… an awareness of one's mortality within the ever-turning, never-ending round of the seasons and the universe can be a source of serenity and equanimity. This will all go on without me. A comforting thought. It can be quite exhilarating as well. And an occasion for gratitude on a daily basis.Indeed.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Our one-way journey …
… First Known When Lost: Timeless.
Crazy …
… Miscellaneous Musings:: American Dirt hits the fan, and I give up on the world.
The logic of all this is likely to lead to where few people really want to go.
Blogging note …
Debbie is home from rehab. But she not back to her old self yet.Rehab will resume at home soon.And I have a favor to do for an old fried. So blogging will resume sometime later.
Appreciation …
… The Other Billy Collins. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
William Collins—“Poor Collins” to his contemporaries. 1721–59: dead, completely incapacitated and insane, at thirty-seven. Author of two tiny books: Persian Eclogues (1742), and Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegorical Subjects (1746, though dated ’47). Book #1, written before the poet was twenty; book #2, before he was twenty-five.
Schadenfreude …
… Last lines: Clive James | Ian Shircore | Standpoint. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Clive says that “The Book of My Enemy” was prompted by an actual experience of seeing a rival’s work stacked waist-high among the remaindered dross, though he has always refused to name names. “It was almost a religious experience,” he says. “It’s a sin to rejoice so much in someone else’s misfortune, to write out of vengefulness. But I did see these huge piles of deservedly unsold books. And I did enjoy it. It wasn’t my most worthy moment, but I probably had more fun writing this poem than anything else I ever wrote.”
Quite a takedown …
… The 1619 Project Depicts an America Tainted by Original Sin – Reason.com.
… note the suspension of disbelief we are expected to maintain. Supposedly the Founding Fathers were trying to protect slavery, despite never actually making such a goal clear for the historical record, and at a time when there would have been no shame in doing so. What are the chances that this supposed revelation would have slept undiscovered until now, when for almost 50 years, humanities academics of all colors have been committed to their socks to unearthing racism in the American fabric? Can we really believe that a group of journalists writing for the Times has unboxed such a key historical revelation from reading around, that no one else of any color has chosen to trumpet in the mainstream media for decades?
New poems …
… Poet Robert Hass scales 'Summer Snow' and California's landscapes - Los Angeles Times. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
… the collection’s title, with its balancing of extremes, suggests that larger complications and dichotomies are in play. Death, Hass is telling us, is a season, less the antithesis of life than its conclusion. The act of dying, in other words, is nothing special, nor even necessarily catastrophic — except, perhaps, for those who have been left behind.
More than mere words …
… Prayer Is Poetry - The Millions. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Not enough attention is paid to the poetic aspects of prayer, scarcely more attention is paid to the prayerful qualities of poetry. Prayer is just as deserving of critical analysis, of close reading and interpretation through the methods of literary interpretation as any verse is. Such is the position of The New Yorker’s esteemed book critic James Wood, who in his introduction to the Penguin Deluxe Edition of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer’s 1549 The Book of Common Prayer argued that the Church of England missal marked “one of the great, abiding works of English literature.” There are a handful of anthologies that treat prayer with the literary interest expressed by Wood
Something to think on …
Becoming the reader is the essence of becoming a writer.
— John O’Hara, born on this date in 1905
Thursday, January 30, 2020
In the family …
… Evelyn Waugh's grand-daughter Daisy writes modern spin-off of Brideshead revisited | Daily Mail Online. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In Brideshead Revisited, which takes place in the 1920s, the Flytes charmed Ryders and readers alike with their privileged way of life, while Daisy's spin-off pokes lighthearted fun at the elite.
Prophetic study …
… It Was Never About Economic Anxiety: On the Book That Foresaw the Rise of Trump | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… part of the great value of re-reading Blue-Collar Aristocrats now is being reminded that Trump is not a Republican exception but rather the culmination of a Republican trend, going back to Barry Goldwater and only defied by “compassionate conservative” anomalies like George W. Bush, of playing on their resentment of women and racial minorities in order to win white male votes. LeMasters brings us much closer to the origin of that trend.See also: Moose' selling Club Tavern after 39 years.
Hmm …
… The Bullies and That Book | George Weigel | First Things.
