Category Archives: Prose

Bellow’s Letters: Two Quotations

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Malcolm Farley

Bellow’s Letters: Two Quotations “Really,” Bellow writes to Lionel Trilling in 1952, “things are now what they always were, and to be disappointed in them is extremely shallow. We may not be strong enough to live in the present. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Leave a comment

Diplomats & Dragons

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Malcolm Farley

Diplomats & Dragons “A sincere diplomat, Stalin once said, “is like dry water or wooden iron.” (from a “Talk of the Town” piece by Lizzie Widdicombe in December 13, 2010 issue of The New Yorker.) While Stalin’s off-hand characterization of … Continue reading →

Posted in Musings, Prose | Tagged diplomacy, diplomats, dragons, Josef Stalin, Joseph Stalin, Lizzie Widdicombe, Stalin's victims, Talk of the Town, The New Yorker, Wickileaks | Leave a comment

Washington D.C. Diary

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Malcolm Farley

We visited Washington D.C. on Columbus Day weekend for what seemed like the last exhalation of “summer’s honeyed breath.” It was balmy enough to eat outside each night. On Sunday afternoon, we rented bikes from the city’s new “rent-a-bike” system … Continue reading →