|k| clippings: 2015-01-09 — yes. good.

WORK

“The books I liked became a Bible from which I drew advice and support; I copied out long passages from them; I memorized new canticles and new litanies, psalms, proverbs, and prophecies, and I sanctified every incident in my life by the recital of these sacred texts. My emotions, my tears, and my hopes were no less sincere on account of that; the words and the cadences, the lines and the verses were not aids to make believe: but they rescued from silent oblivion all those intimate adventures of the spirit that I couldn’t speak to anyone about; they created a kind of communion between myself and those twin souls which existed somewhere out of reach; instead of living out my small private existence, I was participating in a great spiritual epic.”

—Simone de Beauvoir
—from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

WORD(S)

monepic. adjective. Composed of a single word. From Greek mono (one) + epos (word).

“His speech is monepic. These words consist of substantives, such as mamma, nurse, milk, and so forth.” (James Sully)

“She usually doesn’t speak, and even if she does, her monepic dialogue might simply anger the creature.” (Michael McCloskey)

WEB

1. On the occasion of the release of the new David Foster Wallace Reader, DFW is on the cover of Newsweek along with a very good story about him and his work.

2. ► Oxford University Press and the Making of a Book (1925 short film).

3. On the Trudel’s Truth site, Leonard Grossman has shared more than 300 pages of letters written by his grandmother, starting in 1934 when she emigrated to the United States.

4. The photo gallery “A World Transfixed by Screens” explores, on-screen (sweet irony), just what the title says.

5. Today in 1908, Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir—French writer, activist, philosopher and theorist—is born. While de Beauvoir remains most recognized for her critical work The Second Sex, a cornerstone of modern feminism, she was a significant literary figure, winning the prestigious Prix Goncourt award for her novel The Mandarins. De Beauvoir’s talent was evident at a young age when she placed second only to Jean-Paul Sartre in the national philosophy agrégation exam (it was not only his second attempt, but he had been attending prep classes and was an official student at the time). She would maintain an open relationship with Sartre for the rest of his life—along with various others—a progressive arrangement that would result in many unfairly (and ironically) minimizing her own contributions to philosophy, which were the equal of any of her peers.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader H. squares off: “Reader G. on Goldbarth is way over the top in finding ‘tragedy’ in the fact that some of G’s poems fail to arouse ‘admiration and envy’ in him or her. Maybe it’s time to give the words ‘tragedy’ and ‘tragic’ a well-deserved rest.”

I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.

And please feel free to share anything here as far and wide as you want! If you want to give a shout-out, please link to: http://katexic.com/clippings/.

Daily(ish) email overwhelming you? Email chris+weekly@katexic.com to switch to the weekly digest edition.