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Sunday, September 7th, 2008
I am essentially a fiction writer, and if I ever cry, it's because I am worrying about the beauty of my book. Orhan Pamuk is interviewed today in the Deutsche Welle (in English). He speaks about his concerns for Turkey vis-à-vis Europe, and about his life post-Nobel Prize, and about the museum of innocence he has assembled to complement his novel Museum of Innocence. Which sounds totally worth making a pilgrimage to Istanbul for.
posted evening of September 7th, 2008: Respond
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The first post has gone up at History Time -- Teozar, who is currently reading Peter Thompson's The Battle for Singapore, waxes incredulous at Percival's methods of defending against the Japanese onslaught. Nicely drawn! The posts there are going to be approximately one per day, at least for the first little while -- a nice staid pace.
posted morning of September 7th, 2008: Respond
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Saturday, September 6th, 2008
OK, I spent a little time at the library -- fun! I felt like I was back in high school writing a research paper! (But in a good way.) (And no, I haven't really done much of that since high school -- this might be a mark against me -- oh well.) The two books I found were from 1970 and 1977, and confirmed with some variations the version of events in The Passionate War -- so my plan is solid to write about this version of events with a caveat up top, and to list Preston's book in the "Further reading" list. - The Revolution and Civil War in Spain, Pierre Broué and Emile Témine, 1970. tr. Tony White.
- The Spanish Civil War, Hugh Thomas, 1977.
I think I've got enough stuff for a nice juicy narrative post.
posted afternoon of September 6th, 2008: Respond
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I'm starting to write a brief note about the capture of Seville in July 1936, which is one of the first incidents in The Passionate War that really captured my attention. The plan is to post the note on History Time this coming Wednesday. So far the main source documents I've found are The Passionate War and the Wikipædia entry on General Queipo de Llano, which unfortunately contradicts the book -- it says the narrative offered in the book "has achieved almost mythical status" but is refuted in recent research by Paul Preston -- presumably in his 1996 book, A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War. So, hm. I don't have access to that book right now, though it looks like a good one to check out. I think I will swing by the library this afternoon and take a look at a few more books. Probably my task for Wednesday will be to write up the mythical account -- which is after all what seized my imagination in the first place -- and to make note of Preston's writing and how I may have it all wrong.
posted afternoon of September 6th, 2008: Respond
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Friday, September 5th, 2008
Intrepid cartoonist of historical events Kate Beaton has started an LJ community dedicated to history postings. This looks like it will be a great thing!
 (Also, I notice it's Kate's birthday in a couple days. So: Happy Birthday, Kate!)
posted evening of September 5th, 2008: Respond
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Wednesday, September third, 2008
 Ayse posts the first sentence of Museum of Innocence in my comments:
It was the happiest moment of my life, I did not know. (See the comment thread for discussion of the translation.) The official website for the book is here -- only in Turkish naturally, but with two lovely photo galleries: Pamuk in his study, and Pamuk around the town. There is also a Wikipædia entry of course, in English and in Turkish, but practically nothing written about it on the English site as yet. ...And, Banu Güven of MSNBC Turkey interviewed Pamuk about his new book yesterday. I am wishing I could understand Turkish...
posted morning of September third, 2008: Respond
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Tuesday, September second, 2008
 Pamuk's new novel is out! (In Turkish only; the German translation will be published in two weeks, and hopefully the English will be available before too long.) Today's Zaman has a short piece with some information about the novel, a love story which will be Pamuk's longest book excluding his first.
Additionally, Pamuk has written two articles related to his new novel. The first article sheds light on the literary, personal and philosophical sources of "Masumiyet Müzesi," and the second one discusses the themes of famous love stories in general. The publication dates of the articles are not yet known. So exciting! I can't wait to read these.
posted morning of September second, 2008: 22 responses
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Monday, September first, 2008
I guess this must be a common dilemma for historians (or "popular writers of history" -- Wyden is a journalist, not a historian): whether to relate the course of events from an eagle's-eye view, and risk losing the lived experience of the events, or to follow the people who are living the events, and risk losing the larger picture. Wyden errs quite clearly (and I think consciously) on the personal side -- his narration is vivid but the connecting thread between episodes is quite weak. It would help if he could pay a little more attention to giving dates -- each chapter is pretty much continuous so if he gave a date at the head of the chapter it would be much easier to fit the chapter's events into the broader narrative. As it is the reader needs to spend a fair amount of time flipping back and forth to figure out what year it is right now (or I do, anyway). Right now the Fascists are about to launch an attack on Madrid, and I had somehow gotten the idea it was the fall of 1937; as it turns out it is still 1936. I certainly do not want to fault Wyden for this choice however -- the personal narratives are a great thing, they make the book shine. I would much rather read this way with a bit of confusion about the course of events, than a dry narrative of troop movements.
posted afternoon of September first, 2008: Respond
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In comments to NickS's covers post, Matthew links to a fantastic version of "Strawberry Fields Forever", by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Lovely! And it gives me a chance to remember Ellen's brief memoir "1996", published in In My Life: Encounters with The Beatles,  about playing Anthology 2 for her fourth-grade class in East Harlem. "Draw me what you hear in the music," I say. They show me giant strawberries growing next to an apartment building, the sun's rays as streams of musical notes, the word music in big colorful letters, a strawberry tree identified with phonetic spelling swter breey fealds.
It was Ellen's first full-time teaching job (after many years of adjuncting), and she had a good time with the class, and her students had a good time learning to read and write. "So were you a Beatlemaniac?" Yazmine asks. "Oh, sure, of course," I answer in all seriousness. "I always will be."
Los Fabulosos Beatlemaniacs, below the fold.
posted morning of September first, 2008: Respond
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
The story of Spain's gold reserves being transported to Moscow in 1937 seems like it would make really excellent raw material for a thriller. I wonder if such a thing has been written or filmed.
posted evening of August 31st, 2008: 2 responses
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