Moonlight, Its Dangers

Inflating a Dog, Chapter 18, “Oo, Oo, Oo, What a Little Moonlight Can Do”:

IF YOU’RE TAKING NOTES, jot this down: never buy a boat while you are under the beguiling influence of moonlight.

Billie Holiday, accompanied by Teddy Wilson’s orchestra.

See also:
Moonlight TG 39; Moon: Daytime Illusion of Transparency TG 79

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

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• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

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Fact and Fiction

Inflating a Dog, Chapter 11:

I was distracted by the bartender, who, bored without a barful of barflies, had entered a photo booth at the back of the bar, the kind of booth equipped with a camera that produces a strip of black-and-white pictures. She hadn’t closed the curtain fully, and through the narrow opening I could see her making faces, as people are inspired to do inside those booths, while three flashes went off. Then, just before the fourth and final flash, she stood up and lifted her skirt. . . .
The bartender emerged from the booth, skirt in place, and waited until the strip of pictures dropped from a slot on the side and landed in a hemispherical metal cup. She plucked the strip from the cup, began waving it in the air to dry it, and sashayed back behind the bar. She stuck the strip of pictures into the frame of a mirror there, where, I noticed now, there were others, strips of grinning faces, patrons mugging for the camera after they’d pickled themselves sufficiently to become inspired to mug for a camera and discovered that, thanks to the foresight or experience of the proprietors of the Silver Hound, there was in the back of the room a camera for which to mug.
“Want another round?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, and when she had shaken the drinks and began pouring them I added, “and I’d like to see those pictures.”
She pulled the strip from the mirror and held it out for us to see. “The last one’s a little naughty,” she said, girlishly, as if she might start giggling.
Albertine and I bent over the strip and examined it closely. The first three pictures were like the others stuck around the mirror, but the last little image showed her from waist to mid-thigh, naked. It was a black-and-white picture, of course, but the tone of the grayness of her pubic hair allows me to report with certainty that it matched the red of the hair on her head.
“Yes, it is a little naughty,” I said, “but on the whole quite nice.” The three of us chuckled amiably.

I happen to know that this scene is drawn from life. It reproduces a few minutes from one of Eric and Madeline’s visits to the Lakeside Lounge in New York’s East Village.

Nate Schweber, “Gritty Musical Mainstay in the East Village Fades Out,” The New York Times, April 22, 2012:

For 16 years, the Lakeside Lounge employed a formula that never changed: a handpicked band every night, a jukebox loaded with classic songs, a cadre of quick-witted bartenders working under strings of colored lights, and an old-time photo booth that spat out strips of pictures shot using real film.

See also:

Fact and Fiction TG 30

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• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

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• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

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Drinking, Cocktails
Language, Slang

Inflating a Dog, Chapter 10:

     “I have — I have a liquor cabinet.” I led her to the dining room. “It’s right there.” I pointed toward it.
“Solid, Jackson!” she said when she opened the cabinet and saw the booze. “Make us a couple of sidecars, okay, Dud?”
“Sidecars?”
She got girlish and playful. “I’ve never had one,” she said, “but I know they’re really popular now. I read that they were the most popular drink of 1944.”
“Do you know how to make one?” I asked.
“Of course not!” she said, giggling as if she ought to be shocked by the suggestion. “They don’t teach us that at Babbington High!”

Patti has done her homework, and she applies what she’s learned in her portrayal of Ella circa 1943 or 1944. Green’s Dictionary of Slang defines Solid! as “a general excl. of approbation, implying a firm bond, honesty, excellence etc.” and Jackson as “a form of address, usu. between men” [like “man” or “pal” —MD]. The phrase was current in the 30s and 40s.

Her request for a sidecar is also in character, but she overstates the drink’s popularity in 1944. Several sources lead me to conclude that it reached its peak of popularity in the 1920s.

This image is from Wikipedia:

Share the Experience

This recipe is from liquor.com, slightly edited:

1 1/2 ounces cognac
3/4 ounce orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)
3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Garnish: orange twist

Add the cognac, orange liqueur and lemon juice to a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
Strain into a coupe glass.
Garnish with an orange twist.

