July 8 Shelley

On July 8, 1822, Percy Shelley drowned in a storm off of Italy. So I will be reading his work, which I am not that familiar with and am finding it quite engaging as I prepare for the show. It is interesting to me that I usually think of a poem as about a page or less. For centuries poems were lengthy works that were nearly a book. It is another example of our dumbing down in our language and the effects of technology upon our culture.

Percy Shelley

week of July 1 -4

On July 1st I read poems by Herman Hesse.  I had never read his poems before, I am more familiar with his fiction works.  It was very interesting.  They were written when he was a young man and it felt like it.

On July 3rd I read the Declaration of Independence and then quotes from Franz Kafka, as it was his birthday. I know it is a rather odd matching. It is always good to read the Declaration of Independence each year, and the quotes from Kafka opened me up to a much broader picture of a man I usually perceive to be rather depressing. In fact there is much hope in Kafka.

Hesse

Kafka