Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Whan that ...
... April.
Dutch elm disease did in the trees along the old Roosevelt Boulevard when I was in high school (and when that superhighway really was a tree-lined boulevard). I believe it also did a job on the American chestnut (Longfellow's "spreading chestnut tree") though a little bit of genetic engineering seems to have brought that back from mere shrubbery (don't tell the environmental Pharisees, though).
Neither a despiser ...
... nor a dogmatist be: Can a Faith Commitment be Tentative? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
A living faith, one that is not a mere convenience, or merely a source of comfort or psychological security, is one that regularly examines itself and is open to question. A living faith is one that needs ongoing examination and renewal, with the possibility left open that the faith-commitment be modified or even abandoned. But that does not imply that one does not act on one's commitments while they are in place.
Somehow, for me, the more active my prayer life, the more genuinely mysterious my faith becomes. As the Psalmist says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
See also, from Dave, Mature Religion: More Quest than Conclusions.
See also, from Dave, Mature Religion: More Quest than Conclusions.
Worth remembering ...
... Edmund Blunden: "Things Quiet And Unconcerned".
I am glad to have discovered First Known When Lost. I wonder if Nige knows of this site.
I am glad to have discovered First Known When Lost. I wonder if Nige knows of this site.
Scratches from the edge ...
... Rats and cats--or, more properly, rats and cattiness.
I have been reading Somerset Maugham's Cakes and Ale. The opening chapter is maybe the bitchiest thing I have ever read.
I have been reading Somerset Maugham's Cakes and Ale. The opening chapter is maybe the bitchiest thing I have ever read.
Terrific ...
... Top scarers: the most frightening fiction.
I read it decades ago, but I remember Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" as an especially scary story.
I read it decades ago, but I remember Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" as an especially scary story.
Havoc and amiability ...
... 'Mencken on Mencken,' by Jonathan Yardley. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
These pieces remind us that he was uncommonly skilled at what the best of his biographers, Terry Teachout, calls "meticulous serial revision": writing a column for the Evening Sun, revising and expanding it for the Smart Set or the American Mercury, then doing so once more before adding it to one of the many books in which his work was collected. Thanks to Joshi, we can see now that Mencken, probably completely unconsciously, was laying the groundwork in these newspaper columns of the 1920s and '30s for the "Days" books that he began to write (in New Yorker installments) in 1936.
Thought for the day ...
Time is the nervous system of narration, whether factual or fictive. If it gets confused some of the minutiae of human nature are certain not to work, not to glow, not to strike home.- Glenway Wescott, born on this date in 1901
Saturday, April 10, 2010
The Road to World War I
A number of reviews have appeared in recent weeks of Miranda Carter's George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I. In the past, I've balked at 500-page histories, but not this time. At my desk, I have a copy of Carter's work, which I plan to read (slowly but surely) over the coming weeks. My goal: to better understand the conflict that forged the map of contemporary Europe.
On the other hand ...
... Why Belief in God Is Innate. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
A simpler explanation might be that there is something to such belief, that it represents in some way and to some extent a correct apprehension of the nature of reality.
In his 1871 book, "The Descent of Man," Charles Darwin noted that anthropologists conclude that "a belief in all-pervading spiritual agencies seems to be universal; and apparently follows from a considerable advance in the reasoning powers of man, and from a still greater advance in his faculties of imagination, curiosity and wonder." Why would religion and belief in God evolve? Darwin suggested that it might accentuate group cohesiveness in the competition against other groups: "There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy, were always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection [of the group]."
A simpler explanation might be that there is something to such belief, that it represents in some way and to some extent a correct apprehension of the nature of reality.
Hmm ...
... Why Belief in God Is Not Innate. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The fully opposable thumbs that make humans distinct from other primates evolved for the materialism that more than anything else pushes the ambition and achievement that drives civilization.
Question: If the opposable thumbs are so good for survival - driving ambition and achievement - why did only humans develop them? Why didn't other animals develop language? These may sound like silly questions, but from the viewpoint of human experience, when something comes along that proves advantageous, it catches on. Why have none of the advantages humans have hit upon caught on elsewhere in nature? Just asking.
There is also this to consider: If loss of faith results in a lower birth rate, how does that square with the survival business? Also, I believe Catholicism is the fastest growing religion in Africa these days, and is also doing well in China.
Faith and its discontents ...
... Believing in Flannery O’Connor.
In many of O’Connor’s best stories, “Parker’s Back” prominent among them, the religious theme is so subtly dramatized that it can be overlooked by casual readers unaware of the author’s larger purpose. Whatever else her fiction is, it is not Catholic propaganda.6 In the end, though, a critical approach that denies or downplays O’Connor’s faith will necessarily result in only a partial appreciation of her work. It is no more possible to understand a book like Wise Blood without taking Catholicism seriously—if only to reject it—than it is possible to understand the fiction of Isaac Bashevis Singer without taking Judaism seriously.
Maybe ...
... Gene Roberts: Newsrooms Must Tell Their Own Cutback Stories for Democracy's Sake. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
This sounds good: We've have to cut back on newsroom costs so much we can no longer do our previously sterling job in keeping the citizenry informed. The fact is the citizenry is doing a pretty good job of keeping itself informed in spite of newsroom cuts. I suppose Stage 2 of this argument involves explaining why newspapers need to be subsidized ... by the government. Because of course we all know the government wants us to be as informed of its doings as possible. If the newsrooms had all their money back and all their staff they would resume doing what they did before the cuts and would do it in exactly the same way. And their circulation would keep dropping.
Thought for the day ...
The only security men can have for their political liberty, consists in keeping their money in their own pockets.- Lysander Spooner (1808-1887)
Friday, April 09, 2010
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: ‘The Brothers Karamazov’, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Beach letters, and more!
