Words to start the New Year: "It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot

One of my favorite poems by Sergei Yesenin: it ends with instructions to a friend's dog to lick his lover's hand 'for all of which I was and was not guilty'. This unidentified woman recites it nicely at the dinner table. This is what poetry should be: our daily bread! (More in Comments.)

German poet and novelist Theodor Fontane was born on this date in 1819. Lucy Scott's audiobook of his novel 'Effi Briest' is the perfect introduction to his work for English-speakers. (The photo is from Hermine Huntgeburth's 2009 film.) www.audible.com/pd/Effi-Brie...

„Gegen eine Dummheit, die gerade in Mode ist, kommt keine Klugheit auf." Guten Theodor Fontane 30. Dezember 1819 - 20. September 1898 

Can it really be 52 years since Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' opened in New York? I remember standing in line outside the Paris Theater, waiting to see it -- and weeping at the end. I'll post a clip in Comments.

Wise words for the New Year from Nietzsche (Section 276 of his 1882 book 'Die fröhliche Wissenschaft' -- 'The Joyful Science', by which he meant philosophy; translation by Walter Kaufmann). Thanks to Samantha Rose Hill for reminding me of these lines.

Watching my daughter grow up without evangelical religious trauma is breathtaking. She’s not scared of a hell, or a god who would condemn her to everlasting torture, and she’s never heard of a rapture. Growing up without that fear really does something good to a young person.

I went to Texas to write about the sudden end of one of America's most successful experiments: the six decades of welcoming India's most educated and ambitious citizens. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/o...

On this date in 1926, Rainer Maria Rilke died of leukemia at a clinic on Lake Geneva, at the age of 51. Three years before, he had published the Duino Elegies, the first of which has these lines (my translation): Voices, voices. Listen, my heart, as only saints have listened . . .

I'm so glad Daniel Dale used the word LIE instead of false statement. What Convicted Felon Donald Trump did was LIE, as he always does. The Convicted Felon wouldn't know truth if it bit him in his ample orange ass! #DemVoice1 #ProudBlue #Pinks #TrumpIsACriminal www.cnn.com/2025/12/27/p...

Wise words for the New Year from Nietzsche (Section 276 of his 1882 book 'Die fröhliche Wissenschaft' -- 'The Joyful Science', by which he meant philosophy; translation by Walter Kaufmann). Thanks to Samantha Rose Hill for reminding me of these lines.

In its reporting on the death of Brigitte Bardot, at the age of 91, Le Monde is remembering both her advocacy of animal rights and her sympathy for Far Right politicians.

Can it really be 52 years since Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' opened in New York? I remember standing in line outside the Paris Theater, waiting to see it -- and weeping at the end. I'll post a clip in Comments.

Who is your favorite French reader of Proust? Of the audiobooks I've heard, I'd pick Daniel Mesguich: his urbane diction and confidential tone conjure up the voice I find on the page. You can hear an excerpt from 'La Prisonniere', at the link below.

This message hits hard.

Woran glaubte Rilke? Bettina Gugger sprach mit Rilke-Biograf Manfred Koch über Rilkes spirituelle Auffassung.

My favorite discovery of 2025 was Neville Jason's marvelous audiobook of 'In Search of Lost Time,' using Moncrieff's translation. Jason's reading style suits the work so well that, despite the English, I sometimes felt I was hearing Proust's own voice. ('Swann's Way' is volume one of the novel.)

In less than a week, I will be sworn in as the next mayor of New York City. It was only possible because of the more than 100,000 people who volunteered on our campaign. Here’s a story about one of them, my mother.

The coming of the New Year may have us pondering the life path we're on. Poet Friedrich Hölderlin had some thoughts about the choices we make and the freedom to make them.

Stefan Zweig on Marcel Proust. As always, Zweig has something interesting to say. (Translation by Will Stone.) www.anthologialitt.com/post/stefan-...

As good as I’d hoped. Czapski’s lectures on Proust

Woran glaubte Rilke? Bettina Gugger sprach mit Rilke-Biograf Manfred Koch über Rilkes spirituelle Auffassung.

Marcel Proust on Christmas: in an 1898 holiday letter to Marie Nordlinger (translation by Ralph Manheim):

One of my favorite performances of the year: Danish violinist Anna Agafia Egholm and fellow musicians in a fervent reading of Gabriel Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor.

