PART THREE of BY HOOK OR BY CROOK: A HATER'S QUEST TO ENJOY SHAKESPEARE, in which i return to shakespeare and, dare i say, begin to enjoy it...

Can't wait for Richard II. One of my favorites.

i'm lovin' the histories!! It appears Richard II will be in the next installment, barring any off-the-cuff re-orderings

new essay: MOMENTS

PART TWO of BY HOOK OR BY CROOK: A HATER'S QUEST TO ENJOY SHAKESPEARE, in which i explore a few of shakespeare's contemporaries...

are you stalling...

did you know there are only ~30 extant greek tragedies? a man could quite conceivably read them all... for context

new feature: BY HOOK OR BY CROOK: A HATER'S QUEST TO ENJOY SHAKESPEARE -- Introduction & Part One

ezra pound also seemed to think the histories were shakespeare's best work, though i've never read them for myself. maybe when you get to the henriad i'll read along with you...

new essay, A PLACE -- it's about where I live

introducing the SADDLEBALCKWELL LETTERS, a letter series featuring myself and my good friend saddleblasters

this series is the cutest thing i've seen. what a rollout. also insert that gif of the person looking sadly out the window as it rains

changed the GREAT BOOKS LIST to the BALCKWELL CANON. implemented a THREE-TIERED SYSTEM which makes it more clear why certain books are on the list -- generally made it a bit more personal and hopefully more interesting... but in the end, it is just a big list of books

new feature: AUTHOR OVERVIEWS, in which i write a little about each of an author's books (that i've read), trying to find connections and generally outline the trajectory of their writings. starting with one of my favourites, NATSUME SOSEKI. this will likely be continually updated as i read more of this works.

i'm curious how you'll feel about sanshiro when you get to it. imo it has some of the best atmosphere of his books. after i read it, i realized this was where a lot of modern japanese media's imagination of turn-of-the-century japan came from

added a more complete update log because i wanted to remind myself of the things i've done

new essay APOLITICAL BORGES, about the role of the "author", plus an APPENDIX: CAN WE SEPARATE THE ART FROM THE ARTIST? in which i do, in fact, answer the question