Trevor Cribben Merrill
@cribbenMerrill
author of Minor Indignities (@WisebloodBooks); producer of @_THINGS_HIDDEN: The Life and Legacy of René Girard
Also up today, Episode 1 of The Fretful Porpentine, my new podcast on classical music in books, co-hosted with @Klassical_Kat. First up is a Chopin scherzo in Philip Roth's The Ghost Writer.
"Eventually, we’ll be like those reliant on Google Maps, who can’t get anywhere without a phone telling us where to turn." compactmag.com/article/welcom…
“The Sleepers,” instead of setting out to mock internet culture, accepts it as part of contemporary life, its irony arising from relatable moments of human weakness presented without heavy-handed comment. firstthings.com/sleeping-throu…
I reviewed Matthew Gasda's new novel for @firstthingsmag : firstthings.com/sleeping-throu…
I am very sad to report that the wonderful Catholic poet Jane Greer @NorthDakotaJane has died. Please keep her soul, her family and her husband Jim in your prayers.
The great poet @NorthDakotaJane has passed from this present life. She was like fire. “Love like a conflagration shall be yours now; love like an April river, like a temblor; love like an avalanche, a midnight bomb-blast, finding you hidden…” — Jane Greer Requiescat in pace.
"...it is the idea of discovery and hard work that attracts me. The very act of putting my work on paper, of, as we say, kneading the dough, is for me inseparable from the pleasure of creation." --Stravinsky, The Poetics of Music
Nice piece by @cribbenMerrill about putting on backyard arts events in your own home - below
René Girard arrived in New York on the De Grasse in 1947; Saul Bellow took it to Europe in 1948:
Delighted to see my review of Matthew Gasda's The Sleepers on this list:
realclearbooks.com Tuesday reads: @RossBarkan for his S*bstack, @johnbyronkuhner for @compactmag_, @LitMiddle for @the_met_review, @dan_sinykin for @thenation, @freganmitts for @the_point_mag, @cribbenMerrill for @firstthingsmag, @poppy_sowerby for @unherd, and many others.
"There are women who love the man someone else has chosen, just as there are poor middle-class women who hope to acquire our manners by copying our hats." --The Vicomtesse de Beauséant (Père Goriot)
For the afternoon crowd, some Friday Links — Dappled Things with @cribbenmerrill @CatholicPods @DouthatNYT & more dappledthings.org/deep-down-thin…
"Cervantes gives us an upside-down hero in a right-side up world; Stendhal gives us a right-side up hero in an upside-down world." -Girard, DDN, p. 141
The Fairy Tale discusses what a sane man will do in a mad world. The sober realistic novel of today discusses what an essential lunatic will do in a dull world.
Newly released (as of yesterday) book by Jean-Pierre Dupuy on Borges:
Great @SpeSalviInst conversation with @cribbenMerrill and Sam Sorich about their documentary "Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard." @AndrewPetiprin and I enjoyed diving deep into Girard's influential ideas—check it out! youtu.be/Yfe9ekAzIYI?si…
I've just finished watching Sam Sorich's beautiful new documentary about René Girard. @BobbyMixa and I are looking forward to interviewing Sam and producer @cribbenMerrill. The film is available for free online, and I highly recommend it. youtube.com/watch?v=L-vB1H…
In both his creative and critical output, @DanaGioiaPoet defends aspects of poetry that are often ignored by the mainstream. From our poetry editor @JMWSPT: modernagejournal.com/dana-gioia-enc…