Out There in Blogville

Ooh, ooh! The Literary Saloon reports that the complete text of Madeleine de Scudéry's sprawling 17th-century novel Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus is now available online. This is exactly why the Internet was really created, for academic geeks like me.

Artist Marja-Leena Rathje appreciates the first snow falling in Vancouver. For someone from Finland, she could have chosen a colder, snowier part of Canada if she misses the winter weather. Her photograph -- snowlace (rain on snow on skylight) -- is a beautiful image. I was born in January and grew up in Michigan: I love winter and don't appreciate the weak winters of the District of Columbia.

Kriston Capps, of Grammar.police, has done what we all dream of and become a professional blogger. He is writing a new blog called Eye Level for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Thanks to Kriston for the nice mention of Ionarts and my coverage of the Clarice Smith lecture of Peter Schjeldahl. Welcome to anyone coming to Ionarts through Kriston's link. I did write a much less detailed post on William Christenberry's lecture this year but didn't make it to the other two.

Here at Ionarts, we have a few favorite contemporary composers, and György Kurtág is one of them. See my gushing appreciation of the last opportunity I had to hear some of Kurtág's music played live. I really agree with David Salvage, at Sequenza 21, who thinks "he's the best alive we have." Salvage also relays the news that Kurtág has won this year's Grawemeyer Award for composition from the University of Louisville. The prize is a check for $200,000. Nice!