#Phillip B Williams

[charliejaneanders]

Every month I try to review books that I

A) enjoyed

B) want to geek out about

in my @washingtonpost SFF review column. But please believe me when I say that all five books I review this month are *extraordinary*. I felt so lucky to be able to review them.

Paywall-free link: wapo.st/3IebriZ

[myinspirationjournalquotes]

Possibility was a bird I once knew. It had one wing.

From "Final Poem for My Father, Misnamed in My Mouth" by Phillip B. Williams

[meaningfall]

Vision in Which the Final Blackbird Disappears by Phillip B. Williams in Poetry Magazine February 2016

[headlightsforever]

The poplar knows the edge of voice and permits hiding in its shade. The magnolia holds what is holy close to its darkness.

Phillip B. Williams, “Pastoral, Not Withstanding” in The Kenyon Review, Summer 2024

[theoffingmag]

But a sense of love is not actual love, and being told not to speak when they wanted to speak, to sit when they wanted to stand, and to read when they wanted to sing did nothing for the possibilities within and between them, for how could they express themselves honestly when their honest selves were viewed as disruptive?

— Phillip B. Williams, Excerpt from OURS

[faithandlove-knightfall]

Grail hunting with Mr Carson's ancestor...

[ademella]

Currently reading

[intellectures]

Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit

Im Jahr der 60. Präsidentschaftswahlen taucht in der US-amerikanischen Gegenwartsliteratur vor allem die Sklaverei immer wieder auf.. Erzählerisch facettenreich und stilistisch vielfältig gehen aktuelle Romane dem langen Schatten der Geschichte nach.

Im Jahr der 60. Präsidentschaftswahlen in den USA taucht in der US-amerikanischen Gegenwartsliteratur vor allem ein Thema immer wieder auf: die Sklaverei. Erzählerisch facettenreich und stilistisch vielfältig gehen einige aktuelle Romane dem langen Schatten der dunklen Geschichte des Landes auf den Grund. Continue reading Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit

[manwalksintobar]

Epithalamium // Phillip B. Williams

A kiss. Train ride home from a late dinner, City Hall and document signing. Wasn't cold but we cuddled in an empty car, legal. Last month a couple of guys left a gay bar and were beaten with poles on the way to their car. No one called them faggot so no hate crime's documented. A beat down is what some pray for, a pulse left to count. We knew we weren't protected. We knew our rings were party favors, gold to steal the shine from. We couldn't protect us,  knew the law wouldn't know how. Still, his beard across my brow, the burn of his cologne. When the train stopped, the people came on. 

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Ours: A Novel

By Phillip B. Williams.

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Cradle Snatchers (1927) Howard Hawks

December 17th 2023

[sunlighthroughthe-ashes]

the mirages of what "might have been" can be one of the most painful things to experience. the chances we don't take; the words we stop ourselves from saying — the touches we hold ourselves back from having: they linger somewhere in the lining of our skin. somewhere in the salt of our tears.

watching this episode broke my heart a little. knowing that in both sa-eon's and heejoo's imagination: they have only each other and the steady flame of their love to subsist on. it's all they need — if you think about it; it's all they've ever needed and fell just short of possessing completely.

it's an ordinary sort of love that they crave: a daily devotion that can last for decades. a chance to do better; get to know and trust each other. a chance to celebrate christmas and mess up a meal and laugh over it together. the events that thousands of married couples have done over a thousand lifetimes — but with each other; it feels like the very first time love was invented between a man and his wife. it feels brand-new.

missed opportunities magnify grief — materialize longing into a physical ache between the ribs. you can see it in sa-eon's face throughout the entire episode — like an exposed wound barely able to articulate its own hurt.

i'm reminded of a line by poet phillip b. williams when i think about how happiness has always been just one step away for heejoo and sa-eon: "possibility was a bird i once knew. it had one wing."

[myinspirationjournalquotes]

Fatherlight washes over the kitchen floor. I try to hold a bit of kindness for the dead and make of memory a sponge to wash your corpse.

From "Final Poem for My Father, Misnamed in My Mouth" by Phillip B. Williams

[super-oddity]

Bridgerton siblings’ ages when they get married (i think):

1813; Daphne (21) and Simon (29)

1814; Anthony (30) and Kate (21)

1817; Benedict (30) and Sophie (23)

1818; Francesca (21) and John (26)

1824; Colin (33) and Penelope (28)

1824; Eloise (28) and Phillip (30)

1824; Francesca (27) and Michael (33)

1825; Hyacinth (22) and Gareth (28)

1827; Gregory (26) and Lucy (20)

Bridgerton children’s birth years:

