Vietnam

I had forgotten about the references to the Vietnam War in "A" - 18. I really enjoyed watching the Ken Burns The Vietnam War this year, so I read these references in a new light. My readingtt's book on Zukofsky's 80 Flowers, but I don't think I'll finish it by Sunday. Then I plan to reread 80 Flowers itself and then leave Zukofsky for until the end of November 2018 after the midterm elections. I like the Leggott book, but I don't know if I understand what Zukofsky had in mind when he wrote 80 Flowers.

"A" - The Fonz

Well, I just read "A" - 2 this morning as I continue my annual tradition of reading "A" every December. I just started reading Michele Leggott's Reading Zukofsky's 80 Flowers, and I hope to finish that as well as 80 Flowers itself and Zukofsky's book on Appolinaire. Perhaps next year I will return to Zukofsky's Catullus.

Mr. Smolin, The Mookse and the Gripes

Well, Mr. Smolin has become more and more important to me. I love the first two novels in his The Miranda Complex (volume three comes out next January!), and I have loved his music for years. Once again he has participated in the Waywards and Meansigns musical Finnegans Wake project, setting "The Mookse and the Gripes" section of the Wake to music with some Webern/Cecil Taylor-ish piano. I suspect volume three of his novel will have a large Joyce component, and this music seems a dreamscape preview. The Wake has many male dyads: the Mookse and the Gripes, Shaun and Shem, Cain and Abel, Punch (Pontius Pilate) and Judy (Judas) [one might see this dyad as male/female], etc. One might see Barak Obama and Donald Trump as two characters from the Wake. That actually makes more sense than the last four months of US history.

I recommend checking it out.  http://www.waywordsandmeansigns.com