• When reality is surreal, only fiction can make sense of it...

    From August Abolins@2:460/256 to All on Sun Apr 24 05:54:00 2022
    Hi All...

    When reality is surreal, only fiction can make sense of it...

    In 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote The Decameron: one hundred nested tales told by a group of young men and women passing the time at a villa outside Florence while waiting out the gruesome Black Death, a plague that killed more than 25 million people. Some of the stories are silly, some are bawdy, some are like fables.

    In March 2020, the editors of The New York Times Magazine worked to create a collection of stories written just as the pandemic first swept the globe. How might new fiction from some of today's finest writers help us memorialize and understand the unimaginable? And what could be learned about how this crisis will affect the art of fiction?

    These Stories from Quarantine by twenty-nine authors vary widely in texture and tone. The work is a historical tribute to a moment unlike any other in our lifetimes, offering perspective and solace to the reader now and in the uncertain future.

    Table of Contents:
    "Preface" by Caitlin Roper
    "Introduction" by Rivka Galchen
    "Recognition" by Victor LaValle
    "A Blue Sky Like This" by Mona Awad
    "The Walk" by Kamila Shamsie
    "Tales from the LA River" by Colm T?ib?n
    "Clinical Notes" by Liz Moore
    "The Team" by Tommy Orange
    "The Rock" by Leila Slimani
    "Impatient Griselda" by Margaret Atwood
    "Under the Magnolia" by Yiyun Li
    "Outside" by Etgar Keret
    "Keepsakes" by Andrew O?Hagan
    "The Girl with the Big Red Suitcase" by Rachel Kushner
    "The Morningside" by T?a Obreht
    "Screen Time" by Alejandro Zambra
    "How We Used to Play" by Dinaw Mengestu
    "Line 19 Woodstock/Glisan" by Karen Russell
    "If Wishes Was Horses" by David Mitchell
    "Systems" by Charles Yu
    "The Perfect Travel Buddy" by Paolo Giordano
    "An Obliging Robber" by Mia Couto
    "Sleep" by Uzodinma Iweala
    "Prudent Girls" by Rivers Solomon
    "That Time at My Brother?s Wedding" by Laila Lalami
    "A Time of Death, The Death of Time" by Juli?n Fuks
    "The Cellar" by Dina Nayeri
    "Origin Story" by Matthew Baker
    "To the Wall" by Esi Edugyan
    "Barcelona: Open City" by John Wray
    "One Thing" by Edwidge Danticat

    Stories from Quarantine | Paperback
    The New York Times, Scribner | Scribner
    Fiction / Anthologies (multiple authors) / Disaster / Literary Collections / American
    Published Mar 22, 2022


    Ciao!
    /|ug (https://t.me/aabolins)

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  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Sun Apr 24 11:04:00 2022
    In 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote The Decameron: one hundred nested tales told
    y a group of young men and women passing the time at a villa outside Florence ile waiting out the gruesome Black Death, a plague that killed more than 25 mi
    ion people. Some of the stories are silly, some are bawdy, some are like fable

    Take out the Black Death part, and it sounds similar to the Caterbury Tales.

    Mike


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  • From August Abolins@2:221/6 to Mike Powell on Thu May 12 04:04:04 2022
    On 4/24/2022 10:04 AM, between "Mike Powell - AUGUST ABOLINS":
    In 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote The Decameron: one hundred nested tales told
    y a group of young men and women passing the time at a villa outside Florence
    ile waiting out the gruesome Black Death, a plague that killed more than 25 mi
    ion people. Some of the stories are silly, some are bawdy, some are like fable

    Take out the Black Death part, and it sounds similar to the Caterbury Tales.

    Mike

    I never actually read the Canterbury Tales. But a quick review of the plot DOES indeed sound like something similar. I might have to give the CT a try some day.

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  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Thu May 12 16:40:00 2022
    Take out the Black Death part, and it sounds similar to the Caterbury Tales.

    I never actually read the Canterbury Tales. But a quick review of the plot DO
    indeed sound like something similar. I might have to give the CT a try some y.

    We had to read part of them in school.