Amazon: Ohtomber 24OZ Cocktail Shaker Set: Cocktail Bar Martini Drink Shaker Set with Strainer, Stainless Steel Bartender Kit Drink Mixer with Jigger, Mixing Spoon, Bar Accessories for Beginners, 4.7 out of 5 stars, $9.99

See also:

Language TG 11; Dialect, Slang, Idiolect, Shibboleths, Jargon TG 137, TG 659, TG 754, TG 832; Slang, Insults, Terms of Abuse TG 140; Slang TG 169; Languages: Learning and Translating TG 393; Idiolect, Private Meanings and References, Code Words TG 373; Idioms: Tug the (One’s) Forelock TG 459; Technical TG 652, Academic, Gibberish TG 492; Language in Translation: Russian to English TG 495; Idioms: English: “It’s Greek to me.” TG 595; Transformations Attendant to the Assimilation of Non-English “Loan Words” in American English, e.g., From Bologna to Baloney TG 624; Linguistic Concepts: Langue and Parole TG 855
Drinking: Cocktails, Cocktail Shakers TG 57; Drinking; Smoking TG 15; Cocktails, Old Fashioned TG 132; Cocktails: The Shirley Temple TG 150; Cocktails: The Martini TG 415, TG 416; Cocktails, Real and Fictional TG 437; Cocktails: Black Russian TG 518; Rum and Coca-Cola, Cuba Libre TG 707; Marc TG 841

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The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

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Cynics, Cynicism
Motivation: Self-Interest

Inflating a Dog, Chapter 5:

      “ . . . wear the label ‘cynic’ proudly, for . . . today it designates those of us who point the finger at human vanity and pride, who recognize that selfishness is the motivation for every human action, who scoff at claims of disinterest or altruism or love, who ask, always, ‘Cui bono?’ In other words, what the world calls a cynic, a dog, I — and, I hope, you, my boy — would call a reasonable human being.”

Denis Diderot, in Lettre à Landois, June 29, 1756, published in Grimm’s Correspondance littéraire, July 1, 1756:

     Woe to you if the practice of good is not familiar enough to you, and if you are not sufficiently invested in good deeds to be vain, to compliment yourself on them constantly, to get drunk on this vapor and to become a fanatic. What is a virtuous man? He is a vain man whose vanity is of that type, and nothing more. Everything we do is for ourselves: we seem to be sacrificing ourselves when we are only satisfying ourselves.

See also:
Cynics, Cynicism TG 7
Motivation: Revenge TG 558; Remembering TG 1027

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• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

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Acting: Smoking as a Gimmick or Bit of Business

Inflating a Dog, Chapter 3:

She knocked the ash from her cigarette. She used her cigarette much as Dudley had used his pipe, using the business of smoking to create a rhythm for the things she said. After a moment had passed in the business of smoking, she said, “Peter, I want to offer you a job.”

Any comment from me on the following would be superfluous.

See also
Acting: Playing the Fool, Playing the King TG 153; Performing TG 674; Performance TG 874, TG 877; Smoking as a Gimmick or Bit of Business TG 1042

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• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

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• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

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Music: Doo Wop

Inflating a Dog, Chapter 1:

For one thing, bastardy gave me the inspiration for the first doo-wop song I wrote, although, because it was a subtle piece of work for a kid my age, no one but I noticed that it was about bastardy. […]
     “Well,” I said, seizing the opportunity that she had given me, “[…] why don’t you sing it? […]”
Eventually she did, […]

It began like this:

Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
There’s a space between
What you say and what you mean.

And it went on like that for quite a few lines before ending like this:

Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
There’s a space between
Who I am and who you say I am.
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
That’s where the shadows fall.
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
And where the shadows fall,
Anything can happen
Anything at all.
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
Bah doobie doo wah.

Peter’s song shows signs of having been heavily influenced by T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.”

