31 October 2012 - Famous Quotes - Mother Teresa


Copyright - Clancy Tucker (c)


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MOTHER TERESA


Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1979


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I have a few heroes that have inspired me over the years. Today I introduce one of them - Mother Teresa. In 1974 I spotted her in Bombay airport and took a chance to meet here. I'm very tall and she was tiny. However, not a word was said between us as I extended my hand. We shook hands and the wonderful woman smiled and blessed herself.  Over the years I have read much about her and have been impressed not only by her work, but her selfless attitude. How did she get around the world? Well, it is commonly known that she would approach airline staff at any airport and ask for the manager. Naturally, people knew who she was and she was soon led to the manager's office. Calmly, she would ask, 'Sir, I need to go to ... can you help?' That's how she worked. And, she apparently only travelled with a small bag which contained a set of rosary beads, a prayer book and a pad and pen - that's all. Above all, she did not care if you were a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Leper or sinner.


Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.


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Nobel Peace Prize Medallion


Mother Teresa was supposedly born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26th, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.


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Mother Teresa waited quite some time to speak to the pope about her plans. Can you imagine the pope's thoughts when a tiny woman from Macedonia asked to be sent to Calcutta to help the poor?  However, on October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. In 1965 the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI. The rest is well-documented history.

NOTABLE QUOTES


"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.


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If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

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Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.


Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.

Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

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Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Peace begins with a smile.

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given.

If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work."

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Pax vobiscum


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Clancy's comment: Mother Teresa made it  all the way to September of 1997, then died the night before Princess Diana’s funeral. The gun carriage that carried Mahatma Ghandi and Nehru’s bodies was used to carry Mother Theresa to a service in Netaji Stadium. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets. Guests included Hillary Clinton (she was in the neighborhood, with Diana just the week before), Spain’s Queen Sofia, Italy’s President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Jordan’s Queen Noor and India’s President K. R. Narayanan and Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.


I have an expression I often use, 'Anyone can write a cheque. The most expensive gift you can offer is yourself.' Mm ... one can only step back, take a deep breath and wonder when will the next Mother Teresa appear.


Loved ya work, Mother Teresa ... loved ya work! - CT



I'm Clancy Tucker.


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Two famous women: one a princess, the other a saint. Sadly, both have left us.

30 October 2012 - Rune Woodman - Guest Author


Copyright Clancy Tucker (c)


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Quote of the day:

"Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well."


Lord Chesterfield


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Rune Woodman


- Guest Author


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G'day guys,


Today I introduce a very talented Australian author from Sydney who deserves success - Rune Woodman. Rune, along with an amazing artist, Jyoti Di Cola, have collaborated to produce some fine work. Welcome, Rune. Tell us more.


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TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.

I have always written. I imagine that’s a common element between writers. The first story I remember writing was about a polar bear that had travelled too far south. He got too hot and had to be airlifted back home. That was written in primary school, grade 4, in hot and sunny Queensland. I knew nothing about polar bears, but I did know that I didn’t like the heat – perhaps the polar bear was me.

Ever since then I’ve been writing.

My parents were involved in sport and would often be away on weekends. Sometimes they would be out of town and not get home until late, so I’d make some biscuits for them and leave them on the table with a story about what I’d done during the day. With each new paragraph the tale would become more fascinating, more exciting and further from the truth.

In my early twenties I was surrounded by talented and artistic people. With their encouragement I decided that I would try to write for a living. It was difficult because I like to spend money and I love interaction with other people but as a writer I was earning nothing and my only companion was a typewriter. I was too afraid to share my writing with friends and rejection letters were abstract and distant.

My desire to communicate and my ability to understand this new Windows Operating System led me to a job in software and hardware support. It was a job that allowed me to tell stories all day and has become a career that has lasted 20 years. I work as a test manager for software development projects – ensuring that the products don’t break when they reach the customer’s desktop.

Through that twenty year career I have also written and written and written. I can’t stop.

WERE YOU A GOOD READER AS A KID?

I think I was. I loved reading. One of the most enjoyable books from by childhood was ‘The Bottersnikes and Gumbles’. It was about fictitious creatures that live in the Australian Bush.

Books were often birthday presents. One of the most memorable books came on my seventh birthday, a picture book with lots of words – ‘Urashima Taro’. It tells the story of a young fisherman who saves the life of a turtle. Later the turtle saves Urashima Taro from a hurricane by taking him into and underwater world of impossible beauty.

A few years later I discovered ‘I, Robot’, ‘Dracula’ and then ‘1984’.

Sometimes, when really bored, I read the dictionary – but my spelling it still terrible.

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?

I’d like to think that I became a writer back in Grade 4 with the story about that polar bear. I think I was always a writer, or at least I was always a story teller. In my twenties and thirties friends, when introducing me to someone new, would say, “This is Rune, he’s a writer.”


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Jyoti Di Cola (artist) and Rune (author)


WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?


Daydreaming is an essential part of my job description. I can look out the window and explore ideas. By doing that I get to meet new people, go to new places and take part in interesting events all of which exist only in my mind.

I also enjoy the spark of a moment when an idea turns into a story. One day I was driving in heavy traffic on the way to work. I knew that something was about to happen because my mind was a mess of wandering thoughts. The traffic broke and I got to drive forward for about fifty metres. At the end of the fifty metres the thoughts had found order and I had an idea for a story. It was like I’d driven through a giant vacuum cleaner that had sucked all of the rubbish out of my head and left behind the good stuff.

I then frantically steered my way out of the traffic so I could park the car and put the idea onto paper before I forgot it. That was in my old car. My new car has hands-free Bluetooth for my phone so I can keep driving while I call myself and leave messages.

Now that The Ordinary Animals is published I really enjoy knowing that my book is being read by other people.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

Rejection. I’ve had so much rejection that I’ve come to expect it, but that doesn’t make it any easier and now I don’t know how to accept praise. I often feel that everyone else is so much more talented than me - then I start to reject myself. It’s a bit like, early in The Ordinary Animals, when Albert feels that everyone has magic except for him. Then it turns out that he might be the only one who has the magic and he doesn’t even realise it.

WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME A WRITER?

I’d like to think that in a past life, before this life, I was embarrassingly rich and never did a day’s work.

For this life it’s been software development mostly. Before that I was a number of things, a book-shelver in a library, a qualified boiler attendant, a general hand in an industrial laundry, a door to door encyclopaedia sales person, a cleaner with specialist skills in buffing ballroom floors (I made them so slippery that everyone who danced fell over). I did some acting, attempted modelling, tried my hand a singing, teaching and gardening. In the 1980s I spent a lot of time acid-washing jeans and sand-washing silk.

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Rune at Maryborough State High School Library


WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?

I want to list two. First - two poems, called ‘The Something-or-other’ and ‘The Night Crawler’. I entered these poems into the 1992 (or was it the 1993) New South Wales Writers’ Centre Poetry Cup. All entries had to be read by the author in front of an audience and the judges. I’m not sure if the achievement was in the writing of the poems or in having the courage to stand up in front of a group of strangers and read them out. Both are children’s poems that require a certain amount of acting ability to be able to pull off in front of an audience. My acting ability is very limited, but I did win second place so the poems must have been alright.

The other achievement has to be The Ordinary Animals. I spent seven years writing it while renovating a house, working on time absorbing jobs, passing several killer kidney stones, living with kidney failure, having a kidney transplant and going through months of recovery. With that many distractions it seems more miracle than achievement that The Ordinary Animals is finally complete.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?

I’m working on about 35 different projects. There are some that are more prominent on my calendar than others. I’ve completed the audiobook of The Ordinary Animals and I’m in the final stages of getting that released through audible.com. The eBook is on the way too.

I have a weekly commitment to write The Oliver Files. Oliver is a character from The Ordinary Animals. The Files are 12 short stories based on Oliver’s early days as an amateur detective while he was in high school. New episodes are added every Thursday night.

I am also finalising the plots for the two remaining Ordinary Animals books and working on a fourth book called ‘i am the kinG’ – which is not related to The Ordinary Animals.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

It doesn’t take much to inspire me to write new stories – a sunny day, a cloud, oxygen in my lungs.


WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?

The Ordinary Animals is a children’s fantasy and I will continue to write in that genre.

Someday I’d like write science fiction – I’ve always had a burning desire to create one of those stories where most of the human race is killed off and the survivors go on to build a better world (or perhaps not build a better world).

I also write drama for adults, but I get emotionally involved with my characters and it hurts me when something bad happens to them. I once wrote a story that included a scene where a woman committed suicide. For days I knew that I had to write the scene but kept putting it off. Eventually I ran out of other things to write and her final moments were all that was left.

My work room was in the attic. The house was high on a hill and overlooked a park. It was summer and I had the windows open. The character jumped from a tall building and as her feet lifted from the concrete a cool change blew through the attic. The wind blew as I wrote and cried. Finally my character landed, half on the grass, half in the gutter, and died. Then the window nearest my desk slammed shut. I was a complete mess for the rest of the day.

Writing fantasy is much more fun.

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DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?

Never give up!

I gave up writing so many times that I feel I’ve wasted years. Of course, writing always came back to me but I often wonder where I’d be now if, when I was back in my early twenties, I’d continued writing instead of going off to support software. How many books would I have written by now?

Keep writing. Keep learning. Have the courage that I didn’t have to let other people read your work so you can learn and become a better writer. Then write some more.

DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?

I haven’t had a problem with it yet. If I do become stuck with something I’ve always got lots of other projects I can turn to as a distraction, to clear my head.

I don’t like to start a story if I don’t know the first sentence. If the sentence doesn’t come to me while I’m working out the plot or getting to know the characters I’ll go and do something else – gardening or walking usually get the brain going. When the sentence comes I write it down as quickly as possible and then all of the other words start to flow.

DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?

I’m not a morning person, but I generally start working around 7:30 or 8am. While I’m eating my breakfast I have a look at emails from overnight and see if there’s anything I need to reply to, read the paper and review my journal. My journal is less like a diary and more like a work list. I look at what I didn’t get done yesterday and work out if I can get it done today. Then I work out what else needs to be done and write it all down. I never complete everything on the list. After that I try to get some exercise then get myself ready for the day (shower etc.).

For the rest of the morning and up to about 1pm I like to write. I like to edit in the afternoons, but I only edit work from previous days. When that’s done I go back to writing, or procrastinating – that’s my real talent. Around 6pm I stop and get dinner ready and if I’m feeling inspired or under the hammer I might do two or three more hours of writing at night.

