Monday, December 31, 2012
Listen in …
… Podcast: Daniel Mendelsohn on the Books That Changed His Life : The New Yorker. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
FYI …
… Maverick Philosopher: Leo Strauss on Reading and Writing.
See also: Nassim Taleb's Argument for Banning Semi-Automatic Weapons.
See also: Nassim Taleb's Argument for Banning Semi-Automatic Weapons.
Taleb might want to consider one of the first mass murders of note in the U.S. That would be the Bath School disaster in 1927, which resulted in the deaths of 38 schoolchildren and six adults; 58 others were injured. The principal weapons employed were explosives. Someone who has studied chemistry in high school can probably put together lethal explosives from material easily available at a nearby store. Taleb, who seems to have a certain sympathy for authoritarianism, also seems oblivious to the fact — acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court — that the Second Amendment recognizes the right to bear arms as a natural right, i.e., one of those that individuals have been endowed with by their Creator. Like it or not, that is the law of the land.
I am finding Taleb increasingly tedious: The critic of experts is rapidly transmogrifying into an expert on everything.
Resolutions …
… Anecdotal Evidence: `I Would Set Up My Tabernacle Here'.
No, I won't be making any resolutions. It's just another date on the calendar.
No, I won't be making any resolutions. It's just another date on the calendar.
Eliding moral distinctions …
… Sentimentalizing Serial Murder by Theodore Dalrymple - City Journal. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
By now, reading this, I felt slightly sick, as if I had eaten too many chocolates. One would not expect a person who talks so much of forgiving herself to have anything valuable to say about forgiveness. She does not consider the possibility that incontinent forgiveness, deemed good in itself regardless of the act to be forgiven or the attitude of the person to be forgiven, means that no human behavior is beyond the pale, that nothing is unforgivable. This is to turn forgiveness into a kind of inalienable human right of the wrongdoer (a profoundly un-Christian view, incidentally).
Thought for the day …
The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.
— George C. Marshall, born on this date in 1880
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Review …
… Book World: Louise Gluck’s ‘Poems 1962-2012’ - The Washington Post. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
More tyranny …
… Court upholds long jail sentences for bloggers on appeal - Reporters Without Borders. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Inquirer reviews …
… Final roar from the last lion.
… Tightly controlled crime thriller.
These are the only two I can find.
… Tightly controlled crime thriller.
These are the only two I can find.
This is pretty funny …
… and surpisingly like the real thing (for what that's worth): Instapundit — AMUSE YOURSELF ENDLESSLY with the Thomas Friedman Op-Ed Generator….
Thought for the day …
It's better to write about things you feel than about things you know about.
— L. P. Hartley, born on this date in 1895
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Irresistible …
… The Seacunny by Gerard Woodward – review | Books | The Observer. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Kinda sorta …
… Was poet John Milton the father of science fiction? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
What about his contemporary, Cyrano de Bergerac, who wrote about a voyage to the moon?
What about his contemporary, Cyrano de Bergerac, who wrote about a voyage to the moon?
In case you wondered …
By higher education Tocqueville meant reading the great books of our tradition in their original languages and being accomplished in the high culture of art and music and so forth—the higher education of, say, Thomas Jefferson. He also meant being on the cutting edge of theoretical science—particularly theoretical physics—which Jefferson also surely was.
Tocqueville didn’t mean reading textbooks, taking multiple-choice tests, doing problem-identification group projects, absorbing PowerPoint presentations, being edified by self-helpy TED talks, or for getting squishy credit for internships or being civically engaged or picking up technical or entrepreneurial skills through random life experiences.
From Tocqueville’s point of view, there might be less higher education in America than ever.
Thought for the day …
Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.
— Rainer Maria Rilke, who died on this date in 1926
Friday, December 28, 2012
Hmm …
… A tale of two cities: Newtown and Toulouse | The Book Haven.
To quote Henry Miller: "To want to change the condition of affairs seemed futile to me; nothing would be altered, I was convinced, except by a change of heart, and who could change the hearts of men?"
Thought for the day …
You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think.