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow […]

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow […]

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow

See also:
Allusion, Quotation TG 140, TG 455, TG 462, TG 502, TG 506, TG 532, TG 559, TG 583, TG 592, TG 626, TG 654, TG 657, TG 714, TG 735, TG 736, TG 738, TG 780, TG 781, TG 802, TG 829, TG 832, TG 935, TG 951, TG 957, TG 964, TG 979, TG 982, TG 985, TG 1039
Music: Ottorino Respighi’s “Ancient Airs and Dances for the Lute” TG 53; Records; Audio Equipment TG 12; Jazz: Coleman Hawkins: “Body and Soul” TG 252; Rock ’n’ Roll TG 457; Music Appreciation TG 458; Jazz TG 513; Lyrics TG 513; For the Reservations Recommended Soundtrack Album TG 514, TG 520, TG 559; Duke Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” TG 605; “Rarotonga” TG 681; Shostakovich’s Concerto no. 1 for Cello and Orchestra TG 836

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• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

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• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

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Allusion, Quotation
Cars

Inflating a Dog, Preface:

With some of the spoils I bought a classic car, a powerful Kramler V-12, gleaming white, redolent inside of rich leather and leaking brake fluid.

Charles Kinbote drives a powerful Kramler in in Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire:

Despite a wobbly heart (see line 735), a slight limp, and a certain curious contortion in his method of progress, Shade had an inordinate liking for long walks, but the snow bothered him, and he preferred, in winter, to have his wife call for him after classes with the car. A few days later, as I was about to leave Parthenocissus Hall—or Main Hall (or now Shade Hall, alas), I saw him waiting outside for Mrs. Shade to fetch him. I stood beside him for a minute, on the steps of the pillared porch, while pulling my gloves on, finger by finger, and looking away, as if waiting to review a regiment: “That was a thorough job,” commented the poet. He consulted his wrist watch. A snowflake settled upon it. “Crystal to crystal,” said Shade. I offered to take him home in my powerful Kramler. “Wives, Mr. Shade, are forgetful.” He cocked his shaggy head to look at the library clock. Across the bleak expanse of snow-covered turf two radiant lads in colorful winter clothes passed, laughing and sliding. Shade glanced at his watch again and, with a shrug, accepted my offer.

See also:
Allusion, Quotation TG 140, TG 455, TG 462, TG 502, TG 506, TG 532, TG 559, TG 583, TG 592, TG 626, TG 654, TG 657, TG 714, TG 735, TG 736, TG 738, TG 780, TG 781, TG 802, TG 829, TG 832, TG 935, TG 951, TG 957, TG 964, TG 979, TG 982, TG 985
Cars: Studebakers, Chryslers TG 57; Limousines TG 439

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• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

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• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

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Share the Experience!

How to make panoramic sugar eggs for Easter (Shreveport Times)

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• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

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• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

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Projects, Practical and Impractical
Disappointment

Inflating a Dog, Preface:

     My mother had many schemes for businesses and many dreams about their success, and many of her schemes and dreams got as far as the dinner table. While my father and I ate, she would smoke and talk, nervously, laying out a plan for her audience of two, full of enthusiasm, until, in most cases, a moment came when her face fell, and she finished her proposal with her eyes down, as if the scheme were there on the tablecloth in front of her, falling apart before her eyes, shattering like the fragile ribbon candy that, at Christmastime, she liked to put out in dishes decorated with images of evergreen trees. […]
     Sometimes, though, a scheme survived the dinner-table test […] because she put [it] back together out of the broken bits and held them together with the force of her determination, as she did with her plan to make ribbon candy, package it, and ship it far and wide as Ella’s Ribbons of Dee-lite.
     I think it was obvious to all of us, even to her, that ribbon candy must be made in a factory by machines especially designed to extrude sugar syrup in a continuous ribbon, fold it back upon itself uniformly, and snip it off in lengths that fit into boxes.

See also:
Projects, Practical and Impractical TG 367, TG 569, TG 615, TG 800, TG 886; Ideal or Real TG 443; Difficult TG 714; Fallout Shelter: Stocking It TG 797; Desperate Measures TG 903
Disappointment TG 87, TG 113; Anticipation, Disappointment TG 98
Disappointment Island TG 46

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Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, At Home with the Glynns, and Leaving Small’s Hotel.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Epigraphs

Here is the original passage from Don Quixote:

     Bien sé lo que son tentaciones del demonio, y que una de las mayores es ponerle a un hombre en el entendimiento que puede componer e imprimir un libro con que gane tanta fama como dineros, y tantos dineros cuanta fama, y para confirmación de esto quiero que en tu buen donaire y gracia le cuentes este cuento.
     Había en Sevilla un loco que dio en el más gracioso disparate y tema que dio loco en el mundo. Y fue que hizo un cañuto de caña puntiagudo en el fin, y, en cogiendo algún perro en la calle, o en cualquiera otra parte, con el un pie le cogía el suyo, y el otro le alzaba con la mano, y como mejor podía le acomodaba el cañuto en la parte que, soplándole, le ponía redondo como una pelota, y, en teniéndolo de esta suerte, le daba dos palmaditas en la barriga y le soltaba, diciendo a los circunstantes, que siempre eran muchos: “¿Pensarán vuestras mercedes ahora que es poco trabajo hinchar un perro?”
     “¿Pensará vuestra merced ahora que es poco trabajo hacer un libro?”

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Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Reviews: Inflating a Dog

“[An] often hilarious bittersweet tale of adolescence recollected in tranquility . . . a kaleidoscopic narrative that’s a little like a marriage of Marcel Proust and Mark Twain. . . . Peter’s determination to explore all the mysteries of environment, heredity, and (especially) sex is memorably expressed. Glorious stuff.”
Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)

“A cheeky, amusing look at the nature of the entrepreneurial dream. . . . Once Kraft begins to work his clever conceit, this novel emerges as another memorable installment in his innovative series.”
Publishers Weekly

“Sentimental, loving, raucous, wise, and great fun, this is simply not to be missed.”
Nancy Pearl, Booklist (starred review)

“Two-thousand-two-hundred pages . . . and counting. That, by my estimate, is where Eric Kraft’s shape-shifting, seriocomic, multi-volume Peter Leroy saga now stands. And with Kraft in such fine form in Inflating a Dog, the latest installment, one can’t help wishing Peter’s story could continue forever.”
Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times

“Reading Eric Kraft is at times like taking a dizzy tumble into Long Island Sound. As fine a novelist as the Island has produced, Kraft is the buoyant and brilliant presence behind . . . ‘The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences and Observations of Peter Leroy’ . . . as richly detailed in its way as, and a great deal funnier than . . . Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” . . . Digressions on clamming, the constitution of the soul and Bernoullian physics are tossed off with such verve and humor that the reader feels flattered and privileged to be invited to join Kraft’s remarkable, ongoing dance of time and memory.”
Richard Gehr, Newsday

“A hilarious riff on Don Quixote, on the desire for fame, the need for success, the power of fantasy.”
Barbara Fisher, The Boston Globe

“As books by Eric Kraft usually are, Infl ating a Dog is simultaneously delightful, provocative, poignant and deeply satisfying . . . packed to the gunwales with the incendiary hungers, slippery bravado and rampant uncertainties of adolescence. . . . proves once again that Eric Kraft is a writer of magical verbal and narrative invention. The novel’s various threads, its complications of character and plot, its reality-bending notions of showing and telling snap together, finally, with a gentle, inevitable, tear-inducing click. . . . Inflating a Dog is downright elevating.”
Frederic Koeppel, Memphis Commercial Appeal

“A sprightly, sly, sophisticated entertainment, light enough to digest in a long summer evening . . . quintessential Kraft, showing his regard for the word-as-object, a thing to be revealed at just the right moment, then left for the reader to examine.”
Richard Grant, The Washington Post

“The eight volumes of . . . The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy constitute perhaps the most ambitious and rewarding literary enterprise of our time. . . . Inflating a Dog comes across as a deceptively easy read in which expert comic timing belies an enormously important literary project in motion. The clever mingling of fiction and memoir evokes Proust at every turn but does so using a vernacular attuned to contemporary audiences. Even when you find yourself laughing aloud, it would be a mistake to take Eric Kraft lightly.”
Andrew Ervin, The San Francisco Chronicle