When I’m writing I don’t like to take days off, but I’m generally forced to get out of the house once a week.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE?

Where I live now I have a room that faces the street and the front garden, that’s where I like to work. The street is a dead end so there’s little traffic and the garden, once a patch of grass, is full of Australian native trees, shrubs and vines. During the day I like to watch as different birds come by and do their thing. When the finches come through in the late afternoon I know it’s almost time to start dinner. It sounds idyllic, but I should also point out that I live two doors down from a major motorway and on the other side of that is a train line and my house is in the middle of suburbia.

I also have a favourite editing place – in my car. When editing full copies of The Ordinary Animals, I’d print out the manuscript, jump in my car and drive. Sometimes I’d end up in the middle of a national park, other times I’d be at Bondi beach or Manly. When I find a place I like I park the car and start editing; the steering wheel becomes my desk.

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WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?

There are so many joys

I love typing a sentence really quickly while looking out the window and not at the keyboard. It’s a joyous moment if I can do that without any mistakes.

I get a lot of joy from discovering who my characters are. Working on the audiobook for The Ordinary Animals I learnt a lot about one of the characters. She only has one scene. When I wrote it I thought she came across as weak and defenceless. In re-writes I tried to make her more courageous but if she was too plucky the scene wouldn’t have worked. When I was recording her part for the audiobook I still worried about that balance. On listening back I realised that she was tougher than I had thought and definitely capable of taking care of herself, not the victim I worried she might have become. That was a wonderful thing to learn.

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?

I like so many things that I’m not the sort of person who has favourites.

The authors I’ve read (and re-read) most are HG Welles, George Orwell, Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov – mostly science fiction in that list. But, I really enjoyed ‘Marilyn’s Almost Terminal New York Adventure’ by Justine Ettler, ‘My Blue Heaven’ by Joe Keenan, ‘The Stars’ Tennis Balls’ by Stephen Fry (I’ve read most of his books, perhaps he’s my favourite) and the Dr Who books about the Eight doctor (got about 20).

As for children’s authors I’ve always enjoyed work by Colin Thele (the only author who came to my primary school) and Patricia Wrightson (especially ‘The Nargun and the Stars’).

I don’t know why I read work by those authors, probably because they make me laugh, or they make me think.

WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?

“I’ve read your book!”

What a day that was, I was visiting a school and there was a girl who’d already read The Ordinary Animals. She was so excited that I became excited and we jumped up and down with joy.

WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?

I was lucky enough to have someone senior at a very large, New York based, publishing house request to read an early version of the full manuscript of The Ordinary Animals. I sent it off and impatiently awaited the response, which I expected would be something along the lines of, “We love your book, it’s going into print tomorrow and here’s a cheque for eighty million dollars so you can go off and spend the rest of your life writing more of this delightful magnificence.”

The response was, “Thank you for sending your manuscript. We will not be pursuing it for publication.” But that wasn’t the worst bit. The worst bit came when I emailed them asking if I could make changes to it, to fix it, and submit it again.

The response to that email was along the lines of, “There are so many problems that it can’t be fixed.”

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WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?

Yes I am, but the degree of influence varies.

Albert, from The Ordinary Animals, and I have little in common. In fact we’re almost opposites in every way. He’s small for his age, I was always the tallest person in my school. He’s bullied, I never was. Kids make fun of his name and use it to hurt him, my name, though unusual for Australia, was too short to be used as a weapon. Despite our differences we do have one thing in common, childhood frustration. Albert is frustrated by the bullying, I was frustrated by the rules. Albert is luckier than I was, I’ve put him in a situation where he can do something about his frustration. The influence is there but in a subtle way.

I have another book that is mostly written, but on hold for a few years, about a group of people who work in a factory. I’ve worked in factories and there are very real situations and events from my life that show up in that book.

After my transplant last year I expect that one day I might come up with a character who hates being in hospital as much as I do but I don’t think he will have had a transplant. His problem will be something much more interesting.

HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED?

The Ordinary Animals is my first book. When I started writing in I thought I only had one children’s book in me. After finishing it I planned to write adult books, about murder, science fiction and so on. As I was writing The Ordinary Animals I realised that it was going to take three books to tell Albert’s story. I also have rough plots for 6 other children’s books and I have ideas for at least 6 more.

It took me seven years to write The Ordinary Animals. I hope that it only takes one year to write the next one. So, if you ask me that question again in 10 years I might be working on my 12th book.

HAVE YOU WON ANY PRIZES OR AWARDS?

No, just that second place for my two poems twenty years ago, oh, and second prize in a beauty contest while playing Monopoly – but that doesn’t count, right?

WHAT DID THEY MEAN TO YOU?

The beauty prize meat I had a few more dollars so I could buy Mayfair. The prize for the poems meant a lot to me, but I didn’t make anything of it, I didn’t know how. The contest was held on a Saturday and Sunday. The winners were announced on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning I got up and went back to my job, told a few friends and that was the end of it.

I’ve written about two poems since. I should have written more.

OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?

The kidney that my partner donated to me so I didn’t have to die is pretty high on the list. My partner is at the top, of course.

I really love cooking. It’s my worst habit, that and gardening.

