Category Archives: Books

“All my work is about uncovering, especially uncovering of voices that speak without governance, or that speak without being heard.” — Seamus Deane

“So broken was my father’s family, that it felt to me like a catastrophe you could live with only if you kept it quiet, let it die down of its own accord like a dangerous fire … I felt we … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

“Since we do float on an unknown sea I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way very carefully.” — poet Elizabeth Bishop

“All the intellectuals were communist except me. I’m always very perverse so I went in for T.S. Eliot and Anglo-Catholicism.”– Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop, born on this day, is one of my favorite poets. She didn’t write all that many … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

“Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” — Charles Dickens

DICKENS MISCELLANIA: QUOTES AND APPRECIATIONS My favorite Dickens? Oliver Twist was my gateway drug. I read it when I was 11. Because I was obsessed with the movie. Tale of Two Cities came next. Read when I was 15 in … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged | 9 Comments

“Guilt pins a fig-leaf; Innocence is its own adorning.” — poet Anne Spencer

Anne Bethel Scales Bannister Spencer was yet another poet-librarian, like Dudley Randall, and many others. It was part of a tradition, one worthy of more study (there are websites devoted to it!). As the daughter of a librarian, I am … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

“and I / spoke with tongues that sent their devotees / out of this world!” — poet Melvin B. Tolson

“I, as a black poet, have absorbed the Great Ideas of the Great White World, and interpreted them in the melting-pot idiom of my people. My roots are in Africa, Europe, and America.” – Melvin B. Tolson, 1965 interview It’s … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

On This Day: February 2, 1882/1922

“I was on the platform, my heart going like the locomotive, as the train from Dijon came slowly to a standstill and I saw the conductor getting off, holding a parcel and looking around for someone — me. In a … Continue reading

Posted in Books, James Joyce, On This Day, writers | Tagged | 29 Comments

“I want a fever, in poetry: a fever, and tranquillity.” — poet James Dickey

“a fever and tranquility” – an intriguing combination. James Dickey is probably most well-known for his novel Deliverance – but even there, it was really the film of said book that made him a household name. Dickey wrote the screenplay … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Movies, On This Day, writers | Tagged | 4 Comments

“The mood of the Blues is almost always despondency, but when they are sung people laugh.” — Langston Hughes

The Blues always impressed me as being very sad, sadder even than the Spirituals, because their sadness is not softened with tears, but hardened with laughter … of a sadness where there is no god to appeal to. — Langston … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“The notion of ‘building a career’ had never been heard or dreamed of when I was young.” — Vanessa Redgrave

My friend Dan Callahan wrote the first major biography of Vanessa Redgrave, and he is voluminous on the topic: her career, her gift as an actress. Dan is one of the best writers today on the art of acting (and … Continue reading

Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, On This Day, Television, Theatre | Tagged , | 3 Comments

“I doubt sometimes whether a quiet and unagitated life would have suited me–yet I sometimes long for it.” — Lord Byron

— And who is the best poet, Heron? asked Boland. — Lord Tennyson, of course, answered Heron. — O, yes, Lord Tennyson, said Nash. We have all his poetry at home in a book. At this Stephen forgot the silent … Continue reading

Posted in Books, James Joyce, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments