Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Luke will be clement, I trust. 

[karlhenning]

OK, enough thread-derailing from me. (For the time being.)

Well, I am delighted both to "see" you, Maciek, and to see some (* Jeevesian cough *) activity here at the Outpost : )

[Maciek]

And very delighted to "see" you too, gents, as always.

And on account of Luke's purported clemency (as well as Johan's acknowledgemet of my earlier post's usefulness, and Karl's declared delight), let me point out that there's more Gombrowicz available in preview via Google books.

There's Pornografia
http://books.google.com/books?id=KqtSzYTcR18C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false
(a passage I like, near the beginning: "He was served tea, which he drank, but a piece of sugar remained on his little plate - so he reached for it to bring it to his mouth - but perhaps deeming this action not sufficiently justified, he withdrew his hand - yet withdrawing his hand was something even less justified - so he reached for the sugar again and ate it - but he probably ate it not so much for pleasure as merely for the sake of behaving properly... towards the sugar or towards us? ...and wishing to erase this impression he coughed and, to justify the cough, he pulled out his handkerchief, but by now he didn't dare wipe his nose - so he just moved his leg. Moving his leg presented him, it seemed, with new complications, so he fell silent and sat stock-still.")

There's Cosmos
http://books.google.com/books?id=1NaHGQE-vh8C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

And even - A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes:
http://books.google.com/books?id=697B99O_ieIC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false

There's much more available in Italian (Lunedi, Io. Martedi, Io. Mercoledi, Io. Giovedi, Io.). Including the short stories and Trans-Atlantyk.

[Cato]

'Ferdydurke'was a seminal reading experience for me in my teens.

Many moons ago, when I attended a Polish Catholic seminary for a short time (       ),  'Ferdydurke' was touted by the Polish teacher as a great book.  The man was an emaciated, sunken-chested disaster of a teacher, who nervously sucked on cancer sticks ("Unlucky Strokes" was my slang name for them) before, during, and after classes.

Eventually I found a translation of Ferdydurke, but 'twas not my cup of hot chocolate.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Many moons ago, when I attended a Polish Catholic seminary for a short time (       ),  'Ferdydurke' was touted by the Polish teacher as a great book.  The man was an emaciated, sunken-chested disaster of a teacher, who nervously sucked on cancer sticks ("Unlucky Strokes" was my slang name for them) before, during, and after classes.

Eventually I found a translation of Ferdydurke, but 'twas not my cup of hot chocolate.

I think I was 15 when I read it. What I would think of it now, at 50?


Glad my story led to yours, though!

[Cato]

I think I was 15 when I read it. What I would think of it now, at 50?


Glad my story led to yours, though!

Apparently the English translation I used was an "indirect" one from French and German translations of the original Polish.  Wikipedia mentions a new translation from the year 2000 as the one to read, so maybe I will look into that one.

[Luke]

Erm... OK

Firstly - Maciek, how fabulous to see you, PLEASE stay around, and please accept my apologies for being so appaling at answering your very kind emails. The same goes to Cato too.

Secondly - there should be a Christmas piece, of course. Not a tradition I want to drop yet.  I have tried a couple, but neither has taken wing yet. There is still time.

Thirdly - a piano concerto! The idea keeps coming back. If you all keep saying it maybe it will happen. I wouldn't object...

Fourthly - believe it or not, today I began to roughly outline a new piece. If it happens it will be a big work for piano. I'm going at it slowly and thoughtfully, it is still at the globabl outline stage, and will end up being a complex, ambitious work which might entail lots of compositional juggling, but I hope I get this one done. It is about time I did, and I like the idea I've had very much. But no more word on it until more progress has been made, otherwise I will jinx it.

Maciek - you've made my day turning up here  Resume discussion of whatever it is you are talking about, guys....

[Maciek]

Luke, the pleasure is all mine! 0:) And nice to read the various good creative news. We'll keep on pressing about the concerto then, shan't we?

As for resuming discussion... uhm, gues we'll have to move on to Schulz now, I can't think of anything to say about Gombrowicz at the moment.

Can you believe it, there seems to be no Bruno Schulz available in preview on Google Books!

And no Boleslaw Prus either. Argh!

They do have Potocki in the original French (as well as in German translation), and not just any old edition. Nice.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

This is rather nice:


http://www.schulzian.net/

[Cato]

Luke, the pleasure is all mine! 0:) And nice to read the various good creative news. We'll keep on pressing about the concerto then, shan't we?

As for resuming discussion... uhm, gues we'll have to move on to Schulz now, I can't think of anything to say about Gombrowicz at the moment.

Can you believe it, there seems to be no Bruno Schulz available in preview on Google Books!

And no Boleslaw Prus either. Argh!

They do have Potocki in the original French (as well as in German translation), and not just any old edition. Nice.

One of the greatest books ever written in any language, a claim I do not often make:

The Manuscript Found At Saragossa by Jan Potocki.

A certain Karl Henning read the book recently, and will verify my claim!

Luke and Maciek!  We are patient here at GMG, and are always happy when the prodigal or even the prodigy returns!   

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

One of the greatest books ever written in any language, a claim I do not often make:

The Manuscript Found At Saragossa by Jan Potocki.

A certain Karl Henning read the book recently, and will verify my claim.

Duly noted.

[Maciek]

It's certainly the best Polish novel.

Of course, it wasn't written in Polish.

And it's not a novel either.

But other than that...


But that's OK, as it leaves us a slot for Prus and his Doll.



Johan, very interesting site you linked to. I started wondering about its legality, and can't really figure it out. I understand the translator himself put the texts up, so the translator's rights are not an issue. But what about Schulz (or rather, his estate)? According to at least one source, his work still isn't in the public domain - see here: http://www.wolnelektury.pl/katalog/autor/bruno-schulz/. Just a bit left, we have to wait till 2013, but we're not there yet.

