tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76101370493594091752024-02-07T17:07:47.132-08:00Stephen Vizinczey's BlogStephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-7360402790008767692021-03-15T14:31:00.005-07:002021-03-15T14:31:30.276-07:00My view on King Lear play by Peter Brook<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I already made several videos about King Lear where one of
the videos you can see below.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 22.8267px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ3p_vZzkTI&t=1s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ3p_vZzkTI&t=1s</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I loathe directors who try improve masterpieces with the
passionate desire to reduce genius to their own mediocrity.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The greatest dramatic poet of the modern age
could use language to ignite our imagination so that we can see and feel
everything.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">King Lear asks a blinded
character how the world goes. “I see it feelingly” he replies.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">We see feelingly what Shakespeare describes.
Now the vile practices is to rape that language and our imagination by adding
words like “King Lear looks around.” But we already know that, and we know it
feelingly! So the only Shakespeare plays you should watch should be the
original BBC productions organised by entertainment in the early 1970s.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-8QxFT97om9Lm0Dwr4r87S_0XKGC628F3OxLKABWs5aNPFsoKKJL-T48klSE5-Y26ljW5BAt8a5LSwiSalAfyXIR0rOx_0aLU7U-7OgUVILGQ31XtJF1RMm7kicGj2Q3kuMZnAyWy_E/s334/King_Lear_Film.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-8QxFT97om9Lm0Dwr4r87S_0XKGC628F3OxLKABWs5aNPFsoKKJL-T48klSE5-Y26ljW5BAt8a5LSwiSalAfyXIR0rOx_0aLU7U-7OgUVILGQ31XtJF1RMm7kicGj2Q3kuMZnAyWy_E/s320/King_Lear_Film.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">At the time we were blessed with great actors and
directors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Laurence Olivier crowned his
long career and old age playing King Lear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Derek Jacobi’s Richard II, Kate Milligan in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Measure for Measure</i>, Helen Mirren (1978)
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As You Like It</i> are creations you
will never forget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One great advantage
of them all is that they have subtitles, so people do not miss a word while
watching the film. So instead of watching garbage television, it is best to
watch the original BBC productions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The great
versions of plays are the original production, which the BBC did with Time-Live
Magazine when the BBC head of entertainment</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The original productions with great actors and great expense
are the best Shakespeare productions possible and would greatly enhance every
viewer’s vocabulary and enjoyment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_K8Qq2iIa-PhtlhdaarZL30tHEK2_hv4kDDYiIRqHqmfWbIdXc8QslhrOFDmDYLlsfXhVlh3Q8xteXndUXk7zzsm-q0_9NENBIXxi6b6pMLdbI6B6vB0mp7SaGmrgANHjuyNp9m8Mixg/s1537/1200px-Shakespeare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1537" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_K8Qq2iIa-PhtlhdaarZL30tHEK2_hv4kDDYiIRqHqmfWbIdXc8QslhrOFDmDYLlsfXhVlh3Q8xteXndUXk7zzsm-q0_9NENBIXxi6b6pMLdbI6B6vB0mp7SaGmrgANHjuyNp9m8Mixg/s320/1200px-Shakespeare.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It’s not universally appreciated that the truths Shakespeare
writes about so universal and lasting that it dissolves into even other
languages and cultures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been in
Hungary’s national theatre on October 22<sup>nd</sup> 1956.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a long way from England and an even
longer way from the time of The War of the Roses (Richard III), yet the
performance was interrupted with strong clapping several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We felt Shakespeare was writing about our own
experience of tyranny and after the performance that the younger members of the
audience went out to the street to demonstrate, which later that night turned
into a revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It also reminds us that the greatest dramatic poet of the
modern age we ever had really became what he became from acting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an actor’s playwright, it often
happens that in his plays logic is abandoned for the sake of a great
scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The great characters in Measure
for Measure alter in the middle of the play and in the beginning the Lord
Angelo is given by the Duke the power of life and death yet in the second part
of the play we learn that the villain, Lord Angelo, in fact libelled and discarded
the rich woman he betrothed when he learned that her dowry was lost at sea.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It is still a great play despite the contradictions because
every scene is powerfully true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hamlet,
Richard II, King Lear and Twelfth Night along with several other of his plays
are free from contradictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plays
have no broken storylines, which made the author the greatest figure in
literature not only in English, but in many other languages and cultures.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDiBnmuXVsjTbsX60q6EO4o0QKKh_yVtUSrxSWiVqdQgXAvE9RDeKAXedBES6m076NMn05eM5nbPNK3VfDTEfokpHucd5TS2-a8mxKiwxqRdpsBVlNZECQyZmQaJdbBfJ_j1FoR3G54GQ/s2000/king_lear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDiBnmuXVsjTbsX60q6EO4o0QKKh_yVtUSrxSWiVqdQgXAvE9RDeKAXedBES6m076NMn05eM5nbPNK3VfDTEfokpHucd5TS2-a8mxKiwxqRdpsBVlNZECQyZmQaJdbBfJ_j1FoR3G54GQ/s320/king_lear.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Lear by Peter Brook</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: 16pt;">There is one exception: Peter Brook’s direction of the
play.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">He filmed the play with Paul
Scofield who was still a young man back in 1971.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Peter Brook was the most admired director
both in France and England at the time. For this version a youngish Paul
Scofield played King Lear. I watch this version once every year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-8230231832138168152021-02-16T12:23:00.004-08:002021-02-21T06:37:20.911-08:00The Pugachev Rebellion<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkC0XCyqrYeDpxPdNNS53m4CJHDar0GD8wWewjatSZGpQ93TLGS1exoJJcov0x6DCn5rTV4TRtmkRbdGB0mi2YLgRzQdjO-N1D-BDqr7aodBtYOs_2Cznw-VCcLzWcD0Jpc_7ejX8yejw/s266/Stephen+Vizinczey-2.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkC0XCyqrYeDpxPdNNS53m4CJHDar0GD8wWewjatSZGpQ93TLGS1exoJJcov0x6DCn5rTV4TRtmkRbdGB0mi2YLgRzQdjO-N1D-BDqr7aodBtYOs_2Cznw-VCcLzWcD0Jpc_7ejX8yejw/s0/Stephen+Vizinczey-2.JPG" /></a></div><br />I am working now on how common humanity breaks through even
enemy lines during the revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During
the Hungarian revolution of 1956 I led a group of fellow students (mainly from
the Theatre and Film Academy) and I brought them to my mother for breakfast in
the morning. We had two rooms on a villa on Buda (the hilly north side of
Budapest) on Rosehill. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The huge
apartment upstairs belonged to the Stalin-prize winning artist, the head of the
Arts Academy. We had a car and we had our Russian submachine guns. When we
arrived there was a small mob outside the villa and they wanted to lynch the
painter – a famous member of the regime. Mother came out and was worrying about
the family upstairs. I wasn’t driving and fired a round over the head of the
mob, telling them to disperse as there wasn’t going to be any lynching there. I
certainly didn’t risk my life to lynch anybody. I went upstairs to calm the
family. The man was about fifty, but his wife was young and beautiful. They had
two daughters, two young teenagers. They were scared out of their wits and I
felt quite happy being able to calm them. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That very morning we all had a couple of near-death
experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked down at the barrel
of a big gun from a tank and ducked my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_L5VncKQOhEFZvNLB9x1z7-zlZobMK6bN3Y_r7sAAvi08tVntMNESUsVmdEe2Ee3ruI1t9MbSn8J-NGdrV0tMLGME8xYAtPfOPnxQzjn2uY9fp_NbeK8i7ZS_6n_lVDc7f5NynDpl3E/s760/1956-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="760" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_L5VncKQOhEFZvNLB9x1z7-zlZobMK6bN3Y_r7sAAvi08tVntMNESUsVmdEe2Ee3ruI1t9MbSn8J-NGdrV0tMLGME8xYAtPfOPnxQzjn2uY9fp_NbeK8i7ZS_6n_lVDc7f5NynDpl3E/s320/1956-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">None of the others in the car felt any differently from me.
