July 2025 – Extracts
1 post published by Walter Shandy during July 2025| Extracts
From Richard A. Lanham’s Tristram Shandy: The Games of Pleasure (pg. 52-53). A needed reminder after over a year off of why I started doing this in the first place. In Walter Shandy, the comm…| Extracts
Found in a small selection of Thomas Merton’s work called Silence, Joy but originally from his The Wisdom of the Desert (Saying 38): Once there was a disciple of a Greek philosopher who was commanded by his Master for three years to give money to everyone who insulted him. When this period of trial was … Continue reading Enter the city, said the wise man, it is all yours| Extracts
As I continue pursuing an interest in woodblock prints picked up early last year, my favorite artist remains Kiyoshi Saito. A few weeks back a print of his came to auction that I hadn’t seen before – his 1957 ‘Buddha Siamese.’ It went for well less than I expected so it’s now mine – fortunate, … Continue reading Kiyoshi Saito’s Buddha Siamese| Extracts
A trail that leads nowhere but is not without interest. From The Man of Mode or, Sir Fopling Flutter (1.1.270ish) by George Etherege. DORIMANT …. [to the SHOEMAKER:] How now, you drunken sot?SHOEMAKER: ’Zbud, you have no reason to talk; I have not had a bottle of sack of yours in my belly this fortnight.MEDLEY: The … Continue reading The old proverb – ale and history| Extracts
From Burton Watson’s translation of The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (pg 286): When Zhuangzi was about to die, his disciples expressed a desire to give him a sumptuous burial. Zhuangzi said, “I will have heaven and earth for my coffin and coffin shell, the sun and moon for my pair of jade disks, the stars … Continue reading Pitiful, isn’t it!| Extracts
From Bernard Suits’ The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia. For lack of confidence in my ability to sum up this more than odd Socratic meta-dialogue I’ll borrow a review blurb from David Braybrooke now slapped on the cover of a recent reprinting: Like Erasmus’s Praise of Folly and Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew, Suits’s The Grasshopper sparkles with wit and fun; and … Continue reading The metaphysics of leisure time| Extracts
From Seamus Heaney’s translation of Aeneid Book VI (lines 258-294) followed by a brief commentary from Rachel Falconer’s recent volume dedicated to Heaney’s decades-long engagement with Virgil – Seamus Heaney, Virgil and the Good of Poetry “procul o, procul este, profani,”conclamat vates, “totoque absistite luco;tuque invade viam vaginaque eripe ferrum:nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore … Continue reading By the hovering light of a moon that clouds and unclouds at Jupiter...| Extracts
Three sketches from Samuel Butler’s Characters. His Theophrastan portraits are in truth all so much of a type that any three are likely as good a reflection of the whole as any others – my choices are down to personal taste. The work is available online here (in a less than convenient scan) but my … Continue reading Like the oyster, that catch’d a bird, that thrust his head into his mouth when he gap’d| Extracts
From Red Pine’s translation of the poetry of Tao Yuanming, Choosing To Be Simple. I’ve had this title since its release last October but held it with patience as an end of academic year treat as Red Pine’s choices never disappoint. The intro to this poem reads: “Written in the eleventh month of 405 [CE] … Continue reading Too independent to be bound by pretense| Extracts
From Great Fool: Zen Master Ryòkan: Poems, Letters, and Other Writings I want to ask you: in this whole worldWhat is the most profoundmost wonderful thing?Sit erect and meditate right to the endAs you meditate, you’ll find a clueAnd everything will naturally become clearKeep your concentrationdon’t miss your chanceAfter a while, your mind will be … Continue reading I’ve gone into business for myself| Extracts
