Tag Archives: John Keats

1941: A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Russell Lee: Candy stand run by Negro. Southside, Chicago, Illinois (1941) A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a … Continue reading

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1939: That Mighty Obstruction

Ernest Vincent Wright’s 1939 novel, Gadsby, was written without words that contain the letter “e.” Here is the opening: If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a … Continue reading

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1997: Translation / Transformation

In a 1997 essay on translation, the writer Harry Mathews cites Marcel Benabou’s version of Keats’s “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”: Ah, singe débotté, / Hisse un jouet fort et vert! It’s not quite a translation: the … Continue reading

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1967: I Show You This Nickel

Money an introductory lecture This morning we shall spend a few minutes Upon the study of symbolism, which is basic To the nature of money. I show you this nickel. Icons and cryptograms are written all over The nickel: one … Continue reading

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