CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD - Published 1939
Isherwood was a British ex-patriot who came to Southern California with his friend W. H. Auden on the eve of World War II. These excerpts are from his DIARIES. He became interested in the Hindu gurus who were here and was once an attendee at the Vedanta Society (as I once was.)
Page 233) From 1939.
..." Krishnamurti was a slight, sallow little man with a scrubby chin and rather bloodshot eyes, whose face bore only faint traces of the extraordinary beauty he must have had as a boy. He was very quiet and modest man and never talked in ordinary company about philosophy or religion. He seemed fondest of animals and not at least with children. Gerald complained that he got violently upset about trifles - like catching a train - and showed little sign of inward calm. Certainly, he didn't impress me as Prabhavananda did; but he had a kind of simple dignity which was very touching. And - there was no getting away from it - he had done what no other man alive today has done; he had refused to become a god.
Page 237) From 1940
..."Garbo was at tea with us today. I think Peter is right when he says she's a "dumb cluck." She actually didn't know who Daladier was. If you watch her for a quarter of an hour, you see every one of her famous expressions. She repeats them, quite irrelevantly. There is the iron sternness of Ninotchka, the languorous open -lipped surrender of Camille, Mata Hari's wicked laugh, Christina's boyish toss of the head, Anna Christies's grimace of disgust. She is so amazingly beautiful, so noble, so naturally compelling and commanding, that her ridiculous artificiality, her downright silliness can't spoil the effect.
Page 243) From 1942.
Yesterday. the Swami drove down to visit us. The day passed off quite pleasantly, although there were some embarrassing silences. The Swami, as always, was very quiet and polite. We drove him up to Trabuco. "Is smoking permitted here?" he asked. It isn't. But he smoked.
From
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
10/23/13
10/20/13
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR (1948) AMERICA DAY BY DAY
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR - Published 1948 from "AMERICA DAY BY DAY"
(I would've never guessed Simone spent time in Pasadena or Hollywood. Reading through, Beauvoir saw the dark side of Los Angeles life. She finds what we take in stride as not ordinary. In this excerpt, she is amazed by the way Angelenos buy things on credit and gives her opinion on American cities and neighborhoods that reveal class structure.)
Pages 337 - 338)
"A year ago N. married a GI (Ivan Moffatt), who is now a scriptwriter in Hollywood. When she came to join him, they hadn't a penny between them, and I. was earning very little money. N. was expecting a baby. Thanks to the credit system they practice here, they could rent a kind of barn and transform it into a livable house, and also buy a car, something absolutely necessary in this city of vast distances. Now I.s' situation has improved, but his salary is almost entirely consigned to paying off his debts. Besides, a law requires parents to take their children to the doctor once a week during their first year; this is very costly. It's hard to balance the budget every month. I know all that and also that I.'s car is red. So I am utterly astonished to see a little yellow car standing in front of the station. N. tells me, "It's ours. I. bought it last week just so we could drive around." "Nothing simpler," adds N.M., "since you buy without paying!" Obviously. But I'm stunned by such ease. Los Angeles also stuns me. This city is unlike any other. Below me, the downtown looks just like the downtowns of Rochester, Buffalo, and Cleveland, which themselves evoke New York's downtown and Chicago's Loop. It's the tall buildings housing banks, stores, and movie theaters, the monotonous checkerboard of streets and avenues. But then, all the neighborhoods we drive through are either disorganized outlying districts or huge developments where identical wooden houses multiply as far as the eye can see, each one surrounded by a little garden. The traffic is terrifying; the broad roadways are divided into six lanes, three in each direction, marked off by white lines, and you are allowed to pass to either the right or the left. You can turn to the right only from the right lane, to the left only from the left; this last maneuver is often prohibited, which complicates one's itinerary. At intersections the car that has arrived first has priority, a rule that provokes thousands of disputes..."
Page 339)
"Hollywood, as everyone knows, is where the studious are. The stars live in Beverly Hills,. To see their houses, you have to enter an artificial park humming with neither the muffled life of the countryside nor the feverish life of the city; the luxurious villas are surrounded by a false solitude. Avenues lined with garages and with flat-roofed boutiques, barely one-story high; a blue coastal road above the sea; vast camps of parked trailers, those caravans in which many homeless Americans live on the outskirts of towns; working -class sections filled with monotonous shacks..."
from
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
(I would've never guessed Simone spent time in Pasadena or Hollywood. Reading through, Beauvoir saw the dark side of Los Angeles life. She finds what we take in stride as not ordinary. In this excerpt, she is amazed by the way Angelenos buy things on credit and gives her opinion on American cities and neighborhoods that reveal class structure.)
