“We could not conceive of the day’s events as being related in any way to the war. We were being crushed by a sheer force-an intense and one-sided force-that had nothing to do with the war. Neither did we as fellow Japanese encourage one another or console one another. We behaved submissively and said nothing.Continue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Hiroshima Aftermath: Crushed by Sheer Force (Yoko Ōta)”
Category Archives: history
RKS Literature: The Naked Yogi of Maabar (Marco Polo)
“When other men ask them why they go naked and are not ashamed to show their members, they reply, “We go naked because we want nothing of this world; for we came naked and unclothed into this world. As for not being ashamed to show our members, the fact is that we do not sinContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Naked Yogi of Maabar (Marco Polo)”
RKS Literature: The Less than Luxurious Hotel des Trois Moineaux in Paris (George Orwell)
“The walls were as thin as matchwood, and to hide the cracks they had been covered with layer after layer of pink paper, which had come loose and housed innumerable bugs. Near the ceiling long lines of bugs marched all day like columns of soldiers, and at night came down ravenously hungry, so that oneContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Less than Luxurious Hotel des Trois Moineaux in Paris (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Whites as the Devil in Maabar (Marco Polo)
“The fact is that when a child is born here they anoint him once a week with sesame oil, and this turns him a great deal darker than when he was born. For let me tell you that the blackest men here are held in highest regard and considered superior to those who are notContinue reading “RKS Literature: Whites as the Devil in Maabar (Marco Polo)”
RKS Literature: Seagulls as Air Sharks (Herman Melville)
“There’s a most doleful and most mocking funeral! The sea vultures all in pious mourning, the air-sharks all punctiliously in black or speckled. In life but few of them would have helped the whale, I ween, if peradventure he had needed it; but upon the banquet of his funeral, they most piously do bounce. OhContinue reading “RKS Literature: Seagulls as Air Sharks (Herman Melville)”
RKS Literature: Smoked Meat Cannibal Style (Mary Kingsley)
“Moreover I fancy it safer not to have an overpowering percentage of Fans in the party, as I know we shall have considerable stretches of uninhabited forest to traverse; and the Ajuma say that the Fans will kill people, i.e. the black traders who venture into their country, and cut them up into neat pieces,Continue reading “RKS Literature: Smoked Meat Cannibal Style (Mary Kingsley)”
RKS Literature: West African Villagers See Their First White Person (Mary Kingsley)
“Every child in the place as soon as it saw my white face let a howl out of it as if it had seen his Satanic Majesty, horns, hoofs, tail and all, and fled into the nearest hut, headlong, and I fear, from the continuance of the screams, had fits. The town was exceedingly filthy-theContinue reading “RKS Literature: West African Villagers See Their First White Person (Mary Kingsley)”
RKS Literature: The Train Ride from London to Clapham Common: Through the Suburban Stench (Henry Mayhew)
“ Now we get a whiff of the gutta-percha works; then comes a faint gust from some floor-cloth shed; next we dash through an odoriferous belt of bone-boiling atmosphere; and after that through a film of fetor rank with the fumes from the glazing of potteries; whereupon this is followed by bands of nauseous vapoursContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Train Ride from London to Clapham Common: Through the Suburban Stench (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Literature: A Disgusting and Immoral Performance at a London Penny Gaff (Henry Mayhew)
“There was one scene yet to come that was perfect in its wickedness. A ballet began with a man dressed up as a woman, and a country clown. The most disgusting attitudes were struck, the most immoral acts represented, without one dissenting voice. If there had been any feat of agility, any grimacing, or, inContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Disgusting and Immoral Performance at a London Penny Gaff (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Literature: The Scramble for a Living in London’s Street Markets (Henry Mayhew)
“Each salesman tries his utmost to sell his wares, tempting the passers-by with his bargains. The boy with his stock of herbs offers ‘a double ‘andful of fine parsley for a penny;’ the man with a donkey cart filled with turnips has three lads to shout for him to their utmost with their ‘ Ho!Continue reading “RKS Literature: The Scramble for a Living in London’s Street Markets (Henry Mayhew)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 