See also: Poem of the Week: Pervigilium Veneris.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Honoring the month ...
... "Not Ideas About The Thing But The Thing Itself."
See also: Poem of the Week: Pervigilium Veneris.
See also: Poem of the Week: Pervigilium Veneris.
Before the black swan ...
... there was Friedrich Hayek: Tsunamis of Information.
"Unlike the position that exists in the physical sciences, in economics and other disciplines that deal with essentially complex phenomena, the aspects of the events to be accounted for about which we can get quantitative data are necessarily limited and may not include the important ones," [Hayek] said. That makes it impossible to produce simple and reliable forecasts.
Radical ...
... but not extreme: Rob Bell's intervention in the often ugly world of American evangelicalism. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
"Will everybody be saved, or will some perish apart from God forever because of their choices?" Bell asks. "Those are questions, or more accurately, those are tensions we are free to leave fully intact. We don't need to resolve them or answer them because we can't, and so we simply respect them, creating space for the freedom that love requires."
This seems reasonable to me. We do well to acknowledge there are questions we cannot answer. I must say, though, Mark's disparagement of American evangelicals seems clichéd and unfair. I met and talked with many when I wrote for The Inquirer's religion page. None that I encountered came close to matching the media caricature.
Not so dry and dusty after all ...
... Inevitable Scholasticism. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In the first volume of his Church Dogmatics (1932), Karl Barth provocatively wrote: “Fear of Scholasticism is the mark of a false prophet.” As a well-known critic of modern Catholic theology, Barth was not commending specific Scholastic arguments or conclusions. Instead, he was making a broader point about the intellectual project of Scholasticism, which he thought indispensable.
Judith Butler, Kafka, and the LRB
The March 3, 2011 volume of the LRB featured a reproduction of Judith Butler's recent essay on Kafka's literary remains. A link to that essay can be found here. (For more on Butler, follow this link.)
In response to Butler's essay, I submitted a letter to the editors of the LRB. As I have not heard back, I felt it important to post my response here:
"While I did not have the opportunity to attend Judith Butler’s lecture on Kafka in person, I read its reproduction with considerable interest. To say that I was disappointed would be a severe understatement. Ms. Butler commits the opening stages of her essay less to Kafka and his literary remains and far more to a polemical assault on the state of Israel. What issues pertaining to the the Galut, for instance, or the ‘Occupied Territories’ have to do with Kafka remain a mystery. Equally mysterious is Ms. Butler’s foray into the theoretical. What, for example, does she mean by ‘a non-Zionist theological gesture’? Or worse, ‘the poetics of non-arrival’? In her attempt to cast Kafka as marginally Jewish, and to read his stories as meditations on displacement, Butler seems, ultimately, to be offended by the idea that Israel might benefit from the monetization of Kafka’s legacy. The sad part, of course, is that in her attempt to prove this point, Butler fails to recognize what she herself is up to - which is, in short, the hijacking of Kafka for the sake of a political argument against Israel. One need not look further than the start of Butler’s essay to find evidence of this thinly-veiled prejudice: for it is here that she suggests - seemingly with a snicker - that the ‘public good’ is, for all intents and purposes, dictated by the priorities of the ‘Jewish people.’ Unfortunately, this is not the only reference of this sort which Ms. Butler makes to Jews and Judaism."
--Jesse Freedman
Try your hand ...
... How Dumb Are We?
I got two wrong. It's actually pretty easy. Naturally, the two I missed had to do with numbers.
Thought for the day ...
Getting along with men isn't what's truly important. The vital knowledge is how to get along with a man, one man.- Phyllis McGinley, born on this date in 1905
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Let us pray for our friend ...
... Back from the Hospital, Hanging By a Thread. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
A propos of...
Frank's post on the New York Times and its new paywall...Here's a good piece that appeared earlier this winter on the print news industry and its inevitable tango with pay-to-play schemes...
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
... well there's one of mine: Two looks at the 40th U.S. president.
... and also: Chick Wit: Good, better - finished; all for sale.
... and also: Chick Wit: Good, better - finished; all for sale.
Thought for the day ...
What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it heaven.- Friedrich Hölderlin, born on this date in 1770
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Mark thy calendar ...