When I was sick with kidney failure I stopped reading books (aside from my own). It was one of the many things that became too hard to do. I missed it. I’ve only just started reading again and I love it.

DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?

My book was published through Little Steps which is part of, the more traditional publisher, New Frontier. The book went through the same process as any New Frontier published book. It was edited by their editors, typeset and designed by their designers.

I also sent the book for assessment by Virginia Lowe at Create a Kids’ Book (www.createakidsbook.com.au). Virginia pointed out the obvious problems that had become invisible to me. She taught me a lot about writing and helped to clean up the plot so I could see what was missing. Her criticism and praise gave me courage to keep going.

IF YOU HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

Be nice to each other. That’s such a beauty pageant answer, but really, if the whole world was listening to me that would be my advice. Be nice to each other.

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.

It would be winter, there would be a gentle breeze, the sky would be blue but there would be some morning frost puddles begging to be jumped on. But I wouldn’t jump on them. I would go back inside, turn on the heater, find something caramel flavoured to eat and watch movies.

Look at that, another beauty pageant answer.

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WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST ASSETS AS A WRITER?

I’m fast. Even though it took seven years to finish The Ordinary Animals, the first draft was 21 chapters long and took 21 days to write. If I get my editing skills up to the same standard I could be putting out a book a month. Can you imagine how bad they would be?

To me my characters are real. They all have a past, a present and a future (that goes beyond the story), they have motivation, worries, family, flaws, and so on. Because of this realism I hope you, the reader, feel that you are experiencing real lives too. In turn that should also make the fantasy elements feel real. If I’ve achieved that reality, within the fantasy, then I’d be happy to say that it’s one of my greatest assets as a writer.

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE PERSON, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE? WHY?

Okay. If I were stuck on a desert Island with one person I wouldn’t care who they are just as long as they love to fish and hate to cook.

The reasons are – a person stuck on a desert island who loves to fish will fill their days with fishing and catching many delicious fish. And if that person doesn’t like to cook then it will be my duty do the cooking so I can rightly claim a share of the food. That way we might both survive until rescued.

Now, to survive in style we’d need a third person who can’t fish or cook, but knows how to make vodka out of coconuts.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?

Generally: more writing.


Specifically: Ideally finish The Ordinary Animals series soon, write all of my other books shortly after then perhaps write a series of Dr Who, write several screenplays for big budget animated movies and earn lots of acclaim and money.


Oh, and do something that results in everlasting world peace.


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Important links for Rune:


www.theordinaryanimals.com


www.facebook.com/theordinaryanimals


Clancy's comment: Thanks, Rune. Now find something caramel-flavoured, chill out and watch a movie - CT.


I'm ...






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New book trailer for 'Gunnedah Hero'


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPVEpan_Yxk&feature=youtu.be


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29 October 2012 - Great Wall of China


Copyright Clancy Tucker (c)


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Quote of the day:

"Life is like a box of chocolates.


You never know what you’re gonna get."


Forrest Gump


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The Great Wall of China


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G'day guys,


Wow, what an amazing world. Today I feature one of many significant structures found around the world - the Great Wall of China.


Great Wall of China is an ancient Chinese fortification built and rebuilt between the V century AC and the sixteenth century to protect the northern border of the Chinese empire during the successive dynasties of imperial attacks xiongnu nomads of Mongolia and Manchuria.

Not counting its ramifications and secondary buildings, covered 6400 km from the border with South Korea at the edge of the Yalu River to the Gobi Desert along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but today only one is kept 30% of it. The average is 6 to 7 meters and 4 to 5 meters wide. Ming in his heyday, he was guarded by more than a million warriors.

The wall was named a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1987. Much of the Great Wall is reputed to be the largest cemetery in the world. Approximately 10 million workers who died during construction. They were not buried in the wall itself but in its immediate vicinity.


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On 7/7/2007 the Wall of China was named as one of the winners on the list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.


In the eighth century a. C., at the beginning of the period known as spring and fall, China is still a feudal system, the territory is divided into hundreds of fiefdoms run by princes or states, in theory, all gathered under the Zhou Dynasty kings. But over time, they were annexed by the feudal princes great principalities formed in the sixth century a. C. some were Chu and Wu, China was rapidly fragmented into several independent kingdoms: the beginning of the Realm Fighters.

By then, several states are committed to building walls to protect their neighbors and foreign peoples. Thus, about V century a. C. The state of Qi began building a wall, some parts are still standing. In the mid-fourth century a. C. The state of Wei began building a wall on its western border, close to Qi, and a second wall on its eastern border. She was followed by the states of Yan and Zhao.

Commonly, the technique used for the walls was layers of soil a few centimeters are packed one on top of another. Wooden boards were removed, leaving a wall of earth. This method could quickly develop solid walls that can withstand centuries.

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In the year 221 a. C., Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China is establishing the Qin Dynasty. Intended to impose a central government and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the walls that divided his empire along the former border. After the attacks of the Xiongnu tribes in the north, sent General Meng Tian to ensure that the defeat of the Xiongnu, and then launch the construction of a wall beyond the Yellow River to better protect new territories conquered by connecting the remaining fortifications along the new northern border. The transport of a large amount of materials needed for construction was difficult, so the builders used local resources such as stones in the construction of rammed earth and the mountains to the construction in the plains.

