Welcome to Litsy!

A quote from Zweig's autobiography to remind us that one can be a reader & love the books of a humanist author, and still be a fascist psychopath & a dictator.
(The wife of an imprisoned opponent of Mussolini asked him to try and get him released, which implies pleading with the enemy - Mussolini - who happens to be a fan of his work.)

Another still from Parlement, series 4 with Carmen realising the parallels between today and the run-up to WWII.

I don't want to speak ill of my capital city - and it does feel good to read nice things about a tolerant, non-classist, non-racist, fun Paris in Edwardian times - but Zweig is wearing humongous rose-tinted glasses here 😁

Call me easily led: I am reading Zweig's autobiography b/c it featured heavily in an episode (S4E7) of the TV comedy series about EU institutions Parlement, with the subtext that it is transposable to today's world & political climate. Which is scary because Zweig lived through WWI and committed suicide in 1942.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/04/machiavelli-in-brussels-bac...

#readingispolitical

Not quite, AI, not quite... (prompt "Rousseau's cold remedy bottle")
.......

Of course, many earlier books, especially devotional tracts, had brought tears to the eyes of their readers, but La Nouvelle Héloïse released a flood: "tears," "sweet tears," "tears that are sweet," "delicious tears," "tears of tenderness." One reader sobbed so vehemently that he cured himself of a severe cold.

Today is the equinox, so the official start of Autumn, & in the short-lived French Revolutionary calendar, the start of the new year. And the day of grapes (each day was given the name of a produce, tool, animal or mineral). It has no bearing on real life, but I like to check which day it is in this calendar.
In RL, in France, we're still waiting for the new prime minister to form a government 😩
#majicmonday @Eggs

@xicanti, @Reggie, @lil1inblue

Very interesting book. The author does a reasonably good job at covering the history of Central Europe from around the Roman Empire until after the Cold War. The different topics are covered in a more broad manner, so some areas don't receive a very in-depth look. However, the book can still serve as a good introduction for those interested in Central European history.

Rousseau addressed the paradox of his position as a novelist in two prefaces, which explained that novels were bad in themselves because they caused corruption, yet salutary in that they could inspire virtue among those already trapped in a corrupt society.

He also added a further paradox: "This novel is not a novel.
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!!! Cake and eating it!?

This book is a sort of romp through German history, geography, art and conspicuous personalities. The author is neither German nor a historian, but he is well traveled across Central Europe and demonstrates what seems to be a good grasp of the terrain and culture. This book is good and humorous, playful even, but it is very dense, each chapter or essay taking some time to digest before moving onto the next. Incidentally, Winder does not cover WW2.

Weekend history geeking.

I am touring the Vienna Habsburg Schönbrunn castle and it has changed my brain for what I am going to picture when a book says a Dovecote/ aviary.