Art actually

One of my favorite things is to play six degrees of separation after the fact, and what I mean is to find strange relationships between my other favorite things. I discovered today that Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," which is that great song playing during my favorite scene in "Love Actually," where that sad woman cries and cries on Christmas, was written in a time of inspiration after reading Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. Now, I've been reading Henderson for months now, September to be exact (I had speculated on three books a semester: September, October, November, and a break for December's exams, now wasn't that wishful thinking?), I'll certainly admit it's a bit of a wall for me. It is a rich work, but the prose leaves me tired, and of course this is a result of mental fatigue than impatient exhaustion. You'll find me slaving away at it for the next couple of days.

What I mean is it's so strange when lovely things crash into you and you are reminded once again that art actually is all around (see what I did there?).

I mentioned Carmen Laforet's Nada a while ago. In reading it I felt the world crash onto me, but in a different way--it crashed primarily onto more superficial grounds because it was a portrait of a student visiting Barcelona to study literature at university and meeting artistic friends (no comment). The beautiful Egon Schiele on my Destinolibro edition of the novel ("Sitting woman with legs drawn up") also superficially caught my interest, and I found that Laforet's post-Franco student bohème  had led me to my new favorite painter.

From Wikipedia, I learn: Egon Schiele,a Klimt breed of artist and an Austrian man-of-Expressionism. I might try to go to Vienna to see his art in the Leopold Museum.

"Seated woman with bent knee"

"Portrait of Wally"

"Girl with hood"

Pedro Soler & Gaspar Claus - Insomnio Mineral (Rondeña)

Feels super strange to be home, isn't this nice though?

Preparing for Spain!

It's semi official, I've got my flights set up so my trip to Madrid is happening for sure (fingers crossed). The past semester has been pretty maniatico, and the planning for this trip has almost made me forget that I'm taking off for something crazy for cinco meses (mid-January to mid-June). Researching Spain keeps the luster, though, I recommend Ghosts of Spain (Tremlett), The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway), The New Spaniards (Hooper), and The Hive (Cela) for anyone who has time to read. I just got a trusty camera pal and you will hear from Dieter loads in the future! The preparations are far from over sin embargo--for now no tengo nada set up--not my homestay, classes, or internship. Vagabundeando como siempre... xx