Penguin Modern Classics 6–Irish & Latin American Classics

To start with Irish modern classics, there are only three represented in my collection. The first is a 1966 edition of James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which I vaguely recall was on the curriculum of my Literature course at university.

1966 edition – photographs from the National Gallery of Ireland

The other two Irish novels are At Swim- Two- Birds by Flann O’Brien and Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime and other stories by Oscar Wilde.

1971 edition – “The Bus By The River” by Jack B Yeats	1974 edition – A Private View 1881” by W P Frith

As for South American novels I have of course Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths,  my introduction to his work, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  which was also the first book of his that I read.

1972 edition – “La Havane” by Portocarrero	1977 edition – “Misery of the Peasants by J C Orozco

And finally for this post, two novels by Alejo Carpentier, a Swiss born Cuban writer, who was a major influence on  magic realist writers such as Marquez , Fuentes etc. I can’t remember if I ever read the two following novels, Explosion in a Cathedral and The Lost Steps, but these Penguin Modern Classics editions have wonderful surrealist covers.

1971 edition – “Tete Raphaelesque Eclatee” by Dali	1968 edition – “The Great Forest” by Max Ernst

The next post will feature a miscellany of nationalities and the last of the Penguin Modern Classics in my personal library.

General Non Fiction – A miscellaneous selection

I’ve spent the last week since Christmas scanning the fiction shelves on the left hand side of the large bookcase. It was a task that involved unforeseen toil and trouble. I was wondering why I ended up in the evening with a sore throat, then finally realised today that it was the dusty state of the books that was causing this. The shelves, I must admit have not been dusted for over twenty years. This exercise has at least cleaned them up.

Anyway, before I get stuck into fiction, I’ll finish off the non fiction.

First Andre Breton’s Manifestos of Surrealism and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces (which book I discovered in the fiction shelves).

Next – a few books relating to psychology. Ego And Archetype and The One Dimensional Man.

A stray Pelican on Existentialism and The Highest State of Consciousness

Literature & Biography – The Bloomsbury Group, both books by Quentin Bell.

A biography of Oscar Wilde by Philippe Jullian

It has been many years since I last heard Findhorn mentioned, but apparently the community is still going. The New Agers of the 1970s were of course fascinated by its claims of giant vegetables and fairies at the bottom of the garden. Being a new ager of the 1970s I of course have a book on the subject.

And Celtic fairies…

Finally a biography of Marie Stopes and a facsimile of colonial Australian history titled Town Life In Australia.

Coming soon – mass market paperbacks of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

More Decadence

Gustav Klimt is the best known of the Viennese artists movement of the late 18th century. I fell in love with his gorgeous paintings back in the early 1970s and have in my library two books on his art.

The first is this large hard cover...

...and this is a large format paperback.

The following book is a study of the movement.

Also within the decadent category is Aubrey Beardsley whose art was extremely popular in the 1970s.

You could also include Oscar Wilde...

Finally the great Russian designer Leon Bakst

Coming next - fantastic art.