Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Thought for the day …
God doesn't believe in the easy way.
— James Agee, who died on this date in 1955
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Rite of passage …
… The Death of the Miraculous | An Answer Back. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… suffice it to say that when I state that the death of a human being is miraculous, I am not so unfeeling as to think that such an event could be regarded by those who have loved and cherished another, as anything approaching our common conception of ‘miracle’ and for those who are close to an individual who has passed, it is one of the few genuine calls to suffering, because to be separated from that which we love can be unbearable. By ‘miraculous’ I do not mean wonderful, expeditious to our ends, or pleasurable. It is the lot of our race to typically regard as miraculous only those things which both defy explanation and which also serve some purpose which we, in our limited understanding, can construe as beneficial to ourselves, either directly or by proxy. No, when I say ‘miraculous’ I intend the term with the full necessary and sufficient force with which it was born: an extraordinary event taken to manifest the supernatural power of God fulfilling his purposes (Webster’s Third International Dictionary). Something extraordinary. Something which makes apparent that there are forces at work which defy human explanation.
Incomparable …
… My Marianne Moore by Maureen N. McLane. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Moore is ill-served by many of her admirers, who put her on the mantle with Aunt Jennifer’s tigers, precious and breakable and old-fashioned, or who see her as a specimen of loveable eccentric poetic Americana. Americans like their artists folksy, palsy, just plain folks writing plain poems in plain American which cats and dogs can read! (“England”). She ran the risk of becoming a character and the weaker poems may suffer from that.
Once again …
… Ivebeenreadinglately: Reviewing and plots.
… I prefer that attention to plot be kept to a minimum--fiction reviewing is difficult precisely because it should be primarily evaluative or analytical, yet it seems that often the reverse holds true: we get a recap of the plot and, almost as if they're thrown in as a bonus, perhaps a few lines at the end rendering some quick judgment.
Treatment of "plot" in reviewing is actually where the "art" comes into the reviewing. You can't analyze or evaluate if you don't make plain to the reader what the book is about and who the characters are that inhabit it. You also can't let the review turn into a book report. So what you want to do is get across to the reader what the premises of the action are and who figures principally in that action. Of course, I am distinguishing, as Aristotle did, between plot ("the soul" — the substantial form — "of the drama") and the action, the incidents recounted. I also think that, regarding evaluation, it is better to show than to tell, and that a work should be judged on its own terms. In other words, let's skip the comparisons with other works (which usually give me the feeling that the reviewer is trying to show off). The review is about the work under review, not about the reviewer. I prefer a phenomenological approach. If I can accurately and precisely portray my reading experience, you will know what I felt about the book.
Sic transit …
… Have we fallen out of love with John Updike? | Books | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I think it's too soon to tell what Updike's literary reputation will ultimately be.
I think it's too soon to tell what Updike's literary reputation will ultimately be.
Together at last …
… science and magic: How Neuroscientists and Magicians Are Conjuring Brain Insights | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Why are scientists working with sleight-of-hand artists? Their tricks, honed through the decades, have revealed that people respond to certain situations in specific ways. Like detectives looking for new leads to solve a mystery, scientists can mine magicians’ knowledge for ideas to test in the lab. And for the magicians, understanding principles about the brain—that is, why a trick works the way it does—can suggest new ways to advance their art as they develop new tricks or improve existing ones.Who knows? Maybe they'll find they have more in common than they thought.
Hmm …
… WORLDmag.com | Consternation over Ben Carson, evolution, and morality | Richard Weikart.
If Emory University professors want to argue that evolution has no ethical implications, they are free to make that argument. (I wonder how many of them actually believe this.) But, if they do, they need to recognize that they are not just arguing against “benighted” anti-evolutionists, but they also are arguing against many of their cherished colleagues in evolutionary biology, including Darwin himself.
Of course, if evolution is guided by a transcendent intelligence, as Teilhard de Chardin thought, then the problem pretty much goes away.
