Ataraxia

  Tristan by Thomas Mann, one of my favorite writers, whose Magic Mountain is 29 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, it is also one of the Top 100 Greatest Books of Ever Written as listed by The Bokklubben World Library, you may wish to check https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   9 out of 10   Tristan https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/tristan-by-thomas-mann-magic-mountain.html is The Magic Mountain on a smaller scale, this is what I said in my previous review of this oeuvre, a novella, and I can see why, for there are similarities, even if The Magic Mountain is a magnum opus, while Tristan a short story   We have a sanatorium as setting for both narratives, and that reminds of my time spent in hospital, quite a few months, back when I was a student at the University – furthermore, in the case of The Magic Mountain, the backdrop, the high altitude of Switzerland, if I am not imagining this, I am not...

  Essays by Gabriel Liiceanu -               Justice for All! 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/ It is a pleasure to read notes, comments or essays written by Gabriel Liiceanu. A few years ago, on account of his political stand, I refused to read articles, statements made by the philosopher. Now that we are on the same side of the political spectrum, I can enjoy again the works of the brightest mind we may have. Gabriel Liiceanu is taking a moral stand on the latest developments in the country that have culminated with 600,000 people taking to the streets. After winning the elections, the descendants of the communist party have decided to act as they know b...

  Sebastian, Mon Frere...Scrisoare Catre Un Frate Mai Mare by Gabriel Liiceanu Letter To An Older Brother 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/ After The Forbidden Door, I had the chance to read another emotional account from the same author. Gabriel Liiceanu address the Jewish community and Mihail Sebastian in particular with a declaration of affinity. Sebastian, Mon Frere translates as Sebastian, My Brother. And then it is repeated in the title: -            Letter To An Older Brother There are a number of similarities and both The Jewish people and the Romanians have suffered at the hands of tyranny. Granted, the ordeal of The Chosen People may have a thousand years or more ov...

 

  Gilead by Marilynne Robinson is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, it won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award, it is also ranked 462 nd on The Greatest Books of All Time – for more reviews you could check my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     8 out of 10   Marilynne Robinson https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/housekeeping-by-marilynne-robinson-one.html is the wonderful author of Housekeeping, which I found exhilarating, and that now makes the failure to engage with Gilead ever more frustrating, I do not know why, for this is a Winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Literature   It is also on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list and then you find it in the 462 nd place on The Greatest Books of All Time site, yet, mea culpa, though I could see there is value here, it did not shine its light upon yours truly, one reason might be (it surely ...

  The Goverment Inspector by Gogol Wonderful play I am rating this a second time, because I have just finished it again. And it is a pleasure even when the plot is familiar. In fact, it is part of everyday life, in many parts of the world. Corruption is at the center of the Government Inspector and what a widespread phenomenon that is. We have seen the scandal of the Panama Papers erupting in the past days. And those documents point out that families of the mighty in Russia, China and other supposedly "egalitarian" places have stashed fortunes in fiscal paradises. All the while pretending that they care so much about the poor and that they want everyone to pay their dues and taxes. - Yeah, right...everybody but me The story of Gogol centers on a government official that is coming to a town to check on the local grandees. They hear about the visit and fall into their own trap, caused by mistaken identity. Actually, it is not so much mistaken, as a willed identification of a vi...

  The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol   This is outrageously funny, but with a twist. You have all the good time in the world reading or listening to it, but you might also feel pity for the people of the world who live with such administrators and crooks. I know that one of my eyes cried with laughter and the other with bitterness. The regime I have known was communist…corrupt to the bone by definition. This was replaced, and I played my small “revolutionary” part, being mentioned in Newsweek, on about 12 (small) lines. But the system we have in place now, albeit way better than the one before, produces corruption like there is a huge conveyer belt, wherever there are public money, contracts and somehow, instead of reaching the infrastructure, health care projects they end up lining the pockets of big “wise guys” and politicians. One recent scandal had one of our Forbes richest embezzling money by cheating on …cancer patients. This makes the characters of The Inspector Gen...