There are no historical records indicating the exact length and layout of the wall in the Qin dynasty, but in spite of the debate among historians and the absence of historical events, the Great Wall built by the Qin dynasty remains in the popular imagination as a Chinese colossal work with the nickname "Wall of ten thousand li" (5 760 km in the value of li Qin Dynasty).

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210 a. C., Emperor Qin Shi Huang Qin Dynasty died and who survived founded a few years. In the 202 a. C., Liu Bang, a former soldier of peasant origin who was a teacher in China and was proclaimed emperor under the name Han Gaozu. Weakened by their previous war of succession against General Xiang Yu, Gaozu leaves the maintenance of the Wall of Qin era, as the Xiongnu, now united in a confederation were threatening across the border, Gaozu, rather than adopting a offensive using the walls as well as Qin Shi Huang, is trying to achieve peace with honors and a "harmonious union" or heqin, ie the supply of Chinese princesses for the heads Xiongnu. For several decades, his successors will do the same. However, the Great Wall is not completely abandoned: under the rule of Emperor Han Wudi it recommends the establishment of borders tuntian (types of military-agricultural settlements) protected by small walls to colonize the region and prevent the Xiongnu raids.

In 134 a. C. the status quo between the Chinese and the Xiongnu was broken, unlike his ancestors, wudi have decided to take an offensive against the Xiongnu confederation and started in 129 a. C. a first offense, followed by many others. Wudi connected and restored portions of the Wall of the Qin Dynasty and then spread across what became the Silk Road. 119 a. C., the Xiongnu are expelled through the Gobi desert in Inner Mongolia, and a new section of wall, 400 km long was built and is kept current.

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In year 9 d. C., the Han dynasty is overshadowed by the short-lived Xin Dynasty, before being restored to 23 d. C. by Emperor Shi di Geng faced a civil war and when the Emperor Guang Wudi ascended the throne two years later, his army is too weak to effectively contain the Xiongnu. He ordered the construction of four new walls to halt their advance and protect the capital. Finally, about 48, the Xiongnu experienced infighting and divided into two groups: Xiongnu Northern Xiongnu and the South. Serve the southern Xiongnu buffer between their counterparts in northern China and was willing to coexist with them. At the end of the Han dynasty, China was divided into three kingdoms, separated by borders, making the construction and maintenance of large walls irrelevant.

While some parts north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in many places the wall is in poor condition. The parties have served as a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. The sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism. Has been destroyed, because it is in the way of construction. No comprehensive survey of the wall has been carried out, so it is not possible to say how much of it survives, especially in remote areas.

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Over 60 kilometers of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years due to erosion from sandstorms. In places, the height of the wall has been reduced from over five meters to less than two meters. The lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared completely. Many western sections of wall were built from mud, rather than brick and stone, and are therefore more susceptible to erosion.

Clancy's comment: What can I say? Centuries later, humans are still building walls, moats and fences to keep people out. On that very subject, do you know what a zoo is? It's a great place for animals to observe humans. You get my point.

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28 October 2012 - Lewis Carroll - Famous Guest


Copyright Clancy Tucker (c)


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Quote of the day:

"Not everything that looks good is good.


Do not be envious or jealous of others seemingly greater fortune.


For it may be exactly that seemingly greater when sorrows come,


they come not single spies, but in battalions."


William Shakespeare


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Lewis Carroll




- Famous Guest





27 January 1832 - 14 January 1898


United Kingdom


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G'day guys,


Today I offer you some insights into a famous writer with many talents - Lewis Carroll. Too often we read books of famous authors, but know little about them as people. I've found that many famous and infamous people had skills that no one knew of. This guy was also a photographer and mathematician. Did you know that? I didn't until quite recently.


Morning, Mr. Carroll ...


Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician and photographer, who authored the famous novel Alice?s Adventures In Wonderland and its sequel Through The Looking-Glass. His writing has enchanted readers of every age and class; and his word play, logic and fantasy have overjoyed people ranging from children to the cream of the crop of the literary world. The great artist has influenced many others with his exemplary work in the modern art and culture.


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Childhood & Early Years



Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on 27 January 1832 in Cheshire, England and was the oldest boy of his parents. His father Charles Dodgson was a conservative clergyman of the Anglican Church and a supporter of Anglo-Catholicism.

In 1843, their family moved to the Croft Rectory in Richmond shire, North Yorkshire. Young Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was educated at home until the age of twelve, when he was sent to a private school nearby Richmond. In 1846, he moved to Rugby School where he excelled in academy throughout, especially in mathematics. As a child, Lewis took keen interest in literature and read such authors as William Shakespeare John Ruskin, Charles Dickens and Lord Alfred Tennyson. He began writing short stories for his family magazine at a very young age. Though he never was a hard worker, success came to him easily because of his exceptional sharpness and intellect.

He left the school after three years in 1849 and after a gap of few years, enrolled into Christ Church, Oxford in 1851. However, he had to return immediately, after his mother died of what was believed to be a stroke, at the age of forty seven. Lewis’s pursuit of education would often be challenged by many other disruption and diversions in the coming times too, which would not only affect his consistency but also his physical and mental health.

