About Me

My photo
Adalbert is a forum for me, to post ephemera, photography, poetry, occasional travel notes, and various spontaneous motions. Cover photo: Parsonage where my great-grandfather spent his early years. Taken near Liegnitz, Silesia, ca. 1870. The "xothique" portion of the web address is a nod to Clark Ashton Smith's fictional continent of Zothique.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Liebestod


the him who was so Buddha nature rain white on Moon locking pond, a rabbit, a hunchback, furious unmet foxfire Appalachian not even close to Svidrigailov, or Dante from La Vita Nuova:

"Nine times now, since my birth, the heaven of light had turned almost to the same point in its own gyration, when the glorious Lady of my mind, who was called Beatrice by many who knew not what to call her, first appeared before my eyes. She had already been in this life so long that in its course the starry heaven had moved toward the region of the East one of the twelve parts of a degree; so that at about the beginning of her ninth year she appeared to me, and I near the end of my ninth year saw her. She appeared to me clothed in a most noble color, a modest and becoming crimson, and she was girt and adorned in such wise as befitted her very youthful age. At that instant, I say truly that the spirit of life, which dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble with such violence that it appeared fearfully in the least pulses, and, trembling, said these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi [Behold a god stronger than I, who coming shall rule over me]."

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Christina Chiu


Some years back I read Troublemaker and other Saints, by New York author Christina Chiu -- one can purchase the book online. I recall the prose as unique and thoughtful, dealing with such topics as alienation, fetishism, the return of Hong Kong to China, and so on. I got one email from Ms. Chiu after I sent her an email, one of those "glad you liked the book" sort.

Some time after the book was published to some notice, in 2001, Christina Chiu seemed to disappear, with no more writing published (as far as I know, anyway). Her website sat unchanged for years, then seemed to be usurped by some other entity.

That's always the choice one faces with creativity -- you can just walk away from it, as Samuel Morse did with painting. Still better to write one good book than none at all, though.

Where is Christina Chiu now? How about Anna May Wong?


More thoughts on the Silesian parsonage (the photo of which I posted 11/16/2008): My great-grandfather was actually probably raised (and the building probably stood) more in the Legnica/Liegnitz/Waldau area, and the photo I posted was probably taken in the 1860s or early 1870s, a bit earlier than I thought. This information is based on research two relatives of mine produced. Believe I shot straight through Legnica without stopping last year, only the dimmest association flickering in my mind at the passing of the railway sign.