Zane Akers > Recent Status Updates

Gay gives stanzas of Baudelaire in French with no translation because obviously anybody who’s anybody speaks fluent French. Then he quotes a line in English and has mistranslated “douceur” sweetness as “pain” I.e. douleur. Vertiginous pain as Gay has it vs vertiginous sweetness. Not a small mistake especially when you’re trying to use a quotation to make your point.

dnf. 57 pages in and I know less about what's going on than I did on page one

Lockwood's depiction of delirium is kinda harrowing so far

Raymond Carver "Neighbors." While I liked the Twilight Zone feeling of parts of the story, including the exaggerated "stock-ness" of the characters and the cipher of their names, I have to admit I don't really "get" what this story was about, except the perhaps too-obvious theme of escapism. I feel like the Star Trek TNG episode "Hollow Pursuits" tackles the theme more effectively.

Maupassant's "The Necklace". A masterful story. Perfection achieved without, apparently, a single bead of sweat. Breathtaking tragicomic irony at the cosmic and microscopic level.