ellauri014.html on line 1679: Emily of New Moon. universally recognized as the book that most encoded her personality, contains one poem, or a part of a poem, also found in Montgomery’s memoir of the craft, originally published as a serial in a Canadian magazine in 1917 and later published as The Alpine Path in 1974. In Emily of New Moon the poem is sent to Emily by Jarback (Pönttöselkä) Priest as a selection from “The Fringed Gentian,” and includes this stanza:
ellauri014.html on line 1684: The Alpine Path, so hard, so steep, Alppipolku raskas on ja jyrkkä,
ellauri014.html on line 1728: But granted these are different poems, we are left with the curious problem of where Montgomery found the Alpine Path poem. Surprisingly, after reading a dozen or so academic articles on Emily of New Moon and Montgomery’s vocation as an author–as well as a couple of good biographies–scholars have not pinned down the reference. After an extensive internet search, it seems to me that blogger Faith Elizabeth Hough may have begun to work it out. She includes the longer version of the poem here:
ellauri014.html on line 1734: Oh, little Alpine flower, pikku alppikukka sää,
ellauri014.html on line 1762: The Alpine Path, so hard, so steep, Alppipolku raskas on ja jyrkkä,
ellauri014.html on line 1772: It seems to me that Montgomery selects out the best bit of the poem, but again you see my bias. I am that “blossom,” I hope–but if all four verses are included it becomes rather silly to press the metaphor. Still, I think Montgomery was on the right track with her idea of “The Alpine Path.” It is a peculiar provenance that brings us this poem, but it has been an interesting journey. Once I found the names of Ella Rodman Church and August De Bubna I found that others have followed my path of curiosity. The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown has some of L.M. Montgomery’s scrapbooks, including her copy of the poem. But the search has been interesting, nonetheless.
ellauri135.html on line 229: After the surrender of Sebastopol and the transition of the chief of staff of the Crimean army in Odessa, Berg left the service, and until 1868 was not employed at all, leading the life of a tourist. The war of 1859 between Italy and Austria drew Berg in Lombardy, where he was at different headquarters of the French, Italian and at the end of Garibaldi, the detachment of Alpine rifles, wrote a number of correspondences in the "Russian Gazette" in 1859 the Movement in 1860, in the Lebanese mountains between Druze and Maronites drew Berg to the East. He lived in Beirut, Damascus, visited Jerusalem, said, Alexandria. Cairo, pyramids and Keepaway left an inscription, then the first in the Russian language. The fruit of these wanderings there were a few articles in Moscow and St. Petersburg editions and book "Guide to Jerusalem and its surroundings" (1863). During this trip, Berg studied the Bedouin life, which wandered in the wilderness. In 1861 he returned to Russia and has translated a significant part of "pan Tadeusz" (printed in "Domestic. Notes" 1862). Then again, Berg went to the East, lived again in Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem, and printed about this trip in several articles in "Fatherlands. Notes", "Russian Gazette", "Our time" and SPb. Statements".
ellauri183.html on line 86: In a 1974 New York Review of Boox essay, Roth took on Malamud, his friend and literary father-figure, criticizing him for creating characters that were suffering Jews, virtuous victims, full of “righteousness and restraint,” lacking their stereotypical “libidinous or aggressive activities.” Though he didn’t use the phrase, Malamud had painted them as Christ-like in their poverty, pain, moral goodness, and quest for redemption. By contrast, the Christian characters, like Frank Alpine, were full of sexual lust and transgressive behavior — the bad goy to Morris Bober’s good Jew. “The Assistant,” Roth wrote, was a book of “stern morality.”
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