Thought for the day …
It's precisely the disappointing stories, which have no proper ending and therefore no proper meaning, that sound true to life.
— Max Frisch, born on this date in 1911
Monday, May 14, 2012
Hmm …
… Amazon’s anti-library grows with Harry Potter deal | Melville House Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In case you wondered …
… Philip Kitcher: The Trouble With Scientism | The New Republic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The idea of a “theory of everything” is an absurd fantasy. Successful sciences are collections of models of different types of phenomena within their domains. The lucky ones can generate models that meet three desiderata: they are general, they are precise, they are accurate. Lots of sciences,natural sciences, are not so fortunate. As the ecologist Richard Levins pointed out decades ago, in many areas of biology—and, he might have added, in parts of physics, chemistry, and earth and atmospheric science as well—the good news is that you can satisfy any two of these desiderata, but at the cost of sacrificing the third. Contemporary climatology often settles for generality and accuracy without precision; ecologists focusing on particular species provide precise and accurate models that prove hard to generalize; and of course if you abandon accuracy, precision and generality are no problem at all.
Not good …
… Influence of classic literature on writers declining, study claims | Books | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… Rockmore believes the decreasing influence of the canon will only have continued in the authors of today. The Orange prize-winning novelist Lionel Shriver agreed this was probably true in her case – and suggested it was likely to apply to her contemporaries as well. "About all I can do is confess that while I myself devoured classics in my teens and 20s – even 30s, come to think of it – I now read contemporary fiction almost exclusively," she said. "I feel ambivalent about this evolution, but between reviewing, blurbing occasionally, and keeping up with what's out there on general principle I don't often get around to touching base with the literary canon. When I have tried to, say, reread a Dostoevsky novel, I've discovered that I don't have the patience any longer – for the long philosophical digressions, for example. I bet I'm not alone in this reduced tolerance for the stylistic traditions of the past."I think it'a bad idea for any of us to read only contemporary authors.
Have a look …
… Irena Chambers | Welcome to My Online Gallery.
Irena is an old and dear friend of mine. We met in grad school and managed, as sometimes happens, to fall out of touch. Her daughter Kristina solved that problem recently and we just had a long phone chat.
Bryan on life (the tiniest kind)...
...Some like it very hot
Extremophile researchers have one thing in common: they are constantly being told that what they are seeking is impossible. This gives them a quixotic determination to seek anyway. What drives them, I think, is the realisation that, thanks to extremophiles, microbiology can once again be a science of discovery. In an age when people had begun to think there was nothing left to discover on Earth, they have become explorers in a new and exotic landscape.
Points well taken …
… My personal take: 3 reasons I don’t like newspaper paywalls — Tech News and Analysis. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Do I think that all paywalls or subscription plans are wrong? No. In fact, I am in favor of newspapers charging for access to specific kinds of value-added content or services. But when it comes to broad, general-interest paywalls around all of a newspaper’s content, I’m not in favor of them for a number of reasons.
Controversy …
… In Defense of the New York Public Library by Robert Darnton | The New York Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The shrill tone of the rhetoric—”a glorified Starbucks,” “a vast Internet café,” “cultural vandalism”—suggests an emotional response that goes beyond disagreement over policy. Practically every critic has a story to tell about his or her personal encounter with the city’s most precious repository of culture; every story conveys the danger of defiling something sacred. Those responses deserve respect. Some of the criticism may be valid. But aside from the merits of the arguments, I think it important to recognize that the polemics are driven by passions that run deep in the city’s collective sense of self.
Thought for the day …
We get more dangerous as we accumulate knowledge, and that's both a sadness and something to control, try to learn to live with, make terms with.
— Lou Harrison, born on this date in 1917
Sunday, May 13, 2012
In case you wondered …
… The 10 best historical novels | Books | The Observer. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Takedown …
… Review: Dark Shadows (2012).
