The Langstaff Retort
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- America Burning May 31, 2020
- Here’s Another Truthful Humdinger September 30, 2018
- “The World Is Too Much With Us” — William Wordsworth September 28, 2018
- Einstein’s Desk and Mine: A Sort of Comparative Analysis April 15, 2018
- Shameless Self-Promotion (wink) November 26, 2017
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Author Archives: Margaret Jean Langstaff
America Burning
Originally posted on Margaret Langstaff:
Three years ago I posted the comments below never dreaming our national sin and shame of exploitation of the poor and tacit and overt racism would intensify to the pass they have reached in recent…
Posted in Literature
Leave a comment
Here’s Another Truthful Humdinger
The last words of John Keats’ “Ode to a Grecian Urn” that I clumsily alluded to but did not mention yesterday: When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
2 Comments
“The World Is Too Much With Us” — William Wordsworth
The last several months have been a challenge to our abilities to verbalize and speak clearly and coherently. Many resorted to ineffectual ranting and raving. Some simply gagged and swallowed their tongues. I myself fell silent before the onslaught of … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
4 Comments
Einstein’s Desk and Mine: A Sort of Comparative Analysis
Having been the butt of derision and mockery for too many years for my “messy” desk (and office), I believe I have at last found an effective remedy for silencing my many sneering critics once and for all. This … Continue reading
“Hunting the Deceitful Turkey” – Mark Twain
Originally posted on Margaret Langstaff:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! This is from a 1906 issue of Harpers magagine. Twain’s dry wit and lame brained (fake) susceptibility to always be out witted by any animal that ever tread the earth (so sweet, amusing)…
Posted in Literature
1 Comment
America Burning
Three years ago I posted the comments below never dreaming our national sin and shame of exploitation of the poor and tacit and overt racism would intensify to the pass they have reached in recent days. Perhaps the civil unrest … Continue reading
Posted in America, Literature
Tagged civil duty, Civil Rights, Common Good, Corruption, Democracy, ethics, Graft, Political Will, The Constitution, Trumpism
20 Comments
A Bit of Advice
A friend of mine sent this to me recently. I can’t imagine why.
Posted in book reviewing, Editing, Literature, writers, writing
Tagged creativity, girls, imagination, inspiration, women
4 Comments
In the Game of Life, Bad Spelling is Like Bad Breath
Why You Should Bother About Spelling I love the BBC. They are so smart and always take time to do things right. They dot their I’s and cross their T’s, you know what I mean?. I stumbled on this excellently … Continue reading
Emily Dickinson’s Summer Reveries
(c) Copyright 2017 Margaret Langstaff, All Rights Reserved Summer, The Dickinson Homestead, Amherst, Mass. Emily Dickinson, one of America’s most beloved and misunderstood poets was an astute observer and student of the natural world. Nature’s changing pageantry, big bold and … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, Emily Dickinson Poetry, Literary Classics, Literature, poetry, poets
Tagged Emily Dickinson, Poetry
2 Comments
From the new and edgy digital mag “Real Life”
Worth Reading. Warning: Thought required. “All My Ghosts” The intensity and immediacy of online correspondence accelerate the intimacy of relationships — and the ghosting Ruby Brunton June 13, 2017 Image: Evening Star (2016) by Tim Gardner. Oil on canvas. © Tim Gardner, … Continue reading
Posted in Digital Correspondence, Digital Journalism, Literature
Tagged email, ideas, internet, Kafka, Neitzsche, Pasternak, relationships, Rilke, Ruby Brunton
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THE ART OF MEMOIR by Mary Karr (author of The Liar’s Club)
Originally posted on Margaret Langstaff:
[NOTE: Having just finished editing two massive and interesting/ well written memoirs, ‘The Art of Memoir,’ by Mary Karr is of immense interest. Questions are raised that can’t be answered conclusively, yet they must be…
Posted in Literature
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Merciful Travels with Anne Lamott
Originally posted on Sarah e McIntosh:
Thought 2: Reading Anne Lamott’s books never fail to impress and inspire. Years ago I was given a copy of her book Bird by Bird, and being in the midst of my addiction to…
Posted in Literature
2 Comments
It Happened Here
Most writers today who publish eventually have to come to terms with plagiarism and the low-down rip-off artists who practice it. It’s everywhere now, to be sure, and no place is it more common and flagrant than online. The motives … Continue reading
Posted in journalism, Literature, Plagiarism, publishing
11 Comments
“I’m Nobody/Who are You?” Emily Dickinson: Major New Book & Exhibit
Posted in American Literature, Emily Dickinson Poetry, Literature, poetry
1 Comment
Is It Just Me, or that “The World Is too Much with Us?”
