#maxim leo

[chaucers]

self care is reading russian classics

[macrolit]

Literary history that happened on 30 May

[the-portrait-of-seraph]

This Month’s Review...

We read twelve books this month, apart from the four I’ve uploaded. I was supposed to work on this post yesterday and post today, but my neck was bothering me (and still is wtf) and so I’m doing this today.

Week One:

The Mother [Gorky, Maxim]: 8.5/10

Great book, I like Gorky’s style and I understand the point we wanted to convey. Based on true events, the story follows Pavel and his mother (the true protagonist) and Gorky shows the spirit of the proletarian movement through his characters/writing. 

It’s actually my second time reading it, so some things feel different to me than the first time, like Pavel’s transition from a drunk like his father to a man dedicated to the emancipation of the proletariats. It’s a liberating feeling to see it over and over, alongside the growth of the Mother, from a cautious, politically unaware factory worker to a mother who wishes to support her son and take part in the revolution? Pardon my language, but that is hot girl shit right there.

Gorky is credited with the creation of the sub-style(?) of Soviet Realism, the artistic movement most prominent at the time of Stalin, which I still have a lot to learn about and I felt like that’s why I had a hard time “sticking” to this book?

I only read this book because my father adores Russian literature, especially Gorky and Pushkin. This is one of his favorite books and I felt like I ended up reading it for validation-

Nevertheless, an amazing book! I will be re-reading this in the future and maybe I’ll do an analysis on it. 

The Portable Edgar Allan Poe [ Poe, Edgar A.]: 10/10

First thing’s first, I will love Poe until my last dying breath. He has (almost) everything I look for in an author, His prose, imagery, and macabre flair??? Absolutely gorgeous.

As a collection of 110 short stories, essays, observations, and letters, you get a solid 360º of Poe’s life and work. I actually finished this in one day, I was on a 4-5 hour car ride and this was the only book that was keeping me from going insane.

He is one of the greatest writers in the U.S and internationally (imo), influencing authors like Fyodor Dostoevsky, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edogawa Ranpo (who’s name is actually based on the Japanese pronunciation of E.A. Poe). In Japan, Poe’s and Dostoevsky’s works were the first foreign works translated and brought there.

Poe has lived an interesting life (and death), which impacted his writing and many themes. My personal favorite works in this collection are “Berenice”, “Ligeia”, “The Philosophy of Composition”, and “Art and the Soul”!

My money was well spent on this book, I’ll definitely come back to read it time to time. I’ll put my Poe post link here!

Invisible Man [Ellison, Ralph]: 9.5/10

Absolutely powerful and insanely complex, Ellison writes about one Black man’s struggles from expulsion to racial riots, he creates a work of art that generations on top of generations will relate to.

This is my first work of Ellison’s, and I am in LOVE. I admire him and his descriptive language, he makes reading worth-while. I’m definitely going to try and read more Black literature in February because it’s going to be Black History Month!

After finishing this book, I was hit with deja vu, like I had read something similar before. It was Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground”. After doing some research, I had found out that Ellison was directly influenced by Dostoevsky’s Underground Man and the structure of his work was similar to that of “Notes from Underground”!

This book holds a special place in my heart as a WOC and third-culture kid, even though I’m not Black.

I would give a bit of a warning to those who are sensitive to/ triggered by violence, discrimination, usage of racial slurs, death, etc, but that’s what the story is suppose to show, making it a flavorful read.

I would like to recommend this book to everyone, it’s amazing! The idea of a man who is not physically invisible, but socially invisible because people choose not to see him is such a mind-boggling concept. The beginning and epilogue are single-handedly the best things since sliced bread???

I actually bought this book at the destination of the 4-5 hour road trip after one look at the blurb, and I don’t regret bringing more books on the trip because this one kept me occupied!

Week Two:

The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol [Gogol, Nikolai]: 10/10

We need to talk about Gogol, seriously.

This man was a true literary genius? He is one of Russia’s most praised authors and he’s not actually Russian? He was Ukrainian and used his view as an outsider to write about Russian society/life with elements of satire and the grotesque, making his work very crunchy!

(He’s my beloved Russian literature husband, no. 2)

It’s actually said that Akutagawa took inspiration from Gogol’s work “The Nose” for his own work of the same name! I love seeing some of my favorite authors influence each other.

Also, Gogol’s stories are so absurd, you’ll laugh until your heart stops, The “Diary of a Madman” and “The Nose” are absolute comedic goldmines, but we can’t just forget “The Overcoat”!

