I am engrossed these days rereading Nadezhda Mandelstam’s inspiring memoir, Hope Against Hope. It’s an account of her life with her husband, the acclaimed poet Osip Mandelstam who ran afoul of the revolutionaries of the…
“And I am with you, too, I won’t leave you now, I will go with you for the rest of my life,” the dear, deeply felt words of Grushenka came from somewhere near him. And…
God deliver us from sullen saints! Saint Teresa of Ávila, in Rosemary Broughton, Praying with Teresa of Ávila
My idea in my story telling is to make Jews better Jews, and Christians better Christians, and in general, if possible at all, make man a little bit warmer, so he will not feel crushed…
There are few things… that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the Fair Sex. –Samuel Johnson, in A Johnson…
We are only beginning to understand how filial piety operates, such that loss of patriotism, loss of faith, and loss of family each seem to encourage breakdown in the other parts of the triad. –Mary…
Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history…
Dear L., Here is a list of some books I’ve read in the past few years. Given my pretty rigid leftist mindset, Simone Weil’s maxim was often on my mind in reading the following……
If you’ve connected with someone in a moment of life, the essence of that person is right there with you even after their death. –Ram Dass, One-Liners: A Mini-Manuel for a Spiritual Life
The death-dealing Chancery! The waste of Jarndyce and Jarndyce! The magnanimity of John Jarndyce! The plain loveliness of Esther Summerson! The delusion of Richard Carson! The dignity of George Rouncewell! The lovable hater of Lady…