I woke up at two a.m. this morning with this well-known masterpiece by the incomparable English bard Wordsworth coiling through my mind. This sonnet was penned in Britain just as the Industrial Revolution was upending the trusted old courtesies and … Continue reading
Baby, it’s cold inside …
The “Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.” Wallace Stevens was a seminal, groundbreaking American modernist poet. A contemporary of Eliot, he flipped the archetype of the wan, pale, misunderstood verbal virtuoso. Instead, he pursued a lucrative … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, Literature, poetry, poets
Tagged Modernist Poetry, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens
12 Comments
The Father’s Eye. . .
I clipped this beautiful poem from the New York Times years ago. It still remains one of my all-time Christmas favorites. So subtle, understated and allusive. Thought I’d share while wishing you the joy of this miraculous season! Pardon the … Continue reading
Posted in Joseph Brodsky, Literature, poetry, poets
Tagged Christmas, New York Times, Nobel Prize for Literature
3 Comments
Joy to the World!
Joy to the World , the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing. Joy to the … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
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My Life as a Turkey (really)
Apropos of the holiday, I thought I’d share a curious life-changing experience I had this year with respect to (you got it) turkeys. For some reason, a number of large wild turkey mamas decided to use my place to feed … Continue reading
Lady Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ….”
The New Colossus By Emma Lazarus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, Literature, poets, Politics
Tagged American Dream, Democracy, Election, freedom, immigrants, Justice, Statue of Liberty
3 Comments
Bob Dylan Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
Forever Young From CNN today: Book Critic Jay Parini on “Why Bob Dylan Deserves the Nobel Prize” WORTH READING Bob Dylan Lyrical Genius Album: Blonde on Blonde [1966] All lyrics are property and copyright of their respective owners and … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, Literary Lions, Literature, poetry, poets
Tagged American Music, Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan, CNN, Jay Parini, Lyrics, music, Nobel Prize for Literature
8 Comments
Mark Twain for President – 1879
MARK TWAIN * A Presidential Candidate I have pretty much made up my mind to run for President. What the country wants is a candidate who cannot be injured by investigation of his past history, so that the enemies of … Continue reading
Ben Lerner’s ‘The Hatred of Poetry’ Revels in Paradox
Heads up, Poets. This review in Flavorwire (6/9/16) of Ben Lerner’s recent book-length essay on the disappointments and shortcomings of poetry is worth reading. Says reviewer Jonathan Sturgeon, “The Hatred of Poetry is an important essay because it doubles as … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, literary theory, Literature, poetry, poets
Tagged Ben Lerner, Flavorwire, Jonathan Sturgeon, Margaret Langstaff, Marianne Moore, Poetry
4 Comments
Abhorrent Grammar Mistakes #1
This is a public service announcement and (maybe) the first in an erratic series of fusillades fired in the direction of blithely ignorant practitioners of faulty grammar. Not that it’ll make any difference, but 1) this exercise will make me … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, Literature
Tagged grammar, nominative case, objective case, personal pronouns, possessive case
12 Comments
A Votive Light for Nabokov
Ambushed, waylaid, ravished by an unexpected encounter tonight with Pale Fire, Nabokov’s powerful daemonic masterpiece. An oddity of a novel told in four cantos, 999 lines of seductive, sensuous verse. A virtuoso piece, a showcase for the author’s extraordinary … Continue reading
Posted in fiction, Literary Classics, Literary Lions, Literature, poetry
Tagged Harold Bloom, Nabokov, Pale Fire
2 Comments
Whitman, Democracy’s Bard
Walt Whitman popped into my thoughts unannounced yesterday as I was listening to a nasty political discussion on NPR. Honestly, it’s hard to avoid the contentious, angry political noise in the air these days that’s camouflaged as debate and dialogue. People … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, Literature, poetry, poets, walt Whitman
Tagged Election, Nineteenth Century America, Politics, StopTrump, Trump, walt Whitman
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Of Poets and Poetasters: National Poetry Month
So what’s a poetaster? Most people are pretty sure they know what a poet is, but poetaster, first used by Ben Jonson in 1600, has fallen into disuse. Well, fact is, though we throw the word poet around with flippant … Continue reading
What Rough Beast?
