Libby,

Bruno Latour.... His concern seems to be an exhausted, unreadable pedantry (my word, not his); mine an exhausted aesthetic, more broadly, vision....

But interesting. Thanks for mentioning it.

Fred

posted by fglaysher at 3:58 pm (EST) on Apr 21, 2008

>Bruno Latour had a wonderful article "Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam?," ... Harper's magazine, >April 2004... his book, "Politics of Nature."

Thanks for mentioning Bruno Latour to me. I found a copy on the Net and will look at it.

Fred

posted by fglaysher at 11:43 am (EST) on Apr 16, 2008

Hi Libby,
It's around 10:00 Sun. evening, and I was just now looking at my Kindle edition of "War on the Margins," and it looks as though I have the re-edited copy now. I didn't talk to the Kindle team or do anything to get the newest edition, but perhaps Amazon automatically reissued it to me. It appears much neater than my first copy. There are none of those strange symbols that were in my first copy; still I am not absolutely certain that I have the newest copy because I haven't looked at every single "page," but I THINK I do have a revised edition.
Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 10:10 pm (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Good for you, Libby, on the editing and re-editing. A lot of tedious work, I'm sure. I'll try to get a new free version of the Kindle edition, or phone the Kindle team to ask if they will upload a "clean" version for me. I'm curious as to how you got them to let you have a do-over on the Kindle edition. I'm so glad you were able to do that. It's important to know that the authors can make those edits after the fact, especially since the Kindle is still in its own early stages.
Happy springtime, Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 9:00 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Libby- you certainly raise interesting issues...i do not think his use of violence is (totally) gratuitous (see No Country For Old Men)...perhaps it is more a commentary on the history of these United States which, some would say, are built upon the the subjugation and violent oppression of Native Americans and other ethnic groups not of European stock.

THis response is immediate and not fully thought out but I do think of McCarthy as coming from the Southern vein of American Fiction- see William Faulkner, Flannery O'Conner. He writes about the underside of America. Indeed, he can be quite graphic and apocolyptic (see The Road), yet in addition to his grim descriptions , one can also find a glimpse of human hope, love and comradeship.

To my liking he is a great writer who provides a unique voice and vision.

Bert ( i have a dear first cousin named Beth, living in Jerusalem)

posted by berthirsch at 6:58 pm (EST) on Mar 18, 2008

i read your comment on Blood Meridian in the Jewish Fiction group- although I don't know if this is where you wanted to post it?

I read Meridian many years ago and always remember it as a quite haunting, engrossing tale...since then I have read several of Cormac's books and do consider him a master. His use of words are unusual and I believe I saw somewhere that some of them are self-invented.

posted by berthirsch at 1:18 pm (EST) on Mar 18, 2008

Does the Planck thing refer to Max Planck? Usually his stuff is very difficult, but the reviews make the "Judaism..." book sound almost like light reading. Well, we'll see.

Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 9:16 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2008

Hi Ginny,
Gee, I wish I had clout, but I can't even get a human being on Kindle. It's completely Web-based, without a "contact us" email. Believe me, I'm vexed that it didn't format correctly!

On another note, I just got the .pdf of my first draft; I've got my work cut out for me for the next few evenings...

I hope you like "Judaism, Physics, and God."

I let my cats eat their food in the broom closet (it's latched partway, so the dog and the fat cat can't get in). I think the air circulation prevents any subatomic rearrangements that might lead to a Big Bang. When I knit, I am just extra careful not to cut any yarn to just above the Planck length (you'll read about it in the book).

Don't worry about the review; I don't think it will deter anybody.

Hope everything goes OK with your eye.

Libby

posted by reademwritem at 6:07 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2008

I find that Amazon had not revised my review, so I have tried again. I think it will go through this time. I'm really enjoying learning all the ins and outs of the Amazon review stuff. It's a good distraction for me, because right now I am more than a little scared to have my eye operated on in about three weeks.

Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 12:42 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2008

Hi Libby,
My eyes give me problems occasionally. I am dealing with a cataract which will soon be taken care of, I hope, but it has caused problems for my retina. I finally found an excellent specialist who knows what he is doing. One of my eyes was hurt very badly with forceps when I was born so that eye has caused problems, too.

I would think that you would have a certain amount of clout since you originally published on the Kindle with your novel, and you might be able to persuade the people at Amazon to let you authors edit your books while they are on the Kindle, so you can see how they look. but before they are actually downloaded to the customer.

