'The marvellously playful and difficult novelist Christine Brooke-Rose, who has died aged 88, was fond of the device of omission. In her 1968 novel Between, she left out the verb "to be" throughout, to stress the narrator's disoriented sense of personal identity – the year before George Perec's novel La Disparition omitted the letter "e". She left out the word "I" from her autobiographical novels Remake (1996) and Life, End Of (2006), instead describing the narrator as "the old lady". In her 1998 novel Next, which had 26 narrators, each of whose names began with a different letter of the alphabet, she omitted the verb "to have" to emphasise the deprivation of the homeless Londoners in the book.
'As if to continue the theme of erasure, Britain has all but airbrushed one of its most radical exponents of experimental fiction. When Brooke-Rose published a volume of criticism in 2002, it was not, perhaps, entirely devotion to Roland Barthes' death of the author thesis that led to her to call it Invisible Author.
'Many critics hailed her fiction, for all that it was sometimes scarcely comprehensible or pleasurable to those ignorant of the underpinning theory. Ellen G Friedman put Brooke-Rose among those 20th-century experimental female writers – Dorothy Richardson, Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein – whose novels "explode the fixed architecture of the master narrative". Brooke-Rose wrote 16 novels, five collections of criticism and several collections of short stories and poems. Frank Kermode considered that her originality and skills deserved "a greater measure of admiration and respect than we have so far chosen to accord them".
'In 1974, Brooke-Rose began writing her first novel, The Languages of Love, much of which was set in the Reading Room of the British Museum. The Sycamore Tree (1958) similarly involved London intellectuals, but her third novel, The Dear Deceit (1960), saw the first stirrings of narrative experiment. In it, a man traces the life of his deceased father backwards from death to birth. Throughout this period, she worked as a reviewer and freelance journalist for the New Statesman, Observer, Sunday Times and Times Literary Supplement.
'In 1962 she underwent kidney surgery. One result of this was her first truly experimental novel, Out (1964), which was compared to Alain Robbe-Grillet's formally adventurous La Jalousie (1957). Brooke-Rose was becoming a nouveau romancier: later she scorned that description while conceding the influence of Robbe-Grillet, whose novels she translated, on her reinvention as a writer. Out was narrated by a white character facing racial discrimination in the aftermath of a nuclear war, with pale skin now indicating radiation poisoning and dark skin health.
'Increasingly invisible in Britain, Brooke-Rose crossed the Channel in 1968 and flourished. She had already that year separated from her second husband; a third marriage, to Claude Brooke, was to be brief. She taught linguistics and English literature at the newly founded University of Paris (Vincennes), a bastion of counter-cultural thought where, in 1975, she became professor of English and American literature and literary theory. After retiring from teaching in 1988, she settled in a village near Avignon on the grounds that French public healthcare is superior to Britain's.
'Her critical works included A Structural Analysis of Pound's Usura Canto: Jakobson's Method Extended and Applied to Free Verse (1976), A Rhetoric of the Unreal: Studies in Narrative and Structure, Especially of the Fantastic (1981) and the relatively jaunty A ZBC of Ezra Pound (1971), produced alongside wildly inventive fiction.
'It was the conceit of Thru (1975) that the students on a university creative writing course collectively construct the narrative. The resulting text included student essays with handwritten changes to typed text, musical notations, mathematical formulas, diagrams, and CVs. In an interview she conceded that this self-conscious deconstruction of narrativity was written tongue in cheek "for a few narratologist friends". Textermination (1991) was set at a conference in San Francisco, attended by characters from Austen, Flaubert, Eliot, Pynchon, Roth and Rushdie, who petition potential readers with the help of literary critics who "interpret" them for the masses.
'In Life, End Of, her final novel, the 80-something narrator finds that the world has grown dull, even those parts of it that were supposed to be ring-fenced from stupefaction. As the narrator writes: "Montaigne says life's purpose is to teach us to die. However, the standard of teaching is now so low that the task is getting tougher and tougher …" The pleasures of writing now become mere palliatives: in a mock-technical lecture from a character to an uninterested author, the author comes to accept that her experiments in narrative are like pain-killers, and that, like life, they no longer matter.
