Ernest Hemingway, one of my favorite novelists, he was an outstanding writer! Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

I couldn't forget an inspiring quote from Hemingway cited by a Hollywood movie: "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for."



(These images below sourced from en.wikipedia.com)










(Image below sourced from biography.com)

Tribute to a great French Jewish art collector and banker James Rotschild, 19th century

Anyone visiting France? Don't miss this unique exhibition:

“The Rothschilds in France in the 19th Century” runs at the old National Library, 5 Rue Vivienne, Paris, France through February 10, 2013. For information: http://www.bnf.fr

It is inspiring to read about how great wealth and passion for the arts often come together to bring about great strides in human progress, such as in the case of the eminent French Jewish financier and art collector James Rotschild. Overcoming persecutions and even outright prejudice, entrepreneurial families of Europe's Jewish families like the Rotschilds have immensely contributed to economic and social progress. Read the article below

 

 

 

Rothschild’s Souffle Joins Art Treasures in Paris Show

By Jorg von Uthmann - Dec 17, 2012 8:01 AM GMT+0800 Bloomberg

“Money is the god of our time, and Rothschild is his prophet,” wrote German poet Heinrich Heine.
While penning this bon mot, the Rothschild he had in mind was James, head of his family banking empire’s French branch and the subject of a charming exhibition at the old National Library in Paris.

 

 

 

"Portrait of James de Rothschild" (1864) by Hippolyte Flandrin. The oil painting is on view at the Paris National Library through Feb. 10, 2013. Source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France via Bloomberg

 

 

 

"Library of the Rothschild Bank on Rue Laffitte in Paris" (ca 1880). The anonymous oil painting is on view at the Paris National Library through Feb 10. Source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France via Bloomberg

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Check for One Million Thalers

Bibliotheque Nationale de France via Bloomberg

A check for one million Prussian thalers, the first installment of the war reparations (1871). It is on view at the Paris National Library through Feb 10.

A check for one million Prussian thalers, the first installment of the war reparations (1871). It is on view at the Paris National Library through Feb 10. Source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France via Bloomberg

 

 

"Hall of the Chateau de Ferrieres" (ca 1865) by Eugene Lami. The water color is on view at the Paris National Library through Feb. 10. Source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France via Bloomberg

The youngest son of Frankfurt banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the dynasty, Jakob Rothschild, as he was originally called, arrived in Paris in 1812. Five years later, after the family was ennobled by Austrian emperor Franz I, he renamed the bank “Banque MM. de Rothschild Freres,” (the ’de’ indicated nobility).

In 1818, he moved the bank’s headquarters to the townhouse of Napoleon’s former chief of police, Joseph Fouche, on Rue Laffitte, close to the Paris Bourse. (CAC)

His meteoric rise began after 1830 when the “Citizen King” Louis Philippe was crowned. His prime minister, Francois Guizot, preached the gospel: “Enrichissez-vous” (Enrich yourselves).

Railroad Baron

Nobody embraced this dictum more than Rothschild. He frequently dined with the king at the Tuileries Palace and bankrolled some of France’s biggest industrialization projects, including the Ligne du Nord, the railroad that connected Paris with Lille and Brussels.

The opening of the monumental Gare du Nord, the gateway to Paris for British visitors arriving by train, was one of the proudest moments of Rothschild’s career.

His relationship with Napoleon III, who succeeded Louis Philippe in 1848 as president and became emperor in 1852, was less friendly -- much to the delight of Rothschild’s competitors who froze him out of several national projects.

Yet within a few years Le Grand Baron had become indispensable, and the emperor’s 1862 visit to Rothschild’s country house, the Chateau de Ferrieres, sealed his return to favor.

One of the most impressive items in the exhibition shows just how indispensable he had become. After the country’s defeat in the war against Prussia in 1871, he issued a check for one million Prussian thalers, the first instalment of war reparations imposed on France.

A-Listers

The emphasis of the show is on the brilliant social life of James, who married his niece Betty. In their townhouse adjacent to the bank, they entertained Le Tout Paris, including composers Gioacchino Rossini, Hector Berlioz, Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt, as well as painters Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugene Delacroix.

Rossini was happy to compose a “Hymn to Napoleon III” on the occasion of the emperor’s visit to Ferrieres. Chopin dedicated a waltz and a ballad to Rothschild’s daughter Charlotte, to whom he gave piano lessons.

Not the least of the reasons why Le Beau Monde flocked to Rothschild’s dinner parties was his gifted cook Antonin Careme who had worked at the courts of St. James and St. Petersburg before coming to Rue Laffitte.