It's a lot of extra work to be an author, I realize, and I know you must now be 99 years old to have accomplished everything you've done in life so far. But hang in there.

Today my book, "Judaism, Physics and God," shipped from Amazon, and I'm anxious to read it and the book on CFS.

I'm trying very hard to get rid of my fear of broom closets after having read your post several days ago. We might have to have it bricked up completely to keep the cats out of there. I hope I won't have to get rid of all my yarns and garden string after you tell us your reaction to string theory.

Yesterday I made a wonderful homemade yogurt smoothie with an organic banana, fresh mango, and fresh kiwi in it. Good food for good health.
Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 10:57 am (EST) on Mar 11, 2008

Thanks Libby,

I deleted that passage, and the revised review should be posted by tomorrow.

I almost hated for the book to end, and can hardly wait for the paperback to come out. How's the editing going?

Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 7:33 pm (EST) on Mar 10, 2008

Hi Libby,

I'm glad you are carefully editing the paperback. I have decided that it is going to be the perfect present for me to give to my big brother who was in England when he was in the service; one for my friend in Colorado who was born in Northumberland in England, and I have decided I deserve my own copy, and of course my daughter will get one. That's pretty much a good part of my Christmas list. I'll ship them all to you for your autograph, if that's okay, and will send stamps for the return postage. I think the folks on my gift list would be surprised and delighted to open up the book and see your autograph. Both my friend Sheila and my brother Bob have been very good to me throughout the years, so I'd like to give them a nice present.

Happy editing.
Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 10:18 am (EST) on Mar 5, 2008

Hi Libby,

Did you ever read your novel "War on the Margins" on a Kindle? I've nearly finished reading the book, but the Kindle platform does not do justice to the physical aspects of the work: There are strange symbols at the very beginning of and overlapping some of the opening phrases of random paras. The symbols make it very difficult to read those first words, and it was not a one-time thing. They are throughout the whole text. I'm glad the book is coming out in paperback, and I shall read it again myself before I give it to my daughter. The book tells such an important story. I hope the Kindle platform can be cleaned up for future writings--your writings and those of other authors.

I am thinking of getting H. Johnson's book on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The subject interests me. I have an in-law who is a cardiac surgeon, and he has a cousin--whom I've never met--who has CFS--a very strange malady. I suppose there are degrees of severity of CFS. I wonder why it's called a syndrome and not a disease, as Johnson argues it should be.
Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 10:11 pm (EST) on Mar 4, 2008

Hi Libby,

I just now read the article that you found in The Guardian. How eerie that it is about occurrences that you and I have been talking about off and on for days.

Yes, some people do seem to have a significant propensity for evil. For years I have been reading Jung's and Marie-Louise von Franz' stories about evil. Von Franz has a great book about "Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales." It's on one of my book shelves, and what a dog-eared book it has become after all these years of my reading and re-reading it.

I'm reading two or three books right now. Some on the Kindle and others regular hardcopy. I am in the process of completing my reading of Hillary Johnson's book about her mother. It's in hardcover. The title, "My Mother Dying," makes it sound morbid, but the author writes so well that the content is not at all off putting.

H's mom, Ruth, died of cancer and alcoholism. She murdered herself, in my opinion, through her heavy drinking and more than excessive smoking. Ruth's dad was raised by evil people, and he, not surprisingly, did evil things to his family when Ruth was growing up. I don't think it was a case of sexual abuse, but other stuff. Pretty bad stuff.

You, as an author, might be interested to know that Hillary has written the definitive book on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, of which she has been a victim for many years.

Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 1:29 pm (EST) on Feb 29, 2008

Hi Ginny,

Otto was the name of the guard in the military prison where Claude/Lucille and Marcel/Suzanne were held. Yes, he was "decent," in that he tried to keep them alive. But he did nothing to help them escape. Later you will see that he is a stickler for the rules.

By their"decent" lawyer, do you mean Masurier? He was interesting. His firm, at the beginning of the registration, was sending letters to the Aliens Office notifying them of Jewish clients, and asking the Office what to do about their property. He certainly did make an effort to save them when they were slated for execution. It just makes a case that few people were "all good" or "all bad" in the situation. I have not read Daniel Goldhagen's books yet, but I know he opines that there is something about the "German character" that predisposes them to evil. The actions of the people on Jersey contradicts that (I would also call your attention to this news clip, which is pretty frightful):http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/29...