An excellent article ...
... Mark Bowden on David Petraeus: The Professor of War. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Thought for the day ...
The man who says his evening prayer is a captain posting his sentinels. He can sleep.- Charles Baudelaire, born on this date in 1821
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Monday fiction ...
... Tell Me A Story? The Library Of America Goes Viral. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Oh, and take a look at this: Jumping the (Literary) Shark. (Post bumped.)
Oh, and take a look at this: Jumping the (Literary) Shark. (Post bumped.)
Sad ...
... The Bias of Veteran Journalists.
... the reporters' questions weren't geared toward getting a better understanding of those points. They were narrowly focused on one or two aspects of the story. And from the questions that were being asked, I realized--because I had so much more information on the subject--that the reporters were missing a couple of really important pieces of understanding about the product and its use. And as the event progressed, I also realized that the questions that might have uncovered those pieces weren't being asked because the reporters already had a story angle in their heads and were focused only on getting the necessary data points to flesh out and back up what they already thought was the story.
Adaptation ...
... That's not what I wrote! When popular books gets turned into film, the authors often complain. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
We recently went to see The Ghost Writer, for which novelist Robert Harris wrote the screenplay. I had read the novel about a week before. Both novel and film are excellent, but the novel is slightly better.
Reprise ...
... In Retrospect: Michael Gorra on Shirley Hazzard’s “The Transit of Venus”. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
If you're going to be in Brooklyn ...
... here are some events you should know about: TripleCanopy Programs.
Hmm ...
... Darwin and Lit Crit. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
One problem with this is that memes may not be real. And there is usual petitio: the argument is based on the assumption of the adaptation/survival point in relation to literature.
One problem with this is that memes may not be real. And there is usual petitio: the argument is based on the assumption of the adaptation/survival point in relation to literature.
Thought for the day ...
We would be in a nasty position indeed if empirical science were the only kind of science possible.- Edmund Husserl, born on this date in 1859
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Post mortem ...
... The Road to Hell is Paved ... (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Williams controversially and famously thought ethical theory an evasion of life, whereas Nussbaum—in my view piously and unrealistically—holds that a good ethical theory offers a paradigm that would, contra Williams, offer not a reality, but rather a morality check thanks to which people would be able to act on the best in themselves.
Barrier reef ...
... Rupert Murdoch to limit Google and Microsoft's access to his newspapers. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Prognosis ...
... Wolff to Newspapers: The Web is 'Not Something You're Ever Going to Understand'. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Thought for the day ...
There exists only the present instant... a Now which always and without end is itself new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence.- Meister Eckhart
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
From Lulu.com ...
... and John Edgar Wideman: Briefs: Stories for the Palm of the Mind. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave also sends along How will traditional publishers respond to the rise of self publishing?
Dave also sends along How will traditional publishers respond to the rise of self publishing?
Last week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: Madagascar in history, Vegetarianism, Auden’s pain, and more!
Thought for the day ...
One literature differs from another, prior or posterior, less because of the text than because of the way in which it is read: if I were granted the possibility of reading any present-day page -- this one, for example -- as it will be read in the year two thousand, I would know what the literature of the year two thousand will be like.-- Jorge Luis Borges, "A Note on (toward) Bernard Shaw"
Monday, April 05, 2010
With apologies ...
... to Old Possum.
Burnt Noodle
Garlic and peppers in the sauce
Clot the bedded cooking pot,
The twirling noodle in the brine
Sings below the boiling line
And simmers well beyond its time.
The dance along the kitchen stove
The melting grease, the starchy foam
Are figured in the drift of cheese
Which later will be sprinkled on.
-- Harold Boatrite
Burnt Noodle
Garlic and peppers in the sauce
Clot the bedded cooking pot,
The twirling noodle in the brine
Sings below the boiling line
And simmers well beyond its time.
The dance along the kitchen stove
The melting grease, the starchy foam
Are figured in the drift of cheese
Which later will be sprinkled on.
-- Harold Boatrite
This seems fairly comprehensive ...
... from Der Spiegel: Climate Catastrophe: A Superstorm for Global Warming Research. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave also sends along this piece by Matt Ridley: The case against the hockey stick.
Dave also sends along this piece by Matt Ridley: The case against the hockey stick.
Thought for the day ...
Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.- Thomas Aquinas
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Thought for the day ...
It is quite evident that a barrier must be cleared in order to escape the psychologists and enter into a realm which is not "auto-observant," where we ourselves no longer divide ourselves into observers and observed. Then the dreamer is completely dissolved (fondu) in his reverie. His reverie is his silent life. It is that silent peace which the poet wants to convey to us.- Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Reverie
The Inquirer also celebrates ...
... Poetry Month, with a Web page featuring seven sort-of local poets reading from their work.
See also: April may be fullest month for Philadelphia poetry.
See also: April may be fullest month for Philadelphia poetry.
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
... include:
... my review of A Postcard From the Volcano: Mournful strains from Germany between wars.
... Ed Champion on the late Donald Westlake: A pulp mystery story - and so much more.
... also A trip through China's growth.
... and Unraveling string theory's strands
... my review of A Postcard From the Volcano: Mournful strains from Germany between wars.
... Ed Champion on the late Donald Westlake: A pulp mystery story - and so much more.
... also A trip through China's growth.
... and Unraveling string theory's strands
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Rain Taxi Review
The newest volume of Rain Taxi Review is out. I have a piece in it on Jerry Gabriel's masterful collection of stories, Drowned Boy. Have a look...
A day off ...
... Nigel Beale is in town and we're going to lunch. We are having friends over for Easter dinner tomorrow, and I have much work to do in the garden. So blogging will take a back seat today.
Thought for the day ...
The Church is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do.- G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
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