… the cacophony over the Benedict/Sarah book, From the Depths of Our Hearts, did serve two useful purposes: It spoke volumes about the character of the venomous, and it clarified some of the dynamics roiling the Church as the pontificate of Pope Francis approaches its seventh anniversary on March 13.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Emily Dickinson
I've always felt uncomfortable -- even embarrassed -- at not having read any Emily Dickinson. After all, I went to school in her native Amherst, and toured the Dickinson Homestead as a student. But reading her poetry is something I'd not done: until now.
Over the past few months, I've tried to read a few of her poems each day. Today, I finished the Wordsworth collection, which includes selected poems focused on nature, mortality, love, and life.
As I said to Frank earlier this winter, I could not tell you whether Dickinson was a happy person or sad, whether she was content with her station or whether she yearned for more. I did, though, find her poems lively and perceptive: an interesting mix of prescience and animation. But whether the poems told me anything about Dickinson herself, I really cannot say: not, of course, that this is the obligation of the poet. I mention it only because I tend, I think, to learn more about writers through novels than through poetry.
All of that said, there are some beautiful poems in this collection, full of memorable observations. I found myself refreshed after reading Dickinson's poems: as if her clarity and patience had helped to generate similar qualities in myself. For that alone, I am thankful.
I'm not a critic of poetry and so am happy to leave the last word to Dickson:
The pedigree of honey
Does not concern the bee;
A clover, any time, to him
Is aristocracy
Tracking the decline …
… The Intellectual and Moral Decline in Academic Research — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.
Nowhere is the intellectual and moral decline more evident than in public health research. From 1970 to 2010, as taxpayer funding for public health research increased 700 percent, the number of retractions of biomedical research articles increased more than 900 percent, with most due to misconduct. Fraud and retractions increased so precipitously from 2010 to 2015 that private foundations created the Center for Scientific Integrity and “Retraction Watch” to alert the public.
Something think on …
Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
— Anton Chekhov, born on this date in 1860
Always good …
Noticing Birds | Front Porch Republic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
What if the way to counteract the deleterious effects of social media and our fragmenting, globalized world wasn’t to “unplug,” wasn’t to detox from technology, wasn’t to delete your Twitter account? What if the answer was, improbably, to take up birdwatching?
Listen in …
… Episode 359 – Joan Marans Dim and Antonio Masi – The Virtual Memories Show.
“Immigration is the central meaning and purpose of the Statue of Liberty.”
Nice to know …
… Rockumentary 'Echo in the Canyon' Shows Jakob Dylan as the Good Jewish Son – Tablet Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The beauty in this project comes as these artists open up to Dylan like he was their own child or grandchild, which in some sense he is. Literally no one else could have rounded up this cadre of 1960s superstars and gotten them to reminisce so freely in front of a camera. Rock royalty himself, he connects with them professionally, speaks the lingo, knows their world. But that is not why he succeeds here. More than anything else, he knows how to handle old people.
Yes …
… Saving Persuasion - Claremont Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
America's rhetoric problem reflects a wider cultural malaise.
Hmm …
… Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain – Idlings. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The future of the traditional humanities must belong to the amateurs, or to no one at all.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
E.M. Forster
A Passage to India is one of those novels that's attracted fame without, I think, also attracting a critical mass of readers. And honestly, I can understand why. E.M. Forster was a stylist, his writing complex: this book is more challenging than The Heart of the Matter and more ambitious than Burmese Days. But the question, I think, is: to what end? What has Forster achieved in Passage that Greene and Orwell did not?
Certainly, Forster managed to recreate the language -- the diction -- of the time: his dialogue among British and Indian communities reads with authenticity. And places, too, are realistically captured: Forster, no doubt, had explored enough of India to accurately describe its landscape, weather, and politics.
For me, though, the story Forster weaves in Passage -- one fundamentally of reputation and forgiveness -- does not match the language used to deliver it. To the extent that the story probes the perspective of Indian characters: yes, Forster has done something new. But conversely, the story of British women wanting to "experience India" is one that's been told elsewhere -- and often, I'd say, with greater effect. There's such an emphasis on style here, and yet, the story itself fails to flourish. The result is a division, a disconnect between narrative and content.
This is not to be overly critical of Forster -- because in Passage he does confront a difficult truth: namely that, in the face of colonialism, amity is an impossibility. Forster's characters come to recognize this, and feel a sense both of disappointment, but also of relief: the pretense, in the end, fades to black.
