Mostly It Is Loss/Our Revels Are Now Ended

For my friend Glen, who died yesterday.

Arthur Schopenhauer Quote

Arthur Schopenhauer Quote

“Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.”-William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Shopping for the Bookworm: Victor Hugo Edition

“He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two.”-Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Les Misérables Notebook by Constarlation

Les Misérables Notebook by Constarlation. $6.99.

The Works of Victor Hugo, 1928, at Picard's General Store

The Works of Victor Hugo, 1928, at Picard’s General Store. $29.00.

Victor Hugo Print by TerrificFriends

Victor Hugo Print by Terrific Friends. $15.00.

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[Alternative Muses] Coming and Going: Pierre-Auguste Renoir/Tennessee Williams Mashup

The Umbrellas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, circa 1881-1886

The Umbrellas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (born on 2/25/1841), circa 1881-1886.

“Life is an unanswered question, but let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the question.”-Tennessee Williams (died on 2/25/1983)

Some of My Favourite Literary Biographies, Part One

I own a sizable collection of literary biographies. These are some of my favourites:

  • Auden by Richard Davenport-Hines
  • The Secret Life of Aphra Behn by Janet Todd
  • Louise Bogan A Portrait by Elizabeth Frank
  • Truman Capote by George Plimpton
  • Secrets of the Flesh A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
  • My Wars Are Laid Away in Books The Life of Emily Dickinson by Alfred Habegger
  • Herself, Defined H.D. and Her World by Barbara Guest
  • George Eliot A Life by Rosemary Ashton

Do you have a favourite?

Edna St. Vincent Millay: 22 February 1892

Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on 22 February 1892.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay.

“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.”-Edna St. Vincent Millay