BIBLIOGRIND
The Life of a Wordsmith — Read … Live … Write
Archive for August, 2009
August 30, 2009 at 7:17 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Technically not a concentration camp, nor a death camp, but in fact a prison for, in the early years of the war, political prisoners the likes of writers, politicos, clergy, homosexuals, etc etc, after 1942 the “small fortress” became the debarkation point for Jews from the nearby ghetto to Nazi death camps east and north, such as Auschwitz or Begen-Belsen.
The nearby town is in fact Terezin, which shortly into 1940, the population was evacuated so that Hitler’s henchmen could establish the “model” ghetto, within which they filmed propaganda reels expounding how holesomely the displaced Jews were living and being treated. Even the Red Cross was fooled when they toured the town (and nearby prison).
Meanwhile, humanity’s worst was at work. And meanwhile, Nazi families swam in a pool, watched films in a theater, and one Nazi had a garden wedding within earshot of torture and brutality.
Today, Terezin is a working town, but many buildings are historic sites or museums to the ghetto residents. Frankly, the whole town has a creepy feeling to it, when you know, or suddenly realize, that it was a “show town” used by the Nazis to cover up their genocidal mania.
The museums had moving tributes to artists, writers, actors and such who came lived there and produced beautiful work — just before being shipped to their death in a railroad car. Fascimile pieces of sketches, poetry, and musical scores (playing as you wander) highlight the lost artistry wrought by the animal Nazis.
I was glad to get out of there.
August 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
I’ve been working for 8hrs today; it’s 2:20. This illustrates why I gave up Czech language lessons: the time I’m able to put into writing is more valuable than conjugating verbs, tacking on the right ending to nouns, adjectives & etc, and generally “learning” skills I’ll not likely use.
When I gave up Czech two weeks ago, I felt a mental weight lifted from my conscience. Immediately I began to get more scene ideas for [drum roll on the working title:] “Of Sirens & Muses” … and now, today, I’ve organized a third of more than half these scenes into a detailed walk through the first 12 scenes of the novel.
Having these will set me up for the rest of the book, which seems straightforward, but richly intricate re characters, psyches, art & muses etc, love & sex & betrayal and — just maybe — forgiveness.
But probably not the last. We all carry secrets, don’t we? So why should characters confess to the most wicked of their actions?
August 26, 2009 at 6:13 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Try this out for size:
August 24, 2009 at 4:33 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Yesterday – or is it really today? – is my one-year anniversary in Prague. The day doesn’t matter; the number of days makes all the difference. Three-hundred sixty-five (or six) and counting.
It’s like this: Nat Newton, whom I met in Gozo and who’d been living on the island for several years, once said that you don’t get the true sense of a country unless you live in it for a full year. At the time I didn’t agree; surely one could get a handle on a country in two months, or six, tops.
A month or so later I moved off the island, and into an Alpine valley, where I stayed for a full year. And when I got back to the USA, I realized (of the many realizations I slipped into, like pirate DNA infiltrating cancer cells, through the course of just a few weeks) that I did not have as strong a sense of Gozo as I had France.
It mattered nought that I had just returned from France, and Gozo was a year behind these fresh memories. Being away is just “being away” unless you accept (and are accepted) into a community. Here in Prague, where I’ve experienced both, I have both an otherly place feeling and being right at home.
Perhaps its the work that I do, which I truly enjoy and don’t see as “the job”; and then there is the time I have to write, and the depth in which I’m now able to write. Things have come together, and it’s because, I’m coming to recognize, I don’t live in America.
Will I live there again? Probably. If there’s anything someone who knows me well can identify about my personality (or is it a trait? a habit? maybe even a sickness?) is that after awhile, I’m done with things and need “out-of-town” stimulation. Fortunately, I know this takes a while when the going is good. Years, even.
And if it’s not going GOOD? Then minutes.
August 24, 2009 at 2:12 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
The castle at Hluboka nad Vlavou sits on a hill overlooking the countryside and the Vltava River far below. An earlier version of today’s castle was built in the 13th C by the first Czech royal family, the Premysls. Czech noblemen held it for the Bohemian kingdom for a few centuries, then it passed to noblemen of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Jump to today: What you see is a smaller version of Windsor Castle, so loved by the Schwarzenberg’s Princess Eleonora, who saw Windsor. These people had some major money, as kingdom vassels and holders of wide tracks of S. Bohemian lands (part of the Eggenberg family estate, of Cesky Krumlov, where today Eggenberg beer is still brewed … and it’s good!).
