Ataraxia

  Claudius the God by Robert Graves Legendary work It is a BBC adaptation that I am discussing here and not the original. If I, Claudius appears as rated, commented and read twice, it is because that’s what happened, albeit the second time it was an adaptation. Claudius becomes not just the emperor, but also a God as the title suggests, in spite of his republican convictions. Well, at least until he became the most powerful man in the world and changed his views to a certain degree. When he was instated, we must say it was against his will, for he had been a scholar, satisfied with life in a library, more or less. But the killing of Caligula, notwithstanding its necessity, opened the door for opportunists and the outlook was grim. Herod, king of Judea has a talk with Claudius and makes a few strong points in favor of accepting the title: -            If you don’t become emperor, others will fight for the power and hell will break lo...

  To See The Sun by Kingsley Amis author of Ending Up  http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/ending-up-by-kingsley-amis.html  and another seventeen masterpieces 10 out of 10     To See The sun is a short story that takes the vampires myth and plays with it, along with offering an alternative to Dracula, using what could be parody, this time the vampire, antihero – or hero for the blood thirsty, or the Dahmer type – is not the infamous count, but a countess, Lukretia Valvazor…what a funny name.   Stephen Hillier is the guest who arrives at this place in Dacia – we are not in Transylvania anymore, but just on the face of it, the chosen name for the realm of vampires is in fact the old province, which the Romans occupied after two wars, the last one in 105/106 AD, and this in historical terms the ancient name for Romania, which now has Transylvania, albeit Viktor Orban and some of his more fundamentalist allies wish to have back – where he is invited to stay by ...

  Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O’Neill 10 out of 10 ‘Thank God for small mercies’ – for some days now I have been tracking the National Channel number Three, which has on every evening, without exception, a theater production at eight o’clock and for an annoying time, play after play has been either compromised by acting, directing or both – Caligula by Albert Camus is a case in point -  http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/caligula-by-albert-camus-production-of.html  - or in a few instances, it was the work itself that did not promise much and delivered even less – The enigma in the will, based on graves by Mihail Sadoveanu is an example in this sense  http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-enigma-in-will-based-on-graves-by.html Desire Under the Elms appears sublime, a performance worthy of a Tony Award in comparison, albeit this is largely due to lowered expectations – once you are witness to a series of exaggerated, preposterous, shouted, barked, howled represe...

  The Enigma in the Will based on Graves by Mihail Sadoveanu Eight out of 10, only for the performance of George Constantin, otherwise it would only be 6 or maybe even less The only reason for watching this rather useless play would be to enjoy the presence on screen of George Constantin, the greatest actor I had the chance to see ‘live, on stage’ and one of the greatest artist ever to be born – he is in the same category with Jack Nicholson, with whom he shares a spark, an ability to dazzle, hypnotize and another aspect – when a prestigious Russian company was in this city – perhaps from the Bolshoi – they noticed, remarked this glorious talent, even if he practically had no lines, just as Robert Evans – departed now, but once an actor, producer and head of Paramount, author of the book on Hollywood The Kid Stays in the Picture – says that it happened when someone was auditioning and he remarked the man who had nothing to do with the scene, one unknown entity called…Jack Nicholson...

  I, Claudius by Robert Graves Valor, resilience, EQ and perspective   I, Claudius  has been included among the best twenty books of literature written in English, on the  Modern Library top 100 list , which refers to the 20 th  century. However, it is not one of my favorite books. Even if I have tried for a second time to see if I get more “good vibrations” out of it, I still consider it a good book, but not more than that. This is not a shortcoming of the book, but of this reader. The lack of enthusiasm may have to do with the horrors taking place in it, which we should look upon with a degree of understanding: they did not have cinemas and the fight to the death of thousands of people and animals was, well, entertaining for the average man of the Roman period. In a few hundred years from now, maybe even earlier, people of the future will look back at our times in horror: -            “ how could these people b...

  The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E This is a second note on the same work, posted on goodreads. However, this refers to the adaptation of the novel for the BBC, with the fabulous John Hurt as narrator. The plot is well known, there is even a film based on this work, with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in the title roles. The movie went on to receive five major Academy Awards Nominations and win a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for best actress. Charles Smithson appears to me as the central character, given that he is the one telling the story, involved with both Sarah and Ernestina, the latter being also called Tina. We get the picture as painted by Charles and in the play version, John hurt is the one making explanations… Not only that, the story...

  The Magus by John Fowles and adapted for The BBC Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E    and    http://realini.blogspot.ro/ Nicholas Urfe is the hero of this complicated, postmodern work that I have finished again, this time in an abridged format. The adaptation for The BBC Radio was not just excellent, but it helped breeze through what is otherwise a challenging narrative. On one side, outstanding adaptations can help one deal with challenging accounts and simplify a difficult to follow plot. Obviously there is a major downside and much is lost when twenty hours of reading is reduced to just three, as here. Albeit the main character is also the narrator Nick Urfe, the title of the account is given by Maurice Conchis –if that is his real name-who is The Mag...

  The Riverside Villas Murder by Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis – author of the iconic Lucky Jim, one of The All-TIME 100 Novels  http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/all/  and more than ten other masterpieces 10 out of 10     This reader has been enthused by the art of glorious Kingsley Amis, and this is the twelfth novel that he is enjoying, one that proves that this is a Master of the Glasperlenspiel aka The Glass Bead Game, able to write romantic comedies, satires and, as this case proves, a detective book – in the short introduction there is an excellent quote 'like any of his books, guaranteed to please' – and notwithstanding the serious theme, for we are dealing with a murder, as the title makes plain, there are exhilarating, mirthful passages.   The protagonist is fourteen years old Peter Furneaux, who is like any other teenager preoccupied with sex and there are some very interesting, changing references to the subject, s...

  At a Country House by Anton Chekhov 10 out of 10     This is part of a series of fifty two short stories by the Master, the one that made another great story teller to say "Reading Chekhov was just like the angels singing to me" -- Eudora Welty –and it is exalting to find so much inspiration, joy, amusement, complexity in such an accessible, readable Magnum opus, which is also so modern and timely – indeed, Anton Chekhov was considered the father of modern short stories, the one who said "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress"…the narrative At a Country House is no exception, in that it has a main theme which has not changed for ages and it is in the spotlight and headlines to this day, when white supremacists and other nut cases have gain more infamy when they have occupied the Congress of The United States no less…   Pavel Ilitch Rashevitch is the anti-hero of the tale, a sort of proto Trump, the one talking to his visitor, Monsieur Meyer, a g...