“William Butler Yeats is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.” The Poetry Foundation And I certainly agree. At the risk of becoming a Yeats “bore,” I am going to provide my readers with … Continue reading
A Woman’s Rx for a Long and Happy Life! Smart Aging for Women by Elizabeth Rigley, R.N., M.H.S.
A ground breaking new book coming soon from Canadian publisher Borealis Press An Interview with Elizabeth Rigley, R.N. Author of SMART AGING FOR WOMEN: A Guide to a Healthier, Happier and Longer Li… Source: A Woman’s Rx for a Long … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
2 Comments
A Woman’s Rx for a Long and Happy Life! Smart Aging for Women by Elizabeth Rigley, R.N., M.H.S.
A ground breaking new book coming soon from Canadian publisher Borealis Press An Interview with Elizabeth Rigley, R.N., M.H.S. Author of SMART AGING FOR WOMEN: A Guide to a Healthier, Happier and Longer Life © Copyright 2016, Margaret Langstaff … Continue reading
“A Prayer for My Daughter” –William Butler Yeats
And now, dear friends, enjoy one of the greatest poets in the English language and one of his most highly regarded poems. I’ve been dipping into Yeats’ Collected Poems and savoring them for many years, but recently this one really … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, poetry, poets, Reading
Tagged A Prayer for My Daughter, Poetry, Poetry Magazine, The Poetry Foundation, Yeats
11 Comments
Back from Computer Hell
News flash. My computer crashed nearly a week ago. I’ve been unable to access my online accounts for that period of time. Continue reading
Posted in computers, editor, Literature
Tagged editing, Editorial Services Consultant, internet, internet secuirty, writing
9 Comments
Love is the slowest form of suicide–Fiza Pathan
AN INTERVIEW WITH AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR FIZA PATHAN OF MUMBAI, INDIA
Fiza Pathan, a very young self-published author, recently was awarded three prestigious book prizes, one at the London Book Fair and two at the New England Festival of Books.
This is a penetrating interview with her editor, Margaret Langstaff, about how and why she writes. Shocking candor, shocking themes.
Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, editing, fiction, Literature, novel, novelists, writers, writing
Tagged Fiza Pathan, Honors, India, Literature, London Book Awards, Margaret Langstaff, Mumbai, New Enland Book Festival, Regional Authors
9 Comments
BIG NEWS! FIZA PATHAN, One of my clients, took awards at the London Book Festival and …
Award winning fiction Continue reading
Gigging a Gig! Journalists, for what it’s worth
(As you know if you’ve been hanging around here for a bit, there is almost no kind of writing or editing I haven’t done over the years, with the exception of erotica and other icky or brutalizing stuff. So … Continue reading
Posted in journalism, Literature
4 Comments
#shortstory Zoya’s Christmas Eve-a short story from my book S.O.S. Animals And Other Stories
Originally posted on insaneowl:
Zoya’s Christmas Eve-a short story from my book S.O.S. Animals And Other Stories.