Ultimately, this was a novel that did not move me: it lacked levity at moments of self-deprecation, but equally lacked clarity at moments of profundity. I understand the subtle case that's made for Indian independence, and I recognize, too, the tragedy implied by the novel's central conflict. But this did not elicit an emotional response: the cloak of language -- and the complexity of Forster's narrative -- distracted me from generating a sustained emotional connection with his characters.
Crime fiction in brief …
… Otto Penzler, the champion of crime stories - Washington Times.
Otto Penzler has for decades been the champion of crime stories. The Mystery Writers of America presented him with two Edgar Awards, one for his “Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection” in 1977 and another for “The Lineup” in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America also presented him with the Ellery Queen Award in 1994 and the Raven, the organization’s highest non-writing award, in 2003.
Something to think on …
There are days when solitude, for someone my age, is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall.
— Colette, born on this date in 1873
Overview …
… The last flight of Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Times.
Federal investigators on Monday began a wide-ranging investigation into the crash heard around the world. They plan to look at the histories of the pilot, helicopter maintenance records and the foggy conditions that can quickly disorient pilots.
Q&A …
… Interview: Terry Jones on Monty Python, Comedy, Poetry. (Hat tip, David Tothero.)
The [nineteenth-century poet] Robert Browning, in essence, said that you can take three separate ideas, and from those three, you produce not a fourth idea, but a star. I’ve always found that lovely. It’s a somewhat similar theory with comedy. But the difference is that with comedy you take different ideas and put them together and you produce not a star, but a laugh. There’s a magical element to it.
On the side of common sense …
… Judge Rules Against Donna Quixote | The American Conservative. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… there are no legal authorities requiring that the court use a defendant’s preferred pronoun. Though different courts have adopted different practices in particular instances, there is no rule requiring it. Nor is there a law. “Congress knows precisely how to legislate with respect to gender identity discrimination, because it has done so in specific statutes,” writes Judge Duncan. “But Congress has said nothing to prohibit courts from referring to litigants according to their biological sex, rather than according to their subjective gender identity.”
Q&A …
…Arthur Sze: You Just Borrow These Things - Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
My creative influences are global, and they are not restricted to North American and Chinese poetry lineages. For instance, conversations with particle physicists Murray Gell-Mann, George Zweig, and Richard Slanksy in the mid-1980s were very important to me. Conversations with the Mayan translator Dennis Tedlock were important to me in the 1990s. These conversations had to do with emptiness and fullness, vision, and language, and they have informed the evolution of my sequences.
Another thespian gasbag
…Is he talking to us? | Spectator USA. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
You expect someone with a sublime awareness of American sensibilities to have some idea of what’s going on in the country. You might even expect him to make intelligent contributions regarding what’s happening to the kind of people he’s depicted in his greatest movies. But instead of speaking like the great artist he is, De Niro chooses to use the celebrity end of his mouth to issue pseudo-progressive platitudes that, if you read them cold, might have been uttered by Elton John on a bad hair day.
Closet novelist …
… Novel inspirations: H.L. Mencken, the bad boy of Baltimore | Spectator USA. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Some of Mencken’s best work is in the autobiographical Days series (like Dos Passos’s USA Trilogy but much better), published in the early 1940s after his ‘Tory radical’ politics had lost their charm for readers during the Depression. Somehow, even these three wonderful volumes, amounting to one of the most evocative and colorful social records of American life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, have failed to provide literary scholars with the clearest clue to the fact that Mencken was not primarily a journalist, a critic, a debunker, a satirist or even, despite his enormous and definitive The American Language, a philologist. He was all of these things, but at bottom he was a novelist working in his chosen medium — nonfiction.
Hmm …
… In Defense of American Dirt…and Just Being a Nice White Person With Blinkered Privilege – Reluctant Habits.
In a special guest column for this website, an affluent white mother of three speaks out against the American Dirt controversy.
Monday, January 27, 2020
Bad guys at work …
… BOOK REVIEW: 'Betrayal in Berlin' - Washington Times.
“By some estimates, Black Friday was the worst intelligence loss in U.S. history, leaving the West almost entirely in the dark about Moscow’s capabilities and intentions,” Mr. Vogel writes.
