RKS literature – Page 54 – A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity

RKS Literature: Revolutions in California!

“Revolutions in California are matters of constant occurrence in California. They are got up by men who are at the foot of the ladder and in desperate circumstances, just as a new political party is started by such men in our own country. The only object, of course, is the loaves and fishes; and insteadContinue reading “RKS Literature: Revolutions in California!”

RKS Literature: A Sailor’s Leave

“A sailor’s liberty is but for one day: yet while it lasts it is perfect. He is under no one’s eye, and can do whatever, and go wherever he pleases. This day, for the first time, I may truly say, in my whole life, I felt the meaning of a term I had often heard-theContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Sailor’s Leave”

RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: The Captain Flogs a Sailor

“A man-a human being, made in God’s likeness-fastened up and flogged like a beast. A man, too whom I had lived with and eaten with for months and knew almost as well as a brother. The first and almost uncontrollable impulse was resistance. But what was to be done? The time for it had goneContinue reading “RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: The Captain Flogs a Sailor”

RKS Literature: Monterey in the 1830’s

“Monterey is also a great place for cock–fighting, gambling of all sorts, fandangos, and every kind of amusement and knavery. Trappers and hunters, who occasionally arrive here from over the Rocky mountains, with their valuable skins and furs, are often entertained with every sort of amusement and dissipation, until they have wasted their time andContinue reading “RKS Literature: Monterey in the 1830’s”

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Seasick Passengers

“Our four passengers were dreadfully sick, so that we saw little or nothing of them for five days. On the sixth day it cleared off, and the sun came out bright, but the wind and sea were still very high. It was quite like being at sea again: no land for hundreds of miles, andContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Seasick Passengers”

RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: Man Overboard!

“Death at all times is solemn, but never so much so at sea. A man dies on shore: his body remains with friends, and ‘the mourners go about the streets’; ‘but when a man falls overboard at sea and is lost, there is a suddenness to the event, and a difficulty in realising it, whichContinue reading “RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: Man Overboard!”

RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: The Captain Speaks!

“Now my men, we have begun a long voyage. If we get along well together, we shall have a comfortable time; if we don’t, we shall have hell afloat. All you’ve got to do is obey your orders and do your duty like men-then you’ll fare well enough;-if you don’t, you’ll fare hard enough,-I canContinue reading “RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: The Captain Speaks!”

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: God as the Big Wolf

“The trap-door is open, the evil spirits are coming out. You wanted to see and hear them! ‘Where do we come from?’ you asked. Up and out of the earth, Captain Séfakas. ’Where are we going to?’ you asked. Under the earth Captain Séfakas. What is your duty? To eat if you are a wolf;Continue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: God as the Big Wolf”

RKS Literature: We All Smell the Same: Nikos Kazantzakis

“I’ve made voyages, Captain Mándakas, I’ve seen the whole world. I’ve slept with women of all kinds, I’ve pushed into Africa, where the bread is toasted by the sun. I’ve made great harbours and little ones, I’ve seen millions of black men, millions of yellow men-my eyes brimmed over with them! At first I thoughtContinue reading “RKS Literature: We All Smell the Same: Nikos Kazantzakis”

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Eternal Youth? (Nikos Kazantzakis)

“He murmured to himself, ‘It’s really a shame, that youth in human beings doesn’t last a thousand years! Is God perhaps afraid that we’ll take His throne away from Him? Is that why he craftily dismantles us, piece by piece? He pulls out our teeth, screws our knees up stiff, wears out our kidneys, dimsContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Eternal Youth? (Nikos Kazantzakis)”