Log24

"When you come to a fork in the road…"

On author Paul Fussell, who died today—

"Vincent B. Sherry, writing* in The Cambridge Companion
to the Literature of the First World War , called Mr. Fussell’s
book 'the fork in the road for Great War criticism.'" 
— Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times

"When you come to a fork in the road…"

* Actually, the writing was by James Campbell. Sherry was the book's editor.
   See Campbell's "Interpreting the War," pp. 261-279 of the 2005 (first) printing.
   The fork is on page 267.

   Update of 9:26 PM— In the latest  version of Lehmann-Haupt's article, the fork
   has disappeared. But Campbell's writing is still misidentified as Sherry's.

For Alyssa

From Google News this evening–

Now Showing- “Alice in Wonderland”

Red and Black – Michael Prochaska
Tim Burton receives praise for his imaginative constructions
(“Nightmare Before Christmas” was inspired by a dream),
but if you analyze his work on adaptations of classic
children-oriented escapism, whimsical surrealism bears
a ball and chain.

A serenade for Einstein's birthday–

Ball and Chain– Janis Joplin—

If you got it today you don't want it tomorrow, man,
'cause you don't need it, 'cause as a matter of fact,
as we discovered in the train,
tomorrow never happens, man.
It's all the same fucking day, man.

Alyssa's Wonderland

Google News at about 4:50 PM ET today–

Related material:

Alyssa Milano stars in
Embrace of the Vampire

See also March 6, "Alyssa Is Wonderland,"
today's previous post, and (for fans
of Seattle films and Lewis Carroll)
"Deep Play: Mimzy vs. Mimsy."

For young Andrew Cusack, should he ever care to read this journal.

Bertrand Russell and T. S. Eliot: their dialogue—

"The window of the room in which Eeldrop and Appleplex talk opens to a view which includes a police station. Again Eliot delineates the two men on the basis of thought– the divided mind. Eeldrop is entranced by 'the smoky smell of lilac, the gramophones, the choir of the Baptist chapel, and the sight of three small girls playing cards on the steps of the police station.'"

The story from which this is taken is "Eeldrop and Appleplex," by T.S. Eliot.

The "three small girls playing cards" suggest the three Fates. For a less subtle illustration, see William Blake's "Hecate, or the Three Fates"–

For a more cheerful (and Catholic)
Hecate figure, see the oeuvre  of
Alyssa Milano.