Tuesday, July 15, 2008

poor eyesight and plain text ... an aesthetic approach to reading swann's way

plutarch, ( diligent scholar, lucky bleeder ! ), told me that he is reading proust from one end to the other ... YET AGAIN

then why not try it yerself, i thort !

the first volume, swann's way, is available on the internet via the marvellous gutenberg site

but their typeface is rubbish ... and my eyesight is nuffink to brag about ... so i've been using microsoft word to make it more legible on my screen ...

there are zillions of spurious carriage returns in the gutenberg version, so whilst i delete them one-at-a-time, as if mending the broken paragraphs, i get the opportunity to read each sentence as slowly as this most exquisitely thoughtful author deserves, instead of skimming it like a schoolboy who can't wait to get out and play on the street before it gets dark

of course, i'm frequently tempted to re-write whole passages in the style of enid blyton, but i'd better read all twelve volumes first ...














martin creed's co-mmission at tate britain












by great good fortune, i was able to finish work soon enough to watch some of martin creed's runners strut their stuff through the old tate gallery this afternoon ... this sort of thing gives us beginners a great opportunity to mess around with the picture editor when we get home ... instead of hoovering and dusting and polishing our medallions