From Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke, plus comments from readers:
The young poet is suffering from being alone and trying to become a writer. Rilke's letters over a five-year span from 1903-1908 offer advice. These snippets, underlined by the previous owners of the book, stood out:
"...most events are inexpressible, taking place in a realm which no word has ever entered, and more inexpressible than all else are works of art, mysterious existences, the life of which, while ours passes away, endures."
"If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself...."
"...save yourself from general themes and seek those which your own everyday life offers you...."
"A work of art is good if it has sprung from necessity."
"Works of art are of an infinite loneliness...."
"...be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. The point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
"...we must hold to what is difficult; everything alive holds to it, everything in Nature grows and defends itself in its own way ... seeks at all costs to be so and against all opposition... that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it."
"Where I create I am true...."
Written in the margins were comments by Shaw, Jeffers, Roethke, and others.
"We become as tall as the storm we arrived in," Roberson Jeffers
"I will find the way I am going by going," Theodore Goethke.
"The genuine heart creates a wilderness around it," Henry David Thoreau.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Underlining books
What do the insides of your books look like?
Are there lines and highlights in the texts? Have you written comments in the margins? Are there exclamation marks, checks, stars scribbled on the pages?
My favorite books seem so, and I started thinking about it as I was reading an old 1964--from 1934--book of letters from the German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, loaned me this season by my chess playing partner. He and a previous owner have underlined different passes, quoted other authors, and jotted down ideas galore in the brief 125 pages of the paperback edition. It is tattered with age, with thoughts, with love. It's interesting, but I especially paid attention to the lines emphasized by those readers--skimming much of the other text. When I lend some of my books on writing to by students, they say they do the same, because I've marked them up a lot, for those ideas that spoke to me about writing, about teaching, about, well everything. Words underlined in a book tell you much about the person who underlined them.
I want to share some of Rilke's thoughts about life and art with you later. I think this habit of underlining may come from the old-timey preachers and men and women of faith who had read the Bible so much that all the faroite passages were underlined. I knew one old Bible scholar, Dr. Hugo McCord of OCC, whose Bible was tattered with love and care and almost every line was underlined...and he had most of it memorized. He was not alone.
Of course now they've come out with all these fancy color-coded overlays in Bibles emphasizing ideas and so forth, labeling them study Bibles. It probably started with the red-letter editions of the King James Bible, putting the words of Christ in red. Dr. McCord, Brother George Mickey of the Albuquerque church of Christ, and many others didn't need them. To them, every Bible was a study Bible and marked from long study and devotion.
Dad's Frederick Taubes book and my Whitman book
I guess that's where I picked up the habit, but now my underlining, my marking comes on books where there are phrases and ideas that apply to me, words written in beautiful and forceful ways, originally turned phrases, ideas presented I'd not thought of, points made I don't want to lose. College also contributed to that. I still have a textbook on Whitman from long ago, in a course taught by the beloved Dr. Frank Finney at what is now UCO, my notes are scribbled throughout, along with my comments, Finney's, and underlined lines and meters. The book is a treasure of art. I probably also inherited that from my dad, too. I now have his art books, and they're heavy with his underlines and exclamation marks. He was always a student of art. I have known some people who won't underline Bibles, because they think they're sacred. I disagree with that, but understand. But to me, the books with my underlinings and scribbles in them are my most valuable.
My writing and art books are marked the most, and those of my favorite writer, John McPhee. I never read a book of his that I don't have to circle words I don't understand, or think, "I wish I'd written that." Larry McMurtry's non-fiction is the same.
My book on Cezanne's composition, bought last year at McMurtry's used book store in Archer City, Booked Up
My autographed copy of McMurtry's
Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen
When I sit down to read a book these days, and don't bring a pen...I invariably have to get up and go find one, because something just stands out and I don't want to lose it.
Not that I often go back, but it helps me connect with the writer, the thought, the page.
That's a drawback of reading words on a blog or a Kindle. There are thoughts that demand more that one read, that gain power, are meant to be treasured, quoted, applied. Underlined passages in books become part of me.
Are there lines and highlights in the texts? Have you written comments in the margins? Are there exclamation marks, checks, stars scribbled on the pages?
My favorite books seem so, and I started thinking about it as I was reading an old 1964--from 1934--book of letters from the German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, loaned me this season by my chess playing partner. He and a previous owner have underlined different passes, quoted other authors, and jotted down ideas galore in the brief 125 pages of the paperback edition. It is tattered with age, with thoughts, with love. It's interesting, but I especially paid attention to the lines emphasized by those readers--skimming much of the other text. When I lend some of my books on writing to by students, they say they do the same, because I've marked them up a lot, for those ideas that spoke to me about writing, about teaching, about, well everything. Words underlined in a book tell you much about the person who underlined them.
I want to share some of Rilke's thoughts about life and art with you later. I think this habit of underlining may come from the old-timey preachers and men and women of faith who had read the Bible so much that all the faroite passages were underlined. I knew one old Bible scholar, Dr. Hugo McCord of OCC, whose Bible was tattered with love and care and almost every line was underlined...and he had most of it memorized. He was not alone.
Of course now they've come out with all these fancy color-coded overlays in Bibles emphasizing ideas and so forth, labeling them study Bibles. It probably started with the red-letter editions of the King James Bible, putting the words of Christ in red. Dr. McCord, Brother George Mickey of the Albuquerque church of Christ, and many others didn't need them. To them, every Bible was a study Bible and marked from long study and devotion.