— Mortimer J. Adler, born on this date in 1902
Sound judgement...
...Lunch with the FT: Tyler Cowen
What does he look for in a candidate? “What I would like to vote for is a candidate that is socially liberal, a fiscal conservative, broadly libertarian with a small ‘l’ but sensible and pragmatic and with a chance of winning. That’s more or less the empty set.”
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Staring down death …
… or not: 'On the Road' toward mortality: A critic ponders Jack Kerouac - latimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day …
The heroes of the present will retreat to the imitation they are anyhow.
— Charles Olson, born on this date in 1910
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Hmm …
… Peter Pan, Alzheimer's Patient : The New Yorker. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
If memory serves, the ancient Greeks thought forgetfulness was a gift. Of course, they meant the memories from the past that might haunt us in later years, not near-memory loss that prevents people what they went upstairs for. I've always thought myself blessed for my lack of a sense of nostalgia or sentimentality, though I have noticed that the internet, by allowing one to see persons over time — from starlet to elderly actress, say — can make that matter moot.
We can only hope …
… that the twit is prosecuted to the full extent of the law: Cops told NBC not to use gun clip - Katie Glueck - POLITICO.com.
Laws are for you and me, but not for the likes of the exalted David Gregory. I think a little time in the slammer would do the lad some good.
Laws are for you and me, but not for the likes of the exalted David Gregory. I think a little time in the slammer would do the lad some good.
Eminently worthy enterprise …
… Richler, Saul and Fischman among authors at BookFest Windsor - The Globe and Mail.
Scroll down to see what I'm referring to.
Scroll down to see what I'm referring to.
Comeback …
… The Bible is surprise bestseller in Norway | Books | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Still going after all these years …
… Celebrating Newton, 325 years after Principia | OUPblog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
He had developed his theory of gravity to explain the cause of the mysterious motion of the planets through the sky: in a nutshell, he derived a formula for the force needed to keep a planet moving in its observed elliptical orbit, and he connected this force with everyday gravity through the experimentally derived mathematics of falling motion. Ironically (in hindsight), some of his greatest peers, like Leibniz and Huygens, dismissed the theory of gravity as “mystical” because it was “too mathematical.” As far as they were concerned, the law of gravity may have been brilliant, but it didn’t explain how an invisible gravitational force could reach all the way from the sun to the earth without any apparent material mechanism.
Worth pondering …
… Column: Reflections on Newtown.
Calling people murderers and wishing them to be shot sits oddly with claims to be against violence. The NRA -- like the ACLU, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers or Planned Parenthood -- exists to advocate policies its members want. It's free speech. The group-hate directed at the NRA is ugly and says ugly things about those consumed by it.
Getting personal …
… The Associated Press: Robert Frost's Christmas cards collected in NH. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Slaughter …
… Anecdotal Evidence: `The Paths of Glory Lead But to The Grave'.
Were we rally rational one such event as this would prompt those in charge to find a better way of resolving the dispute. But not humans. Or at least not the humans who tend to be in charge.
Were we rally rational one such event as this would prompt those in charge to find a better way of resolving the dispute. But not humans. Or at least not the humans who tend to be in charge.
The times they were a-changin'
… Book Review: The Eve of Destruction - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day …
No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to. The only way in which anyone can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance.
— Henry Miller, born on this date in 1891
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Thought for the day …
We build too many walls and not enough bridges.
— Isaac Newton, born on this date in 1642
Monday, December 24, 2012
Fascist pig alert …
… Prof. Richard Parncutt: Death Penalty for Global Warming Deniers? — Tallbloke's Talkshop.
We know where you're coming from, putz. Like to know where you should go?
In this article I am going to suggest that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for influential GW deniers. But before coming to this surprising conclusion, please allow me to explain where I am coming from.
We know where you're coming from, putz. Like to know where you should go?
Hmm …
… Finally! Dawkins Being Called to Account on Child Abuse Claims – Thinking Christian.
Dawkins is simply one more fanatic in a world full of them.
Dawkins is simply one more fanatic in a world full of them.
