For a long time, everyone has known that Paris was the capital of the nineteenth century, the city where the modern was invented: the society of the spectacular. But everyone was wrong. The capital of the nineteenth century was London. Think about it. Walter Benjamin’s symbol of the Parisian modern was the arcade. The arcade! In London-according to the social campaigner Henry Mayhew, there were 300,000 dustbins, 300,000 cesspools, and three million chimneys. It was there that the truly modern was invented: industrial, overpopulated dirt. Its symbol was the slum. London was managed by a majority of minority trades, all in the business of garbage: bone-pickers, rag-gatherers, pure-finders, dredgermen, toshers. And London’s greatest describer, who converted the ghostly industrial city into a new world of words, was a novelist who could taxonomically and poetically enumerate, say, the varieties of polluted fog: “Even in the surrounding country it was a foggy day, but there the fog was grey, whereas in London it was, at about the boundary line, dark yellow, and a little within it brown, and then browner, and then browner, until at the heart of the City–which call Saint Mary Axe–it was rusty-black.” Read more…

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How a 19th-century spinster serves as a moral compass in today’s world 

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The Inimitable

A singular storyteller whose life informed an epic writing career

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In the political arena, the two nations have been bitter enemies since the 1960s, but a great writer’s enduring legacy has been uniting Cubans and Americans together in a peaceful and friendly endeavor.
Even 48 years after his death (in July 1961), Ernest Hemingway is doing more to improve the relations between the two countries than any politician has in the past four decades.

This blog, however, is not about politics. It is about the power of love. Not necessarily the romantic, happily-ever-after love, but the kind that can overcome adversity and build bridges even over the roughest waters.

And that is where Hemingway comes in.

Although the author maintained a home in Ketchum, ID until the day he died (and he actually did die there), he had also spent 20 last years of his life on the outskirts of Havana, in a big limestone villa called “Finca Vigia” (Lookout Farm). That’s where he did most of his writing, including “For Whom the Bell Tolls’’ and “The Old Man and the Sea,’’ for which he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

After Hemingway’s death, the 19th century estate, with its lush tropical shrubs, banana trees and vast gardens, fell into disrepair. It could have remained in its dilapidated condition to this day, if people on both sides of the Florida Straits had not mobilized – despite the Bush administration’s ban on business transactions between the two countries – to restore the author’s home as a literary shrine.

That’s because one fact transcends political divisions: Americans love Hemingway. So do Cubans.

It was this love of Hemingway’s works and the heroic characters he immortalized in his books that prompted the Boston MA-based Finca Vigia Foundation www.hemingwaypreservationfoundation.org to work hand-in-hand with the Cuban government to preserve Hemingway’s home and timeless legacy.

Castro’s government has provided the financial and material resources to renovate the one-story stucco villa; from the U.S. side, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has contributed its know-how in historical restoration.

An offshoot of this project is a Hemingway archive, opened to public earlier this year in Havana. The unprecedented electronic database, a joint operation of Cuba’s Heritage Council and the U.S. Social Science Research Council, includes such gems as the unpublished epilogue to “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Thousands of documents have already been restored, and microfilm copies recently arrived at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, to become part of The Hemingway Collection.

As President Obama readies to open a dialogue with Cuba, he should draw inspiration from this example and not forget that it is through cooperation, not conflict, that enemies can become lifelong friends.
Let’s honor Hemingway’s memory by calling this bold cross-border initiative to preserve his home and works “A Farewell to Arms.”

Summertime is sometimes equated with picking up a good book and losing yourself in another world; a bit of escape perhaps from the day-to-day rat race that is life. You may wish to delve into a classic, or you may be more interested in the newest thriller or romance novel. Whatever your fancy, the choices are endless!

Classics

A book is considered a classic if it is written over fifty years ago and many people enjoyed it. The book has stood the test of time regarding relevance, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Mark Twain said that “a classic is a book which everyone praises but no one reads.” Whatever the case, the choices are many…here are some to choose from:

• The Good Earth – Pearl Buck
• Don Quixote – Miquel de Cervantes
• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
• Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
• Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
• To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
• Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison

Modern Classics

There is such a thing as a modern classic, which basically means that the book is not as old as a classic, but it’s significance is just as celebrated. 

