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January 2006

It Takes a Village

Sunday, January 29, 2006

"Milford. It's like a magical storybook place, just waiting to be filled up. To be, for one wildly happy moment, though it cannot last of course, nothing lasts really—inhabited."
–Robert Coover, "Milford Junction, 1939: A Brief Encounter"

Moments in time, from two different worlds: Japanese picture brides and the village of Brief Encounter.


Perfect Love, Almost

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Women at bay in one tale of perfect—almost—love and a satirical look at book club politics from an American master.

“Mrs. Leverett told her sister afterward that she had known at a glance what was to come. She saw that Osric Dane was not going to meet them halfway…As Mrs. Leverett said…’She had a way of looking at you that made you feel as if there was something wrong with your hat.’”
–Edith Wharton, “Xingu.”


Surreal Quartet

Friday, January 13, 2006

"'The lad, having been rejected by the school of his parents' choice, was forced to—to—to—' 'what? Tell me Dirt Simon off!' 'Let's just say that when he turned five, he was forced to attend—public school.'"
–Woody Allen, "The Rejection."

A surreal quartet: eccentric relatives; mock Russian melodrama; futuristic infidelity; transgender high jinks.


Afterglow

Sunday, January 08, 2006

"My father wanted me to…spend Christmas with him. I cried. I didn’t want to go…I was afraid of strangers, and my father was a stranger."
–Truman Capote, "One Christmas."

Afterglow: more Christmas memories.


An American in Paris

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Parisian memories from three American icons.

“Day after day we returned to the Louvre, and could hardly bring ourselves to leave at closing time. We had no money, we had no friends, but we wanted nothing.”—Isadora Duncan, “My Life.”