Browsing Archive: October, 2011
Posted by Roger Boylan on Monday, October 31, 2011,
This is an adeptly rendered drawing of the Hofbrauhaus in Munich by a young artist I wish I could describe as "little-known," but I can only do so when referring to him as an artist; as the instigator of the world's worst war, he is far more famous. Yes, it's an original Hitler. He turned these things out in industrial quantity in order to pay his rent, in his salad days in Vienna and (here) Munich. Then came WWI, and, even better, the national anomie at the end that beckoned him into the nat... Continue reading ...
Posted by Roger Boylan on Monday, October 24, 2011,
Volume 2 of Samuel Beckett's Collected Letters is out, and only reinforces the admiration I have for the man's integrity. His character was genuine, forged in life's vicissitudes, and his indifference to glory and self-promotion was real. He lived through long lean years, writing original works everyone rejected, or ignored. “They go out into the usual void and I hear little more about them,” he said. But then came Godot. It made him famous in his 50s. Still, he was too old and experience... Continue reading ...
Posted by Roger Boylan on Friday, October 21, 2011,
Franz Liszt, the handsome chap above, was born on October 22, 1811, in Sopron, Hungary. Wotta guy. Prodigious pianist, ladies' man par excellence, autodidact, father-in-law of Richard Wagner, millionaire, acolyte of the Church and a pretty good composer, too, what with the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the Years of Pilgrimage. Roald Dahl reincarnated him as a cat in his short story "Edward the Conqueror." A cat was a good choice, although perhaps not a domestic cat; I'd have chosen a wilder variet... Continue reading ...
Posted by Roger Boylan on Thursday, October 13, 2011,
This painting, Bright Light at Russell's Corners, dates from 1946. I find it haunting, chilly, and perfectly conceived. I'm there: the tiny crossroads in remote upstate New York, around me the burbling, soughing night, above me the stars, ahead of me the rest of the 20th century. George Ault (1891-1948) is the artist. He was a painter of the self-destructive school, eventually alienating everyone so thoroughly with his misanthropy and drinking that he was forced into rural exile and financial... Continue reading ...
Posted by Roger Boylan on Tuesday, October 4, 2011,
And here it is, after months of blethering and caterwauling and boring the shite out of everyone with one's own peerless insights: Brian O'Nolan's 100th birthday. Born October 5, 1911--a date known forever as "October 5, 1911"--he was reborn as Brother Barnabus, again as George Knowall, again as Myles na Gopaleen, and most gloriously as Flann O'Brien, before expiring at the too-young age of 54 in 1966. But of course he lives on in his work: At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman are two of... Continue reading ...
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