In case you wondered …
… James Wood: What is at Stake When We Write Literary Criticism? | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I like the idea of a criticism that tries to do three things at once: speaks about fiction as writers speak about their craft; writes criticism journalistically, with verve and appeal, for a common reader; and bends this criticism back towards the academy in the hope of influencing the kind of writing that is done there, mindful that the traffic between inside and outside the academy naturally goes both ways.
Remembering Kobe Bryant …
… To An Athlete Dying Young by A. E. Housman - Poems | poets.org. (Hat tip, Virginia Kerr.)
Here's an idea …
… Make America Mayberry Again - Los Angeles Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… when I realized the cool, apathetic version of myself I had fabricated in college was counterfeit, I actually started watching The Andy Griffith Show — really watching it with a critical eye. And I learned about myself, my family, and the twin ideologies of progress and nostalgia, which have often been bitter rivals — at least in the South.
Appreciation …
… Dana Gioia: A poet who combines sarcasm and song | Catholic Herald. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Here is an interview I did with Dana.
The link to the interview was problematic. The problem has been solved. Thnaks to Dave Lull for alerting me.
Here is an interview I did with Dana.
The link to the interview was problematic. The problem has been solved. Thnaks to Dave Lull for alerting me.
Something to think on …
To me it seems that to give happiness is a far nobler goal that to attain it: and that what we exist for is much more a matter of relations to others than a matter of individual progress: much more a matter of helping others to heaven than of getting there ourselves.
— Lewis Carroll, born on this date in 1832
Measuring one’s life …
… Time enough | About Last Night. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The good news is that because of the nature of my professional life, I’m able to earn a living in a soul-satisfying way while simultaneously taking care of my beloved spouse. Not everybody is lucky enough to be able to do that, and I’m grateful beyond words that I can.
More dissent …
… Sean Wilentz: A Matter of Facts - The Atlantic.
No effort to educate the public in order to advance social justice can afford to dispense with a respect for basic facts. In the long and continuing battle against oppression of every kind, an insistence on plain and accurate facts has been a powerful tool against propaganda that is widely accepted as truth. That tool is far too important to cede now.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Indeed …
… Philly residents would like a word about this violent crime spike.
Jim Kenney is as wretched a mayor as can be imagined.
The nature of our being …
… Soul Proprietor by Edward Feser | Articles | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Are We Bodies or Souls?
Listen in …
… The New Yorker: Poetry: Joyce Carol Oates Reads John Updike on Apple Podcasts. (Hat tip, David Tothero.)
Just so you know …
… A Relativist Cannot Rationally Object to the Imposition of One's Values on Others - Maverick Philosopher: Strictly Philosophical. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Either values are relative or they are not. If they are relative, then no one can be faulted for living in accordance with his values even if among his values is the value of imposing one's values on others. If, on the other hand, values are not relative, then one will be in a position to condemn some forms of value-imposition. The second alternative, however, is not available to one who affirms the relativity of all values.
Significant Milestone for the Blog
This weekend, BooksInq passed 5,000,000 pageviews. This is a significant milestone for any site, but especially one focused on literary culture. First and foremost, congratulations to Frank Wilson, the blog's founder, manager, and most consistent contributor. This truly does deserve a "tip of the hat."
For those who are interested, I did a bit more digging: over the years, about half of the blog's views have come from the United States (some 2.7M). That's followed by France and Germany, with 570K and 220K respectively. Most unexpected for me: there have been 35K visits from Portugal and 81K from Ukraine. It seems the blog has a following in Kiev.
More than 70% of people who read and post to the blog are using a Windows device; this compared with only 17% on Apple. Firefox is the most common browser, with 47% of visits processed that way. Finally, Google is the site most commonly used to discover the blog: indeed, there have been almost 10,000 searches for Frank's name alone -- and most of these, since his retirement, have redirected to the site.
All of this is to say: congratulations to Frank and to all the various contributors over the years. For my part, I've been posting and writing on the blog since 2008, and it's been a great pleasure throughout.
Here's to the next million views!
Something to think on …
Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.
— Lewis Mumford, who died on this date in 1990
Saturday, January 25, 2020
His own man …
… Ralph Ellison in Opposition - Commentary. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Ralph Ellison grew up and came of age under what most might think the double jinx of being Negro under the Jim Crow laws of the South and Southwest and of the depredations of the Depression. Add to this that his father, who was a construction foreman, died when he was three. Ellison, however, didn’t see it that way. Not that life was easy for him. The absence of a father barely remembered was an irreplaceable loss. Money was for many years a serious problem. Race prejudice failed to depart in his lifetime. Yet Ellison never at any time chose to view himself as a victim.
