Ataraxia

    The Anti Death League by Kingsley Amis is only 14389 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, which means that the algorithm there may start being irritating for yours truly, given that Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis is my favorite author, and this is not even the first time when I find one of the books I admire at the bottom, or not even there; for a few thousand reviews, including about thirty on the magnum opera of Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html 10 out of 10   Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-anti-death-league-by-kingsley-amis.html is my favorite author, along with Marcel Proust, Somerset Maugham, Anthony Powell, except I am much more influenced by Kingsley Amis, to the point where I have read his Letters, Memoirs and I share his views   The Anti Death League is an impressive tour de force, we have a love story, a military operation that involves nu...

  Asya by Ivan Turgenev – Fathers and Sons is ranked 175 th on The Greatest Books of all Time site, Ivan Turgenev was one of the greatest writers of Russia, and the world…you find reviews, including of oeuvres by this and other Russian authors on my blog   https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   9 out of 10   Ivan Turgenev https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-counting-house-by-ivan-turgenev-is.html is one of my favorite authors, indeed, I like him more than the ‘superstar’ Leo Tolstoy, especially since I have read about their relationship, the shenanigans, Tolstoy’s misbehavior, to say the least, up to the last moment   While Tolstoy refused to improve, legalize the status of his illegitimate children, Ivan Turgenev was much more of a noble – noblesse oblige by the way – the two had quarreled, but Leo Tolstoy refused to make amends, even when his former friend was dying, or at least this is how this ve...

  Les Justes by Albert Camus, the author of The Stranger, which is Number One on The 100 Books of The Century, as compiled by Le Monde, and 23 rd on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you may want to visit my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html for more reviews   8 out of 10   Albert Camus https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/letranger-by-albert-camus-10-out-of-10.html has written L’Etranger aka The Stranger, which for Le Monde, and maybe most of The French, is the nec plus ultra, rien ne vas plus, crème de la crème, The Best, or at least for the 20 th Century, for there are also   Honore de Balzac, which happens to be the name of one of my two macaws (who could be female, if the spouse is correct in her speculations, regarding his/her attempts to nest, aggressivity which has increased of late), Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo…Marcel Proust is in second position, on the Le Monde list… Nevertheless, ...

  Death by Woody Allen, once a venerated film maker, rather controversial in the present, seeing that his private life casts a shadow, my reviews are at: https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   7 out of 10   Woody Allen https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/annie-hall-screenplay-by-woody-allen.html was once nec plus ultra, crème de la crème, he could not go wrong, his comedies were sophisticated, challenging, dazzling, you could even enjoy a drama by this special auteur, or a thriller, murder mystery, as in…   Manhattan Murder Mystery, nevertheless, as some critics have pointed out, but not when those oeuvres were the toast of the festivals, even the Oscars, where the man has won four Academy Awards, in more recent years, some have observed (or is it most, maybe all relevant partis) that there is a redundancy in the scripts. Worse still, the film maker appears to encourage a sort of malevolent, pernicious relat...

  The Major and The Minor, suggested by a play by Edward Childs Carpenter, directed by Billy Wilder 9.6 out of 10 This release from 1942 has been included on The New York Times' Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, although it could be more controversial today. There is after all a relationship between an adult, The Major,  and an alleged Minor, Susan Applegate aka the legendary Ginger Rogers, albeit the plot of the motion picture is more complicated. The heroine, Susan Applegate, tries to make a living far from her small hometown in Iowa, in the ferocious medium of New York, where she tries various positions, including that of masseuse. She is sent to offer her services to the married, but philandering Albert Osborne, who makes the joke 'you need to get out of the wet coat, into a dry Martini', but his overall intentions are not appropriate, on the contrary,  he is harassing the poor woman, to the point where she throws the egg meant for the head scalp over his face. She declare...

  Modern theater can be full of vitality, dynamic, virulent and enjoyable .   Look Back in Anger is proof to that statement, even if the action takes place mostly in a one room apartment. Jimmy Porter is married to Alison, but their relationship is on the edge. In the first place I thought the complications will be brought in by the presence of Cliff, a lodger that was trying to keep a balance and cool down the heated debates between spouses. It looked like on the face of things Cliff was friendly to both, but in secret he longed for Alison and her love. I was wrong in assuming that he will create havoc. Cliff is honest and tries to keep the two from hurting each other, without success. At one point Alison is hurt when a rough play is making her touch the heated iron used for clothes and Jimmy is thrown out. Jimmy is angry, as we can gather from the title and his behavior. The frustration could be psychoanalyzed, but it has to do with the rejection of the mother and father-in-...