If only Mark Twain and Virginia Woolf could break bread at my table. I would be equally delighted and terrified. Since reading A Writer’s Diary by Virginia Woolf and then The Selected Letters of Mark Twain edited by Charles Neider, I’ve been straddling different continents of form and thought. Both author’s were masters of the words they herded onto a page. Though it must be said, I was hollowed out by Virginia Woolf’s diary. Maybe a shot of scotch is what is needed after one too many cups of tea.
After soaking up Woolf’s diary, I stumbled across Samuel Clemen’s book of letters while passing the window of a used book shop. To reach Twain’s letters, I was compelled to reach over an edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton which was expensive and fine. Trading melancholy for Mark Twain was a good choice in the right light.
Maybe tea and scotch shouldn’t be mixed but I have swirled them together in more ways than one. There is delight to be had in swirling authors of different eras, places and backgrounds together and in searching for diamonds in the dustheaps of used book shops. Seeking truths in unexpected places and finding a heady mix that feels just right. Food for thought as I begin With Bold Knife & Fork written by MFK Fisher, an American author who could give a master class on skipping over oceans and breaking bread at foreign tables. Happy Thursday from our table to yours.
Ivy and Palm 