Dad's Frederick Taubes book and my Whitman book
I guess that's where I picked up the habit, but now my underlining, my marking comes on books where there are phrases and ideas that apply to me, words written in beautiful and forceful ways, originally turned phrases, ideas presented I'd not thought of, points made I don't want to lose. College also contributed to that. I still have a textbook on Whitman from long ago, in a course taught by the beloved Dr. Frank Finney at what is now UCO, my notes are scribbled throughout, along with my comments, Finney's, and underlined lines and meters. The book is a treasure of art. I probably also inherited that from my dad, too. I now have his art books, and they're heavy with his underlines and exclamation marks. He was always a student of art. I have known some people who won't underline Bibles, because they think they're sacred. I disagree with that, but understand. But to me, the books with my underlinings and scribbles in them are my most valuable.
My writing and art books are marked the most, and those of my favorite writer, John McPhee. I never read a book of his that I don't have to circle words I don't understand, or think, "I wish I'd written that." Larry McMurtry's non-fiction is the same.
My book on Cezanne's composition, bought last year at McMurtry's used book store in Archer City, Booked Up
My autographed copy of McMurtry's
Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen
When I sit down to read a book these days, and don't bring a pen...I invariably have to get up and go find one, because something just stands out and I don't want to lose it.
Not that I often go back, but it helps me connect with the writer, the thought, the page.
That's a drawback of reading words on a blog or a Kindle. There are thoughts that demand more that one read, that gain power, are meant to be treasured, quoted, applied. Underlined passages in books become part of me.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Views from previous trips around the sun
4 0f the 5 Clark boys...from left, Champ, Rex, Terrence and Mike. Notice those big smiles on Champ and Rex. You should hear them laugh. Not pictured...Lewis. This trip around the sun has been blessed by making contact with cousins I've rarely or never seen, children of Champ and Lewis.
Granmother Cuba Jon Milller Clark Reasor, and with Mike
Easter Sunday, Dad, Jerry, me and Mom,
Sandia Base, Albuquerque
Terry--first grade...Jerry and our dog Mike, in front of our house on Sandia Base
Mountain brothers...near our cabin south of Albuquerque...me trying to paint
New Mexico in my blood, on the banks of the Rio Grande,
in the gorge south of Taos, on a trip with students.
New journeys
Journal thoughts from a year ago...
"The pendulum on the clock behind me
ticks away as it moves back and forth
and time slides away in my life.
The past is gone but forever haunts me,
The future never comes but frightens me
The present is always here and I'm missing it.
The cat on my lap always seems in present tense---
When I'm petting the cat, I'm always in present tense."
Goals for the present?
love, read, paint, be happy, travel, learn, friend, write, exhibit, sell, enjoy, give, matter, smile, have fun
also--lose weight, exercise; less computer, book a month, Paseo studio, house, grandkids, floss, health, blog, more technologically adept, improve teaching, move beyond chair,
And how did I do? Biggest failures--exercise and weight. Top of the list for this year's present tense. One of bigggest success was no longer being chair--lasst year at this time I was wondering and counting the days. But not as important as two new granddaughters. Many of the goals from last year continue. More time with grandchildren, family, loved ones. No studio yet in Paseo. Maybe. Blog is a success, personally. More writing and creativity on my blog. Less computer time. I had two art exhibits and sold some paintings. More experimentation with watercolor, more painting. One a week. Same pattern on reading. Enjoyed and valued some great students. Become a better teacher. Travel, including application for Fulbright fellowship overseas. Plan for Alaska and British Isles next year. More time on house and yard, including herb garden. Discovered and rediscovered friends. Start writing a book. Maybe. In the sum...less stress, more living.
"The pendulum on the clock behind me
ticks away as it moves back and forth
and time slides away in my life.
The past is gone but forever haunts me,
The future never comes but frightens me
The present is always here and I'm missing it.
The cat on my lap always seems in present tense---
When I'm petting the cat, I'm always in present tense."
Goals for the present?
love, read, paint, be happy, travel, learn, friend, write, exhibit, sell, enjoy, give, matter, smile, have fun
also--lose weight, exercise; less computer, book a month, Paseo studio, house, grandkids, floss, health, blog, more technologically adept, improve teaching, move beyond chair,
And how did I do? Biggest failures--exercise and weight. Top of the list for this year's present tense. One of bigggest success was no longer being chair--lasst year at this time I was wondering and counting the days. But not as important as two new granddaughters. Many of the goals from last year continue. More time with grandchildren, family, loved ones. No studio yet in Paseo. Maybe. Blog is a success, personally. More writing and creativity on my blog. Less computer time. I had two art exhibits and sold some paintings. More experimentation with watercolor, more painting. One a week. Same pattern on reading. Enjoyed and valued some great students. Become a better teacher. Travel, including application for Fulbright fellowship overseas. Plan for Alaska and British Isles next year. More time on house and yard, including herb garden. Discovered and rediscovered friends. Start writing a book. Maybe. In the sum...less stress, more living.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Your favorites?
Colleagues, fellow travelers and seekers--
Of all my 339 posts during the past year, which ones stood out to you?
My favorites were my serialized narrative of "The Booth."
Notice that the most posts were in July and August, with December being third. Fewest posts were in October and November, for several reasons, not counting may when I started out..
Do me a favor please, and scroll through them, listed on the right hand side of the blog, and list up to five favorites--assuming you had a favorite and didn't think they were all lousy!
Email them to me please at tmclark44@gmail.com, by January 5, 2010.
I'll post the results--unless I don't get any.
Thanks,
Of all my 339 posts during the past year, which ones stood out to you?
My favorites were my serialized narrative of "The Booth."
Notice that the most posts were in July and August, with December being third. Fewest posts were in October and November, for several reasons, not counting may when I started out..
Do me a favor please, and scroll through them, listed on the right hand side of the blog, and list up to five favorites--assuming you had a favorite and didn't think they were all lousy!
Email them to me please at tmclark44@gmail.com, by January 5, 2010.
I'll post the results--unless I don't get any.
Thanks,
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