RE: After Reading 200+ Posts
Baader, Cecilia (cbaader@casecorp.com)
Mon, 06 Dec 1999 23:40:08 -0600
> On Sunday, December 05, 1999 5:09 PM citycabn [citycabn@gateway.net]
wrote:
> >From the sidelines:
>
Bruce! It's so nice to hear your voice. I hope that all is well in San
Francisco.
> 1. Bravo to The Laughing Man and Cecilia Baader on their "Orpheus.
> Eurydice. Hermes" exchange.
>
Thanks so much. And please feel free to join in... you're far more
qualified than I to offer an opinion on the matter.
> 4. Re Jens Peter Jacobsen: Am most interested to hear how his short
> stories turn out. About 25 lifetimes ago I came across a
> copy of Jacobsen's
> novel _Niels Lyhne_, beloved by RMR, but read it without Rilke's eyes.
>
I've been working my way through _Mogens and Other Stories_. It's really
beyond description, so I don't know what I can report, except that his
writing reminds me of Kafka with a touch of the romance of Blake and the
imagination of Poe. It's the kind of collection that I know that I will
need to return to again and again in order to get a more coherent reading of
each of the stories.
Layers upon layers, you understand. I found myself thinking about one of the
stories all day at work today. Jacobsen has a gift of seeing the mind of
the troubled soul. Yes, I like it. A great deal. And it's interesting
that you should say "read it without Rilke's eyes." Perhaps knowing that
Rilke loved something would color what you think about it, so maybe your
earlier reactions to _Niels Lyhne_ are truer than my own to _Mogens_.
Would that then, make me an unreliable reader? Predisposed to like what I
read? Possibly, but I think that Jacobsen stands true despite me. (I'm a
little hesitant to pursue this topic on-list, as I'm not altogether sure
that more than three people are interested. Digression!)
>
> 7. Lastly, a belated happy 124th birthday to Rene Karl
> Wilhelm Johann Josef
> Maria Rilke, born December 4, 1875 in Prague.
And an early Birthday wish to Jerome David Salinger...
Regards,
Cecilia.