Fun fact: E.A. Poe and Gogol were born in the same year (1809) and both are now considered the some greatest authors. They also used similar themes and both inspired Dostoevsky. I felt like they may have been very good friends or would burn each others manuscripts- (Also Gogol’s birthday is on April Fool’s Day)

In conclusion, go and read Gogol’s works! I highly recommend “Diary of a Madman”, “The Overcoat”, and “The Portrait”!

Eugene Onegin [Pushkin, Alexander]: 11/10

This is a work of art, the fountainhead of Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin, everyone!

Reading a realist novel in the style of Romantic poetry makes me feel emotions I’ve never felt before. I feel like we don’t talk about Pushkin enough, he’s Russia’s greatest author, paved the way for other writers, yet many people still don’t know who he is outside his home country???

I actually started to appreciate poetry because of him (and Poe) and I wrote my final assignment paper on him!

I like Pushkin’s prose, it’s amazing how he could tell a story about three men in poetry. Lensky was my favorite :) 

Alexander Pushkin deserves all the love in the literary world, “Eugene Onegin” may be the best book I read this month. I know since it’s a novel in verse (poetry), it may look at little challenging at first, but it’s seriously worth all your time, it’s insane.

There’s so much more I want to say about Pushkin and I’d like to read more of his work!

A Thousand Cranes [Kawabata, Yasunari]: 9.2/10

As expected of the 1968 Nobel Prize (in Literature) recipient! I definitely enjoyed this one better than “Beauty and Sadness”!

Fumiko, my girl. I just felt so bad for her throughout the whole book. Imagine the guy you’re serving tea to has had a sexual relationship with your mother and she takes her own life? I don’t think I could live with that.

Also leave Chikako and her birthmark alone, damn you guys are mean-

There’s a certain poetic-ness to Kawabata’s works and I live for it. I really liked the last chapter, I almost cried while reading it. Kawabata makes self-destructive habits so much more alive with his words.

It’s a very short book, only 100 pages long, so there’s not much to say; I finished it in one sitting!

Of Dogs and Walls [Tsushima, Yuko]: 9/10

I ugly-cried while reading this, so I can’t give it a 10.

There are two stories in this book, The Watery Realm and Of Dogs and Walls, both are really sad if you think about it. In the first one, the narrator (who I think is Tsushima herself) says that no matter how horrible her husband was, she couldn’t bring herself to fully resent him, because he was the man she loved and married. The narrator also talks about how her mother beat her because she was her mother’s only child since her brother and sister knew their father, but not the narrator.

Tsushima’s works often talk about childhood and how it shapes our memories, as well as single parent life.

in Of Dogs and Walls, A girl’s childhood memories and family’s dog, become the most important pieces of herself, and she reminisces about the days she used to take care of her older brother.

Tsushima has won the Akutagawa, Izumi Kyōka, and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō Prizes, some of Japan’s most highly coveted literary prizes!

Fun fact: Her father was the famed I-novelist, Dazai Osamu, whose real name was Tsushima Shuji, I’ll put a link to my Dazai post here

The Stranger [Camus, Albert]: 8.9/10

I’m going to be very honest here, “The Stranger” is overrated-

I love Camus, but I feel like “The Stranger” has been abused by the media and the people, it’s lost its flavor?

Meursault’s mom dies, he freaking shot a man, and the only thing he talks about when on trial is his mom? Although that might be a leitmotif trying to prove Camus’ point on philosophy.

I understand that this book is to explore the “nakedness” of humanity and absurdity as a philosophical idea, but it seems overbearing to me. The whole book made me feel nauseous as I write this review,

But I do like Camus’s writing style, the short sentences sometimes say more than Dicken’s five page description of a house-

I guess I have a love-hate relationship with Camus, I like the style, but not the plot.

Week Three:

Anna Karenina [Tolstoy, Leo]: 10/10

There is a lot to unpack here, I might make a separate post on it sometime.

You have the life of the fortunate but unhappy Anna Karenina and her drama-filled, self-destructive life (and affair with Vronsky). Amongst this chaos, is Konstantin Levin, a man who struggles to find a meaning in life. 

Read this for Levin, trust me, it’s such a wonderful experience.

A perfect mix of living-room drama and pensiveness, Tolstoy’s usage of polyphony makes the lives of all of those involved with the Karenins and Levin unique.

