~ Oscar Wilde ~
Digitally enhanced image created from an original photo taken in Paris in June 2018.
© 2018 nightpoet all rights reserved
~ Oscar Wilde ~
Digitally enhanced image created from an original photo of a bas-relief “Le Livre” (1925) by Antoine Bourdelle taken in Paris in May 2012.
© 2018 nightpoet all rights reserved
~ Mark Twain ~
Digitally enhanced image created from an original photo taken in Paris in May 2013.
© 2017 nightpoet all rights reserved
.
~ Heinrich Heine ~
Digitally enhanced image created from an original photo taken in Paris in May 2016.
© 2017 nightpoet all rights reserved
~ Jean de Boufflers ~
Digital image created in January 2017.
© 2017 nightpoet all rights reserved
The book is from my personal collection. Photos taken in March 2016.
© 2016 nightpoet all rights reserved
~ Frank Zappa ~
Photo taken in February 2016.
© 2016 nightpoet all rights reserved
An article in the New York Times caught my eye today. It would seem that rumours about the death of printed books have been greatly exaggerated. E-books have not sent traditional books packing as many predicted just a few years ago. In fact according to the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales fell by 10 percent in the first five months of this year and have been slowing down or leveling out for a while now. The sale of e-book reading devices has also taken a nose dive, with consumers preferring to use their tablets or smart phones. And lets face it, even the most hopped up digital junkie hasn’t completely forgotten the experience of reading a printed tome. Digital devices can easily become a source of stress, when things jumble up and don’t work properly, whereas a book is always a relaxing experience. No knobs to turn. No buttons to push. No technical glitches. If you think about it, when the power goes out, or the battery is empty, your smart phone, tablet, e-book reader or computer are just worthless pieces of over-priced junk. It’s hard to read an e-book on a device that is dead; you just sit in the dark holding an expensive piece of plastic. But, staying with the scenario of a power outage or a dead battery, if you have a candle and a printed book, you’re good to go, anytime, every time. Digital books have their advantages and their place in today’s world, but nothing beats the experience and pleasure of immersing oneself in a real book, turning the pages and holding something wonderful in your hands…
The New York Times article can be accessed here:
Photo taken in Paris in May 2013.
********************************
© 2015 nightpoet all rights reserved
Celebrated every June 16th, Bloomsday has become not only a celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses, but of his life. If you think that Ulysses is hard to read, try Finnegans Wake. It’s like Gertrude Stein on acid and crystal meth. But if you listen to Joyce reading his own work, his experimental use of language suddenly becomes very understandable. Maybe it has something to do with his Irish brogue. There will be many readings of Ulysses and other of Joyce’s works today all over the world, but no one can read them like the master himself. You can listen to him reading a section of Anna Livia Plurabelle from Finnegans Wake on the link below:
An album released by the James Joyce Society on Folkways Records from 1951 that contains a track of Joyce reading from Anna Livia Plurabelle.
The title and copyright pages of a specially issued edition of Anna Livia Plurabelle published in 1928, signed by James Joyce. From my personal archives.
********************************
© 2015 nightpoet all rights reserved
Good morning and welcome once again to another edition of Breakfast On The Blog, the first of this New Year. Today I have taken an illustration by Gustav Olms from a long out of print German book titled Unsere jungen Mädchen, first published in 1901 and written by W.K. Saffeini, and combined it with one of my poems. The book, a series of short essays on the “awakening” of young girls, was confiscated by the German state prosecutor at the time of its publication. In ten short stories Saffeini presented a kaleidoscopic image of the young women of his time, “as they grow up in the protective bosom of the family, as they thrive in the metropolitan mist and greenhouse air of modern social life” (“wie sie im schützenden Schoß der Familie erwachsen, wie sie in Großstadtdunst und Treibhausluft des modernen Gesellschaftslebens gedeihen” – quote taken from the author’s introduction). As one can see, bosoms were to be abundantly seen in the illustrations, which is probably why the authorities banned the book.
Illustration by Gustav Olms from a long out of print German book titled Unsere jungen Mädchen, first published in 1901 and written by W.K. Saffeini.
********************************
© 2015 nightpoet all rights reserved
