Blast you, Thomas Mann!

So I just read Thomas Mann’s classic Der Tod in Venedig [Death in Venice] and guess what? Now I have an incredible urge to go to Venice. Actually, we’re sort of planning a short trip to Venice to see the Biennale, anyway, but unfortunately our plans are for sometime in autumn. Blast! [Throws himself on floor

In search of Leonardo’s Judas

Here’s yet another post triggered by a book I’m reading: A friend of mine recently insisted suggested that I should read Der Judas des Leonardo [Leonardo’s Judas] by Leo Perutz (1882-1957), an Austrian novelist whom I had completely missed out on so far. Like Franz Kafka, Perutz was born in Prague to German speaking parents

Going to the Country

At the moment, when I’m not busy reading nerdy academic stuff about medieval art, I’m reading Bill C. Malone’s “Don’t Get above Your Raisin’. Country Music and the Southern Working Class“. In this excellent book, Malone – professor emeritus of history at Tulane University and, without doubt, the leading authority on country music’s historical and

Sculpture, sculpture on the wall…

Those of you who have been following this blog through the last month or so won’t be surprised to hear that among my recent reading there was The Folklore of Discworld, written by Terry Pratchett and folklorist Jacqueline Simpson. It’s a sort of compendium of the innumerable folk and fairy tales that, over the years,

Lady Agna

Here’s something I’ve been wanting to post for quite a while now: It’s about this book I read a few months ago, Frau Agna [Lady Agna] by Heinz Tovote (1864-1946), published way back in 1901… Based in Berlin, Tovote was one of Germany’s most popular writers around 1900, and a benign view would be to

Lit Knit: An Introduction

When [m] recently dug up her long forgotten Sleeping Beauty scarf, finished in January 2008, she mentioned something interesting to me: It was leftover yarn from this very project that I had used for my own first piece of knitting. And I’m not talking about my first finished garment here, but literally about my first

Books! Books! Books!

This weekend, Vienna is the stage of the BUCH WIEN 10, the annual book fair where regional as well as international publishers present themselves, their authors and their books to the interested public. There are booths and stands displaying new books, and a broad ranging programme of live book readings, workshops and activities for children

Hibernation

After our friend [a] has critically commented on my recent absence on the blog and very seriously demanded a more balanced female-male perspective within these pages*, and before [c], insatiable researcher that he is, posts yet another text on medievalism, I thought it high time to check in. It is true – it has been

A tale of two knitters

You may have been wondering why you haven’t seen any of my knitting on this blog so far.* After all, it says in the About section that [m] and I are both knitters, and [m] has posted about her knitting quite frequently – even if, occasionally, it was just a cryptic yarn photo and an