When you watch violent scenes of a revolution on television, the rampage is
done by people who actually weren’t involved in the fighting. Before the tank arrived (we were holding out
behind a factory wall) I was opening a round 5 pound tin can of Kraft cheese. -
It was a couple of inches from my head when I ducked. When I raised my head,
the cheese was cut right down the middle by a shrapnel. Had the shrapnel fallen
a few inches to the right, it would have split my head in half. This kind of experience doesn’t make you
bloodthirsty.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To finish the breakfast incident, the security police came
to get me when the revolution was beaten – but I was already gone, so they took
my poor mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Stalin-prize winning
artist went and got her out before they could ship her to an internment camp. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24IynMgVtTQg8FBq4BnGPvG1VEM6_4e5SfJBXc_3_Fyzs79EWsivrgkhIzZs5mcOO2dHFxrha3spxgXwYp1SPmnLuxqRcIE69Zz9y-IpkFqWab9jQw_AOk-n_R3Rv-7qmhxBv6hEzHgs/s1280/Hungarian+revolution+-+Stephen+Blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24IynMgVtTQg8FBq4BnGPvG1VEM6_4e5SfJBXc_3_Fyzs79EWsivrgkhIzZs5mcOO2dHFxrha3spxgXwYp1SPmnLuxqRcIE69Zz9y-IpkFqWab9jQw_AOk-n_R3Rv-7qmhxBv6hEzHgs/s320/Hungarian+revolution+-+Stephen+Blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">The same day the Russians caught me near the Austrian border
on the assumption that anyone who was not local had to be fighting against them
and was trying to escape. I had to produce my identity card, because Russian
soldiers were accompanied by a communist Hungarian security officer who could
read the Hungarian ID cards. He was asking everybody for their ID cards. The
Russians, thank God, have Cyrillic alphabet and they needed a Hungarian
security officer to read the Hungarian ID card. My ID card said I was from
Budapest, but I looked at the Hungarian security officer with begging eyes and
kept pointing at my ID, saying “Kőszeg, Kőszeg” – the near-border town to
Austria when I had been caught. He didn’t gave me away – he said Kőszeg. For
all I know, he may have had a nearly lynched experience when the Russians rescued
him.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All this came back to me because I’m writing my next blog
about Pushkin, the Russian Shakespeare. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His past ancestor was a Nubian Muslim and
Pushkin wrote the story of “Negro of Peter the Great” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘The Captain’s Daughter’ (he and Kleist said more with fewer
words than any other writer). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That story is about the Pugachev rebellion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a serf leader and got close to
overthrowing Tzarina, Katalin the Great. While organizing his uprising
incognito, the hero, a Russian officer, gives him a sheepskin jacket against
the freezing winter and as a result Pugachev helps the officer to protect his
love and winks at him before he is executed.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgkKxQOF8FRAzoRQBS2uPq9tLUjJibFPZ6NZqpNgc28GR2HUFitDpUF6F2k_s1daOP_IZqsG5WHqXVXc-wrFDhKLZrwjp2E7UNX8_ThE61gc85biz4vmudaQcJxzbtjCJklJj9A0RVekI/s2048/Pugachev%2527s+Rebellion.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1211" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgkKxQOF8FRAzoRQBS2uPq9tLUjJibFPZ6NZqpNgc28GR2HUFitDpUF6F2k_s1daOP_IZqsG5WHqXVXc-wrFDhKLZrwjp2E7UNX8_ThE61gc85biz4vmudaQcJxzbtjCJklJj9A0RVekI/s320/Pugachev%2527s+Rebellion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal">He had a Nubian black great grandfather whom Tzar Peter the Great
had educated in Paris and before the Tzar died he had his Nubian married to a
Russian aristocratic family. So you can see from all his photos and pictures
that Pushkin was a black man; he is the greatest writer in the
world. As mixed marriages are very
common these days, this is a very significant detail about Pushkin, which I am
sure all your friends would love to hear.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWAQZOePqBR4Ct2oTfvdQUm2t7Tu1kIZWDPYkbgGjtONh1oIELnVsDwUeGbxFTNwkoXvxuX6MHbjL7CLW45wIoWMJdU0xNHl5tUT-gK31QqnM0e9iKNy8ZGBJg-kN2xTFdazDMJzjgWQ/s840/Alexander+Puskin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWAQZOePqBR4Ct2oTfvdQUm2t7Tu1kIZWDPYkbgGjtONh1oIELnVsDwUeGbxFTNwkoXvxuX6MHbjL7CLW45wIoWMJdU0xNHl5tUT-gK31QqnM0e9iKNy8ZGBJg-kN2xTFdazDMJzjgWQ/s320/Alexander+Puskin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-85135446621912396502021-01-27T14:06:00.007-08:002021-01-28T12:52:55.051-08:00My review of The Prince and the Pauper<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">People know about Mark Twain mainly as the author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn </i>and
later on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</i> - these are the books which are promoted academics, the champions of inoffensive
literature. To my mind the most significant American
writer is Mark Twain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He became a writer
during the great American Revolution. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7MMe9kWNbBU2EtsEP_ljpHmNt-IHojyeZNElOnE6lM_5qPS1GLQIMnHfgbnOJdEDaJk6kQSJZDnMAc74-Ru4PPSydPVBRfXYw0kvUn7Jib9FmGD52EOUPeww1hKEnKCmt14j_WViPlk/s276/Mark+Twain.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7MMe9kWNbBU2EtsEP_ljpHmNt-IHojyeZNElOnE6lM_5qPS1GLQIMnHfgbnOJdEDaJk6kQSJZDnMAc74-Ru4PPSydPVBRfXYw0kvUn7Jib9FmGD52EOUPeww1hKEnKCmt14j_WViPlk/s0/Mark+Twain.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Twain</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He grew up during slavery, a friend of General Grant and
became the most eloquent champion of racial equality, a scourge of hypocrisy,
religion and greed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he wrote in his
autobiography “I know best myself and I assume that other people are like me
and I draw all my characters good and bad from myself”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a tough call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">At the time Americans were more hypocritical than the
English. Louisa May Alcott (author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Little
Women</i>), was outraged even by Huckleberry Fin “It’s a pity that Mr Clements
cannot have anything better to say to our innocent youngsters”. Hemingway wrote
that all of American literature grew out of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer</i>, but in fact the novels first appeared in Canada
and England before they saw the light day in America. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLaH-KT2c2MB8Cfk1yqU-xg4BroWmQTCoIpQ3wad7CScrXa_CbldJsY0zhzUXt2xFJshKr_awCwFsvnA7YS8koJI8TEXZdhjItzSc1IJRXvLqo2O9uojLQn0c-W0rPSXz-ginyb4avfM/s475/The+Adventures+of+Huckleberry+Finn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="289" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLaH-KT2c2MB8Cfk1yqU-xg4BroWmQTCoIpQ3wad7CScrXa_CbldJsY0zhzUXt2xFJshKr_awCwFsvnA7YS8koJI8TEXZdhjItzSc1IJRXvLqo2O9uojLQn0c-W0rPSXz-ginyb4avfM/s320/The+Adventures+of+Huckleberry+Finn.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 16pt;">MT is of universal significance because his work embodies the
transition from a religious age to the post religious age. You haven’t lived
until you read </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">Letters from the Earth</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">
and </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">A Mysterious Stranger</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">After god created the world the archangels of
course praised it, but Satan, one of the archangels wasn’t impressed.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“The spider kills the fly, the bird kills the
spider, it is just kill kill kill”.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">God
was offended and banished Satan to the earth where he wrote back to his fellow
Archangels about the strange beliefs of people on earth.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">It reads like a prosecutor's speech, listing God’s
crimes against humanity.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">It is about a
century later that the film </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">The Life of
Brian</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> caused outrage although it is milder than </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">The Letters from The Earth,</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> so you can imagine what a hard time MT
had when he wrote the books. As Bernard Shaw wrote to him “If people understood
what you are really saying they would kill you”.</span><div><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb6mA7qT_xP9SLcFruE8WUc8bo2YMhyS811XtP7MoD2LPF-LKMmF5IXdGaw0wg-bffB5xxUOc5wrVS4ulFADzvKN5hVmMSQwRDwfRmFG9qnqtr28PUdUXoDwwT_pKj636jzRrtY5pjG0/s475/The+Mysterious+Stranger.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="301" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb6mA7qT_xP9SLcFruE8WUc8bo2YMhyS811XtP7MoD2LPF-LKMmF5IXdGaw0wg-bffB5xxUOc5wrVS4ulFADzvKN5hVmMSQwRDwfRmFG9qnqtr28PUdUXoDwwT_pKj636jzRrtY5pjG0/s320/The+Mysterious+Stranger.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“In God we trust is a
wonderful phrase and it would not sound any better if were true”, he said to Andrew
Carnegie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He wrote to a friend "The difference the almost right
word and the right word is the difference between a lightning bug and the
lightning”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">His specifically American in that his work embodies the idea
that all men are created equal and also the many ways that American reality
failed to live up to this idea.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He dedicated his first masterpiece <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince and the Pauper</i> to “Those good mannered and
agreeable children, Susie and Clara Clemence, this book is affectionately
inscribed by their father”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlrqi1aFn6hqRobeyK_7zlXathOSIBJ5fN3yEOzLYBrfQDinkGUq5Sa1A9O3HPIs3iFHmniJ6X5b4WwjnH_4XbCLBlhLIQxyIJgzUz-6Ypy91CQdibTDdB57UW9zWbWbmdp0hgBOHN0w/s634/The+prince+and+the+pauper.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlrqi1aFn6hqRobeyK_7zlXathOSIBJ5fN3yEOzLYBrfQDinkGUq5Sa1A9O3HPIs3iFHmniJ6X5b4WwjnH_4XbCLBlhLIQxyIJgzUz-6Ypy91CQdibTDdB57UW9zWbWbmdp0hgBOHN0w/s320/The+prince+and+the+pauper.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Mark Twain is known to most people as a humourist.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">His work can be best summarised by Stendhal’s