“Inflating a Dog, the latest Peter Leroy volume, is a novel about physical and spiritual buoyancy. It’s about keeping boats afloat and hopes aloft, and how, in one summer of Peter’s adolescence, he manages to do both. . . . Kraft’s erudite asides and abstract musings are what make Inflating a Dog fascinating and sophisticated reading.”
Jennifer Reese, The New York Times Book Review

“Inflating a Dog has a charming plot that works as an overlay for sophisticated meditations on language and storytelling. . . . It sounds simple enough, yet the novel is wickedly funny and philosophical and weirdly timeless.”
Kate Bernheimer, The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

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Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Writer at Work, The
Writing

Here is Part 2 (of 4) of Anthony Brandt’s 1999 interview with Kraft following Chipps & Company’s series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

See also:
Writer at Work, The TG 19
Writers and Readers TG 99
Writing: Drafting TG 421; Revision: rewriting, revising, rethinking, renovating TG 10, TG 421; Writing (and Drawing): Drafting, Writing (and Drawing): Revising TG 421; Writing on Walls (Graffiti, Messages, Art) TG 479

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Writer at Work, The
Writing

Here is Part 3 (of 4) of Anthony Brandt’s 1999 interview with Kraft following Chipps & Company’s series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

See also:
Writer at Work, The TG 19
Writers and Readers TG 99
Writing: Drafting TG 421; Revision: rewriting, revising, rethinking, renovating TG 10, TG 421; Writing (and Drawing): Drafting, Writing (and Drawing): Revising TG 421; Writing on Walls (Graffiti, Messages, Art) TG 479

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Writer at Work, The
Writing

Here is Part 2 (of 4) of Anthony Brandt’s 1999 interview with Kraft following Chipps & Company’s series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

See also:
Writer at Work, The TG 19
Writers and Readers TG 99
Writing: Drafting TG 421; Revision: rewriting, revising, rethinking, renovating TG 10, TG 421; Writing (and Drawing): Drafting, Writing (and Drawing): Revising TG 421; Writing on Walls (Graffiti, Messages, Art) TG 479

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Writer at Work, The
Writing

Here is Part 1 (of 4) of Anthony Brandt’s 1999 interview with Kraft following Chipps & Company’s series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

See also:
Writer at Work, The TG 19
Writers and Readers TG 99
Writing: Drafting TG 421; Revision: rewriting, revising, rethinking, renovating TG 10, TG 421; Writing (and Drawing): Drafting, Writing (and Drawing): Revising TG 421; Writing on Walls (Graffiti, Messages, Art) TG 479

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Reviews

“An endearing history of ex-urban American life that consistently evokes Mark Twain, James Thurber, and their kindred. The result is a compact comic Decameron, a deadpan fantasia . . . a minor masterpiece: one of the most delightful novels of the decade.” Kirkus Reviews

“Is there a more beguiling writer today than Eric Kraft? In his latest comic novel, he manages to combine two of his work’s hitherto disparate modes—the pastoral (à la Wodehouse) and the black humor that runs like a stain through American literature from Melville to Nathanael West—to hilarious effect. . . . With his customary elegance, Kraft has written a coda to the utopian impulses that lurk in the heart of our century; this novel will please both fans and readers new to the small, welcoming hotel of the Peter Leroy books.” Publishers Weekly

“Leaving Small’s Hotel is edgier than most of Kraft’s work. . . . The book is imaginative, clever, and convoluted, offering a twist in the road Kraft has been building to our collective past. Under the surface humor, Kraft’s take on the national experience is thoughtful, disturbing, and unlike that of any other American writer.” Anthony Brandt, Men’s Journal

“There is a delightful loopiness to the novels of Eric Kraft that no other writer today can emulate. It is a sly charm that makes us think his stories are a good deal simpler than they are. In fact, they are wonderfully complex, multi-layered and multileveled, as carefully painted as Japanese miniatures. . . . The belief has long been held here that Eric Kraft is one of our best writers, and Leaving Small’s Hotel reinforces it. . . . Not since James Thurber has anyone written so delightfully about the foibles of his childhood.” Roger Harris, Newark Star-Ledger

