The Vulgar Eclectic
Vulgar: of the usual, typical, or ordinary kind
definitions courtesy of Merriam-Webster
Eclectic: composed of elements drawn from various sources
recent blog posts
- This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
I just finished reading This One Summer (2014), a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.
It is a realistic coming-of-age story focused on two friends and their respective families during an annual summer trip to a lake. I found the characters complex and interesting and the artwork fantastic. Many of the topics explored are not neatly tied up; characters and situations are presented without judgement or conclusion, creating a sense of realism and poignancy that the art complements.
- The Book-lover: A Guide to the Best Reading by James Baldwin
I recently read The Book-lover: A Guide to the Best Reading (1885) by James Baldwin. This book begins with numerous quotes about reading and the love of books, before transitioning into a discussion of choosing what to read, ways of reading, and the value of libraries. The latter part of the book is a series of suggested reading lists compiled for different readers and topics.
Baldwin includes many inspiring quotes and thoughts about the importance and joys of reading. I found the lists of suggested reading to be useful, especially because they include many books that are no longer in the general consciousness, even among readers.
As one example among many, the book Voyage in the Sunbeam: Our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months (1878) by Annie Brassey is mentioned in a section about geography and natural history. This book, previously completely unknown to me, is a chronicle of the author’s 36,000 mile circumnavigation of the globe with her family in the 1870s. It sounds fascinating and is now a possible future read. In this way, the lists can be a useful tool to a curious reader.
“…the voice of a brother who, ages ago, felt and suffered and renounced,— in the cloister, perhaps with serge gown and tonsured head, with much chanting and long fasts, and with a fashion of speech different from ours,— but under the same silent far-off heavens, and with the same passionate desires, the same strivings, the same failures, the same weariness.” (George Eliot, as quoted by Baldwin)
- Accidental gallery
- At the Earth’s Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I recently finished reading At the Earth’s Core (1914) by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the first of the Pellucidar novels, a series that went on to include seven books in which the protagonist David Innes and others explore a Hollow Earth setting.
Reading this was a classic ERB experience. Action, adventure, creatively imagined creatures, societies, and characters, as well as a protagonist committed to chivalrous conduct, honor, and courage in the face of adversity make for a rousing tale.
“And there I was, unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the restless, mysterious sea.”
Dust jacket illustration of 1922 hardcover edition 
At the Earth’s Core was first published as a serialized 4-part story in All-Story Weekly in 1914 - Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol
A book jot from February, 2021:
I finished reading Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol, translated by Peter Constantine. This is an unusual book. It follows the titular character and his two sons, Cossacks from the historical past, in the 16th or 17th century. It reads almost like an epic folktale, with beautiful passages of descriptive language. There is much, to use an oft-repeated word from the story, carousing. And much, much violence. It is reminiscent of The Iliad, so much so in certain ways that it must be purposeful. Just as Homer punctuated dramatic scenes with drawn-out similes, Gogol uses beautiful imagistic comparisons to bring pause and attention to moments of action. He also uses name-lists in the Homeric tradition.
There is a lot to think about concerning how this tale speaks to issues today; probably too much to get into here, but it makes for a very interesting read. The action is incredible, the characters and their motivations memorable, and the writing is very beautiful. There are parts of it that are difficult to get through because of the framing of the narrative through the eyes of 16th century Cossacks. There is a great deal of very ugly prejudice.
Has anyone read this? I would be interested to hear any thoughts about it.
