Tag Archives: Austria

The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Concerning the Jews’

Posted on February 22, 2014 by sheila

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain In 1898, Mark Twain’s essay about a raucous Parliament-meeting in Austria was published. (It’s a hell of a piece of journalism.) As can be imagined, the response to the piece … Continue reading →

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Stirring Times in Austria’

Posted on February 19, 2014 by sheila

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain As with most long essays, this one should be read in its entirety. It is 1898, and Mark Twain is in Austria. He is there at a particularly tumultuous time, … Continue reading →

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The Books: A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing, “Schubert” by H.L. Mencken

Posted on December 6, 2013 by sheila

Next up on the essays shelf: A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing, by H.L. Mencken Mencken refers to Franz Schubert as “one of the great glories of the human race”. In this essay, he discusses the … Continue reading →

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The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘European Dreams’, by Joan Acocella

Posted on October 15, 2012 by sheila

On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. The next essay is called ‘European Dreams’, about Austrian-Jewish novelist and journalist Joseph Roth. One of Acocella’s abiding interests is writers and artists caught in the middle … Continue reading →

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The Books: Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser

Posted on September 24, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Biography Next biography on the biography shelf is Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser Or consider that unutterable business of the Diamond Necklace. Red-hatted Cardinal Louis de Rohan; Sicilian jailbird Balsamo Cagliostro; milliner Dame de Lamotte, … Continue reading →

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The Books: I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941, by Victor Klemperer

Posted on April 16, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Memoirs: Next book on the Memoir/Letters/Journals shelf is I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941, by Victor Klemperer The journals (there are three volumes in all) are written by a Jewish man, an … Continue reading →

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György Ligeti’s “Musica Ricercata” in Eyes Wide Shut

Posted on September 8, 2010 by sheila

I watched Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures last night. When he was a teenager, he was already becoming an accomplished photographer, with a dark room set up in his parents’ house. In 1945, when FDR died, he took the … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rebecca West

Posted on March 27, 2010 by sheila

In 1981, Rebecca West was interviewed by The Paris Review, and it’s included in the first volume of the Paris Review interviews. She was an old woman by that point, 90 years old, living in London. Cataracts had ruined her … Continue reading →

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Beware of Pity, by Stefan Zweig

Posted on February 9, 2010 by sheila

I have Joan Acocella to thank for me even hearing of this great book. Her essay, “Quicksand”, on Stefan Zweig, was included in the compilation of her work that I read last year, Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints. Known mainly … Continue reading →

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Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: an excerpt

Posted on August 25, 2004 by sheila

This is part of the chapter I read this morning. I’ve got a ton of thoughts about it all, but I’m not sure how to put it into words. In this excerpt, Rebecca West and her husband stop at a … Continue reading →

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