BOOKS: “Simple Passion” by Annie Ernaux

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Simple PassionSimple Passion by Annie Ernaux
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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I’ll admit, I picked up this book because Ernaux won the 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature and I’m uncomfortable being ignorant of the work of a Literature Nobel Laureate. Her work is atypical of Nobel Prize winners. She is primarily known as a memoirist rather than a novelist, poet, or even essayist, and while she has a large body of works, many are quite short for prose work — i.e. under 100 pages.

This is a straightforward story of obsession, the author’s obsession with a married man, a diplomat from Eastern Europe during the late days of the Cold War. (The book doesn’t get into any Cold War intrigues, so don’t expect any. It’s a completely personal story.) The autobiographical narrative describes the lifecycle of obsession and is loaded with psychological insight. One sees the degree to which Ernaux’s yearning to be with this man intrudes on all aspects of her life, in as much as she can be said to have a life, so much of it being laid aside for their periodic dalliances. It is the kind of compulsion known mostly to young first lovers and those of addictive personalities.

A couple of the most compelling insights come as fourth wall breaks when Ernaux offers insight into her thoughts on writing. (One is that writing should have an effect like pornography [not necessarily be pornographic,] and another is that she writes to learn if anyone else does the things she does.)

I enjoyed read this. It’s an extremely fast read as it’s only around sixty pages and puts the reader in that compulsive mindset. I’d highly recommend it. I can’t speak to how typical it is of her work because it’s the first I’ve read from her, but it was mentioned prominently in the “best of” lists that came out around the time of her Nobel win.

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“On His Blindness” by John Milton [w/ Audio]

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When I consider how my light is spent,
 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
 And that one Talent which is death to hide
 Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
 To serve therewith my Maker, and present
 My true account, lest he returning chide,
 "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
 I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
 That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
 Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His State
 Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
 And post o'er Land and Ocean without rest:
 They also serve who only stand and wait."

NOTE: This poem is sometimes called “Sonnet 19,” sometimes “On His Blindness,” and sometimes “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent.”

PROMPT: Cook

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Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
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Thai curry — red, green, massaman, it makes no difference. It tastes good, smells good, and is nutritious — at least in the way that I load it with vegetables. And it requires all those satisfying cooking actions — i.e. slicing, dicing, etc. Also, it’s simple and mistake-forgiving to an extent that even someone unskilled — such as myself — has a hard time fouling it up.

Winter Moon [Haiku]

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thin moon crescent 
 shines brightly on a
  cold, winter night.

DAILY PHOTO: More Scenes from Fo Guang Shan

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Five Wise Lines (February 2024)

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“If one conforms to the world,
He’s bound to suffer.
If he doesn’t,
He’s considered mad.

Kamo no Chōmei, Hōjōki; [Stavros Trans.]

But nothing ever bores me. So much the worse for those who are moulded of boredom.

Salvador Dalí, Hidden Faces

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

Blaise pascal

I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea.

Lú Tóng (Poet of the Tang Era)

The man who wears the shoe knows best that it pinches and where it pinches, even if the expert shoemaker is the best judge of how the trouble is remedied.

John Dewey

Bonus Quote:

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Marcus tullius cicero

“Rooms” by Charlotte Mew [w/ Audio]

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I remember rooms that have had their part
  In the steady slowing down of the heart.
 The room in Paris, the room at Geneva,
 The little damp room with the seaweed smell,
 And that ceaseless maddening sound of the tide --
  Rooms where for good or for ill -- things died.
 But there is the room where we (two) lie dead,
 Though every morning we seem to wake and might just as well seem to sleep again
  As we shall somewhere in the other quieter, dustier bed
  Out there in the sun -- in the rain.

PROMPT: First Computer

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Daily writing prompt
Write about your first computer.
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My first computer was my brain interfaced with a No. 2 pencil. Yes, I date that far back in the technology stream.

Dueling Colorful [Haiku]

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Butterfly shows off
 its luminous blue wings
 to hot pink flowers.

BOOKS: “Deep, Deep the Courtyard” [庭院深深] trans. by Xu Yuanchong

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庭院深深：最美的宋詞英譯新詮 (Traditional Chinese Edition)庭院深深：最美的宋詞英譯新詮 by 吳俁陽（賞析）
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Website

This is a bilingual (Chinese / English) anthology of Song Dynasty poetry. It features more than 140 poems by almost fifty poets of the Song Dynasty, but a few of the Song poetic rockstars are particularly well represented (e.g. Su Shi, Qin Guan, Ouyang Xiu, and Xin Qiji.) The principal language of the book is Chinese (Mandarin) and so, while the poems themselves appear in English as well as Chinese, the ancillary matter is only in Chinese. Said ancillary matter includes notes, contextual information, bio-blurbs on the poets, and brief front and back matter.

I learned after reading the translations, that the translator was Xu Yuanchong and that he was (i.e. he’s now deceased) a very big deal as a translator, translating classical Chinese poetry into both English and French. All in all, I enjoyed the translations and found them to be sound as poems in their own right. That said, my personal preference would have been to have had less effort put into maintaining rhyme. I suspect a closer transmission of the ideas of the originals could have been achieved without the forced constraint of rhyme. Furthermore, while in many cases metering was attended to, sometimes it was not, leaving those poems to have a doggerel quality. [I come to this conclusion by comparing a few of the poem’s translations to those by other translators as well as to literal translations.] That said, the translator was clearly no slouch, and his stylistic choices were likely informed by what was popular during his career.

This book is part of a series. Other volumes include: In the Thick Woods a Deer Is Seen at Times (Tang Dynasty poems) and A Pair of Swallows Fly (from The Book of Songs, a.k.a. The Classic of Poetry.) I picked this book up in Taipei’s Zhongshan Book Street (Eslite Bookstore,) and don’t know how widely available the books of this series are outside of Taiwan, but if you are interested in Classical Chinese poetry and can find a copy, I’d recommend it.

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