When I reread the letters for around the fifth time, I became aware of a simmering tension between the two men. One obstacle to writing a book about a comic actor like Groucho is that you unwittingly absorb the enthusiastic, celebratory tone in which many entertainment figures are biographized. The screen persona is so strong that, no matter how ( Read more... )

(Original essay by Algis Valiunas at First Things.com...)

"The term poète maudit, or “cursed poet,” was coined by Paul Verlaine. His little book Les poètes maudits (1884) interleaved his own honorific prose with poems by some of the poets he most esteemed but whose very greatness assured that they were known only to the cognoscenti. It was their ( Read more... )

(Article original par Marco Bélair-Cirino à Le Devoir...)

"Après avoir dévoilé au grand jour un système de collusion «d’une ampleur insoupçonnée» pour l’attribution des contrats au sein du ministère des Transports (MTQ), le patron de l’Unité anticollusion (UAC), Jacques Duchesneau, accuse à demi-mot des «reporters» de faire le jeu du crime ( Read more... )

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(Original story by Paul Ford at The Morning News...)

"When it is complete you screw on the forest-green lid, write your name and your wife’s name on the label, put it all in a biohazard bag, and ring the buzzer. Along comes a woman, another nurse. She takes the bag and holds it up to the light. If you read the paperwork there is a request that you ( Read more... )

(Here be an essay which was presented at a grad conference at Carleton U, but which won't be published any time soon, due to a need for massive research and revisions... Edit: 'Ware the numerous instances of Appleworks 'helpfully' correcting my grammar and Greek...)

Introduction

Aristophanes' second to last surviving comedy, Eccleisiazusae ( ( Read more... )

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I just got in from a great little rendition of Euripides' Orestes, which was put-on by some students from the Classics department. It was rather well done, I thought, especially given that none of the actors were theater majors. I was also rather pleased to run into an elderly classmate from last semester's Greek class, who let me know that the ( Read more... )