Indeed …
… Down with John Updike? Don't be ridiculous. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… if he were publishing today he might find himself in a different kind of trouble. Those scoops of vanilla belong to a teenage girl who has walked into a grocery store in her swimsuit, a character in the much-anthologised story “A & P”, told from the viewpoint of a young checkout clerk.
Something to think on …
The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.
— W. Somerset Maugham, born on this date in 1874
Great artists, exemplary people …
… Living Virtuously and Writing Well | National Review. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
It’s baffling how we got here, when the beauty in a virtuous forbearance of life’s trials is so plain. In the realm of writing, particularly, a crummy life, made the best of, tends to endow talent with thoughtfulness and ingenuity. How helpful can it be, after all, for a writer not to have to listen, to adapt, to please?
Friday, January 24, 2020
Our wonderful elites …
… "Let Them Eat Whole Foods": The Appalling Elitism of Dollar Store Bans - Foundation for Economic Education.
Relatively wealthy dollar store detractors exhibit the obliviousness of an out-of-touch aristocracy. According to legend, Marie Antoinette, queen of France, when told that her subjects were going hungry for want of bread, responded blithely, “Let them eat cake.”
Now, politicians and middle-class activists seek to ban sources of $1 bread with an unspoken, “Let them eat Whole Foods.”
On the Eve of a Feast Day …
… Apostle! -a sonnet for St. Paul | Malcolm Guite. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Something to think on …
If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.
— Edith Wharton, born on this date in 1862
In case you wondered …
… James Wood: What is at Stake When We Write Literary Criticism? | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Serious Noticing gathers essays and reviews written over the last twenty years. Most of them are long book reviews, published for a general audience in general-interest magazines or literary journals (The New Republic, The New Yorker and the London Review of Books). These pieces belong to the journalistic or writerly critical tradition that comes before and comes after the academic critical tradition; they are marked by that academic tradition but are also trying to do something distinct from it. I like the idea of a criticism that tries to do three things at once: speaks about fiction as writers speak about their craft; writes criticism journalistically, with verve and appeal, for a common reader; and bends this criticism back towards the academy in the hope of influencing the kind of writing that is done there, mindful that the traffic between inside and outside the academy naturally goes both ways.
Poetry and life …
… The Dolphin Letters | The Yale Review. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Nothing here is simple. The Dolphin is the name of a book of unrhymed sonnets, published by Lowell in 1973, chronicling the end of his twenty-one-year marriage to Hardwick, the affair that precipitated its dissolution, and his new life with Blackwood. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974. The title of this book—The Dolphin Letters—refers in part to the network of anguished correspondence from the period, including some famous letters about the poems in The Dolphin. But it also refers to a notorious and controversial feature of the original book: Lowell’s incorporation into his poems of quotations from Hardwick’s private letters—communication forged in distress during their separation and divorce.
Lovely …
… Poem of the week: Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Person or legend …
… Who was Homer? – The British Museum Blog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Everyone is entitled to their own view on this. My own is that it is not inconceivable that there was an original bard who came from the part of the world that we now know formed the setting of the poems. Perhaps he composed the epics in outline, building on stories passed down from his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, which later poets developed and perpetuated orally. Finally these poems were written down.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
RIP …
… 'NewsHour' Host and Debate Moderator Jim Lehrer Dies at 85 - Truthdig. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
A terrific event …
… Cowboy Poets of the New West - Features - Meredith Lawrence - Alta Online. (Hat tip, Tim Davis.)
Here is the story I wrote about it some years ago.
Here is the story I wrote about it some years ago.
In case you wondered …
… Everyone Can Be a Book Reviewer. Should They Be? | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Tim Davis.)
Well, I wrote my first professional review in 1964. It was a review of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Markings. I just try to give an accurate and precise account of my reading experience.
Ah, yes …
… Miscellaneous Musings:: Choosing The White Company rather than others.
Conan Doyle wrote other things besides Holmes.
Conan Doyle wrote other things besides Holmes.
Something to think on …
There is only one way to degrade mankind permanently and that is to destroy language.