definition of great literature.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“It
conveys generous sentiments which inspires people to revolt”.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">If you have youngsters, this is the
book to give them during the lockdown from the coronavirus, they will be
readers forever. </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The story is about a prince Edward the son of Henry VII and a
slum kid who look alike and cannot be distinguished from each other, both
experience the world in the eyes of both the Prince and the slum kid at a time,
when they burnt witches and boiled people in oil and hanged those who thought
differently. If you read the book you certainly glad that you weren’t around at
the time. As always Mark Twain can give at least a double vision of everything
he describes. Horror, cruelty and viciousness is relieved by feeling of
goodness, trust and peace which melts your chest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
emotional sway of the book can be compared to classical music, the loud and
shocking passages are melt into adagios.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To continue with the musical analogy I would compare the
novel to Hyden’s Morning, Noon, and Night symphonies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></p></div>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-34398019503464051272021-01-10T15:35:00.007-08:002021-01-15T04:55:11.494-08:00My review of Thomas Mann and Felix Krull<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCc-z0c2IfGRevksIDHrqxEELg0kVIGMkdaqTtwWqBjLTbg91JsP6WVIsrOkMvyyaKDJCr7TbjKLzIn373DM8wFK42cDhJz-OE2KVWpUKBjYK5t_2oiuJQmK8CmtlgSvFZ6Yl9LHmMmOs/s2048/Thomas_Mann_1947.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1573" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCc-z0c2IfGRevksIDHrqxEELg0kVIGMkdaqTtwWqBjLTbg91JsP6WVIsrOkMvyyaKDJCr7TbjKLzIn373DM8wFK42cDhJz-OE2KVWpUKBjYK5t_2oiuJQmK8CmtlgSvFZ6Yl9LHmMmOs/w189-h246/Thomas_Mann_1947.jpg" width="189" /></a></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">While I am waiting for the appearance of my new novel, I am reading Felix Krull for the umpteenth time and every paragraph and sentence is perfect. Its an incredible thrill to read a joyful masterpiece.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A few decades ago, Thomas Mann was acclaimed the world over
as the greatest living writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He got
the Nobel Prize for The Magic Mountain in 1929, which is about the sanatorium
of people suffering from tuberculosis before the cure for it was invented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas Mann uses this setting to give a
summary of all the ideas, which were current at the time. It is like a weekly
paper summing up what happened the previous week, except that it is a very, very
long book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think you have to have
professional interested in literature to be able to read it from beginning to
end – looking for the flashes of genius.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is true of most of his work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For instance in his biblical novel Potiphar's Wife, she, the wife, the heroine and is in love with young
Joseph and to test her love she has female friends over for a meal and have
Joseph appear just when they are trying to cut some delicacy with a sharp
knife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the women ended up cutting
their fingers when they catch sight of Joseph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Like all great writers he could tell you also what he does
not say, giving the reader the thrill of imagining what was not actually
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A memorable moment in Buddenbrooks is when Mrs Buddenbrook is playing piano duets with a young officer. The piano
falls silent just as her son comes home and runs to meet his mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His father waylays his son before the kid can
open the door on the silent pair in order to ask him about his schoolwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrRZFRxzZIBkBfV3PElQQlEH0KHzBSoWcC_ivenKVBumP4ArmDU1HLfWsIM3YFTc4uKUunIGJZENgwoEp9NTkYzYP7wtVKvLfz_sguMRi6k1i6yjHESsV4weccFSWks-cZ4gnaPgT-8CE/s2048/Buddenbrooks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1232" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrRZFRxzZIBkBfV3PElQQlEH0KHzBSoWcC_ivenKVBumP4ArmDU1HLfWsIM3YFTc4uKUunIGJZENgwoEp9NTkYzYP7wtVKvLfz_sguMRi6k1i6yjHESsV4weccFSWks-cZ4gnaPgT-8CE/s320/Buddenbrooks.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">You can’t create great works without going through hell.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Thomas Mann was a bisexual and his work at
the time when any deviation from the heterosexual norm was considered both a sickness
and a crime. He came from a rich and tragic family of suicides where two of his
sisters and one of his own sons committed suicide. His experiences enabled him
to create works, which are lifted by a breeze and thrown by death.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">His most famous novel “Death in Venice” is about a homosexual
writer who was caught in Venice during the plague and he dies as he falls in
love with a beautiful boy he has seen on the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Falling in love and dying at the same time is
one of the most moving masterpieces in literature. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I particularly indebted to The confessions of
Felix Krull.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a German critic spotted
it, In Praise Of Older Women is inconceivable without The Confessions of Felix
Krull. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsHCGrjBElRu90cIyZYOFiYDvK9YZlz0o0JCy4eCWyvXw8Be6zuGnMb-J5bvhKa9bcTYLzyAFtWKnPM_ax55_xht93H8ZyKzKVV6Lo8gdUv4b9jNSf2UMkN8bBgA3F4_bsfPwgCOSbOM/s2048/In+Praise+of+Older+Women.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsHCGrjBElRu90cIyZYOFiYDvK9YZlz0o0JCy4eCWyvXw8Be6zuGnMb-J5bvhKa9bcTYLzyAFtWKnPM_ax55_xht93H8ZyKzKVV6Lo8gdUv4b9jNSf2UMkN8bBgA3F4_bsfPwgCOSbOM/s320/In+Praise+of+Older+Women.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It includes all the discreditable things which never find
their way into memoirs. It is called “first part” because of the references of
his later life in prison. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Felix Krull is a unique character and I cannot think of any
other literary figure you could compare him to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was a thief, a gigolo, a confidence man and what makes him admirable, in spite of all this, is his imagination the joy he has playing different roles
in his life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He is a great actor who plays and enjoys every role he plays,
which makes his confidence tricks all the more enjoyable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you like good books and enjoy wit then you
will enjoy Felix Krull.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">This novel has an immense reputation in Germany and they
clearly did everything to make it into a great movie – proving that there is no
way to make a good movie from a great novel. Although the book includes all the
discreditable things a young man can do it is also one of the best books on
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sex but love in its deepest
sense, which prompts you to touch and stroke a dirty boy’s head even if he may have a contagious disease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Felix is trying to seduce a young girl who has a horror of
the flesh. He argues that the natural human reaction to other people is
shrinking into oneself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what the
young girl feels and as he converts her to love, this is one of the best passages in
literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzugaNKLmLglR7I2Iwy7YZ0EB5J4LQhP7ZL7AHfIFIphrd0j7ZOWC-WTLjVvA-uhINCD0p9KHtpexLkJ8_QHDtN-CPTZtPGPy8GxGB8mruCKjJ9pqoUqDT1chI8godoWvBlcpMuq4CJOc/s484/Thomas_Mann.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="484" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzugaNKLmLglR7I2Iwy7YZ0EB5J4LQhP7ZL7AHfIFIphrd0j7ZOWC-WTLjVvA-uhINCD0p9KHtpexLkJ8_QHDtN-CPTZtPGPy8GxGB8mruCKjJ9pqoUqDT1chI8godoWvBlcpMuq4CJOc/w214-h199/Thomas_Mann.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">What is unique about the writing of the book is that he wrote
most of it as a young man and the later part as an old man, yet they bend
together so seamlessly that it would be impossible to say what part he wrote as
a young man and what part he wrote as an old man except his German gets more
convoluted in the later part. You won’t notice it if you read the excellent
English translation by Denver Lindley. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
people say that Confessions of Felix Krull is an unfinished book, but I feel
they are wrong because to finish with and ode to love is a perfect ending.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thomas Mann described his writing as “Ironic
conservatism”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite apart from
everything else the novel gives you an idea of what society was at the
beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. I quote Thomas Mann in an Innocent
Millionaire, “How inventive life is! It brings our childhood dreams to pass”. In
Felix Krull childhood dreams becoming reality, which gives the book its unique
charm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-63737011392959201512021-01-02T04:13:00.006-08:002021-01-02T04:13:35.510-08:00Just watched the Death of Stalin.<p>In early 1950's the movie explains the paranoia and
backstabbing when Soviet Leader, Joseph Stalin dies suddenly. I felt the
movie was written by people who know little about power and a total falsification
