Sorrow is “not a state but a process” that needs “not a map but a history. . . . There is something new to be chronicled every day,” writes C. S. Lewis in A Grief Observed. When Carl Klaus's wife of thirty-five years died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage, right before Thanksgiving in 2002, he took the only road toward recovery that made sense to him: he started writing letters to her, producing a unique history of grief, solace, and love. His vivid and thoughtful letters will resonate with everyone whose loss confronts them with emotional, psychological, and philosophical questions for which there are no easy answers.During his first year without Kate, Carl writes himself into the life that comes after the life he loved. From days of grief in the darkness of a midwestern winter, to springtime, with a return to life in the garden and a memorial service for Kate on a sunny afternoon, to fall, with a pilgrimage to their favorite vacation spot in Hawaii, Carl documents his year-long experience of remembering, meditating, and evolving a new life. Individually his letters provide the insights of a master diarist; collectively, they have the arc of a master essayist. Recording the full range of mourning from intense shock to moments of exceptional affirmation, Klaus's stories and reflections on loss bear witness to universal truths about the first and most significant year of mourning.
In this diary of retirement, acclaimed writing teacher Carl Klaus guides us through a passage that we all must take, one that forces us to confront the deeply disorienting issues of identity and mortality as well as the pleasures of creating a whole new life.
Essays, written and collected over ten years, documenting Carl Klaus' 80s. Topics ranging from aging, food, finances, health, reading, writing, Trump, and social upheavals"--
Confident or fretful, solemn or sassy, tough or tender, casual or formal: the self you project in writing—your persona—is the byproduct of numerous decisions you make about what to say and how to say it. Though any single word or phrase or sentence might make little difference within the scope of an entire essay or book, collectively they create an impression of who you are or seem to be—an impression that’s sure to influence how readers respond to your work. Thus it’s essential to take charge of how you come across on the page, to craft an appropriate persona for whatever you’re writing, whether it’s a personal essay, a blog, a technical report, a letter to the editor, or a memoir. In this wise and ingenious little guide, noted essayist Carl Klaus shows you how to adapt your self to the needs of such varied nonfiction, by varying his own persona to illustrate the distinctive effect produced by each aspect and element of writing. Klaus divides his book into two parts: first, an introduction to the nature and function of a persona, then a survey of the most important elements of writing that contribute to the character of a persona, from point of view and organization to diction and sentence structure. Both parts contain exercises that will give you practice in developing a persona of your choice. Challenging and stimulating, each of his exercises focuses on a distinctly different aspect of composition and style, so as to help you develop the skills of a versatile and personable writer. By focusing on the most important ways of projecting your self in nonfiction prose, you can learn to craft a distinctive self in your writing.
The human presence that animates the personal essay is surely one of the most beguiling of literary phenomena, for it comes across in so familiar a voice that it’s easy to believe we are listening to the author rather than a textual stand-in. But the “person” in a personal essay is always a written construct, a fabricated character, its confessions and reminiscences as rehearsed as those of any novelist. In this first book-length study of the personal essay, Carl Klaus unpacks this made-up self and the manifold ways in which a wide range of essayists and essays have brought it to life. By reconceiving the most fundamental aspect of the personal essay—the I of the essayist—Klaus demonstrates that this seemingly uncontrived form of writing is inherently problematic, not willfully devious but bordering upon the world of fiction. He develops this key idea by explaining how structure, style, and voice determine the nature of a persona and our perception of it in the works of such essayists as Michel de Montaigne, Charles Lamb, E. B. White, and Virginia Woolf. Realizing that this persona is shaped by the force of culture and the impress of personal experience, he explores the effects of both upon the point of view, content, and voice of such essayists as George Orwell, Nancy Mairs, Richard Rodriguez, and Alice Walker. Throughout, in full command of the history of the essay, he calls up numerous passages in which essayists themselves acknowledge the element of impersonation in their work, drawing upon the perspectives of Joan Didion, Edward Hoagland, Joyce Carol Oates, Leslie Marmon Silko, Scott Russell Sanders, Annie Dillard, Vivian Gornick, Loren Eiseley, James Baldwin, and a host of other literary guides. Finally, adding yet another layer to the made-up self, Klaus succumbs to his addiction to the personal essay by placing some of the different selves that various essayists have called forth in him within the essays that he has crafted so carefully for this book. Making his way from one essay to the next with a persona variously learned, whimsical, and poignant, he enacts the palimpsest of ways in which the made-up self comes to life in the work of a single essayist. Thus over the course of this highly original, beautifully structured study, the personal essay is revealed to be more complex than many readers have supposed. With its lively analyses and illuminating examples, The Made-Up Self will speak to anyone who wishes to understand—or to write—personal essays.
