There are just five days left in Eclectica Magazine’s 20th Anniversary Anthology Editions Kickstarter campaign and they are two-thirds of the way there. If you invest a few dollars in just one literary venture this year, consider this one. Tom and his team have been publishing great work on the web for 20 years…that’s at least a century in internet years! I really want to see those anthologies and I hope you do too.
Now, back to our regular programming.
WORK
I just came to the realization, to the sudden, illuminating, simple realization, upon receipt of a letter from my true friend, Fr. W., a man most inclined to friendship (he writes with unbelievable verve on one of the finest typewriters) that to write a good letter can only mean to write it such that the recipient be able, while reading it, to hear the letter writer speaking loudly and most emphatically to him, as though seated right there at his side! To be able to completely reconcile in a letter this difference between the one who silently writes and the one who speaks out loud, that’s true letter writing skill! Everything else is literary rubbish crowned with laurels à la pig’s head. Temperament, incivilities, peculiarities, impertinences, tomfooleries, everything must come roaring out, roaring, roaring; or else it’s a contrived, mendacious and, therefore, boring, business! Letter-instant-photography!
—Peter Altenberg (translated by Peter Wortsman)
—from Telegrams of the Soul
WORD(S)
literordinym /lit-ər-OR-də-nim/. noun. A word that contains consecutive alphabetical letters, such as HIJack and aFGHan. Some sequences are quite common in English, such as DEF. I can find only two sequences of four or more: RSTU, as in undeRSTUdy and MNOP, as in the very uncommon gyMNOPhobia (fear of nudity). Can you find others?
WEB
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Short fictions composed entirely of example sentences from various dictionaries » Dictionary Stories
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Stickin’ it to the man » UK film censors forced to watch a 2-day long movie of paint drying
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Shady Characters Miscellanea #68 (just subscribe to the blog already!) has good stuff, including a whole segment for we “amperfans” with links including one to Sophie Elinor’s ongoing series The Amperclan & a fantastic little piece from Jonathan Hoefler about ampersands and why one is his company’s Middle Name.
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Today in 1945, Jacqueline Mary du Pré is born in Oxford, England. Though multiple sclerosis would force her to stop performing at just 26—and take her life at just 43—du Pré is considered one of the most talented cellists of the 20th century. The performance that cemented her reputation was her interpretation of ►Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85. If you prefer to hear du Pré solo, enjoy her performance of the cello standards, ►Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello No. 1 & 2.
WATCH/WITNESS
![from Valerie Hugo's "ALPHABET" series [click to see more]](https://buttondown-attachments.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/496364c3-dba6-4e35-a6f5-cba2931c47b1.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJEXF6S6TCOKT7N3Q&Signature=6LSEYLIcC57c4xdB0bLOWNyyj5g%3D&Expires=1707569113)
From Valerie Hugo’s ALPHABET series, combining typography, illustration and nature. See the rest of the series.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
- Reader P. takes the bad with the good: “Thank you so much for ‘Paper is Not Dead’! I have shared it with everyone I can think of—we are not luddites, but I still write with a fountain pen (so does my DH). We prefer paper books and what’s left of our local newspaper (3 days a week—pretty slim pickings), and we still go through lots of paper sticky notes. Needless to say, I enjoyed the Watch/Witness segment on making the book from scratch. ¶ I have to vehemently disagree about ‘Ask Me Another’. I cannot stand the host Ephira (?) and her screechy voice, but even more so, the stuff of the show is juvenile and dumb. I don’t get what people like about it. […] ¶ Thanks for keeping me entertained—I love Clippings!”
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
Enjoy the WORD(S) section? Check out my other little project: Concīs Magazine » http://concis.io/
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/.