... The 11th Annual Goldstone Forum:
Nassim N. Taleb on How to Live in a World We Don't Understand and Enjoy It.
Nassim N. Taleb on How to Live in a World We Don't Understand and Enjoy It.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Well, yes ...
... Tai Chi Eases Depression in Elderly. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I study Chen-style myself, which actually is a martial art as well.
I study Chen-style myself, which actually is a martial art as well.
Hometown ...
Thought for the day ...
The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.- Sir Richard Francis Burton, born on this date in 1821
Friday, March 18, 2011
The lonesomest kid ...
... Not for Laughs.
I believe that it is the Divine Will that the whole structure will eventually crash, because it has been erected on a foundation of hypocrisy and greed. Out of the chaos the real leaders will rise; leaders who are not interested in wealth nor political power, but who have been ordained by a higher power to lift humanity from discord to the realms of harmony. Then a new race will be born to the world, here in America, and their worship of God will be built on science and philosophy through the great corridors of Universal Brotherhood.
This is weird, to be sure, but hardly outlandish. An odd choice to illustrate Crosby's mental deterioration.
Happy Birthday...
...to poet Richard Wilbur, who turned 90 on March 1st. (Here he is, reading his work...Be patient; he comes toward the end.)
We shall see ...
... The NYT paywall arrives. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave also sends along what the Times has to say for itself: The Times Announces Digital Subscription Plan.
Give and take ...
... Of Human Umbrage. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
... Collini’s deft dismantling of various forms of cultural relativism—conveyed in clear and concise prose—are sure to be debated and discussed by anyone who engages with his important essay. His decision to forego real world examples and instead focus on principles slyly puts the reader in mind of recent controversies (such as the one over Danish cartoons) while contributing to the clarity of his argument.
Handwriting and learning
I heard Lynda Barry speak at the Free Library in Philly last night and she was great, so funny. She also talked about handwriting, the brain, and creativity. Here's a good WSJ article on the same subject.
Looking ahead ...
... The future of the English language.
Acknowledging the unparalleled geographical expanse of English, Ostler draws a firm distinction between English as a mother tongue and English as a lingua franca or communicative tool for non-native speakers. This distinction motivates two separate questions concerning the future of English. First, will English, given its spread as a native language, split into a range of separate languages akin to the development of Latin into the Romance languages? Second, will it continue to be a widely used lingua franca possibly even increase its influence? Ostler’s answer to both of these questions is a resolute no.
Well, bravo!
... SXSW 2011: The Year of the Librarian.
Here at Books, Inq., every year is the year of the librarian, because this blog wouldn't amount to much at all if it weren't for all the help I get from Dave Lull, our Omnipresent Wisconsin Librarian.
Thought for the day ...
Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.- John Updike, born on this date in 1932
See also: Jill Krementz Photo Journal - John Updike.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: Basil Bunting and the Quakers, Elagabalus, Dutch treat, and more!
Tell us what you really feel, Bryan ...
... Ayn Rand 2. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Madame Blavatsky has a significant Philadelphia connection:
She lived in Philadelphia in 1875, where she resided at 3420 Sansom Street, now home of the White Dog Cafe.[12]While living on Sansom Street, Madame Blavatsky became ill with an infected leg. She claimed to have undergone a "transformation" during her illness which inspired her to found the Theosophical Society. In a letter dated June 12, 1875, she described her recovery, explaining that she dismissed the doctors and surgeons who threatened amputation. She is quoted as saying "Fancy my leg going to the spirit land before me!" and had a white dog sleep across her leg by night
.
For St. Patrick's Day ...
... Flann O'Brien: Tall Tales, Long Drink. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
... Also from Dave: William Gass: In Praise of John O’Brien and Dalkey Archive Press.
Refereeing ...
... Bryan calls a knockout: Midgley Annihilates Atkins. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
By the way, Understanding the Present is a very good book.
Rescue operation ...
... How Longfellow Woke the Dead.
This year, though, marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Longfellow’s most famous poem, which makes it a good time to ask: What would it mean to take “Paul Revere’s Ride” seriously?
Here's a review I wrote of a recent Longfellow biography: Taking a fresh look at poet's life.
Absurdly dreary ...
... Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells.
