“The questioning of art by the artist has many reasons, and only the loftiest need be considered. Amongst the best explanations is the feeling the contemporary artist has of lying or of indulging in useless words if he pays no attention to history’s woes. What characterizes our time, indeed, is the way masses and theirContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Wretched Condition of the Masses (Albert Camus)”
Tag Archives: RKS literature
RKS Literature: On the Abyss: Murder and Suicide (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
“They say that people standing on a height are drawn downwards, as it were, on their own accord, to the abyss. I think that a lot of suicides and murders have been committed merely because the revolver was already in hand. There’s an abyss here as well, there’s a forty-five-degree slope down which you can’tContinue reading “RKS Literature: On the Abyss: Murder and Suicide (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)”
RKS Literature: Parisian Backstabbers: “The Atheist’s Mass” (Honoré de Balzac)
“In Paris, when certain people see you ready to put your foot in the stirrup, some of them pull you back by the coattail, others loosen the buckle of the saddle-girth so that you’ll fall and break your head; this one takes the shoes of your horse, that one steals your whip. The least treacherousContinue reading “RKS Literature: Parisian Backstabbers: “The Atheist’s Mass” (Honoré de Balzac)”
RKS Literature: Desperate Poverty and Great Talent: “The Atheist’s Mass” (Honoré de Balzac)
“There this poor young man experienced that desperate poverty which is a kind of melting-pot whence great talents emerge pure and incorruptible, just as diamonds can be subjected to any kind of shock without breaking. In the violence of unleashed passions, they acquire the most unshakeable honesty, and by dint of the constant labour withContinue reading “RKS Literature: Desperate Poverty and Great Talent: “The Atheist’s Mass” (Honoré de Balzac)”
RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast”: Circumcision and Snoring in Ancient Rome (Petronious)
“He’s never had any real training. I just had him taught by sending him along to peddlers on the street corner. There’s no one equal to him if he wants to imitate mule-drivers or hawkers. He’s terribly clever, really. He’s a cobbler, a cook, a confectioner-a man that can turn his head to anything. ButContinue reading “RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast”: Circumcision and Snoring in Ancient Rome (Petronious)”
RKS Literature: The Torment of Holding Yourself In: “Trimalchio’s Feast” (Petronious)
“Excuse me, dear people, my inside has not been answering the call for several days now. The doctors are puzzled. But some pomegranate rind in water and resin in vinegar has dome me good. But I hope now it will be back in good behaviour. Otherwise my stomach rumbles like a bull. So if anyContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Torment of Holding Yourself In: “Trimalchio’s Feast” (Petronious)”
RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast”: Trimalchio’s Wife A Magpie with a Rough Tongue! (Petronious)
“Who was the woman running around this place? ‘Trimalchio’s wife’ he told me, ‘Fortunata is her name and she counts her money by the sackful. And before, before what was she? You’ll pardon me for saying so, but you wouldn’t have touched a bit of bread from her hand. Nowadays-and who knows how or why-Continue reading “RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast”: Trimalchio’s Wife A Magpie with a Rough Tongue! (Petronious)”
RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast” : What’s on the Menu (Petronious)
“After our applause the next course was brought in. Actually it was not as grand as we expected, but it was so novel that everyone stared. It was a deep circular tray with the twelve signs of the Zodiac arranged around the edge. Over each of them the chef had placed some appropriate dainty suggestedContinue reading “RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast” : What’s on the Menu (Petronious)”
RKS Literature: Letter from Mozart to Father 3July1778, Paris: Mozart Muses on Life and Death
“I feel comforted because I know that God, who orders everything for the best, however contrary it seems to us, wills it so; for I believe-and I won’t be persuaded otherwise-that no doctor, no individual, no misfortune, no accident can give a man his life or take it away, God alone can do that- onceContinue reading “RKS Literature: Letter from Mozart to Father 3July1778, Paris: Mozart Muses on Life and Death”
RKS Literature: Letter from Mozart to Father 9July1778, Paris: Dissolute Court Musicians and a Shamefully Intoxicated Haydn
“I couldn’t help laughing at your account of Haydn’s drunkenness, -if I’d been there, I’d certainly have whispered in his ear: ADLGASSER. But it’s a disgrace that such an able man should be rendered incapable of performing his duties and only have himself to blame for it-in a post that’s in God’s honour-when the archbishopContinue reading “RKS Literature: Letter from Mozart to Father 9July1778, Paris: Dissolute Court Musicians and a Shamefully Intoxicated Haydn”
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