What About Paris?

October 19, 2014

The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, by John Quidor

The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, by John Quidor (1801-1881) Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

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October 02, 2014

Authentic and American: Ben Bradlee Story #1

Earlier this week we weighed in briefly on the life of former Washington Post managing editor Bill Bradlee, now 93 and ailing. Bradlee served at the Post during a long and often-turbulent period in American history (1968-1991). There are lots of great stories about Bradlee--who was outspoken, forceful, combative and funny. Many highlight verbal or written comebacks Bradlee made to those who made unfriendly or hostile remarks about the Post or him. During a spat with the publisher of another newspaper, Bradlee once wrote:

To the Publisher:

Editors do run the risk of appearing arrogant if they choose to disagree with anyone who calls them arrogant.

You sound like one of those publishers who aims to please his pals in the community and give the what they want.

No one will call you arrogant that way. No one will call you a newspaperman, either.

Source: Vanity Fair, June 6, 2012

Bradlee and Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward circa 1980.

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August 09, 2014

How to work.

Detroit, July 19, 1970

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May 31, 2014

(Van Doren on) Wordsworth.

We no longer require humor in poets. We demand salvation. Of that commodity, Wordsworth still supplies the purest sort.

--Mark Van Doren, 1950, commenting on the subtle graduation of William Wordsworth (1770-1850) from his role as "nature poet" to one of philosopher who offered hope and reassurance to troubled Europe.

All his life, Wordsworth preferred the beauty and solitude of the outdoors to London and the most literary cities on the Continent. His poetry was seeing, feeling and emotional, its inspiration springing from northwest England's famous Lake District, where he was born, wrote and spent most of his life. In his younger years especially, the upheavals in France between 1789 and 1799, and his extensive travels through Europe, made Wordsworth sad, cynical and pessimistic about man and society. Writing 100 years after Wordsworth's death, Mark Van Doren (1894-1972), the remarkably influential Columbia English professor, himself a poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, gave Wordsworth high marks for his power in his later years "to soothe and console an age fallen victim to philosophic despair."

Wordsworth in the Lake District

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May 11, 2014

Oscar Wilde on Moms.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.

― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

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