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William2
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My first reading was the translation by M.A. Screech on Penguin books, which I highly recommend. This collection ...more "
“Love as a concrete foundation for an authentically functional civilization requires the around-the-clock labors of forgiveness. Without it, Love fails, Friendship fails, Intelligence fails, Humanity: fails.”
― Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry
― Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry
“In individuals as in nations, contentment is silent, which tends to unbalance the historical record.”
― A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
― A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
“A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of the artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one’s art. One must accept it. For this reason I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so.”
― Selected Non-Fictions
― Selected Non-Fictions
“I find it’s more fun to write about something that you don’t know completely and that you will discover on route. A dear friend of mine...once said: 'The only time I know anything is when it comes to me at the point of my pen.' So I think that if you start to write about things that you know half well, that you’re fascinated by, that you sense you have an appreciation of that others might not have, but you do have to acquire the knowledge as you go, you discover a great many things at the point of a pen. And it keeps the writing alive in itself in a way.
(in an interview with Martin Amis, 1991, see YouTube)”
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(in an interview with Martin Amis, 1991, see YouTube)”
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“Whatever reader desires to have a thorough comprehension of an author's thoughts cannot take a better method than by putting himself into the circumstances and postures of life that the author was in upon every important passage as it flowed from his pen; for this will introduce a parity and strict correspondence of ideas between the reader and the author. Now, to assist the diligent reader in so delicate an affair, as far as brevity will permit, I have recollected that the shrewdest pieces of this treatise were conceived in bed in a garret; at other times (for a reason best known to myself) I thought fit to sharpen my invention with hunger; and in general, the whole work was begun, continued, and ended under a long course of physic and great want of money.”
― A Tale of a Tub
― A Tale of a Tub
Members of Kindred Spirits and other interested GR members read the works of Thomas Mann. Our next scheduled read is The Magic Mountain, taking plac ...more
This is a group for all the fans of Dystopias out there. Share your favorite dystopias, get new recommendations, and talk with other fans about this e ...more
A group to gather and discuss, question, comment, interpret, review etc. Drinking of actual Margaritas while reading and/or discussing strongly encour ...more
A group in honour of the late Jim Ballard, who pulled science fiction out of the adolescent male ghetto and gave us books full of beauty, excitement, ...more
A group for all things related to the life and work of this criminally neglected Modernist genius who died alone, forgotten and poverty-stricken, in 1 ...more
William2’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at William2’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
1,364 books
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808 friends
863 books
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90 friends
959 books
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35 friends
218 books
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523 friends
5,737 books
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1,010 friends
568 books
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7 friends
590 books
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2,070 friends
1,015 books
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31 friends
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