Deriving from the French word rocaille, in reference to the curved forms of shellfish, and the Italian barocco, the French created the term ‘Rococo’. Appearing at the beginning of the 18th century, it rapidly spread to the whole of Europe. Extravagant and light, Rococo responded perfectly to the spontaneity of the aristocracy of the time. In many aspects, this art was linked to its predecessor, Baroque, and it is thus also referred to as late Baroque style. While artists such as Tiepolo, Boucher and Reynolds carried the style to its apogee, the movement was often condemned for its superficiality. In the second half of the 18th century, Rococo began its decline. At the end of the century, facing the advent of Neoclassicism, it was plunged into obscurity. It had to wait nearly a century before art historians could restore it to the radiance of its golden age, which is rediscovered in this work by Klaus H. Carl and Victoria Charles.
“Home gardeners, cooks and nature lovers will savor this delightful account” of a journey from first spring planting to final fall harvest (Publishers Weekly). My Vegetable Love is a daily record of a growing season in Iowa—but it’s about much more than planting peppers, tending tomatoes, or harvesting eggplants. It’s about all the things that influence this gardener: the weather, the neighborhood, his wife’s possibly recurring cancer, the changing nature of the academic community. It’s about the last months of his twenty-year-old cat, about his dog, and about all the other humans and animals in his gardening world. And about his family: the aunts and uncles who cared for and fed a six-year-old orphan, and helped him understand that good food was a way of knowing that someone cared. In all the gardens he has tended, the dills he has pickled, and the dinners he has cooked, Carl H. Klaus has tried to carry on that tradition and pass it on to his own children—and in this “delectable” book, he shares it with us as well (Publishers Weekly). “Part Gilbert White, part Henry David Thoreau, this chronicle of an Iowa gardener’s year has drawn from the heartland a calm, compassionate harvest.” —Roger B. Swain, host of PBS’s Victory Garden “Wholeheartedly celebrates friendship, love, pets, the elements of family, academia, cooking, eating—and of course, gardening . . . Bon appétit—and good reading.” —Smithsonian
Art Deco style was established on the ashes of a disappeared world, the one from before the First World War, and on the foundation stone of a world yet to become, opened to the most undisclosed promises. Forgetting herself in the whirl of Jazz Age and the euphoria of the “Années Folles”, the Garçonne with her linear shape reflects the architectural style of Art Deco: to the rounded curves succeed the simple and plain androgynous straight line... Architecture, painting, furniture and sculpture, dissected by the author, proclaim the druthers for sharp lines and broken angles. Although ephemeral, this movement keeps on influencing contemporary design.
Klaus, founder and former director of the University of Iowa's non- fiction writing program, presents an entirely charming daybook of seasonal change, from the frozen frisee of the late December garden to the setting out of onion sets and radishes in mid-March. Meditations range from food, weather, and the feeding of birds to the nature of change and the latent promise of a garden. 5.5x6". Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Ever since the ancient Greeks sculpted the first kouros, children have been a source of inspiration for some of the world's greatest artists.Whether portraits of their own children, friends, and family members, or a nostalgic psychological portrayal of the artist's own youth, depictions of children in art remain arresting examples of an intersection between the picturesque innocence of childhood and the methodical work of adult artistry.In this delightful new puzzle book, children get a chance to see little boys and girls just like them as portrayed by great artists, learning about how children grew up throughout history while experiencing a genuine connection with works of artistic genius.
Ever since the ancient Greeks sculpted the first kouros, children have been a source of inspiration for some of the world's greatest artists.Whether portraits of their own children, friends, and family members, or a nostalgic psychological portrayal of the artist's own youth, depictions of children in art remain arresting examples of an intersection between the picturesque innocence of childhood and the methodical work of adult artistry.In this delightful new puzzle book, children get a chance to see little boys and girls just like them as portrayed by great artists, learning about how children grew up throughout history while experiencing a genuine connection with works of artistic genius.