Exceptionally gifted he was, he followed in his father’s footprints and won many prizes for excellence in math. In 1852, he was awarded a first Honor Moderations and soon after he was nominated to a studentship. Lewis earned his B.A. degree in 1854 with a first class honors in math, and second in classics. In 1857, he graduated with an M.A. His determination to succeed and talent as a mathematician won him the Mathematical Lectureship at Oxford in 1856 where he worked till 1881.

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Lewis as an Author



Lewis, as a child, wrote many short stories and poems that often were humorous and mocking in nature. Initially he wrote them out of passion and as a contribution to his family magazine Mischmasch, but later he began sending them for publications in various magazines. After initial moderate success, his work began to mark their place in the national publications such as The Comic Times and The Train. In 1856, his first work, a romantic poem- Solitude was published under his name which became his first landmark success.


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Alice



While at Oxford, Lewis became acquaintance with the new dean Henry Liddell’s wife Lorina and their family who came at Christ Church in the year 1856. The couple became great friends with Lewis, who had grown attached to their children Harry, Lorina, Edith and Alice and often entertained them with his jokes and stories. Dodgson, who clearly had affection for small children, took them on expeditions very often, and pictured them in his painting and photographs.

The couple’s daughter Alice grew closer to him in particular; to whom he had first cited the story of what later became a famous book Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. Alice Liddell urged him to pen down the story and he eventually presented her with a handwritten manuscript of the book in 1864. The book was finally published under his authorship in 1865 and became the milestone success in his writing career.

The awe-inspiring success of the book made him a much sought after author around the world with a large number of fans. There are many who believe that Alice of his real life appears as the main character of the book, however, Lewis never encouraged this conjecture. In 1872, a sequel of the book was published as Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. His father’s death in 1868 left him depressed in the depth of despair.


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Lewis Dodgson as Photographer



Photography was one of his great interests which he first took up in 1856 under the influence of his uncle and later a friend Reginald Southey became his mentor. His work mainly consist nude photographs of small children, most of them illustrating young girls. His studies of nude children have inflamed countless rumors and controversies that keep surfacing till this day. Dodgson also studied other such subjects as men, dolls, dogs, statues, paintings, trees and old men and made portraits of eminent persons such as Julia Margret Cameron, Michael Faraday Millais and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. He was considered one of the best photographers in his times that influenced and set exemplary for the modern art photographers. Dodgson abandoned photography in 1880 for unknown reasons.

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Controversies about the Priesthood



By the social standards of that time, it was necessary for Lewis to take priesthood (holy orders) to stay at the Christ Church within four years of completing his M.A. However, he requested the dean Liddell to hold the orders citing his inability to accept the priesthood. In normal conditions, it might have taken away his job, but Liddell exempted him from this obligation for unknown reasons. Later it was found in his diaries that Lewis considered himself unworthy of the priesthood, however, scholars have raise doubts at this as a reason, in whose opinion, Lewis had some personal interests that forbid him to take the holy orders.

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Later Years and Death



Lewis left teaching at Christ Church in year 1881; however, he remained in the residence until his death. He wrote a novel Sylvie and Bruno in 1889, which became his last novel. However, the reception of the book was lukewarm. Lewis Carroll caught a pneumonia which turned out to be severe influenza, and died on 14 January 1898. His body is buried in Guildford at the Mount Cemetery.

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Lewis Carroll Timeline:




1832- Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on 27 January 1832.

1843- His family moved to the Croft Rectory in Richmond shire, North Yorkshire.

1846- Lewis Carroll moved to Rugby School.

1849- He left the school after three years in 1849.

1851- He enrolled into Christ Church, Oxford in 1851.

1852- He was awarded a first Honor Moderations.

1854- Lewis earned his B.A. degree with a first class honors in math.

1856- He received Mathematical Lectureship at Oxford in 1856.

1856- His first work, a romantic poem- ‘Solitude’ was published under his name.

1856- He first took up photography in 1856.

1857- He graduated with an M.A.

1865- The book Alice’s adventures in wonderland’ was finally published under his authorship in 1865.

1872- A sequel of the book was published as ‘Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There’.

1880- Dodgson abandoned photography in 1880.

1881- Lewis left teaching at Christ Church in year 1881.

1889- He wrote his last novel ‘Sylvie and Bruno’ in 1889.

1898- Lewis Carroll died on 14 January 1898.



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Clancy's comment: Thanks for the memories Mr. Carroll.





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27 October 2012 - Rico Lamoureux - Guest Author


Copyright Clancy Tucker (c)


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Quote of the day:

"You learn from the journey


and trying to get where you want to go.


Actually arriving is not what it’s all about."


William Shakespeare


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Rico Lamoureux


- Guest Author


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G'day guys,


Today I introduce an author with an interesting tale to tell - Rico Lamoureux. Ten years ago Rico Lamoureux left behind everything he ever knew and headed for the other side of the world in the name of love. Never could he have imagined what lay ahead. Faced with overwhelming obstacles under Third World conditions, he refused to return home without his soul mate and therefore remains among the harsh environment he describes as “the complete opposite of the Land of Opportunity.”

With so many years having passed, Rico’s unwavering American spirit has kept him going strong, now using his passion for storytelling to pave the way towards a better future. As he says, “I’m writing my way back home, one pen stroke at a time.”

 Welcome, Rico. Tell us more about your journey and work.


WERE YOU A GOOD READER AS A KID?