• Another Country – James Baldwin
• Cry The Beloved Country – Alan Paton
• Catcher In The Rye – J. D. Salinger
• The Color Purple – Alice Walker
• One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

source: http://www.wcl.govt.nz/popular/fiction-classics.html

New Releases

But maybe you are not up for going back in time…that’s alright. You have your choices of new books that are released weekly…too many to name here. From the latest James Patterson thriller to Randy Pausch’s motivational self-help book, you are sure to find something that will hold your interest. Check out your favorite bookstore and pick up a book (or a couple of books!) that you can lose yourself in. Give into the joy of reading a good book, and maybe learn something new in the process!

Happy learning!

Ah, Shakespeare…viewed as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) writers in the English language, Shakespeare’s works consists of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His works have been translated into almost every language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.  

William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18, and they went on to have three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare had a successful career during 1585 and 1592 as an actor, writer, and part owner of the Lord Chamberlin’s Men. He retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. There are very few details about Shakespeare’s private life, which leads to various speculations.

His work, however, speaks volumes. Most of his greatest works were published between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, King Richard II). Next, he moved onto tragedies (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra) until about 1608. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.

It is amazing that although Shakespeare was talented and respected in his day, his reputation did not rise until the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered. Even today his work remains relevant and important in cultural contexts around the world.

If you have never read a Shakespeare play, Simply Charly encourages you to read one…it is an experience! For a complete list of his works, visit the Writings page on Simply Shakespeare. And you can pick up one of those Shakespeare books at the Simply Shakespeare Store.

Happy learning!

One of the greatest novelists in history, Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was a doctor and his mother was a singing instructor who dressed him, as a toddler, in girl’s clothing to match his older sister—she badly wanted twins and he had failed to be a pair.

Although his mother would have liked for him to pursue a career in music, Hemingway developed an interest in the outdoors. In high school, Hemingway excelled both academically and athletically; he boxed, played football, and took naturally to his English classes. After high school, Hemingway did not attend college; instead he became a journalist, beginning his writing career as a cub reporter at the Kansas City Star. Hemingway was only at the KC Star for six months before joining the Red Cross Ambulance Corps on the Italian front during World War I.

Hemingway became one of the “The Lost Generation,” the expatriate community in Paris in the 1920′s. He chronicled his stay there in his memoir, “A Moveable Feast.” His memoir wasn’t published until after his death in 1961. After an initial failed attempt, he committed suicide a few weeks before his birthday. Hemingway suffered from depression, and had received electroshock treatments for his condition.

There is so much more to the life of Hemingway than can be put here…bounce over to the Simply Hemingway site to learn more about this fascinating Nobel Prize winning novelist.

Happy learning!

“But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

The above is a quote from William Butler Yeats, a Nobel Prize winning poet and dramatist. Yeats was born in 1865 and studied in London. From an early age, he was interested in both Irish legends and the occult, which showed up in the early phases of his work. Yeats earliest volume of poetry was published in 1887, displaying heavy influence by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Edmund Spenser.

Yeats was profoundly interested in Irish myth and supernatural experiences—so much so that he was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult group which combined themes of Christianity with those of medieval Kabbalah, Theosophy, magic practices, and ancient pre-Christian religions. He was an active recruiter for the Golden Dawn, bringing in his uncle George Pollexfen, Maud Gonne, and Florence Farr.

Yeats held an unrequited love for Maud Gonne and after many years of pining for her, she married someone else (oh, the horror!). Yeats went on to marry George Hyde-Lees, a woman he had met through his occult circles. Despite a 27-year age difference, the marriage was a success and produced two children, Anne and Michael. Not only was the marriage itself a success, Yeats and George worked together on his works, engaging in a form of automatic writing. This involved George contacting various spirits and guides who then, in turn, communicated back characters and history during trances. Wow!

Yeats is definitely a fascinating historical icon. There is a wealth of information left to be studied, i.e., his poetry, more information on his occult involvement, and some very interesting notes to some of his poems (available in free downloads). Hop over to Simply Yeats and read about one very captivating poet!

Happy learning!