Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bloomsday...
....was two days ago and it's still on my mind. Every year at the Rosenbach the wonderful Drucie McDaniel does the end of the book, the Molly Bloom soliloquy, so-called, and it always, always makes me cry. She's so good. I just wanted to say that, and also mention that I saw a man there in costume, Dublin-style, who looked an awful lot like Joyce (round glasses, no eye patch). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he dresses like this every day. Fingers crossed and eyes peeled ...
The world stage ...
Why do we assume that reality is best explained in terms of its ingredients? Bread is made from flour, water and yeast, but that is far from being the whole story of the warm, fragrant loaf one slices and slathers with butter. An analysis of ink and paper will tell you nothing about Bleak House or any other book. Nor will the carpentry of the Globe reveal anything about Richard II. Knowledge of the phone tells you nothing of the message your girlfriend left on your answering machine.
Ancient peoples did not personify the wind and the rain, the sea and the sky. Rather they experienced — as so-called primitive peoples still do — the world as a place inhabited by beings with personalities. We like to regard pre-Socratic philosophers like Thales and Heraclitus as proto-scientists, but anyone who has read the latter’s Fragments knows that he has more in common with Lao-tse than with Galileo. Earth, air, fire and water, I suspect, were not thought of as one or another primary substance of being but rather as apt ultimate metaphors of being.
C.S. Lewis, before he became a Christian, thought that myths were “lies breathed through silver.” His friend J.R.R. Tolkien disagreed completely. To him, myths were true: “Just as language is invention about objects and ideas, so myth is invention about truth.”
The pre-Socratics were engaged not in science, or even philosophy, but in a mythopoesis grounded in an essentially personalist view of reality. Science is less at odds with religion than it is with this pre-scientific personalism (though religion itself, in its tendency to legalism and doctrinal rigidity, can also be at odds with it).
Mythopoesis approaches reality from the other end, as it were, not in terms of ingredients or instruments, but in terms of product and message. In other words, it sees reality as a cosmic drama. In this excellent post, Mark Vernon says that “the problem for Christianity is that it is so tied to the person of Jesus.” This is so if you regard the “history” in the Gospels from a strictly positivist angle, but not if it is “true myth.”
As the poet Muriel Rukeyser (who knew a bit about science - she wrote a biography of J. Willard Gibbs) put it: "The world is made of stories, not of atoms."
Here is something else that touches on metaphor:
Today's must read ...
... How Is the Internet Changing Literary Style? (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
I have myself been seriously thinking that less may definitely be more when it comes to blogging, if only because more time spent on one good is time better spent on a clutch of routine posts.
I have myself been seriously thinking that less may definitely be more when it comes to blogging, if only because more time spent on one good is time better spent on a clutch of routine posts.
Elite ...
... and out of touch: The Disadvantages of an Elite Education. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
Elite colleges and universities are to education what corporations are to free enterprise.
Elite colleges and universities are to education what corporations are to free enterprise.
The original post-modernist ...
... Reconsiderations: 'Life Studies' by Robert Lowell. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Another endangered species ...
... The Fate of The Sentence: Is the Writing On the Wall? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The value of blogging ...
... is evident, I think, from the comments appended to this post (my own excepted): Hmmm ...
Always welcome ...
... Back in the USA.
How I wish Bryan could have sat on my front step with me tonight talking with Diane, my neighbor across the street.
How I wish Bryan could have sat on my front step with me tonight talking with Diane, my neighbor across the street.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
But willl bloggers care?
... The Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Using Its Articles in Blogs. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In the meantime, take a look at this: Irony Alert: AP Attacks Blogs for Quoting Their Stories, Then Quotes Even More Extensively from Blogs. (Via Instapundit.)
In the meantime, take a look at this: Irony Alert: AP Attacks Blogs for Quoting Their Stories, Then Quotes Even More Extensively from Blogs. (Via Instapundit.)
Hmmm ...
... Healthy lifestyle triggers genetic changes: study.
If behavior brings about genetic changes, would those changes be heritable? And if so, would that not be the inheritance of acquired characteristics? And if those changes were brought about intentionally, they would, ipso facto, not be brought about randomly, right?
I mean, I thought evolution was random, purposeless, and that the inheritance of acquired characteristics was Lamarckism.
Update: Do read Jeff Mauvais's comments attached to this post. I am lucky to have such well-informed readers. Reuters needs someone like Jeff to edit a story like this.
If behavior brings about genetic changes, would those changes be heritable? And if so, would that not be the inheritance of acquired characteristics? And if those changes were brought about intentionally, they would, ipso facto, not be brought about randomly, right?
I mean, I thought evolution was random, purposeless, and that the inheritance of acquired characteristics was Lamarckism.
Update: Do read Jeff Mauvais's comments attached to this post. I am lucky to have such well-informed readers. Reuters needs someone like Jeff to edit a story like this.
The future of publishing (cont'd.) ...
... Small Publishers Feel Power of Amazon’s ‘Buy’ Button. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Are you a Beatnik?
... Beatnik Questionnaire. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Of course, being a Beatnik is different from being Beat.
