But the imbecile thing, the absolutely extraordinary thing was that he hadn’t the slightest idea that Isabel wasn’t as happy as he. God, what blindness! He hadn’t the remotest notion in those days that she really hated that inconvenient little house, that she thought the fat nanny was ruining the babies, that she was desperatelyContinue reading “RKS New Zealand Literature: If Only Isabel Had Not Gone to Paris…. (Katherine Mansfield)”
Category Archives: literature
RKS American Literature: The Professional Injustice of Being an Optician (Sinclair Lewis)
Orlo Vay, the Chippewa Avenue Optician, Smart-Art Harlequin Tinted-Tortus Frames Our Speciality, was a public figure, as public as a cemetery. He was resentful that his profession, like that of an undertaker, a professor of art, or a Mormon missionary, was not appreciated for its patience and technical skills, as are the callings of wholesaleContinue reading “RKS American Literature: The Professional Injustice of Being an Optician (Sinclair Lewis)”
RKS American Literature: Should Dr. Allan Cedar Murder His Fat and Vicious Wife Bertha (Sinclair Lewis)
It occurred to Allan to murder her, but not to refuse to go along. Many American males confuse their wives and the policeman on the beat. “Virga Vay & Allan Cedar”, Sinclair Lewis, 1945
RKS AMERICAN Literature: Ben Not Enjoying His Overnighter at the Buckley’s (Ring Lardner)
Well their guest room was terribly cold: it took hours to fill the bathtub; there was no reading lamp by the bed; three reporters called to interview Ben, two of them kittenish young girls; the breakfasts were just fruit and cereal and toast; coffee was not served at luncheon; the faucets in the wash-basin wereContinue reading “RKS AMERICAN Literature: Ben Not Enjoying His Overnighter at the Buckley’s (Ring Lardner)”
RKS AMERICAN Literature: A Law Against Invitations That Go Beyond Dinner and Bridge! (Ring Lardner)
He absolutely abhors visiting and thinks there ought to be a law against invitations that go beyond dinner and bridge. He doesn’t mind hotels where there is decent light for reading in bed and one for shaving, and where you can order meals, with coffee, anytime you want them. But I really believe he wouldContinue reading “RKS AMERICAN Literature: A Law Against Invitations That Go Beyond Dinner and Bridge! (Ring Lardner)”
RKS American Literature: Disconnection of a U.S. Marine Returning Home to Oklahoma: Not Wanting to Come Home
Now he would have liked a girl if she had come to him and not wanted to talk. But here at home it was all too complicated. He knew he could never go through it all again. It was not worth the trouble. That was the thing about French and German girls. There was notContinue reading “RKS American Literature: Disconnection of a U.S. Marine Returning Home to Oklahoma: Not Wanting to Come Home”
RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): Exhausting Living in a New Country
The first month in a new country is an exhausting one; every object, every face, every incident comes at you the size of faces on a giant screen. You are exhausted from paying attention, and even sleep is sleepless because the magnified days, the fifty foot words, the towering new conventions insist their way intoContinue reading “RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): Exhausting Living in a New Country”
RKS American Literature: Disconnection of a U.S. Marine Returning Home to Oklahoma: Home Too Late in the Summer of 1919
By the time Krebs returned to his home town in Oklahoma the greeting of heroes was over. He came home much too late. The men from the town who had been drafted had been welcomed elaborately on their return. There had been a great deal of hysteria. Now the reaction had set in. People seemedContinue reading “RKS American Literature: Disconnection of a U.S. Marine Returning Home to Oklahoma: Home Too Late in the Summer of 1919”
RKS American Literature: An Elusive Love Lost Forever (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
“The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him. In a sort of panic he pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes and tried to bring up a picture of the waters lapping on Sherry Island and the moonlit veranda, and gingham on the golf-links and the dry sun and the goldContinue reading “RKS American Literature: An Elusive Love Lost Forever (F. Scott Fitzgerald)”
RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): The American Author’s First Day in Her Athenian Apartment: A Welcoming Plate of Pastries from Neighbour
I look down at the plate-I have never seen any confections in these shapes before, and I can’t anticipate the flavour of any of them. There is one in quadrants like a pastry kite, another like a ridged sausage, another like a piece of fried lace. I might as well be living on the moon.Continue reading “RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): The American Author’s First Day in Her Athenian Apartment: A Welcoming Plate of Pastries from Neighbour”
