Heine, the poet in Paris

 This article reminded me again  why Heine is one my favorite poets. Elegant irony, simple vocabulary that I can follow with my pitiful German. Quotable and put on songs by many. Oscillating between a rich uncle and Karl Marx. An admirer of Saint-Simon...Seeing clearly the march of history .... A German poet in Paris, with almost no statue but still with us.  

Cuore. abridged

My wife asked me to translate a sentence from Italian. I asked her what you don't know cuore? Never read Cuore? Read the book when I was in second or third grade. Someone gave me a slim booklet, probably published around early 1940s. Later leafed Cuore - selected stories by the communist regime in late 50s. 

I checked today and to my surprise it was published in 1887 and has over 200 pages. Talking about cultural appropriation! Fighting over the heart of little kids in the dark century.

Plagues on your house

 Surprisingly there are just a few articles that parallel Covid-19  and the Antonine Plague. This article talks about resilience after the plague and Commodus. But does not mention that for the first time in 75 years a  natural son of  the emperor had succeeded him.  In prior years years emperors were picked (from the family), adopted sons. It does not reflect to the fact that Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher prince but mediocre as emperor...And  the historian does not mention the despondency that led to the emergence of Christianity, that became a state religion only about 150 years later. Other articles talk also about climate change or trade China...Everything was there...