Month: August 2023

Mahler, Roth, von Hofmannsthal, and Magris, fin de siècle Vienna and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

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Lord Chandos on a train

A couple of years ago I wrote about Mahler and Joseph Roth and the coincidence that they both lived in the turn of the Century Vienna. It was very much a gut feeling post (you can read it here) since I am not a history scholar, even less an Austro-Hungarian history scholar specializing in the fall of the empire.

What you read on the Camino is very important. I usually choose spiritually enlightening books. (The Book of Job, Gemma Simmonds The Way of Ignatius A Prayer Journey through Lent (she was my sister’s teacher!), Willigis Jager The Wave is the Sea, even a collection of Zen stories!) They also have to be physically light and small due to backpacking requirements. This year under my friend Paco’s recommendation I took an intellectually challenging book: Hugo von Hofmannsthal Ein Brief (Brief des Lord Chandos) – Letter to Lord Chandos followed by Claudio Magris’ analysis of the Letter in La Lettera Di Lord Chandos.

Hofmannsthal’s (fictional) letter from Lord Chandos to Francis Bacon is a short (22 pages) but fascinating essay on language. Magris’ analysis of the letter is a mind-blowing tour de force of fin de siècle Vienna and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire and what was to follow in Europe. After a master’s and a PhD in literature, I was surprised to find that this is by far the densest reading I have ever encountered. It is rich, thick -but readable- and chock full of references: Kafka, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Freud, and Nietzsche (obviously), Borges, Saussure, Kubrick, Eco, Pasolini, Plato, Seneca, and Cicero, Roth, Kierkegaard, Klee, Van Gogh… and a whole bunch of other names I confess I have no clue who they are. But the point is that Magris explains in philosophical and existential detail the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, turn of the Century Vienna and what would follow in postmodern Europe. It was also very rewarding to read a real essay on what I wrote as a hack blog post…

In conclusion, this is a short, small book, perfect for travelling but dense and rich and glorious academic reading! Enjoy, you are welcome!

PS: If you want to read more about Chandos check out this article:

Greaney, Patrick. “On the Chaos in Chandos: Hofmannsthal on Modernity’s Threshold.” MLN 129.3 (2014): 563-573.

The origin story of my writing for public reading

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“Origin story” is a modern expression, I guess made popular by expensive superhero film franchises. But it is a useful expression, for example: to explain how I got started writing for people I have never met.

It happened in college, but it started in high school. My dad used to read the International Herald Tribune (which was a joint venture between the New York Times and the Washington Post, it was basically a newspaper for Americans abroad) and he would occasionally bring it home. We also received it at school, where I was a bit of a library rat. I was already getting the reading itch and would read anything lying around. Well, the last pages had some miscellanea: Sports, the funnies, classifieds, and a satire column, penned by Art Buchwald. I loved Art Buchwald, he was hilarious! So much so that I ended up doing my PhD specializing in satire. (You can see an interview with him here)

Fast forward a couple of years and I had some sort of gripe with my university. The solution? Write a letter to the editor in The Vanguard, the school newspaper, the style? Satire, obviously. After that letter came another one, and another one. Eventually the newspaper staff with the great Dave Newcorn as editor, made me a columnist -just like Art Buchwald! What a great moment that was. Yes, it was a small newspaper in a small university, but still, I got to write trying to imitate my Art Buchwald. And I´m still trying to write like him. Thanks Dave!

Oh you can read a random selection of articles I found here. Be merciful, it was the 80s and I had no clue what I was doing -not that I do now, either…

Selection of Vanguard articles Antonio BalsonDownload

The last (Hieronymite) Monastery, Santa María del Parral

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Besides the actual friendship, one of the very enriching advantages of one of your best friends being a fine art restorer is when he invites you to visit him at work. Jaime invited me to check out a Medieval bridge in Toledo and the Alfonso XII monument in Madrid (read about those visits here and here), amongst others over the years.

Recently Jaime invited me -and his brother with his two daughters- to visit him as he restores a Gothic altarpiece in Segovia.