Instead of establishing Barnabas Collins’s striking qualities as a tormented vampire, Burton and Grahame-Smith cheapen him by having Barnabas react to cultural developments (“They tried stoning me. It did not work,” replies Barnabas when someone asks if he is stoned: no one in the theater laughed), having Dr. Julia Hoffman (played here as a clueless chain-smoking drunk by Helena Bonham Carter) go down on Barnabas because Burton and Grahame-Smith couldn’t ken the character (played by Burton’s real-life wife!) in any other way*, and having Barnabas quote from The Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” (which actually came out in 1973, one year after the movie’s setting) and Erich Segal’s Love Story in an effort to relate to hippies.
From Maxine …
… Book review: Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen | Petrona.
As usual, you should go to the home page and scroll.
As usual, you should go to the home page and scroll.
Hmm …
… No jokes please, we edit - Article - TES. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Oh, and I know I've started articles with quotes.
Dave also sends along this: Who Copyedits The Copy Editors?
Actually, copyeditors do get some recognition, principally by way of writing headlines. My only journalism prize was a first prize from the Society of Professional Journalists for writing a feature headline.
The most fundamental fact of journalism, however, is that it is not one job but two, with two distinct functions - writing and sub-editing - and that it is better for a writer to embrace the hard fact of sub-editing at the outset than to wish for ever that it didn't exist. Both roles are concerned with the battle to transmit words in the best possible form, yet oddly the armies are not on the same side. To the sub-editor, you see, written words are not sacrosanct.
Well, I've been an assigning editor and a copy editor (aka, sub-editor). I've also done a bit of writing. As an assigning editor I always made sure to get to know my writers' sound. Whenever I would point out that a given sentence or phrase didn't sound like them, they invariably agreed and made a change. It was pretty much the same with copyediting. Routine changes to conform with the paper's style were no problem, but any good copy editor talks any serious change over with the writer. Still, as a writer, I remember one copy editor once removing from a review I had written everything I had put in to demonstrate that the book under review was funny. After he was finished with it, you just had to take my word that it was.
Dave also sends along this: Who Copyedits The Copy Editors?
Actually, copyeditors do get some recognition, principally by way of writing headlines. My only journalism prize was a first prize from the Society of Professional Journalists for writing a feature headline.
Thought for the day …
Poets are people who can still see the world through the eyes of children.
— Alphonse Daudet, born on this date in 1840
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Bargains …
… Spring Sale! Save 50% on all Titles from Columbia University Press. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Have a listen …
… The Missouri Review • Richard Rodriguez, on the American “I”. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Food fight …
… The Millions : The Soul-Sucking Suckiness of B.R. Myers. (Hat tip, Christopher Guerin.)
This quarrel doesn't really interest me, but I'm sure it interests others.
This quarrel doesn't really interest me, but I'm sure it interests others.
God and pepperoni …
… Jonah Lehrer on Religious Thoughts and Self-Control | Head Case - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The effect, it turns out, does not require religious belief. More than a third of the students in the studies were atheists or agnostics, yet the scientists found that they were still influenced by subconscious thoughts of God.
Ouch …
… Twitter / @BananaKarenina: Susan Sontag manages to look humorless ... (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day …
Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem.
— J. Krishnamurti, born on this date in 1895
Friday, May 11, 2012
Stunts, yes …
… gimmicks, no: In Defense of Literary Stunts | Underwire | Wired.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day …
The secret of the man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested.
— William Dean Howells, who died on this date in 1920
Martin Amis
After several years of flirting with its yellow cover, I've just finished London Fields. As big, hulking, dark novels go, Amis' must be up there.
At its core, London Fields is a book about sex and the ways that language can mirror the act. I think there's an argument to be made that Amis' writing - in its muscular, writhing way - intimates the mounting sexual tension wrapped up in this novel. When the climax hits, Amis' prose reach a sort of pinnacle. It's interesting to note that the concluding chapters - those which chart the period after the climax - struggle to recreate the intensity of the earlier sections of the book.