Pages 337 - 338)
"A year ago N. married a GI (Ivan Moffatt), who is now a scriptwriter in Hollywood. When she came to join him, they hadn't a penny between them, and I. was earning very little money. N. was expecting a baby. Thanks to the credit system they practice here, they could rent a kind of barn and transform it into a livable house, and also buy a car, something absolutely necessary in this city of vast distances. Now I.s' situation has improved, but his salary is almost entirely consigned to paying off his debts. Besides, a law requires parents to take their children to the doctor once a week during their first year; this is very costly. It's hard to balance the budget every month. I know all that and also that I.'s car is red. So I am utterly astonished to see a little yellow car standing in front of the station. N. tells me, "It's ours. I. bought it last week just so we could drive around." "Nothing simpler," adds N.M., "since you buy without paying!" Obviously. But I'm stunned by such ease. Los Angeles also stuns me. This city is unlike any other. Below me, the downtown looks just like the downtowns of Rochester, Buffalo, and Cleveland, which themselves evoke New York's downtown and Chicago's Loop. It's the tall buildings housing banks, stores, and movie theaters, the monotonous checkerboard of streets and avenues. But then, all the neighborhoods we drive through are either disorganized outlying districts or huge developments where identical wooden houses multiply as far as the eye can see, each one surrounded by a little garden. The traffic is terrifying; the broad roadways are divided into six lanes, three in each direction, marked off by white lines, and you are allowed to pass to either the right or the left. You can turn to the right only from the right lane, to the left only from the left; this last maneuver is often prohibited, which complicates one's itinerary. At intersections the car that has arrived first has priority, a rule that provokes thousands of disputes..."
Page 339)
"Hollywood, as everyone knows, is where the studious are. The stars live in Beverly Hills,. To see their houses, you have to enter an artificial park humming with neither the muffled life of the countryside nor the feverish life of the city; the luxurious villas are surrounded by a false solitude. Avenues lined with garages and with flat-roofed boutiques, barely one-story high; a blue coastal road above the sea; vast camps of parked trailers, those caravans in which many homeless Americans live on the outskirts of towns; working -class sections filled with monotonous shacks..."
from
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
10/16/13
EDMUND WILSON (1931) : THE CITY OF OUR LADY THE QUEEN OF ANGLES : EXCERPT FROM WRITING LOS ANGELES
EXCERPT FROM EDMUND WILSON (1931) THE CITY OF OUR LADY THE QUEEN OF ANGLES
page 96) Writing about Bob Shuler and other preachers of the era such as Aimee McPherson and Dr. Briegleb. These people tried to have influence on the values of the city and at question was their own relationship to money.
... "I came from the poorest of the poor, "he would say. "I have always been an underdog all my life, and my sympathies and efforts will always be on the side of the common people... I must be forgiven for wanting this city run in the interests of the common people for the benefit of those who need protection and defense." He did not believe that "an honest officer would be active in enforcing the law against the defenseless and friendless while he flossed his eyes to the lawlessness of the rich and powerful; and he was "against the third degree, against special assessment of the poor, against confiscation of humble homes for public improvements." "I've found a very few millionaires, "he would say, "Who didn't get their money in a manner that I doubted if God could own or bless." He was indignant in his intimations that his Baptist rival, Aimee McPherson, had diverted the money she raised on the pretext of pious purposes to her own luxurious living. When she had elicited, on one occasion, contributions for a monument for her husband's grave, Bob Shuler, several months afterwards, had photographs of the grave taken and would display them to his congregation, showing that there was nothing there but the original ignoble headstone..."
page 106)
... "Poor Dr. Briegleb! Some basic Germanic simplicity, Puritanical inflexibility, professional respectability, will always, one fears, prevent him from appealing to the public of Los Angeles as Aimee McPherson and Bob Shuler do. Shuler can still charm every heart with a whiff of the cow-manure from his heels. Aimee, in her jolly gaudy temple, enchants her enormous audience by her beaming inexhaustible sunshine and her friendly erotic voice. She writes them operas in which ancient oratorios and modern Italian opera are mingled with popular songs and tunes from musical comedies..."
from
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
page 96) Writing about Bob Shuler and other preachers of the era such as Aimee McPherson and Dr. Briegleb. These people tried to have influence on the values of the city and at question was their own relationship to money.