I fell in love with reading while in the sixth grade and have been happily married to the written word ever since. It was during a school contest, where you had to read as many books as you could. I never imagined it would one day lead me to becoming an author of my own books!

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WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

The power it has to move people. To tell great stories, that might even open eyes to new perspectives.

WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME A WRITER?

I was a struggling Music Video Artist, armed with nothing more than a cellphone camera as I fought for opportunity. Music is one of the few universal things we have, and I loved combining just the right visuals to where the two became one. But the industry is based on who you know, so my six degrees of separation ended up being a few degrees too short I guess!

 WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?


I consider two of my writing achievements to be of equal importance when it comes to being the greatest so far. The first was becoming a published author. That first book contract was a representation of two and a half decades of putting pen to paper. And the second was writing my autobiography. Sharing the story of my diverse life. How my achievement of becoming a published author came to be.


 WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?


I’m nearing the end of my third novella, Starving for Genius. Sometimes dark, sometimes thrilling, the main character has taken me on a roller coaster ride as he’s teetered between brilliance and madness. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the journey, and believe my readers will as well.


 WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?


I call the genre I write Erotic Substance. It’s a genre that allows me to visit any subgenre I wish. Drama. Horror. You name it. Story and character always come first, and just as in real life, human sexuality also comes into play. Not to be mistaken with ‘smut’, ‘porn’, or ‘dirty books’, I write stories that engage, arouse, and enlighten. I write Erotic Substance.


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 WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?

I’ve studied a number of different art forms. Filmmaking. Acting. Music. Martial arts. And to me, writing, storytelling, is among the best of them. I feel that same inner peace. That same blissful middle path between logic and creativity. This is my greatest joy in writing. And to know others take joy in reading my work, my artistry, completes my nirvana.

 WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?


Absolutely. And I think it will be fun for readers to pick my brain by reading my autobiography and correlating it with the novellas I write.


 HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED?


So far, two, with a third on the way from my publisher, and my fourth to be turned in in the coming weeks.


 DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?


All my novellas are professionally edited, with me giving final approval before the formatting stage. As for my autobiography, since I self-published it, I also did the editing. It was important for me to have my life story told in a conversational style, and since no one knows how I talk better than myself, I was the best man for the job.


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IF YOU HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?


Actually, I believe I have the opportunity to speak to the world every time I write a book. Through characters, through story, I believe I’m providing readers the opportunity to walk in another’s shoes. To gain insight. To experience diversity. And from my perspective, that’s what life is all about!


 WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST ASSETS AS A WRITER?


My diverse collection of life experiences, as well as my love for storytelling.


 WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?


I’m currently in an underdeveloped country, and as an American, I didn’t truly realize how great I had it back home until I left it all behind for love.


 A decade older, a decade wiser, I’m hoping for the opportunity to return home, with my wife, in the near future.


 It took my whole world being turned upside down to realize what I was meant to do in this life. And ever since, I’ve never let a day go by without putting pen to paper.


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Rico's contact points:


Website: http://www.ricolamoureux.com/


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Facebook: http://facebook.com/RicoLamoureux


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Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RicoLamoureux


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Rico's books for sale:


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Six Degrees of SeXparation:


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Power of the Pen: 


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Clancy's comment: Thanks, Rico. Wow, that's some journey. Share your passion for writing, man. Keep going. Love ya work! - CT.


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Email me if you wish to subscribe


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26 October 2012 - Michael Henry Heim


Copyright Vicki Tyley (c)


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Quote of the day:

"It is better to bite your tongue


than let it bite someone else."


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Michael Henry Heim


- Special Guest


G'day guys,


Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to a man with great gifts - Michael Henry Heim. Mr Heim, a well regarded scholar of Slavic languages at UCLA known for his translations of works by Gunter Grass, Milan Kundera, Thomas Mann and Anton Chekhov, has died. He was 69.


Fluent in six languages -- Czech, French, German, Italian, Russian and Serbian/Croatian -- and possessing a reading knowledge of six more, Heim had taught at UCLA since 1972 and served as chairman of the Slavic languages department from 1999 to 2003.

Among his best-known translations are Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” from the Czech original, Grass’ “My Century” and “Peeling the Onion” from German, a 2004 translation of Mann’s “Death in Venice” from German and a 1975 collection of Chekhov’s letters from Russian.

Born Jan. 21, 1943, in New York, Heim attended Columbia University, where he studied as an undergraduate under Gregory Rabassa, who translated Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” He received his doctorate in Slavic languages from Harvard.

“A good translation will allow a person who has read the work in the original and a person who has read the work in translation to have an intelligent conversation about it,” Heim said in a 2001 profile in The Times while explaining how he approached his task.

“The reader must believe he or she is reading a work in French or Japanese and yet be reading it in English. That’s the real paradox.”

Mr. Heim donated $734,000 to the PEN Translation Fund that helps support translations of foreign language works. Heim and his wife, Priscilla, established the PEN fund in 2003 and gave the money anonymously. The PEN American Center, of which Heim was a longtime member, announced Wednesday that he and his wife were the benefactors.

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Employment



PROFESSOR,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of California at Los Angeles, July 1986 - present.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of California at Los Angeles, July 1979 - June 1986.
VISITING ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University, September 1985 - January 1986.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of California at Los Angeles, July 1972 - June 1979.
VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of California at Berkeley, September 1977 - June 1978.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Wisconsin at Madison, September 1970 - June 1972.