    They are very old and if you get one that is not translated from the Old English it can be difficult to understand some of them. My recollection is that some of them are really funny and/or entertaining while others are not
    so much.

    If you have ever heard the song "A Whiter Shade of Pale," it references
    "The Miller's Tale," which is probably one of the better known Caterbury
    Tales. It is a funny one, and was told at the expense of one of the other travelers, who was formerly a carpenter.

    Mike


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  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Mike Powell on Thu May 12 19:15:00 2022
    Hello Mike Powell!

    ** On Thursday 12.05.22 - 16:40, Mike Powell wrote to AUGUST ABOLINS:

    If you have ever heard the song "A Whiter Shade of Pale,"
    it references "The Miller's Tale," which is probably one
    of the better known Caterbury Tales. It is a funny one,
    and was told at the expense of one of the other travelers,
    who was formerly a carpenter.

    Interesting trivia. I love the Whiter Shade of Pale song.
    Totally familiar with it. Did not pay too much attention to
    the Miller reference though.
    --
    ../|ug

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  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Fri May 13 16:36:00 2022
    Interesting trivia. I love the Whiter Shade of Pale song.
    Totally familiar with it. Did not pay too much attention to
    the Miller reference though.

    The reference lead a lot of fans, myself included, to assume the song was
    about infidelity. The band claims it is not, but it sure fits the lyrics!

    Mik


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  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Mike Powell on Fri May 13 19:13:00 2022
    Hello Mike!

    ** On Friday 13.05.22 - 16:36, you wrote to me:

    The reference lead a lot of fans, myself included, to
    assume the song was about infidelity. The band claims it
    is not, but it sure fits the lyrics!

    As I said, I paid little mind to lyrics back then. It was the
    music that was most amazing to me.

    Now.. as I dig into the lyrics that is made so convenient
    through various sites, some of it seems very weird:

    She said, "I'm here on a shore leave,"
    Though we were miles at sea.
    I pointed out this detail
    And forced her to agree,
    Saying, "You must be the mermaid
    Who took King Neptune for a ride. "
    And she smiled at me so sweetly
    That my anger straightway died.

    WTF? :/ "shore leave" yet "miles at sea" What does that
    actually mean?

    "took Neptune for a ride" == sexual innuendo?
    --
    ../|ug

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  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Sat May 14 09:24:00 2022
    Now.. as I dig into the lyrics that is made so convenient
    through various sites, some of it seems very weird:

    I was one who liked to figure out lyrics when I was younger but, in the
    case of this song, yes the music first caught my attention.

    She said, "I'm here on a shore leave,"
    Though we were miles at sea.
    I pointed out this detail
    And forced her to agree,
    Saying, "You must be the mermaid
    Who took King Neptune for a ride. "
    And she smiled at me so sweetly
    That my anger straightway died.

    LOL, those lyrics did not make the final cut of the studio version, but
    were sometimes found in extended live versions.

    The part of the lyrics I thought hinted at infidelity was in the chorus:

    And so it was later
    As the miller told his tale
    that her face, at first, just ghostly
    turnd a whiter shade of pale

    So, when she heard the miller's tale of an unfaithful wife, she turned pale like a person with a guilty conscence might. Of course, someone offended
    by the story's generally bawdy nature might also have a similar reaction. :)

    WTF? :/ "shore leave" yet "miles at sea" What does that
    actually mean?

    I think he is pointing out that he knows she is lying.

    "took Neptune for a ride" == sexual innuendo?

    Possibly, but I always took it to mean that she is the lady who took advantage of him or made a fool of him. It may be reference to a seafarer's tale
    that I am not familiar with where a mermaid got the best of King Neptune.

    Mike


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  • From Kurt Weiske@1:218/700 to Mike Powell on Fri May 13 08:22:00 2022
    Mike Powell wrote to AUGUST ABOLINS <=-

    They are very old and if you get one that is not translated from the
    Old English it can be difficult to understand some of them.

    I watched a YouTube video about the evolution of English as it
    pertained to Shakespeare's plays. Some of the dialog, which seems a
    little cumbersome, had a much more fluid feel when you pronounce the
    words as they were pronounced when written.

    It's intriguing to think of language drift, and how our languages
    will sound in a couple of hundred years.




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