December 2010
38 posts
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New Year's Eve: Antarctica 1841
A few minutes before midnight all hell broke loose: blowing of horns, beating of gongs, squealing of pigs (the seamen, being politically incorrect fellows, picked up pigs and squeezed them like bagpipes, an exercise producing a wail similar to the instrument), followed by the ringing of the traditional nautical 42 bells for the New Year. Ross and Crozier wished all the men a Happy New Year and...
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Diana Athill is still a rebel at 93
Athill will argue that there are two kinds of physical betrayal: the “awful” kind that marks a breakdown in a relationship, and the second kind, an unfaithful act that takes place when someone, “usually the man”, succumbs to a little temptation.
“To mistake the second betrayal for the first is madness, because a marriage is far more important than that,” she...
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“Every year, Brooke and Charlie did the same exact things to celebrate Christmas....”
– Ann Hood, The Red Thread
“There are many people – happy people, it usually appears – whose thoughts at...”
The National Book Company: Then and Now
In 1960, after 37 years in the publishing business, W. W. Norton & Company decided it was time to set up our own independent warehousing and shipping facility. Thus, the National Book Company was born and began operations in 7,000 square feet of rented space on the second floor of the Scranton Lace Company building.
After 50 years of growth, here is our warehouse today:
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“The twain raised the felled one from the loins up into a sitting position. The...”
– Herman Melville, deploying fine lunar eclipse imagery in Billy Budd
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The Guest
During the night the wind increased. The hens fluttered a little and then were silent. The Arab turned over on his side with his back to Daru, who thought he heard him moan. Then he listened for his guest’s breathing, become heavier and more regular. He listened to that breath so close to him and mused without being able to go to sleep. In this room where he had been sleeping alone for a...
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“Hard work freely undertaken is a privilege and often a pleasure, and writing is...”
– Patrick Kurp
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Renunciation
takes time. Since life is even more finely calibrated than a Henry James story, I find I must resolve to lose repeatedly
yet not believe myself. “Satan and all his works” is easy; but there are no rites to assist me here.
-April Bernard, from Romanticism
