Spinozablue: An Eclectic Journal of the Arts

Posted on: May 25, 2012

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I had thought to write a post, intro­duc­ing a new char­ac­ter, the Prophet. Something utterly orig­i­nal, a new slant, a strange, effec­tive begin­ning. But upon reread­ing the post, I could see that it was too obvi­ous, too didac­tic, too con­trived. And while Art is always “con­trived” in a sense, it should never show that part of itself. It should never be obvious.

So, how to write a new series of “wis­dom” lit­er­a­ture? How to include a new kind of prophet, one who turns ancient texts upside down? Or, rather, turns Nietzsche upside down after he tor­tured the ancient texts this way and that. Turns Kafka upside down after he drove the Talmud meshugah. Turns Dogen upside down after he stretched and bun­dled and merged Indian Buddhism with Chinese Taoism.…

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Posted on: May 15, 2012

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Carlos Fuentes passed away on May 15th, 2012, at the age of 83. He will be remem­bered by this avid reader for his nov­els The Old Gringo and The Death of Artemio Cruz, along with his won­der­ful short sto­ries, espe­cially those in Burnt Water. His non-​​​​fiction is also very strong (This I Believe & Myself With Others), and pair­ing it with Milan Kundera’s height­ened the effect of both for me. Both men being advo­cates of the demo­c­ra­tic voice in lit­er­a­ture, with many of the same lit­er­ary “precursors.”

Fuentes was one of the chief con­trib­u­tors and pro­mot­ers of the Latin American “Boom,” along with José Donoso, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez and Juan Rulfo, his fel­low Mexican novelist.…

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Posted on: May 8, 2012

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Gypsy

 

The sad­ness of the dance
Between two opposites

The sad­ness of the work
Involved

No metaphors needed
Male and Female

Strong and weak
Yin and Yang

No metaphors needed
Because this is all

Delusion
    And comfort food

            Combined

Though the com­bi­na­tion
Is a hope­ful thing
A blessed thing

A dove sent

A plant thrust­ing upward
To the sun
From within desert sand
From within

Once bar­ren minds

        The act of com­bi­na­tion
                An act of liberation

Or may be
If we cross over

 

 

 …

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