Category Archives: Writing

It was the best of times…

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I was quite amused by Eli Grober’s piece in the New Yorker, where he rewrote the opening sentences of iconic novels to make them reflect the insanity of our pandemic times. Here are a few choice examples : “A Tale of … Continue reading →

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Age is just a state of mind (or not)

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Inspired by his own series of giant paste-up portraits, the French street artist known as  JR started a scheme back in 2011 encouraging people around the world to participate in his Inside Out project by doing their own pastings. They … Continue reading →

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A Strange Case

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

New York City’s amazing Morgan Library has scanned the entire handwritten manuscript to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  and it’s now available for paging through and reading online. The manuscript of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange … Continue reading →

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Kubrick for Kids

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

One of the strangest episodes of film and book crossovers that I have every run across has to be this multimedia children’s book of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey for kids that came with an accompanying record or cassette tape. … Continue reading →

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Here She Comes

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

 

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in America when the sun goes down

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Last Friday would have been Jack Kerouac’s 99th birthday. One of the online commemorations linked to this extraordinary clip from a 1959 television appearance on the Steve Allen Show. Kerouac reads from On the Road while Allen plays some bluesy jazz … Continue reading →

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world without end

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Map Linda Hogan This is the world so vast and lonely without end, with mountains named for men who brought hunger from other lands, and fear of the thick, dark forest of trees that held each other up, knowing fire … Continue reading →

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all winter long

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

THE END OF THE LIBRARY Weldon Kees When the coal Gave out, we began Burning the books, one by one; First the set Of Bulwer-Lytton And then the Walter Scott. They gave a lot of warmth. Toward the end, in … Continue reading →

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How Kafkaesque

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

 

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The feeling of communion in the libraries

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Most English speakers are familiar with the American author E.B. White from his contributions to the iconic writing guide The Elements of Style or through his classic children’s books such as Charlotte’s Web. During World War II, he received a request … Continue reading →

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