Friday Links: May 1, 2020
Poems of Quarantine and Other Topics, Art Parodies, and Miscellaneous Links
James Matthew Wilson Poems in Serial, Online
The "Quarantine Notebook" guest series by James Matthew Wilson—currently being published at Deep Down Things—was started on an impulse, and, as Wilson wrote in his "Introduction," it will go on "as long as this strange, convulsive, unhappy episode in our history" goes on. For convenience, all the parts published so far are linked here. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.)
Another long poem cycle by Wilson, The River of the Immaculate Conception, was commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute and published by Wiseblood Books in a limited edition. The poem is being published online, also in serial form, here. You can read an interview with Wilson about the creation of this poem here.
Quarantine Art
Coronica: This parody of Picasso's Guernica by an unidentified creator is part of the trend of quarantine artAccording to Forbes, the Getty started a creative flood of quarantine art when it called on its online followers to recreate their favorite artworks using three household objects and the people they are quarantined with. Hardly anyone followed the three object limit, but many of the works people came up with are quite clever. The Getty was inspired by a similar challenge issued by The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which was inspired by an Instagram account called “Between Art and Quarantine.” Also see "Museum Asks People To Recreate Paintings With Stuff They Can Find at Home, Here Are The Results," from Sad and Useless: The Most Depressive Humor Site on the Internet.
Other Links
The Most Dangerous Man in the World is a review of Between Two Millstones, Book 1 of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s memoir of the West, by James F. Pontuso at Claremont Review of Books.
Leo Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories Will Devastate Your Children and Make You Want to Die is reviewed as a caution to parents, by John Byron Kuhner at L.A. Review of Books. "Forty-one apparent sadomasochists at Goodreads have given this book an average 4.2 rating. Do not believe them. Do not give this book to children."
In What Would Plato Think of TV?, Nick Romeo at The Atlantic writes that "novelist and philosopher Rebecca Goldstein imagines the famous thinker in the modern world with her new book Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away."
How to be a Philosopher: Tribute to Sir Roger Scruton & Beauty, by Kay Clarity, is a follow-up to I wrote a letter to Roger Scruton, also by Clarity, which was the topic of a recent post at this blog.
In Why poetry matters more than ever" at Aleteia, Reverend Father Michael Rennier, Associate Editor of Dappled Things, writes that poetry is so important to his life in these stressful times that he and a little group of friends are reciting poems and sending them to each other. He writes that because poetry is a break in all the concerning practicalities we all face, "The Quarantine Soliloquies group is one of the bright spots of my day."
Maggie Smith: Three Poems are at A New Decameron. Also worthy of mention: in This is the official poem of 2016, PBS reviewer Lidia Jean Kott called Smith's "A Bad Year," the poem of the year, but it still seems apt for this year too.
Maggie Smith, the Poet
