Some Haruki Murakami novels part 2
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Shinchosa 1994/5, Knopf 1997) “translated and adapted from the Japanese by Jay Rubin with the participation of the author” (i.e. some text has been cut and … Continue reading
Salute to Vivaldi
Piazza San Marco in Venice by Vivaldi’s contemporary Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768) Everyone knows Antonio Vivaldi, right? The man from Venice who wrote The Four Seasons, a set of … Continue reading
Songs in C
Women have a vocal singing range that runs approximately over the notes between middle and high C in pitch (something to do with the comparative shortness of their vocal chords … Continue reading
Some Haruki Murakami novels
I have a difficult relationship with the novels of Murakami Haruki, a kind of love/hate affair. Others either love him or hate him, and in either case make him Japan’s … Continue reading
Three faces of Eve
I was watching a film about Vivaldi recently when I noticed one of the musicians performing his concerti was named Clio. Not Cleo, short for Cleopatra, meaning ‘glory’, but Clio … Continue reading
Tiger, house, love: homo garrulus
I’ve always been interested in words. I think them an extraordinary phenomenon. They’re sounds produced by the larynx given meaning by the brain. They’re abstractions that somehow result in actions. … Continue reading
A Stab in the back
Most of us seem to lead unexceptionable lives, despite our fantasies. Anyone who has researched their family’s history will know this to be true, because all they often have to … Continue reading
