Orkney and Stone

At the Ring of Brodgar,
Orkney.

What Nisus Said

Nisus ait: 'dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,
Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido?'


Nisus said, Do the gods add this heat to the mind,
Euryalus, or does a man's own dire desire become a god to him?

-- Virgil's Aeneid IX, 184-185
(my translation)

Narrative Reflections

The joy--and the limitation--of much crime fiction: simplicity.  Obscured, hidden, elusive at first reading, yet essential and binding.  My dilemma as a reader and teacher: Is the noir model of life adequate? Is it true enough?  Qui bono, you know?  I teach Hammett's The Maltese Falcon every year or so, but early in the term, for I wouldn't want to end their education with Sam Spade's "I won't be a sap for you."  I am too much the Romantic Idealist for that.


P.S.  When I wrote this note, I was thinking of the crime writing genre as a whole, its general nature and tendencies, and not of the excellent work within the genre.  Crime writing is one of my favorite genres, and it's the one I'm slowly working in.

Evening Relaxation

Literary Vistas

A somewhat random sampling of a few shelves . . . .

Old friends; prime rereading.

Crime novels: Rankin's Rebus and the work of local California writers.

Stalwart friends from childhood: R. E. Howard's pulp adventures.

Blade Runner 2056

Auditioning for the new film.

Actually, just getting my right eye irrigated with a Morgan lens and a saline drip.

In the old days, the doctor or nurse would just pour a pitcher of water over your face while you struggled to keep your eye open.

Kirkwall Ruins