Truth be told, I did not like Karenin from the start, I was ready to fight this man with my bare hands and a spoon, but when he visited Anna when she was supposedly dying? The tenderness of the moment had changed my mind of him completely, along with when he was taking caring of Anna and Vronksy’s baby girl when she rot away, knowing that the child was not his own? Forgiving Vronsky??? I was trying very hard not to cry.

I think I relate to Anna a little too much, help- (Anna kinnie moment haha) But my favorites are Kitty, Dolly, and Levin!

Kitty and Levin were so cute, esp whenLevin was coming home from looking at a plot of farmland (?) and all he could think of was arriving home and kissing Kitty??? Oh, great heavens, someone get me a cold towel and glass of water. (Felt like their relationship might have needed a few couple’s therapy sessions but)

There is just so much to this book, and I’m sorry for not being able to do it justice-

The Myth of Sisyphus [Camus, Albert]: 9/10

This. This is a work of art.

Definitely prefer this over “The Stranger”. As a philosopher, Camus loves to talk about the absurd and how life revolves around it.

The one thing Camus and I have in common, we both have an interest in Dostoevsky, Camus’ essay on Kirilov is so good as a character analysis and a way to further Camus’ point, so I won’t be giving it away, please go and read it!

This book is also pretty short, so I don’t want to give a lot of it away. I found “The Myth of Sisyphus” pleasing to read, I might use it as inspiration for my next work.

The Makioka Sisters/Light Snow [Tanizaki, Jun’ichirō]: 10/10

My first and last complaint is the title. What is “ThE MaKiOkA SiSteRs”? The original title is “Light Snow” and it’s said that the translator Edward Seidensticker had difficulty translating the title since a direct translation wouldn’t make sense to foreign readers.

Has a bit of a gossipy air around it? Sort of like a conversation I would overhear at a brunch?

The story is about the titular Makioka sisters, a once well-off family from Osaka, now with their declining fortune, they struggle to find a husband for the third sister, Yukiko. The youngest sister, Taeko, is waiting for Yukiko to get married, so she can come forth with her relationship with Okubata. But Taeko has feelings for Itakura, a photographer who rescued her from her sewing school during the flood in the story. Taeko’s affection for these men end up getting her disowned by her family- 

The air of the start of WWII and Allied occupation in Japan also play a part in the story, it really adds spice to the decline of the Makioka,

This was actually my first Tanizaki work, and I enjoyed it very much. I like Japanese literature because it’s themes and writing styles are different from that of Western styles and I really like Tanizaki’s writing!

I look forward to reading more of his works :)

The Flowers of Evil [Baudelaire, Charles]: 8.7/10

Going to be serious here, I don’t really read poetry. It’s never been my thing, I never end up finishing a collection.

Baudelaire is considered a great poet in France, along with Verlaine, and for good reason. He has talent, I liked his collections “Wine” and “Death”, they stood out to me the most.

I do like his usage of rhyme and rhythm, it’s a bit hard to describe though. 

I don’t enjoy French poetry as much as I enjoy Japanese poetry, but I’ll have to keep looking for a poet that suits my taste.

Whew, that is a lot of words. I didn’t know how I would break this news to you guys, but I’m writing a book of poetry and will be publishing it this year! I’ll find a way to make sure international purchase is accessible if you’re all interested! Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it, 여러분 새해복 많이받으세요

[nofatclips]

You and I by Papooz from the album Night Sketches - Directed by Victoria Lafaurie

[lee-scribbles-and-doodles]

(click for better quality)

Finally had motivation to doodle again after several months. Did some more S&M ocs alongside what I think Ruth looked like when she was younger. These characters are Canon to my Boxed Crook AU.

Maxim and Ruth grew up together, and bonded pretty tightly due to sharing the trauma of their dad's going missing. Ruth ended up looking more like Sameth but has Ruby's eyes. Maxim mostly looks like Maximus, but inherited his mother's mane.

Despite Maxim sharing his father's rather manic appearance, he's actually pretty mellow, and a bit of a goody two shoes, save for his tendency to threaten violence against others.

During their adventures, the duo met Leo O'Dare, who was a vet from "the war" (which war is never specified much to their confusion, and Leo often gives contradictory information). Ruth fell for Leo and eventually married him, he followed her and Maxim on their adventures. Meanwhile, Maxim met and fell for the chill party girl North Sinclair.

Side Notes: 1) I used some snap shots of Christmas, Bloody Christmas for the first two sketches. | 2) Leo is based on a picture Sam has of his grandpa Leo in the cartoon.

[breitzbachbea]

Nachbeben by Alligatoah certified LFLS song. But because of the language, I am legally obliged to think the most of Leo, Katta and Alois.

