My wife and I have been reading Not I, But the Wind by Frieda Lawrence. Certainly not a great work of art, but an interesting insight into D.H. Lawrence's life and the earthly influence of genius. Very often that word is mentioned in the book. Lawrence thought he was a genius, and Frieda backed him up with all her heart. The writer's genius seems to engulf everything, and separate the couple from the rest of mankind.
I have just finished reading Melville's short novel, Billy Budd. Its main theme is innocence. If we look back, we can easily find hosts of noble writers and poets obsessed by the clash of innocence and corruption in man. Just a couple of names: J. J. Rousseau and William Blake. But the depressing dichotomy of child and adult has disappeared in Melville.
This is only a small tribute to the extraordinary genius of Stéphane Mallarmé, who died a hundred years ago, on 9 September 1898. No-one has ever written, and will ever write, such perfect masterpieces as Hérodiade and L'Après-Midid'unFaune.
WELCOME 1999! Everybody is now hoping for a year of perfection. Health and wealth--those who are self-centred; global peace and the end of all wars--those who have an inclination to unselfishness. My hopes? Well, as unreal as the ones just mentioned:
Will the man in the street ever stop worshipping the three modern Fates--the First-Class Journalist, the Super Model, the Hollywood Film-Star--and have a taste of Plato's works, just to start with...?
Have you ever heard of Nonism? I only read about it just a couple of months ago.
The Nonist Manifesto by Dr Charles Mintern is dated September 2, 1996. I take the liberty of
advertising part of its message and advising young poets and writers to learn more about it. Personally I don't like labels, and I keep well away from schools and movements, but in the Nonist Manifesto there is some really fresh food for thought.