Of course, being a Beatnik is different from being Beat.
From Bill Peschel ...
... Reader’s Almanac: 6/17.
I should have been linking to this on a daily basis. Bill is to be congratulated on a well-nigh perfect blog feature.
I should have been linking to this on a daily basis. Bill is to be congratulated on a well-nigh perfect blog feature.
I notice that this is the date on which John Cowper Powys died. Powys is a favorite of mine. He's not for everyone, but he's not an acquired taste, either. You either take to him or you don't. Margaret Drabble is also fan: The English degenerate.
I also note that Dorothy Richardson also died on this date. I seem to recall that Powys was an admirer of her work.
I also note that Dorothy Richardson also died on this date. I seem to recall that Powys was an admirer of her work.
Mark Doty ...
... reviewed by yours truly: 'Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems'.
... and interviewed by Bob Hoover: Author Doty indulges passion for poetry, prose.
... and interviewed by Bob Hoover: Author Doty indulges passion for poetry, prose.
Monday, June 16, 2008
I should have linked to this earlier ...
... Reader’s Almanac: 6/16.
So today is Torgny Lindgren's birthday. If you haven't read, trust me: You should.
So today is Torgny Lindgren's birthday. If you haven't read, trust me: You should.
We link to this ...
... simply because of the last sentence: Leona Helmsley's Dog Loses $10 Million of Trust Fund.
"The dog's annual expenses are around $190,000 ..." What does this dog do?
"The dog's annual expenses are around $190,000 ..." What does this dog do?
I don't understand ...
... wasn't it consensus among scientists? One of the most distorted, duplicitous and cynical public health panics of the last 30 years: The AIDS scare.
Update: Who Still Dies of AIDS, and Why. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Post bumped up.
Update: Who Still Dies of AIDS, and Why. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Post bumped up.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Hip Old Tory ...
... Thoreau, Adorno, and Bonhoeffer on the Internet. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
I think it interesting that it is Dr. Johnson who is the least disturbed by the new. To be honest, I don't see the problem. No one is forcing anyone to go online. But I would suggest that if your primary sources of information about what is going on in the world are newspapers and TV, you are not well informed and are likely to be misinformed. Something isn't true because you find it on the internet. But neither is something necessarily true because you find it in a library. The test of truth is not the location of the information. As for being overwhelmed, read what you feel like reading, and as much as you feel like. Regarding issues, don't take somebody else's word for it, find out for yourself - and think for yourself. What you're likely to discover is that an awful lot of stuff ain't necessarily so.
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
... Tomorrow is Bloomsday. I review Scott Huler's No-Man's Lands: Rejecting Joyce, embracing 'The Odyssey'.
... Carlin Romano looks at Ann Hood's Grief: An eloquent lament for a lost child.
... Carlin also visited the Philadelphia Writers Conference recently: On writing well and having fun
... Carlin Romano looks at Ann Hood's Grief: An eloquent lament for a lost child.
... Carlin also visited the Philadelphia Writers Conference recently: On writing well and having fun
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Restoration ...
... Agee Unfettered. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Why don’t our novelists write in Agee’s tender high style these days? Either something has gone out of the world, or something has gone out of them. His book reads like a prayer, an attempt to breathe life into the dead through mighty exertions of language.
I do think McDowell deserves great credit for saving the novel in the first place. It's always easy to second-guess an editor.
I do think McDowell deserves great credit for saving the novel in the first place. It's always easy to second-guess an editor.
Now this is worrisome ...
... Is Google Making Us Stupid? (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.
I think the solution to this is just a little discipline. As I have pointed out in some talks I've given, I have always read a lot of books, but never more than when I became a book review editor. The effect of that on me was that I largely lost the capacity to enjoy purely passive entertainment. I simply can't watch most TV programs. Movies have to grab me quickly or else I'll get bored and wish I were home reading. (I would have walked out of Reprise yesterday afternoon if I had realized Debbie found it as tedious as I did.) TV news shows - and, alas, newspapers - fail to hold my interest also because - thanks to the web, actually - I know how selective and tendentious their reports have become. Sometimes, when I'm reading, I make a mental note to look up something on the web, and sometimes I will even interrupt my reading to do that, but for the most part deep reading remains for me the welcome counterbalance to sitting in front of the computer. So I would say, if you have Mr. Carr's problem, make yourself sit and read a book every day for a specified period. Once the habit takes hold again, it will stay.
I think the solution to this is just a little discipline. As I have pointed out in some talks I've given, I have always read a lot of books, but never more than when I became a book review editor. The effect of that on me was that I largely lost the capacity to enjoy purely passive entertainment. I simply can't watch most TV programs. Movies have to grab me quickly or else I'll get bored and wish I were home reading. (I would have walked out of Reprise yesterday afternoon if I had realized Debbie found it as tedious as I did.) TV news shows - and, alas, newspapers - fail to hold my interest also because - thanks to the web, actually - I know how selective and tendentious their reports have become. Sometimes, when I'm reading, I make a mental note to look up something on the web, and sometimes I will even interrupt my reading to do that, but for the most part deep reading remains for me the welcome counterbalance to sitting in front of the computer. So I would say, if you have Mr. Carr's problem, make yourself sit and read a book every day for a specified period. Once the habit takes hold again, it will stay.