of facts around Stalin’s death.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZOz7_2JSLkbMosVGXcyyPbpATHAe790oZF-hYxmg4Oev9LocwbebOwn5OLhXnv-ryveYu6se0bST2iCVniGHUhevS3dB5YHtouWq_SL34uExczBdLMl_LxaBnQM5GrO5AtJDh-kT6Io/s960/the+death+of+stalin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZOz7_2JSLkbMosVGXcyyPbpATHAe790oZF-hYxmg4Oev9LocwbebOwn5OLhXnv-ryveYu6se0bST2iCVniGHUhevS3dB5YHtouWq_SL34uExczBdLMl_LxaBnQM5GrO5AtJDh-kT6Io/s320/the+death+of+stalin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">I felt none of the real characters thought that they could
convince anybody with their arguments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each of the characters had some armed force behind them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only realistic detail was in the fact
that marshal Georgy Zhukov who was the head of the red army managed to disarm Lavrenti
Beria forces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beria was the head of the
secret police the NKVD, he had information of the crimes of all the other
members of the Politburo including rape, embezzlement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">He
came to meetings with his own secret police. In effect the Politburo were
prisoners of Beria’s troops, but while they surrendered the central committee
one of Marshal Zhukov’s generals pretended to come to inform the committee of
an American attack and was able to get to the committee rooms with his brief
case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once inside he drew out a revolver
from his briefcase and shot with a silencer Beria. So while the NKVD waited
outside, the committee left the room by a secret passage and went to Beria’s
home to get and burn the evidence, which Beria had on all of them. It was only
a day later that Beria’s troops realised that something was wrong, but by then
it was too late and Marshal Zhukov’s soldiers managed to disarm them.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYZJITaJ_mn0z3wXewkAyGAAsaaYQ4nWcZc7ZV4_G0mIcjH6zVvqaUXV4EDU60xS9F8BOuUeUx7fW9eU41rk_0UL1MPFgc36_iljCsrLOU-iC8T2nB0L8LCfcfl-E8LM1Njd8ZyJ7kGs/s1170/death+of+stalin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="1170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYZJITaJ_mn0z3wXewkAyGAAsaaYQ4nWcZc7ZV4_G0mIcjH6zVvqaUXV4EDU60xS9F8BOuUeUx7fW9eU41rk_0UL1MPFgc36_iljCsrLOU-iC8T2nB0L8LCfcfl-E8LM1Njd8ZyJ7kGs/s320/death+of+stalin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">I was
fascinated by falsehoods, what engaged about the movie is how it twisted
reality of what happened after Stalin’s death, although I watched the movie to
the end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">There was
not much else I can remember about the movie, but I watched the movie till the
end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movie makes me think about how
history is constantly being falsified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">I noticed
that Olga Kurylenko who played Maria in the movie was very stubborn in the how
she felt about Stalin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember that
in Hungary I was in danger of being reported that I was glad that this mass
murderer died.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You can find out more about the film on IMDB<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/<o:p></o:p></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-50423844398562387012020-12-20T13:33:00.002-08:002020-12-20T13:33:16.874-08:00My stay in hospital<p> I am sorry I lost touch with my friends and readers, but I
was in hospital over the past few weeks. I am ok now, but recovering
slowly. I received wonderful care in
hospital, but the worst thing was that I was unable to sleep there. So I think at the end I was sick of
sleeplessness. I was diagnosed with a
weak heart on entry to the hospital, which led to a heart attack at the
hospital. I had also some kidney
problems, because I fell at home and stayed all night on the floor, which the
doctors told me would do damage to the kidneys. It is very boring to you and
also to me and I long to finish my book and get it printed.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdDNhuq2iAAxe9ebRPyxWKatsfmsoTgNZuc5mGkU0gRg-PP1ZAhFwuLt-pVIGBdYyE7_tSU8sM2iKfWVCjLZzcaSew1fdTZgC040NOeLONdD6q9TrTM_eXQegJZG-I_q0URtPqL0Pwyo/s266/Stephen+Vizinczey-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdDNhuq2iAAxe9ebRPyxWKatsfmsoTgNZuc5mGkU0gRg-PP1ZAhFwuLt-pVIGBdYyE7_tSU8sM2iKfWVCjLZzcaSew1fdTZgC040NOeLONdD6q9TrTM_eXQegJZG-I_q0URtPqL0Pwyo/s0/Stephen+Vizinczey-2.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Vizinczey</td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While I was at the hospital, I was kept being tested for the
coronavirus, practically daily and all the tests proved negative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was amazed incidentally that how hungry for
literature the nurses were, they all seemed to love hearing about my work and
about my books. The nurses practically liked “In Praise of Older Women” and
they wanted to read about “An innocent millionaire”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Going off topic, Kate Hopkins is a very enjoyable
commentator, but I parted company from her when she speaks of the more than
fifty percent of people who are idiots. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
I misunderstand her, but she seemed to locate the idiots among ordinary
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But stupidity is boundless and
can be found in every strata of society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To give an example from Hungary one of the greatest poets of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century Attila József a genius who was the son of an illiterate washer woman,
the intelligence the brilliance of people who didn’t have much formal education
is grossly underestimated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2nTA-CFC84WLwy0lm2ENAiily74nipOpbyZHNgNkXLJZ7KzGKoeFXjDzCBv63Q-UMUdA67nhlKR4ZiRj9DV-EConH_TEZn-pltknZcRis7DLB5_FM8wExgZYWeuNYggoGDHSIUe05eY/s800/Homonnai_J%25C3%25B3zsef_Attila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2nTA-CFC84WLwy0lm2ENAiily74nipOpbyZHNgNkXLJZ7KzGKoeFXjDzCBv63Q-UMUdA67nhlKR4ZiRj9DV-EConH_TEZn-pltknZcRis7DLB5_FM8wExgZYWeuNYggoGDHSIUe05eY/s320/Homonnai_J%25C3%25B3zsef_Attila.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Attila József </span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal">One of my
most often quoted remarks is that “No amount of learning can cure stupidity,
and higher education positively fortifies it”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p>In fact I know more professors who are total idiots than
people without formal education. In fact I know more professors who are total idiots than
people without formal education.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyCgmh8q8W0r9qyNCUTJcDlpmtRX5q4f976PBRSIuThRVc8_eYpUt5ivcKxtW5IyZHUo_MUbDOj1xkg3pd4JBmyhyphenhyphen4GzHq-4JueLilnLS72OuBNFoYzJrvC5aw9G_H728xrD_AZEjdkos/s1759/3+Wishes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1759" data-original-width="1077" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyCgmh8q8W0r9qyNCUTJcDlpmtRX5q4f976PBRSIuThRVc8_eYpUt5ivcKxtW5IyZHUo_MUbDOj1xkg3pd4JBmyhyphenhyphen4GzHq-4JueLilnLS72OuBNFoYzJrvC5aw9G_H728xrD_AZEjdkos/s320/3+Wishes.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">My “3 Wishes” novel, which I believe is my best book is
almost ready for the printer and I hope you will be able to read it in about a months-time
if the epidemic allows it. As I often
said I am not so much of a writer, but a rewriter and I was writing and revising
this novel for 17 years. Reading it over last time, I was amazed how much the
world has changed during these 17 years, we are at a better place than we were
all those years ago. So part of the book
is already past history.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I dedicate my new novel to my wife Gloria who died on
November 19<sup>th</sup> 2020, it was a big blow when Gloria died, because it
must have contributed to my health problems. Anybody who has read any of my
books and liked it I would like to comment on Amazon and on Facebook, to keep
the books alive.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Incidentally I am asking readers to recommend my books
without any financial motives. I had sold more 8 million copies around the
world and now the books are building a result by people who have bought them
and so those books are their properties, and then they resell those books where
any money goes to them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-59477975235605967722020-11-27T10:25:00.003-08:002020-11-27T10:25:48.413-08:00Stealing my name!<p>The late Graham Greene complained to me about someone using his name and went into a lot of trouble into trying to find the person did it. I must say I sympathize, but I felt quite smug, feeling sure that because of the difficulty of spelling my surname "Vizinczey" that nobody else would ever try to impersonate me, but now I see that there is a film that I never even heard of that originates with me.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKUtrU5wZ_AJQs8AhTFMTzV-pWB_DSoUg3GIRDN1oSdpvGJN1ctDx9raa9h6w_amu7r-Ifk3NWRl_JSTmbtQMeLOCAI_a1csqrcJ8Hyb9duWigkHLZLUCa6X6uniS9n5fQhLL-hgTZOg/s300/Stephen+Vizinczey.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKUtrU5wZ_AJQs8AhTFMTzV-pWB_DSoUg3GIRDN1oSdpvGJN1ctDx9raa9h6w_amu7r-Ifk3NWRl_JSTmbtQMeLOCAI_a1csqrcJ8Hyb9duWigkHLZLUCa6X6uniS9n5fQhLL-hgTZOg/s0/Stephen+Vizinczey.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p>There were only 2 films of "In Praise of Older Women" both in Spanish and both were awful, so I do not recommend them. Whoever is interested in my work, should read my books.</p><div><br /></div>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597338.921729183723315 -21.014098 71.834372816276684 14.142152tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-23338395938919866782020-10-29T10:29:00.001-07:002020-10-29T10:29:17.686-07:00Terrorism and my experience<p>It seems to me that all the present talk about Islamic terrorism
in connection with the knife attacks in France is a misnomer. Drawing on my own
experiences as an immigrant, albeit from the same civilisation, but a different
culture and language, despairing bewilderment left me no choice but
to commit suicide. I took the lift to the top of a skyscraper intending to
jump. Looking down from a great height, I got scared that I wouldn't die
but break my spine and would become a cripple and spend miserable life in a
wheelchair. </p><p>The next best thing to suicide is killing somebody.
