#gaddis

[biblioklept]

"Mothers" -- William Gaddis

“Mothers” by William Gaddis When Ralph Waldo Emerson informed—or rather, perhaps, warned us—that we are what our mothers made us, we might dismiss it as received opinion and let it go at that, like the broken clock which is right twice a day, like the self-evident answer contained in Freud’s oft-quoted query “What do women want?” when, as nature’s handmaid, she must want what nature wants which…

[paolobeneforti]

William Gaddis 100° birthday

[mysterioushimachal]

Unveiling the Enchanting Charms of Bara Banghal | Kangra

Are you a traveler seeking an offbeat destination that offers the perfect blend of nature, culture, and adventure? If yes, then Bara Banghal in Himachal Pradesh is the place for you! Located in the picturesque district of Kangra, Bara Banghal is a hidden gem waiting to be explored. In this comprehensive guide, Mysterious Himachal will take you on a journey to discover the enchanting charms of…

[litsnaps]

[quotessentially]

From William Gaddis’s Carpenter's Gothic

[quotespile]

We've had the goddam Ages of Faith, we've had the goddam Age of Reason. This is the Age of Publicity.

William Gaddis, The Recognitions

[jeannereames]

Hello Dr Reames! Do you have recommendations for books about historiography? I really need to understand what it is and how it works

So, the intro book I use in my own undergrad methodology class is this one:

Gaddis, J. L. (2002) The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

He's not an ancient historian, but that doesn't really matter, except that some of the issues unique to ancient history won't be addressed. Still, it's a very good introduction for a reasonable price. You can almost certainly find one used. For something specific to the ancient world, see below.

I have one caveat, and it's kinda a big one. He doesn't much like the social sciences, and repeatedly questions their validity. That bothers me, and I wonder why he's so negative about them? Perhaps he's run into one-too-many historians overusing (or flat misusing) social science tools like a shiny new toy. ;-)

But social science tools are perfectly fine, as long as properly employed. He does point out some of the (very real) issues with them when applied to history...but they're hardly the kiss of death.

For ancient history SPECIFICALLY, I recommend Stan Burstein's recent book on the topic:

Burstein, S.M. (2022) The Essential Greek Historians. Hackett (for Cambridge).

I particularly like it because he doesn't limit himself to "the usual suspects" (Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius). They're there, but he moves on and addresses Greek writers well into Roman Imperial times, and uses a variety of sources, including some epigraphic (The Parian Marble, for instance).

This keeps his book from falling into the same problems as Finley's famous The Portable Greek Historians, which did stick to the Usual Suspects (see above). And it's shorter, too!

So there ya go, one "general" book on historiography, and one aimed specifically at ancient history by a towering scholar in the field (and a very nice guy, btw, who's even shorter than me!).

[sivavakkiyar]

William Gaddis (far right) in Ganja & Hess

[omgthatdress]

Alisha Gaddis really should have learned from Miss Vanjie, hot glue and silk flowers do not a look make.

[weaselandfriends]

After two months, reading slowly (I was focused on editing WIW during this period), I finally finished William Gaddis' The Recognitions. My initial thoughts are that this is one of the best novels I've ever read; possibly in some nebulously-defined top 10. (I don't rate novels the way I do movies.)

I wish I read this before writing Cockatiel x Chameleon. So much of what it has to say about art and the function of art in the modern and postmodern world has bearing on similar themes in CxC. Van Der Gramme could have been one of the (innumerable) characters that dot The Recognition's pages.

If you enjoy 1,000 page dense postmodern epics, I can't recommend this enough.

[pseudo-satisfaction]

[mintchocobeans]

gaddi red challenger is such a bop

[melymbrosia]

the best art comes from outrage or revenge

[uwmspeccoll]

Steamy Saturday

Steam swirls in tangled wisps of desire and uncertainty in this 1962 pulp edition of Luxury Nurse by noted American romance novelist Peggy Gaddis (1895-1966), published in New York by the Macfadden-Bartell Corporation. Originally published by Arcadia House as Magic in May in 1956, Luxury Nurse revolves abound a tangle of love interests. Nurse Sally Sinclair is dating Dr. Garry Linton, but does she love him? Sally is called out to care for the petulant 19-year-old Lisa Cannon at her affluent family's Azalea Cottage on Sea Island, Georgia. Lisa, “the season’s most successful and most popular debutante,” is recuperating from a serious mental breakdown, but her "high-strung disposition and self-pity made her as unpleasant to be with as she was lovely to behold," leading to strained relations between patient and nurse.

Local cad Thorne Cooper wants to marry Lisa, mostly for her money, and Lisa enjoys stringing him along. Soon, however, both Sally and Lisa begin to fall another local, the kindly Allen Blaisdell, who has built a miniature village on the island with the assistance of a community of disabled vets (seriously). This toy village imparts a kind of Lilliputian fantasy element to life on this exclusive island resort.

There's more to the story, but why bother. In the end, Lisa recuperates along with an inexplicable change in personality, winning the heart of Allen Blaisdell (with good riddance to Thorne). Nurse Sally returns to Dr. Garry, falling "into his arms as naturally, as beautifully as a homecoming bird comes into its nest at sunset” -- Gag!!

The last few paragraphs concerning the mutual affection of Lisa and Allen end with uncomfortable metaphors of cattle branding: Allen "put up a tough fight," and Lisa "had to run him down and hog-tie him," but she finally "got my brand on him at last. . . . he didn't have a chance once I'd marked him as mine." In response, Allen kisses her "golden head" and orders her to "Stop behaving like a bold little hussy." Oh, just . . . really?! Please!

Peggy Gaddis Dern was a dedicated and highly successful writer of romance fiction, especially nurse romances. She loved writing, and Wikipedia quotes her as saying "It's a sort of drug, for which I hope no one ever finds a cure." The cover art is by the prolific American illustrator Robert Maguire (1921-2005), who illustrated many of our nurse romance covers, including Nora was a Nurse, also by Peggy Gaddis, which we posted about earlier in this series.

View other nurse romance novels.

View other pulp fiction posts.

[litsnaps]

[derprah]

Guardians meme dump because it's been a while.