Alois is very much

Ich so: "Vorbei ist vorbei - juckt."

Meine Seele so: "Einspruch."

[xiutaek]

i looked at max’s instagram..... much to think about.....

[sleepydrummer]

Gogol, Turgeniev, Dostoievski, Pushkin, Tolstoi, then later Sologub, Shchedrin, Chekhov, Gorki, to name only the dead—with what excitement I read them, and, indeed, with what gratitude!

 André Gide, quoted in To the Men of Letters of Leningrad

[esgalas]

I was super motivated to paint this, and yet not motivated enough to look up armour refs

[vinyl-dinosaur]

Dinner Plans

Originally posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2020

A 1956 Columbia release that Billboard ignored and I presume sold to those interested in what was played at Maxim's in Paris. The record begins with Leo greeting the diners and then heading directly into what I think of as 20's and 30's swing music. It moves right along and I'm sure improved the digestion of those dining. Who was Leo? Léo Chauliac, real name Léon Chauliac (6 February 1913 – 27 October 1977) was a French jazz pianist, composer and conductor. A jazz pianist in the 1930s, Léo Chauliac was the accompanist of Charles Trenet from 1941 to 1943, a singer for whom he composed many popular songs. He rubbed shoulders and played with the greatest musicians of the time: Hubert Rostaing, Aimé Barelli, Alix Combelle and Henri Crolla. For a while, as conductor of the orchestra of the famous restaurant Maxim's, he was the conductor for some records by André Claveau and Jacqueline Danno. (Wikipedia) One interesting part of this live album; there's no clapping, much less acknowledgment from the diners that the band is even there. At the close, Leo say his good byes, and the diners continue on. Track List: A1 Ragtime A2 Walkin' My Baby Back Home A3 Didn't We A4 Pau De Arara A5 Manteca A6 Sax-Cantabile A7 Ruby A8 Gin And Tonic B1 Mambo A La Luz De La Luna B2 Mambo En Espagne B3 La Nina Popolf B4 Mood To Be Wooed B5 So In Love B6 'S Wonderful B7 Tell Me Why

(NOTE: If you’d like to download this album, drop a reply or send an ask and we’ll send the link your way!)

[nofatclips]

La Ba'den by Yasmine Hamdan from the album Al Jamilat - Music video by Elia Suleiman

[leeenuu]

Photos from these past few days:

Removing the remains of a Russian tank turret on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 along a roadside near the town of Dmytrivka, where Ukrainian and Russian troops fought in March on the doorstep of the capital city. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)

A girl sits inside a subway car, parked in a metro station being used as a bomb shelter in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

People gather to fill cans with water from a firefighters truck in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Friday, May 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A girl with her grandparents from Lyman ride in the bus during evacuation near Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Associate professor of Ukrainian literature Mykhailo Spodarets gives an online lesson from the basement of his house, used as a temporary shelter, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Orthodox Sister Evdokia, right, helps Maxim to come up from the crater of an explosion, after Russian shelling next to the Orthodox Skete in honor of St. John of Shanghai in Adamivka, near Slovyansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Soldiers with the Carpathian Sich Battalion reviewing drone footage of an attack against Russian forces near the front in the Kharkiv region on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Lynsey Addario/The New York Times)

An Ukrainian firefighter works near a destroyed building on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces fired seven missiles a day earlier from the air at the crucial Black Sea port of Odesa, hitting a shopping center and a warehouse. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky)

Debris and barricades littering a road on the northern outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Thursday, May 12, 2022. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

Ukrainian children holding toy guns made from sticks and pretending to operate a checkpoint in a village in the Donetsk region on Thursday, May 12, 2022. (Lynsey Addario/The New York Times)

[shyinternetcreation]

Memes made by Adam & Pia.

(Leo hat in meinem Kopf keine Ahnung von Internet Culture und ist meistens maximal verwirrt)

[astroseri]

The North Node ☊ Through the Signs

What your north node says about you...

Aries ☊ (Also 1st house) 🔥🍃

“I’m learning to rely less on others and more on myself. I’m developing the ability to make things happen on my own. I’m no longer being held back by others. I want to lead rather than play the supportive role.”

Nobody has to agree with me or support me for me to take action.

Taurus ☊ (Also 2nd house) 🧘‍♂️

“I’m developing self-esteem, wealth and contentment. I’m no longer relying on others for sustenance. I’m acquiring material and emotional independence. I’m leaving behind negative situations, debt, and my lack-mentality so I can acquire peace and abundance.”

