tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75390682335245169912011-09-06T10:31:43.247-04:00A running commentary on writing the book "Sculptural Assassination; Adventures in Iconoclasm"taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-12303979148319948922011-09-06T10:31:00.002-04:002011-09-06T10:31:43.277-04:00

Vandal season is upon us... http://artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=50276

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-45359973394169314572011-02-07T11:36:00.000-05:002011-02-07T11:36:36.613-05:00

This just in to me. It's a relief, and rare in the chronicles of iconoclasm... http://artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=44766

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-61158217399739353882011-02-05T15:17:00.000-05:002011-02-05T15:17:18.582-05:00

I can't help but be mesmerized by the Egyptian turmoil- and this article was most interesting of all- Revolution and desecration http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/747b47ec-2fe3-11e0-a7c6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1D5TYIqDI

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-26257625019656704512008-11-30T12:35:00.003-05:002008-11-30T12:54:05.593-05:00

I was at a party last PM with the most charming people, my dears. One of the first people I met was a lovely recently-retired librarian who unwisely asked me what I was writing. I launched into the elevator pitch about this book, referrring to it as "a history of iconoclasm in essays." If 'twere possible to see these things physically, I believe that at that very moment I would have been startled

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-31480723299889531602008-11-27T10:35:00.004-05:002008-11-27T11:31:56.534-05:00

I went to Paris for a week in September, and, of course, one of the first places I headed to was the Cluny where the Kings of Judah are gorgeously displayed in Salon 8, up the stairs, down the hall, down more steps at the end to the perfectly lit, skylighted room where they hold court. Heads on one side, bodies on the other. Go figure... In their own day, before the vandalism of the original

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-4818150278074151042008-06-24T11:47:00.005-04:002008-12-11T04:20:31.446-05:00

OK. So I've had time to lick my wounds and think things over. I haven't touched any research since my last post and even had a rough time writing a couple of articles for the usual gig. I've been on the outs with my talent and curiosity and verbal skills.This is where binge drinking and heavy drugs have helped other creative types in the past, but I loathe vomiting and am not a member of the

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-75340774741389048732008-06-12T21:32:00.004-04:002008-12-11T04:20:31.615-05:00

There comes a time, my friends, when I've got to ask myself why I do what I do. Why I write. Why I try. Why I spend so much time with my head in books getting all choked up in marble dust and bronze shavings from madmen and thieves. Isn't there a better way to spend my time? Why can't I be out there fighting terrorists or snorting illegal substances like normal people?After all, nobody asked me

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-9045825429185268362008-06-04T09:57:00.004-04:002008-12-11T04:20:31.806-05:00

Photograph by David Henry, © 2008, all rights reservedAs I mentioned in the last post, there was a helluva lot of statue smashing going on in the French Revolution. After all, there were a helluva lot of statues to smash, and the populace was totally riled and ready to crush the bad guys and their artifacts as they saw them. This was real "iconoclasm from the bottom", rather than the

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-34418451235119864702008-05-23T09:56:00.003-04:002008-06-04T10:31:15.376-04:00

So after a brief hiatus to rework a one-act play, I'm back in the beloved salt mines to work on the next chapter of Sculptural Assassination. The topic, as promised, is iconoclasm of the French Revolution. Now it was obvious to me, once I decided to include the Enlightenment uprising, that I needed a single instance of statue smashing and not an overview of many instances around the country. And

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-29733751340270681322008-05-13T18:21:00.003-04:002008-05-13T19:06:49.924-04:00

So I've just put Saddam to bed, so to speak. I've been living with him and with the shadows and glare of the spotlight for way too long. The bed is littered with printouts from every journal, newspaper, etc., immaginable, along with xeroxes (now there's an archaic term) from a stack of books on the war that thankfully belong to the libraries of RI and not to me. My computer is burned out and the

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-84430302127490942512008-04-26T19:10:00.003-04:002008-04-27T12:57:16.421-04:00

It seems appropriate to begin writing my own account of the events of April 9, 2003 on Monday, the Hussein's own birthday. One of the questions I set out to answer was how the plunging bronze's photo-op differed from the coverage of the hanging dictator himself. How differently did the US recieve each event? And, of course, why?I think (off the top of my head) that it's pretty obvious that the

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-55762731338631101752008-04-14T16:48:00.002-04:002008-04-14T17:10:55.912-04:00

