Back in Sointula

Here I am again, ensconced in my cottage.  I flew via Toronto to Nanaimo, where I rented a car and drove north. Stopped on the way at Fanny Bay and picked up a bucket of oysters, along with some halibut burgers and crab cakes. It was 98 degrees when I left New York; here it is 60 degrees in the morning, rising to the low 70s in the afternoon. Morning I work indoors on my novel; in the afternoon I sit out on the deck (see picture below, a painting made last summer by Tyler) and read. My summer reading is mostly Hermann Hesse, as I have a review to write by November of the English-language translation of a recent biography. Like many Germanists, I have read Hesse, but not in depth, and have also taught him. Demian was always a good choice for undergraduates. Now I am going back to the early works. Peter Camenzind: what a wonderful novel! It is wonderfully quiet here, although interrupted occasionally by power saws cutting firewood for the winter. Long walks, conversations with old friends. More news to follow.