This sort of thing is the emotional cliché of our age, just as sentimentality was the emotional cliché of an earlier one. Only sentimentality is less pretentious.
Thought for the day ...
I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it is not linear but fragmented, and its ambivalence.- Penelope Lively, born on this date in 1933
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Duh ...
... The Washington Post Thinks Its Readers Are Too Dumb To Know Left From Right. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Mutual aid ...
... Martin Nowak: a helping hand for evolution.
This was also Kropotkin's point, I believe.
"The two pillars of evolution are mutation and natural selection: mutation generates diversity, and natural selection chooses the winner. What I want to argue in this book is that, in order to get complexity, there is a third principle, co-operation. It's not just a small phenomenon, it is something that is really needed to explain the world as we see it." Without it, [Nowak] says, we would have a world without multi-cellular creatures – or even without cells, just monomolecular replicators in an organic soup.
This was also Kropotkin's point, I believe.
Better to pay ...
... The Terrible Price of Free: On E-reading Jane Austen via Google’s Ebooks. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The Google editions were packed with errors. If I were not studying Google Ebooks for professional reasons, if I were not already familiar with the works of Austen, would I have gone on? Would I have thought that Austen does not know how to place quotation marks, that she made grammatical mistakes that would embarrass even a high school freshman, or that her dialogue sometimes breaks off without explanation? I began to wonder what service or disservice Google had performed, rendering one of the world’s most popular writers in a form as bizarre as the Zemblan translation of Shakespeare in Nabokov’s “Pale Fire.”
Casting doubt on expertise ...
... Lionel Trilling and the Social Imagination. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The towns in which Trilling’s young men from the provinces grow up are examples of community: they are small, and their residents know one another well. The metropolises that the young men set out to conquer are examples of society: one knows very little of most of the people one meets there, and one is bound to be indifferent to most of them. ... “Historians of European culture are in substantial agreement,” Trilling said, that with the emergence of society, “something like a mutation in human nature took place.”
Probabilities ...
Sycophancy ...
... The Intellectual as Courtier.
Of course, there is nothing intrinsically dishonorable in the offering of advice upon invitation. One can always hope—though one should not expect—that one might thereby do some good. Public flattery is, however, another matter.
Anyone who is a fan ...
... of Kawabata's Snow Country and Gaston Bachelard is necessarily interesting: “Writing Allows Me to Approach My Life with a Greater Passion”: Micro-Interview with Katherine Larson.
Thought for the day ...
In my soul rages a battle without victor. Between faith without proof and reason without charm.- René Sully Prudhomme, born on this date in 1839
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
In case you wondered ...
... Philosophy degrees and famous people who have 'em. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Getting in the way of time ...
... Turn and Jump.
"There are many clocks," Einstein in 1905 proposed. "There is not time, but times." With this clue in hand, Mansfield goes rummaging through his native New Hampshire, searching for clocks that can take him deeper into time, trying to feel his way out of the empirical madness that has reduced time to minute universal increments that only shred human experience. Old journals and almanacs return him to "moon time." A New England mill reminds him that "Once time was a river" but has since become "money." Listen for the ticking, in all of its haunting variety, he implores: "There is always more than one clock in the room."
What is the sound ...
... of an unvanishing need? Ron Slate on Otherwise Elsewhere, poems by David Rivard.
FYI ...
... Fear the Media Meltdown, Not the Nuclear One.
This seems pretty informative to me. Maybe Jim Aach will weigh in with some more info.
Mixed blessing ...
... Is Happiness Overrated? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Happiness can only be arrived at by indirection.
A new diaspora ...
... 'What daffodils were to Wordsworth, drains and backstreet pubs are to me'. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
For seven years Conor O’Callaghan has lived away. Three of those years were spent in Philadelphia and North Carolina, and since 2007 he has been in Manchester, all because of teaching jobs. “But, apart from the practicality of that, I found being in Ireland increasingly claustrophobic,” he says. “There was a bigger world of poetry happening out there, and I wanted to get nearer it. I found the Irish poetry scene very incestuous and introverted.
Thought for the day ...
Which death is preferable to every other? "The unexpected".- Julius Caesar, who died on this date -- unexpectedly -- in 44 BC
Monday, March 14, 2011
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