Kalliope Muse speaks to me
Emigrée from GR
Lump
This is a love story, and it is graphic, and there is also some sex.This is also a beautiful book and it is to be read while sipping something such as a “tisane” (and evoke memories), or a coffee, or a glass of wine, or may be even some Scotch.Lump, the protagonist, accompanied by his caretaker and documentarian David Douglas Duncan, visits Picasso and Jacqueline in their beautiful house, La Californie, in Cannes.The documentarian takes photos and photos, all in black and white, with his Leica, and witnesses the growth of love between Lump and Picasso, and also between Lump and Jacqueline. Lump is also a witness to the love between Picasso and Jacqueline. This is in 1956-57.Documentation is also left of Lump’s marriage to Lolita (what a literary suggestive name). Picasso acted as the camorrero as we say in Spanish. Lolita arrives beautifully attired with some lace round her neck ready for her nuptials. As she was also, like Lump, a Dachshund, they were expected to produce pure breeds. But there was no issue.The poignant moment in the drama is when Picasso, the host, offered the cardboard Rabbit to Lump:And yes, Lump ate it ! , but the spoiler is in the Title as well.In proof of his love for Lump, Picasso offered him this:And since Picasso was very aware of posterity, he immortalized Lump in his version of the other immortal painting, Veláquez’s Las Meninas.In honor to them both, the book closes with this Amigos Forever, which they have both remained since 1973:P.S.: For the sex scene between Lolita and Lump, you would have to buy the book.
Currently reading
The Aspern Papers (Dover Thrift Editions)
No es lo mismo ostentoso que ostentório: la azarosa vida de las palabras
Dernier Des Camondo
A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (A la recherche du temps perdu, #2)
Music in the 17th and 18th Centuries, Oxford History of Western Music Vol. 2
Thaïs (Dodo Press)
Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time
The Poetics of Space
The Magic Mountain
Siena, Florence, and Padua: Art, Society, and Religion 1280-1400, Volume 1: Interpretive Essays