Gothic art finds its roots in the powerful architecture of the cathedrals of northern France. It is a medieval art movement that evolved throughout Europe over more than 200 years. Leaving curved Roman forms behind, the architects started using flying buttresses and pointed arches to open up cathedrals to daylight. A period of great economic and social change, the Gothic era also saw the development of a new iconography celebrating the Holy Mary – in drastic contrast to the fearful themes of dark Roman times. Full of rich changes in all of the various art forms (architecture, sculpture, painting, etc.), Gothic art paved the way for the Italian Renaissance and International Gothic movement.
“I am not interested in myself as a subject for painting, but in others, particularly women...”Beautiful, sensuous and above all erotic, Gustav Klimt’s paintings speak of a world of opulence and leisure, which seems aeons away from the harsh, post-modern environment we live in now. The subjects he treats – allegories, portraits, landscapes and erotic figures – contain virtually no reference to external events, but strive rather to create a world where beauty, above everything else, is dominant. His use of colour and pattern was profoundly influenced by the art of Japan, ancient Egypt, and Byzantium. Ravenne, the flat, two-dimensional perspective of his paintings, and the frequently stylised quality of his images form an oeuvre imbued with a profound sensuality and one where the figure of woman, above all, reigns supreme. Klimt’s very first works brought him success at an unusually young age. Gustav, born in 1862, obtained a state grant to study at Kunstgewerbeschule (the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts) at the age of fourteen. His talents as a draughtsman and painter were quickly noticed, and in 1879 he formed the Künstlercompagnie (Artists’ Company) with his brother Ernst and another student, Franz Matsch. The latter part of the nineteenth century was a period of great architectural activity in Vienna. In 1857, the Emperor Franz Joseph had ordered the destruction of the fortifications that had surrounded the medieval city centre. The Ringstrasse was the result, a budding new district with magnificent buildings and beautiful parks, all paid for by public expenses. Therefore the young Klimt and his partners had ample opportunities to show off their talents, and they received early commissions to contribute to the decorations for the pageant organised to celebrate the silver wedding anniversary of the Emperor Franz Joseph and the Empress Elisabeth. In 1894, Matsch moved out of their communal studio, and in 1897 Klimt, together with his closest friends, resigned from the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft (the Cooperative Society of Austrian Artists) to form a new movement known as the Secession, of which he was immediately elected president. The Secession was a great success, holding both a first and second exhibition in 1898. The movement made enough money to commission its very own building, designed for it by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich. Above the entrance was its motto: “To each age its art, to art its freedom.” From around 1897 onward, Klimt spent almost every summer on the Attersee with the Flöge family. These were periods of peace and tranquillity in which he produced the landscape paintings constituting almost a quarter of his entire oeuvre. Klimt made sketches for virtually everything he did. Sometimes there were over a hundred drawings for one painting, each showing a different detail – a piece of clothing or jewellery, or a simple gesture. Just how exceptional Gustav Klimt was is perhaps reflected in the fact that he had no predecessors and no real followers. He admired Rodin and Whistler without slavishly copying them, and was admired in turn by the younger Viennese painters Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, both of whom were greatly influenced by Klimt.
Focusing on the unconventional and controversial painter of Belorussian origin, this new installment in the "Best of" series brings to life the work of an important player in the Parisian avant-garde who depicted his subjects in a raw, sometimes brutal, near-Expressionist manner.
Carl Nielsen is generally considered to be Denmark's greatest composer. His works cover the full range of musical genres: symphonies and operas, chamber music, pieces for piano, and songs. Whereas in Denmark Carl Nielsen is especially loved for his Danish songs and the opera Maskarade, internationally he is primarily known for his instrumental music. Collecting, cataloguing and organising the musical manuscripts of this composer has been carried out for the benefit of the Danish and international music community.