Coming from Bayard Graphic in January: the life of Lou Andreas-Salomé -- the German/Russian novelist, mentor of Rilke, and pioneering psychoanalyst -- in the form of a graphic novel. Text by Severine Vidal; illustrations by Olivia Sautreuil. The subtitle reads: If you want a life, steal one.

Just back from the Helene Schjerfbeck show at The Met. It's wonderful to have so much work from this powerful Finnish painter in New York. This is 'Self Portrait, Black Background' from 1915. It's on loan from The Finnish National Gallery.

Christmas at our house is never complete without this performance of Vallancicos de Gloria, from Carlos Saura's 1995 film, 'Flamenco'. The soloist is La Macanita.

Marcel Proust on Christmas: in an 1898 holiday letter to Marie Nordlinger (translation by Ralph Manheim):

Jules Verne and Marcel Proust have long since left the building, but Le Zimmer is still open at Place du Châtelet, No. 1, on the border between the 1st and 4th Arrondissements. Your table is waiting.

Susan Bernofsky has just finished a new translation of 'The Magic Mountain'. She discussed the challenges of bringing Mann's masterpiece into English with Veronika Feuchtner:

'Each word is a question' -- a broadcast from German public radio about Rainer Maria Rilke, who was born 100 years ago this month:

As the northern hemisphere starts tilting towards the sun again, I think of these lines from Goethe: Your shining gives the angels power, Yet none can understand your ways; Incomprehensible Creation Stuns as it did on the first day. From Song of the Angels, in Faust: Part One. My translation.

Christmas at our house is never complete without this performance of Vallancicos de Gloria, from Carlos Saura's 1995 film, 'Flamenco'. The soloist is La Macanita.

'Breakfast of the Birds' by Gabriele Münter (1934). There's a retrospective of her work now at the Guggenheim in New York, which I enjoyed seeing yesterday. Details of the show can be found here: www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/g...

More about the book here: lespritetlaplume.fr/livre/259441...

What do four terrified judges look like? Take a peek. And then mourn the loss of honesty and reason in US public life. We all know what happened on January 6. Many of those responsible were convicted in the courts. Yet in Trump's Soviet-style USA, this history must not be voiced.

Coming from Bayard Graphic in January: the life of Lou Andreas-Salomé -- the German/Russian novelist, mentor of Rilke, and pioneering psychoanalyst -- in the form of a graphic novel. Text by Severine Vidal; illustrations by Olivia Sautreuil. The subtitle reads: If you want a life, steal one.

Jules Verne and Marcel Proust have long since left the building, but Le Zimmer is still open at Place du Châtelet, No. 1, on the border between the 1st and 4th Arrondissements. Your table is waiting.

One of my favorite performances of the year: Danish violinist Anna Agafia Egholm and fellow musicians in a fervent reading of Gabriel Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor.

Great quote about Klee by Rainer Maria Rilke in 1921: "Even if you hadn't told me he plays the violin, I would have guessed that on many occasions his drawings were transcriptions of music."

If you want to see universal childcare happen in NYC, there are people currently organizing their hearts out to do just that. JOIN THEM.

Winter strips life to the bones: here are the trees of summer with leaf, flower and fruit all gone. Everything's clear . . .

For Beethoven's birthday, the concluding movement of his Seventh Symphony, performed here with all the joyous and ebullient energy the score calls for by Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Marvelous!

This is what Presidential Leadership looks like at the time of an unfathomable American tragedy. #BarackObama

Susan Bernofsky has just finished a new translation of 'The Magic Mountain'. She discussed the challenges of bringing Mann's masterpiece into English with Veronika Feuchtner:

Glad to see Ross Benjamin's translation of Daniel Kehlmann's German novel 'The Director' named one of the years 10 best books by the NY Times. The Times is one of the few US papers that regularly review translated fiction. There's a big world out there -- let's read it!

Right-wing Kast defeats leftist rival to become Chile's president

Winter strips life to the bones: here are the trees of summer with leaf, flower and fruit all gone. Everything's clear . . .

Now watching on the Criterion Channel Michael Haneke's adaptation of a story by poet Ingeborg Bachmann, Three Paths to the Lake

Stefan Zweig on Marcel Proust. As always, Zweig has something interesting to say. (Translation by Will Stone.) www.anthologialitt.com/post/stefan-...