February 2025

Knut Hamsun, The Wanderer
Closer to Dreamers than Victoria, the first part is light in tone, the second is far more somber. Narrated by a Hamsun-like figure who leaves the city for the uncomplicated life of the countryside only to discover that harmony and simplicity are just as elusive so long as one lives alongside one's fellow human beings.
Percy Shelley, Alastor and The Witch of Atlas
Two narrative poems. The first of these follows the life and death of a lonely poet, the second concerns one of the Hesperides and how she entertains herself by playing pranks. The first of these is more successful.
Lord Byron, Manfred
Falls somewhere between Poe and Goethe's Faust, this is a tremendously powerful verse drama where the main character seeks death for some unspecified family crime by conjuring up spirits.
Italo Calvino, Marcovaldo
Minor work by Calvino, this gets little coverage but contains some really good writing. Reminiscent in some respect of Voltaire's Zadig with its direct storytelling and the tendency for the main character's well-meaning attempts to invariably produce unintended, frequently disastrous, results. One chapter in here, Snow, is a particularly fine example.
Livy, The War with Hannibal
Third part of Livy's history (books XXI-XXV), this relates the second Punic War between Carthage and Rome. Beginning in Carthage with Hannibal preparing his forces, the first book features his legendary crossing of the Alps (and the Appenines) and the inflicting of several defeats on the Romans. Much more interesting from the get-go than anything in the second part.
William Shakespeare:
The Tempest
Third reading of this and it remains just as wonderful, though it's been displaced in my affections by Cymbline
Anthony and Cleopatra
The combining of politics, war, and love made this an extremely strong effort.
Romeo and Juliet
First reading, excellent.
Pericles
Collaborative effort. A story using motifs from various romances; enjoyable, but overall lacking in substance.
Troilus and Cressida
While true that this might not make for a great stage production, the cynicism on display in this play was extremely enjoyable and it cut the heroic pretensions of its Greek and Trojan cast down to life-size in spectacular fashion. Favorite moment: Achilles' cowardly murder of Hector.
The Merchant of Venice
As a play, one of the most effective. Incongruous ending, with Shylock losing everything being followed by a marriage scene full of joy.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust - Part One
Unsatisfactory translation by David Luke. This work requires translation by a major poet in the target language to have a chance of succeeding.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Christopher Marlowe:
Dido, Queen of Carthage
Powerful blank verse dramatization of Books I, II, and IV of the Aeneid, with Marlowe making a number of changes to the original, mostly centered on the behavior of Dido.
Tamburlaine the Great Part I
This play chronicles the relentless rise to power of Tamburlaine, a lowly shepherd, as he secures ever greater wealth, territories, and followers through a series of conquests. There is speech after incredible speech, particularly in the last two acts.
Guy de Maupassant:
La Tombe
Brief tale concerning a young lawyer being caught digging up a woman's corpse in a cemetery. Jumps to his trial and his address to the judge, jury, and a public hungry for blood.
Une Famille
A cynical, highly misogynistic tale that seems to have no other purpose than to afford Maupassant the opportunity to attack marriage and the raising of children.