1814; D; Amelia Basset

1815; A; Edmund Bridgerton II

1815; D; Belinda Basset

1816; E; Oliver Crane

1816; E; Amanda Crane

1816; D; Caroline Basset

1817; D; David Basset

1817; A; Miles Bridgeton

1818; B; Charles Bridgerton

1820; B; Alexander Bridgerton

1822; A; Charlotte Bridgerton

1822; B; William Bridgerton

1824; B; Violet Bridgerton II

1825; C; Agatha Bridgerton

1825; E; Penelope Crane

1826; C; Thomas Bridgerton

1826; E; Georgiana Crane

1826; H; George St. Clair

1828; C; Jane Bridgerton

1828; H; Isabella St. Clair

1828; G; Katharine Bridgerton

1829; E; Frederick Crane

1829; F; John Stirling II

1829; G; Richard Bridgerton

1830; A; Mary Bridgerton

1830; F; Janet Stirling

1831; C; George Bridgerton

1831; G; Hermione Bridgerton

1832; G; Daphne Bridgerton II

1834; G; Anthony Bridgerton II

1834; D; Edward Basset

1836; G; Benedict Bridgerton II

1838; G; Colin Bridgerton II

1840; G; Eloise Bridgerton II

1840; G; Francesca Bridgerton II

Bridgerton children’s ages when they get married (bs’d):

1835; D; Amelia (21) and Robert (27)

1838; D; Belinda (23) and Kellan (30)

1837; D; Caroline (21) and Geoffrey (26)

18— ; E; Amanda and Charles Farraday

Bridgerton grandchildren’s birth years:

1836; 1; Charles Joliffe

1838; 1; Thomas Joliffe

1838; 3; Henry Findlay-Watt

1839; 2; May Butler

1839; 3; Victoria Findlay-Watt

Bridgerton Family Tree

[17panicattacksinatrenchcoat]

I have to do an annoying thing this afternoon but I'm consoling myself with the fact that I'm going to go shopping for books afterward, which is nice.

Hoping to get:

a copy of Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (already read the book and really loved it; I want to have my own copy to take notes in. It seemed to be out of stock the last time I looked.)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (read sometime during the pandemic; want to look it over again)

Ours by Phillip B. Williams

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

and anything else that inevitably captures my fancy...

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

also curious: who is this mysterious Walton????? I think I’ve never come across that translation! Do you know where I can find a copy? 👁️

Ah yes, perhaps I should've clarified because it's more obscure! I'm still collecting information about it, but Walton is William Walton one of the four translators in an 1890s edition made for a Collected Works.

From what I've been able to find, the earliest printing of this translation's from an 1892 edition of Hugo's works; links to this printing were gathered up by @melannen here. It was also reprinted c. 1894 in a 28-volume set of all Hugo's novels, a couple of which are available on the Internet Archive (my beloved) or Google Books.

The four translators were split up over five volumes; William Walton translated Fantine, J. C. Beckwith translated Cosette, Jules Gray translated Marius and Jean Valjean, and Edouard Jolivet translated Plumet/Saint-Denis.

I'm still researching this translation, because it doesn't seem to be widely-known. All I can really tell you about them is that neither William Walton and J.C. Beckwith should be confused with the composers for the organ of the same name (seriously, what an odd coinkydink). I've also found a portrait of a J. C. Beckwith (this one a John Carroll), by Sargent, and it's not a super common name so there's a possibility it's him, but also this J. C. Beckwith appears to have been an artist and there's no solid evidence of it being the same J. C. Beckwith other than the name and being alive in this time period.

In addition to the scans Melannen linked above, here are some more I could find:

Fantine bk. 1-3: https://books.google.com/books?id=NbQXAQAAMAAJ https://books.google.com/books?id=Qq8xAQAAMAAJ (more pictures, worse scan)

Fantine bk. 4-8: https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug06hugogoog

Cosette bk. 1-3: https://archive.org/details/novelscompleteun11unse

Cosette bk. 4-8: https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug07hugogoog

TlotRPatEotRS-D bk. 1-7 https://books.google.com/books?id=nqpcAAAAMAAJ

TlotRPatEotRS-D bk. 8-15 https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug04hugogoog https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug02hugogoog

And more from that 28 volume set:

man who laughs tr. Phillips https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug03hugogoog/page/n12/mode/1up

bug-jargal tr. Eugenia de B. https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug05hugogoog/page/n13/mode/1up

nddp vol 1 trans. Beckwith https://archive.org/details/hug01hugogoog/page/n12/mode/1up

nddp vol. 3 trans. Beckwith https://archive.org/details/novelsvictorhug05hugogoog/page/n12/mode/1up

This doesn't appear to be the exact same printing edition? But here's the Artois translation of Toilers which appears in that same set:

vol. I-II: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.156765/

vol. III-IV: https://archive.org/details/toilersofsea0000mary