Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Twinkle

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Samuel R. Delany Historifying Marginal Practices in Time and the Literary: Essays from the English Institute Taking on one of the biographers of Hart Crane As a gay man today I read this with a cold eye. As far as … Continue reading →

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Encounters

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Juan Gabriel Váquez in Browse: The World in Bookshops edited by Henry Hitchings. Reflections on chance: A reader’s life is, among other things, this tissue of opportune coincidences. And so by luck we arrive. And so for day 2398 07.07.2013

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Landscape Amid Crashing Waves

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Francois Lachance

A new take on the sublime John Adams notes to The Dharma at Big Sur East Coast / West Coast: Some Musical Autobiography Coming upon the California coast is a different experience altogether. Rather than gently yielding ground to the … Continue reading →

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Once We Were Nomads

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Margaret Atwood Foreword to A Breath of Fresh Air: Celebrating Nature and School Gardens by Elsie Houghton Describing the Post-War period after the Victory Gardens disappeared: There was an undeniable emotional charge to throwing stuff out. Scrimping, saving and hoarding … Continue reading →

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In Praise of Felines

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Dedication to Pellegrino Artusi The Art of Eating Well Translated from the Italian by Kyle M. Phillips III. I dedicate this book to two of my best, most pure-hea[r]ted friends, Biancani and Sibillone. To you, who keep me constant company … Continue reading →

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A Set of Visual Puns

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Wallace Edwards Mixed Beasts There is an appendix that gives a key made up of line drawings of some to the beasts to be found in the preceding colour illustrations. Here are a few drawn from the abecedarius order. Dandylion … Continue reading →

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What is Heard

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Will Young “Jealousy” on the album Echoes The lyrics I have seen reproduce the long languorous pauses with line breaks and spacing. They bring into high relief the relation between waiting and thinking. And it feels like jealousy And it … Continue reading →

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From The View Towards

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Francois Lachance

On the occasion of his turning 100, a piece appeared about Robert Blackburn, Chief Librarian, under whose leadership the card catalogue was converted to machine-readable form. It ends with a fine sentiment: His birthday wish? “Only that my work in … Continue reading →

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Gross Domestic Product: Its Limitations

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Francois Lachance

First the examples of what’s wrong: If you were the GDP, your ideal citizen would be a compulsive gambler with cancer who’s going through a drawn-out divorce that he copes with by popping fistfuls of Prozac and going berserk on … Continue reading →

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Sensitivity to Setting

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki In Praise of Shadows Translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker On lacquer First one coat… And I realized then that only in dim half-light is the true beauty of Japanese lacquerware revealed. The rooms at … Continue reading →

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