More Than Just The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Posted on April 6, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

If you stop by here on a regular basis, you are probably aware that I am a fan of Japanese woodblock printing. Most folks are familiar with “Under the Wave off Kanagawa”  by  ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. The print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea, with a large wave forming a spiral in the centre and Mount Fuji visible in the background. “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” has been described as “possibly the most reproduced image in the history of all art”, as well as being a contender for the “most famous artwork in Japanese history”. But there is much more to Japanese woodblock printing.

I recently learned about the Ukiyo-e Search archive which was created by John Resig who built the online database back in 2012. The archive now includes more than 223,000 individual artworks from the early 18th century to today. Encompassing an array of styles, subject matter, and aesthetic impulses, the database is organized by artist and time period, and the system facilitates easy comparison of copies held at museums and institutions around the world. It’s well worth a visit.

 

 

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The first duty of the novelist is to entertain.

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“The first duty of the novelist is to entertain. It is a moral duty. People who read your books are sick, sad, traveling, in the hospital waiting room while someone is dying. Books are written by the alone for the alone.” Donna Tartt

“And remember this: the page you are looking at now, I once typed the words with care with you in mind under a yellow light with the radio on.”  Charles Bukowski

“When I’m writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I’m trying for that. But I’m also trying for the language. I’m trying to see how it can really sound. I really love language. I love it for what it does for us, how it allows us to explain the pain and the glory, the nuances and the delicacies of our existence.”  Maya Angelou

“So many books, so little time.”
― Frank Zappa

 

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April 4th, 1984

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

theyll shoot me I dont care theyll shoot me in the back of the neck I dont care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck I dont care down with big brother

Thought crime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.

To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free,
when men are different from one another and do not live alone
– to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone:
From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude,
from the age of BIG BROTHER, from the age of doublethink
– greetings!

 

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An odd place for a lighthouse

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

It’s always a treat to stumble upon an engaging short story and doubly so to discover a prize-winning work. The VS Pritchett Short Story Prize for 2022 was recently awarded to Kaliane Bradley’s genre-bending story Doggerland. Simultaneously humorous and creepy, the story harkens back to 19th macbre tales.

“My apprentice arrived at the end of August: a young man of twenty-five, dragging a box of books and a briefcase with two changes of clothes. I had asked for a woman, but I had asked for tinned peaches too, and I was only ever sent pineapple.

The sun was elbowing its way over the horizon, dragging up light the garish orange of work overalls. The heath looked like a fluorescent sponge. My apprentice boyhandled the box to the bottom of the cottage steps and smiled around me. He put his smile to my feet and then my shoulder before eventually settling on my face.

“Hello,” he said. “I made it.”

So you did.

If you are intrigued, you can read the entire story here.

 

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Is It Safe

Posted on April 2, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Over the years I have heard from a number of Travel Between The Pages readers who have asked if it was safe to visit the United States. With the caveat that most North American cities have no-go neighborhoods, I have encouraged folks to travel here. However, it has become painfully obvious that the U.S. has become an unsafe place and I would caution travelers to think carefully before planning a trip to the United States.

That’s not to say that everywhere in the U.S. should be avoided. In fact, some of the places, such as New York City, that have unfounded reputations for safety issues are still wonderful places for a vacation. I also feel confident in endorsing travel to most of our fantastic national parks.

But the tragic reality is that the U.S. has become a dangerous place because of our insane gun laws. While states that have Democratic governments continue to try and control gun ownership, many states governed by right-wing Republicans eccourage an insane adherence to the love of firearms.

The map above shows the location and relative severity of each of the mass shooting incidents in the US between 2009 and 28 March 2023.A mass shooting is defined as any incident in which four or more people are shot and killed.Since 2009, there have been 306 mass shootings, resulting in 1,710 people shot and killed and 1,087 people shot and wounded.

I encourage any TBTP readers to contact me or a trusted U.S. resident before planning a trip here. While it is a tragic irony that visitors to this country are probably safer than school children, gun violence is real.

 

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Decoding the Heavens

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“The Astronomicum Caesareum (1540) by the German mathematician, astronomer and cartographer Petrus Apianus was used by the privileged – including the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, who commissioned it, and the Tudor king Henry VIII – to find guidance, knowledge and fate in the stars. Produced over eight years at Apianus’s printing press in Bavaria, it was also extraordinarily beautiful, with hand-coloured illustrations, rotating paper dials and silk threads helping to steer its owner’s astrological forecast. Taking viewers on a guided tour of one of the original copies of the Astronomicum Caesareum, this short from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City explores the book’s elegance, intricacy and function. Through this, the video conveys the prevalence of astrology in the 16th century, and how the book emerged in an uncertain world in which long-held beliefs – including geocentrism – were being upended.”

NB: If the video above fails to open, please click here.

Video by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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March Elegy

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

March Elegy by Anna Akhmatova

 

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Story Typology

Posted on March 30, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

The Two Types of Stories: Expanded Edition

For the NY Times Book Review. For more comics on all things literary, check out Grant Snider’s book I WILL JUDGE YOU BY YOUR BOOKSHELF.

 

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English can be tricky

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Museum of Failure

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Brooklyn New York City is the latest stop for the traveling exhibition called the Museum of Failure. Located in Industry City in Sunset Park, the show celebrates “overhyped products that never really took off” and other epic fails (Trump steaks, anyone?). Curated by a Swedish psychologist and innovation researcher, Dr. Samuel West, the exhibit showcases more than 150 items which ask, “What were they thinking?!”

“The biggest obstacle to innovation is the fear of failure,” West said. “So it was in that thought like, ‘hey I want to do something with this fear of failure in relation to progress [and] innovation.’”

The Museum of Failure first exhibited in Sweden back in 2017 and has since traveled the world. Brooklyn is its first east coast stop in North America and the exhibit is scheduled to be on display through mid-May. Tickets can be purchased online.

 

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