There he created the Souffle a la Rothschild, the Saumon a la Rothschild and the Filet de Boeuf a la Rothschild, slices of cold beef covered with foie gras and truffles and other delicacies documented in his “L’Art de la Cuisine Francaise” included in the exhibition.

Not everyone was in awe of the Le Grand Baron. The exhibition includes a number of caricatures and reminds us that he inspired one of Honore de Balzac’s less attractive characters who appeared in 12 of his novels: Frederic de Nucingen, a roguish banker who speaks French with a heavy German accent and who made his fortune from a series of bogus bankruptcies.

Numerous illuminated manuscripts, paintings and sculptures, some portraying Christian saints, evoke Rothschild the bibliophile and art collector. Only Ingres’s portrait of Betty, the gem of his collection, is missing from this comprehensive exhibition.

Today November 25 is the 511th birth anniversary of Yi Hwang (1501–1570), one of the two most prominent Korean Confucian scholars of the Joseon Dynasty.


His surname is written in Hanja or Chinese character as 李, which is also pronounced in Korean or Chinese as Lee. He had authored many Confucian books.

My comments:

One of the reasons the Korean people are outstanding and Korea is a great nation is due to their traditional Confucian values. I believe this is almost equivalent to the Protestant ethic of countries in the West before, like Germany, Britain and the United States of America but sadly this Protestant ethic has eroded in many Western societies nowadays?

A key figure of the Neo-Confucian literati, he set up the Yeongnam School and founded the Dosan Seowon as a private Confucian academy.

Yi Hwang in Hanja or Chinese chracters is written as 李滉, he is often referred to by his pen name Toegye which is written in Hanja or Chinese characters as 退溪 (meaning "Retreating Creek"). His courtesy name was Gyeongho which is written in Hanja or Chinese characters as景浩 .

Toegyero, a street in central part of the South Korean capital city Seoul, is named after him.

His image is on the South Korean currency in the 1,000 won note.

The Taekwondo pattern Toi-Gye was named in honor of Yi Hwang.

There are numerous institutes and university research departments devoted to Yi Hwang in Korea and also in foreign countries, sych as the Toegye Studies Institute set up in Seoul in 1970,  Kyungpook National University's Toegye Institute opened in 1979, and also an institute and library in Dankook University in 1986.

He followed the dualistic Neo-Confucianism teachings of Chu Hsi, which views i (Chinese “li”) and gi (Chines “qi”) as the forces of foundation of the universe

Rupert Brooke was one of the best poets of the English language, he died young in war.  (Below is a photograph by Sherrill Schell, of the poet Rupert Brooke in 1913. The photo is from the book The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke published 1926) Rupert Brooke  Nationality - English Lifespan - 1887 - 1915 Family - Father was House Master at Rugby School Education - Cambridge University Career - Poet and Officer in Royal Navy First Published in 1909  Famous Poems Peace Retrospect Safety The Chilterns The Dead The Soldier The Great Lover This informations from poets.org of the Academy of American poets: Rupert Brooke English poet Rupert Chawner Brooke was born in 1887. The son of the Rugby School's housemaster, Brooke excelled in both academics and athletics. He entered his father's school at the age of fourteen. A lover of verse since the age of nine, he won the school poetry prize in 1905. A year later, he attended King's College, Cambridge, where he was known for his striking good looks, charm, and intellect. While at Cambridge, he developed an interest in acting and was president of the University Fabian Society. Brooke published his first poems in 1909; his first book, Poems, appeared in 1911. While working on his dissertation on John Webster and Elizabethan dramatists, he lived in the house that he made famous by his poem "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester." Popular in both literary and political circles, he befriended Winston Churchill, Henry James, and members of the Bloomsbury Group, including Virginia Woolf. Although he was popular, Brooke had a troubled love life. Between 1908 and 1912 he fell in love with three women: Noel Olivier, youngest daughter of the governor of Jamaica; Ka Cox, who preceded him as president of the Fabian Society; and Cathleen Nesbitt, a British actress. None of the relationships were long lasting. In 1912, after his third romance failed, Brooke left England to travel in France and Germany for several months. Upon his return to England, Brooke received a fellowship at King's College and spent time in both Cambridge and London. In 1912 he compiled an anthology entitled Georgian Poetry, 1911-12, with Edward Marsh. The Georgian poets wrote in an anti-Victorian style, using rustic themes and subjects such as friendship and love. While critics viewed Brooke's poetry as too sentimental and lacking depth, they also considered his work a reflection of the mood in England during the years leading up to World War I. After experiencing a mental breakdown in 1913, Brooke traveled again, spending several months in America, Canada, and the South Seas. During his trip, he wrote essays about his impressions for the Westminster Gazette, which were collected in Letters From America (1916). While in the South Seas, he wrote some of his best poems, including "Tiare Tahiti" and "The Great Lover." He returned to England at the outbreak of World War I and enlisted in the Royal Naval Division. His most famous work, the sonnet sequence 1914 and Other Poems, appeared in 1915. Later that year, after taking part in the Antwerp Expedition, he died of blood poisoning from a mosquito bite while en route to Gallipoli with the Navy. He was buried on the island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea. Following his death, Brooke, who was already famous, became a symbol in England of the tragic loss of talented youth during the war. A Selected Bibliography Poetry Poems (1911) Georgian Poetry, 1911-1912 (1912) 1914, and Other Poems (1915) The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1915) The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1918) The Poetical Works of Rupert Brooke (1946) Prose Lithuania: A Drama in One Act (1915) John Webster and the Elizabethan Drama (1916) Letters From America (1916) Democracy and the Arts (1946) The Prose of Rupert Brooke (1956) The Letters of Rupert Brooke (1968) Rupert Brooke: A Reappraisal and Selection From His Writings, Some Hitherto Unpublished (1971) Letters From Rupert Brooke to His Publisher, 1911-1914 (1975) Rupert Brooke 1887-1915 'Here lies the servant of God, sub-lieutenant in the English Navy, who died for the deliverance of Constantinople from the Turks'