What saved me from becoming a murderer was that I had been writing poetry since
the age of four which had grown into an ambition to become a great
writer. Learning the language and writing in English was preferable to a
miserable life in a wheelchair. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My guess is that terrorists are mostly simply ignorant
immigrants. Knowing nothing of the country whence they come, they assume that
the West is the same place, except that there they can have
benefits. If they are unable to preserve a religion and culture, their
only response can be suicide attacks. <o:p></o:p></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-9519674732358750962020-10-22T10:09:00.003-07:002020-10-22T10:09:42.173-07:00Gloria Vizinczey Obituary<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 1.0cm;">Gloria Vizinczey was the most
brilliant and loveliest woman I have ever known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike many women who make sure that you know
how smart they are, meeting her you would have no idea from her manner how
intelligent and how well educated she was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have been together since 1962, for fifty-eight happy years. She was
my editor, critic and researcher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
have read my reviews and essays and were stunned by the depth of knowledge and
erudition, the credit should go to Gloria. When I reviewed for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Times </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Telegraph</i> in the 1980’s and 1990’s, I read the book I was
writing about and Gloria’s resumés of 15 – 20 books connected to the authors
and their subjects were reprinted in major newspapers around the world. These
reviews were printed in book form, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Truth
and Lies in Literature. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Collections
of essays and reviews are notoriously poor sellers, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Truth and Lies in Literature </i>sold a million copies around the world
and used copies are still selling. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gloria was a graduate of The University of Toronto, majoring
in literature and foreign languages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Quite apart from everything else, she was a linguistic genius.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She corrected even the French, German,
Italian and Spanish translations of my books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She could love without being blind to my faults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One time when I said something very stupid,
her daughter, Mary Harron, exasperated, asked me, “Stephen, how old are
you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gloria shot back, “He’s two and a
half.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just the same, she helped me to
believe in myself and my work.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once I lectured a friend about women. He listened for an
hour and then burst out, “You, you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
easy for you to talk. You’ve got Gloria!” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you comment on her death, forgive me if I don’t
reply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m cut up by her absence. <o:p></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPo_ahuQdk-41tIqfeW0roE4butB3jgu07Bob2T7UL8zhmMTJKH2i3s1zQi9AH9nepMEwMUjXWBjIThv4GvOD6FjHnphCvXAqz8yATxrLQUC2bUDMVp2a48sUYlvSd8mPShbTlzzMFQzc/s1600/IMG_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1385" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPo_ahuQdk-41tIqfeW0roE4butB3jgu07Bob2T7UL8zhmMTJKH2i3s1zQi9AH9nepMEwMUjXWBjIThv4GvOD6FjHnphCvXAqz8yATxrLQUC2bUDMVp2a48sUYlvSd8mPShbTlzzMFQzc/s320/IMG_4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal">Gloria Vizinczey (1927, February 21<sup>st</sup> - 2020,
October, 19<sup>th</sup>.)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-69439039488857251242020-08-07T11:23:00.001-07:002020-08-07T11:25:12.453-07:00The ignorance of officials of culture<p>I learned from Melvin Bragg's column in the Daily Mail that the Department for Sport and Culture removed poetry from the CSE syllabus on the grounds that “poetry is too challenging for children.” Such a claim shows up the arrogant ignorance of officials who are clearly unaware of the popularity of nursery rhymes. As Richard Littlejohn would say, ‘you couldn’t make it up’. Nations as well as individuals live in their language which is electrified by poetry, boosting s our imagination and giving colour to the words. </p><p><span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The only way </span><b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oliver
Dowden</b><span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">’s children, if he has any, </span><span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">find poetry difficult
is, if, at home they do not talk. </span>Of course English is a world language, so it doesn’t really matter if the natives speak it badly. They can count on foreigners to figure out what they are saying. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvIpD3JYMLWeEjanivArvfc1SF7cgFcAwcqrQgR11awtMNA2_Ak-vodrr3NueI_C5pRgCYU7rLvf9GD-LunE47UHgf4AlhPmP1ugouvytnk042aVweBmdl7OGGevo4Uc8qWDwSG80gGRA/s293/Rt_Hon_Oliver_Dowden_MP.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvIpD3JYMLWeEjanivArvfc1SF7cgFcAwcqrQgR11awtMNA2_Ak-vodrr3NueI_C5pRgCYU7rLvf9GD-LunE47UHgf4AlhPmP1ugouvytnk042aVweBmdl7OGGevo4Uc8qWDwSG80gGRA/s0/Rt_Hon_Oliver_Dowden_MP.jpg" /></a></div><p>It is smaller nations which treasure their language. I had grown up in Hungary, where the evening news had been followed every night by a popular actor performing a great poem. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if BBC or SKY would adopt the practice, allowing millions to discover the liveliness, the fun of English. </p><p>Millions would stop disfiguring their speech with innumerable ‘you know’s and ‘’like’s. Quite apart from everything else, the economic benefits would be impressive.</p>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-86959123136458330772020-07-26T02:41:00.000-07:002020-07-27T11:00:32.185-07:00Grime Artist Wiley moronic statement on the Jews<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Most of us are too lazy or too stupid to figure out what is
happening in this complicated world, therefore they look for one simple answer
that explains everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The moronic
Grime singer named ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wiley</b>’ is all
too typical by claiming that all our troubles come from the Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then why the fuss? The answer was given by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Voltaire</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Those who can make people believe in absurdities
can also make them commit atrocities”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-36193935690566438042020-07-11T09:00:00.002-07:002020-07-11T09:00:21.883-07:00My review of King LearWelcome everyone. I recently done a video review of William Shakespeare play King Lear. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ3p_vZzkTI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ3p_vZzkTI</a><br />
<br />
The most important things about the video of Shakespeare's plays is that it increases your vocabulary in a way that makes you understand more meanings of the world. <br />
<br />
My most often quoted line from my book "An innocent millionaire" is that "<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">no amount of learning</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> can cure stupidity, and formal </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">education</b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> positively fortifies it", but it is also true that a lot of bright people think that they are stupid because they never had a chance to be introduced, to become familiar with the work of great minds.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">If you have brains, even if you are ignorant then Shakespeare will wake up your mind and you will become smarter and knowledgeable about life as much as possible.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GlYjyM1T8ebfGwHe69hTAvX68vU7hqQgn1TgZlp03ysRNccHhiipDqfU9baqN0fxagQZjBsNLnXUtMw_e_1Dp7mGD_ta8UFv-JzDxVvGMBHSE7RHx6iWN2MyGBDf1E_xCFuGjOQbEho/s1600/Paul+Scofield+plays+King+Lear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GlYjyM1T8ebfGwHe69hTAvX68vU7hqQgn1TgZlp03ysRNccHhiipDqfU9baqN0fxagQZjBsNLnXUtMw_e_1Dp7mGD_ta8UFv-JzDxVvGMBHSE7RHx6iWN2MyGBDf1E_xCFuGjOQbEho/s320/Paul+Scofield+plays+King+Lear.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">paul scofield plays king lear</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />I mentioned Paul Scofield in my video because he is a great actor and also because he worked with the greatest director Peter Brook. There are many videos on King Lear, but the RSC production of King Lear in 1962 is the best by far. You must also see Laurence Olivier's King Lear. <div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kvWROgiKM08rPpy4yjIPSnZim6PU1iemL8SrJ5TZr_KRH5BVpcReyvEkrtP2Bn4eiCcwL0PsajikJI1EkpOQIwGSQjsTsVo50JAfjj-pt2UFVuyBrfKAFdD992Cu0kMm5Fs31KIBdYA/s1600/laurence+olivier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kvWROgiKM08rPpy4yjIPSnZim6PU1iemL8SrJ5TZr_KRH5BVpcReyvEkrtP2Bn4eiCcwL0PsajikJI1EkpOQIwGSQjsTsVo50JAfjj-pt2UFVuyBrfKAFdD992Cu0kMm5Fs31KIBdYA/s1600/laurence+olivier.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">laurence olivier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />In Oliver's King Lear naive King Lear becomes sane by going mad when he sees the world as it is.<br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-30208397057416508042019-04-18T09:26:00.000-07:002019-04-18T09:26:33.446-07:00My thoughts about judgement in nurembergI just saw again a great film which is called "judgement in nuremberg", which was directed by a great director Stanley Kramer. The film stars Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift. <br />
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I was more struck by the acting of Montgomery Clift who had a car accident and created the best performance a mentally challenged castrated worker in the movie. Of course much the credit should go to Stanley Kramer, who brought out the best performances of all these great actors. I did not know that Abby Mann wrote an incredibly brilliant script, which reminds me of one of my stupidest things i have ever done. <br />