It’s dangerous hard work to dig around in the ash piles of Baghdad to find out what was really going on the day they drove old Saddam down. For one thing, I’m getting tunnel vision. While the war rages on around me, I’m only looking at that nearly empty park with its US tanks, chains, ropes, sledgehammers, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t flags, and milling paparazzi. I know about the remorseful hit

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-80811468241863235812008-04-11T23:01:00.003-04:002008-12-11T04:20:31.977-05:00

Five years ago Wednesday, US troops in Baghdad toppled (as the media called it) the statue of Saddam Hussein in Fidos Square. Pitiful bronze dictator- blindfolded by the American flag (shape of things to come) yanked to the street with his boots still standing on the pedestal (a tragic foreshadowing of the most popular motif of Iraq War monuments and graves in the US....) and his head used for a

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-81450855459245831062008-03-28T17:19:00.004-04:002008-12-11T04:20:32.718-05:00

Another agent rejection- the one I met at the conference two weeks ago. I can't say that I'm devastated, but it is a little bit disheartening... I do well with positive reinforcement- and March hasn't been very promising. The lion still roars.So- deeper into the book, and onward. I never forget that there's always the self-publishing route, which has become the phenom of this century-

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-16094074265416901212008-03-17T17:16:00.004-04:002008-03-24T13:15:59.802-04:00

Because this blog is about the whole process of making an award winning book, I want to include all the grit and grime as well as astonishing insights, amazing discoveries, and awesome triumphs. This post includes all of the above.I met with an exhausted agent Saturday afternoon and blew myself away with my focused presentation. He was gracious, though it was obvious that what he needed was a

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-48165397628056588302008-03-12T17:51:00.002-04:002008-03-12T18:00:32.917-04:00

The original agent, who set off the chapter writing flurry, just emailed me that after reading the chapters-"We are not interested in pursuing your work, but we thank you for thinking of us. We wish you the best in your career."I'm not really upset. I know it's the name of the game and I have other feelers out. If all else fails, there's the self-pub route and it's just the beginning of the trail

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-44233331973995883952008-03-10T09:34:00.004-04:002008-12-11T04:20:32.926-05:00

One of the most important parts of preparing to schmooze a book is the elevator pitch. As in, if you were in an elevator with the acquisitons editor of a big publishing house and she asked you to tell her what your book is about in the ten floor ride to her destination what would you say? It ain't as easy as it sounds. As a matter of fact, it's a bitch. It has to be smart and succinct and

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-42615942284681781922008-03-06T11:23:00.003-05:002008-03-06T12:17:06.932-05:00

Several weeks ago, I contacted a classics professor at Brown University and asked if I might pick his brain as needed for the Herms chapter. He graciously agreed and I picked a little as I went along. When I polished and polished, I then presumed on his kind nature to ask him to scan the piece for factual errors. No matter, how much I read about the ancients, they're still all Greek to me... (Har

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-66373903462102772202008-03-02T10:35:00.002-05:002008-12-11T04:20:33.061-05:00

So I finished the herms as well as I could and packaged that chapter as well as its completed fellows (sporting their brand new titles) and sent them out to the agent who began this flurry of activity in the first place. That was 2 days ago. Way to go, Cassidy! But there's little time to sit and obssess about what he's going to think of or do with the info. ("Now he's opening the attachments.

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-24285321883542754782008-02-23T22:44:00.002-05:002008-02-23T23:21:19.348-05:00

One of the primary rules of colorful and engaging writing is to actually sample the events and people you are writing about. Include specific details such as concrete examples of sights, sounds, smells, etc. in your account so the reader will interact with it. Trek to the Himalayas and gasp in the non-existent air. Walk Harlem's streets after midnight. Have a baby. Get drunk and end up in

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-62996931786887452072008-02-17T10:18:00.004-05:002008-12-11T04:20:33.271-05:00

When we travelled to NYC last week for a few days of fun and frolic, I decided to hunt down more info on William Pitt's demise and go to Bowling Green Park on the south end of the island to see what was left of the very fence that surrounded his fallen majesty. So I cross-towned it from our hotel to the East Side and began to prowl the Museum of the City of New York. Though I'd been told the

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-59828041935598669042008-02-02T13:30:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:33.476-05:00

David says my self-sabatoging gene is working overtime.I finally finished the rough draft of the Herms on Thursday and celebrated, then (guiltily) took a day off. A couple of things really bothered me, though.1) I wasn't really thrilled with most of the chapter. Yes, it had the facts and sources. Yes, it ended well. Yes, some of the writing was totally satisfying. But it just didn't gel for me.