A lot of it boils down to people being afraid to break even little rules, and afraid to jeopardize their jobs, etc. This is often a real fear. But just imagine how the Holocaust would have turned out if everyone just had a little more courage to break the rules? The Gentile wives of Jewish husbands protested in Germany and saved their husbands' lives; none of the wives was punished. The Reich avoided negative publicity at all costs.

Unfortunately, I am not planning a sequel. Right now I am starting a book about a short-lived Dutch settlement in Delaware in the 1660's. You can let your imagination run free. Consider a trip to Jersey (July can be cold; try August) and visiting the museums. You'll find it fascinating.

Libby

posted by reademwritem at 9:30 am (EST) on Feb 29, 2008

Hi Libby,

I've just now met Otto in your novel. Was he a real person, more-or-less? He certainly is atypical of Nazi guards or wardens. I would love for you to serialize this story of the Islands. Eventually,in one of the subsequent novels I would like to learn more about Otto and also about the girls' decent lawyer.

I know enough about people to realize that it is not easy to avoid getting suctioned into becoming evil when it surrounds you totally. How did Otto and the lawyer manage to stay decent? And of course, a few others were decent folks as well.

Well, you're the author, and I just sit here and seem to tell you to work harder, write more. But, as you can tell, this story has hit home with me. In the final book of L. Cone's Island novels I visualize a story solely about the modern, filthy rich Islands that they have become now.

I'm glad that other discussion group has provided valuable info for you as an author.

Ginny

posted by vjohanna at 9:06 am (EST) on Feb 29, 2008

Morning Libby,

Are the three girls about real people and did the stated "measures against Jews," really exist? Gawd!!!

When the paperback gets published, I will get a copy for my daughter, Phyllis. I will first send it to you for your autograph, if that's okay with you.

As I mentioned before, I believe in genetic memory, for want of a better term, and my daughter speaks, reads, writes and translates Hebrew, and she is self-taught. She has even translated a passage from Hebrew to English for a brochure and playleaf for the Theater Department at our university here in south. Georgia.

Ginny/vjohanna

posted by vjohanna at 10:44 am (EST) on Feb 19, 2008

Hi again, Libby,

I've been reading your book, which I like very much, and I had been wondering if I would see mention of any of my family members' surnames. I have been researching my mother's side of the family who were Polish Lithuanians.

My grandparents were very secretive after arriving in America, and I am almost convinced that my grandmother's family were Jewish in the Old Country in Vilnius, and closet Jews here in the USA.

My great-grandfather--on my mother's side--was a physician in Vilnius; my great-grandmother graduated from a university in Vilnius. Her degrees were in foreign languages and music--piano in particular. All of this was prior to WW II. Their surname was Stambrowitz.

I believe in genetic memory, and am taken by the fact that though I didn't know until recently about my great-grandma being a linguist, I happen to have a graduate degree in linguistics from Colorado.

Though I haven't come across their name in your book, I did come across my grandfather's last name, Dombrowski. I've been reading the section about the Dombrowski Brigade. I don't think my grandfather was Jewish. Anyway, small world out there, isn't it?

Now that I am retired I have more time to research the family background. I doubt that I will find all the info that I need, but I do hope my great-grandparents died of natural causes in Vilnius. The Russian czars were ugly to the Jews in Lithuania.

Ginny/vjohanna

P.S. Johanna was my grandma's given name. She and her sister, Helena , came here from Vilnius. Their parents sold some property in Vilnius to give their girls money to buy property in the States after they came here with their new husbands.

posted by vjohanna at 10:29 am (EST) on Feb 18, 2008

Hi Libby,

I was just now reading your interesting profile and looking at the photo of a beautiful cat above.

I'll be reading your book before too long and will be anxious to "talk" about it. What were you getting your Master's in that prompted you to choose your WW II topic? I don't live too far from The Mighty-8th Air Force museum here in south Georgia, and took lots of photos of WW II battles depicted on the murals in that great museum. Some photos were gruesome, of course,

Do you work at a job that takes you to Japan. If so, you lucky thing!
Ginny/vjohanna

posted by vjohanna at 10:49 am (EST) on Feb 17, 2008