This effect reminded me a bit of Henry Miller's work, but only to a point. Amis' novel seems more preoccupied with the future than do Miller's. Plus, Amis' book is more literary. And by that I mean it's more self-consciously literary. There are masks and references and linguistic experiments everywhere in London Fields. Miller does this too, but his commitment was never to plot - and Amis generates his themes and foils in conjunction with the development of his characters. Without Nicola Six, there's no London Fields. There's no nothing.
Ultimately, what I'll remember most about Amis' novel is its velocity. Over the course of more than 400 pages, he maintains an unyielding stylistic intensity. There are passages in this book that rival the great writers of the past 50 years in both their burliness and absurdity.
And by absurdity, I mean, in the case of Amis, honesty.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Trends …
… The Future Will Be More Religious and Conservative Than You Think — The American Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Philosopher or crank ?
… An Inhumane Humanities Lecture | First Things.
Can one have an off day in giving the Jefferson Lecture (an off week or month in writing it)? I’d like to think so. For judging by the text of the lecture Berry gave in Washington at the beginning of this week, his thinking can be fairly repellent. Titled “It All Turns on Affection,” his lecture is chiefly a catalogue of Berry’s hatreds.
Thought for the day …
No one can be saved — in virtue of what he can do. Everyone can be saved — in virtue of what God can do.
— Karl Barth, born on this date in 1886
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Possession …
… Can a fictional character take you over? | Books | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… the study gave undergraduates various stories to read and observed their reactions. In one example, students were given stories about voting, with the result that "people who strongly identified with a fictional character who overcame obstacles to vote were significantly more likely to vote in a real election several days later".
Champion of truth …
… Resisting the arrogance of intellect - Indian Express. (Vikram sent this to me earlier.)
Kolakowski had an ability to produce paragraphs of startling luminosity. Witness his riposte to the arrogance of intellect. “A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading.” As an undergraduate I accidentally ended up in lectures he was giving at All Souls. I mistakenly assumed the lectures would be on Marxism. But the lectures were on medieval philosophy. The clarity and verve with which he explained obscure sounding figures like, Duns Scotus and Pascal, had even a small group of nineteen year olds hooked and I stayed on for the term.
Thought for the day …
The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.
— Richard Adams, born on this date in 1920
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Separated by a common language …
… Henry Hitchings on Proper English : The New Yorker. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
English is a melding of the languages of the many different peoples who have lived in Britain; it has also changed through commerce and conquest. English has always been a ragbag, and that encouraged further permissiveness. In the past half century or so, however, this situation has produced a serious quarrel, political as well as linguistic, with two combatant parties: the prescriptivists, who were bent on instructing us in how to write and speak; and the descriptivists, who felt that all we could legitimately do in discussing language was to say what the current practice was. This dispute is the subject of “The Language Wars: A History of Proper English” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), by the English journalist Henry Hitchings, a convinced descriptivist.
A house divided?
… sp!ked review of books | The divided state of America.
Murray is right to point to the incoherent and defensive moral sensibilities of the American upper class. But is it really the case that it does not preach what it practices? He notes that, at the very least, this ruling class preaches the doctrine of non-judgmentalism. He also observes that, from time to time, the new upper class feels comfortable with using derogatory labels, particularly towards fundamentalist Christians and rural working-class whites. However, the preaching of this privileged elite is not confined to the denunciation of the backwoods redneck and the gun-loving members of the National Rifle Association. In fact, when it comes to preaching, Murray’s SuperZips are in a class of their own. They may use a self-conscious rhetoric of non-judgmentalism – words like ‘inappropriate’ and ‘challenging’, or phrases such as ‘people in need of support’ and ‘people with issues’ – but they have no inhibitions about instructing others about what food they should eat, how they should bring up their children, or what forms of behaviour are healthy. Outwardly they eschew the language of morality. Instead of sermons, they use the language of ‘raising awareness’.
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