— Northrop Frye, who died on this date in 1991
Good Lord …
… Pakistani Man Blinded By His Father, Brothers For Wanting 'Love Marriage'. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
One poet on another …
… Review: ‘Somewhere Becoming Rain’ Writings on Philip Larkin. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
James’s exact ear bypasses accepted opinion, even when it is promoted by Larkin himself.
Hmm …
… On Being Kind | Front Porch Republic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… what does it mean when someone uses his or her car to proclaim “In the end, only kindness matters”? According to this statement, being kind isn’t merely an advisable practice like looking both ways or getting regular dental checkups. Kindness is prescribed here as the ultimate measure of the good or moral life. It’s this bumper-sticker belief that I can’t help but question.Well, it depends. My Jesuit mentor used to say it all comes down to being good and kind, which sounds like something ready to be stitched into needlepoint — until you start putting it in practice and discover how hard it can be at times.
Anniversary …
… The story of my only novel | Spectator USA. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Oh, I was bound for glory, all right. My ever-indulgent aunt, Jane (never ‘Aunt Jane’ — that made her sound old), suggested that my family take ‘coping lessons’ in order to deal with my impending fame. These proved quite unnecessary and in the three decades since, my master plan to avoid fame and fortune has worked to perfection.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Hmm …
… Bruce Charlton's Notions: Review of Existential Criticism - selected book reviews by Colin Wilson. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In sum, we now know that existentialism leads nowhere …
Really? I still find Gabriel Marcel well worth reading. And there's Kierkegaard and Berdyaev and Shestov. William Luipen's Existential Phenomenology, which was the text book for one of my philosophy courses in college, is an important work.
Hmm …
… Back to the Land | George Scialabba. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… Love Is Its Own Justification: Wendell Berry and the Lure of Political Efficacy. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
No amount of recycling, farming right, eating right, being neighborly, or being personally responsible in other ways will matter much if we don’t subsidize solar and wind power, raise mileage requirements, steeply tax carbon, drastically reduce plastic production, kill coal, and provide jobs for all those whom these measures would disemploy.
… Love Is Its Own Justification: Wendell Berry and the Lure of Political Efficacy. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
When Scialabba writes that “cultivating our own gardens and learning the virtues we have forgotten will not suffice to save the world,” he is right. But the irony is that if his goal is to save the world, his own approach is also doomed to failure. No amount of political organizing will bring about salvation.
Something to think on …
A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.
— Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, born on this date in 1729
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Listen in …
… Episode 358 – Daniel Mendelsohn – The Virtual Memories Show.
“Achilles is a hero who is mesmerizing without being penetrable, whereas Odysseus I think I understand (perhaps hubristic to say that).”
In the workshop …
… Wordsworth: Caught in the Act of Making Poetry! | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
“In all forms of things/There is a mind,” he writes, as if sitting at Coleridge’s knee, a moment of recognition that what his friend had been telling him all year was true.This insight is also the ground of theism.
In case you wondered …
… What would Orwell have made of Trump? | Spectator USA. (Hat ti, Dave Lull.)
‘The average man is not directly interested in politics, and when he reads, he wants the current struggles of the world to be translated into a simple story about individuals…people worship power in the form in which they are able to understand it.’
Something to think on …
The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.
— George Orwell, who died on this date in 1950
Monday, January 20, 2020
Worrisome …
… AI and forgetting being human – Mark Vernon.
Stuart Russell does not pull his punches. The emergence of machines that are more intelligent than us should worry us, even if that is not likely to happen this century, such are the hurdles that the scientists face. The author also avoids unnecessary hype. Instead of evoking a future in which humans are born to flee fighting robots, he makes remarks such as this: “In the area of consciousness, we really do know nothing, so I’m going to say nothing. No one in AI is working on making machines conscious, nor would anyone know where to start.”
The penance of snow …
… After Epiphany: Side Street, by Maryann Corbett | Poeticous: poems, essays, and short stories. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave knows all about this. Superior WI has had more of its share of snow already this season.
For your listening pleasure
Walter Piston was born on this date in 1896. The fourth movement, "Tango of the Merchant's Daughters," is especially lovely.
Something to think on …
One can't be angry when one looks at a penguin.
— John Ruskin, who died on this date in 1900
Quite a character …
… It Had to Be Her | by Cathleen Schine | The New York Review of Books.