Indeed …
… Bryan Appleyard — Christmas Continues. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
“For heaven’s sake,’ Marilynne Robinson once said to me, “the idea that the dome is the sky is the skull of a murdered god. What is being described there? A very great deal. The idea that that is the kind of statement that could be displaced by something aboout gravity or the atmopshere – that’s a bizarre assumption to make.”
The human spirit …
… The Landfill Harmonic: An Orchestra Built From Trash : Deceptive Cadence : NPR. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
For Christmas Eve …
Advent
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear
(Though winter’s scheduling an arctic flight).
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.
Some say a telling sign will soon appear,
Though evidence this may be so is slight:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
Though evidence this may be so is slight:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
Pale skeptics may be perfectly sincere
To postulate no ground for hope, despite
The rumor that a rendezvous draws near.
To postulate no ground for hope, despite
The rumor that a rendezvous draws near.
And, looking up, behold a striking light:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
The king, his courtiers, and priests, all fear
Arrival of a challenge to their might:
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.
Arrival of a challenge to their might:
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.
The wise in search of something all can cheer
May not rely on ordinary sight:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
May not rely on ordinary sight:
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
Within a common place may rest one dear
To all who yearn to see the world made right.
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.
To all who yearn to see the world made right.
The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.
The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.
© 2006
Thought for the day …
Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.
— Matthew Arnold, born on this date in 1822
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Who knew?
… Poetry Makes You Weird - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
A father and son immediately appeared, in virginal Wake Forest T-shirts and blond crew cuts. They smiled at me as if I had just praised their promptness. The younger looked up at dad, and father nodded to son, and son blurted: "Sell me the English major!" Through my brain's murk, I searched for the hype. Failing to find it, I confessed: "It makes you weird."After a confused "OK," the two looked down, backed away, and were gone. They shouldn't have been so hasty. I had revealed to them, though I didn't know it then, the great payoff of literary study: It estranges us from our normal habits of thought and perception, nullifies old conceptual maps, and so propels us into uncharted regions, outlandish and bracing, where we must create, if we are to thrive, coordinates more capacious, more sublime than the ones we already know. The uncanny—not truth, beauty, or goodness—is literature's boon.
Cracking down …
… Amazon Book Reviews Deleted in a Purge Aimed at Manipulation - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Lamentations …
… We Are The Last Men | The American Conservative. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Not surprisingly, I prefer a policy of watchful waiting.
Not surprisingly, I prefer a policy of watchful waiting.
Inquirer reviews …
… I take a look at Thomas Nagel's Mind & Cosmos: Atheist rebuts neo-Darwinism.
… Stories old, new, and true.
… The Blood of Free Men.
… and in case you missed it: Young-adult books that may tempt older readers as well.
… Stories old, new, and true.
… The Blood of Free Men.
… and in case you missed it: Young-adult books that may tempt older readers as well.
Thought for the day …
Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: it is something molded.
— Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, born on this date in 1804
Saturday, December 22, 2012
A mighty wind …
… Book Review: The Beautiful Music All Around Us - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I think folk music has suffered from the aura surrounding folk festivals and the like. Too much peace, love and understanding.
I think folk music has suffered from the aura surrounding folk festivals and the like. Too much peace, love and understanding.
We link, you decide …
… Matt Ridley: Cooling Down the Fears of Climate Change - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull, who also sent along the next piece.)
… Why Climate Deniers Have No Scientific Credibility - In One Pie Chart.
It is also worth noting this little bit leaked from the working draft of the next IPCC report:
Also the term climate denier takes that slur to a new low. Who in the hell denies climate, or climate change for that matter? Climate is a chaotic system. It is in continuous change. The "denier" part, of course, suggests that to be skeptical on this issue is tantamount to being a denier of the Holocaust, something that doesn't even rise to the level of a cheap shot. It is more of an obscenity.
… Why Climate Deniers Have No Scientific Credibility - In One Pie Chart.
My view? Ridley is offering facts and figures. Powell is simply proceeding on the assumption that science is somehow a matter of consensus. It is not. It is a matter of evidence, and the scientist holding the correct evidence is a majority of one by definition. Copernicus was right. The scientific consensus of his day was wrong. Ignaz Semmmelweiss was right. The scientific consensus of his day was wrong.