'Decay is ubiquitous: the old lady disintegrates physically as meaning, too, falls apart. Her legs "flinch wince jerk shirk lapse collapse give way stagger like language when it can't present the exact word needed, the exact spot where to put the foot". Never mind: she has Samuel Beckett's gallows humour and can still pun bilingually. She recalls that Descartes thought the pineal gland to be the seat of the soul, "thus putting de cart before dehors".
'Questions remain. Was this last book written to fill a spiritual gap, and to teach us to die? Was the old lady's life story, ultimately, the author's? Did the author see her fictional experiments as finally unimportant? Brooke-Rose omitted, surely programmatically, to give us answers.'-- collaged
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Her
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Further
Christine Brooke-Rose @ Wikipedia
'Christine Brooke-Rose: the great British experimentalist you've never heard of'
Christine Brooke-Rose: An Inventory of Her Papers
'Celebrating Christine Brooke-Rose' @ TLS
'R.I.P. Christine Brooke-Rose' @ HTMLGIANT
'The life and work of the late, great experimental writer, Christine Brooke-Rose'
Christine Brooke-Rose © Orlando Project
Christine Brooke-Rose's 'The Lunatic Fringe'
'The Criticism of Christine Brooke-Rose' @ Waggish
'Hello Christine Brooke-Rose, R.I.P.'
Podcast: Christine Brooke-Rose and A. S. Byatt, in conversation
Excerpts from CB-R's 'Amalgamemnon'
Interview with Christine Brooke-Rose
Anna Aslanyan on the Christine Brooke-Rose symposium
Buy Textermination
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Interview
from The Review of Contemporary Fiction
What does the phrase “utterly other discourse” from your novel Amalgamemnon mean for you? Do you feel that you are writing “utterly other discourses”?
CBR: In Amalgamemnon, it doesn’t actually mean that. It doesn’t refer to the writing, it refers to the woman reading and thinking quite other things until she has to switch back to talking to the man. In fact, though, I do feel that my writing is different. I haven’t actually seen other writing quite like mine, but it is very difficult for me to say how “other” it is, or even whether it’s any good. I can’t really judge it, so I can’t really answer that questions. I do what I want to do.
But you did make a conscious decision at one point in your career to write the indeterminate novel, rather than something realistic?
CBR: What a strange opposition. The realistic novel has its own indeterminacies. But anyway, it didn’t happen that way at all. It was much more negative than that. I was simply dissatisfied with what I was doing. I had written four novels, which are really quite traditional, satirical, comic novels. I did experiment with time in one of them, which was written backwards, for instance, so that in each chapter the hero gets younger and younger. But that was still classical irony. They were basically traditional modern novels, if I can use such a phrase, in that the main concern was, like most novels, epistemological, concerned with reality and illusion. But I felt it was too easy. It was great fun, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Originally, when I was very young, I used to write poetry every day, but I soon discovered that I was not a poet; but that urge to write poetry . . .
But you are a poet.
CBR: Perhaps, but I had to get around to it in a very different way. I then thought I had found myself as a novelist, but after those four early novels I realized it still wasn’t what I wanted. So eventually—yes, I do now write very poetic novels, more deeply poetic at any rate than the poems I was writing every day. At the time of this dissatisfaction, I suppose it was Nathalie Sarraute’s The Age of Suspicion, and her putting the modern novel in question, which was the first turning point for me, much more so than her novels, for although I like them very much, I can’t say there’s a direct influence of Nathalie Sarraute on what I write. Whereas Robbe-Grillet did have a direct influence, at least on Out. But I soon got out of it. So it wasn’t a decision to write indeterminate novels as such. It was simply a decision not to go on writing as I used to write. But the other thing that happened was much more important. I had a very serious illness, lost a kidney and had a very long convalescence. I fell into a semi-trancelike state for a long time. I was very much thinking of death as the meaning of life. And I began to write Out, which is a very “sick” novel. I think one can feel that. I imagine a time when the whites are discriminated against; the whole color bar is reversed. But the reason the whites are discriminated against is because they are sick, dying from this mysterious radiation disease to which the colored people are more immune. My protagonist is a sick old man who cannot get a job and cannot remember his previous status. This exactly reproduced the state of illness that I was in, so in that sense of protection it was still a very mimetic novel. But I wasn’t consciously trying to do anything different. I started writing a sentence and fell back on the pillow exhausted. I didn’t really know where I was going, and it took me a long time to write it. I was groping. So I don’t think it was a conscious decision. But then with Such I really took off on my own. I don’t think there’s any more influence of Robbe-Grillet on Such. I would say that Such is my first really “Me” novel, where I don’t owe anything to anyone else.