“Kraft offers a refreshingly complex and searching portrait of the writing life, as well as of a fundamentally strong and warm relationship between a husband and wife assailed by doubt and unhappiness. Leaving Small’s Hotel affirms once more that when the destination is Babbington (as Leroy’s version of Kraft concludes), ‘time spent in another place, in another life, is the perfect vacation, the ideal.’” Mahinder Kingra, City Paper (Baltimore)

“From a mid-life crisis of failed dreams and an uncertain future, Eric Kraft weaves a beguiling, affectionate comedy of love and possibilities.” Lynn Harnett, Portsmouth Herald

“Funny, deftly structured . . . warm, engaging . . . just right.” James Polk, The New York Times Book Review

“Kraft . . . has created a beguiling tale of hope, friendship, memories, and love. Recommended for all fiction collections.” Robin Nesbitt, Library Journal

“[Leaving Small’s Hotel] is vintage Leroy, or vintage Kraft, and . . . with Kraft’s typical skill, erudition and levity, it broaches the very nature of the human condition through its winning anecdotes of Leroy’s present, and of his remembered and embroidered past. . . . Kraft’s imagination, like Leroy’s, is endlessly fertile, not merely in its creations but in its connections, as well, so that each apparently innocent anecdote chimes with Kraft’s broader theme of the imagined life, of its thrilling, enhancing, and ultimately dangerous connection to the real. There is also much sorrow in Leaving Small’s Hotel, as its title suggests, and an uncomfortable acknowledgment of the potentially imprisoning consequences of imaginative escape. But the novel ends on a note of joyous possibility, offering both Leroy and his brilliant creator the freedom to create something new.” Claire Messud, Newsday

“Kraft’s tender story of Peter and Albertine—still in love after so many years—is funny, perceptive, highly readable, and peopled with a cast of characters as intriguing as they are unique. In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether this is Peter Leroy’s daydream or Eric Kraft’s; either way this novel is a dream come true.” Amazon.com

“A wonderful matryoshka of a novel, with at least five stories nested one inside the other . . . the various tales move toward contrasting climaxes with just the sort of spectacular intricacy that makes a business fail and a novel fly.” The New Yorker

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Laughter

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 50:

     Bob shouted, “There! That ought to make the bastards happy,” and he began to laugh Baldy’s disturbing laugh, in the same mad, rasping way, and then the microphone was switched off, leaving what would have been a permanent silence if all the inmates of Small’s Hotel hadn’t burst out laughing.

I’ll repeat the chapter’s epigraphs:

In some ways these people (I am one) cannot exist without the oxygen of laughter.
     Dawn Powell, diary entry

The ability to burst out laughing is proof of a fine character. I mistrust those who avoid laughter and refuse its overtures. They are afraid to shake the tree, mindful of the fruits and birds, afraid that someone might notice that nothing comes off their branches.
     Jean Cocteau, “On Laughter”

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Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Performance

Here is Kraft’s reading of the episode from Chipps & Company’s 1999 series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Reality

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 49:

     Most of the pictures were snapshots, but one, a remarkable one at the center, was a drawing in pastels of his father in his flight jacket. The dampness of the cave and a leak in its boy-built roof had damaged the picture: a water mark ran down the left side. […]
     We all knew that Matthew’s father had been killed in World War II without ever seeing his son, […]

This portrait hangs in the Krafts’ home office, where the writing is done:

It’s Eric’s father, Edward Daniel Kraft, Jr. He was killed in World War II, at the age of nineteen. He never saw his son. His son never saw him. [Note the water stain.]

Memory
Motivation

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 49:

THERE WAS A QUESTION after the reading. It came from Miranda. “You’ve kept that memory all these years,” she began, “but do you feel free of it now?”
“No, no,” I said, “not at all. I write to remember, not to forget.”

Performance

Here is Kraft’s reading of the episode from Chipps & Company’s 1999 series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com

Performance

Here is Kraft’s reading of the episode from Chipps & Company’s 1999 series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:

Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

• You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.

• You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

• You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

• At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.

• You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.

• You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK

The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

www.erickraft.com

www.babbingtonpress.com