the weblog of robin camille davis

Last night, I stayed up extremely late to finish a paper for my 20th century lit class. It turned out pretty well. But in the middle of writing it, I needed to take a break. So you know what that means… Time to post
Scanned Images Of Interesting Items That Were Within Reach Of My Office [...]

Just in case you’re curious, I keep meaning to read:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Man Walks into a Room by Nicole Krauss
Siberius Nuncius by Galileo
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
The Secret Histories by Donna Tartt finished 11/1/09, absolutely loved it, great Halloween weekend [...]

In the Boston Public Library, there’s a room paneled with fifteen paintings by Edwin Austin Abbey. They follow Sir Galahad’s quest for the Holy Grail. I went to the Boston Book Festival (entry forthcoming) and one of the talks was held in the Abbey Room. I could barely pay attention to the historical fiction talk [...]

I cannot rid you of your leer
In any way that’s real,
Unless across the room I leap
And face from bone I peel.
___
He was a roustabout, a rake,
The spurner of her care.
She left the state, at any rate,
Herself from him to tear.
___
Both of these poems employ the same poetical device in the rhyme scheme. What is it?

Answers for The Gallery of Skinny Art:

Le Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville, by Robert Doisneau [link]
Bedroom in Arles, by Van Gogh [link]
The Kiss, by Gustav Klimt [link]
Flowers, by Andy Warhol [link]
Houses of Parliament, by Monet [link]
Freedom from Want (Thanksgiving Dinner), by Normal Rockwell [link]
Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat, photographed by Michael Halsband [link]
Untitled, by Rothko [...]

Three seasons ago, I put up a puzzle post, asking any passing readers to identify paintings shrunk down to 15 pixels wide. This time, some famous paintings & photographs have been forcefully resized to 20 x 400 pixels! (Except for a 40×400 panorama.) How many can you identify?

1.  2.  3.  4.  [...]

Check out this beautiful Victorian/Gothic style building I found on the Boston Public Library’s flickr. I am so enamored of public libraries‘ flickrs these days. Apparently this is an historic landmark in Boston, built in 1834 and located at 1 Thompson Square, though I can’t seem to locate it on Google Maps. It was used [...]

Atiq Rahimi is an Afghanistani writer living in Paris. He won France’s most prestigious literary award, the Prix Goncourt, last year. From an interview with him entitled “L’écrivain, est-il toujours un exilé?” (Is the writer always an exile?):
I often tell the same story to define exile. It’s about a legendary figure in our culture, Nasro [...]

POLI’TE. adj. [politus, Latin.]
1. Glossy; smooth.
Some of them are diaphanous, shining and polite; others not polite, but as if powder’d over with fine iron dust. —Woodward.
2. Elegant of manners.
A nymph of quality admires our knight, / He marries, bows at court, and grows polite. —Pope
PO’LTRON. n.s. [pollice truncato, from the thumb cut off; it being [...]

My favorite O. Henry short story is “The Last Leaf”, and it’s quite appropriate considering the gusty fall weather, variegated leaves, and the onslaught of illness (get your flu shots, everybody). And also considering that O. Henry is boss.
(This one’s for you, Mere!)