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-3023556786495009632008-01-25T10:47:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:33.666-05:00

The crazy-making thing about writing this book is the fact that I can't concentrate on it full time. Just after getting a head of steam up on the Herms research, I had to stop and write a couple of articles for my usual gig on such disparate topics as an introduction to Rhode Island College and a tour of the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. And, while I was at it, made a short film "3 Haiku" that

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-56784653518671448622008-01-12T10:42:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:33.877-05:00

photo from customize.orgAs suspected, searching for info on the mutilation of the Herms is another complete course on research skills. I'm no expert on ancient Greek history, believe me, though it helps to live with a scholar who's been cruising through Thucydides for eons. I'd been scouring the web (google, google books, google scholar, university library websites, Jstor journals, etc, etc,

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-54345573241040439082008-01-02T14:36:00.000-05:002008-01-02T14:49:45.522-05:00

photo from http://michaelfairchild.com/Gallery/ozymandias_2.jpgI'm beginning to see Ozymandias through a sand storm as I research the mysterious case of the Hermes.In case all of this sounds too arcane, what I actually mean is that the more I learn about the castration of the statues of Hermes in Athens in 415, the uneasier I feel. There's something shaping up here that's vaguely recognizable-

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-62564513667479559652007-12-21T16:39:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:34.054-05:00

I finished the polished version of the Buddhas of Bamiyan chapter today and feel very relieved. I was beginning to think I was in some sort of a swamp that kept getting deeper and deeper and I'd never get out. But the thing looks pretty good to me (today) and I get to move on to the next chapter soon. (Not today...)Question is- what shall the next chapter be? Because I'm not doing a chronological

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-65595810852554417582007-12-11T15:39:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:34.136-05:00

photo from http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/chimage.php?image=2005/1963/demolition_nelson.jpgThere's something wrong with George III and has been ever since I started writing it. It doesn't have a core. My writing buddy, Paul, eyed it immediately when he suggested Conclude with a purely personal perspective on either: a. your feelings about the things you saw/ feelings about the events themselves

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-61312581231250806192007-12-10T10:48:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:34.362-05:00

I begin to wonder whether I'm smart enough to write this book. I was completely knocked off balance when I wrote the Buddhas of Bamiyan chapter (in revisions now). I questioned the value of public art in the first place, especially in its relationship to other, more immediate, needs of humankind. I have, at core, a visceral relationship with public sculpture, even the dreadful Victorian tributes

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-19613414573573001302007-11-13T19:30:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:34.493-05:00

So the next chapter I've started is the one on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, those ancient giants who were blown to kingdom come by the Taliban in Afghanistan in March of 2001. I'd read a fair amount about the event, mind you, so I figured I knew the score when I began.Taliban in Afghanistan, as I understand them, is an extreme fundamentalist Muslim organization consisting of mostly males under the age

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-33742132913422697262007-11-11T02:07:00.001-05:002008-12-11T04:20:34.700-05:00

So I decided to write the first chapter- a small, focused one on the Assassination of King George III and William Pitt in New York City in 1776. George, of course, was axed, dragged, beheaded and made into bullets by the Continental army the day the Declaration of Independence was first read to them. The fascination of the story for me was more in what happened after the actual felling of the

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-16224169064861009012007-11-08T16:08:00.000-05:002008-12-11T04:20:34.825-05:00

I have been remiss on this new blog. It has been over four months since my initial post, and a lot has happened to the book, Sculptural Assassination.First, I managed to get the essential parts of the proposal written and sent to David's agent to take a gander at it. "A tough call," he wrote back, but a pass. I wasn't too devastated, but I did begin to wonder whether this book would have a life

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7539068233524516991.post-89453062859064035952007-06-28T13:15:00.000-04:002007-06-28T13:24:59.680-04:00

This is the opening shot for my new book project on iconoclasm.It will be called Sculptural Assassination and will deal with iconoclasm in all its forms. In other words, if someone destroys a statue or sculpture for any reason other than sheer orneriness or adolescent high spirits and yahooism, it's iconoclasm.In the meantime, I hope to update you regularly on my research and to get tips and

taphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470451680339395845noreply@blogger.com0