Thursday, May 4, 2006
speaking of dates
Today is an important anniversary for two literary reasons: (1) the 1939 publication of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (which I confess I have not read and really really should read), and (2) the 1852 birth of Alice Liddell, the muse and inspiration for Alice in Wonderland without which most of our lives would be significantly sadder and poorer.
And while we're on the subject of dates, what was in the water in 1939? Films, books, architecture, fashion, painting and sculpture . . . output was enormous and quality was extraordinary. With all due deference and acknowledgement of the collective unconscious, could the impending war have exerted some magical, harbingal, precursive influence?
And while we're on the subject of dates, what was in the water in 1939? Films, books, architecture, fashion, painting and sculpture . . . output was enormous and quality was extraordinary. With all due deference and acknowledgement of the collective unconscious, could the impending war have exerted some magical, harbingal, precursive influence?
Labels: anniversaries, books
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