It is also worth noting this little bit leaked from the working draft of the next IPCC report:
Many empirical relationships have been reported between GCR or cosmogenic isotope archives and some aspects of the climate system (e.g., Bond et al., 2001; Dengel et al., 2009; Ram and Stolz, 1999). The forcing from changes in total solar irradiance alone does not seem to account for these observations, implying the existence of an amplifying mechanism such as the hypothesized GCR-cloud link. We focus here on observed relationships between GCR and aerosol and cloud properties.
Also the term climate denier takes that slur to a new low. Who in the hell denies climate, or climate change for that matter? Climate is a chaotic system. It is in continuous change. The "denier" part, of course, suggests that to be skeptical on this issue is tantamount to being a denier of the Holocaust, something that doesn't even rise to the level of a cheap shot. It is more of an obscenity.
J. D. Salinger Revisited
J. D. Salinger might be associated with high school syllabi, but Franny and Zooey is a great book, one that has as much to say about adolescence as it does adulthood, epistemology, and faith.
Much has been written about Salinger and I won't delve too deeply into his sensitivity to authenticity; I also won't say much about his conception of individuality (as compared with the "phony").
But I did want to add a few observations about Franny and Zooey.
First, I was surprised by the book's focus on religion. In some sense, Salinger uses the pursuit of prayer as a mask for artistic integrity: both Franny and Zooey discover that artistry - true artistry - is akin to a state of meditation, a state without (what Salinger calls) "personal" difference.
Second, it's clear that Franny and Zooey is built to endure: the story is one that continues to be told today by families doing their best to navigate the social and economic complexities of boarding schools, elitism, and New York City. Embarking on this journey, Salinger seems to suggest, results (at best) in fragmented identity and (at worst) in irritating eccentricity.
In many ways, Franny and Zooey struggle to overcome the intellectualism bequeathed to them. Their enlightenment - which is reinforced by the book's religious overtones - takes the form of their channeling ego toward something good, toward something constant and true.
As Zooey advices at the conclusion of the book: "An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's."
Easier said than done.
(Final thoughts: the focus on religion here reminded me of Waugh; the focus on struggle and authenticity established connections for me with Plath; and the focus on the delicacies of culture had me thinking of Capote's Breakfast.)
Absence of life …
… RealClearBooks - Washington Post Boring Itself to Death. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I don't think this is problem with only the Post. Newspaper people need to get out more, meet people besides their colleagues., stop reviewing stuff everybody else is reviewing and discover some things on their own. Funny, newspapers are really fascinated by trends, thinking that's the way to be hip, but to be hip means precisely not following trends.
Guess you had to be there …
… Missing The Beat: The Story Of Adapting Kerouac’s On The Road - The Rumpus.net. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Many of On The Road’s themes could hardly be more relevant in today’s turbulent political environment, and the social fabric of the United States in the early 1950s bears a closer resemblance to modern-day America than many people will admit. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s tireless Communist witch hunts during the second “Red Scare” were beginning to gain momentum toward the end of the timeframe of Kerouac’s novel, just as the relentless hunt for al-Qaida operatives has become a commonly-used device for political control spanning two government administrations. The sadness and emptiness of the American people that Sal Paradise observes during his travels mirror the frustration and hopelessness felt by many people today.If I may quote myself (though it mostly Kerouac) this is from something I wrote when the Library of America issued Kerouac's road novels in a single volume:
Kerouac's is a religious, not a socio-political vision.Yeah, Jack knew something was wrong with America in the ’50s — it’s still wrong — and he knew, as he said much later in probably his saddest book, Satori in Paris (sad because by then he was a broken-down drunk and knew it) that what was needed was “a tale that’s told for companionship and to teach something religious, of religious reverence, about real life, in this real world,” not the “silence in the yards,” but — and we’re back to The Dharma Bums now — “the roar of silence itself, which is a great Shhhh reminding you of something you’ve seemed to have forgotten in the stress of your days since birth.”
