“If we disregard various incidental developments which briefly modified its aspect at different periods and in different lands, and study it as it was essentially, we find that the chief permanent achievement of the French Revolution was the suppression of those political institutions, commonly described as feudal, which for many centuries had held unquestioned swayContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: What Did the French Revolution Accomplish?”
Tag Archives: RKS literature
RKS Literature: “The Zeal of the French Revolution”
“No previous political upheaval however violent, had aroused such passionate enthusiasm for the ideal the French Revolution set before it was not merely a change in the French social system but nothing short of a regeneration of the whole human race. It created an atmosphere of missionary fervor and indeed assumed all the aspects ofContinue reading “RKS Literature: “The Zeal of the French Revolution””
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Safety of Marriage
“I do not know if the pimp’s album may not have been another link in the daisy-chain; but soon after, for my own safety, I decided to marry. It occurred to me that regular hours, home cooked meals, all the conventions of marriage, the prophylactic routine of its bedroom activities and, who knows, the eventualContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Safety of Marriage”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Messing with a Psychiatrist
“I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on: never letting them see you know all the tricks of the trade: inventing for them elaborate dreams, pure classics in style (which make them the dream-extortionists, dream and wake up shrieking); teasing them with fake “primal scenes”;Continue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Messing with a Psychiatrist”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Thoughts of an 1856 Druggist in Toronto
“As my father has often said, the sick are never in short supply, but then there is only so much physick they can take before their health is recovered, and the privations and the growth of the city were both grossly overestimated. It does ill to have hopes for others’ misfortunes, but druggists must standContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Thoughts of an 1856 Druggist in Toronto”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Selling Price of Art
“The selling price has nothing whatsoever to do with the work of art being good or not. It has to do with what people are willing to pay for it at any given time. The auction house sets much of the value when they put an estimate on the price. They set the estimates basedContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Selling Price of Art”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Prostitution and Art Theft
“Beautiful art, like beautiful women, provokes desire. A desire to possess and be possessed, a yearning to have created, a sense of peace and majesty, to hold this sublime proof of the existence of God, who must be great indeed to have created a thing of such beauty. In this manner, if you’ll forgive theContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Prostitution and Art Theft”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day; Bureaucracy at the Ministry!
“You can feel the bureaucratic atmosphere of the Ministry as soon as you enter the hall. The place is infused with the threat of large numbers of people in hiding. Everyone is studiously dedicating themselves to ignoring what you want. Backs are turned as soon as they perceive you are a stranger and might askContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day; Bureaucracy at the Ministry!”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Ritual Authority of a Holster
“Wearing a holster gave you the ritual edge in authority. Even in spite of their training and the weeks apart spent establishing their rank through punishing drills and endless parades, the officers were vey young and most of them slimly built compared to the veterans of lumber camps and railroad gangs. In the end, itContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Ritual Authority of a Holster”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes”; J.D. Salinger: About New York City
“Honest to God, I think it’s this goddam New York. What I think maybe we’ll do, if everything goes along all right, we’ll get ourselves a little place in Connecticut maybe. Not too far out necessarily, but far enough that we can lead a goddam normal life. I mean she’s crazy about plants and allContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes”; J.D. Salinger: About New York City”
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