Can you characterize that “Me-ness”?
CBR: I think Such is more imaginative, for one thing. It’s still, of course, concerned with death since the man dies and is brought back to life. Again, I don’t explain why. I get much more interested, in fact, in the impact of language on the imagination. I suppose it’s really with Between that I discovered what I could do with language. With Such it’s still a fairly straightforward use of language, but very much in another world with this slow return to reality as the man comes back to life, but he then sees the stars as radiation. And having hit on that idea but not really knowing where I was going, I then had to do a lot of work, learn something about astrophysics, for example, since I was using it as a metaphor for the world. It’s in Such that I discovered that jargon, of whatever kind, has great poetry. For instance if you take a scientific law and use it literally, it becomes a metaphor. Of course, this is a schoolboy joke. If the teacher says, “Weight consists of the attraction between two bodies, ” everybody giggles. But if you take it further and use more complicated astrophysical laws about bouncing signals on the moon, for instance, to express the distance between people, then it becomes a very active metaphor. Yet it’s treated as ontological in the world of the fiction, like a sunset or a tree. So this sort of thing, you see, isn’t a conscious decision, it’s a discovery.
Is that how you would define the experimental novel?
CBR: Yes, in a way. People often use the term “experimental novel” to mean just something peculiar, or as a genre in itself (on the same level as “realistic” or “fantastic” or “romantic” or “science” fiction). But to experiment is really not knowing where you’re going and discovering. Experimenting with language, experimenting with form and discovering things, and sometimes you might get it wrong and it just doesn’t come off. When I discovered that there is great beauty in technical language (and this comes into its own in Thru where I actually use critical jargon as poetry), I also discovered that there’s beauty and humor in confronting different discourses, jostling them together, including, for instance, computer language. In Such it’s astrophysics and in Between it’s all the languages, the lunatic, empty speech-making of different congresses, political, sociological, literary and so on, and of course, actual languages, different languages, all jostled together, since my protagonist, who’s a simultaneous interpreter, is always in different countries. Discourse became my subject matter. So discovery is one meaning of “experimental,” and this would be, to answer your earlier question, my “utterly other discourse,” where the actual language is different from the language you and I are using now, or that I find in other books. The second meaning is to see how far I can go with language, with vocabulary and syntax, and this is much more conscious.