On the other hand, Project Gutenberg states that Sklepy cynamonowe are public domain in the US - see here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8119 (go to the "Bibrec" tab). So maybe the situation varies from country to country? This is odd, since the US usually has life + 70 years as copyright term? But then there's the catch about "compliance with US formalities", ie. a copyright notice... etc. etc.

Sklepy cynamonowe can also be found in the (Polish) VIRTUAL LIBRARY OF POLISH LITERATURE. The site was created "in co-operation" with the "Polish National Commission for UNESCO". So I would assume they are "clean" - and, indeed, the text of Sklepy cynamonowe is preceded by a note thanking the copyright holders for their permission. Whether this was given for free, I don't know. But, clearly, someone does still hold copyright.

The site you linked to also includes material which wasn't published until after Schulz died - that complicates matters a bit, I don't even want to go there.

A very interesting question, BTW: who owns the copyright to the works of Bruno Schulz?

[karlhenning]

Oh, Bruno Schulz! Why was I thinking Charles? . . .

The MS. Found at Saragossa was delicious, I'll start re-reading that one soon.

[Luke]

Oh, Bruno Schulz! Why was I thinking Charles? . . .

Indeed - a true literary genius

[Maciek]

Clearly the image of Snoopy at the typewriter is so peremptorily imposing that nobody will ever dare to post anything more on the thread...




Shush! Quiet! You should never disturb him when he's writing!

[Luke]

Nearly, Maciek, but not quite!

So little activity on my thread! I feel ashamed - I only had to go back four or five pages to find this, from almost a year ago, re my folk-song based piano Fantasy:

Finished, I think. Still very soft-centred, and something of a partner to my Nightingale Sonata of 2006 in its folk music basis and its unabashed use of tonality. An odd one, I think, but I like it and find it very touching, personally....

I recorded it back then, but didn't put it up because the recording was really shoddy, the piano out of tune and my playing its usual scrappy self. But as I haven't had a chance to redo it, I've decided to put it up anyway

http://www.mediafire.com/?3n2xc93l1a510no

there is a gap in the middle of the piece in which a brief minute-long cadenza/improvisation is to be inserted, and that's how I play it usually, but it isn't on the recording.

The score is attached to that previous post, so just click on the above quotation to be taken to it, if you wish to download that too.

The piece itself, as you'll see, is a ruminative fantasy on a few folksongs as written down by Cecil Sharp. Quotation marks in the score outline the sections taken from Sharp wholesale. Two of the sections are based not on the song but on Sharp's simple arpeggiated accompaniment. You'll see that the first part makes a fairly simple arch and that the second part moves futher afield but closes with another, more summatory, rounding off of the arch. I am quite pleased with the way the little folksong motives infect the whole piece and provide a hopefully coherent narrative. As I said before, after I'd finished this piece it seemed to me to be very much a partner to the Nightingale Sonata I wrote in 2007 - both gentle, essentially tonal reflections upon folk sources or folk culture, for want of a better word. Both, too, share an oddity about their appearance, a clunkiness in the score (despite the rather involved notations I enjoyed dabbling with) which marks them out as brothers. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, if you decide to listen.

I ashamed, BTW, that I have to be presenting an old piece here in lieu of having something newer to offer up! I am working on that piano piece I mentioned a few posts up; I'm quite excited about it but there is a long long way to go!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks for the update, Luke!


Must dash (meeting at my daughter's school)!

[Luke]

In the spirit of completeness...

I really don't want to harp on about the pretty awful time I've been having personally for the last couple of years+  (indescribably so, really). But it's not really avoidable here, as it was at one of my lowest points that I wrote this little piece for voice and violin, which I haven't shown anyone until now. Every note was wrung out of me with a real effort, I found it hard to commit even the slightest sign to paper that day...though the whole thing, being tiny, was still done in a matter of minutes. I find this an unbearably painful piece to look at, which is why I couldn't bring myself to add dynamics and suchlike until - well, until today, actually.

That's quite a positive build-up, isn't it?  It's not much this piece, and I really can't tell if is it utter rubbish or actually has some qualities. But it means something important to me...

http://www.mediafire.com/?vl9o1gt2d7tygat

(that is only the score, clearly there is no recording. Though it is tiny I had to stick it on mediafire because I can't upload here)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I just listened to the Fantasy - quite a personal piece, I think. Sometimes the music sounds schizophrenic, literally, with each hand representing its own half of the brain. The ending hints at renewal. I should listen again to your other piano pieces to 'place' this one correctly...

[Cato]

In the spirit of completeness...

I really don't want to harp on about the pretty awful time I've been having personally for the last couple of years+  (indescribably so, really). But it's not really avoidable here, as it was at one of my lowest points that I wrote this little piece for voice and violin, which I haven't shown anyone until now. Every note was wrung out of me with a real effort, I found it hard to commit even the slightest sign to paper that day...though the whole thing, being tiny, was still done in a matter of minutes. I find this an unbearably painful piece to look at, which is why I couldn't bring myself to add dynamics and suchlike until - well, until today, actually.

That's quite a positive build-up, isn't it?  It's not much this piece, and I really can't tell if is it utter rubbish or actually has some qualities. But it means something important to me...

http://www.mediafire.com/?vl9o1gt2d7tygat

(that is only the score, clearly there is no recording. Though it is tiny I had to stick it on mediafire because I can't upload here)

Luke!  I have downloaded the score of the Yeats song and will work on a mini-analysis over the next days.  I cannot listen to the piano work yet: perhaps on Saturday.

Stay with us here on GMG: you are one of a few wounded wrens whom we hope to aid in healing!   0:)