Posted in Literature
2 Comments
#shortstory Zoya’s Christmas Eve-from my book S.O.S. Animals And Other Stories
Originally posted on insaneowl:
Zoya was a girl living a normal Christian life with her family in a small apartment overlooking the sea. Zoya was a happy child and was thoroughly spoilt by her parents, uncles and aunts because she…
Posted in Literature
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“A Child Was Born in a Cave to Save the World”
Joseph Brodsky was an emigre poet from the Soviet Union who lived in New York City, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987. He was an amazingly gifted, modest man. He wrote in English after emigrating as an … Continue reading
Posted in Literary Classics, Literary Lions, Literature, poetry, poets
Tagged Christmas, Joseph Brodsky, Literature, Margaret Langstaff, Poetry
2 Comments
“Hunting the Deceitful Turkey” – Mark Twain
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! This is from a 1906 issue of Harpers magagine. Twain’s dry wit and lame brained (fake) susceptibility to always be out witted by any animal that ever tread the earth (so sweet, amusing) is in full flower here. … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Literary Classics, Literary Lions, Literature, Reading, writers
15 Comments
All Is Well That Ends Well – Goodreads Catastrophe Reversed!
FINALLY the problem seems to be solved. I’m holding my breath, though. Shouldn’t have taken so long IMHO in view of the length of my membership, my activity as a reviewer and author. Anyway, dear friends, WHEW!!!
Posted in Book Reviews, Goodreads, Reading
Tagged book criticism, book reviews, Goodreads, Goodreads Snafus, reviews, writing
7 Comments
GOODREADS HORROR STORY: Writers, Listen Up!
Consider this a public service announcement for authors. I can’t believe it, but it happened. And it happened to me. Two days ago I simply changed my GR password and email –for security reasons –and my whole account, five years … Continue reading
How Extravagant! My Christmas Present to Myself! Everything My Hero Ever Wrote!
[an “aside” in a stage whisper:] “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”–Erasmus, 1469-1536 Mark Twain is the funniest, most original, wholly American literary genius this country has … Continue reading
The Irony is Almost Too Much! “Amazon Killed the Bookstore. So It’s Opening a Bookstore.”
Not kidding, folks. [This just in from Digital Book World. Click through and read the rest of the sordid, sorry story. I confess that I myself many years ago owned an independent bookstore–before I went to NY and publishing.] “Bookstore … Continue reading
Posted in book marketing, New and Recent Books
Tagged book distribution, Bookselling, monopolies, Publishing, reading
6 Comments
Book Review: The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
Originally posted on A View From My Summerhouse:
Mary Karr’s newly released The Art of Memoir couldn’t have arrived at a better time for me. As bestselling author of The Liar’s Club, Cherry and Lit, and teacher of the form…
Posted in Literature
7 Comments
THE ART OF MEMOIR by Mary Karr (author of The Liar’s Club)
[NOTE: Having just finished editing two massive and interesting/ well written memoirs, ‘The Art of Memoir’ by Mary Karr is of immense interest to me. Questions are raised that can’t be answered conclusively, yet they must be raised. Very intelligent … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
Tagged American Literature, book reviewers, Mary Karr, memoir, NYTmes, writing
8 Comments
“Beauty crowds me till I die.” Emily Dickinson
Here are some of my favorite lines from my favorite poets–just to share and for the heck of it. Poetry (the really good stuff) has always been my favorite genre as both a reader and writer. The above line is … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
Tagged American Poetry, authors, book criticism, British Poetry, classics, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Poetry, William Butler Yeats
7 Comments
Why Every Writer Needs a Good Copy Edit – Great Advice from Freelancers Union!
My lovable, esteemed writing colleagues, most of you know by now that in addition to being an “author” (more than 20 books so far, about half of them ghostwritten on a contract basis for public figures), I am also a … Continue reading
Posted in book critics, Effective persuasive writing, freelance writers, novelists, online communication, poets
Tagged American Literature, authors, blogging, book reviewers, books, creative process, essays, journalism digital media, Margaret Langstaff Writing and Editorial Consultant, poems, writing
9 Comments
