tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post2720171545672119295..comments2024-03-20T16:46:13.343-04:00Comments on Marly Youmans / The Palace at 2:00 a.m. / poems, stories, novels: Winnowing the librariesMarly Youmanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-32349966866063988092019-05-02T15:07:29.209-04:002019-05-02T15:07:29.209-04:00Heh. I expect he still has devotees! Or perhaps no...Heh. I expect he still has devotees! Or perhaps not. People are too busy online to read all those pesky books, perhaps?marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-49762397966635517882019-05-02T14:56:14.970-04:002019-05-02T14:56:14.970-04:00Even Bloom disavowed his lists. Even Bloom disavowed his lists. RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-39095449912366849502019-05-02T14:55:30.998-04:002019-05-02T14:55:30.998-04:00Thanks ... I’ve corrected the problem ... roadbloc...Thanks ... I’ve corrected the problem ... roadblocks are down .....RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-70112265040769439342019-05-02T14:17:56.313-04:002019-05-02T14:17:56.313-04:00R. T., left you a comment on your brand new blog a...R. T., left you a comment on your brand new blog and it was eaten, again. You need to have more than Google account as an option, at least for me. If I use that, it vanishes. Why, who can say?COMMENT FOR TIMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-62706333256882721412019-05-02T12:55:26.968-04:002019-05-02T12:55:26.968-04:00Oh, I don't think that I misunderstood you. Ju...Oh, I don't think that I misunderstood you. Just was a little wayward and tangential... I do agree, and I think there is no cure-all (unless you're absolutely devoted to Harold Bloom, in which case you just go with his list!) <br /><br />And I definitely agree that influencing other writers is a reliable measure of how--how what?--a writer is. I think I'll say "how alive."<marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-66132916584564736622019-05-02T03:01:54.514-04:002019-05-02T03:01:54.514-04:00I may have been misunderstood and probably it'...I may have been misunderstood and probably it's my own fault. The Nobels rarely attract positive talk. Many readers (especially those with an acre of newpaper space to fill) prefer to dwell on those who've missed out rather than those who have won these huge sums of money. When the prize goes to an author living in what is considered an obscure small country the judges are said to be &Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-52742590176763712312019-05-01T12:22:55.074-04:002019-05-01T12:22:55.074-04:00I doubt the great R. R. will be allowed to make hi...I doubt the great R. R. will be allowed to make his own library. And so we may expect some libraries to adhere to the idea of a canon plus wider views of our own times, and some to go in a more chaotic direction...marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-76792419916950653322019-05-01T10:31:12.284-04:002019-05-01T10:31:12.284-04:00Hmmm. All literary awards are suspect ... Nobel aw...Hmmm. All literary awards are suspect ... Nobel awards are among the most suspect being lately political awards .... please let us not limit library holdings to award winning authors and books .... well ... just my two cents ....RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-60198553833043701932019-05-01T10:26:27.809-04:002019-05-01T10:26:27.809-04:00Perhaps I should have said that I was responding t...Perhaps I should have said that I was responding to calls like this one: https://sleung.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/whiteness-as-collections/<br /><br />I like to think that the dead are beyond matters of race and gender, that their words can still live and glow in ways that are deeply important to us. And that worthy words will continue to live for some time, occasionally for many centuries.<br /><marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-2053187619164252992019-05-01T02:21:24.078-04:002019-05-01T02:21:24.078-04:00In this context I may be regarded as a heretic quo...In this context I may be regarded as a heretic quoting Lord Kelvin:<br /><br /><i>"... when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind."</i><br /><br />Can one "measure" literature? Probably not. Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-87170008706975222702019-04-27T09:51:17.086-04:002019-04-27T09:51:17.086-04:00Yes, she is a notable personality... It's inte...Yes, she is a notable personality... It's interesting to see someone you know well grow old, as they become bouillon cube versions of themselves. Qualities grow more intense and strong. She does not garden and hike and weave as much as she did, but she's still remarkably busy.<br /><br />Your librarian tale is charming--I expect she was happy in that encounter as well. Someone ought to Marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-43522651832705022972019-04-27T01:40:34.787-04:002019-04-27T01:40:34.787-04:00I don't think I knew your mother was a librari...I don't think I knew your mother was a librarian! Every new detail just makes her seem all the cooler.<br /><br />On a side note, you may get a kick out of this: Yesterday I went to our county historical society library to do some research for a new project. The 87-year-old woman after whom the library is named was sitting there working, as she apparently does at least two days a week. When IJeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-53067402183252765772019-04-26T23:43:48.626-04:002019-04-26T23:43:48.626-04:00Yes, I spent a huge number of hours in libraries, ...Yes, I spent a huge number of hours in libraries, not just because I love books but because my mother was an academic library. <br /><br />I completely agree on the way public libraries de-access, as it is called. It's horrid! Just because a lot of people read crap books and ignore the great ones doesn't mean we should get rid of the ones of merit because they aren't checked out as marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-32486456816479462842019-04-26T15:11:32.330-04:002019-04-26T15:11:32.330-04:00My recollection of the library field well into the...My recollection of the library field well into the early 2000s was that their positions on the material they curated or protected tended to be starkly ideologically neutral, even content-neutral. An extreme example they themselves gave just a few years ago was that if a bum in an overcoat walked into a library to watch dirty movies on a public computer, librarians were not to judge. So I find it Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-7719371933677710672019-04-25T13:19:39.225-04:002019-04-25T13:19:39.225-04:00Although an e-library is easy to sweep away, given...Although an e-library is easy to sweep away, given the desire...Marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-88426355559651997772019-04-25T11:24:42.851-04:002019-04-25T11:24:42.851-04:00Thank goodness for the Gutenberg site and similar ...Thank goodness for the Gutenberg site and similar preservations. Long live the e-library. RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-16718716251255245802019-04-25T11:02:03.117-04:002019-04-25T11:02:03.117-04:00I did not and do not suggest that. And I read wide...I did not and do not suggest that. And I read widely. Cheers.marlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-66556181989851692072019-04-25T10:53:42.116-04:002019-04-25T10:53:42.116-04:00Both/and, not Or/Or. We need to read books that we...Both/and, not Or/Or. We need to read books that were ignored in the past because they were written by women, by people of color, by people who were odd or different, by writers in undeveloped countries who nevertheless produced and continue to produce magnificent works of literature. I have had the enviable experience this year of tutoring students in an excellent private school who have been Robbi N.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04881145195435485238noreply@blogger.com