Quote of the Day

“Those who unfeelingly push and jostle one another all the rest of the year smile on each other today, tell of the dangers they escaped, exchange addresses, and walk along with new friends. The squares are mountains of snow over which the icy lacework clinging like filigree to the branches of the trees glitters in the morning sun.”

—José Martí, “New York Under the Snow” (1888)

Spreading the Word ...

... about the retreat < http://bit.ly/12Vm54 > for artists and writers in the tiny village in France where I spent most of August. I was hoping for someplace magical and filled with interesting people, and that's exactly what was there. And I got a bunch of creative work done, too.

Yaddo Dispatch

Ever seen a tub like this?



I hadn't until this residency. At first glance it seems like it would be perfect for sitting and soaking. The flaw is the height of the spigot, which prevents the water level from rising above your waist. Hence the necessity to head over to take the waters that made Saratoga famous in the first place. Once you get over its rust-yellow color, it's kind of nice.

Yaddo Diary

Reading Richard McCann is a very good thing. Having him read his work to you is even better.

There seems to be some ambivalence among the guests here about attending public presentations. It's true that in some situations (NB: not here) I have imagined myself held hostage. But definitely not while listening to McCann, who possesses that rare ability to talk about himself in a way that makes you hang on every word.

So rare that when he was done reading from a piece of non-fiction about his liver transplant, I found myself wanting more.

Yaddo, Day One

Every year at this time we find ourselves in the position of expressing gratitude. In my case, it has not always been heartfelt.

This year, on the day after the day for giving thanks, I arrived at the place where I'll be spending the next month. Yaddo is often derided as summer camp for artists. Sure enough, as I drove past the gates and into the woods, even though it's near the end of autumn and even though the leaves are off the trees, I did in fact have that feeling of anticipation I used to get each time I went back to Camp Tohkomeupog.

There is much to be grateful for here. Maybe it's the staff's hospitable and respectful attitude. Maybe it's the gracious surroundings or the extravagantly spacious studio. Maybe it's all of those things that make me feel well taken care of. Early signs are that I do appreciate what a privilege this is: my first day here was the most productive in memory.

Rejected First Lines

From the book of Genesis:

"You're not going to believe this...."

—BBC Radio, "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue"

"Poo-tee-weet?"

I happened to finish re-reading Slaughterhouse-Five while flying on a plane today and am thinking of making it an annual tradition. (The reading part, not the plane.) Sorry for spoiling the end.

Discuss

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

—T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from The Rock"

Ouch

With a last line as self-aware as this one, I would have thought she'd have the presence of mind not to hit the Send button.

Trifecta

Betty Friedan was dead just a couple of days and already the naysayers were out.

Why do I care? It's just that I can't help but see a trend—one I first noticed in March of 2005, when, just three months after Susan Sontag's death, Terry Castle, in the London Review of Books, aired a list of personal grievances succinctly described by one friend as "very funny but rather nasty." It says something about Sontag's fierceness, and Castle's cowardice, that she waited to print it until the moment when no rebuttal was possible.

And then there was Terry Teachout's more measured consideration of how he did not like the plays of Wendy Wasserstein, although he found her exceedingly friendly as person. Fine. But the day after she died?

Why the new willingness to poop on the dead? And so quickly after they're gone. To be sure, the opposite extreme is no better. Witness the sickening hypocrisy of Ronald Reagan's apotheosis in death—by people who knew better—as if he had been a great president.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that they were powerful women?

ONCE AGAIN, THE NEW YORK TIMES IGNORES THE TRULY INTERESTING QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"ONE of my favorite writers, Jane Jacobs, talks about the benefits of drift in life. After 16 years, I want to do a little creative drifting. I honestly don't know what is out there, but I'm certain there are exciting opportunities."

JONATHAN KARP, who is leaving his job as editor in chief after 16 years at Random House.