The Vulgar Eclectic

Vulgar: of the usual, typical, or ordinary kind
Eclectic: composed of elements drawn from various sources

definitions courtesy of Merriam-Webster

recent blog posts

• Mithridates by Jean Racine

  I just finished reading the play Mithridates (1673) by Jean Racine. This tragedy is set near the end of the Third Mithridatic War, a ten year conflict between the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic.

  The story involves star-crossed lovers and a web of love and deceit, betrayal and loyalty. At first, my attention was waning but soon the writing drew me in and, by the end, I loved the play. The second half was especially compelling and I found the writing to be increasingly powerful as the play progressed; likewise, the characters’ personalities became more defined as their choices and actions culminated in certain consequences. 

  “Henceforth be all my mind bent upon vengeance.”

  

• Foxglove

  

• Youth by Leo Tolstoy

  Book jot from January 2022:

  I just finished reading Youth by Leo Tolstoy (1857), translated by Judson Rosengrant. This is the third and final part of a series of autobiographical novels Tolstoy published early in his writing life.

  In Youth, the narrator enters university life and becomes “grown up”. As he enters this phase of life, the concept of “comme il faut” (proper and respectable) becomes a guiding principle in his changing world. He uses it both to judge and sort those he encounters, as well as an end for which to strive. As he comes into contact with an increasing number of people outside his social circle and changes happen within his family, he begins to doubt the wisdom of using this as a governing precept.

  The narrator is extremely self-conscious and it is easy to see oneself in his moments of petty vanity and anxieties. Even though it was written more than 150 years ago, I was often reminded of scenes and thoughts from my own youth. Combined with the other two novels, Tolstoy has rendered a vivid depiction of the early life of a single individual in a specific time and place that manages to transcend those particularities.

  “And although I was alone, it would still seem to me that the mystery and majesty of nature, and the bright, alluring circle of the moon, stopped for some reason at a single high, indefinite point in the pale-blue sky, yet shining everywhere as if filling the immensity of space with itself, and I an insignificant worm soiled by every petty, wretched human passion, yet with all the immense, mighty power of imagination and love – it would still seem to me in those moments that nature and the moon and I were one and the same.”

  

• Mural

  

• Masters of the Universe mini-comics and the art of Alfredo Alcala

  

  The painting above is from the first Masters of the Universe minicomic, He-man and the Power Sword, published in 1981. These small comics were included with action figures. The art in this one, as well as several of the other minicomics, was done by Alfredo Alcala, a prolific comic illustrator in the ’80s and ’90s. I love his work, especially his use of color and his compositional balance.

  One of the first books I can remember reading and rereading was The Vengeance of Skeletor, the fourth Masters of the Universe minicomic (also published in 1981). The story and the artwork seemed so otherworldly and mysterious to me. It created a strong emotional reaction that lodged somewhere deep in my subconscious. I find Alcala’s art still strongly resonates with me.

  Below are a few illustrations from The Vengeance of Skeletor.

  

  

  

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