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In 1965 Christopher Plummer invited me to his house in London to a party where Abby Mann was also present. He wanted to write the script to In Praise of Older Women, I did not know anything about him then and I told him "no". It is one of the things I feel like hitting my head against a wall, at least once a year.<br />
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<br />Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-32626391376676368602019-04-16T09:39:00.001-07:002019-04-16T09:39:12.940-07:00New videos releasedDear readers.<br />
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It has been a while since I lasted blogged, but I am hoping to start up again and I have a treat for my current subscribers. I have recently started video blogging and hope that you can view my work.<br />
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My latest video is on review is on Voltaire Candide. You can view the video below.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKlBHYpa2GA&t=173s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKlBHYpa2GA&t=173s</a><br />
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My other recent video review is on Jonathan Swift novel "Gulliver's travels". Please view the video below.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EYZB4sn4tM&t=249s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EYZB4sn4tM&t=249s</a><br />
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I really am looking forward to comments about my video reviews and hope to hear from you shortly.<br />
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<br />Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-42621347501950267632017-03-06T13:45:00.003-08:002017-03-06T13:45:55.165-08:00Gloria Vizinczey is 90<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">My wife Gloria is 90 and IF ONLY, my new novel, is
dedicated to her. She has been the most important individual – as inspiration,
editor and manager - of my life. You look at her photos as a young woman from
the time when we met (she was 36 at the time) and you understand why In Praise
of Older Women turned out to be such a lively novel. The articles reproduced
here, especially the one written by her daughter Martha, give you a glimpse of
our lives and her contribution. For the last few years I have to do some of the
things she did for us - and I’m horrified to realise how hard she worked. The
photos in which we look our age were made only a few days ago. As you can see
we are still laughing, even after being together for over 54 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Here is the secret of enduring marriages: the couples
must feel passionate about the same things. She was the first woman I met for
whom literature was the most important thing in life. You have to be passionate
about things outside of yourselves. Our favourite pastime was walking in the
museums and great churches of Europe. She is also the most intelligent
woman I have ever met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-58284626091681590452017-01-31T09:02:00.001-08:002017-01-31T09:02:08.121-08:00George Walden's The New Elite<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“A truthful view of men and women
in the mass would throw the entire English social game out of kilter. All the
fun and ferocity would go from the debate if we were deprived of our
traditional up/downery and forced to think.” Penguin Books published George
Walden’s<i> The New Elites</i> in 2000 and it is growing in importance and relevance ever since as it
dissects the increasingly mindless culture in which we live. More than praise I
think quotes give us a good idea of the book. “ … feelings are supreme, simply because we
all have them. Intellect, being less equally distributed, is seen as divisive,
a non-profitable product.” Irony is good for a smile but there are also
guffaws. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Walden quotes a waiter recommending a wine to Randolph Churchill by saying
it is very popular. Randolph Churchill wasn’t pleased. “What makes you think I
want to drink anything popular?” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Walden
calls up Ortega for whom man in the mass was “anti-rational, anti-intellectual,
anti-culture, someone who, in his chilling phrase, wants to have done with discussion.
Ortega says that for the first time in Europe appears the kind of man who does
not want to give reasons even to be right, but who is determined to impose his
opinions. Today, you might say, there are more of these kind of people than in
the 1930s. Walden writes an “honest view of the mass society might even rid us
of our parasitical elites.” If you enjoy thinking it is typical of the sorry
state of our cultural life that one of the best, one of the most gifted and
talented persons of our time in the country is largely being ignored. They are
more or less invisible but people who feel more alive when they think are still
around. And if you are one of them, George Walden’s book would brighten up the
dismal winter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-36049144606628556732017-01-27T07:48:00.002-08:002017-01-27T07:48:34.759-08:00About Voltaire Voltaire wrote Candide in 1758, and it is timelier today than nearly four centuries ago. This is what makes a classic novel: it defines a problem, a predicament and basic human traits so profoundly, so exactly, that they are as true – and indeed truer – centuries later than at the time when it was written. The overwhelming majority of people whose views are formed and expressed by the mass media, believe that we are at the zenith of human development – we have planes, computers, the internet, human rights, the progress of medical science, etc. that we live in a better world than any previous generation and mankind’s prospects, but for climate change, can only improve.<br />
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Voltaire’s time, too, people were optimist, and there was no question that people were better off in the middle of the 18th century than in primitive world of human sacrifices, as we are better off than most people in the 18th century, but human stupidity is still all powerful, callousness, rape, bombings, beheading and genocide are still the favoured means to show one’s superiority to everybody else. There is a philosophical background to this, but the German philosopher’s arguments and learned Church fathers’ theological tomes were but an earlier version of what most people still believe - i.e. we live in the best of all possible worlds.<br />
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One of the wittiest writers of Western literature, Voltaire produces swift and amusing portraits of the main vices of the human race, but the greatest human failings embodied in Candide’s tutor, Panglos who survives being burnt by the Inquisition, robbed, cut to pieces by marauders – in short, subjected to all too many indignities, cruelties, injustices but still believes that all is for the best. Panglos embodies, like no other character in literature, the greatest fatal failing of the human race: the inability to learn from experience.<br />
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It is dangerous to believe in white lies: books which peddle them may reassure you, but they render your defenceless against conmen, authorities and demagogues who give you hope and lead you to disaster. It is best to be forewarned. If you read Voltaire, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain you will be less likely to fall victim to trickery. And I could never have written If Only about our world without the inspiration of these giants.Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-75910021533754486152017-01-14T10:04:00.002-08:002017-01-14T10:51:41.731-08:00I just lost an opportunity<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">I just lost an opportunity to promote my new novel, IF ONLY
in a popular newspaper because I refused to put my name to an article which
mentioned IF ONLY and In Praise of Older Women, but started by paying homage to
"Madonna, one of the most famous persons in the world." Several incidents of this kind made me realise that it is not the lovers of
classical music and great literature who are elitist. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">Stupid is the new elite,
and they do their best to make us disappear - or at least become invisible, so people won't know that there is another world beyond the mass media. When I came to the UK in 1965, the "Culture" sections of the leading
broadsheets were about thinkers Bertrand Russell or great classical musicians, great writers - individuals who had added something of value to civilisation. Today even the "Culture" pages are featuring predominantly articles about television programs. And they are surprised that newspapers lose readers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">If you love pop music, every
day there is something in the news to reassure you that what
you love is the most important thing in the world. If you are an intelligent person you are made
to feel lonely by the media, confirming that you are member of a very small
minority. It’s no use spending money on education if everything outside school
tells you that fame is the greatest achievement in the world. The BBC, financed by taxpayers, is as guilty of this as any other media organisation. T</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">alking about the importance of mental health and then feed people explosions, mindless thrillers and nothing that could inspire them to exercise the minds is pretty absurd. You could become mentally unbalanced just by watching a few hours of BBC television. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">This is not just a question of high culture which inspires you to think, reflect, practice concentration and have deeper feelings - the country's mental health, security and productivity depends on it.</span><br />
