Monday, May 26, 2008

Lavinia...

I used to think that I never had time to read, but then I started carrying around a book with me to always be able to utilize those wasted moments on the train or in line. It was surprising to see just how much time wasn't being cultivated. I just finished reading Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin, author of A Wizard of Earthsea.

Le Guin pulls the silent character of Lavinia from the lines from Vergil's epic poem, Aeneid, and gives her a voice and expands upon Vergil's unfinished work. The result is rich, woven like a tapestry of words depicting a world before the building of Rome. Flowing like poetry, she masterfully crafts a novel about duty, omens and portents, war, and the various forms of love one can experience.

This is from the book-jacket; it pieces together lines from the novel:

I won't die. Of that I am all but certain. My life is too contingent to lead to anything so absolute as death... And yet if I must go on existing century after century, then once at least I must break out and speak... My mother was mad, but I was not. My father was old, but I was young. Like Spartan Helen, I caused a war. She caused hers by letting men who wanted her take her. I caused mine because I wouldn't be given, wouldn't be taken, but chose my man and my fate.

5 comments:

Jean Katherine Baldridge said...

wonderful . i love her work.

jentong said...

thats how i get a lot of reading done, on train rides.

btw i am moving just blocks away from your old place.:( I'm moving right underneath the hewes train station this weekend.

Unknown said...

heyya Andrew! youve moved wow it sounds like your new digs are great! Where did you move to? I used to live on Staten Island in Princess bay it was lovely. I dont know how things look now tho. I remember Tottenville was the last train stop now I wonder what that place looks like now too. I used to play in Sunset park as a girl when visiting my Norweigen Grandparents in Bay Ridge. Would like to go see these areas again. I still read your and Cynthias blog but have been so busy. Frewin Jones wrote a marvelous book named The faerie path and another good book I read was by Cornelia Funke called The Dragon Rider. Maybe you would like them I did. Anyway lots of hugs x
Janet :)

jennifer said...

Ok, so not related to this post exactly but I wanted to make sure you see this: deer beds

Andrew Thornton said...

Hey Jean! I do too! I used to study classical literature, so it was nice to get a little taste of it again.

Hey Jen Tong! We'll be neighbors for another two months probably while I settle into the new place and move out of the old one. You will be right near Motto, one of my FAVORITE restaurants.

Hello, Janet! Long time, no see. I can understand being busy. Time seems to simply fly. Cynthia and I were wondering where you had went off to. The new apartment is nice. I'm in a nester mode right now, so it'll be perfect to have a new place. I'm fixing up my studio to be the mack-daddy of all studios. At least in my mind. It's slow and I can only do so much as time and money allow, but I'm making progress. It's a few blocks from Sunset Park and is in a building that has a name. When I moved out of the Gramercy Park, I never thought I'd move back into a building that had a name. The new building is called, "The Florence." I think it's a sign that I am to go to Italy next summer. But I always say that. "Italy next summer." Maybe one of these days it'll actually happen. Maybe? I've heard of those books. I'll have to check them out.

Hey Sarkilahti! Those photos are AWESOME. Especially considering my recent project. Maybe for my next one I'll do a Swarovski encrusted deer bed.