Truman Capote
“I am a completely horizontal author,” Capote told The Paris Review in 1957. “I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched out on a couch with a cigarette and coffee handy. I’ve got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis.”
The above is an excerpt from Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.
TGIF, Balzac!
Quote taken from DAILY RITUALS: How Artists Work by Mason Currey.
The only thing left will be the prose and poems, the books, what is written down. Man was very fortunate to have invented the book. Without it the past would completely vanish, and we would be left with nothing, we would be naked on earth.
The song “Some Nights,” by indie pop band Fun, was a Top 40 hit and one of Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Songs of 2012. The music video, depicting a fictional battle from the Civil War and angsty lovers on both sides, recently caught the attention of historian Allen Guelzo, author of the forthcoming Gettysburg. He thought the video was a “hoot,” and offered some context for the events on screen:
Overall tone and emotional saliency:
“For men who went through combat in the Civil War, life afterwards seemed stale. Many sought life-risking adventures to meet the craving that the war had created. Many of the ideals the war was fought for disappeared along with the battle smoke. Those who survived needed to find something new, something stimulating, or else lapse into depression, rage or madness.”
Historical accuracy:
“In actual combat, few soldiers fought face-to-face. Most of the carnage was inflicted by rifle-fire and artillery. And combat hardly ever occurred at night. But the kind of anxiety and grief you see in the video was real enough. An army surgeon from Illinois wrote, ‘There is no God in war. It is merciless, cruel, vindictive, unchristian, savage, relentless. It is all that devils could wish for.’”
(by Mark Chiusano with Allen Guelzo. Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, goes on sale tomorrow.)
- Page 1 of 131
- Next »
