Uncategorized

Margaret, the Maid of Norway

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You run across all sorts of things, surfing the web. Tonight, for no particular reason, I’ll share with you the story of Margaret, the Maid of Norway, a girl who lived only seven years and did nothing at all remarkable, but is nevertheless renowned in the folklore of two countries.

I realize there’s no reason you should be interested in her story, so I’ll attempt to lure you in by notng that Margaret’s story is the backstory to the movie Braveheart.

You’re aware, aren’t you, that, fine as it is as a rousing piece of manly cinema, Braveheart is, from a historical point of view, a load of haggis? The costumes are wrong. The chronology’s mixed up. The battles are inaccurate. And the politics are skewed.

At the beginning of the film, you’ll recall, William Wallace’s father (his brother too? I forget) rides off to a meeting with King Edward I of England, where all the Scots in attendance are treacherously hanged. Such an incident may have happened at an earlier time (it can’t be proven one way or the other), but it didn’t happen to Wallace’s father, and that wasn’t what started the conflict between Edward and the Scots. Continue reading Margaret, the Maid of Norway →

Fiction

Recommended Reading

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Greybeard sends a link to a post on “what church leaders can learn from literature.” He says he has read only Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I have not read and I would say is not high on my list except I don’t have an actual list, so I can’t quite judge this title’s placement on it. I would like to read it some day. Maybe once I become rich and famous.

I have read Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev. I read it for a modern literature class in college and had to give a type of oral report on it even though I hadn’t gotten beyond 100 pages. But in those pages, Asher Lev grabbed me. It’s a thickly tensioned story of a family that feels out of place in the world and a gifted boy who feels out of place in his family. I’d like to read it again before getting around to Dorian Gray. I mean, I like Oscar Wilde. I have enjoyed my frequent experience with The Importance of Being Earnest. But I want to read more of Chaim Potok. One is flash, the other heat.

Many more reading recommendations follow in the comments on that post.

Writing

The learning curve

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I want to follow up on what I wrote yesterday about the contrast between Dean Koontz’ early books and his later ones. I’m lukewarm about most of the early books, and I loathe at least one of them. But his more recent books are magnificent, and they get better and better, in my opinion.

This is a lesson (and an encouragement) for all aspiring writers.

When I was a kid, I meant to be an artist when I grew up. I wanted to draw or paint, or something. Be a cartoonist, or an illustrator or a commercial artist.

I drew incessantly. I drew behind my books during lectures in school (an 8 ½ by 11 sheet folded in half was my preferred canvas. It was easily hidden, and just about as much space as I could handle conceptually). I drew while watching TV in the evening.

But I was always frustrated with my drawing. I compared what I produced to what real artists did, and I knew mine fell short. And I never seemed to progress beyond certain limits. I never quite mastered proportion or perspective. I never learned to do hands well.

Then I started writing. And somehow that was different. I didn’t think I was as good as the published writers, but I never felt like I hit that wall. I felt as if I had control over words, in a way I didn’t have control over my pencil. Something told me I could pretty much go as far as I wanted with this thing.

The improvement in Dean Koontz’ books should be (it seems to me) an encouragement to everyone who wants to be a writer. There are doubtless others, but I personally don’t know of another author whose work exhibits such a clear upward learning curve…. Continue reading The learning curve →

Blogs, Socials

Blog self-destruction

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Movies fascinate me. I rarely actually go out and spend a double sawbuck to see one, you understand, but I’m always interested in what’s being made, who’s making it, who’s in it, and what it’s about. Regular readers will have already noted that I write about movies quite a lot on this book blog, even though we don’t even have a Movies category.

So for a long time, one of my must-read daily blogs has been Libertas. Started by Jason Apuzzo of the conservative Liberty Film Festival and his wife Govindini, Libertas passed, for the last couple years and up until very recently, into the stewardship of an independent director who called himself “Dirty Harry.” I liked the blog even better under Harry, who admits to being a Christian, and therefore (until a few weeks ago) kept his identity secret for fear of blacklisting.

Then he suddenly disappeared from Libertas, and Apuzzo returned. It was unclear for a while what had happened, but it finally was explained that Dirty Harry was gone, Apuzzo was back, and Dirty Harry was now blogging over at Dirty Harry’s Place. Which I accordingly bookmarked. I then followed both blogs.

No details were given, but clearly there’d been a falling out.

Today Apuzzo announces that Libertas is going on hiatus for the summer.

Excuse me?



Phil, if we ever decide to drive a stake through this blog’s heart, that would probably be a pretty good template to follow.

Reading, Reviews

Dean Koontz’ full range

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Tonight, another episode in my ongoing engagement with the works of Dean Koontz. Not a review, exactly, but an appreciation and evaluation.

I’m going through Koontz alphabetically, picking up his books left to right across the bookstore shelf. This results in some odd juxtapositions, such as when I read Night Chills (published 1976) immediately followed by One Door Away From Heaven (published 2001). Having made it more than half way through the corpus, I think I can say that those two books represent something like the full range of Koontz’ work—from the creppiest early stuff to the most sublime of the recent.

Night Chills is barely recognizable as a Koontz book, in the sense I’ve come to know them. It’s a pretty standard thriller with a cutting-edge (for the time) scientific premise. But the way Koontz handles the material seems to reveal an immature artist, unsure of himself and trying to emulate established writers.

Which is probably why there’s so much sex in the book, and why it’s so (relatively) explicit, and… frankly, creepy. Continue reading Dean Koontz’ full range →

Uncategorized

Tolkien Postcard Found While Razing Tolkien Home

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The team taking apart one of Tolkien’s homes found a postcard in the fireplace. Reporter Mike Collett-White writes:

The postcard was addressed to Tolkien at the Miramar Hotel in Bournemouth, where he and his wife Edith often stayed. [It is dated 1968.]

It is from “Lin,” which Malton [the demolition man] believed could be fellow fantasy author Lin Carter who wrote Tolkien: A Look Behind ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ published in 1969.

Depicting a scene from Ireland, it reads: “I have been thinking of you a lot and hope everything has gone as well as could be expected in the most difficult circumstances.”

The circumstances in question are not described in this report.

Book Reviews, Creative Culture