Gertrude Stein's Silly — And Stilted — 'To Do'
Is more intriguing literary artifact than delightful read. As Timothy Young, curator of modern books and manuscripts at Yale's Beinecke Library, notes in his illuminating introduction, "children are not the core audience for this book." He cites as hurdles the text's "challenging linguistic exercises" and "recurrent sense of menace" — though in fact the stories are no grimmer than Grimm and no gorier than Gorey. Young acknowledges that adult readers, too, may find the abstract text demanding. He suggests reading the book aloud, and, "If you have any trouble, read faster and faster until you don't."To complain that Stein — the woman best known for her pronouncement that "a rose is a rose is a rose" — is repetitive is akin to griping that the pope is Catholic. That said, one quickly understands why the long-winded To Do had difficulty finding a publisher. Although there is wit and whimsy and an absurdist sensibility that's a precursor to Maira Kalman's work, it's buried in dense pages of run-on prose. For each letter of the alphabet, Stein calls up four names — often based on real-life friends — for which she spins circular tales filled with internal rhymes about mutable birthdays and fortunes: "This is the sad story of Leslie-Lily./Lily who always found everything hilly./Leslie's little Lily's last birthday."
There are riches: passages about war, about writer's block, about multiple births and about a self-immolating giant rabbit. There's even a passage that expresses our impatience: "And Mr. House said nothing more, because he was not a bore and he would have been of course he would have been if he had said anything more./More More More./Shut oh shut the door."
My advice: Sample a few pages at a time — no more — or read it from cover to cover and snore.
Alphabets and names make games and everybody has a name and all the same they have in a way to have a birthday.
The thing to do is to think of names.
Names will do.
Mildew.
And you have to think of alphabets too, without an alphabet well without names where are you, and birthdays are very favorable too, otherwise who are you.
Everything begins with A.
What did you say. I said everything begins with A and I was right and hold me tight and be all right.
Everything begins with A.
A. Annie, Arthur, Active, Albert.
Annie is a girl Arthur is a boy Active is a horse. Albert is a man with a glass.
Horse Shoe Nails - News
But now everybody has forgotten what horses are and what horse-shoes are and what horse-shoe nails are everybody has forgotten what horses are, but anyway one day, Active is the name of a horse, a nice horse. He had a birthday he was born on that day
Among his specialties was the making of horseshoe nails. He set a regional record by forging 314 horseshoe nails in 42 minutes, a record that remained unmatched at the time of his death. He remained at the forge until he retired when he was 80 years
But now everybody has forgotten what horses are and what horse-shoes are and what horse-shoe nails are everybody has forgotten what horses are, but anyway one day, Active is the name of a horse, a nice horse. He had a birthday he was born on that day
JD Fillingim, president of the Wind & Fire Motorcycle Club chapter in Prescott which is made up of active and retired firefighters, said many local firefighter fundraisers including their golf tournaments, horseshoe tournament and others give part of
After meeting with his students Thursday morning, McBride watched them disperse through the field and onto the bluff. "I'm telling the students it's an automatic 'A' for the first person who finds a horseshoe," he joked.
janes_recs: Horseshoe Nails series by Dyce (R)
At one point in this series, Inara explains why she likes the idea of River and Jayne being friends: "There's something about a man who really believes that what an attractive, vulnerable young girl really needs is to learn to shoot everyone who tries to hurt her in the head." This statement neatly sums up why this series is far and away my favorite Firefly story and why I come back to read it over and over again. I love the fact that, while Jayne will protect River if she needs it, both of them agree that the best thing for River is for her to be strong enough and prepared enough to protect herself. It's beautifully in character for both of them, and while the path to self-sufficiency for River is a long and at times bloody one, it's also immensely satisfying. Making things even better is Dyce's characterization, which is nothing short of brilliant. Every canon character, from Firefly crew down to the Operative are pitch-perfect, both in their actions, their thoughts, and (most impressively) their dialogue. Her River is especially good; she juggles River's coherence and craziness with a deft hand and never falls into the trap of making her speak actual nonsense. Mix in phenomenal writing, slow-building romance, fast-paced action scenes, and a perfect balance of humor and drama and you have one of the most engrossing, satisfying series I've ever read. This series is an old favorite of mine. I definitely second the rec. But don't worry about the last fic - honestly, I don't know why it's labeled as WIP, because I feel it ends in a perfectly good spot, and it does tie up the series nicely. It delves into Jayne's family, and how hard it is to go home again, even if it's just for a visit.
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I agree with the first comment- it may not 'end' as a lot of fics do, with a very final feeling and every loose end tied up and all, but it feels like a good place to end. Some series go on too long and kill my interest in them by going past their expiration date, but the last chapter has an air of resolution while putting in motion events that we can imagine will develop happily off-screen. If that makes sense. Like, all the stuff with River and Jayne is very satisfactorily dealt with, and there's this air of 'life changes and moves forward and people's relationships evolve and it's a neverending cycle' and it doesn't leave me hanging.Horse Shoe Nails - Bookshelf
Horse-shoe nails: or, New ideas on old subjects, by Minor Hugo [L.J. Hansard?].
HORSE-SHOE NAILS: .« . NEW IDEAS ON OLD SUBJECTS. BY MINOK HUGO. w For want of a nail the shoe was lost, *' For want of a shoe the horse was lost, ...Ordnance memoranda
Horseshoes and horseshoe-nails. After a careful examination of the subject of horseshoeing and horse- a^h^rsesCe- shoes for cavalry, the Board desires to ...The Great industries of the United States, being an historical summary of the origin, growth, and perfection of the chief industrial arts of this country
HORSE SHOE NAILS. HORSE SHOES. — THEIR IMPORTANCE. — THEIR HISTORY. — EVIDENCE CONCERNING THEIR USE BY THE ANCIENTS. FIRST MENTION OF, IN MODERN TIMES. ...A text-book of horseshoeing for horseshoers and veterinarians
I. Nailing the Shoe. This is that act of horseshoeing by which the shoe is fastened to the hoof by special nails called hoof-nails or horseshoe-nails, ...The American veterinary journal
CLINCHING HORSE SHOE NAILS. As I once passed through this town, one of my horses ' shoes became loose, and I went to the shop of a smith named Lovelace, ...Day-after-day News Directory
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