Last Bender

THE STONES OF AUSTRONESIA   Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula By Paul Michel Munoz Editions Didier Millet Singapore 2006   Southeast Asia from prehistory to history Edited by Ian Glover and Peter Bellwood RoutledgeCurzon New York and Oxford 2004   I have been reading in Bellwood and Glover’s book Southeast [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT           Linda drove a bulbous hunk of metal golden rod. The engine purred and rocked beneath its shining hood. The view from the seat was of some luxuriously painted moon rising against a bleak planet. She gripped the enormous calfskin steering wheel and glided into traffic. People overflowed the sidewalks, danced between cars [...]

A Luxury of Primes: Jack Gilbert   Why is Jack Gilbert’s book Monolithos only available used, starting at the royal price of $75.00?   Because it is out of print and because it is one of the most moving and brilliant books of poetry of the 20th century. No one ever sells their copy, they [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN           Two thumbtacks of light were pressed into my eyes. I sipped scalding, bitter coffee from a bowl. To my left, on a quilted pot holder arranged diagonally on a tile trivet, sat the percolator. Across the room, eyes distant, fully dressed, amused and slightly contemplative, sat Wanda Watts, with a loaded brandy [...]

Insight/Oversight From the Preface to Bernard Lonergan’s Insight Thus, insight into insight brings to light the cumulative process of progress. For concrete situations give rise to insights which issue into policies and courses of action. Action transforms the existing situation to give rise to further insights, better policies, more effective courses of action. It follows [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX           Barca Langousto was tucked away in a quiet residential block on the east side, occupying the first two floors of an old brownstone. Standing guard by the coat check was a formidable Maitre D’, in cut-away coat and tails, wearing the prosperity of his belly with comfort. As soon as I stepped [...]

SYMBOLIST AESTHETICS AND EARLY ABSTRACT ART Sites of imaginary space   By Dee Reynolds   Cambridge University Press, 1995   Following up on comments and thoughts in this blogh on Joyce, Jarry, Rimbaud, Mayakovsky, O’Hara, Henry Corbin et al, and inter alia:   “The principle aims of this book are threefold: firstly to reinstate the [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE           Nothing I did then qualifies as thought. He dragged me into his car and jerked out a three-point turn. The tires squealed. He sped through a stoplight, crossed the double yellow line, and drove straight into a pack of headlights separating slowly as they started towards us through the fog. There was [...]

  For a while in the late seventies and early eighties, among certain people in a variety of places, Dom Deluise became a sort of shorthand for everything that was hilariously awful about the world. I have no idea how, but I do remember the place, a pool house, in a suburb, and three very [...]

Well, I’ve started a new novel. We’ll see where it goes. Here’s chapter 1. THE WORST IS YET TO COME   By Buzz Callaway “I see the girls go by Dressed in their summer clothes I have to turn my head Until my darkness goes.”   –Jagger/Richards, Paint it Black         “My [...]