as of today, the 50 books challenge has its own 50 books challenge fan page on facebook. this is open to everybody and i greatly encourage all of you to join!
also, i finally created a twitter account for WOAW. this will be linked to the above mentioned fan page - i even created a #50bookschallenge hash tag. feel free to add WOAW on twitter any time, i'll be delighted and more than happy to add you, too.
i finished tucholsky´s rheinsberg - ein bilderbuch für verliebte ("rheinsberg - a picture book for lovers") on the tube this morning - a quick and inexpensive read: only 2,-€ at reclam. tucholsky's language is very bloomy, and if it weren't for clärchen, one of the main characters, and her funky usage of speech (not a defect!), rheinsberg could easily be mistaken for a shallow and rather unoriginal description of a romantic weekend in the country. there is no arc of tension or straight-forward dramaturgy, and it remains unclear what tucholsky was really trying to tell us. a vague attempt of teaching the reader a lesson by contrasting the irrationality of love with a more rational world view was only made on the last four or so pages. in fact, i found rheinsberg to be more of a writing exercise in style and the study of characters and their feelings, settings and interaction between all of the above. the only suprise, if you would like to call it that, was the sudden end - one gets the impression kurt himself had had enough of his own enamored cheers and sniggering. overall, however, rheinsberg is an amusing, upbeat read that is certainly worth a look if you are a) a writer, b) from berlin, c) in love, or d) headed to rheinsberg anytime soon.
fun fact taken from wikipedia: "In order to support the sales of the book [Rheinsberg], Tucholsky and Szafranski, who had illustrated the tale, opened a "Book Bar" on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin: anyone who bought a copy of his book also received a free glass of schnapps. This student prank however came to an end after only a few weeks."
susan sontag's early diaries are really more of a reading list than anything else. after trying to make sense of what susan was talking about over the first 84 pages, i finally decided her diaries were an educational (as opposed to 'fun') read - and started looking up some of the authors, books, philosophers, operas, pieces of art or music i hadn't heard of previously on wikipedia. so much so, that on page 205 i donated 10 euros to the wikimedia foundation.
it is absolutely amazing to learn what susan read in her teens and twenties, and her treasury of words to describe all of it is unrivaled. unfortunately, i am far less well-read, so often i couldn't comment on or relate to her findings. incoherent, lone sentences like "Nominalist attitude to object in pre-cubist painting." are frequent and unless you are prepared to look into some secondary literature, i suppose reading susan's early diaries is not very enjoyable at all. however, if you are prepared to do so, your vocabulary and general knowledge will certainly extend.
in the more private passages, i especially enjoyed reading about susan's take on love ("Love as immolation of the self."), marriage ("... each couple in its own little house ... it's the most repulsive thing in the world.") and parenting ("Make him [her son] aware that there's a grown-up world that's none of his business."). the depth of her feelings as well as her voluptuous language and imagery are reminiscent of sylvia plath's (i read plath's diaries a couple of years back) and i appreciated susan's clarity and analytical ability ("My mother improved her manners by losing her appetite."). towards the end of the book, susan also discusses her attitudes and aspirations as a writer. i enjoyed these passages and think that they make a good finish/ outlook on her professional future. all in all, i have hardly ever read a piece of writing as brutally honest.
adriana, an old school friend of mine, challenged me to read 50 books in 2010 and share my thoughts on them with her on facebook. i figured this might be of interest to you guys, too.
50 sounded a lot to me at first, but i guess this is just because my own reading has become very uncoordinated, reading bits and pieces here and there, and because i have long lost my habit of focusing on just one book at a time. nowadays, i am usually reading three simultaneously: one for pleasure, one for study, and a light one of either kind to bring on the train.
currently, these are:
susan sontag's early diaries,
sol stein's stein on writing,
and i just finished stefan zweig's fear.
here are my thoughts on fear (i won't give you a summary of the book, though, cause i think blurbs make books boring and create a fake experience of literature - no one should be knowing what's about to happen in advance!):
stefan zweig wrote fear in vienna in 1910, but only published the novella in 1925 after thoroughly revising it. i quite liked it, although it didn't take me all too long to figure out its plot. however, fear was still written interestingly enough to finish reading it. i find that zweig was very good at describing his characters and their emotions; in my humble opinion, he sometimes overdid that a little in fear, yet he managed to cut long descriptions just when they started to get annoying. all in all, fear is a recommendable read if you're looking for something brief and entertaining.
ich als: eine brechende feder
am elbbaum der steht und
die tanne am haus gegenüber
verwünscht die im garten die
jahre hochzählt ich: als teil eines
kuckucks bin all seine kopflose
qual in den stählernern tälern
am hang steil die rinde der nacht
hat die dunen aus denen ich wuchs
hart und hölzern gemacht ich:
wehe als: das gegenteil der kralle
von der nennen wir sie haltestelle ab
und luft ist nur um meinen sternruf
vor dem schnabel aufzufangen
ich: die neige und ich: falle als kontur.
