Introduction

Although I have begun in the last two years to write in a relatively regular way for other people’s blogs, either by commenting on what is said in their presentations or by forwarding my own little essays and reviews, sometimes with the direct invitation of friends, sometimes on my own initiative, recently several colleagues and friends have been urging me to set up my own blog in order to circulate my own writings and thoughts. After much hesitation, realizing that it is now far too expensive to print out more little booklets, I yield to this demand, knowing full well that it is also an exercise in vanity.

In this new personal blog, I plan to begin entering material in three categories: First, what has been storied deep in my hard drive for many years. Some of these things were printed in small, ephemeral newsletters, magazines and collections, usually with very small and limited circulation; others were submitted and never published—or, if they were, I never heard about it; and still others were either never sent out into the world or somehow were caught up in the swirl of life and found many years later. These materials consist of poems and short stories, essays and book reviews, and random trial working out of ideas.

Wherever possible, if my records and memory can be plumbed, I will give an indication of where and when the item was published, or at least when and under what circumstances. In some cases, there will be a few minor changes made in style or content, but not too much since these pieces are presented here as part of an historical record.

Second, there will be a category of material that are current reflections on topical issues, older books I have come back to after a long time or those I am now meeting for the first time, and books, authors and themes that seem of the moment and pressing. These pieces will not be aimed at the specialized audiences of the blogs and journals I usually send my compositions out to. They will represent odd ways of looking at life, literature and the world, and they will tend to breach the generic walls between scholarly, creative and private thoughts.

Third, of course, as there must be, the new blog will contain miscellaneous matters, hopefully of some interest to others, and perhaps even valued for occasional insights, stylistic peculiarities, and sheer nostalgic fun.