Dürer is the greatest of German artists and most representative of the German mind. He, like Leonardo, was a man of striking physical attractiveness, great charm of manner and conversation, and mental accomplishment, being well grounded in the sciences and mathematics of the day. His skill in draughtsmanship was extraordinary; Dürer is even more celebrated for his engravings on wood and copper than for his paintings. With both, the skill of his hand was at the service of the most minute observation and analytical research into the character and structure of form. Dürer, however, had not the feeling for abstract beauty and ideal grace that Leonardo possessed; but instead, a profound earnestness, a closer interest in humanity, and a more dramatic invention. Dürer was a great admirer of Luther; and in his own work is the equivalent of what was mighty in the Reformer. It is very serious and sincere; very human, and addressed the hearts and understanding of the masses. Nuremberg, his hometown, had become a great centre of printing and the chief distributor of books throughout Europe. Consequently, the art of engraving upon wood and copper, which may be called the pictorial branch of printing, was much encouraged. Of this opportunity Dürer took full advantage. The Renaissance in Germany was more a moral and intellectual than an artistic movement, partly due to northern conditions. The feeling for ideal grace and beauty is fostered by the study of the human form, and this had been flourishing predominantly in southern Europe. But Albrecht Dürer had a genius too powerful to be conquered. He remained profoundly Germanic in his stormy penchant for drama, as was his contemporary Mathias Grünewald, a fantastic visionary and rebel against all Italian seductions. Dürer, in spite of all his tense energy, dominated conflicting passions by a sovereign and speculative intelligence comparable with that of Leonardo. He, too, was on the border of two worlds, that of the Gothic age and that of the modern age, and on the border of two arts, being an engraver and draughtsman rather than a painter.
Ever since the ancient greeks sculpted the first kouros, children have been a source of inspiration for some of the world’s greatest artists. Whether portraits of their own children, friends, and family members, or a nostalgic psychological portrayal of the artist’s own youth, depictions of children in art remain arresting examples of an intersection between the picturesque innocence of childhood and the methodical work of adult artistry. In this delightful new puzzle book, children get a chance to see little boys and girls just like them as portrayed by great artists, learning about how children grew up throughout history while experiencing a genuine connection with works of artistic genius.
Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943), der unkonventionelle und umstrittene Maler aus Weißrussland, vereint Einflüsse der klassischen europäischen Malerei mit denen des Post-Impressionismus und des Expressionismus. Als Mitglied der Künstler aus Weißrussland, einer Gruppe innerhalb der École de Paris, schuf er ein Werk, das hauptsächlich aus Landschaften, Stillleben und Porträts besteht. Sein individueller Stil, der sich durch Humor und Trauer und den Gebrauch von leuchtenden Farben auszeichnet, machen ihn zu einem modernen Meister, der immer noch wenig verstanden ist. Klaus H. Carl, Schriftsteller, Professor und Fotograf, ist der Autor zahlreicher Bücher und Artikel. Er widmet sich gerade dem Bildband Weltgeschichte der Kunst: 180000 v. Chr. -- 2000 n. Chr.
Ever since the ancient greeks sculpted the first kouros, children have been a source of inspiration for some of the world’s greatest artists. Whether portraits of their own children, friends, and family members, or a nostalgic psychological portrayal of the artist’s own youth, depictions of children in art remain arresting examples of an intersection between the picturesque innocence of childhood and the methodical work of adult artistry. In this delightful new puzzle book, children get a chance to see little boys and girls just like them as portrayed by great artists, learning about how children grew up throughout history while experiencing a genuine connection with works of artistic genius.
A symbol of modernity, the Viennese Secession was defined by the rebellion of twenty artists who were against the conservative Vienna Künstlerhaus' oppressive influence over the city, the epoch, and the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire. Influenced by Art Nouveau, this movement (created in 1897 by Gustav Klimt, Carl Moll, and Josef Hoffmann) was not an anonymous artistic revolution. Defining itself as a “total art”, without any political or commercial constraint, the Viennese Secession represented the ideological turmoil that affected craftsmen, architects, graphic artists, and designers from this period. Turning away from an established art and immersing themselves in organic, voluptuous, and decorative shapes, these artists opened themselves to an evocative, erotic aesthetic that blatantly offended the bourgeoisie of the time. Painting, sculpture, and architecture are addressed by the authors and highlight the diversity and richness of a movement whose motto proclaimed “for each time its art, for each art its liberty” – a declaration to the innovation and originality of this revolutionary art movement.