The late talented and patriotic English poet lies buried in an olive grove on Skyros Island of Greece, near Tris Boukes Bay. The tomb is some 50 yards to the left of the road which descends down to the bay.   Tomb of Rupert Brooke Photograph by Neil Maybin When he was at Cambridge University, the poet moved out of London and lived at The Old Vicarage in Grantchester. Years later when feeling in Berlin, the poet reminisce about the past he had spent there and composed the poem: The Old Vicarage, Grantchester and concludiong it with this well-known famous couplet: Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea? Brooke in 1913 Brooke suffered a nervous breakdown, he tried to recover by travelling to the United States, Canada and the Pacific islands. When he was in Tahiti, Brooke wrote Tiara Tahiti and other poetry considered to be among his best poems.

In 1914 Brooke joined the Royal Navy and took part in the Antwerp expedition. The poet died of blood-poisoning aboard a hospital ship on the way to the Dardanelles. He was originally buried by his fellow officers. The body was carried to the olive grove in the evening and a simple stone cairn was built, with a wooden cross bearing the above inscription was erected. After World War I ended, at the instigation of his mother, Brooke's tomb was replaced by the present grave and has the inscription of his famous war sonnet The Soldier.

If I should die, think only this of me:   That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be   In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,   Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air,   Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away,   A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;   Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,   In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Who did the huge painting and what is the title of this work used as backdrop for new China leaders' group photograph today?

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xi Jinping (C) and the other newly-elected members of the Standing Committee of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau Li Keqiang (3rd R), Zhang Dejiang (3rd L), Yu Zhengsheng (2nd R), Liu Yunshan (2nd L), Wang Qishan (1st R), Zhang Gaoli (1st L) meet with journalists at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov 15, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Picasso Painting of Lover Fetches US$41.5 Million in New York!

My comments:
The art works of the late genius painter Pablo Picasso are really spectacular, stunning and unique. I'm sharing latest news article on one of my favorite painters Pablo Picasso. This news is from Bloomberg...

By Katya Kazakina and Philip Boroff - Nov 9, 2012 8:30 AM GMT+0800

Picasso’s 1932 painting of his young mistress Marie-Therese Walter fetched $41.5 million tonight at Sotheby’s (BID) in New York.

Philip Hook, senior specialist at Sotheby’s London, bought it for a client on the phone.

"Femme a la fenetre (Marie-Therese)" (April 13, 1936) by Pablo Picasso. The painting is estimated at $15 million to $20 million. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg

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'Nature morte aux tulipes'

Sotheby's via Bloomberg

"Nature morte aux tulipes," signed and dated 2 Mars XXXII (March 2, 1932), by Pablo Picasso. The oil-on-canvas painting is estimated at $35 million to $50 million.

"Nature morte aux tulipes," signed and dated 2 Mars XXXII (March 2, 1932), by Pablo Picasso. The oil-on-canvas painting is estimated at $35 million to $50 million. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg

“Nature Morte aux Tulipes” is at once a portrait and a still life, depicting Walter’s sculpted white head on a pedestal next to a bouquet of tulips and some sexually suggestive fruit. It had been estimated to bring $35 million to $50 million.