The future of newspapers …
… Jenkins: The Newspaper Paywall Holy War - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Hmm …
… Anecdotal Evidence: `Something Is Here That Was Not Here Before'.
I'm not so sure it's that unconvincing.
I'm not so sure it's that unconvincing.
Spreading …
… More Bedbug Hysteria in Canadian Libraries.
It's still safe to visit your local library. Great work here.
It's still safe to visit your local library. Great work here.
Thought for the day …
The basic line in any good verse is cadenced... building it around the natural breath structures of speech.
— Kenneth Rexroth, born on this date in 1905
Friday, December 21, 2012
Gruesome fatalities and similes
… ‘Memorial,’ Alice Oswald’s Version of the ‘Iliad’ - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Unrelenting certainty …
… Nassim Nicholas Taleb's 'Antifragile' dares us to expect the unexpected: Book review - latimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Not a good thing to think you're the only person who has everything right — especially since no one does.
Not a good thing to think you're the only person who has everything right — especially since no one does.
Fortunate son
… NewMusicBox — My Mentor, My Collaborator, My Father: Dave Brubeck. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
While there's still time …
… 2012 in Review: Apocalypticism | Britannica Blog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Re-reading Shakespeare …
… Anecdotal Evidence: `In His Ruminative Moods'.
I, too, have never been especially charmed by Hamlet. Actually, I'm not sure if I have a favorite Shakespeare character (Dogberry or Falstaff maybe), but a friend told me one once that I reminded him of Richard II.
I, too, have never been especially charmed by Hamlet. Actually, I'm not sure if I have a favorite Shakespeare character (Dogberry or Falstaff maybe), but a friend told me one once that I reminded him of Richard II.
Thought for the day …
Great music is in a sense serene; it is certain of the values it asserts.
— Rebecca West, born on this date in 1892
The wages of truth...
...THREE SENATORS AND “ZERO DARK THIRTY”
In reality, when the C.I.A. first subjected a detainee to incarceration in a coffin-size “confinement box,” as is shown in the movie, an F.B.I. agent present at the scene threw a fit, warned the C.I.A. contractor proposing the plan that it was illegal, counterproductive, and reprehensible. The fight went all the way to the top of the Bush Administration. Bigelow airbrushes out this showdown, as she does virtually the entire debate during the Bush years about the treatment of detainees.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Back and forth …
… Oh God! by A.C. Grayling and Ian Alterman | The New York Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I was about to say much the same thing as Nagel does in response to Grayling. I'll leave it to Nagel. I also agree with Nagel about "the incomprehension of God's purposes." See Job.
I was about to say much the same thing as Nagel does in response to Grayling. I'll leave it to Nagel. I also agree with Nagel about "the incomprehension of God's purposes." See Job.
Not dead yet …
… A Commonplace Blog: The novel of belief. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I'll have to check out Beha's novel.
I'll have to check out Beha's novel.
And a-one and a-two …
… The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: Georges Dreyfus on Buddhism - Waggish. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I feel Dreyfus is hinting at a certain underlying commonality to philosophical debate, in which the processes taken by the ruthless examination of words and concepts breaks free from what those particular concepts may be and their culturally conditioned particulars.
Well, maybe …
… A Commonplace Blog: Genre fiction is fan fiction. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books are either a pleasure to read or they're not. I'd rather read Elmore Leonard than Jonathan Franzen any day.
Books are either a pleasure to read or they're not. I'd rather read Elmore Leonard than Jonathan Franzen any day.
Yes, I am back …
Too bad the world may end tomorrow, since I now feel better than I have in a long, long time. Whatever I had, I finally sweated it it out last night (no exaggeration) and even my knees no longer ache. Go figure. Not sure if I'll blog as much today as normally, since I've fallen behind in a lot of things, but I'll soon be back up to speed.
