Over the past year and one-half I've watched a series of important movies, and urge my reader to watch them too: in reverse order from which I've seen them: Selma, Norma Rae, A Dry White Season, Judgement at Nuremberg (OLLI at AU); Why We Fight (Capra, Gov't war propaganda films, 6 of them, 1942), Battleship Potemkin, Journey's End, All the King's ( Read more... )

The angle of a tunnel -- an invisible wall -- Hoshaufen and Posner's apprehension.  I've seen over the last year and one half that other people live this way too, but I rarely come across anyone to speak to who feels as cut off as I or will talk of it -- in books, yes, there this is more than admitted to by some, and on the Internet in letters and ( Read more... )

Dear friends,

And loving the books all over again. For the more impersonal reasons I'm doing this, see Ellen and Jim have a blog two.

Today I realize the first thing most people would have done would be to explore what are the living Graham people, estate, executors, websites. I was at first astonished to discover that is most people's reaction. ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

One of the comments I got on my blog yesterday prompts this companion blog: "The trick is to love who you are ... "

That was a generous thing to say, and it strikes me as true (a belated response as I thought about it a little). I like the suggestion for a way into writing a memoir and maybe sometime in the 20 or so years ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

The third and last blog on this remarkable, unfortunately unreprinted mini-series, the 1984 Diana adapted by Andrew Davies, directors Richard Tucker and David Stroud, produced by Ken Riddington. Parts 1 through 5 and some of 6 dramatized R. E. Delderfield's There Was a Fair Maid Dwelling (the first two thirds of the present ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

Yesterday I wrote a blog describing the first six parts of Andrew Davies's 1984 10 part mini-series, Diana.  I write on the Parts 7 through 9 today. As I said yesterday I decided to study this film because it's one of Davies's neglected early romances and has had no scholarly talk about it anywhere, and not only sheds light ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I'm making the first of (I hope) a few (not too many) blogs on Andrew Davies's movies to help me think about his vast and varied oeuvre.  Perhaps some of these may be of interest to people who watch, enjoy, study, write about costume drama and film adaptation of historical novels and ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

This is another letter where one misses intensely all the context that once existed.  Like Diane (for whom I thank for starting us off this week), I like the lovely simplicity of Austen's opening:  "Your letter yesterday made me very happy," but I wish we had that letter. Not only that but those inbetween June 2nd and ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,


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