The work was the top lot by estimate of Sotheby’s evening Impressionist and modern art sale, expected to bring more than $169 million.

The seller had been guaranteed a minimum undisclosed price, provided by Sotheby’s, a third party or a combination thereof, according to the catalog. A third party also provided Sotheby’s with an irrevocable bid on the lot, ensuring that the work will sell.

It sold for $28.6 million in 2000 at Christie’s in New York. Picasso’s paintings of Walter have been popular with collectors, surging since his “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” went for $106.5 million at Christie’s in New York in 2010.

Most of the top Marie-Therese paintings that have come up for auction have been dated 1932, the year of Picasso’s big retrospective at Galeries Georges Petit in Paris.

Faulkner estate sues over quotes in Woody Allen film & Washington Post ad!

 

My Comments:

 

Whether these lawsuits by the heirs of the Nobel Prize for Literature winner and two-time Pulitzer awardee poet/novelist William Faulkner (1897-1961) are legally valid or not is, I believe, besides the point. For a writer like me, what is more interesting is that these news reports will hopefully encourage more people to be curious about the great literary writer William Faulkner and his works.

 

William Faulkner was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, a giant of the U.S. south.

 

Let us read these literary masterpieces:

 

The Sound and the Fury

 

As I Lay Dying

 

Absalom, Absalom!

 

 

 

Here is one of Faulkner's interesting quotes: 
"It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work."

 

– William Faulkner

 

 

 

Here is a news report about the hullabaloo...

 

Oct 30, 2012 3:51 AM Updated: Oct 30, 2012 7:52 AM

 

By JEFF AMY

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - William Faulkner wrote that the past is never dead. His heirs say their copyright to that phrase is very much alive.

The author's literary estate is suing Sony Pictures Classics for using a paraphrase of the line in Woody Allen's 2011 film, "Midnight in Paris." It's also suing Northrop Grumman Corp. and The Washington Post Co. for using another Faulkner quote in a newspaper ad by the defense contractor.

The first lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Oxford, Miss., says Sony infringed on the copyright when actor Owen Wilson slightly misquoted the line from Faulkner's "Requiem for a Nun." He said, "The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past."

The second lawsuit, filed Friday in Jackson, Miss., makes similar claims about the ad, which used a passage from a 1956 essay Faulkner wrote in Harper's Magazine. The quote, which says in part "We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it," was the conclusion to an essay criticizing the South's response to school integration.

Sony says the quote is "fair use," a legal term meaning the user doesn't have to license or pay for it.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit and we are confident we will prevail in defending it," a Sony Pictures spokeswoman said in a written statement.

Northrop Grumman declined comment. The Washington Post did not return a phone call Monday.

David Olson, a Boston College law professor who specializes in patent law and copyright, said he agrees that the estate is over-reaching legally.

Lee Caplin, who represents the estate, disagrees. He said these are the first lawsuits it has ever filed. Caplin said that the estate recently licensed a quote to the sitcom "Modern Family." He contrasted that to Allen's use of the quote in the movie.

"He just wanted to kind of take it and he felt entitled," Caplin said of Allen.

Caplin said the suit is not a "money grab." He said Sony was dismissive of his attempts to license the quote after the movie came out.

Under the fair use principle, people can take and reuse part of a copyrighted book, song or movie without permission. Generally, excepts can be used if they're short and if they're part of a new artistic work, scholarly work or a parody. Noncommercial uses are generally more permissible, Olson said.

"If it's for a commercial use, they do have to pay for it," Caplin said.

Olson, though, said that's a flawed understanding of copyright law.

"Commercial use isn't presumptively unfair," he said. He said no one watches "Midnight in Paris" as a substitute for buying "Requiem for a Nun."

"The Faulkner estate's interest is not being harmed in any way," Olson said. "If anything it draws a little more interest."

Caplin argued that even though the movie snippet is short, it's a key summing-up of the whole film, and that Allen took it because Faulkner said it better.

"This is Mr. Faulkner's most famous quote," Caplin said.

In the Northrop case, Caplin said he's not sure the heirs would have wanted Faulkner's name to be associated with an arms manufacturer.

Olson said the Northrop case may be stronger, but he fears that authors are using copyright to limit the political context in which works are quoted or used.

Olson said some estates are zealous about enforcing copyright, to increase revenue or limit discussions that

heirs find disagreeable. The suits could just be warning shots by the estate to other users.

"Part of what they could be doing is just trying to get the word out," Olson said.