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Book
New Directions
'In Textermination, the eminent British novelist/critic Christine Brooke-Rose pulls a wide array of characters out of the great works of literature and drops them into the middle of the San Francisco Hilton. Emma Bovary, Emma Woodhouse, Captain Ahab, Odysseus, Huck Finn... all are gathered to meet, to discuss, to pray for their continued existence in the mind of the modern reader. But what begins as a grand enterprise erupts into total pandemonium: with characters from different times, places, and genres all battling for respect and asserting their own hard-won fame and reputations. Dealing with such topical literary issues as deconstruction, multiculturalism, and the Salman Rushdie affair, this wild and humorous satire pokes fun at the academy and ultimately brings into question the value of determining a literary canon at all.'-- New Directions
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Excerpt
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p.s. Hey. So, I'm back. The Japan trip was amazing, and I'll be doing some kind of post about it early next week. I'm going to go right into the p.s. proper now since there's a lot to catch up on, and I'll be quick-ish, sorry, so I can get us caught up, and ... yeah, great to see everyone, and let's go ... January 6 ** David Ehrenstein, I did. Thank you very much! And for the guest-post you sent while I was away. I'll have a launch date for you tomorrow. ** Adrienne White, Hi, Adrienne! Oh, I didn't know there's an all-female Mardi Gras parade. That's so cool. I'll google for pix and info on it. I saw Hello Kitty everywhere I looked in every size and form imaginable, and I didn't hug her (?) but I gave her/him numerous strokes, and I assign them telegraphic status from you retroactively. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh! I'll give that 'Bunny Monroe' book a gander next time I see it somewhere. The Peter Green Fleetwood Mac is incredible! I got to see them live one time, at the Shrine Exposition Hall back in, I don't know, '68 maybe? Were you there? ** Steevee, Hi, man. Worth noting indeed. I'm guessing you're well used to that new remote control's touch requirements by now. ** les mots dans le nom, Hi! I hope you've had an excellent two weeks! ** Misanthrope, Hi, George! Well, I tried my best to find a Squirtle for Little Show, checked a bunch of stores and asked around, but, alas, I never found one. I'm sorry. I do have a Japanese money bill for him. ** Bill, Hi, Bill! I liked long novels when I was younger too, now that you mention it. Strange. They say patience comes with age or something, but I think that's maybe a falsehood. ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul! It was so great to get to see you in Japan! It was wonderful in every way! Zac was really happy to meet you, and he sends a very warm hello. ** Torn porter, Hey! Has England improved since your early ennui about being there? Maybe you said so later in the comments pile. I'll find out. Did you come to Paris? Ditto. ** January 7 ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben! Ah, The Fall, yes! You good? ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D! *** MyNeighbourJohnTurtorro, Hey! Hanging with Mark E. Smith sounds cool, maybe especially via a time machine. Or maybe not. I mean that maybe sans time machine would be okay too. Or something. (Jet lag). ** January 8 ** David Ehrenstein, Absolutely, about Roussel! ** Torn porter, Whoa! I don't know! (re: Mountain Dew Cheetos.) But ... hey, maybe. I don't know. Whoa! ** Tosh Berman, A Huge favorite of mine too: Roussel. ** January 9 ** MyNeighbourJohnTurtorro, Hi! ** David Ehrenstein, Ha! ** Sypha, Oh, my pleasure supreme about rerunning your 'AP' post. ** Rewritedept, Hey, buddy! Oh, and thank you a ton for the guest-post. I'm launching it here ... whoa, tomorrow! ** _Black_Acrylic, Morning! ** Pilgarlic, Awesome stuff about 'American Psycho', man, and lovely to see you! ** Misanthrope, Rawr! ** Etc etc etc, Hey there! How is or did the DFW research going/go? ** Steevee, Hi, People sure seem to like that Beyonce album. I don't get it, but maybe someday. ** Keaton, Hi there, sir! How's it been? ** January 10 ** Empty Frame, Thank you, albeit it very, very late, for the b'day wishes! ** GboiAlways69, Hi, welcome, and thank you a lot! Who are you? Come back and hang out again, if you like. ** MyNeighbourJohnTurtorro, Thank you, b-day-wise, buddy. ** Sleater, Hey! Awesome to see you! Thank you for the b'day kindness. Missing random FB meets too. I'm more in and out of there fast now than ever for some reason. Take care! ** Christian Vagt, Hi, welcome to here! Thank you so very kindly for the b'day regards and for the look at that poster. Yeah, I like the Japanese Bresson posters a lot too. Please one back sometime. ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you, Mr. E. ** Tosh Berman, Gracias. ** Steevee, Thanks! ** Rudyd, Thanks, Mr. d! How are you? ** Torn porter, Thanks, hugs. ** Tosh Berman, Wow! That's so incredible. Thank you so much, Tosh! Wow! Everyone, the very great Tosh Berman is doing these completely marvelous diary entry-like texts/posts on his blog, and he did one on my birthday, and it's a major corker and an honor, and you should go read it maybe, or, wait, no maybes! Here. So great! I'm so honored, Tosh, thank you so much! ** David Estornell, Thank you very much, David! ** Grant Scicluna, Hi, Grant! Really nice to see you, sir! What you did on my birthday totally did my birthday proud, to say the least! Great news, man! I'll go look at those FB production photos as soon as I get out of here! Thank you! ** Grant maierhofer, Thank you, my friend! ** Toniok, Hi! Aw, thank you tremendously, pal! ** les mots dans le nom, Hi! Well, yeah, a birthday Bresson post was a rare instance of me thinking I deserved the best. I must have been in a very confident mood or something, ha ha. Aw, thank you so kindly! ** Bollo, Hi, J! Thank you a lot! ** Etc etc etc, Thank you! ** Keaton, Much love back to ya! ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh! Sweet to see you! Yes, write that novel! Listen, I had no fucking idea how to write a novel when wrote my first one, and, in fact, I still have no idea how to do that. Listen only to your heart/words. ** Rigby, Hey! New computer thing. Means you can be here a lot? Yes, right? You want a award for flounceyness? Consider it done. Love, me. ** Hound, Hi, excellent to meet you, and thank you a lot for your kind words. Please come back and hang out. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben! Oh, awesome, re: your Bresson post! Great thanks! Everyone, back when I had that Bresson post up for my birthday, _B_A announced that he had done a post on his own blog not long before about Bresson's great film 'The Trial of Joan of Arc', and I'm just about to finally get to see it now, and please join me. ** GAYUMBOS E-ZINE, Hi! Awesome to see you, and thank you very much! Cool, I'll go see those gifs shortly. Thank you a lot, Antonio. I hope you're doing great! ** Tcim, Hi. Welcome to my blog. Thank you so much, and I hope you'll come back sometime so we can talk/meet properly, if you like. ** January 11 ** Brendan, Hi, buddy! How's LA treating you and vice versa? ** Jax, Jax! Aw, man, it's so sweet to see you! How are you? How are your projects? Thanks a bunch for the b'day wishes! All my love back to you! ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you for your great Gaddis thoughts and input. ** Mclusky, Hi! Welcome to the internal workings of the blog. Yes, I so agree about Gaddis. A real pleasure to have you here, and thanks much for your kind words. I hope you'll come back, if you feel like it, so we can interact, etc. Take care. ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. My birthday was great, yes, very! Uh, what happened ... let's see. Well, I burned the holy shit out of my right hand the first morning we were in Tokyo with scalding hot coffee, so it was a huge bandaged mess at that point, but c'est la vie. We went and looked at a bunch of art houses, which are these projects on Naoshima where artists are given abandoned houses in the very small village on the island to remake into artworks. We went to probably my favorite museum in the world, Chichu, and saw a "light performance" by James Turrell at dusk. We had an unbelievable Japanese dinner. Zac gave me a gift as well as the gift of his just being there. We stayed in this insane hotel, Oval. (I'll put photos of most of this in the post I'm doing on the trip). Anyway, it was a dreamy b'day. I think I'll be here in late May. I don't see why not, so that'll be a boon to see you, and, gosh, thanks about the gift, gee, man. The gym, wow, that's very good. Tell me more. ** Thomas Moronic, Thanks, T! How are you, my friend? ** L@rstonovich, Hi, Larst! I almost changed the attribution name to your new one, but then I thought, nah, go pure. Thanks years later for such a great post. Oh, 'Ada', very nice. I should reread that. Nice. Big love to you, big guy! ** January 13 ** David Ehrenstein, Totally! ** Gary gray, Hi, man. Belatedness was definitely relative in my birthday wishes' case. Cool, I'll go check out that ghost/bot transcript. Thanks! Oh, shit, if I I'd known about that anime you wanted, I probably could have gotten it for you. We were in this anime/manga store a few days ago in Shibuya that was as big as Macys or something. Take care. See you soon, I hope. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant! Wait, you found the sigil in 'Guide'? If so, I think you're the only person ever who has found it. Markson is so great! I don't think I know of David Simon. I'll go find him. Romance, very, very sweet! Huge congrats! I'll go find that HTMLG review. Nice, man. All the world's love back to you. ** Keaton, Hi, bud. Santa Monica, cool, weird. I used to live kind of not so far inland from there for a while (Palms). ** January 14 ** MyNeighbourJohnTurtorro, Hi, man. 'Negrophobia' is so great! Cool you sprung for it, and I hope you like it. ** David Ehrenstein, Oh, yes, I know the Trow book. It's a great, great book. I should do a post on it, in fact. Hm. ** Steevee, Darius has been living in Berlin for a long time. I think he has written some things, but I haven't been able to find them. There was a German theater piece based on 'Negrophobia' that I heard was very good. He's on Facebook and reports on his goings on there, if you want to friend him. Look forward to reading your review. Everyone, please go read Steevee's review of Hirokazu Kore-eda's LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON here. ** Bill, Hi, Bill. Yakushima was totally gorgeous. Photos next week. Is Installation #2 up now? Is there any documentation of #1 or #2? ** January 15 ** David Ehrenstein, The dancer was a funny, nice score, yeah. ** Steevee, I'm glad somebody found the source of the quoted lyrics. Actually, someone sent me an email while I was away and both noted the source and said that, in his version, the escort changed the lyrics so that when Rick Ross originally said 'nigger', the escort changed it to 'faggot'. Oh, based on my escort-seeking searches, I think there must a lot of potential clients who like being called faggots because it's a very common come-on. ** White tiger, Hey, pal! How are you? ** _Black_Acrylic, Very, very cool that the ART101 project is a go! Whoa, sweet! What has happened since? How did your interview go? Is it up and viewable? ** Misanthrope, I don't why he looks like that Helix guy. There are at least two possible explanations. Make that three. I'll wait and spread my trip news early next week. It was continually great. ** Bill, Cool, thanks, Bill. There was something 'Sluts'-ish about them, wasn't there? I mean maybe more than usual, ha ha. ** White tiger, Hi! Oh, cool, you announced that Rick Ross edit. What's going on, WT? ** January 16 ** David Ehrenstein, Here's your 'daily" hello, sir. ** SwAmPeX, Hey! Awesome to see you, man! How are you? What's going on? ** Bill, Hi. The trip wound up quite well. We even got to see Paul Curran for a too brief but awesome coffee and visit. Instahell still? I mean, still? ** _Black_Acrylic, So glad to hear that interview went well! Very excited to see it! ** Rewritedept, Hi. Japan was being incredibly wonderful, yes. I missed the FB thing. My internet was super limited. Didn't go to that zoo, but I think we went there last time, although we didn't shake hands with otters. I did read the Gordon/Pettibon interview, strangely. It's swell. Mm, no, I didn't read on my vacation. Too much outside fun going on to read, I guess. ** Etc etc etc, Hi. I'll do the trip as proud as I can next week. I would have guessed at least twenty drafts. I would have guessed many more, actually. Aw, sweet, thanks about the new of that bookstore having my Cycle. That's so nice. I've seen clips of that Lewis movie. It looked like a WWII version of 'The Room' kind of. