Martin Edelweiss’s tutor deems Cambridge student Darwin “ ‘a splendid specimen.’ ” Darwin’s studies at Cambridge were interrupted by the Great War: he spent three years in the trenches, “ ‘and not a scratch, either morally or physicially.’ ” And he’s published a book of short stories that, the narrator tells us, “connoisseurs were raving about.”
Martin has to say something back, yes? But that last sentence will prove prophetic.
Related reading
All OCA Nabokov posts (Pinboard)
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Travel
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
A hidden figure?
From The Spiral Staircase (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1946). Blanche (Rhonda Fleming) has gone to the basement to fetch her suitcase. I can’t decide if the vaguely human form at the center of the screen is meant to suggest a person, lurking, or not. All I know is that it scared the bejesus out of me. The form turns into a pitcher and some shelving with a bit more light. Click any image for a larger view.
[Now you see it.]
[Now you don’t.]
[In case you missed it.]
Exile and pleats
Vladimir Nabokov, Glory, trans. Dmitri Nabokov and Vladimir Nabokov (New York: MacGraw-Hill, 1971).
Yes, university is a time for trying on new identities.
Related reading
All OCA Nabokov posts (Pinboard)
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
“____ no!”
From the New York Times coverage:
One juror smiles as Stormy Daniels describes her initial reaction to Trump’s dinner invite: “No,” with an expletive attached.I think that the expletive attaches at the front.
“No” with an expletive attached should be the response of every American voter to Donald Trump in November.
John Mulaney, sardinista
John Mulaney travels with three cans of King Oscar sardines. Says Mulaney, “You don’t know what you’re gonna encounter out there.”
Related reading
All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)
In Esperantoville
Conspiracy (dir. Lew Landers, 1939) is set in an unnamed European nation whose language is Esperanto.
[“By the day, week, or month.” Nedra Carlson (Linda Hayes) looks anxious. Click any image for a larger view.]
[Tio means that in Esperanto, but Tio in this movie is a person. That’s the Café Tio.]
[“Harbor Police.” I can’t decipher what’s beneath. The barrel says “Fire Use.”]
As I wrote in my four sentences about this movie, “This low-budget effort prefigures Casablanca in a number of ways.” That in itself is a good reason to watch. Recently available at TCM, but also at YouTube.
Monday, May 6, 2024
“Adoration” (Price, arr. Fine)
[Florence Price, “Adoration,” arranged by Elaine Fine. MAP String Ensemble. Catherine Birke, conductor. Alice Tully Hall, New York. May 4, 2024.]
Happily, there’s an audience video of a beautiful, deeply moving performance.
Related reading
A handful of “Adoration” posts
How to improve writing (no. 121)
From NBC Nightly News:
If convicted, Mr. Trump could face anywhere from four years in prison to just probation.It makes better sense to arrange the elements in order of their severity:
If convicted, Mr. Trump could face anywhere from probation to four years in prison.Or a little more gracefully, avoiding the slack anywhere:
If Mr. Trump is convicted, his punishment could range from probation to four years in prison.Related reading
All OCA How to improve writing posts (Pinboard)
[This post is no. 121 in a series dedicated to improving stray bits of public prose.]
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