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-75225614061690912622017-01-02T09:21:00.000-08:002017-01-02T09:21:43.776-08:00Taking time to read great books<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Readers, especially young readers hungry for knowledge and experience, pledge to read dozens of books this year, but I think that they should plan to re-read at least 10 books a year which they like. There is no way to take in everything from a simple reading of a book. Re-reading books we find that superficial books are boring at second reading, when we already know what is going to happen. Really good books, however, are much more exciting when we reread them. We discover a great many insights, great phrases which we had missed the first time and we find deeper meanings also because we are already familiar with the context. Good books become better at each reading, there is no way to get everything out from a good book at a single reading. As bad books become worse, and good book become better, we also learn to tell apart what is true and what is a lie. Lies are not so convincing at second reading. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">I read every year at least a few chapters from Stendhal, Balzac, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Swift, Defoe, Kleist and Pushkin – and of course Shakespeare. Shakespeare is the Bible of all good readers. Even after decades I still pick up new insights and if my own work is good and enriching it is then thanks to reading great literature every day and find about the technique of writing a detail I had earlier missed. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">If my work is any good, half of the credit goes to my rereading some great literature every day. Whenever I feel low, I reciter myself lines from Shakespeare, a Hungarian or English poem – mostly from Auden these days - to keep my spirits up. </span><br />
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</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">There are millions of books and there is no way to read everything, so it is more important to read a hundred great books over and over again. We can never know everything, it is much better to know fewer things, but at least know them well. I guess another way of putting it this is that it is more important to be wiser than well informed, in regard to books as well as everything else.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">I became a missionary on the subject of re-reading on a Caruso beach in Mexico.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">It was at the end of the school year in the USA, and there were many school leavers around from the southern states celebrating. I asked the kids what they wanted to read and most of them were going to college and were intending to study English. On one occasion about a group of thirty kids gathered around me learning that I was a novelist. I asked them what their favourite novel was. Not one of them could name the title of a single one. Finally a girl piped up, declaring proudly that she was reading novels all the time. I asked her for her favourite novels. “Oh, they are too many,” she said. I kept urging her to name some of them. After a long silence she then gave me a title of an Eugene O'Neill play, ‘Long days journey into night’. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">If you are interested in the subject I would like to hear your comments, hope to see next time.</span>Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1London, UK51.5073509 -0.1277582999999822351.1912379 -0.77320529999998222 51.8234639 0.51768870000001777tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-80655550750810691172016-12-27T11:04:00.003-08:002016-12-27T11:04:39.879-08:00Very grateful for the reviews on my new book "If Only"<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hello everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have not blogged for a while, but thought to write a quick blog about the </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt;">wonderful reviews on
Amazon. It clearly attracts only
intelligent and eloquent people. The latest is from Jaideep Prabhu a wonderful;
review of IF Only on Amazon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Here is part of the review Jaideep has written.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">"<i>I have just finished reading IF ONLY. I waited until the Christmas break so I could give it my undivided attention and read it in one gulp (as it were).</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><i>It’s a wonderful novel, with many different facets that I’m still in the process of digesting.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><i>First of all, it is entertaining. I kept turning the pages, wanting to find out how things were going to turn out. The characters are memorable, as are the worlds Vizinczey describes. He does a brilliant job, for instance, of describing the inner workings of a large business, and all the ruthless machinations of those at the top. He also conveys in many moving ways the ups and downs of a long marriage, especially a childless one.</i>"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">You can read the rest of the reviews via the link below.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://goo.gl/rHuWI1">https://goo.gl/rHuWI1</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Having such wonderful reviews around Christmas has been a lovely xmas present and can only hope more people provide reviews on Amazon or other sites.</span></span></div>
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-38172187556579212182016-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:002016-12-11T11:16:00.776-08:00My tribute to A.A. GillHe was a great writer. Some of the best writers today are columnists. This discipline of limited space freed them from the waffle that makes most novels unreadable. The book “Prince among the best”, A.A. Gill has an easy read- concise style and at the same time has a twist in every sentence. A.A. Gill’s other book “A.A. Gill is away" - is the best and wittiest travel book ever - it keeps you glued to the page.<br />
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Jeremy Clarkson said that the world is a less intelligent place since he died. I would add that his books will keep in intelligence alive. “A.A. Gill is away” is going to be read for a long time. It is in every bookshop, which means people are asking for it and they will keep asking for it.<br />
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He was killed by tobacco at the young age of 62. He quit smoking 15 years ago, but it was already too late. Let his tragic death remind smokers who think they have plenty of time to quit, that tomorrow maybe already too late for them.<br />
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-7336993236172560632016-12-02T11:41:00.000-08:002016-12-02T11:43:43.687-08:00Mark Twain and San Francisco<br />
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I think Mark Twain was the greatest ever American writer and seeing readers from San Francisco picking a quote from him following my Pinterest, prompts me to reminiscence. My previous novels In Praise of Older Women and An Innocent Millionaire were world bestsellers – except in the USA – selling more than 7 million copies. (I got some rave reviews in America as well, and sold in the US alone more than 1.5 million copies of my novels, but under the radar so to speak – for reasons which had more to do with politics than literature.) <br />
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An Innocent Millionaire portrays corruption in New York, inspired by the villains who were still in power. It was published just before the opening of America’s yearly Book Fare that happened to be in San Francisco that year.<br />
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Harold Evans brought a thousand copies to the Atlantic Monthly Press boutique which booksellers who stopped by could pick up for free. The 1000 copies were picked up within an hour. It was the most spectacular start – unmatched by any other book at the Fair. It was the talk of the day in the huge barn. Harold Evans, my publisher, was in 7th Heaven, but the NY Times in its report of the opening day of the Fair, didn’t even mention that my book was there. It was the beginning of the big silence of the New York media that more or less killed the novel in the USA.<br />
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I got a wonderful review in The San Francisco Chronicle, and all across the country, but these couldn’t overcome the silence of most of the NY media. In Europe and Latin America they claimed I was the new Balzac, some compared the novel to Monte Christo in reverse, while another critic wrote “Vizinczey portrays all the worms of the Big Apple”.<br />
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I don’t like writers who focus their critical eye on the poor and the young – they, by and large, can hurt only themselves and certainly cannot hit back. I focus on worms in power. (“Vizinczey’s NY attorneys make Balzac’s shyster lawyers look like little orphan boys,” wrote a German critic). I make no money from An Innocent Millionaire, it is out of print, but you can pick up a used copy on Amazon quite cheaply.<br />
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I hope you will also take a look at my new novel, IF ONLY. It is available only in Britain so far, but Amazon US carries it and you can read sections of it free.<br />
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You can view and purchase a copy of my <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=if+only+stephen+vizinczey&sprefix=if+only+ste%2Caps%2C125&crid=SENMJF0C33AY">new book here</a><br />
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S.V.Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com0London, UK51.5073509 -0.1277582999999822351.1912379 -0.77320529999998222 51.8234639 0.51768870000001777tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-41984457924694345812016-07-02T16:36:00.000-07:002016-07-03T05:54:34.763-07:00New book released - If Only <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzuyxflE6teCS85GvXwAlZNIS23rcpcst9YqouMOrW6ybaqCbMPh5uIRl4YgcbpyVcEXtfimdvQuZi0rNtAzcJVM3XbKoUC6ufGwPHBIvacpvnWeFpjUP1sPr4-0vSChR38WhPwne3UkU/s1600/book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzuyxflE6teCS85GvXwAlZNIS23rcpcst9YqouMOrW6ybaqCbMPh5uIRl4YgcbpyVcEXtfimdvQuZi0rNtAzcJVM3XbKoUC6ufGwPHBIvacpvnWeFpjUP1sPr4-0vSChR38WhPwne3UkU/s320/book+cover.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I haven't written a blog for years - I lived
in my novel <i>If Only, </i>which is finally printed and ready for
readers. </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I revised the novel for decades and now
I think it is perfect. Fifty years ago I published <i>In Praise of Older Women </i>myself because no publisher
believed in it as much as I did. Now I’m publishing <i>If Only </i>because no publisher
believes in it as much as I do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I
am reassured in my high opinion of the novel by the responses I received to the
manuscript from preeminent figures in the literary world. Four of them are
quoted on the back of the jacket and I am quoting them here as well to give the
readers some idea of my best and most accessible work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“There
is so much here it is hard to know where to begin. A high comedy of magic and
revenge on earth and in the heavens, <i>IF ONLY
</i>seduces the reader into a landscape as recognisable as today’s
business pages and as credibly fantastical as Swift or Mark Twain. Jim, the
compromised hero, is, like Voltaire’s Candide, a foreigner wherever he goes.