The Hluboka interiors are wood paneling, carved by Italian artisans, leather wallpapers, tapestries, and guilt material on the ceilings. Chandeliers abound; Venetian glass & Bohemian crystal; original artworks and period furniture; lots of windows for natural light, too!
I walked through this castle in a English-speaking tour of 6-people (two of whom were a pair of hot Russian lasses who spoke pretty good English). Too bad the guide could barely get through a sentence without some grammatical or word-choice error. Anyway, the beauty of the castle interior is quite inspiring. It’s almost amazing that such castles made it through the hands of Nazis, Commie Russians, and the newly freed (as of 20yrs ago) Czech people without succumbing to rampant looting, like the Iraqis chose to do to their country’s national treasures. On the other hand, European’s (even those bending toward athiestic) aren’t Iraqis.
Hluboka is one castle I wouldn’t mind living in: lots of space, great views over the distant Czech lands, and quite gardens for musing, contemplation, and naked games with the servants. As always, more pics on flickr.
August 23, 2009 at 7:16 am · Filed under The Prague Blog
Today marks Mark’s one year anniversary in Prague. A lot has happened. The best of which is employment, that money-making occupation of which wasn’t happening in USA (and from what I hear, still isn’t).
I’m celebrating this milestone by castling: I’m off to Hluboka nad Vltavou, in south Bohemia. They have a castle like you see when you close your eyes and imagine what a castle should look like. There are also some outstanding gardens.
Oops! Must go catch my train. Pictures at 11:00.
Na Shladano
August 22, 2009 at 11:10 am · Filed under The Prague Blog
Tentatively titled “Of Sirens & Muses”, I’ve now typed up all my notes and scene parts and ideas. 127 individual pages. Yikes!
Now for the shuffling, ordering, re’seeing, and getting down to the linear writing of this puppy. I was hoping to contain the story into 500 pages. That still might happen.
August 19, 2009 at 8:26 am · Filed under The Prague Blog
As life sometimes floats it to me … two students are on vacation; a third has late canceled … so I have one class today: 5.30 pm at Café Kaficko.
Hey! It’s taken me many years to cultivate a working life like the one I enjoy now. Day jobs aren’t bad when you like them.
Of course, I was up at 6.13 and reading/writing … which I’ll still be doing 23.13 tonight. The famous editor Max Perkins (of Fitzgerald, Hemingway & Wolfe fame) famously said it’s a good feeling to go to bed exhausted at the end of the day.
I can’t agree more; at least the good kind of exhaustion.
Off to Petrin Hill around 1.30 to sun & read aloud The Village Wit (chapter 2) to myself, where I’ll catch glaring ills and mend them or cut. Trying to bring down the VW novel from 225,000 words to 200,000. Prolly not a difficult task.
August 16, 2009 at 10:49 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Karlstejn (KARL-shtine) is the most popular of the dozens & dozens of Czech castles one can visit around the country. Firstly, it was Charles IV’s (Holy Roman Emperor) favorite castle, and secondly, it’s only 40 mins outside Prague.
The castle tour takes you inside the royal chambers, where some authentic furniture & architectural touches (ceilings & paneling) yet exist from the 14th C. Very cool. As castles go, Karlstejn is picturesque inside & out. The epynomous town below the castle is now a touristy boggle of a couple lanes, but otherwise not much else.
What makes the castle really worth the short trip is the wilderness trail that leads from the main entrance towards a distant town, and a monastery 8km throught forest, over stream, up hill, and over dale. I wanted to hike some of this trail, but knew I couldn’t go the distance cuz of my knee. Though it works pretty well even for a goodly strenuous hike, I didn’t want to push a 16km return trip (the monastery doesn’t have bus or train service back to Karlstejn).
Anyway, I hiked a good 4km, and it was fairly easy going. I got a few nice pics of a huge poppy field that looks back onto a portion of the castle.
On the way back into town, I took a road that skirts below the west side of Karlstejn, leading into town. What I found made the trip: a nice mom & pop café that had good food and wine at a local’s price. A potato pancake filled with hot cabbage and a thinly sliced ham steak. Yummy!
August 14, 2009 at 2:32 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Ah…. 1.30 on a Friday afternoon. And teaching is over for the weekend! Off to walkabout Prague, stop for an early dinner at a Belgian restaurant (Mussels, Fries & Beer … OH MY!). Then perhaps sit on Charles Bridge and overhear what tourists have to say, until I’m forced into a pub for a liquorie evening.
Ummm … I s’pose I’ll write a bunch, too.
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