San Francisco, California
October 4, 2000

Dear Readers,

This week’s time warp continues at Open Letters. Monday lasted until late on Tuesday. Then Tuesday began early on Wednesday, and lasted until now, midday Wednesday, when Wednesday begins; Wednesday will last until late this evening, when Thursday will begin, and everything will be back to normal. Thank you for bearing with us.

Today’s letter is the second half of Ian Brown’s account of trying to read John Milton’s Paradise Lost in a world of distraction and sin. If you haven’t read part one yet, you probably should; it’sright here. Or you could read the whole thing, though it’s maybe a little long to read on a computer monitor, in which case perhaps you should just subscribe to the printable Open Letters weekly, which will bring Ian’s complete letter, plus the rest of the web site’s content, plus more, to your emailbox this weekend. (Seethis page if you need further exhortation.)

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s (or should I say “yesterday’s”) editor’s letter that Ian Brown, as well as being an author of books and essays and magazine articles, is the host of “Talking Books,” which airs on CBC Radio every Sunday morning, and the co-founder of Open Letters. We’re lucky to have his words in our pages again.

And to reiterate: Ian’s letter originally appeared, in a considerably different form, in the Globe and Mail, the Canadian newspaper, for which Ian writes occasional essay and reports.

Tomorrow: the country musician, his wife, and their auditor.

Yours truly,

Paul Tough