I thought this was interesting, from the introduction of Five Modern No Plays by Yukio Mishima (transl. Donald Keene)
“In some respects Nō suggests ancient Greek drama: there are few characters; there is a chorus, dances, and masks (worn by the principal dancer in many cases), and an abundant use of traditional or legendary themes. How-ever, unlike Greek drama, which became increasingly realistic, Nō developed into an essentially symbolic theatre, where both the texts of the plays and the gestures of the actors were intended to suggest unspoken, indefinable realities.”
I’m currently reading Inferno by Dante and at the same time trying out micro.blog’s import tweets feature. These two things have collided in an unexpected and delightful way. After import I was browsing through old tweets I found a link to this McSweeney’s post from August, 2011.
DANTE ALIGHIERI’S GOOGLE+ CIRCLES
Virtuous Heathens
The Lustful
The Gluttonous
The Avaricious
The Wrathful
The Heretics
The Violent
Panderers and Seducers
Thieves
Hypocrites
The Traitors
Friends
Family (Descended from Ancient Romans)
Family (In Laws)
Acquaintances
Work
Literary Buddies
Beatrice
Venetians
Literary Critics
Interview with director Makoto Shinkai, on the Ghibliotheque podcast, about his new movie Suzume.
Currently reading: Saving Time by Jenny Odell 📚
“I’m happily declining.”
Still thinking about this and thinking it should be on all of my about me and profile pages.
From the 1949 film “Here’s to the Young Lady” by Keisuke Kinoshita.
Excited to find this! Should pair well with the collection of traditional No plavs I bought a few months ago.
A book about romantic love, Eros the Bittersweet is Anne Carson’s exploration of the concept of “eros” in both classical philosophy and literature.
Another Anne Carson added to the pile. I’ve not yet read any of them but I’m confident that with this one I’ve hit a Carson critical mass.
A wonderful YouTube discovery from Robin Sloan’s newsletter—a playlist of a TV series, filmed at the RSC, from the early 80s called Playing Shakespeare. Hosted by John Barton, a long time director and teacher at the RSC. Also featuring many future stars like Judi Dench, Ian McKelln, Patrick Stewart, & Ben Kingsley!
Every month a local bookstore offers 30% off one of the sections in the store. Last month it was poetry’s turn. And so l have a 2 volume set of English Romantic Poetry in my possession. The covers are kinda nice too.
I’m not that familiar with David Hockney’s work or life, although I’ve certainly heard of him. I’ve seen some of his drawings. Particularly his iPad drawings when they were a news item early on in lockdown. This book is not a biography. It does jump around and talk a bit about different periods of the artist’s life but mainly it’s a snapshot of the his life leading up to and during lockdown when he was ensconced in a rural patch of Normandy. It’s an inspiring and thought provoking read full of images of his own work and that of other artists who’ve inspired him.