An answer to James Wood ...
... Theodicy and the Narrow Escape Syndrome. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I think Wood is a serious person and might well find this interesting. Amazing how many people lose their faith because of how it was taught to them while they were growing. I was very lucky in this respect. Those who teach children about religion would do well to remember the advice of my patron saint: "Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words."
Delicious irony ...
... Patrick J. Buchanan's Know-Nothing History is the right-wing counterpart to Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke.
I remember when Buchanan, during one of his bids for the presidency, was waxing lyrical about factory towns. I thought at the time that only the son of a lawyer who grew up comfortably middle-class in Washington, D.C., could possibly feel nostalgic for factory life. My mother, who worked in factories for 50 years - starting at age 13 - certainly had no fond memories of them.
Friday, June 13, 2008
The poetry of song ...
... and it ain't exactly sweet: Les Vieux. This is a characteristically terrific performance of a genuinely scary song.
I beg to differ ..
... last month I posted One more time ..., which included a link to a glowing review of the film Reprise. Well, Debbie and I went to see Reprise this afternoon and we found ourselves singularly underwhelmed. Matthew Cheney noted that the old futzers in the audience when he saw it weren't too impressed, either. And this review suggests that anyone not between the ages of 19 and 28 be discouraged from seeing it. Well, I may have retired from partying - principally in order to postpone death a bit - but I am a lot less unhip than most people my age. I was still dropping acid well into my 40s, and that was among my milder indulgences at the time (believe me). I know my Pork Dukes, Snivelling Shits, and Flux of Pink Indians as well as anybody. And if Reprise is an accurate portrayal of life in contemporary Norway, boy are they retro. This is a film about writers in which we are never given a snippet of anything they write. Surely the scene in Erik's publisher's office cannot accurately represent any real publisher's office in Norway. I certainly hope not. I also hope attitudes toward women among contemporary Norwegian youth are in reality a little less piggish. There wasn't a single male character in this film that I would want to spend 15 minutes with. I'd rather shoot up than see that flick again - even nodding off is more exciting.
And that's it for blogging today. Back tomorrow.
And that's it for blogging today. Back tomorrow.
In praise of ...
... John P. Marquand. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In terms of his ability to portray fictionally how real people actually live and feel, Marquand at least approaches greatness.
In terms of his ability to portray fictionally how real people actually live and feel, Marquand at least approaches greatness.
Worth pondering ...
... some thoughts on the Jack and the Beats.
I think there are sound observations (though I can't help cringing at a term like "proletarian" - it seems so dated) here. Ginsberg was a poor choice to make the face of the Beats. And Jack did find fame strangling. Worse, nobody seemed to understand that he loved America.
I think there are sound observations (though I can't help cringing at a term like "proletarian" - it seems so dated) here. Ginsberg was a poor choice to make the face of the Beats. And Jack did find fame strangling. Worse, nobody seemed to understand that he loved America.
True classic beauty and Keats ...
... what more could you want? The Real Thing.
I continue to be amazed at how much Nige and I think and feel alike about so much.
I continue to be amazed at how much Nige and I think and feel alike about so much.
Haruspicate and scry ...
... Herald newsroom turns to rooster for help! (Hat tip, Paul Siegell.)
Well, newspapers do spend a lot of space pondering what's going to happen.
Well, newspapers do spend a lot of space pondering what's going to happen.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
I am ashamed to admit ...
... that I was not familiar until now with the late W. Norris Clarke, S.J., especially now that I have read this. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Tell us what you really think ...
... Dr. Dalrymple. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The pudgy tattooed women en route to paradise had diamonds in their navels; the shaven-headed men, lager made flesh, had skimpy vests stretched painfully over their beer bellies, gold chains and an earring to prove their indelible individuality.
Lager made flesh. Wonderful.
Lager made flesh. Wonderful.
Brother to brother ...
... `Clearest, Purest, Straightest'.
I can't quite I don't read newspapers anymore, but I read very little of them. And I hardly ever watch anything on TV. The only thing I listen to on the radio is opera or classical music. Hell for me is talk radio - any talk radio, with Prairie Home Companion being an especially awful circle therein.
I can't quite I don't read newspapers anymore, but I read very little of them. And I hardly ever watch anything on TV. The only thing I listen to on the radio is opera or classical music. Hell for me is talk radio - any talk radio, with Prairie Home Companion being an especially awful circle therein.
Free for all
Hey folks! First Katie post. Lately I've been interested in new ideas about creative and intellectual property, such as the open-ended copyright licenses offered by Creative Commons. Along those lines is a really neat project at MIT: OpenCourseWare. They've put almost all the course materials of almost all their undergraduate and graduate classes online and made them freely available to anyone who's interested. I just downloaded a philosophy of mind class; I'll let you know what it's like.
Spasmodically brilliant ...
... Another side of Bob Dylan. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Absent the celebrity, would that be enough to get him a show?
Absent the celebrity, would that be enough to get him a show?
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