... "I came from the poorest of the poor, "he would say. "I have always been an underdog all my life, and my sympathies and efforts will always be on the side of the common people... I must be forgiven for wanting this city run in the interests of the common people for the benefit of those who need protection and defense." He did not believe that "an honest officer would be active in enforcing the law against the defenseless and friendless while he flossed his eyes to the lawlessness of the rich and powerful; and he was "against the third degree, against special assessment of the poor, against confiscation of humble homes for public improvements." "I've found a very few millionaires, "he would say, "Who didn't get their money in a manner that I doubted if God could own or bless." He was indignant in his intimations that his Baptist rival, Aimee McPherson, had diverted the money she raised on the pretext of pious purposes to her own luxurious living. When she had elicited, on one occasion, contributions for a monument for her husband's grave, Bob Shuler, several months afterwards, had photographs of the grave taken and would display them to his congregation, showing that there was nothing there but the original ignoble headstone..."
page 106)
... "Poor Dr. Briegleb! Some basic Germanic simplicity, Puritanical inflexibility, professional respectability, will always, one fears, prevent him from appealing to the public of Los Angeles as Aimee McPherson and Bob Shuler do. Shuler can still charm every heart with a whiff of the cow-manure from his heels. Aimee, in her jolly gaudy temple, enchants her enormous audience by her beaming inexhaustible sunshine and her friendly erotic voice. She writes them operas in which ancient oratorios and modern Italian opera are mingled with popular songs and tunes from musical comedies..."
from
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
10/14/13
COLUMBUS DAY MEMORIES
We celebrated Columbus Day when I was a child. These days here are alternative theories about who "discovered" the American continent. The Celts, the Norse, or the Chinese, for instance.
We're sensitized to the idea that there were Native Americans here for centuries before anyone "discovered" America, and that the idea that a European discovered the continent is part of a marketing ploy or a mythology that this was a vast country for the taking, absent of any people with land rights.
I once won a Columbus Day poster contest. I was proud of my crayoned images of Spanish with stripped pantaloons pants and Spanish flag on the beach. I was given the prize of one brand new dollar, which I still have.
I once met a man who was so into Christopher Columbus that he went to the very beach that Columbus landed on as a vacation one year. He is the last person - the only person since I won that poster contest as a grade-schooler - who got to see my poster.
These days there's a more than a suggestion - a whole book - on Christopher Columbus as from a family named Colon and Jewish. Don't know how he got that Christian - Greek given name Christopher.
We're sensitized to the idea that there were Native Americans here for centuries before anyone "discovered" America, and that the idea that a European discovered the continent is part of a marketing ploy or a mythology that this was a vast country for the taking, absent of any people with land rights.
I once won a Columbus Day poster contest. I was proud of my crayoned images of Spanish with stripped pantaloons pants and Spanish flag on the beach. I was given the prize of one brand new dollar, which I still have.
I once met a man who was so into Christopher Columbus that he went to the very beach that Columbus landed on as a vacation one year. He is the last person - the only person since I won that poster contest as a grade-schooler - who got to see my poster.
These days there's a more than a suggestion - a whole book - on Christopher Columbus as from a family named Colon and Jewish. Don't know how he got that Christian - Greek given name Christopher.
10/10/13
HARRIS NEWMARK (1915) : SIXTY YEARS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA : EXCERPT FROM WRITING LOS ANGELES
HARRIS NEWMARK : SIXTY YEARS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1853-1913
Published in 1915
Pages 40-41)
...The charms of climate and scenery (widely advertised, as I have said, at the Philadelphia Centennial and, later, through the continuous efforts of the first and second Chambers of Commerce and the Board of Trade), together with the extension of the Southern Pacific to the east and the building of the Santa Fe Railroad, had brought here a class of tourists who not only enjoyed the winter, but ventured to stay through the summer season; and who, having remained, were not long in seeking land and homesteads. The rapidly - increasing demand for lots and houses caused hundreds of men and women to enter the local real-estate field, most of whom were inexperienced and without much responsibility. When, therefore, the news of their phenomenal activity got abroad, as was sure to be the case, hordes of would-be speculators - some with, but more without knowledge of land-manipulation, and many none too scrupulous - rushed to the Southland to invest, wager, or swindle. Thousands upon thousand of Easterners swelled the number already here; dealers in realty sprang up like mushrooms.... Selling and bartering were carried on at all hours of the day or night, and in every conceivable place; agents, eager to keep every appointment possible, enlisted the services of hackmen, hotel employees and waiters to put them in touch with prospective buyers; and the same properties would often change hands several times in a day, sales being made on the curbstone, at bars or restaurant tables, each succeeding transfer representing an enhanced value...