Smart warning, dumb prophet …
… Book Review: Cypherpunks | This Machine Kills Secrets - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The cypherpunks of the 1990s were prescient in the sense that the issues they were discussing—anonymity, privacy, censorship, the surveillance state—are still the fault lines running through policy debates about the Internet. But they couldn't have found a worse standard-bearer for their message than Mr. Assange. Many in the press who at first embraced him have found that they couldn't trust him, and his public image has slipped from charismatic rebel to something close to a farcical figure, as he ducked sexual-assault claims, suffered house arrest in an English stately home and finally took refuge in the embassy of a Latin American government with a dubious record on press freedom.
Thought for the day …
In some sense man is a microcosm of the universe; therefore what man is, is a clue to the universe. We are enfolded in the universe.
— David Bohm, born on this date in 1917
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Oh, no …
Dave has just sent me links bearing heartbreaking news. I will have more to say later. I have to try to take this in.
… In Memoriam – Maxine Clarke | Confessions of a Mystery Novelist…
… Vale Petrona | Reactions to Reading.
… Euro Crime: My Friend Maxine.
… 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': Maxine Clarke.
… Maxine « barbara fister’s place.
… Maxine Clarke – Petrona – a tribute to a dedicated crime fiction reader | It's a crime! (Or a mystery...)
… Tribute to Maxine Clarke / Petrona | Mrs. Peabody Investigates.
… MYSTERIES in PARADISE: Maxine (Petrona) will be sorely missed.
… Aly Monroe. The Official Blog: Maxine Clarke.
… Maxine Clarke of Petrona « CRIME SCRAPS REVIEW.
… We Remember… | Confessions of a Mystery Novelist…
… In Memoriam – Maxine Clarke | Confessions of a Mystery Novelist…
… Vale Petrona | Reactions to Reading.
… Euro Crime: My Friend Maxine.
… 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': Maxine Clarke.
… Maxine « barbara fister’s place.
… Maxine Clarke – Petrona – a tribute to a dedicated crime fiction reader | It's a crime! (Or a mystery...)
… Tribute to Maxine Clarke / Petrona | Mrs. Peabody Investigates.
… MYSTERIES in PARADISE: Maxine (Petrona) will be sorely missed.
… Aly Monroe. The Official Blog: Maxine Clarke.
… Maxine Clarke of Petrona « CRIME SCRAPS REVIEW.
… We Remember… | Confessions of a Mystery Novelist…
Thought for the day …
There are three things I always forget. Names, faces and... the third I can't remember.
— Italo Svevo, born on this date in 1861
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Thought for the day …
The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
— Saki, born on this date 1870
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sick bay alert …
I have been ambushed by a truly awful respiratory ailment. A friend just dropped off some cough medicine and some cough drops. I am withdrawing from the fray until I feel something nearer to life.
The muse of curiosity …
… Geoff Dyer’s Renovation Of Contemporary Nonfiction | The New Republic. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
Certainty and vigor …
… ‘Antifragile,’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In and outside time...
...Geoff Dyer’s Renovation of Contemporary Nonfiction
We have reached, once again, the enabling moment for Dyer. Yoga, like Rage, is built on the wreck of a different project, a counter-book the negation of which makes it possible. By not writing, or not-writing, Dyer clears the space to write, just as not-being the person he’s supposed to be enables him to be himself. Lawrence pursued his fate with high passion. By not-pursuing his, not-going to the place where he already finds himself and so arriving at a moment of stillness, Dyer lets it come to him. “How one becomes what one is,” reads the subtitle of Ecce Homo. Dyer becomes himself by not-becoming all the things he might have been.
Not a moment too soon...
...Arifa Akbar: A new age for the literary biography, without yesterday's men of action
Taylor also points out that the lives of our contemporary writers would hardly make for exciting reading: "The modern novelist merely takes his A-levels, studies creative writing somewhere and then sits down to begin a lifetime at his or her desk. It is no disparagement of such modern grandees as Ian McEwan or William Boyd to wonder what, exactly, you would put in their biographies".
Thought for the day …
If they don't depend on true evidence, scientists are no better than gossips.
— Penelope Fitzgerald, born on this date in 1916
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Dinner time …
By the time this posts, I will be having dinner with my guests. Not sure when blogging will resume.
Exile and/or death …
… Boston Review — Roger Boylan: A March to the Grave (Joseph Roth). (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)