Rembrandt is completely mysterious in his spirit, his character, his life, his work and his method of painting. What we can divine of his essential nature comes through his painting and the trivial or tragic incidents of his unfortunate life; his penchant for ostentatious living forced him to declare bankruptcy. His misfortunes are not entirely explicable, and his oeuvre reflects disturbing notions and contradictory impulses emerging from the depths of his being, like the light and shade of his pictures. In spite of this, nothing perhaps in the history of art gives a more profound impression of unity than his paintings, composed though they are of such different elements, full of complex significations. One feels as if his intellect, that genial, great, free mind, bold and ignorant of all servitude and which led him to the loftiest meditations and the most sublime reveries, derived from the same source as his emotions. From this comes the tragic element he imprinted on everything he painted, irrespective of subject; there was inequality in his work as well as the sublime, which may be seen as the inevitable consequence of such a tumultuous existence. It seems as though this singular, strange, attractive and almost enigmatic personality was slow in developing, or at least in attaining its complete expansion. Rembrandt showed talent and an original vision of the world early, as evidenced in his youthful etchings and his first self-portraits of about 1630. In painting, however, he did not immediately find the method he needed to express the still incomprehensible things he had to say, that audacious, broad and personal method which we admire in the masterpieces of his maturity and old age. In spite of its subtlety, it was adjudged brutal in his day and certainly contributed to alienate his public. From the time of his beginnings and of his successes, however, lighting played a major part in his conception of painting and he made it the principal instrument of his investigations into the arcana of interior life. It already revealed to him the poetry of human physiognomy when he painted The Philosopher in Meditation or the Holy Family, so deliciously absorbed in its modest intimacy, or, for example, in The Angel Raphael leaving Tobias. Soon he asked for something more. The Night Watch marks at once the apotheosis of his reputation. He had a universal curiosity and he lived, meditated, dreamed and painted thrown back on himself. He thought of the great Venetians, borrowing their subjects and making of them an art out of the inner life of profound emotion. Mythological and religious subjects were treated as he treated his portraits. For all that he took from reality and even from the works of others, he transmuted it instantly into his own substance.
Deriving from the French word rocaille, in reference to the curved forms of shellfish, and the Italian Barocco, the French created the term Rococo. Appearing at the beginning of the 18th-century, it rapidly spread to the whole of Europe. Extravagant and light, Rococo responded perfectly to the spontaneity of the aristocracy of the time. In many aspects, this art was linked to its predecessor, Baroque, and it is thus also referred to as late Baroque style. While artists such as Tiepolo, Boucher and Reynolds carried the style to its apogee, the movement was often condemned for its superficiality. In the second half of the 18th-century, Rococo began its decline. At the end of the century, facing the advent of Neoclassicism, it was plunged into obscurity. It had to wait nearly a century before art historians could restore it to the radiance of its golden age, which is rediscovered in this work by Klaus H. Carl and Victoria Charles.
Die Wiener Secession, gegründet von Gustav Klimt, Carl Moll und Josef Hoffmann, war ein Wegbereiter für die moderne Kunst. Zwanzig Künstler rebellierten gegen den erdrückenden Einfluss des konservativen Künstlerhauses auf die Wiener Kunstszene, gegen die veraltete Kunst einer Epoche und gegen die Mentalität des Kaiserreichs Österreich-Ungarn im Allgemeinen. Als Erben des Art Nouveau waren diese Künstler nicht einfach um ihre eigene Kunstnische bemüht, sondern strebten nach der Verwirklichung eines „Gesamtkunstwerks“, einem umfassenden Kunstbegriff, der Kunsthandwerk, bildende Kunst und Architektur vereinen sollte. Der Kampf der Secession repräsentierte gleichzeitig den Kampf vieler Kunsthandwerker, Architekten und Gestalter dieser Epoche, der Bevölkerung ein neues Kunstverständnis nahezubringen. Die Künstler der Secession kehrten der etablierten Kunst den Rücken, um mit neuen dekorativen Formen und Ideen zu experimentieren und sich für eine sinnträchtige, erotische Ästhetik zu öffnen – ein Weg, der sie auf Kollisionskurs mit dem gutbürgerlichen Empfinden der gehobenen Wiener Gesellschaft brachte. Dieser Bildband eröffnet dem Leser die Vielfalt und die Bildgewaltigkeit einer revolutionären Kunstbewegung, deren Motto „Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit“ ein Ausdruck eines neuen, innovativen Kunstverständnisses ist, das sich allumfassend in der Malerei, Bildhauerei und Architektur dieser Gruppe widerspiegelt.
Condemned by the Nazis as a degenerate artist, Franz Marc (1880-1916) was a German painter whose stark linearity and emotive use of color eloquently expressed the pain and trauma of war. In work such as his celebrated Fate of the Animals, Marc created a raw emotional expression of primitive violence which he called a premonition of the war which would eventually be the cause of his own untimely death at the age of 36.
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