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant. Ooh, Public Enemy live in '87! The only time I saw them live was maybe on that very tour in Amsterdam or else the year before, I can't remember. Thanks a lot, man. ** Randomwater, Hi! How are you? Mm, no, we didn't see the Parasite Museum. Shit, is that in Tokyo? We seem to have somehow not found it in our many searches for things to do. Next time. From House of Pies to a juice bar. Sounds like a good, upwardly mobile move. It's not that great little one just east of Vermont, is it? Near the newsstand? Lovely to see you, Matthew! ** January 17 ** David Ehrenstein, I'll do my best on a trip report very soon. ** Misanthrope, Richard actually dropped in here very briefly, like six months ago maybe? I was hoping he'd stick around, but alas. Manchester that day/night was insane. I wish I'd seen your tip about the Bourdain Tokyo thing while I was there, damn, but I'll go catch up. Thanks, man. ** Bill, The Tokyo lighting expo was pretty mind-blowing. No, it wasn't for a project, or not literally. Zac is extremely into lighting design and tech, and he's gotten me really interested as well. No doubt it'll feed into one of his and my projects in some way. I too really like Venetian Snares, and I too haven't heard anything new by him in ages. ** January 18 ** David Ehrenstein, Ha ha, hi! ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris! Yes, I got your great guest-post, thank you so much! It'll launch on this coming Saturday. So kind of you. How are you? What's up? ** Allesfliesst, Hey, Kai! We did our best to add a few degrees to the Japanese temperature index. It wasn't very cold, though. ** White tiger, Ha ha, I know, right? Big love to you! ** January 20 ** David Ehrenstein, I second your 'indeed'! ** Steevee, Hi. 'Natan'. Okay, I'll for sure see if I can find a way to see it. Thanks a whole lot for the tip. ** Cap'm , Hi, Cap! She does, right? How's the employment search going? ** January 21 ** Jax, Hi, Jax! It felt like the world record longest flight ever, but it was safe. ** Empty Frame, Hi. Good to be back. It was completely great every second except when I burned my hand to hell! Glad all's well in your neck. ** David Ehrenstein, Ha ha, nice. ** Tosh Berman, He is a superb lyricist. One of the very best. No surprise to you, I'm sure, that Tokyo and Japan in general were a dream. ** Torn porter, Hi! I'll read that Baldwin in Paris thing as soon as I can, and I'll let you know my thoughts. Thanks! Naoshima 2 ruled. And we went to the other art islands, Teshima and Inijuma (sp?) this time, both of which were incredible, especially the latter. I'm in love with Japan. I think Zac and I intend to go back there are as often as we realistically can. Oh, I think I'll be here in Paris when you are. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Wow, let's meet up for damned sure. Give me your coordinates, etc. when the time is right. ** Etc etc etc, Ha ha, it's funny what ends up defining countries from the outside. Like France: rude people, baguettes, romance, etc. The Japanese are very big on dolls and robots, though. Sexual and otherwise, I guess, but for all the hype about the sexual perversion there, it's not an especially sexual atmosphere in Tokyo at all. Almost the opposite, really. ** Rewritedept, Yeah, I was having too much fun to do the p.s. while I was there, basically. No, when you fly from Tokyo to Paris or vice versa, you go north and fly over the middle/top of Russia. Nice playlist, obviously. Gimme the link whenever it's easy, thank you. ** Misanthrope, We're getting a totally snow-free winter here, it looks like. Sucks. We did get a bit of snow in Japan when we were at the top of a mountain. ** Steevee, Hi, Steve. Your take on the Tony Pipolo book rings true with me, yeah. Sorry about the intense cold. Yeah, it's even big news over here. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff! Great to see you! Plane movies ... gosh, let me see if I can remember all of them. Uh, 'Elysium' (not as bad as I'd heard), 'Pacific Rim' (not as good as I'd heard), 'Wolverine' (whatever), 'The Lone Ranger' (yeah, pretty awful), 'The Last Quartet' (nice framing device, kind of stately character study for the first part then way too soap-operish), 'Jobs' (whatever, but always nice to see Lukas Haas getting work), 'The Fifth Estate' (really pretty blah and bad, but Cumberbatch or whatever his name is was good), ... I think that was it. 'The Weaklings (XL)' is finally out? It would nice if the publisher told me that and sent me a copy, but that's good news. ** Bill, 'Correct Use of Soap' is so great. So many great songs. 'Because You're Frightened'! You're still in hell? That's a long hell, Bill. I'm glad it's almost over. Great luck on the imminent opening. ** Okay. Wow, we're caught up, and my fingers are very tired. Let's see ... Oh, I only started read Brooke-Rose really recently due to urgings from d.l. Alan and, I think, someone else here, and I can't fathom why it took me song. She's amazing. Enjoy the post. See you tomorrow.