Author Archives: Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS Literature: Who is Captain Ahab? (Herman Melville)

“He’s a queer man, Captain Ahab-so some think-but a good one. Oh, thou’lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He’s a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but when he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s above the common; Ahab’s been in colleges, asContinue reading “RKS Literature: Who is Captain Ahab? (Herman Melville)”

RKS Literature: Outraged by a Grin (Joseph Conrad)

“Every mental state, even madness, has its equilibrium based on self esteem. Its disturbance causes unhappiness; and Captain Hagberd lived amongst a scheme of settled notions which it pained him to feel disturbed by people’s grins. Yes, people’s grins were awful. They hinted at something wrong, but what? He could not tell; and this strangerContinue reading “RKS Literature: Outraged by a Grin (Joseph Conrad)”

RKS Literature: Why One Must Defect from the USSR (Vladimir Rott)

“An ordinary person in the USSR has no prospects except for being trapped in misery and trudging directly toward the grave. All of the friends and even casual acquaintances we talked to were in a bleak mood: there was nothing ahead, just emptiness. No goals to set, nothing to look forward to. We knew theContinue reading “RKS Literature: Why One Must Defect from the USSR (Vladimir Rott)”

RKS Literature: Beware of Those Mean Soft Chaps (Joseph Conrad)

“High spirited husbands were the easiest to manage. These mean, soft chaps, that you would think butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, were the ones to make woman thoroughly miserable.” Joseph Conrad, “Tomorrow” , 1902.

Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom: TINKER BOLTS BUT NOT ME!

TINKER BOLTS BUT NOT ME! Bob and I headed out for our last walk a couple of days ago at 23:15. An SUV pulls up to us and a women rolls down the window and unlike one of those crime shows no gun was shoved in Bob’s face but rather a mobile phone with aContinue reading “Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom: TINKER BOLTS BUT NOT ME!”

RKS Literature: Mrs. Hosea Hussey’s Nantucket Clam Chowder (Herman Melville)

“However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazelnuts, the whole enriched with butter, and salted pork cutContinue reading “RKS Literature: Mrs. Hosea Hussey’s Nantucket Clam Chowder (Herman Melville)”

RKS Literature: Who are these People from Nantucket? (Herman Melville)

“The Nantucketer, he alone resides and riots on the sea; he alone, in Bible language, goes down to it in ships, to and fro ploughing it as his own special plantation. There is his home; there lies his business, which a Noah’s flood would not interrupt, though it overwhelmed all the millions in China. HeContinue reading “RKS Literature: Who are these People from Nantucket? (Herman Melville)”

RKS Literature: Christians Both Wicked and Miserable (Herman Melville)

“But, alas! The practices of whaleman soon convinced him that even Christians could be both miserable and wicked; infinitely more so, than all his father’s heathens. Arrived at last in old Sag Harbor: and seeing what the sailors did there, and then going on to Nantucket, and seeing how they spent their wages in thatContinue reading “RKS Literature: Christians Both Wicked and Miserable (Herman Melville)”

RKS 2026 Wines of Portugal: Churchill’s Grafite 2021 From the Douro

40% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz and 30% Tinta Francesca which 30% was aged for 12 months in both new and used French oak the remainder kept in stainless steel vats. Aroma: Superhero black fruit particularly blackberry with pomegranate, blueberry, dark chocolate and just a hint of stewed rhubarb and blackball candy. Hint of someContinue reading “RKS 2026 Wines of Portugal: Churchill’s Grafite 2021 From the Douro”