Santa María del Parral is just outside Segovia’s city walls, across the river from the cathedral and the castle, a 45-minute (if you pay the Euro 10 toll) highway drive from my mom’s country house. It houses the last six monks of the Hieronymite order, which was once a powerful order favored by the royal family, and with monasteries all over Spain and Portugal.

The Monastery and its church did not disappoint. Despite having been abandoned for years after the government shut it down (together will all other convents and monasteries in the ill advised desamortización de Mendizabal), the gorgeous late gothic nave still stands and most of the monastery has been beautifully restored.

Besides the jaw dropping architecture, the monastery is fed by a really profound water source that provides the monks -and the multicolored carps in the pond- with the best fresh water I have ever tasted! It has all the minerals to satiate your thirst, unlike the thinner mountain water.

Since the Hieronymites are a very contemplative order, understandably we could only visit the “outside” cloister which is beautiful -and has a fountain of that delicious water, in fact, the monastery has never been hooked up to Segovia’s public water system.

Yes, the monastery does have rooms for (male) retreats, but you know I am committed to the Benedictine monks at El Paular!

After the visit, we had a nice lunch at a nearby restaurant before heading back over the mountains home.

Punch drunk on Oswaldo Estrada’s “Luces de emergencia”

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Luces de emergencia with a churro

When you sip a drink, a glass of wine, a scotch, you enjoy the flavors and complexities, the layers and textures, you return to it again and discover new subtleties, you explore the color and smell, every sip brings new nuances.

Reading Oswaldo Estrada’s Luces de emergencia is more like downing a shot: you feel the explosion of flavor in your mouth, the burning of your throat, and then a punch to your stomach. Do this eleven times and you feel like you have been eleven rounds with Joe Frazier.

As you go deeper and deeper into the stories you feel like you are eavesdropping on very private, personal stories, you feel embarrassed because you should not be listening to them. And then you start another one, hooked on the adrenaline of learning secret gossip. It is exhilarating, you want to talk to the characters, grab some by the shoulders and give them a good shake, hug others, sit and listen to others, console others. Get ready for an emotional roller coaster.

Not surprising, Luces won the International Latino Book Awards in 2020.

Luces de emergencia

Which Camino: Francés, Norte, Primitivo or Aragonés?

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Having just finished my 4th Camino, the Aragonés, here is a bit of a comparison between the Francés, Norte, Primitivo and Aragonés to build on my previous analysis of the Francés and Norte (click here for that post):

I loved the Aragonés! It is wild and beautiful, we were very few pilgrims on the trail -about a dozen or so, most days I did not bump into any pilgrims! There are very few albergues and they are stage distance apart (with few exceptions), so we were the same pilgrims every evening at the end of the stage.

At around 7 days before it joins the Francés at Puente la Reina, it is a bit short. That is the worst thing about the Aragonés.

My all time favorite so far is the Primitivo due to the rugged beauty and the three days right in the middle which are quite hilly and “uncivilized.” It lacks the “spiritual” component of the Francés but makes up for it in natural beauty. At around a dozen days from Oviedo to Santiago it is a perfect “full” Camino.

The Norte is canonically the most beautiful: beautiful beach, beautiful forest, San Sebastian, beautiful beach, beautiful forest, Bilbao, beautiful beach, beautiful forest, Santander, Gijón… you get the idea. Plus, the food. While popular, this route still has far fewer pilgrims than the Francés.

The Francés is like Classic Coke: the most popular, the best known, the oldest (not really, just in modern terms, it was the first one to be rehabilitated in the 80s), and it is the most spiritual: most churches are open -unlike other Caminos, the change of orography makes this Camino “feel” longer. And the cities, with their Gothic cathedrals are impressive: Pamplona, Burgos, and León.

So, my ranking for now is: 1, Primitivo, 2, Aragonés, 3, Norte, and 4, Francés. Of course, you could start your Camino with the Aragonés and then hook up with the Francés, but you would miss crossing the Pyrenees, and the Navarra hills to Pamplona. On the other hand, by then the early crowds will be a bit more spread out…

Yes silly, of course I am thinking of next year’s Camino, but you will have to stay tuned to this blog for more!