FYI: I will post my next “micro review” in the next day or two; in the meantime, “from my fridge to yours”: below is my family’s holiday card for 2023 (not pictured, for the photo was taken in October: Aritzia and Kleber, who are in college, and Adela, who lives in California).
The backstory of this debut novel by Shaun Harris is based on one of the most legendary literary heists of all time. According to lore (see here, here, or here, for example), in December of 1922 — 101 years ago! — a valise containing almost all of Ernest Hemingway’s early manuscripts was stolen from a platform at the Gare de Lyon train station (pictured below) in Paris. At the time, the young Hemingway was a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and an aspiring writer, but he had yet to publish any of his fiction. (As a further aside, this anecdote was first told by none other than Hemingway himself in Chapter 9 of his posthumous collection of stories about his life in Paris, A Moveable Feast, first published in 1964 — three years after his death by suicide.)
But did this literary theft really occur, and if so, what happened to the suitcase and its contents? Or is there more to this story that meets the eye? Did Hemingway, for example, conspire with a confederate to stage the theft in order to attract sympathy from potential publishers or to guilt-trip his first wife Hadley Richardson? (In Hemingway’s telling, the lost suitcase was with Hadley when it was stolen from the train station.) In short, who stole the valise, and why? Wherever the truth lies, what I loved the most about this unorthodox crime novel is how the author, Mr Harris, seamlessly weaves this mysterious piece of Hemingway lore into his page-turner of a story.
Alas, this is a work of pure fiction, so I can’t say more without spoiling the author’s many secrets and surprising plot twists. ¡Feliz Nochebuena!
Christmas Day is around the corner, and I have just about finished reading the sundry books on my 2023 winter break reading list while I was in the BVI (see my 14 December post, which I am reblogging below), so I will start writing up and posting “micro reviews” (hat tip: Bryan Caplan) of my Yuletide readings in the next day or two. In the meantime: ¡Feliz Nochebuena (Christmas Eve)!
I am reblogging my initial reaction to “the Colorado case” (you know what I am talking about!) because I just realized that the court’s decision is a purely symbolic one — more a case of “judicial performance art” than a substantive legal decision. How so? Because as long as Trump appeals the court’s decision to the Supreme Court of the United States before January 4th, his name will remain on Colorado’s March 5th primary ballot! From page 9 of the Colorado court’s legal opinion creative writing exercise:
… we stay our ruling until January 4, 2024 (the day before the … deadline to certify the content of the [Colorado] presidential primary ballot). If review is sought in the Supreme Court before the stay expires on January 4, 2024, then the stay shall remain in place, and the Secretary will continue to be required to include President Trump’s name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, until the receipt of any order or mandate from the Supreme Court.
One of the things I miss the most about the Island of Puerto Rico, where I lived from 1993 to 2009, is the parranda, a musical tradition that is celebrated during the Christmas holiday season, which in Puerto Rico extends all the way to Three Kings Day in January. (PS: This is another reason why I would love Puerto Rico to become the 51st State — people in the mainland U.S. don’t know what they are missing!)
Thirty-six hours into my Yuletide “digital detox” challenge (see here), four judges on the Colorado Supreme Court (pictured below) dropped a proverbial bombshell on the political world, voting by a 4 to 3 margin to keep Donald J. Trump off their state’s ballot in 2024. (See here, for example.) Among other things, four members of this committee of Rocky Mountain philosopher kings concluded that the former president “engaged in” an insurrection (the 6 January riot) and is therefore disqualified from federal office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Alas, there is one big problem with the court’s committee’s decision: Trump has yet to be convicted of insurrection or treason. Although the Colorado judges dutifully cite the work of law professors like William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen to skirt this problem (here is their legal opinion), they did not bother to refer to my reply to Baude & Paulsen (surprise, surpise!), where I explain why the Disqualification Clause cannot be self-executing. For now, however, I just want conclude this post with an observation and a question. The 2024 Colorado Republican presidential primary will be held on 5 March 2024 (about nine weeks from today), but will the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) intervene before then?
Ho, ho, ho! I just received an early Christmas gift from the History of Economic Ideas, a refereed journal specializing in the history of economic thought (see here). My paper “Adam Smith, David Hume, and the Balliol College Conspiracy” was accepted for publication! Also, an anonymous referee made some good suggestions, so I will be revising my work during the holiday break; in the meantime, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, etc.
In anticipation of my visit to the idyllic Soggy Dollar beach bar on the Carribean island of Jost Van Dyke in the BVI, I declared Monday (18 December) my “digital detox day”, and for the most part my anti-Internet challenge was a resounding success: I read the first 200 pages of Robert Darnton’s excellent French history book “The Revolutionary Temper” as well as some technical papers on degrees of belief. Alas, the Soggy Dollar beach bar played some great music, so I just had to Shazam some of the catchy songs on their playlist, including this one (PG-13):
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