from
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
Published in 1915
Pages 40-41)
...The charms of climate and scenery (widely advertised, as I have said, at the Philadelphia Centennial and, later, through the continuous efforts of the first and second Chambers of Commerce and the Board of Trade), together with the extension of the Southern Pacific to the east and the building of the Santa Fe Railroad, had brought here a class of tourists who not only enjoyed the winter, but ventured to stay through the summer season; and who, having remained, were not long in seeking land and homesteads. The rapidly - increasing demand for lots and houses caused hundreds of men and women to enter the local real-estate field, most of whom were inexperienced and without much responsibility. When, therefore, the news of their phenomenal activity got abroad, as was sure to be the case, hordes of would-be speculators - some with, but more without knowledge of land-manipulation, and many none too scrupulous - rushed to the Southland to invest, wager, or swindle. Thousands upon thousand of Easterners swelled the number already here; dealers in realty sprang up like mushrooms.... Selling and bartering were carried on at all hours of the day or night, and in every conceivable place; agents, eager to keep every appointment possible, enlisted the services of hackmen, hotel employees and waiters to put them in touch with prospective buyers; and the same properties would often change hands several times in a day, sales being made on the curbstone, at bars or restaurant tables, each succeeding transfer representing an enhanced value...
from
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
10/6/13
EDWARD SNOWDEN READS RUSSIAN LIT AND HISTORY
THE GUARDIAN : EDWARD SNOWDEN READS RUSSIAN LIT AND HISTORY link
EXCERPT: ..."The American had little to do besides surf the Internet and read. Kucherena (his lawyer Ct) said he selected a number of classic books to help Snowden understand the mentality of the Russian people: Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, a collection of stories by Anton Chekhov, and writings by the historian Nikolai Karamzin. Snowden quickly finished Crime and Punishment. After reading selections from Karamzin, a 19th-century writer who penned the first comprehensive history of the Russian state, he asked for the author's complete works. Kucherena also gave Snowden an alphabet book to help him to start learning Russian."
I took a Russian Literature (works surrounding the Russian Revolution) in college. My college did not offer any Polish or Slavic Literature courses at the time. Ever since seeing the movie Reds, and also reading around Isadora Duncan, I've been interested in those times and the people of those times. Pre-Revolution, the Russian Government sponsored artists, poets, writers, dancers, and other creative people so that they could concentrate on their work and be supported without experiencing severe deprivation. Isadora Duncan's memoir explains the conditions in which her students lived, for she was an American ex-pat in Europe when she received sponsorship by the Russian government for her school.
The article linked to finally explains more about Edward Snowden's circumstances and lifestyle while in the airport, which, though repetitive reportage attempted to cover it, was a mystery. As I suspected he was never in a motel or hotel but in the innards of the airport. As those of you who are following the story from all angles as I am may know, there were and are conflicting reports on what's next for the man who has been granted a year to live in Russia.
I've talked to many people I've met while just living my life, people from a multitude of backgrounds, about this whole situation. Though I've heard a variety of opinions (my World War II Vet senior friend yelled "Execute Him!") I haven't fully formed my own opinion quite yet.
EXCERPT: ..."The American had little to do besides surf the Internet and read. Kucherena (his lawyer Ct) said he selected a number of classic books to help Snowden understand the mentality of the Russian people: Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, a collection of stories by Anton Chekhov, and writings by the historian Nikolai Karamzin. Snowden quickly finished Crime and Punishment. After reading selections from Karamzin, a 19th-century writer who penned the first comprehensive history of the Russian state, he asked for the author's complete works. Kucherena also gave Snowden an alphabet book to help him to start learning Russian."
