Niel Herbert likes being in the Forresters’ house:
[From Willa Cather, A Lost Lady (1923).]
William Tell’s Chapel (there are, in fact, three chapels associated with Tell) was a popular subject for artists: here is one engraving. The House of the Tragic Poet, as it is called, stood in Pompeii. A Getty Museum essay (with several engravings) explains: “Named after its mosaic depicting the rehearsal of a satyr play, the House of the Tragic Poet was decorated throughout with scenes from the epic poems of the Iliad and the Odyssey.” The Captain and Mrs. Forrester’s sitting room has “large, old-fashioned engravings” on its walls.
This passage’s emotional resonance requires, I think, no explanation.
Also from A Lost Lady
“Happy days!” : Weather
Monday, July 20, 2015
“[A]lone with the old things”
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comments: 5
First Melville, now Cather? Have you been reading my tweets?
Not for a while. (Submitted for Your Perusal, yes.) I knew you were reading Melville. I just looked at your tweets but don’t see Cather’s name. What am I missing?
There’s a strange Melville-Cather something that I’m posting tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Not much, just the tweet I linked to in my initial comment, which pairs Cather and Melville. Cather's one of my father's favorite writers, but I've never gotten into her stuff, though perhaps when come up for air after Melville I will.
I’d recommend The Professor’s House. I think it’s one of the great American novels.
Very strange: when I clicked on the link last night it went to your feed, not to one tweet. Now I get it.
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