What a fucking great voice is yours, Shalom Auslander!
(Sándor Ferenczi, an early psychoanalyst who was a mensch, wrote a lovely paper extolling so-called “obscene words” as the only language in which we are wholly alive.)
So thank you and Franz for this: go swimming. What the fuck else is there to do, anyway?
Just checked the French translation of the quote. It’s quite funny, it goes « L’Allemagne a déclaré la guerre à la Russie. Après-midi piscine. »
The first half is more or less like the Eng one, but the second half ‘apres-midi piscine’ is almost childlike, like out of a high-school program. It’s hard to translate but it has a “bbq day” feel to it, which is hilarious.
I love what you say about voice: "that elusive almost mystical admixture of tone and thought and stance, that somehow truest self that through some strange spiritual alchemy emerges through words on a page." This is why we read the new books of authors we love: to hear that voice again.
weird thing but you should pick up Van Gogh’s journals if you haven’t already. The vibe is kind of similar to Kafka’s diaries (but I haven’t been able to afford the new translation yet) -- it’s just like this total obsession with his painting and viewing everything through that lense
Right up there with the first entry in Barbellion's
The Journal of a Disappointed Man & A Last Diary
(Hogarth Press, 1984; originally 1919), written when he was 13: "Am writing an essay on the life history of insects and have abandoned the idea of writing on 'How Cats Spend their Time'. "
Ashamed to say I've never heard of it, but looking forward to reading - it's out of print and has zero reviews on Amazon, which speaks very well of it.
Thank you for this wise permission - “By all means let’s solve the world’s problems. But perhaps the way to do that is to start with the world inside our heads. It’s worth a shot.”
Thank you ... I'm sure many of us needed this. If I were into tatoos, I'd put this one where I'd see it every time I reached for X. "But no amount of political debate will ever fix what’s broken within us."
“Just taking the fucking diary, Franz” made me choke
This makes me want to (a) read more Kafka and (b) go swimming this afternoon.
Fuck, yeah!
What a fucking great voice is yours, Shalom Auslander!
(Sándor Ferenczi, an early psychoanalyst who was a mensch, wrote a lovely paper extolling so-called “obscene words” as the only language in which we are wholly alive.)
So thank you and Franz for this: go swimming. What the fuck else is there to do, anyway?
Just checked the French translation of the quote. It’s quite funny, it goes « L’Allemagne a déclaré la guerre à la Russie. Après-midi piscine. »
The first half is more or less like the Eng one, but the second half ‘apres-midi piscine’ is almost childlike, like out of a high-school program. It’s hard to translate but it has a “bbq day” feel to it, which is hilarious.
Nice post.
Love that - the joke works in any language. The whole thing has a Yiddish-ness to it. "It's fucked, what are you gonna do?"
I love what you say about voice: "that elusive almost mystical admixture of tone and thought and stance, that somehow truest self that through some strange spiritual alchemy emerges through words on a page." This is why we read the new books of authors we love: to hear that voice again.
Loved the "Brained"
weird thing but you should pick up Van Gogh’s journals if you haven’t already. The vibe is kind of similar to Kafka’s diaries (but I haven’t been able to afford the new translation yet) -- it’s just like this total obsession with his painting and viewing everything through that lense
I know re the price - "It's sad enough I'm writing someone's diaries, but forty bucks make it even sadder."
You delight me
Right up there with the first entry in Barbellion's
The Journal of a Disappointed Man & A Last Diary
(Hogarth Press, 1984; originally 1919), written when he was 13: "Am writing an essay on the life history of insects and have abandoned the idea of writing on 'How Cats Spend their Time'. "
Ashamed to say I've never heard of it, but looking forward to reading - it's out of print and has zero reviews on Amazon, which speaks very well of it.
No Kafka but similar intensity. Much of his feverish writing life focussed on his death -- he died of MS at 30.
There's a cheap 2017 Dover edition stlll in print.
Hah!
Hey! Hold it. How cats spend their time can be pretty entertaining, if you ask me...
https://sharronbassano.substack.com/p/marvins-day-book?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fcat&utm_medium=reader2
He abandoned that idea?? The nerve. Boss Cat’s not gonna like this. (Inside joke sorry)
I was thinking of leaving a comment, but I'm too busy writing. (And yeah, what Kafka said)
I was going to reply, but I was too busy swimming.
I was going to go swimming, but I'm too busy invading Russia.
What's "Russia?" Sounds made up.
It's not though. I can see it from my house.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Great post, Shalom. Wonderful writing, so it must be working.
Thank you for this wise permission - “By all means let’s solve the world’s problems. But perhaps the way to do that is to start with the world inside our heads. It’s worth a shot.”
Surrealist fiction and frozen margaritas. You know, the important things.
Thank you ... I'm sure many of us needed this. If I were into tatoos, I'd put this one where I'd see it every time I reached for X. "But no amount of political debate will ever fix what’s broken within us."
Encircling a skull with a sword through its eyes, I hope.
Yes! There are so many choices! I choose swimming too! There is so much wisdom in that!
Awesome!