*****
I took a Russian Literature (works surrounding the Russian Revolution) in college. My college did not offer any Polish or Slavic Literature courses at the time. Ever since seeing the movie Reds, and also reading around Isadora Duncan, I've been interested in those times and the people of those times. Pre-Revolution, the Russian Government sponsored artists, poets, writers, dancers, and other creative people so that they could concentrate on their work and be supported without experiencing severe deprivation. Isadora Duncan's memoir explains the conditions in which her students lived, for she was an American ex-pat in Europe when she received sponsorship by the Russian government for her school.
The article linked to finally explains more about Edward Snowden's circumstances and lifestyle while in the airport, which, though repetitive reportage attempted to cover it, was a mystery. As I suspected he was never in a motel or hotel but in the innards of the airport. As those of you who are following the story from all angles as I am may know, there were and are conflicting reports on what's next for the man who has been granted a year to live in Russia.
I've talked to many people I've met while just living my life, people from a multitude of backgrounds, about this whole situation. Though I've heard a variety of opinions (my World War II Vet senior friend yelled "Execute Him!") I haven't fully formed my own opinion quite yet.
10/3/13
WRITING LOS ANGELES - A LITERARY ANTHOLOGY EDITED BY DAVID L. ULIN : CHRISTINE TRZYNA BOOK REVIEW and READING ALOUD
Writing Los Angeles
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
This book held my interest author after author, so editor David L Ulin made some truly wonderful and wise decisions about what authors and what works would best move the visions of Los Angeles we readers behold here through history and individual points of view. I've had the book in my possession near 5 weeks and loved that I could pick it up, read one entry, and put it back down since things have been so busy for me.
I'll be posting excerpts from this book over the next few months, pages I stuck post-it-note stickies on so I could come back to it.
Something else I did, which I haven't in years, is that I read these passages ALOUD.
Reading aloud to oneself or an audience is a different experience, isn't it? How wonderful it would be if there could be a CD of each of these authors reading their own work aloud, but it's impossible because many of them are no longer alive and didn't live in the days of recording readings. Why not try it yourself?
The book takes you through an 1884 publication to the near present (Writing Los Angeles, circa 2002, was on the NEW BOOK SHELF at my local library) and authors that you never knew or dreamed ever came through or lived in Los Angeles.
As I mentioned in my review of the book "Pasadena" a few months back, I'm one who enjoys reading that is placed in the local one knows; the topography, geology, even the old Thomas Brothers Maps. Though books often take us to foreign lands and cultures, there's a sense of more involvement when you can say to yourself, "Yes, I know that road."
Each entry in this book has a short orientation about the author and the importance of the particular piece of work which I found important to situate not only the author but the reader.
If you wish to read all my excerpts in the months ahead, try using the Google Search feature embedded in the side bar using the words Los Angeles.
A Literary Anthology
Edited by David L. Ulin
Library of America publisher
Copyright 2002
This book held my interest author after author, so editor David L Ulin made some truly wonderful and wise decisions about what authors and what works would best move the visions of Los Angeles we readers behold here through history and individual points of view. I've had the book in my possession near 5 weeks and loved that I could pick it up, read one entry, and put it back down since things have been so busy for me.
I'll be posting excerpts from this book over the next few months, pages I stuck post-it-note stickies on so I could come back to it.
Something else I did, which I haven't in years, is that I read these passages ALOUD.
Reading aloud to oneself or an audience is a different experience, isn't it? How wonderful it would be if there could be a CD of each of these authors reading their own work aloud, but it's impossible because many of them are no longer alive and didn't live in the days of recording readings. Why not try it yourself?
The book takes you through an 1884 publication to the near present (Writing Los Angeles, circa 2002, was on the NEW BOOK SHELF at my local library) and authors that you never knew or dreamed ever came through or lived in Los Angeles.
As I mentioned in my review of the book "Pasadena" a few months back, I'm one who enjoys reading that is placed in the local one knows; the topography, geology, even the old Thomas Brothers Maps. Though books often take us to foreign lands and cultures, there's a sense of more involvement when you can say to yourself, "Yes, I know that road."
Each entry in this book has a short orientation about the author and the importance of the particular piece of work which I found important to situate not only the author but the reader.
If you wish to read all my excerpts in the months ahead, try using the Google Search feature embedded in the side bar using the words Los Angeles.
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