Red-Hot and Filthy Library Smut

Now, coming upon this post as you are, unawares, I feel I ought to clarify the title (which was alternately going to be sex libris) straight away by telling you what this post is not, in fact, about. By “library smut” I am in no way referring to the photo books on native peoples, or the illustrated health manuals, or any of the other volumes which, in your childhood, you lurked about the library aisle to find with the sole purpose of sneaking guilty glances at naked bodies. Nor am I referring to the “risqué” novels by Miller, Cleland, Réage, or Lawrence you leafed impatiently through as a teenager. No. What I’m talking about here is the full-frontal objectification of the library itself. Oh yeah.

08.16. filed under: art. !. books. 73

Ahimsa is a religious concept which advocates non-violence and a respect for all life. Ahinsa is Sanskrit for avoidance of himsa, or injury. It is interpreted most often as meaning peace and reverence toward all sentient beings. Ahimsa is an important doctrine of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism (pdf). I think if it has made any inroads into the modern westerner’s mind they have likely been through its connection to yoga. I will not comment on the concept itself here, becuase in truth I am by no means sure of my own opinion toward the “do not swat a fly” brand of radical pacism, but rather will offer up a few images from an interesting book I picked up a long while ago called Chinese Poems and Pictures on Ahimsa by Raghu Vira, published in 1954. As for the sentiment they express, well, decide for yourself the value.


Compare the silent rose of the sun and rain, the blood-rose living in its smell, with this paper, this dust.
That states the point.

With only the flimsiest of pretext I offer a Saturday afternoon selection from one of my favorite poets. I do this for my enjoyment as much as your own. See below for poetry or quail and click away with a marksman-clean scoff. What do I care?

07.08. filed under: !. books.

Posthumous Papers of a Living Author

Picked up a nice little volume today, put out by Archipelago Books, as an impulse-buy gift for my girlfriend- Posthumous Papers of a Living Author by Robert Musil. It was originally published in 1936 and was, in fact, the last thing he published before his sudden death in 42. I read part I of Musil’s The Man Without Qualities years back and admired it greatly so I thought this tidy little selection of essays and reflections would be a no-brainer. And I was correct. Have not read it all yet but the pieces I read on the train did not disappoint. The pieces include subjects like, “Flypaper” (which looks at a fly’s struggle to break free of the trap), “Can horses laugh?” (which answers the title’s question), “Rabbit Catastrophe” (about a baby hare being hunted and killed by a woman’s lap-dog), etc. One of the pieces I wanted to share with you all straight away it was so good. I’ve transcribed it, in full, below.

06.27. filed under: !. books. 4

and a smattering of wisdom drawn there from

Ol’ Ben Franklin began his professional life as a printer. Beginning in the year 1732, under what would become his most famous of many pseudonyms, Richard Saunders, he began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack after the traditions of almanac making which had developed in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries (but whose origins stretch much further back). In the main it contained weather forecasts and astronomical information and was hugely successful. It is Franklin’s best known publication, remembered today primarily for the assorted nuggets of wit and wisdom which were peppered throughout its pages. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise” for instance is an old chestnut from Poor Richard. But there are many, many more which are less well remembered. I’ve taken the liberty of reprinting a smattering of them below.

06.25. filed under: !. books. history. ideas. 2

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