Stephen Vizinczey is razor-sharp and fiercely funny as he describes Jim’s
adventures in the worlds of old and new money, where the cruelty of ruthless
idiots is justified in defence of rewarded greed. Nightmares and visions
unravel in translucent, witty prose. Along the way, he shows pity in unexpected
places and consistently fights the fight on behalf of the universally
threatened: classical music, marriage, literacy and children. Admirers of Vizinczey’s
novels and essays have waited a long time for a third novel to match <i>In Praise of Older Women</i> and <i>An Innocent Millionaire</i>, and this,
triumphantly, is it.” MICHAEL RATCLIFFE<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“IF
ONLY is</span></span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> beautifully written and utterly
compulsive. The opening is brilliant and Neb is a wonderful invention. I
normally hate everything one can call science fiction but Neb works
beautifully, mainly because he’s funny. The novel as whole is dark and bitter.
Swift and other great satirists would approve. The description of modern
corporate life is masterly. The ghastly Norton sums up everything one hates. As
for Ward Bunting… I say dark and bitter (there is a lot of tragedy and
unhappiness) but like all good fairy stories it ends happily. CHRISTOPHER
SINCLAIR-STEVENSON<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Golden remarks and passages are scattered
liberally through the text. The chapters about Comet Claudina and Jim Taylor’s
drowning are particularly fine. A Swiftian satire for the hedge fund age. The
narrative seems nailed to the floor, highly realistic about people losing their
jobs, to the point where an escape from sordid reality makes an impact, and<b> </b>the second part of the book
soars suddenly skywards<b>.</b> The
mixture of harsh truths and escapist fantasy is unique and beguiling.” </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">GEORGE WALDEN<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“I discovered
Vizinczey in a bookstore in Strasbourg and was so fascinated that I was
determined to become his Italian publisher. Vizinczey has a rare gift: He is
able to blend disparate threads of the plot, never uses a word too many; he is
incisive and profound; he describes men and, even more impressively, women with
a few memorable brush strokes. His new, moving tale is, again, rich in both
irony and emotion." CESARE DE MICHELIS<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">You can now purchase a copy of my new book via my website at <a href="http://www.stephenvizinczey.com/">http://www.stephenvizinczey.com/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Readers can lead a rich life without
having a lot of money, simply by reading great books. Still, I’m glad I have as
few rich readers who are paying £120.00 a copy of the first hardcover edition
which is printed in only 100 copies. I hope, both for my sake and their sake, that
those hardcovers will be worth a lot more in a few years. The first paperback
edition was printed in 5000 copies with a retail price of £14.99. Those who buy
the paperback from my website can do so with a click for £12.00, as long as
their address is within the UK. For European addresses outside the UK a postal
charge of £5.60 has to be added. International mailing charges (i.e. outside
Europe) will be £7.50. The retail price of the e-book version is £9.99.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-91378387413786683152015-01-10T06:00:00.002-08:002015-01-10T06:00:14.902-08:00Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones...<div class="MsoNormal">
All religious leaders condemned the assassination of the
staff at the great French satirical magazine <i>Charlie Hebdo</i>, France’s <i>Private
Eye</i>. I remember, however, that in wake of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie,
religious leaders warned against hurting people’s feelings. In my submission to
the House of Lords Committee considering proposals for strengthening blasphemy
laws, I quoted the wise old nursery rhyme, <i>Sticks
and stones/may break my bones/but names will never hurt me</i>. This was the
drift of the majority of submissions, and the proposal for strengthening the blasphemy
laws never got anywhere, but offending somebody’s feelings had become a heinous
offense just the same. Jeremy Clarkson nearly lost his job at the BBC because
he was thought to use an offensive word –and the examples are many. Wasn’t a student arrested after a demonstration
because he made an offensive comment to a mounted policeman?</div>
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The infantilization of Western societies continues apace.
People who proclaim their support for free speech, but at the same time condemn
the use of offensive words, of hurting people’s feelings in any way, are among
the greatest enemies of free speech and add to the infantile atmosphere in
which crazed individuals resort to murder because their beliefs were insulted.
We live in a pluralistic society where people believe in different things and
are touchy about different things. Hardly a day goes by without my feelings
being deeply hurt, but that’s the price I am willing to pay for freedom of
speech. There can be no serious discussion on any subject if we must restrain
ourselves from offending anybody. The media could do a lot to restore sanity.</div>
Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610137049359409175.post-45231500031503556772013-12-31T03:59:00.001-08:002014-04-08T06:10:33.580-07:00My new book - 3 Wishes<br />
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I know I have not been blogging for a while because I have been so busy writing several versions of my new novel, "3 Wishes". I have finally finished it. I altogether through the years wrote more than 500,000 words, several versions.<br />
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The Spanish translation however was published some years ago at the time the book was over 200,000 words. I got very good reviews for it all over the Spanish speaking world, including South America. Some critics even called me the new Swift, but I wasn't satisfied with the work and kept doing different versions. I think I got it right now, this is my final version. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQO1yP9jG5t2cWnvu9DQzYDewdgplTZ_Yf4ZHuqd22W08bF3g0gH_3VI7elIQbYaZ2458SAbh_7qU7m6v4lFfhk4ey8umfwmLNYZ77PyTJE8z3IMphiTxKGdwK4EXYS5WcYbdDMU0dFs/s1600/4-island+of+the+very+rich++1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQO1yP9jG5t2cWnvu9DQzYDewdgplTZ_Yf4ZHuqd22W08bF3g0gH_3VI7elIQbYaZ2458SAbh_7qU7m6v4lFfhk4ey8umfwmLNYZ77PyTJE8z3IMphiTxKGdwK4EXYS5WcYbdDMU0dFs/s320/4-island+of+the+very+rich++1979.jpg" height="320" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is when I started the Novel</td></tr>
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Now I have finally finished the novel, I think it is great and once it has been through the critics, I hope my dear fans will like my novel "3 wishes" as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYrYyGcpYmhAlieNrOgELeITVYN9Xh7lOLxhzd_1kf1cdX5noU_ZNmg6sYK6CKLat3Cx-_C6NynAHoTxVfSyCIDMJb7JteRnBLwgK8wRPPQH8hOmQsxUFUz_oC2-pyMJR4tNEQrUMc14/s1600/4-island+of+the+very+rich++1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3SLWYxvYrZ8fmv0UTjFcC-cirkcsD-veMhjb-_UbB5a4mS54hRpxZCGvm07UXKDRbaulvd8S2i1nhqhcrA0wKUXEri-Booz1oZMztMGtbjjt2DjDo0HbvPpkZx7Y72XtESBwj-E2k48g/s1600/Globe5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3SLWYxvYrZ8fmv0UTjFcC-cirkcsD-veMhjb-_UbB5a4mS54hRpxZCGvm07UXKDRbaulvd8S2i1nhqhcrA0wKUXEri-Booz1oZMztMGtbjjt2DjDo0HbvPpkZx7Y72XtESBwj-E2k48g/s400/Globe5.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How I look when I have finished the novel.</td></tr>
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Stephen Vizinczeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09959276600836760105noreply@blogger.com5