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Education



  • Harvard University, M.A., Ph.D., Slavic Languages and Literatures, September 1964 - June 1970. M.A., June 1966. Ph.D. February 1971.

  • Columbia College, A.B. magna cum laude, Oriental Studies. June 1964. Phi Beta Kappa.


Dissertation


Trediakovskij, Sumarokov, and Lomonosov as Translators of European Literature



Languages



  • Fluent: Czech, French, German, Italian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian

  • Reading Knowledge: Danish, Hungarian, Latin, Slovak, Romanian, Spanish.


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Professional Interests



  • Literature: Czech, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian (Eighteenth Century; Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Prose), Serbian

  • Comparative Literature

  • Translation: Contemporary and classical prose and drama

  • Translation Studies

  • Methodology of Foreign Language Teaching.


Courses Taught at UCLA


Language:
Introduction to Russian Prose (Lectures and Readings in Russian); Elementary Czech, Advanced Czech
Literature (Undergraduate):
Russian Civilization, Soviet Civilization, Survey of Nineteenth Century Russian Literature, Survey of Twentieth-Century Russian Literature, The Russian Novel, Russian Literature in the European Context, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Undergraduate Seminars (War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago), Survey Czech Literature, Interwar Central European Literature, Postwar Central European Literature.
Literature (Graduate):
Eighteenth-Century Russian Literature, Seminar in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature (Chekhov), Comparative Slavic Literature (Czech, Croatian, Serbian)

Dissertations Directed



  • Orphans as Metaphors in Soviet Literature

  • The Rise of the Russian Tendentious Novel

  • Exile in the Works of Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov


Selected Translations



  • Anton Chekhov's Life and Thought (University of California Press), The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard (various theaters in the US, Canada and England). From the Russian.

  • Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Knopf/Penguin), The Joke (Harper & Row/Penguin), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Harper & Row/Penguin), Jacques and His Master (Harper & Row/Penguin). From the Czech.

  • Bohumil Hrabal, The Death of Mr. Baltisberger (Doubleday), Too Loud a Solitude (Harcourt Brace), Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age (Harcourt Brace). From the Czech.

  • Vassily Aksyonov, The Island of Crimea, In Search of Melancholy Baby (Random House). From the Russian.

  • Henri Troyat, Chekhov (Dutton). From the French.

  • Danilo Kis, Encyclopedia of the Dead (Farrar Straus/Penguin), Early Sorrows (New Direcions). From the Serb.

  • Karel Capek, The White Plague, Talks with T.G. Masaryk (Catbird). From the Czech.

  • Sasha Sokolov, Astrophobia (Grove). From the Russian.

  • Péter Esterházy, Helping Verbs of the Heart (Grove). From the Hungarian.

  • Dubravka Ugresic, Fording the Stream of Consciousness (Northwestern). From the Croat.

  • Felix Roziner, A Certain Finkelmeyer (Norton/Northwestern). From the Russian.

  • Jan Neruda, Prague Tales (Chatto & Windus/CEU Press). From the Czech.

  • Eduard Uspensky, Uncle Fedya (Knopf). From the Russian.

  • Milos Crnjanski, Migrations (Harcourt Brace). From the Serb.

  • George Konrád, The Melancholy of Rebirth (Harcourt Brace). From the Hungarian

  • Bertold Brecht, The Wedding. (Produced at The Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles). From the German.

  • Josef Hirsal, A Bohemian Youth. (Northwestern). From the Czech.

  • Aleksandar Tisma, The Book of Blam. (Harcourt Brace). From the Serb.

  • Hans-Magnus Enzensberger. The Number Devil. (Henry Holt). From the German.

  • Günter Grass, My Century. (Harcourt Brace). From the German.


Books



  • The Russian Journey of Karel Havlícek Borovsky (Slavistische Beiträge, 1979).

  • Contemporary Czech (Slavica, 1982).

  • The Third Wave: Russian Literature in Emigration ([edited with Olga Matich] Ann Arbor 1984)

  • Un Babel fericit (Bucharest 1999).


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Awards



  • National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship

  • National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

  • Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship

  • Columbia University Translation Center Prize (Astrophbobia)

  • Hungarian Government Prize for Translation (The Flower Show)

  • American Literary Translators Association Prize (Migrations)

  • PEN America Center West Prize for Translation (A Bohemian Youth)

  • AATSEEL Prize for Service to the Field


Editorial Boards



  • Cross Currents

  • East European Politics and Society

  • Slavic and East European Journal

  • Writings from an Unbound Europe (Northwestern University Press)


Juries



  • National Endowment for the Humanities, Translation Panel

  • National Endowment for the Arts, Translation Panel (Chair)

  • PEN American Center, Translation Prize

  • German Government/Goethe-Institut Prize for Translation from German

  • Zerilli-Marimò Prize for Italian Fiction

  • Stephen Spender Memorial Trust


National and International Committees



  • American Council of Learned Societies, Joint Committee on Eastern Europe

  • Association for the Translation of Central European Literatures (Founder)


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Clancy's comment: Thank you Mr. Heim. Pax vobiscum - CT!

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