Some contemporaries, like Elias Canetti, simply loathed her. Others, like Bruno Walter, were baffled by her vindictive nature. Alma Mahler certainly had her fans. Thomas Mann found her amusing even after she orchestrated an ugly feud between him and Arnold Schoenberg. Nevertheless, when Haste proposes a reassessment of Alma’s “legacy, to view her free from the screen of skepticism and the harshly judgmental tone of previous commentators on her life,” she has her work cut out for her.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Patria …
… Roger Scruton: Conservative lodestar - UnHerd. (Hat tip, Rich Lloret.)
An old-new narrative is taking form in Conservatism, combining culture, place and community, with the particularly British spirit of enterprise and invention. Both halves of this combination resist a stifling central state, and the totalitarian impulse of the woke agenda; whether you want to live in a village or to start a tech business — or both, for doing both these things is now possible — you want economic and intellectual freedom, and you want to feel part of a tradition or a community that is bigger than you. This combination of freedom and belonging is the English inheritance Scruton explains to us; it is the inheritance we need for the future.
Hmm …
… Sex Abuse Crisis in Amish Country. (Hat tip, David Tothero.)
Over the past year, I’ve interviewed nearly three dozen Amish people, in addition to law enforcement, judges, attorneys, outreach workers, and scholars. I’ve learned that sexual abuse in their communities is an open secret spanning generations. Victims told me stories of inappropriate touching, groping, fondling, exposure to genitals, digital penetration, coerced oral sex, anal sex, and rape, all at the hands of their own family members, neighbors, and church leaders.
Something to think on
No government knows any limits to its power except the endurance of the people.
— Lysander Spooner, born on this date in 1808
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Something to think on …
The Christian religion asks us to put our trust not in ideas, and certainly not in ideologies, but in a God Who was vulnerable enough to become human and die, and Who desires to be present to us in our ordinary circumstances.
— Kathleen Norris, who died on this date in 1966
Roundup …
… Ten poetry books that illuminate a decade’s struggles – People's World. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Appreciation …
… An Illuminated Mind | Chapter 16. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Oblivion Banjo surveys the long career of poet Charles Wright.
Oblivion Banjo surveys the long career of poet Charles Wright.
Another bad idea …
… Proposed Book Banning Bill in Missouri Could Imprison Librarians - PEN America. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Domestic chaos …
… Letters Are Not Life by Declan Ryan | Poetry Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
On The Dolphin Letters, 1970–1979: Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Lowell, and Their Circle, edited by Saskia Hamilton.
In English at last …
… The American Scholar: Revolutionary Chaos. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The first-ever English translation of a 20th-century Russian masterpiece
The first-ever English translation of a 20th-century Russian masterpiece
Heavily indebted to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) borrows a central insight of his great predecessor: war is far more chaotic, random, and contingent than its representation in historical narratives. Tolstoy described battle as no one had ever done before, showing soldiers moving blindly in fog with no idea what is going on and generals, unable to keep up with ever-changing situations, issuing orders that are impossible to execute. After the fact, however, historians construct a smooth story bearing little or no relation to reality. Solzhenitsyn makes the same point about revolution. “What happened … no one was sure, except for what was right in front of him.”
Friday, January 17, 2020
Something to think on …
What law, what reason can deny that gift so sweet, so natural that God has given a stream, a fish, a beast, a bird?
— Pedro Calderón de la Barca, born on this date in 1600
The problem of pain …
… [Memoir] The Cancer Chair, by Christian Wiman | Harper's Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I have right here on my cancer chair an essay that praises Job as a work of profound theology adorned with poetry, which is so spectacularly wrong I have not yet been able to finish it. As if the poetry were beside the point. The poetry is the point. When Job needs to scream his being to God, it’s poetry he turns to. When God finally answers, his voice is verse so overwhelming that Job is said to “see” it. The speech is a reprimand, yes, but God also allows that Job has spoken “the thing that is right.” It’s not obvious what God is referring to here. Job has said a lot of things. But the one thing that he’s truly hammered home is that cry of dereliction, destruction, and profane (yet not faithless) rage. Whether Job has torn a rift in the relation of man and God, or simply pointed out one that was always there, it now can never be altogether repaired or ignored. The destruction, though, is also a resurrection. God’s being, which extends from the center of the atom to the burning edge of the universe and beyond beyond, is what Job must accept. But Job’s being, and the rage that now ramifies through the centuries (“I will wreak that hate upon him”), is part of that creation and thus a part of what God must accept. Jack Miles points out that in the Hebrew Bible this speech of God’s is the last word God utters. God hasn’t silenced Job. Job has silenced God.
