 'How could someone who does not speak English fluently commend a book which roots are Italian?'

Although my Italian is slightly rudimental, having translated a few poems from Italian into English and German, I think I am at least able to recognise the quality of a translation.

Which is why - to cut it short! - I am varying what the ingenious hunchback (look above) demanded :)

If you are in possession of two bottles of wine
sell one and buy this book

Il Profumo del Pensiero / The Essence of Thoughts
Poems by Antonio Lonardo with English translations by Pat Eggleton.
Parallel text. 8 euros plus p&p.
ISBN: 978-88-96255-25-4.

And perhaps easier may be to contact Welshcakes via email:
lasiciliana629 at hotmail dot com

So, just do it. :)

- - - - -


Here a few links to some poems posted by Welshcakes in Italian and English. Enjoy.

Distanze / Distances

Ricera / Search

Esistenziale Itinerario / Existential Itinerary

Analogiche Differenze / Analogical Differences

But without words Omnium is ...

... (almost) nothing.

Words are not Omnium

Poets to come

Poets to come! Orators, singers, musicians to come!
Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I am for,
but you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than before known,
Arouse! For you must justify me.

I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,
I but advance a moment only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.

I am a man who, sauntering along without fully stopping
turns a casual look upon you and then averts his face,
Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
Expecting the main things from you. [1860]

Walt Whitman, 31 May 1819 - 26. March 1892

Hm ...

... like a volcano, tonight
I am a sitting here and ... write ...

The Kiss

Give me, my love, that billing kiss
I taught you one delicious night
When, turning epicures in bliss,
We tried inventions of delight.'

Thomas Moore

And thus ends my little homage to Thomas Moore on the occasion of his 230th birthday. I wonder though, why he did not choose as title 'The Meeting of the Tongues'.

The Meeting of the Waters

There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;
Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart,
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.


'Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom, were near,
Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear,
And who felt how the best charms of nature improve,
When we see them reflected from looks that we love.

Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest
in thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease,
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.

Thomas Moore *28th May 1779

For each beginning bears a special magic*

I did not know what exactly Chris was thinking of when he told me of his idea to let some of my photos accompany (great) poets reading their own poems. However: I got curious - like I always am when visiting my philosopher's blog.

Well, and so it comes that God-free Morals and Omnium together are starting what - who knows? - might become a project.
Will it be interesting for our readers, friends and those who might stumble upon our blogs? Hopefully. And if not? Well, in this case we may comfort ourselves with what Arnold Schoenberg once stated:

If it is art it is not for all
and if it is for all
it is no art.

So take your choice. And let us know. :) Here's for a beginning ...




* :) with thanks to Hermann Hesse for writing one of my favourite poems.

Abraham Kuyper Neglected Titan ...

... is the latest article at Westminster Wisdom.

Why would I mention this?

Well, I think it could be particularly interesting for my Dutch readers to read this and his previous articles (and comment upon), and - it's an opportunity to commend Gracchi's blog especially to cineasts and those who are interested in history / politics.

Ah, and did I mention Livi? :)

Luo Pin - an Eccentric's Visions

Walking a Crane in a Bamboo Grove

Undated
From 'Figures and Landscapes, after Poems by Jin Nong'
Album of twelve leaves, ink and colour on paper, 24.3 x 30.7 cm
Palace Museum, Beijing

The Museum Rietberg Zürich, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, [til 12 July 2009; sj] presents an exhibition dedicated to the Chinese painter Luo Pin (1733–1799). In China, Luo Pin is renowned as one of the most original artists of his time. He was seen as an expert in the supernatural, a man who saw and painted ghosts. [...].

Drunken Zhong Kui
Dated 1762
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 57.0 x 39.0 cm
Palace Museum, Beijing

Some of his contemporaries described Luo Pin as a virtuous scholar, a pious Buddhist, caring husband and devoted father; others saw him as a wayward eccentric and a charming partygoer. His multifaceted personality is also reflected in his versatility as an artist. This is the very first time that such a large selection of Luo Pin’s greatest works has been shown in the West. Among the highlights of the exhibition are a number of masterpieces loaned by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Shanghai Museum.

Luo Ping was born in 1733 in the city of Yangzhou, a flourishing cultural and commercial centre. His literary and artistic talents brought him attention at an early age and attracted the interest of Jin Nong* (1687–1763), one of the leading figures in Yangzhou bohemia, who accepted the 23-year-old Luo as his student. Until Jin’s death, the two men maintained an unusually close friendship, unique in the history of Chinese art. Both Jin and Luo were among the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, a loose group of individualistic painters who revolutionised Chinese art.

Full article here.

The Sword Terrace (detail)
Dated 1794
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 100.3 x 27.4 cm
Palace Museum, Beijing

More photos here.

* Gallery of Jin Nong