"Just across the hall from Descant Magazine is the office of NOW HEAR THIS!, Descant's literary outreach arm which is beginning to buzz with plans and preparations for the fourth year of our hugely successful Students, Writers and Teachers Program. In anticipation of the 2010 S.W.A.T. season, we are on the look-out for more writers to help make a difference in the lives and in the writing of Toronto high school students.
Applications to be a S.W.A.T. writer have just been released and if you are a professional writer and would like to be considered for the position, read the following job description, fill it out an application and mail it to the NHT! office with your C.V., cover letter and references!
Job Description:
In late-2005, the Descant Arts & Letters Foundation began its NOW HEAR THIS! outreach program, which runs writing workshops with community organizations, literacy groups and at-risk-youth around Toronto.
NOW HEAR THIS! and the Toronto Catholic District School Board partnered to create S.W.A.T. (Students, Writers and Teachers), a program that places professional authors in high school classrooms to run workshops with students, now in its fourth year. NOW HEAR THIS!S.W.A.T. for the 2010 winter semester. and the TCDSB are now looking for five more writers to join
S.W.A.T. writers in residence are placed in TCDSB secondary schools and together with teachers develop and facilitate writing workshops based on course curricula. For ten weeks, writers plan exercises with students to help work on basic sentence structure, grammar, developing persuasive arguments, creative expression and critical thinking.
Responsibilities:
- Planning workshops and scheduling classroom visits with teachers
- Submitting workshop outlines to NHT! and the TCDSB
- Weekly visits to classrooms, facilitating workshops, reading and editing student work
- Bi-weekly journals submitted to NHT! and the TCDSB
- Helping to compile class-specific component of print anthology of student work
- Final program evaluation
Requirements:
- professional author as per the Canada Council definition
- Have at least one (1) published work
- ability to work with others and independently
- experience teaching and/or working with youth
- familiarity with Microsoft Word and Excel; regular email and internet access
- commitment to goals of Now Hear This! program
Additional Information:
Please download and fill out the Application Form here and submit with a cover letter, résumé and references. Email and fax applications will not be considered.
Send Submissions by January 4, 2010 to:
SWAT 2010 - Residency Application
Mark Laliberte, NHT Program Manager
c/o Descant/NHT!
50 Baldwin St.
Toronto, ON
M5T 1L4
If you have any questions or require more information, please contact Rachel Hopwood, S.W.A.T. Residency Program Coordinator at rachel (at) nowhearthis.ca
was hat jemand an sich genommen
das zweifeln das andenken an sich
genommen. das andenken nur
nicht das fertig- .
den zweifel genommen und
in das vergessen ge- (legt?)
also gegen das denken
entschieden. und be- .
jemand hat sich verzweifelt
benommen. im innern verdacht.
hat die enden ans -schlechtliche
ende gemacht (siehe: ein / eine
es wächst) und ent- .
the Literaturautomat is calling for submissions for next year's shafts. you should apply, this is a cool project - and i'm not just saying that because i was featured last year. there are five topics to chose from and deadline is 15 december 2009.
Die Berliner Literaturkritik has a long list of literary events taking place in berlin in december.
ich hab eine kerbe gekratzt
dich gebogen hineingelegt
und eine kerbe geschlossen
ich habe dich eingepasst (und:
ja du warst für die kerbe gemacht)
dich im kühlen der kerbe vergessen
es wurd eine kerbe gekratzt
du gehoben gelegt und
am boden der kerbe vergessen.
[i cut a kerf
and bent you laid you into it
i shut a kerf
you fit in (did you know:
you were made for that kerf)
i forgot all about you
a kerf was cut
you were taken and laid
and forgotten.]
Man wird sich ein eigener Faden.
Rot. Folgt sich als Mensch.
Den Steinen entnommen:
Ein Arm. Eine halbe Idee. Nackt und flach.
Eine Wohnung, in die man zurückkehrt.
Entzeichnet von allen Emblemen.
Entlanggerutscht.
after many years of receiving selected poetry in my inbox everyday, i was delighted to find one of my own poems called drei arten betäubung featured in today's lyrikmail. quite honestly, this made my day.
i can only recommend you sign up for gregor koall's excellent free service and donate some money to the SOS Kinderdörfer in his name. lyrikmail is also on twitter. (as am i.)
alright, that was it, i gotta get ready for kookread now (see below).
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DER FREITAG hat einen artikel darüber, warum man als autor im netz kein geld verdient. leider schon eine woche alt, habe ihn aber erst heute gefunden.