Substantial being …
… First Known When Lost: Rocks And Stones.
I am aware that there are those who have no time for these sorts of passages in Wordsworth. I am not out to convince anyone to change their opinion. As for me, passages such as this are what keep me coming back to Wordsworth's long narrative poems. I confess that I avoided the poems for years. And I will not deny that they can at times be prolix and tedious. But then I arrive at lines like these, and the effort is rewarded.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
RIP …
… Christopher Tolkien dead: Son of Lord of the Rings author JRR dies aged 95 - Mirror Online. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
RIP …
… Betty Pat Gatliff, 89, Whose Forensic Art Solved Crimes, Dies - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Tim Davis.)
Something to think on …
It is my settled opinion, after some years as a political correspondent, that no one is attracted to a political career in the first place unless he is socially or emotionally crippled.
— Auberon Waugh, who died on this date in 2001
Oeuvres complètes …
… Vive Maigret! | January 11, 2020 - Air Mail. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
It’s bittersweet news for addicts, then, that Penguin’s complete Maigret reissues came to an end this week, with the appearance of the 75th and final book, 1972’s Maigret and Monsieur Charles. This series of new translations in stylish trade paperbacks has been publishing about a book a month since 2013, in roughly the same order as the novels’ original publication. The new Penguin editions have sold more than one million copies worldwide, proving that almost half a century after his final adventure, the detective’s allure hasn’t faded.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Maybe …
… Only English Majors Will Know These Words from the Thesaurus | Reader's Digest. (Hat tip, Tim Davis.)
Q&A …
… The American Scholar: Why Book Reviewing Isn’t Going Anywhere — Scott Nover. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I think that reviewing mean to write an accurate and precise account of one's reading experience.
Mark thy calendar …
In these first days of 2020, POETRY IN COMMON thinks it is a good idea
to read poems on Peace:
You Are Invited
To Read for 5 Minutes,
Poems on Peace as you see it,
Original Work and/or Work by another poet
Tuesday, January 21, 2020, 6-7:30 PM
Sign up in Advance: gontarek9@earthlink.net
POETRY IN COMMON
&
THE GREEN LINE CAFÉ POETRY SERIES
&
100 THOUSAND POETS FOR
PEACE AND CHANGE
PRESENT:
PEACE
Hosted by LEONARD GONTAREK
THE GREEN LINE CAFE IS LOCATED
AT 45TH & LOCUST STREETS
PHILADELPHIA, PA USA
(Please note the address, there are
other Green Line Café locations.)
greenlinecafe.com
This Event Is Free
We Lived Happily During the War Ilya Kaminsky
And when they bombed other people’s houses, we
protested
but not enough, we opposed them but not
enough. I was
in my bed, around my bed America
was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house.
I took a chair outside and watched the sun.
In the sixth month
of a disastrous reign in the house of money
in the street of money in the city of money in the
country of money,
our great country of money, we (forgive us)
lived happily during the war.
to read poems on Peace:
You Are Invited
To Read for 5 Minutes,
Poems on Peace as you see it,
Original Work and/or Work by another poet
Tuesday, January 21, 2020, 6-7:30 PM
Sign up in Advance: gontarek9@earthlink.net
POETRY IN COMMON
&
THE GREEN LINE CAFÉ POETRY SERIES
&
100 THOUSAND POETS FOR
PEACE AND CHANGE
PRESENT:
PEACE
Hosted by LEONARD GONTAREK
THE GREEN LINE CAFE IS LOCATED
AT 45TH & LOCUST STREETS
PHILADELPHIA, PA USA
(Please note the address, there are
other Green Line Café locations.)
greenlinecafe.com
This Event Is Free
We Lived Happily During the War Ilya Kaminsky
And when they bombed other people’s houses, we
protested
but not enough, we opposed them but not
enough. I was
in my bed, around my bed America
was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house.
I took a chair outside and watched the sun.
In the sixth month
of a disastrous reign in the house of money
in the street of money in the city of money in the
country of money,
our great country of money, we (forgive us)
lived happily during the war.
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