Gemini ☊ (Also 3rd house) 💫

“I’m starting to unfollow the things others have told me and many things I’ve learned. I am starting to think for myself. I speak my mind rather than follow things I learned from outside sources. I feel confident asking questions and challenging an authority. I’m developing confidence in my intelligence. I no longer have to believe or listen to everything people tell me to do.”

Cancer ☊ (Also 4th house) 🌙

“I am finding emotional fulfillment, rather than only seeking material achievement. I am learning to care more about my wellbeing, rather than how others will feel about me all the time. I am no longer allowing how others will feel to govern my actions. I am trusting my intuition rather than the general consensus. I don’t always have to take responsibility, sometimes it’s ok for me to be taken care of.”

Leo ☊ (Also 5th house) ☀️✨

“I am learning to receive attention and validation for what I say and do, even though it feels uncomfortable to be in the spotlight. I express what I know to be right even if it can’t fully be explained using logic. I no longer need to prove that I am right or be saying something important for me to express myself. I am developing the ability to enjoy myself more and be a source of pleasure to others. I am finding my inner child.”

Virgo ☊ (Also 6th house) 🩰♍︎

“I am developing a more practical approach to life in order to make my immense dreams happen here on earth. I am maximizing my health and self-discipline as well. I am developing the ability to materialize any goal through organization, routine, skills and self-discipline. I am developing the will to serve myself and others with my immense creativity.”

Libra ☊ (Also 7th house) 🐚⚖️

“I am learning to utilize others, rather than carrying all of the weight myself. Sometimes this is difficult to do because then I feel like things won’t turn out the way I envisioned them. I tend to avoid partnering because I don’t want to deal with someone else’s problems... But imagine how much further I’d be if someone was dealing with mine.

I do a lot of things by myself so I’d make a fantastic teammate. But people aren’t aware of this yet because I rarely ask for help. Imagine if I combined forces!”

Scorpio ☊ (Also 8th house) 🥀

“I am learning to experience personal exchanges and deep bonds, rather than keeping to myself. I am learning to give and receive openly, rather than holding on to my security and wealth alone. I am self-sufficient and I feel as though I do not need or desire what others have to offer however I am learning to become comfortable asking for things and being indebted to others. It makes my life so much easier to be able to ask and receive things from someone else I trust. Usually I am always the provider.”

Sagittarius ☊ (Also 9th house) 📚

“I am learning to understand how others think and to acquire knowledge, rather than attempting to figure everything out myself. I am also learning faith. Being able to believe what someone else has concluded puts less pressure on me to figure everything out firsthand but this is hard for me. I tend to overthink. I am slowly opening up to alternative ideologies and perspectives than my own. Listening to what others say is difficult for me but it would be relieving to believe in something for once and not always have to rely on my intelligence.”

Capricorn ☊ (Also 10th house) 🧗‍♀️👮‍♀️

“I am taking a more constructive approach to life. I want to build security and structure for myself and others, rather than relying on the security and care of somebody else. I am learning to put the feelings of others before my own, that way I can acquire their respect and compliance. I want to take responsibility for myself and others so that way I can enjoy the privileges of authority and success.”

Aquarius ☊ (Also 11th house) ⭐️🕶

“I am learning to express my unpopular ideas and opinions and to not be trapped by the need for validation all the time. I’m learning that the things I do matter even if others don’t immediately understand them or see their value. I am becoming a trendsetter. I can convince people that something matters even if they don’t feel it at first. I am learning to stop presenting people with what they want to see and to present them with what they need to see instead. I pursue my unique interests and express my mind, even if I don’t immediately get validation and emotional support. I know I am making a difference.”

Pisces ☊ (Also 12th house) 🦊

“I am learning to find more freedom in life and to follow my dreams. My tendency (south node in virgo) is to resort to routine, work and mundane tasks and lose sight of the big picture. I tend to be overly realistic and logical in my approach to life. I am learning to let go of the reigns or to step out of routine, to get more in touch with my spirituality and creativity. I am learning to pursue my dreams and creative vision rather than always appearing practical or realistic to others.”

Developing an open-minded point of view, rather than getting lost in details . reaching a more meditative state; reducing stress and physical overload.

Thanks for Reading,

@astroseri

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[asstology]

The signs as Parsyte: The Maxim gifs

Aries:

Taurus:

Gemini:

Cancer:

Leo:

Virgo:

Libra:

Scorpio:

Sagittarius:

Capricorn:

Aquarius:

Pisces: