Dog Days

“The summer night was starless and stirless, with distant spasms of silent lightning.”

~~ Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire

The end of July finds us whisking through the long Dog Days of summer as we get reacquainted with and acclimated to North Carolina weather in our new home. They say that the origin of the Dog Days of Summer dates back to antiquity and refers to the hazy, hot, and humid days of July through August as signaled by the alignment with the sun of Canis Major the “Dog Star”.

In Colorado, summer days are long, hot, and dry with not much nighttime cooling in the canyons of the city of Denver. Here in North Carolina there’s a healthy dose of humidity to go along with the heat.  Humidity, that devil, often begins early so in defense we have found an enjoyable morning walk along the tree lined Tanyard Branch Trail along the Bolin Creek.

Kit has put her painting on hold while establishing a garden (complete with eight-foot deer fence) and battles not only the deer, but the clay soil and the lack of rain, while I have settled down into a corner room of the house that has become my study.

I continue to work on revising and completing my novel “Trade Winds” as well as drafting short story ideas. From those, a new short story, VALISE, has been added to my catalog for submission. On a rainy evening, a couple celebrate an anniversary, reliving memories that are at once tender, charming, heartbreaking, and tragic. As with all things there is baggage.

My short story SHANG REE LAH was published in the El Portal Literary Journal in April. On his first hunting trip, a young man learns about the mountain in Pennsylvania where his father grew up and encounters the fabled king of the mountain, SHANG REE LAH. You can read my most recently published story, Shang Ree Lah, as well as other published pieces here: Short Stories.

Some of the books I have been reading over the last six months include several works centering on Paris. When Paris Sizzled by Mary McAuliffe. A Moveable Feast is a memoir by Ernest Hemingway. From A Paris Garret by Richard Le Gallienne. Reflect on life in Paris in the 1930’s.

In the Café of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano, (Chris Clarke). So You Don’t Get Lost in the Neighborhood Novel by Patrick Modiano. Suspended Sentences: Three Novellas by Patrick Modiano, Mark Polizzotti (Translator). Modiano writes auto-fiction (a blend of autobiography and historical fiction) delving into family history while revealing the seamier streets of Paris from his youth as he looks for reconciliation of the past with the present.

While The French Revolution by Robert Matteson Johnston, Letter to a Young Lady in Paris by Julio Cortázar, The Unknown Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac, and Letters on Cézanne by Rainer Maria Rilke (Author), Joel Agee (Translator) deliver historical as well as literary reflections of the goings on in the city.

In my quest of catching up and facing my fears of the “long novel” I have finally read the American classics  Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I had read “parts” of both before, but this was my first go at reading the unabridged versions of both.

Always looking for something unique to read, I had the good fortune to stumble upon  The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (Markham translation) by Anonymous, translated by Clements Markham. Considered the first picaresque novel where the hero is of low social status and clashes by their wits with society (A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, are some good examples). As Lazarillo makes his way through the hardships of his life there are foreshadowing’s of Voltaire’s Candide eternal optimist Dr. Pangloss: “Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds”.   I’ve not read Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces but do have it on my TBR pile.

Some notes on the above titles. I sometimes provide links to as a courtesy and receive no renumeration from the sources linked, however I do feel that they provide in-depth book descriptions which I believe is a good place to start when searching for new titles to read. Also, as I have said before, I cannot say enough about Internet Archive dot com. They are a valuable tool for research as well as a treasure trove of hard-to-find online books. And never forget your local library or book seller.

Until next time. Peace

Note on the cover photo: Starry Night, (Monument Valley, AZ, April 2024)